Delphi

[gingersnapp]

The smoke of Sacred Incense of Apollo twined through laurel branches, bay, and honey wine.

Honey and bay. Not much incense out of this blend, and it's very sweet. I guess the incense bit could be how the honey sweetness kind of drifts and wafts around me like a cloud, as if it has no weight at all.

[theseagrows]

this was a frimp from the lab. thisone is very sweet, and i think i smell wine, honey and dragon's blood. or something that reminds me of dragon's blood, because it's sweet and almost fruity with a hint of spice and smells very red to me. unfortunately, this is way too sweet for my tastes, so i'll have to add it to my swaplist.

[Brianne]

In the vial:

Blech! Cough syrup!

 

On me:

This goes on awful on me. I cannot even describe what this smells like on my skin - the closest I can come is like cat pee and herbal cough syrup - it is truly horrific.

 

Where is the honey? The wine? The incense? I keep waiting and hoping for this to get better, but I don't think I can bear to smell it again or wait any longer for this to change! ;_;

 

Final note:

Truly, truly awful. I have not had something smell so bad on me since Kathmandu (old gym socks on me!) - I am so disappointed because other people seem to be having a totally different experience!

[SultryWolf]

In the imp: Spicy-sweet with a sharp kick of bay.

On: The incense comes to the fore, over the sweetness of honey wine, and the herbal kick of bay.

[filigree_shadow]

Smells like wine and herbs. The wine is quite strong, but it kinda smells more grapey than winey. Like grape juice that has a little bit of alcohol in it. It doesn't smell bitter on me the way it apparently does on other reviewers, but it does smell... strange. There's nothing really bad about it, I just think this isn't my kind of scent.

[lightgatherer]

Initially very floral; I'm not certain if it's the incense or the laurel, but it's got a ton of throw. The boy smelled it from across the room and later commented that I smelled like a Glade room freshener. Dries down to a yummy scent (I'm assuming the honey wine). I like the drydown, but it's very faint, and it's not worth the overwhelming air freshener smell.

[DifferentDances]

Frimp from the lab with my very first order!

 

In the imp: *crinkle nose* It smells like a typical new age store three hours after a customer with strong perfume has left.

 

On me: I don't know what's in it, but it definitely smells like herbal medicine and a kick of something else.

 

Verdict: Not for me, nope.

[Extispex]

I'd been wanting to try this, then received a frimp of it from an evil (and wonderful) enabler in a forum purchase.

 

In the bottle its rather sharp and herby. Bay and laurel I suppose.

 

Wet on my skin it goes crazy sweet, the honey-wine just jumps right out and in a scary way. I immediately tossed the imp in the swap pile and was going to wash it off, and then...

 

... well I should have known better. I picked my imp of Delphi from the swap-pile and put it in the keeper-pile. This stuff is crazy. Strong and not at all subtle, the herbs and wine crash together to create a mad intoxication of scent. This is one of the most unusual fragrances I've come across at BPAL and I may just have to have a bottle of this.

 

Later I layered it with Ides. Glory!

[neuilly]

Bay is definitely the top note for me. This is actually a much lighter scent than I was expecting. On the herbal side, very in tune with nature which isn't really my kind of scent. Don't pick on the wine or incense, maybe a touch of honey and laurel. It's really mostly bay on me though.

[xoe]

this smells really good on me when i'm outside. Would be perfect to wear to Shakespeare in the Park or something like that.

[Naamah_Darling]

This is just plain weird in the bottle – there's that Lab wine note, which is very grape-y, but here it's saturated with herbs and chased with honey. There's an afterscent, a halo, of warm incense. Intriguing, rather pretty.

 

On my skin it becomes a disaster of epic proportions. Immediately the green herbal notes come out in a rush, the wine goes to vinegar, and the whole thing smells sour and bitter, like I threw up on myself. It is truly, truly foul, and it does not just rank on the "least favorite BPAL" list of scents, but also on the "most foul things I have smelled, ever." It actually triggered my almost-nonexistent gag reflex for a second, and after years of dealing with snake poop and gurged rodents, that's not easy.

 

This doesn't improve after giving it twenty minutes, it only gets more unpleasant. Since it's making me feel sick, I'll be washing it off now and sending it to the swaps. I understand plenty of people like this blend, and from its smell in the bottle I can see how it could be very nice and very interesting on someone with a chemistry that likes it. Just . . . on me, it's truly vile.

[sedona]

In the imp this had a sweet, but unusual note. The sweetness must be from the honey wine.

 

Wet - Still sweet, but with a punch of something herbal.

 

Drydown - The herbal note strengthens and is very green, there is something in here that doesn't agree with my skin chemistry at all. It just doesn't smell 'right'.

 

Had to wash this one off, so it's gone to swaps to be appreciated by someone else.

[kwsix]

In the imp: Wine and herbs

 

Wet on my skin, Delphi smells like a craft store, right in between the candle and dried wreath areas. Thank goodness the wine isn't going sour like it did in Athens. As the scent dries, my nose hallucinates a rose scent out of the wine and bay combination. It's actually quite pleasant, which is odd because rose scents don't usually work on me. Maybe hallucinated rose scents work better than regular rose scents.

