Shattered

[Sara]

A scent as sharp as glass shards, and as brittle as a broken heart. The formula came to me - quite literally - in a dream, and is named after, and created in memory of, the last poem that I ever wrote… almost ten years ago to the day. A blend of white champagne notes, grapefruit, lotus, slivered mint and crystalline aquatic blooms.

Initial sniff: SNOWCONES!!! Liquid snow cone...ooooh yeah.

Swipe: Hey..I thought I said snowcone damnit! A thick, sweet, almost potpurri scent begins to emerge...very remiscent of "Bon Vivant."

Drydown: No more snowcone. No more hint of snowcone. It smells almost exactly like Bon Vivant does (well...Bon Vivant didn't last..so this smells like Bon Vivant does in my hair). Which, in turn, reminds me of the artsy fartsy festival thing my mother used to drag me to in Waterloo (?). I'm standing in the big barn filled with dried flowers n' things, stuff for potpurri and wreaths.....

Oh yeah, and there's a touch of feminine powder (ack) on the outer edges; getting ready to swoop down and ruin this completely I'm sure.

Overall: If only this would've been on my skin what it was in the imp, I would've placed an order on the spot. Sadly, it's not. It's nearly exactly Bon Vivant in the drydown on me.

[EvilKitten]

Shattered

 

In the bottle - minty. My nose can always pick out mint.

 

On me - minty citrusy.. as it dries down the aquatic blooms make an appearance.. but it never really loses the citrusy minty goodness. I love it!

 

 

Impressions: Sharp like shattered glass, indeed.

[girlmadasbirds]

in bottle: this is a very sharp scent. the mint is really jumping out at me. on my skin, the mint stays strong for a while, then mellows out. i'm not smelling the grapefruit or lotus. this ended up drying into a very soapy smell on me. swapped.

[joseybird]

A very minty aquatic, with touches of lotus...not sure about the grapefruit though...icy and refreshing without being insanely sharp

[sh1mm3r]

I tried this again today before I put it up for swap.

 

For some reason, grapefruit beats everything else out when it is in a blend. And it is STRONG. Like Hall's fruit drops grapefruit-flavor strong.

 

I had to wash this off because I couldn't live with myself in my office with the door closed!

 

I love grapefruit though. Wah!

[surf-tormented]

Smelled very minty and then became Dial Soap on me.

[Julilla Regina]

I smell the mint and the citrus quite strongly. My skin ends up munching on this pretty quickly, though, so I had to apply more to really get a good whiff. After about twenty minutes, the lotus kicks in and makes it a little soapy. It's a very odd fragrance. Nice, but strange. Minty grapefruit soap. On me anyway. It's not bad, very original.

[OriginalWacky]

Bottle (Imp): I'm not sure how to describe it, as I've never smelled water like this, but it's definitely water.

 

Just On: Oh yes, very watery.

 

An hour or two later: It's smelling a little bit like stale water now.

 

Around 6 hours: Sort of murky water.

 

12 hours: Pretty faded, but it's watery still.

 

Overall: I just don't know what else I can say about this, so I'll leave this one pretty simple. It's watery. An amazing watery.

 

After reading other reviews: The aquatic blooms must be the only thing I really go, that's the water part on me. I got no fruit or anything but watery, although now I can see that the reason I wasn't familiar with the water I was smelling is that I've so rarely ever smelt water flowers of any kind. I got nothing that reminded me of mint in any way.

[JazzieCazzie]

This was actually a gift imp from a lovely forumite to my daughter, who ADORES Baobhan Sith and all things grapefruity, but she allowed me to test-drive it since I'd never tried it and am attempting to chronicle as many BPAL scents as I can ...

 

BOTTLE: This is a great name for this scent. It is so crystalline and sharp and bright. Oddly, it's not really grapefruit or mint or champagne but a perfect combination of all the notes.

 

WET: Slightly cleaning fluid (I guess that's the citrus) yet oddly sweet at the same time.

 

DRYDOWN: Lotus is always wonky on me so I didn't expect to love it and I was right. But I think she will like it a lot and that's all that matters

 

On a scale of 1-5 I'd give it about a 2.

