Wanda

[kunoichi]

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.

In the vial, this smells of a juicy, penetrating sweetness that is perhaps the wine and flowers together. On my skin this becomes a soft floral, smelling mostly of violets flowing over a darker base note that may be wine and leather which tempers the floral sweetness. After a few hours this is a softer, more musky version of the scent; a touch sweeter with florals, and quite lovely.

[Inanna9]

Oh, Wanda - how could I have forsaken you?

 

This is one of an initial batch of imps I tried as a bpal n00b and swapped away, probably after a quick dab'n'sniff with a very scent-fatigued nose. Now, thanks to the generous labbies, she has come back to me and she is amazing.

 

First impression is a strong wine which quickly morphs to a juicy rose, very similar to Blood Rose (minus the dragon's blood). Then the leather emerges...guh.

 

What a perfect leather note! A soft and sensual, incredibly feminine leather note. Wow. I didn't know such a thing was possible. On drydown, there's still the juice of the wine and the bloom of the rose, and then add the hint of musk and leather underneath it all and I'm sold. Big bottle for me.

 

This one's hot

[supremegoddessofall]

This is unusual and strangely beautiful, but it smells like nothing else I've ever smelled before. It's floral and yet musky, and I'm also getting fruits from somewhere.

[jiggahava]

This is the first imp I've tried that my skin did NOT take to very well. It smelled like an overwhelming mixture of booze and cleaning fluid, which I immediately hated. I hope it doesn't smell like this on my skin, I thought...

 

I apply it, and I immediately dislike it. The boozy smell is WAY too strong, and it is giving me a headache. An hour later the flowers and the skin musk warm up the fragrance a bit, and it smells a little softer, but it's still a really overwhelming unpleasant chemical smell. I'm going to give this another try and see if it works out better, but for the meantime, a bottle is a definite no.

[steffanina]

Wanda-

 

In Bottle: Wine, strong purple wine!

 

Wet: Wine and leather, ooh! Can you tell I already like this one?

 

Dry: What a unique scent! The wine is not too much like the sweet grape scent I get in Lady Macbeth, but more like actual purple wine, and the leather is not the "Help, my car upholstery is on fire" that I get in De Sade but is the delicious refined leather of Dead Man's Hand. Wonderful!

 

Overall: I love.

[jasmine]

I don’t like leather, which leaves me immediately wary. Fortunately, this isn’t a heavy leather scent on me, though there may be a trace of it in the background. In fact, the primary impression I have is of wine-soaked roses... not a sophisticated wine, but a cheap and easy drunk. The flowers are astonishingly sweet -- not sugary or honeyed, but sweet like nectar is sweet, and layered all through with the scent of wine.

 

As the scent settles, there’s a distinct warmth to it, but it’s a warmth without spiciness. Instead, there’s just that rich wine-soaked roses smell pervading everything. Wanda has throw, too.

 

The alcohol scent has faded in and out a bit. For a while, Wanda smelled nonalcoholic -- roses dipped in grape Kool-aid, perhaps? -- but then it went back to being wine, and now it’s a more impressive wine rather than a cheap drunk. I approve. (Note: at no stage has Wanda been anything that I want to wear anywhere near an office!)

 

I don’t know what circumstances I’ll have that will be fitting for this scent, but I do like it quite a bit, and I look forward to wearing it on whatever occasions seem appropriate.

[cinderfallen]

Sadly, Wanda turns pathetic on my skin. It's the pale imitation of strong and controlling. It's car 'freshner from start to finish: imitation wine to imitation leather to imitation roses-leather. =/

[Dark Angel]

On me, at first Wanda is spicy roses and leather, then the roses fade and it becomes a spicy, musky leather with a trace of something fruity/juicy, which must be the wine, although it smells very sweet, not like what I think of wine as smelling like. It doesn't smell boozy at all to me. It's a very warm, spicy scent that is also a delicious, musky leather....unfortunately (for me) the leather and musk pretty much dominate so that it becomes rather masculine. Don't get me wrong--it's a lovely smell. It just isn't particularly me. And my husband is not a fan of it (on me), so I probably will be swapping the imp. But I'm glad I go to try it out.

[myoubi]

spicy red wine and roses. This is a beautiful and complex scent in the imp, but on my skin it just makes me smell like an expensive alcoholic. Not for me.

[femmefatale]

In the bottle: cherries? Not sure where that is coming from, but it smells yummy.

Wet: Still getting cherries and the florals come out though I can't pick the individual notes.

As it dries: Hubby says it smells like cherry blossom incense w/a slight touch of leather. oookkkay. My chemistry must be really wonky.

 

So out of curiosity I applied some to my cleavage and that smells like violets and leather.

 

Even though it's not quite what I expected, I really like it (so does hubby ). I think I'll be getting a bottle.

[CiCi]

I smell wine and a little floral, no leather at all. A nice scent-not heavy. It has lasted all day and the dry down is quite lovely. A must have for sure!

[belegwen]

I didn't get any floral out of this one. At first it was just the merlot and the leather and a little bit of the musk. Until now I'd thought I didn't like musk, but it didn't actually bother me. For the first half hour or so it was rather sexy.

 

Later, the leather starts to get to me. It wasn't that it was smelling stronger, or that the merlot was less. I just don't really like the leather, and once I've worn it for a while the novelty wears off, and I don't really like it. It's a great scent, but not for me.

[sashers]

In the imp, this smelled really acrid and bitter and sour and sweet and like some citrus was going bad. I got really discouraged because I picked Wanda as an introduction to BPAL's leather and booze scents and I really really wanted to like it.

