Tamora

[carolinachiquita]

Amber, heliotrope, golden sandalwood, peach blossom and vanilla bean.

This is yummy, the amber and vanilla bean are fab together and the peach blossom and golden sandlewood just go with them perfectly. This is a golden smell! The only gripe I have about it...I wish it lasted longer on my skin! Edited December 30, 2005 by Shollin

[AngellicMystique]

This is very sweet on me. The apricot blossom and vanilla take over on me. The amber ann sandalwood make a dry, sharp base, and the heliotrope is never very strong.

[Nia]

I think it is the vanilla that makes me think of this as a candy smell. You know, some sort of candy that comes in red colour so you assume a strawberry flavour but the taste is actually vanilla-like.

 

My first impression was of a strong candy scent with a berry undertone.

 

Once dried, it smelled of a combination of strawberries and orange/citrus with a third, more serious and sober companion, which must have been the sandalwood. But this third, not-sweet scent was just there to say "hey, this is not all fun and games here", just to contradict a bit the candy overall impression. This "older brother" stays long after the strawberries have abandoned me -I applied about seven hours ago and there is still a hint of it on my skin.

 

ETA, November 2007: Aged Tamora smells like a less sweet O. They share amber and vanilla; O has honey and Tamora doesn't. The sandalwood is almost gone and the peach is easier to detect. This scent loses with aging.

Edited November 29, 2007 by Nia

[crescentwench]

I loved this scent but it made me sneeze all day! The smell was gorgeous, sweet peach and rich vanlla, grounded with a hint of sandalwood. i don't intitally notice the heliotrope but i have a feeling that's what kept me sneezing, even though it was hiding in the peachy sweet goodness.

[spidersinmyhair]

This scent,in the vial and when wet is very sweet.I don't know exactly what peach blossoms smell like,but I smell peach.The peach was dominant for an hour or two and then came the vanilla.After that a very soft amber was left.This is a nice scent,I happen to like sweet scents,but it does hang around for awhile before softening to a lovely amber.I think that if you like amber,peach and vanilla,you will like Tamora.

 

ADDED June 3:

 

tamora is sweetly spicy.If you love sweet amber you will like this.I think of it as a female version of The Lion.The peach really stayed with me for a long time,I thought it would fade,but it was still there an hour or two later.I have to say this is a strong amber scent wich will last for quite some time.

I have been experimenting and have found that when i make spritzers(half witch hazel/half water)plus oil,I can scent my entire self and enjoy the scents for a longer period of time.

[llachlome]

MMMMMSOGOOD.

 

In the vial, it was a bright, almost metallic peach, but my first thoughts when I put it on were, "golden desert candy". There's nothing dry about it at all, so I suppose it's just color association: rich golden sunlight on paler golden sand. It smells warm and smooth and truly like the sum of its ingredients; the vanilla bean and peach and amber rise up sometimes, but mostly it's just, well, yummy golden desert candy, the operative word being 'yum'. (It's not candyish in a bad or childish way, it's just… yummy.) I used to get a more peachy overtone blended in with the vanilla, but now it's mostly just that golden not-any-one-thing-smell. Which is a pity, since I'm craving a good peach scent and neither Fae nor Imp worked on me, but it's still a beautiful smell anyway.

 

As it ages, it turns into a slightly more ambery golden-brown, but the vanillic yum still hangs around. It's my favorite BPAL scent so far, and best of all, I can wear it at any time of the month: it turns into a glorious spiced amber when my hormones change. As far as throw goes, it's not an über-faint blend, but it doesn't have the sort of invasive throw that some of the others have. I can smell it in a cozy little bubble all around me, but rooms aren't going to smell like it when I leave them, and other people aren't going to have to smell it if they don't want to. (Unless someone puts their head on my shoulder, at which point, they sort of lose the right to complain about my perfume.) In conclusion: yum, and absolutely bottle-worthy.

[Victory]

I got this for my friend Tamara, and I think it's perfect for her. Bright, warm, and comforting. The peach is lovely and happily wasn't swallowed by the sandalwood. I just wish it lasted longer.

[yeahbutnobut]

Tamora

 

In the imp: oh, this is gorgeous. Sweet fruity amber vanilla, a golden and delicious scent.

