Alice

[mistri]

Curiouser and curiouser. Milk and honey with rose, carnation and bergamot.

Oh, Alice, she never disappoints me. When I can't decide what to go for in the morning, she always seems appropriate.

It's a fresh scent for the hot days, but also spicy enough to serve up when it gets colder. On first applying, I get the girly smell that others comment on (the perfume makes me feel girly, it doesn't smell like little girls!), but then it softens and warms and ah! It's a womanly yet not sexy scent, but I love it. It's also the only scent with rose in that I can bear at the moment.

I'm halfway through one 5ml, and have another on the way.

[gwynhwyfar]

Oh, Alice ...

 

*weeps*

 

I love the notes. The imp was loaned to me by a lover who is madly in love with the oil so I was looking forward to testing it.

 

In the bottle, it's lovely. Milk and honey and florals and a hint of citrus from the bergamot.

 

Wet, there is a brief moment of citrus and honey and then ...

 

It dries down.

 

And when it dries down, it turned to complete baby powder.

 

Sadly, I fear that I shall have to enjoy this scent on someone else's skin as she clearly is not going to work for me. If I want to smell like baby powder, that's what I have baby powder for.

 

*sighs dramatically*

[fragrantgrasse]

Alice is simply lovely! It reminds me a bit of ANTIQUE LACE which I adore!

 

It is little-girl-ish, innocent, gentle and powdery but to me, powdery in a really wonderful way.

 

It is, as another reviewer mentioned, the scent to wear to greet the morning with! It is youthful and comforting and slides me into the day not with a jolt - but with a soft breath.

 

I have had my imp for months now and waited to review it - who knows why - but for some reason I reached for it this morning and have worn it all day. It is faint but still there. For some reason I can really smell it when I am outside and I do keep lifting the back of my hand to get a whiff and I love it.

 

 

I will definitly get a bottle of Alice.

[paperdoll]

Initial Sniff: Milk and honey and creamy carnation.

 

Wearing: This is so sweet and light. The carnation adds an interesting element of spice. It takes a while, but the rose definately takes over in the end. This doesn't last very long on me, either.

 

Final Impressions: The scent in the vial is amazing, but this really isn't me.

[telesilla]

This one wasn't on my wish list, as I tend to avoid rose scents as not being "me." But our local fanfiction writers gathering turned into a sniffing party yesterday and a friend gave this to my gf and I. Rather than just hand it over to Nancy -- who does like rose scents -- I decided to try it.

 

In the bottle and wet on me: Mostly rose with at little of the spiciness from the carnation.

 

Dry down: The honey shows up a little and cuts the over all roseness of it. I'm not incredibly wild over it, but unlike most rose scents on me it also isn't turning into something that smells like Mom's favorite rose soap that you could only get at Boots back in the 70s & early 80s.

 

A little while later: Nope. It's not soapy but the other thing rose often does on me is go metallic. Nancy say she can't smell it and I can't smell it on her, but when I sniff my own wrist, it smells like roses wrapped in tinfoil.

Edited July 5, 2005 by telesilla

[magdalene]

in the bottle: milk and honey, with a bit of carnation.

 

wet on skin: as above, but the carnation moves aside for rose and bergamot. It's got a smooth quality to it, probably from the milk note. And the bergamot just makes me happy. Reminds me of chilly winter mornings and full cups of Earl Grey.

 

dry down: the milk has slowly disappeared, leaving behind the sweetness of the honey and the long-lasting rose, with bergamot tying the two together.

[slugbait]

Alice is spicy, creamy and floral, with the ability to smell almost edible, all in the same bottle.

 

It starts out smelling like cinnamon candies, the kind used to decorate cookies. As it dries down, the creaminess comes out and mixes with carnations spice and starts to sweeten up. This reminds me of Panera Bread's Iced Chai Tea Latte, which I love, love, LOVE! There is an added honey note that blend beautifully with this. Dry, some of the spiciness fades, but a light floral are left behind. This lasted 8+ hours on me.

 

I gave my imp to one of my employees who became enamored by it, but I will definitely be ordering a big bottle of this for myself.

