Catherine

[PilotKitten]

Named for the ambitious, vengeful poisoner Catherine deMedici, who used perfumes to perform her dark deeds. A sinful blend of orange blossom, rosemary and rose... allegedly the exact perfume she utilzed in her work.

Oooh... VERY strong on the rosemary... and not in a good way. Gack. On wet I caught the faint whiff of the orange blossom but not before the rosemary overtook me. Not a hint of rose at all. After the initial drydown the orange blossom comes out timidly, but still not enough to overpower the rosemary.

[glass_cat]

Well, I've said it before and I'll say it again. The idea of sending "frimps" with someone's order is sheer genius on the part of the labbies. I've tried, and fallen in love with, so many BPAL scents that I probably never would have ordered on purpose because they didn't sound even close to something I would like based on the description or the listed notes. Catherine is one of those scents for me.

 

This actually smells like something poisoned, but in the most pleasant possible way, if that makes any sense at all. It's exactly like an impossibly beautiful woman with an evil heart if she could be transformed into a scent. The rose base is definitely a plus for me, as rose always gets along famously with my skin chemistry, and the rosemary and the citrus scent that are also there blend perfectly and give the rose that "kanker" that keeps this from being too sweet or cloying. The combination also wakes me up and makes me feel alert, so this is something that would be great for me to put on if I'm having one of those slow mornings that I tend to have. Someone above said something similar, but this really is a scent for a woman who is elegant and feminine, but at the same time strong, intelligent, one-of-a-kind, and wishes to be seen exactly that way.

 

Would I buy a bottle of this? I would have to consider it, but only because on me it smells similar to Lucy's Kiss, which I already love and have a huge bottle of. However, Catherine is brighter and more "awake", while Lucy is sleepier, so there is that difference. Let's just say it's going on my bottle wish list... really close to the top.

Edited November 9, 2006 by glass_cat

[chrisann]

This was really awful with my Chemisty. It started out smelling like pungent chemical ick on me. Morphed into hairspray, then settled into faint perm soultion. This sounds Harsh.. but, on me, that's pretty much it. That's the way the mop flops!

[supremegoddessofall]

Mostly orange in a base of chemical rose. I do get a mild herbal feel from the rosemary, but ultimately this is a citrus and rose scent, and as such is definitely not my cup of tea.

[theseagrows]

got this as a frimp from the lab, which is good, because i had been interested in it, but wasn't too sure about the rosemary. the orange blossom and rosemary are strongest on me, which makes for a floral-herbal scent. i dont sense the rose, but orange blossom is strong, so i'm sure it's hiding in there somewhere. an interesting scent, i think i'd wear this in spring and summer mostly.

[tempestteapot]

This is the reason I love the lab giving frimps. This one is so bitter on me, I'm glad that I can pass it to someone else.

 

Bitter and medicinal green.

[Ciircee]

In the imp: Smells like a good orange sauce.

 

Wet: Very rosemary, with some citrus.

 

Dry: ROSES!

 

Which, damn it, is all my skin will give me after the first twenty minutes. And I love roses, but the fruity-spicy sort, not the traditional blend. I'm glad this was a frimp from the lab because otherwise it would have broke my heart after the first twenty minutes. I really like this in the initial stages. It's green and tangy.

[Brianne]

In the vial:

lemongrass?

 

On me:

This goes on a little like lemongrass to me - slightly lemony but subdued and herbally. Then the rose becomes apparent and I think that it was the combination of the rose with the rosemary that gave me a lemongrass impression at first.

The rose is very strong and heady and is giving me a little headache. I smell a slight herbal quality to it which must be the rosemary, but the orange just doesn't seem to be there on me.

 

Oh wait okay.... after a while I *think* I smell orange. More like orange zest though - very bitter. It's so faint though.

 

Final note:

This is mostly roses on me with faint rosemary and bitter - but very faint - orange

[Naamah_Darling]

This is a fresh, herbal rosemary blended with sweet flowers.

 

On my skin, it has a powerful and fiercely conflicting throw – roses and pungent green herbs. There may be a trace of sage in here, and a smidge of lemon peel, perhaps. It's quite sour, perhaps too sour. I like it, but it's a bit biting and acrid to wear as a perfume, and it's hard to pin down because of it, too.

 

Dry, it settles a lot, and is a dusty rose blend with a hint of herbs. In this phase I like it a great deal. It's not overpowering, and is, in fact, downright genteel. It's just that first kick that's so intense I'm not sure I could stand to wear it out.

 

Interesting overall.

[Opistic]

Catherine was for me, as it appears it was for many others here, a frimp. It's not something I normally would have chosen for myself, but I find myself liking it. It's definately one of the more openly powerful scents I got.

