Prunella

[doublehelix]

Ripe purple plums, wildflowers, and cream.

Strong plum with a hint of florals. There's got to be some babys breath in here! This is a very summer blend. I'm not getting any cream though. As it dries, the wildflowers take over, and that's all i'm left with.

[donnatron]

Imp: Warm, creamy plums and a very little bit of floral.

 

Wet: The cream... clots? I don't really know a metaphor here for the scent of cream. It's a thick sort of scent right off the bat. Like a floral flavoured cream for a dessert. A plum cake, of course, because the plum is definitely present although a little pre-occupied at the moment.

 

Dry: I've always been kind of like, "I dunno, I just want to try it because I have the vaguest feeling it will smell like fresh hell on me" when it came to Prunella. I was dead wrong. This is a gorgeous, soft, frilly, incredibly feminine sort of scent. The cream is perfectly lush and warm, the plum adds the faintest tart sweetness and the wildflowers keep it from being exceedingly foody. It's a skin close, warm weather, extremely girly sort of scent. Something for sundresses and sandals and summer breezes.

 

Throw: Mild to moderate.

 

Overall: Well, that was a surprise. A surprise that has shot all the way to the top of my big bottle list. This is gorgeous.

[Lorelai1945]

At first whiff I get PLUM!!, but as soon as it begins to dry the plum takes a backseat to OH HAI Wildflowers! They blend after a bit into a smoother, creamy plummy floral- the cream definitely glues the fruit and flowers together. I actually don't mind it when I really expected to not like it. It reminds me of some kind of candy a little bit, but I can't think of which one.

[Sultaana]

Well weren't you just a totally bizarre crazy little fruit scent! Really juicy plum notes with sweet flowers and sweet, delicious cream. I was expecting something MUCH different (read: not as good as this turned out to be!) so I am pleasantly surprised. Wow. Everything really works together here. Florals that I would normally amp like crazy stay mellow, the plum doesn't become cloyingly sweet, and this cream never sours.

Edited August 16, 2010 by Sultaana

[mxtine]

When I sniffed this in the imp, it smelled like plum candles. It was a sweet plum on my skin, with a little cream and very little florals. I love plum so I'll keep the imp but I don't think I need a bottle.

[inurbanus]

I plum blends, so I was very happy to receive this as a frimp. Right off the bat, I get the lab's super sweet, juicy plum that I love so much. In this iteration, there's is a little blot of cream in there and some spicy wildflowers, but the plum definitely dominates. It smells good, but I feel like I've encountered this blend several times before - Midwinter's Eve, Bordello, Bathsheba, Lovers in a Ricefield... If you haven't tried any of those, I highly recommend Prunella. But if you're already a plum fan like me, this probably won't be very exciting.

 

3/5

Edited January 9, 2011 by Shollin
Removed Lab description

[countessmouse]

In the imp, milky plum. Wet on my skin, the cream went slightly sour and stayed that way for about 30 minutes. Now, everything is playing well together and I'm getting a sweet creamy plum with a slight floral/herbal tone. Once that sour note finally goes away, this ends up being quite pretty. Not sure if I want a bottle, but I'm glad I have the imp!

[SophieCedar]

I accidentally ordered 2 imps of this.. that's what I get for rushing through a bpal order...glad I did!

Wet: plums and cream with a breath of chamomile and bellflower or something?

Drydown: much much more herbal and plum, with a slight creaminess left over. I wish I knew what's in the wildflower mix.. this is driving me nuts! Smells lovely though!

Edited October 14, 2010 by SophieCedar

[voodoobaby]

Light plums with sweet, tart flowers and a teeny, tiny hint of cream. Thank gods the cream isn't strong, because usually I can't do that note. I'm also glad that the flowers don't overpower the plum; mainly, they add a new dimension to the plumminess and give it a pleasant, candylike quality. It's very pretty and girly without being overpowering or smelling like a stupid teenage girl. I really dig it, but then again, I'm a big fan of plum.

 

(Edited for elaboration.)

Edited November 27, 2010 by voodoobaby

[Incendiare]

In the vial, Prunella smells fruity with wisps of soft florals in the background. Wet, the vanilla comes out to play. The vanilla is turning creamier and layering itself over the soft florals. As Prunella dries, the fruity note is becoming more identifiable as plums. On the dry-down, this smells like creamy, sweet plums. I'll gladly use the rest of my imp, but not sure if it will be bottle-worthy.

[grrrlennyl]

Prunella

 

On: Amazing. Lovely fresh flowers and plum, with a coating of cream. So pretty.

