Persephone

[TrailerTrashPrincess]

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

initial sniff from the imp: roses and pom juice.

sniffed again a few minutes later, just before application:
perm solution & salon hairdye, with some roses.

with that unappealing scent still stuck in my nose, i try it on skin anyway...

aaaaaand the perm smell goes away but the chemically smell doesn't. the rose gets better, but if i want the salon smell, i'll go get my hair done.
(it takes so much restraint not to say either "get my hair did" or "get my hair laundered)

i remember trying another rose-blend that turned into a salon-y smell on me, too.

[Summerpixy]

This was one of the first scents I ordered, and it was rich, sweet both floral and fruity. I'll finish off my imp, but it's not a big enough favorite to become a bottle.

[edenssixthday]

Persephone bums me out because I heart both pomegranate and rose totally and completely. They're both fabulous scents for me, and when I heard about this particular combo, I couldn't think of a better fruity-floral blend. And then I tried the oil on, and I almost cried because blended together, these two scents simply don't work at all. The pomegranate smells rotten and sour, and it makes the rose smell acrid and as if it's dying. It makes me wrinkle my nose in disgust and want to run to wash it off. This one needs to leave my life quickly and permanently.

[Jocelyn]

I really, really wanted to love this one. I love pomegranates, I love roses.

In the vial it smells really fruity, like a very, very sweet pom.

It dries down to an old ladyish rose scent, not the whip rose that I adore. After about 5 minutes it goes to cheap candy smelling.

[fairy]

This one is amazing. It smells like a beautiful red rose on a rainy day. Added her to my favorites list and probably need a big bottle She is a bit on the strong side but I like that...just thought I'd mention it.

[porcelain72]

In bottle: sweet, sweet, and sweet, with a side order of sweet. Liquid, fruity-floral candy. To heighten the effect, it seems thicker and a little more sticky than the other oils I've tried as well, but that could be my imagination.

 

Initial application: this is an interesting combination, the pomegranate and the rose don't seem to be fighting to be the dominant scent here, it's as if they're almost...next to each other, if that makes any sense, in peaceful compromise. It's a wee bit overpowering though, and has an amazing throw. I could smell this on me, around me, etc., during the entire train ride to work. Mind you, this is not a bad thing.

 

Drydown: the pomegranate has given in and allowed the rose to take over. I'm not normally a big fan of rose-based scents, they tend to go fake or old lady on me, but this is a deep, rich rose. Smelling it makes me picture those big, dark red blossoms where the petals almost look like velvet. This isn't an everyday scent, it's a little heavy for that, but it is quite pretty.

[furygrrl]

In the imp: SWEET! Like, scary sweet, with a dash of something fruity.

 

On wet: Pure roses - of the cheap bathroom spray variety - and nothing else.

 

Drydown: Still nothing but super sweet, bubblegum pink, granny bathroom ROSES. There isn't even a *hint* of that initial whiff of fruit I got from the imp - the fruit that I was counting on for balance.

 

Overall: I can only wear a select handful of rose blends, and sadly, this is not one of them.

[steffanina]

Persephone-

 

In Bottle: Rose and a hint of something else, slightly sweet and fruity. Can't say if it's pomegranate though.

 

Wet: Rose! Quite rose-y. It's a nice rose, though I am not that into rose.

 

Dry: Wow. I am really startled by how much I like this one--it's one of the nicest rose scents I've ever tried. For "nicest" you sort of have to read "most tolerable" because I usually find rose cloying. But, yes, this is a pleasant rose--I think the touch of fruit is what's setting it off even if I don't really smell the fruit itself.

 

Overall: I like.

[Clementine]

Yup, sweet roses it is. Initially this scent is too rosy for me, but the drydown is absolutely beautiful. It has good staying power, too. If you love rose scents, you should at least have an imp of this, hands down.

Edited August 31, 2006 by Clementine

[sarahj]

Persephone

 

received in a swap

 

in imp: tart, fruity rose

 

wet: mainly rose; the fruitiness is fading

 

dry: a nice rose scent, but I can barely smell the pomegranate

 

verdict: nice, but not a favorite

[zombiegrrl]

This one is one of my favorites! The previous reviewer described it in the bottle as a "tart, fruity rose," and I find that description to be very apt for describing how it smells on my skin. I have almost used up my imp and I will be buying a full bottle of this one.

[Iceblink]

I wore this today and found it beautiful--it goes back and forth from rose to fruit to rose to fruit and sometimes a blend of the two on me. It has good staying power too.

This did make my neck and throat itch where I dabbed it, but only there--I also put it on my wrists and the backs of my knees and no itching. I usually don't have a problem with florals or fruits of any kind, so I wonder what about this made me itchy.

[jasmine]

This was spicier than I expected -- very spicy on an initial sniff. Also sweet. I can definitely pick up the rose, but I don’t know where the pomegranate is. After the Sudha Segara "baby powder world" incident, I only applied to one wrist this time. I tipped some onto the label this time, but none on the desk -- there is definitely an art to opening these things without making a mess.

 

I do like the scent, but as it started drying, I found myself wondering... pomegranate? Where? I rubbed my two wrists together, thinking I didn’t want to be uneven, since this didn’t instantly strike me as baby powderish... and discovered I had muted the scent hugely. How very unexpected. (I woke up with a cold today, though, and so my idea of “muted” may be everyone else’s of “oh my god.”) The pomegranate did speak up in a whisper for a moment, but then it went away again... very shy note.

