Pleasant Embrace

[Jenrjen]

PLEASANT EMBRACE

Lemon-silvered musk and white pear.

In the bottle: Whoa PEAR!

Wet: Still pear... The words that came to mind were "glittering pear." Something is coming off as almost "sharp" like glass. I'm not digging this right now. The sharpness and pear are kind of harsh. It's like the pear is a big bully and musk is trying to stand up for itself by turning into shards of glass.

Dry down: Just when I was about to give up on this, magic happened. The white musk and pear decided they really were meant to be friends. The musk starts to deepen and calm the pear. My nose interprets this as "spiced" pear. I know there aren't any spices, but that stunning musk really gives me the vibe of an autumnal pear. I get no lemon in this this.

This is going to be stunning in the fall when I want fruit but not bright fruit. This might be good for those who feel most fruits give a "too young" vibe but really like the actual scents.

[Dark Alice]

Beautiful Pear. Lemon and silver...and BEAUTIFUL PEAR! I love this!!!

[Eemia]

This is a cool, silky smooth pear that smells nothing like I expected. I was thinking the pear would be syrupy, a touch candyish, or overtly "pear" I guess, something like Endymion maybe. But the pear is so sheer and natural in this, just like dewy drops of pear juice. It's not sugary or sweet. But it's not bright and tangy either. It's like this perfectly balanced scent that feels light and clean without all the usual light and clean connotations. It sits close to my skin and doesn't last very long; I was reapplying it after two hours.

 

I get a bit of some kind of pale, washed out lemon here and there, and it's beautiful. I'm not normally a fan of lemon notes but this is more like a mist of it combined with the luminescent pear and some kind of super shy musk. It's one of the lightest bpals I've ever worn. I love that it doesn't turn into a vanilla or a musk on the dry down. It's just here one minute and gone the next. It almost reminds me of a body wash or something in how light it clings to my skin. It doesn't seem like I've just applied perfume.

 

I really, really love this. My chemistry has been really off lately and nothing has been smelling right to me. So I was pretty thrilled when I tried this and fell in love with it.

[Usagi]

bottle: PEAR , with a fizzy musk underneath, and just a hint of the lemon beneath the sweetness of the pear.

 

wet: juicy, juicy pear, and it seems to have been soaked in subtle lemon water, then laid on a cool, light-colored, effervescent musk.

dry: lingering sweetness of ripe pear, and just a hint of musk.

Edited March 2, 2015 by Usagi

[zankoku_zen]

Pear, with fizzy white musk. This is cool, crisp pear with some light musk.

 

Unfortunately my skin eats this up.

 

I am off to sit under the Tree of Despair.

[aiobhan]

I didn't think I'd like it, but I DO SO MUCH.

 

The pear is strong, but after drying and warming a little, my skin takes the pear and lemon and they turn into an almost baked-pears smell, with the musk darkening the pear's crispness just enough to keep me from smelling too "green".

[Aviatrix]

This is the juiciest, loveliest pear ever! BUT ALAS, as soon as it hits my skin, it fades into practical nothingness :(

I am so, so sad about this, as it was a most beautiful and promising scent in the bottle.

[Shealynne]

This is the most magnificent out of all of the Lupers I've tried so far. My goodness, I want to sit around and huff myself all day. It is delightful, but not overwhelming. Fruity, but not reminiscent of a middle school locker room. I love it, and yet also hate it because my bank account is going to be crying soon.

[velvet]

initial wet stage: oh! what is this? I can't identify the notes, but its juicy and bright.

beginning of dry down: a sweet pretty pear, like an anjou.

dry stage: aaaaaaaaaaand I smell like a candle. well the wet stage was fun while it lasted.

[izile]

In the bottle: wow! pear! juicy, succulent, pear juice!

 

Wet on skin: still mostly pear, maybe a hint of soft lemon?

 

Dry: I can understand the candle comparison, but it smells like a really nice one, though! The pear is still dominant, but now not overwhelming a soft musky lemony base. Lovely!

[Teaker]

Pear! A big pear with a capital "P." There is a bright edge of sharp lemon. It's like... shards of a broken mirror. I don't really know how else to describe it. As it dries down, it becomes white musk with a nice fruity hint of pear. Definitely a winner for me, but not something I need multiples of.

[barilace]

What I get from this: pear and really sharp, bright lemon.

 

I thought I'd love it since it does smell really good in the imp - but once it's on my skin for a bit....it goes bye bye. Sad.

[blu°]

This is the most magnificent out of all of the Lupers I've tried so far. My goodness, I want to sit around and huff myself all day. It is delightful, but not overwhelming. Fruity, but not reminiscent of a middle school locker room. I love it, and yet also hate it because my bank account is going to be crying soon.

 

All of this. All.

 

Super-juicy and deliciously sweet. Dewy fresh but with a few almost indolic depths and lots of sun/warmth. This is a very happy yet relaxed and comforting scent. Crying wallet and all.

[AlectoFurious]

Fresh crisp pear. Juicy almost. But much brighter than the pear in The Vine, where's its heavy syrupy pear. This is lighter and has a tartness (maybe the lemon?) in the dry down.

