Libertine

[paperdoll]

Rosewood and chamomile with bergamot, violet, red sandalwood, primrose and Arabian musk.

Initial Sniff: Woods, chamomile, and something sweet.

Wearing: This starts out so nice! Sandalwood and sweet chamomile with a touch of bergamot.
Then the rose appears.
And that is all I smell until it fades a few hours later.

Final Impressions: Why do I keep trying to wear rose scents? One of these days I will learn.

[Faerykin]

Libertine

 

Swiped across wrists and along collarbone.

 

Initial Wet (8-8:30am): This is a light, bright, almost-tangy floral. I am uncertain as to specific notes, as they blend very well.

 

Initial Dry (8:30-10am): The brightness dissipates a bit as this continues to lighten. It is still very floral. There is no longer any tanginess either.

 

Throughout the Day (10am-on): I still can’t detect any specific notes. This is just a light, breezy floral. Good for warm days or when I wanna feel girly.

 

Still present as I leave for work – I get gentle wisps of floral. *shrugs* I may keep the imp, or it may find a home where it will be better appreciated. We’ll see.

[tempete]

I purchased an imp of Libertine because of my love for violet, rosewood and red sandalwood. Libertine starts out promisingly enough, but then the note of Arabian musk gradually takes over the entire scent. Unfortunately, Beth's Arabian musk seems a bit like Liquid Tide on me, so this imp didn't stay long in my possession.

[dreadeddragon]

In the bottle: A bitter floral scent

 

First on: Rose. Lots of rose. Damnit! I wanted the rosewood & sandalwood out of this one. I get pure rose.

 

Drydown: Still pure rose. It's a nice rose, don't get me wrong, but that's not something I want anymore. I went through my rose stage in high school.

[byrdie]

Note ~ an imp I ordered along with Pink Moon.

 

Vial ~ a slightly astringent, purple floral note.

 

Wet ~ Hrm. A leafy, green astringent. Very sharp and not my thing.

 

Drying ~ Spring-fresh detergent. Oh, lordy -- and this is the imp I'd been waiting for eagerly?

 

Drydown ~ The astringent / detergent quality is starting to back down into what I could call a powdery floral. what I'm getting reminds me of the cloying undertones of Lush's Bathos bubble bar. It's starting to turn sweet, but is still hanging onto the sharp tang. This is just unfortunate.

 

Dry ~ Soap. Ivory frickin' soap. As it lightens, it turns more fresh and sweet. Maybe that's finally the violet peeking through.

 

Fade ~ I never fully smelled the violet. I think this oil lasted a little over eight hours before it gave up. At nearly my bedtime, I smell almost nothing on my wrists -- if anything, a vague powderiness. Strange.

 

Final thoughts ~ I can't imagine my cycle or lack thereof making this any worse.

 

5ml ~ No.

[VelvetSky]

Libertine starts out very promising for me, as I love bright, herbally florals. So...I love the violet. Love the rose/rosewood. Love the sandalwood. Love the bergamot. Absolutely gorgeous through the middle accord....and then, the musk hits.

 

The musk in the drydown of Libertine is quite strong on my skin, and all but cancels out all of the other notes. Consequently, I'm left with a dry musk with a hint of sandalwood, that strangely, goes soapy on me.

[quikslvr]

Very sweet, lightly floral. Rosey and light. Soft and springy, dry. Definitely work appropriate for me.

[k00kaburra]

In bottle: Rosewood gives this a delicate floral-and-wood top note. Sandalwood and musk mingle with dusky violet.

On me: Strong throw! This is a perfume that really knows how to be felt; heavily rose, but with the depth of many notes. The undertones are sweet, bubbling up between a heavy cloud of sandalwood and musk. The rose is always center stage, but it is creamier and a bit drier than a more 'typical' rose scent. As a home fragrance, this is to die for. It gives a sense of class and genteel living to linens and towels, and age and propriety when burned. Bath & Body Works had a rosewood candle that I loved, but they discontinued it years ago. This is not only an excellent replacement, it is far better than that candle.