 

When I put it on and it started to dry I realised that I must have been crazy. It smelled like a nice red wine that after some point moved to muted florals. Err not muted because they weren't strong, but because there was a scent that was almost overpowering it but not that strong. After the florals calmed down (about 3 hours later) there was a 2nd skin sort of scent that I didn't immediately realise and had to sniff other parts of my body to see that it wasn't me. I'm guessing that it was the leather and it smelled divine. I think now, 20 hours later, I can still smell some of it. Hooray! I'll keep wearing this.

 

People have told me that I smelled very fruity, but I don't see it.

[Browneyes]

Imp: floral with something extra

Wet: boozy floral? I guess so.

Dry: ooh that must be the leather! sweet, leathery, boozy floral.

Very nice and feminine! glad to try this!

[arcticwolf]

Wanda

 

ITI: Dark, boozy flowers

 

Wet:Wine and roses. Yup. Leather? Maybe that's the darkness?

 

Dry: Same as above. I should've known. Roses hate my skin. Not liking this. My imp will find a good home though.

[Ophelia193]

In bottle: Both Earthy and sweet tones.

 

On skin: Like the cork of a wine bottle with leather and rose notes. A very naughty scent.

[firelion]

In the vial:

Leather. I smelled that first, before the merlot, but it followed strong, like dark wine fresh out of the bottle.

 

On my skin:

Like a very dry merlot, but leather still seemed very vivid. As it faded, I only then detected flowers. It’s so complicated, so layered. I keep going back to it, closing my eyes, and breathing in as long as I can, trying to decipher every different piece that I smell…detecting it all is sort of useless, I think. It just becomes one thing, musky and warm. It faded in an hour or so and then I couldn't smell it at all (but that's how everything is with me)

 

It’s not me, but I like it. Wanda was a frimp in my first imp order.

[Irukandji]

In the vial as well as wet on my skin, this smells like... soy sauce!

Maybe it's the combination of leather and wine, but this really reminds me of Vietnamese sweet soy sauce. *scratches head*

 

During the drydown, I can smell the roses as well as wine and leather, it's a really dark and heavy scent with a definite sharpness in it.

 

Dry, I mainly get florals and a strong leather smell with that strange fruity wine note in the background. Still can't keep myself from thinking of soy sauce, but that might be my crazy imagination.

 

 

I'll give it a 3 out of 5, it's interesting, even quite nice, but not really my cup o' tea. Probably it's because of the wine and leather combination which is a bit awkward on my skin.

Edited April 19, 2007 by Irukandji

[Nia]

This smells alcoholic and fruity, although the smell of alcohol goes quickly away.

 

The fruiy note must be the merlot. This is great, the sort of smell that makes you sniff yourself all day long (but this is definitely not a scent for the daytime). The only easily detectable flower is the rose, but it is not overpowering. The idea of rose-infused sweet red wine comes to mind.

 

It's brilliant, delicious, even though the leather and the S/M inspiration had predisposed me against it.

[Aiglet]

In the imp: I could tell this was going to be too sweet for me, but sometimes surprising things happen, so I decided to try it anyway...

 

Wet: Waaaaaugh, sugar! This goes *way* sweet on me when it's wet, I think it must be the violets. There's no wine or leather in this anywhere, just sweet, sweet, sweet, in a way that's not even particularly floral.

 

Dry: It's still pretty sweet, but now it's obviously floral. It is the violets, I smell like those odd pastilles you find sometimes in the candy aisle.

 

Sadly, none of the other notes ever came out on me at all. Into the swap pile.

[The_Merf]

In the imp: all merlot/wine note...maybe some floral

 

Wet: A huge blast of wine.

 

Drydown and wear: This is a very interesting scent here...there is something here that I can't exactly call out that makes this blend very interesting. I want to say that it is perhaps some combination of the leather and violet. The leather and the merlot are very interesting together and very heady/perfumey (in a good way). At the end, this is merlot and violet. I quite like this--it's not quite as boozy as Lilith.

[jade_starlight]

Wet this is a very strong purpleish merlot scent. As it dries the leather comes out to play, but the wet stage is just too strong and juicy for me. Off to the swaps.

[MurderOfCrows]

In the Vial: A glass of wine, thick and heady. I hate the taste of wine, but do love the scent (which is why I have this AND Bordello).

 

Wet on the Skin: Wine over leather; someone's gotten too excited and spilled the merlot all over a very nice leather -- something. Couch. Bodice. Something. But it's nice and sweet with an undertone of leather... but it's very faint. I don't get any of the bodyheat and musk, not at all -- or the florals supposedly here. Just wine and leather. And that's fine -- it's kinda kinky that way.

 

Dry: The wine's dried and covers the leather. Florals are peeking here now -- it's very faint. The wine and the florals mix nicely, and gives a very pleasant, light smell. I almost, however, wish it'd stayed at wine and leather, because that was heady and hot and sticky... and very sexual. This... fade out is sort of like putting one's self back to rights after that, I guess. The sex is over, and now we resume our nice normal lives without whips and crops, flowers used to cover up the scent of the earlier debauch.

 

 

I'm not sure if this is big bottle land -- it and Bordello will have to fight it out for my favorite boozy wine scent. I really like the Amaretto in Bordello, though, and this fades into sweetness, which is not what I was looking for here.

[Iceblink]

How risque this one is. Red red wine spilled over leather with a few crushed flower petals scattered around. It's an interesting concept but it's a little too wine-y to wear, I think. Might make a great room scent, though.

[porcelina]

it smells exactly like the description. the wine note, which my skin usually grabs and runs rampant with, is subdued by the leather and a hint of florals, and underneath it all it is incredibly sexual. i did not expect to love this so much!