I Died For Beauty

[TheOneTheyCallLuna]

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

As I suspected, I like this but I am not in love with it. It's very reminiscent of one of my faves, Crossroads, but where that blend has some moss and earth and something a bit spicy grounding it, this blend has extra florals instead. It smells really nice, it's just way too floral for me since I'm not a big florals girl to begin with.

[Victory]

Violet can be powdery on me as is the case with I Died For Beauty. Actually, I Died For Beauty is virtually all powder, all the time. For a second when wet I can smell the violet apart from the powder, but almost immediately it's subsumed. In the late dry down, the ylang ylang tries to make a stand, but it only appears as a ghostly floral on the edge of the scent. The same is true with the frankincense, but it's even less noticeable. It's not an unpleasant powder, but I'm glad this was a frimp and nothing I'd spent money on.

[liquidtrance]

Upon very first sniff, the first thought that came to mind was "Wow!". There is SOME flower in this or the loam, or something… that just makes me melt from a distance.

Up close, the flower scent is much more familiar. I want to HUFF but it's just not the same up close!! It's so soft and deilicate smelling! The wafting lovely smell (the violet?) is slowly rounding out to the close-to-skin smell (tempering the sharper ylangylang?), and also it seems as if the earthier loam is sprouting up. Detracts from the lovely violet smell. Up close there is still the sliiiightly soapy scent (ylangylang)...

The scent seems to fade rather quickly, or Im growing used to it easily? Stays very close to the skin.

After 15 minutes it's lost its sex appeal. Basically just powdery and slightly.. loamy? Damn!

[bubblefish]

The first whiff is all florals, but on my skin it mellows out and there is a background of light sweetness. Nectar perhaps? But it remains very much like a flower garden on my skin.

 

I like this smell, but it's not for me. I don't like the overwhelmingly floral scent.

[pseedie]

....i died for beauty...

 

In the Imp: flowers!! and ALOT of them!!! All I get from the wee imp is floral....

 

Wet: Still Oodles of flowers, but there's a flower in there that I don't think I particularly care for...it's bitter kind of like a stargazer lily (peeyou), but there's a babypowder scent that's on the rise and working on cancelling the peeyou flower out...

 

Dry: Well, the peeyou flower is still there, but the baby powder is mooshing it into the background now. I wonder what the peeyou flower is? Does hyssop smell like lily?

 

Timelapse 1 hour: Powdery floral....but I LIKE powdery as long as it's not too floral...I'm picking up way more violets now as well, which is why I bought this imp.

 

Timelapse 2 hours: niiiiiice powdery floral with violets.

 

Verdict: Most might call this a bit matronly, but I think that violets have been out of fashion since our grandmas were little girls, so now I like to think of them as fashion forward! I don't know if I'll need a bottle of this, but I will keep an imp handy!

[March]

Too floral for me! Unfortunately, I can't smell the darker notes, which makes the Ylang Ylang seem like it's the only thing there.

[mgrazulis]

Such beauty when wet--powdery floral when dry. The herbally opening of with a touch of dirt is just beautiful. The frankincense smoking the ylang ylang and violet, then poof!! Here comes the powder...

 

 

[Monster]

In the imp this is violet incense! The smell of this is very familiar to me, it reminds me of something from my childhood but I can't quite put my finger on it. Hmmm...

 

On my skin the violet note pops out right away. This is a glorious, beautiful violet. On my skin, this reminds me almost EXACTLY of Guerlains L'Heure Bleue. This is beautiful. The notes are all very well-blended. The only thing that really STANDS out on it's own is the violet...a nice, sweet, soft violet. This is really sexy and femenine smelling.

 

Ok, so I had to compare this side-by-side to the real L'Heure Bleue (vintage parfum version) and it really is almost a dead ringer. I Died for Beauty has more of an incense feel to it but they're pretty much exactly the same. Beautiful! I'm going to pick up a bottle of this, oh yes!

[rayvn1]

Very light, powdery scent. I was hoping for some grave loam and this was a nice scent, but not my cup of tea.

[angelicruin]

Sniffing the imp, very light throw of violets.

 

On the skin, this goes to baby powder & floral.

 

Not for me.

[redderz]

In the imp: Violets! I love violets. Smells very pretty.

 

Wet: Ooh, still violets! I think I'm liking this one a lot. Very perfumey. It's a little powdery, but I seem to like powdery.

 

Dry: Still perfumey, I don't get any grave loam in this!

[milo]

This starts out as a very pretty floral, must be something I like, violets for sure. Yup, ylang ylang is here, these two being the few florals that I like. It dries down to pretty much violet for me. I like this, but I already have plenty of violet blends, and it gets slightly powdery with a touch of sour, so I don't need a bottle.

