Eternal

[Shollin]

Eternal, from Funereal Oils:

Though they go mad they shall be sane,

Though they sink through the sea

they shall rise again;

Though lovers be lost love shall not;

And death shall have no dominion.

 

Stephanotis, cyclamen, heliotrope, white rose and gardenia.

 

First sniff: I have a very vivid (and odd) visual impression of this one – a blanket of white flowers pulled over a stone sarcophagus in an empty sunlit church. It’s not a wreath, but a long draping blanket like a horse gets when he wins a Triple Crown race. I can’t pick out specific floral notes, but it’s softly sweet and very sad.

 

Wearing: It’s warmer and sweeter on my skin, almost too much – the overwhelming jumble of too many flowers in one room, very white. I preferred the soft sad scent it was before it hit my skin… it was more of a gentle rose then, now it’s more gardenia, which I usually find too bitingly sweet.

Edited November 10, 2007 by Shollin

[jj_j]

Are we sure there's no ylang-ylang in this? This first thought becomes moot very quickly, as the heliotrope takes this from blindingly white floral to an arrangement sitting partly in shadow - almost velvety, but more like a pale lilac than startlingly white.

 

Definite floral sweetness, almost like the scent of violet, but with a great deal more texture - density might be a better word, because something in Eternal (I can only identify the heliotrope) has a downward pull. Very grounding, which is in direct contrast to my emotional response to it. By the time I've had Eternal on for a while, I smell like a pale spring flower bending in the breeze.

 

This one isn't sad to me. It's more of a lingering, gentle, and floral warmth - like dreaming you're being touched, and the dream so realistic that you're surprised to find yourself alone when you wake because you can still feel that faint tingle on your skin.

[Nadirah]

Absolutely beautiful. The gardenia is what stands out most for me, makes me feel beautiful, but does have a sadness to it. I also picture a beautiful funeral with many loved ones and the loss of a good person to the other side...

[janelle_hell]

This one is best described as being 'sweet and sad'. If the bride at Disneyland's Haunted Mansion were real,her bouquet would smell like Eternal. The stephanotis really stands out,as does the gardenia. A lovely scent for when i'm feeling 'haunted'.

[Tesseljoan]

I'm not too heavy into flower scents, but this one is more introverted than flower scents usually are. Since I'm unfamiliar with flower smells, I can only say that this smells like white, quiet flowers.

[Laurel the Woodfairy]

Just got this in my first international swap, yay! (goes to wash salsa off hands) Ok, let's open it, shall we?

 

In the vial: Whoo! A blast of floral sweetness--very white and almost edible (must be the gardenia).

 

On me: Still edible--vaguely discomfiting, since I don't usually think of eating flowers...hmmm...having a hard time pinning it down...gardenia but also almost like magnolia--BIG white flowers, somehow clean and sweet at the same time. Sun-drenched. Mmm.

 

I got this in my ongoing experiment to find the right handfasting scent, since Eternal would be so appropriate--a gesture of good faith. I like it, but I'll have to wear it a few more times and ponder, since it does seem slightly sad...which was the intention, of course. Very interesting, unusual floral blend.

[Northernminx]

Hmm... I went from a lemon kick to a floral one.

 

In the bottle... something golden and warm, but definitly flowery as well.

 

On me... Something is reacting with my skin so this smells buttery. It's a little odd, almost like buttery gardenias. It's not an unpleasant scent, but is far warmer than I expected. The imagery of sunwarmed flowers on a casket was very much on the mark for mood. A nice, smooth warm scent.

 

I like it but it's not really calling out to me so I think I"ll pass it on to someone who drools over it.

[bigeyedgirl]

OH MY GOD!!!!!!!

 

First on, wet, Magnolias, Gardinias, Jasmine, and Heliotrope. This is so beautiful and so perfect. It's like being in the south on a hot afternoon. I don't get any of the saddness from this. It smells so warm and lovely to me.

 

Dry: It's all magnolia and heliotrope on me. It's gorgeous...I will have to stick this in the bigger bottle pile...Beautiful

[TheDarkMother]

I recieved this imp just now from a swap:)

 

In the Bottle: Eternal is gardenias, magnolias, and jasmine. I can't tell what heliotrope is, so it could be in there. I love the smell of these flowers, but usually the pollen is just murder on me. Let's see how it goes without the pollen.

