Eternal

[mgrazulis]

Stephanotis, cyclamen, heliotrope, white rose and gardenia.

Gardenia~I'm afraid for this one...wet--this is soft white florals, elegant stephanotis mostly. If the gardenia is there it's carefully melded with the other florals at this point. The heliotrope spices it up with a hint of cinnamon and vanilla along with the white rose. Once dried the rose has left a sweet delicate remembrance. Subtle, stately and feminine.

[bubblefish]

Light, bright florals! Nothing too heavy, maybe a touch of "tropical" to it. Overall a nice, lovely blend perfect for the summer.

[Yoginispirit]

Well- so far I only have one other floral out of the many imps I've tried that I really like but I think I've finally found a second

At first it smells very much like the Fox Woman Kuzanoha Leaving Her Child but then it becomes shriller and whiter. More effervescent. The gardenia is heavy at first and very moist. It's quite a humid scent. But upon the drydown it becomes a little drier and I do imagine white boquets when I smell it. I'm very happy it's not turning to soap!

 

Something about it also reminds me Tissue from the Shunga's (before it aged and turned rancid on me ) The throw seems to greatly diminish as it dries however

 

I'll have to apply more another day and give it a complete test run.

[kohimame]

Well, I just got an order of imps yesterday (thanks schackjj!) and Eternal was the first one I popped on.

 

In the imp: The oil in the imp is very pale and delicate, and the scent feels somewhat the same. It's a very light floral, very well blended without any notes 'sticking out'.

 

Wet: Oooo! It smells like gardenias! It reminds me of this Chanel Gardenia perfume, only with more depth. I like it.

 

Drydown: ... soapy flowers? Shit.

 

I've decided my skin is the touch of death to perfume oils. If anything can go soapy/powdery/play-doh'y, it will.

 

Well, I still like this, soapy flowers and all. I'll just have to invest in a scent locket or something.

[Lethran]

In bottle: I don’t recognize several elements and due to the rose I’m not skin testing. (It will smell of rotting rose petals if I do, so no point). As a result, this may not be the most accurate of reviews. The scent is very young qande very floral. The heliotrope/gardenia/rose combination is well blended, but rather much for me. However, if you really like heliotrope and are under twenty one, this might be an inoffensive choice.

[distracts]

In the vial, it's just a very strong floral, and I can't really pick out any notes.

 

On me I smell a lot of gardenia, with the heliotrope adding extra sweetness and something else turning slightly bitter on me. It would be lovely if it weren't for the bitterness. I think it might be the rose making it bitter? I'm not sure. It dries down to bitter and watery flowers. Maybe I'll try it again in a few days and see if I still get that bitter note or if it behaves better, because this could be really pretty.

[kirayna]

This goes to soap on me, strongly floral soap like my grandma uses, ok on her but not what I'd wear as perfume myself

[Amoraexcena]

Imp: very gentle rose

Wet on Skin: gardenia, white rose and other gentle florals, thank god this white rose stays true.

Drydown: Honestly I don’t know what the flowers in the description really smell like on their own. This is a very gentle, inoffensive “young blooms” scent. Evocative of a young maid in a pretty white summer dress picking wildflowers.

[Phantasmagoria]

In the imp: Sweet, choking, floral

 

Wet on skin: Like in the imp, sweet, choking, floral

 

Dry on skin: Whatever is in this that's so strangling, it's gone when the perfume dries. The other components can come out and be known. It's really nice - but it doesn't last. After 5 minutes, it's gone. But isn't that like flowers - to be ephemeral?

[theandorran]

This one isn't a morpher at all on me, it stays the same throughout the process. Floral. Very floral. A sweet, heavy, summery floral, but not magnolia or jasmine (which I am quite fond of). It smells very heavily of gardenia, I think. I keep swinging back and forth on whether or not I like it. I like heavy, summer florals, but it's not quite a LOVE like magnolia and jasmine are for me. However, I'm going to keep it, because I like it enough for that.

