Eternal

[urraca]

Stephanotis, cyclamen, heliotrope, white rose and gardenia.

In the vial it is beautiful soft white flowers. Wet on skin, the gardenia dominates, I think, and it smells a little like what Hell's Belle wore before she grew up. It's a little incensy and smoky. That fades after a couple of hours and stephanotis and white rose take their turn until stephanotis leaves the stage to white rose. This is my favourite time of the scent but I think I lik Penthus better for white rose, so no big bottle for me.

[orangepoppy]

Before reading the ingredients -

In the imp it’s somewhat astringent with a hint of sweet green.

 

Honeysuckle and jasmine. Iris maybe. Drying down there’s something really soapy. Oh dear, is there lotus?

 

After reading ingredients - Ok, so I’ll never be a “nose”! Apparently it’s the stephanotis that smells like jasmine. Anyhow, this isn’t working for me. I can’t think of any other scent that smells so soapy on me and it’s even burning a little. Darn! ...and I don’t get the slightest bit of rose.

[puck_nc]

This was a surprise freebie sent to me by a fellow forumite I purchased from.

 

In the bottle: A very light, white floral, with hints of smoke and incense behind the flowers.

 

Wet: The smoky incense comes to the forefront.

 

Drydown: The incense fades, but for me the florals don't really bloom. I can't pick out any of the notes, not even the rose or gardenia.

 

Verdict: On me this is too light and indistinct. Into the swap pile, I think.

 

ADDED 11/30/09:

 

Origin: Straight from the Lab

 

Initial Thoughts: I've been on a gardenia kick lately, and decided this could round out an imp pack. I'm a bit scared of the rose, though, as rose can go icky on me.

 

In the Vial: Ooh, nice! Very gardenia, but a gentle, cool gardenia. Lots and lots of white florals in here.

 

Wet: Not quite so much gardenia. Now I'm getting an impression of hyacinth; I'm not sure which of the listed notes is closest to hyacinth. However, since I love hyacinth, I'm not fussed at all. At the moment it's a restrained, quiet floral blend.

 

Drydown: The gardenia comes back, but doesn't overpower the scent. I still get a crush of lovely, gentle florals with an unearthly tinge.

 

Verdict: I like it! I might need to do some side-by-side testing to see whether I need a bottle, given that I have a LOT of floral blends already.

 

ETA: Spoke too soon. It went to soap on me after about half-an-hour.

Edited January 1, 2010 by Shollin

[magdalene]

in the bottle: sheer white floral.

 

wet on skin: there's the gardenia, along with a host of other floral notes I can't name if you paid me to do so.

 

dry: I'm not getting any of the smokey incense that others have spoken of, unfortunately. I love incense scents. This is also a rather faint scent, not a lot of throw either.

[AlaskaSnows]

This is a nasty one for me, all of the Funereal Oil florals have a nasty bitter note on my skin, and to my nose.

 

In the Bottle: Flowers, with a nasty hollow myrrh-like note that covers everything.

 

Dry: Exactly the same, bitter and hollow and tangy and weird.

[gangstaknitta]

In bottle: sweet and grassy

 

Wet: this smells a lot like Queen Gertrude on me--a soft slightly sweet floral with a grassy/clover-y note in it

 

Dry: the white rose and gardenia come out on my skin. The grassy note goes away...a little too much floral for me. The rose goes a little powdery, but the gardenia masks any "old lady" scent that might be happening as a result.

[Lori]

OMG, this is lovely!! The flowers are absolutely beautiful. No wonder this is a funereal scent, as this smells Heaven sent (scent!)

 

I don’t know what 3 of the flowers in this blend smell like, but the white rose and gardenia are here and gorgeous! A definite keeper for a girly girl who loves pretty clothes, pretty things and pretty scents! I have two imps and am keeping them and will order a bottle, too.

[Scarlettfish]

This is a sheer, ethereal, lovely white floral scent. It definitely evokes kinda other-worldly images, so the name is very appropriate. It is predominantly white rose on me, but there is a hint of smoky, light incense and gardenia. This is lovely and I'm going to have to order a bottle of this one!

[BlackDahlia]

Clean, white floral with a topnote I can't discern.

Something with my chemisty is *not* absorbing well... along with the floral scent I get a scent that smells of dirt... I think that is the top note that I could not place ~ whatever it is... it smells too much like dirt to me.

 

Or on me.

 

I think this one is off for sale or trade.

Poo.

I sooooo wanted to love this.

[maewitch]

This is a wonderfully sweet, luscious, full-bodied floral. It's just so incredibly mellow and rich without being too heady or too sharp. It's also incredibly well-blended - I get wiffs of rose and heliotrope and gerdenia, but not a one steals the show.

