Wanda

[Macha]

Along with Loviatar, she has become something of a Patron Goddess of all Dominatrixes, Wanda is the breathtakingly beautiful sable-wrapped marble queen of Sacher-Masoch's fantasies. Her scent is a deep red merlot with a faint hint of leather, sexual musk and body heat over crushed roses, violets and myrtle.

Wanda was a freebie thrown in from a trade with a fellow forumite. I was very excited about it, since it was a scent that I've secretly been wanting to try, but just couldn't convince myself that I loved it enough to order in big bottle form. I read Venus in Furs (largely because of comments about it in the BPAL forums) and was pretty excited about any scent inspired by Wanda.

In the vial: A strong wine scent, sweet, with a slight undercurrent of leather. Very nice. Once I would have sworn to you that I hated all alcoholic scents, but I've since discovered (much to my surprise) that I quite like the smell of wine in Beth's perfumes.

Wet, on skin: And wooboy! is this wine smell true and strong! Wow. This isn't holding back or being coy. It's in your face, with a glass in hand, topping off every time you take a sip. Underneath that I can smell a faint floral and the scent of leather. This is really quite nice. Much stronger in the wine area than I expected, but very nice.

Dry, on skin: Oh bloody hell. Its completely turned to rose, with a slight wine and leather chaser. Rose. Damnit. Is there Rose in this? I go back and check, and sure enough, there is. A minor note, but my skin loves to amplify rose, and now it's all I can smell. Rose, rose, rose. My boyfriend assures me that it's still very beautiful. I have my doubts.

Conclusion: I don't know. I had a real knee-jerk reaction against this because of the explosion of rosiness, but I think this might also be the scent to get me off my "I hate rose" vibe. My Irish lad really seems to like it, and it is not a cloying rose. But if you've ever take a drink from a glass of Pepsi only to discover they've given you Root Beer, you know the sense of shock from not getting what you were expecting can kill your enjoyment. I think I'll have to hang on to the imp and try it again to see if perhaps I'll change my mind.

[requieminblack]

First sniff from the bottle- Grape bubblegum

 

After 10 minutes- Oh wow, this is nice! Not what I was expecting at all! The dominant note here is the merlot, which smells like grapes to me. I can detect just a hint of leather and the rose. Luckily the merlot is keeping the rose from taking over.

 

After 30 minutes- Warm leatherette! Wanda smells a lot like Old Madrid to me, but it is Madrid wearing platform leather thigh high boots! The leather has come out more and it is really nice! It is a much more feminine leather with the rose mixed in. Rose and I usually do not get along, but I think I may be able to wear this!

 

Summery-Wanda is teh sex.

[Witch's Dagger]

Wanda

 

Preconceived notions: Sounds sophistocated and sexy. Also, I hope it works better than Loviatar, and that I actually smell some leather.

 

In the vial: Wine - just wine.

 

On me: Smoky wine, and yes, a very, very, very faint hint of leather, that I can maybe smell if I try real hard.

 

Over time: It becomes smokier, tarter, and more bitter. Like a dry red, perfumy wine - this must be the flowers, though I can’t pick any of them out - it’s quite bitter. Like a wine I’d be afraid to drink.

 

Overall: I like the wine, but it’s not what I’d call a pleasant scent. Then again, I don’t suppose it should be. I’ll have to give this one another try.

 

Note: This is the first scent I wasn’t able to wash off with dishsoap. (when I’m testing, I wash them all off after an hour, because I’ve found that all the morphing happens in the first hour, at least for me, or at least that if it doesn’t morph into something I like within the first hour, I probably won’t keep it - I don’t want to go the whole first hour not liking what I smell like).

 

Edited to add:

Okay - now I smell the rose, and it is a winey rose. Nothing like Blood Rose, though. This is much, much brighter.

 

And it is, for me anyway, less sensual/sexual than Blood Rose - probably because the leather doesn't ever come out.

Edited February 28, 2005 by Witch's Dagger

[Ms Density]

This is my first review! Wanda is my very first BPAL experience... the first imp I sniffed with my first shipment.

 

Okay, so out of the bottle I thought it smelled like cherries and new mown hay. Eh. Since I knew I had several other imps to sniff and try out, I was saving space and just put a little bit on the ends of my hair. Then I moved on.

 

For the rest of the day, I kept getting these whiffs of nail polish remover. Then I figured out it was Wanda. I was so disappointed... I had *really* wanted to like this one.

 

So this morning I put some on just to give it a second chance... I very carefully applied Wanda to my wrists. I now know that Wanda needs skin to work its magic--it needs to mingle with the heat and fragrance of skin. I get deep copper wine, auburn leather, plums and the hint of dark purple-red roses. There is something utterly sensual about this--aroused skin, flushed with ruby port.