Wet on skin: peach! This is a lovely gentle ‘peaches and cream’ scent now, but it’s more than just that.

Dry: this is such a beautiful fragrance! All the notes in here just work so well-there’s golden amber with fruity peach (well, on my skin, peach blossom smells just like the fruit, it seems) and heliotrope too, surrounded by delightful creamy vanilla. This reminds me somewhat of several ‘vanilla amber’ fragrances that I have tried from other e-tailers (I think these were Ambra de Nepal dupes-I haven’t smelt the original, but these dupes also happened to turn to peaches and cream too), but this is so much nicer, more complex, richer and fuller.

After a while: now all the notes have just smoothed out and blended into a lovely, rounded, sweetly golden scent. I can’t make out the notes as I did before but it’s now a smooth vanilla with a bit more heliotrope at this point and a bit of peach remaining. It’s a very well blended scent.

I'm surprised-a lot of people mention that this blend doesn't last on them-but it's still going strong on me! After 3 hours or so, it's morphed into this very pleasant vanilla-amber scent with a hint of sandalwood and...almond! That's definitely the heliotrope, as sometimes this note smells a bit like vanilla-almond to me. I'm still besotted by this scent, it smells round and full and very comforting.

Verdict: this fabulous scent is like peaches and vanilla ice cream, but so much better-it’s more like peaches and ice cream of the gods! The notes in this scent work very harmoniously with each other to create a fabulous fragrance of golden, sun-kissed sweetness. It bears a slight similarity to some vanilla-amber scents from other e-tailers, but it’s so much better, and more complex thanks to additions like heliotrope, sandalwood and, of course, the peach blossom which smells almost like the fruit in here, which adds a juicy aspect to the scent. I think a big bottle of this scent is needed, pronto!

Edited January 9, 2006 by yeahbutnobut

[Chantarelle]

Oh, god, this is so nice.

 

Bright peach at first, then the vanilla creeps in. There's a little while, about 5 minutes after application, where the floral comes through, but even then it's tempered with the sweetness. And now, it's sugary fruit up close with a sandalwood aura and I can't stop sniffing my wrist.

[GemmaCat]

In the bottle this smells fruity and sweet, but I can't pick out individual notes.

 

On my skin it's all about the peach; very bright and sparkly. With time, the amber note slowly emerges and it settles into a gentle, fruity scent that is extremely pretty and feminine. This is the kind of scent that I'd wear ALL the time in the Spring.

[Silverstrike]

Mmmh, this smells "warm" and "golden", kind of like warm skin. I think this is the first BPAL amber (if Tamora can be considered an amber scent) that's semi-agreed with me. I'm still unsure whether I'd wear it regularly though. Actually, I'm picky, so I'm probably going to keep on looking for something that yells out "Me!"

[PirateMaggie]

Short review: Beth has truly outdone herself. This is exactly what I've been looking for in an everyday perfume. Golden light in scent form.

 

Longer review: Tamora came as a frimp from the Lab. I was at first leery of it because I suffer the Curse of the Babypowder Amber, but it just smelled too good in the imp to pass up (plus, I have a policy of trying all the frimps with which the Lab is so generous. More often than not, I'm pleasantly surprised).

 

Sandalwood agrees with my chemistry, and turns into something spicy yet clean-smelling. The peach smells lush and ripe and slightly tart and the heliotrope and vanilla sweeten the mix. The amber smells like it's supposed to without a hint of powder. The peach starts out strong and eventually fades to the background, leaving a delicious, warm, glowing sandalwood-amber-vanilla with a hint of the heliotrope and peach. It's sexy in a very subtle, classy, understated way (as opposed to my favourite maneater scent, Hell's Belle), but the sandalwood gives it an uplifting, spiritual quality as well. Throw is medium. I applied it at 7:30am, refreshed it around 2 (because I wanted more peach smell), and still get wafts of it.

 

I've been getting compliments on my perfume all day. One woman on the subway told me she wished everyone on the train smelled like I do. Another told me that I should be careful about wearing that scent around men because I smelled edible.

 

I'm ordering a big bottle. Tamora is exactly how I think my skin is supposed to smell--like me, but better.

