Evening Stock

[Lycanthrope]

By day, these tiny blossoms of white, pink, and purple appear withered, fragile, and weedy, but as evening approaches, they reveal their true magnificence: their petals open, and a rich, melodic perfume fills the night air.

Initially, wet, from the bottle, this smells like a plush, round, puffy light purple flower, like wisteria. On my skin, the aroma develops a markedly sharper tone, like a... perfume, powdery aroma. Not really honey, per se, but this sweetens up and goes up in pitch and tone, such that it becomes a sweet, more light blue note, if that makes sense. An ethereal, light, night floral for sure.

[puck_nc]

Origin: Straight from the Lab

 

Initial Thoughts: It's a single note. It's a floral that isn't rose or violet. It must be tried.

 

In the Bottle: A lush and wet/rainy floral, not too far from my beloved wisteria and hyacinth scents. So far so good!

 

Wet: Now there's a faint streak of green and a bit of musk to it, but the lovely floral is still dominant.

 

Drydown: The green is fading and the musk is a bit stronger. These things may be mutually causal or not. But the floral sweetens up a bit and is turning into a really lovely noseful of small purple and white flowers.

 

Verdict: Yay! I'll do a side-by-side with my half-decant to be sure, but this could be an acceptable substitute if I don't get my beloved wisteria with this special wave of SNs.

[ReallyZeb]

I don't usually like florals so I'm not sure what prompted me to get this but I'm very glad I did.

 

This is a truly beautiful mix of purple flowers, a tiny bit of rain and some green stems very gently in the background. On me it doesn't change much from wet to dry.

 

It makes me think of lying back on the grass next to a dear one on a summer's evening, just after dusk, surrounded by flowers. The darkness is thick and warm, the scent of flowers is all-encompassing and there's no need for words to break the peaceful silence. Truly lovely

[VioletChaos]

Of the new batch, this is my hands-down favorite. Buying-a-backup-bottle kind of favorite.

 

Although I agree with the assessment that this is a "watery" floral, do NOT make the mistake of thinking there is any touch of an aqua note. This scent is sweet and soft and round, a perfect combination of all those high-summer flowers that are so fragile and ethereal that they seem to very nearly vanish once you've leaned in to sniff them.

 

I am not a big fan of florals as a rule, save the occasional true Rose or watery Violet. But this, this is something rather special, easily worn alone or layered with something else, perhaps a dirt or root note. I could see this doing well with patchouli or vetiver especially.

 

Don't miss this.

[fairestrocza]

My fresh-from-the-mailbox informal back-of-the-hand first impression:

Evening Stock strikes me as a fuzzy lavender (the color, not the herb) floral, slightly soapy. It smells like it is a component in several floral blends that I have thoroughly rejected, probably paired with jasmine and/or lilies. I'm pretty sure I've come across this in a Lupercalia blend at some point, and maybe as the scent that made me reject a few blends while I was searching for a good lavender scent.

 

My formal test:

Wet, this is headache inducing. This is a type of 'perfumy' strong floral that generally turns me off from floral blends. It shares something in common with lilies (not my favorite scent, in flower or oil form). As it dries, the slightly soapy aspect turns into a slightly musky aspect. After a few hours, the scent tames, and becomes a lovely, slightly sweet, slightly powdery, ever so slightly spicy scent. The problem is that by this point, it is so faint that I have to snort arm hairs to find it. I think I'll let this one sit around for a while and see how it develops with some age.

My husband says this scent reminds him of spring flowers and Easter dresses.

 

I looked around on google to see what Evening Stock is supposed to smell like, and I found: "vanilla," "lilies,""lilies without the fetid undercurrant," "mint and floral," "balmy scent of spiced rum and vanilla," "It’s vanilla, it’s spicy, it’s indescribable and wonderful," "The scent is often compared to cloves or vanilla," "carnations," "fantastic spicy fragrance," and "powerful lily-like perfume." I don't get the mint or clove at all, but I can see the lily comparison, and maybe the sweet aspect could be called vanilla-like, and maybe there is a similarity to the spiciness of carnations (but a very muted version). I'm sure some of the flower friendly skin types will love Evening Stock, but it was nothing special on my skin.

[jolarocknrolla]

ok, in what might be the least helpful review ever ... it smells purple. It is a heavy, perfumey sort of floral - lush and full and opulent. It goes a little bit "old lady" on me and i prefer the fresher greener florals (this is heavy like lilly or red rose) and i'd say it was in the same family as jasmine in that it is kind of sexy. Very much an evening scent.

[ralenth]

Sweet, lush floral with aquatic undertones. I was surprised by this one completely. Now I'm looking at planting of these some come spring.

[patina]

Yep. If this had a color it would be lilac or light blue. It's powdery, but not offensively so. Maybe a little like orris root? The general tone is cool. It's also a bit soapy, but like an expensive milled soap with a delicate scent.

 

As another poster said, this reminds me of Easter somehow. This may be too soapy for me.

[orata]

Perfumey, with a bit of a "fancy soap" smell, like the finely milled pastel kind pressed into seashell shapes. There's a slightly aquatic note, and a slightly grapey undertone. Very pretty, girly, clean, soft, but it's not much like the creamy clove-vanillaish scent you might expect from looking up descriptions of the scent of stock. I would classify it alongside light, clean "watery floral" scents like Amsterdam, Lady of Shalott, Danube, or Prague.

