Christine

[twilighteyes]

"Then he hissed at me. 'Ah, I frighten you, do I? ... I dare say! ... Perhaps you think that I have another mask, eh, and that this ... this ... my head is a mask? Well,' he roared, 'tear it off as you did the other! Come! Come along! I insist! Your hands! Your hands! Give me your hands!' And he seized my hands and dug them into his awful face. He tore his flesh with my nails, tore his terrible dead flesh with my nails! ... 'Know,' he shouted, while his throat throbbed and panted like a furnace, 'know that I am built up of death from head to foot and that it is a corpse that loves you and adores you and will never, never leave you! ... Look, I am not laughing now, I am crying, crying for you, Christine, who have torn off my mask and who therefore can never leave me again! ... As long as you thought me handsome, you could have come back, I know you would have come back ... but, now that you know my hideousness, you would run away for good... So I shall keep you here! ... Why did you want to see me? Oh, mad Christine, who wanted to see me! ... When my own father never saw me and when my mother, so as not to see me, made me a present of my first mask!'

"He had let go of me at last and was dragging himself about on the floor, uttering terrible sobs. And then he crawled away like a snake, went into his room, closed the door and left me alone to my reflections. Presently I heard the sound of the organ; and then I began to understand Erik's contemptuous phrase when he spoke about Opera music. What I now heard was utterly different from what I had heard up to then. His Don Juan Triumphant (for I had not a doubt but that he had rushed to his masterpiece to forget the horror of the moment) seemed to me at first one long, awful, magnificent sob. But, little by little, it expressed every emotion, every suffering of which mankind is capable. It intoxicated me; and I opened the door that separated us. Erik rose, as I entered, BUT DARED NOT TURN IN MY DIRECTION. 'Erik,' I cried, 'show me your face without fear! I swear that you are the most unhappy and sublime of men; and, if ever again I shiver when I look at you, it will be because I am thinking of the splendor of your genius!' Then Erik turned round, for he believed me, and I also had faith in myself. He fell at my feet, with words of love ... with words of love in his dead mouth ... and the music had ceased ... He kissed the hem of my dress and did not see that I closed my eyes.

A bouquet of Swedish blossoms -- linnea borealis, hoya, and Phyteuma nigra -- with frankincense and pale vanilla orchid.

In the bottle: Floral. Sweet vanilla scent along with the floral. Honeysuckle? Something that reminds me of my grandmother's foyer -- oh, the hoya!! I always thought the hoya looked fake with their perfect waxy flowers. But they certainly were fragrant!

On my skin: Honeysuckle and... gardenia (?) sweetened by vanilla. The darkish odd hoya scent resurfaces when I exhale. I am not getting any of the frankincense, this is mostly floral on me. Edited February 21, 2009 by Shollin

[dixiehellcat]

In the bottle I get mostly orchid. Wet on the arm, the other florals start to come out, and the orchid fades. I don't get incense or vanilla for a looong while, & then (as in right now, some 20-30 minutes after I put it on) I get a whiff of vanilla bledning in. Overall this is very nice! Glad I took the chance. I'll wear it when I'm feeling particularly girly.

[unlaced]

I only sniffed this in the bottle earlier but I got the impression of a very creamy white floral, probably with some vanilla. I'm particularly bad at discerning one floral from another so I couldn't tell ya what exactly it was and I didn't give it an extended sniff. I am very excited to skin test it though and will update when I do.

 

ETA: Skin test! Within minutes of putting it on my skin the beautiful creamy floral of the bottle scent loses the creaminess and becomes full-on white floral. I think I can detect orchid within the mix, but that's the only specific flower I can pick out. If I sniff closely the whole thing threatens to go... unpleasant on me but the throw is nice white floral, with a bit of sweetness.

 

I don't get anything darker out of this at all. Just a bunch of white flowers with a bit of cream and sweet around the edges.

Edited February 13, 2009 by unlaced

[Suu4LC]

Floral haters-steer clear! This is a beautiful bouquet! Admittedly I am not very good at picking out specific floral notes, but this is a very pretty girly blend, a little sweet and a little tart, with the frankincense giving it a darker depth.

 

Ehhh, darn, on my skin one of the florals goes a bit weird-it smells alright from far away, but up close it just smells a bit off. I blame my skin! This sort of reminds me of Lune Noire, but less red/purple.

 

Overall, this did dry down nicely-a somewhat sharp but not sour blend of flowers and frankincense. I am not sure if I am going to hold onto this-it really does remind of me Lune Noire without the red/purple notes-so if you like blends like Lune Noire, you should check this out!

