Machu Picchu

[paperdoll]

Sweet tropical fruits burst through deep, wet rainforest boughs, enormous steamy blossoms, over thin mountaintop breezes, mingled with the soft, rich golden scent of Peruvian amber.

Initial Sniff: Ok, I definitely get the mountaintop breezes, with a touch of a citrussy fruit and maybe a flower or two. It is very fain, and I'm not getting any amber from this.
Wearing: Um, ok. True to the bottle for about 5 minutes, and then gone.
Final Impressions: Fleeting.

[Essay 28]

In the bottle: tart citrus with a hint of floral and "pine".

 

On the skin: an unbearable combination of Pinesol and Clorox (with maybe a little of that Orange cleaner thrown in for good measure).

 

After an hour: After hubby fled the room while I was still trying to determine if I smelled anything except for "cleaner" scents, I had to go wash it off shortly after dry down. Eyes were watering and I started sneezing. I had really hoped for a fruity scent with a floral undertone, but alas... not to be. Into the swap pile it goes.

[bellis]

This is definitely not what I was expecting. I'm not getting any fruits out of this, once it's dry. In the bottle and wet I get a little bit of citrus and a touch of mango, but once it dries it's just very soft, sweet and creamy in a way that surprised me. This is indeed a very comforting scent. It's not very strong or long-lasting on me, but it's great right before I go to bed.

[tesao]

in the bottle: lovely. green. warm but not. there is something sharp, bracing, less floral.

 

wet, on my wrist: the same. rain forest reminiscent is the perfect way to describe it. (who writes the scent notes??? they hit this one dead on!) it is woods with a warm wind through the moist trees, carrying a hint of fruit.

 

it is feminine, but not overwhelmingly so. it is quiet and soothing.

 

there is so much going on in this scent. each time i go back to sniff it, there is something new, which makes it difficult to describe fully. it is that complex. again, the scent notes say it all: rain forest. this smells like a rain forest. i need a big bottle of this one.

[tracey]

Initially this is very overpowering and sweet. Like candy sucking sweet and it's very sharp to me.

 

After a few minutes it absorbs into my skin and I'm left with this light and breathy scent. I can smell it all day and I frequently place my arm within sniffing range. I'd love to just roll in this and I can imagine putting it on my sheets and letting it lull me to sleep.

 

I love resin scents and darker scents, so this is strange that I enjoy it so much, even though it does have amber in it and that's the note that rides my skin all day long, it's very fruity and flirtatious.

 

It's like dipping a piece of fruit into caramel, you've got two seemingly conflicting items that marry well and are almost indescribable.

 

This will be one of my first large bottle orders.

[yummysushitoo]

This is the lovely, wet foliage-y scent of a rainforest. I really didn't get individual impressions of the fruit versus the flowers versus the amber, but all were blended together to make a lush, tropical paradise appear in my mind. Definitely something for summer, as it is evocative of a tropical summer retreat.

[nineveh]

This one morphs a lot on me. First I get an evergreen note and something sweet when it's wet. Then juicy and cool fruits come out on top, with something warmer, I'm guessing the amber, underneath. This is a very complex scent, but not overwhelmingly so. Instead of being too warm or too cool, too sweet or too tangy, too fruity or too floral, it combines a bit of each of those characteristics.

 

After a while, it fades into a sort of metallic, blood-like scent which I'm not fond of, but I enjoyed it while it was fresh.

Edited June 3, 2005 by nineveh

[absinthe21]

I loved this scent yesterday when I got it from a swap, and since I am wearing it right now ( ) I thought I would review it!

 

In the bottle: I have been having troubles with that as of late, so I won't even comment about what it smells like in the bottle!

 

Wet, on skin: I do get that sharp "bite" that someone referred to when they first put it on.....very sharp green, with a slight sweet note, very nice

 

Slightly dry: The bite tones down rather quickly, and the fruits start coming to the foreground....can't place the fruits, but I also think there is something a little spicy in there

 

After waving arm around like a lunatic: very fruity, but not in a cloying way....love this love this love this!!

 

Dry, about 15 min later: oh yes....warming up nicely, this is such a keeper and going on my big bottle list!!

[Nepthys]

This is quite nice but regrettably none of the amber showed up on me. Instead it came off as an aquatic citris scent, and reminded me of a fresh breeze after a rainfall on a muggy summer day. This is a great scent to perk up with in hot weather .

