Summer Lace

[suki]

A Victorian bathing beauty: wisps of vanilla cream, caramelized tobacco absolute, white opium poppy, summer honeysuckle nectar, effervescent white mandarin, apple blossom, and green cognac.

In The Bottle: The first thing I notice is the "effervescent" part- I don't know how Mistress Beth DOES that, but here's another of those brill scents where one can nearly feels the bubbly going right up the nose! In short, it's amaze-balls. Anyway, after that neat introduction, I get a fruitiness, courtesy of the mandarin and perhaps some of the apple blossom in a back-up roll. the vanilla cream is also coming through, and I'm vaguely reminded of the original release of Cheshire Moon, that fruit-and-cream combo thing. I'm getting curiouser and curiouser!

Wet On Skin: The apple is coming out more now, though for me it's sans blossom. I'm also getting a deep crispness that I associate with the green cognac. At this stage I don't get much of the tobacco note, though it might be there, mitigating the vanilla cream, adulterating- corrupting - it, if you will.

Dry Down: Wow- this changed a LOT in the dry-down. This now seems far more akin to Tattered Lace , which makes sense, as they both have variations of Cognac, Vanilla and Opium. The fruit has pretty much vanished and what's left is a slightly-dusty, gently-sweet reverie for hot summer days strolling beneath the canopy of a parasol and a stand of trees.

In All: Low throw and rather fine for the upcoming Dog Days. I had initially said to myself that one bottle would surely be enough, but now I'm not so sure...

Edited August 28, 2013 by VioletChaos

[OctoberGwen]

Mmmmmm..... I love this Lace.

 

I'm getting some beautiful (French?) tobacco (no caramel per se, thank you Jesus), a lightly floral vibe, and some of that particular vanilla/cognac goodness that says "BPAL Lace" to my nose. I am not getting any effervescence, really, and I do not find this to be fruity at all. I think the mandarin and the blossoms are very nicely balanced, forming a light layer on top of the tobacco, vanilla, and cognac. There is also no typical smoky opium "bite", maybe because it's the flower we have here.

 

This is just beautiful, a perfect summertime fragrance.

 

Summer Lace is made of total awesomesauce.

Edited July 19, 2013 by OctoberGwen

[mymymai]

ITB: That tickles me nose! It's effervescent like so many of BPAL's champagne scents, except this is most clearly mandarin champagne. After that, I can pick out the honeysuckle and apple blossom with the vanilla cream making everything absolutely delicious.

 

Wet: While on the skin, I still get the bubbly mandarin champagne, honeysuckle, and apple blossom, but its much more fruity at this stage. Middle notes include very lightly caramelized tobacco, vanilla cream, and a splash of cognac.

 

Dry: After some time, the scent loses its effervescence, but I can still pick up the fruity nature of the mandarin and apple blossom. Now, the cognac, opium, vanilla cream, and caramelized tobacco are more dominant, which reminds me much more of other Lace scents. I would love to have my house smell like this. In fact, I think I need lotion, soap, and a candle all in Summer Lace.

[Gateau]

I am a big fan of warm, creamy, fruity florals, so this is absolutely right up my alley.

 

When it first goes on, I don't get that effervescence, but I do get a bright blast of sweet fruit. I don't really pick out individual notes, but the honeysuckle, apple blossom, and mandarin seem to be blending into something almost tropical, like guava. It's summery and lovely. It reminds me of the early phase of something, maybe Moon of the Terrible.

 

Then the lace base with the vanilla, tobacco, and cognac heats up and blends in. It's creamy without having an actual cream note (which always goes bad on me) and really sticks to my skin in a delicious way.

 

Great addition to the Lace family, and one I expect to wear a lot. It feels effortless, not too aggressive but not a shrinking violet either.

[stellamaris]

Hmmm, cannot skin test this one yet, as luck would have it, this Lace and Black Taffetta arrived to me on the same day I got like, ten decants.

That said, in the bottle I am getting the bubbly and apple-y, and I am hoping that Jesus allows me the caramel that he has kept from October Gwen (see above)

[Alethia]

Thoughts before testing: I squealed when I read the notes for Summer Lace. I've never smelled green cognac before, and sometimes apple blossom can get a little shampoo-y, but everything else here is right up my alley. Autumn Lace is one of my top ten BPALs and Black Lace would be on that list if I had enough to wear regularly, so I've got high hopes for this addition to the Lace family!

