Emma

[hkhm]

Vanilla bourbon, tea rose, jasmine, pink pepper, and patchouli.

imp: bright, light sweet florals, almost aquatic.

wet: rose. and way too soapy to get anything else from this scent.

dry: still brash, soapy rose. at least i can enjoy sniffing the imp.

[CitizenBree]

Tea rose and vanilla bourbon. That's why I wanted this.

 

Unfortunately, it's just not working for me. I think it's the jasmine that is too overpowering on my skin. It turns to baby powder with a bit of rose in the background.

 

The rose comes out more, and I like rose, but there are so many other rose scents that I know I love that this one doesn't seem that special.

[Evilynn]

in the imp: Vanilla and tea rose

wet on the skin: Vanilla and florals.

drydown: Sharp, sour soap. Damned you rose! Tea rose usually works on me (even though no other rose ever does), but this turned into sharp soap. *sighs*

[donnatron]

Imp: To be honest, I just felt bad for Emma. She's been the redheaded stepchild of our last few meet 'n sniffs and I finally took her off aislingeach's hands with the intent to review her. In the imp I get a lot of pink rose and a little jasmine. Very little sweetness considering the overwhelming sweetness of the ingredients. Little pepper.

 

Wet: Huh. This smells like geranium in the wet phase. Like... seriously, just geranium SN.

 

Dry: I kind of understand why this was the MnS redheaded stepchild. It's oddly astringent on my chemistry with a very faint hint of warm vanilla. Otherwise it's like rose flavoured nail polish remover. I think it's the pink pepper doing this. There is also a scent that reminds me faintly of peanut butter but more like a cloth that has been used to clean up peanut butter and then washed but still kind of smells like peanut butter. Man... this is totally bizarre.

 

Throw: Thankfully mild.

 

Overall: This is an unfortunate combination on me. It will be passed onto someone else who hopefully will love it.

[jiggahava]

When Emma first hits my skin it's all tea rose. A nice, pleasant rose, but very one-dimensional. Then after it settles on my skin, I can pick up the lovely vanilla bourbon and jasmine. It smells soapier on the insides of my elbows, but that's fairly normal for heavy floral scents, which this one is. Very pretty and pleasant. I'll keep my imp, but I can skip the bottle.

[butcherbaby]

i bought a bottle after testing this at will call, and i'm not sure if i confused it with another scent or it just blended with whatever i tested closest to it, because sadly, emma just doesn't seem to like me at all.

based on the notes though, it *should* have been a shoe-in (LOVE jasmine, LOVE patchouli, LOVE rose, pink pepper & vanilla bourbon are usually winners too), but i get nothing but the rose, and it's not what my brain interprets as "tea rose". this rose is sharp with sort of a fruitish candy-ness -someone above said jolly ranchers, and i agree. it's not at all like the tea roses i've grown in my gardens, or the classic tea rose perfume spray that is the only scent i wore with any kind of regularity before BPAL. i've tried her several times over the course of the last three months and the notes haven't settled at all, so i think it's time for emma to find a new home.

[kikithepirate]

I really expected this one to be an instant favorite, based on the notes, but I actually find it to be a rather boring, generic floral. It's a bit of a normal, sour rose -- nothing to write home about. I hardly get any patchouli or vanilla at all. I love rose, but there are many other BPAL rose scents that I prefer over this.

[capncait]

Holy heady rose! I just got Emma as a freebie decant from schackjj and wanted to try it right away. I knew from reviews how intensely floral she was, and so it should have been no surprise how TEA ROSE it really was. I do get subtle tinges of jasmine, and the pepper seems to attempt to temper the rose a bit... but the rose is elbowing everyone out the way for dominance in this scent. I just wish I had gotten patchouli at all!

 

I want to love this... maybe I need to try it again another day, give it a little more time to mellow.

 

 

But I may have to gift this to my mom.

[likie]

I love rose, and wish I could smell more of it in this, but basically all I got was jasmine. There were other elements around the edges, mostly a sort of powdery floral, but the jasmine just stomped everything else to bits.

[ElizabethOSP]

In the decant, rosy and floral.

 

Wet on my skin, it reads as tea rose. I get a wee hit of what I think is the jasmine and pink pepper, and maybe the vanilla bourbon, which backs off and then returns. I never do get an identifiable jasmine hit from Emma, and I theorize that some of the resiny feel I get comes from the vanilla bourbon. Then everything starts to blend, with the rose staying on top.

 

It hangs out like this during initial drydown, with the patchouli as a subtle foundation for the rest of the crew. The final drydown ends up as sweet, resinous, rosy and delicious.

[plainjean]

Oy. Tea rose and patchouli. I don’t get anything but those two notes. Sad, because I love vanilla bourbon, and pink pepper has grown on me. But nope. Powdery roses and patchouli, and so not for me.

[grrrlennyl]

On: So gorgeous. Definitely lots of rose and jasmine, with a bit of something fruity/peppery, which I'm assuming is the pink pepper. Very nice and different.

Half an hour later: Such a wonderfully tart scent.

1.5 hours later: Still tart pepper.

2 hours later: Sweet and tart, but faint and powdery.

Overall: I love this at first, but the dry-down isn't fantastic on me.

[Shollin]

First sniff: A sweet rose that threatens to go horribly poofy the second I put it on me, with a darker, stronger base underneath, and maybe a few drops of tea.

 

Wearing: POOF! But it seems to be calming quickly. The initial burst of powderose didn’t last too long, but the rest of the scent didn’t grab me.

[AnyseLawsBray]

In vial: Sharp bite of peppery jasmine, hint of tea rose.

Wet on skin: A burst of jasmine which fades into a lovely pink rose.