[tinyvulture]

green and vibrant, really refreshing. i expected a sweet tropical fruit scent similar to manila, but there’s hardly any sweetness here at all. it is lush and wet like manila, though. it smells kind of like a very unripe, green banana. i also think i smell ozone, and there’s a hint of amber and feminine yet exotic florals in the background.

[voodoobaby]

In the vial: Fruity and green. It's a lot thicker than I expected.

 

Wearing: Still much fruit and a little greenery, not as much as in the imp. There's a definite citrus note here, but not orangey or lemony--grapefruit, maybe? I can also detect a kind of melon-like scent, and maybe even a bit of banana. There's also a faint hint of florals in the background, but it is very faint.

 

Later: The fruit is gone now, and I'm left with the faint floral smell and amber. Beautiful amber! It smells so nice here, warm and almost spicy. The throw is a little bit soapy, but I can totally get past that.

 

Overall: Very, very nice! Will be good for the summer, I think. I like it a lot and will keep the imp.

[brownbear]

In the vial this smells very hardcore floral. A sweet, fruity, pungent floral.

On my skin I could swear that I can smell violet. It's nice, but it went to generic floral and then disappeared completely.

 

edited for creative spelling

Edited June 12, 2005 by brownbear

[k00kaburra]

In addition to the original imp I ordered, I recieved this as a freebie two or three times from the Lab. I guess Beth feels very strongly that I should try this.

In bottle: Bright flowers and ripe fruits that have been reduced to a somewhat watery state because of the constant rainfall where they're located. It's like you know they're aromatic, but the constant soaking of their surroundings prevents the true strength of that aroma from coming through.

On me: Richly fruity. This is definitely a tropical fragrance, and everything in it seems to be at the bottom of a crystal-clear pool, so that everything is filtered through clean pure water. I love this one so much; it takes Empyreal Mist and moves it down south to give it a super-tropical treatment The green in this is very fresh and juicy; again it is watery. Everything in this is quite soaked, but remains crisp - never once is anything soggy.

Did I mention I LOVE this?.

[sh1mm3r]

Free from the lab!

 

I tried the same amount of Machu Picchu on that I typically do with new imps, but I could barely smell it. So I'll review this once and go home and apply more to see if things change.

 

I like how this is fruity, but not apple or berry or anything typical. It's definitely tropical fruits. The amber seems to add an element of spice, but isn't overwhelming like amber usually is on me.

 

I don't hate it like I expected (I'm not usually a fruity/floral girl) but I think my little sis would love it more than me. Nothing better than spreading the addiction, right?

 

ETA: Nope, no matter how much I apply, my skin eats it within a half hour. I've never had such a rapid flight of a BPAL oil!

Edited June 18, 2005 by sh1mm3r

[arabella]

First Impression: An aquatic, citrussy, airy, creamy floral. It's absolutely gorgeous.

 

Dries down to: I can't pin down any specific notes - one minute I think papaya, then ozone, then water, then hibiscus, then mandarin - but the mental image I get is of being about 2/3 of the way up an extinct volcanic mountain on a tropical island with the scents, of the flowers and fruits growing down below, drifting up and mingling with the fresher breezes and mists that are drifting down from higher up. Yet, somehow, all these scents mixing together aren't creating a "muddy" blend but an everchanging kaleidoscope of scents.

 

Additional Comments: After reading the description, I should have guessed that amber was hiding in here somewhere. It seems to be my "holy grail" note. If this lasts reasonably long, a larger bottle will be necessary.

 

Lasted: Barely an hour (which will keep it from getting a "5" rating) - how disappointing.

 

Rating: 4 out of 5

[OdetteOdile]

Machu Picchu

Opening: ah, wonderful!

Vanilla-laced fruits - tart, jucy, tropical fruits.

It could turn into bubble gum, but it never does. The thick, rich floral base saves it from the jucyfruit trap.

 

1 hour later - a really interesting nutty note developed in this, sort of wood mixed with nuts. And a slight spiciness.

The nuts & wood note reminds me of...what?...Grog! Up close, that note catches in my throat, but from a distance it's lovely & rich.

Very interesting. I'll try this again.

[graycat]

Machu Picchu

 

In The Bottle: mangos and tropical flowers.

