La Bella Donna Della Mia Mente

[harmonyfb]

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.

In the vial: Candyish smell of pomegranate

Wet: Sharp (but pleasant) pomegranate scent that stays candy-sweet.

Dry: I can smell the myrtle and rose and other wonderful scents underneath the utterly too-sweet pomegranate, but they're just completely overwhelmed. ::sigh:: Obviously, not for me. Why can't BPAL come out with a myrtle/rose scent without the added throw notes? Edited September 30, 2007 by Shollin

[tinyvulture]

what is going on with this imp!? it smells like mexican food! at first i thought my husband brought home leftovers and didn't bother to tell me. then i realized it was my wrist. i got the same effect when i applied it days later. i’m not kidding and i’ve never had such a weird reaction to a perfume. i’m assuming i just got an “off” sample. so…other than the mexican food, there’s fruit. i wouldn’t guess it was pomegranate or peach… it’s more of a general sweet fruity note. can’t smell the rose at all. there’s also something aquatic. but mostly, mexican food.

[Ancientgirl]

This was a freebie from the lab.

This scent is a green, fruity floral. I don't know how to identify pomegranate, but I definitely get the peach, which is one of my favorite fruit scents but can be overwhelming. In fact, it impresses me how wonderfully the fruits and florals blend together on this.

Despite the reference to "autumn breezes" in the description, this scent seems much more "spring-like" to me. In fact, it reminds me of Botticelli's "La Primavera" for some reason; like this is the scent she might wear. I can picture wearing this on Easter Sunday, in a pastel dress and a straw hat. Very genteel and pretty. It doesn't call my name the way some other scents do, but I will probably use up the imp.

Ancientgirl

[jazlyn]

In the imp, La Bella Donna Della Mia Mente is wonderful; I can smell the different notes, a nice blend of aquatic/floral/fruity (more fruity than aquatic/floral... mmm pomegranate). I get an image of a couple having a picnic under the shade of a tree (which has a swing!) close to a lake and a *spring* breeze is blowing. It's a beautiful scent. But then on my skin, it very quickly turns to... soap.

[Jocelyn]

I love this one, its so soft and subtle. Reminds me of floating underwater.

 

In the imp: Champange, im serious, it smells exactly like it.

 

On me: Sweet, slightly salty, my skin amps the rose so i can smell that.

Doesnt last a real long time though,i imagine it would be stronger when i am warmer.

Good summer scent i think.

[jasper17]

This smells wonderful in the bottle - fruity and a little sweet but not too much so.

 

On me, it's a disaster to the point of nearly making me ill. It immediately lost the fruit scent and went kind of... Not sure how to describe it. Dirty and musky but not in a good way.

 

One for the swap pile for me.

[sookster]

beautiful for a warm summer evening.......extremely well balanced fruity and light

floral goodness....nothing too overpowering with this gorgeous scent....i simply

love the fact that it is so refreshingly light yet has amazing staying power....

a knockout perfume

[silver_springs]

This is an absolutely gorgeous scent. The essence of femininity.

 

Soft scent of juicy fruits and wet flowers. It's lovely. I could see myself wearing this often.

 

I definitely want a big bottle.

 

9/10

Edited January 23, 2006 by silver_springs

[The Perfumed Ferret]

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

 

In the bottle: Soft rose, pom, dry leaves, and light musk.

 

Wet: MYRTLE AND PEACH

 

I could not not wait to wash this stuff off. I smelled like cheap soap.

 

Dry Down: Rose and her friend pomegranate show up, followed by ass.

 

This one is too lovely in the bottle to give up, so it's banished to the oil burner.

[loves_requiem]

Ahem.

 

**too busy trying to suffocate myself in my own wrists at the moment to articulate a review worthy of this delicious blend**

 

 

Must....have....more.....

[Thaleia]

I think I screamed, literally, when I saw that this came as a frimp in today's order. The description sounds so beautiful, and it's high up on my wish list!

