I Died For Beauty

[sadtomato]

The Venusian splendor of ylang ylang and violet stirred by hyssop, frankincense, and grave loam.

couldn't resist an imp of this as an old lit/writing major and dickinson fan.
in the imp i really didn't smell much of anything...a very, very slight floral fragrance, almost too light and delicate to detect.
on my skin wet it was also very light, delicate and floral.
once it dried, it turned slightly mossy and green, with the delicate florals in the background.
overall, a very lovely fragrance, but a little too delicate for my tastes.
i'm gonna use up the imp, though

[tehriaz]

WHOA?

 

I'm getting straight sweet thai iced tea. this is totally awesome! mmm...

[voodoocatwoman]

In the imp: Violently violet (smells like candy from the 60s)

 

Wet: Violet and ylang ylang

 

Dry: It's gone a bit sharp. I can still detect the violet but whatever the sharp note might be is messing with the violet goodness and turning the whole thing into Avon dusting powder.

[savage_rose]

Moody, moping violet. That's it...there were other notes in the imp, but violet seems to have eaten them all. Maybe she's moping because of a stomachache. Too bad I'm not crazy about violet.

[taramarie]

On me, I Died for Beauty seems to be frankincense, hyssop, and ylang ylang over a little bit of violet, no grave loam anywhere. It doesn't have much throw, but up close, it's almost like a darker, more sophisticated version of Exclamation. Granted, I haven't worn Exclamation in years, so my memory of it is probably fuzzy. Still, this is a very nice scent.

[plunderparlour]

powdered violets-wet

powder-dry this isn't good on my skin.

[galahad]

In The Bottle

Really nice in the bottle like candied violets

 

On Application

Violet and ylang ylang

 

Dry Down

The ylang ylang pulls back a little leaving a scent that is a little generic and a little air-fresher like. No grave loam but it is kind of dusty. I kind of like it but it isn't something I would wear.

 

Rating (0-5)

3

[iiinterstate]

Wet: I get a lot of violet straight off the bat, which is hit or miss on me depending what its blended with.

 

I think ylang ylang is a miss .

 

Looooots of flowers and a hint of frankincense, and its very strong and SHARP. I don't get any grave loam which is a disappointment. Oh well.

[clawsight]

I seem to be one of those lucky people who ylang ylang likes the skin chemistry of -- and this scent is a testament to it.

 

In the imp: Ylang ylang! With a floral (violet I think) and this sweet, dark yellow sort of scent that I'm supposing is the hyssop, a bite that must be the frankincense, and the faintest hints of the grave loam mentioned. There are definitely two florals here, but, I cannot for the life of me tell which one is hyssop and which is violet as I don't have a clue what those scents smell like on thier own.

 

Wet: Violet (think -- it might be the hyssop!) , ylang ylang, and frankincense... but even now the grave loam is starting to amp, and mystery floral #1 is starting to fade. Mystery floral #2 is sweetening things up. I snuff, and then I go 'Curious'. That's the type of scent this is.

 

Dry: This scent is complex, and feminine, but not too feminine. It's the scent of petticoats over combat boots if that makes any sense. My body amps the sweet smell and the loam to the level of the ylang ylang while the frankincense dies down. It's not a tom boy scent -- rather it's very Girl With A Gun*. Feminine, sexy, and yet dangerous, tough, and with a light dusting of dirt in her hair.

 

4.7 out of 5 petticoat covered combat boots.

 

This one might end up being one I need a bottle of.

 

*Or Girl With A Dirt Bike. Take your pick.

[Seismogenic]

This was a frimp in my second ever Lab order, and while I probably wouldn't have ever picked it out on my own due to the florals, now that I have it, I have to say I'm intrigued by the loam note, and the poetry basis.

 

In the imp: Soft florals mixed with something herby/earthy.

 

Wet on skin: The spicier/herbier notes - frankincense and hyssop, I assume - really take the fore here, though there's a tiny bit of violet if I think about it. I don't know what ylang-ylang smells like, so I couldn't tell you if it's there or not, but I'm pretty sure there's no loam yet.

