Psyche

[Juliet's Silk]

The tale of Cupid and Psyche is both a perfect love story and an allegory for the soul's search to reunite with Deity. This is the scent of true love, your heart's deepest, purest desires. Bulgar rose, Chinese white musk, lavender, orchid and frankincense.

I used a rather aged imp, I'm guessing it is already 2-3 years old.
In the imp and wet on skin: Muted lavender with something else to it, I'm guessing it could be the orchid.
On my skin it stays very light, I have to sniff my wrist to detect the scent, even though I slathered quite a lot.

On drydown, the rose comes through and mingles with the lavender, it now smells like a sibling of Somnus. It's now even fainter so it is hard to judge how it smells like... but it still remembers me a lot of Somnus. Musk usually smells perfumey and powderey on me, so I'm glad that I don't get any musk here. I also don't get orchid or anything else - only rose with a hint of lavender in the background.

After like 20 minutes on my skin... this has almost faded away to nothingness. Edited October 2, 2008 by Juliet's Silk

[crebbsgirl]

Ok, I need to preface this review by stating that I don't think I've come across a rose blend yet that I really liked. Or rather, that liked me. That said, this is freaking gorgeous! I think it's the lavender/orchid combo that provides a tempering nature here, but whatever it is, the rose smells like rose, not the overpowering, in-your-face ROSE I normally get. I can definitely smell the orchid, and the lavender comes through in wafts. This is truly achingly beautiful.

[obsidienne]

Okay, this review will seem pointless, because... I can barely smell Psyche! Also, Psyche was my first leaky imp, which prompted me to do an emergency craft session last night so that all imps are now stored upright. Psyche's lack of smell turned out especially problematic for me because half the imp leaked in my case and I didn't even know it until I sorted through my imps only to find several stained labels! AAARGH.

 

When wearing Psyche, I get the faintest hints of lavender and rose, maybe some orchid, and something more complex; everything is so mind-bogglingly faint that it's like smelling something through a thick veil. As it dries, I honestly can only smell the faintest hint of perfume. It's frustrating, because I am sure that if I could smell Psyche, I'd love it to death (I adore lavender and rose). Because of its faintness, I can't really say much for it other than that is dried down into a rose-orchid blend for me. From what I could smell, that is.

 

I don't know, I might order another imp and see if the leakiness of this one compromised it.

 

Frustration galore, as I was really anticipating this scent!

[stillalive]

Eeek. Cannot get it to not smell like peppered scrambled eggs. *gags*

[jencallisto]

In the imp: Lavender, sharp and soft at the same time, somehow.

Fresh on the skin: Whoa. A lot more complex. The lavender is still there, but it's much sweeter and deeper. I've got a rather perfumey, powdery rose, and a strong... something as a base. Maybe the musk? I still don't really understand what the various musks smell like.

5 minutes later: And oh, there, at the edge of the scent, there's the incensey frankincense. Yes. This is... a bit strong of a floral for me. I suppose the orchid might be why the floral smells so blended to me -- it's getting so I can't pick out the lavender or rose, it's just a kind of soft, sweet, slightly spicy floral melded with the musk and incense.

15 minutes later: Ahhhh. The rose is blooming on my skin, as I both expected and hoped. (It's convenient that I both love rose and amp rose.) This is sweet and heady, maybe a little more so than my ideal floral for fear of headache, but I'm guessing it's going to soften down beautifully.

40 minutes later: Oh wow. It's powdered down completely to a sweet, just a little incensey, rose-dominated floral, fairly delicate and quite nice. For some reason I keep thinking of Psyche as "pale."

2 hours later: Pale pink powder, and has been for awhile. This is quite nice, actually. Not super-compelling, maybe, and I think it's going to fade fast, but really very nice. It has an interesting beauty to it, both strong and delicate.

3.5 hours later: Completely gone.

 

Verdict: Pretty nice, but disappeared quite fast. Not really me, but nice.

 

One phrase: pale and pretty.

[cymbeline]

Swap test!

 

Smell alike: The little sachets we and my mother use to do and put in our closets

 

Color impression: pale pink and lilac

 

On me: It’s faint and a tiny bit powdery. I like the orchid note. Not an unpleasant scent and not really blank but… definitely too discreet for me

 

Wearing: Fade away too quickly on me to get a real judgement. For the one who fears the lavender, no worry, even if strong in the imp, this one stayed tuned on my skin

[MCS4096]

In the frimp: Lavender mostly. A little rose or orchid. and a dash of frankincense. I love lavender, but as a perfume, I find it a little too astringent. We'll see..

