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sharkdiver

Fairy Bites

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Osmanthus and raw honey with lavender, chamomile, white peppermint, raspberry, honeysuckle, thyme, bergamot, and Dracula orchid.

 

In the bottle: The main note I'm getting from this is a sparkly peppermint. If I sniff closely, I can *just* make out the lavender & honeysuckle - everything else sort of blends together to make some sort of fairy-magic type scent. I can't really describe it any other way!

Wet on skin: LAVENDER! This is so far the only BPAL perfume with lavender where the lavender doesn't take over & kill the scent (weird, because I usually like the smell of lavender) & I think that's because the peppermint is so strong that it manages to be a formidable opponant for the lavender. If I sniff VERY closely, I can *just* make out the thyme, raspberry, honeysuckle & raw honey, but they're barely there. It's a very energetic lavender/mint scent at this point, with fairy magic in the background.

Dry on skin: The lavender-mint battle has died down (though both notes are still there). It's now morphed into a magical, sparkly-sweet, herby floral! Pretty much exactly what I would expect a biting fairy to smell like! Absolutely lovely! Decent throw too - not overpowering, just enough to get pretty little whiffs of scent now & then without actively sniffing for it.

After a few hours: It's faded so that I'm not randomly smelling it without trying, but still very much there if I sniff my wrist. I'm actually not sure what notes I'm picking out anymore! It's sort of a mysterious, dark, sweet (the honey?), minty floral now. There's a rather "dark magic" feel about it - not quite so much what a biting fairy would smell like, but more what I imagine the actual fairy bite-mark on your skin would smell like.

Verdict: I love this one! It's a fabulous one to use when I need a hit of energy &/or happiness, due to how intense the lavender-mint hit is at first (I know lavender is usually a soothing scent, but on my skin it's not & in this it's REALLY not) & because of how long the throw lasts. On that same note, if I was going to be in a crowded place where you're forced to smell strangers, whether you want to or not (eg: busy office, public transport at peak time, retail job, etc), I'd probably put it on at LEAST an hour before leaving the house to give it time to die down first, because the initial hit can be quite strong.

(Edited to add description)

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Wet, I get a rush of peppermint, followed by the chamomile and lavender. This is a interesting herbal blend. On the drydown the honeysuckle and florals begin to emerg, softening it up with the raspberry. This almost reminds me of a sleepy time blend, and is quite lovely!

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In the imp/bottle it's sweet and herby with sharp mint notes. On me the mint dies down slightly and the pretty florals are more prominant. I can't really pick out a single note.

This is a beautiful, fresh and pretty scent. Delicate, cool and lightly floral. Love.

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In the bottle - Vaguely medicinal lavender.

 

Wet - LAVENDER BITES. There’s chamomile behind it, trying to shove its way to the forefront, but it’s a lost cause.

 

Drydown - Peppermint is peeking out from behind, and it really really helps cut the lavender situation. The whole thing dries out into soap though.

 

Verdict - Nope. This has too many of my problem notes and the lavender isn’t making things easier. Swap.

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I didn't read the notes before I put this on, and after I did I sniffed it and said, "Wuuf. Lavender and... eucalyptus? WTF. No." I'm super picky about lavender and have only liked maybe two lavender blends ever, and combined with that minty scent is not my fave at all. It's kind of herby and bold and a little harsh, which is pretty much exactly how I don't like my perfume to be.

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Wet: Immediately this smells exactly like Envy on me. Except this smells wet like Envy does dry, herby and minty with just a hint of lavender.

 

Dry: The lavender amps, but then fades again. It doesn't last long on me. It's nice, but doesn't really wow me.

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This is an almost medicinal herbal blend of lavender and mint and chamomile in the bottle, almost sharp but with an underlying sweetness; on the skin it's much the same. I don't find it hits you in the face with lavender or mint but they're quite strong and sparkly and herby. I adore this lavender scent; it reminds me of the same one in Yvaine, and I really need to look into more lavender scents.

 

The mint in this is like wild mint, the plant, not an extract or candy cane or something else; green and soft and even sweet, and it hovers over everything and feels really magical. I can't explain it any better. As it dries I can get more of the honeysuckle and osmanthus, and maybe the honey too, bolstering the honey-esque elements in both of those scents but not dominating or crushing the many herb and floral notes here. This is so bright and delicate and really feels like being outside in an herb garden with like, fluff and sparkles floating all around you. I agree with the person who said this is like what a fairy bite would smell like after. Like fairy saliva would totally smell like this, gross as that sounds!

