Danube

[Shollin]

Danube, from Wanderlust:

Rhododendron and bellflower petals swirl through deep, cool, dark aquatic notes.

 

The version I tried is a prototype.

 

First sniff: Ooh, nice. A very deep freshwater blue, cool and breezy on a cloudy day.

 

Wearing: Very fresh, and the blue is so deep it’s almost purple, floating through tree-shadows cast on the river’s surface.

 

A lovely cool wet scent that I suspect will get a lot of use while it's beastly hot.

[Aurelius]

Another freebie imp from the Lab. You guys are so wonderful. My first order--and you throw in some imps that have turned out to be even better than the ones I picked! Yay!

 

Danube is beautiful. I smelled a somewhat bitter note in the bottle, but once on my skin, it turned beautiful and flowery, with a water-y tone to it. This will probably be my "girlie" scent. It's so rich and lovely. I feel calm, beautiful, and cool.

[Countrymouse]

My very first review! I just received my first order this week and this was one of the freebies they so generously included. I'm sure my words won't do it justice, but here goes.

 

In the bottle, a very floral scent.

 

Once on, the floral scent becomes very cool, and crisp. The floral tones much lighter than they seemed in the bottle. It also lasted a long time. 12 hours later I was still being tantalized by this wonderfully cool, floral scent.

[paperdoll]

Initial Sniff: Very floral, very aquatic. Very nice.

 

Wearing: This smelled like watermelon Jolly Ranchers when first applied, but that quickly faded into a very pretty and breezy pool with flowers all around. This is cool and refreshing.

 

Final Impressions: This is another cool floral that I think is pretty but I know I will never wear. While BPAL has encouraged me to venture from my normal red and orange scents into greens and purples, blues and whites are still just not my thing.

[Ina Garten Davita]

This was one of the lovely throw ins from the lab.

 

First Impression: Cool, refreshingly so.

 

Second Impression: White water rafting down an icy cold river of freshly squeezed grapefruit juice and landing in a pool of deep blue water full of white blossoms floating around.

 

Final Analysis: This is very uplifting and delightful and not "me" at all. But I do keep sniffing at my wrist trying to decide whether to keep it or not. It's a very happy, bubbly scent.

Edited June 27, 2004 by andrabell

[fallow deer]

Yum. Out of an order of 24 imps, Danube jumped out and said, 'try me first!'. When I was a child, we had a peony growing in the garden, and my mother would sometimes cut a single flower and place it in a bottle green globe of a vase which matched the flower in shape and size. I would sit at the kitchen table and gaze at the velvety dark red petals against the cool green glass; Danube reminds me of those moments.

 

It's luscious, cool and mysterious and totally lovely.

 

Edited to add: after three hours, Danube has lost the initial crispness and has gone slightly cloying. Will have to try another day I think.

Edited June 28, 2004 by fallow deer

[ebonykawai]

In my opinion, this is a PERFECT water scent. Totally, completely blue. I ADORE THIS!!!

 

[Astarte]

This is very watery but with a very sharp bittersweet floral note, its very lush and you can almost feel the water gently lapping on the edge of the scent. I'm in two minds over whether I love it or like it though, I'll definitely use the imp though.

[Laurel the Woodfairy]

Just got this in a swap, and it is good but did not do what I expected--first it was citrus and sharp, then some sweetness came in; I thought of pink grapefruit. Then the floral came out and was sweet in a gardenia-like way. None of this sounds at all like the Lab description, but that's what it did on me! Great late-summer scent.

[Eris]

I was stunned at how much I liked this one, especially since it was an extra in my order. It must have appealed to the 'water' nature of my Scorpio sun and Cancer moon!

 

It has a very fresh scent, and while 'flowery' is definitely an appropriate adjective, it does not achieve that in a cloying, annoying way. The scent inspires images of blue/indigo swirled with white, like swiftly moving deep water. At times I swear the floral notes will turn soapy, but they pull back at just the last minute. The initial strength of this dies down on me pretty quickly--just a couple hours or so--but a faint, residucal fragrance lingers for the better part of the day.

[Donnababe]

First Sniff

 

Strong, cool florals.

 

Drydown

 

I don't have a cule about what these flowers are meant to smell like. It's not a warm, or sensual fragrance like jasmine can be, it's a sharper, crisper note. The aquatic feel is coming through strongly. At the moment it's bit overpowering, like the feeling you get in your nose if you sniff flowers a bit too closely.

 

After a While

 

Just the same but not quite so heady.

 

 

Final Verdict

 

Really not me. I'm afraid I 'do not do' aquatic scents at all, they're always sharp and brash on me.

[reina]

first on:

ooh! talk about POWER. this wafts very strongly, and it's very complex and watery, with a touch of citrus and more than a touch of floral. I thought it would be too much for me at first, but I'm glad I didn't wash it off.

 

3 and a half hours later, as I'm writing this, this faded into soft magnolias with - believe it or not - the smell of the silt on the riverbed. I smell the watery-ness still. very nice.

 

this gets an A+ for conveying the concept, and it's a lovely scent.

However, I'm not too sure it's exactly me. I'll be giving it another try.

