June Gloom 2009

[FallDaze]

JUNE GLOOM 2009
It’s May in Los Angeles, and we’re baking slowly as the weather hits the low 100’s…
Here at the Lab, we are praying for a little June Gloom.

Bright summer flowers, fresh herbs, and a bit of citrus rind dampened by the scent of morning mist and rain.

This is the 2009 version.

~ In the bottle - Love. This. A gorgeous sweetly floral aquatic with a slight underhint of citrus. It's not overly herbal or overly aquatic either. A truly gorgeous blend and I can only hope it stays this lovely on my skin. For some reason it reminds me of jasmine.

~Wet - Soft, light, floraly aquatic. It's very subtle. Almost the kind of scent that you don't notice when it's there but you definitely notice it's absence. Very nice. I have a feeling all of these would be great
summer blends.

~Dry down- That lightly floral aquatic seems to be fading into something a little less pleasant. I'll probably end up keeping this one though just because of how it smells in bottle. Thank god for scent lockets! It seem sto be getting darker and dirtier as time goes on.

~After a while - This has definitely gotten down and dirty with time. I prefer the fresher scent myself, so this will probably get a lot of use in the old scent locket

[fairnymph]

Sniffed: Clean, breezy, slightly but pleasantly soapy floral. I get a 'wildflower' sort of floral feel, along with some almost aquatic, cool greenery - not sharp at all. This feels very airy and gentle.

 

Wet: More floral, almost tropical - maybe some frangipani/plumeria, and some orchid? A little lineny, very feminine and clean and fresh. I do get a bit of slightly bitter (in a good way, that contrasts with the faintly sweet florals nicely) citrus rind - though more of a white grapefruit than lemon. Actually, it's like lemon PITH, not rind.

 

Dry: Not a lot of morphing, though this has amped a bit and has excellent throw. It's definitely a predominantly floral blend, and one that feels rather 'traditionally/classically' perfumey, but without being overpowering - though it DOES seem a tiny bit generic. Pithy citrus and and lush, feminine, tropical florals - more linen-y, but not going soapy at all. It's a tiny bitter sweeter, but the pith really balances that sweetness perfectly. There is some extremely familiar white floral in here that I can't pinpoint.

 

Later: I think there is...daffodil in this? And I'm sticking with orchid as one of the florals. *cross-checks with Kitsune-Tsuki. This now reminds me greatly of 51, though it's sweeter and gentler, and more distinctly feminine. I get the same white/green musk combo & some sort of pale woods coming out strongly in the drydown, and the citrus note is very similar.

 

Summary: 51 over Kitsune-Tsuki with a little Dirty thrown in. These are all GCs I absolutely adore, and this scent just gets better and better as it evolves on my skin. Sweet and musky and florally-feminine, classic but NOT generic as it briefly smelled - just sexy and clean. Great throw & longevity.

 

This is not REMOTELY like the original version of June Gloom, which I happened to test last week. It's a million times better, and I'm glad I ordered a bottle - I'm getting a back up for sure. If you like 51, you must try this.

[wintersmelody]

This blend is rather hard to describe. Going by the reviews for the original they must've reformulated? Everyone talks about LEMON and I get a lovely soft floral, summer rain and the barest hint of a citrus. It's really quite gorgeous. I'm glad I got a bottle unsniffed and will surely get at least 1 more backup, this is the perfect summer scent!

[ElinaMakropulos]

Right out of the bottle it's floral like whoa - no citrus at all. But after it dries on my skin I keep getting whiffs of what has to be mimosa. I'm probably wrong but that's what I keep smelling. After I've had it on for several hours I get the scent impression of "damp pavement with flowers growing through the cracks," not a bit unpleasant.

 

There is some note in a ton of the Lab's scents that ends up smelling "dirty" or "muddy" on me - Snow White is the biggest culprit. This scent does it too, but to a lesser degree, and somehow it is appropriate and nice mingled amongst the flowers Very nice summer floral.

[twilighteyes]

In the bottle: Clean and refreshing bright floral.

 

On my skin: Not a morpher -- remains clean and refreshing. Some elements of Dirty. Almost has an aquatic feel to it. Settles finally to Lilac, orchid, white musk, and aloe.

[hyejungkook]

My second review!

 

In the bottle: Rain and flowers and a touch of citrusy soap.

 

Wet: A feminine, sweet floral with aquatic notes, and I agree with fairnymph--it's not citrus rind but the milder white pith. Can't place the specific flowers in it.

 

Initial drydown: Not sure what the flowers are in here, but the floral reminds me a bit of Lancome Tresor, except less headache-inducing and muted by watery aquatics. The citrus has gone into hiding, but some greenery has emerged. A little musk? Maybe bitter herbs? Moderate to strong throw, much stronger than Strawberry Moon, which I tried for the first time yesterday.

 

45 minutes later: Same strong floral, mixed with rain and something musky green. Not sure it really smells like Tresor, since I haven't smelled it in years, but it has a similarly feminine, sensuous ambience. Has a warm feeling despite the aquatics--this would be the June Gloom-ness. Something I'd wear as an evening perfume rather than an everyday scent. Except, darn it, it's giving me a headache--I'm just not good with strong florals.

