Nowhere in Particular

[tartchef]

The scent of a moonlit night on the road, orchards in the distance, and swirling dust.

Cool & fresh & green, absolutely a country road at twilight... The same grass note from Blade of..., saturated with a really clean, deep ozone - I can definitely see how this goes soapy on a lot of people. Drying down, there's a trace of crisp apple & dry dust, akin to the dust note in Visiting the Temple...

Ultimately a lovely scent, but similar enough to Blade of Grass that I won't need more than my decant. Edited December 16, 2008 by tartchef

[Phaedra]

Wet this is wet grass and sweet woods, herbal and a bit sharp. When first on it's the same grassy note mixed with an almost soapy/woody note. There's a hint of sweetness in the background. After a few minutes, the apple note starts to peek out a bit. After a couple of hours, this is mainly a clean, soapy blend with hints of apple and leaves. It's similar to Meditation in Autumn but lighter. This doesn't change much more on me. This is nice but not a standout.

[zankoku_zen]

I definitely get the mild soapy/clean edge in this blend. It's a cool, green and fresh. It kinda reminds me to the GC Dirty. It had the same sort of 'clean laundry' smell to it.

[caitilarkin]

In the imp: Ozone and dust with a hint of sweetness (florals? fruit?)

 

Wet on skin: The ozone-y dust note amps for a bit, then turns pleasantly dusty, while the sweet notes intensify.

 

Dry on skin: Turns out gorgeous, like an apple orchard in the fall. Great staying power--lasts about eight hours on me. The lovely dust note fades a bit but the fruit stays sweet and lovely for the entire wearlength.

 

Bottleworthy!

[angelicruin]

In the bottle: very green, grassy scent

 

Wet on skin: grass and dirt and a bit of herbs

 

Dry: mostly just a dusty/dirt scent on my skin. No floral, no fruit. Nothing but dirt on my skin.

 

This may have to go to the For Sale/Swap pile.

[moon_lemming]

I wasn't sure what I was smelling in the imp, just that it reminded me of outdoors. Sort of a wet-grass-and-something-else scent. It's not unpleasant, although I wouldn't wear it.

 

Dry, Nowhere in Particular gets taken over by an ozone-y note, which does the same thing as aquatics on me -- turns straight to soap. This one's not for me. I wish I had gotten dirt out of it, but I couldn't find any, boo.

[gchris]

in vial: sharp green grass

 

wet: still green grass with light florals. very "fresh". This is a little sharp. Almost like the grassiness is poking you!

 

dry: this perfume has faded and it has been less than an hour. I am not sure if it is my skin chemistry or the nature of the perfume.

[fairnymph]

In the bottle: Very pale lemon-yellow oil. Crisp, green, and planty - with an odd sort of stone undertone, I guess the dust and some ozone. Leafy-planty, with a distant spark of tart fruit.

 

Wet: So clean and fresh it's almost soapy or aquatic, but not quite - more airy, indeed like cool night. Then that stem-sap scent of crushed new greenery, a bit grassy. The fruit is a little riper, rounder.

 

Dry: The greenery has become bitter, overpowering that unique airy note and the crisp granny smith apples - such a shame. It's not unpleasant, but that bitterness rules.

 

Later: Very slightly soapy, though the bitterness has softened a bit; maybe it morphed. The ozone and fruit and fresh green notes keep the soapy and acrid notes in check now, though. The apples are even riper, less crisp.

 

Summary: This fades quite significantly and rapidly, leaving a very clean (but not quite soapy) aquatic-airy, ozone-tinged mist over grass, new leaves, and faint green apples. Fairly unisex, and decent throw despite its brevity.

 

The bitter stage is short-lived enough for me to want a bottle of this. Evocative - natural, nocturnal, whimsical - and very wearable, I think it'd also make a nice room scent.

Edited January 6, 2009 by fairnymph

[nellieburger]

In the decant: Strong florals…

 

Wet on skin: Dusty florals… How weird!

 

Dry on skin: Darker, muskier... Hmmm… Not sweet enough for me.