[lilwhiterabbit]

I'm afraid I don't have much to say about this one. It doesn't morph on my skin, so it smells like a nice, light, breezy floral. It's very faint, though, and fades quickly. It's pleasant, but nothing really stands out and, for me at least, the blend is mostly forgettable. A shame, because I love gardenia. If the gardenia had been a bit stronger, I might have been more impressed.

[Venneh]

In the imp, this smells like a creamy, green floral. We'll see how this goes. On my skin, I'm getting I think the stephaniosis and the rose, a very pale, light floral. Hrm. Nothing special, not much change.

Edited March 6, 2010 by Venneh

[impolight]

:::ETERNAL:::

 

The Gardenia is Jumbo in this one.

The Rose and the Jasmine make an appearance with the subtlety of a helicopter crash at Summer Camp.

Here, love certainly conquers death.

Death cannot even get a toehold in this fragrance without TONS of pretty, pretty flowers that dangle sparkles and ponies and pastel kittens ALL OVER Death's silly attempt at ominousness...

Unless all associations are focused on a funerary aspect of the florals, this is actually an AMAZING, bright, and sunny fragrance.

This is a big bag of sunshine.

This is calliope music at a parade.

This is catching grandma doing the Charleston.

In her underwear.

At the bus stop.

Not to ridicule this fragrance AT ALL. Just saying that while this catalogue of fragrance is associated with mortality, Eternal seems awfully upbeat about it.

Great scent for Her.

Could be a neat room fragrance to welcome spring.

4/5...

[countessmouse]

Very green and floral in the bottle and stayed that way wet on my skin. However, the Stephanotis really starts coming out as it dries and the scent has evolved into something light, green and floral. Although I love gardenia, I'm not getting that note at all here. Very nice all the same, though!

[girasol]

Just a plain-Jane white floral blend on me. Pretty, but nothing that reaches out and grabs you.

[Lydialove]

It's my first review! I'm realizing lately that while my nose is sensitive, it's not refined. I don't pick out notes terribly well as of yet. I'm hoping that's something that comes with practice.

 

Eternal was a lab gift. Thank's lab!

 

In the imp: A gardenia kick to the head. My husband can smell the other flowers in the background but I can't. I have a hard time seeing myself ever wear this as I don't really see myself as a florals person.

 

Wet: The gardenia that ate New Jersey.

 

Drying: Oh! Oh, wait. I think I can smell a bit of the rose and maybe some other flowers I don't really know yet. Maybe I could wear this on a warm summer's day. I can see wanting to feel pretty for a picnic. I wear a sundress and a dab of Eternal at my pulse points and behind my knees. Maybe I dab a bit on each foot. Oh look, what a nice pedicure!

 

Dry: It's very faint now and smells like I've just bathed with a rather nice floral soap. It's a flower I don't really know, and a very faint green smell and it's a little soapy.

 

Usually flowery perfumes make me feel head-achy and nauseous but at no time did I want to wash this off. It's pretty but probably not my something I'd wear more than once a year.

[SophieCedar]

Wet: I'm not that familiar with the smell of stephanotis but I see it's also called "madagascar jasmine". I guess I can smell a tropical heady version of jasmine? I've smelled cyclamen and they don't really have a strong fragrance..maybe a bit like a green plumeria? I can definitely smell the gardenia and white rose. Heliotrope is there but hit or miss. Nice heady, white, buttery floral.

 

Drydown: Same dynamics but looses a lot of omph. Still pleasant though!

[FathomBelow]

This starts out as a very strong and substantive floral - the word "buttery" which the previous reviewer used, strikes me as an extremely appropriate description. It teeters on the edge of cloyingly sweet. After it dries it gets a bit milder, and now reminds me of violet pastilles but with gardenia...gardenia pastilles, I guess...in that it acquires a candy-like sweetness, although it's still very gentle.

 

It's nice, but a bit too thick and overbearing for me. This makes me think of a glamorous old-time movie star - a gorgeous and adored woman, but terribly spoiled - someone who always gets her own way. I'm not sure if that's the vibe I want to project, so I'll keep the imp but probably won't get a bottle. (It would make a very luxurious bath product scent however - maybe I'll dump the rest of my imp in my next bath.)

