Liz

[Lit Chick]

A light, feminine vanilla floral perfume and a swirl of smoke and leather.

I got to try this at a MnS.
I adored the early stages, when the smoke and leather is still there. If it stayed true, this would be an instant top 10. But. Then it gets very sweet vanilla floral.
The plus - this is now only the second BPAL blend with vanilla in it that did not go plastic on me. Huzzah.
The minus - my skin amps sweet, which is why I like my sweets grounded by spice most of the time. It's lovely, and people liked it on me. But I like just a little more edge I think. This might blend excellently with one of the smokey oils.... and now I'm wondering what it would do with Mad Sweeney, which smells like fire on me in the dry.
Worth a bottle for the experiment? Not sure.... but the sweet/smoke combo was . Hmmm.

[childoftime]

In the bottle, this is exactly what the description suggests, but Liz has one hell of a backbone.

 

Once I had it on, it became warm, dry spicy vanilla musk perfume with a backbone of leather over something strong-feeling. I'm not really getting the smoke at all--just a spiciness that I can't identify.

 

I wasn't expecting this one to be so dry and spicy, almost like cologne, but I definitely like it.

[lunaticana]

today one of my friends put this on my arm while we had our super fun 5 people MnS!

 

flowers, smoke and leather are all here

I LOVE it, it makes me feel so darn sexy

Edited December 17, 2009 by lunaticana

[brettashley]

I just put this on right now.... Oh. My. God.

 

It is drop dead sexy, all smoky leather and with a sweet undertone of vanilla... I felt about ten times better just putting it on!

 

I will definitely be hunting down a bottle of this, no matter what. It's probably just shot up into my top ten or so.

[heathercaley]

Once applied, some creamy leather appears. It was very nice actually.

 

But once it dries down, the creaminess fades to a slightly vanilla laced flower bed blended with a bit of leather. It's nice, but I like things a little more complex.

 

It's power with just a little bit of girly wiles thrown in there. It reminds the wearer that no matter how tough a girl is, underneath the rough edges a girl is always a girl.

 

I love the concept, but the perfume is just a little too girly for me, even with the leather. Nice, but not to die for.

[Ajila]

In the bottle - A sweet floral; quite 'perfumy'

 

Wet on me - A hint of the vanilla and then the dark dry leather

 

Dry on me - The leather strengthend and darkens to become the predominant scent for about 4 hours after which the vanilla begins to make an appearence again, although always in a supporting role to the leather

 

Overall - I like the blend a lot, I was suprised at first by how dominant the leather was, but despite this it retained an atmosphere of delicate feminity

[lizzyshoe]

I got a decant of this perfume only because it shares a name with me. I was a little wary of the smoke and leather notes, but on me this is all flowers. The vanilla turns them sweet, and there's a little bit of smoke and spice, but overall this is a very soothing, comfortable, secure scent. It's like a "mom" perfume, something a childhood friend's mother would be wearing when you went over to their house to play.

 

I am totally in love with this scent. I'm going to get a bottle on my next order. It's a scent I could wear every single day and not get tired of. A signature scent!

 

ETA: I should add that my little imp languished in the USPS for about 4 months before it got to me, so YMMV on a new bottle. I think this is a scent that will only get better with age.

 

 

Edited February 20, 2010 by lizzyshoe

[Blood onmy hands]

Bpal's vanilla blends sometimes go all weird on me. I didn't care for the chalky vanilla in Love's Philosophy or the sharp, not sweet at all vanilla in Sachs, for example. I love this blend, though. The vanilla here is sweet, sexy, and feminine on me.

 

In the bottle, this smells like a sweet, perfumey, warm, feminine, vanilla dusting powder. Very girly.

 

On my skin, a bit of smoky black leather pops up, but it doesn't overpower the sweet vanilla and dry floral perfume smell at all. The smoky leather just adds a hint of dark, dangerous sexiness to the feminine notes. Dry floral perfume, a dusting of sweet vanilla, and a whisper of black leather. The floral part makes me think of dried gold and orange colored flowers.

 

My husband loves this on me, and I think Liz is going into my top ten of favorite bpals. I defnitely need a couple bottles of this. :love!:

[electrostars]

On paper, I didn't think I would really care much for Liz and only bought a decant because I love the Hellboy comics and films and wanted to see what it would be like. However, when my decant arrived it was instant love! Liz is a gorgeous scent, light and feminine but toughened up with the leather and smoke notes.

 

This is probably my favourite BPAL oil, I've since bought a bottle and will need another I think! Everytime I wear Liz I can't stop sniffing my wrists, it's such a sexy scent.

[Cheri]

It took me a while to decide that I just had to try Liz and finally ordered a bottle. Why did I wait so long? This scent is so perfect! Its the best mix of vanilla, flowers, and barely there leather. I'm a dummy for waiting this long. It lasts really long. I put some on after my bath and could still smell it in the morning. It has some good throw, and almost smells like a soft, sweet vanilla ozone, but not harsh the way ozone usually is on me.