 

I was hoping I'd like this but utterly terrified based on the note list for years - if you are like me please just stop worrying and buy it.

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Imp: clean herbal-y floral
Wet on Me: very light scent. ethereal very well blended as I can't pick out any one note more than the other.
Drying Down: the white peppermint seems almost ghost like as it wafts under my nose. With scents that have lavender my nose usually picks it out right away. But the florals are all playing so nicely together.
Dry: This is a light and airy floral scent. Not a white floral or aquatic....but a light shimmery ethereal scent that truly reminds me of my beloved fairie festival!

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In the decant: I tried this at DCC a few years ago, but I wanted to do a proper test of this one, since having so many scents on your arm at a con and trying to write short notes about them all can be overwhelming. The first notes to stand out to me are the osmanthus, honey, lavender, and peppermint, and behind that, I get the bergamot and thyme, and sometimes, some of the honeysuckle. There's a lot going on in this one!

 

Wet: The honey, peppermint, lavender, and chamomile are all pretty strong on me. I'm also getting some of the bergamot, and then the osmanthus. In the background, I get some of the thyme and just a bit of honeysuckle. But the thyme seems to be getting stronger over time. After a bit, I am able to detect the raspberry note, but it is not a main player. I would describe this as mostly herbal with some florals and bergamot.

 

Dry: The honey, peppermint, lavender, chamomile, and bergamot stayed strong for a while, and fortunately, the thyme did not end up becoming a main player. This is still a honeyed herbal and floral scent on me, with the floral notes (save for the honeysuckle, of which there is only a touch of) being more prominent during this phase, and honey and chamomile being the stars of the show after a few hours of wear. It's got a bit of a 'soapy' quality on me without having veered into complete soap territory.

 

Verdict: In my DCC notes, I wrote that this could be a nice spa scent, and I still get that vibe from it. Fairy Bites is pleasant, but it's not a scent that really grabs me.

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Fresh from the Lab, received May 2018

Since I'm allergic to chamomile, I won't be doing a skin test. Here's my "review from the bottle".

I'm totally allergic to chamomile and the honey notes seem to go sour and over power on me. I won't be able to even use this one in a scent locket.

There's a very gentle, airy yet fuzzy quality to this scent. It totally evokes the idea of the fairies as seen in the film, however, I'm so allergic to the chamomile that a few deep breathes triggered my allergies. However, this is a lovely, soft scent that's reminicscent of fuzzy white puffy hair and iridescent delicate wings with a bite.

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In The Bottle: Strong peppermints. Honest a bit overpowering and I was worried I wouldn't enjoy this. 

On Me: Thankfully the peppermint subsides after a while and it now smells powdery, closest comparison I've tried would be Follow Me Boy but without the lemony scent and definitely not as strong as that one.

 

Very nice! Not my favorite scent from BPAL so far (that honor would go to Mouse Circus) but it's still a great scent and will probably be my favorite from the Labyrinth line. With the strong peppermint note, I would wear this more around the holidays and wintertime than year round. I wish I was getting the other notes from the description but either my body chemistry or my nose sucks (honestly probably both plus being fairly new to fragrance in general).

 

While it was a bit of a grower for me, I am happy to get the bottle. For one, it's my username on this forum and the site :P and Labyrinth is my favorite movie, but I enjoy it enough to not just settle for a decant. Curious about layering this with Follow Me Boy and other scents in my collection to see if I'd enjoy it more.

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I just got a bottle of this in the mail today and it’s one of the weirdest behaving fragrances I’ve ever come across -  but in a good way.

First applied on skin I got the strong medicinal herbal blend and I’ll admit something in there is not my favorite. As it started to dry down and warm up on my wrist I started getting these absolutely DREAMY floral wafts. But then I would go in to smell close to the skin and still be confronted with the herbal piece that isn’t for me (my money is on chamomile or bergamot).

 

At that point I was 100% intrigued by this scent in a giggly way. At least to my senses, it lives up to its name. Wafts of ethereal yet juicy florals to lure you in, like the shimmer on a Faerie’s wing, then when you get too close you certainly are met with a bite!

 

This definitely isn’t my favorite BPAL scent (that spot belongs to Fae) but I’m glad I bought a bottle. It’ll be lovely when it’s hotter outside. 
oh and Labyrinth is my favorite movie of all time so that didn’t hurt :)

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