[Thaleia]

Tamora came highly recommended by a good friend of mine. Peach blossom and vanilla - can't go wrong with that, can I?

 

Aw, it's my Katharina, all grown up! The scent in the bottle is a grown-up, more subdued, richer peach, deepened by amber and sandalwood. On me, though, the peach melts into the mix and the sandalwood and amber take it away ... with a bit of a fruity floral in the background, probably with a contribution from the heliotrope. Dry, this is resiny and deep, quite complex, but with a hint of peachy floral still intact.

 

Oh, yes, this is Katharina all grown up. If I want to feel strong and willful but less girly, Tamora's the scent for me. I like this a lot, but I can't say I like this better than Katharina, which is a favourite. 9/10.

[Miss Lynx]

Hmmm. As with most of the others I've tried lately, I have mixed feelings about this one. It has some very nice aspects to it, but also some that I don't like so much. There's a nice golden warmth to it, and more complexity than with some of the others, but it verges on being a little too sweet for me. I think it's the heliotrope, which my skin tends to amp a bit. And the vanilla sometimes comes across as a touch Play-Doh-y

 

It's reminiscent in some ways of both Aglaea and Fae, but I think I like both of those better than this (Aglaea especially, which has become one of my preferred mood-lifters for grey days). I don't dislike this scent, but I'm not sure I need to keep it around when I have other similar ones that I like more.

 

Then again... There's enough complexity to it that I may need to try it a few more times to be sure. Like a lot of BPAL's better scents, it smells a bit different each time I sniff it.

 

Grade: B

[strawberry_star]

It smells a lot like Fae, which is good because I love Fae. The common ingredient is peach. Peach perfume smells great on me. Even Avon Peach smells good. It doesn't really take on a peach smell, more like an orange creamsicle or something, but not. Like a slight peach flavored sugar. Anyways, Tamora is like Fae's older sister. Fae is much more innocent (and lasts longer on my skin) and Tamora smells more grown up, I think from the amber and it has a slight vanilla smell too.

 

I absolutely love it. In my top 10 and I see it staying there.

[telesilla]

Why I tried it: I like the notes.

 

In the bottle and wet: Sweet! I'm not getting sandalwood at all, which is odd as my skin usually emphasizes it.

 

Drying down: It calms down some; I'm getting the amber now, but it's still mostly peach blossom and heliotrope and a little vanilla.

 

Dry: I like this, although I have yet to smell the sandalwood. It's vanilla/floral, a rich sweet floral that manages not to be cloying. I'm just not sure it's something I'd wear, as it's not very "me." But if you like vanilla and florals, this is a good one.

[Rock Goddess]

This one's quite lovely. I get juicy peach and sweet vanilla, grounded with golden amber and dry sandlewood. This is really good. It's making me itch a bit though, on the wrist where I tried it. It's pretty....bright and golden. It'll be a good springtime scent. I'm not sure about a bottle just yet, but I'm definately going to use the imp.

[cal_steph]

I can't place my finger on it exactly, but this scent reminds me of..something from my childhood. A candy I used to eat, perhaps, or the smell of my grandmother's peach pie baking. Whatever it is, this is lovely--very feminine and as everyone else has said, golden. It's a keeper.

[Precis]

On the first few wears, Tamora smelled EXACTLY like Fae to me. Peach and heliotrope are common to the two of them, but it was like a second imp of the same thing. Now, something changed (the oil, my skin? I don't know) and the two still smell similar, but the amber and vanilla now dominate Tamora, making it a much stronger, less delicate, headache-inducing version of Fae that needs to be applied lightly.

 

This is a great scent, but it seems kinda redundant when I have Fae.

Edited February 13, 2006 by Precis

[populuxa]

Finally! My quest for a fantastic heliotrope scent is over! On me, the heliotrope proudly wafts up and around with its cool powdery sweetness. It's only when I sniff right against my skin the warmth of the vanilla and amber appears. After a few hours, the notes balance out more evenly, and the warmth creeps more towards the surface. Delicate and sweet -- so lovely!

[WidgetAlley]

Acquired in a swap. I'm very excited about Miss Tamora, since I adore peaches, and this is the first blend with a peach note I've sampled from the Lab.

