Alice

[vegasblueblood]

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

This perfectly captures the innocence and essence of Alice. It is sweet and creamy with a hint of that little clever carnation that gives it some kick and spice and cheekiness. One of my favorite BPAL blends, not to mention that I'm a huge Alice in Wonderland fan. The milk and honey makes this beautifully creamy and I can almost see the blend as a soft glowing pink. Really wonderful.

[Deidre]

Preconceived notions : This has milk, honey and bergamot in it, scent which I adore, well, when it's real milk and honey and Earl Grey tea leaves, but I don't know if they will work on my skin. Rose is just blah, and I have no clue what carnation smells like.

Im the imp : very spicy. And yet soft. I can't detect the milk and the honey, and the rose has yet to make an appearance. I would be tempted to say that I mostly smell the carnation, although I don't know what it smells like.

Wet on skin : Still spicy, perhaps slightly creamy. The milk - which, alas, as I had noticed earlier with White Rabbit and Milk Moon, turns sour on me - makes some teeny tiny appearances when I bury my nose in my elbow, and I catch those faint but worrying whiffs of sourness.

Drydown : The sourness fades away, thank God, and leaves only spicy creaminess. Still no roses, which is very very good. I don't smell the milk and honey and bergamot, but that's probably because my nose is uneducated; they must be there, rounding up the carnation, giving it that mellow creaminess...

I used this in a very hot milk-and-honey bath yesterday, and God was it gorgeous. It complemented the bathing ingredients wonderfully, no milk turning sour, no roses, just that carnation spiciness wafting over the steamy water...

Keeper? Well, if I hadn't by mistake used my entire imp in the bath, I'd say yes. But now I'll have to get a 5 ml...

[TeaLeaf]

This is another one of my favorites it's sweet and innocent both in smell and feeling.

[thelaurenator]

This is so sweet and innocent, probably the only innocent blend I have from the lab! It's beeeeautiful. At first all I get is bergamot but then I smell cream, rose, carnation and a bit of honey and bergamot. Love love love.

[AthenaRose]

Very citrusy at first (must be the bergamot) but after it dries down it turns into a gentle powdery rosy carnation. Not bad, but not really anything special on me either.

 

3/5

[killrraabies]

This is primarily carnations on my skin but a soft, creamy one. Like a delicate spicyness rather than heavy/heady. I'm trying to make peace with the idea of wearing a rose scent, which I detect but faintly, and I think this one will be good for days where you want to wear something but prefer that something stay in the background.

 

After 10 minutes the rose comes more to the front, and I have to say...it's lovely.

[vikitty]

All I got from this was carnation, from wet in the imp to dry on my skin, at which point it just got soapy. I was hoping for a more rosey scent but no such luck.

[Delirium1009]

In bottle/imp: Creamy, soft rose and carnation.

 

Immediately on skin: This scent is very gentle on my skin. It’s softly creamy with hints of rose and carnation. After just a minute or so, the spiciness of the carnation comes out a little more.

 

After a little while: This is soft, light, and a little powdery. The rose and carnation speak out, but they’re well blended together and on the creamy side. There’s a subtle sweetness from the honey, and it isn’t bitter like the lab’s honey note usually is on me.

 

Overall Impressions: This is soft and pretty, but turned slightly powdery on me (which I think is from the honey. The lab’s honey note barely ever behaves on me). The rose and carnation combo is nice, but this is so so so soft that I can barely smell it.

[nellieburger]

This will be my first review!!!

 

In an imp: I can definitely smell a sweetened (yet sour), subtle bit o' honey with milk and carnation hovering underneath both ever so slightly. It's a bittersweet first impression.

 

Wet on my skin: The bitterness of the milk and honey fades, and the carnation prominently moves into the foreground.

 

Dry: The carnation sticks around, and the rose comes out to play along with it. It has a powdery scent, but it's not as starch as baby powder. It lasts quite a while, too!

 

As a newbie to BPAL I appreciate the subtleness of this scent - much of the other imps I've purchased thus far have been a bit overwhelming. Alice is soft, light, and innocent. I particularly love that the floral notes have lingered longest on my skin. I definitely need to purchase a bottle!