 

It's definitely very sweet and lush, in the bottle. I can pick out the aquatics and the pomegranate juice, but the rest smells like a very large bouquet of flowers, which isn't all bad, since it's me and I love florals. This has wild rose! I love wild rose ... it's definitely different from the regular rose, to me, in that it has a purer, sweeter rose scent.

 

On me, as expected, wild rose comes up top with fruity aquatics playing underneath. It falls back after a few minutes to let the peach blossom say hi. A very sweet blend, perfect for spring. Or autumn too, as it says autumn breezes in the description, but this is more a spring scent to me. Early autumn works fine, too. Dry, it's wild rose after the rain. How pretty! What a keeper; this one didn't fail to please. 8.5/10.

[LadyWilde]

I haven't reviewed this yet? Seriously?

 

In the imp, I immediately recognized the juicy, sweet-tart scent of pomegranate. Once it touched my skin, the pomegranate disappeared immediately, and for a moment I was certain that "melancholy autumn breezes" were going to go the way of the Lab's "ozone" note and turn to detergent and pesticide.

 

However, after it dried down for a bit, the pomegranate came back, and brought with it the rose, peach, and a clean, fresh aquatic note. I can't identify myrtle or melilot by scent, but I looked both of them up on the web, and apparently melilot has a hay/vanilla fragrance. I don't smell any vanilla, but I'm guessing it's the melilot that I'm interpreting as subtly grassy and "breezy."

 

This is such a pretty, well-blended, well-balanced scent. Tart pomegranate and sweet peach, flowery rose and dry melilot, and a combination of clean water and air notes. Nothing overpowers or stands out, everything just melds together beautifully.

 

Definitely a keeper, and possibly a future big bottle purchase.

[ajcj213499]

It's weird, but to me this smells like Verdandi- a favorite of mine, but to me this is so similar that it might be a waste to get since I already have a bottle of Verdandi. I was amazed to see that this has rose in it, because usually rose goes terrible on me. I can't believe there aren't apples in this, it smells very appleish to me, almost what I imagined The Hesperides to be like (I haven't tried that one yet).

I put some of this on my pillow last night and it was very nice to go to sleep with...

[ladynoah74]

In the Bottle: Goddess loves me. She made pomegranate. The wine is there too, just putting a bit of bite into the juicy fruit.

 

Wet: Myrtle and rose, are now cruising, and pomegranate is sitting in the backseat, kerchief in place to keep her hair from getting too mussed. They are lovin' each other! This still smells fabulous.

 

Dry: It's still there, but after about 30 minutes I have to bury my nose in my wrist to get a whiff of it.

 

I'm definitely getting a big bottle. If I have to slather, so be it!

[Lizzie]

In The Bottle Peachy aquatic

 

Dry mmmm. mmmmm. That's good!! I have a hard time describing it, but it brings back memories of a forest stream behind my parents house, laying on the moss, eating peaches and being lazy.

[ovxi]

This was included free in my last order. (Oh, how I squeee-ed at the presents!) Not at ALL the sort of thing I would have ordered on my own, but very nice, actually. I think it may have a specialized application I've yet to discover as I explore the new BPAL-induced world of raising my mood with scents.

 

It's very light, very fresh, and very, very clean. It does go a bit soapy on me, but I think it would be perfect after a bath, when that sort of thing would feel right. (After a day of slaving away in the espresso-mines, that struck a kind of jarring note, but not in a BAD way.) Like all the tiniest flowers you'd find in a garden-- I don't get any big showy blossom feeling out of it, but it's soft and comforting and... clean. I'll definitely be experimenting to see what mood requires it. Not destined for a big bottle, but a very good thing to have around in imp form.

[Missmoonlight]

liquid: flowers, like a flowers liquid soap. At first I said "it's sooo medieval!!" and it reminds me of the mille-fiori background on the Lady with Unicorn tapestries.

on my skin: still flowers, but a little warmer: the "soap" note disappears and it's only flowers, nor green, not "rosey", this reminds me more of a light yellow, a little compact powder maybe, or like my hairdresser's shampoo. It reminds me also of the scent that you smell when you enter a perfume shop

after 15 minutes: I smell something more fruity, but still "perfume shop"

after 30 minutes: it's something like an expensive perfume....I usually don't like them (maybe it's the alcoholic base?), but this is nice, though not the right scent for me!

