Dionysia, Act IV: The Ladies of the Grindhouse Options

[Scylla]

Wild plum, pomegranate, raspberry, Siamese benzoin, plum blossom, patchouli, frankincense, and mahogany.

First, I feel so unbelievably honored to have been included as one of the Ladies of the Grindhouse. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/icon_redface.gif) And I feel even more honored that Beth inquired as to my favorite notes so she could include some of them in the blend bearing my likeness. And now even MORE honored to get to try "my" blend a little bit before everyone else!

(IMG:style_emoticons/default/00001753.gif) Beth! I'm so not worthy!

Dionysia is perfection! I have loved every plum BPAL blend (check my favorites) and Dionysia is no exception. It's a wonderful combination of plum, raspberry, pomegranate, patchouli and wood. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/00001736.gif) The patchouli, frankincense and mahogany keep the scent grounded and keeps it from getting hyper fruity.

If I had to compare Dionysia to existing BPAL blends, I would say that it reminds me of the lovechild of Hellion and Bordello (but without the amaretto). A multi bottle purchase for sure!

(I'll come back and edit this if I think of anything else, but I wanted to get a preliminary review on here for those reviewers "on the fence" about ordering Dionysia. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/mnod.gif) )

ETA: While wet, I detect an herbal/leafiness that I'm guessing is the plum blossom. On drydown, I smell vanilla in the background, with a light resiny incense. After doing a little research, I see that benzoin has a sweet, warm, vanilla-like aroma! Lovely!

If this scent were a color, it'd be a rich, deep, plummy maroon.

[shriekingviolet]

Initial Impression:
Bright red fruit grounded with smoke and wood.

After Wearing It:
Delicious! I wasn't sure whether or not I'd love this scent. There isn't one note in the list that I don't like, but my general opinion on fruity scents is that less is more. I love plum, I love pomegranate, I love berries, but I like them more as accents in nonfruity blends that in scents that showcase them. Fruity blends can often smell too much like hard candy for my taste, which isn't bad for a room scent but not my thing for a personal fragrance. Dionysia though, is an interesting success. On me, it definitely is a fruity blend. I don't really smell the benzoin, patchouli, mahogany or the frankincense. It's all about the plum, the pomegranate and the raspberry, and each note is so bright and so juicy. But somehow, the fragrance is kept in check. It's bright and fruity, but not too cloying, overripe or candylike. And it has an unusual depth to it, that if I were to guess came from the mahogany. The fruity notes are so distracting I can't be sure. The effect is subtle, but lovely, giving a slight earthiness to an otherwise bright purple scent.

Final Thoughts:
Fabulous! Still a bit too fruity to make it into my regular rotation, but I love it all the same. I'd like to try it in an oil burner as it seems like it'd make a gorgeous room fragrance.

[iiinterstate]

I was most impatient for Dionysia and I am not disappointed!!

I definitely smell the same plum note from Bordello (a favorite) and thank God the patchouli is behaving itself as is the wood. Benzoin made me nervous but I can pick it out and it is DIVINE with mahogany. Oh man. This is a work of art right here.

Not too fruity, not too woody, perfectly balanced. I want to eat my arm.

[Andra]

Oh, Dionysia, never did I think I'd be able to wear a plum scent so deliciously!

I think that Dionysia is the best artwork/scent combination, if that makes sense. The scent evokes everything that the artwork and character represent, together they tell a perfectly cohesive story. This perfume smells like there is going to be some serious Roman-style debauchery going down! I smell incense burning in the great hall, the challis' full of wine, the bowls bursting with ripe fruits, skin bathed in flickering light from oil lamps...

Gorgeous, evocative, lingering.

[Eros]

Dionysia is lovely when I first put it on. The patchouli is gorgeous, with the frankincense hovering gently in the background & there's a subtle sweetness from the fruits. No mahogany to be found, which is strange, I tend to amp wood notes. First time tested it's a softer, fruitier/sweeter version of Midnight Kiss, with ripe raspberries taking control fairly quickly.
Second time around(again cleanly tested on side hand), the fruits are staying well in the background, they do no more than lend a touch of sweetness for about an hour. More Hellion than MK at this point. After that hour the fruit notes take over completely. Like shriekingviolet, I love each of these fruit notes...Individually, and not in a starring role. And tart, I like tart fruit in my perfume. This dries down to nothing but fruity-sweet. Too sweet for me, unfortunately. I had to wash it off (IMG:style_emoticons/default/icon_sad.gif)

[QueenFae]

This is simply gorgeous! A beautiful fruity scent, made of equal parts of the luscious plum, pomegranate, and raspberry. While the berries take the front seat, it is the undertones that really make this blend amazing. There is a rich, multi - layered patchouli and frankincense backdrop as well as a hint of deep mahogany; the cherry on the sundae. I absolutely love berry scents when they are layered with the lab's outrageously perfect patchouli note, and this blend is no exception.

