Regan

[tempete]

A deceptively sweet orchid vanille with a faint trace of stephanotis.

I think that I smell the funkiness that malanna described in her review. I get the orchids initially, the wave of vanilla sugariness, a really beautiful phase where it's a perfectly balanced floral vanilla... and then something smells really off. I think that this could be the stephanotis note (although I've never smelled stephanotis - I'm just speculating).

On the plus side, Regan doesn't go powdery on me like most florals do...

[tabitha2]

Although I don't love many florals, the vanilla combined with the orchid in this is so lovely. It's very beautiful, light, and sweet. It makes me feel this quiet sadness when I have it on. I suppose that's appropriate to the name Regan, but I don't want to feel like that when I wear perfume. Aside from that the scent itself is lovely. I just won't be buying it.

[Azrhiaz]

I received this as an extra Imp, which is cool, because I'd never have thought to order it. It sounds too "girlie" for me by far, and it certainly is feminine, but it's got enough strength to it that I'm liking it more and more by the minute.

 

Wet, I get the orchid most strongly. It's a very purple orchid, and it almost smells more like violets to me. After a bit the vanilla comes out, and as others have noted, it isn't a very "foody" vanilla. It just warms up the orchid and gives it some depth. Every now and then I catch something almost peppery about the vanilla, like the tiny black vanilla seeds.

 

It's gorgeous, and a lot sexier than I would have guessed. I believe a 5 ml of this is in order.

 

Edited to add: wow, this puppy has some staying power. I went to bed and when I woke up the next morning, my daughter (who'd crawled into bed with me) was sniffing me. "Mommy, you smell so good!" And I could still smell it in the shower, too.

Edited October 31, 2004 by Azrhiaz

[Murron]

First sniff from skin: strong, warm, reddish-floral, I can't pick out any notes yet.

 

After a few hours: still this warm, reddish clouds of scent. Not very autumny, but still a bit spicey.

 

End of the day: wow, I still can smell this one! There's a trace of some light vannilla.....

 

I don't know if this one's up for a big bottle, but I'll defenitely use up the imp....

[Ishtar]

Regan sounded like an ideal blend for me (I am very fond of vanilla scents), but it did not quite work on my skin.

 

What bugs me is that I cannot really tell why. Maybe it was a little too light, maybe like tart I was expecting something considerably sweeter, I don't know.

 

Don't get me wrong, it was a perfectly pretty scent, but in a very juvenile kind of way which is not quite my thing. Oh well. Seeing the majority of positive reviews here, the odds are good that the person I swapped it to will enjoy it!

Edited November 8, 2004 by Ishtar

[isyche]

wet: that orchid I love in Phantom Queen. but sweeter.

 

drying: and the vanilla in this is very nice, not oversweet or sticky. it's still quite sweet though...deceptively sweet indeed.

 

conclusion: yummy. sweet vanilla orchid, as the description says. a creamy, white, heavily feminine scent – makes me think of a girly-girl type who flirts to get her way. and yet I'm drawn in by it because it smells so good. I'm so not that girl, but I will keep the imp.

[Falathwen]

This was a another generous freebie from the lab. I am learning a lot from the freebies about what works and does not work on my skin.

Wet: Regan turned into Baby Powder…very strong. Dry: Baby Powder with a hint of a floral coming out from time to time. Puzzling. It is not unpleasant, but not what I would have expected from other reviews.

[friendthegirl]

For me, the vanilla in this is very subtle and mixes with the flower and from my understanding, it's a "orchid vanille."

 

It has a slight sweetness to it, but it's not overpowering. I think it's nicely balanced with the floral and the sweetness.

[Witch Baby]

 

First Sniff: Ooooooooh, my goodness. . . *takes another sniff* This stuff smells good. It's a super interesting mix of vanilla spice (although not really foody smelling) and flowers. Mmmm

 

Wet: Wow, the flowers come out a lot more now. . . .it's become very powdery and sweet. . .almost a little on the cloying side. I like the scent, but it's not quite what I expected.

 

Dry: Goddess, I need a 50 ounce bottle of this stuff. As it dries it begins to smell the way it did on my first sniff, only much richer and creamier. It's a wonderful vanilla with delicate flowers mixed in. .. I feel very girly.

[wolfie13]

This really IS a perfectly balanced vanilla floral.

 

So if that is your thing, I highly recommend this scent. It's a MUCH better

one than you could ever find in a mass marketed perfume.

