Yerevan

[Blood onmy hands]

Brimming with native fruits and flowers, but also imbued with the power of native earth magicks: apricot and pomegranate with deep plum, wild roses, two Middle Eastern pale musks, white orchid, iris and sweet roots.

First on I am getting nothing but apricots. Very heavy, sweet apricots. Like the kind that come in a can and are smothered in thick syrup. This is the exact sort of fruity scent that I cannot stand for some reason. I love sweet foodie scents... but I usually hate sweet fruity scents. No clue why.

After a few minutes the pomegranate comes out and this takes on the tart bitter edge that pomegranate always smells of on me. Curse my skin chemistry.

And then in the drydown I smell like musky canned apricots. It's a light scent with very little throw on me, so at least the musk isn't giving me a headache.

I'll be swapping my imp as I do not really like fruity scents or musky scents. Fruity musk is just not me.

[shayelea]

In the bottle: Sweet. A bit too sweet, like some kind of fake fruity scent?

 

Wet: Hm. Smells like spicy soap.

 

Drydown: Yep. Spicy soap...and a bit powdery, so it's pricking my allergies.

[silver_springs]

Another frimp from the lab.

 

I think this is the first scent I've tried that smells exactly the same in the bottle and when on my skin.

 

Yerevan is wonderful. I think I'm in love. It's a sugary musk of flowers with a hint of plum.

 

Slightly girly but more classic and timeless than fun and youthful.

 

I've liked every plum scent I've tried so far I think. I do believe plum agrees with me. And this one is going on my big bottle list.

[lookingglass]

Super strong apricots! Ugh, oh...my peach association is just too close behind! I need to put that aside and meet Yerevan for the scent that it is...

 

Apricot aside...I don't get many other fruits. The pomegranate is giving it a bit of a fizz, and the plum may be darkening it...but, really, I just get a lot of APRICOT.

 

The roots give this an earthiness once dry, which is quite nice.

 

Overall, this scent on me reminds me of walking through a KY peach orchard past its prime, when the limbs are broken from the summer storms, and the overripe fruit is fermenting on the ground beside them.

[Loligo]

After being utterly and unexpectedly ravished by March Hare (OMFG yum!!), I sought out everything else I could find with apricots. This? Hardly smells like apricots at all. Instead it smells like Hi-C fruit punch at first. Then the florals come out, and the whole thing drifts away into a light, gently sweet fruity floral. Pleasant enough, but I've come to realize that I really prefer bold, in-your-face scents. I got this imp in trade and it's labeled "Old Yerevan" -- I don't know when they dropped the Old from the original Wanderlust scents, so possibly this imp has been around a while and lost some of its former glory.

[karikazo]

I received this in a very generous swap from OriginalWacky!

 

I didn't care for this the first time I tried it, but it has grown on me. It's definitely apricots with a hint of flowers, but there's another scent hiding in the background. It's the kind of thing that is utterly familiar to me but I can't quite put my finger on what it is--it's almost reminiscent of a fresh coconut to me, though not a toasted or sugared coconut. I'm not sure what it is, but it makes Yerevan very intriguing.

 

I love apricot scents and while March Hare is my favorite, this is nice for a change--a rounder, softer, more complex apricot scent, with something else lurking in it. It's quite delicious.

[Wench457]

ITB: Sweet, with just a hint of florals. On: Florals come to the fore, but I still get a whiff of the fruit. Nice throw. Dry: Nice, medium floral that sort of floats around me. It's pretty, but doesn't wow me. I may have to try it again.

[Penance]

Origin:

 

Much-appreciated lagniappe from the Lab.

 

Preconceived notions:

 

I've been waffling over trying Yerevan for what seems like forever, so I'm thrilled to have been gifted with an imp of this to assuage my curiosity. This will probably be hit or miss for me. I love apricot and plum (they're about the only fruit notes I genuinely like as perfume) and I like light musks, but the pomegranate (turns into gummy bears on me for some reason), rose (probably one of my least favorite florals), orchid/iris (just not a floral fan in general) and sweet roots (no idea what to expect) have me worried.

 

First sniff:

 

I opened my armoire to get my imp of Yerevan and was blasted with a beautiful fruity floral scent that confused me until I saw that my imp had been leaking through the label.

 

Smelling the leakage (well, that sounds kind of gross, putting it like that, but...), I smell apricot, pomegranate, plum and a sort of soft, musky floral that's surprisingly pretty (part is rose, but I'm not sure what the rest is...could be iris or orchid or both; I'm not good with florals). This could definitely work, though; it's not too girly and not too sweet, either.

 

Wet on skin:

 

Mmm, apricot...but wait, there's flowers here, too, and I think they're too strong for me. I love this in the imp (and all over the label, too, I might add), but as usual it looks as though my skin chemistry is having a field day with the floral notes in here. Why my skin has to amp up notes that I don't like, I have no idea. It's fickle that way.