[malanna]

Damn, this sucker is strong. I have to say, I usually end up getting headaches with sickly sweet/floral scents, and this is one of them. The rosewood goes Wham!Bam! on me, with the rose shortly behind to give a Thwap! to finish me off. However, after an hour, while this still gives me a headache, Libertine becomes an indistinct, clean floral with a detergent feel to it. As always with such headache-scents, Libertine is lovely once it's sunk into my skin and I can barely smell it.

[nineveh]

I was worried about this one, since my past experiences with Arabian musk have been of the dryer sheet variety, but I couldn't resist the name. Thankfully, there are no dryer sheets for me with Libertine. I get a sort of dry, light, herbal, floral scent. I can predominantly smell the chamomile and one of the woods. This is sort of powdery, but elegant and refined, like an aristocratic daytime scent.

[JazzieCazzie]

Received as a frimp ... very interesting because of all the many, many notes in here the only one I really like is sandalwood, and I would not expect to like this AT ALL.

 

Though it's heavy on the rose, it's actually surprisingly nice. I applied it pretty sparingly to be cautious, and was surprised that it never went bad on me. I still think it will probably end up "not me," but I am going to try it again more lavishly in the near future because I am undecided ... even if I end up swapping it, I was really pleasantly surprised how much I liked it ... or didn't not like it.

[sookster]

another one of the lab's scents that is just one of the most magical blends with my chemistry

 

all the scents come through...bright and gorgeous....Rosewood and chamomile with bergamot, violet, red sandalwood, primrose and Arabian musk...yes...all of them........lasts a good looooooooong time.... (*can ya tell i am a long lasting kinda gal??*)

 

add this one to big bottle list.....

[olympia301]

 

Rose, rosewood, violet and lemongrass. This is a loverly scent. It's strong, rosy, green and languid. If I had run across Libertine early on, I would have made this my signature scent for a long time. I would heartily recommend Libertine to BPAL newbies,it gives a great range of what Beth is capable of and her interpretation of an ancient concept.

[Blood onmy hands]

At first this is a citrus-herbal scent on my skin. Not terribly unpleasant. But it quickly turns into a soapy floral nightmare.

 

Bitter rose and soapy violets. Still maybe a hint of citrus lingering in the background. The overall impression is bitter and harsh on me. It gets more generic-soapy scented over the course of an hour... before I washed it off with some actual soap going into hour 2. Good news is that the Arabian Musk never came out on me... maybe it would have if I'd been brave enough to keep it on.

Edited April 3, 2013 by Little Bird

[melrose]

In imp: Warm herbs.

 

Wet, on skin: Sweet herbs. I'm intrigued.

 

Near drydown: Is this rosewood? Where have you been all my life? I think I'm in love.

 

Middle drydown: Roses and nothing but. I like roses, but this isn't as nice as it was a while ago.

 

Far drydown: My rosewood came back. The roses are there, but are behaving nicely in the background. The musk and sandalwood are there as well. Could be HG worthy.

[Lycanthrope]

In the Bottle or Imp:

I smell frankincense, sweet resins, and sweet ambery florals.

Wet, on Skin:

It's slightly grassy, very effervescent, almost bubbly. The frankincense (note) is definitely singing now, and it's pulling up the florals behind it. I envision a sort of whirlpool fragrance being pulled up by a bright beam of frankincense (... I need sleep).

Drying Down:

Oh goodness, is this sweet. Florals out the wazoo. And ... is that ... rose?

Dry on Skin:

Uh oh. The rose is amping up, and it's all I smell.

Over Time/Longterm:

Agh, this went the way of Old Rome on me. It's rose. Plain and simple.

Final Verdict?

Another perfectly good blend that my chemistry amped to rose. Sigh.

[Muppetk]

This is nice. I cannot for the life of me pick out any notes from it, but this is definitely pretty. IT reminds me a bit of Corazon or fenris wolf except more herby and less sweet, and definitely a lighter scent. This isn't love at first sniff, but it's definitely growing on me.

[wickedgoddess]

Origin - imp received in a swap

 

Preconceived notions - I wanted to try this because of the chamomile, which has become one of my favorite notes, but violets are vile on me, so this could go either way.

 

Wet - I get chamomile straight off along with something not quite as pleasant.

 

Dry - the lovely smell of chamomille intermingled with the foul smell of violets. Sigh. I think whenever violets are present my dislike of them makes them take over the blend. After about an hour all I could smell was violets. Oh well, it was worth a shot.