[Pottersville]

OMG, I can't believe it .... a scent with rose in it that doesn't make me gag! Way to go, Beth!!!!!!!!!!! I hate rose. Hate, hate, hate it in any form other than the flower. Still, I keep trying Beth's creations and it's paid off. Alice is a gorgeous scent. Very sweet and innocent yet with enough spicy zing to remind you that Alice was an independent type who wasn't afraid to try new things. Love it!

[loladae]

Naturally, this is my 'tea party' scent. So innocent and lovely. Before smelling it, I got a 5ml (first bpal experience ever too) because I love Alice in Wonderland. It sounded perfect. It's just how you'd expect and I love that.

[tdgnika]

In the bottle and wet, I can smell the honey, I think. It's a thick sweetness.

 

After it's been on my wrist 15 minutes or so, it smells more powdery, like baby powder. It also smells like a clean infant, or like the plastic head of the doll I had as a child.

 

As it dried, it went to plastic-y powder.

 

The second time I tried this, even in the bottle, it smells even more like a plastic doll head.

 

As it was drying the second time I tried it, I got whiffs of Deep Woods Off.

 

My friend was sure I would like this, but it just didn't do it for me at all. Apparently, innocent scents are not my forte. They hit my skin and scream "No! This skin is not innocent!" I like my scents heavy, musky and completely corrupt.

[quigza]

Imp: Carnations! and faint rose. I really reminds me of those bouquets you can buy at the market.

 

Wet: Carnations & rose, over sweet honey & earl grey tea. the honey & earl grey get stronger the dryer it gets & there's a random whiff of cream for a second.

 

Dry: the rose is a background note. The bergamont (no longer tea) is obvious. The carnation & honey are in a process of devouring each other. It's very odd thing to observe.

 

aftermath: I still am getting random faint whiffs of bergamont, rosey honey, and carnation. Never all together though.

 

ADDED Sept. 30:

 

imp: florals & bergamont with a whiff of sweet condensed milk

 

wet: ooh, I can smell the carnation strongly. & a little soap. It reminds me of when I used to make floral arrangements for part time work & would sniff the carnations because I thought the scent was so different.

 

dry: the carnation tones down & milk powder & honey dust kick up. There's also the comforting smell of bergamont tea. I take my earl grey with milk & honey, so this is a comforting scent to me.

 

aftermath: the notes blend together. It's a dusty scent, but not old lady-ish like when violet or lilac go to powder. It's a little too foody to go there.

 

notes:

This scent smells drastically different on me depending on what time of the month it is (that's why 2 reviews). The milk & honey tones are a lot stronger at some times, the bergamont & carnation take the forefront at other times. Either way, I like it. But, it's something to be noted.

Edited May 3, 2010 by Shollin

[sqwook]

Wet: Vanilla-orange.

 

Dry: To me, the milk-and-honey blend into an almost vanilla-type sweetness, combined with a nice rose. This is surprisingly good for a non-rose-or-vanilla person. I don't see myself reaching for it.

 

Comparisons to other scents: If I were looking for something with a feel of sweet-and-innocent, the brightness of Persephone or the assured calmness of Lyonesse seem more like me. (In feel - these scents are nothing alike.)

[brettashley]

I was really looking forward to trying out Alice - had high hopes as I thought the notes would be all right on me!

 

Sadly, it was not to be.

 

Wet: Smells citrusy at first, and then powder-y sweet

 

Drying: Rather pretty - I'm getting more of the carnation now, and a bit of the honey.

 

30 minutes later: Fading quickly. I'm practically inhaling the inside of my elbow, where I put two swipes of oil, but it's very faint.

 

2 hrs later: yup, nothing there.

 

Plus, I ate lunch about half an hour after putting the scent on and I immediately got queasy. Something about this smell + food didn't mix well for me.

 

I really wanted to like this! Especially since I have some other milk-based scents on the way.. (White Rabbit, Kat Van Tassel). I don't know what it was that made me queasy, but I'm hoping that wasn't it. =T

[gchris]

In Vial: Almonds

 

Wet: Mild and sweet. A tiny bit spicey with a hint of cinnamon and almonds. I am also getting a hint of lemon. Not what I was expecting given the notes but I really like this. Lemon is getting stronger.

 

Dry: Spicey cinnamon with a hint of lemon.

[obsidienne]

I can't believe I didn't try this until last night! I've had it for a couple months already. Oy!