On the dry down, the plum note really takes center stage, and it becomes extremely berrilicious, which is also great with me. I am sooo glad I ordered this one unsniffed, it actually exceeded my expectations of awesomeness!!

Hail to the BPAL glory, this rocks!! (IMG:style_emoticons/default/whoo.gif)

[inurbanus]

Dionysia really threw me -- I might have to come back and edit after I try this again, because I'm not sure how I feel about it. Let me just say, I love plum and pomegranate. If a blend has either, I'm 99% sure I'll love it. But this blend seems to be in the 1% that isn't automatically awesome on me.

As some of the previous reviews mentioned, this starts out very earthy, with no fruit. Patchouli is the most easily recognizable note, but I could smell the benzoin and mahogany too. Then the fruits slowly struggled to emerge. I say "struggled" because it really seemed like they were fighting the patchouli to take over the blend. They eventually won dominance, but the earth notes remained as a funny undercurrent that threw off what could have been a very enjoyable scent. For some reason, the first hour of this was very artificial smelling -- I thought I smelled a lot like potpourri, which is good to smell, but not something I really want to smell like. (I had that same problem with Perversion.) Then, the plum blossom slowly emerged, and as it did, I began to like this more. Either the earthy notes faded away or they blended way better with the plum blossom, because I didn't notice them anymore, and what remained was a sweet, flirty perfume that I would really enjoy wearing.

Overall, my problems with this one are the same that I had with The Grindhouse -- lovely perfume, but it takes awhile to get to that stage. Part of it might be that my skin usually doesn't do well with patchouli, but I also think my expectations might have been off on this one. I was anticipating the fruit notes so much that I forgot about the other ones, and that could've definitely skewed my perception.

3/5, for now, but this could change. I'm still kind of scratching my head.

[BookGirl]

I'm in love with this one! It and Agrat are my favorites of the Ladies I ordered in this last CD update.

When I ordered this one, I was worried about the patchouli, frankincense, and mahogany since I'm not usually drawn to those notes, but they decided to play nice with this blend and stay in the background on my skin. Instead, the fruit notes dominate, but not in a super-sweet way. Some other reviewers mentioned that Dionysia was too sweet on them, but don't let that scare you off completely if you like fruit notes. The other notes balanced the fruit on my skin, making it deep and rich.

Dionysia is like a dark, overripe plum that bursts in your mouth. Decadent! (IMG:style_emoticons/default/00001636.gif)

[Heavenlyrabbit]

Fruity incense with a hint of patchouli that had me worried at first but this wears perfectly.

It's only going to get better with age!

Close to being a favorite right from the get-go.

[dawndie]

In bottle: light floral

On skin: sweet and almost foody florals like one of the Asian blends, especially Tamamo-no-Mae

Half-hour later: the dark fruit has appeared, shyly peeking around the corner, and there's a slightly dusty woody base

In conclusion: I thought from the first few ingredients this would be a very fruity blend, and I'll take the dark fruit blends any day of the week. In this one the sugary flowers are the strongest on me, but I have hope that this will darken as it ages. Very pretty!

[strangemodegirl]

Usually I like to wait until I have tested a scent at least a couple of times before reviewing or really forming an opinion.
But...Dionysia is love at first sniff. Completely. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/thud.gif)

When I first saw the notes I was excited because it seemed to have quite a few in common with my beloved Crypt Queen. I am not disappointed.
On me, this is smelling like a mix of Crypt Queen and Spiked Punch, without the musky grave smell of CQ.

I am in love and will need to seriously stockpile bottles of this one! (IMG:style_emoticons/default/wub2.gif)

[waternight]

In the bottle: Warm benzoin, earthy patchouli, and dry frankincense. I was puzzled when I first sniffed because I expected this blend to be WOAH FRUITY, but the fruit comes in the "after-smell" of that first sniff.
Wet: Fruity, but with an earthy warmth and dryness from the wood, patchouli, and frankincense. They keep the fruity notes from being too sweet. There's the tartness of pomegranate, the plum and plum blossom lend an earthy fruitiness, yet they're also juicy and sweet - I can almost taste a ripe plum bursting in my mouth. The raspberry is there but it's not overwhelming, and it lets the other fruits take center stage. I really agree that this blend has the best artwork/scent agreement. This is a woman who is earthy yet elegant, ripe and sensual and feminine and hedonistic. She revels in her womanhood and her sexuality. She is unapolegetically sexual in a very primal way, but she never loses her dignity and elegance. She's an interesting dichotomy... There's a stage where the fruit becomes more dominant, but it's followed by a stage where the patchouli comes back strongly.
Dry: Tart fruits with smooth benzoin and a good, solid patchouli base.

Dionysia is awesome.

[savage_rose]

It smells almost nutty in the bottle to me. On, the raspberry is the most prominent note, then the plum and pomegrante. Then sweet resinous notes, with a hint of herbal benzoin. This is such an elegant, voluptuous perfume. Fruity but in a grown-up, sexy way. Beautiful.