[AnyseLawsBray]

In vial: Gorgeous bouquet of flowers. I can pick out the stephanotis and gardenia especially.

Wet on skin: Gets even lovelier as it goes on. Pure, beautiful, enchanting... The embodiment of a Southern wedding.

Dry: The gardenia really shines! This is almost ethereal, the way the florals blend.

 

Verdict: To me, this scent is like bottled hopes and dreams. It's serene, womanly... It rather makes me think of my mom. At times it does seem otherworldly- Galadriel from LOTR comes to mind. That light, sort of austere elven grace. It has good staying power on me as well. I am a light dabber & could still smell it hours later.

[frecklestars]

In the bottle: heavily floral! I mostly smell gardenia and maybe a bit of heliotrope, but definitely the rich white creaminess of gardenia. thick, like humid summer nights. there's something in here that smells like smarties candies as well, which is strange. though I remember the same effect in another scent that had stephanotis in it, so maybe it's that? I think it was something from Mad Tea Party, but danged if I can remember the name!

 

On my skin: gardenia! a bundle, a bouquet, a bed of them! very dramatic in its floral aspect, but also very sweet and SUPERGIRLY. dries to smarties candies, very powder-sweet. I think the strong florals keep it from being _too_ much like baby powder, but it's definitely not my thing. fairly traditional floral, kind of generic.

 

Last thoughts: candylike florals. great if you like that kind of thing, pretty icky if you (like me) don't.

[levelek]

I got this as a frimp. My first thought when it went on was that it smells like the mix between an 8-year old and a grandma.

 

It got mildly less offensive on drydown. Still: blech.

Annoyingly enough, most flower scents go soapy on me and this one doesn't... it figures. For the record, the dominant notes are rose with gardenia (not a combo that appeals to me).

 

Later, the helitrope and its vanilla aura pushes the rose+gardenia into the background... much better but still not for me.

Edited June 21, 2011 by levelek

[Balame]

In the Imp: Strong gardenia. Hold onto your seats people, this isn't going to be a pleasant one.

 

Wet: I only put the tiniest dab of this on because I was so concerned and I can smell it without even holding my wrist to my nose. When I put full on DROPS of other BPAL I don't even get this kind of throw! Agh, just gardenia and overwhelming gardenia. I know stephanotis is sort of the "tropical celebration" flower even though it's been ages since I smelled it, and it starts to come out soon after the gardenia. Terrifyingly so, like a big white wash of a drunk friend rambling up to you with 80 leis on her neck garbling, "Hey shweethearsh, dun yu wan to partay!?"

 

Dry: Old granny that put too many smelly dryer sheets in her laundry. This is bad. So bad. Normally BPAL scents will be an "eh" when I don't like them, but this is a "run for the hills". Washing it off.

 

Overall: Too sickenenly sweet, too crazy floral destruction, too in your face.

[Gateau]

In the imp -- faint florals with a touch of powder

 

Wet -- powdery floral

 

Dry -- mostly gardenia and white flowers, and very faint at that. No rose I can detect.

 

Can do a lot better with other florals. Not for me. Lifespan of a gnat.

[becca_s]

This started out so well ... stephanotis and lush white rose. A soft and elegant fragrance. I thought that I had finally found the perfect floral blend!

 

Until about half and hour later when the Gardenia completely took over and that's all I could smell. I got told I smelt like soap ....

 

The Gardenia ruins this for me, apart from that it could have been the floral I always wanted.

[SlySionnach]

Imp: This smells...clean. That's the only description I could think for it.

 

Wet: A bouquet of white flowers. Reading that there was gardenia in it, I expected it to come out full force but it smells like white rose. Let's see how long that lasts.

 

Drying: Oddly enough, it starts to become almost watery at this point. As if flowers lying in a fountain. It's really nice but I'm not sure where that's coming from.

 

Dry: The gardenia behaved itself! It's still a white rose prominent blend. There is a touch of powder, not sure which note is causing that, but I think it gives it a bit more love. Who would have guessed?

 

Verdict: Not sure if this is bottle worthy. May have to wear it a few more times.