Christine Daae

In the vial: Mostly lime, but I can smell the jasmine as well. Wet: Still quite lime-y! I can tell that there are florals in here, too, but I still think it smells mostly like lime at this stage. I'm kind of pleased that this seems to be a citrus note that actually smells like it's supposed to on me! I'm not hugely into fruity-florals (which I keep saying, as I try on more fruity florals...), but the lime here is bright and sparkly, which I like - I think I like the less-sweet fruits in my fruity-florals, maybe? Florals + sweet fruits can go way-too-sweet on me. As this dries, the lime note becomes more subdued, though it doesn't go away completely - it's possible that it's more that the florals are getting stronger, really. The tuberose particularly starts to come out upon the drydown. I am lucky to not have much of an issue with jasmine notes - they don't go sour or stinky or amp so much that I can't smell anything else, usually - so your milage may vary quite a lot here, I imagine! For me this is mainly the tuberose and maybe a little jasmine brightened by the lime note. If I concentrate really hard I think I can smell the lotus, too, but it's much softer than the other notes here. This does go a little powdery-sweet on the drydown, but it's a rare, rare perfume that doesn't do that to me at all! I actually only got this for the name (my husband and I have a collective nickname of "muse and maestro"!) and with the bright bright lime I really didn't anticipate loving this, but it's very pretty! I think this will be a perfect summer blend for very hot days or nights when I want something light and sparkly!

In the vial: White Floral! With a little bit of something greenish. Wet: White Floral! With a little bit of a lemony-green-tart scent, though not unpleasant on me like tart/lemony scents usually are - it does remind me a little bit of the honeysuckle notes that have gone off on me. (Honeysuckle, lemon, and frankincense all turn into "lemony floor cleaner" on me for some reason.) Green scents are usually okay, though, so that might be the difference. Well, wow. This is just stunning. The lemony-green-tart impression fades away into an incredibly beautiful white floral. I don't think I've smelled a stephanotis or cyclamen note in anything before, but white rose is my favorite BPAL note, and heliotrope and gardenia are both notes I love, too. I will say that it's possible the tart note I got earlier was the white rose note, because that does sometimes have a little tartness to it, but that also explains why it didn't go bad on me like a honeysuckle or lemon note might have. Doing a little research into the two notes I'm not familiar with - cyclamen is described as sweet and a bit watery-cucumbery, and stephanotis is a relative of jasmine that's often used in weddings (boutonnieres, bouquets, wedding hair). It's possible the cyclamen was contributing to the greenish impression earlier, and the stephanotis is probably a "White Floral" like its cousin. (Stephanotis flowers are so pretty!) Good gosh, this is really, really gorgeous - so much of what I want out of a white floral perfume! I am a little sad I didn't take a chance on this one prior to my wedding, it would be a perfect bridal scent! (Even the name is perfect!) (Which makes sense, three out of the five listed notes are traditional bridal flowers! It was probably part of the idea, hee.) Even the extreme drydown is lovely; the heliotrope seems to be the longest-lasting note on me, and on me heliotrope is a sort of vanillic-sweet-powderiness (but in a good way! not any of the bad "powdery" smells you might be thinking of). It's "glowing," really, just a stunning and radiant white floral - there is definitely a big bottle of this in my future!

In the vial: Pear!! It reminds me a little bit of Titania in the imp. Wet: Sweet-tart and VERY fruity. Almost all pear on me at this point - maybe even a slightly underripe pear, giving off a little bit of a tart-green scent. This also reminds me a little bit of the sappy green parts of Rose Red or The Rose (the former of which I didn't like, the latter of which I do). Rose Red was all chilly green apples on me, so this tart-sappy-green-fruity quality is similar to me. After a bit, the pear chills out a little and lets the florals come forward some. I do still smell a similarity to the greener roses in the BPAL catalog, so I am definitely getting the rose note. The white florals are more understated than usual on me, perhaps overshadowed by the greenish pear-rose scent. While I don't hate the initial stages of this, I'm usually not much of a "fruity-floral" person. Generally, if I'm looking for a floral, I do want something that's Floral rather than fruit-forward. I like florals that have fruity qualities, and I like florals where the fruit enhances certain characteristics of the floral (especially in rose blends, like Persephone), but blends that are "fruity florals" aren't usually my favorite, maybe because my skin often makes them overly sweet. There are very few exceptions to this, even in the BPAL catalog, but Titania was definitely one of them - sweet, sparkly, translucent Titania. Recently I've been finding even Titania a little too sweet and fruity for my liking, though, like drinking 7-Up or Sprite when you're expecting lime flavored seltzer water. (? Does that even make any sense?) I've had the imp for quite a while so it's possible it's aged into a sweeter scent, or it's possible my skin chemistry or tastes are changing. La Belle au Bois Dormant is a sister-scent to Titania, on me. Titania's pear note is riper and sweeter, with a couple of other very sweet fruit notes (peach, grape) and the florals are sweet and translucent, supporting the fruit notes rather than lending much of a floral character. La Belle au Bois Dormant's pear note is greener and combines with the rose note in a very pretty way, to give an impression of a very fresh, clear rose. A white rose with the barest tinge of pink to the edges of the petals, just beginning to bloom. The other floral notes support those two dominant notes, which is extremely surprising to me, as both tuberose and gardenia can take over a blend on me. This is lovely and I am glad I finally bought an imp!