 

3 hours later: Wet flowers, a slightly bitter green undertone, no detectable citrus.

 

Verdict: A nice BPAL take on a traditional feminine floral, but I've come to realize while I like this kind of perfume on paper, in reality it gives me a headache. I'll give it another shot in a couple weeks to make sure today's headache wasn't a fluke, but looks like it's just not for me.

[LunaLovegood]

Holy smokes Batman!!!!!!!!!!!!

All ye faithful bpal lovers, lend me your ears...

This is the best floral scent for floral haters. I absolutetly hate floral scents, until June Gloom 09 arrived on my greedy little hands.

This is lovely. Clean, floral in a wildflower sort of way. Absolutetly delicious.

I need a backup like whoa!

[AliBabble]

i've been wanting to try this for a long time...i've always loved the name...in the bottle it smells amazing - i'm not an ozone girl at all, but this smells really sexy and addicting, and reminds me a bit of berenice and batwoman...ethereal and almost ghost-like spooky, airy, light flowers...

on my skin it is just as amazing...it's fresh and light and has a live energy to it, the way the air feels after rain. to me, there is nothing generic or department store-ish perfume about this...it is super feminine and probably would have a wide appeal, but i find it very unusual in that way that only bpal can do. a masterpiece!

[Trowby]

June Gloom is truly spectacular. I am a new BPAL customer so I don't have too much to compare it to, but this is a rare and beautiful scent.

BPAL's description is at the top of the page and I get all of those notes. It's a bit more herbal in the bottle and wet but when it dries is the most beautiful light floral scent. I may need to get another one as back up.

[Gin]

June Gloom 2009

 

Flowers and rain and citrus. This is not as lemony as the original June Gloom, but more floral and deliciously gloomy.

[Dark Alice]

Florals, with rain and citrus. With just a hint of cologne. This is gorgeous and a little goes along way.

[Lucretia]

This is super gorgeous. I almost didn't order because I was worried about all the lemon reviews on the old version, but seems totally different. It's floral and soft with some clean notes. I am bad at identifying things but I think I can smell aloe? I was getting whiffs of this hours later and thinking how pretty I smelled. So glad I got this one!

[angelicruin]

The above reviews pretty much say it all. This is just a gorgeous scent and even floral haters may want to give it a try. It's soft, a bit aquatic, and just a little sweet. I'm definitely picking up soft lilac and a touch of citrus, but not lemon citrus. I'm really surprised how much I love this scent and am seriously contemplating a second bottle. A soft, clean summer scent.

[puck_nc]

Origin: Straight from the Lab

 

Initial Thoughts: I've had the chance to sniff the original June Gloom and found it interesting but wasn't so in love with it that I had to go searching. So when it appeared again, I decided to try it.

 

In the Bottle: Wow, I think this is one of the most "traditional perfume" perfumes I've ever smelled from BPAL. Richly floral and layered, just a touch aquatic, minus the alcohol of a commercial perfume. It's lovely and I keep picking up the bottle for another whiff.

 

Wet: Some citrus comes out to play, adding an extra dimension to an already multifaceted scent. The aquatic is a little stronger, but it's still very much a floral scent with a lot of depth. I think I'm picking up some honeysuckle in there.

 

Drydown: This one doesn't seem to morph much on me. It stays that sweet, heady floral with enough interesting things that possibly people who normally dislike florals will be intrigued.

 

Verdict: I think I'll be hanging onto this one. Hopefully I have enough floral scents that I won't need to track down a second bottle.

[Laurel the Woodfairy]

June Gloom will always stand out in my mind as one of the two LEs that were live when I first joined the Forum in June 2004. The other, of course, was my lady Havisham. I tested the original June Gloom; it was almost all lemon on me, very "clean" but not complex. However, I jumped to buy a bottle when it re-launched, because the new description sounds good and what if it's another 5 years before it returns?!

 

In the bottle, June Gloom (with awesome skully label!) is lush, white, hothouse floral--gardenia and/or magnolia. I really didn't expect that! On me, it's musky under the floral. The topnotes remind me of Swan Maiden, another LE. I don't get citrus at first, but then it starts to emerge. I see what others mean about it smelling "cologny". I wish there were more citrus, actually. This is nothing like JG '04, and definitely not a clean scent...it's a strong musky floral, very complex. I expected light aquatics on top, but those notes are buried in the middle, unfurling slowly. At first I didn't like it, but it's growing on me. It brings to mind a humid Southern summer day, rich white blossoms wilting in the heat, steam rising from a lake. In short, it wouldn't provide a refreshing counterpart to a hot June day--rather, it captures its somnolence perfectly. It's romantic, and I like it more with each sniff. Perfect for a midsummer night date!

[PersephonesChild]

I think it very strongly evokes its name, and also... I kind of agree that in the imp, it smells like dryer sheets.

