Self-Portrait

[windbourne]

SELF-PORTRAIT
Magnetic particles pulled through white goo, 2012
I'll make one for you, too, mommy. With a circle head and a dress.
A quiet honey musk with gentle orris, rice milk, and white gardenia.

Self-Portrait

First, I have to note that I love the Lab's new sticker material. It gives the art on this a somber, meditative depth that I don't think I've ever imagined in relation to magnetic particle art before. Pretty cool, guys.

Next, the scent:
In the bottle, the adjectives are very accurate, it is quite quiet, soft, gentle, and, while not exactly white (I find it evokes more of a cream color, almost to the buttery side, but really good butter, with no colorants added), definitely a pale scent.

On the skin, oh darling. The gardenia is fairly present at the beginning, giving this an initial floral bloom on my skin, but it fades gracefully after a few moments. There is a soft honey sweetness, but more like...atomized honey particles. It feels like the honey in Door but lighter, maybe powdered? The orris is very soft and cloud-like. I like orris, even strong orris, but for those of you who don't, it's not the rootiest orris I've run across. More like orris with the texture of spun sugar. The rice milk is there, carrying the scent along and making it, well, milky. But not like dairy-milk, this is almost translucent and sweeter.

The throw is minimal. This sticks very close to my skin, humming a lullaby like the one Wendy sings to the Lost Boys.

Light as morning clouds and comforting as feather blankets, fades peacefully into the distance after a fairly short while.

The closest thing I have to compare this with is Door, but this is much softer and less herbal.

[futuregirl]

This is really beautiful.

 

My initial overall impression from cold sniff to first application is that of a clean, happy child. This is a very comforting, golden, idyllic nursery scent. Though it's sweet, creamy and has a lovely honey note that's very prominent, it's also, again, so clean and fresh. Post-bath and time for bed.

 

After an hour or so, the drydown is powdery (but not like baby powder), golden and light. It's so beautiful and cozy - this makes me want hot chocolate and bedtime stories. Probably I'll need a backup of this.

[SadariEvenstar]

Right off the bat I get a softer version of the honey musk in Lady Una. It's sunny and warm without being cloying. I don't really get a lot of gardenia and rice milk as separate notes, but I think they must being adding to the creamy sunshine feel of the honey musk. This is really beautiful, almost perfect, but... I don't think orris and I can be friends.

 

True to the description this is a very gentle orris, so much so that I didn't notice it for the first 10 minutes or so. Then I caught it lingering in the background, smelling persistently of wallpaper paste. I don't even know why orris smells like wallpaper paste to me, but the scent is so familiar. Every room in my parent's house is wallpapered and they rewallpapered them all at least once when I was growing up. The smell is kind of stomach turning to me, but at least I know what ruined Unveil the Grace in Thine Eyes now.

 

I'm going to give this one another try or two because I would really, really love it if I could get past the orris.

[Xanon]

I wanted this to work on my skin! It smells so pretty in the vial. I pick up on the honey and rice milk - the gardenia comes out to play while this is wet on my skin. And then ... ORRIS RUINS EVERYTHING!! Funky powder, just like every other blend with orris. I guess this will just have to be a scent locket only perfume. Sad.

[Antoinette]

A quiet honey musk with gentle orris, rice milk, and white gardenia.

 

Absolutely beautiful. This blend is delicate, quiet, milky and comfy. It's soft and warm. The notes blend together to the point I can't pick them out very easily, but I love that it's like creamy, milky white goodness. The gardenia is present but doesn't take over. Nice comfort scent!

[MtMoonKitty]

This is a pretty scent. The honey and rice milk are dominant in the bottle and wet on the skin something in it goes somewhat plastic on me for a while. It settles down in to a light honey with a hint of floral. It's not love but I do like it a lot.