 

Dry down:

 

I'm getting what must be the "sweet roots" in here. It's hard to describe, but it smells almost identical to a Chaos blend I tried...sort of sweet and slightly starchy smelling. The florals are still putting in a strong appearance, too, but there's no sign of the fruit, not even the dreaded gummy bear pomegranate abomination I was fearing.

 

The bottom line:

 

So promising in the imp, but it just doesn't work with my skin chemistry. Maybe I'll use this as a room scent or in a scent locket. I need to get it out of the imp before it all leaks out anyway.

[wingedcorset]

This was a gorgeous fruity scent. Too bad it gave me a splitting headache.

[Fleurdelys]

Yerevan confused my nose. I had to wear this twice, on two different days. I liked it, and then I didn't like it, and then I liked it again. I think it was really more a matter of I wanted to like it.

 

Wet: This is cough syrup, straight out of the bottle

 

Ten minutes later, I could start to separate the scents a bit. The apricot is too sweet and cloying at this stage, still. But I could detect just a bit of spice and musk waiting in the wings, and it gave me hope.

 

Forty-Five minutes later, the delicious spices and musk were trying to push the apricot off the stage, and she just wasn't having it. There's this awful sickly sweet overlay over a gorgeous spice/musk scent. I so wanted the apricot to go away, but my skin takes anything sweet and amps it.

 

After an hour and a half, that cough syrup note was still there, and I just couldn't take it any longer. I really wanted to like Yerevan, but Fae behaves so much better on my skin, for a similar sort of scent. Off to the swaps!

[Fefferbella]

I was hoping for a nice fruity scent with Yerevan, but on my skin this turns to soap and apricots.

 

The apricot note is really lovely, but somthing in the florals is turning into a soap note.

 

off to the swap pile.

[Phaedra]

Wet this is sweet pomegranate and maybe coconut. It goes on as a nice nutty coconut with a sweet undertone. It’s warm and floral- rose. This is very pretty. After a few minutes I can smell the plum and this is rich and sexy, earthy and round. It reminds me of Arachne and Queen of Clubs. After about 30 or 40 minutes it starts to soften even more. It dries down to a warm floral blend. This one is really nice and I will definately enjoy using the imp.

[Celogrl]

Sweet, juicy and VERY complex! The lab included this in my order and I am thrilled that they did. It's another 'I wouldn't have ordered it, but I like it'. To my nose, it's mostly apricot with a hint of plum & flowers. I just wish that it had some staying power on me. That's okay- I'll just slather!

[Claire]

This is my first time reviewing a BPAL fragrance and this is actually the first BPAL fragrance that I have ever worn! (*Newbie alert!*) I received 12 Wanderlust imps today, and tried Yerevan first off.

 

First Impressions: Aside from being so excited it was ridiculous, my first impressions of Yerevan in the imp were warm, tart, fruity, liquid, and flowing. I didn't immediatly pick up on any distinct fruit notes. Just an over all liquid amberal tone.

 

Wet on Skin: Still thick and liquid. (I know I'm not explaining myself very well...sorry... ) This reminds me of light shining through thick amber glass, onto an oak floor. Golden and raw. Slightly tart, stinging at the back of my nostrils. Perhaps this is the apricot, but just smells like light to me. I'm still not getting a distinct fruit note yet. But I really like it alot. Mmmm.

 

Drying Down: Oh, this is a shame. I don't think the golden tone is going to last on me. My skin seems to have consumed it, and now I'm getting the musk notes rising sharply. I'm really not that into musk. (Reminds me of my Boyfriend's mum who hates me... *ha* )

 

Overall Feeling: Unfortunately this oil doesn't last on my skin. After and hour, it was gone, and all I was left with was a powdery light musk scent. I loved the first wet tones. It's a pity it didn't last. I'm certainly going to keep it as a room fragrance, but won't be buying a bigger bottle. Overall, I'm not disappointed, because it was still amazing, just not perfect for me!

 

The search has only just begun....

[Aredhel]

Rating (on skin): 1/5

Summarised in one word: Rose.

 

In the imp: Sweet, juicy apricot! I'm not a big apricot fan, but this is actually very nice.

 

On skin, wet: Strong, lovely apricot and... uh oh. Rose! I also smell plum and orchid, but the rose is already beginning to take over.

 

On skin, dry: Damn it all. Rose! The rose is completely taking over, as it almost always does on my skin. I was actually really digging this until the rose showed up to ruin everything.

 

Throw/strength: It has a weak-to-average throw. I was able to smell it normally for three hours, and while sniffing my wrist for four.

 

Conclusion: Rose and I, we don't get along very well, though my skin seems to absolutely love it, for all it amps up that damned note.