 

Wet: The lavender fades away some, and it becomes balanced.. now I can smell the rose and orchid (which is lovely) better. The warmth of the frankincense is in a tug of war with the coldness of the lavender.

 

Dry: Very fresh and nice.. smells like a gorgeous moisturizing cream. Clean florals balanced perfectly with that distinct lavender note. The frankincense and musk just tie it together, adding a creamy base.

 

Overall: Very pleasantly surprised! I tend to prefer heavier, resinous sents (even year round), but I might like this on an especially hot day. I might buy an imp, to give it a proper test before I'd consider a bottle.. this is a light one, and I imagine to get some throw would take a lot of oil.

[Veronica]

Psyche dried down to a soft, complex slightly powdery floral on me, but it faded very quickly and had little throw--I was digging my nose into my wrist after an hour or so, just trying to get a whiff. Still, it's an incredibly beautiful complex scent, I'd definitely consider buying a big bottle!

Edited November 27, 2008 by delighted

[themorningafter]

This is incredibly lovely. At first i get a soft breeze of lavender, like standing next to the flowers on a windy day. Then the scent transforms into the most luscious rose scent, but it's very soft and weighed down perfectly by the musk. These notes blend together to create something ethereal and dreamy.

[CynicalPink]

Imp: Nice and light on the lavender, little bit of rose, hint of musk

 

Wet: Pretty! A really great lavender that doesn't get all medicinal. I just need to see if the rose will eat my arm. So far so good, though

 

Drydown: Awesome! A rose scent I can wear without smelling like my Great Aunt Dorothy! The lavender and light musk are keeping things well in hand, so the whole effect is very classically pretty.

 

Overall: If you've been hoping for a lavender scent that didn't smell like an astringent or a rose scent that didn't smell like an old timey sachet this one's for you!

[milo]

This is straight up soap to my nose. Not even a good, high end soap, but rather a very strong smelling generic one. On the plus side, I don't get any rose at all. Maybe frankinscence is a killer note for me? I love lavender, and maybe the combination is just not doing it. Oh well.

[awesomeoverlord]

Wet, this is mostly lavender with some other nondescript florals floating in the background. Upon drydown -- soap

 

I think I'm learning that I don't really enjoy lavender in combination with other florals. If I really concentrate, I can pick out the rose and orchid, but overall the lavender just makes me think sharp soapy floral.

[WidgetAlley]

Frimp from the Lab.

 

Imp: LAVENDER. Backed by a frankincense-rose smell and a very strong, very sharp white musk. I'm not getting a whole lot of orchid, which is a shame, because while lavender is good and frankincense and white musk are okay, I might really like this if it were orchid-heavy. Oh well.

 

Wet: Oh, there's the orchid. And the rose, which of course = soap. The musk in here is very, very high-pitched-- not the clean man-sweat smelling white musk but the perfumey, shrill, almost ozone-ish one. I agree with whoever said it smells like generic soap. In this case, it's generic soap with a much nicer orchid scent trying to peep out from underneath. Reminds me of Ode on Melancholy without the sweetness. Very light, very transparent.

 

Dry: The rose and musk have died back to leave a sweet, sophisticated, primly sexy scent... but it's awfully faint. Oh well, I can't say I'm terribly shocked. Although I have to say, the tiny bit of throw that this has is a gorgeous lavender-orchid with a twist of incense, that part I quite like, but I'm not sure if it's worth hanging on to yet. It might age well. Ah well, we'll see.

Edited March 18, 2009 by WidgetAlley

[anna1850]

I quite like lavender and this blend is an OK lavender blend but I don't really think it's anything special.

 

I can tells there are some other notes in there but I can't quite pick them out.

 

It's OK but I'm just not crazy about it.

 

2.5/5 Just kind of 'meh.'

[mgrazulis]

In the vial: wispy lavender,frankincense, rose

 

Wet on skin: light and fresh orchid with a light muskiness

 

Drydown: airy and soothing rose tinged with a mere earthiness from the lavender. Not a medicinally astringent lavender, just a calming note. The orchid is clean and a bit green. The sillage is low but the drydown is a soft floral with a light veil of smokiness from the frankincense.