[Hedera]

Curiouser and curioser indeed, since the first thing that hits my nose is sweet almond. Not unpleasant, but it does make me feel like I'm a puff pastry. The almond immediately fades almost entirely though, and what is left is a very light, creamy scent, which I love. I don't specifically smell any carnation or bergamot, maybe a bit of rose now that I know it's supposed to be in there, but it doesn't get amped up on my skin the way rose usually does. It's just a very pleasant, light, familiar scent, probably the closest to 'me, but better' I've found so far.

 

It also reminds me of a lighter, more subtle and more flowery version of Dorian; this is what the baby would smell like if Dorian and me had a child together.

I was a bit worried yesterday if it wasn't too light, if I would even notice it, but I put a bit more on this morning and I think it will be fine.

 

There will probably be a bottle of this in my next order, unless I can get my hands on some before that, since it's a perfect summer scent for me!

[Elisabeth-Anne]

This is a lovely scent! It starts out very spicy, which must be the carnation. Then it mellows out and the creamy milk and honey notes make themselves known. Innocent but not too innocent, as the spiciness tempers it nicely, and truly unique. Together with the bergamot it gives me the distinct impression of a Victorian tea party at which Earl Grey is served.

[arabella]

First Impression: Lightly sweetened, almond cream - yummy!

 

Dries down to: The almond quickly disappears and the rest just gets deeper and richer, with the floral notes peeking out a wee bit more.

 

Additional Comments: I was hesitant about this one because of the honey and the rose but it really surprised me. I couldn't pick out the rose, carnation or bergamot - but they certainly did their job of taming the honey. Of the oils I've tried so far, this is one of my favorites.

 

Lasted: Overnight - although it was very faint by morning.

 

Rating: 4.5 out of 5

[loveandprozak]

In the bottle: Candy-sweet and lovely. The rose, bergamot, and milk-and-honey notes all are working in beautiful unison here. I don't usually like citrus at all, and bergamot is certainly no exception to this rule, but this blends into the milk-and-honey so well it doesn't register on my noses radar as unpleasant at all.

 

Wet: The balance softens quite a bit, and is not longer candy-sweet. Instead it smells very much like a milk-and-honey fragrance oil as it touches my skin.

 

5 - 10 minutes: The rose slowly starts to peek out from the milk and honey, and make itself known. With a name like Alice and notes like milk and honey, I'd be concerned that this would be a artificial girly rose. This is a voluptuous, red juicy rose though that is quite sultry. The bergamot very briefly makes a more noticable appearance, but fades almost instantaneously.

 

20 minutes - drydown: The milk-and-honey and rose notes come into alignment and dominate the scent. There's something quite lovely about the sultry aspects of the very adult rose coated with the comforting, soothing aspects of the milk-and-honey note. The bergamont exists only to brighten the scent slightly, and keep it from being sloth and cloying.

 

Alice is really a remarkable scent, and one of my favorites in the BPAL catalog. ON many levels this "fixes" a lot of the problems I had with dragon's milk. The bergamot pulls the scent up and keeps the concept from being overly cloying like I'm accustomed to with dragons blood note. This is sweet, yet still sultry, comforting yet with an edge of provacation. Beautiful.

[Sheila]

Alice--my imp is aged (several months), and it's even lovelier than when it was new. New, it had a tiny bit of "sour milk" smell that is now gone.

 

Alice smells creamy, powdery, and slightly spicy (from the carnation). The rose is more of a hint than a main note. I love scents that turn powdery, and the carnation here adds a really unique twist. I'm getting a big bottle in my next order.

[inbigtrouble]

I fell in love with this wet, in the imp. Such a comforting, round scent. No sharp edges to be found.

 

Wet: This smells like the frosting for the Pillsbury Orange Sweet Rolls you get in the refrigerated aisle of the grocery store. Mmmmm, sweet and orangey. Comfort food.

 

10 minutes: The milk and honey have really come out now. It's gotten a bit softer and lighter, but I can smell the notes more distinctly.