 

Alice is everything the description says... but better. It's just so beautiful, sweet and creamy, innocent but with a little spicy fun (carnation, I love you!). The honey and carnation are the real stars of this blend on my skin, whereas the other notes fall back and support them; the bergamot adds that bit of brightness it needs to keep from being too sweet. Oddly enough I couldn't detect the rose too much. I'm a honey-amper, so it's to be expected that honey would take precedence over everything else.

 

5ml all the way.

[crebbsgirl]

This started out the same way O starts out on my skin. Creamy honey. And then we get to a screaming ROSE phase. I was tempted to wash it off at that point but I kept with it. I'm glad I did, I ended up going shopping and all afternoon I kept smelling something delicious. It wasn't until I got home that I figures out it was me! The carnation had come out and provided a bit of a spicy kick, and the bergamot lent a hint of brightness to the blend, undercutting the sweetness of the milk and honey.

[FeatherQwill]

In the bottle it smelled absolutely divine, so I couldn't wait to try it on.

 

Wet: Urgh. Baby powder.

 

Dry: Still baby powder.

 

 

Overall: I guess my skin just doesn't like one of the notes.

[stillalive]

ohhh, quite lovely!!! A sweet, sugar-spun floral blend. Soft, like baby powder, though not powdery... reminds me of those bathproof cabbage patch babies. I could actually get away with wearing this floral, for sure.

[MCS4096]

In the imp: Boy, that honey has some bite. Maybe it's the combo of honey and rose, but there's something a little strange about this scent given the notes-- it's a little sharp. I definitely get carnation in the background, and the whole thing is creamy. No bergamot.

 

Wet: I guess the bergamot is adding a bit of lemon-ness to this. Hmm.. I was hoping to really like this because I love carnation, but it's kinda rubbing me the wrong way. There's something a little.. flat about it, perhaps it's the milk note.

 

Dry: As it dries it becomes mostly milk and sweet carnations.. which I can definitely get into! In fact this is quite nice, very similar to a favorite-- Morocco. I'll need to compare them side by side I think. Off the top of my head this one seems a little less creamy than Morocco, a little ironic since this has a milk note. NICE! Very pleasantly surprised

[unlaced]

In the bottle this is very floral. I can't smell the milk or honey at all.

 

On my skin it starts to get kind of spicy... which I totally didn't expect from this but it's not bad really. I still can't smell the milk or honey. (which is kind of disappointing)

 

Maybe I should try it at a different time of month when my chemistry isn't so weird.

[horrorshownicole]

In the vial - floral, sweet, and slighty spicy

 

Wet on me - Nauseatingly sweet and slightly sour. Like cookies baking with spoiled milk in a room someone just drenched with floral air freshener. I am extremely concerned.

 

 

Dry on me - Slightly powdery. Sweet and floral. I can hardly smell the milk anymore, which is relieving as it was very sour on my skin. This reminds me, almost frighteningly so, of a little vial of make believe perfume one of my best friend had as a child. I was NOT a girly girl at all, and felt weird about things like perfume and make up and being pretty, so I would sneak a spray of it when no one was around and feel as if I was a different person -- a girly girl! I had lots of pretend alteregos when I was young and one was a perfume dabbing, dress wearing girly girl dancing around in the flowers. Word cannot describe how excited I am to have a grown up version of this perfume from my childhood. I am ordering a large bottle as soon as I can.

[isis33]

For me Alice starts with spicy carnation and end up spicy carnation, albeit softened with honey then. That's fine with me- I like this smell! I was a bit hesitant as rose in a perfume usually means it smells rose and nothing but rose on me, but not here. I can't detect any rose at all. Which, btw, is perfectly fine with me as well. :-)

[Caerphilly]

In the imp: It's girly, light, sweet. Smells like a Barbie doll. Reminds me of Antique Lace, except instead of vanilla is the bergamont and carnation that's throwing me off.

 

Wet: Very sweet, but very light. It's already fading. It's still smells a bit like plastic, but I definitely smell the milk and tea. No honey.

 

Dry: It's preactically gone. This didn't last long at all.

 

Overall: I remember smelling an imp of this that my roommate had, and not liking it. I thought it was too sweet. But, I decided to try it again, because it is Alice after all! But, alas, it's mostly plastic on me, and it doesn't last long, at all. Now I'm sad.