 

On Me: Still very true to the bottle scent, and no adverse reactions yet. This reminds me of Ultraviolet for some odd reason, but without the frigidness. Yummy! I'm very happy with this one! This is just great!

[Ina Garten Davita]

First Impression: This *is* the bride's bouquet in Disney's Haunted Mansion.

 

Second Impression: The heliotrope keep this from being a cloying white floral. It adds a brightness, a sense of hope to the sadness and longing.

 

Final Analysis: On me, it's very much like Veil without the sharp violet bite. I love it and when my Veil bottle runs out, I will replace it with Eternal.

[k00kaburra]

In bottle: White florals. Gardenia is the strongest note by far, but I can detect jasmine as well.

 

On me: This is a warm fragrance. I don't get sadness from this; it is a happy fragrance. It is everlasting peace and contentment distilled. I feel like I am in a garden on a warm summer day.

[omly]

For the first hour: On me Eternal is a warm blend of jasmine and gardenia. A bright white smell, it reminds me of those images of heaven with the light streaming through white fluffy clouds. I can't smell any rose, but as there is a well blended background of florals for the jasmine and gardenia. I assume that it is some where in there.

 

Over and hour: This develops a warm creaminess that I am unsure what to ascribe to. It almost reminds me in a very mild way of Hellcat (buttercream?).

 

Verdict: I don't really wear a lot of florals without rose, so although this is nice I don't think that I would wear it often enough to keep.

[Splendid Molerat]

For me Eternal is like a crown of heavy white flowers.

 

The roses and heliotrope remember sunlit days, but the overall impression I get is loss and distance.

 

I would use this oil to work through mourning, but it isn't a place I could go to regularly. I'm impressed with how clearly Eternal can move the emotions.

[couscous]

I don't like florals.

 

i bought this imp for my mother, who also doesn't like florals but makes an exception for gardenia. This sounded like the nicest gardenia scent and so I got it for her to try. The other day, I asked to try it, too.

 

At first smell, Eternal is almost like bubble gum. Not sickeningly sweet, but it has that dusty, pink, "original flavor" gum smell. Kind of like flowers dusted with confectioner's sugar instead of honey or fruit. A few minutes later, it smelled like a white floral.

 

After an hour, though, the gardenia came through over the other notes-and it's not nearly as sweet a flower as I'd thought. It's actually a pretty nice note, which gets even better as it dries. Eternal ended up smelling slightly spicy but light and comforting.

 

I'm more of a wood girl, so I don't think i'd wear this often, but for an occasion where you'd want to feel feminine in an innocent way? It's lovely and beautiful and...pretty. Very very pretty.

 

A nice surprise for me- great job on this!

[Ishtar]

Eternal did not really work on me, unfortunately.

For the first ten minutes, it was a rather unassuming white floral, nice but nothing special. As soon as it started drying, a strong soapy note came through and kept getting stronger up to the point where I almost smelled like liquid dish soap. Hrm.

 

Eternal went along much better with my mother's chemistry, though: on her it turned into a soft, distant, wistful floral that was actually quite nice. And this is how she ended up with another imp for her small but fast growing collection

[feline.by.design]

Eternal reminds me of Has No Hanna in it being very sweet, with an odd note that reminds me of nail polish remover, yet not as astrigent.

 

The scent was very sugary sweet in the vial and on my skin, and it just didn't agree with me. I like some sweet fragrances, like Helle's Belle, for an example, but this one is just way too sweet. I passed the imp on to someone at work.

 

-doreen

[surf-tormented]

This is nice. If I didn't like Sacred Whore of Babylon so much, I would love this. Reminds me of a funeral, perhaps in the deep South in the late 1800's. A double funeral where someone has died from an accident and then their lover killed themselves in grief.

 

In death, they are buried above ground, in the same crypt to live the life in death that didn't have in the mortal coil. Their ghost selfs hold each other at night and people report seeing their visages on the graveyard's lawn.

 

Yup. That is what it smells like. Weeping and then joy of reuniting.

[phaedrine]

I'm not really big on florals, but this came as a freebie, so I thought I would try it out. I had higher hopes for it, because it has white rose, which my skin doesn't grab like other versions.

 

It's a very pretty blend, white, wistful florals. After a few minutes of drying, it's mainly the rose and the gardenia.

 

It's just not me, though. Even if it had lasted longer than a half hour on my skin, I'm just not a floral person.