[abbycomix]

In the bottle and wet I love the mix of fruity and floral. Very well blended, so it's difficult to pick out the different notes, but just plain yummy! Unfortunately on my skin the fruits went away and it turned to a soft floral that wasn't really my cup of tea. I think I'll keep the imp to use on my clothes and try it out in a scent locket too.

[melrose]

Wet, on: Strong, sharp fruits - not sharp as in going bad, nor as in fresh, but as in in-your-face-peach (I guess this is the mix of peach and pomegranate).

 

Near drydown: Fruity, but not sweet and with a nice spicy, herbally edge.

 

Far drydown: Nada. This one disappeared so quickly I couldn't believe it, and I slathered (I'm right aren't I? 1/3 of an imp would be considered slathering?)

[Phaedra]

Wet this is honey and creamy florals. When first on there's something fruity- peach maybe and a hint of greeness. It also smells like white florals, possibly honeysuckle. A spicyness starts to develop- is this carnation? After about an hour the spices fade and a rose note develops. There's also something sweet in the background which must be the pomegranate. This is a very pretty, soft, feminine blend.

[Meg]

In the bottle: Rose, peach and autumn leaves. Lovely! But... I can smell the aquatic note that doesn't like me.

 

Wet: It becomes very discreet, and then I smell sweet fruits and aquatics that make me a bit dizzy.

 

Drydown: For a while, the aquatics dominate so that I can hardly smell anything through them. Then the autumn leaves start coming through, the rose and the peach blossom. It becomes deliciously sweet, like honey, and I think that there's some grape in there.

 

Overall: A very evocative, delicate blend. It captures autumn very well, and at the same time it's fruity and delicious. Pretty, feminine and sensual, and really perfect for autumn.

[kourika]

For whatever reason, La Bella Donna Della Mia Mente smells like dry, musty herbs on my skin without a hint of fruit or florals. However, when I passed the imp along to my younger sister I could smell a wonderfully sweet scent on her skin. It's not as heavy and in your face as some other blends, but if you have the right skin chemistry it's a lovely, light smell.

[nerdcraft]

preconceived notions: None, really...just floral. I have no idea what myrtle smells like, unless it's similar to a crepe myrtle bush?

 

in the vial: Mmmm. Very fresh, light, clean floral. No single note is jumping out at me.

wet: Beautiful. Smells really wet and fresh - like rain falling on a flower bed. It does have a clean shampoo-type smell, but that's still very nice in my opinion.

dry: Hmph. Now I'm not sure about this one anymore. After an hour or so, it fades into a generic floral perfume scent on me. Actually quite a lot like "spring fresh" dryer sheets! Eep.

 

season: Late summer and fall.

office-friendly? Yes - it's fresh and light.

 

 

overall: I think I'll have to give this one another try. I liked the first hour a lot - I'd love to hold on to that wet blossom scent it has at first.

[moon_lemming]

In the imp: honey and apples? After reading the notes (and looking up "melilot," which is sweet clover, by the way), I think it might be a combination of the pomegranate, peach, and clover that makes me think of honey and apples. It's very pretty either way.

 

On my skin, La Bella Donna is subtle and well-blended; I can't pick out any one note, but it smells like I imagine a meadow would smell at the end of summer. As time goes by, it gains an aquatic feel.

 

Very nice. I'm going to try this one again later to test the staying power -- I tested it on my hand, which is stupidly dry, and it vanished pretty quickly.

[Brianne]

In the vial:

A very aquatic rose

 

On me:

This is definitely what I'd call an aquatic scent - it has a very crisp (in a soft way really, it's not sharp) watery smell. The rose is in the background and is pretty subtle for rose. The peach is just barely there but adds a nice juicy sweetness to this scent. It is a very sophisticated scent in my opinion, this doesn't seem like something a young girl would wear or that someone kinda punky would wear - it seems very womanly and classy.

 

Final note:

Definitely aquatic with a touch of florals and a hint of peach