Bordello

[Veronica]

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.

 

Sweet, ripe dark purple plum. A hint of currant, but not overly boozy. Dark and fruity.

Edited April 20, 2015 by delighted

[SimplySyra]

Imp: Candy-sweet plum and berries.

Wet: More of the same candy-sweet purple berry scent. Bright, juicy, and fun!

Dry: The scent pulls way back and becomes much more subtle. Something dry and incense-like seems to come forward under all that sweet fruit. Perhaps it's how my skin portray's the Lab's wine scent. It's very faint now, almost powdery fruit.

 

Verdict: It's a pretty scent but unfortunately doesn't have a lot of depth on me. It tries very hard to round out into something lovely, dark, and naughty, but my skin eats up most of everything before it gets there. It's definitely intriguing enough that I'll keep my frimp and see if it does better in hair or as a locket but it's not making me want to spring for a bottle.

[lady_pandora]

I can't really pick out plum here but mostly get what smells like grape--bright, purple, juicy grape. For the first few minutes it's grape bubble gum, then calms down into the juicy grapey scent. It's not the wine note of Lilith or Cairo; it's more a grape note, like the one in Purple Phoenix. There's something a little smoky that emerges as it dries down too. I feel like it needs one more thing--and I don't know what--to make it a huge favorite of mine, but it's pretty and fun and juicy, and will get its share of wear.

[shibagast]

It smells syrupy at first and then it devolves into what I consider to be a grape jello shot. (But now that it's dry, it smells like bubblegum?? What in the world...)

[Laura S. Taylor]

You know The body Shop's signature scent? The way the whole store smells when you walk past? That's exactly what Bordello smelled like to me!

[Katlastrophe]

Deep, dark bubblegum in a sexy way.
Very sweet, but still tempting and flirty.

To me, it's not very playful and fun, but more drowzy.

[Bassmastadroog]

I love the word 'Bordello...' it will forever and always remind me of Tales from the Crypt...Bordello of Blood!

 

I got this one in a free imp from the lab,

 

Bordello...I'm already conjuring up mental imagery of what I feel like it should smell like...come on...not a strip club, but a Bordello...more alluring class!

 

In the imp: I was pretty sure I wouldn't like this at all. It is a purply red scent...fruity (dat plum) with a dribble of red. Sounds nice, really, it just isn't something I normally wear.

 

On skin: Got a little more 'perfume'y!' I don't know what note that is...I'm not the best at picking them out yet...but its a very nice woman-ly scent! Smells like a cathouse where there would be heavy drink and smoke...but without the smoke! Its an awesome scent! Totally evocative of the old west, hot wind out the doors and the close scent of heaving busts layered with cheap jewels and primped hair! Nothing cheap about the scent though. The plum is noticeable, man I didn't know how beautiful plum could be...the amaretto is so slight...rounding it off...and I can almost taste the wine through the scent rather than heavily smell it.

 

Drydown: I can only smell it when I bring my wrist to my nose...but then again I only have an imp of it...and the wand doesn't slather like I would with a bottle. Dries down to a smokey wine/plum/perfume. Its really pretty. I think I like the drydown the best!

 

I am saving this imp for sure. I don't know yet if I would order it...it doesn't WOW me by any means, but it surprises me now and then with how pretty it is...and I wonder if I could get to liking it. Definitely a picture painting scent.

Edited December 9, 2015 by Bassmastadroog

[LizziesLuck]

I tried this way back in 2005 when I first got into BPAL.

 

I recently received a frimp of it from the Lab, and thought maybe I would give it another shot, as my tastes and chemistry have changes. My original notes on it read simply, "Berries, Cool Whip, Plastic. Yuck"

 

I have to agree with myself. The plum has gone to that fake plastic berry note, as it does half the time on me. There's something overly sweet, and decidedly yucky. Not for me!

[Sue Dribben-Dickson]

The perfect sweet scent with booze. It makes me want to be a tad naughty. I bought a bottle. While wet the sweet is intense, it tones down to perfection and lasts quite a long time. I'm surprised to find that plum works with my chemistry.

[Cali]

I love this in the imp!! It's kinda like an artificial cherry, like a lipgloss I had years ago.

I'm not getting anything boozy to be honest. On drydown the lighter sweet notes dissapear and I'm left with mostly sticky plum/bubblegum.
...I still really like it. Might need a bottle in the future.

[Casablanca]

Nasty sour red wine used as an overnight hobo skin soak.

[joopjoop]

I love the description of this one and it was in my first BPAL order of imps. I tried it once and was disappointed, so I set it aside for a few months to see if it would improve with age (or if my nose/tastes would morph at all).

 

I tried it again this morning and NOPE! Sadly, on me this is one giant sweet sticky syrupy mess.

 

To me (and on my skin) Bordello smells like someone soaked a plum in amaretto and cherry cordial and set it on fire. And then dumped a bunch of sugar on top to put out the fire.

 

Too bad. I'm jealous of those who can wear Bordello because I love plums and I love amaretto and I really want this to work on my skin. But you can't fight chemistry.

[freyasfae]

This just smells like hard candies to me, cloyingly sweet with a touch of booziness. Nope.