 

[Argentwolf]

It's not floral, and only a bit fruity -- it's mostly a smell that could be termed 'foilage'...various leaves and branches and twigs, gently stirred by a night breeze. The fruit note does smell like apple, so I agree with the 'apple orchard at night' images that others have noted. It's actually pretty impressive, because it comes off as cool and airy without being an aquatic scent, and on the dry side without being dusty. Even though it doesn't suit me, personally, I'm impressed with it, as these qualities really stand out as being unique to me.

[Blood onmy hands]

In the bottle, this reminds me of Troll and Dunwich. I get something like smoky pine pitch and swampy, cold greenery. It seems too dark and not sweet enough for me.

 

On me, this is very not good. It smells like feces hiding under a dry, bitter wood note and soapy greenery. Over time, the laundry soap smell takes over and it's actually an improvement, though I still don't enjoy it.

 

Nowhere In Particular morphs into strong, headache-inducing laundry soap on me

[Lethran]

In bottle: wonderful light green scent, it smells of young growing things and delicate blossoms. Wet: This is remarkably attractive for a floral, light and clean and fresh. Delicate night flowers, crushed greenery, a hint of apple. Dry: Less Pleasing. It goes to high end shampoo.

[yeahbutnobut]

Nowhere in Particular

 

In the imp: that autumn leaves scent which smells like cologne. A bit of pine too.

Wet on skin: soap? Noooo!

Dry on skin: soapy cologne and men’s aftershave! With a dash of washing powder. This is unbelievable heartbreak. But this really does smell bad on me. actually, this doesn’t just smell of generic fresh perfume, but of bathroom cleaner! Either Mr Muscle, or Viakal. Something I’d use to get rid of limescale, not as perfume. Where’s my moonlit night air and dewy apples? I smell nothing like it except a vague whiff of October-ish autumn leaves macerating in aftershave. It also reminds me of the scent of bathroomy apples that was Pruno, except without the ketchup.

After a while: the bathroom cleaner scent has faded, thankfully, but what I’m left with isn’t much better. It’s the apple scent that I disliked in Snow Glass Apples. That apple note turned overripe and banana-ish, and reminded me of how some plum blossom scents smell on my skin, and I smell that here too. A weird mushy overripe floral with bad apples.

Verdict: I had such high hopes for this. The description was vague yet so beautiful. I love scents evocative of the night, or night air, and the idea of a scent inspired by dusty night breezes in a moonlit orchard seemed so intriguing, so poetic. And I generally get on so well with Beth’s night air scents. But this scent let me down in a big way. dare I say my skin turned this scent to epic fail? It smelt of all the things I dislike most-soap, harsh ozone, bathroom cleaner, men’s cologne, artificial apples and rotting flowers. I think it’s the apples and a particular ‘autumn leaves’ accord in here that made this turn bad on me. needless to say it’s not a keeper at all!

Emoticon rating:

Is it a keeper? No.

If you like this, try: October, Harvest Moon 07, Snow Glass Apples, La Vita Nuova

[filigree_shadow]

I usually like the misty-moonlit sorts of scents, so when I saw the description for this one it was calling to me. It does remind me a little bit of an orchard (something in it reminds me of trees, but not pine trees or a wintry forest or anything like that -- it smells like sweet trees with dry leaves), and there's a nice bright scent over the top. Definitely evocative of a moonlit orchard.

[pinkstardust420]

Wow. This is one of those scents where you can picture yourself where the story takes you. It's very very light, and sweetens (in my opinion) as it dries. However, it doesn't last too long. But I get a slight aquatic note, something sweet (maybe the apple? sweet grass? very faint though) and something reminding me of Bounce. It's VERY pretty, but again, unfortunately it doesn't last long.

[catattack]

This was a very bright yellow floral perfume. It was sharp and head-achy. On the drydown, it mellowed, but not enough for me to like it. It also went slightly soapy.

[maproot]

I had a slight dry greenish feel to mine-twas my skin chemistry-it was very cooling and evocative at the same time.Of course the name may have made me love it, but it was a cool crisp scent with an undercurrent of green grass (IMHO)And I slathered it til there was no more!!:(I had a slight dry greenish feel to mine-twas my skin chemistry-it was very cooling and evocative at the same time.Of course the name may have made me love it, but it was a cool crisp scent with an undercurrent of green grass (IMHO)And I slathered it til there was no more!!

