Ave Maria Gratia Plena

[k00kaburra]

A pale, delicate, truly angelic blend. A scent created to emulate Adonis' halo of beauty: fragile, distant, and radiant. Rosewood with Sicilian lemon peel, red Mysore sandalwood, pale musks, sweet mountain sage and a dusting of lily, night-blooming jasmine and orris.

In bottle: It just smells icky to me. Slightly curdled, like perfume you find at the department store that's turned a bit bad. Jasmine's quite strong.
On me: Sometimes I like musk, but there's a bit too much of it in this for me to appreciate it. Also, the sandalwood and jasmine are strong and the combination is a bit headache-inducing. It turns sour and musty on me quite quickly.
After an hour: Wow, this scent's gotten a lot better. If I get get through the drying it's a very pleasant sandalwood with hints of musk and white florals.

[allamanda]

Ave Maria Gratia Plena

 

When first applied this is very woody and sweet on me. My nose can sense the lemon peel, but at the moment it is swamped by the woods (I can’t separate Rosewood & Sandalwood in this blend at the moment).

 

As this dries it tones down considerably. Now the lemon is apparent with the florals giving support.

 

This winds up sweet and pretty on me; slightly powdery, nice but not compulsive

[TheDarkMother]

Ok...I'm a little worried about this one. Lemon peel...oh please don't let this turn to lemon pledge on me! It sounds like it would smell SO good!!!

 

In the Bottle: Ave Maria Gratia Plena smells lightly of lemons, sandlewood, and jasmine. Purrr...such a lovely scent, with a powdery smell after effect. I think that's the orris to tell you the truth. Here's to hoping that it doesn't turn to liquid lemondrops on me.

 

On Me: Oooh...its a toss up. Yes, its heavily lemon on me, but not so much that I can't get a whiff of jasmine and sandalwood. And the lemon smell faces fast on me as well, just leaving the blanded scent with a slight lemon tinge in the background. This is almost holy in scent, a golden musky scent that seems to be tempered with sunshine.

 

I love this. I'm slathering! Love Love Love!

[FireInCairo]

As white & radiant as the blessed Mother herself. When I smell this- I think of total purity and shining light. It is a complex floral- but still very light and clear. Simply lovely.....

[Damask Rose]

I think Beth must be a mind reader as when I was putting together my sample set I couldn't decide between this and Hymn. I chose Hymn, but then Beth included this as a freebie

 

The first thing that I thought when I tried this is that it smells exactly like Old Venice, only slightly lighter and more lemony. Now, several hours later it still smells like that!

 

I already own a bottle of Old Venice so won't be buying this, but if you like Old Venice but find it a bit too heavy, this would probably work for you. Actually, I must say that this is so similar to Old Venice that I'm quite surprised Elizabeth formulated it. I can really hardly tell the difference.

[Theravada]

I got this as a freebie from one of my lovely swappers. Although I appreciate the generosity, this scent just wasn't for me!

 

I am not a fan of florals. They just don't agree with me. And this is a very floral blend. Something in it gives me that baby powder/deoderant smell that I sometimes get from certain BPAL scents. Wish I knew what did that!

 

Underneath the powdery surface of this blend lurks your typical, and in my opinion unimpressive, light floral perfume. It reminds me of White Shoulders, a perfume that my grandma used to wear. So I kind of appreciate the nostolgia but this is not something that I personally would wear.

 

I think you really need to be a floral fan in order to appreciate this blend.

Edited November 25, 2004 by Theravada

[Scylla]

I'm not sure if rosewood actually smells like ROSE, but for some reason the predominant note in the imp and on my skin when wet is rose, with lilies in the background. I'm not getting anything "woody" per se.

 

Ave Maria Gratia Plena is a very straightforward, pure white floral blend on me. On drydown I get the jasmine, sandalwood and musk with the rose in the background.

 

I'm not usually a floral blend person (and definitely not a rose person), but I like this one quite a bit. Not enough to buy a big bottle, but I think I'll keep my imp.

[NoirRosaleen]

Ave Maria sticks around for about the same amount of time it takes to say its name. I put it on my boy, and for awhile there was something soft and slightly lemony (DRAT!) on his neck if I snuggled up close, but it was extremely faint and disappeared fast. On me it was lemon, again, and a little stronger, but still went the same way as it did on him. I wonder why so many things go to lemon on me...?