 

I'm not generally huge on florals, but I'm definately keeping this imp.

[wickedgoddess]

Wet - beautiful; just as pretty as it sounds.

Dry - it fades relatively quickly but stays true while it lasts. On me gardenia is the top note, while the rest of the florals remain in the background. I am not a huge fan of floral only blends, but as far as they go, this is gorgeous.

 

On the wickedgoddess scale of 1 to 5, with 5 being best, this rates a 3.

[harmonyfb]

This was a freebie from the lab.

 

In the bottle: Generic white floral.

 

Wet: Oh, dear god...I smell like my grandmother.

 

Dry: I still smell appreciably like Granny, though it's a bit more complex now.

 

I'm thinking "Eternal" isn' the perfume for me.

[Wench457]

ITB: Not very much scent at all. A faint floral.

 

On: Big ol' gardenias, which is not a surprise, as I am learning that they tend to take over on me.

 

Dry: I have no idea what Stephanotis is, but maybe that's what is giving this an herby scent. Almost like rosemary. Then gardenia soap.

[olympia301]

 

A frimp from the Lab. A very floral mix dominated by gardenia on my skin. One I would recommend to the flower lover BPAL fan. I would say white flowers, but in such a mix that it is hard to pick out the single flower notes in Eternal other than the gardenia.

 

This seems to be one of Beth's earlier blends, I say that because the first review was from March of 2004. I find this a simple scent and one that would fit with a virginal type of woman or, on the other end of the spectrum, one who was a real Goth type with a predeliction to the funereal aspect of their lifestyle.

 

In my own tastes, I think the the Lab has evolved way past Eternal in their approach to scent but I have to say that Eternal is indeed a good blend in the journey to the place where we are now.

Edited December 7, 2005 by olympia301

[yeahbutnobut]

Eternal

 

In the imp: soft, dewy, white gardenia. Maybe some stephanotis in there as well. Very pretty-I'm also hoping this isn't the 'evil gardenia' that goes acrid on my skin!

Wet on skin: oh dear-it's going a bit sharp now…

Dry on skin: yup, the gardenia has gone a bit harsh on me, but it's not as bad as some gardenia reactions. In here I can tolerate it. So now the scent is quite tangy and sharply green, but not too unpleasant-I think it will mellow. There are some promising scents in here like soft stephanotis in the background-but I'm not getting the heliotrope and rose I was hoping for yet.

After a while: the sharp gardenia does mellow, leaving a pleasant floral scent behind. It smells more like a good gardenia scent now, with a little tiny bit of rose, though not much. It's a bit soapy though. Still none of that lovely heliotrope and the rose isn't as strong as I was hoping it would be.

Verdict: this isn't a bad scent, but it's not a favourite. I've come to realise that I get on better with the gardenia used in LE scents (Haunted Palace, Honey Moon, All Saints, Alone…*swoon*) than the one in catalogue scents, as the latter tends to go quite sharp on my skin. It does that here, but not as badly as some gardenia scents. When it does mellow though, it's a bit soapy and bland on my skin-I was hoping for nice strong rose and heliotrope notes, but it was not so. And it smelt so nice in the imp too…it's going to swaps, I'm afraid.

[Fefferbella]

I love gardenia notes, but coupled with rose notes, they tend to go powdery on me.

 

Thankfully this is not the case with Eternal. It stays very light and fresh gardenia on me with only a faint hint of rose sweetness.

 

This is very pretty.

[sarada]

I'm always happy to get a frimp of one of the few remaining scents that I haven't tried and they've done it again!

 

Happily, I was very much in the mood to try some more white flower blends. While I don't typically wear florals I do like white rose, and heliotrope, and despite not liking gardenia on its own I seem to like a lot of blends (Blood Countess for example) that include it as a back-up note.

 

I agree with Olympia that this is a simpler, younger blend for the lab -- and like many "white florals" I really like them in the bottle even though they go flat on my skin and don't wind up smelling like much of anything. A crisp and sweet, refreshing Easter Sunday scent in the bottle....I had a similarly pleasant reaction to Phantom Queen, and Juliet. I really adore them in the vial and think I might enjoy it as a candle on a spring day with an open window.

 

As a fragrance it mellows very quickly to just a vague perfumey floral -- but I think in my hair or in a scent locket it would be more like it is in the bottle.

 

This is a great scent if you're looking for something that recalls funeral flowers or an Easter bouquet. And if you're a fan of the radiant glistening heliotrope note you'll want to try this too. I don't know why, but anything with heliotrope in it appeals to me at least a little.