[Christine Daae]

There is probably no need to explain that I absolutely had to get this fragrance - both this, and her counterpart. I have loved this story since the time I was twelve years old, and I have always felt connected to Christine's character in particular, somehow. (Not that you could tell, or anything.)

 

In the bottle, this is vaguely sharp and lemony? Smells a bit like some sort of cleaning fluid.

 

On my skin, the flowers bloom - lovely - I can definitely smell the frankincense, just a hint of something sacred underneath the pale flowers, lending this blend a bit of a sombre note. The flowers are the sort that brave the first breath of spring, when it still frosts over at night. They are small, pale, but resilient - and sweetly fragranced, at that. (I am speaking in general, I don't know that I've ever smelled these flowers in the wild, myself!)

 

This is a blend that seems to change depending on where I wear it - on my left wrist, this is a sweet, high-pitched floral with a fruity quality, and in the crook of my elbow it is fainter, softer, and there is an almost-spicy quality to it. This has very little throw, as well - close to my skin and sweet, but not cloying or overpowering.

 

This is pale Swedish springs, the bluest of skies and the nip of frost on your uncovered ears. This is a woman grown turned to childish stories because she so wants to believe that they could be true. This is pale and somewhat melancholy, but with a lilting lightness, a brightness, that the character also had - asking the door-closers for stories with her childhood sweetheart, hoping and wishing but never believing that playing at being married would ever amount to anything.

 

Yes, I love this. Predictably, and perhaps inevitably.

 

Also: I'm not sure if these were intended to be layered, but I was wearing one on each wrist and kept getting the loveliest wafts of fragrance...when layered, these scents sing counterpoint to each other, becoming something richer, deeper and sweeter than they are seperately. Christine sings the high, sweet harmony and Erik the rich, polished melody. It's beautiful.

[fairnymph]

In the bottle: Light lemon yellow. Lightly sweet, fresh feminine flowers. A little soapy. Honeysuckle and something vaguely piney.

 

Wet: Less sweet, more sour, more soapy and going powdery, too, very rapidly.

 

Dry: Powerful throw. I can smell it from feet away. Full on soap and powder.

 

Summary: Powdery, soapy mixed florals. Crazy throw but fades quite quickly, thankfully. I never got any frankincense, vanilla or orchid.

[femmefatale]

 

In the bottle and immediently wet, it's a beautiful green fresh flower scent. Slightly sweet. As it begins to dry down something similiar to honeysuckle comes out (but it's not overpowering) along with what I think is the vanilla orchid, though it doesn't really smell of vanilla. After a few minutes the sweet flowers fade a bit and I can pick out the frankincense. I think that's helping to keep it from going floral soap death on me. There is also a note that gives it a somewhat exotic feel, though I'm not sure what.

 

I think this captures Christine perfectly. There is a sweet innocence to it, a bit of womanliness, and touch of darkness. I normally do *not* like floral scents, but this is very pretty and I can't believe it sat in my box this long before I tried it.

 

[milo]

Wet, I get the honeysuckle everyone seems to be smelling. Dry, this is air-freshener floral on me, not nice at all. Eventually after a few hours, it is a faint, musky floral, but I am not waiting three hours for this. Off to swaps.

[Blood onmy hands]

Christine is all soapy floral dryer sheets and baby powder on me. I love frankincense, vanilla, and orchid, but I can't pick them out of this blend. Erik was also a soapy mess on me, so I guess it makes sense that they go together, lol.

 

The Great Duets in Horror series hasn't turned out so well with my skin chemistry. Mr. Edward Hyde is the only keeper for me, and then only if my boy winds up liking it...

[ami226]

This blend is instant love for my floral loving self!!

 

I first thought that this was a perfect pink rose... Even after reading the scent list, I still say that this blend reminds me of the pink roses my mother grows. Perfect and lovely! I love this one and am thinking about getting a back up bottle.

 

Also, the boyfriend who dislikes most florals and labels them as soap or detergent smells actually likes this one. He doesn't love it, but the point is that he actually likes one of my new favorite florals (or floral smelling...). Yay!

[Iceblink]

I hoped the vanilla orchid and incense would save this from being anothe soapy floral of doom on me, but...alas. It IS nice enough, light and springy, but just so soap-like and powdery on me. Damn my skin!

[tarotgirl99]

In the imp, this smells just like the Miami of my youth--wet and green with a hint of honeysuckle.

 

This is more traditional "perfumey" than most BPAL scents--it's young and sophisticated and fashionable in an Aliage (green) way. On, it is a bit green for my tastes and way too subtle. It has average throw but disappears very quickly.