[magikfanfic]

In the bottle: Hello, lemony fresh floral. There's definitely sandalwood and lemon in there. Thankfully, however, the lemon isn't like the citrus in Calliope where I was all, "Run away" and the sandalwood seems tame and holy. I can imagine a Catholic church freshly cleaned with candles and incense burning, flowers on the altar.

 

Wet: Holy lemon, Batman. No really, lemony goodness. Lemon, lemon, lemon. And more lemon. I smell like they just pledged the church.

 

Dry down: Hmmm...there's the slight whiff of sandalwood again along with...yeah, jasmine. A whole lot of jasmine. Bunches of fresh jasmine in nice sandalwood vases being carried along the pews that have been freshly cleaned with lemon scented cleaner. And the lemon fades away when faced with all that jasmine.

 

Dry: The jasmine and lily notes are now pretty prominent. However, these florals seem to have out powered everything else in the mix thus far. That strong majestic lemon has died down to an under note. I still smell like some kind of holy cleaner, though.

 

Dry after ten minutes: Um, scent? Are you there? My skin seems to have decided that it wants to eat the Ave Maria, which seems a little blasphemous to me. There's still the tiniest bit of a lemon/floral when I inhale directly on my wrists. This is sad because even with the holy cleaner image, I still really like this one. Oh, wait, barest trace of sandalwood. Really, this scent just seems to run the gauntlet on my skin each of its notes burning out fast. I'm undecided as to whether I want to buy a larger bottle. I really like this scent, but the duration of it disappoints me.

[Reinaluna]

Ave Mari Grata Plena I received this in a swap from spark. The first application I can smell the jasmine and musks very good. The drydown is a translucent faintly sweet rose like scent, a distant cousin of Moon Rose. This is very nice and sometimes I put in on my daughter because I think of her as angelic like this blend.

[Gothabillywench]

Why do i have no concept of what orris smells like yet it seems a match made in heaven with my skin?

 

This smells powdery, fresh lineny, summery sophisticated white lady-ish.

 

I like it alot.

 

There's a hint of green-ness in it too which always sits well with me. This is a Mum perfume. I feel all maternal wearing it. not sure why- just my odd scent associations i think.

[xoe]

Ave Maria Gratia Plena is a shape-shifter with my chemistry. At first it is jasmine and lily, 2 great scents that do not go great on my skin - sort of soapy old lady smell is what happens. But, that's my chemistry for you. So, I wasn't holding out much hope. But about 2 hours later, I am suddenly smelling something wonderful.... sniff my wrists... lo and behold, it is Ave Maria! I believe it is mainly the musks, and a little of the lemon peel the flowers are still there, but much quieter now.

 

Wow! It's really nice now.

[LaLisa]

Very adult, mink coat and pearls scent. Expensive, luxurious, floral with citrus and faint spice. Someone mentioned "dept store perfume, not that that's a bad thing" and i have ot agree--very high end, not like

 

Not what I expected, reminds me of my religious art poster, Maria Dolorosa de Monte Calavario, who is surrounded by jewels yet weeps.

 

I would wear this when I want the sales staff at Barneys, Gucci or the Porsche dealership to pay attention even though I'm in jeans and a tee shirt.

 

In other words--screams: MONEY

[fairywingmaker]

This is a very clean scent. I'm smelling the sandalwood, and behind it the florals. It's a very light scent. I'm not getting any of the lemon or sage. This fades very quickly on my skin. If you're looking for something very light and a little woodsy, I think this would be great.

[thespring]

Initially I get lemon a lot and a kind of juicyness.

Later it becomes more floral and finally ends up lightly musky, powdery and floral.

 

It has a stage, as it has first dried down, when its really nasty old lady but the beginning and end are lovely.

 

I really like it. Comforting and quiet.

 

But why doesnt it stay longer?

[Ishtar]

I got my imp of Ave Maria Gratia Plena from the lovely Chin during our latest sniffing session

 

In one word, this is simply fabulous!

 

On me, it starts off as a deceptively simple creamy floral. Like others mentioned, it is a white scent, but not blindingly or aggressively so. This is a soft, muted, off-white that soon reveals its full complexity and its many layers. The rosewood and sandalwood ground the blend beautifully, the lemon and sage keep it vibrant and pure, and I would imagine that it is the musk that imparts the soft creaminess.

