La Bella Donna Della Mia Mente

[annerqm]

Soft, lush myrtle and dry, sweet melilot with wild rose, pomegranate juice and peach blossom against a background of deep aquatic notes and a twirl of melancholy autumn breezes.

Imp: Winey juicy fruity goodness! Lush, warm, just very slightly spicy and not overly sweet.

Wet: The pomegranate and peach are very prominent and just beautiful...a warm, cozy fruit scent, perfect for autumn. Hmmmm…I can’t get enough. Juicy, fruity, heady and slightly alcoholic.

Dry-down: The rose, other floral notes and aquatics start to peep out from under the fruits…this is smelling less fruity and more perfume-y.

Dry: The rose is much more prominent now, and the water/aquatic notes. To me, it’s now less warm than wet and in the imp. Now it’s more wispy flowers and water and much less of the warm, spicy, wine-y notes.

Final: As more time passes, the more prominent the rose becomes. Sigh. If only La Bella Donna would maintain her wet, warm, fruity notes on my skin…because that was wonderful! The final product on me is not great, very standard, floral perfume with lots of heavy rose.

[Iceblink]

Pomegranate and peach and myrtle--delicious! Reminds me of Aglaea a bit when freshly applied. The rose has emerged on the drydown; I'm not getting anything here making me think aquatic, which is odd, but I don't mind. A really nice fruity-floral.

[Seadreamer]

This was a PIF Imp from schackjj.

 

In the bottle: Wow, lovely fruit and flowers. Gotta try that!

 

Wet: Lush! That's the first thing that came to mind. A ladies bower strewn with fruit and flowers, enticing, gentle, seductive.

 

After 30 minutes: There's something with a bit more backbone there. Something almost like crushed herbs, mellow with age. Almost as if you're smelling the branches and brambles that those fruit and flowers sprang from.

 

After an hour: God, this just gets better and better. It's now smooth and deep, and one of those scents that turns your head when you get just a wiff of it. It makes you come back and say, "What IS that?" Absolutely beautiful.

 

I'm adding this one to my "get a bottle" list. Possibly my second favorite after The Hesperides.

[donnatron]

Imp: Pomegranate softened by peach blossom (or at least a foody floral scent) touched with aquatics.

 

Wet: On the skin the aquatics just bloom. The aquatic note is considerably softened by the pomegranate and peach blossom and some of the rose is peaking out. This has a much more cuddly feel than most aquatics do on my skin. It feels like a more sultry version of the Lady of Shallot.

 

Dry: The pomegranate and the peach blossom are the star players here. I get a touch of rose, the aquatic notes fade to more of a grounding background note and this is overall a beautiful, soft and feminine scent. I'm surprised how much I like this. It perfectly walks the line between classic and modern.

 

Throw: The pomegranate is the strongest note, but the throw itself is fairly light.

 

Overall: Pretty, feminine, somewhat overlooked scent. A good mix of fruity, floral and aquatic and a good way to ease oneself into a new scent family.

[prettybird]

In the bottle: Mmm. Fruity, almost candylike.

 

Dry on skin: Oh, oh yes. Yes, please. This is the very first scent from the lab with pomegranate in that does not smell like the dentist's office on me. This is absolutely heavenly. I wanna curl up in it and stay there forever. Between the myrtle and the peach, it smells like the South in the summertime, in the very best of ways. It's feminine, but definitely not in a soft kind of a way. It's right there.

 

I need a big bottle of this. Maybe a gallon jug.

[hkhm]

imp: this smells just like fruit-flavored hard candies.

 

wet: this is incredibly faint, i get light fruity hints, a touch of floral, something sweet... but it's too faint to pinpoint.

 

dry: this went on faint and stayed faint. it's perfect for when you might want a very light, yet persistent scent.

[Ceri]

In the vial: A sweet fruity drink.

 

Wet: Green. Most floral turns green on me at this stage.

 

Drydown: Sweet floral, quite smooth, like a well mixed floral flavored drink. The rose is appearing slowly and soon that's all I smell.

 

Overall: Strangely roses make me sneeze. That's what happened in the end. Not for me. I wished I could get the notes of 'deep aquatic notes and a twirl of melancholy autumn breezes' but they were not present for me. I will give this another try soon, I really had high hopes that I would love this.

 

-Edit-

After half an hour of wearing the scent, the pomegranate and peach decides to pay me a visit and the overall scent is quite nice - if I can forget the rose. At this point, the rose is faint (or it might just be my blocked nose from all the sneezing), and that leaves me with a nice juicy scent (minus the rose).

Edited February 4, 2009 by Ceri

[Bluestocking]

In the imp: Sweet, fruity and fresh floral against a subtle backdrop of blue-green aquatics. I'm getting mostly the melilot (sweet clover) and peach blossom with a touch of rose, but the aquatics are barely there underneath, deepening this and adding interest. This has a breezy, light, feminine feel.

On, wet: Very fresh, beautiful flowers, still with a cool, restrained aquatic undertone. The wild rose and green myrtle bloom when this hits my skin, making this less light and sweet and more voluptuous. The clover and fruity peach blossom have stepped back so that they aren't as prominent, but I am also getting a deep tang from the pomegranate and a hint of ozone that suggests the promised autumn breezes. It's the perfume of a beautiful woman, but not a painted lady—this is a very natural sort of beauty.

On, dry: Nothing's gone away, but the melilot and peach blossom have come back alongside the rose and pomegranate, while the myrtle is melting into the aquatics beneath. Still quite lovely and feminine, though the overall scent is becoming much fainter—the memory of the beautiful woman, rather than the woman herself.

Later: Blended so well that no one note stands out. It's just sort of coolly elegant, yet melancholy.

