The Perilous Parlor

[kelpsoda]

A memory of pleasure passed. A ghostly rendezvous, delight beyond death. Faint echoes of laughter and the distorted music of a harp drift by, along with the scent of soft white pear and sweet vanilla.

Wet: sweet pear! Very juicy, with a shot of sugar and a background of vanilla
Dry: pear disappears and I'm left with just vanilla. Unfortunately, it's the same fake-vanilla smell that I get from Love's Philosophy. rats. I so wanted this to work. . . Edited June 17, 2008 by kelp

[fairnymph]

In the bottle: Very pale peach coloured oil. Sweet, rich, and fruity. Syrupy verging on candied; like roasted, baked or caramelized pears drizzled with vanilla.

 

Wet: Very sweet with rich vanilla, and quite foody. It's definitely like a baked fall dessert. The vanilla is stronger on my skin and sweeter. Still, I can detect the warm, juicy pear.

 

Dry: This reminds me a bit of the Thierry Mugler 'Virgin No. 1' scent, with the juicy, over ripe fruit, super sweet vanilla, baked foody warmth, mulled boozy notes and very very faint hint of spice.

 

Later: Absolutely an autumnal scent, it's snuggly and is what my kitchen often smells like in the Fall. Sadly, this is the type of vanilla that takes over everything and becomes absurdly sweet and cloying. Some soft musk sweetens the mix too.

 

Summary: Thickly sweet vanilla syrup and musk with a soft, distant baked pear note and a faint sprinkling of edible spices. The vanilla dominates and most of the pear disappears as the spices emerge. Feminine. Strong throw and lasting power.

 

Too sweet/vanilla-y for me.

[Catmint]

This is my greatest BPAL heartbreak of all time.

 

Pear and vanilla are two of my very favorite scents, and not only do I get ZERO pear from this, the sugar note goes totally smoky/scorched on me, and the vanilla turns into plastic. I've tried this 5 times, over a period of several months, hoping that either my chemistry would change or aging the oil would help, but every time I get the exact same thing:

 

burnt plastic doll heads. :D

[innocent]

Pears poached in wine fading to pears topped with vanilla cream. Very good. I only have a decant and I wish I had more.

[whinge]

Bottle: Pear and dust. Warm, incredibly foody and just.. yummy.

Wet: There's a dusty, fruity sweetness with just a pinch of vanilla ontop of it all.

Dry: The vanilla comes out a little more as it dries, but it isn't overwhelming. The pear is still very present, ripe and juicy and there's something new to the mix, something tangy, hidden beneath it all. Wine?

 

Over all, I love it. It's the perfect comforting, nostalgic scent. Normally vanilla and I don't get along well but this vanilla is very tame and it blends with the pear well.

[purplegirl]

Scrumptious.... drool-inducing and ridiculously scrumptious!!!! PP is a sweet, syrup-y pear, almost sticky. The vanilla adds a bit more sugary-sweet to the pear and after it dries down a bit, I get a vanilla-caramel pear scent. This seems to be just the ticket for autumn and I wish I'd gotten PP when it first came out, but now that I've tried it and loved it, I'll be wishin' and hopin' for a bit more!

[angelicruin]

Bottle: Pear & vanilla

 

Wet & dry are about the same for me: vanilla pear with a slight muskiness as the oil dries on my skin.

[westernsky]

Perilous Parlor is one of my BPAL great loves.

In the bottle I get lots of pear and only a hint of vanilla. As it dries, the vanilla eventually comes out and later, after an hour or so, the musk sets in.

I've always been a fan of vanilla and pear, but I had no idea I was such a "foodie/fruitie" until PP. It is the only oil I've hoarded several bottles of and with good reason. Nearly a year later I still wear it constantly and always have a bottle in my bag.

 

Today I'm indulging in my new favorite blend - equal parts Perilous Parlor and Snow White with a touch of Black Lace. Heaven

[Nimthiriel]

Initial impression:

Mm, creamy vanilla with a fruity touch – love it!

 

First on:

It's pears and vanilla – it makes me very very happy.

Finally:

I only got this as a barely testable sniffie, but I loveloveLOVE it! Must have more.

[ouch!]

This is the nicest of the Haunted House scents I've tried. Vanilla? yum...pear??? YUM! Together? YUMMMMMMMMM!

 

It's very bright, the pear makes it sparkle and the vanilla gives a slight foody edge. It's really a pleasure to smell. *sniffs wrist*.

 

It's weird that the vanilla behaves itself because it usually doesn't and I never want it to!! But this stays in it's place and the pear and vanilla go hand in hand until drydown. The onjly thing I would say is that the Pear becomes less soft and sparkly and a bit more tart as it dries...

 

I Like lots!

[TheOneTheyCallLuna]

Baked pear tart with vanilla soy ice cream. Yummers! Doesn't morph much, the throw is light but there, and this baby has magic lasting powers. I must get my mitts on more immediately!!!!

[Ceri]

In the vial: Creamy Pear

 

Wet: Pear! Pear! Pear! Juicy, juicy pear!

 

Dry: Pear & creamy vanilla. This has gone slightly powdery for a few minutes before morphing into lovely vanilla.

 

Overall: I love it! Must..have..more! Bottle hunting for me!

[anna1850]

This is a nice very sweet syrupy smell. I think I was expecting a sort of light crisp pear and sweet vanilla but this is more like pears baked in sugar.