 

My Mom's puppy loves it too. She brought her seven week old chihuahua puppy along over to watch a movie last night, and he was attached to my arm for most of the movie, 2012, humping it! Isn't he too young to be so horny? Mom said he must really like my perfume, and my husband likes it too. I never expected it to be a male aphrodisiac, but it is.

 

I love Liz!

Edited March 7, 2010 by Cheri

[edenssixthday]

Liz - This is the most beautiful scent -- definitely worth a bottle, or maybe even two. It's the perfect balance of sweet (but not foody) vanilla and black leather. There's a swirl of smoke in the background -- not scary and murderous like smoke monster from LOST, but more subtle, like stepping outdoors and smelling the scent of a fireplace going somewhere in the nearby neighborhood. It's so lovely, and is really strong. A little tiny bit goes a long way. I thought Clockwork Couture: Female was going to be the best ever vanilla/leather scent, but I'm afraid this one beats CC: Female by a mile. I'm definitely tacking on a bottle to my next order.

[stitchpirate]

I feel like I have a completely different Liz than everyone else is describing. I have a very strong, sweet, floral perfume. (I don't really like florals very much, so I can't really nail down which florals specifically. Something on the sweeter, fruitier side, not like rose or lavender.) There's the tiniest hint of vanilla, and an even smaller hint of leather, when wet. No smoke at all. But once it dries it's sickly sweet floral all the way. I was really disappointed, I thought vanilla/leather/smoke would be the perfect perfume for me, but all I get is floral like crazy.

[donnatron]

Imp: Quite thin, actually. A very light, white vanilla floral. Like a less sharp Privilege.

 

Wet: Ah, there's the ticket. This goes on all smoke and leather and very warm and borderline masculine. Then my skin does as it will with sweet scents and the vanilla amps up nearly covering the darker notes.

 

Dry: This becomes primarily a vanilla scent but the dark smoke and leather scent lingers underneath. It's not overpowering and doesn't smell like I've been doing anything untoward--just that I might be thinking of doing things that are untoward. There's a powdery-ness to this scent that works quite elegantly for it because it reigns in the darker aspects and still keeps it daytime friendly.

 

Throw: Strong.

 

Overall: The leap between the in-imp scent to the on-skin scent was amazing. This is really sexy without bordering on sleazy and exceedingly interesting. A bottle may be in the cards.

[moon_lemming]

Hmmm. It's not as life-changing as I imagined, but it IS delicious. At first, the leather in Liz is all I can smell, and it's more "gray" smelling than black. I think it's the smoke giving that impression.

 

The vanilla kicks in as it dries, ho boy. It smells awesome, pretty evenly balanced between leather and a creamy non-cloying vanilla. There is a floral; it's sweet and almost herbal and reminds me of chamomile. But then I'm horrible with florals so grain of salt etc.

 

After about three hours the leather takes over again, and it's mostly a smoky leather scent with a teeny bit of vanilla underneath. I did like it better when the vanilla was stronger, but it's good in all its variations.

 

eta: A month or so later, I have to say, Liz has really grown on me. It's become one of my favorite currently-available scents, and I reach for it often. It's probably my fave BPAL vanilla right now, while I am Antique Lace-less.

Edited May 7, 2010 by karen

[Eemia]

I thought I had written a review for Liz and was surprised to see I hadn't yet. I love this... all saucy leather and dry vanilla. It's not really a rough and tumble leather on me in the way that Loviatar or Whip can be. It's more of a slick and bleached out leather, something I imagine would be the equivalent of a tight little white leather jacket. My skin broadcasts leather like a beacon so it's the first note I notice in this, and the most powerful. The dry vanilla is the second string and it feels sort of fancy. No gourmet/foody qualities or thick sweetness at all which is pretty fantastic since I can only do those types of vanillas once in awhile. Although I don't notice any particular floral notes I do think this has a certain femme vibe that must be the floral perfume described in the notes.

 

It lasts forever on me--I can still smell it the day after applying which is funny because it's more of a close clinging scent. It doesn't waft around me at all and someone really would have to be right next to me in order to smell anything.

 

I want to call this gorgeous with some really long and drawn out vowels because it's SO good.

[batakbeatrix]

This scent is total love for me, and has quickly become one of my default scents for when I want to feel comfortable, yet confident and attractive.

 

For me, this is mostly leather with some vanilla, a hint of smoke, and a trace of florals. It's a comfortable type of leather though, it's the leather of a favorite coat that you wear out to the clubs, which always kind of smells a little smoky, no matter how long you air it out.

 

I feel as though the throw is pretty moderate, but the wear length is ridiculously long.

 

[bloody sore]

I got frimped a half decant of this from a recent swap. I was interested to see what all the fuss was about.

Before we get to my review I must share my wife's though. She's fairly uninterested in BPAL in general, but I still make her smell most things. When I put my hand up to her nose she made a weird face and kinda sneezed. I asked her what that meant and she goes; "That smells like salon chemicals. To put it nicely, it's aweful!"

