Florence

[calivianya]

The pearl of the Italian Renaissance. Elegant iris, bright berries, gilded amber and velvety spices.

Wet, Florence is all iris. The berries come out after a few minutes, and I start to get some of the amber, which is mostly keeping to itself in the background. I get the spices on the drydown, though the iris, amber, and berries are still going strong. Florence is pretty, but a little too floral for my tastes.

[boomtownrat]

In the imp and wet on my skin, this reminds me of flowers in an amber-hued vase, but I can't identify the exact kinds of flowers. White, purple, red, and gold are my colour impressions.

 

As it dries, it's more of an amber-hued velvet blanket and a clove-studded orange is somewhere nearby. The colours are deep gold and burgundy.

 

This stays close and wraps around me like a blanket. Four hours after application it's mostly spiced amber, but it's still a subtle, comforting lilt of fragrance. I don't know if I'll buy a 5ml, as I'm just getting started with BPAL.

[neverything]

in bottle: A bit perfumey; the various notes seem to fight with each other. Nothing very special. Average throw, or slightly less.

 

wet: Disappears completely, then juniper peeks out. Slight Play-Doh hint. Almost no throw.

 

drydown: Same as wet. Eventually the amber comes out, but it's not worth the wait.

 

verdict: Very disappointed in this one. Not worth keeping.

[Wildwoodflower]

I really really wanted to love Florence. I love every one of the listed notes, so it should have been a winner. But alas, something doesn't agree with my skin chemistry. In the bottle Florence is bright and warm, with a red berry smell at the front. It's a very beautiful scent. On my skin, it quickly goes dusty in an unpleasant way. On the right person Florence would be fabulous, but it just doesn't work for me.

[lolcat]

Florence came for free with a set of samples I ordered.

 

I could smell the berries in the bottle and I'm not a "berries" lover even in the best of circumstances, but I figured I'd give it a try.

 

I wish I'd tried it at home instead of right before heading out to meet friends because the only thing I could smell after fifteen minutes was a harsh, bitter musk smell, to the exclusion of all else. It just kept getting stronger and stronger! Nothing "velvety" or "gilded" about this awful aroma. I don't even know if I'd call it pine because I actually like the smell of pine. Ugh, this was terrible on me! Can't wait to get rid of this one.

[Gwydion]

In bottle: Amber dominant, but the amber is very blended with the iris. The berries are soft and mostly in support of the iris. The spices give an extra end to the amber. It’s well designed for it’s concept, but rather conventional. Wet: More interesting on the skin as the spices come out a little more. It’s still amber dominant, but now the spices are second with the Iris and berries fading to third, though the effect they create is quite pretty, though a little odd with my skin chemistry. This blend isn’t for me, but would be Renaissance sexy on the right woman. Dry: Mostly Amber with a touch of spice.

[Trebuchet]

The firs time I tried this it went all pine-y on me and I hated it. I tried it several weeks later and it was very pretty- floral and amber. I couldn't believe it was the same scent! I think the problem was a time-of-month thing. I decided not to keep it as I have enough scents that work on me without having to worry about the time, and I passed it off to a friend who doesn't experience my problems with it! It's very lovely with the right chemistry.

[Withjoy]

I really wanted Florence to be a spicy berry floral scent. My skin chemistry turned it into a woodsy spicy scent that is oddly powdery. It's not so good on me.

[mymymai]

ITI: I get iris and berries on first sniff. It's a bit floral here, but it seems to have potential as my head isn't reeling due to heady iris.

 

Wet: I was in a rush when I applied it the first time, but I remember being distinctly pleased with how it smelled. On second retest, ooh, there's the honeyed amber and spices, with only a little iris. Delightful as I remember.

 

Dry: My brain says amber, but pleasantly so, as I wrote "amberlust" when I was adding in notes. the spices are subtle, like a faint dusting of cinnamon and cardamom. I have enjoyed wearing this today and would wear it again, and often, in the future.

[Judyku]

I don't have a very good 'sniff palette' so a lot of times, I can't name the ingredients, yet Florance on the wand jumped out at me and screamed juniper! My nose wrinkled while my taste sat on the fence. It was a very clean smell in the bottle, which doesn't often invite me to try it, however I did try it and I'm so happy I even made my cat have a sniff of it on my wrist LOL

 

It's extremely subtle on me, as the juniper all but disappeared within a few seconds and the aroma went away. I thought my skin had inhaled it and then this sort of warmth began to arise. Like I said, I'm hopeless at placing smells, so this is so hard because I truly want to share with you how utterly gorgeous this is.