 

4/5 It's pretty nice but maybe a bit too sweet.

[Gin]

The Perilous Parlor

 

The only pear I smell is in the bottle, when I get a whiff of the acetone-like scent of D'Anjou. On my skin it's vanilla, much like the vanilla in Love's Philosophy, but here, it seems so syrupy. And there's something that smells almost masculine about this. I wish I could figure out what it is, because it smells familiar and it's driving me crazy. Anyway, I like but not love. I think I'll pass it along to someone who'll appreciate it more.

[BuxomM]

It smells mainly like vanilla with a hint of something fresh, sweet and fruity that i'm guessing is the pear. Wasn't sweet enough or pear enough for me ... vanilla amps on me.

[sylvanusurban]

In bottle: Lovely fresh pear and creamy-sweet vanilla!

 

On me, wet: This is pure nom.

 

On me, drying: Nooo, the vanilla smell turns sour/cloying and leaps into the foreground. Fuckin’ skin chemistry, man.

Later: The vanilla seems to have mellowed a bit, but it still isn’t great and the pear is still banished to the land of wind and ghosts.

 

Still later: Faded, slightly spiced vanilla, with a hint of something weird like burnt toast.

 

Verdict: This would have been an insta-favourite if it had maintained its wet scent. The drydown was majorly disappointing. Nevertheless, I’ll keep it around and maybe try to use it as a room scent or something.

 

[stardreamer]

In the bottle and fresh on: Oh yes, ripe juicy pears and vanilla! It's a very rich, creamy scent.

 

This did something very strange -- when I wore it out in the heat, it edged toward the burnt-sugar note but never quite got there; it was more like caramelized pears and vanilla at that point. Back in the A/C, the caramel note faded away again. I cheated and touched it up when I got home, so as to get back to the first stage.

 

My skin tends to amp vanilla, so after a while the pear is less prominent. The vanilla turns into almost a marshmallow creme by then; it reminds me of Antique Lace, but without the pineapple-tart overlay. No estimate of staying power because of the touch-up.

 

Bottom line: I like this a lot. It's not as light as a lot of the fruity scents, but still very nice for summer wear, and the emergence of that caramel note under strong heat is really interesting -- most scents don't morph that strongly on me. This one will get a lot of use.

[Schmoozy]

 

I have to admit, I bought this unsniffed when it first came out, and when I finally got the chance to test it - it was horrible. It was with the Perilous Parlour that I realized some vanillas just don't like me. It was too smoky and to plastic-y for me. However 2 years of aging has finally produced the scent I was hoping for. It is soft, and the pear is so subtle and the vanilla pokes its head every once in awhile. Simply beautiful.

Edited September 22, 2009 by Schmoozy

[TheOnliest]

It's going wrong. In the bottle I get all pear. Where's vanilla? On my wrist it's the juicy pear I recognize from Thalia and some kind of harshness that jars my nose when I lean in to sniff. It's very similar to what I experience with the patchouli in Snake Oil except it's not patchouli, but a strange sourness. For the next hour or so it's pear and muskiness, a vaguely manly cologne scent. Now all the pear is gone and it's just some men's cologne. I've run into this before with a very slightly aged bottle of TKO; once the lavender fades I'm left with a vague muskiness and the tiniest hint of sweetness. I don't get even a hint of vanilla in The Perilous Parlor. Could it be the bottle's age?

 

Where's vanilla?

 

eta: Vanilla, or at least some sweetness, did eventually show up. Strangely it decided to show up after I tried to wash the oil off so I decided to reapply and, apropos of (almost) nothing, take a nap. When I woke up I had the faint scent of both pear and vanilla on my wrists with a bit of the manly musk I experienced earlier. I guess I can chalk it up to a new, unsettled bottle and wonky skin chemistry. I'm definitely re-retesting.

Edited September 23, 2009 by TheOnliest

[cinderfallen]

There's the pear. There's the vanilla. Yup. The vanilla isn't rich or decadent, more icing vanilla and some pear glaze. I was lured by the rarity of pear notes in the catalog, but ultimately, it's not very exciting.

Edited October 17, 2009 by cinderfallen

[Suusje]

This could've been so good, pear and vanilla, yum! But sadly the pear vanishes within seconds and I'm left with a fake and plastic vanilla

[Ondine]

Interesting--hardly any pear on me (which is fine) and what I am left with is a vanilla that is like Antique Lace.

[kunoichi]

Wow, this is an amazing scent in the bottle! On opening, there is a strong wave of fruity, sweet and utterly lovely sweetness from the bottle, somewhat reminiscent of bubble gum. On my skin, however, the vanilla comes out to play with the juicy fruit scent of the pear, softening the fruit until it becomes a subtle combination of cool, sweet deliciousness. The scent continues to fade and meld over time, becoming a very soft sugared vanilla. This needs refreshed fairly frequently as this lovely, delicious scent fades too quickly!

[gingiemay]

VERY fruity in the bottle, but the fruit/wine note disappears quickly on my skin leaving a vanilla musk-scent behind. Delicious and almost smoky. I love it!

[SophieCedar]

In imp and wet it's pear with a touch of vanilla. As this cools, it flip flops so vanilla is dominant and the pear is much softer. There's a bit of that dusty ruddy smell too. Mmmm... <3