 

It's a very visual scent--it is easy to imagine a calm, but empowered woman in the height of her sexuality. This wine is not sloppy or out of control, but the wine of ecstatic ritual. Very lovely.

[kythryne]

I had mixed feelings about trying this one, but I got an imp of it anyway, and I am so very glad I did!

 

In the vial, it smells... odd. The wine is very strong, and it's a bit sharp and musty. When I first sniffed it, I wasn't sure if I'd like it, and set it aside to try later.

 

Wet on my skin, it shifts into a lovely rich scent. Still very strong red wine, but also something warm, which I think is the leather, and a touch of something floral. I knew right then that I would like it.

 

Dry, for the first hour or so, it's VERY sexy. I can't quite describe it, but it's warm and spicy and very slightly sweet, and it reminds me of flushed skin and red wine on a hot night.

 

After a few hours, it fades down to a slightly spicy floral with just a hint of the wine and musk left to tease my nose.

 

It wears well on me -- I dabbed a bit on my wrists and behind my ears before I left for work, and when I came home I could still smell it if I brought my wrist anywhere near my nose.

 

I am absolutely buying a big bottle of this -- probably a 10 ml, because I can see wearing it just about every day.

[helarctos]

Oh my. Wanda smelled so lovely on other people, so when I got it as a freebie I was excited to sniff it. On me, it turned to a disaster.

 

The wine note drenched all the others, but instead of a sweet wine, the overwhelming smell was that of the fermentation of wine. Something beautifully floral was lurking underneath, subtle with almost a hint of nuttiness, but I couldn't catch it long enough between whiffs of sharp fruit-rot.

 

I'm guessing the reason I didn't like this one is because I'm not a wine-drinker. Wine often smells awful to me when it is praised by others as at least decent -- I'm always the person at the reception with a token glass of seltzer.

[UltraViolet]

In the bottle

strong wine, rose, violet

 

Wet

Mmm. Smells like grape candy and roses with some wine in the background.

Smells like someone was up to something tawdry. lol.

It's becoming quite nice and fresher as it morphs with my chemistry.

 

10 Minutes

The red merlot works great here, it's not apparent like it is in some of Beth's blends. It just lends that acidic fruitiness that keeps things from being too syrupy.

The musk is a mere suggestion. It lends it that overall sexual quality but I can't actually pick out the musk.

The roses are the top or middle note to my nose. Subtle but full bodied enough to make their presence known throughout the whole experience.

The violets are almost of the candies variety that you can get in some sweet shops and add just a tidge of bright sweetness.

The myrtle and the leather really tie the whole thing together with a freshness and a strength to the otherwise sweet floral blend.

 

20 minutes

It's less fresh and more warm . It's also a bit more powdery. I love powdery. Still the lovely fresh blend of rose, light musk, merlot and violet.

 

Throw:

light/medium

 

Scent category:

Floral/Animalistic

 

Summary

Fair staying power.

 

Purchase again?

Yes. An Imp or a 5ml.

 

1-5 rating, 5 being best.

4

[grrrlennyl]

at first: this is so sexy. i'm not sure that i like the myrtle, but the rest is gorgeous.

on: i'm mostly smelling red wine.

2 hours later: musky now. i still smell the wine, too.

3.5 hours later: a bit powdery. mostly musk with a bit of something floral.

6.5 hours later: very faint and powdery.

overall: this is a nice, assertive scent. i don't think i'd ever get a bottle, but i'll enjoy using my imp.

[surf-tormented]

Dark, well done floral. Sinister yet sweet. It's a bit too much floral for me but if I liked florals, I would wear this.

[anmorata]

Wanda:

 

Upon application, Wanda doesn't smell like merlot to me.. she smells like beer. Then leather, then cigarette smoke. Then the thought hits me: Oh my god. Beth managed to put my mother in a bottle of perfume. GAAAH.

[olympia301]

"Shiny, shiny, shiny boots of leather. Whiplash Girlchild in the dark. Severin your servant comes and whines 'please don't forget him'. Strike, dear mistress, and cure his heart." Venus in Furs The Velvet Underground, late '60's. Damn... Oh well.

 

Yes, I'm stalling here. Hard to cast into words what I want to say about Wanda (the subject of the lyrics above). I really see this as a silly scent. There, I said it. It really isn't. It's floral and it has character. Maybe I've known too many Wandas who were silly or ridiculous and I am being influenced by that.

