The Presence of Love

[clover]

THE PRESENCE OF LOVE
Samuel Taylor Coleridge
And in Life's noisiest hour,
There whispers still the ceaseless Love of Thee,
The heart's Self-solace and soliloquy.
______________________

You mould my Hopes, you fashion me within;
And to the leading Love-throb in the Heart
Thro' all my Being, thro' my pulses beat;
You lie in all my many Thoughts, like Light,
Like the fair light of Dawn, or summer Eve
On rippling Stream, or cloud-reflecting Lake.
And looking to the Heaven, that bends above you,
How oft ! I bless the Lot, that made me love you.

White musk, rose-swirled amber, pink grapefruit, and jasmine.

This is the Love Poem I was most looking forward to, and it does not disappoint. Sniffing from the bottle I get pure grapefruit and jasmine. I know there are a lot of jasmine haters out there, but I have to say I don't get it. To me it's just the prettiest floral scent in all of perfumery. And there's a lot of it in The Presence of Love. Jasmine & piquant pink grapefruit. After a while, the citrus fades, and I start to get a whiff of rose. After a while I start to sniff some musk, but it's not the white musk I'm generally familiar with (from say, Fae or Zephyr) - it's more like the musk in scents like 51. This is a *very* traditional floral perfume, perfect for the traditional romantic poem it is supposed to represent. Luckily I'm a fan of traditional floral perfumes, so I like this very much.

[ivyandpeony]

I'm finding The Presence of Love to be very balanced - although the floral notes are dominant, the jasmine doesn't stomp out everything else in sight the way that it sometimes can when it's touched my skin. I want to erect a statue to Beth for her genius in combining pink grapefruit and jasmine - love it intensely in BiggerCritters and I love it just as much here. This is a more sophisticated scent than BiggerCritters as you'd probably expect from the notes - I agree with clover's assessment, it's very traditional (and I am very fond of traditional, as interpreted by BPAL of course!)

 

I don't think there's been a single jasmine blend I've received from the Lab that I haven't loved even more after a couple of weeks, so I am looking forward to seeing what The Presence of Love is like just a little bit down the road. I don't know if jasmine doesn't travel as well as its friends, or if it takes time to meld with other notes, but invariably I open a bottle after its little resting period to find mellower, smoother jasmine. The jasmine in this blend isn't sharp or pushy at all (and my package just arrived a few hours ago) so there may not be a dramatic difference - which is fine with me, it's an absolutely beautiful variety that Beth chose.

[alicia_stardust]

This is so gorgeous. It smells very "pink" to me. In the bottle I smell both grapefruit and jasmine, but as the oil dries it really smooths out into a buoyant citrus grapefruit and sensual jasmine. It isn't until after a while that I get more of a white musky quality, and the amber and rose give this a traditional touch. I really can't rave enough over the grapefruit and jasmine combination, though. They meld together so well and it just results in something incredibly soft, beautiful, and feminine.

[etienne]

I notice the rose first because it's one of my favourite notes. This is definitely a very pink rose with just a hint of grapefruit.

 

Out of the Lupercalia 08 scents I've tested so far, this is one of the most pleasant smelling on me although that said, it's not something I can really imagine wearing. To me this is a very sophisticated, beautiful pink floral. Something to wear with a pastel coloured cardigan and pearls.

 

At one stage it oddly reminds me of Diorissimo by Dior which my mum used to wear for years - so perhaps I should try to enable my mum with The Presence of Love.

[Lunaliquid]

In the bottle

 

Hello Jasmine! It's pretty much pure jasmine to my nose. I happen to like jasmine, so it's all good.

 

Wet

 

Oh my! One of my cats used to pee on my old stove. It was hard to see when she had done it, and it happened more times than I care to remember that I would turn the stove on and my house would fill with "eau de burnt cat pee". The Presence of Love goes through a brief stage reminiscent of those good old days.

 

Dry

 

Gone are the memories of feline body fluids burnt to a crisp. Jasmine forms the base, but Rose has made her appearance along with her little sister Grapefruit, who remains very close to the skin. It has become one of my favorite Lupercalia's so far.

 

Edited to remove funky triple posting.......