 

Not sure whether I'll keep the imp or not. I love the olfactory memory, but it's not much fun on my skin. Maybe I'll just keep it to inhale when I want to return to my youth.

[Schmoozy]

Floral explosion. Wow, it is pretty pefumey and not one floral is dominant. I love when they all blend into each other, rather than one standing out and screaming.

Very lush, juicy blooms and with the touch of frankincense this is very pretty. Not sweet floral, but deep, sexy floral.

[savage_rose]

This is a pale floral blend, and there are a lot of them...but somehow they're not overpowering at all. They merge together beautifully into this effervescent, floral cologne. It smells old-fashioned and sweet, but not too sweet. This is really knocking my socks off!

[zankoku_zen]

This one is a pale white floral - I definitely get hints of honeysuckle and something else. On wet, it definitely had a bit of an 'artic' vibe to it. More like the smell I'd associate with the Great White North.

 

Fresh, feminine. I can see a young girl wearing this.

[Bluestocking]

In the bottle: (I'm unfamiliar with a few of these notes, so bear with me.) Clean, pale, lightly sweet bouquet of very white flowers. There's something chilly and dewy, almost very lightly aquatic about them, like they've been misted with water. The resin is faint, almost barely detectable, but among the flowers, the vanilla orchid stands out. This does smell like Christine Daae to me: lovely and fresh, still a bit innocent, glowing with youth.

On, wet: Frankincense is much more apparent now, though it's still the grounding note. It keeps these pale, pretty white blossoms from getting too sweet or wispy. Still very clean and graceful, still predominantly orchid—but it's a beautiful orchid note, very white and cool.

On, dry: I'm at a loss to identify it, but another sweet white flower has moved ahead, while the orchid has backed off and the frankincense is still subtle. Whatever this flower is, it's gorgeous, although maybe closer to traditional perfume for some. (After some Google-fu, I have decided that this is the Hoya, which is repeatedly described as smelling like "fine French perfume.") Extremely feminine, with a posh, luxurious feel. Rally, really well blended. Surprisingly great throw, despite this remaining a light, soft scent.

Later: Orchid, with an aura of frankincense and vanilla—not at all a foody vanilla, but just a bit of sweetness along with the clean, white orchid note. It retains that misty, lightly aquatic quality throughout.

Overall: I bought a bottle of this one unsniffed when I saw it was still available, and I'm SO glad that I did, because this is love. I'm a sucker for orchids, clean white florals, and pale, ethereal blends, and this delivers, along with a nice boost from the frankincense. I can see how this one might be a little bit "perfumey" or traditional for some tastes, but I think it has a youthful, dewy elegance that makes it irresistible. All that, and it fits the inspiration, too; I can easily imagine this as the scent of Christine's perfume. Because of its lightness and cool, misty/aquatic feel, this is going to be a great summer floral.

Edited June 8, 2009 by Bluestocking

[MCS4096]

Very very feminine. Traditional. I don't get any honeysuckle personally.. but I also can't pick out any one note-- as others have said it's well blended. I'm not a huge floral person, but it got this to accompany Erik. This is ultra girlie and I will likely not wear it alone very often!

[BuxomM]

It's floral and not sweet floral.

[litaphoenix]

Hmmm... this smells exactly like my mother. No, really! Bright, white flowers, with the barest hint of sweetness. Dried down, it goes slightly powdery on me. It's not bad, but not me - too feminine and fussy. Will definitely be gifting this, but I can see this being popular!

[filigree_shadow]

This is a bold, non-heady floral. It seems like I don't smell those very often. Normally, if a floral blend is strong on me, it's usually one of those heady overpowering scents like tons of jasmine or something. Not this one. It's perfumey, yes, but not in a stinging zingy way that reminds me of hairspray like some of the perfumey florals do.

 

I couldn't tell you what any of those Swedish flowers smell like, so I really have no idea what I'm smelling. Orchid tends to smell similar to lily on me, and that's not what I'm getting out of this at all. They do smell like white flowers, I can tell you that much.

 

I'm trying to think of something in the GC that this reminds me of, and I'm not coming up with anything. It's a very "traditional" type of scent and different from most BPAL oils.

 

If you like the non-heady florals and you're looking for something that's a bit on the mature side and doesn't have rose in it, try this one. It smells sophisticated and elegant to me.

[quidproquo]

I'll admit, I bought this bottle entirely because of the name. A Phantom of the Opera scent? Count me in. Mind you, I love this scent so it all works out well!

 

In the bottle, very very floral.

