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BPAL Madness!
ReallyZeb

June 23, 1868

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True love renewed by night in an English garden: moonflower, Nottingham catchfly, Casablanca lily, evening primrose, night-blooming cereus, Queen of the Night, muted by the sepia tones of tonka, tobacco absolute, bourbon vanilla, and costus.

On me from start to finish I get amped florals, all of the time. If florals are your thing you will undoubtedly love it, but I really wanted the tonka, tobacco and bourbon vanilla to show themselves and they just didn't. I can tell it is of course beautifully blended but my skin refuses to cooperate on this one so I shall send it somewhere else to be loved.

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Happy soapy floral, halfway through the dry-down it veers a bit into dishwashing liquid then goes back to a classy nightblooming bouquet. I kind of like it, it has a nice staying power and sillage but I don't think I'll wear it a lot.

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June 23 is a lovely floral bouquet that is heady but not in your face.

I did not detect tonka, tobacco, or vanilla as individual notes. If that's what you're expecting you will be disappointed in this scent. These notes, in unison, do indeed create an overall 'Sepia' tone. They keep the florals from going wild and make them smell antique.

 

This has pretty good throw and lasted even after I took a shower.

 

I'm not a great lover of floral blends although there are a few I wear on occasion.

In June 23, I've found a floral blend that I'm absolutely mad about. :biggrin:

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I really was hoping that June and I would work out. What started as a pretty white floral bouquet veered straight down into a SOAP FLOWER GARDEN HEDGE, and never recovered.

 

In fact, I'm not sure I have recovered from it either. It's a gloriously expensive and pretty floral soap. But yes, still soap.

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So much TONKA! And vanilla, and a bridal bouquet of other floral notes that make faint impressions, because it's a tonka party up in here! After a few minutes, there's something antiseptic. As in cleaning products. Nope, not this one.

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This particular one truly has a vintage, nocturnal English garden scent to it. I highly recommend skin testing this one even if you don't like it in the bottle. I was ready to give up on it when I smelled all the sharp florals in the bottle, but when testing it for a good description for selling it, I realized I couldn't stop smelling myself. I'd say the tobacco is very very minimal; I don't really smell it at all. On the skin, the florals settle and you get a bit more of the bourbon vanilla which add a creamy backdrop to the dewy flowers. Very hard to describe!!! I keep coming back to VINTAGE to describe this. I want to say it has something in common with Leanan Sidhe, which is one of the few other floral scents that I like, but I could be wrong...

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In the imp: Sweet florals, dominated by lily and primrose.

 

Wet: Lily; wet greenery; top notes of primrose and the faintest undercurrents of tobacco and vanilla.

 

Dry: I always want smoky sweet tobacco in these blends. Invariably I get sickly, gas-like green tobacco. The tobacco here is midway between the two - slightly acrid but not quite as bitter as usual. It's trying to win over the lily (which always amps on me, and usually turns to powder besides) but it's not having much luck. For the first hour this stays cool and green, like a dew-covered garden, and if I sniff carefully, I can pick out the moonflower. Eventually though, the lily has her way and like most of the reviewers above, I'm left with a pretty floral soap. I'm profoundly disappointed that I got no vanilla from this; I can normally count on my skin to amp that very well, and it might have kept that lily/powder in check

 

The throw is surprisingly strong for a floral, the life 6-7 hours. I'll probably keep my decant to see how it ages, but I'm definitely not compelled to buy more.

 

Stars: ★★★½

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:thud:

 

 

June 23, 1868 is precisely, exactly what I've wanted every floral scent, ever, to smell like. It is floral perfection. Full stop.

 

Butterflies, Flowers and Jewels Attending was close, but too sweet for me. Lilies and Languors of Virtue is too much lily. Fae is too ethereal, and the oakmoss doesn't do it for me in that blend. Hell's Belle has...terribly sad associations for me now. But this. This is PERFECT.

 

Lovely, lovely English country garden flowers, made grown-up and sophisticated by the tonka and tobacco. If you are a floral fan: RUN, do not walk, and buy this gorgeousness now. Before I grab it all.

 

Definitely multiple bottle worthy. My new Go To non-rose floral. Thank you, Beth. :wub2:

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My skin loves white florals and they love me, so I was very hopeful about this. And then my dreams were realized! This is absolutely lovely on me.

 

Hilariously, a local friend who was (with permission) sticking his nose in the padded envelope was very startled to see his birthday on a bottle of perfume. And he liked how it smelled on my arm. If he's very lucky I may grant him a few drops. :tongue:

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In the bottle, oh crap flowers, lots of them, was sure hoping the tobacco, bourbon vanilla and tonka would dominate.

 

Nope. Crap.

 

On my skin, flowers. What was I THINKING?

 

DANG IT! If you love florals, you will LOVE LOVE LOVE this! Wanna swap?

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At its best on me this was a bit like alyssum single note and a bit like a night blooming garden. At worst it headed into screech, and my bf said I smelt like a urinal cake. I swapped it.

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Heady, tropical floral, really quite pretty. Kind of like walking in a lush jungle with vines and flowers hanging everywhere. After a bit, it becomes a bit too heady, I liked the beginning stages more. Now it reminds me of an avon cream my mom used to use. Not for me, but floral lovers will probably be all over this.

