Desdemona

[edenssixthday]

Innocent, soft and pure: sweet pea, carnation and water lily.

Desdemona - Initially, this smells like it’s going to be a nice floral, but rather quickly, it turns entirely into a floral soap – and not just any floral soap, but cheap floral soap. I’m rather surprised that the carnation note in this blend doesn’t take over the other notes with it’s lovely spicy scent, and I’m even more surprised that the carnation does not show up on me at all. As time goes by, the soapiness of the scent becomes stronger and stronger to the point where after about 30-45 minutes I have to wash it off. I can’t get rid of the soapy scent completely, but washing it tones it down to the point where it’s not choking me with every breath I take. Into the swap pile this goes!

[Rhowan]

Desdamona goes on a wonderful floral that quickly goes to soap and then just as fast disappears. I am disappointed because I was looking forward to the sweetpea. I guess this needs to be swapped - bummer.

[Eunice]

Light, watery and green. And something in here smells lightly of tortilla chips. This is just very very odd on my skin.

[lilfaerywingz]

As you can see by my icon, this is my favorite so far (although I haven't tried TOO much of bpal)

 

Bottle: wow! sweet peas!

 

wet:the sweet pea softens and the carnation takes over a bit

 

dry: it loves my skin and I love it... smells just lightly floral and made me want to make out with my arm

[fairy]

In the bottle it's amazing. Floral beauty. Unfortunately once it hits my skin it turns into sudsy soap. Didn't care for her, which makes me sad.

[Ghost_Light]

Now this was a scent I was hoping for!

 

On me it starts off with the same spicy floral scents that Bess begins and ends with, but doesn't do the "Oh crap! This stinks like chemical roses!" period that dominates the middle of Bess on me. It was the first one I tried that picked a nice scent and just stayed on it for hours. I think my skin really likes the carnation scents. or the carnation combined with the lilly.

 

I really like this one a lot.

 

Sadly, I amp florals like nobody's business so if I wear this one, everyone around me better like it too. And my hubby really, really hates this scent.

Edited January 27, 2007 by Ghost Light

[sofaking6]

Yum! I love the sweetness that's more sugary than floral, as well as the lightness. This scent was nice in the diffuser, but, as usual, I spilled some on my finger and couldn't stop sniffing. So I dabbed my wrists this morning...it is faded somewhat but the nature of the scent is holding strong. No powder in sight This is definitely an early favorite for me.

 

6

[PilotKitten]

Heavy (but not heady) floral. I've been avoiding carnation scents because I hate the smell of carnations... then I get Desdemona as a frimp and try it out... my skin TOTALLY AMPLIFIES carnations... it's like it knows what I hate. Drats... I was hoping I'd get more of the water lily. < sigh > Oh well.... off to the swap pile for this one.

[Frappuccino]

Is this what carnations are supposed to smell like? Because this smells awfully like jasmine. If I wasn't told this had carnations, I would never have guessed. Anyway, jasmine and I are not friends. They inevitably smell like bathroom air freshener/chemical detergent to my nose ... literally headache in a bottle. Sorry, Desdemona, but you are not for me!

[sofiaviolet]

I definitely smell sweet pea and carnation. They work surprisingly well together, the sweetness of the sweet pea taming the sharpness of the carnation. Mmm. Keeping my imp.

[columbus]

At first, this is a very aquatic scent that becomes very floral on the skin. Unfortunately, I have the problem that apparently many other have had: an almost immediate transition to soap. Ah well.

[supremegoddessofall]

Mostly sweet pea, with a smidge of an aquatic tone (water lily?). It's okay, but it's not as pretty as some other sweet pea scents.

[jade_starlight]

In the imp Desdemona smells nice enough, but on me Dad and I both agree that it turns into nothing more than Lemon Pledge with a bare hint of floral. I feel rather akin to a freshly-dusted table. Off to the swap pile.

[phedre]

I was absolutely shocked to find out there was no lavender in this. It lives up to its description of innocent, soft and pure though!

 

Wet, I get lovely florals, something I can't identify which must be the sweet pea. A bit of spicy carnation rears its head. But as soon as it dries, I swear this turns into lavender soap! Though, I'm one of those weirdos that likes lavender soap, so even though I've gotten two frimps of this, I'll use them up

[spelmermaid]

desdemona is a gentle, watery white floral with a bit of spice from the carnation. it smells innocent and fresh but also with a more grown-up side to it, and rather sad. very much like its namesake.

 

unfortunately when applied on me the drydown smells a lot like scented chinese new year cards that are extremely common over here. i like it, but i'd probably not wear it because i'd get asked why do i smell like greeting cards.

Edited December 10, 2006 by spelmermaid

[Ajila]

In the bottle - Sweet carnations, with just a hint of sweet pea.