[Imptress]

A lovely, complex floral with just a hint of a bitter edge to it. It's that bitterness that kept this from smelling too much like other "commercial" perfumes to my nose. I love the combination of rose and gardenia-- neither one so strong as to drown out the other (and as we all know, both of these notes can be too strong!). This definitely reminded me of Easter in church... that heady, floral scent that brings back nice memories, at least for me .

[blu°]

White exotic (well, to me they are) lush florals with a 70es thing to them. Mostly gardenia.

Somehow this makes me think "Florida". Never been there, mind you, except a very short stay at Miami airport, which this gladly doesn't smell like. Don't worry. It's not that bad.

However, it's very 70es, or maybe 80es, something an auntie or a neighbour's lady would have worn when I was young. It reminds me of the clothes ladies around 50 would have worn in places like Miami beach in the 80es. Pastel colours and printed flowers. Gigantic sunglasses.

 

On my skin the florals turn extremely sweet and cloying, I had a headache before but this made it worse, I think.

While I love many florals, this one doesn't quite do it for me. I'm not a gardenia lover, that's probably why.

 

The funeral association made for some creepy effects for me on hovering over into sleep last night. When I rubbed my feet against each other, I had this weird idea of how they would feel when I'd died (well, er...), like if they were decomposing... It was really freaking me out quite a bit, hallucinating I was being a corpse in a coffin.

 

: makes a note not to test new blends before going to bed :

 

However, this is not a bad scent per se, it doesn't smell like corpses. It does smell of heavy florals used in funerals. They are probably that heavy to cover whatever might smell of corpse at a funeral.

 

If you like gardenia and heavy white florals in general, this might be lovely for you. It might even smell a lot better on you. Some florals tend to go insanely sweet on my skin.

 

I want to add that I seem to detect white musk in this, as in most "white, light floral"-blends. Maybe this is what some perceived as a slight incense note. That would make sense, as musks seem to be so highly chemistry-dependent and some didn't smell anything incensey at all.

[slave1]

In Bottle: Sweet floral

 

On Skin: The rose stands out first, white and elegant. The heliotrope has it’s usual sweet bubblegum note, but not sickly sweet since the other florals are a bit tart and they compliment each other and help make a even scent. Very clean, like a fresh bouquet of flowers. This scent reminds me of another of Beth’s florals, but I can’t think of which one… I just know I’ve smelled it before. It’s pretty and super floral, and I’m not exactly a floral blend girl so I think I’ll swap this one.

[Meg]

In the bottle: Lovely, slightly creamy white flowers, but I couldn't pick any one out specifically.

 

Wet: The flowers become very subtle on me, but I still feel them as pure white.

 

Drydown: White, creamy flowers, so creamy that it's like there's coconut milk in them. It reminds me of a lovely floral body lotion. I really couldn't pick out a flower in particular. Generally I can recognise rose, but here it's too well-blended for me to be able to tell what's in there.

 

Overall: A soft white floral, elegant, nearly majestic, and it could just as well be a wedding bouquet or a funeral wreath. It's sweet and creamy, very pleasant and rather clean-smelling. It goes from very subtle to quite pefumy, and it's certainly not for people who dislike florals. Very pretty.

[Medici]

In the imp: Sweet white florals, a great big crazy bouquet of them that have been heated under the sun and have begun to wilt.

 

Wet: Man, I can't pick off anything but the gardenia. Again, its another travesty of my chemistry eating up everything save the most dominant notes. Bugger. Not even any rose. Double bugger!

 

Drydown: *mutters something about the wrist of d00m sucking up the pretties*

 

Verdict: For a floral, I think its gorgeous. While I could wear this as it is an enjoy it thoroughly, I sort of wish this had a wee little bit of lily in there that might reign in the rest of the notes. I'm a little disappointed that I can't make out the subtler components.

[lookingglass]

Increadibly thick, sweet, strong white floral. It smells remarkably like Sacred Whore but without the spice.

[Elrianra]

In the bottle, florals - pale, cool florals. Wet, the rose and gardenia hover over the other florals in a somber grey-white blend. Dry, this goes soapy almost instantly, reminding me of a solid floral soap that I used to use to wash my hands. Pleasant in a "room perfume" scent but not a personal scent for me. As it warms, the soapy nature becomes more pronounced and the floral notes fade quickly until this is just a dry white soap bar scent.

[cranberry]

Eternal is all flowers on me. Gardenia is prominent along with rose and other flowers that I can’t identify. This isn’t my usual style of scent so it’s a departure for me to try this. It reminds me slightly of one of the Lupercalia oils – maybe the Perfumed Garden? It’s interesting because there’s really no common notes listed, but to me, there’s definitely a similarity. It’s a heady scent, all tropical blooms. It was good to try but not for me.