 

Wet: Bright fizzy floral-citrus with the creamy tobacco and boozy Lace base. Reading that, it sounds like it would be awful but it's so freaking pretty.

 

Dry down: The citrus and florals burn off and leave a strong sweet tobacco (but definitely not caramelized) mixed with a creamy and slightly boozy base with just a hint of smoky opium. I'm not getting any vanilla exactly, but I'm guessing that it's contributing to the overall creaminess of the blend. This is gorgeous.

 

Dry: It dries down into a beautiful blend of tobacco, cognac, and creamy vanilla. So pretty!

 

Final thoughts: This is just beautiful. After the first half hour or so, it reminds me of a much lighter and incense-less Autumn Lace. Autumn Lace is pure sex on my skin and is fairly heavy with incredible throw, so I'm incredibly happy to have something that's reminiscent of Autumn Lace but is more work appropriate. This lasts an insanely long time (nearly 10 hours) but has only a moderate throw. Pure love.

 

Verdict: Hoarding

[littlebeky]

In the bottle it seemed to scream the parts I didn't want it to scream! The apple blossom, bright and floral. But I could smell the creaminess in the background waiting.

 

Wet: right away, oh no shampoo? Luckily that passes pretty quickly as the vanilla and tobacco come out to ground it a bit. It is bubbly and bright still against that creaminess.

 

Dry down: UNFFFFF. BEAUTIFUL. Creamy, earthy but with a delicate feeling to it, with just a smidge of that bright floral and fruit poking through to energize it a bit.

 

Now I am thinking I need a second bottle of this. It reminds me of a less perfumey Black Lace on me, more cozy. And I could see this even being lovely in the cooler autumn and winter weather because it is so cozy feeling.

[Numanoid]

Here we go...

 

Wet in bottle : something sweet and a dash of "laciness" to it...very pretty. Might be a floral note making the lace scent.

 

On Skin : Still sweet. I don't get any "bubbly" with this as stated above. I get some creaminess with it. Really does make me think of a pretty lace shawl, but in a good way...not in an old lady way.

 

Drydown: Sweetness fades a bit and so does the light floral aspect of it...but in a good way, for those of you nervous about overly sweet or overly flowery scents. Very warm scent with a decent throw.

[Leopard403]

This is so good. SO GOOD. When I sniffed right out of the bottle I was worried, because it is NOT GOOD right out of the bottle. But as soon as this hits my skin it is just lovely. Similar enough to the other Lace scents to be identified as one, but definitely light enough to be called Summer. Nothing made me think specifically of floral or foodie scents save for a quick whiff of caramel on the drydown; rather, this is seamlessly blended into a complex, creamy delight. And upwards of 10 hours after application I was still sniffing myself and it was still there! :love!:

[BuxomM]

First thing I get is effervescent white mandarin, Crisp, bright, bubbly. The bubbliness fades and the scent goes way down, soft throw. It settles to something slightly sweet, slightly floral, and slightly green. It is very soft and well blended. I lean toward foodie scents, but this is sweet enough to be a keeper.

[becca_s]

Summer Lace starts out with creamy mandarin and vanilla on my skin. In it's initial stages it reminds me of a fruitier version of Tattered Lace, which is one of my favorites. As it settles down though, it becomes more floral with the honeysuckle and opium poppy coming through. I never really get any of the tobacco or apple blossom. I was worried about the honeysuckle because it is a note that turns to soap on my skin, in this blend it doesn't turn soapy but adds a perfumey element. Overall, this is a really nice summery scent and you can definitely tell that it is a member of the Lace family. Tattered Lace is still my favourite of the laces, but this one makes a really nice addition, although I wish that it stayed how it was in the initial stages of creamy vanilla and mandarin. I might even upgrade to a bottle now that I know that the florals aren't going to turn into a soapy mess on me:)

 

Edited to add: I wore this again today, and I love it It's kind of like a more floral and lighter version of Tattered Lace. I definitely need to get a bottle

Edited August 4, 2013 by becca_s

[London]

I really love the caramelized tobacco note in this perfume. I get the darkness of the tobacco but it's more rounded and sweet. The other laces I've tried were so so to fail on me, but this is wonderfull. It's light, and sweet.

[heleng]

This is so lovely It's light and beautiful and perfect for summer. I get the mandarin immediately and gentle whisps of tobacco as it dries. I don't get florals just some sweetness and luckily for me I don't get any caramel.

