New Orleans

[looneyluna]

New Orleans

Reminiscent of hothouse blooms on a humid night, ripe, but touched with decay. Sweet honeysuckle and jasmine with a hint of lemon and spice.

 

I ordered it because I couldn't go home. So, perhaps I was predisposed to liking it.

 

The scent of honeysuckle and jasmine remind me of being a child, and putting on this scent makes me feel totally safe. It has a long staying power on me. I can put it on at 7am before going to work, and can still smell it at 5pm.

 

The sweetness in this scent with the touch of something slightly off works very well on me. This is destined to be a large bottle scent for me.

 

Now that I'm back in New Orleans, I've gotten tons of compliments on it. Very well done, when the city depicted likes it

Edited January 6, 2006 by Shollin

[olympia301]

 

New Orleans is my favorite city in America. I love this place and scent was a HUGE part of my experience in NOLA. Alas, I knew that the BPAL New Orleans would not be my cup of tea but I had to try it anyway, and though my taste in perfume is what keeps me from loving New Orleans, there is a real reminder in here of the place I loved and lost.

 

Jasmine is the main player, coupled with honeysuckle, that will convince you of the South, no doubt about it. Floral to the limit and over the top, yes that is the scent and the city.

 

My problems with New Orleans stem from what I remember as its smell: osmanthus. That is the Sweet Olive tree which grows downtown and all over and blooms when you most need it, in January and the winter months. It bears tiny green 4 petaled flowers in clusters and releases the most exquisite and strong perfume you can imagine. It smells very much like what we would call "apricot" but it is glorified apricot. I know the smell well, when you step out of the airport in New Orleans in January, you are greeted by osmanthus, and I fancy its scent travels all the way from the trees downtown out to the airport (although they probably are planted at the airport). I also grow pots of osmanthus on my windowsill and it's a blooming profusion now. To me that is New Orleans, maybe it shares the spotlight with lilies but for me osmanthus is New Orleans.

[cantabile]

New Orleans really surprised me. I got it in an eBay lot along with an imp of Amsterdam, expecting to love Amsterdam and be like "hey, okay, cool" over this one. As it turned out, Amsterdam wasn't for me, but this one's growing to be a favorite.

 

in vial: YUM. The lemon and spice are the strongest, but the jasmine and honeysuckle aren't taking it lying down. It smells like someone is baking lemon-spice cookies at twilight in the summer, with a window open to let the oven heat out and the scent of blooming flowers in.

 

just applied: Lemon and spice. Almost foody to my nose.

 

drying down: Aaaaand here come the flowers, fighting back.

 

dry: Totally delicious. All of the major notes blend perfectly. It's a potent mixture of sweetness and assertiveness, and more than a bit sexy.

 

verdict: I've adopted this as the signature scent of my character in the Vampire: the Requiem LARP I go to (yes, I'm a geek, shut your mouth ), and I can definitely see myself buying a 5ml sometime in the not-too-distant future. It's just that nummy.

Edited December 25, 2005 by cantabile

[The_Merf]

In the imp: There's the jasmine! I also smell the spices. I'm very excited about this one.

 

Wet: Gorgeous--the florals are strong here, but I expected that...

 

Dry-down and Wear: This scent moves me in the way that all of my favorites have done. I only visited New Orleans, but I adored the city and I adore the South, and this encapsulates all of it. On me, the perfume is 85% honeysuckle and 15% jasmine, but they are humid, true florals, with moisture dripping off them in the springtime. Simply magnificent--unquestionably goes to the top of my bottle list.

[aedes]

The honeysuckle and jasmine must have combined in such a way that I could swear I smelled lavender at first. But as it dries it becomes more clearly honeysuckle. It's a hot, muggy, sweet scent, maybe a bit too heady for me. And that alkaline, medicinal sort of tinge that made me think lavender still lingers on. But it's good to know that some jasmine as such can behave on my skin.

[slave1]

In Bottle: Overly ripe Flowers

 

On Skin: The jasmine and honeysuckle are super strong. This is a floral scent without a doubt. There is cinnamon and something else sweet yet spicy. The “decay” they mention is also there… these flowers are past their prime and rotting in the humid hot weather. This is a great scent to feel like you’re in New Orleans, but not a scent I’d like to wear as a perfume even though it does have a sexy appeal but in a more raunchy way. Very interesting!