 

On my skin, some of the vaguely "floral" scent opens up into real flowers, and becomes less chemically. So, yes, I get small, white florals, and a hazy, aquatic feeling. I think it really closely resembles 51, although... I like 51 better. There's still something that I find kind of off-putting about this blend, something slightly sour, too much like cleaning products. I believe I'll give this one more try, but if it continues to be the not-quite-as-good version of 51, I'm swapping this.

[papermaker]

In the bottle this is floral with a bit of herbiness.

Wet on my skin it is like a wildflower floral with citrus to soften the floral, and a soft sheen of water hanging over all of it all.

Dry it is a very clean floral with soft citrus.

I like this one quite abit.

[pinkusmaximus]

This smells lovely in the bottle and upon first application--the scent is of actual flowers rather than a floral perfume, if that makes sense. Unfortunately within about an hour, it turned soapy on me, so off to swaps it goes.

 

I will say, I left it on instead of washing it off to see if it would morph back (it didn't, unfortunately), and the lasting power was really impressive for such a light floral blend--I could still smell it at the end of the day.

[LizzyLies]

In the bottle, it strikes me as sort of elusive, like a scent you know you've smelled before, but you can't exactly remember where.

When wet, for some reason, rain is the first thing that strikes me as being there, the herbs and the flowers are there, but they're being rather elusive. On the dry down it's a little zesty and reminds me of the way flowers smell after the rain; fresh for lack of better word to describe it. It's really gorgeous and I think it's going to be a really awesome scent to wear on a date some summer night.

[writergal969]

Ok in the bottle this smells lovely, if not a little too floral for me...I like the herbs and citrus.

 

On my skin it's great at first, dewy and fresh...

 

and on the drydown I have to look around and see if someone invited an armada of 'grandmothers' over to play bridge. Overpoweringly old fashioned floral. There's a yellow flower in there going totally wonky on my skin.

 

It gets worse and worse, acrid even. Eugh.

 

SO disappointed:( 1/5

[azhriaz]

Initial impression is very floral. Creamy, almost tropical flowers. The florals reminds me a lot of Chloe Narcisse, but soft and fresh instead of sharp and cloying, so I'm thinking there may be plumeria and/or daffodil based on that. I don't think it's gardenia because it's not as intense as the other BPAL gardenia scents I've tried, but it's in that kind of realm.

 

After it dries down a bit there is more damp greenery, with very subtle citrus overtones. I was expecting something a bit more lemony, but it's barely there.

 

I was scared that "mist and rain" = men's deodorant because that's usually how ozone/aquatic notes tend to go for me, but that element is muted. It's a suggestion of dampness rather than outright aquatic.

 

Overall this is lovely. More traditional/feminine than I tend to go for, but it's so nicely done I can definitely see myself wearing this.

[Kimbernunk]

This started out very misty/dewy, in a way that reminded me strongly of Leanan Sidhe.

 

It was citrus for a few minutes.

 

In the final stage, which has lasted for hours and shows no signs of ending soon, it's a lemon-y citrus peel with some sort of herb (my nose keeps thinking parsley, actually) and just enough floral mixing with the mist note (a favorite of mine) to keep it soft rather than sharp. I almost wonder if I'm smelling lemon blossom in here, as there's something about this that reminds me slightly of the Zieba Tree, but without as much musk or the strong orange blossom note that Zieba has.

 

I'm loving this one!!

[Gardenia]

In the imp it's a very sharp floral. Makes my nose itch..

 

Ah.. as soon as I apply it calms right down, though. It's aquatic, a bit green, and lightly floral. Not really getting any citrus, though.

 

As it dries down, the florals do start to come out a bit more again.. It smells quite a bit like a "traditional" floral perfume at this point, which really isn't my thing as it tends to irritate my nose and eyes, and as it did in the imp, it's starting to do that now on my skin, as well. It doesn't change much from that, sadly, I think I'm going to have to wash it off.

It's not a bad scent, but it's really not my kinda scent either.

[Jenn2D2]

In the vial: very floral with a bit of aquatics; a bit more "perfumy" than I usually get from the lab's blends.

Wet: strong aquatics with a bit of floral in the background; I'm usually not a fan of the aquatic scents, but this seems to capture the smell of flowers in the rain (something I usually get a lot of in WA in the early summer).

Dry FLORAL. Whoa. The aquatics fade pretty fast (less than 10 minutes on me), and the flowers charge out in full force. I can't distinguish them well, but given my history, I'd say jasmine is the culprit.

 

I like the the 'wet' phase of this perfume, but the dry down was not as great. I'm hoping to try this out in another medium (like shampoo, or my scent locket) where the aquatics won't get eaten by my skin. Overall, I thought it was pretty, but not something I'd wear very often.

[stellans]

This new release is everything the older one wasn't to me: lovely, fresh, floral, watery -- and no cologne-ozone-lemon overload! woo-hoo! There's even just the slightest, barely-discernible note of dirt underneath all the fresh, misty-damp florals, and this blend just gets better and better as the day wears on. I think I'm going to splurge on a back-up bottle of this one. 4 of 5 stars!

Edited September 7, 2010 by stellans