[biocarolyn]

No caramel at all, thank goodness. The mandarin and apple blossom are fairly strong in the bottle and wet but as it settles down I get mostly tobacco,sweetened with honeysuckle and vanilla cream. There's that "lace" similarity to Red Lace's vanilla cream and tobacco notes. It morphs hugely from the bottle, all the effervescence and sparkly citrus burns off and it becomes softer, less jagged. This is really nice. So glad I grabbed a bottle!

[milo]

First sniff, kind of like Tattered Lace only fruitier. Drier, I knew this reminded me of something, but I couldn't for the life of me figure out what. Then the reviewer above me mentioned Red Lace. Yes, this is very much like Red Lace only slightly fruitier and less musky and resinous. I like this, but have Red Lace and Tattered Lace to fulfill my lace needs. This one also smells a bit metallic, whih is kind of off-putting for me.

[tharsei-thanate]

Yay, my decant arrived in the mail yesterday! I'm very excited about this blend, I hope it works on me.

 

In the imp: Tobacco, apple, and caramel over opium and vanilla. Perfection.

 

Wet: Oh man, that is indeed effervescent. It's tickling my nose! Yum, apple blossom and mandarin and honeysuckle are all mingling together nicely. Catching what I'm guessing is the green cognac, too. Nothing about this blend is too loud or offensive, it's just perfect. My only issue is I want some caramelized tobacco!

 

Drydown: Lovely warmth is emanating. Opium is emerging, and while creaminess has replaced the effervescence I can only sense the vanilla, which is totally fine me seeing as vanilla can easily become Play-Doh on me. There's also a freshness to this blend that I really like.

 

Dry: Tobacco is stepping forward a bit, but it's not the caramelized goodness I was hoping for. It's smoky and dark, not really rich, but not bad either. It's just different from what I want. Still, it's adding an interesting depth to the fruits.

 

Verdict? This needs more tests. I love it, I really do, but it's not me. I don't think it's bottle-worthy unless I get some rich, caramel tobacco on my skin. Here's hoping subsequent tests yield the results I want!

[JazzieCazzie]

Received as part of the lovely TTP's decant circle.

 

Worth noting in advance that normally I would NEVER have ordered this because it has almost exclusively mildly deal-breaking notes of doom. However, I really wanted to go whole hog on this particular decant circle and try things I might not have tried otherwise, figuring I can always put things that don't work on my swap list. And this was the one I most expected to be a "does not work" for me.

 

IN THE IMP: I honestly don't have words to define this. It's much simpler and cleaner than I would have expected by the list of notes in the blend. I'm getting vanilla but in a clean, dry linen way, not a sweety-sweet way. And no fruit or booze in the imp throw for me.

 

Dabbed somewhat cautiously on wrist and in crook of arm.

 

WET: Upon application, the fruit amps up as I expected (and I am not a fruit girl at all unless it's pink grapefruit or fig). The mandarin, cognac and apple blossom are the notes that are most evident to me. Yet it's not terrible. It's very complex but it doesn't have that "department store" component.

 

DRYDOWN: And just the mere fact that I don't feel the need to wash it off is a huge "yay"!!! There's also something as it dries down which is salty/peppery -- I figure is probably the caramelized tobacco.

 

OVERALL: While this scent is not for me, it is yet another example, in my opinion, of Beth's amazing virtuosity. She takes what is, in essence, an absolute feast of all of these different categories -- sweet food, flowers, fruit, booze, etc. -- and makes it a truly unified blend. It's not MY blend, but it's a great one.

 

On a scale of 1-5, a 3 just for its amazingness in that respect.

[heygraycatbird]

Big thanks to TTP for including the Dark Delicacies scents in her recent decant circle!

 

Wet: I get wafts of vanilla and a spicy sweet tobacco (though it doesn't smell like caramel to me). When I lean in for a closer sniff I also get a very light citrusy floral that reminds me of Cottonmouth.

 

Drydown: Spicy, slightly citrusy tobacco. The spiciness makes me think of a room fragrance.

 

Dry: Wrists smell like vanilla; inside of elbows smell like spices.

 

Overall, the combination of vanilla and citrusy florals reminds me of Cottonmouth, which I like. The tobacco adds some extra interest to distinguish this blend from Cottonmouth, but unfortunately I think the spiciness may prevent this from being a "must have" for me. It smells too much like a room fragrance spice to me, which is not what I prefer in a perfume.