[Little Bird]

Light, soapy floral with a high-pitched, sharply perfumey/musky edge. It dries down a little softer, sweeter, and slightly powdery, but still has a soapy, generic/chemical floral feel on me. It's the sort of sharp floral that gives me a headache, unfortunately. It doesn't even have a purple or lilac/wisteria scent to my nose, almost more white and soapy.

[becca_s]

This starts out really perfumey on me, it almost reminds me of Pleasures by Estee Lauder. This does dry down into a really beautiful floral - it's lush and soft and strikes me as a spring/summer evening scent that would also make a lovely day scent too. It turns into a really realistic floral scent, like walking around a garden in the moonlight and getting wafts of the evening stock. It doesn't turn soapy on my skin. I am happy that I got a bottle of this , it does take a little while for the perfumey element to wear off though.

Edited October 12, 2012 by becca_s

[neuilly]

So this is a bit of a morpher on me, but certainly floral throughout. In the beginning it's a bit more green and at the end it's almost powdery in its softness. It's actually quite pretty, but I don't feel like it's me. The end on me is almost like a baby scent.

[TheIceMaiden]

This is such a hard scent to describe because it doesn't remind me of any other scent or anything in the BPAL catalog. It does start off lush and a bit perfumey, like other night-blooming flowers, and does smell "purple" as other reviewers have mentioned. Its softer and "greener" in the midstage, and a little sweet in the drydown. I quite like this and am glad I have a decant (and would consider getting a bottle if it was still available). And I think I'll try to grow some next spring.

[zankoku_zen]

To me, Evening Stock SN..... smells like Charlie. Yeah, that 80s perfume?

 

Except better. It's lush, sophisticated, heady, purple floral. It's got a bit of an resinous drydown.

 

And goddamn does it stick around. After 12 hours, I can still smell it on my wrist (very skin close, but still prevalent).

 

.... Mayhaps I need a bottle?

[AuroraLlew]

This one is quite headache inducing for me. It is definitely a purple tone, kind of reddish-purple to me. It doesn't seem to love me very much, very powdery on my skin. Even if it didn't give me a headache I don't think I would wear it much. I am glad I tracked down a decant instead of springing for a bottle.

 

I am happy to leave this one for the floral lovers.

[milo]

When this came out as a SN, was waffling on a bottle, as I do love the scent of evenng Stock. There's almost a spicy clove scent to the actual floral scent. This however is very 'fake' at first like a drugstore perfume that has been sitting in the sun. After a bit, the musk tones down, and there is a pleasant spiciness, but that darned fake floral musk is hovering in the background. As time goes on, it's quite a soft, pretty slightly spicy floral that is quite wearable, but I really do not like the first half hour or so. Glad I just went for the sniffie.

Edited March 9, 2013 by milo

[Floria]

Fresh, this was a bit too green for me and didn't sweeten up properly on my skin, but I hung on to the bottle. Aging has improved it. It's more floral perfume than flowers, but it's gained some sweetness and lost the sharp green edge.

 

In terms of color, I think this would be a rich, slightly dusty, medium purple with a bit of red in it. Puce or rich mauve.

[Invidiana]

I didn't review this? Shame on me then, because it's gorgeous. Evening Stock is a cool floral with a certain airy quality that feels very clean and fresh without being Clorox. It's a little bit green in the beginning, but that fades in the drydown to let the flower itself really shine, with a slightly sweet undertone. There is a bit of a "dusty" undertone to it too, but not in a bone-dry, thirst-inducing way but rather in the way of a vintage dress that hasn't seen the light in years. Something about this also smells nostalgic to me, but I can't quite put my finger on what.

[sharkdiver]

I never reviewed this one, but funny story:

 

When this first arrived fresh from the lab, I couldn't wait for my oils to settle before opening them to sniff. When I opened Evening stock, the very tip of my nose actually got too close to the bottle, and a dab of oil got on there...just the tiniest minute amount. So I wiped it off, and carried on checking out my other oils. about 10 minutes later, I had to go outside for something, and I caught this whiff of the most gorgeous blooming flowers I've ever smelled...sort of like when lilacs are in bloom, and the breeze sometimes carries the scent. I searched EVERYWHERE in my yard for the flowers that were producing this intoxicatingly beautiful scent...and couldn't find them anywhere. It was at that point, I realized I was catching whiffs of the Evening stock oil that touched the tip of my nose!

 

I felt like a moron, but I smelled incredible

[taramarie]

Stock is a lovely, light flower and Evening Stock is pure, unadulterated loveliness. Wearing this is like wearing a stock corsage all day, and you don't have to worry about it wilting. 5 stars!

[KrahesPhoenix]

For the first hour or so, this is a soft floral, just on the edge of being too strong and "perfumey" for me. After the dry-down it became pleasantly spicy-sweet and a bit green. Nice for a hot summer.

[Ajila]

In the bottle - An old fashioned floral perfume

 

Wet on me - A very green sappy floral with just a hint of powdery sweetness behind it

 

Dry on me - A clean salty scent

 

Overall - I wanted this to be vanilla snd spice, but it just didn't work that way for me

[freyasfae]

A lovely simple floral - it's sweeter than I expected, but not powdery, delicate - I feel like I can picture a nighttime quality to them.

[puellacaerulea]

This is a bold, spicy, purple floral that evokes late 80s/early 90s floral perfumes to me. This smells like my aunts and grandmas in the late 80s and early 90s, evoking images of big, permed hair and chunky gold jewelry. It's not a scent I'd wear myself, but I enjoy this for the scent memories it evokes.