Venice

[masquedbunny]

A complex, voluptuous scent that captures the robust beauty and of the Italian Renaissance: lemon, red currant, wisteria, red rose petals, heady jasmine, Florentine orris root, waterlily, red sandalwood, violet plum, and violet leaf.

 

In the imp: Very fruity and spicy; this smells like it belongs in a cocktail. And I know there's no orange, but orange liquor is my first thought--probably actually lemon.

Wet on skin: Still a bit fruity and spicy, but getting more jasmine and water lily.

Dry on skin: Well, it seems that the lemon and current scent has disappeared completely and left nothing but florals--primarily jasmine, but also what I imagine to be the wisteria. This one might make me sneeze.

Sadly, I think I like the initial complexity of the scent better in the vial than in the dry-down on me. Still, I think I'll give it another try later ...

[Bluestocking]

In the imp: Very grand, very lush, very floral. It is complex—I get freshness from the lemon, and then lots of jasmine and rose and orris. Despite all the rich flowers, it's not too sweet, and I think that might be because of the tart lemon and red currant—they don't really make this a fruity floral, but they balance the mounds of sweet flower petals.

On, wet: More lemon at first, and then the flowers—still mostly jasmine with lily and rose and orris root, though there's something else that's rounder and fruitier… might be the violet plum. It's not a super-sweet blend to me, but it's a rich and heady one—well-blended, too. This is just lush and womanly and confidently seductive—not prissy, not snooty, but bold. Wearing it feels like reclining on a thick bed of flower petals.

Later: Softer, more mellow, but still very luxurious and feminine. I'm getting more of the purple scents now, like the violet plum and wisteria and orris root, along with the warm sandalwood. The overall effect is very sensual, and it's difficult to pick out individual notes.

Overall: If this scent were colors, it would be red, gold and purple, and if this were a dress, it would be a billowing ball gown with a corset and bounteous cleavage. The description says the Renaissance, but to me, this is Casanova's Venice in all its decadent, gilded glory. I don't know how often I'd wear this, but I do like it.

 

 

[jencallisto]

In the imp: Fresh, sweet, a little floral, a little fruity.

Fresh on the skin: *blink* This is reminding me of a... rest stop? Clean floral in a kind of sweet way. Except almost like _cleanser_. This is so weird.

30 minutes: Searing floral cleanser. Ick!

1 hour later: Or maybe summer camp? Something. I don't know. Icky-strong floral cleanser.

1.5 hours later: Ew. Ew ew ew. This is kind of making me sick to my stomach.

3 hours later: Tried to wash it off. Have succeeded i making it smell mostly like institutional soap.

 

Verdict: Ew!

 

One word: Ew!

[TheOneTheyCallLuna]

This is really perfume-y and has a lot going on. There are some really good elements, and also a few things that aren't jiving with my weird scent preferences. I love the lemon, and the red currant, and the sandalwood. But the florals are overbearing to me (a staunch anti-floral BPALer) and it just overall smells a bit too much like traditional perfume to my weirdo nose. It is lovely, but it's just not me. This blend is like when you find the most exquisite dress you have ever laid eyes on, and obsess over it in the shop window for weeks and maybe months, saving up money, until one day reality hits you and you say to yourself, "I will NEVER wear this!" On to a happier home, preciousss....

[asciident]

Wet: Super sour commercial perfume, so I don't want to put it on.

[stellans]

OK, let's just get this out of the way first: I love this blend! Really, really love it. It is better aged than new, so if you've only tried a brand new Lab-fresh imp, let it age then give it a shot. I recommend at least 6 months' aging, more if you can stand it, and then try again.

 

The lemon note is uppermost when first applied, but as the oil warms on my skin and slowly begins its drydown, the sandalwood really comes into its own. It smells like my favorite sandalwood incense I bought when in Jakarta in the 90s, and that’s a scent I love.

 

After drydown, all the other notes (even the lemon!) are subordinate to the sandalwood, but the lemon lends a brightness and the florals lend a sweetness, but none of the fruit notes seem to come to the party at all. That’s ok; though; I love this blend for the sandalwood and that is reason I bought a bottle of this blend. Oh, and the jasmine, which sometimes hates me? Isn’t there at all, yay!