1 hour in: Very, very powdery and sweet. Mostly cream.

2 hours in: Pretty. Powdery and sweet cream.

3 hours in: Powdery, sweet, with a bit of spice.

Overall: This is OK on me, but not as incredible as I thought it would be.

[Floria]

I got this one as a frimp with my last order. I'm enjoying it, but it didn't smell a bit like I anticipated from the description - more like what I would expect from Bandersnatch (which I haven't tried yet). When I first put this on, I noticed a bit of the floral bitterness I got with Sheol, although not as strong and offset with more sweetness. I wasn't too happy. But fairly quickly, it morphs into something that's mostly spice, with an undertone of fruit, and a whiff of floral that came out more in the bit I swiped on my forearm than on my wrists. The spice + sweet red fruit blend sort of reminds me of potpourri, but less sweet, although my mother smelled honey and incense.

 

I have no idea what could be causing this - maybe the wildflower blend includes lots of dianthus or wallflowers and I'm amping them?

[Gin]

Prunella, I love you. I love BPAL plum, so Prunella's been on my wishlist since her debut, but the wildflowers kept scaring me off. In the bottle and when first applied, all I got was wildflowers. So sad! Beyond that, though, lies a wonderland of creamy, plummy goodness with only a backdrop of florals. I feel like the Lab plums I like tend to be deep/dark/intense, and I love that Prunella is a lighter take on plum. I think Prunella will be in regular rotation through the spring and summer months.

[Maxinux]

Frimped! Thanks, BPAL!

 

I didn't think I was going to like this, but I'm pleasantly surprised--I don't dislike it, certainly. When I was younger, I kept a bottle of lilac essential oil in my bathroom that I would wear sometimes, and this reminds me of that--sweet, floral, purple. It's very, very feminine--a little too feminine for me, in fact, which is why I don't love it. Also very strong with a good through, which is worth remembering because some of my favorites are lighter and require slathering. This is a bit incensey, also.

 

It's very...purple. And I love purple, but royal purple and burgundy. This verges on pink. Will wear when I'm feeling utterly and uncompromisingly feminine and playful, but for normal use I'm looking for something more dry and sophisticated.

 

EDIT: I may have posted too soon. This suddenly morphed completely and got hella complicated. That came from left field. It's soapy, but OK...not so sweet anymore. Greener, spicier. This is nicer.

 

That was impressive. Of the several imps I've tried on this first order of mine, none of the others have morphed so impressively, nor into something that I like better than the wet phase.

Edited March 15, 2011 by Maxinux

[theseagrows]

hrrm, i definitely smell the plum the strongest, as usual. i think my skin amps plum and turns it plasticky, so it sometimes overwhelms. sigh, i guess i should know to steer clear of plum, but this sounded so neat! however, as time passes, the plum does tone down a bit, and i am getting some kind of slight spiciness? but a soft spiciness, not spicy like cinnamon or anything. not sure what that is. the cream isn't very creamy and i am not getting any overwhelming floral either. what an odd scent...it's plum with something, but i cannot make out what that something is! perhaps it's just a subtle creaminess? because there is definitely a warmth to it. i almost like it, if only plum didn't turn plasticky on me.

 

ETA: about an hour later, i kind of like this, against my better judgment. i think i could wear it in winter and like it a lot. so i will keep my imp. the plum is only slightly plasticky now, and it's kind of a comforting scent.

Edited June 6, 2011 by theseagrows

[AnyseLawsBray]

In vial: Herbal, faint tang of unripened plums.

Wet: Green fields of wildflowers, much less floral than I expected.

Dry: The flowers have faded, allowing a stain of juicy plum to come out. Light, gently sweetened by cream.

 

Verdict: Unfortunately my nose recognizes most plum scents as generic-holiday-candle-smell. Prunella is pretty, sweet & light, but the candle association gets me every time.

[Larinessa]

This is a slightly 'warmer' version of Midwinters Eve on me. Same deep Plum, soft florals, but with a slight richness I attribute to the cream. Fortunately for this floral hater the flowers remain in the background, as they do in MWE, and the plum is dominate. I do like this, not enough to buy a bottle, but the 3 imps the lab has given me will stay.

[Honey]

Yay! Secret stash imp!

 

 

Imp: Very sweet and plummy. Could swear I detected some nutty rice pudding but maybe I hallucinated because I remembered rice pudding as an ingredient and not cream. Slightest hint of florals.