 

On the wickedgoddess scale of 1 to 5, with 5 being best, this rates a 2

[Dark Seraphim]

Bottle: Didn't know what to make of it, except that it just smelt good. I thought it was minty, but that must have been the chamomile. Very nice here.

 

Skin: Horrid when wet. Just smells like bad cleaner to me. However, the throw is lovely with very nice, light rose-like scents (must be the rosewood and violet). Wouldn't be able to sniff wrists, but would be glad to sniff the air. Certainly makes a nice burn scent.

 

Overall, pretty good, but not a keeper. 5/10.

[Firewaver]

I really think this is an underrated scent. I love the smell of chamomile, because it reminds me of California, where it grows wild in abundance.

 

In the bottle, it's a deceptively floral/herbal and sharp. Not too appealing..and a little bit stinky.

 

On the skin.. it behaves beautifully on the skin after about 5 minutes. I think it's the rosewood that really gives this scent a woody depth to it that's just lovely. Chamomile is lovely and herbal, as expected.. giving a good green! kick to the overall concoction. I'm not a fan of violet, but the violet here is unobtrusive and sweet without being overly powdery.

 

Drying, the musk comes out a bit more, and I love it. This scent really is so well blended that the individual notes are difficult to pick out after it's dry.

 

I slather regularly with this one, and my imp is about gone. I may have to order a bottle with the lunar update. Praise be to libertine.

[Northernminx]

Sandalwood and it's nasty habit of going powdery on me strikes again. The undercurrent in this is soft, powdered floral with bergamot and a touch of musk. it's strong and floral, but also more sticky and cloying than I would like with my chemistry so I'll pass on this one. It's a little too stiff a scent for me.

[coulrophobe]

Wet: hoo boy... roses. Well, I suppose that's rosewood, actually - but my skin says, "same difference." I'm not a big fan of rose, but I think I'm catching a whiff of other notes trying to make themselves known...

 

Drydown: Libertine's a complicated blend. The most obvious note to my nose is still rose(wood), but there's a tangy edge to it that must be bergamot, and something almost lemony. And while I can't actually smell the violet as a separate scent - there's a purpley tone. This is kind of magenta-scented to me, and that's a color association I usually get with berry scents, not florals... it's kind of messing with me.

 

I wish I could smell more of the musk - there's a hint of it and the sandalwood, but not quite enough to satisfy a musk fanatic like me. And there's something in here making my sinuses tingle.

 

Huh, I've written a review, but still don't know how I feel about this one... it's definitely intriguing.

[lohengrin]

Uhm... slightly sweet powder? Probably that's the violet, or the primrose. It's nice enough, but certainly not what I was expecting. On me, this is a soft, innocent, sweet scent. Like baby powder with just a touch more sweetness.

 

Not a winner for me, alas.

[pinkpoodle]

Wow! Let me first start out by saying that I'm a newbie and I've only tried 7 of the scents. I like all of them!

 

Libertine is the first one that I've really tried to analyze, so here goes:

 

Upon opening bottle: This first struck me as very floral and almost citrusy. Very potent.

 

Wet on skin: It is still very floral, which I assume is the chamomile and violet coming through. I'm not sure what primrose smells like. I can really smell the bergamot. It doesn't have a strong citrus smell now.

 

Dry (several hours later): The sandalwood and rosewood have really come through to make this scent very rich and classy. The floral scent has been tamed somewhat and it's smelling a little more earthy. If you're an earthy-scent girl like me, don't dismiss Libertine at first smell. Put lots of it on and let it dry for a nice, woody scent. I love it!

[stardreamer]

This was a freebie in my latest order.

 

First impression: Something's awfully sharp in this one -- almost a pine smell.

 

Fresh on: Enh. It's not bad, but there's not much appeal either. A little on the masculine side, though that's not always a bad thing IMO. No rose notes at all, which surprises me since so many other people say it's heavy on the rose.

 

Drydown: This smells like a lot of commercial men's colognes. Nothing ever really jumps out at me, and the staying power is only moderate; though I did apply it fairly lightly, it's only been 5 hours and it's nearly gone. This one is headed for the swap pile.