Different smells/colors, same perfume

[lizzyshoe]

I received an imp of Shattered with my first lab order and fell in love with it, so I purchased a bottle (off the forum, I belive), and the bottle smells very different. The "silvered mint" totally takes over the wet stage and doesn't smell like the citrusy Shattered I know until it's dry. I'm wondering if I have an older bottle, because the initial (pre-disc.) reviews described it as very minty.

[pzb]

I've been in love with Mary Read since I got my first imp two years ago. I just received a new bottle and....it smells like maple syrup. I don't get any of the notes that make Mary so nice and spicy. Even wearing it for two hours, it's still maple-y... I'm so sad! I don't know what to do.

[captainecchi]

I'm surprised I didn't add this before - one of the vewwy first imps I tried, back in 2007, was Highwayman. I remember being overwhelmed by O HAI VETIVER. I couldn't wear it, but as it turned out it was the scent that converted my husband to BPAL.

 

So we ordered a bottle for him, and it showed up - smelling completely, totally of gardenias. No sign of vetiver. Very feminine.

 

Anyone else have this happen?

[ami226]

My post reviewing different imps of Hermia:

 

Okay, I have two different imps of Hermia and both are extremely different in color. I don't think it is because of aging, since I received both imps around the same time..... Anyways, on to the reviews.

 

Bright Orange imp: On my skin this smells very..... cakey? A spicy yet slightly floral and sweet cake. Very tasty. Sooooooo good! Doesn't seem to morph much. I am seriously liking this one.

 

Light yellow, almost clear imp: Whoa! Honeysuckle and bubblegum? Completely different than the one above.

 

I have a feeling that the second imp is the actual Hermia. I wish I knew what the other one was though because it is seriously amazing.

 

[ivyandpeony]

I bought a bottle of Hermia unsniffed when that scent when live, I thought it sounded so good And I think the description of your bright-orange imp sounds much more like my bottle. There's a lot of pink pepper in it, which is spicy and sweet - I can't say that it actually goes so far as to smell like cake to me, but still, much closer to that description than to the way you describe the second imp. I think it is fairly rare that something actually gets mislabeled at the lab, but between the naturally sourced ingredients and the way aging affects the perfumes (especially bottles vs. imps) the batch variations can seem really drastic sometimes.

[ami226]

I bought a bottle of Hermia unsniffed when that scent when live, I thought it sounded so good And I think the description of your bright-orange imp sounds much more like my bottle. There's a lot of pink pepper in it, which is spicy and sweet - I can't say that it actually goes so far as to smell like cake to me, but still, much closer to that description than to the way you describe the second imp. I think it is fairly rare that something actually gets mislabeled at the lab, but between the naturally sourced ingredients and the way aging affects the perfumes (especially bottles vs. imps) the batch variations can seem really drastic sometimes.

 

Oh my!! If this is true then I NEED to add a bottle to my next order. Mmmm! So good!

 

I guess it probably was a batch variation. Here's hoping that I get the bright orange batch.... *crosses fingers*

[lainevierge]

I got a bottle of Obatala in my order yesterday that is DEFINITELY not Obatala. I've had multiple imps of Obatala and this bottle has none of the toasted coconut and shea notes that Obatala does. The best way I can describe the scent in the bottle is figs and tropical flowers.

 

I'm not super bummed about not getting the right scent, as I ordered it because the proceeds went to charity, but I am curious. Any clue what is actually in my bottle? Has this happened to anyone else?

[MamaMoth]

I got a bottle of Black Death from the first batch, and it was super heavy on the clove and bay, kind of dry and spicy, with heavier patchouli. I picked up a backup from the second batch (I think 2nd. After a reorder at DD.) And this bottle is insanely different. It's so much fruitier... the lemon peel and the lime are much more prominent. The bay has taken a definite back seat, as has the patch. The clove is stronger, too. At first I thought I didn't like it, but now I'm thinking I'd like a balance between the two. I'm tempted to mix a half-and-half imp of the two.