Overall: This really captures the poem very well for me, so much so that I can practically see the Bella Donna herself. Scents usually have "colors" for me, but this one is really more like a portrait—pale skin from the airy melilot, blushing cheeks from the peach blossom, red, red lips from the roses and pomegranate, her crown from the myrtle, her deep sadness from the blue aquatics and the fresh breeze. It's a haunting scent to me—not one I'd want to wear everyday, but definitely worth keeping the imp.

 

 

[Nia]

This blend is one of my greatest disappointments. It's ok, it's pleasant, but less than the sum of its parts. I just don't get it: myrtle appears in some of my favourite blends (Aglaea! Wanda! Brisingamen!!), pomegranate has a very distinct smell, "aquatic" shouldn't smell perfumey... and that's what I get, just a generic floral. Off to the swap pile.

 

 

[GalaxyLei]

I don't really smell the fruit in this...more the fruit leaves, just off the top. It feels green and wet, and summery, not autumn. Pretty, but not for me.

[magikalbrownies]

fruity flowers....YUM and the perfect time to be wearing this; summertime is around the corner.

[angelicruin]

Sniffing the imp, it's light aquatic floral scent. I can pick out the rose and peach blossom just sniffing the oil.

 

Applied to my skin, it's roses and something else...I'm not sure what Myrtle and Melilot smell like, but maybe that's it. As it dries, I can smell the peach blossom again. Roses stay with it from wet to dry. The aquatic note keeps the florals softer and more subdued on my skin.

[jwhxtna]

IN THE IMP: Sweet, slightly tart fruits, with a background of aquatics.

 

WET: Soft floral and something else, maybe the myrtle and the melilot, since I don't know what they smell like, but it's a little bitter. The fruit fades to the background.

 

DRY: Slightly bitter and dry, again, maybe the myrtle and melilot? The fruit occasionally disappears and returns. One note actually does smell like a breeze, oddly enough. It does evoke autumn to me. Not a bright autumn day walking through trees with colorful foliage, but a quiet, gray autumn day kicking up dry, brown leaves.

[tragedy]

Slightly sharp at first this quickly mellows down to a overripe fruity floral.

It has decent throw.. mostly a peach throw on me.

Pretty in a girlygirl way.

[stardreamer]

I like this better than I thought I was going to. The fruits are dominant, and the rose never makes an appearance at all. I don't get much in the way of aquatics either, so it ends up being a soft, sweet fruity/floral all the way from fresh-on to the end. Staying power seems about average, pretty well gone after 8 hours and a couple of errands out in the heat. Bottom line: not going to be a favorite, but it'll be nice as a light summery scent. As heavy on the amber as my collection tends to be, this is a Good Thing.

[Monster]

In the imp: Fruity floral.

 

Wet: First whiff on my skin wet I'm smelling that "stinky old people diapers" smell. It's a floral note that's making me cringe. There's a backgrond of "ozone" (clean airy smell) and just a hint of rose.

 

Dry: The floral stink has subsided a bit but is still present...just not as strong. I'm getting more sweet fruits now...I just can't get past these floral notes.

 

Verdict: This is the smell of the inside of my imp box...of all my BPAL oils mixing together. Meh.

[London]

This is the first of the aquatics I've tried. I opened it and it smelled like sweet tarts all around me

 

On me: sweet tarts and flowers. Not sugary sweet though. Sort of newly cut flowers sweet.

 

 

I'd love this as a room scent.

[topazphoenix]

There only enough fruit in there to balance out the florals. And yet it's really sweet. Sugary aquatic florals.

[sarajane]

Ah, another beautiful fruity floral. Very well-blended, very well balanced. And I love the poem of the same name.

[caffinatedangel]

I thought this was a really beautiful blend. The rose, on me, was rather prominent. But I really like how rose sits on me so that was good. The pomegrante must add a bite to it, and the peach is surprisingly more fruit-like than I thought it would be. A lot of time "blossoms" end up as just a floral mess on me, but this was really quite nice.

 

Sadly, on the drydown it did what florals do for me, and turned more into a soap-effect than a beautiful perfume. It could be scent-locket worthy. It's very bright, light, and girly. It had average throw, and for some reason didn't last too long on my skin. I think I'm eating oils lately, though.

[Kimbernunk]

Wet, this was really fruity with a slighty aquatic backdrop. Very pretty, if a little on the sweet side for me.

 

As it dried, the scent itself dried out a bit - the aquatic became slightly more prominent but a little 'breezier' (hello, ozone), the fruits calmed down a bit, and I noticed a slightly floral backdrop.

 

I wasn't sure what to expect from this, but I really like it! I can see wearing it a lot in September, while it's still warm enough to work with bright fruits like peach and pomegranate, but on the edge of fall and cooler days.

 

This could be a bottle purchase.

[kunoichi]

From the vial, this has a sharpish, cool scent with a slight edge of the sea. On my skin it becomes much more subtle, though it stays cool - the edge disappears very quickly. After a few hours it has faded to almost nothing, just a ephemeral whisp of floral which is barely detectable.

[Venneh]

In the imp, I get fruit, with a sea-tinged edge to it. On my skin, the peach and pomegranate and ocean-tinge amps, with florals in the background, and it smells amazing. Right off the bat, I'm thinking this is going to be another bottle.

[reynardine]

From imp: Light, fruity/floral scent.

 

Wet: a hint of rose, maybe peaches? Very refreshing and pretty.

 

Drydown: And it's GONE. That fast. 10 minutes max. Not even the powder scent. Nothing. It just disappeared. My skin must just eat this blend.

 

Too bad, I had high hopes. Off to the swap pile with this one.

[revinn]

A fruity aquatic?! So strange! I really like it though. It's really unique, and I think it's going to grow on me. I don't normally like to wear fruity scents, but I'm starting to enjoy aquatics, so maybe....

 

Out of 10: 7