 

Unfortunately, it's not for me. Which is not surprising, given the fact that I don't

usually like vanilla florals at all. I do like orchids, however, so I got this from

another forumite just for kicks while awaiting my other orders.

 

It's just too much vanilla for me, and comes off too sweet, heady and girly on me.

 

(Just for further info -it is another one that stays pretty true on me from the bottle to the drydown, and does not go powdery, etc)

[ViolentKitten]

Sweet white floral vanilla. Very nice, but very, very sweet. Too sweet for me I think. Jaw-achingly, tooth-achingly so. And a bit sharp somehow. I'd at first put Regan in the sweetness realm of Tiger Lily (honeyed florals), O (sweet honey amber), Le Petit Mort (ylang ylang, jasmine sweet) and even Bell Epoque (with its sweet opium and vanilla) and it also reminds me quite a bit of Stila's Crème Bouquet, which I also find quite cloying. Regan though, does soften and becomes more gentle than all of these, with a slight hint of vanilla powderiness. Quite tempting.

 

Tenacious too. I wore it to bed one night and it was still there, albeit lightly, in the morning. I think I do like it, it just may not be one I'd wear too often.

 

PS: Well, after all my analysing (and possibly winning the award for using the word “sweet” more times than in any other review – I should make better use of my Thesaurus), I had a very unexpected reaction from the man. “You smell nice. Different. You smell like...home... coming home. Like what I want you to smell like when you waft into a room.” This was all said with a dreamy expression. He also said it was comforting, yet sexy. I'd have to say that Regan has great sillage in that case too...and that I'll be wearing it more often.

[bonnyread]

I'm having a strange sort of co-dependant relationship with this oil. I sniffed it, and immediatly despised it, so, of course, it was the only imp I took with me on a weekend trip. Maybe I was just being perverse. Maybe I was hoping it would grow on me. But I wore it all weekend.

 

I still dont like it. Not at all.

 

But I keep wearing it.

 

I'm not familiar with the notes in this except for the vanilla, so I don't know what it is that's putting me off. It's a sweet blend with something very strange underneath. I've been trying to think what it reminds me of all weekend, and the best I can come up with is that it's vaguely medicinal. Like flowers in a sick room - that's an off-putting description, I know. Really, I do think this would smell good to a lot of people, but it's doing something strange to me.

 

And, as luck would have it, this blend lasts for hours and hours on my skin.

 

I think I'd better swap this away or else I'll end up smelling like this strange, sweet, poisonous girl for the rest of my life.

Edited December 29, 2004 by bonnyread

[shadow]

I could have sworn I'd reviewed this a long time ago, but I must be smoking something. If only I knew what...

 

Regan is a wonderful addition to my collection. I almost never wear it on its own, though it's perfectly lovely, rather I use it to sweeten other scents that I find too spicy or dry or cold. It has the sweetness of vanilla, but never develops that overpowering baked goods quality. Actually, it's vanilla like, but not quite, as there's a soft greenness in there somewhere. I'm guessing that's the orchid but I don't know for sure.

 

I love it with Kathmandu and itmakes Bayou smell like wild honey on my skin (just the smallest dab).

[luxuria]

This starts out quite pleasant, light, and sweet. A nice 'girly' scent, and rather creamy. However, as it dries on my skin, it smells..for lack of a better term..stale. It's the floral part that smells wonky, so I'll assume it's just that my skin doesn't like orchids. Other than that, this is *very* satisfactory and pretty- I might have to buy a scent locket to just to wear this in it..

[nhough73]

This one was a freebie from the Lab.

 

The vanilla takes over on my skin and ends up being too cloying. Its not sweet, but theres something about it that makes me think of a closed up room, headache inducing.

[velvet]

the thing i enjoy about this scent is the orchid the rest of it is just ok

fortunetly i have found a much better blend of it in queen mab

off to swaps with you

[lunalight7]

I adore Regan....I am so glad that i ordered it based soley on its description. It is a velvety purple scent that clings to me...no throw at all but I can't stop sniffing my arm...there's a satin smell to it if that amkes any sense...like the scent has an oily quality to it (besides the fact that it is obviously an oil)....this is just brilliant...great job Lab!

[judifruit]

I smell feminine floral (the orchid and stephanotis I presume) and the sweet, warm vanilla mingling and carefully overlapping one another on my wrist. It's soft, and pretty - I detect no sharpness or green.

 

I am not a floral lover, and I once thought Queen of Hearts was my favorite floral BPAL oil...but I now have both on seperate wrists and I think Regan is my new favorite.

