Rosalind

[moon_lemming]

Dew-covered berries and fresh green grasses with a faint breath of spring flowers.

Hmmm. Wet, this made me think of a damp rose, even though there's no "rose" listed by name in the notes. Maybe it's because of the scent being called ROSalind. Power of suggestion and all that.

Dry, it reminds me of Amsterdam, with the aquatics and the pretty florals. No detergent in sight! This is a lovely blend, very feminine and dainty. Not for me, because I feel like a clown fitting into a circus car when I wear dainty scents like this, but I can still see the beauty in it.

(I didn't detect any grass, by the way, but my skin is very strange.)

[Miss Lynx]

Very fitting for a bright spring day like today. It's a lot more light and sweet and girly than I normally like, but in spring I tend to be a little more drawn to that sort of thing, so it's great for right now.

 

It's kind of green and fruity and floral all at the same time, and very fresh. A little more "perfumey" in a sense than I usually like, but not to a bad extent. There are traces of hidden depths in it that keep it from being too sweet -- maybe the grass notes? And everything in it smells very real to me... very much like actual grass, berries, etc. It's a very natural scent.

 

It does smell a bit like a scent that you'd find in an upscale soap or bath product -- it's got that cleanness to it, and it's not as off-the-beaten-path as a lot of BPAL scents are. You could give this one to your grandmother, though it's not an old-lady scent as such, either.

 

After the first hour or two, it does get sweeter and bit soapier, but on the whole, not bad, and very appropriate for the season we're in.

 

Grade: B

[zankoku_zen]

In the imp: Berries and grass

 

On Skin: Bright and breezy berries and grass.

 

Drydown: Slightly more floral, the berries are still there and there's a teensy hint of grassyness to it.

 

Verdict: This is a nice floral, in a generic shampoo sort of way. It kinda reminds me to Herbal Essences sort of way. Smells fresh, clean and floral, but I can't get the commercial association out of my head. Nuts.

[porcelina]

i wish i had something more unique and informative to say, but this is just nothing but pure soap on me.

[theseagrows]

this is dewy grass with a touch of sweetness from the berries. it seems there's some sort of floral here, but i can't place it. this scent is very young and fresh...it makes me think of a young, pale girl with bright pink cheeks. very feminine and innocent. it's pretty, just not sure i would wear it much...

[eatingthesea]

upon opening, i smell that "faint breath" of flowers. on my skin, this heads straight to the berries full-on. red berries. juicy, too. flowers still faint. i was hoping for more greenery to balance out the immense sweetness. i like that i can get a sense of "dewiness" out of rosalind, however. but, i'm thinking this is a bit too feminine and girly for me.

[Miseraya]

In the imp: There's that spring floral note that always makes me think of peony. No grass though...

 

On the wrist: Pretty spring floral, reminds me of Dirty (plumeria) or Dormouse (peony). Peony and plumeria smell similar to me (and I love them both!) Surprisingly I'm not getting berries in this, which is probably a good thing, they tend to get very sharp on me.

 

Drydown: Ooh! Getting a bit of grass now, which is the note I was hoping for in this blend. It's getting a bit sharp on me though, which I think must be the berry's influence. After a while this is all sharp sweet on me and starts to give me a headache. Yep, the berry has struck again. Off to the swaps. The hunt for the perfect grass note continues.

[squintywitch]

This is bloody marvellous - the first BPAL that I've absolutely loved

 

In the bottle - tantalising, fresh and sweet. No heaviness at all, but quite a strong smell.

 

Wet on skin - sweet and more floral than fruity, but there's something of the fruit to it that stops it being a boring floral.

 

Dry on skin - same notes, deepening and more complex. Warm, fresh, wonderful. I like this a hell of a lot, even more so now I know it doesn't just get devoured from my skin like every other one I've tried.

 

Wonderful! A big bottle for me!

[Skirt]

In the vial: Very berry scented, but without being too much like a bag of Lifesavers. Very fresh, like rolling in a meadow.

 

Wet: Definitely very grassy, with hardly any berry.

 

Dry-down: Perfect mix of grass and berries and floral. It reminds me of when I was younger, playing in a field across from my great-aunt's house with a friend - the perfect adult scent to put to a great childhood memory. Really do love this.

[Babylon]

Squished grass strewn over a fresh, berry-scented dishwashing liquid. Very green and sharp at first, but even as it dries, I can't get past the damn Dawn smell.

[funkmoppet]

First Illyria blend I've liked!

 

This is just lovely! Sweet and innocent and fresh. Gorgeous tart berries over sweet grasses, with just a hint of wild flowers in the distance. It's light, summery and joyful.

 

As it dries, there's a citrus tang to it. For me, this blend lies somewhere between my beloved Glasgow and Baobhan Sith. It's sweeter than Glasgow, and softer and more floral than Baobhan Sith. It's completely delightful and I'll absolutely be using the imp.

 

Love it!

[DifferentDances]

Imp: Vaguely candy-like, with some floral edge.

Wet: Very green floral with a fruity punch. Almost like a berry-bearing branch that's been just cut off, revealing the green inside the bark.

Drydown: Oh, snap. The berries have gone all Herbal Essences on me, and the green's all but gone.

Dry: Diluted Herbal Essences. Phooey.

 

My rating: 3/5. I liked the wet stage very, very much (I'm a sucker for green scents), but it doesn't stay around for maximum enjoyment.

[Styx]

Rosalind (clear oil with the faintest trace of green)

 

Imp: Smells just like the description. Very fresh.