 

Straight out of the bottle, there is something which smells slightly (sorry to say this) vomit-like. That is a bit of a turn off, but...wait. Wanda settles down to a beautiful flowery smell which has some kind of smooth artificial backstop and can end up smelling like the inside of the ballet school I attended as a child. There is a resin-lash to this Wanda.

 

Sort of a Grand Lady scent, with a dose of humiliation. If I were going to administer a good punishment, I would bring along a vial of Wanda to slather on me.

[nineveh]

In the vial, I smell thick, rich wine, red roses, and (faintly) what I assume is leather. It smells fantastic!

 

Unfortunately, once I put it on, the wine only lasts while the oil is wet. After a few minutes, I'm left only with the roses, which are dark and nice, but not nearly as nice as that initial scent.

 

After a few hours, the scent is completely gone. This is probably the fastest fading scent I've tried so far.

 

I'm sad that this didn't work for me. I'm keeping the imp though, if only to open it sometimes for a sniff.

 

I hope that trying other red wine scents will let me find one that lasts.

[RainyDayGrey]

I have two imps of Wanda. One brand spankin new fresh from the Lab and one older one that I snagged off of Live Journal. They smell completely diffrent on me, so I'm reviewing them both. I slathered one on each wrist so I could sniff and compare at the same time.

 

In the bottle: Fresh Wanda smells like wine, with leather peeking out underneath. Me likey very much. Old wanda smells like wine too, but wine thats been sitting out to long and gone sour, no leather at all.

 

Wet: The leather note in fresh Wanda comes out strong when I put it on, dominating the wine scent, though the wine is still there and powerfull. Old Wanda has a fleeting moment where it smells like grape Kool-Aid, before morphing back into sour wine, or fruit that has started to rot. Not nice, at all.

 

Dry down: As fresh Wanda starts to dry down the florals start to make an appearance. Luckily for me it's mostly the roses and myrtle. For about the first two hours this smells like wine spilled over leather in the hieght of passion, gorgeous flowers and hot sex (without smelling like body fluids, in case you were worried ). Seriously, Wanda is one sexy blend. It reminds me very much of hot passionate lovin, the kind that leaves you completely floppy and mindblown afterward. The best sex of your life kinda sex, and all the things that go with it. It's not particulary long lasting on me, though. It pretty quickly turns into a nice skin scent, and then eventually into a very faint baby powder. The violets finally making them selves known I sapose. Fortunatly it's not strong enough to make me hate it alltogether or give me a headache (I freaking hate baby powder).

 

Old Wanda on the other hand is just more sour wine/bad fruit, no flowers, no leather. In the end it just goes super sweet. Not to worry, I'll just have to use up my imp fairly quickly and never order more than an imps worth at a time.

[quimerula]

It has thousands of layers, it's a very complex scent.

 

I can smell the merlot with a scent very similar to wine, the roses, the violets and a really sexy bottom line.

Wet the wine is stronger, and dry the flowers grow strong over the leather touch.

 

It's one of the sexier oils I've ever tried!

[Cagedflame]

In the bottle, it smelled like flowers and wine and tobacco. On me, this turned into icky shampoo-y overly strong floral on me. Ew. I had such high hopes, but I had to scrub it off.

[slave1]

In Bottle: Rose! And something sweet… almost fruity, must e the merlot.

 

On Skin: Wow, I usually dilike rose but the levels in this scent are very impressive. The leather and musk make this scent stand out and scream. I love the berry scent of the merlot. The violets and myrtle are quiety residing in the background. This is a sexy scent that projects a strong confident woman. I love it! It does fade very quickly though…

[Phaedra]

In the imp this smells very sweet. When first applied it smells like leather and perfume, sweet and floral. It reminds me of a "fancy lady department store perfume". It's okay but not really for me.

[magikfanfic]

In the bottle: I can pick out the violets, the rose and the merlot but not the leather yet. Unless it's the predominant scent, leather seems to need to hit my skin in order to come out from behind other notes. I expected this to be heavier and...more laden down with musk. Instead it has an oddly sweet smell to it that I really find myself liking.

 

Wet: Wine. It smells like red wine with a touch of musk on me. There's some of the violet coming out now, which gives it an odd powdery note to the whole blend that I really had not expected at all. Oh, and there's a touch of leather as the background note in this.

 

Dry down: Leather and wine made a little less strong but the sweet, slightly powdery scent of the violets. And roses. Not overpowering roses but a very subtle, background of roses for the other notes to play on. It's mostly the leather and the wine scent, though, with the other notes providing a nicely mixed background for them. This is a lot nicer than I had thought it would be. I can rarely do heavy musk and wine blends, but this one manages to not kill my allergies or make me smell like I'm a drunken sailor.