 

Wet: strange that there isn't mangos listed in the note because i swear i can really smell it.

 

Dry Down: a little soapy but nice, i put this imp (free from the lab) on my swap list but i think i'm going to take it out!

 

Dry: femy in a way that is not girly but not overtly sexy. still kinda soapy.

 

Over All: this i not a smell for me but i'm going to take it off my swap page and give it to my mom. it's a smell i want to be around but not wear strangely...

 

rating:

3

[violetblue]

It freaks me out how much this oil smells like one of my old apts. when I was in college.

Lots of throw and a bit sharp to me. It's more masculine than what I'd normally wear as the amber really lights this one up.

[olympia301]

Very citrus-like, but I can't get fruity out of it as many others have. It's more of a thought of "citrus"-- sour, sectioned and thick skinned fruits. I think there is musk in the blend as the scent does have great staying power. I have to say this is what I hoped that Shanghai would do for me (but didn't), it's cool and refreshing as can be. Astringent in a small way so it's great for summer, and green. Very sophisticated, this one would be right at home on the Sak's Fifth Avenue counter, but it's not asphyxiatingly aggressive and uncouth as commercial scents of this type are, no tooth grittingly demanding uber musk in Machu Picchu.

 

This one is a very highly recommended summer/hot weather intellectual scent. But it could be sexy, too. I think it would be dynamite layered with Regan.

Edited July 24, 2005 by olympia301

[The_Merf]

In the imp: Fr00t! Lots and lots of fruit! Very wet, juicy fruit. The fruits have the heaviness of summer, and yet the entire scent is still fresh. I'm usually not into fruits at all, but I like the way this smells.

 

Wet: I was hoping that the amber would come out, as I love amber, but the fruity smell from the imp is all that I got when I put this on at first.

 

Dry-down and wear: All I can smell is the fruit. Darn my fruit prejudices--this one just isn't for me (though it's lovely as far as a fruit scent goes). It did have one odd side-effect--I fell asleep about two hours after application. I had to fight to stay awake, when I should have been wide awake. I'll have to try it again, and if it helps me get to sleep on a consistent basis, then I'll have to re-evaluate. If not, I'll have to swap or gift this one.

[donsixgun]

This smells nice! Fruits, and slight florals...but I can also smell the breeziness. Its cool, and soft. But sadly, its just a tad too feminine for me. If the amber had come out more, it might have been perfect, but instead, it goes to my sweetie.

[magdalene]

in the bottle: sweet and juicy fruit.

 

wet on skin: Amber is something I have a love/hate relationship with. Mixed with the right notes, amber is a glorious thing on my skin. Mix it with the wrong ones, and I am quite unhappy. Fruit, any sort, is not something that goes well with amber on my skin. It just gets cloyingly sweet.

 

dry: I washed this off.

[OriginalWacky]

Bottle (Imp): Ooh, fresh and breezy.

 

Just On: Lovely fresh breezes with flower scents.

 

An hour or two later: Wow, it's gone.

 

Around 6 hours: Nothing left at all.

 

12 hours: Nope, nada, nothing left.

 

Overall: It fades really fast, but is nice while it lasts.

 

After reading other reviews: I really didn't get any fruit out of this one. It's nice, and I like it, though I'm not sure it's hit the big bottle list right away.

[Bellatrix]

In the bottle : fruits and flowers and just a hint of breeze from the bay.

 

Wet: Fruit! Smells a little bit like when an old dormmate in college would fry up tropical fruits with brown sugar on Sunday mornings.

 

Dry - Flowers come back and do a little dance before settling down into a soothing, lulling sense of peace.

 

Verdict - This is like a mini-vacation in a bottle. Perfect for a mid-day pick-up!

[reina]

I cannot believe I've had an imp of this for 4 months and never reviewed it.

 

It smells fresh, cool and casual. Fruit-ish blends usually don't work on my skin, but this is fab. I get the fruit, a bit of floral, and as it dries on my skin, the amber shows its presence. I usually don't like the scent of Amber, but here it works very well.

 

it's definitely rainforest, jewel-toned cool green. So much so that I wore it to complement my Purim costume, which was that of Irakere, a fictional Jungle Goddess. Listen to a track by Juan Luis Guerra called "Areito" to get my feeling of this scent. Shimmering green like raindrops on a leaf when the sun comes out after a rain storm.