Edited July 27, 2004 by reina

[grrrlennyl]

at first: this was an extra that was tossed in and it smells beautiful. definitely aquatic and a bit floral, but with a fruitiness (apple, perhaps?) to it. i can't wait to try it.

on: this is so refreshing. light and watery. the flowers smell really fresh. this is going to be a great summer scent.

1 hour later: it smells mostly like a really watery fruit. it's also a bit sweet and a bit floral.

2 hours later: still a wonderful balance of floral, sweet, and fruity. there's something slightly salty there, too.

3 hours later: still about the same. however, a bit more of that salty scent is coming through. i'm not sure if i like it.

overall: a nice scent, but not outstanding. i'll definitely use up my imp, but won't be getting another.

[sarabeegee]

Wow!!! I got an imp's ear of this, and it blew me away.

 

First out of the bottle, as another reviewer mentioned, there is a definite juicy pink grapefruity smell, which dried down into a fruity, watery flower and herby smell.

 

After I'd worn it awhile, the flowery scent morphed into a really green plant odor, that reminded me a bit of the old (Original) Clairol Herbal Essence. As I love all these different smells, I feel like I've found MY perfume. And Danube actually lasted more than a few minutes on my skin.

 

EUREKA!

[Vicious Mistress]

Imp: some strange fruit I don't recognize, and a slightly watery scent

 

On my skin/wet: dusty watermelon/raspberries? I don't recognize the notes, but it's a dusty fruit kind of smell

 

Drydown: Where'd it go??? I think I can still smell it. It's faint and watery, but truth told, I can't tell if there's anything still on my wrist, or if it's the Lightning I rinsed through my hair last night.

 

Hmmmm, will edit later if it comes back. So far it doesn't appear to have lasted 2 hours on my skin.

[malanna]

Like many others before me, this scent wasn't "me." In the bottle, it's a nice aquatic scent. However, when I apply, it gets very tangy. Pink grapefruit alert! The grapefruit mixes with the aquatic notes pretty well and, I'm thinking, is acting as ozone. I really expected a scent that would be like looking into the water when it's the sun isn't very bright and seeing deep, dark blue. However, the imager I'm getting is more along the lines of when you go sailing, and the sun is bright and glinting off the water, making it appear that there are little diamonds in the small waves.

[roisnoir]

I've had this in my imp box for a while - I tried it, liked it, and then forgot about it. Chose it today not-quite-randomly, and ohmy, am I glad I did!

 

It's wonderfully cool, sparkling blue. Grapefruity and not too sweet on me.

 

When I was wallking to the train, I kept getting these wafts of something marvelous, and thought it was the woman in front of me, but I kept smelling it when I was past her, and realized that it was ME!

 

Danube is getting moved from the back of the box where it's been hiding to the front, where the scents I wear most often are.

 

ETA: I put this on at 9 am, topped off at 3 in the afternoon, and it's past midnight now and I can still smell it. This is the longest lasting BPAL I've tried yet. I think I'm in love.

Edited September 1, 2004 by roisnoir

[lucytalk]

In the bottle: Strong, fresh, definitely blue and more watery than floral, cool

 

On: Danube doesn't really change on my skin and 8 hours later I could still detect the scent (although faintly). To me it is strongly rhododendron, it reminds me of part of my mother's garden where she had a massive red rhododendron and we used to sometimes sit in it's shade during the spring and summer. It's still got the watery 'blueness' which keeps it from becoming overly floral. It's fresh and a kind of clean scent, I've been using my imp to mix with hair conditioner to use after a work out at the gym and will buy a bottle at some point for this purpose - it's precisely the kind of clean fresh cool scent which is perfect for after a workout and shower and is also unusual and individual. I love this, even though I haven't liked other watery scents such as storm.

[Northernminx]

In the bottle: holy cow, deep blue swirling freezing water. Yippee!

 

On me: Oh Danube where hath thou gone? While the overtown of that lovely aquatic scent remains, the rest has faded into sweet and sticky...pink grapefruit. Citrus does wierd things with my chemistry, usually in the vein of over-riding everything else I'm wearing.

 

Sad sad sad. i want the smell from the bottle on me :sob:

[pkwench]

Danube

 

Vial: Tart and citrus-y. Grapefruit, I Think. Which is very interesting since there isn't any grapefruit listed.

 

Skin: We have grapefruit! No, it's changing now to a salty, fresh aquatic happening here. I'm liking this.

 

After 10: This is the best of cool, aquatic florals. It's sweet, but in a fresh way. Still almost fruity, but it doesn't have that overtly candyish sweetness to it. It's probably silly to say it, but smelling it is right now the olfactory equivalent of looking at Monet's Waterlily paintings. Well, the two I've seen anyway. It's colorful, dark, lush, wet, and sweet. I hope this doesn't turn because each smell of my skin where I've applied it causes me to curl my toes in delight.