[zankoku_zen]

Preconceived notions: I ordered this before I found out how much lotus and I don't get along. I love grapefruit so its a grapefruit vs lotus going on here.

 

In the Bottle: Smells fresh and minty. Not unlike Scope actually...

 

On Skin: It smells minty and fresh still. I can smell the grapefruit. Its very fizzy, which I am assuming is the white champagne notes. I can smell something underlying it all though.

 

On Drydown: WAHOO! I'm not getting a huge bubblegummy smell from this. The lotus adds a hint of sweetness to the tartness of the grapefruit. Usually by now, all I can smell is lotus when I've tried it other blends.

 

However, after about 20 minutes, all I can smell is the lotus. Nuts.

 

Verdict: This is a really interesting scent. I'm glad that the lotus didn't predominate. I wish the fizzyness would have lasted longer. I wish the grapefruit lasted longer. At the beginning, its not so bad. But *sigh* lotus and I continue to fight and I lose. Off to swap this goes.

[pensive]

Shattered is sharp, cold and beautiful.

 

In the imp it is minty and aquatic.

On me it is much the same.

I hope it can come back soon

[quikslvr]

Very light, very grapefruit-y start. High in the nose, a piercing white aquatic. Lotus becomes predominant, then the hint of mint emerges. Lovely, rather sophisticated, but not very me. It seems a bit haughtier a scent than I can get away with, as down-to-earth as I am.

[sookster]

really, really florally with my chemistry.... rose and incense and a teensy beensy touch of mint...ever so slight......

quite gorgeous......such a shame this is discontinued...... :icon_eek:

such a gosh darn shame that so many of these discontinued scents are ones i absotively dig.........

Edited July 23, 2005 by sookster

[brandileigh]

Smells like some sort of mint mixed with alcohol (the champagne note i guess?). Shattered, atleast to my nose, can be an almost masculine scent but totally wearable.

 

The overall scent when worn is sharp, alcohol in a good Swank sort of way, and, sometimes, I can smell like it has a bit of ozone in it. I also don't smell any of the aquatic stuff mentioned in other reviews, which is good as anything labeled aquatics normally sets off my allergies.

 

 

In short, I love it, I'm happy to have gotten a bottle from a forumite!

[metaldog32]

Ahhh yes Shattered.

 

This was part of my very first order from BPAL..sniffle..and the one I had to have based on the description alone. So...why did I wait so long??? I will tell you.

 

Being an impatient person by nature, I knew I had to score some BPAL before my order came. Luckily for me, I was able to get my hands on a bottle of Cold Moon and when I opened the bottle and took a deep whiff..I discovered sweet, sweet, and more SWEET. Not exactly what I was expecting.

 

Reading up a bit I discovered that the sweetness was the lotus..and promptly made the connection that lotus and I were going to have to go many rounds before we found a happy medium.

 

Fast forward to when I finally got my precious first order. I eagerly tear into the box, fondle my bottle of Shattered, unscrew the cap and eagerly inhale..what am I met with??? Sweetness and mint...OH NO!!!!

 

Promptly screw the top back on, tell myself it doesn't matter..it's a summer fragrance and put it in the cold wooden drawer..kicking myself for being such a sucker without trying stuff first and promptly forget about it.

 

Until now.

 

It is summertime..and I swore to myself I would do a review on every oil I have..and now is as good a time as any for this one. Here it goes:

 

Intital sniff from bottle: Goodness..as I remember..sweet, sweet, sweet. Lotus lovers..take heart..this baby has got your name on it. Lotus and soft mint...if I breathe deeply enough I get a trace of something citrus like..but from the bottle it is all sweetness and mint. For a moment I had a *flashback* of Cold Moonas this was exactly what I thought I smelled from that oil as well. Maybe the *lunar oils* have these components??? I would think so.

 

Applied wet on skin: This is where the oil does an *about face* on me. Almost immediately as I apply..the grapefruit leaps out at me..with a bit of dry fizziness...sort of like really good champagne..which I am assuming is that champagne notes..right behind is the soft mint and lotus..which amazingly has not gone *ape* on me...WOW. I like this stage.