Edited June 14, 2011 by stellans

[liquidtrance]

Lily strong as ever, especially belligerent paired with the lemon. Please dry into something nice? 10 mins later, still lilyx100. I can start to smell other notes edging around, but the lily muddles them and makes my eyes water. As ever, fresh and clean scent. Starts to get a bit... Gets almost a little woodier? Still very hard to discern, and still overwhelmed by lily. No Thanks.

[angelicruin]

Inside the imp, mostly rose and lily. Very heavy floral scent to my nose.

 

Wet on the skin, rose, lemon, and red currant. As it dries, becomes all floral on my skin. Too much so. Have to pass on this one.

[caffinatedangel]

In imp this is lemon drops.

Wet on skin, rose and lemon. Very pleasing.

Drying on skin.... oh that jasmine. Why do you hate me so much? Ruining all my parties. It turns into lemon versus jasmine. All the others notes got fed up and went home early.

 

However, this is the closest jasmine has come to being acceptable on me in a blend. And I despise it, so that's saying something. I love rose, however. So the hate for jasmine and the love for rose end up just making this mediocre. I was hoping the red currant would pop more, but I can scarcely smell the fruit at all ;_;. Yep. Just Jasmine and lemon drops.

[Jupita]

Another freebie.

 

This blen didn't pick my curiosity at all, besides, my visit to Venice didn't impress me at all, so I wasn't very interested from the begining...

 

But this is nice.

It's floral, soft, close to the skin...

With a wiff of something light green.

I don't smell the lemon, though I'd love to.

I don't smell the amber - thanks god.

 

It's a morpher too, but I can't really follow to say what it smells like exactly.

 

Still, my imp will probably be enough.

[Diva Urd]

This was a generous frimp from the lab!

 

In the imp, this smelled like a generic citrussy floral. Since I'm not huge on citrus notes, I am a bit worried.

 

On me, it's primarily lemon at first, with a whiff of flowers in the background. As it dries, the currant is starting to peek out. Later, the lemon note finally decides to give the other players in this blend a chance and retreats to the background. Now it's a rather pretty, slightly lemony floral with a bit of fruity juiciness. Not bad at all, but it took quite a while to get there...

 

Will probably use the imp, but I don't think I'll reorder.

[hkhm]

imp: i mostly smell the orris here, it's quite lovely.

 

wet: sadly, the rose and jasmine are drowning out everything that could make this scent work on me.

 

dry: oh, how i want to love this scnet. if it were not for the rose and jasmine i'd likely be buying a bottle. the scent behind the rose and jasmine is incredible... i just can't ignore either of those notes long enough to really enjoy this scent on my skin. oh well...

[Reaver]

This is the scent of the Lemon Flash wipes I used to clean my uni house kitchen. Nay-ta.

 

1/10. It doesn't smell BAD, I suppose.

[Usagi]

Imp: lemon, something creamy and hard candy-like

Wet: Creamy lemon drops; light and sweet

Dry: the lemon has stepped back slightly, and something floral(rose, maybe?) has stepped forward, for a more "perfumey" feel. It smells kind of like a combo with "O"

 

This has a breezy, summery feel. The colors are bright. I think of Italy; stunning ocean views from the patio and Limoncello. Completely different, yet possibly relatives with June Gloom and some of the CTVv2 citrus "O" variants.

[Suu4LC]

In the imp this is like WHOAJASMINE for me. 90% deep, heady jasmine, with a touch of lemon and currant. But the jasmine drowns out most of the other notes.

 

Yeah. Wow, Seriously, this is SO strong on the jasmine for me. I like jasmine, but only in certain contexts and almost never as the main character. The lemon helps temper this, and I like the whiffs of currant and violet plum, but seriously, this is superheadyomgjasmine.

 

This calms down on full drydown, but then it becomes sort of a tame, floral soap scent. O_o Kind of like nice, fancy, hotel jasminey-floral soap, one of those circular ones wrapped in pretty paper. It's ok, but this is definitely a blend I can live without.

[Venneh]

In the frimp, I'm not really sure what I'm getting; on my skin, though, it's LEMON with this darker, medicinal kick. Ow. The red currant comes out as it dries, and turns it into a fruitier floral with a sharp lemon kick. I'm starting to suspect that lemon does not like me. Someone else will love this more; to the swaps.

[animalcule]

Okay, the first couple times I tried this (while I was on the rag, ahem) it was beautiful. Strong jasmine, red fruit, lemons, and a little spice. It went the tiniest bit soapy after a time, but I reapplied and it was fruity and spicy again. I was all set to order a bottle.

