Magdalene

[Seismogenic]

A stirring yet gentle perfume. The scent of love and devotion mingled with an undercurrent of heart-rending sorrow. A bouquet of white roses, labdanum, and wild orchid.

Another Lab frimp - this is probably one I would have never picked out on my own, but I've also recently realized that I like labdanum a lot, so I'm hoping that note has as much say in this scent as the florals do.

In the imp: Orchid with a shot of labdanum. Not so much on the rose yet.

Wet on skin: Here comes the rose. It's not a smack you around rose, at least. It blends pretty subtly with the orchid. The labdanum is secondary to the flowers right now.

Drydown: Freshly dry, this has quickly become a rose-dominated scent. I can't really detect the orchid anymore, and the labdanum is little more than a darker edge to the rose. At one hour in, it's pretty much all soft rose.

Five hours later: Soft rose. There's the slightest slightest edge to it that could be the remnant of the labdanum, but I can't tell for sure.

End of the day: Still a little bit of rose.

Overall: Alas, my hopes for balance between labdanum and flowers did not come to pass. Magdalene is a pleasant rose, but that's pretty much all it is on me after the first few minutes. It is an unquestionably feminine kind of rose, too, which solidifies my thoughts that this is an oil better suited for someone other than me. Edited April 13, 2009 by Seismogenic

[topazphoenix]

This is a light, powdery, indistinct floral. It's pretty but rather unremarkable on my wrist.

[melrose]

From beginning to end, it's herbs on top of a smoky undercurrent. Pleasant, but fades quickly. I'm quite surprised that I didn't morph the rose to high heaven, as usually happens. From Magdalene, I didn't get even a hint of rose.

 

Not bottle-worthy on me.

[milo]

Not sure what is making this blend so very soapy on me, but it is straight hotel soap from wet to dry. A bit of rose peaks out, so it is really just a rose hotel soap. Ah well, can't like em all. Off to swaps.

[Veronica]

A pretty, but fairly unremarkable white floral on me. Nice, but not anything super.

[Ishtar]

I have such a conflicted relationship with Magdalene! I love each individual note in it, but I keep falling in and out of love with the way they combine in this blend. I am very picky when it comes to upgrading to 5ml, so obviously at some point I fell for it pretty hard... and then I spent the next few months wondering why.

 

There's no question that when it works, it works very well - soft, sophisticated, wistful... it is extremely pretty.

But then there are days like today when the early stages are nondescript wilting flowers, and the drydown is purely herbal, quite reminiscent of Arcana (which I love, but I enjoy the journey to the herbal drydown with Arcana much more than with Magdalene).

 

The schizophrenic nature of this blend is quite puzzling, really

Edited October 22, 2009 by Ishtar

[symphonyinsilence]

I'm a huge orchid lover so I decided to try my first non-commerical version of the scent. This one starts off smelling as strong as Tiger Lily but begins to mellow. Unfortunately all I get from this blend is the rose and the labdanum. There's an extremely faint note of some other floral towards the end, but it's way too faint to identify. Overall, it just disappears too fast. Hopefully Event Horizon won't let me down.

[Venneh]

In the imp, this is a really sharp floral, not sure what to think. On my skin, it's the same sort of thing, which I'm going to attribute to the laudanum. We'll give it time to see if the rose or orchid assert themselves. Well, the white rose asserts itself exclusively on the drydown, but between the sharpness and then the rose dominance, this just isn't working. Swaps/sales.

Edited November 28, 2009 by Venneh

[hmelt004]

I got this mostly for the name. I like orchid scents, dislike most rose one, and am not really sure what labdanum smells like. Wikipedia says that it's rockrose resin and smells like ambergris. I like ambergris. Magdalene is a fizzy bubbly sort of floral, much more complex than I remembered it being the first time I tested it. Rose doesn't gobble up everything else. This was in the "meh" imp pile, but now I'm going to give it another shot.

[angelicruin]

Very sharp rose after initial application. Softens a little as it begins to dry & become more green. Not really for me.

[cherrycherry]

I liked this one at first and then ended up hating it and having to swap. There was something very sour in the blend that made me feel queasy :/

Edited April 23, 2012 by cherrycherry

[DraloreShimare]

In the vial – Soft, sweet, and almost powdery smelling in the bottle.

 

On the skin – Strong, but still a soft scent. Very floral, very rich. Like being in a garden of blooming flowers.

 

Dry – This dries to a sweet powdery floral on my skin, very very soft. Seems to fade quickly on me.

 

[fairestrocza]

In the Imp: It must be the labdanum that is prominent, because I detect no white rose, and the orchid is present but not prominent.

 

Wet on Skin: A bit of the sour floral note that I get from orchids.

 

While Drying: decent throw, not too heady

 

After a Little While: A soft floral with a hint of sweetness.

 

Later: I would hardly characterize this as a floral at this point. It has a complex sweetness, and dries down to a lovely scent.

 

Final Thoughts: Rose and orchid are usually pretty iffy on me. I was surprised that these varieties worked so well.

Magdalene earns a 3.5/5 on my skin.

[reconditarmonia]

Starts out with an unpleasant green-resin smell which I guess is the labdanum, but in the drydown it's largely rose, and BPAL rose loves me. The orchid comes out after a while, too.

 

Wouldn't buy a bottle - it's not as nice as my other rose scent, London - but I'll finish my half-imp.

Edited August 15, 2010 by reconditarmonia

[countessmouse]

A tangy white floral, just on the edge of becoming powdery. I'm not getting much rose, just an indistinct white floral note. Very nice, but not a favorite.