 

Drydown: Freshly dry, there's something floral that isn't violet that's coming out; I'll assume that's the ylang-ylang. This is still over that resiny/spicy backdrop. At an hour later, I'm getting something that I will assume is loam, since it is dusty and not particularly plantlike. The entire scent has already faded significantly, though the florals have faded further relative to the other notes.

 

Five hours later: This almost smells salty now, with maybe a little resin left. I'm confused by this! There is not supposed to be saltwater of any sort in here!

 

End of the day: Still salty. I'm still confused!

 

Overall: I am honestly baffled by this shift to vaguely resiny salt at the end. I want to know what my skin chemistry thinks it's doing, since there is no salt involved in this blend! The resins and flowers were nicely balanced in the beginning, and the freshly dry scent or the in-imp scent both are suited to the poem, if you ask me. But due to the weird salt thing, I can't really wear this.

[Sapphiremo0n]

This is one Strong Lady, very definatly a feminine scent, a highly sophisticated Lady at that. In the imp she smells flowery and very classic perfume-esque. (oddly enough reminded me of my mother's old Oscar that I had given her as a small child)

I put her on (one tiny drop from the imp stick spread between two wrists and both sides of my throat) and I smell ylang ylang and hyssop with a twinge of frankinscence and violet. The violet and frankinscence quickly go in to hiding.

Twenty minutes and she is still strong enough to be smelled from across the cubicle isle. Talk about your powerful Floral. I won't say it is a bad thing, it just isn't my taste.

 

While this scent is not for me, it would make a great gift for my mother, I think.

 

Now after 45 minutes it has turned into Play-Doh. Crud and Fudge! Luckily it was a Frimp to begin with so I've lost nothing, but gained a 'Do Not Want' lesson. Ah well, Tomorrow's another day.....back to the testing board.

[juniperus]

bottle: violet and hyssop, but subtle

wet: the same, but sweeter (almost-but-not-quite syrupy)

dry: ylang ylang sweetness, hyssop backed away, violet taking charge. not a hint of the frankincense

later: it's almost all ylang ylang, with the barest hint of violet. I amp ylang ylang, so... bugger.

[Lethran]

In bottle: Strongly shampoo floral with incense. Wet: I’ picking up some vaguely chemical overtone. It takes a little while for the loam to come out. When it does, it does something quite pleasant with the frankincense and violet, but the effect is a bit weird. I think the ylang ylang and hyssop aren’t quite working with the rest on my skin and the whole things a bit too floral for me anyway. Clearly, not a good choice with my skin chemistry, but no bar to it working for someone else. Dry: Goes dry and vaguely rank and almost sandalwoodlike. I have no clue why, but it does.

[Iceblink]

I love this--the violet is so strong and true! It's a very dark violet, not overly floral. I tend to love ylang-ylang as a note even though it's hard to put a finger on what it smells like, exactly, so I'm just going to give it credit for making this smell so great. Gorgeous.

[lilirose]

This is another one I tried before checking what was in it. Oops.

 

In the imp: sweet floral. Could be pretty.

 

On skin, wet: For a few minutes, it’s unspeakably beautiful, transcendent floral.

 

On skin, dry: OMG no, this is ylang-ylang. It had so much promise and then it just suddenly turned into nothing but ylang-ylang, which is one of the few notes I can’t bear.

 

Verdict: I Died For Beauty broke my heart. If only it held up to its original promise.

[djsiberia]

wet/imp: baby powder, violets....mostly baby powder.

 

not really my thing. i had such high hopes to like this one too.

 

*sigh*

[ouch!]

This is such a morpher, for the first minute or two this is a sharp sort of smell and I can smell mainly Ylang Ylang and Frankincense.

 

But when it dries it does a complete 180 and goes into this incredibly feminine, ultra soft powdery floral that's like violet, but not normal violet, this is like vanilla dusted violet.