 

I actually like Delphi much more than I expected. My skin usually amps honey, which is ok because I like it, but it's staying in the background here. On me, Delphi ends up smelling just like a wreath of dried roses and sweet herbs. I know it's wine, and if I sniff deeply I can tell that it's wine, but my nose keeps telling me otherwise. I'm not sure how often I would wear this scent, but I do like it, and I would like to keep an imp on hand for further evaluation.

[Mimicake]

I love the bay scent to this one, very dried crumbled herbs and wine. It is very sweet, yet dusty at the same time. It has serious staying power, and softens beautifully. Like Evilmistressoftoast says, there is a hallucinated rose effect to it which I like much better on me than the real rose.

[Ajila]

In the bottle – Sharp green fruits backed by incense

 

Wet on me – The sharpness of the wine with the dry tickle-the-back-of-your-throat-smokiness of the incense

 

Dry on me – Deep honey drenched incense, the same honey that’s in Athens

 

Overall – I like the deep richness of this, but it doesn’t wow me. I’ll keep it and see if it grows on me

[maribouquet]

imp: sweet wine

wet: wine and something smoky

dry: myrrh? huh.

 

Smells weird on me - flat, dusty & sour.

 

 

edited for spelling

Edited July 31, 2007 by maribouquet

[CiCi]

The description sounds so wonderful that I could not wait to try it! Incense, wine, honey, what is there in here that I would not love? I opened the bottle and it smells nothing like any of these delicious descriptions. I can only describe what it smells on me as almost like sour wine and herbs. I have never had this happen to me before with any BPAL fragrance. It is the first time I actually have to wash off an oil because it disagrees so badly with my body chemistry. Thank goodness there are so many other lovely bottles to try!

[Babylon]

Wet - Very medicinal bay, a little smoke.

Dry - Burning sage and honey! Boyfriend says it smells like old medicine, heh. For some reason it keeps reminded me of an old scented sachet or something for sale in a craft store.

[fiamma]

I was warned about this one by several people, how it just didn't smell good on anyone, blah blah blah...but I worship Apollo...so I had to try it.

 

I was a little apprehensive when I first sniffed the vial- it was strong. I don't really do strong scents.but I tried it anyway...and am so happy I did. On me, Delphi smells like roses and cinnamon. Not a combination I'd ever put together, much less put on my skin...but that's how it turns out. After a few hours, I can smell the wine and honey and another few hours later, the bay becomes more apparent. I will buy a bottle of this, definitely.

Edited August 16, 2007 by Shollin
Removed Lab description

[Esmeria]

In the bottle: Oooh, it smells so magical, like it wandered straight from Mythology itself. I don't know what I can smell, but like it I do.

 

Wet: Dried fruit. But this is in no way a bad thing- I can smell raisins, cranberries and sultanas (yes, my nose is weird). How yummy!

 

Dry: Oh here is the honey wine! I can still smell dried fruit, but it's a lot sweeter now. I can still smell it hours later, very sweet and delicious. Bottle please!

[euterpe414]

Delphi is mostly honey, wine, and bay on me from start to finish. The bay really gives it an herbal quality that registers with my brain as 'medicinal'. The wine is also very sweet- similar to the wine note that is in Lady Macbeth, if I remember correctly. I wanted to like this one so much but there is some sort of evil sourness that keeps creeping into the blend- I think it's just the way that bay behaves on my skin. For those of you that like sweet herbal scents, give this a try. I find it very similar in feel to Tum (which also did not work for me, sadly). Off to the swaps...

[Lethran]

This one's pretty weird, folks. The honey wine is quite strong on first application, with a floral note I'm guessing is the laurel. I'm thinking it's the bay that gives it it's peculiar edge.

[MaidenGenevive]

Delphi

 

Sweet booze that has a pungent quality. It also feels powdery and reminds me of deodorant. As it wears, the pungent quality disappears and it becomes a honeyed perfume with a decent throw.

 

[ 2 - Dislike ]

[Iceblink]

Straight out of the imp this is SO sour! Almost like pickles. But it sweetens up after a few minutes into a honeyed wine. Sort of Athens meets Madrid. I'll have to give this one another spin on a hot day since it doesn't smell like an autumnal scent at all, but it's nice.

[The_Merf]

I know Delphi can be very, very different on people, but with me it sticks pretty much to the Lab's description. In the initial stage and in the imp I do smell some of the bay, but on my skin this is honey and wine and not much else. It reminds me a lot of Athens. I haven't tried Athens in ages, but I think the only difference between the two of them is that Athens had a bit of a resin and Delphi does not. It's not really an unpleasant smell, though it starts to get a little soapy in the last stages, but I find that I run very hot and cold on wine scents--I go through long stretches where I like them and then suddenly I find them repulsive, and because of that, I tend to stay away from bottles. However, I might keep this imp around; it's nice to have a scent where the honey sweetness doesn't go completely awry on my skin.