[becca_s]

Self portrait is a very light, soft scent on me. It starts out with rice milk and orris with a hint of the gentle honey in the background. After it has settled into my skin the honey musk starts to take over, it's the same kind of honey that is in Lady Una, which is one of my favourite scents. As the rice milk and orris start to take a background role the gardenia seems to come to the fore front. Gardenia is an iffy note for me, in this blend though it is balanced by the other notes so it doesn't turn into a sharp, floral mess. Overall, this is a pretty, honey scent but I have other honey scents which fill up my need for any new honey scents in my life

[Leopard403]

Loooove this. I'm testing these without peeking back at the descriptions first, and my first reaction to Self-Portrait was "soft and lunar." So the orris must be in the forefront. Luckily, the orris and the gardenia are gentled by the other notes and the honey isn't HELLO RAW like other lab honey blends on me. So the upshot is that this almost smells like clean baby skin. Slight powder, slight sweet, slight floral but not overwhelmingly one or the other. So, so good, this is definitely a bottle purchase for me!

[astarinel]

I liked this one allright when I first put it on, as it started out a creamy floral honey sort of scent.

 

As it dries, however, I guess either the orris or gardenia or the combination of the two starts to take over and it turns into a generic sort of lotion scent on my skin. It's also an apt comparison because it's very low on throw and lasting power.

 

It's very soft, but I prefer my honey scents a little stronger and sexier. This just smells light and floral and clean.

[puck_nc]

Origin: decant circle by Absinthetics

 

Initial Thoughts: Love gardenia. Have had success with rice in some of the oriental scents. Honey musk is iffy. I have no preconception of orris.

 

In the Vial: Whoever said "baby" above nailed it. A sweet baby in the bath, all clean and soapy. A very comforting scent. I'm highly likely to keep this for scent-locket purposes alone if it doesn't like my skin.

 

Wet: For a brief moment it's all soap, and then the gardenia comes out. The honey musk starts chasing it, but I'm not getting the usual amp-to-extremes reaction that musk often causes on me. While it's not quite as pure innocence as it was in the bottle, it's still a very fresh and pure scent image.

 

Drydown: I'm not sure how to describe how it settles down on my skin. I can detect the honey musk. I can detect the gardenia. I'm sensing a comforting creamy undertone that is probably the rice milk. Overall there's not a lot of throw, making this a potential good work scent.

 

Verdict: This one goes on the potential bottle list.

[Blood onmy hands]

On me, this is a soft, light, powdery scent with a delicate sweetness from the orris and honey musk. The rice milk, I think, smells cool and creamy, and maybe the gardenia is going a bit soapy on my skin. The drydown doesn't have much throw on me and fades into a clean, baby powdery sort of smell.

[milo]

This is such a fitting scent for a young girl. Gentle, sweet with a bit of youthful musk rounded out with a touch of floral. It kind of reminds me a bit of Door, but with less musk, more honey and floral, and maybe a bit of Good thrown in. I like this, but I do have decants of Door not finished, and it is pretty similar on my skin. The honey is the same one as Womb Fury, I think, but this is not a seductive scent, just gentle and sweet like a little girl. I really like this.

[sarandipitee]

At first the honey musk was doing that kinda funky thing that can happen with fresh Lady Una or the drydown with Half-Elf V5 - kinda sour/sweet. But man, give it an hour or so and it becomes the sweetest, softest skin musk ever. Debating tracking down a full imp or maybe even a partial.

[lookingglass]

This scent reminds me of pampering my baby with Burt's Bees baby lotion, with a slight, pale breeze of flowers...as if I was the one wearing the gardenia soliflor that had long dried down, after a full day of wear, as I breathed in his fresh, little, sweet, milky head. It's a precious, nuzzley smell.

[skyablazing]

Origin: Suedonym's fab decant circle.

 

Hopes: Sounds like perfection. Please don't take over, gardenia.

 

Wet: Yup, there's definitely honey here. Honey is making its presence felt almost overpoweringly, and the gardenia is also coming out stronger than I'd like, resulting in a nose-tickling scent that has my senses convinced I am about to start sneezing with hayfever.

 

Later: Both the honey and thankfully the gardenia have chilled out a bit and have harmonisied wonderfully into a pale honeyed skin musk with a floral backing. I totally get the "idyllic nursery" vibe futuregirl mentioned, and I find myself thinking of holding my sleeping baby nephew years ago.

 

Throw: Light, as suggested in the description. I am a big fan of quiet scents like this so I think a bottle may be in my future.

 

Overall Feel: Peaceful, sleeping babies. Soft and comforting, just like babies when you know you can hand them back to their parents for the non-peaceful bits.