[tajana]

Wet: Goes on like baby powder. I guess that's the effect of ylang ylang/violet/frankincense blending together. Often like the latter two notes, always hate the first, and can see how their union would produce an ungodly sneeze-inducing baby powder.

 

Dry: I guess there might be hyssop and grave loam in here, but honestly all I'm getting is vaguely floral baby powder, white and chalky and poofing in clouds tinted by the special sourness of evil ylang ylang. After twenty minutes the sweet baby powder has a bit more nuance... the violet is stronger, which is pretty, and maybe I can even catch a hint of loamy earth, which is pleasant, but you know what else is coming on strong, soapy, and acrid? Ylang ylang.

 

Overall: A pretty yucky powdery experience, courtesy of ylang ylang and its conspirators.

[impolight]

Awwww! this smells like the dearest, cutest little old lady wearing Sunday perfume and Violets in her hair, eating toast and honey...

Lovely, twinkling, Violet constellations!

Ideal for listening to Enya's "Watermark"

[Geminirubyshoes]

This is classic and elegant violet with a twist of the dirt/loam softened out by the ylang ylang. I Died for Beauty is another one of my go-to scents. There's just something about it that I really love. It smells different from anything else that I have so it makes it that much more special for me.

[DeltaCat]

Hmmmmm very sweet smelling floral. I can smell the leaves and the dirt as well. Interesting.

[starfish327]

in the imp: this smells like something i used to wear a long time ago but i can't think of what. very traditional cologne to my nose.

 

wet: same, but it's starting to turn odd. i'm not sure that i like this.

 

dry: okay now it's doing that weird skin sour thing that i get out of some florals. i'm wondering if it's violet that's doing this? i still haven't figured out what the note that does this but i don't think that this is going to work on my chemistry.

 

someone was kind enough to frimp this to me but i just don't see this one working on me.

[acbombshell]

I Died For Beauty is one of my favorite poems, and one of my favorite floral BPALs as well. I was surprised to like this, because most of the notes sounded entirely unappealing-i got it as a frimp from the Lab. As it is, this is a light, ethereal, sophisticated sort of scent. It's floral, but not at all heavy or cloying.

[steelgossamer]

I've had an imp of this around forever but never got around to reviewing it.

 

It's a really lovely soft floral with a slight herbal note to it. It's got a classic perfume feel to it, and this one imp has been good enough for the last four years . I like it, but I only wear it once in a long while.

[NicoleJoy]

Lovely, soft, and floral - without being powdery. This perfume reminds me of one you'd find in a little perfumery in France. It's not overwhelmingly unique, but it's still beautiful. It's one I'd consider buying off the site if it were decently priced, but not one I'd order on my own.

 

Still.... beautiful

[proserpine]

Starts off with strong and sweet juicy violets. I'm not sure why, but it smells almost like plums. Once dry, a little greenery emerges, but the violets are here to stay.

[sunlitgarden]

I Died for Beauty

 

I mainly get violet from this and a little bit of frankincense in the background. When I say I get violet, it's more like I get the violet EFFECT. This scent is very faint, I can barely smell it. I have violet on my disliked notes because BPAL violet seems to somehow blot out all the other notes. I think it's my nose, not my skin chemistry, because almost all blends with violet are VERY faint to me, even in the bottle/imp. So, I don't think my judgment of this is necessarily fair. It's just so faint.

Edited July 4, 2010 by sunlitgarden

[voodoobaby]

When I first put it on I smelled an almost overwhelming floral scent from the ylang, with something sharp underneath (frankincense) and a hint of hyssop, which always smells vaguely, weirdly fruity on me. I wasn't really feeling it. A little later the violet came out, and at that point I really actually liked it and was considering keeping it; it was really pretty and well-balanced with the frankincense. However, not too long later it turned into powder. How sad! Mind you, it's a powder I think smells kind of pretty, but I can't see myself wearing it.

[SophieCedar]

Ok.. this is the PERFECT violet for me. I love ylang ylang. I love hyssop. I love grave loam. Frankincense and I are good long-time friends. Sweet. hypnotic. violet. Like trance inducing violet. I'm a confirmed violet loather and this has completely changed my mind about this stinky grief-ridden plant. It stays true from wet to drydown and the throw is long and strong.

[Suu4LC]

Hmm...ylang ylang is sometimes too intense for me, and grave loam is definitely not a note I usually enjoy, but I love me some violet. Hmm..in the imp this is mostly ylang ylang, a touch of violet, and something sort of sharp/sour/salty. Just sniffing this from the imp, I have the feeling it may go WAY powdery on my skin.

 

At first I get a blast of that sharpness...but it quickly starts to fade. I mostly get ylang ylang and violet from this. Not noticing the frankincense too much and don't smell grave loam at all.

 

After a few minutes this does what I thought it might-goes to straight sweet violety powder. And this is what I am left with. Sweet violety powder. Meh.