[tinyvulture]

On me this smelled slightly sweet, like honey. Also, it faded quickly and I had to apply more than I usually would; it's not a strong scent. I'm not a big fan of florals, but I like this one OK because it's very clean and delicate.

[Penance]

Origin:

 

Lagniappe from the Lab.

 

Preconceived notions:

 

I'm woefully inept at identifying floral notes apart from rose, lilac, honeysuckle and sometimes gardenia (I only know that one because my mom loves it), so all I can imagine for this scent is "flower shop." I'm not expecting to like this because I don't do floral notes, but the Lab has graced me with it and try it I will!

 

First sniff:

 

Yeah, that's flowers alright. See, I told you I was ridiculously unskilled in this area.

 

This actually reminds me a lot of Has No Hanna. The two are practically identical, only Has No Hanna has a soapy note that Eternal is lacking. All I can say about this apart from the comparison to Has No Hanna is that this is a true "flower shop" kind of smell, not a garden or wildflower kind of smell...it's...white smelling and slightly sweet like honeysuckle, but there's definitely some heady florals in here, too, including my mom's beloved gardenia (which I can't stand for some reason).

 

Wet on skin:

 

Has No Hanna without the soap! I swear, that's what it smells like! I don't wear Has No Hanna for the scent (I actually apply it where I don't have to smell it on myself), so while I do wear it, it's not my kind of scent and neither is Eternal. This is a very feminine and soft-edged kind of scent and I'm sure other people would find it lovely, but florals really aren't my thing, personally.

 

Dry down:

 

No real change from when it was wet. This one's very stable. It's essentially the same from imp to dry down: a riot of flowers like a hundred wedding bouquets all thrown together. It's giving me a headache. Time to end this little experiment.

 

The bottom line:

 

Think Has No Hanna sans soap and you've got a good idea of what Eternal smells like. This is so not me that it's not even funny, but I'm sure someone with more feminine taste would find it lovely.

[Falathwen]

This was a gift imp from the lab. As others have said, it is a creamy, warm and very bright floral blend. Unfortunately, my skin amplified it until it became overwhelmingly strong. I do not understand why "white floral" blends feel so oppressively strong on me when I like them quite well on a flower or even as a single note. Drydown was gentler, but soapy on me.

Edited January 23, 2005 by Falathwen

[tempete]

Eternal was initially pure floral powdery soap on me... but the powder and the soap quickly disappeared and I was left with mostly gardenia and tiny bit of heliotrope. Alas, I prefer that any flowers in my scents be drowned under a sea of musk or encased in amber, so this imp will be headed to the swap pile.

[Faerykin]

Eternal

 

Swiped across wrists and along collarbone.

 

Initial Wet (8-8:30am): This goes on as a very sweet, almost cloying, floral. It is difficult to pick out specific notes, it is so sweet.

 

Initial Dry (8:30-10am): This is the scent of a flower shop, funeral home or mausoleum. That very strong floral scent you get when you mix so many different flower arrangements together. A bit overpowering.

 

Throughout the Day (10am-on): While I can certainly appreciate how this scent is so on-target (on top of it being a Funeral Oil, it definitely conjures images of eternity), it is sadly too powerful for me. I mean, even though it tones down a bit, I still cannot see myself ever wishing to smell like a funeral.

[JazzieCazzie]

So let's play "what's that funky note"???

I received Eternal as a frimp ... I knew I had tried it before and swapped it away but judging from the list of notes, it seemed pleasant and harmless enough ... stephanotis, cyclamen, heliotrope, rose and gardenia.

In the bottle it smelled lovely. Really marvelous. A very unusual floral. What on earth didn't I like about this, I wondered, puzzled?

As soon as I put it on, something morphed on me into something sort of funky and salty and, I have to say it, sweaty. It reminds me a lot of whatever it was about Obeah that didn't work either ...

SO ... has anyone had this experience with Eternal or Obeah? Or does anyone out there know what the Obeah notes are and whether any of them are mutual to Eternal?

I won't wash it off, it's not that bad, but it's definitely not a keeper ... I'd love to figure out the "guilty" note and find something with the rest of them in it because it has potential to be marvelous.

[ashtonrose]

Eternal was a very strong gardenia on me. The first try faded to roses, but now it's not me.

Edited February 18, 2005 by ashtonrose