 

Then I just tried it again and it went straight to floral soap. I'm so sad! I see a lot of aging recommendations, so I will try that and hope the soap goes away. Or maybe it can be my special period scent.

[rayvn1]

Sharp lemon and strong floral. This is not very good on me, unfortunately Wish I could be more specific, but it just doesn't work with my skin chemistry.

[heathercaley]

Wow this is one of the most complex scents I've had the pleasure of testing! Applied, I take a sniff and pick out lemons, rose petals, incense (must be the sandalwood!), bright florals (jasmine and waterlily maybe?) with a natural fruit sweetness to keep the florals from going whoa on me. Simply incredible!!!

[HamletsKeeper]

I get a cross between floor cleaner and septic tank....checks note description. Oh, that must be the jasmine and lemon. Well despite this blend containing win notes of orris, wisteria and red currant that damn lemon and jasmine is just stomping all over it creating something unpleasant. Venice is like an industrial floor cleaner in application in a public toilet. I'm sure it's not supposed to smell like that, but it's what my skin does with jasmine and lemon. I guess you can deduce that it's a jasmine, lemon, red sandalwood blend with hints of the rest in it. Personally I like my sandalwood softer than red sandalwood especially with the other floral notes. But maybe if I was actually throwing rose at all it may have a different character. Oh, spoke too soon because here comes the rose which always smells to me like $2 soap. And not even rose soap, just soapy soap.

 

So this is a rose, jasmine, lemon blend on a heavy sandalwood. Probably good if rose and jasmine like you.

[Amaranthus]

This is amazing. I would never have tried this on my own, since I'm cautious of heady floral blends, but an imp of it was included in my last order (thank you!!).

 

This smells like purple and gold.

 

Initially Venice has a fuzzy texture- one I usually find with patchouli or blackberry leaf- in this instance I suppose it's violet leaf. Wet, this is a rich floral perfume with a tinge of plum. It smells like a mature rose dipped in a red wine with strong plum notes.

 

It slowly morphs into a sparkling, regal citrus-floral perfume. The citrus performs an olfactory crescendo-decrescendo, growing stronger and more golden, then backing off and fading into a glowing background.

 

Next, jasmine emerges as the main note, lending the perfume a cool, watery character. It took me a moment to identify this note as jasmine, my first impression was of water.

 

Rich, smooth red sandalwood appears next, softened by a glorious floral bouquet.

 

This is so lovely, and again, not at all something I would have expected to like.

 

This smells how I imagine the palace at Versailles would have looked in its heyday. I know that Versailles is not Venice, () but it conjured the image of Versailles in my imagination. The exception is the jasmine stage, when it did make me think of watery Venice.

 

I can't wait to pass this on to some friends, who I am confident will love it.

 

I think it's time I tried out more of the Wanderlust oils, since I only ever get them as freebies and they are consistently amazing.

 

 

[Aldercy]

Oddly woodsy lemon amid a swirl of heady, hothouse florals. It reminds me of a steamy Central American market. It's actually not very strong... a low, pulsing sort of skin scent, but it doesn't personally appeal to me.

[skylarkza]

In the imp: Water and water plants.

 

Wet: Wisteria and jasmine in a fight to the death...

 

Dry: Aquatic. Wisteria over the water on a sunlit afternoon?But more flowers are being blwon past on the wind. And the scent is very full and rounded.

 

A while later: *chuckles* I think I can understand why a friend of mine said this made her smell like "old lady". Happily, it works differently on me. The lightest tinge of citrus, something deep juicy and red, a couple of wispy florals and a touch of aquatic. This smells like a sunset over a river or lake. All orange, gold and red, yet incredible gentle and tranquil.

[DeltaCat]

Awesome! Lemon and florals. This is sweet and pretty, but clean. Not headache inducing. On dry down there is mostly lemon, but it is subdued. Not on the top of my buy list, maybe in the middle.

[CitizenBree]

I love rose and violet and am visiting Venice soon so that is why I purchased this imp.

 

In the imp and on wet it was very heavy violet. A little overpowering but I may have put on too much. As it died down, the rose came out more. I'm fond of violet and rose scents so I liked this one once it died down a bit. After about four hours, it's almost all gone. A powdery scent is present if I sniff really hard.

 

I didn't get any lemon out of my sniffing.

 

I'll keep the imp but not buy a bottle because there are other rose and violet scents that I like more.

 

And I'll probably add more thoughts after I get back from Venice.