 

Wet on me - Powdery sweet peas

 

Dry on me - Sweetened lily

 

Overall - Innocent, soft and pure, does exactly waht it says on the tin and as a consequence is completely not for me

[talula_fairie]

This is a major morph-er. So if you don't like it at first FORCE yourself to wait a few minutes.

 

When it was first wet, frankly I was worried. It smelled like a porta-potty deoderizer, the same way Akuma smelled on me. But the drydown is very lovely! It reminds me a little bit of Gypsy Queen (but without the incense notes) -I think it's the carnation I am smelling. A very lovely floral that doesn't go soapy but goes spicy-creamy-floral. Pretty! A winner in my book. Will probably get some regular use.

Edited December 27, 2006 by talula_fairie

[Brianne]

In the vial:

Crisp and sharp

 

On me:

This is actually so sharp and crisp that it comes off as slightly citrusy on my skin. At first, I thought for sure I was smelling yuzu. It still smells like that to me, but I think it is just because the aquatic note in this is so sharp. It almost immediately starts to turn a little soapy on me. And..... it pretty well stays that way.

 

Final note:

Started off as a sharp aquatic but ended up like soapy lily and nothing else.

[roxyhead]

I can definitely smell the sweet pea in this, but then the soap comes out and runs over you like a truck. And the sweet pea lives through the impact. Reminds me of a bubble bath my mom used to use when I was little, possibly Estee Lauder. I'd have preferred Mr. Bubble back then, but that's beside the point. But it's definitely sweet pea soap, and it's a lovely scent...on a sweet pea. I found out rather rapidly that it's not something I like to smell like, though other people with different tastes might like the smell of it on me. Would be a nice boost to insufficiently fragranced flowers. Never actually had anything else that I liked the smell of as long as it wasn't *me* that was smelling like it.

 

I've never washed anything off so fast. Soap and water didn't kill it, so I used some Body Shop tea tree oil freshener, because *nothing* can overpower tea tree oil, right? Wrong! This can, and does! Either I put something over it, like heavy incense type stuff, or I'm stuck with it until it wears off. Smells less soapy now, but still, ugh. So not me.

 

Edited to fix browser weirdness from original post.

Edited January 16, 2007 by roxyhead

[alliekat13]

In the imp: sweet pea.

On skin: sweet pea with a dash of carnation. This scent is very simple, sweet, and innocent. It kind of reminds me of Alice a bit, because of the carnation. It smells very soapy, but in a good way, like one of those expensive Crabtree and Evelyn soaps. This would be a good scent for a little girl, but it's too simplistic for me. For my sweet pea fix I will take Juliet or Aeval. After a while it gets a little powdery as carnation is apt to do from time to time. Not great throw, but it lasts a few hours.

[little_galaxie]

Sweet pea? Carnation?? What on EARTH was I thinking?!?

 

I should know better. Sweet pea turns everything powdery and carnation = spicy dust. Soo...combine the two and you get...something really nasty.

 

I'm sad. It sounded like such a lovely, playful scent, but alas. It was simply not meant to be.

[lapillus]

In bottle: medium yellow oil, candied florals

 

Wet: some of the sweetness is replaced my more complex floral notes and an underlying dry something

 

Dry: unifies some as it dries, but mostly stays similar to wet.

 

 

Later: 4 hours later some of the sweetness is back and is perfectly blended with the non-powdery floral notes. At ten hours much the same as at 4 - it’s lasting much better than most similar florals I’ve tried and I’m liking it a lot.

 

Summary: Lovely sweet, feminine floral with good staying power. Will definitely be considering a big bottle of this one.

[bristlecone]

I'm craving spring-y scents lately so when a friend sent me this as a frimp in a swap, I was all over it. In the vial, I thought I smelled lilacs and something "purple". Once I checked the notes on the BPAL site, I was able to pinpoint all three, at least while it was still wet on my skin.

 

As it dries, the sweet pea becomes dominant and gets a little soapy. At least I'm pretty sure it's the sweet pea, since Annabel Lee did something similar. However, it doesn't bother me much. The water lily is slightly musky but sweet, and the carnation smells like... carnation.

 

I really like this. I'd consider a full-sized bottle if I didn't already have too much perfume. It reminds me a Tiffany stained-glass window- one that's full of blues, greens, and purples- catching the afternoon light on a lazy Saturday.

[roenim]

I loved this when I first put it on. It was a bit watery, but also sweet and floral. It does remind me a bit of fabric softener when I've sniffed it too much. After it dried down, it smelled pretty much the same except there's a note in there that comes out more. I think it might be the carnation. Overall, I like it, but not enough to get a bottle of it.

[Nia]

On the imp tihs smells intensely of flowers with a slightly citrussy-spicy note.

 

I can't really tell the difference between the three flowers in the lab's description. On me, this smells extremely floral, so intense that it's almost unpleasant, like rose-scented insecticide or air freshener. After a while, it smells a lot like roses, maybe because I identify strong floral notes with them.

 

I only swap away things that absolutely don't work, and I'm undecided about this one.