 

Dry: Rats! This has totally disappeared on me, and I slathered liberally. Crud, I really wanted a big bottle of this upon first sniff, but not if it disappears on me. I can only smell it now if I jam my nose right up to my wrist. It smells pretty powdery/milky now, too, but no sourness to the milk. The bergamot/orangey smell has vanished, too.

 

Verdict: A lovely scent if you can get it to last on you!

[sophia_helix]

A long-anticipated swap. God, I love the Mad Tea Party line.

 

In the bottle:

 

Very softly floral, with a tangy note to it. Mainly the rose and the bergamot.

 

Wet:

 

The first time I tried this, it just became more intense, both the sweet milky scent and the tangy bergamot. The second time, I got this wonderful hit of sweet tea, which faded fast but made me think I needed to hunt down a good tea scent (Dorian?) ASAP.

 

Drydown:

 

I was really crazy about this scent for the first half-hour. I didn't get any honey (which is odd, given how much honey loves me), but the milky-sweet roses and the invigorating citrus-like scent of bergamot really got me. By the end of the day...

 

Well, I've started making sure I get any test oil on both my wrists and on my shirt (when I'm dabbing it on my throat), because I get a better sense of the oil (and the shirt-scent lasts longer!) On my wrists, this faded down to a nondescript sweetness within a couple of hours. It was, in fact, that sort of base "sweet" scent that many BPAL scents seem to have for me. I don't know how to describe it, and it's not unpleasant (it says "Hey, BPAL!" which is a good thing), but I'm always disappointed because it means the unique characterstics of a particular oil have disappeared.

 

However. On my shirt? The milk and rose became a total "blaaargh, old lady!" scent, like milk gone slightly bad. (Actually, I told my husband about the "old lady" categorization of BPAL-gone-wrong, and he sniffed my shirt and said "More like 'recently-dead old lady'" ) Whatever it was, it was quite unpleasant, and made me wish I could change my shirt at work!

 

Since I didn't get the old-lady thing on my actual skin, I'm not ready to give up on this oil yet, but I'm really not sure about milk scents on me, now.

[Firewaver]

Hmph. I was so excited to find someone that was selling this imp, since everyone seems to love it, but alas, Alice and I were not meant to be busom buddies, though we share the same name.

 

I put it on and almost willed myself to like it... but I honestly felt like an old lady. An old lady wearing one of those pink sweaters with a mock collar sewn into them and white keds. Maybe a bunny brooch and coral lipstick.

 

Sigh. I think the rose and honey did me in. I find that white-smelling roses make me frown and set the offending imp aside. Alice did get a smidgen spicy as she dried down, but sadly for her, the spiciness only made me think of an old lady wearing and one piece bathing suit from the 20s and too much suntan lotion.

Edited August 6, 2005 by Firewaver

[Ajila]

My skin seemed to simply absorb Alice, so it's a bit difficult to review it, it was there for such a short time. Wet on me it smelt milky and sweet, very pretty and gentle - definitely girly. Dry on me there is a tiny sense of 'cleaness' that I guess derives from the blend, but apart from that it has pretty much gone. I think the wet stage of this (on me at least) is very reminiscent of BNever's Keep It Fluffy.

[sarahj]

Alice

 

freebie from the lab

 

in vial: oranges (must be the bergamot) and almond (?)

 

wet: honey, carnation, and oranges

 

dry: rose and carnation...lasts about 6 hours

 

verdict: a nice floral. I'll use up the imp, but I probably don't need a big bottle.

[Brianne]

In the bottle:

Mildly sweet and floral

 

On me:

I can really see how fitting this is for the image of Alice. And I can also see why people would recommend this as a rather all purpose blend, because it's pretty mild. Not to be confused with bland. It's a really pretty scent - very soft, very feminine. It's like carnations dipped in honey. It's just a little bit sweet, a little bit floral, neither one are too overwhelming. The bergamot adds just a little bit of "oomph" to this scent. Very pretty!

 

Final note:

Very pretty, and I think this would be enjoyable for just about anyone. Though, I have to say it's very faint and fades quickly, so at least for me, this requires a lot of reapplying during the day, especially if I'm sweating.

