Et Lux Fuit

[kuanyin]

At last, the light at the end of our three-month tunnel of misfortune. To commemorate this momentous occasion, we present a big ol’ bottle of sunny, happy, bounciness -- a golden blend with a celebratory feel, promoting joy, peace, and a sense of comfort and well-being: golden amber, heliotrope, vanilla musk, carnation, daisy and sunflower bouquet, neroli, lemon peel, ylang ylang and honeycomb.

Oh my! My first reaction to this was "Wow, not really my type." I put it on and it was uhh, OK. I wore it again and it was pleasant, though not something I would have bought if I had smelled it first. A third try today and ! It just worked!

I am not so great at distinguishing notes anyway, and I smell: perfume. Expensive perfume. Expensive perfume that I like. I sense amber, daisy, carnation and maybe ylang ylang and/or sunflowers rather than actually smelling them. I don't have a froggin clue what heliotrope smells like. I do not get honey, musk or vanilla. Really I just get beautifully blended golden summer.

For me the throw was quite ample for 2-3 hours and the scent lasts 5 hours or more in a milder way. Which is about typical for a bpal scent that works for me.

[nightbird]

in the bottle, and when it's freshly applied, this scent is absolutely beautiful: it's golden and warm. however, after it's had a chance to settle down on my skin, it reminds me of a cleaning product. noooo!

 

edit: I didn't wash it off last night, wondering if the scent would morph.. and it did, into a warm golden vanillaish scent. yum! so the wet stage is beautiful, and the drydown is beautiful, but the in-between stage is not so appealing. I will have to experiment with this scent a little bit to determine if I want to keep it or swap it.

Edited August 22, 2006 by Nightbird

[nevermore]

I'm glad I swapped for a decant of Et Lux Fuit - the note listing didn't appeal to me, so I didn't order any. Initially, it reminds me a lot of Alice, though less creamy. As it dries, the florals come out more. They're not perfumey florals, but more what you would smell in someone's flower garden. I get a touch of citrus too, but not as much as I was expecting from the listed notes. ELF is a perfect summer scent, or (I would imagine) for the dead of winter when you haven't seen the sun in months. I'm definintely going to keep it around, and possibly track down a larger bottle.

[jenleigh]

Beth, honey?

 

How did you manage to bottle summer so perfectly?

 

The best description I can think of for this is "summer in a bottle". It's all sunlight and flowers and warm air. I'm getting lots of the heliotrope, daisy, and ylang-ylang, with some warmth coming through from the vanilla and amber.

 

And I love it. I absolutely LOVE it. This has immediately jumped to my favorites list.

[crescentmoon]

I'm not quite sure how I feel about ELF. This is only my 2nd BPAL scent.

 

It initially gave me the same reaction as a previous poster - male deodorant. It is pretty powerful on me. As the dried, it smells like a vanilla musk. I really enjoy how it smells after a few hours on, but while we're getting there, it smells a bit like male deodorant mixed with flowers.

 

It's not a scent I would usually like, but I found myself loving it after it dries. I got a bottle as a freebie from my first purchase ever. (Can you believe that? How sweet!)

 

I'm not sure if I'll keep it forever, but I'll give it a try.

 

*phew* And so ends my first review!

 

Edited: Mm. Decided it isn't for me. It's just too "man's deodorant" on me. Darn body chemistry! By the time it hits the smell I like, it's almost faded away.

Edited August 26, 2006 by crescentmoon

[blackfelicula]

In the bottle: This is definitely golden and sunny. It’s not showing up as either a floral or a resin, though it’s got both in there.

 

Wet: Bright and beautiful. It is a glorious blend of citrus, sweet, resinous, and floral scents.

 

Drying down: Once in a while the honey peeks through and makes me grin wider. The blend is almost a promise of good things to come. I tend to be watchful for impending soapiness on blends with flowers in them, but so far, so good.

 

Dry: My skin amps the sweetness, which is just fine to me. It’s still a great blend, with different notes piping up at different times.

 

Later: I keep on sniffing – nose-to-wrist, and further away. Mmmm. Nothing like a bright perfume on a grey day! After a while longer my skin amps up the vanilla and honey. It’s still a gorgeous scent. I’m glad I bought a bottle.

[sophia_helix]

A "high," sweet, perfumy scent at first... and then the vanilla-musk slaps me hard. After a long time it fades, and I get that nice, oily, dry scent of daisies and carnations, like Fee minus the honeydew, but at this point the throw is practically nothing. Another vanilla-musky scent that's not for me, alas.

[Ajila]

In the bottle - Bright yellow, orange peel and neroli.

 

Wet on me - Vibrant warm and yellow - the notes are indistinct on me, but there is a sense of pollen.

 

Dry on me - The ylang ylang and honey take over in a manner similar to O.

 

Overall - The dry down isn't really me, but the brightness of the earlier phases rocks my world, a real pick me up blend.

[Aredhel]

Rating (on skin): 2/5

Summarised in a word or two: Soap.