 

Drying on skin: Grapefuit/champagne is still there..with the mint/lotus..but peeking through is the floral..definitely some sort of watery floral..the melange is actually very appealing.

 

I never..NEVER thought that mint,sweetness,and citrus would go together...I am proved wrong.

 

Couple of minutes dry on skin:Grapefuit/champagne notes fading fast on my skin..with the soft mint/lotus soft echoes following now the floral...grapefruit/champagne wafts in and out intermittently..albeit very, very soft.

 

Drydown: All floral..with soft mint in the background.

 

Throw is strongest on me in its wet phase..then it settles down close to my skin. Re-application happens at around the 4 hour mark if I so choose to. Which..I do.

 

Bottom line: A startling scent..at least to me. Definitely summertime fragrance..but even more so a fragrance that kind of captures to me the heart-wrenching pain of ending a relationship...when the body is spent from spewing hot tears..and one is left in the cold reality that it.truly.is.over. Fascinating.

[Aredhel]

Rating (on skin): 3/5

Summarised in a word or two: Grapefruit?

 

In the imp/bottle: Crisp lotus and cold, sharp mint.

 

On skin, wet: A very bubblegum-esque lotus, and very creamy mint. Also, beneath that mixture, a sweet, watery grapefruit.

 

On skin, dry: Mint above, grapefruit below. This actually reminds me of a mint chapstick I used to have in elementary school. The grapefruit beneath the mint strikes me the same way the "cherry" in that chapstick did.

 

Conclusion: A very nice mint, but I don't really dig the mint/grapefruit combination. If I could supress the grapefruit somehow, this would happily abate my mint-craving.

Edited December 17, 2005 by Aredhel

[wickedgoddess]

Wet - grapefruit and something pretty in the background.

 

Dry - well, there's grapefruit…. Oh yeah, I'm getting a little lotus now too. Unfortunately, that's all I get, and neither grapefruit nor lotus are notes I like. Off to the swap pile, posthaste!

 

On the wickedgoddess scale of 1 to 5, with 5 being best, this rates a 2

[anmorata]

Shattered:

Wet: mm, grapefruity goodness.

Drydown: fades almost instantly into a slightly fruity/powdery concoction.

Longterm wear: Oddly, despite the fact that Shattered went to powder, it's a fruity powder that I really like. It's a lot more gentle than I initially imagined.

[carolinachiquita]

This was a frimp (thank you kindly lab people!) but unfortunately it was too aquatic/ozony for me. I thought I would like mint scents but I am finding that they just don' t work with my body chemistry.

 

It did last for ages and then when it did settle down it smelled better (quite refreshing) but it was really faint.

 

Oh well ... another for the swap pile!

[-Jamie-]

Oh my. I'm really sorry I found this after it was discontinued, because it's beautiful. My wee little imp will just have to last a looong time.

 

In the bottle: citrus floral minty goodness. It's very clear and crisp.

 

On my skin: it stays about the same, an ozoney grapefruit and mint smell, with something flowery running around in the background. After a little while, the florals and mint fade a bit and leave a very bright, clean, citrus scent behind. It's wonderful.

 

It does fade rather quickly on me, turning powdery before disappearing altogether, but if it were still available I'd definitely be buying a bottle.

[lohengrin]

In the imp: Minty lotus.

 

On, wet: Minty lotus.

 

Later: Minty lotus. This is not a morphing scent. Alas, no grapefruit in it for me. It's nice, but without the grapefruit coming out on me it's really not that different from Ultraviolet.

[Isil]

Impressions:

 

When I was 12 or 13, I fell in love with a Swarovski pendant at the Texas Rennfaire, and it became the most treasured goody that came home with me quite quickly. I felt like the pretty thing captured ME so perfectly it soon became my signature jewelry and I wore it daily for a good six or seven years until the bail loosened and the pendant fell and, well, shattered.

