La Befana

[FandF]

Candy charcoal, winter lilies, parma violet, a sprig of cypress, a poof of chimney dust, and holiday sweets.

wine, then grape juice wet. Sweet incense as it dries. It's carmely…faint violet..the "charcoal" in it reads as incense to me.
Dry down: annoying wine scent. Reminds me of being at a party and you are trapped by a close talker who has been drinking waaaay too much merlot. It's funky red wine breath. Ick.

[Pendragon]

In the vial: This smells like red lantern and sugar skull had a baby and called it La Befana

 

Wearing: I smell foody sweeeet caramel, a touch of smoke and burnt sugar. Every now and again I have a slight whiff of violet, so maybe someone spilt Faith on baby La Befana?

 

Verdict: I have enough sweet foody scents so I probably won't be in need of a bottle.

[LadyCrow]

In the decant: Sweet, sweet candy, almost gritty sugar.

 

Wet: Yum, candied violet!

 

Drydown: OMG HEADACHE. About an hour into the drydown, this is great: dust, smoke, and candied fruits and violets, with a good throw. It's just that on me (am I just that hot?), the charcoal absolutely blazes up and is virtually the only thing smellable for a significant chunk of the wearlength.

 

Verdict: Am I even going to be able to wear this in a locket? Bonfire Night gives me no problem, but the middle section of La Befana's wearlength nearly makes me ill, which is driving me nuts because the other notes -- and the later drydown -- are so great. Was I just slathering too heavily, as I initially did with Debauchery? Or is this just the Case of the Genuinely Bad Note?

[TheIceMaiden]

Since today is La Befana's day, I'm wearing and reviewing this scent. I wavered about getting this scent for quite a while because it sounded so unusual. But I'm glad I ended up with it.

 

La Befana starts out an almost-boozy sort of caramel scent. Once this fades out, I get sugary lillies. dusty violets, and just a tiny hint of green cypress. The lily and cypress fades out and the drydown is a dusty (almost like charcol dust) violet scent.

 

I adore the early stages, but am not too crazy about the dry down, so I've been wearing La Befena in my hair and scent locket. Overall however, this is such a curious, morphing scent as only the Lab can do. Its very fitting for the La Befana legend!

[sfsassy]

Of all the Yules, this was in my top 2. On me it smells like Violets mostly, then I get a hint of pixie sticks candy. I just love it on and I think it would be great in a burner too.

[naeelah]

I was hoping this might be a little heavier on the charcoal than the candy, but it turns out it's just as described: charcoal candy! If you can imagine such a thing, that's just how this smells.

 

The first time I tried this, it seemed very maple-y when wet. Now, it seems less so. Wet, it's sweet, sticky sugars, with a drier undertone, from the charcoal. But dry, the dryness seems to just smell like the drier sugars in Sugar Skull, instead of like dust and charcoal. Mixed in with it all is a good dose of violet (which doesn't turn soapy on me - huzzah!) After wearing it several times all day, I can just catch a whiff of cypress in the background.

 

After several hours, some of the sweetness fades, and it's a tiny bit more bitter and charcoal-like, which I like.

 

So, in short, this is just like Sugar Skull, only it has violets instead of red fruits. (LB is a little bit more subdued and dusky, SS is a little brighter. Side by side, I can tell which is which, but for me, they really are damn near identical.) I like it a lot, but I already have two bottles of Sugar Skull. I really hope this comes back in the future, with even more charcoal action, to make it a little more unique.

 

Try it if you like: Sugar Skull, Sybaris, Hope & Faith

Edited January 9, 2008 by naeelah

[Lunaliquid]

I received my bottle of La Befana yesterday, and have now learned a painful lesson; go with my gut feeling and not order something I'm not reasonably sure will work on my skin. The Candy Charcoal and Chimney Dust sounded very intriguing and also very uncertain as to what it would smell like.

 

Turns out, this scent does not work on me at all. In the bottle, it is actually a quite pleasant caramel smell, but wet on my skin it becomes cloyingly sweet. Dry, it becomes very pungent, reminiscent of holiday sweets 2 months past their shelf life. The throw is very strong and it hangs around FOREVER.

 

Needless to say, this bottle will be going to someone who can appreciate it better than I can.

 

~ Lunaliquid

Edited January 20, 2008 by Lunaliquid

[lainevierge]

La Befana reminds me a lot of Lolita Lempicka perfume, though I'm not entirely sure why. I get the violets, a smoky charcoal scent, and the sweets, but I also feel like there's something elegant and very grown up beyond all the straight up sweetness of other food based scents.

 

La Befana reminds me of purple tulle. I don't know why.

 

This scent is so complex and intriguing. I had to order a 5ml. I think it will be just as lovely and fitting in February as it will in December.

[Czarina]

In the bottle: fireplace ashes.

Wet: fireplace ashes, licorice, violets, lilies, sugar.

Drydown: like violet Sugar Skulls with a hint of Bonfire Night.

 

Exquisite.

[Honeygirl]

Bottle: Pastries

 

Wet: Pastries and candy, but a grown up candy. I'm getting the violet and charcoal candy.

 

Drydown: It does seem a bit like sugar skull. But I like sugar skull better.

3.0 outta 5

[Koumori]

I got this one because I've always liked the story-- forgetting that smoky/ashy/incensey BPALs often don't work on me, and this sadly is not an exception (There's never an exception-- I just keep hoping). At the beginning it's a sweet, warm, sugary scent, but the ash/charcoal quickly takes over-- and that's not something I like to smell like, alas.

[hkhm]

bottle: a very sharp sweetness.

 

wet: there's the candied charcoal scent, it's quite unusual. i get violets and a dusty charcoal scent. it's pretty in a sad sort of way.