[FathomBelow]

Magdalene starts off completely unbearable - acrid, green, and cologney. Since I know and love rose and orchid, I conclude that this must be the labdanum, which I've never smelled before. After it dries, Magdalene does a complete turnaround and morphs into...baby powder! Definitely not for me. But at least now I know to avoid labdanum!

[Suu4LC]

Whoooa floral. Very very floral. A resin-y white rose scent. Pretty but...may end up being a bit old ladyish?

 

Yep, on my skin it's indeed a resiny white rose scent. A little sour...but still pleasant. The resin grounds this and holds it together from being total floral doom. This actually dries down quite pretty-from far away I get whiffs of a mature (but not old lady-ish) sophisticated rose scent. It may be a bit too mature for me, considering I usually smell like baked goods or candy, but it really is quite beautiful. I have really been warming up to the lab's rose scents recently.

 

Overall, this is a very pretty, subdued resin white rose scent. Lovely and understated...gentle is a good way of putting it. Probably not something I would run out and buy (because there are a few other lab rose scents that really wow-ed me) but one I would absolutely recommend rose lovers sniff!

[CitizenBree]

A very sharp floral. Mostly rose but kind of a generic floral.

[DanaStodgel]

It immediately made me think of perfumed powder that my grandmother used to have on her vanity. It was strong in the vial and wet, but faded nicely.

[Balame]

In the Imp: STRONGLY green orchid.

 

Wet: Smoky and sharp, all labdanum, all the time! Almost verging on being alcoholic. The flowers contribute nothing except a vague green feel in the background. Oddly, it's not sweet. At all.

 

Dry: Dustry, dry, and alcoholic. Acrid, even. The florals do come out a bit more once it dries, but they're just barely there. Soft little whispers of sweetness in a barren landscape.

 

Overall: Very difficult to wear, and a little "old lady". Not very good, unfortunately.

[Rho]

I got frimped with Magdalene by a wonderful seller. I love roses and orchid, so I'm thrilled to give this a try!

 

In the imp: Green, herbal and bright. It's pretty generic; no specific note stands out.

 

Wet: Similar to the scent in the vial. A little hint of rose is rising, and I smell something piney/minty too.

 

Drying: The pine scent is settling into flower stems and losing its minty vibe. I can barely smell sticky roses and another element that must be orchid. This oil has a very bright overtone, but at its base it is warm and comforting. As other reviewers have said, it is not sweet. The throw is purely herbal on me.

 

Dry: Well... it's not terrible, but this isn't for me. This is mostly green, bitter stems and herbs on me. It just doesn't work out to be complex or pretty with my chemistry. I only get a hint of rose, though I can detect the orchid if I'm smelling from farther away. Unfortunately, the mix is just bland.

 

Overall: Just not for me, but happy to have tried it. 2/5

[rorygory]

In the bottle, what first strikes my nose is Magdalene's wonderful rose scent, one of my favorite notes. BPAL roses are really unpredictable, though- they can range from absurdly stuffy to hysterically shrill to utterly deranged. This is an unexpected BPAL rose, with a pleasant, rather "normal" floral roundness, a reasonable, refreshing greenness, and an unusual depth.

 

On first application, Magdalene has a sharp burnt note that reminds me of the off top notes of my vintage Le Galion Snob. There is something about these burnt chemicals hovering over an otherwise pleasant floral that I really love. It's like a synthetic rebelliousness, a shabby chic dress, the chaotic beauty of imperfection.

 

Magdalene then settles down into one of my favorite BPAL rose scents. Everything about the description is true: roses, orchids, labdanum; stirring yet gentle; love and devotion mingled with heart wrenching sorrow. The order of words is important here- it is first, love and devotion, then sorrow. The sweet, gorgeous floral notes are grounded by the labdanum, and it is the conflict between them that makes the emotion of this perfume so expansive.

 

It reminds me of Guerlain's Après L'ondée, which also has that expansive conflict. Après L'ondée is a play between wet, tearful florals: rose, iris, and heliotrope; and the grounding bouquet de Provence: thyme, rosemary, and sage. The result is revelatory: it is the shift from rain to sunlight, from tears to a smile.

 

Whereas Après L'ondée has a holy, transcendent quality to it, what I love about Magdalene is its shift, not to clarity, but to darkness. Après L'ondée's play between sorrow and hope seems to beg, to insist, to pray that hope will conquer. Magdalene, on the other hand, lets the darkness in, and the play between love and sorrow suggests that sorrow will win. The scent passively, but seductively, accepts this idea, and dries to a dark, rosy labdanum. The entire experience is sexy, complicated, emotional and beautiful.

[yakiguri]

Unfortunately the only good thing I can say about Magdalene is that it's one of the few rose blends where the rose doesn't amp to high heaven, causing immediate scrubbage. Unfortunately it's a little too soft, and smells like I just bathed with rose soap. There's an occasional green spike I recognize as labdanum. Orchid, where are you?

[whitsunweddings]

In the imp: Surprisingly herby.

Wet: Roses and are coming out and the whole thing is working nicely.

Dry: A somber and pretty floral.

[Magycmyste]

In the imp: There is something floral, sharp, and BITTER in here.

 

Wet on skin: Less bitter, more floral - the rose and orchid, I think. So, the labdanum's going bitter on me? I's never done that before.

 

Dried down: Same as wet. Less bitter, but still bitter.

 

Throw: Not much at all.

 

Verdict: ** I was expecting to like this more, from the notes. But I wasn't expecting something to turn completely bitter on me. Oh well.