 

This is a truly inspired blend, reverent without being austere. It is radiant yet restrained, innocent yet womanly and terribly elegant.

Needless to say, this is a keeper!

[shelldoo]

in the vial: mealic florals...what is that metallic note?

 

on: very very floral w/ an edge. i definitely smell the lillies, w/ a touch of sandalwood, taht is abt all i smell the lillies are running rampant.

[olympia301]

This one was full of some Indian jasmine like you find in some Indian incense. I really don't like it at all, overpowering and rubbery almost fishy. Some folks like it, I don't. The jasmine ruined it for me and I had to wash it off. This probably had to do with my body chemistry, I am sure it was produced with much forethought. Too bad, it was a great idea, but for someone else.

 

ADDED May 8:

 

Very much like "O" but even more cloying. Heavy white florals overpowered everything within 10 feet of me. Maybe there is a message in here, the overwhelming power of the Catholic Church and its effects on women, what we are supposed to be like. Gad zooks, no wonder some people are neurotic!

[bellis]

Hmm, in the bottle this is very very green and almost astringant. Once on, it mellows to an absolutely lovely floral. This is a very balanced blend, the wood notes aren't jumping out as much as they usually do on me. I think I really like this a lot, but I'll have to try it again when I don't have Kathmandu on the other wrist taking over my nose.

[cricketshay]

On first whiff, Ava is very citrus in the vial. I was alarmed because citrus does not love or remotely like my body chemistry.

 

wet-Very lemony, which I hate. I was disappointed that the musks didn't show through. I had hoped for a different smell.

 

dry-Ahhh the musk is coming through now. Nice. The citrus has faded. I like the dried down version. Very soft and very clean, not overpowering.

 

I wouldn't wear this blend everyday, but it's nice for a change of pace from my group of usuals.

[anmorata]

Ave Maria Gratia Plena:

Wet: Hello, floral! The first thing I smell is the night-blooming jasmine.. I love this scent.

Drydown: The rosewood peeks in, and the musks make their presence known. Very nice.

Longterm wear: Sadly, I didn't see any citrus out of this, as I'd hoped. The florals intermingled with the musk and the rosewood instead. It's a very nice, light scent. I like it quite a bit.

[cormeretrix]

jasmine again. *le sigh*

 

it's a VERY floral scent, and it's surprisingly strong. i ended up giving it to a friend, who loves it. it's not a little girl scent, it's quite a grown up scent.

 

maybe i'm just not mature enough to wear it yet...

[kmasden]

The first time I tried this, I wasn't impressed, but now I find it very pleasant. I get a lot of lemon from this. Not a citrus - tart lemon, but a nice soft lemon, grounded in the sandalwood and sage. The more it dries, the more the wood comes out and I think it really becomes a very gender neutral lemon/sandalwood scent.

[Aurelius]

At first this is light and flowery. I really like the sage. Like many blends with a floral mix, it gets a bit overpowering. I smell like grandma's bouquet gone wrong. Ah well. Florals just aren't my skin chemistry's favorite.

[jj_j]

Out of the vial, I can smell that glorious lemon rind, but it never makes an appearance once I'm wearing Ave Maria Gratia Plena. This starts out very sharp and astringent on my skin, like bitter lavender but without actually smelling like lavender.

 

Luckily, this only last for fifteen or twenty seconds, and the scent starts rounding out into a soft, lush (and very "white") floral. In spite of my aversion to jasmine and the headache it gives me when it's a dominant note, it's beautiful here, combining with the pale musks and lily to produce a delicate and skin-warm perfume. When the rosewood does make itself known, it's in combination with these, making them even warmer and softly glowing, and doesn't stand out on its own.

 

Ave Maria Gratia Plena gets so soft so quickly that at it's peak it makes me think of sleeping next to someone at the end of the day, your nose buried in their neck, and getting the faintest whiff of what smelled very good when they put it on that morning.

 

This doesn't have a lot of throw or staying power, and it's more "white" than I could wear without getting a headache, but it's a lovely scent. For those who like this sort of floral, I think that with moderate slathering, rather than a tiny drop for testing, it would be a favorite.