 

Definitely one of the gentler and subtle oils in my BPAL collection.

[Lamia]

In the bottle, this smelled quite nice. Fresh on skin, it smelled like eucalyptus/lavender.

 

Drydown turned to, er, oregano and warm homemade tomato sauce Eventually, it turned to an actual soft floral, but then it faded almost instantly once it became nice. Trade bag.

 

Sheesh, my chemistry, I tell ya...

[BuxomM]

It's a complex rose scent.

[Xylis]

in the imp:

 

there's a certain sharpness to the scent; i can identify a thread of rose amidst other florals.. lavender? there is certainly a complexity to this scent. the innocence of the rose is caught in a whirl with strains of frankincense. i'm a little bit worried about this is going to turn out. i love roses as a rule, but frankincense intimidates me.

 

 

wet on my skin:

 

oh where be thou, fair rose? it's being shadowed by the frankincense which thankfully, isn't as overbearing as i feared.

 

 

the drydown:

 

first 5 minutes

 

compared to whip which i tried earlier on today, this is a more subtle scent. it takes more sniffing to discover a dance of different floral notes. it's hard to identify specfic ones; they play peek-a-boo, blending with each other into a pretty floral symphony. very pretty, but i'm still not getting my beloved rose. i'll need to let this sit for a while longer, but while i don't adore it, i certainly like it.

 

first hour

 

the sharpness of the frankincense is fading away, with a soothing lavender to take over its place. i'm kinda glad that i chose to wear this before bed, purple-tinged dreams after a long hectic week are like soft pillows of bliss. still no clear sign of the rose though, i'll keep sniffing!

 

second hour

 

oh goodness. my skin ate up the scent on my wrists. looks like the staying power of this isn't as strong as i'd hoped it would be. my neck's still holding on to the scent though, but i still can't detect the rose. horrors of horrors, it's actually turning a tad powdery.

 

 

final verdict:

 

everyone's got their favourite love story. while i adore the story behind this scent, it's just not going to be true love with a skin chemistry like mine. i'll probably give this one last whirl before i pass it on. *crosses fingers*

 

 

**ETA**

 

i gave psyche a second run today and for some reason, it was much sweeter than the first time. maybe it's because i'm in a way better mood than i was yesterday. i definitely loved it - while it lasted. sadly, the staying power of this blend is too brief. which is sad, because while it was at its best, this is big bottle material.

Edited August 22, 2009 by Xylis

[Ankica]

In the begining: Lavendar. No matter what else - lavendar is so strong that covers everything else...

thank god, very soon lavender gives a bit room for others... it is a mix of rose and touch of musk... not bad....

[Aldercy]

Aged imp with the old label.

 

Rosy rose rose. Very true to fresh picked red roses, but a little much for me. The white musk is also very evident-- I usually like Chinese musk, but this seems a slightly different variety (than in Wood Phoenix and Earth Phoenix) and becomes a little powdery on my skin. Were I to sense more frankincense, this would be alright, as I love the rose/frankincense pairing, but as it is, Psyche is not my style. Very in-your-face flowers.

[undream]

i don't get any rose in this at all; in the imp, it's all sharp, herbal lavender, and once on it blossoms into a lovely, sweetened, almost powdery perfume. it's beautiful, definitely, but no rose for me! &a little too commercially perfumey for my tastes.

 

on to the next!

[Yuurei]

Psyche:

In the bottle: Rose, lavender, and musk, all fairly balanced here I think.

 

Wet on wrist: Rose and musk stronger notes now, with the lavender moving to the background. It's floral yet spicy

 

Dry on wrist: A nice rose scent overall-very romantic and feminine. Good for a date night, and it definitely lingers.

[London]

Imp: Green and spicy, I think part of that is the frankincense.

 

Wet: Still very herbal green. I amp green things.. eep. >.<

 

Dry: Holy herbal. It's sharp.. like when my dad would mow the grass in the summer and it'd smell all green grassy outside for a while. No roses came out to play for me :/

[Invidiana]

This comes out as a soft, citrusy (?!) floral on me. Maybe my nose was all discombobulated from sniffing a bunch of other things, who knows. But it does have a pleasant veil-like quality from the white musk and sweet frankincense. The lavender and rose are very sheer, not herbal or overpowering at all.

[aquazoo]

A bit of detergent to start. That may be the lavender. The edge softens out for a musky floral.