Edited February 12, 2008 by Lunaliquid

[Lyrical]

Jasmine with a hint of rose and amber and a touch of grapefruit. Sadly I'm not getting white musk, which was the note I was really looking forward to! Unfortunately the imp broke in transit and there isn't enough here to test it on my skin. However, there was a piece of paper in the envelope which is now soaked in scent, and it's rather nice although too jasminey to be quite my cup of tea.

[sfsassy]

The Presence of Love reminds me of the vintage old school classic fragrances. Very romanitic, floral, lush and feminine. I just adore it.

 

Keeper!

[Delirium1009]

In bottle/imp: Jasmine and grapefruit swirled together with a hint of warm rose.

 

Immediately on skin: On my skin, this is a blend of jasmine and grapefruit with a base of chilly white musk. It’s rather bitter, and not very sweet. It has a cold, dry feel to it.

 

After a little while: The grapefruit fades almost completely after a while, but the jasmine, rose, and white musk all remain. I’d say this is a jasmine scent mostly, and on the cooler side because of the white musk. This is rather dry and not very sweet with that smoky feel that I get from the lab’s jasmine. The rose-swirled amber is present, adding a hint of rose and trying to add some warmth to this, but the cooler white musk wins out.

 

Overall Impressions: I don’t really like the lab’s jasmine on me, so I don’t really enjoy this, but it’s an interesting cooler jasmine scent. The grapefruit might linger more on other people’s skin, but on mine it dissipated rather quickly. There is a hint of rose, but the rose-swirled amber doesn’t quite blend in with the rest of the scent.

[sookster]

straight sniff from bottle is airy musk and grapefruit

 

once applied this is really pretty! the musk, grapefruit amber and jasmine

are very harmonious and well-balanced...a sexy, spring-time scent for a

lovely woman

[smallvoice]

I love citrus, amber, white musk, and I tend to not have much trouble with jasmine. Rose is picky, but has been known to work- this was basically a no-brainer.

 

I just got The Presence of Love, and it smells like roses. In the bottle there's a hint of citrus and floral, but upon touching my skin, it is the Presence of Rose. This is a lovely rose; it's like freshly bloomed pink roses. The jasmine is poking its head out, and the rose seems comfortable with that. Now I can smell the amber with the white musk (and I have to agree with clover; it's not the standard white musk note) and they're rounding it out. It's a little sharp, as rose tends to be on me, and I keep hoping for the grapefruit to surface. It is a very soft, sweet scent- not sweet literally, just adorable. It's like porcelain.

Edited March 5, 2008 by cordia

[zankoku_zen]

Normally, jasmine and I get along.

 

Not in this blend!

 

I get the dreaded 'cat pee' phase --- and it lasts forever. In fact, it's like a cat taking a whizz among the rose garden.

 

Which is not what I think about when I'm in the presence of MY love.

 

Yeah. This so didn't work out.

[fireweaver]

Wet- grapefruit, nice but where's all the other notes?

Drying - ok, here's rose, and buh bye grapefruit

Dry- crap, it's soapy. Ok, nice soap, you know the type you'd spend a lot of money on? but, rose soap.

[cameroncrazed]

In the bottle: JASMINE! Maybe a touch of something citrusy- almost a hint of lemon, but I'm guessing that's the grapefruit

 

Wet on skin: JASMINE! plus the tiniest bit of amber

 

Dry on skin: gorgeous jasmine/rose blend with the very faintest citrus note.

 

Love, love, love! Very traditional floral perfume. I can't stop sniffing myself now

[pinkstardust420]

Meh...turned into that blasted soapy soapy soap. Darn it.

[naeelah]

Descriptions that this had a more traditional perfume quality were actually appealing to me. I was afraid that this might turn out too similar to BiggerCritter or Lover's Parodies of Sumo Holds. The balance of notes here is very different, though, so I think it's certainly distinct.

 

This doesn't seem to morph really at all. For the first hour, I notice very little change from wet to dry. The main note is rose. Rose, white musk, and grapefruit. Pink grapefruit is often quite candy-like, but here it's well balanced by the white musk, which brings out more of the tart qualities. Rather than smelling like a fruity blend, the fruity aspect just provides balance to the dry aspects. I can definitely smell jasmine, but it's secondary to the rose. The amber doesn't stand out, it just seems to bind everything together.

