The Presence of Love

[rconklin]

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

In the imp grapefruit! I love grapefruit!

Wet, the jasmine amps up, as it is wont to do on me, and overtakes everything else ever. No more grapefruit for me! However, this jasmine is quite nice on its own and it is soon accompanied by musk, rose (also a not I tend to amp) and finally the grapefruit comes back through (this morphing took place over a very short amount of time). Then. Soap. Drat. Jasmine does that. It was a nice sniffing experience, but nothing I'm too ecstatic about. After being on me for an extended amount of time, it is very soft, still soapy, and quite pretty, but it has none of the lovely bright grapefruit citrus that I was hoping for.

[Czarina]

In the decant: candle wax. Not beeswax, parafin. Huh?

 

Wet: wax and grapefruit.

 

Drydown: grapefruit and jasmine with a faint waxy air. Also a faint note of ...hyacinth? Not picking up on the rose here, and I'm okay with that because I'm not a big rose (or jasmine) fan.

 

Hm.

[alianthe]

In the imp: Definitely smelling the grapefruit! But it's extra bitter, almost like somebody was zesting it and went a little too deep into the quick. Also smelling some of the bitter components of the jasmine, but thankfully not the sweetness (because I amp sweet like nobody's business). I took a chance on the jasmine because I'm such a lover of amber, musk, and citrus. Rose can go either way on me.

 

On my skin: Still smelling the bitterness, alongside a spritz of citrus brightness, but it's starting to mellow out. Definitely getting more of the floral now, but the amber isn't very apparent. It's bright and light, sharp and pretty, and WAY more floral than I expected. But then, I do amp that up. After a while, the musk comes out a bit more. But mostly, it's a light and lovely citrusy floral, with depth.

 

Conclusions: Definitely good for somebody who likes pretty, light, happy floral scents, and likes citrus. They're playing pretty nice together, but it just doesn't smell very... me. I guess I need to stick with Egyptian amber and darker musks, and keep steering away from the florals.

[twilighteyes]

In the bottle I'm getting jasmine and dark rosy amber. On my skin, it's still a rose and amber scent with a bottom note of jasmine. As it dries I can get some pops of grapefruit and the bottom expands to include the musk scent.

 

Lovely and well blended, but I think the one bottle will do me.

[QueenFae]

I was hoping for a grapefruity, amber blend, which is why I ordered this, but no such luck. Presence of Love is straight up white musk and jasmine on my skin. The jasmine note is very strong, to the point of being almost overpowering. This is lovely, very soft, innocent and clean with a "crystalline" feel to it. While it's not typically what I like to smell like, I don't deny the complex loveliness of this blend. On the right person, I'm sure this is knock down gorgeous.

[LiberAmoris]

Mmm, rose-swirled amber. The bright tumult of pink grapefruit is the uppermost impression I get from The Presence of Love, but as it dries down, it's mostly rose and amber on me, with an impression of jasmine, like if someone crumpled a bloom in their hand and then went about their day. The white musk is light and warm with that ethereal glow that Beth's white musk always seems to give off. The grapefruit lifts the rose and makes it cheery and bright, even after the bright and bold citrus-y facet evaporates.

 

This is just lovely. It's such a happy, cheerful blend, like the glow of new love.

[SarahScent44]

In the imp, I get jasmine, just a hint of grapefruit, and musk.

 

On my skin, I get a little more grapefruit, and it's a weird, beautiful combination with the jasmine - there's a little amber and musk in the back.

 

When it dries: Weird - I'm getting dryer sheets. Is that even possible? I'll have to re-test this. Nope, definitely dryer sheets. If I try really hard, I can pick out the jasmine and the slightest, slightest hint of citrus, but mostly it just smells like "Summer Day" dryer sheets.

[dorothy humbird]

I'm pleased that the jasmine in The Presence of Love behaves on my skin, because this is so lovely. Ethereal musk and the smoothness of amber round the edges of the jasmine, and the grapefruit provides just a hint of tartness.

 

It starts out with a sharper, juicier grapefruit on my skin, with a high trill of jasmine that almost threatens to become screechy. But it doesn't. The amber and musk wrap comforting arms around it, and lull the jasmine and grapefruit into languid complacency. They're still here -- they're just drowsing in the gorgeous spring sunshine, under a blanket of amber-gold. The color of this blend reads to me like a liquid drop of sunrise - pale coral-pink, glistening and pure.

 

I had a bodywash from BBW called Grapefruit Jasmine, and this is quite reminiscent of that -- but better.

It also, oddly enough, reminds me of the smell of my Cabbage Patch doll Isabelle, from when I was a wee one. I don't mean "plastic-y"... somehow she smelled unexpectedly perfumey, and good. How weird!

[TooMuchTemptation]

I was both hopeful and suspicious about this blend. I love white musk, rose amber, and pink grapefruit. Jasmine however, isn't my favorite by any means.

 

Sniffing it wet in the bottle, I get a sweet floral. A second sniff, and I smell the grapefruit, and something rosy underlaid by the lotion-y smell I associate with Jasmine.

 

Wet on my skin the jasmine comes to the fore, which is what my skin usually does to jasmine. Initially, it's very sweet, but once my nose adjusts to the jasmine I can smell its underpinnings. The grapefruit is faintly there, a little bit acid smelling to my nose. Not in a bad way though. The jasmine is the foremost note on me in this blend, very sweet, and maybe the rose in the amber is giving this a sweet floral boost. It's almost verging on soapy. The jasmine is starting to bug me, so I go rinse my arm in the sink to knock the scent back a bit.

 

Shortly, I catch a whiff of clean musk and rosy amber and realize that I'm smelling the remnants of The Presence. It's lovely. This is perhaps what it smells like with an extended dry-down. Unfortunately, the jasmine is too strong on me for me to wait for the part that my skin agrees with. It's actually a lovely floral, but not for me.

 

Incidentally, my cat is really interested in the arm where I've put the oil.

[hlinspjalda]

In the vial: Grapefruit peel, jasmine, a touch of light musk.

 

Wet: This is odd. Normally jasmine moves to the forefront of any scent on me. But The citrus seems to be keeping the jasmine in the background and under control. This is aromatic, offbeat, almost but not quite ethereal.

 

Half an hour: Light musk-rose base, and the jasmine and grapefruit peel are still duking it out. Not at all sweet, yet not headachy bitter either.

 

One hour: The bitterness of the grapefruit peel has died off, leaving only an elusive, yet invigorating, trace. Surprisingly, the jasmine seems very mild as well. This is remarkably subtle and refined, maybe too much so.

 

Two hours: How can jasmine and rose be that light on me? Amazing feat. But this is probably going to wind up traded; although distinctive, it's too subtle.

 

Three hours: Almost entirely gone, remarkable! Just a glaze of jasmine and grapefruit peel now, and I can't tell if that's my own skin beneath or the white musk, it's so light.

 

Five hours: No, I think that's the white musk. With almost no additives (just a bit of grapefruit), it smells like warm and slightly sweaty skin.

[rayvn1]

Light and very pretty rose scent. A freshness from the grapefruit is a very nice touch Barely any throw, but I ended up with two decants and will have to do further testing.

[voodoocatwoman]

Bleccch. This starts out as pure soap and ends up as a rancid combination of rose and jasmine. I like rose and I love jasmine. Neither does the other justice.

[Schmoozy]

 

Predominantly rose amber and bright white musk. Pink grapefruit is present but only for a short moment before the jasmine enters and surprisingly does not wreak havoc like she usually does. Unfortunately after awhile the amber all but disappears along with the grapefruit and this winds up being a rosey musk with whiffs of jasmine. Pretty but not really my thing.