 

In the little imp: Whoa rosemary! That's about all I can smell right from the imp. There may be other scents playing around under it, but it is by far the most openly loud and overbearing.

 

Wet on the skin: Still rosemary, although it's toning itself down a little

 

Dry on the skin: This is where it gets nicer. As the rosemary dies down the rose comes out. Personally, I don't get any of the orange blossom, but that's alright. The rose unfortunately turns a little powdery on me, but paired with the herby rosemary it smells nice.

 

I like this little imp, and I'll keep it, although it's not one of my favorite scents, and I have bad images associated with rosemary (due to a person of the same name and her devistating impact on my family)

Edited January 27, 2007 by Opistic

[CiCi]

In the imp: thick, heavy, sensual

 

Applied: rosemary and herbal, bitter orange

 

Dried on the skin: heavy, cloyingly rose, with subtle fleeting hints of herbs and a

little tang of citrus. Rose and I just don't get along.

 

I was very interested in trying Catherine as this is my middle name. I guess I'm going to have to change my middle name! This just is so not me.

[lightgatherer]

On application I got a sharp burst of rosemary that sadly didn't last. The scent almost immediately turned to soap and stayed soapy for a long time. After a while the rose started to peek out, but the rose still had a soapy note to it. Not a terrible scent but one I can give up easily.

[xleighx]

In the bottle: Herby. Not particularly like rosemary.

On: Still herby, then it dried down a little and the rose came in. Right now, rose, herbs, and soap. Mostly rose and soap. If I wanted to smell like rose soap, I'd buy rose soap, . The soap might be the orange blossom; a previous poster said that orange blossom does that to her. Anyway, I'm either giving it away or using it as a guinea pig for making parfum spray.

[n1k1ta]

I usually steer clear of rose. It reminds me of a funeral parlor. I was hesitant about wearing Catherine, honestly, because of the rose note. It just doesn't seem like my type of perfume. I'm not sure, even after wearing it for seven hours, if it will ever be "my" type.

 

Catherine is never grandma powder though. It's rich with a deep undercurrent of rose. The rosemary really comes out on me. The orange blossom brings a gentle sweetness to the heaviness of this perfume. It is a great combination, really.

 

I enjoy Catherine. I don't think it's a bottle-buy, but I will definite keep the imp I have for special occasions.

[lyricalwaters]

In the bottle: The rosemary jumped out immediately at me, quickly followed by... lemon? Makes me think of lemon grass.

 

Wet: carpet cleaner. But not... BAD carpet cleaner, just a very strong, astringent smell at first whiff. But then it settles... is that the rose? I think it is!

 

Dry: It smells very... grown-up. It reminds me of the perfumes I smelled on adults when I was a kid, which is probably why I get that feeling. I think it's mostly the rose now. I'm not getting the orange at all now, which is a bit of a disappointment.

 

Later: Oh yeah, it's like PURE rose on me. A bit much for my tastes, too um... perfumey?

[Rchll]

Bottle: Spicy and dark, the ingredients do not seem to be the right ones from the description. The touch of herbs must be the rosemary though.

 

Self wet: softens very, very quickly. And, because citrus loves my skin, turns orange-ish pretty quickly too. Rose provides sweet background. When not right next to my skin it has more of a rose and next to skin is more of a spiced orange. I can see this as a long ago woman’s scent.

 

Half an hour: rosemary pops up and adds this nice herbal tang to the sweet rose and soft orange. This is a rose scent I could wear, still not quite my thing, but not bad and certainly different.

 

Late later: only short to average wear length, and light throw, ah well still a scent that if I had a bottle to put a lot on I might wear.

[bryghtrose]

In bottle: astringent & citrus

 

Wet on skin: sweet and fresh. It smells strongly of rosemary.

 

Dry: Very high, straining scent. Lots of rosemary & citrus. Very astringent. Only lasted for ~15 minutes.

 

I didn't like this one at all. If it stayed longer, it would have given me a headache.

[Jheya]

In the imp: Sharp herbal with a faint breath of sweetness from the orange blossom.

 

On skin: The herbal note isn't as sharp on skin, but still the dominant note. The orange blossom wafts gently over the top, sweetening the blend.

 

As it dries, the rose begins to come through more strongly, resulting in a strange herbal floral as the rose and rosemary mingle. The orange blossom lends a little sweetness to the whole, but takes a backseat to the other two notes.

 

There's something almost disturbing about this scent, and I find it far from comforting. There is a sweetness to it, but it seems twisted and wrong somehow, rather than the cheery nature I'd normally associate with sweet scents. It's interesting, but I really can't see myself wearing this.