Dry: Gorgeous rose. Throw is almost exclusively rose, though close-up I can still detect jasmine. No more pepper or any patchouli to be found! Sometimes I think I can smell the bourbon vanilla smoothing out the base, but only when I'm not paying attention.

 

Verdict: Very feminine, pink, pink floral. Definitely one for rose-lovers! I like the twist the jasmine gives, and the little spike of bourbon vanilla at the end is nice.

[sparkleyturtle]

I am a fan of rose, jasmine, pathchouli (often) and vanilla. The bourbon just warms it up a bit. Maybe that is why I am such a fan of Emma. Plus, I get compliments on it, so it must work for me.

 

I smells sultry and sexy. It does have a bit of a throw on it, but with this - I don't mind at all.

[yakiguri]

Received as a surprise frimp/decant in a bottle Needless to say I was quite excited to try this, and unfortunately am left disappointed. Tea rose, tea rose everywhere! Not only that, but it had a high-pitched quality that kept reminding me of something, but I couldn't place it until I read an earlier review--nail polish remover, rose-scented nail polish remover. Looks like tea rose is a note of doom for me as it dominates this scent. Swapping.

[stellamaris]

This is a mystery to me. I was sure these notes would be fantastic, but all I get is a puff of powdery WTF is that? which is gone in like 15 minutes. To the back of the cabinet with you! Will try back later...

 

So after letting this bottle sit, it's become glorious. And substantial. I smell the flowers less than the bourbon, but they give a nice sharpness to the early phase of this. After a few hours it drys down to mostly bourbon. I love this, there are some days when I really want the sharpness of this.

Edited April 4, 2013 by stellamaris

[neverything]

in bottle: A very light and flowery, almost fruity scent, with an underlying earthiness. Not much throw.

 

wet: Tea rose and jasmine come out, fruitiness disappears. Underlying earthiness is still there. Still not much throw.

 

drydown: Fruitiness comes back out, along with the pepper. A little powdery. It's a scent of days gone by, which almost gives it an "old lady" edge. Slightly stronger throw, eventually noticeable when wrist is at arm's length. Very feminine, yet unstereotypically so.

 

verdict: A light, feminine scent. Quite pleasant, yet not so intriguing that I'll need more than the imp.

[cosmoblue]

In Bottle: Sweet perfumey floral and light patchouli. Very feminine.

 

Wet: mostly patchouli and tea rose. I do smell the jasmine and the vanilla makes it warm and creamy. kind of soapy.

 

Dry: Soapy smell is gone. I now have a soft warm creamy earthy tea rose and jasmine with a bit of the pepper. really pretty.

[mymymai]

ITI: Pink pepper and tea rose all the way. The pink pepper gives it a slightly bubblegum-tang to the scent as a whole.

 

Wet: Th pink pepper is much more subtle when on the skin, as is the tea rose. I get just a whiff of jasmine, but the patchouli and vanilla bourbon are oddly absent.

 

Dry: After 10 hours, I get tea rose and a little jasmine. The throw however, is very weak at this point. When I reapplied it, I as finally able to smell the vanilla bourbon with the tea rose, the pink pepper and jasmine. It’s rather pleasant but not something I’d reach for on a daily basis.

[roseus]

Grabbed a bottle despite the less than encouraging reviews. All of the notes listed and I have amicable relationships so I was pretty confident.

 

In the bottle: clamoring flowers. Just what I hoped for.

 

On wet: A lot of tea rose, and some jasmine. A little pink pepper spicing it up.

 

Dry: A deep, sweet vanilla base. Tea rose and jasmine sit on top nicely balanced, but loud. Pink pepper sprinkled over top, and a little patch weaved through. The patch isn't very strong here, it's hard to put a finger on it. It just dirties up the blend a little. Roughs it up, and gives a little edge on all the femininity.

 

Overall: A wonderful, heady floral. This one has a lot of personality, and will probably be my go-to in spring/summer.

[whisperstilled]

Just got a tester of this one!

 

In imp: Something almost chocolatey here. Strangely, that must be the vanilla.

 

Wet: Oop, there it goes, total disappearing act. A little rose? The pepper is giving my skin a bit of a tingle, as pink pepper always does.

 

Dry: I've eaten this one alive on the skin. Ah well. Lovely, soft and sweet. If only it were a bit stronger!

[freyasfae]

This is more rose than I anticipated, almost like the jasmine makes the rose rosier? The pink pepper gives it a bright quality to counteract the powderiness of the jasmine and rose (which often happens on me). I do get some vanilla, which my skin sucks up, but it doesn't seem vanilla bourbon to me. No patch, none - whatsoever. Kind of bummed about that, but still I like it - I just can't decide if I love it. It definitely has that old-fashioned, Southern lady quality to it - but, not a proper Southern lady, obviously, she's a tart - an expensive tart.

[goblingrin]

This is the first rose that doesn't go completely powder on me. It's a very strong floral at first, then as it dries it starts to go powdery but the patchouli comes out and counteracts it. I didn't really get any vanilla, but I'm happy to have found a rose scent that isn't just baby powder on me.

[DiZZysTARdust]

I’m comparing the two rose dominant blends from the district series. I’ve got Emma on my left side and Hilma on my right. In the bottle Emma is like candy. Very sweet. Maybe cotton candy. Onceon my skin the rose pops to life and starts to dismantle. I feel that the vanilla is still pretty heavy, too, and additionally either the peppercorn or patchouli begin taming the sweetness almost immediately. I don’t really notice the jasmine. Freshly on this is a sultry, smoky rose. Not rose heavy and I amp rose. The stronger throw of the two blends