[Fyre_in_Winter]

I was very disappointed with the way Regan smelled upon hitting my skin. Something in it turned lemony on me, and for about 10 minutes it smelled almost identical to Follow Me Boy. Then a green note entered the picture, kind of like a broken flower stem, and the florals swelled. Overall it was a very sweet, cloying, and sticky-wet type of floral fragrance. Then at about the half-hour mark, it died down into this funky smell. I can only describe it as being like some kind of cheap drugstore body lotion. Not quite suntan, but the undertone of cheap body lotion.

 

It smelled so lovely in the vial. Oh well, off to swaps.

[Lit Chick]

Regan was the first BPAL in ages that I had to wash off. On my skin, the vanilla became increasingly sweet and intense. It's not unpleasant at all, but I have a low tolerance for sweet, foody scents. This made me feel like I ate a lot of vanilla frosting... bleh.

 

I may try this again in a diluted form - it is very pretty, just too much straight from the imp.

 

If you like strong vanillas, then this is the BPAL for you.

[Lady Ravenglass]

It's O, but wearable. It must be the vanilla, but this is just like O on me, except without the sweaty dirty note that made me stink like a goat in heat. It still smells of sex, but gentler and softer. I don't think I could ever wear this out of the house; it lingers on my skin like a wicked afternoon, drenched in velvet.

 

Big bedroom bottle of this for me.

[magikfanfic]

In the bottle: Woah sweet and, yes, there's the vanille. I don't know what the stephanotis is supposed to smell like but my lotion is orchid so I have a slight idea of that. But this, to me, is mostly vanille. I've been looking for a good vanille scent for a while now.

 

Wet: Vanille with a very definite floral note to it. The vanille has the kick-start in the scent and also dominates in the throw. The floral is more present up close and has a slightly bitter note to it.

 

Dry down: Ever-present vanille in the throw. Still that oddly bitter floral up close. There seems to be something powdery behind the floral, and it's getting less bitter and more...floral. Yes, orchid. A very lovely orchid. A little richer than the kind in the lotion I use but still orchid. The vanille is calming down a little so that it isn't so in your face scent anymore.

 

Dry: There's a tart smell to this on my wrist now. The vanille is mostly in the throw and the orchid and the tart (the stephanotis) are very close to the skin. There is some floral in the throw but nothing like it is when I smell my wrist. It almost reminds me of apples, green apples in that it has this crisp, tart smell to it. It's nice, though. A very interesting blend of tart and creamy and sweet and floral. I don't know whether I'd want more than an imp of it, but it is a very nice kind of scent. I'm still not convinced that this is the vanille I'm looking for but the lab has a plethora of scents I still need to explore.

[Sheila]

Regan is a very sweet, creamy floral. The vanilla in this smells, to me, very different from the sultry vanilla that's in Snake Oil. This vanilla is sweet--and the orchid adds a creaminess that deepens the sweetness. This is one of the few scents that doesn't change, for me, from bottle to skin.

 

I love florals, and I love vanilla, so this is one of my top-ten scents. My next order will contain a big bottle.

 

ETA: I didn't know what stephanotis was, so I looked it up: "any of a genus of Old World tropical woody vines of the milkweed family with fragrant white waxy flowers having a tubular corolla terminating in five lobes."

[Fallenangel743]

Wow, beth.

 

This is Regan. This is not the Regan later in the play who is utterly and completely cruel, saying, "Go thrust him out at gates, and let him smell His way to Dover," to Gloucester who has just had his eyes gouged out by Cornwall. No, this is the Regan at the beginning of the play, where she sweetly plays up to her father in order to win his land. This is Regan when she is professing, " In my true heart I find she names my very deed of love; Only she comes too short." Regan appears to be a sweet loving daughter, but if you know King Lear in reality she is a vicious animal. That's why the underlying note just doesn't lay right, in my eyes. To me, it is the same powdery, disconcerting note that's in O. I don't think I'll be buying a bottle of this scent, but it captures Regan perfectly.

[starrykitten]

Wow.

 

In short, Regan rocked my world this morning. I put it on and just basked in it for ages. The quick bottle-sniff I did didn't do it justice at all.

 

I was nervous about the orchide, but it blends so smoothly and velvety with the vanilla that I don't feel like a flower shop. There is something similar between this and O, but this is more innocent, more daytime than O. Very feminine, very versatile, and I'll see how the staying power goes. Right now I'm glad I bought a bottle right-off.