 

Pre-review thoughts: I'm hoping for a amber-y vanilla musk. I'm not sure what I'll actually get, though.

 

In the imp: Hmmm. A little musky, but nothing beyond that.

 

On skin, wet: Amber, musk, daisy, lemon and... ylang-ylang. Evil, cruel, blend-ruining ylang-ylang.

 

On skin, dry: Ylang-ylang and... soap. Hmm. I'm not sure what note's my skin is turning into soap, but that's exactly what it smells like. Flowery, golden, faintly musky soap.

 

Conclusion/Notes: Alas, ETF and I are not to be.

[bicyclette]

I got this with my CT order and in the kerfuffle I never bothered testing it. Sniffining it in the bottle I was kind of "Meh" and set it aside for swaps. I pulled it out today for a test at last, and I love this. No swaps for ELF! It's all mine.

 

In the bottle: Lush, densely floral, almost fruity. It's very complex; I can't pick out the individual notes.

 

Wet on skin: Golden, powdery amber and carnation spice. I love carnation; it adds that extra oomph to blends. It's sweet and a bit citrusy- must be the lemon peel- and actually reminds me a bit of Moxie in that respect. Someone else upthread mentioned pollen- that's dead on. It's pollen-powder, not baby powder.

 

Drydown: The sweet florals fade into the background and the honeycomb emerges. This dries down to a soft vanilla-honey on me. Gorgeous and summery. I'll pull this out when it's wintery outside and I need a pick-me-up, not that that happens too often in Texas...

[pkwench]

Long ago, in the days of yore when the wench was a wee wenchlet in the making, I used to be a Girl Scout. (Mother was worried I was anti-social, I think.) The great thing about being a Girl Scout was camp. We'd go away for two weeks to this densely wooded hunk of land with a lake on one end and a road on the other. It was so isolated that it must have been creepy for the girls that didn't like outside. When we'd hike, we'd go far into the woods. The sun was a far away thing, barely peeping through the intertwining branches of trees. And, then, a meadow would open up, or a dried up riverbed would cut through the trees, or the woods would give way to the lake and suddenly, there was the sun and light again. Warm, yellow, and opening up into a bright shining space after the dense cloister of trees.

 

Et Lux Fuit reminds me of that feeling. I remember one time coming out of wood trail on hell's glue-nag into the sort of meadow that you'd see in a western, weeds up to my knees on the horse, buzzing dragonflies, flowers, green things and sun, sun, sun, and more sun. THis is that feeling. Smelling it feels just like that. The scent is bright light over greenery and flowers, with that vanilla musk undertone. I feel like the butterflies must be about to come fluttering by any minute.

 

In short? This is some seriously happy shit.

Edited September 4, 2006 by pkwench

[Natch]

in the bottle: very sunny and golden. Complex florals... a little sharp, but very cheerful smelling.

 

wet: warmer. Very fresh, light, sunny florals. Something slightly bitter underneath.

 

dry: bright, pretty, sweet, and sunny, but it just sort of fades away into my skin. After a while, what's left gets more bitter and kind of reminds me of the generic perfume smell you get when you open a new magazine. Alas.

 

overall impression: Meh. This is decent on me, but I'm not in love and since it is kind of week and generic, I just can't see myself wearing it much when there are so many scents that are so much better on me. Florals were never really my favorite anyway. I may give it another few tries, but most likely my bottle of ELF will be finding a new home.

 

B

[Chrysantza]

I bought this because I liked the ingredients, plus the concept. I was not disappointed.

 

This smells like the distillation of a lovely golden late summer/early fall day. Warm and spicy with an undercurrent of dried grass and daisies. The perfect pick-me-up scent.

[BrightRedScream]

I really don't know what to say about this scent..

It's glowing.

It's happy.

It strikes me as "yellow"...

I wear it and I feel GOOD.

It's a real pick me up.

 

Pretty pretty pretty!

So glad that I bought this bottle

 

I will have to make a point of wearing it in the winter to remind me of spring and summer..I think it actually might be able to help combat those blahs.

[cabinwench]

Fits the description very well. Bright, sunny--I'm getting orange peel and cloves instead of the lemon peel--carnations may be what my nose is interpreting as "cloves?" That was in the bottle. On skin, more spicy bright citrus with spice. Amber and something else (maybe ylang ylang?) is emerging. Odd--it smells a bit different on each wrist. Maybe it's because I usually haave my left wrist on my gel wrist pad in fromt of my keyboard and it's retaining a lot of wrist scents.

 

This is a pick-me-up, "make the day brighter" smell. Good for late summer heading into autumn. Mood lifter.

 

15 minutes into drydown and I'm still not getting much, if any, honey. Love the notes I do get, though.

 

I would wear this anywhere (work or play) but in the daytime. If I would able to take my nose off of my wrist.

 

Aptly named and lovely concept. This is a keeper.