It reminds me of my mums powder puff from when I was a child. The smell of that was the softest light powder with a vanillary floral. THIS IS IT!! Which makes me think cool, such a good coincidence of the beauty/make up/perfume thing-a-ma-jig.

 

I was expecting something very different from this due to there being grave loam in it and frankincense.

 

It's really really pretty but there will be no 5ml for me, this is more suited to an elegant older lady, or someone who wants to feel very girly and feminine...

[jehrichardson]

Just smells like floral perfume. Not extraordinary in the slightest.

 

Pleasant, floral, heady (ylang ylang), sweet. The herbal note is a lovely touch, but still...

 

Meh.

Edited December 17, 2008 by j4r

[batsy]

In the vial: The first word that came to mind was "frothy". I assuming that was the grave loam. There's also frankincense.

 

On the skin: I don't do so well with florals; they're really hit-or-miss for me. It reminds me very much of sprays of flowers at a funeral, I'll give it that. The ylang ylang is screaming at me the more it dries down, with a not-so-subtle dollop of violet. The more it dries, the more it reminds me of old ladies' perfume. My great aunt's perfume, actually. May keep it for nostalgia purposes but I can't wear it.

[MCS4096]

I don't get any loam out of this per say.. but on me it is exactly like a cross between Bruised Violet Compound and Violet Ray. The violet note (which perhaps has ylang ylang mixed in in Violet Ray too?) is spot on between the two. And the slightly mossy/patchouli like note is spot on from Bruised Violet Compound. That said, I do really like it, but since I have big bottles of the other two I'm not sure I'd get a bottle of this.

[toomuch]

This was a frimp. At first I didn't review it because I couldn't detect a scent other than sweetness, like I had sugar-water on my skin. I kept getting drawn back to it, though. It's a light purple scent - violets? - like flowers smelled from a distance. Since it's named I Died For Beauty, maybe it's what flowers would smell like if I was the one in the casket, distant from the physical world. The more I use this perfume the greater depth I sense in it. I find myself enchanted by this scent. A bottle will be on my next order.

[heathercaley]

mmm.. sweet and powdery with just a touch of flowers. It stays very close to the skin and is in fact gone within an hour. It was nice while it lasted!! No real darkness or loam. Just a girly powdery scent.

[Acedia]

On me, this is a strange one. In the imp, I just smell generic florals. When I put it on, the scent goes through a weird phase in which it literally smells like violets on the right side of my nose and ...(something else unidentifiable) on the left side. Maybe that's the grave loam? It smells darker and herby.

 

Then it goes through a long phase of pure, sweet (make that SWEEEEEEET ) violet. Finally, the violet settles down and another floral (ylang ylang? I'm not familiar with that single note) emerges, thinly resting on top, like a layer of dust on an aging bouquet.

 

Overall, it's a sweet, sweet floral. Sadly, I don't much like sweet, sweet florals (ehh, I'd give it a B-), so off to swaps.

[Minerva]

This is a sweet floral perfume, slightly powdery (boardering on old lady perfume) but also romantic and feminine. I don't really get any of the frankincense, but I don't get very much of the ylang ylang either. I smell mostly sweet violets but the other notes are there in the background, holding steady, making sure that this doesn't turn into a candied-violets blend. I'm not really sure how much hyssop or grave loam are in the blend but there is a hint of something green, not fresh and green, but mossy, old-Victorian-garden green. I like this blend very much and I'm glad that the Lab frimped it to me because I'm not sure that I would have tried it on my own. Possible bottle purchase.

[catattack]

Wet: Sweet floral and cotton candy. There is a slight hint of musk. This is a very girly and fun scent.

Drydown: After a while, the fun part goes away and becomes a straight up floral. I don't smell the sweetness or musk at all.

Overall: What a disappointment. When wet, it smelled so good! Unfortunately, my skin devoured the yummy stuff and left a boring bunch of flowers behind. Boo skin!