 

I guess from the description "rose-swirled amber" I thought that jasmine and grapefruit would be most prominent here, and there would only be a hint of rose underneath. It's quite the opposite, but sometimes I do amp rose. This is a beautiful, classic spring scent. I've tried many similar blends to this but nothing exactly like it, and I think this is already becoming my favorite. I adore the way these notes balance each other.

 

ETA: Yesterday I was wearing short sleeves. Today I'm wearing long sleeves, and a lot of the perfume oil has rubbed off onto my shirt. On my skin there is a lot of rose and grapefruit, but on my sleeve, the jasmine is much stronger than the rose. So definitely looks like I'm amping the rose. Either way, it's lovely, and I'm actually glad I can choose which top note I want, depending on how I wear it.

 

Try it if you like: It reminds me most of Abhisarika, but without the cream note. If it's heavier on jasmine for you, then it's also similar to Lover's Parodies of Sumo Holds. Basically, try it if you like jasmine. I would not say that it's like biggerCritters, because this isn't sweet or creamy.

 

Throw is about average, wear life seems a bit below average, so far.

Edited March 4, 2008 by naeelah

[dronzeka]

I'm scared of the jasmine, but let me give this a try...

 

Wet, my initial thought is, very perfumey grapefruit? How odd! Then I realize that the "perfumey" part is rose. For some reason "rose-swirled" sounded like "rose as background note" to me, and this has a lot of rose. But that's okay, I like rose! Rose and grapefruit is something I have to get used to...

 

As it dries, I think I'm getting some of the jasmine, but so far, it's not yucky! Maybe it's the musk and amber blending everything together? I tend just to read white musk as "binding stuff," so I can't pick it out here. I think the amber is making the rose a bit more sophisticated rather than sweet. Overall, this is much more a rose scent than a jasmine scent for me (thankfully!). As it dries down, the grapefruit fades - not very surprising, and I'm okay with that as rose-grapefruit is kind of an unusual combo for me.

 

It's quite lovely - very much in the classic, sophisticated vein that the previous reviews mention.

[evanescence]

I'm on the fence. A bit sharp out of the bottle, and the grapefruit is most prominent on me. The rose is there and I'm briefly reminded of Arcana's Breakfast in Hollywood, a light bright citrus floral blend. It softened considerably on dry-down but there was still a sharpness to it, and I really thought it would go out the door.

 

However, about an hour later, I'm here sniffing my hand and thinking it's changed. The sharpness is gone and I'm getting soft there's a light floral soap, again more rose than jasmine (thankfully) and I suspect it's the amber that is warming and softening things. It's really quite pleasant, and I can see using this with a lot of my rose/jasmine based Lush and BNever products... but one bottle will be enough and I suspect I'll imp out a good part of it.

[steelxrose]

The Presence of Love

 

I have to admit that I was a bit skeptical of this one. Maybe because I saw "rose" and didn't read any more of the description. Regardless, Presence of Love blew me away.

 

It's a sweet scent, not overbearingly so. I do get the impression that there should be a fruit in there somewhere, which I suspect is the grapefruit (although it doesn't smell grapefruity or even citrusy at all.)

 

On my skin, the musk comes out to play and meshes with the grapefruit and jasmine to create a wrist-sniffingly awesome scent. This is definitely bottle worthy.

Edited March 7, 2008 by steelxrose

[slave1]

THE PRESENCE OF LOVE

 

In Bottle: Sour rose

 

On Skin: Wow, this makes my eyes tear up a bit. The rose is very sharp and sour. Combined with the grapefruit, this is probably the most sour BPAL scent I have ever smelled. The white musk is clean, but also offers a slightly sharp soapy note. The jasmine is sweet, but you can barely detect it with the other powerful notes. This scent is far too much for me, I sadly have to wash it off. Strong throw and not sure of wearlength.

[fairnymph]

In the bottle: Jasmine, rose, and amber. Heady and floral.

 

Wet: A tiny, tiny hint of grapefruit emerges, but is so utterly overwhelmed by the jasmine and amber, and it's gone in a flash, how unfortunate!

 

Dry: Jasmine turning soapy, as it often does. The rose is the powdery sort, or maybe it's just that way in combo with the vilely strong jasmine. The amber is like a dry, warm, gust whipping along the jasmine.