 

As the scent dries, it fades, leaving me wondering "did my skin eat this, or is my cold obscuring it?" (This is why scent testing should only be done by fully healthy people.) My nose needs to be within two inches of my skin to detect it after an hour. I’m tempted to apply more, but that would remove the point of the review. From what I can tell, though, it has gone soapy... not bad soap, nice soap, but, yes, soap. Again, I’m going to concentrate on this as a learning experience.

 

There’s a whiff of pomegranate back again, and the soap has faded, but it’s still a very subtle smell. Fruit... but quiet, subtle fruit. This would demand slathering for proper effect, but I’m concerned that I may be missing something due to my cold, and so I don’t want to apply in that fashion at this second.

 

This never acquired any throw, but it lingered politely and quietly on my hand (less on my wrist, and more my fingertips) for over six hours. It was definitely pomegranate for much of that time. I think I could enjoy wearing this if I applied a lot of it with a great deal of enthusiasm... but why not find something I enjoy more instead?

[RaeiNarcissus]

While it's a very lovely scent, I get no pomegranate from this. It's all rose. I've smelled roses recently, it's the exact same scent.

 

It's still very lovely.

[buzz23666]

Just plain yuck.

 

wet - this is beautiful wet. It is a rainy, fresh new rose.

 

dry - i get no pomegranate, but what I do get is a rose that has somehow rotted.

 

Just nasty with my chemistry. Which is unfortunate because rose scents are always a winner but I guess the pom just wanted to be KING here eventhough I cannot smell it.

[supremegoddessofall]

Very fruity but also earthy. I almost get a white wine smell. I'm really not getting rose at all.

[eleventhousand]

Juicy and sweet and velvety and deep red, but also fresh and a bit soapy.

[theseagrows]

got a sniffy of this in a swap. for the first hour or two, the rose turns badly sour on my skin, which might be the pomegranate blending with it, because rose often works on me. after about 2 hours it smells kind of pretty, almost fizzy rose champagne, hard to describe. but...i dont want to have to wait 2 hours before it smells good, so i don't think i'll get anymore persephone.

[Gardenia]

In the imp this smelled wonderfully. A freshly opened pomegranate, rich, juicy. Big, fresh velvet roses. The pomegranate and the rose are sitting nicely side by side, neither trying to out do the other. There's a wonderful balance going on here.

 

While it's wet it smells pretty much the same as in the imp. Lighter, but nice.

 

When it dried, something bad happened though. The pomegranate was all gone. The roses dry up and become powdery. In fact, it reminds me of body powder that is scented like roses, exactly the same. Not horrible.. but not as nice as when it was wet.

 

I'll give it another try later in the month. If it doesn't work out then, I think it'll be heading out. A lovely scent, but it just doesn't work on my skin.

Edited June 5, 2009 by Gardenia

[outofrhyme]

In the bottle:

Oh my god, it's candy. Sickeningly sweet and cloying.

 

Wet:

Still pretty sweet, but better - smells slightly more like roses than like candy

 

Dry down:

The cloying/sickly sweetness entirely vanished, just leaving a slightly sweet rose. Pretty!

 

Final Thoughts:

This is gorgeous in a girly way, without smelling too young, and one of my favorites.

[k8tey]

My favorite rose. Pure and sweet and wonderful. It feels pretty and youthful. I need a big bottle!

[Babylon]

Ok, I have a closet love for rose. I'm not a floral person, but roses are so romantical (why yes, I'm a Cancer), and the Lab's rose notes are amazing. When I sniff a BPAL rose scent on my skin, I swear I can feel those velvet soft petals brushing my nose. Persephone sounded like a fun one to give a test drive to. I love fruit, so...

 

Wet: Purely pomegranate. Wish I could drink the imp right about now.

 

Drying: Hello, rose! There you are. Oh, this is a weird combination. If I ever had to eat flowers like that crazy lady from the Golden Girls, I'd want to eat this rose. It smells like it's lying in a glass of pomegranate juice.

 

Dry: Aw, just rose. The fruit took off and hasn't returned, leaving me with what seems like a rose single note.

[maribouquet]

Argh. This just smells like weird cinnamon craft store candle on me. *weeps*

[phedre]

Gorgeous, gorgeous, GORGEOUS! What more can I say?

 

In the bottle this smelled candylike and sticky sweet, but I went ahead and tried it anyway. Was it ever worth it. On my skin, the roses really came out and balanced the tart-sweet pomegranate. As it dried, the scent stayed true and just lovely. It's now officially one of my favourite scents!

[glass_cat]

This really is quite nice, I must say, but then this is one of those scents that I could really see working on me from the start, so I bottled it right away. I love fruity florals, but I have quite a few of the "white and sweet" variety as it is. I was hoping that this one might turn out to be more "tart and red"... something nice when I want a change from my usual but still want one of my beloved fruity florals. That's pretty much exactly how it smells, too.

 

On the whole, this is definitely a dark, strong, almost wine-like blend to me. I'm getting the rose and the pomegranate in equal amounts. Neither is overpowering the other on me. I am also getting a background note that smells almost smokey or ashy, but not at all in an unpleasant way. On the whole, I really am reminded of Persephone... a beautiful flower of a girl smack in the middle of hell. Persephone smells shadowy, melancholy, and almost sleepy to me but it is still a very pretty womanly scent to me. The rose makes sure of that. However the other notes keep this from being the "same old thing" since I have lots of rose scents by now.

 

This is going to make me a wonderful bedtime scent, as I find it very relaxing for some reason. It's also going to be a gorgeous scent for the dead of winter. I was hoping to find something like this before it got really cold out!

Edited December 13, 2006 by glass_cat