[Julilla Regina]

I have no idea what in this smells so yummy and bakery'ish. It smells like a newly bathed little girl eating a fresh baked sugar cookie. The rose isn't strong at all on me, and this smoothes out into a slightly powdery delight. I can't rave about this enough. I'm finding it amazing, one of those blends that just shakes me and reminds me why I keep ordering BPAL. It's milky and rosey and sweet and I don't think this smells like anything I've ever smelled before. I think this could be worn at any occasion, from a day shopping to a night of passion.

 

[silver_springs]

Honestly, I wanted to love this one. I love Alice in Wonderland and from the notes, I did think I would like it.

 

I don't know if it's my chemistry or what but the two times that I tried this one, all I got was the smell of Cabbage Patch Dolls. If you've ever had a Cabbage Patch Doll, then you know what I'm talking about. Not an unpleasant smell or anything but not exactly something I want to be smelling like either. But I swear Alice smells exactly like Cabbage Patch Dolls new out of the box.

 

Not a keeper for me.

[DarkMouse]

In the bottle : almond pastries set at a table with a vase of fresh roses

 

On my skin: ROSE!! I smell nothing but rose.. and its STRONG! This reminds me of Turkish Rose Petal Jam .. with a bit of honey on bread.

 

In General: My mother in law would probably love this.. since she adores the now discontinued "Blushing Rose" lotion from Victorias Secret. Its going to her, because its too floral and rosey for me to stand.

 

(I've washed it off twice and its still on my skin... definitely no lab rose scents for me!)

[Scarlettfish]

This is an absolutely gorgeous, creamy and sweet rose blend on me, with carnation lurking in the background to give it a bit of spice. Going on, it is all honey, but as it dries down the rose comes out more and more. The milk note gives it an underlying creaminess without being in-your-face vanilla. Love this scent! It is girly and sweet and womanly all at once

[spark]

I must be one of the few who don't like Alice...

 

To be fair, Alice was a comparison test: I was looking for carnation, and I don't like it as much as Desdemonda and Maiden. Alice went on rather watery and stayed that way. I suspect this is due to the particular version of rose it contains.

 

Sadly, Alice gave me no milk, honey, nor creaminess. Just a watery blandness.

[emzebel]

Alice was not originally high on my wishlist, because while I love milk and honey scents, I was afraid the florals would be overwhelming.

 

Now I want to trade in my 5ml of Sudha Segara for one of Alice...

 

This is one of the first oils I've tried that I would both describe as a truly beautiful feminine perfume and as an oil I really love and would wear regularly.

 

In the vial, Alice smells strongly of almonds or amaretto to me - so similar to Dana O'Shee that I wondered if the imp was mislabeled for a minuted. But on, it is all sweet milky honey drenched tea. The florals are all staying nicely in the background, giving this a nice herbally, tea like quality that really grounds it and makes it something other than a sweet little girl scent for me.

 

This is absolutely lovely.

 

[zenvodunista]

I won't lie, I hated Alice the first time I smelled it. It was an imp fresh from the lab, and I was overwhemelmed with the smell of milk -- too much milk -- and I recoiled.

 

However, as my tenure as a BPAL fan has legnthened, I found myself wanting to try it again. it's one of my favorite books of all time, Alice was my hero for many years -- i *was* Alice at my own 11th birthday Tea Party -- how could i not give her another chance?

 

I swapped for an imp -- and this one was decanted and most likely from an older oil. It is still to sweet for *me* as an adult, but i get why everyone loves this so. Cream and honey combined give off tones of inncoence, and the carnation gives Alice that spark she always had, and the bergamont the brightness. it's a truly lovely creation and i would recommend it to most people.

 

[45 minutes pass]

 

this might do to me what Santa Muerte did. "Not Me" i say, and then suddenly i'm scrambling around for 5 ml because i Just Can't Live Without It. THis would be a great scent for work.... If I get hit by the adore bug, i'll modify this.

 

[Edited to Add]

 

i keep finding myself reaching for this. have decided that i need a big bottle. i am mostly surprised that this smells so good on me! my skin turns all those deep resiny crazy BPALs into baby powder. this perfume is soft like a baby powder but without any baby powder. really lovely.

 

n.

Edited September 9, 2005 by zenvodunista