[Concupiscentia]

I like this one a good deal. Morocco is one of my faves and this is similar: creamy, floral, sweet and spicy. The difference is that Morocco is dusky pink and Et Lux Fuit is golden yellow. A very sunny, feminine and lovely scent.

[theseagrows]

i think i am mostly getting the ylang ylang, honey comb and vanilla musk. it was a bit citrussy at first, but that faded very quickly. it is a very soft, golden scent- like a honey-floral with a powderiness to it. it's pretty, but since i am not a big fan of honey or ylang ylang, and those are prominent on my skin, i don't think i'll keep this one.

Edited September 25, 2006 by theseagrows

[Reedsong]

Dammit, Et Lux. Why? Why did you have to do this to me?

 

I virtuously avoided Et Lux Fuit for weeks, laughing at the description because I hated about half of the notes used in the fragrance. Hell, I remember being so smugly relieved at that update because I didn't want any of the scents, and my wallet breathed a big sign of relief.

 

But I had to admit, I was curious. There was honey in it! Everyone said it was 'yellow'-scented! (Like my beloved Nihil...) It had a Latin name!!

 

Finally, I broke down and swapped for a half-imp, using my F5 logic: "I'm going to hate this, so I simply must try it!"

 

*breaks down weeping* I loved it! *sobbing in shame* I hate being wrong.

 

Et Lux Fuit is creamy honey golden goodness. It's mildly sweet with a decent throw; I can smell it, but it's not overwhelming. So lovely and elegant! It smells sweetly luxurious and opulent, the kind of fragrance I'd like to wear with a pretty dress or to a formal event.

 

However, since the French verb "fuir" means "to flee," I will always think of this scent as "And the Light Flees." Which is much more in keeping with the dark BPAL image anyway.

[shellyshells]

Et Lux Fuit:

 

Hm, I love every stage of this blend and fortunately this is a floral that doesn't turn to soap on me.

 

Its citrusy and I smell sunflower + carnation most on my skin. After awhile it turns into a gorgeous creamy, slightly powdery, and glows with the vanilla musk in the background.

 

Overall, I just love this bright and sunny blend.

[QueenFae]

This is one of my all time favorite amber blends! Gorgeous, just beautiful in all it's golden glory. It's so beautifully blended it is almost difficult to pick out individual notes, but I think on my skin the dominant notes are amber and ylang ylang. The florals in this blend are strong, but not overwhelmingly perfumey or powdery, and they are such a beautiful compliment to the vanilla/amber tones. It almost has a hint of bubble gum to it. This is so lovely, I cannot say enough good things about this blend. I'm soo glad I got a bottle!

[supremegoddessofall]

Mmm! I like this one! Vanilla florals! Yummy! Not getting lemon or amber so much.

 

Score: 4 out of 5

[Deiicide]

All I'm really getting from sniffing this, to applying it, to trying it upon my skin is vanilla lolipops. Seriously, there is a hint of citrus but somehow my skin likes to amp the golden amber I think. I would of liked a bit more bite with the blend but it definately feels like summer. Perhaps would be using it as a room scent.

[Tess]

Three notes were enough to draw me in: vanilla musk, carnation and lemon peel. Now, if the amber can keep it together and the sunflower keeps calm, we'll have a real winner on our hands.

 

In the vial - Guuuuh, this smells so good I could drink it! The lemon is there and is completely real, blending in lovely ways with the musk and the heliotrope and amber. The florals just spice it up a little, with the carnation in the foreground.

 

Wet - Lemon and carnation are there like pow!

 

Drying - It always take my skin a moment to start pumping out the musk and the amber, so I can literally smell it coming out as the moments pass. All I can say so far: if I believed in heaven, this would be its scent. The throw is staying close to my skin right now and has a significant sunflower/lemon peel feel, but it's just lovely none the less.

 

Dry (1 hour) - Something about the way these notes combine reminds of me honeydew melon. One covered in amber. I realize it's the neroli that's probably doing it to me, but still.

 

Overall - It doesn't seem to stick around for long, but it's LOVELY. I should have picked some up earlier, darn it!

[salamandrina]

Ok...Let me start by saying that today kinda sucks - I overslept, and traffic was awful, and I have a terrible, dizzying sinus headache.

 

For once - I don't really care. I slapped on some Et Lux Fuit this morning (and the cute little rollerball it came in made me squee, too), and it was like walking outside during the golden hour.

 

Something in this smells like Aunt Caroline's Joy Mojo and White Light to me - that bubblegummy, sweet floral. It makes me very happy to have that scent wafting around.

 

During the drydown, I just get warm, vanilla-y amber.

 

Lovely! I wish all the florals hadn't frightened me away when it was live.

[PilotKitten]

In the bottle this is just pure sunshine. Very bright and cheery. Full of warmth and happiness. A definite pick-me-up type of scent. I can definitely pick out heavier citrus overtones over a smooth creamy floral bouquet. A great frottle in my order to end my 3 month long wait for my largest order ever (and then some).