 

Skin: A clean, fresh floral. Berries are there too, but very faint. The grassy smell is my favorite part; it smells so vibrant! Its a very happy scent, like a breezy summers day. However it does smell like a type of laundry softner; so I guess the whole picture would be "hanging laundry on a breezy summers day".

Drydown does not change much, except the dewy element fades.

If you do not want to smell like fresh laundry, this is not for you. Personally, I wouldn't mind if my laundry smelled this good.

[taramarie]

On me, Rosalind smells like a light citrus. Grapefruit, maybe. I do like her but she's not a favorite.

[fireflower]

In the imp: Hmmm.. this is reminding me of the Dove conditioner I'm currently using... I went to go compare the two and there really is quite a likeness. Not a bad thing, though, it's a pretty scent.

 

First applied: Still smells like a very rich hair conditioner. I'm smelling the spring flowers over everything else, with a touch of grass. Not getting much of the berries at all, which was what I was really looking forward to. Ah well.

 

Dry down: Hmm, the strength of this one has died down. I don't smell that strong, slightly cloying component that makes it smell like conditioner anymore. I like it a lot better this way. It's delicate and pretty.

 

Verdict: 7/10. Will use all of the imp, but wont be getting a bottle.

[Kimiko]

Imp: Hmmm yay light smell!

On skin: soap. pure soap on my skin.... oh ick. I wish that I could wear it, but alas...... soap.

[hkhm]

imp: soft, grassy florals. very light, clean and crisp.

 

wet: fresh, sweet florals with tangy citrus. the cirtus is faint and bitter like blood oranges. very interesting contrast.

 

dry: there's almost a faint aquatic note with the grasses and florals. this so makes me feel like it's early srping and i'm out for a walk. quite lovely.

[odalisque]

Rosalind is interesting to me because the other scent I tried at around the same time was Persephone, and up until then I never imagined that two fruit scents could be so different.

 

While Persephone is a sweet sweet sweet juicy smell, like fruity food right up in my face, Rosalind is distinctly like berries, but sun-warmed berries growing outdoors in the open air. I didn't get a grass or leafy note from it, but there's definitely something there that makes the berries seem like they're part of a much bigger picture. It's a round, soft, fresh, low-key sweetness with no tart or sharp notes at all. Really quite a peaceful scent.

 

In the imp and immediately on the skin Rosalind has a strong, unfortunate resemblance to scented dryer sheets. It took time for it to mellow and round a bit and once it did, it was one of those scents that seems to be coming from *inside* my skin.

 

It's not "me" as a body scent but I think it would be fantastic on linens.

Edited December 27, 2007 by odalisque

[Iceblink]

This makes me absolutely *ache* for springtime. Light, fresh, delicate--the grass is dominant with a faint sweetness of berries backing it up. It's leaning towards going soapy on me, but so far it hasn't. What a pretty scent this would be for a young girl!

It's quite light and doesn't have much throw; I'm going to tuck this imp away until March because it's just screaming to be worn on a sunny spring day, not in the dead of winter!

[voodoocatwoman]

This fragrance is just beautiful. It is sunshine and gentle breezes over dainty flowers. It is delicate and sweet innocence, but it has serious staying power. It lingers for hours, shy and yet determined. I was asked the name of the scent by several people. Lovely.

[fairnymph]

In the bottle: Green, sweet, sharp and fresh.

 

Wet: Okay, the green-fresh smell was familiar to me, and now I realize it smells like a certain brand of soap, though I don't know which one...maybe Irish Spring? Or maybe it smells like a certain shampoo? In any case, it definitely smells like some sort of person-cleaning branded product. Which is not entirely bad, but it's definitely the strongest note. It does smell grassy though in a nice way. I'm not smelling the fruit.

 

Dry: Slow drying oil. The branded soap smell has faded alot, and the fruit has come out a bit (and nicely, it's not sweet), and maybe a bit of floral, although I think the floral is part of the branded-soap smell. But the floral aspect is more noticeable now, slightly.

 

Summary: It fades pretty fast, despite being strong at first. It's actually a nicely balanced clean-floral with hints of fruit in the end.

[suki]

in the imp: i get a berry/grassy smell, but it's more like 'air freshener' than anything natural.

 

wet on skin: now it has morphed into an herbal shampoo scent. reminds me of when my older sister used Prell in the early '80's

 

dry down: yep. shampoo.

 

in all: i could see people wearing this in their hair, seriously. me? i'm swapping it

[prrrplegrrrl]

In the bottle, it's very pretty: springy and herbal. On me it dries into a lusty but light scent, very herby and lightly flowery. It reminds me a bit of a hookah lounge, actually---something maybe about the kind of shisha I usually pick.

[SilverSerenity]

Attempt #1 at Rosalind - soap. Soapy soap. Green-smelling soap, but soap nonetheless.

 

Attempt #2 - grass, with a bit of a floral edge to it. It faded incredibly quickly, though - it's been 10 minutes and I can only smell it if I have my nose on my wrist.

[CordeliaSeduced]

I was very unsure of whether I wanted to smell like "grass," but I've learned not to take things directly from memory in BPAL--surely, the grass in this couldn't be the same grass on my front lawn. On sniffing the applicator, I smelled something green, sweet, and moist, so on it went.

Once on my skin, the green swelled to create a very sweet, grassy scent, though there's something youthful and bright in the background. I'll assume it's the berries, though I really with they were more pronounced. Drying down, the florals play out slightly, though the dominant note is still the wet, sweet green.

It's a lovely perfume for a bright day in the spring/summer cusp we're in currently, and while it does smell like grass, it's not the grass I feared it would be. I'll probably wear this fairly frequently, but we'll see how fast the imp runs down--I don't know if it's exactly bottle-worthy yet.