Redoul Honey

[Magycmyste]

In the imp: At first, I was getting grape Flintstone vitamin again. My second sniff got a deeper hint of fruit.

 

Wet on skin: Honestly, I'm getting something between blackberry and grape, with a hint of "kids' vitamins." It is a very dark scent. I wonder if the honey is giving it that vitamin edge I'm still getting.

 

Dried down: Less vitamin, more dark fruit now. It's a little closer to gummi bear for me now.

 

Throw: There's barely a hint of fruity scent around my head as I type, although maybe I didn't wait long enough.

 

Verdict: *** 1/* I don't know if I really like this or not. I definitely don't dislike it, and I think it's different from most of the others I have and like. I just don't see myself reaching for it as often as some others.

[bellumed]

My first impression was honey with something vaguely fruity, which I now suppose is blackberry, having read the other reviews. A bit sharp, but it softens up and goes a little powdery on my skin, like honey often does. This one is pretty subtle. Nice enough but I’m not all that attached to it. O remains my go-to honey scent.

[theseagrows]

i tried this because i like blackberry, but whoa is this sweeeet at first. it smells like cough syrup or definitely something medicinal. a few minutes later it's a very strong berry scent with a kind of sickly sweetness from the honey. it's very cloying on my skin and alas, this is why sometimes fruits and honey are complete no-no's for me.

[DiesMali]

There were six(!!!) free imps in the box with my Last Unicorn packs, and while sniffing them, I accidentally got Redoul Honey on me. Here’s a review of that:

In the imp: Cloyingly sweet and tangy honey-fruit scent at first, but then it reminds me of the blackberry breakfast syrup I used to make at the cafe where I worked. This smells like the hot syrup when I was sugaring it and cooking it down in the pan.

Wet on my skin: Hope you like honey, honey! Powerful sweet honey with that berry note, but it’s too strong and sharp to be entirely pleasant to my nose.

Dry: GET IT OFF. My skin chemistry does not work at all with something in this. I like honey, but this is honey with death mixed in. Literally. It’s like there’s this undercurrent of sweet rot and decay. On someone with the right skin chemistry, this could be a deliciously fruity honey, but not on me.

Edited January 24, 2015 by DiesMali

[Veronica]

Sweet powdered honey, with almost a wine note--like Anubis without the incense.

[sarandipitee]

Very sweet and green honey. A ripened berry, not a fresh/tart one. I quite like this, very close to the skin. I think I'll wear it more in Summer over Winter so I'll use my imp and decide on a bottle then.

[Casablanca]

Wand: I thought, "cherry-syrup berries?" Then I looked up redoul. It's a plant that produces a toxic blackberry-like fruit. The scent doesn't make me think of blackberries, but rather a cherry version of Dimetapp. Basically, it smells to me like an aromachemical cherry-grape. But this could be exactly as redoul berries smell, for all I know.

Wet: My imaginary cherry Dimetapp is, at least, a cheerful assault on the nose. Out of the earthly seasons, I'd call this one summery. But really it's more clinical.

Dry: As this dries, something starts to smell off. This isn't reacting well with my skin.

[Elspethdixon]

This is my favorite of the Apiary scents and one of my favorite BPAL honeys in general, but I've never reviewed it before. Time to remedy that.

In the imp/wet, it's basically a single note honey. As it starts to dry, an almost berry-like note starts to emerge, with a base of sweet, foody honey beneath it.

Then, the magic happens. By five or so minutes in, the honey smothers everything else and becomes dominant, just like it is in the imp. You can still catch a hint of the sweet berries, but Redoul Honey is indeed pretty much a honey single note. This is late summer honey, the kind that's super dark. Thick, rich, sweet honey, with that delicious honey-pollen almost crunchy sweetness that warm, partially-crystallized honey or freshly extracted honey being strained and processed can sometimes have.

Sadly, this glorious hyper-realistic honey phase only lasts about a half-hour before morphing into a more general sweet/thick/rich scent, with hints of floral and berry notes still lurking in there somewhere. It lasts another two-three hours, getting gradually softer and more powdery over time. I wish the "stick your face in sticky, just-used honey extraction equipment" phase lasted longer, but the later parts of the drydown are still sweet, sweet goodness.