Edited February 25, 2010 by MamaMoth

[beachbabealways]

Black Death HELP!

 

I had bought a bottle from DD for a Mod here on BPAL in a swap and when it arrived I opened it and smelled it and it was love. I posted a ISO on swappersonline (and BPAL) and swapped for a decant. The bottle and decant both smelled the same. :love:

 

So I found a bottle for sale and bought it the other day. It arrived today and when I opened it up it was like whoooa ... APPLE! I mean it smells nothing like the original bottle that came to me nor the decant. Maybe way in the distance if I inhale really deep but the top note here smells like apple. :banghead: Think of the apple in Agape.

 

Has anyone heard if there are batch variations? I'm soooo sad! I want the Black Death I tried before and thank god I still have the BD decant to compare it to. I almost frimped it out the other day knowing I had a bottle coming but at the last min. I kept it.

 

ETA: The seller bought it from DD along with Black Heart and Black Lace and she was selling all of them so I'm the second owner and it's full to the shoulder and she only opened to sniff it twice. I believe her. Could the lab have filled it with the wrong scent by accident?

 

[MamaMoth]

Black Death HELP!

 

I had bought a bottle from DD for a Mod here on BPAL in a swap and when it arrived I opened it and smelled it and it was love. I posted a ISO on swappersonline (and BPAL) and swapped for a decant. The bottle and decant both smelled the same. :love:

 

So I found a bottle for sale and bought it the other day. It arrived today and when I opened it up it was like whoooa ... APPLE! I mean it smells nothing like the original bottle that came to me nor the decant. Maybe way in the distance if I inhale really deep but the top note here smells like apple. :banghead: Think of the apple in Agape.

 

Has anyone heard if there are batch variations? I'm soooo sad! I want the Black Death I tried before and thank god I still have the BD decant to compare it to. I almost frimped it out the other day knowing I had a bottle coming but at the last min. I kept it.

 

ETA: The seller bought it from DD along with Black Heart and Black Lace and she was selling all of them so I'm the second owner and it's full to the shoulder and she only opened to sniff it twice. I believe her. Could the lab have filled it with the wrong scent by accident?

 

 

Yeah, the batch difference between the first and the second stocking of Black Death are HUGE. The second one is so much fruitier. It was different enough that I thought perhaps I got the wrong scent as well.

 

[beachbabealways]

Black Death HELP!

 

I had bought a bottle from DD for a Mod here on BPAL in a swap and when it arrived I opened it and smelled it and it was love. I posted a ISO on swappersonline (and BPAL) and swapped for a decant. The bottle and decant both smelled the same. :love:

 

So I found a bottle for sale and bought it the other day. It arrived today and when I opened it up it was like whoooa ... APPLE! I mean it smells nothing like the original bottle that came to me nor the decant. Maybe way in the distance if I inhale really deep but the top note here smells like apple. :banghead: Think of the apple in Agape.

 

Has anyone heard if there are batch variations? I'm soooo sad! I want the Black Death I tried before and thank god I still have the BD decant to compare it to. I almost frimped it out the other day knowing I had a bottle coming but at the last min. I kept it.

 

ETA: The seller bought it from DD along with Black Heart and Black Lace and she was selling all of them so I'm the second owner and it's full to the shoulder and she only opened to sniff it twice. I believe her. Could the lab have filled it with the wrong scent by accident?

 

 

Yeah, the batch difference between the first and the second stocking of Black Death are HUGE. The second one is so much fruitier. It was different enough that I thought perhaps I got the wrong scent as well.

 

Damn! Well at least that mystery is solved. and now I'm going off to throw a fit! lol.

Thanks.

 

ETA:

Oh hell I didn't even see your post that was right above mine and posted in Feb.

 

I don't think I've ever been disappointed with the Lab ... not even over the price hike. This though upsets me because I had my heart set on the original scent and had I known they changed it I would not have bought this. It's not horrible or anything like that it's just not what I fell in love with.