 

dry: this dries to a faint, sweet violet. this is only the second violet scent that has ever worked on me and i couldn't be more pleased. now, to swap for a back-up bottle!

[persephanise]

I only had a sniffle of this, so no skin testing.

 

It smelled familiar, but I could not put my finger on it. My daughter sniffed it and said, "BLUE TOOTSIE ROLL POPS!!"

 

Yup. That's exactly what it smells like. Blue raspberry candy.

Edited January 22, 2008 by Persephanise

[dirtytrip]

This is...ok. Somehow, it smells better as it wafts up around me rather than when I hold my wrist to my nose. It starts as violets with candy overtones, and becomes violet-tinged charcoal with a touch of reediness. Love the idea of La Befana, don't care for this interpretation too much.

[ifinena]

I was given a decant of this and didn't even want to test it. Someone had mentioned a similarity to Faith which was not "me" at all. Charcoal and violets?

 

Wet and dry on me, it is some sort of smokey caramel! Totally that and nothing else. I can't get even a whiff of any of the other listed ingredients. It's delicious, but completely different from what I expected. I think I may even hunt down a bit more to scent my hair products with. I would love my hair to give off a faint scent of this but not what I would like on my skin.

Edited January 26, 2008 by ifinena

[Shannihilation]

In the bottle this is smokey and very, very sweet. Almost sickeningly so. I had the hopes of it mellowing a bit on my skin but no such luck. It's smoke and over-ripe fruit. This just doesn't work for me at all. I really wanted to love it and from the description I thought that i would, but it just doesn't work with my chemistry at all. Yuck.

[snapesbabe]

Treacle toffee and parma violets, with something a little boozy in the background. Dark rum? This has shot straight into my love list. YAY for forum swappers!

[alsatia]

Expectations: Sugared flowers, with a bit of acridity.

 

In vial: Sugar and maple syrup, with a bit of ginger.

 

On skin, wet: Faint gingerbread.

 

On skin, dry: Sweetness and violets.

 

After time: There's not enough here to really test.

 

Conclusion: From what little I can smell here, the sweets and flowers really don't go together.

[megank4]

Charcoal? Violets? What? All I am getting is brown sugar. Smells nice and lasts a long time, but definetely sugary.

[CrazyPretzel]

This is very much like the sugar note from Hellcat (brown sugar, a trifle burnt) but with a sprinkling of crushed violet petals instead of the booze notes. A wonderful olfactory representation of a fairy godmother!

[enderfem]

Imp: oooh. something very sweet and pretty, definitely reminds me of holiday candy, and a little of sweet hot apple cider.

 

Wet: Still sweet, but with something darker, richer, underneath. Maybe the cypress? definitely more complex than in the imp.

 

Drydown: This became a really nice complex rich smell that kept threatening to go plasticky, but faded into something soft and sweet. I'll enjoy the imp, but that hint of possible plasticness makes me ok with the fact I didn't get a bottle.

[cranberry]

this just smells really good. I'm really liking sugared scents, and this one is definitely sugary.

 

when first applied, it's caramel sugar, and something not so sweet - maybe wood smoke or tar. that not sweet note made me think of the smoke in Bonfire Night or the beer-tar in Pumpkin Smash.

 

but, after a quick moment, the wood smoke-tar recedes and violets come out. it has that sugared violet of Faith, but it's much, much darker. richer. deeper. Faith is very much a candy-floss high pitched scent to me. this is not candy-floss. this is sticky sweet with a smattering of violets stuck in the sugar. the caramel note reminds me in some way of one of my favorite oils, Trick or Treat. because of that, I had to get a bottle.

 

this one is sneaky. I didn't expect to like to but I kept coming back until it had me in its grasp.

Edited March 25, 2008 by cranberry

[alexandra]

In the bottle: smoky Sugar Skull. Promising.

 

Wet: over reduced caramel, occasionally a waft of Chinese food. Anyone for chow mein?

 

Dry: Like Sugar Skull on its last, skeletal legs. Thin and not that pleasant. Where are you miss violet? I want ye.

 

And?... Not awful, just not as complicated on my skin as the notes promised. Not for me.

[Ishtar]

In the vial, La Befana is all licorice and sugar. Must be the violet + dust notes that my nose interprets as licorice. Fun!

 

Wet on my skin, the sweetness gets even more pronounced, to the point where all I smell is brown sugar with a hint of smokiness.

 

As it dries, the smokiness becomes more obvious. The other notes are trying to make themselves heard, but the florals are drowned in smoky sugariness and don't stand a chance. The cypress is lingering in the background and imparts a slight sharpness, although it is not enough to cut through the sweetness.

 

It is only after complete drydown that the violet and the cypress come into their own, juxtaposing a sophisticated gourmand/floral perfume with the unapologetically fun sweetness of the charcoal candy. The violet in this is very subtle; when I inhale deeply, I can taste it at the back of my throat rather than smell it.

It reminds me of a smokier Lolita Lempika, which used to be my signature scent before I found BPAL.

 

I do not fare well with smoky notes so this will not be a keeper, but it is definitely one of the most fun scents I have tried in a long time!

[Ajila]

In the bottle – I don’t know what this smells like, but I like it. Its got a sweetness like molten sugar and a smokiness like cherry tobacco some and then the slight pale hints of parma violets

 

Wet on me – I don’t know if it’s the cypress or what, but I get a real whiff of toilet cleaner, the sweetness of the candies and in particular the parma violets are behind it but the toilet cleaner is the most pungent

 

Dry on me – This goes through and odd stale tea and old ladies phase, but when it settles it regains the parma violets with a deep treacly background

 

Overall – Odd in places, but I do like the final dry down