The usual response she gives me is "well, it's perfume" so any opinion she expresses is taken in strong consideration.

To me it's all the wrong florals covered in a definitely fake vanilla. No leather. Just awful florals amped super high. I totally see where she gets the salon chemicals, it smells kinda like hairspray and hair dye and blech.

I'm so glad I was frimped this, and didn't pay for it.

[ljaylh]

 

I've been meaning to try this for ages, and finally did - thanks to a swap with CapricornSister

 

I guess I put it off for so long because of the words "floral perfume" in the description. I love leather and vanilla as a note combination, and if either/both have a smoky aspect then I love them even more! So I was worried that this would be overly floral and ruin the other things, bu as it turns out.. my worries were needless.

 

Although it goes on quite strong at first, once it dries down the floral aspect of Liz is very light and soft - it is feminine, and it's also quite pretty. I'm not sure what specific florals are involved - it's all so light and well blended that no particular floral note is really jumping out at me - this is a Very Good Thing! The vanilla is also soft, with a slight smokiness (not the dreaded plastic kind, or the super-sweet kind), and the leather is also beautifully soft.. more like a suede than a strong leather note, very subtle - more of a background note - and it has no bitterness at all. I agree with others - this one wins out over CC:Female for me too as a vanilla/leather blend.

 

I think even those people who normally dislike or can't tolerate leather would be able to wear Liz - it really is very soft and lovely, and no one note dominates. This is one of those blends you could wear at any time - it just smells.. nice.

[Vega]

Sniffed: Sugary vanilla upon a leather backdrop.

 

On skin: Sweet, sugary vanilla comes to the fore, but gets darker and deeper upon drydown as the smoke and leather gradually emerge. The smoke note here is really good: it's a rich, slightly gritty tobacco, and thankfully not the burnt charcoal/astringency of vetiver. I find BPAL's leather note too synthetic, and leather-dominant blends (like Whip) tend to be rather flat -- but the leather in Liz is well-blended and forms a discreet backdrop to the vanilla and smoke. Liz ends up a rich, full, dark tobacco-vanilla with a touch of smooth leather and gritty smokiness. Definitely a feminine scent, but subdued and darkened enough not to be too girly.

 

Verdict: Very, very pretty. Liz is the latest of BPAL's vanilla blends that I've fallen in love with. She's not too smoky, not too sugar-sweet, not too leathery -- she's just perfect. I was generously frimped a tester through swaps, but I definitely need a full decant, possibly a bottle!

[starpixi81]

Oh Liz I wanted to love you! Apparently I amp leather, like truly amp it to the point of ridiculousness and I am blaming this fact on why Liz was not meant to be. In the bottle there is a wonderful smoky vanilla with a spicy floral kick and some leather rounding it out.

 

On my skin I get a very strong leather note, like a damp suede bag in the rain and very little else at first.

 

After about 2 hours I can smell the spicy florals picking up and a smokiness that is quite beautiful mixed with a teensy bit of vanilla, but unfortunately the leather is still a bit too overwhelming. As someone mentioned in another topic this shares some qualities with Givenchy Hot Couture, which has the same spicy, smoky floral vibe, but with a fruity twist instead of a leather one(on me anyway). If Liz could just leave her leather handbag at home for the day I think we would be a match made in heaven. It's quite an interesting and gorgeous scent, just not for me.

 

edited for spelling nonsense

Edited September 10, 2010 by moonberryjam

[plainjean]

Really pretty. Definitely a vanilla "perfume" scent. It reminds me a lot of Sara Pezzini, with that sort of worn, sweaty-but-not-stinky leather smell. It’s lived-in, and it’s comfortable. I don’t want to say it’s masculine, exactly, but it’s not completely feminine. I suppose I’d call it feminine with an edge.

[violetblue]

This one did not play nicely. I got musty old lady perfume. No vanilla or leather and reminded me of drug store perfume in oil form. I hate my skin chemistry.

[grrrlennyl]

Liz

 

On: Definitely vanilla and soft flowers. I'm not getting the smoke or leather yet.

Half an hour in: This is making me swoon. Powdery and sweet and floral, with a hint of something fruity. I'm in love.

2 hours in: Still amazing. A fruity floral vanilla. Love.

5 hours in: Still the same. Woot!

Overall: SUCH A KEEPER! I adore this. Sophisticated and beautiful.

[filigree_shadow]

Lovely! Strongly vanilla on me, with just a hint of florals and leather. The vanilla is perfect -- it's not cloying or creamy, it's kind of a smoky vanilla. It smells very feminine and sexy to me. Definitely going to want a bottle of this one.

[KesHiro]

Interesting and not quite what I expected. In the bottle, this smelled like mildewed leather. On, it's leather and burnt brown sugar (probably the vanilla and smoke combo). By burnt sugar, I mean the good kind like on top of a creme brulee, not the kitchen accident sort. I get no flowers whatsoever.

 

Like I said, it's not what I expected but I don't dislike either. In fact, it seems to be growing on me.