[theseagrows]

this is a very youthful scent indeed. a soft, cottony musk mixed with honey and just a hint of gardenia to balance it out. very soft and comforting, but my skin amps the notes way too much and it's a bit overpowering on me, particularly the powder-cottony musk.

[zankoku_zen]

HOLY CRAP. This is a milky, honey musk. Very sweet. HUGE throw.

 

It would be comforting if it wasn't so overwhelming. I have problems with BPAL honey just being an utter bully, and this blend is NO exception.

 

Milk, honey, musk.

[Monday]

On my skin wet: Sweet honey and orris. The honey goes sour on me fast and is drowning out the other notes.

On my skin dry: The other notes managed to crawl back and now the whole scent smells rather soapy with a hint of sour honey. The musk turns up when it's dry for a while, a heady feminine musk, it gives the blend a lot more throw.

It's not too bad when it's dry but I don't really like the honey note.

[BoneBone24]

Wet: Sweet and creamy. It smells exactly like boiled frosting.

 

Drydown: A pool of melty marshmallow goop with gentle white flowers along its edge. It’s quite foody, yet dainty and innocent at the same time.

 

Dry: Cleaner now. It smells like cotton, milk and honey. There is a musky floral component that reminds me of jasmine. Sweet, clean, and soft. Very white.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Similar to: Good (but this is better, imo)

 

6 out of 10 bones

Edited June 21, 2013 by BoneBone24

[Alethia]

Thoughts before testing: I wanted to love the honey musk in Lady Una, but it went sour on me. I'm afraid of the musk here doing the same thing, but it just sounded too good not to try!

 

Wet: A beautiful soft floral honey. I get no rice milk at this point, but it's beautiful and feminine.

 

Dry down: I can smell the gardenia more distinctly now, and it's tempering the honey from being too sweet. Slightly milky/creamy, but it's very understated. Just lovely.

 

Dry: Slightly creamy/musky floral honey is what it settles down as. Feminine and lovely.

 

Final thoughts: This is just lovely. It sticks close to my skin and has surprising longevity (it started to fade around hour 6). This makes me feel feminine and beautiful and I love it.

 

Verdict:

[thekittenkat]

In the decant: Honey musk and gardenia.

 

Wet: Yes, my beloved honey musk from Lady Una, and the lovely gardenia.

 

The dry-down: The honey musk and gardenia continue to abide, and the rice milk adds a creamy touch, but the dreaded orris is beginning to impart a sharp note. I really had high hopes for this, seeing as how I love all the notes except the orris.

[Katlyntje]

In the bottle I am getting mostly honey musk and rice milk with floral undertones. I admit I have never smelled orris before so I'm not sure if I can smell it here or not. Wet on my skin I'm getting LOTS of musky honey and floral and a slight licorice tang. Is that the orris? Then the florals take over the show with the honey lending it's sweetness in support. The entire time the milk note is blending it's creaminess in seamlessly. The gardenia and orris are the actors, the milk is the stage lighting, and the honey is the set and costumes.

[Victory]

This makes me think of the Post's Glowing Vulva bath oil, because they both smell exactly like Johnson's & Johnson's on me. As Self-Portrait wears, it does move a little away from that, but it still stays in the territory. Sometimes I can catch a little hint of honey, but it's almost wishful thinking. The good news for me is that I don't smell the dreaded gardenia. Maybe a little florally sweetness yes, but no high pitched gardenia. I'm hoping with continued aging it might smell less and less like baby wash and more like freshly-washed baby (if you see what I mean).

[lunaticana]

Orris and rice milk TOGETHER ?!

I knew this was gonna be great on my skin hehe

I wish I had a gallion

 

Orris and rice milk TOGETHER ?!

I knew this was gonna be great on my skin hehe

I wish I had a gallion

[Ajila]

In the bottle - It must be the honey musk but I got beeswax and a hint of the gardenia

 

Wet on me - The honey comes through more clearly, but still has a waxy quality to it

 

Dry on me - Soft, sweet honey with a clean slightly waxy undertone and just hints of a soft gentle floral

 

Overall - My favourite of the Lilith/Pickman blends actually it's curiously similar to BPTP's Hair Loosened & Soiled Mid Orgies Hair Gloss, but lighter and cleaner, which I guess is appropriate really