 

Wet: Wow, this smells like actual plums! Not sweet and cheap like IKEA candles but actually.. yes, plummy with a hint of fruity greenness, a sharp tangy note.

 

Dry: This is a plum single note on me. No flowers, no cream. Quite nice and not too overwhelming but also a bit boring.

[Klolly]

I was so excited to get this in a swap. I've really been wanting to try Prunella badly. I'm just hoping the plum will be nice to me. I couldn't stand Bordello, so we'll see;

 

In imp: Ooh smells beautiful. Very sweet and serene and a bit of tart spunk hiding in the background. I faintly smell the cream, but mainly juicy plum.

 

On wet: Mmm. Smells just like a marshmallow that's been dipped in freshly squeezed plum juice on one side.

 

Dry: This is beautiful. Soft and billowy and relaxed and a tad mischevious and playful. Oh wow, I need a bottle! I would wear this a lot. It's very relaxed yet feminine and cute as well. The plum is lovely and has a mysterious flirtatiousness to it. I was not disappointed with this one. It's better than I expected. I'll update later on throw and longevity.

[Missy_killer]

In the imp: I get cake and dishsoap. Nothing more, nothing less.

 

On me: This reminds me of something.. I can't put my finger on it but I have smelled this before! It's very floral with a creamy, coconut vanilla undertone that I want more of!

 

Hour later: This is a fresh floral with cream. A tiny hint of vanilla and powder. It's a floral that I can actually wear without getting a migraine, very happy with this!

On the downside it fades very quickly, two hours in I can barely smell it if I press my nose against my wrist.

[GoddesShel]

Lori saw my plea to try this and very kindly sold me an imp

 

In the imp: Wow, green! Wildflowers and green...where's the plum?

Wet on me: Ah, here's the plums, but green ones...and more wildflowers and more green, very tart. Much more wildflower than plum, even green plum.

 

Half an hour in: The cream and ripe plum finally appear, smoothing out the tartness. I like it, but not as much as I thought I would .

[WidgetAlley]

I love wildflowers and cream but plum frequently goes wonky on me. Let's see what this one will do.

 

Imp: A creamy, sugary plum scent overlaid with wildflowers. Does it exactly what it says on the tin!

 

Wet: Fresh wildflowers, sweet cream and sugar, and a hint of plums that, instead of smelling juicy, smell almost green instead. Right now this is strongly reminding me of something else but I'm not sure what. Right now this is a very pretty, feminine scent while not actually being either foody or floral. Oh! I think I know. The green plums/floral combo actually reminds me a little of a sweeter, creamier Poisoned Apple.

 

Dry: The same creamy green-fruit and soft-florals scent. It'll have to death match against Poisoned Apple for who wins the 5mL prize, but I predict slathering!

[mari4212]

On wet: So my mother had this collection of alcohol-based perfumes in bottles shaped like women from different countries. They were old, and all of the bottles ended up smelling exactly alike. For me, that scent is the epitome of stale perfume.

 

Unfortunately, Prunella on my skin wet is a dead ringer for that scent. I'm not getting the plums, I'm not getting the cream, and I'm not really getting floral, just that funky dead perfume smell. Cross fingers that the drydown morphs spectacularly and lets me smell what Prunella really should be.

 

After twenty minutes: The funky dead-perfume smell has faded away, and I'm getting a bit of plum and cream now. Which is a plus. On the other hand, it's now one of the scents that I have to bury my nose into my wrist to even detect.

 

Sorry, Prunella, you really aren't working well on me. Off to swaps.

[Innocuousmold]

I totally agree with mari4212! When I was little I had a perfume bottle that was shaped like a young woman holding a parasol over her shoulder. Her top half was a light pink plastic and her skirt was a medium pink frosted glass bottle. I think I got it at a garage sale, if I remember correctly.

 

Anyway, Prunella smells exactly how I remember that, except creamier. I'm definitely not a fan of this scent but it is true to it's description. Unfortunately it does not work for me and sometimes I think I can smell a wet paper, cardboard kind of quality to it. I'll definitely be swapping this one.

Edited February 23, 2012 by Innocuousmold

[Lethran]

In bottle: Very foody. The plums plus cream come off rather more baked goods than fresh fruit, but in a rich, delicious sort of way. The wildflowers are a good complement to the plum, working with, rather than shouting their presence. Wet: still plum dominent with the strong cream note turning it baked goods, but the florals are stronger and interesting in their own right, though still providing a good compliment to the fruit. Lovely and rich. Dry: Mostly wildflowers. Very pretty wild flowers, mind, but I was hoping more plum would survive.