Lucretia

[urbanruralferal]

Iris, black amber, sage, Kashmir wood, vanilla musk, mandarin and violet.

here is a retro review. I made notes for this when I wore it, and haven't worn it since.

This scent was ros-y to me. Leave it to me to not be able to tell what's what with florals. Unlike other roses I have known, this was not offensive to my nose. (Probably cause it had no rose in ti...)

I got a definite image for this Lucretia.
Two sides of a mirror: In the glass there is reflected a old goth junkie hag who thinks she's a Diva, primping and putting on her glamours. In the other side of the glass is reflected the same woman but younger, sexual yes, but she hasn't lost her bloom. she is in awe of the bright lights and smoky caverns she is peering into. she will go there, yes, but she doesn't know it yet, and she is standing in a doorway, her youth behind her, and the adventures that will eventually grind the lines into her face before her.

Sweet girl, cunning witch.

[czuba]

In the vial: soft powdery with the sage peaking through

 

On Skin, Wet: Orange blossom (mandarin?) then something dark and warm appears (the musk and amber?)

 

On Skin, Dry: >3hrs, sweet creamy with hints of citrus and warm woods - very lovely.

[teaketcha]

This is a complex soapy / powdery floral on me. Verrrrry strong.

 

I dont get any of that lovely vanilla musk I was hearing about.

 

It smells to be in the Chanel No. 5 category for me. I dont think its bad, and maybe I can appreciate it but Im not falling in love.

[Heavenlyrabbit]

Lucretia is the one Salon scent that disappointed me. It never combines into a whole perfume that's greater then the seperate notes. Pretty enough but unremarkable, IMO.

Edited August 8, 2006 by Heavenlyrabbit

[neuilly]

The kashmir wood is acting a lot like cedar on me, although there is a slight difference in smell. However, it's definitley the dominant note on me and...I'm not a woodsy type of girl. I can feel more than smell the musk and amber in the background. It's just not the complex scent that it seems to be on others. Happy that I simply got a decant

Edited August 23, 2006 by neuilly

[grrrlennyl]

at first: very woodsy, with a bit of violet and another flower that i'm assuming is iris.

on: floral and woodsy. i'm not sure how this is going to work on me.

1 hour later: sweet, heady violets with some sweet amber, woods, and musk. lovely.

3 hours later: soft, powdery violets with a hint of soapiness.

3.5 hours later: sweet, powdery violets. however, something (i'm look at you, mandarin.) is giving it an odd sourness.

overall: luckily, the violets in this worked on me. unfortunately, the mandarin did something funky on my skin.

[sofiaviolet]

First impression is of woodiness and something sour. It becomes even more sour on my skin. Kind of rotten. I have no idea what that note is, but it really hates me. As I wear it, that note fades a bit, but it's still present with the violet and wood.

[cuervosueno]

I got this imp as an extra when I bought some Salon decants from a lovely forumite. I didn't remember what was in it, but immediately put it on.

 

Uh oh. Florals. That's mostly what I got, a soft floral, which to my nose smelled faintly like my nemesis, rose. I tried to remember if there was rose in this blend, because it wasn't the most in your face rose, but it was definately a floral I wasn't enjoying.

 

It lasted longer than I would have liked. My overall impression: soft, perfumy florals. Not my thing.

 

When I finally looked up the notes, I see there is no rose at all (and also that I'm not the only one who was fooled!). I do know that I can't wear violet either--my skin amps it up, though usually I can recognize that scent.

 

In any case, this one just didn't work for me, but I was glad to try it!

[finecurvedhips]

i had such high hopes for this one, judging by the notes in it.

 

in the bottle, this was simply divine, with no single note jumping out at me.

 

on wet - at first it was just incredibly floral, then got a tinge of baby wipe scent to it.

 

dry- baby wipes with a hearty dusting of baby powder to go with it.

 

my husband's final analysis - 'you smell like a clean baby's butt'.

 

thanks, but no! LOL

[BrightRedScream]

This is a very very interesting blend.

Smelling this on, I get florals dancing around me...the violet drawing me in..the iris taking the foreground and really tickling my nose...

But the mandarin is there.

The vanilla musk comes forward more and more as it dries down...it's very wierd how this changes as it dries and sits on my skin for a while - it becomes more violet..and that just doesn't work.

I don't mind violet in small doses - but if it's predominant like it is on me...no thanks.

 

Another Salon decant to the swap/sell pile.

Edited August 20, 2006 by BrightRedScream

[Bagfish]

This was all orris and violet on me (neither of which suit me). No vanilla musk, mandarin, wood or sage

 

On drydown, this was essence of babypowder, soap and old ladies toilette water.

[empi girl]

I've tried this twice, and the first time it was a beautiful powdery, soft, musky violet, and it surprised me because I really liked it, when I don't tend to like violets. It was gorgeous!

 

The second time I tried it, it was a little sharper, and the softly sweet powderyness was missing. The violets were there, but so was something deeper, maybe a wood? Perfumy.

 

I'm going to try it a 3rd time, and hope to get the first result, and not the second. The first might make this a bottle, the second guarantees a swapped imp.

[Alchemy21599]

In the bottle: I smell benzoin

 

Wet: benzoin and powdery floral.

 

Dry: Powder

[buzz23666]

gorgeous - just gorgeous.

 

Wet - the amber and violet compete for dominance. And I am such a sucker for violet. I must amp amber something major. There is a slight hint of green spice which is probably the sage.