I'm pretty sure that if I wore this at home around my parents' beehives, I'd be attacked.

[me & lola]

When wet, this is a glorious honey, with a nice, bright note of green. I never really get any berry from this one. As it dries, the greenery starts to fade away, leaving the sweet, lilting honey. It doesn't have much throw (very few BPAL scents do, with me) but it lingers for a long time. The smell reminds me very much of my dear departed Eau de Miel by L'Occitane.

[torikitty]

Wet: Blackberries, then a hint of sweetness from honey?

Dry: Blackberry jam, with a tiny hint of green leaves. Overall, this is a winner for someone wanting to get on the blackberry train.

[Bassmastadroog]

I spilled it all over everything last night! Yay!

 

On me it's a rich, lovely, apparently blackberry honey. I'm truly enjoying these honey variations. I might get a good bottle. Honey is so summery and sprig to me because I have hives! :3. I need to try out the rest!

 

This also has a sophisticated wiff about it.

[lizabelle]

This is absolutely luscious! The light, floral honey I love from so many of my favorite BPALs returns, accompanied by a deep, dark blackberry smell. There's a definite tartness here, even sharper than regular blackberries and almost reminiscent of rhubarb. I can totally buy this as a poisonous blackberry scent. Yet another from the apiary that will probably end up in my collection.

[Coldfire]

strong sharp deep honey. not as sugary as most honeys tend to get on me. this one is actually working on my skin and under my nose!

[Lucchesa]

This was a frimp from a generous forumite -- thank you! It's a keeper!

 

I had to look up redoul on Wikipedia -- turns out I could just have looked at the first review. A Mediterranean shrub with poisonous blackberry-like berries. I don't get dusky blackberry here -- and frankly, I would be thrilled with more blackberry scents in the catalog -- but something brighter. More like a salmonberry than a blackberry. This is not as heady and dark as the only other apiary scent I've tried, Deadly Nightshade Honey. On me it has a springtime vibe; I would wear Deadly Nightshade Honey in winter but would only wear this in winter if I were longing for a taste of spring.

 

This lasts forever on me, which is incredibly rare. I put it on around 11 last night (I know, I know) and can still smell it at eight in the morning. A fantastic choice for any situation where you want to smell fantastic all day but won't have the opportunity to reapply. An Alpine meadow hike? Wandering through Monet's garden? Perfect.

[ramblingrambler]

Jealous of anyone getting blackberry from this. Redoul Honey is a sharp, green scent on me and dries into... a sharp, green scent. Some time into drydown the honeyed sweetness comes out, but it isn't enough to tone down the sharpness.

[dementia_divine]

In the imp: Fruity (as in squished berries) honey.

 

Wet: Juicy blackberries and honey. This is the kind of honey a bear would love to eat. There's some greenery in here, and after a few minutes, there's a tartness to the berries. It's almost as if someone started devouring handfuls of these berries, and then they realized that these were the wrong sort of berries a few minutes later. The honey aspect to the scent isn't nearly as strong as the berry and greenery components, but it's there.

 

Dry: The berries are still going strong, but I'm not getting the green aspect of the scent any more, and the honey note is more noticeable during this phase of the scent.

 

Verdict: Most berry scents smell artificial on me. This one does not, but it's still not something I could see myself reaching for, since I'm not really drawn to fruity scents. But this was a lot more pleasant than I thought it would be, and I'm glad I got a chance to try it!

[donkehpoo]

Wet: Sweet, fruity, syrup-like honey. I definitely agree with previous reviews about blackberry being in this. Lots of throw.

 

Dry: Still a syrupy honey kind of scent, with just a touch of blackberry thrown in. Average throw. I like it!

I don't think I'll need a big bottle, since I'm not usually drawn to this type of scent, but I'll definitely keep my imp and use it up.

Edited June 16, 2018 by donkehpoo