Persephone

[renfair]

Beautiful, radiant daughter of Demeter... her loveliness was so exquisite that even Hell itself could not resist her. Pomegranate and rose.

This scent came as a frimp for me.

First Sniff Impression: Is there rose in this? Cause it smells like rose.

Wet in Vial: Ok, there is rose in this. And I'm glad I knew there was pomegranate or else the sourness would have really turned me off. I don't want to be gross, but it was almost a vomit-acid sourness. But I assume that's just the high concentration of pomegranate in the vial.

 

Drying Down on Skin: The sourness fades almost instantly, thank goodness, leaving a fruity rose behind. I actually wasn't expecting this to be so heavy on the rose, for some reason. So far this is a very classy, heavy, almost Victorian rose smell, and I kind of like it, but it's a lot. Wondering if the pomegranate will come out more and lighten the rose up a bit. Right now I feel like this is a better scent for Persephone's grandmother or something (and I feel like I should know who that would be, from mythology?)

Dry on Skin: I was really expecting this to be pomegranate-heavy because of the myth and all but it's just all POW ROSES TO TEH FACE on me. I imagine this has a crazy throw, and probably not in a good way. I'll have to see how it is in a few hours, but I don't think this is one I'd be keen on keeping.

 

Conclusion: This scent felt very unbalanced to me. I imagine Persephone as being a youthful young woman, associated with Spring and pomegranates, and this scent was so overpoweringly rose that it steamrolled over anything else that might've been there. It felt like a better scent for a courtesan than Persephone. I wonder if it might just be me. It seems so far like BPAL rose just amps up to a crazy level on my skin, which sucks! I love rose! But I didn't love this one, unfortunately.

[Nikki Scarlet]

A frimp from the lab, and one of my favourite Greek goddesses.

In the imp:
Not sure how I feel about this. It's very fresh and juicy, but there's something sharp about it to my nose.

On me, wet:
The tartness is amplified a bit, but at the same time it's not as much of a shock to the nose as in the imp (granted, it may just be that I'm acclimating to it). As it starts to dry the pomegranate's sweeter side comes forward and the scent gets warmer and juicier.

On me, dry:
Rose and pomegranate balance each other nicely in this scent. The pomegranate is a little heavier and juicier on my skin, while the rose brings a lightness and freshness to it to keep it pretty without being cloying. This is a rare scent for me where the rose doesn't dominate: the two notes are well blended and cooperate fantastically, so I don't get "grandma's perfume" from it. It's girlish for me.

Verdict:
I like it! I don't feel the immediate need to jump on a bottle, but I'll keep the imp around for days when I want a "juicy" scent that doesn't have the darker notes of Bewitched.

[roseus]

In the imp: super sweet pomegranate syrup.

 

Wet: Less sweet pomegranate and a tiny bit of red rose.

 

Dry: The rose and pomegranate combination is gorgeous. I get red rose, but it is softened by the fruity sweetness of the pomegranate. Youthful and playful but not girlish to me.

[achildoftime]

It's very simple. Pomegranate and rose is exactly what you get. It's like cutting open a pom and setting a rose next to it. There's a bit of bitterness from the rind that mingles with the sweeter juice and rose petals. It is very evenly balanced the whole time. The bitterness does tone down even further with wear, but it never really goes away completely. I really want to like it, because it is quite lovely, but I think there's a better pomegranate scent for me out there. Even though I think the rose compliments it well, I know that it isn't really for me.

[whisperstilled]

Yep, liking this scent definitely depends on how you feel about pomegranate and rose, and especially pomegranate - it's sharp and intense. Wonderful conceptually!

[Joyleaf_]

This smells like a drink I would indulge in in college. Very much a fruity floral with a saccharine sweetness like too thick simple syrup oozing along the bottom of a glass. Not for me, but glad I got to try it.

[garbagewitch]

In my early perfume days, just the idea of florals made me wrinkle my nose, and rose seemed the most flowery of them all. Then I got into BPAL and Persephone just sounded too good to pass up; I loved the goddess, I loved pomegranate, and maybe the rose wouldn’t be too strong? That first order arrived and I realized I actually really like rose, when it’s done by someone who knows how to treat a rose right. That was years ago, though, so when my friend snagged an imp in her first order, I wasn’t expecting it to live up to the memory I have of it. Spoiler alert: it absolutely does.

Persephone starts off with an intense sweetness, that’s only kept from being candied by how juicy it is. The rosiness comes forward almost immediately after the initial explosion of sweetness, and it’s one hell of a rose, full and blooming with perfectly pink, ruffled petals. The sweetness and juiciness of pomegranate blends seamlessly with the rose; this smells like what I imagine a rose would taste like if it was a fruit. There’s also a slight green, leafy edge that makes me think this rose is still on the bush. As it dries down, the green edge eventually disappears and juiciness calms down a little, but it stays sweet and pink and lush all the way through.

 

It isn’t at all a sexual scent, but the juiciness of the pomegranate makes it almost unbearably sensual to me. If I smelled this on someone else, I’d want to bite them. It wouldn’t be an aggressive or sexual impulse, it would just be automatic, the way I would want to sink my teeth into a ripe strawberry.

 

If Lucy's Kiss is the scent of a demure young woman half-dressed and fresh from bathing in rosewater, then Persephone is the scent that trails off that same young woman as she leads you on a playful chase through the garden on a rainy night, bare feet dancing across the damp grass and laughter sparkling alongside the patter of rain. Not at all wild, but playful and carefree in a way that's only possible when propriety has been thrown decisively out the window. Fresher, cooler, and not quite as clean as Lucy’s Kiss, with a crisp, ripe sweetness that makes you want to nuzzle in closer, to lick and bite once you've caught her.

Along with Dorian, this is one of those scents I’m so crazy about, I can’t help but recommend it indiscriminately. Try it if you like rose, try it if you think you don't like rose, try it if you like sweet scents or fruity scents, try it if you haven't already tried it, just try it.

Edited August 11, 2018 by conflagrantThief