 

Summary: The rose does become a bit more apparent, but the domineering jasmine goes so completely powdery-soap on me, and on top of the dry, dusty amber, it's just not something I can wear. I never got any musk, but it may have been bullied out of existence.

Edited March 8, 2008 by fairnymph

[soonyi]

wet, i'm confused--i dont really smell much. huh? where is my beloved jasmine and grapefruit? i just detect a pleasant sweetness, similar to rose but not fully that scent. it is so faint, it reminds me of glasgow...there'd be no way that this would have a throw on me.

 

dry, mostly rose with the cleanliness of citrus. if there's jasmine in there, it is well-mixed.

 

drat--i am a little disappointed. i saved this decant as the last to open, knowing that all of these notes were lovelies. i hope aging this one will help, but i wont be buying a bottle of this one.

[theseagrows]

this is a soft, pretty floral. it's pretty jasmine-y but in a good way (jasmine often turns sour on me/is amped to ridiculous levels.) but in this, it works pretty well. it's difficult for me to pick out the other notes in this, as they are blended perfectly. mostly i smell jasmine and rose with the other notes adding support in the background.

[yeahbutnobut]

The Presence of Love

 

In the imp: sour grapefruit and a hint of the jasmine which turns bad on me.

Wet on skin: grapefruit and jasmine, like Biggercritters but without the vanilla.

Dry on skin: grapefruit and jasmine, and a hint of rose. In fact, the rose is taking over…but it’s the jasmine that rules supreme. And it’s not the kind of jasmine that plays well on me, sadly. The grapefruit, a note I normally like, is very acidic in here, not bright and tangy in a pleasant way. And the jasmine has that bitter undertone I dislike. This has a feel of cologne to it as well, it smells like floral cologne, very perfumey. I don’t smell much white musk or amber. however, the rose could change this scent for the better, I can smell the rose note surfacing.

After a while: the grapefruit fades and the rose is there, but now the jasmine smells wilted. Damn, why must my skin be so unkind to a lot of BPAL jasmine notes? It’s not the gorgeous jasmine in scents like Biggercritters or Hony Mone that I love. It turns what could be such a lovely floral note into a bitter and acrid mess in here. I don’t even smell any white musk or amber…just a sour rose overpowered by harsh jasmine.

Verdict: I wish my skin chemistry could love all jasmine notes like it did when I first got into BPAL. This has the jasmine note that my skin dislikes and turns to a sharp bitter scent like dead jasmine and something a little bit chemical. I smell grapefruit, and it’s not the bright, lively grapefruit I love, but something that smells very sour. The rose is lovely, but where’s the musk and amber? this has too much ‘bad jasmine’ for me to appreciate it, so I passed it on.

Emoticon rating:

Is it a keeper? No, the jasmine in here is not good on me.

If you like this, try: BiggerCritters, Helena, Perfumed Garden, Phantasm, New Orleans, Eos

[Blood onmy hands]

I don't dislike jasmine from most other perfume companies, but bpal's jasmine tends to turn very rancid and overwhelming on my skin. The Presence of Love is mostly grapefruit and jasmine on me at first, and then soapy, bitter jasmine in the drydown. The grapefruit turns very tart on my skin, kind of smelling like sour sweet tarts, almost a little powdery. Then the jasmine creeps in and the whole blend quickly turns to a sharply scented jasmine soap.

 

Definitely not a keeper for me.

[grashopper8]

This is a soapy floral, but for me, that means luuurve. In this instance, I am mainly preoccupied with the harmony of rose and grapefruit, and as the tiny drop on my finger evolves, I am more and more impressed. This perfume plays out a lot like very expensive rose niche perfumes out there right now, and should be sought out by all whom are interested in such a possibility.

 

The grapefruit flashes in the pan before it fades away, which might disappoint some, but the light hint of citrus zest that remains is quite perfecly balanced. The jasmine peeks out with a shyness and complimentary meekness that I've not seen often, especially in a BPAL blend, and it's fantastically equilibrated.

 

This is a gorgeous rose blend, with all the right hints of sweetness and a swirl of jasmine to tame it down. Damned if I don't want more....

 

4.6 out of 5