Edited December 1, 2005 by Aredhel

[Miss Lynx]

I wasn't really sure if this one would work for me or not - it has such a wide assortment of notes that it would really depend on what came out stronger. The florals worried me, but the fruits and musks appealled, and the "sweet roots" were just kind of a mystery.

 

On first application, it's kind of a wet fruity floral, in the same general ballpark as Xiutehcutli or Lampades. Initially my skin did seem to start amping up the florals, but the fruity notes held their own as well. And after a little while, the florals settled back down and the musks came out a bit more, and it became more of a gentle fruity musk with just a touch of floral, and an almost incensey undertone to it that might be the roots. Sweet, but not overly so. Very nice.

 

It's a soft scent, that stays fairly close to the skin, at least on me, but quite pretty. Only downside is that it doesn't have much in the way of staying power - it doesn't disappear as fast as Mantis or Silk Road, but it's not exactly in there for the long haul either. I think it's a little too delicate to be really durable. But I find that if I put it on fairly generously, and in more places than just my wrists, it hangs in there long enough to be worthwhile. And the little whiffs I occasionally get of it seem to be a nice mood-lifter - there's something calming and peaceful about it, so I think this is going to go on my list of anti-stress scents.

 

Grade: B/B+

[Alohasca]

I so totally hate this. Every time I try it, it smells more and more like rancid butter. I even tried to get rid of it using 2 drops in a diffuser. Yikes.

 

I'll give it to a friend. Hopefully we'll still be friends after this.

[magdalene]

in the bottle: plums and pomengranates.

 

wet on skin: ooof, there's some apricots in here too. This is very much a juicy scent. It reminds me of a couple weeks ago, when I taught my boyfriend and his brother the proper way of opening and de-seeding a pomengranate. Little, ruby-jewelled seeds spilling all around my fingers and staining everything they touch.

 

dry: fortunately, the apricot doesn't overpower everything within its reach. The plums keep it nicely in line.

[Katinka]

After the similar-sounding The Hanging Gardens and various other fruity scents didn't work out for me, I dreaded the possibility that Yerevan would also make me . However...

 

HOLY GORGEOUSNESS!!!

 

The first initial burst is apricot so natural and ripe, it's two seconds away from falling to the ground. The apricot tempers with time, allowing the other fruit and floral notes into the background for balance. Consider my socks knocked off -- I bought a bottle that same night.

[coulrophobe]

In the bottle: Bright, screaming apricot! Very juicy and sweet. And I love apricot, so this is a good sign.

 

On: The blend grows more complex as it begins to dry down. There's a clean smell that's just on the verge of being both soapy and manly lurking underneath the fruity notes - it's the musk, and to me it smells similar to the musk notes in Vechernyaya.

 

I use Depraved for my apricotty going-out scent - but this can be my nice comfy reading-in-bed apricotty scent. Very pleasant and soothing.

[QueenFae]

Ooooo, quite lovely! A light floral with a bit of a fruity kick to it. The roses and apricot are definitely on top on my skin, which is an odd combination but one that works out beautifully. I can also detect a bit of the plum, hiding underneath. This one is really cool because it's a rosey floral without being too perfumey, and it's a fruity foody without being sickeningly sweet. I suspect the longer I wear it the stronger the rose will become, which is fine by me. A gorgeous, feel good blend for feeling sexy or just for having fun. Loved it!

[Aurelius]

In the vial: fruit punch!

 

Wet on skin: apricot! Fresh and almost fizzy.

 

Drying: warmer, and "rounder" if that makes sense. Great throw.

 

Dry: This smells just like the Strawberry Shortcake doll I had as a kid. My doll never smelled much like strawberries, for the record. It was vaguely fruity and vaguely plastic-y, but not in a bad way. Silly body chemistry! Too bad it didn't stay the same as when it was drying.

Edited January 22, 2006 by Aurelius

[Sycorax]

Apricot and plum! A few dusty florals keep this oil from becoming cloying, but they are mere bystanders comared to the fruit notes. If I had to use one word to describe Yerevan, it would be juicy. The apricot and plum are wet and vibrant, with an impressive degree of throw.

 

Unfprtunately, all good things have to end. After a half hour I begin to get the "plastic" note that other people have written about in this thread. I think it might be one of the florals going wrong.

 

Ah, well. Off to the swap pile.

[Caltha]

Yerevan

Seems like apricot is the one fruit/berry scent that works with me, and I don't even fancy apricots. Yerevan is sweet with an interesting citrusy bite and it dries to mild, sweet, artificial candy fruits, but it's rather nice, not the killer candy fruits I get with other fruit scents.

[AlaskaSnows]

I dunno, I do get the fruit, but it's kinda a wimpy watered down fruit. It has a nice sweet musky background though. I will try livening this up with some Fruit Moon and see what happens. Alone - too tame.