Edited March 5, 2010 by beachbabealways

[MamaMoth]

I don't think I've ever been disappointed with the Lab ... not even over the price hike. This though upsets me because I had my heart set on the original scent and had I known they changed it I would not have bought this. It's not horrible or anything like that it's just not what I fell in love with.

 

Yeah, I pulled a couple of decants from my original bottle and gifted them out, because I knew I had a backup coming. :\

 

I've been toying with emailing the lab over it, but I haven't done it. Technically I didn't buy it from the lab, but I dunno there is obviously something off with the second batch. Would it do any good, do you think?

 

[beachbabealways]

I don't think I've ever been disappointed with the Lab ... not even over the price hike. This though upsets me because I had my heart set on the original scent and had I known they changed it I would not have bought this. It's not horrible or anything like that it's just not what I fell in love with.

 

Yeah, I pulled a couple of decants from my original bottle and gifted them out, because I knew I had a backup coming. :\

 

I've been toying with emailing the lab over it, but I haven't done it. Technically I didn't buy it from the lab, but I dunno there is obviously something off with the second batch. Would it do any good, do you think?

 

It might, maybe they don't know it's different. They are the only one's with the answers. If you do you are welcome to direct them to my post because there are two of us that notice a HUGE difference. I bought my bottle from a forum member over on Swappers and she may be a member here as well but I would buy another bottle from DD IF it was like the original batch. I am one sad lil puppy.

[Inanna9]

well, crap. I fell in love with my decant of Black Death and was going to order a bottle, but I'll be holding out until I hear what is going on with the new batch. Thanks for the heads up, guys.

[loladae]

I have an imp or L'Estate and a bottle of it. The imp is a great ambery color, and it smells golden-like the amber in Inez. My bottle, however, smells very faint and thin. So completely different then my imp. Anybody know what's up with that?

[beachbabealways]

well, crap. I fell in love with my decant of Black Death and was going to order a bottle, but I'll be holding out until I hear what is going on with the new batch. Thanks for the heads up, guys.

 

Ya know the second version is not bad but if you have your heart set on the first one you would be surprised. I had skin tested it last night and later on in the evening I kept getting these wafts of a sweet smell. Kinda like back when I used to skate and go to the concession stand where they were making cotton candy or if you go to a carnival and pass the food alley. It's not like Midway though. You know that kinda smell that just draws you in? That's what it ended up smelling like on me. It is nice so you might try to find a decant if you like that kind of smell.

 

I have an imp or L'Estate and a bottle of it. The imp is a great ambery color, and it smells golden-like the amber in Inez. My bottle, however, smells very faint and thin. So completely different then my imp. Anybody know what's up with that?

I have a bottle of L'Estate and just went in and opened it. It's pretty strong so not sure why yours smells faint. Hopefully someone else here will be able to help. Edited March 5, 2010 by beachbabealways

[Suusje]

I have a strong suspicion something is not right with the recent bottles of Black Lace and Black Death from DarkDel. I have several bottles of Black Lace and the last one I received smells completely different. There are slight batch differences between my bottles but this cannot be a batch difference, I smell apples and that's just something that shouldn't be present in Black Lace at all. At first I just thought is was my bottle, but I noticed a BL review that describes apples as well. And there's a Black Death review with apples as well. Where are those apples coming from? Is it possible that someone accidentally mixed some apple scented oil in there? Are there more people with an apple problem?

[moon_lemming]

Hahaha, that is pretty funny, now that I read that, I went back and tested my Black Lace from a few weeks ago, and I smell apples in it. Red apples. I've never smelled the original, though, so I wouldn't know if it's different. I did think it smelled different than all the descriptions I'd read of the old one when I first tested it, but chalked it up to fresh-bottle-ness.

 

Mysterious! Apple-obsessed poltergeists?

 

eta: If it IS apple, it burns off pretty quickly because it's gone now (an hour later) -- it might just be a fluke in the case of Black Lace? I have seen a good handful of people mention a major difference in the two "batches" of Black Death, though.

