Black Dahlia

[Ohmaude]

Voluptuous magnolias strewn over orchid, star jasmine, black amber and smoky rose.

I love rose and jasmine, but they can be dangerously amped notes that overwhelm. With this scent, they temper each other, and play fair with the orchid, magnolia and amber. This is incredibly well blended.

What it becomes is a very feminine and sexy floral. Not a sunshine and brassy floral, Black Dahlia has a touch of sweetness and sophistication, and a touch shy. This is what black lace underthings should smell like. Lovely.

eta: Alas, the Magnolia eventually shifted this to soap territory. I don't know what I did to Magnolia, but we do not. get. along. I was really digging this too. Sadness. Edited October 6, 2008 by Ohmaude

[BelladonnaBarbie]

This is not for me. I love florals, and although I can't remember whether I ordered this one or it was an extra, from the description, I'd guess it was the former. Unfortunately, this does really weird stuff on my skin. I definitely get the sharp, high florals right off the bat, it almost comes off as soapy. The worst part, though, is that in addition to that, it smells like cigarette smoke. Now, considering the feel that this blend evokes, if it weren't on my skin that might be kind of cool. But it is on my skin! It smells like floraly, old woman-ish bath soap that a smoker tried to use to cover up their little habit. Hey, at least I got a creative image out of it.

Edited September 28, 2008 by BelladonnaBarbie

[vikitty]

This is a lovely floral but this one is just too strong on me. I think if you like deep florals with that smokey tinge, this is great for you -- but not for me!

[Iceblink]

Loads of flowers! Weirdly, I don't get rose from this--it's all magnolia and orchid and a little jasmine (which means in a few hours it'll be a LOT of jasmine). Smells like a southern flower garden in the heat of summer. I'm afraid it'll be soapy eventually but while it lasts the magnolia/orchid stage is gorgeous.

[kerickson]

In the vial: Very cool, soothingly sugary floral at first sniff. I like it and feel that it is very promising.

 

On me (dry): Applied to wrists. Still sugary sweet and fresh as I apply it. As soon as it dries down, the floral blend strengthens. Well... it doesn't just strengthen, it explodes. I can definitely smell jasmine in there and it reminds me of Sacred Whore of Babylon... which I did not like. Jasmine seems to overpower whatever blend it's in. I can still smell the magnolia and orchid in there, but faintly. We'll see if the jasmine overtakes everything in a little while. And umm... I don't know who might agree, but I actually, although they are breathtakingly gorgeous... orchids smell like butt to me. Also, where are the amber and rose notes? I don't detect them at all amongst the jasmine, magnolia, and orchids.

 

After a while: The floral remains pleasant but this scent doesn't last very long on me. It soon fades to just about nothing. However I do like it when it becomes more delicate after about an hour.

 

Verdict: 6/10. Overall a very enticing and pleasant scent, but I'm not a fan of the orchid notes and I'm kind of bummed that more of the amber and rose didn't show up on me. I am very impressed that the jasmine didn't overpower everything, and for once I enjoyed it.

Edited October 19, 2008 by Babel

[jade_starlight]

As much as I want to love this one because of the name, on my skin it's jasmine, jasmine and more jasmine. With just a bit of jasmine for diversity. *shakes head*

[hlinspjalda]

In the vial: Magnolia and jasmine, but sweet instead of headachy.

 

Wet: The jasmine amps, of course. But it's still not headachy, so that's good. Sweet, a little languid.

 

Twenty minutes: Mostly jasmine. Pungent but not headachy, and there's a pleasant sweetness underneath. I'm guessing this is going to be a near miss.

 

One hour: Awww, this one has curdled. Fail.

 

I don't know what caused that; normally I'm good with all those notes. Oh, well.

[Argentwolf]

The magnolia and jasmine blend really nicely, creating a sweet floral effect. There is a hint of rose there, as well. I don't get any amber at all...nothing but florals, here. For me, it falls in along the lines of Bathsheba, and Sacred Whore of Babylon...so if you like those scents, give this one a try, too.

[Andrea912]

Imp: amber, rose, and orchid; floral but dark and smoky...

 

Wet: ew; white floral; maybe that's the rose? old lady panties...

 

Dry: still floral, but softer

[kamikat]

Ugh! Why did I order this?!?! I love jasmine on the plant and keep ordering jasmine scents hoping to find one that smells like my plant. It just doesn't do well on my skin. In the imp, I got hints of the other notes, but once it hit my skin, it turned in to JASMINE!!!!!!. Now, all I smell is old lady perfume.

[Suu4LC]

In the imp this is super dark smoky JASMINE. Jasmine haters beware-the jasmine is front and center!

 

Yeah, on my skin this is like 99.9999% JASMINE. A more smoky jasmine, with a hint of magnolia, but way super uber jasminey.

 

Yep, smoky jasmine all the way through. Jasmine lovers-try this, jasmine haters-stay away. I like jasmine, but I like it more in the background and not so quite up front, so this blend is a pass for me.

[donnatron]

Bottle: Warm magnolia, jasmine and a dark sort of fuzzy scent that could be the amber or the rose.

