Wanda

[neuilly]

...Her scent is a deep red merlot with a faint hint of leather, sexual musk and body heat over crushed roses, violets and myrtle.

 

This smells mosty like bandaid on me. There's a little floral and leather in the background but...bandaid. So weird. I can't say it's very appealing on me, and certainly not sexy.

[SkySamuelle]

In the imp: rich floral bouquet, I can't pick any notes but it smells like one of those expesive 'commercial' perfumes

on the skin, wet: rich florals with a fruity sweetness that comes soon out to balance it, very feminine and commanding.

 

on the drydown: This is womanly and bold, still holding something airy and refreshing. I can imagine it quite suitable for every season but summer. YUMMY, but I am eternally sorry that the merlot and leather notes on me make no appeareance.

 

Final verdict: I'll still enjoy my imp happily.

[sisi33]

In the bottle: Maybe I shouldn't have gotten a whole bottle of this unsniffed...

Wet: Yeah, shouldn't have bought a whole bottle... Damn you, impulse buys!

Drydown: YES! YES I SHOULD HAVE! Goodness, this is great. I'm getting tart cherries and violets. There is leather there, but it's very, very faint. Amazing throw, considering that I only applied a smidgen of her. Lurvely! Yet again, I want to eat my own arm!

 

4/5

[mymymai]

In the Imp (ITI): Strong red wine and leather. Eh...I just am not fine of wine notes, I think.

 

Wet: Ugh, just too much wine. I get leather and roses underneath, which I enjoy. However, the entirety of the scent just isn't working well with my skin chemistry.

 

Dry: The wine has faded considerably and provides just a tint to the crushed roses, violet, and musk. Much better dried.

[JazzieCazzie]

Received this as a generous lagniappe in a recent trade and confess I just cringed when I saw it. I knew that for the sake of completion for my project I was going to have review it which meant wearing it again, however briefly, Though I had never reviewed it here, this was, I admit, one of the biggest disasters when it came in contact with my body chemistry of any scent short of, perhaps, Kitsune-Tsuki, Sacred Whore or Samhain. Top 5 all time fails. But hey, my body chemistry has changed. Maybe it will be different now. And maybe pigs will fly out of my butt if I don't learn my lesson about wine notes and leather and rose. The ones with four-alarm warning notes on my Notes I Hate and Love list.

 

IN THE IMP: Sour wine and stale stuffy flowers. It smells like a bad morning after a night of too much purple-colored alcohol. And I've had a few of those.

 

Dabbed lightly on one wrist.

 

WET: I honestly CAN see why this would be so appealing to people. It's red and purple fruity, complex and sweet. But to me it's cloying, stifling and makes my gorge rise. It's me, not you, Wanda.

 

DRYDOWN: Much more rose and spilled wine all over the floor the morning after a night out at a club before they've come in to mop up.

 

On a scale of 1-5, a 1.1. I'm saving the 1 for Kitsune or Sacred Whore and hope I never have to try those again.

 

The good news is that I believe of the rest of the 50 or so scents I still have left to test drive, review and prep for swap or keep status, there are only about 6 I think may not be keepers!

[aphrodite]

Ohh, hit me again, Wanda, you sexy bitch.

 

I'm in love with this. I love the actual smell of leather, but every BPAL leather I'd smelled before this either 1. didn't work or 2. didn't show any leather on me. The ones that haven't worked have been dark, masculine leather. This is like you just bought a buttery soft leather coat in Venice. I amp violet and it's one of my favorite notes, so I do smell the florals in the throw, but specifically the violet. I think I smell the wine - there's a sort of dark, vaguely sweet background - but it works as such as seamless link between the violet and the leather that I really don't smell it as a distinct note. Mmmm it's nice.

 

One of my absolute favorite BPALs is the Luper Time Does Not Bring Relief. The two have similar notes, but I don't think they smell very similar and I don't reach for them on the same day - TDNBR is sweeter, and the leather in Wanda is really prominent, though non-invasive. I think if you like TDNBR but want something in a vaguely similar vein to be worn in a totally different mood or scenario, you might give this a try. It's supremely sexy, but I don't feel like I can't wear it during the day, including at work.

[themeaningofV]

In the imp: I went "holy SHIT" when I sniffed this. A rich, tart wine with a hint of florals.

 

On my skin: Leather, wine, and a breath of powder.

 

So much yes. This just might compete with Blood Kiss for my "attract ALL the people" scent. I'm in love.

[Balaclava]

The roses in this are fresh, wet roses. The wine is a nice boozy undercurrent here rather than the over-the-top grape candy scent of Lilith, so even if you're skittish about wine scents this is worth a try. I could smell leather in the bottle, but not on me. Either way, I adore this one.

[Teaker]

Leather, touch of floral, and sweet red juiciness. I was a bit uncertain about the wine note, since none of the bpals with booze have worked for me. But this doesn't smell like alcohol at all to me. I was leery of the rose as well, since it always turns to soap on me, but I had no issues in this blend. This is mostly sweet cool leather, the undertones of floral and "red" fade as it dries. I like it a lot!

[petrichorandleather]

I don't know what to think of Wanda. I made the mistake of applying -not very much at all- too much and it is kicking me in the nose!

With my particular chemistry it smells like grape with a hint of sickly artificial watermelon and a pungent undertone of....red musk??

It's an altogether funky scent on me, WAY overpowering. Yikes. o.O

[dementia_divine]

In the imp: The merlot jumps out to my nose. It is the strongest note in the imp, but I can also smell musk, a bit of leather, and a hint of rose.

Wet: The merlot is the dominant note, followed by the musk and the crushed floral notes. The combination of the merlot and the violet makes the scent sweeter than it was in the imp. I am not particularly fond of violet, and it is starting to become more prominent the longer this sits on my skin.