 

Dry this has a slight powder to it but still retains the amber with the violet sitting right underneath. This one smells like money to me. Old money. Like a dignified, prematurely grey haired woman in blue jeans and a white t-shirt (where the hell that came from I have no idea) with some big honkin antique jewelry. Go figure.

 

This one does make me want to jump the DH though - too bad he is feeling ill and is asleep...

 

Another one for the big bottle list!

[azhure]

In the vial: Rich amber.

 

Wet: This is a very warm scent - my skin amps up the amber and vanilla musk in particular. I don't get much of the violet or sage.

 

Dry: Another scent that doesn't last long on me, unfortunately. Everything but the amber fades very quickly, and the amber itself was gone within a few hours.

[hologhost]

Dark woods - this is a dark and mysterious but enticing smell. So rich and rare! On, I do get a bit of baby powder. That must be one wealthy baby.

[Eros]

In the bottle this is sweet and herbal.

On skin, for the first few minutes it's a beautiful amber with a woodsy background and a touch of vanilla. As the minutes tick by, and it's not too many minutes, it goes all soapy powder I've tried it 3-4 times and the end result is the same. Very disappointing, it has some of my favorite *always works on me* notes. Oh well.

[maijasu]

I think this is one of those scents that really depends a lot on skin chemistry. It's a lovely, complex floral in the decant I have, but there's something in it that is turning nasty on my skin. Someone else mentioned that the wood smelled cedary, so that may be it--I've yet to try a cedar blend that works for me. I don't smell any musk or amber, just florals and funky woodiness. Oh well, I'm sure it will work for someone else.

[zenvodunista]

This oddly medicinal in the vial, but on my skin for a brief moment flowers into the most glorious vanilla musk/kasmirwood/violet combo --

 

that gets very soapy. It must be the iris.

 

If you can wear Iris though, get this.

 

Poor me!

 

n.

[Dark Sparkle]

In the beginning I get the woody/citrussy scent that others have mentioned but it almost immediatly turns into smokey violets with a touch of vanilla and something fresh and citrussy which must be the mandarin. Beautiful and mysteriously elegant - i definetly need to try out more violet scents

[birdiefu]

This smells like expensive perfume that a high-class sophisticated lady would wear. I was hoping this blend would go along the lines of vanilla, musk, wood, amber, and mandarin (pretty much all but the flowers).

 

Wet, it's a powdery floral- at first I thought it was an odd type of rose but realized it's most likely the violet. I haven't really smelled this type of floral as a headliner before and it's interestingly unusual to me. As it dried I got a quick whiff of vanilla but it didn't last long. The Kashmir wood lurks beneath the flowers and wow, I like this wood! The violet still dominates with a powdery/soapy feel. I think the other notes that I can't pick out are silently giving depth to the blend, too.

 

What I get from Lucretia is so not my style, but for some reason I can't stop sniffing and marveling at the very unique combination of notes. If I were to dress up in Victorian attire, this would be the scent to wear. I probably won't end up wearing this much, but I just can't let it go.

[kuanyin]

I'm trying to get better at distinguishing notes, so I tested myself with this one. I tried it without being able to resort to the site and what is in it. (Ok, I sorta kinda remembered, but not without the olfactory jog to the memory).

 

In the bottle: Very sharp, bright and brassy perfume, not one I would care for.

 

Wet: I thought I determined amber, vanilla, musk and honey. I missed on the honey, obviously. It instantly became creamy, soft and musky... pretty doesn't begin to cover it. But it IS pretty.

 

Dry: Not as much throw as I would hope for, but the layers come through. Now that I read it has violets, I can determine them. I have no clue what iris smell like. This isn't what I think of as floral. It is so complex, I may sound like a fool being such a novice, but I can see the artistry of the Salon blends. Beth is at master's status with these scents.

[Phaedra777]

This smelled to me like a very upscale perfume -- lots of florals. It was also an extremely intense scent.

 

It was lovely, but unfortunately one of the reasons I love BPAL is that most department-store cologne makes me sneeze my head off, and Lucretia is, from an olfactory standpoint, hanging out with that crowd. I gave it to my mother, 'cause it's a beautiful scent, just not one that my nose will tolerate.

[Chrysantza]

I swapped for an imp of this. Most of the ingredients (amber, musk, etc.) in it are usually good on me - but alas, once I applied it, Lucretia morphed into something that smelled like burning rubber doused with baby powder! Something in it went badly, badly sideways. A pity, since it smelled nice in the imp.

[Deiicide]

I read the glowing reviews and decided to plunge and buy a bottle unsniffed to see what it was like.

From the Bottle, Lucretia is dark and foreboding. There is definately the wood in there as well as the citrus. Neither really try to out do each other as all the rest of the notes are hiding.

As soon as the blend hits is applied to my skin, it morphs like most of the bpal perfumes do. It's wood, amber and the lovely citrus that I smelt in the bottle disappears.

The next 5 minutes as it dries is not really very pleasing to my nose. It's quite harsh, and old lady smelling. The wood and amber are trying to outdo each other in the battle notes to the death, there is a faint sweetness which I think may be the vanilla musk.

20 minutes later, the wood and the amber are starting to die down allowing the violet and musk to warm up the blend.

Drydown, it's the most wonderous sopfisticated Wanda that I think I've smelled. Its tempered sweetened woody violets. It kind of reminds me of an older sister of Wanda as like it's sister it stays close to the skin. It's perfect for studying, or when you just wish to treat yourself while you are alone. I'm glad I have a bottle but at times the beginning stages are a bit much for me to handle.