[Fefferbella]

Jasmine and honeysuckle... This scent brings me back to standing on the balchony of our Pontalba apartment overlooking Jackson Square in the springtime.

 

The cool breeze off the Mississippi mingling with the scent of sticky sweet Jasmine, rich bright honeysuckle and the decay of the old city.

[GemmaCat]

My skin did something very weird to this scent, as I can barely smell florals at all. What I *do* get is sharp citrus and a dirt-scent undertone. It's somehow heady and fresh all at once, and is nothing like what I expected it to be.

 

The jasmine scent is incredibly strong in the bottle but gets eaten by my skin, drying down to an expensive male cologne smell.

 

Not for me, but interesting all the same.

[eleniangel]

Honeysuckle! Jasmine! This completely takes me back to walking down Carrolton to the street car on the way to the Quarter. *glee* Must share this with my friend, a NOLA transplant.

 

It's fairly strong, but not in an overpowering way, very light and sexy. Spicy florals, definitely. Not only does this remind me of New Orleans, it reminds me of the house we had in the city, and the HUGE bush of honeysuckle the neighbor had growing on our fence.

[Alchemy21599]

I had to have this scent b/c NOLA is one of my favorite cities.

 

In the vial: Wow, honeysuckle, jasmine and slight spicy undertone. Like a Southern summer night.

 

Wet: Honeysuckle and...

 

Dry: Lots of honeysuckle. Very heady. I love this scent, but I don't know if I will wear it as perfume.

[darklorelei]

I didn't really get any honey suckle, which I've liked in other blends, but holy Jasmine.

[Phaedra]

Wet this smells like something herbal, a bit mossy and sour too. When first on it's bitter and smells a bit like band-aids?? It's got a very odd plasticy smell. After a few minutes a hint of cinnamon or something sweet and spicy comes out. This develops into a heavy, damp floral- maybe gardenia or jasmine. It reminds me of Sacred Whore of Babylon. This one's not for me, it's too heavy and thick.

[Musamea]

In the imp: spice and honeysuckle, with the barest hint of jasmine

 

Wet: light with lemon and honeysuckle, complicated by spice, with the jasmine blooming quickly. Blast, I ordered this oil as part of a jasmine-themed set of imps, and I am quickly discovering that the Lab's jasmine hates me (and I it). The jasmine is rapidly taking over this scent.

 

Dry: The honeysuckle and jasmine keep vying in this blend… I adore the honeysuckle -- it's light and delicate, exactly the summer scent that wafts up with the crisp evening air as the day darkens into night. The jasmine… ugh. Not worth it.

[arabella]

First Impression: Jasmine, that was quickly dipped in fresh lemon juice, floating around in the bayou.

 

Dries down to: Now, something that feels like lilac is poking through - but it isn't lilac. I find this blend fascinating and really quite like it.

 

Additional Comments: I think the honeysuckle/lemon combination combo is coming across as lilac. I'm not getting any individual spices out of this but it's such a complex blend. I've really grown to love jasmine in the proper blend and Elizabeth gets my applause for that as I would have bet against that ever happening. This one was a very pleasant surprise.

 

Lasted: 2-3 hours.

 

Rating: 4 out of 5

[tereshkova2001]

What Beth said. Big huge flowers, jasmine and honeysuckle, their scent wafting through the sticky-sweet humid air. It has a strong throw, especially on humid days. Coincidence? I think not.

[jewelbug]

Imp: Sweet, ominous jasmine (we don't get along) with a bit of medicinal spice.

 

Wet: Lemon cleaner and cat urine. This is my skin chem at work with jasmine, and its never pretty... Middle school bathroom floor? Bourbon street the morning after? Just not good.

 

Drying: Admittedly, this jasmine is not as bad as many of the jasmines I've had problems with. I CAN smell the honeysuckle trying to come through. And the spice. The lemon goes away when dry, so it doesn’t smell like cleaner anymore. The throw is amazing, Much to my chagrin, I find that many of the jasmine blends have wicked good throw…

Overall: Yes, it's got some sweet honeysuckle, and is a better jasmine than some others I've tried. But, this is still predominantly jasmine. And even when jasmine is "good" on me, it usually reminds me enough of bad things that I opt out. Such is the case with New Orleans. I didn't leave this one on my skin for too long--about 30 min. Then I showered. It's just not for me.