 

The warmth immediately took my imagination straight to Florance, where visualised my friend and I walking along a river, the sun setting the sky ablaze with shades of orange, yellow, and red. The smell began to decrease in power and it stopped right before it complete went away. Left behind was this tiny hint of what I can only describe as a red berry wine that had been warmed by the early evening sun.

 

Needless to say that Florence is a keeper for me and my next order will include a bottle. Damn, but I adore this

 

Huggsies and kissies, Jude

[ringmaster-red]

In the bottle: fruity and floral

 

Wet: Powdery ambers, berries, and just a teeny tiny hint of florals and spice. A bright fruity fragrance, but certainly powdery. After a minute, it goes a little bit like powdery leather. From farther away, I get wafts of berries and florals.

 

Dry: Unfortunately, it’s consistently just leather and baby powder. I eventually just washed it off. This is really disappointing.

[tharsei-thanate]

I really want to love this because I adore Florence, it's one of my favorite cities in the world, but... well, this is a no. I have two imps of different ages and one is powdery and the other is powdery and sour. I know amber and fresh fruits are iffy but I was still hoping this blend would work. :-( It extra sucks because I can smell something lovely behind all the yuck but it just can't break through. Oh, well.

[Redillon]

In the bottle and immediately on skin is smell is....sweet. Candy-like. The more it sits on my skin I can smell the berry and the amber and possibly the iris. It's smelling like a berry cough drop.

 

I can smell the powder in the background. My skin is just eating it up.

 

Not my favorite.

[Lunasariel]

In the imp: Wow, that actually does smell velvety! Overall, right now it's a smooth, sweet scent with a tart undercurrent (which is probably from the berries, but I'm also willing to credit my old friend amber for the little extra bit of pizazz).

 

Wet: A predominantly tart berry scent, which has me a bit worried - I amp fruits like nobody's business, so I hope berries don't fall into the same category. It's still definitely a sweet scent, but a particular kind of sweet - I initially pinged it as a muted sort of creamy sweetness, but after looking into the notes, my nose is probably getting a false positive from the powdery notes in the iris and/or amber (which I love, but goes powder on me about 40% of the time). It's an almost synthetic kind of sweetness, but not in a bad way, if that makes any sense?

 

Dry: A powdery, soft, slightly spicy amber. Ahh, now this is much more my speed - amber saves the day again!

[doomsday_disco]

In the imp: Iris, amber, and berries. I'm not really getting any spices.

Wet: Iris and amber emerge at first, followed by the berry note. This particular iris note has a somewhat Dr. Pepper-esque vibe (but not as much as the iris found in the Trading Post's Erotic Images of Spring Evenings bath oil). The spices in this are indeed velvety, but they aren't very prominent. The iris and amber have the center stage.

Dry: The iris still reigns. The amber is still present, but the berry note has gone. The spices are lingering in the background.

Verdict: This one is okay. However, I am beginning to think that I am not a big fan of iris. I won't be getting a bottle of this one.

[Veronica]

Really surprised by how lovely this is! A similar golden amber to Lyonnesse, sweetened by the berry and iris floral notes, just a hint of spice. Very sweet--a mixture of Belle Epoque and Lyonnesse in my mind. Will need to revisit!

[LizziesLuck]

Iris is iffy on me, but I love the rest of these notes...

 

Wet: Woody and nutty! Huh? Oh there's some berry. Still, not at all what I expected. I think this imp is quite aged, and I wonder if it hasn't aged well. It's not terrible, it just smells nothing like amber, iris, berries, or spices. It smells like nuts and trees. Hmmm.

 

 

Dry: Ya I think I will need to test a fresh imp of this, this can't be right. It smell....off. It could totally be my chemistry though, so I will try another one before I reach a final verdict.

[joopjoop]

I got ahold of a 6-year old imp and I get zero berries from it, which is a bit disappointing.

 

At first it is all amber and spices, and after a few minutes the iris asserts itself with that slightly nutty quality it has sometimes (it smells like it is the same iris as the one in Black Pearl). It is a lovely, regal scent, it really does feel plush and 'gilded.'

 

It's very pretty, but I was really hoping for some berries. I'd love to try a fresh imp of Florence and see if they come through.

[mishi-bear]

The imp I have of this is likely around a decade old, so keep that in mind.

 

Florence on me mostly just becomes a sweet powdery purple scent. I can tell there are berries in it, but those berries are buried beneath a layer of purple floral powder. It's funny because it's not exactly unpleasant, but it's also just not that interesting, and smells more like a very fancy body powder than a perfume.

 

I'll likely keep this imp and use it, but it's definitely powdery.