Madrid

[BronteJD]

Swarthy and vibrant! An elegant, full-bodied scent that ignites all the darkest passions. Bold red wine, mimosa, and a trickle of clove.

In the bottle: Sweet sweet sweet and fruity. Almost didn't put it on, it hit me so strong.

After 10 minutes: The sweetest, fruitiest sangria ever. The red wine is a distant far undertone on this, with an incredibly potent blueberry/strawberry slamming into me. Really am not liking this. Not getting the clove, which I love, or even the wine. This is getting stronger and sweeter by the minute.

After an hour: Never got the clove or the orange that I wanted. Just sweet fruit, but almost synthetic smelling, like an air freshener in a car. Sad now.


BronteJD

[Tess]

If it's got booze in it, I'll try it. But seriously, wine with cloves just sounds great, although I'm not sure about the mimosa. Let's find out! (Plus, this is one of those places that I really want to go to...)

 

In the vial - Hmm, cloves? I'm not what I'm smelling here. It's a sweet red wine note, I can tell you that.

 

Wet - This IS like candy. I'm not getting any of the listed notes, just sweet, sweet berries. VERY sweet berries.

 

Drying - Pure candy. Cherry, strawberry, grape candy. If I hadn't read that other people are getting the same reaction, I'd be worried about the craziness. It's seriously artificial Kool-Aid scent.

 

Dry (30 minutes) - This hasn't changed one darn bit. It's still fake fruit candy...

 

Overall - I hope to smell this on someone who doesn't make it smell terrible someday.

[space girl lost]

wow. this one changed fast!

 

in the bottle: it is definitely alcoholic. wine indeed! it has that dry slightly bitter/acrid smell of wine that i really dislike.

 

wet on skin: it goes sour very fast. so sour I was about to immediately write it off. within about 5 minutes, the sourness is gone completely as is the alcoholic smell. in its place, i get something red and fruity. the clove is just BARELY there to add something though there really isn't any spice to it. and i've no clue what mimosa is or smells like.

 

needs more spice, but i'm liking it so far!

[edenssixthday]

Madrid - This is a sexy scent -- full-bodied wine with the spice of clove to give it some kick and deepen the richness of the fragrance. I've been to Madrid and while it doesn't remind me of my particular experience in Madrid, it reminds me of reading of Ernest Hemingway's time in Madrid in The Sun Also Rises. Whenever I've read that book, this is the general scent I associate with it: passionate and red-wine boozy, full of Spanish spice and flavor. If I were to name a scent after Ernest Hemingway, this would be it. This is a bold, confident scent and not for the faint-of-heart of wallflower type personality. The scent is astonishingly strong and has incredible throw, so if I don't want everyone around me to think I've been hitting the bottle, I need to use a modicum of this oil. It's not for daily use, but I can see it fitting certain occasions perfectly. I don't get any of the medicinal or grape qualities that other reviewers get. On me, it's pure wine and clove with a hint of mimosa to ground it. I think I'll always keep an imp on hand for the rare occasion that warrants the use of this particular blend.

[Meg]

In the bottle: very sweet red wine, and I think a little bit of clove.

 

Wet: I think I'm smelling mimosa - nothing like in the bottle, this is powdery, slightly herbal and sweet. Then the clove starts coming out.

 

Drydown: I get plasticky clove. It's really not like it started out, which is a horrible shame. I do get hints of berry, but they're hidden far in the background, behind the plastic-powder of mimosa that makes my nose tingle. It makes me think of highly diluted wine with a hint of clove and mimosas. I do get a bitter tartness from the wine, a vague booziness, but that's about it.

 

Overall: Aw, how very sad! The wine only leaves bitter boozy notes instead of fruity ones, and it was the note I was most looking forward to! It's a bit of a sharp blend, and it loses a lot of its sweetness, staying sort of plasticky and fake. Such a pity, because the general concept would have been great, on me and to represent Madrid. Rats! I'm going back to Montresor.

[indicolite]

Ole! El olio de Madrid es vino, mucho mucho vino, y mas vino.

 

Wine, lotsa booze!

 

Oh, here's the clove coming out.

 

Now that it's dry, I am getting what I think is mimosa.