[PhantasmMysteria]

I'm not quite decided on this one yet, but I'm willing to give this lady a fighting chance because I really want it to be good!
In the bottle: Uh-oh. Lots of resins.

Wet: Lots MORE resins! The frankincense starts amping like whoa until it's all I can smell. The mahogany and benzoin aren't exactly helping matters, though. It stays this way for a while -- very sharp, headachey incense.

Dry: Finally during the drydown I can start to smell the fruits emerging. There's a very smokey quality still in the forefront, but the fruits start to sweeten this up around the edges. It gets better with wear, but unfortunately right now the resins are too overpowering for me.

Overall: This isn't my dream of Crypt Queen Revisited, but I don't want to lose hope just yet (Crypt Queen wasn't fantastic for me until it had had about 6 months of aging). This is one I'll be hanging onto for a while.

[Brianne]

Mmmm the patchouli in this is delicious - it reminds me of the one in Mme. Moriarty and in The Lurid Library - in fact, this scent has the same sort of "vibe" that those two have. Lightly fruited incense is what I get from those and what I get from Dionysia. If you're a fan of those other two, definitely try this one!

The plum is subtle but beautiful here, and this has a wonderful incense component here. I have no doubt this is going to age beautifully!

[neuilly]

(IMG:style_emoticons/default/mecry.gif)


I don't know what went wrong with this scent but my skin hated it. It ate all the fruit and all I could smell was rubber and wood. So weird.

I really wanted some fruity goodness!

[SadTomato]

this is gorgeous!
wonderful dark fruityness mingled perfectly with herbal notes and smooth wood.
a dark reddish purple scent i could see myself wearing quite often.
wonderful!

[Iceblink]

Mmm fruity goodness. Fruit is almost all I can smell--but there's an odd almost metallic note underneath the fruits that's keeping Dionysia from really working on me. I haven't tried many blends with mahogany in them, and I wonder if that's what's throwing this one off a bit on my skin. It's good, but not OMG great like some of the other Grindhouse ladies have been so far.

[SilverSerenity]

Herbal fruit is how this smells to me. Lovely, rich, and dark, but I'm not 100% if I like it or not. It's certainly an interesting scent, but I'm not entirely sure if it's me. I'll have to keep sniffing at it and see how I feel later.

[Coldfire]

Bottle: Benzoin first, then the hint of frankincense.
Wet On Me: I smell WOOD! and the Sweetness of the
plum and fruits.
Drying Down:This is rich loveliness. I smell the
patchouli and the frankincense and lovely fruity sweetness.
Dry: Lush and sweet and incensy. Spring time in the head shop.


Very nice and well done. Totally a keeper. Might have to order my own bottle.

[theal8r]

Bottle: I get the plum and some woods with a strong hint of berry. Very odd.

Wet: oof! Hello, mr. sandalwood, come on out and play! This is sandalwood and just a hint of some fruits. Very interesting...

Dry down: grape? Where did grape come from? Nooooo! do not turn into grape bubble gum on me! nonono! This is fading so fast on me, too. What gives?

[Akurarei]

Dionysia

In the Bottle: Patchouli - lots of it (IMG:style_emoticons/default/mecry.gif)

On my Skin, Wet:
lots and lots of Patchouli.
some red berry is trying to come out, but patchouli is the hands down winner on this one.

On my Skin, Dry:
the patchouli has receeded a little bit.
the red berries are all out and about, but instead of alternating between raspberry, pomgranate and a red (to my brain, anyway) plum - I just register them all at once and they become SN cranberry.

Verdict:
Disappointed - I was hoping the patchouli would be a background note instead of the stage hog.
I did like the fact that the red berries grouped together made cranberry.
as a whole this smells like a Christmas scent to me for some reason - there's nothing about it that should remind me of Christmas , but there you have it.
3 of 10 Ranking.

[sookster]

straight sniff from bottle is deep, dark patchouli and plum...

divine...
the ripe fruits are perfectly balanced with the resinous notes in this perfume...
excellent throw without being overwhelming...a winner through and through...

an excellent choice by our resident perfumess for my twin Gem sistah (IMG:style_emoticons/default/wub2.gif)

[Athenae]

Very plummy, and at first she goes all plastic on me, but now that she's dried down a bit, Dionysia reminds me of Montresor, that dark fruit and spice combo. I can see her seducing someone with a glass of something red and sweet. Wonderfully evocative.

A.

[Megara]

At first, fruity with a bit of earthy-ness underneath it.
A bit into the drying I smell the plum, and it hovers there for awhile.
But the end, after wearing all day... oh... heavenly! I'm not a huge fan of the pachoulli or the earthy, headshoppy tones, but this may change my mind. It's a wonderful incense burning with candles smell, with a hint of sweet in the background. I actually got a lot of compliments on it, and everyone noted it smelled incensey (and good!). I'm in love. The Grindhouse ladies are making a play for my top ten list for sure!