Edited March 8, 2010 by karen

[MamaMoth]

I have a strong suspicion something is not right with the recent bottles of Black Lace and Black Death from DarkDel. I have several bottles of Black Lace and the last one I received smells completely different. There are slight batch differences between my bottles but this cannot be a batch difference, I smell apples and that's just something that shouldn't be present in Black Lace at all. At first I just thought is was my bottle, but I noticed a BL review that describes apples as well. And there's a Black Death review with apples as well. Where are those apples coming from? Is it possible that someone accidentally mixed some apple scented oil in there? Are there more people with an apple problem?

 

 

I got a bottle of Black Death when it first came out, then picked up a backup bottle when it was restocked. The second bottle is really really really different to me as well. Very fruity. Could be apple, definitely.

 

I got a bottle of Black Lace with the second Black Death bottle, and I don't smell any fruitiness in it. Smells like a decant I got from about a month earlier. But I never smelled the original Black Lace to compare.

[Delirium1009]

My bottles of Black Lace and Black Death don't smell like apple (I bought BL right after it was brought back, and BD within a couple days of it being on the site) but I have also noticed people saying that BD smells fruitier in later batches. It shouldn't have apple, though, I don't think... the only fruity notes listed are citrus.

[gingiemay]

No apple in either bottles of my Black Lace or Black Heart, although Black Heart does smell plummy-grape-y. BL I got right when it came up on the site and BH was a swap so I'm not sure to which batch it belongs.

[krazyanjel]

I've got the apple! That may have been my review. Wet, it's green apple. At drydown, its more like a red apple. I *thought* something might have been up with my batch, because it seemed like everyone else got vanilla and tobacco....I just didn't want to throw it out there, because I figured I'm new, so what do I know?Im all apples and fruit. Almost like a Glade candle. Dont get me wrong, I love mine (I have it in a scent locket right now, and it's fabulous.) I adore it, and would actually like to pick up a second bottle, but I have a strong suspicion that if I did, it would smell nothing like this.

Though it kills me to really have no idea what it SHOULD smell like, because I didnt go after a decant or sniffie, I just dove straight in for a bottle.

Ive wondered if it was Black Heart or Black Death...those I have decants of on the way, just to compare. Whatever it is that I have, its quite lovely...but it's definately not what everytone else was getting with the depth and vanilla. This is light and almost what can only be described as a chipper scent. Nothing Black about it.

[amanderinorange]

I bought a bottle of BL right after it was released on the DD website and it was a vanilla-cotton-tobacco-musk scent that I love. I ordered another bottle of it this weekend and received it today and there is no vanilla or cotton, but instead apple.

 

Now, I like apple, but it's not what I was hoping for.

[wvgemini]

So my very first foray into BPAL was an Imp pack that included Snake Oil. I loved it so I bought a bottle the next day. Got my bottles on Saturday and I finally wore my Snake Oil out to dinner last night. The bottle SO is smooth, creamy, sweet with that little bite that SO has. I was in a cloud of heavenly scent. I put it on for work today and I decided (mainly because my ACU sleeve cuffs smell faintly of yesterday's Bordello) to fresshen the scent. Anyway, i pull out my trusty Imp and smear away. Holy sandalwood! Thankfully it mellowed out in just a few minutes, but my bottle definately didn't have that much sandalwood pow to it.

 

So I'm wondering if my bottle may be a little older for some reason? The imp older? I don't care either way, just curious as to why there is the difference. Anyone else tried an imp that smelled one way and gotten a bottle that was different?

 

Thanks for reading my rambling, btw, lol!

[meaganola]

So I'm wondering if my bottle may be a little older for some reason? The imp older? I don't care either way, just curious as to why there is the difference. Anyone else tried an imp that smelled one way and gotten a bottle that was different?

 

All the time. There's already a thread about this in the FAQ, though, so you might want to check that out for more detail.