 

Wet: I think this might have white rose in it. The initial wet stage is fairly sour on my skin and it smells a lot like Magdeline and Parlement of Foules do on me. White rose is really not great on me. However, the rest of the ingredients are winners and it rapidly acquires a warm, humid jasmine-magnolia top note over the amber. I really can't smell the orchid.

 

Dry: The jasmine and magnolia continue to dominate. This is a beautiful blend. A warm, humid, southern floral that is both true to the floral scents and skin close and sexy. I can definitely see how this is chemistry dependent, and the amber at times sort of battles the other two star ingredients to make it unpalatable. After about half an hour the florals win the battle for dominance and this is certified gorgeous.

 

Throw: Coy. You have to be up in my grill in order to get a whiff (I, being the sort to say "Up in my grill" am clearly not coy so I guess it's good camoflauge).

 

Overall: Well... I have a bottle, so I guess that's a sign that I totally dig this blend. So many of my favourite florals are cool and distant while this is so sultry, warm and sensual. It's a lovely blend and well worth any weirdness that migth result during the drydown.

[cleske]

Sigh. I always want to love perfumes with rose, but they never love me. This blend ended up being a strong, confusing garden show; fairly unpleasant and I think it's my chemistry's doing. I had to wash it off and I feel like I didn't give it a fair go, but I really couldn't stand the sharpness of it.

Edited May 3, 2009 by Charlene

[TheOneTheyCallLuna]

This is too floral for me. I just...no...I can't. I'm just not enough of a floral girl to pull this one off. Jasmine, magnolia, and orchid represent the floral trifecta of death on my skin and this blend contains all three. My chemistry is just not amenable to this blend unfortunately.

[March]

Generous frimp from the lab!

 

On me, this is an overwhelming, sweet floral. And my nose rather hates florals. Off to someone who digs the flower-attack!

[liquidtrance]

A smokey floral at first? Develops into a cleaner floral, as opposed to more stereotypical perfume floral to me. Starts getting an almost cool (relatable to cucumber?) back note. Overall, a little more floral than I prefer.

[LizzyLies]

It started off smelling insanely clean on my skin, and then the smoky rose crept up and brought the amber and jasmine along with her. Admittedly, I've already got a lot of floral scents, but I'll definitely be using the imp from time to time since the scent makes me think of someone who looks innocent, but has a mysterious, ask-not side.

[zankoku_zen]

This one is a creamy rose and jasmine blend. It's prettier than I thought. Definitely darkly evocative, like the perfume of a 50s femme fatale.

[anna1850]

Dark floral. Reminds me a tiny bit of something like Nyx but without the myhrr. Also slight soapy.

 

2.5/5 Not for me.

[tajana]

A sharp stab of disheartening jasmine, acrid and powdery, and a whiff of something weirdly sweet and pink. But soon, the scent is replaced by sultry, lush magnolias and orchids! It's a luscious, full-bodied, and almost velvety floral scent, but the jasmine sneaks back around the edges, threatening to turn nasty. In the end, it was the rose that leaped out of nowhere to do me in, with its powdery black amber accomplice, to turn this perfume into a mess of sour, stale powder. I loved the brief moments of magnolia and orchid, but this turned into something I couldn't stand to keep on my skin. Drat.

[topazphoenix]

I was expecting the Jasmine to hate me in this blend, but what do you know. It's actually kind of gorgeous with the rose, magnolia, and underlying amber balancing it all out. It's definately floral, but not overwhelmingly so. Very elegant.

[Diva Urd]

In the imp, I get a sweet, smoky floral. They weren't kidding when they wrote "smoky rose" - it has an almost incense-y undercurrent!

 

On me, I get smoky magnolia in the foreground. The other flowers don't show up much at first. Upon drydown, the magnolia does allow for some of the other floral notes to come play and eventually blends with them. An almost leafy-green quality seems to mingle with the background smoke, lending a smidge of sharpness to the blend. After complete drydown, the rose is starting to assert itself more, although it for once does not drown out the other notes or the lovely smokiness.

 

Three hours later, this is primarily smoky rose with the other florals in the background, but impressively, it's still not powdery.

 

This is pretty nice. I don't know yet whether I'll want a bottle in the future, but the imp will stay with me for further consideration.

[redderz]

In the imp, what I think is magnolia, but I can't be certain.

 

On my skin: JASMINE. HELLO. I also get rose, but my skin seems to amp rose.

 

It's nice, but I think the rose is putting me off. Why does my skin have to love rose when I don't?

[NoinHime]

Oooohhh... This... is... BEAUTIFUL.

 

I am so bad at picking out individual floral scents but this is a wonderful deep, dark, sexy, floral. It has a lovely retro/old hollywood feel, as it should.

 

I definitely want a bottle of this!

[ouch!]

This starts out as a kind of sweet jasmine not the overpowering kind. The rose is there too and it's pleasant but nothing amazing yet.

 

The jasmine has moments of trying to take over completley on drydown but that doesn't happen thankfully.

 

Then the smells all come together to form a soft, sweet floral with the jasmine behaving nicely.

 

Nothing to write home about with this one. Sorry. There are MUCH nicer florals out there!