Ligeia

[VenusFlyTrap]

Jasmine, juniper berry and rose geranium.

This is one of my favorite of the Maelstrom.

I love jasmine and the addition of rose geranium made it a must try first!

(I don't know if this Ligeia is the same as the Bewitching Brews of yore.)

Very feminine and rounded floral. It's quite girly.

Wish I could get this in a big bottle but I will have to do with collecting multiples.

[slave1]

In Bottle: Holy jasmine Batman!!!!!!

 

On Skin: Um yeah… jasmine is the dominant note. Super thick and sweet. It is actually quite overwhelming and I don’t think I could ever really wear this scent. The juniper is very light in the background, a slight minty piney note. The rose geranium adds a somewhat sour note that contrasts the sickly sweetness of the jasmine. It’s actually a bit artificial smelling and it is quite cloying… This scent has a super strong throw and average staying power. It’s not me at all so it’s off to the swaps.

[medvssa]

Jasmine was my favorite flower when I was a kid, I picked flowers from the big jasmine plant that grew in the house next to my grandmother's, entwined with the fence. I loved the smell so much, and tried to extract it somehow, just putting flowers in water, in alcohol... of course nothing worked, I didn't have a clue how this was done. My grandmother's balcony had dozens of geraniums (probably another type though), I love the smell of Juniper and it's berries, and Poe is my favorite writer, so I had to get a decant of this! Even if I was afraid of the jasmine, because I haven't smelled any perfume with jasmine I liked, nothing smelled like the flowers...

 

... except Ligeia!

It is mostly jasmine, and the best I have ever smelled, it smells just like the flowers! It brings so many childhood memories

It is amazing, the juniper berry and geranium avoids it getting too sweet or concentrated, giving a "rest of the plant" feeling, a greener note in the background.

 

I love this, I am getting a bottle for sure.

[arabella]

First Impression: Jasmine:

 

Dries down to: Still jasmine, nicely tempered by the other notes.

 

Additional Comments: The juniper gives this a soft bite and the geranium, a peppery kick. I've really grown to love jasmine in the right combos and this is one of them. It may not be quite bottle-worthy but I'm certainly going to enjoy every bit of my imp.

 

Lasted: Several hours.

 

Rating: 3.5 out of 5

[blu°]

Preconceived notions: I don't expect to like this. From the imp it almost smells like gardenia or tuberose, more than like real jasmine.

 

Freshly applied:

 

Heavy jasmine that smells more like gardenia or tuberose than like real jasmine to me. Piercing. Sharp. Sweet. Musty.

I think it might be quite ok smelled from afar, but close to the skin it's narcotizingly strong.

It dries pretty fast and then is not all that sharp anymore, but veeeeery musty and heavy.

 

This regular jasmine scent is really not my thing, as much as I love essential jasmine sambac oil. While I've found some rare BPAL jasmine officinalis blends I get along with (Santa Eulària des Riu e.g.), Ligeia definitely doesn't belong to them. Off to swaps.

[yeahbutnobut]

Ligeia

 

In the imp: the sharp, almost masculine scent of juniper mixed with the more feminine, heady scent of jasmine.

Wet on skin: hmm, interesting mix, the jasmine and juniper contrast each other but work quite well. no sign of geranium yet.

Dry on skin: strong, slightly dry but very pleasant jasmine. It almost reminds me of a cross between Tunisian jasmine perfume and one of my jasmine candles (with even a hint of smoke and wax)…a very nice jasmine note indeed. Very heady-only those who can tolerate jasmine can handle this concentration of this flower's fragrance! Juniper has been pushed aside and pushed off the scene by this haughty jasmine, and geranium is nowhere to be seen-or smelt.

After a while: over time, the jasmine goes through an odd 'olive' stage (which is what some BPAL jasmine notes do-but not all) and after a while, it doesn't smell like that wonderful Tunisian jasmine scent I had before, but a dry, greenish scent. however, I get a slight hint of sweetness. The disappointing thing is that I hardly get any geranium from here at all-the note I was looking forward to most. If I do get any, it's very, very faint, and a greener geranium than the one I'm used to.

