Bordello

[starfish327]

A decadent, deep perfume, lusty and luxuriant. The scent evokes images of velvet-lined Old West cathouses, tightly laced corsets, rustling petticoats and coquettish snarls of pleasure. Bawdy plum with amaretto, burgundy wine and black currant.

attempt number four to find a blend that doesn't go bad on my skin today.

in the imp: airheads! airheads and grape jolly ranchers

wet: strong artificial fizzy grape.

dry: sweet sugared fruits with a really slow build up of a faint booze note. looses a lot of intensity.if suck it is cherry kool aide this is grape.

i like it. it makes me smile.

[doublehelix]

In the imp: sweet plum and grape wine.

 

Wet on skin: Oh yum.. red wine and candied fruits. This does remind me a lot of a jollyrancher. If Purple had a smell, this would be it.

 

Dry on skin: amaretto comes out. It isn't as boozy and I assumed it might be, I rather like it! It does have an somewhat artifical fruit smell, though, which not everyone may like.

[milo]

To me, this is more of a plummy raspberry than a grape. This is pretty much muted fruity plum/raspberry with nothing else. Very similar to one of my Chaos Snake Oil, which I prefer, as this is too bland and one dimensional.

[kohimame]

Hmm I didn't get any wine or amaretto from Bordello. On me it's mostly candied currants. It's like a juicier version of Candy Phoenix, which I really like. Throw and wear are very strong. A lovely and very sweet scent, me like!

[SophieCedar]

Yum. yumyumyumyum. Yum.

 

Yes, amaretto is not it's strongest characteristic, however this is not to be passed up. Plum, currant take center stage and there's a boozy backdrop. Mmmm

[musichappens]

My skin seems to be amping the hell out of the amaretto because that's all I got from this blend. The plum and black currant might have tried to peek in once or twice to give it a little sweetness, but that's it. The throw and longevity of this is also extremely faint. Not a scent for me.

 

[yamiko]

In Bottle: Kinda smells like a Jell-o mix. Very sweet, red, and fruity.

 

Wet on skin: Definitely smells like amaretto and wine.

 

Drydown (3 minutes): I think I smell the currant now along with everything else.

 

Drydown (5 minutes): Smells like a sweet wine.

 

Overall Impression: This is a pretty delicious scent. Wet, fruity, and red.

[ajansuz]

In the imp this was candy sweet, berry and fruit that reminded me of something I couldn't put my finger on. It was a happy memory, but it wasn't coming to me, so I put a tiny drop on my wrists. For about the first 15 minutes, I wondered if I'd be able to stay with it. The sweet wet on my skin was nearly overwhelming and gave me that tickling sensation in the back of my throat I saw another reviewer mention. I waited it out, and it started to fade down.

 

Two hours later, a more subtle note started to emerge, not quite cherry, not quite licorice. I could smell a little bit of the wine, as well, but unfortunately, the fruit really amped up on me, too. I finally realized what the scent reminded me of. It was something I used to find at this tiny little trading post in Booger Hollow, Arkansas, some little scented bulb that you could put in your drawers to make your clothing smell fresh, a nice scent, but just too sweet for me.

 

After five hours, I decided to scrub the remainder off. It was still way too sweet for my taste, something I'd probably love to smell on someone else but not for me. It didn't help that my husband, who was in the next room, asked me what I was burning and said it was giving him a headache.

[TulaMontage]

Bordello is a big busty burlesque rush to the head! It's fabulously full bodied, sweetly fruity and just boozy enough to be a little big naughty. It's a wonderful scent, and one I will be reaching for throughout summer indeed!

[capncait]

wow. nothing about this scent screamed to me that i HAD to try it.

 

I love fruity notes... but fruit and booze? who knew!?

 

out of the imp, this is gushingly sweet, straight out of the jar maraschino cherries. it has this cloyingly, syrupy tinge to it that really made me gag to think i would even wear it... i don't tend to be a really FOODIE type girl, and this has shirly temple/ naughty kiddie cocktail written all over it.

 

either way, once its on my arm, the booze makes this little girl's scent a little more like a teenage girl trying to get into a 21+ club by wearing the sluttiest clothes, lots of eye makeup, and the highest heels she could find...

 

AND I LIKE IT.

 

it does stay really really sweet and syrupy. but it is appealing in the oddest way, and i can't be more taken aback by how much i like it. but i really do. the boyfriend can't stand it... but oh well, he can suffer.

[ami226]

This one is amazingly sweet on me. Mostly the amaretto and plum combination. It can be so sickeningly sweet, that a dab is preferable to slathering! With a dab, this scent is really nice!

[CitizenBree]

I tried Bordello a few months ago and didn't write a review. But when I grabbed it today to see if it would be a worthy, fruity subsitute for Loli.goth when I give that away, I remembered that it was pink and delicious.

 

So I was surprised when I read the actual notes. Granted, those sounds great. I want to try that perfume. But on me, Bordello is like a sweet raspberry. Wine scents usually go pretty grape juice on me, but that's not happening at all. No grape, no booziness, no creamy amaretto. This is just straight up fruit. And yes, it will satisfy my need for a bright pink sparkly fruit scent as Loli.goth finds a new home.

