Two Loves

[mari4212]

Love beyond reach: sunset tones of amber, red musk, and blood orange with three chains of roses, velvet moss, white lilies, crocuses, violets, poppies, blue musk, neroli, angel's trumpet, frankincense, benzoin, and night-blooming flowers.

In the imp, and on wet: This is warm and rich florals, but still somehow soft. I think it's the amber undertone here that's keeping it nice, as amber loves me as much as I love it.

Initial drydown: I can pick out the rose, but the other notes are blending so much that I can't pick it apart and say what is playing out. It's just a warm floral that doesn't start yelling at me.

Later drydown: Yep, roses with a warm undertone. Edited May 5, 2010 by mari4212

[rayvn1]

This is the floral I'll reach for whenever I want to feel sultry and sexy

The musk and blood orange combine fabulously with the smoky amber and benzoin. Hints of incense, sweet flowers, and the darker scents of poppy and violet are also layered in there. Perfect! Absolutely a keeper.

[filigree_shadow]

From the notes, I thought this might be the sort of floral I can wear (I don't like heavy florals), but... no.

There's something weird about this scent. There's an odd sweetness to it that's a bit high-pitched and sharp. Frankincense, possibly? I'm thinking it's the frankincense + blood orange combo that's doin' me wrong here. I like the musks, and to be honest the florals aren't bad at all. But it's just that weird sweet smoky overtone that's not working for me. I generally don't have great luck with frankincense, but if it's only a little bit sometimes it's okay. Not this one, though.

[obsidienne]

This is a very well blended scent considering the large variety of notes in here. And you'd think it would be FLORAL. But in my nose, it's truly not. Instead, I get a very dusky sunset like blend of amber/soft red musk/blood orange, with hints of florals over top. Those florals, despite their number, are quite subtle and (again) well blended. I cannot pick out ANY single floral except for two (see latter part of the review). I am especially sensitive to rose as it is my favourite floral, and I can't smell it at all. Boo. But otherwise, lovely! The scent makes me imagine that I'm sitting on a hill watching the sun go down in a blaze of red and orange gold glory. There are no sharp edges. It's smooth and warm. It's very lightly musky, too (very).

 

Unfortunately, there is a problem. Poppy. And violet. My nemeses. Rarely do those two notes allow a blend containing them work for me. I keep trying. I mostly fail. Although they are just as subtle as the rest of the notes, my nose's refusal to recognize poppy and violet as "pleasant" ruin what is otherwise a perfectly beautiful blend. I don't want to swap this particularly because I keep thinking maybe those notes might pass on, however I've read in various places that they don't tend to fade much with age. I have other perfumes I really love and can focus on, but it hurts that this one didn't quite work because it had (almost) everything going for it!

 

The strength and throw of Two Loves are both fairly light.

 

Edited Jan 1, 2014: This sat on my sales page for a loooong time with no bites. And then I tried it again, and realized it was not going to another home (if someone had wanted it). I used to find the violet and poppy notes off putting, but as this has aged, my initial impression of warmth at sunset has only grown into a glorious feeling, and I no longer have any quibbles about this scent. The rose is a little stronger now, with sweet wafts of other florals. I smell the poppy and violet, but they now seem to add to the dusky warmth of the blend and don't irritate me. I'm not good enough to pick out the individual notes, but the overall impression of deep warm oranges and reds and richness just make me adore this. It's sweet, ambery, warmly floral, and enveloping. It's very sensual, but not a sexpot blend. I've never smelled anything quite like it in the BPAL lineup and I'm so glad I kept it!

Edited January 1, 2014 by obsidienne

[hersphinxness]

In my bottle, this is mostly a sweet, warm orange, but not a citrusy orange (if that makes any sense!), with hints of resin and flowers.

 

On, the orange fades out quickly and stays in the background. The musk, resin, and floral notes step up and blend together in this glorious warm blanket of bliss. I get a "sunset" vibe from this, too. It also has a classic feel, but with a twist, and in the best possible sense. Everything is in such perfect balance, it's never too sweet or too musky, not sharp or overwhelming. It's very "well bred", but something in combination gives it a unique edge. It's definitely not generic. Quite lovely, sophisticated, even a little sultry.

 

It is very close to the skin, but I've found that as it ages it seems to last longer.

 

Thank god it's beautiful, because I might have had to force myself to wear it anyway, just because! Two Loves, come on!

[cinnamonster]

This is a rose among very few. By which I mean for a blend with rose, I cannot really tell it is there. Very very rare. I guess I amp frankincense more!! Frankincense, with a hint of floral (lilies and a kind of night scented stocks type floral, something white and blue, not rose) and a smidge of orange, also rare for me since I burn up citrus like nobodies business, for examples The Haunted Palace became single note rose on me

In fact, this smells kind of how The Haunted Palace maybe should have ended up.

 

Incidentally this is smelling somewhat different on the other hand...literally the the other hand One hand is verging on metallic with a salt and vinegar undertone...yikes. Left hand only for this scent methinks!

[brilliantcat]

In the bottle: Complex florals and a hint of musk.

 

Immediately after application: The type of florals I like, deep and heady, with undertones of musk and a hit of orange.

 

Warming up: ROSE. ROSEROSEROSE. PAINTING THE ROSES RED IN A ROSE GARDEN ROSES. The other scents are there but the rose is overpowering nearly everything else, including the musk. Color me shocked O_O

 

Fading: Not even getting there. Way too heavy on the rose. All I can smell is rose. IT IS BURNING MY NOSE WITH ROSE /poet

 

Faded: Not waiting to find out. I can tell this is going to last. And last. And last. Which would be awesome if I liked it. But I don't. Off it comes. There's a chance the rose will mellow and let the other notes come out again but I am not willing to suffer through hours of rose-scented torture to find out. *swabs wrists with alcohol* ROSES *twitch*

 

Overall: WHAT I HAVE LEARNED: I AMP ROSES LIKE WHOA. I do not particularly like rose. Unlike Katu, I don't smell old ladyish particularly, I just don't LIKE it. The rose overwhelmed every other note in this blend and there are a lot of other notes including two musks. Two. And I amp musk as well. Dunno how I amped roses over musk but there you go.

[Lucchesa]

Testing blind what must be a pretty old imp by now, the only note I can make out is rose. That doesn't surprise me when I look at the list of components; when there's this much going on, I usually have trouble picking out notes. What's surprising is that the florals stomp all over the red musk instead of the other way around; I usually amp red musk to heaven, and I can barely tell it's there. The frank is imperceptible; the amber and blood orange, once I know they're there, are a warm glow. But ultimately this is too floral for me to enjoy wearing.