[mandragora]

In the imps: Sweet, warm floral.

 

Wet on me: Predominantly jasmine with traces of the sweet honeysuckle. Lemon and spices rounding out the scent.

 

Drydown: I hardly detect the lemon and spice anymore but I suppose they're there just very well blended. Scent is more humid than warm.

 

Verdict: Lovely blend. Very good throw, can smell it from my wrist even as I type. I'm keeping the imp.

[batsy]

In the bottle: Holy Honeysuckle!

 

On my skin: Still massive honeysuckle... and I can make out the jasmine. My sinuses are punishing me, though. As it dried, I could make out the spices, very subtle. The throw of the scent was huge, which impressed me. It's certainly a strong floral scent.

[sylvanring]

I was hoping to like this because the concept of having New Orleans in a perfume form really seemed romantic to me.

 

I would say that this is the only imp thus far that I want to get far far away from.

 

It is enormously strong sweet scent of flowers and the touch of decay is just the nice addition to make me slightly sick.

 

It was so strong that I could smell it on my clothing for a long time afterwards.

 

Since I am new to BPAL it wasn't my best introduction to learning which scents I could tolerate and ones that I cannot. I think that the more incense, musky, creamy scents are my style over florals.

 

It was also the only imp thus far that caused a little reaction on my skin.

Edited March 8, 2006 by sylvanring

[Caltha]

New Orleans

True to the description and I thought I'd love it for it, but I don't. It truly smells like rottening flowers, if it was more of a greenhouse I think I'd appreciate it but it's more of a compost or just petals trampled on the ground in a tropical climate. Too much decay, too much rottening sweetness for me. Perhaps the main reason I don't like it is that the decay is combined with a quite generic, sweet lily-like floral, it's like one of those floral ladies perfumes amped up big time. True to the mood of the description but I can't stand it.

[bifemmefatale]

I get the decay all right. Straight out of the bottle this smells musty, like a damp basement. I'm thinking that's the lemon interacting with the honeysuckle. On, it mellows quite a bit and the jasmine comes out, then the honeysuckle, but I have other jasmine scents I like better, (Salome!) so this one goes.

[kayte]

In the imp - spicy and jasmine, the oil itself is light yellow.

 

Wet on skin - thick florals, oh my.

 

Dry - This is a heavy scent that really is reminiscent of humid air. The floral is thick I think due to the fact that it does not at all smell like fresh flowers, these are clearly posies on their last stems, closing up at night and about to die (I guess that'd be the decay). After awhile I smelled a bit of honeysuckle, but never got any lemon at all. This oil smells nice, but it doesn't really do anything for me. It's a bit too overpoweringly floral for me, a bit too thick and old. I can't really think of any occasion for which it would be my first choice of perfume.

[Meg]

In the bottle: Lemon and jasmine.

 

Wet: Still lemon and jasmine with honeysuckle. Hmm...

 

Drydown: Spicy, honeyed jasmine and lemon. Very pleasant. The jasmine ends up dominating the blend, and there's a spice that I can't really pinpoint that tickles the nose. The lemon is still there in the background for an extra tang.

 

Overall: A very pleasant blend, with the lemon that keeps the jasmine from becoming obnoxious or plasticky, and a lovely honeysuckle and spice undertone to make things more interesting. Definitely a keeper.

[Laurel the Woodfairy]

If the jasmine works on me, it will be the first time ever. But I'm a Southerner and I love NOLA, so here goes nothing: Yeah, that's jasmine. The other notes do blend well--lemon and honeysuckle are a fab combination, sweet but tart, like pink lemonade.

This is actually quite beautiful and somehow wistful (must be the decay). The jasmine is actually behaving better than it ever has before...but it's still there, so I'm going to have to say "swap!"

[undream]

i looove new orleans, so i was very excited to be gifted with this oil from quickslvr!

 

&ohmygod, beautiful. very floral and warm and humid. the jasmine is immediately apparent to me, but it is softened and tamed by the honeysuckle. there is a gorgeous spice to this also that is simply making the overall experience like nnnngghh; eye-rollingly delicious.

 

i have been trying SO many BPAL jasmine oils recently, seeking that one in which the jasmine sings rather than cries on me. &i think new orleans may be it!