[Vega]

In imp: Very fruity and juicy-sweet, almost liqueur-ish. Bright and uplifting.

 

On skin: This is yummy! Bordello balances between bright red juiciness and a slight fermentative sharpness that must come from the wine and amaretto (a kind of almond liqueur). It feels wet, swelling and full, definitely evocative of juicy berries. The alcoholic sharpness tones down over time, leaving behind a yummy fruity sweetness. But make no mistake: this is a forward, assertive and bold sweetness that borders on smelling artificial. I find Florence has a similar berry/currant note, albeit more refined and tempered.

Colour impression is the burgundy of red wine grapes.

 

Verdict: Close, but no cigar. Bordello is the outgoing, sassy, perky cousin of the more refined, restrained Florence. Both are lovely berry scents, but I think I prefer the latter!

[Nymeria]

I'm getting the full mix on this. Mostly plum and amaretto, but also with a hint of wine and blackberries. (Edit: just noticed the description said black currants, not blackberries. Well, I got black SOMETHING.) Smells like electric purple. Delicious. I'm in love. I could wear this every day.

 

Good for wearing: All the time, just for me, whenever I need a scent induced smile.

Edited August 6, 2010 by Nymeria

[Venneh]

Ohh, wow. In the imp, this is all plum and amaretto and the wine and blackcurrant lurking underneath. It's a definite kissing cousin to the Countess, and really drop dead sexy. On my skin, luscious, sexy plum and amaretto. Oh god, not even dry, and this is going straight to a second skin test, possibly a bottle tacked on with my next order.

[London]

The lab frimped me this..another case of the labbies knowing better than me.

 

The imp smell like sweet plums, the oil was very much the same on me. Sweet plumy, with a little current and almond.

[Rouge]

I've been looking forwards to trying this for such a long time. I love the Lab's deep red berry and currant scents so this one seems tailor made for me. Also, I have a fscination with the history of prostitution so this detour into the Wild West brings together two of my favourites.

 

In the vial - A sublime blend of sweetly sticky amaretto and fresh plum. It's not the dark fruit of Oya, but something much fresher and lighter.

 

Wet on the skin - At first there's hit of sweet, almost candy-like fruit before there's a full-on hit of red wine, almost as if somebody has spilled a bottle in the saloon. Underneath it all there's a breath of tantalising sugary-almond.

 

Next stages/ dry down - I nearly typed "Bordello soon stops being sticky" but it sounded... wrong. Accidental double-entendres aside, it's true. It loses its sugaryness quite quickly and becomes a wonderfully deep and rich blend of fruit and wine.

 

If you like this, try - Lady Macbeth, Lillith

[Invidiana]

This is thick, decadent and luscious. I was initially a bit worried the red wine would go either cloying or sour as some wine notes do on my skin, but it behaved. This is really all about the plum and amaretto, and I think that the blackcurrant adds more depth and body to the plum. I had been skeptical that an almond-based liquor note and purple fruit would not mesh well together, but they do and how.

[Larinessa]

Lusty and luxuriant definately describes this! Juicy and very red. I can absolutely pick up the wine and currants in this, with the amaretto bringing a sweetness to it- not a sugary sweet, more of a softer glazy sweet if that makes sense. Yummy. I wore this out to a 'Twilight' movie event and one of the actors spent the better part of the night with his face in my neck saying how good I smelled. If that's not a screaming advertisement for its sex appeal I don't know what is! A winner!

[calivianya]

This smelled like it smacked me in the face with sweet fruits when I opened the imp, and it was no different on my skin. I'm not a huge fan of perfumes this fruity; they remind me of something giggly middle school girls would wear. Bordello is a pass for me.

[Lorelai1945]

Wow- I don't know how I've managed to keep missing this one until now. I guess the amaretto and burgundy wine scared me off (esp. the amaretto because almond is a doom note for me), but those fears have come to naught. I really like this! In the imp it is very sweet, cool, syrupy fruit. On my skin it deepens a bit and loses some of the syrupy-sweetness to end up a rich, sweet plum. It's beautiful. I don't get anything boozy or off-putting, and my skin chemistry seems to like this a lot. I'll have to get a bottle.

[Helas]

Bordello is nauseatingly sweet; the olfactory equivalent of drinking grenadine mixed with blackcurrant syrup, sweetened plum juice, and a shot of booze. The fruits have a harsh, chemical quality, and smell more like artificial candy versions of themselves than like fresh-plucked fruit. The booze amps the whole mess up into headache territory.

 

This reminds me of the cloying chemical sprays my fellow students would douse themselves with when I was in highschool - or maybe those fruit-flavoured glittery lipbalms that were all the rage back in the nineties. These are not my fondest memories of adolescence. I can't help but think Juicy Couture aficionados would love to get their hands on this one. Unfortunately, not for me.

 

Two out of five stars.

[Chelse]

This is an amazingly wonderful scent! Yay!

[JLH]

Wet on my skin this is mostly tart juicy fruits and red wine, with sweet almond in the background. Not as overwhelmingly sweet as I thought it would be, but I do wish the almond was a little more prominent.

[stellamaris]

Wow wow wow this is heaven!!!!

The top note is WTF some kinda fruity something but then it morphs into wonderful sweet almondy, vanilla, fruity stuff.