Sweet Life

[fairnymph]

SWEET LIFE
A luxurious blend of gardenia, pikaki, ylang ylang, and Casablanca lily.

Bright, somewhat sweet, intense florals. Gardenia front and center, dazzling white, with heady ylang ylang and a lovely clean lily note just below, while sweet pikaki brings up the rear. Hmm. Not as bad as I'd feared, but the gardenia is intense, and the ylang ylang (a note I detest) is definitely noticeable. But the pikaki and lily are lovely - in fact, the latter is the loveliest lily note I've ever smelled.

GARDENIA- quite intense, and it has that slightly...sour/off aspect that a certain gardenia note does on me. I can handle some gardenias, but this is not amongst them, I don't think. The pikaki (also amped) has a smoothness that takes it down a wee notch, though - takes the edge off. The ylang-ylang is magically much fainter on my skin, barely detectable in fact. Or maybe gardenia has killed it. The lily is about the same, but can't really compete with gardenia and I have to search for it. Still absolutely stunning - it reminds me of linden, or else there is linden in here as well - sweet and bright and yet soft and fresh.

The lily is amping, and it has both citrusy and green qualities - it's so feminine and fresh and girly and innocent and mmmm I love it! It can't beat gardenia, but it can make itself known, at least. The ylang-ylang has also amped up a bit, unfortunately, and it's either merged with the gardenia or else my brain has grouped it that way - the two heady, too-much florals. But yeah, this is still GARDENIA. The pikaki has faded a little, so this is a bit less sweet.

Huh. This is not so bad - the gardenia is still the sour kind (that z_z would call 'wet wool'), and ylang ylang is still heady, but the lily manages to shine amidst it all. It's not the least bit soapy, but it's gone a tiny touch powdery, in a very nice way. Most it's fresh and pure and girly, and it goes nicely with the smooth sweetness of the pikaki. The top two florals are dealbreakers for me, but I would LOVE to see more blends with this lily note. Great throw, but fades a bit over time. Edited February 4, 2010 by Shollin

[CiCi]

In the Bottle, Sweet Life smells all Gardenia and Pikaki. On, it lightens up but it is very floral but not annoyingly so. It is not a dainty Spring floral but more of a thick, heady floral but very feminine. I am really not a floral person but I do like Beth's Gardenia and Pikaki scents. I can't smell any ylang but the lily shows itself after about half an hour. The lily is very soft and adds a sweetness to this blend. This scent lasted all day and just faded a little.

I really like this and any of you floral lovers will too.

[angelicruin]

On my skin, heavy GARDENIA while wet. As it dries, I pick up the Lily as well. Morphs into a "soapy" scent on my skin within 15 minutes.

[musichappens]

 

Wow, gardenia and pikaki sure are making an entrance! I don't get too much of the lily or the ylang ylang, but that's perfectly fine with me. This blend is very intense and very floral, so it's not for the faint of heart. I absolutely love it and wish I had been able to get a full bottle. However, for now I will treasure my decant and hope that I can locate more in the future.

Edited February 21, 2010 by musichappens

[zankoku_zen]

GAH! This is a white floral soap. I have to say that the pikaki is the most dominant note, and the gardenia gives is a rather sour edge.

[Blood onmy hands]

I love gardenia (one of the few floral notes that I love), but pikaki and lily both have a tendency to go soapy on me. And that's exactly what happens here. Sweet Life, on me, is creamy, tropical, sweet, perfumey gardenia, in soap-form. The scent gets a little sharper than I would like in the drydown, but it's too soapy for me to pull off anyhow. For some reason, I feel like I could see Paris Hilton wearing this. Anyhoo. I’m happy that I just went with a decant of this one, because I doubt that I'll wear it again. I'll take Tiki Queen and Possets' Silver Gardenias for my gardenia fix, lol.

[Eemia]

Amazing gardenia with a lush quality that just radiates off my skin. It's probably the most rich gardenia scent I own but for whatever reason I don't feel like it's overwhelming me at all. Heavy florals aren't really something I turn to in hot weather but this is the perfect fragrance for a warm summer night out. I feel like I should be wearing a corresponding gardenia in my hair whenever I wear this one. It's lush and exotic without straying from floral territory. So in a way it remains enticingly traditional. And I love nothing better than a beautiful floral.

 

While my mind keeps trying to pinpoint the other background notes as "plumeria," I know it must actually be the pikaki. It has that similar warm climate/tropical sensation. The lily is lovely and has a very faint soapiness, but overall it's behaving pretty well and not taking over the entire blend. I can never get too detailed with ylang ylang other than to say that it's unmistakably ylang ylang. For lack of any other way to describe it... it always smells heavy and round to me. And all of this smells wet and sort of humid.

 

I think this would be an instant classic for any fan of gardenia.

[StrangeLove]

I purchased this as an Urban Outfitters exclusive, where the description is:

 

"a luscious floral with predominant notes with tuberose, lily of the valley, and gardenia".

 

I'm not sure if this is different from the original(the actual perfume, not the description) or not, but I'm in love with this perfume.

 

I've kind of dropped off the face of the BPAL world, becoming disenchanted with fragrance in general. I kept(read: hoarded) just a few scents that I was absolutely in love with, and that was that. I'm not sure what got me to buy Sweet Life, but I'm happy I have a whole bottle.

 

Wet, it's kind of like a smack in the face with wet gardenia, which was kind of shocking and disappointing to me. It tempers down to creamy, dreamy florals reminiscent of silken petals and just as silken skin. I don't get "soap" at all, and I LOATHE soap/"fresh"/perfume scents. Way to get me re-hooked on BPAL!

[pinkstardust420]

Gorgeous gardenia, mixed with sweet tropical florals. This is just beautiful. However, for me, this sometimes gives me a headache though, sometime times not.

[damonkitty]

For some reason I had purchased this scent when it was released even though florals are not my thing at all . I think it was a purchase when I had this obsession with owning the "bottles" more than the scents. I have learned that destashing is a good thing and it is better to own bottles I will actually use. It you love florals this is your scent. I thing every floral death note for me is in this one bottle. If I recall correctly this scent never even made it to a skin test for me since the sniff test almost took me out. This scent is a floral lovers dream.

[Gin]

I bought Sweet Life for the gardenia. And that's mostly what I get. There's a moment where I can smell the dreaded ylang ylang, but it passes quickly. Very pretty.

[KittyHawk]

Let me preface this review by saying: I love me some gardenia. I am a gardenia FIEND. I have searched high and low for my holy grail gardenia blend and have come up short each and every time. Some go bubblegummy, some are sharp, others just lackluster. I was beginning to lose hope, that I would forever be destined for gardenia mediocrity...

 

And then I found Sweet Life.

 

Sweet Life is practically single note gardenia on me, though I do get a touch of ylang ylang and maaaaybe lily somewhere underneath, but if it's there, it's faint. I. LOVE. THIS. It is a bit cloying (the dreaded bubblegum) at first, but it dissipates after 30 minutes or so and blossoms into a gorgeous, creamy white bloom. And did I mention that this baby has throw? Because it does. Gardenias everywhere, all the time! I've only had it on for a couple hours so I can't really speak to its longevity, but given its throw, I imagine it will be good. You'll have to pry this bottle from my cold, dead fingers.

 

I'm going to go bask in this olfactory magnificence for awhile. This is a sweet life, indeed.