 

On my skin, still very floral but the vanilla really starts to come out. It's a nice, girly scent that I'd love to wear on a regular basis, formal or informal. As it dries I can smell a little bit of the frankincense - not much, but it's there. It gives it a bit of a dark tone, which is very nice and appropriate considering the inspiration for this scent. Maybe a bit powdery, but it doesn't smell soapy to me.

 

Overall, a fantastic scent! I'll definitely wear it often, and I'm glad I got a whole bottle of it.

[theseagrows]

this is very soapy and perfumey. i wasn't sure about the swedish blossoms, since i am not familar with them, but i tend to love vanilla orchid, so i figured i'd try this in hopes that it was mostly vanilla orchid! it is a vanilla orchid, but it seems a lot sweeter than i expected, for some reason. if it were less sweet, i think i could wear this.

[AnyseLawsBray]

In vial: A wave of white blooms. I'm not familiar with the Swedish florals, but I can detect the orchid. Very feminine & light.

Wet: Very well blended, pretty, but nothing specifically jumping out from the mix.

Dry: By this time the frankincense sweetens and deepens the florals and the vanilla shows up after a while. Sweet in a musky way almost, not foody or sugary.

 

Verdict: Evocative of Christine, to a t. Lovely onstage in a swelling wave of song, innocent under the bright glow of the lights, dazzling in a pearlescent gown. Ultimately, this blend is a beauty of a traditional, vintage style perfume.

 

Also, it works well layered with Erik, which delights me! The resin & dusty black velvet of Erik adds a haunting & grounded aspect to Christine's limelighted sopranocy.

[StrangeLove]

I've become exceptionally fussy in my love of perfumes, so its rare that I get something and feel any way towards it. I like foody scents but don't like smelling like them, and LOVE floral scents, but mostly they turn to soap or "grandma" on me. My favorite BPAL scents are Abhisarika and Swan Maiden, which share "orchid" as a note.

 

That in mind, I decided to spring for a bottle Christine without having smelled it. I'm very glad I did.

 

Christine is the most "perfumish" of the perfumes I have. Something in here smells very expensive. I'm not familiar with the "Swedish" florals of linnea borealis, hoya, and Phyteuma nigra, so perhaps its one of these. However, This "perfume" note is simply an underscore to this fragrance, which is predominantly orchid on me. The frankincense is, luckily, very mellow.

 

In the bottle: First sniff is fresh and both perfumey and soapy to my chagrin. Smells startlingly like fresh blooms after several inhales. I get the impression of honeysuckle and white petals.

 

Wet: Soap goes away, sweet comes through strongly. I'm guessing it's the vanilla orchid. My skin pulls sweet so this on me is about as sweet as a floral can get while still smelling like a flower and not food. This particular orchid is hot and humid and gives up its fragrance accordingly.

 

Dry: Frankincense mellowly(almost meekly) evens out any remaining sharpness. The "expensive perfume" notes come out to play with the orchid more. Exceptionally powerful sillage, a little goes a long, long way.

 

Summary: Christine smells very expensive and very evocative of something... darker. It's a young perfume, but also very deep and not to be worn lightly. It reminds me of both Abhisarika and Swan Maiden, the latter of which has the stronger orchid note. Naturally, Christine is an immediate favorite. Its depth and intensity make this a night-time perfume, so I'll probably wear it accordingly.

[renfair]

Ok, have to preface this by saying The Phantom of the Opera is my absolute favorite book of all time, and I've been obsessed with it since second grade. So getting this perfume and Erik were kind of a huge deal to me.

First Sniff Impression: Sweet floral.

Wet in Vial: It's straight away a white floral, but there's a spice there (frankincense) that I think will help keep it grounded.

Drying Down on Skin: A little old fashioned, but in a good way. More nostalgic and antique than old-fashioned. And girly at the same time. It makes me think of a younger woman putting on an expensive perfume to try and feel more "mature." It feels like a very fitting perfume for Christine, a young woman aged by tragic experiences to someone much older than her actual years. I think I'm getting the most of the orchid, though I can't be sure since I'm not familiar with the other flowers.

 

Dry on Skin: A few hours after fully dry the orchid has pretty much vanished, to be replaced with one of the other florals. It definitely feels more mature now, with hardly any of the young girl sweetness. It's subtle, and you really have to stick your face in there to get it but it's there.

Conclusion: Though Christine faded after a bit, a warm floral remained for a decently long time. This isn't one I'd wear by itself, since it's a bit too formal and straight-up floral for me, but I love it for the story it tells. I'm going to try layering it with Erik and see how that goes.