Frenum Bath Oil

[alicia_stardust]

Moderation is a fatal thing. Nothing succeeds like excess. -- Oscar Wilde

Wild lettuce, white tea, cucumber, and cherry blossom.

Shea oil, olive oil, mineral oil, apricot kernel oil, fractionated coconut oil, rosehip seed, evening primrose oil, vitamin E, isopropyl myristate, glycereth-7-cocoate (derived from coconut), oleth 3, and Black Phoenix Alchemy Lab perfume blends.

Frenum is a gentle, clean scent. It is dominated by the cool green cucumber and the white tea. I find it soothing, calming, and refreshing. The lettuce and sakura remain subdued to my nose, but they are definitely there in a supporting role.

The oil itself is nice and moisturizing, it doesn't cause me to break out (I waited a few days to write this review), and it sinks into my skin rapidly once I have rinsed off and left the bath. A little oil goes a long way in terms of fragrance while in the bath, and using a minimal amount keeps my bath from turning into an oil slick.

The fragrance of this sticks around for a while afterward, but it isn't strong enough or long-lasting enough to interfere too much with other fragrances I may want to wear that day. As for my bathroom, the scent lingers. A lot.

I find this lovely for a bath, and I am especially keeping it in mind for the warm summer months when a cool, soothing cucumber bath is just the thing I am in the mood for.

[edenssixthday]

Frenum Bath Oil - The scent is very crisp and ultra-green. I smell more lettuce than cucumber, but combined with the other notes, particularly the soft cherry blossom, it's an absolutely perfect scent for late-spring/early-summer. It's very calming and soothing. I also discovered that a little goes a long way - I found out the hard way by using way too much and being very slippery all over - but I was definitely well-moisturized and smelled amazing for the rest of the night! The scent is remarkably strong in the tub water and lingers in the bathroom for quite some time after I am finished in there. Another job well done!

Edited January 31, 2008 by edenssixthday

[naeelah]

(I haven't used this one in the bath yet, just sniffed.)

 

This is a really lovely, light, refreshing scent. At first the cucumber and tea seem to dominate, but I think I'm getting an equal amount of the florals. The top notes, to my nose, are tea, cucumber, and sakura. The scent is wonderfully fresh and true, as if you just sliced up a bunch of salad fixings and tossed them into your bath along with some flower petals. I think it will be great for hot weather. It's really relaxing.

 

It reminds me of the perfume oil Cancer ('07), and I think fans of light, watery fragrances will like this.

 

And the general notes that I'm including in each review:

The bath oils are light and thin in texture. They absorb into the skin very quickly and easily, without leaving an oily residue, when you put them straight on your body. I've used them in my hair (rubbing through in the shower, then rinsing well), and they made an excellent de-frizzer and de-tangler. (The parts of my hair that are closest to my face seemed to get oily/dirty more quickly than usual, since my hair already had oil in it. I probably wouldn't use this every time I wash my hair, so that I don't get any nasty buildup.)

[alhbooks]

Lovely crisp, clean scent...I'm really looking forward to it in warmer weather, but even on a chilly night, this is gorgeously refreshing. The oil is very silky and excellent during the dry season.

[Blood onmy hands]

I'm on the fence about Frenum. It's gorgeous in the bottle, but not-so-good on me.

 

In the bottle, this is just too beautiful. All of the gorgeous notes in Frenum mingle together to make me think of spring in Missouri where I grew up. I uncapped the bottle and instantly thought of wandering in a damp meadow after a spring rain. The white tea is smooth and refreshing, the cherry blossom lends a sweet floral touch, and the lettuce and cucumber add a bit of springy, cool greenery. It's like having spring wrapped up in a bottle.

 

On me, though, something in this gets very sharp and unpleasant (and kinda soapy), drowning out the crisp green and sweet cherry blossom. In the bath water, it's a very faint bit of sharp, clean greenery. On my skin, this retains a sharp edge that actually starts giving me a headache after a while.

 

The consistency is watery-thin, but it leaves my skin feeling ultra-soft and with a light sheen. I love that the bath oils don't feel oily or leave my skin feeling like an oil slick. I commented more on the texture and tub performance in my Castitas review, so I won't repeat myself. If this stayed as good as it smells initially in the bottle, I would be completely in love with it. As it is, I don't see myself repurchasing this scent, or even keeping my bottle.

Edited March 21, 2008 by Tania

[windbourne]

I like this bath oil, more or less. It's not a scent-type that I'm usually fond of, but when I feel the need to seriously chill out, this is exactly what I'm likely to reach for.

 

It's watery, green, and fresh with just enough of a floral touch to make it sweet. The cucumber and cherry blossom are what stick out on my skin, though the scent in the tub is a more even mix of the notes.

 

Overall, this is a very relaxing scent for an always-lovely product. Not one I'm ever going to be hungry for, but nice nonetheless.

[mooncityminx]

This fragrance is actually a lot less green than I was expecting. The white tea is the star of the blend. To me white tea is always sophisticated and graceful while still managing to be light. The floral, cheery blossom, is definately there and noticable but blends so perfectly with the other notes that instead of picking them out individually I get the impression of an orchestra of fragrance. This does strike me as having more in common with a commercial perfume because it seems more traditional, but in a very good way. Of course I love it when BPAL does modern traditional because they do it so much better than say, Estee Lauder or Clinique etc.

 

I could see buying this to use primarily as a hair oil, especially in the summer when the warmth would cause it to waft teasingly through my wake. It's not so strong as to clash with anything else I might wear and would especially compliment fruity or floral blends.

 

In one word the best summary I can manage is fresh.

 

ETA: cheery blossom = cherry blossom Freudian slip?

Edited April 28, 2008 by Tempest

[yeahbutnobut]

Frenum

 

In bottle: a fresh salad of lettuce and cucumber, and crisp white tea.

On skin: the lettuce turns very leafy, mushy and green, slightly bitter, and the tea is very sharp, high pitched and tangy in here. This seems like the opposite to Gula, whilst that smells very calorific and like the most sinful dessert, this smells like a healthy salad served with a cup of green tea. It is a fresh, tart scent, wet and green but despite the cucumber and lettuce, this ends up smelling less like a salad and more like a garden-I think the cherry blossom is coming out now. It reminds me a bit of the lunar scents, with a hint of the tea-blossom scent found in the Asian fragrances. It is a cool, clean (but not soapy) and dewy scent now. The lettuce note is watery and reminds me of the same note from Cancer, and the cherry blossom is not as sweet and fluffy-pink as usual, it smells more like fallen spring blossoms upon grass and new growing plants. The garden-like scent is stronger now, and slightly wet like rained-on plants, with blossoms, I swear I even smell branches and tree bark. It does go a tiny bit soapy and a bit bitter at times which stops this from being a favourite, but I really like this simple yet effective scent, clean and cool and evocative of springtime.

[zankoku_zen]

This one is a cool, crisp refreshing bath oil. I get mainly the lettuce and tea components out of it. It's a nice non-floral, non-foodie alternative. As always, very moisturizing and a little goes a LONG way.

[milo]

I used this as a moisturizer today, and like all of the lab's bath oils, this works great and leaves my skin soft and not greasy.

 

This kind of reminds me of either Jingu or Hua Mulan bath oil at first. A very green floral, and quite refreshing for summer or spring. The scent does fade rather quickly, and I get only a slight green musk kind of feel. I'll definitely use up my decant, but I don't think I need a bottle.

[theredkilt]

This is a bummer! I was looking forward to the refreshing cucumber and white tea, but got instead bitter lettuce.