Verdict: at first, this started out as a mix of masculine juniper and feminine jasmine, the latter note eventually dominating the scent. For a while, this jasmine was very pleasant, almost like a Tunisian jasmine perfume in a candle form. But, like some BPAL jasmine notes do, it turned olive-y and dry and green on my skin. That was a bit of a disappointment, but not as much as not smelling the geranium that I hoped would turn up in the scent. But the show-offy jasmine took over and scared poor little geranium away for good, it seems, leaving faint traces of what could have been had the jasmine not been so dominant. It's not a bad scent, but I have other jasmine scents that I much prefer to this.

[mandragora]

In the imp: Well hello JASMINE.

Wet on me: Strange that it has the sweet pea note, kinda like Aeval but I don't see sweet pea on the description. It's different though, dryer, flatter smelling.

Drydown: It sweetens as it dries down and has some dark undertones.

Verdict: Slightly dark feminine, floral scent. It's intriguing, but it's too close to Aeval and Annabel Lee to my nose. So it's off to the swaps.

[jidabug]

This was a overall a very crisp, white floral with mucho strong jasmine, which I usually like. Ligeia also had a very powerful throw, but dried down to be a bit soapy for me. The jasmine was nice, but kind of overpowering in the end. A very floral, perfume-y kind of scent.

[Voleuse]

On first application, this is pure jasmine, sweet and sneeze-inducing (but pretty). After a minute, however, the juniper sneaks in and balances the blend with green.

 

A while later, the jasmine has all but disappeared, and I get only faint juniper berry. This ends up being faint geranium on me--pleasant, but nothing to die for.

[QueenFae]

A really pretty, feminine floral. The jasmine is definitely on top, and is strong and commanding. I can definitely smell the juniper berry and the rose geranium as well, but they are slightly undershadowed by the strength of the jasmine. This is a very nice blend, and it seems to have a bit more sticking power than most florals do, perhaps because of the juniper? I don't know if I need a full bottle, but I think I'll hold onto my decant for awhile. Beautiful!!

[Nekomata]

I got this in a swap. Wow, it smells sharp in the bottle, with a smoky undertone(The geranium I think). On my skin it absolutely explodes into jasmine. A tiy drop fills most of my personal space with scent. Wow. O_O I think I need to go rinse my hand.

[Ajila]

In the bottle - Jasmine

Wet on me - The sharpness of the juniper berries is coming through, but jasmine has a tendancy to go toilety on me and that's the dominant feeling of the blend.

Dry on me - In the background I think the powderyness of the juniper is nice, but I can't get over the jasmine.

[undream]

Strong, sweet jasmine! A very heady, sweet, feminine scent. I'm also getting an enormously interesting note up close to my skin on drydown, something with a sweeter bite to it, but I've no idea what it is that I am smelling, only that it seems to be keeping the jasmine from turning into hairspray on me, as it is wont to do!

 

Overall, a beautiful oil with lovely throw, and if the jasmine behaves, I will definitely be using up my imp.

[mirutai]

In the imp: A sharp, piercing jasmine. Hoo boy.

 

Wet: A veritable cloud of jasmine surrounds me! Very heady, quite sharp, very "perfumey". If I loved jasmine, this would be a good thing. However, since I only moderately like jasmine, this is a bit cloying.

 

Dry: OH. For about thirty glorious minutes, the geranium and juniper wrestle the jasmine into submission, producing a floral, spicey, slightly tart scent. Still quite heady, but very nice.

 

... and then the jasmine reigns supreme again. It's now a soft, wafting jasmine - has lost that sharp edge - but I can no longer detect the presence of the other components.

 

Just too much jasmine for me, although the brief emergence of the other notes was nice!

[girlmadasbirds]

way too floral for me! jasmine overkill!

[Diana]

In the bottle: lordy, that's some jasmine

wet: yes, still jasmine

drydown: still jasmine. however, as it continues to wear, the jasmine becomes less screachingly sharp, and mellows out to a softer floral note. the juniper berries aren't as strong as i'd like, but they seemed to add a short-lived burst of something semi-citrusy.overall, this is way more floral than something i'd wear on a regular basis.

 

ah, jasmine. i love you, but i hate you.