[Victory]

I have no idea how it is that the orchard really smelled distant rather than just faint, and how I could smell the air and road, but this was a perfect picture of the description. It was really amazing.

[ljaylh]

This ends up going very soapy on me.. clean and fresh, but also slightly sweet and golden. It's pretty, but not something I can see myself wearing.

[arsenicsauce]

Wet: there's a strange smokey aquatic note in this I recognize from October 2007, but mixed with a sappy sharpness that makes me think of either "grass" or "lab dandelion stem note". Hm, not sure if want.

 

Dry: Ohhh, this goes straight to laundry detergent on me after about ten minutes and never recovers. Bummer.

[Ceisdein]

In Bottle: Heavy, cool ozone and a sharp, biting green with a base of laundry detergent. Oddly enough, what immediate comes to mind is soccer players, in freshly washed uniforms, who have been caught in the field's sprinklers first thing in the morning. Soap, airborne water and grass. Weird.

 

Wet: The grass note has shifted to leaves. It's lighter, less spiky. The soap is still prominent but has softened a bit. Medium throw. Well, at least I smell clean.

 

5 minutes: Soap, sweet deciduous trees and the lightest hint of fruit.

 

15 minutes: The soap is slowly fading and a soft, pale apple is taking it's place. A little swirl of flowers lingers in the background. Which means right now it smells like... apple baby shampoo. The throw is tightening up.

 

1 hour +: Ah, finally. The soap is almost entirely gone, while fruit and miniature wildflowers have taken its place. Not at all a heavy autumn apple either but a sweet, ethereal, slightly unripe apple. The tiny bit of soapy ozone that's left adds a dew at dawn sort of note.

 

Overall: *waver* I misliked the first hour. Too sharp and far, far too soapy, which screamed artificial at me. After it settles it's delicately enchanting. By this stage though it has almost no throw whatsoever. If it was loud and strong at this stage I would love it. As is I'm not sure the payoff, however nice, is worth the trip to get there.

 

 

[girasol]

 

I love The Wind in the Willows, enough to buy a couple of bottles unsniffed. This is the one I was the most excited about, description sounded lovely, reviews were good. It arrived, and it smelled nice in the bottle too!

 

Then it went on my skin. From then on, it was Toilet Duck Not kidding, it was nasty goddamn pine-fresh toilet cleaner. Nothing else. No dust, no orchards.

 

So sad. So very, very sad.

[DraloreShimare]

In the vial – Aftershave, very aquatic.

On the skin – Still aftershave, but after a moment it lightens up considerably, goes slightly dusty, and I get a hint of floral & fruit, something that smells “purple.”

Dry – Dusty floral, with a hint of aqua and fruit.

 

Don't know that I'll keep this one, not really my style.

[Vega]

Sniffed: Light and "perfumy".

 

On skin: The blend opens with a sharp, slightly sour tang, then calms down into ozone with a touch of sweetness. I adore the humid, water-laden ozone note that is in Lightning/Parsifal/Sea of Glass, so I was a bit surprised (and a little disappointed) to discover that the ozone in Nowhere in Particular is much colder, thinner and drier -- truly like fog instead of rain. There is the faintest breath of sweetness that must be from the apples, but it's indistinct; I don't smell any dust/stone note. The blend tends toward thin and astringent -- in fact, this is the first BPAL blend that I can label "perfumy" in the "drugstore-alcoholic-perfume" sense. It also has a tendency to morph into something sour and salty on occasion. Over time, the fog/ozone recedes and the apple note emerges, but the scent remains faint.

 

Verdict: I must say, Nowhere in Particular does resemble its name: it's rather obscure, weak, and not interesting at all. And it has the dubious honour of being the first "perfumy" BPAL I've smelled. Even though the ozone note here is quite fitting, I can't help but be a little disappointed in this blend.

[Gin]

Love the name, love the concept. On y skin, it's *so* ozoney. Soapy-ozoney. But I waited it out. I was promised apples! Eventually, the orchard not does come around--which, on a side note, is so strange to me. I understand fragrances developing and whatnot, but it always shocks me when I note seems to come out of nowhere. How can ozone turn to orchard? Anyway, I think I can see (smell) the orchard on the horizion, but I wanted a bit more. I was hoping or the apples other reviewers mentioned. I got empty trees.