 

After 20: This is still nothing but delight. It hasn't changed much from the ten minute sniff except perhaps to grow fuller and more lush in that wet, waterlily sweet way. I love this because it's sweet, but not cotton candyish, and floral without being soapy floral or generic old lady floral. It's just gorgeous. The small dab on my hand lifts my spirits and makes me feel pretty and, don't laugh, girlish in a way. Oh, the hills are alive. *sniffs self*

 

Also, I'm glad that I'm not the only one that initially smelled grapefruit here. I thought I'd popped a vital vein or something. LOL

[k00kaburra]

DANUBE: In bottle: Grapefruit and dandelion milk. (I'm guessing the dandelion milk might be the rhododendron, since I don't recall what that smells like, if I ever knew.) Very bright and refreshing.

 

On me: Danube makes me think of rushing water - not wildly crashing, nor lazily rolling along; a springtime river that hasn't swollen with floods but is pleasantly full of melted snow from the mountains. It's pleasantly aquatic, slightly floral, and a bit fruity. It's also a decent energizer too! My mind always feels a bit more alert and stimulated with a bit of Danube dabbed on.

[LiberAmoris]

Danube was a generous freebie from the lab and it absolutely knocked me off my feet.

 

I've been looking for an aquatic that would sit right with me and stun me the way that some of the resiny and darker blends have---and this, along with the Water of Notre Dame, fits that bill.

 

Danube for me is grapefruity, melony, with a tang of something in there that is riiiiight on the edge of being too much---it steps right up to that line and then backs off...and slowly melts away, leaving a shadow. The tangy note keeps it from being too sweet or too simple. It's plashy and fluid and bright, without drowning in the stock aquatic notes. It's just perfect.

[surf-tormented]

When I put this on, I got a whole Eagles vibe, "sweet summer sweat." Of course that was about the Hotel California and not the Danube. That phrase lingered in my head. It wasn't a bad scent either, a bit salty, but watery with a slightly soapy tone, like someone wet from a rainstorm as their soap seems to be reactivating yet you can also smell sweat. Soon after, a very citrus type scent took hold, almost like a salty lemon scent. I liked it though it was fading fast.

 

About 30 minutes later, this oil became very Irish Spring on me. Soapy but still aquatic. If fact, I washed my hands with Dial soap and I couldn't tell where the Dial started and the Danube ended. It is fresh, give it that. Something you could put on to trick people into thinking you had a nice shower in the morning. It's very clean smelling.

 

Two hours later, it was faint. Danube started to smell a lot like AIRS Angel Dreams oil, which I am not sure if AIRS makes that scent anymore, so this one might be a good sub for Angel Dreams once my bottle runs out. That oil is lilac and light floral based, so I wonder if any of the oils used in both of these are the same. Rhododendron and bellflower? Perhaps. I thought Angel Dreams was only pink and white lilac, but maybe it is other flowers as well.

 

I am trading this one since I have something close to it that is more floral and heck, if I want to smell like clean, wet soap I can use clean wet soap.

 

Danube always brings up this little poem my mom used to sing to me to the tune of the Blue Danube Waltz: "The Blue Danube Waltz by Strauss the louse, he lives in a house with Mickey Mouse." Of course, no one else seems to have heard of this, but me. Maybe my mom was special. She also liked that Hotel California song.

Edited December 3, 2004 by Madame Nyx

[magikfanfic]

In the bottle: Spicy, floral water. Water with a kick really but not like Undertow. This is a swiftly flowing river with flowers growing at the edges and...bright sunshine on the rocks.

 

Wet: The aquatic notes are most prominent. I feel like I'm wading through water and it surrounds me. There's the florals. I'm not sure what either bellflowers or rhododendron smell like so I cannot tell which one if more prevalent. I like whichever floral, or mixture thereof, that I can detect in this. It's a crisp scent. Very like a sunny day spent wading, picking flowers along the edge of a stream. Happy, blissful and full of picnics and laughter. It reminds me of something, some kind of food or scent that I vaguely recall from childhood but I am unable to discern what it reminds me of.

 

Dry down: Remains strong and...oh, it's that little garden in New Orleans that I used to escape to, the one behind the apartment building that was on the corner of our block. The one with the stone bench and the birds and the sunshine. We weren't supposed to play there, but the tenants let us anyway because no one in the building had children. I think they liked to hear us laughing. This is a beautiful scent. I really like it. It's very powerfully emotional for me, too. It smells like humidity and flowers in the air, spice.

 

Dry: Still strong and very powerful. Thankfully, I'm not allergic to it. So very much water in this. Such a strong aquatic presence with the florals to keep it grounded. I remember when it used to pour buckets (and sheets and pails and comforters as Jane and I used to say) and then the sun would come out and the scent of the flowers would mix with the rain. I don't know if the Danube smells like this, and I can't pick out any of the individuals florals. But this is my childhood in one scent. This is five years in the heat and humidity and the full awareness of New Orleans to me. I don't know if I'll wear it often, but the memory is powerful and this scent is lovely.

[pekeana]

Danube reminds me of why I usually don't like florals at all.

 

In the vial, it's all aquatic grassy florals.

 

On me, it's so bad that I can't stand it. I usually do aquatic notes well, so the problem isn't with that. One of the florals has morphed into a sour, sickeningly sharp scent that's making everyone in the house nauseated.

 

The verdict is that this is definitely not for me -- but the in-vial scent is lovely.