 

Dry: Still wine dominant. The violet is still present. I can smell a faint hint of leather, just like it says in the description. I am not getting much of the other notes.

Verdict: This one is better than I thought it would be, but it really isn't 'me.'

Edited January 11, 2015 by dementia_divine

[Veronica]

Wow--this is an amazing surprise hit on me. Wine generally does not like me and leather is hit-or-miss. This is full-bodied rose, sweetened by the grapes in the wine, with just a hint of leather/musk grounding the scent. Super, super sexy. Wow!

[Dusk]

Reviewing based on notes I took a few years ago, as this imp has gone missing...

Wanda starts out very strong grape juice, with just a slight tannic quality suggesting it's meant to be wine. There's also a soft floral, with roses and violets, and a very light musk and an almost citrusy note somewhere.

Early drydown, it's between grape juice and cheap box wine. A bit candy-like. Then grape sweetarts, but with a bit of a pretty floral edge.

Late drydown, it gets a bit more alcohol-like with more leather, though it's still very sweet. It makes me think of a tart, juicy bouquet of flowers. The second test, it's a bit more sophisticated, and ends more leathery with a touch of wine-stained silk and a slightly wilted bouquet. Very feminine.

Not my style and I'm not a big fan of the grapey wine note. This doesn't smell like a good, full-bodied red wine, it smells like an overly sweet Franzia red which I had the misfortune of tasting as a college student. And it's a whole lot of grape candy at times. But I would be curious to see if this smoothed out with aging, and I'll update if I ever find my runaway imp.

[SimplySyra]

I received this as a frimp and I was surprised by how much I loved it. Right out of the imp and on my skin it's sweet juicy grapes with a hint of candied purple florals.

 

On skin as it dries the leather peeks out a bit but is still largely dominated by sweet grapes and florals.

 

On me it's very bright and sweet, but my skin swallows it up quickly and turns it to powdery play-doh. Such a shame because I love the first stages. I might set this aside and try it again at a later date to see if it fares better. I would genuinely consider a full 5mL if it didn't turn to powder on me.

[Malaena]

In the imp: Whoa, alcohol! The second sniff was grape. I did this as a blind test. I just looked at the ingredients, though.

 

Drying: Whiffs of red wine.

 

Dry: This reminds me very much of some department store perfume that I can't recall. I'm not sure whether I'll keep this one or not.

[Teamama]

In the imp: grape juice & leather & myrtle.

Wet: where is it? Almost undetectable?

Dry: faint, sweet grape, the ghost of leather, and a memory of myrtle.

This is the first blend that my skin vanished. I'd try slathering, but I think my daughter's a better candidate for this blend.

[ResinManiac]

So many things are so so right with this blend, roses, wine, leather... but those violets and myrtles make a low key sickliness that can still be dectected from time to time. I don't think I can wear this, and that makes me very sad.

[spikyfairy]

In the imp: Cherry cough syrup! Uh-oh!

Wet on me: Ooh.. sweet but dark. A bit fruity which I guess is the merlot - it still smells a little fake & medicinal at first but settles into a more natural wine smell (but still a fruity, sweet red, which I personally wouldn't drink). Florals coming out as it dries, mostly rose and myrtle which is good because violet tends to go horribly powdery on me. Feminine, but in a deliciously sinister kind of way.
This one really blooms on my skin, and warms up to quite a strong throw after 20 mins or so, with even light application.

Dry: Sweet wine, backed by subtle florals. This is balanced by the leather, which actually does smell like leather to me this time.. But it also smells like the beach? I get a definite beachy vibe, yet this is too rich for a summer scent. To me, it smells like drinking sweet red wine on a sand dune on a crisp and cool late-autumn night..
Doesn't morph much from that for me, and keeps a good throw until it fades after about 4 hours.

Alluring, but not in-your-face sexy. I find this very wearable & will definitely consider a bottle when colder weather comes.

[Casablanca]

On the wand, this is a blast of acidic red merlot. Choke.

But on my skin, the flowers bloom open... alongside glasses of less acidic red merlot. I can't pick out myrtle, but the rose and violet are good merlot pairings. I don't smell any leather or musk.

Later, this is a soft merlot-and-roses scent. Not my thing, but good for someone.

[agirlnamedfury]

This is boozy and fruity with just a hint of leather... delicious. Unfortunately it is very fleeting, seemed almost completely gone less than an hour after application.

[LizziesLuck]

Wet: oh my gosh wine...and it's GOOD. Wine is never good on me. I didn't expect to like this at all, I just wanted to finish off testing everything in this category...lol. And there's violet in here! It usually hates me too. What's happening? This is sexy.

 

 

Dry: This dried down to just a faint fruitiness. It's rich and sweet, but not very strong. Still, there's violet and wine in here, and it didn't turn terrible on me, that's a huge win in my books and give me hope! This isn't really something I would wear, but I don't dislike it at all. and am so glad I got to try it!

[spookyannie]

I love this scent! To my untrained nose, it seems to me to just smell like when dried straight cherries, very sweet, but rich and dark in a way.

[theredkilt]

Upon application i smell apple, wine and rose, but as soon as it dries the leather comes out and reminds me of a quieter version of Highwayman. If you wanted your Highwayman to be less heady and gentler, get Wanda.

[Miss Landau]

For me this was a little bit Blood Kiss, a little bit Manischewitz

[lizabelle]

Looking at the notes, this should be exactly my kind of fragrance, but something...happened, when it touched my skin. Something very bad. Instead of flowers, wine, and leather, I get an extremely sour fruit note (verging on vinegar), mixed with brand new patent leather. It smells squeaky. Wanda is drinking awful wine in a catsuit, I guess? I'll leave her be and try something else.