[Miss Landau]

Plums well on their way to becoming prunes, and dust. That sounds terrible but I can't stop sniffing my wrist.

[Elspethdixon]

In the imp/wet - sweet/juicy red fruit.

Freshly applied/just starting to dry - the sweet red fruit has become dryer, and I swear I smell leather somewhere in there as well. It's a very sophisticated smell, the the kind of thing I expected Red Rider to smell like (instead of the single-note tack-room leather Red Rider actually was on me). I don't get any of the sweet grape Manischewitz the red wine note in some other blends becomes on me, just red/burgundy-colored leather and warm fruitiness that's somehow sexy rather than overtly foodie.

After the first fifteen minutes or so, the leather note (or whatever it was, since leather's not actually a listed note) vanishes and the amaretto comes forward to complement the fruit. At this point, the sophisticated bordello where people drink dry red wine while sitting in plush leather chairs turns into a cozy kitchen with bakewell tarts cooking in the oven. The sexiness is replaced by sweet/warm/slightly-foodie coziness, and instead of burgundy leather, it now makes me think of a soft/fuzzy red sweater.

Over the course of the drydown it gradually gets softer and less fruity until a couple hours later, I'm left with a warm/soft amaretto scent with hints of something amber-y.

[Alexis Trout]

One of my all-time favorite BPAL's! I've been wearing this for years. It has a warm, smokey scent. I've noticed that

the bottles that I have that are more lab-fresh leave me with more of a lime note. Not sure where that comes

from. I like my Bordello aged! I always carry this one in my purse, along with Snake Charmer. I have had so

many compliments on Bordello, it lasts a long time on me and is pretty much my signature scent in our family.

[Convallaria]

For a "Bordello", it's surprisingly wholesome. Grape/red berry mix juice, all the way. (Not the wine note.) Intense and lasts rather long. Not for me, but I'll probably keep the frimp to see how it changes with age.

[puddingirl]

Frimp. The plum and blackcurrant are dominant in the imp. On and wet it smell like a berry candy. The fake sweetness is calming down as it dries and a wine note is trying to peek through. I'm liking this more, it's currently reminding me of my childhood. A soap maybe, bubble bath? Unsure, but I like it This is becoming more faint as it dries, and from far off I get a soapy smell, so I don't think I'll be wearing this.

[me & lola]

This is not only my favorite BPAL, but my all time favorite scent of any kind. Other perfumes I get sick of and drop from my catalog, but never Bordello. It's been in regular rotation on my skin for over ten years.

 

The Lab's description encapsulates this better than anything I could scribble down. It's not the kind of thing I would wear to church or to class or to the doctor's office. It's a deeply sexy, boozy plum, lush and ripe, the kind of thing that makes you want to wink at every guy you pass. When I was a little girl, I wanted to grow up to be a can can dancer. This is a can can dancer kind of scent. It doesn't morph much as it dries, though more of the amaretto comes out to play.

[roseus]

This smells candy sweet to my in the imp, and I thought it was going to be too fruity and sweet in general for me. However, it does deepen somewhat on me. It doesn't get boozy, or particularly sultry on me. But it straddles this sexy-innocence thing. It's juicy and ripe, and is in the same vein as Mme. Moriarty to me, only a little lighter and sweeter. I may need a bottle!

[b00cat]

Frimp from a decant circle

 

Fresh from the imp I get a grape jolly rancher dipped in booze. Doesn't morph as it dries down, but softens a bit instead. I used one tiny dab and it has pretty powerful throw...and longevity.

 

I'm not a big fan of boozy scents, but out of the ones I have tried as to date, this one is the most wearable. Pretty, but not my thing.

[TiniestSpider]

As other people have suggested, Bordello is a bit too sweet to be wearable for every day. The strongest note for me is the plum and it lingers throughout the dry down. When I first opened the bottle, it reminded me of plum cotton candy, which is not a scent that mingles well with my body chemistry. Over time, the oil has melded a bit more, and the amaretto and hints of wine have mellowed the sugariness quite a bit.

 

Though I do periodically wear Bordello straight, I am much more likely to layer it. Putting a bit of Black Rider on top of Bordello helps to cut through the sweetness, and the leather adds a nice bit of depth to the overall scent. Bordello is definitely the type of scent that you have to play with in order to make your own.

[torikitty]

Wet: Plum and cherry. A bit like a chapstick from when I was a kid. Happy and sweet.
Dry: Wine and currant coming out more. Like an adult form of cherry chapstick.

[DiZZysTARdust]

This came as a frimp. I was intrigued by the blend but not enough to purchase it, so i was pleasantly surprised to recieve it. In the bottle i smell mainly the amaretto. On my skin ithe amaretto is still dominant but turn distinctly fruity, which lessens the sweetness. I don't really detect the wine. The blends stays pretty much the same as it dries and fades. I love it although i think it could be improved if the wine was a little stronger, just to take the sweetness down a notch. However, in that i suppose the name Bordello is fitting. This had a medium throw and is pretty lasting.

[Soupy Twist]

Slightly spicy Play-Doh.

 

This is the scent of the playroom in the Wild West section of the amusement park, where you'd send your kids while you and your friends dress up in "Old West" costumes to take a silly sepia photo with pretend money, bottles of "hooch," and fake cigars.