 

I replaced the necklace about a year or so ago as part of a process of attempting to regain my identity and sense of self after a very stressful end to highschool and even greater stress and confusion during my first couple years of college. Since its been replaced, I've worn it continually unless I have an occasion that is too formal or businesslike to wear jewelry quite that simple. So for business occasions--such as job interviews--when I really need to be at my peak and completely sharp, confident, and together, I wear Shattered, and to me it smells the same way that pendant looks.

 

(These are all photos of the single same crystal--the colors, patterns, and reflection shift and change with any little change to light or the slightest movement.)

 

In the vial: 2/3 sharp, white mint and 1/3 a citrus note that's somewhere between lemon and grapefruit.

 

Applied: Very little change. The citrus balances out until the mint and citrus each form about 1/2 of the scent. No sense of lotus or aquatic at all.

 

Drydown: Although the scent still is largely unchanged, now the champagne has bubbled up enough to be present and bring some charisma and enthusiasm to the scent that could, previously, come across as stern, sharp, cold, solid, or unyielding.

 

Over time: The initial sharpness fades quite quickly as the oil drys, and is gone within about 5 minutes as it's replaced by the slightly lighter, more complete version. Then Shattered stays exactly the same on me for several hours. I'll usually reapply once or twice during a normal business day. It starts to "seem" soft fairly quickly, but throws unexpectedly and very effectively, for quite some time, leaving intermittant wisps of scent all around.

 

This is a 5 in my book. Of course I'm heartbroken that it's discontinued... I finally used up the last of my hoarded first imp today. I've managed to track down a second through the forums that's yet unused, but I'm going to be really devistated when I can't get my hands on any more of this.

[emzebel]

I made it a point to hunt this down largely because it was discontinued, and I wanted to try it, partcularly because of the grapefruit note...which is a nice part of this, but not overwhelming.

 

This is a nice light blend that I will probably try again in warm weather, but I am not heartbroken that I will never see more than this little imp. Rereading the description though, it is sort of sad that a blend this this history had to be discontinued...

[Blood onmy hands]

Mint and grapefruit are usually awful on me, and I don't usually do well with boozy or aquatic scents either. That said, Shattered isn't as bad as I imagined it would be.

 

This starts out as a very chilly aquatic. Like mint, menthol, and snow slush. It tingles a bit on my skin and makes my eyes water if I inhale too deeply. After a few minutes the grapefruit comes out a bit, and I'm getting that dirty sharp citrus scent underneath the mint. Shattered is sharp, chilly, and energizing.

 

After an hour this has softened considerably and lost a lot of its bite. Smells like sweet tarts (grapefruit?), bubble gum (lotus), and light spearmint. Sort of like a boring candy shop. It's interesting. I wonder how well this would layer with a chocolatey scent like Bliss.

[yeahbutnobut]

Shattered

 

In the imp: citrus candy! That must be a combination of grapefruit and lotus. Yup, it's very much a lotus scent. Which is good, lotus is lovely on me.

Wet on skin: now the mint comes out, cool and breezy. Still the lotus dominates the scent.

Dry on skin: this is gorgeous! It's minty fruity lotus! A light, almost candy like scent, it's sweet, fresh, bright, slightly tart from the grapefruit and champagne, and very, erm, bubbly. This is a cool fragrance, like a candy scented breeze, feels cool against the nose. And the lotus note in here is delightful as ever.

After a while: the scent isn't as fruity and bright now…in fact I'm a bit worried it may turn to soap! I don't usually get that from lotus scents though. It's nice, but a bit dry and almost soap like, but not too bad, and almost like candy.

Verdict: I'm a rare breed-one of the people who likes lotus and it's candy-cute scent. This is another lovely fragrance with this note that I enjoy. Similar to Glitter, this is another fruity lotus scent, this time with a cool blast of mint and some citrus and light booze notes from the grapefruit and champagne. This scent is almost like candy, or like chewing gum thanks to the mint, but it's not quite-there's always something interesting there to prevent it from turning into a mundane smell. It does veer towards soapiness at the end, but not off-puttingly so. I really like this but not enough to pine for a bottle-I prefer Glitter, Blood Lotus, Ace of Cups, Al Araaf etc as my lotus loves. I wouldn't mind tracking down an imp of this though!