 

Madrid is...ok. But not something i will want to wear every day. However, I will hold on; I have a sneaky feeling I will need it for something.

[TrailerTrashPrincess]

impsniff: smells like the cordial my friend makes

 

skinsniff, wet: smells like red-purple potpourri

 

skinsniff, dry: cinnamon-gum and potpourri -- a little spicier now, but just not me.

[Jerre]

Madrid

 

Super sticky nectar-sweet; as you draw closer like a bee to a flower, it BITES! Tangy!

 

Summary: a fruity-sweet margarita with a citrus after-bite! Awesome!

[RaeiNarcissus]

Got Madrid as a frimp from my first visit to the lab, it's the first frimp i've gotten that I don't plan on swapping. When it first goes on, the red wine is a little distorted, and it goes kinda cherry cough syrup on me, then the wine finds it's center and it settles down into a very nice, luxurient scent on me.

[shellyshells]

Madrid

 

In the imp it smells soooo goood.

On me, ahh even better. I love Beth's wine scents, they smell so sexy! I get wafts of a beautiful mix of red wine and mimosa at first and about half an hour later clove grounds it all out.

I didn't even know I liked clove, I haven't tried too many of Beth's oils with clove though! I love it in this blend anyway.

 

It's sweet, slightly fruity, and sexy. I wouldn't where it everyday though, I can see myself using this at a dinner party or somethin... I likes it!

[LiberAmoris]

Madrid is great for people who love the red wine note in all its heady brightness. It's featured here in the same kind of way that it is in Lady Macbeth---red wine with no apologies, no interruptions! On my skin at least, the clove and mimosa toil in obscurity, trailing behind.

 

The red wine note is not one that works well on me, so I don't think I'll be keeping this. But I love how cheerful and berried and bright it is, and will pass the imp on to a friend so I can smell it on someone with amenable skin chemistry.

[Medici]

Wet: Red wine and fresh, juicy grapes… rapidly turning into purple popsicle.

 

Drydown: Purple Popsicle (melted), red wine (spilled) and the dratted mimosa that has yet to agree with my chemistry (cat pee.)

 

*fumes*

[steffanina]

Madrid-

 

In Bottle: Oh, is that cool. It's like...grape-cinnamon, though that isn't quite it.

 

Wet: The clove is stronger than the fruit, but I like it a lot.

 

Dry: This stayed rich grapey-cinnamon all the way through and it was fascinating. I don't think it's going to be a frequent flyer but I do like it!

 

Overall: Teensy bit conditional, but I do like!

[Eros]

In the imp and first applied it's sour cherry candy. Five minutes or so later, it's a beautiful, sweet & slightly spicy, smoky incense, similar to Hellion, a good thing! There's also a hint of something figgy upon complete drydown, adding to the richness. "Full-bodied" is a dead-on description of this one. Dark, full, lush...Beautiful!

[yeahbutnobut]

Madrid

 

In the imp: sweet, almost sugared/honeyed red wine. Sweet wine, almost like grape juice.

Wet on skin: sweet wine with a hint of clove…almost mulled wine!

Dry on skin: mmm, I like it. the wine note here is sweeter and less boozy than other wine notes (Wanda and Lilith) but I love what the clove's doing to it, giving it an almost festive mulled feel. I smell a lovely mimosa note as well, all pollen-y and yellow, and quite dry…reminds me of another mimosa perfume (non-BPAL) I've smelt.

After a while: it's mainly sweet red wine and mimosa now, with just a hint of clove. It's very sweet, deep and it's also quite dry too, thanks to the mimosa. It's a nice contrasting scent of deep red clove-wine and sunny mimosa blossoms.

This does seem to fade fast though, leaving a faint trace of mimosa and wine on the skin.

Verdict: this was such a pleasant surprise. I've been looking for a good mimosa scent from BPAL and this is it. The mimosa in here is like it should be-a sunny, soft, almost dusty-pollen like scent which is very springy to me (I don't get any pee reactions with mimosa-cat pee or otherwise). It contrasts nicely with a sweet, thick (but not too boozy) red wine note that is spiced with clove, almost like cinnamon-less mulled wine. It's an unusual contrast that works very well. The wine isn't as alcoholic as I'd hoped but it's very nice and not sour on me. Not a favourite but one that I like enough to keep the imp of.