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This smelled good wet, but morphed on the dry down into pure soapiness. Like a more astringent "No more tears" shampoo. Skin Chemistry.

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light floral bouquet...not really my thing, but pretty. I was hoping for more tonka, tobacco, but none of that is coming out on me. dries down to clean soap floral.

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tons of lily, totally and overwhelmingly floral. I also would have said there was jasmine in this but I don't see it as a listed flower (unless one of those is actually jasmine in disguise).

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This started off so pretty on me. I remember thinking it was like lilac bushes at night, or any flower that really puts off scent during the evening. It was clean and white, and had a ton of gorgeous florals in it. After about an hour, it takes an evil turn and turns into pure shampoo. It just didn't work. At all. So saadd....

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"Overwhelmingly floral" is exactly what I thought when I first sniffed this. I can't smell anything else but flowers in it, and it gives me an instant headache. It's really strong scent, the tiniest drop is more than enough for me.

 

On the other hand, it is a lovely floral, but then again, I'm not sure if it's my kind of floral because it's so strong on me and I can't smell any other notes... But even if I loved it, I couldn't use it because of the headache :ugh:

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Huh, I thought I reviewed this!

 

This was the first bpal I ever bought a backup bottle of. Basically, it's perfect. :wub2: White florals mesh beautifully with my skin chem so the strong florals are lovely on me, very vintage and soft and sweet. Behind all those pretty florals is warm tonka and just a touch of tobacco and costus, which all add gorgeous depth. I typically like my tobacco much stronger but I don't mind so much in this blend since the florals and tonka are so beautiful. I don't really catch any bourbon vanilla, but that's fine with me since it sometimes goes plastic on my skin. I've yet to have this blend veer into soap territory on me. If you have similar skin chem that takes kindly to white florals, definitely give this one a shot!

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In the bottle: This smells like a vampire's garden, that's the only way I can describe it! Like a stone courtyard at night with wrought-iron gates, overgrown with weeds & various night-blooming flowers, outside a vampire's mansion. It's cold & dark & eerie & yet SO beautiful!

Wet on skin: Almost exactly the same as wet, only slightly less cold & stone.

Dry on skin: The flowers & "cold night" feeling have faded & the weedy smell has come out more. Like the same garden, only just after sunset or just before dawn. Not as pretty, but still really interesting.

After a few hours: Somewhere in between how it smells wet & how it smells dry. Not as amazing as in the bottle, but really pretty & mysterious! Sort of a vintage floral - ever so slightly soapy, but not in a bad way. "Sepia toned" for sure!

Verdict: I really want to try this in a scent locket, but even without one I'm really glad I decided to buy this! It's such a lovely scent! Not something I'd wear during the day though, this is a more ethereal floral, ideal for wearing at night!

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this starts off as a slightly sweet white floral, yet it definitely has that "night blooming" feel to me. i think i mostly get lily and moonflower, and probably some of these other florals which aren't all that familiar to me. i think waaaay in the background i smell a hint of tobacco, but it's mostly florals on me. i don't seem to get any vanilla or tonka here, it seems very subtle. interesting, and i love the imagery, but i was hoping for a lot more of the "muted" notes than those florals. that being said, i love trying the OLLA scents!

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Oh. My. Goodness. Wow. A beautiful floral garden right here on my skin. I was super worried about this scent as most of the flowers listed I had to google just to get an image in my mind of what they were. This is just a heady glorious pile of beautiful and full flowers. The vanilla and tobacco give it a nice base.

 

I'm not normally a "flower" person. I very much prefer my musks and ambers ... but something about this just puts a smile on my face.

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I'm a "flower hater" and believe me, June 23, 1868 is the ONE TRUE FLORAL for floral haters. I adore it and even bought a backup bottle. On my skin, there is no sharpness, no headache-inducing white floral, no soap. It smells like a big bouquet of lilacs with the tonka, tobacco, and vanilla keeping the flowers in check and melding into a sensual bouquet.

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Wet: So pretty. So realistic! Sweet gentle white florals. One of the prettiest light white florals I've smelled. Something in there reminds me of honeysuckle. Something reminds me of Jasmine (likely the "night blooming flowers") but without that screeching, overly sweet, headache inducing part of jasmine that I can't stand. This is pretty. It's not exactly wowing me though.

 

 

Dry: Sweet, light. That almost-but-not-quite-Jasmine note is the strongest on my skin. It's quite pretty, but I have other light white florals that I like as much or better, so I don't think I will be upgrading to a bottle. Glad to have gotten to try it though!

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2018 release.

 

In the decant: A bouquet of soft white flowers.

 

Wet: This is definitely a bouquet of soft, white flowers. I am not able to pick out individual notes, but I will say that none of the flowers are sharp, sour, or competing with one another. At the moment, I’m not getting any of the tobacco, bourbon vanilla, or tonka, but perhaps they’ll emerge after some time?

 

Dry: This stays true all the way through: it’s a bouquet of soft white florals that never vie with one another for attention or veer into soap territory. The scent is softer now, and I’m still not picking up on the bourbon vanilla, tobacco, or tonka notes.

 

Verdict: I think this is a lovely white floral scent, but as I do not really reach for straight-up floral scents, I don’t think I’d end up reaching for this one. That said, if that is your thing, you should definitely get this one!

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