 

In the Imp: Fizzy peach candy! Yum. I get a strong candy-ish heliotrope, a nice vanilla bean somewhat similar to the toasted kind in The Haunted Palace, a peachy that really is like a floral version of peach fruit (it's lighter, like the junior of the two-- a girlish peach, rather than a womanly one), and sweet amber. No sandalwood, yet, but I hope it comes out to play, too: so far, this is nice but very childish.

 

Wet: That must be golden sandalwood! It's a gorgeous, warmly sophisticated sort of scent, not as dry and gritty as the white stuff and not as debauched as the red kind. The amber seems to be steadying it, creating a gorgeous sugary sort of smell swirled through with vanilla bean (there really is a noticeable difference between vanilla and vanilla bean), lightly sparkling peach and the almost cloyingly sweet heliotrope. The v. beans are behaving themselves perfectly on me... but it sorts of feels like there's something missing from this. It's all innocent smiles, and that's somehow not sitting quite right with me. (Gee, I wonder why? )

 

*hums* She gave you everything she had, but she was young and dumb; she'd just turned twenty-one....

 

Dry: This dries down to a golden-sweet second-skin scent, every note perfectly balanced. It's perfectly mannered, subtle, and immature-- there's no darkness or anger to Tamora at all (which I suppose is fairly appropriate.) It almost reminds me of the saccharine perfumes you can buy for your nieces in little girls' cosmetic sets, but about a million times nicer. This would be utterly irresistable on the right person, but that person is definitely not me. I may end up giving this to one of my friends.

 

I think I would have liked this more if there had been a better "grounding" to it, or more peach, but when you get right down to it....... I'm just too punk at heart to wear this.

[this machine]

I swapped for this as i'm trying to test scents that are out of my normal range of desires (darker, earthier, spicier - not light or fruity). It is warm and sweet like everyone has said. I love the heliotrope in greed so i thought that would be good. Ultimately though, this one confirmed what i thought would remain true - very traditionally fruity and sweet scents (even though it's nicely warmed and balanced by the amber and sandalwood) are just not for me. I felt like i walked into the dorm bathroom in college where half the girls on my hall washed with bath and body works peach soap. This is a far classier version of that - just not good for me.

[mermaidrage]

In the imp: Instead of peach, I get apricots and LOTS of vanilla. It's almost syrupy-smelling, if that makes sense. It's definitely not what I was expecting to smell, but it's intriguing.

 

Wet on skin: OMG PEACH! And something that reminds me of medicine, cough-syrup or something. Maybe buy spray. I don't like this. I hate that I don't like this.

 

Dry on skin: The medicine smell has gone down a bit, but the peach it still a bit too sharp. It tickles my nose and NOT like champagne. I keep wanting to rub at it to make the itching quit.

 

15 min post-dry: This has really come into its' own. All the medicine is gone and the peach has mellowed beautifully. The vanilla came back a bit but seems more like a toasted, nutty vanilla than the syrupy sweetness of before. Also, the hint of sandalwood holds it together beautifully. This is a lovely spring scent.

 

EDIT: Had to add that the boy I'm trying out loves this scent. He keeps burying his face in my right elbow where I tested it and threatening to lick my arm off. He's pouty. I think I have to take him out for peach sorbet tomorrow. Also, he's been very patient with my OMGFIRSTORDER!!! insanity in general. He might be a keeper.

Edited March 9, 2006 by Charlotte

[nancybridget]

Oh wow!!!! I love everything about this....the notes are some of my favorites!!! It's got a sexy gummy bear quality about it, which is amusing to me.

 

I've been searching for a nice peach and I've just found her! Horray!!!

[storme]

In the imp: warm, soft peach over florals.

 

On me, wet: woody vanilla and peach. The amber is there in the background too. This smells very slightly like peach schnapps.

 

On me, dry: archers and lemonade for wrist #1! Sugary and slightly alcoholic peach. I don't really smell the heliotrope, but everything else is identifiable and contributing to the stickiness.

 

Verdict: if it smelled on me like it does in the imp, then I would be very happy. Unfortunately, it doesn't.