Emoticon rating:

Is it a keeper? Might be. Not a favourite but it's very pleasant and my favourite mimosa scent.

If you like this, try: Blood Rose, Lilith, Athens, Tum, Succubus, Masabakes

[supremegoddessofall]

Rich red wine. Hint of the mimosa in the background, but I'm barely getting any of the clove.

[sookster]

straight sniff from imp this is sweet, crisp champagne with lots of grapes...

once applied this gets quite fruity and succulent...what a fun blend!! a touch of clove with this combo is unique as well...the lasting power is "meh" with my chemistry but i am happy i was able to try this one out...

[euterpe414]

I do often crave wine scents, and this certainly fits the bill for one of those cravings. Not as sweet and berry-like as Lady Macbeth, definitely more vivacious and spicy! I don't get any cough syrup smells, and there is not much clove coming through in the mix, either (that was all reserved for Montresor, the ultimate cough syrup blend on me...ack!). I know it's there, but it is not the top note by any means. This has average lasting power on me adn a moderate amount of throw, I believe.

 

Great blend, glad I could finally give it a try! definitely another for my bottle w/l.

[mtlaise]

This one surprised me. I loved the scent the moment I opened the imp. However, when I put it on, it was horrible - just a bitter "wine that's gone off" smell. After about a minute, though, it morphed beautifully, and it's now a close second for my favourite scent. When i put this on, the first 30-60 seconds smell bitter, but as it begins to dry, it instantly becomes a blend of mulled red wine, with a touch of mimosa.

 

I love this, and I ordered a bottle right after trying it. A bonus with this one is that it has great throw AND staying power (if i put it on in the morning, I can still smell it when I go to bed - the same smell, but with less throw as the day wears on).

[Miss Lynx]

This was a completely accidental find. BPAL's wine notes often seem to turn to grape candy on my skin, and while I'm still not sure exactly what mimosa smells like, it's been in a number of scents I haven't liked, so I tend to mistrust it instinctively.

 

But someone had this one up for swap at the most recent Meet'n'Sniff, and on whim I decided to try it -- and about two minutes later was offering her my swap box to see if there was anything she'd like in exchange for it. Because this was really startlingly nice.

 

The wine note, while it still doesn't smell like wine exactly, is not as cloyingly sweet as it has been elsewhere, and the clove gives it a really nice kick. And there's a hint of something earthy and bittersweet behind it, giving it depth -- could that be mimosa? I was almost certain that mimosa was the painfully sweet floral that killed Masabakes for me, but maybe not.

 

Anyway, this is quite likable. Spicy-sweet, with a hint of darkness and depth, though not enough to really make it last all that long -- it does seem to do a bit of a quick fade. But it's very nice while it lasts.

 

Grade: B (B+ if it lasted longer)

[oh_the_horror]

Too much sweet wine. It smells kind of like bubblegum but wrong. Something smells like sterile bandaids. The clove is coming through and it's only making me hate this more. I need to wash it off. All the components seem to clash on me and they make each other smell terrible.

[themerrybaker]

Madrid is way too in-your-face cloyingly sweet on me. I think I'd opt for the bastinado if given a choice.

[whimsitini]

In imp: A very fruity red wine.

 

Wet: Reminds me of sangria. And it is balanced with some clove.

 

Dry down: We used to have an immature mimosa tree with the pink flowers. I can't say I thought much of the smell on them, so maybe it improves with the older, red and yellow trees. Still can't detect the mimosa then, but the clove and wine makes for a lovely scent.

[tempestteapot]

Grape hubbabubba

[Peaches 2]

I adore this in the vial; it smells like a wonderful sangria. I'm not a big wine drinker, but the smell of this just blew me away.

 

Too bad, though,because my skin just sucked up that beautiful sweet wine aroma and left me with the merest hint of clove, and that was almost an unidentifiable fragrance, other than "some kind of spice". I got virtually no floral at all. And the whole show was over in less than 45 minutes, with precious little throw. I wish my skin would let me keep that gorgeous wine smell.

 

Maybe I'll try this again in the spring, when my skin is a little less dry.