[PersephonesChild]

This one was in my wish list-- I LOVE rosemary, although I've never tried any bpal scents that contained it before, and rose blends have been working out great for me. I have a shaky history with orange blossom, based on the fact that my family had an indoor-orange tree for my entire life, from which I learned that orange blossom in the flesh always smells like bathroom deodorant.

 

However, when I got the imp open, I found myself in one of those situations where you're almost too scared to put it on your skin. The smell was very harsh and prickly, very-- I'lll say-- poisonous.

 

Appropriate. On my skin, the rosemary warms up a little bit, and I can locate the rose and that dreaded orange blossom scent (which still smells like air freshener...)

 

I find this scent merely ok. Rather like air freshener, overall. I'll see how it wears, but as of right now, it's kind of giving me a headache.

[ceiswyn]

This was the perfume that made me go 'yum' and put it on my wrists immediately on smelling it. I've been looking forward to trying it again

 

In the bottle: Definitely smells of flowers; the orange blossom is unmistakeable. There's also something strongly not-sweet that I can't identify under the flowers. Looking back at the description that should be the rosemary, but I'm not sure...

 

On the wrist: Orange blossom. Definitely orange blossom. With added sweetness, presumably from the rose, that I can't quite identify.

 

One hour later: I'm not sure quite why it smells to me like lying on a sunny beach, given that there's nothing suntan-lotion-like to it, but it does. Maybe that's the rosemary showing through the orange blossom, though there's still nothing actively rosemary-smelling. It's almost-but-not-quite pure orange blossom, and oh, how I love orange blossom.

 

It mellows and sweetens a little as the day goes on, but five hours later, I can still smell it.

[Nia]

Phew! The rosemary is strong, but the notes work well together. Since I have an imp of 2, 5, 7 that I only use for layering, I can make it have as much extra rose as I want, but that doesn't mean this doesn't work well on its own. As time passes it gets more and more floral. Really nice.

 

ETA: I wrote this review after one use. Now that I've almost used up an imp, I'll expand.

 

The rosemary is strong only at first. It goes OOHHHH, and then it retreats into the background. It turns into a clean, fresh, floral smell with a hint of rosemary. It is also intensely comforting and relaxing, the type of relaxing smell that clears up stress and helps you be more focused. This could be related to the fact that it smells a lot like baby fragrance - in Spain we like to use special perfumes on babies, and they always smell fresh, clean, light. This is like the luxury version of that. It smells very comfy. I like to use it to study when I'm stressed or when I'm sure that I'm so upset that I'm going to take it out on whoever least deserves it.

Edited January 24, 2008 by Nia

[windzswept]

In the Bottle: I swing between liking the smell of this in the bottle and hating it - I'm not certain about the combination of rosemary and orange. I get a nice smell of the rosemary and the rose and then the orange raises it's ugly head and I hate it.

 

On Fresh: Mellowed and then the orange hit me. Yuck! Gonna stick with it and see what happens, but for now yuck!

 

Later: Orange! Orange! and Slightly rotten orange!

 

Overall: Don't like it, don't want it, Bleurgh! Swapped it almost instantly

[starwild]

In the bottle: Whoo, herbal. Strong, strong herbal--that's the rosemary.

 

Wet: Barely just being balanced out with the floral. Otherwise I'd be tempted to just toss this on some potatoes.

 

Drydown: Okay, now I get more of a sense of what this Catherine is all about. This is a deep green scent that's not exactly spicy, but almost a little peppery from the rosemary, yet darkly weighted by the rose and orange blossom. It's sort of like bittersweet chocolate, not that it smells at all like chocolate--I guess I'm trying to say it's a floral that's had all of its sweetness sucked out.

 

This is an unusual fragrance, lovely and even sultry in a way, but whispering evil thoughts in your ear.

 

I do like it, it's interesting. Will use the imp, probably not a re-buy on this one though.

[YoakeNoKami]

In Imp: very strong rosemary smell... hmmm... like fresh, crushed rosemary.

 

On me: Still very rosemary--at first. There's an odd, citrus undertone.

 

Drydown: Uh-oh, this one has gone all soapy... and baby oil!!!

 

Going to have to let someone else try their luck with this lady!

[filigree_shadow]

Catherine reminds me of Bess, except less pretty and more soapy. There are just a handful of BPAL scents that honestly smell like soap on me, and Catherine's one of them. I'm not sure why -- don't know what exactly in there is making it smell that way but some rose notes tend to have that effect on me -- but it smells just like those cute little flower-shaped soaps people put in their guest bathrooms.