 

Dry: Roses and leather with a touch of wine and some violets in the background that give it an oddly comforting and sophisticated powdery scent. This is slightly complex but also beautiful and lush without being overpowering in the slightest. This is my sexy, evening out, buy a nice gown and crash a debutant ball rose blend.

[theshapeshifter]

In the imp: Thick and heady.

 

Initial application: WINE. So much so that I'm glad I road-tested this first on a weekend, because for the first couple of minutes I literally smell like I've had a glass of red wine dumped over my head. It's a lovely, amazingly accurate scent, but given that I've just recently quit drinking, it was slightly unsettling.

 

Drydown: Fortunately, after perhaps five minutes, the initial onslaught of wine calms into a more accessible note, and I start to get the other elements of the blend. I can just barely pick out the florals as backing notes to the juicy wine, but they're not strong enough to pick out individual notes - or at least, these aren't florals I'm that familiar with on their own. The musk is warming up the blend, and giving it an unmistakably sexual tone, but it's not so strong as to turn it outrightly animalistic. The leather is gorgeous in this - a very different leather from, say, Dead Man's Hand. This is BLACK leather for sure, and well-used.

 

Definitely an intriguing scent - I'll look forward to wearing this for a night out!

[cuervosueno]

Wanda--on me, Loviatar light.

In the bottle, I like it--leather and something sweet--I thought rose, though a rose even I could enjoy.

when I looked it up, I was surprised by the wine, because I didnt' smelll it, though I thought later I got something vaguely grape-candyish.

One, the leather is just barely perceptible, which is ok, because one of the reasons I stopped using loviatar and iago was that the leather just became a little too overwhelming on me.

After it dries down, the violet comes out very strong. I guess my skin amps up violet.

Overall--violet candy and a hint of leather.

If I'm in the mood, for a powerful, sexual scent, I think I'd prefer Loviatar.

[QueenFae]

This one is lovely. It's one of those scents that reminds me of something, but I can't put my finger on it. It actually comes out smelling a bit apple-y on me, which is strange. The wine note is lovely, its not the overpowering, real alcohol-y wine smell, its delicate and almost sweet. The roses and the violet make for a beautiful undertone. The overall effect is complex and feminine, I will certainly enjoy using up my imp.

 

ADDED July 26:

 

This is a sweet fruity, girly blend when first applied. The merlot is fruity, not alcoholy, and it's got a pleasant bite to it, not overwhelming. The roses are bright, strong and perfumey, which makes for a lovely duo of top notes. I can't smell the violet at all, thankfully, cause its not my fav. I can smell a bit of the leather, but it's really subtle and complimentary. The longer I wear it, the stronger the leather becomes. Overall, a really nice blend, I think I'll enjoy my imp.

[Ajila]

Wet on me this acted like two different blends, coming at me in waves, first spicy red wine and then soft, earthy leather, repeated over again. It disappears very rapidly leaving a faint trace of the leather and the tiniest bit of myrtle. I wanted to love this, but it just didn't work out on me.

[k00kaburra]

In bottle: Heavy red wine and leather, but unlike the brightness wine lent to leather in Perversion, in Wanda it goes rather sour. I don't detect much in the way of florals.

 

On me: This grows quite lovely on the skin. Roses and fine wine, blending together to remind me of a wonderful romantic evening. After all, what is more romantic than a bouquet of roses and an excellent vintage wine?

[valentina]

In the imp: Lots of fruity, fruity merlot. Very sweet.

 

Initial application: Very fruity, almost Kool-Aid, with a floral undertone. Pleasant, but not at all shy.

 

Dry-down: The leather and musk rise to the top and take over, with lingering undertones of merlot and flowers. Very unusual, I enjoy it.

 

4 hours later: The leather in Wanda mellows a lot faster than the leather in either De Sade or Loviatar, and the fruity and floral qualities are allowed to appear again. Those who I ask to sniff my arm find the aroma both unusual and confusing because they can't identify what is going on. Wanda is a subtle enigma. I like that.

 

valentina

[sarahmarie]

I got this as a gift imp in a swap - thanks SpinalDesign!

 

In the imp, it smells like grape, rose, and leather. Wet, the grape gets louder at first, taking over for a moment. Then as it dries, the rose and leather reappear. The rose is a little sharp on me, but it could be the combonation of the rose with the other flowers and the wine. I think the grape and the leather really keep it balanced though, and because of that I think I really like it! It's a very rich, strong, red scent. Very dominating! It's a scent for night, I think, maybe warm nights in particular.