Tears, Idle Tears

[Dark Alice]

TEARS, IDLE TEARS
Tears, idle tears, I know not what they mean,
Tears from the depth of some divine despair
Rise in the heart, and gather to the eyes,
In looking on the happy Autumn-fields,
And thinking of the days that are no more.

Fresh as the first beam glittering on a sail,
That brings our friends up from the underworld,
Sad as the last which reddens over one
That sinks with all we love below the verge;
So sad, so fresh, the days that are no more.

Ah, sad and strange as in dark summer dawns
The earliest pipe of half-awakened birds
To dying ears, when unto dying eyes
The casement slowly grows a glimmering square;
So sad, so strange, the days that are no more.

Dear as remembered kisses after death,
And sweet as those by hopeless fancy feigned
On lips that are for others; deep as love,
Deep as first love, and wild with all regret;
O Death in Life, the days that are no more!

(Lord Alfred Tennyson)

A bittersweet aquatic lifted by white rose, olibanum, amber, orris root, davana, and oude.

I can't believe I am the first to review this. This aquatic is the same note on my skin as Festival of Anukhet. Light, clear blue water with hints of orris. I like this...but not enough to purchase another bottle. Many thanks to a gorgeous Forumite for gifting this to me. I will be using this until it is all gone.

[cfrancesca]

At first I get sweet fresh water and soft hints of resins, as it dries the rose and a bit of amber start to amp. It settles into a fresh, watery rose, with soft olibanum and hints of amber.

[countessmouse]

Lovely, lovely aquatic florals with amber and just a hint of vanilla from the davana. Wonderful throw, too.

 

This just got added to the "must get a bottle" list.

[Blood onmy hands]

Tears isn't as bad as I thought it would be, though the aquatic is still slightly soapy and a bit too sharp on my skin. The white rose and orris come across as soft, sweet florals that, probably thanks to the amber, turn slightly powdery in the drydown. The overall feel is like soapy clean skin that's been dusted with sweet floral powder.

It's a very light and delicate scent on my skin. Not bad, but not for me.

[filigree_shadow]

When I first put it on, it was a watery rose scent, and my hopes leaped up. Dewy/watery roses are my favorite roses. Plus I really like davana.

 

Then it dried and I could no longer smell any rose scent. The aquatic note is still there, but there's kind of a smoky dryness too, which is a little weird with that watery scent. I think the olibanum is pushing this a little too far it that direction for me.

[Invidiana]

I wa really excited when I saw aquatics and olibanum because it seemed like this would be Falling Leaf Moon's springtime cousin; I also love oude and davana. Unfortuantely something here doesn't quite cooperate and it ends up smelling like...salty rosewater. Now I'm crying endless tears.

[Lucretia]

I actually really, really like this one, and I'm not generally a fan of aquatics. I definitely a rose note, and then what smells to me like the oude and the davana (it smells like a delicate wooden box with roses in it to some extent). I'm not picking up much amber at all.

 

On me it's definitely a rose scent with something light and sweet tying all together. It actually smells very comforting on me and I'm debating a second bottle.

[zankoku_zen]

So this starts as a soft, rosey aquatic and then dries down to oude and davana, so it smells like woods with an overlay of rose.

 

Very faint, and my skin eats this right up.

[ljaylh]

First up, I have to say this is a beautiful poem.. sad, haunting, beautiful. So I had to try this blend purely because I love the poem - even though I didn't have much hope for it since the only note that really appealed was oude.

 

When first applied, I got the watery rose that others have mentioned but with the oude smelling quite resinous and sweet/dark in the background. That quickly faded into a pretty generic rose smell (my skin amps rose, so your results may differ) with a hint of amber. On me, it ends up smelling like dried roses (pink and white, pale roses rather than dark ones) with a bit of smokiness and a slight plastic top note. And it fades pretty fast.

 

So this one is just not for me.. but I'm glad I gave it a try.

[LightLikeKnives]

I don't think I can add much to the BPL catalog description, except emphasis: it is exactly what a frigid-hearted, disdainful, rich spinster would wear. On my skin, at least, it is the quintessential old woman's perfume. It is heavy and close, with just the barest hint of the exotic. (Yes, I was sucked in by the description and the poem.)

[milo]

Beautiful aquatic, not so sharp, maybe due to the amber? So it ends up being a 'warm', inviting aquatic, if that makes sense. Smells like a bit of mint here, as well. Unfortuneately, it is a fast fader on me, and I slathered. Nice to try though, as these types of blends don't normally work for me. If it had stuck around for any length of time on me, I may have sprung for a bottle. Very pretty.

[yeahbutnobut]

Tears, Idle Tears

 

In the imp: soft salty-sweet water. It has the sweetness of the river/lake scents but also a hint of salt to it.

Wet on skin: oh my. This reminds me of my Egyptian lotus perfume.

Dry on skin: really beautiful. It reminds me first and foremost of a perfume a friend got me from Egypt, which smells like blue lotus. This doesn’t have lotus as a note but I smell it, a fresh clean floral with a watery scent. however I must say that this one is a lot saltier than the Egyptian perfume, it’s like a lotus flower with a splash of sea water. It also reminds me of the brackish scent of Coney Island Creek, but a lot more feminine. It also reminds me of Penthus, the scent of tears and roses. I think I smell a tiny bit of resin and wood.

After a while: a fresh aquatic floral. This reminds me of Sea of Glass now, but with that lovely blue-white flower note that makes me think of waterlily. It still reminds me of the lotus scent, but it’s now a bit ozone-y like some of the sea air BPALs, and there’s a light musk, maybe white musk, but that could be the orris. Not much rose or amber at this point (other than a bit of warm sweetness).

After a few hours I smell more of the olibanum, and a very gentle oude note-not the usual dry woody scent I get from that note. But the dominant scent is still that of the aquatic notes.

Verdict: this is a surprisingly nice aquatic! It’s not soapy; it smells fresh and clean without smelling like washing powder. It reminds me of the Nile goddess inspired scents, or of blue lotus Egyptian perfume, but there’s a bit more saltiness here. The ‘tears’ note here smells more like a sea breeze to me, it’s airy, almost like ozone. I like the way the other notes ground the scent though, especially the resins that come out more as the scent develops. It’s a very pretty scent, but I’m not sure if it’s a favourite.

Is it a keeper? I may keep it but I think there are other scents like this that I prefer.

If you like this, try: Sea of Glass, Pool of Tears, Penthus, Epitaph, Hatmehit, Festival of Anuket