[astarinel]

This is, as people have mentioned, a really lovely fresh pear note. I really like pear, but I've only had a few work for me. The Perilous Parlor is good, but The Vine was unspeakably bad.

 

The lemon is a little more prominent in the decant, but fades a bit on application and ends up mostly giving the scent a bit of a tart edge. The white musk-fruit combination reminds me a little of Katharina, but with this cool, crisp pear instead of the sweeter apricot.

 

I am getting relatively low throw, but that may be just the testing process. I'm going to hang onto this decant and give it a few longer, more thorough wears, because this one is definitely my favorite out of the Shungas I've tried this year.

[LiberAmoris]

From the description, I was expecting 'woah pear' in Pleasant Embrace, but this is just so lovely and balanced between the pear and lemon musk. The pear is stronger when wet, but everything dries down to a lemony, pear-y musk that's actually very subtle. And it's not too sweet on me! It feels...sunny? But like pale sunlight, if it were somehow transmogrified into musk. Nice for springtime!

[puck_nc]

Origin: Bought at the Dirty South Will Call

 

Initial Thoughts: I love pear as a note - it features in Juliet and The Perilous Parlor, a couple of my favorites. I always hesitate over musk if it's not clearly spelled out whether it's a light or dark musk, since darker musks amp badly on me and I've had a couple of lemon-furniture-polish experiences as well. This was on my maybe list, but I got to play with it at the Will Call.

 

In the Bottle: Very, very pear. Cool and not candy-sweet, but positively pear.

 

Wet: Still very pear, but the lemon emerges quickly. And it's not artificial or overpowering at all, just adding its citrus zing to the pear.

 

Drydown: I would think it is safe to say that this is not a dark musk. The musk develops and blends in nicely, making the overall scent a bit less fruity and a touch more skin-like. It's subtle and would make a good work scent for me.

 

Verdict: Lovely! So glad I was able to try this one and bring a bottle home.

[Ethaisa]

I love pear notes but wasn't expecting to like this, as I'm not always big on the lemon. But.. somehow, I think this is working. Damn, as lovely as this is, it totally disappears on my skin in about 30mins.

[Magycmyste]

In the imp: Well, lemon and pear.

 

Wet on skin: Still lemon and pear. This is kind of disparate, like the lemon and pear sitting alone in the fruit bowl.... and struggling not to roll together.

 

Dried down: Ok, blending together a little more. It's interesting. The longer I wear it, I smell more lemon closer to my skin, and more pear a bit further away.

 

Throw: Very light on me. Pretty much all pear.

 

Verdict: *** This isn't bad, but it's just not for me. like both the notes, but they're not really blending together well for me.

[tziporra]

So according to the description we have three notes.

 

Lemon-silvered: you may be worried that you will smell like lemon pledge but I have the lemoniest pledged skin and I only get it for a second here. Do not fear the lemon

 

Pear: note that I got the order wrong. It's intentional. The pear is lovely. It's not quite as sparkly and young as in something you'd find at the drugstore, but neither is it (on me) a spicy ripe fall pear. This is a sexy pear. A come hither pear. Likely because of

 

Musk: oh heaven this is the best cleanest sexiest musk ever. And the wear time is foooooooooorever - I've been wearing it to bed which is ideal because I get some nice pear action in the evening while I'm falling asleep or, um, whatever, and then I wake up in the morning to seriously one of the best musks I've ever smelled. It's a lot like the Ava Luxe Oriental Musk which I am a huge fan of, but without any hint of plastic. Just insanely good. If you are a fan of clean musks I cannot recommend this highly enough.

 

Love,

 

Tzi

[milo]

Pear right off. I'm not getting any white musk, which is a good thing, as it doesn't work on my skin. After a bit, the pear becomes alcoholic, so now I smell like pear cider, and its uber sweet too. Smells like a hangover. Not for me.

[Ishtar]

White musk and fruit is usually a reliably good combination on my skin, and this is no exception. I was curious to see how different it would be from Endymion and, while they are definitely similar, Pleasant Embrace has an added fizziness and slight hint of spice that I am liking a lot. The lemon works exceptionally well with the pear here. The two notes harmonise yet always remain distinct from each other.

 

Pleasant Embrace dries into a fairly classic sparkly / fruity clean musk, but the interplay of lemon and pear adds tension and interest to the blend. Truly well done!

[Lucchesa]

Wet, Pleasant Embrace is all juicy crisp pear; the lemony musk emerges in drydown and keeps this blend from being too sweet. I agree it is quite similar to Endymion, with lemon instead of lilies. While Under the Mosquito Netting went all Lemon Pledge on me, this did not -- it is a light dry lemon merged with what isn't exactly white musk, or at least not quite as high pitched and screechy as white musk can be on me, but something silvery and bright. Sadly, like many Shungas, it doesn't last as long on me as I would like. But it's lovely while it lasts!

[highgarden]

I have this on one wrist right now and holy hell, is it gorgeous. A light pear with a hint of white musk, so far quite constant. Wet and an hour in, the lemon is more apparent and the scent is so light I almost don't smell it, but now that it has been more than 3 hours, the throw has amped up a bit. Very office appropriate!