I will have to try this again and see if it turns out spicy again.

Edited August 28, 2013 by heygraycatbird

[Caper]

I love the laces, really, there isn't a single one that doesn't end up lovely on me. Red Lace is strong tobacco on the dry down, but amazing at the end.

 

Summer Lace has the base of lace that is creamy and beautiful and then all I get is honeysuckle nastiness. It is vaguely cloying and nausea inducing. It was like that with Badgers and I've realized that honeysuckle is a death note for me. I would love a mandarin green cognac lace that doesn't have honeysuckle though!

Edited September 4, 2013 by Caper

[Missy_killer]

To my nose: I've never smelled any of the laces before, so I don't know if they have any similarities. But when I smell this one all I can think of is that it's bright and I want to say citrusy? But it has a bite too, and that bite could be made with pepper. Citrus and pepper. I really think that I recognize this smell from something else, some other perfume maybe. But I don't recall which one.

 

On: I have no idea. Absolutely no idea what this smells like. I think I might get some apples, they are green and sprinkled with tobacco. As Summer Lace dries down the apples gets switched to mandarins, but still with the tobacco-twist and a touch of vanilla. The vanilla isn't dominent at all to me, I can't even tell what kind of vanilla it is. One whiff, it's there and the next it's gone. I'd wear this scent during spring or the first cool days of fall, it would be too loud and sweet for me during summer.

 

After an hour and a half this is smokey mandarin and faint vanilla. i quite like it, and even the next morning I can still smell it.

[zankoku_zen]

Caramel tobacco and vanilla. It's nice, but it hasn't given me a visceral reaction, so it's obviously NOT what I'm looking for. Pity, since it has both vanilla and tobacco, so I thought this could have been a winner.

[Yanagoya]

It smells...a lot like Ralph by RL to me. I get zero tobacco - very dissapointed. It's a pleasant scent for sure... but not what I imagined. Oh, and sweet sweet apple all the way.

Edited October 25, 2013 by Yanagoya

[BlueberryPie]

ON ME: Damn, I was really hoping I’d get a lot of vanilla and apple blossom in this one. Instead, I get a lot of mandarin, something green, and not much else. At least I’m not getting any tobacco, which is a relief. Sadly, I still can’t tell exactly what BPAL’s opium note smells like. This blend does turn SLIGHTLY chemical on me, the way Hungry Ghost Moon did, but not quite to that extent. I can ignore the bitter, medicine note in this if I wanted to - there was plenty else to draw my attention. But I’m pretty sure it’s not the opium that was doing that -- the reason I didn’t like the Forest Reverie was because it turned very, very sour on me for some reason. It contained opium, and while it didn’t work on me, it wasn’t bitter and chemical the same way this and Hungry Ghost Moon is. It’s kind of frustrating. I wish I knew what kept doing that. I’m going to say this scent isn’t really for me -- it’s not terrible, but there’s no reason to put up with the weird chemical note in this when there are so many fantastic blends from BPAL that doesn’t have this problem.

 

SCORE: 4/10

 

 

[Monster]

When first applied, Summer Lace has that fizzy, effervescent thing going on. It's that sparking citrus Beth does so well. Dead on. Based on the note listing, this is a lot softer and prettier than I had expected it to be.

 

Wet, it's all carbonated mandarin soda with a breath of honeysuckle.

 

As it dries, I start to amp the floral notes. The mandarin top note has completely given way to pure honeysuckle and poppy with a little bit of sweetness from the vanilla. This gives me the image of delicate, cream colored lace against sun-tanned skin. Unfortunately, the tobacco never makes an appearance and my skin eats it up after only 20 minutes (it usually does that with scents containing citrus though).

 

Overall, Summer Lace is really pretty fruity floral and does an amazing job with it's synesthesia effect. Overall, I like it, but it's just not my style. I'm very happy with my decant.

[biocarolyn]

This is so pretty... I recognize the green cognac from Elegy IX: The Autumnal. I also get the tobacco pretty strongly, and the vanilla underneath. The light flowers are a wispy background, on me this is all cognac, tobacco, and vanilla. The only Lace I have to compare this to is Red, and the vanilla and tobacco backbone are similar but this isn't as sweet on me.