[Mary Mayhem]

A pretty medium weight floral. Reminds me a bit of Jasmine, though I really do not do well at picking out notes. It deepens a bit as it warms up. Has medium throw. Reminds me a bit of The Sleeper.

 

Turns to soap.

[gingersnapp]

I knew the jasmine would be strong (and it is) but I was really hopeful that the juniper and rose geranium would help temper it. For the most part, the throw is all jasmine, but it's not quite as annoying as it usually is, so I guess I got my wish. However, if I put my nose close to the skin where it was applied, there is an acrid, peppery smell that is almost reminiscent of poop or bad breath or something. I'm not sure what that is. I don't want to know either. I plan on enjoying the throw and keeping my wrists away from my face until this is gone.

[eviltemptressdq]

Ok, so I was a bit scared to smell this when I realized it was another jasmine smell... but it was GORGEOUS! Very flowery, and the other scents balanced out the jasmine so that it wasn't too much to handle. It even made me question the thought that I don't like jasmine, actually. Must be something ELSE I didn't like in a few other scents.

 

This scent was pretty strong in that it lasted a while (yay!). I loved it to much I rushed to BPAL and ordered me a full bottle in it's last few hours of it's lifespan. hehe. *phew* at the timing!

 

5 out of 5! LOVE THIS!

[BrightRedScream]

In the imp: Jasmine, with a very dark scent...juniper berry? Floral just comes ROLLING out of this one though!

 

Wet on the skin: Woah, that juniper berry is intense! I can smell the gardenia a little more now too...the jasmine kind of lingers.

 

Dry down: Jasmine has taken over again, with the juniper berry showing up every now and then to remind me it's there...the gardenia is pretty much gone..

It's odd. I didn't think I'd like this - but if it stays like this I will enjoy using this imp and will be on a search for a full size bottle.

 

Dry down after 15 minutes: Ew. This has started to smell like Buckley's Cough Syrup/Glue on me...I can't describe it..It's horrible

[bodegaselkie]

I was looking forwarding to trying Ligeia since I have a longtime association with the name and story. Like others' experiences, on me it is almost pure jasmine, which is too bad, as I love juniper for its sharpness and rose geranium as well. I wonder if there's any way to convince Beth to reformulate it so that the notes are more balanced? Or maybe she tried that and it smelled bad. I trust her judgment.

[gwyllgi]

Initially, this is (as virtually every other review indicates) jasmine. Jasmine, jasmine, and more jasmine. Sickeningly-sweet jasmine. Very, very strong jasmine, too - I could smell it as I went about preparing dinner. When you can smell perfume over browning hamburger, it's strong.

 

As it dries, the jasmine thankfully stops flaunting itself and lets the other scents creep through. The juniper berry adds a sharpness under the sweet, while the geranium softens it, somehow blurring the scent.

 

All told, it's just a wee bit sharp and sweet for me. I'll hang on to the bottle regardless, as I'm a packrat and eternally optimistic, but it'll be a while before I give this one a shot again.

[darkitysnark]

Courtesy of sookster's Aerosmith contest \m/ (you ROCK!).

 

Jasmine jasmine jasmine jasmine JASMINE!

 

Like most blends that contain jasmine, my skin seems to suck up all the other parts of the blend and just throw back jasmine with great force.

 

But this jasmine, unlike the others I've tried, doesn't go meaty on me (thank goodness). I'm assuming that the juniper and rose geranium play a tempering sort of supporting role here. I can't really pick them up, but I'm also not trying to run away from my own wrists so something is working here.

 

This is a great lush summer scent. I want to give it a couple more tries to see if I can coax the other two kids out to play. Funny how the lab takes everything I though I hated (rose, jasmine, pathouli) and turns them into if not grand loves, then at least lovely daliances.

[grrrlennyl]

at first: holy jasmine, batman.

on: all jasmine, all the time.

2 hours later: all jasmine.

6 hours later: soft, sweet, heady jasmine.

overall: i like jasmine, but not enough to wear it on its own, which what it is on me in this blend.

[themerrybaker]

One of the better jasmines for me: the geranium keeps it sharp and a little bitter and weedy. No discernable juniper, but there seems to be a roasted grain/salty undertone.

 

 

 

I liked Ligiea more than I expected to.