I had a recital yesterday and wore Christine and Erik layered (one on each wrist and then smooshed together). <3 (I also wore Possets' Queen of the Night in my hair, shh!)

Full disclosure, I have a bit of a head cold. In the bottle this is tart and fruity. Appley? Wet on my skin it is much the same. It's almost got a bit of sourness, but it stays tart instead of going sour. Like Granny Smith apples ("shag, daughter! Shag for babies! It's a marketing idea") sliced and juicy and waiting to go in a pie. I don't even really know if there are apples in this but I feel like an Eris scent should have the apples of discord in there somewhere. I'm mainly getting a golden, tart apple scent with maybe hints of...amber? Apples sometimes go sort of soapy on me, but as far as I can tell this doesn't smell like soap. I will probably have to re-try on a day that I can smell things better.

Full disclosure, I have a bit of a head cold. In the bottle this is sort of sharp and florally aquatic. Wet on my skin it is similar, less sharp and more floral. Without the notes in front of me, I have to imagine this has some neroli in it? It smells very neroli-ish to me at this stage, I can take or leave neroli depending on the day and the blend, and in this it's sort of sweet and a bit powdery. And then it disappears! Loraleiiii whyyy.

This is absolutely, bar none, my favorite of all this year's Lupercalias that I've tried. <3 If you're worried about the coconut (as I was), never fear - I usually amp the one note that I really, really don't want to smell in a blend, and I do not get any suntan-lotion vibe from this at all. It is clean and white, yes, but not in a clinical, astringent, or soapy way - it's sort of white and radiant. It also has pretty good throw, which is unusual for me. This is very much in the same vein as Snow White - pure and soft and white and glowing, drying down to something soft and lovely. A bottle purchase, for sure - and I'm pretty sure this is going into my top 10.

This is a gorgeous fruity-floral that my fiance adores... ...until the PEONY OF SOAPY DEATH strikes again and turns this into a very pretty shampoo fragrance. It's too bad, I'm an Ox and I was hoping that the peony would behave.

Thank you all so very much! All the recs sound wonderful - I have tried Eat Me, and liked it a lot (and it smells a lot like B&BW's sensual black current vanilla massage oil!). I liked Snow White, but the coconut ended up being a bit much for me! I actually have a decant of Khrysee on the way to me, and Angeronalia DOES sound really lovely...Actually, all of these are going on my to-try list! Thank you everyone!

As with Christine, this is something I absolutely needed to get - this story has been my greatest love for the longest time. This is incredibly odd in the bottle. I am reminded of the part of the book where Christine relates that Erik's hands smell "of death." (I always wondered if she really knew what death smelled like, or if she were being reminded of funeral Mass. She's a dramatic creature, that Christine Daae!) Wet on my skin this is polished wood hidden under a dusty tapestry. This is so hard to describe, but the notes are all present...it is incredibly evocative and very strange on me. The colors are all dusty velvet blacks and polished mahoganies. It reminds me of rooms full of expensive furniture under a blanket of dust; lamp oil burning, trying to dispel the oppressive darkness as someone sits at the one piece of furniture that looks like it has been used recently - a desk, or even better, a massive pipe organ, well-maintained and oiled and only meant to play the most tragic of songs. This is...indescribable, really, it's the scent of the skin and the clothes of the person who lives at that pipe organ - mad, brilliant, tragic, finding out too late what he has missed in life by living in death. And therefore, perfect. Also: I'm not sure if these were intended to be layered, but I was wearing one on each wrist and kept getting the loveliest wafts of fragrance...when layered, these scents sing counterpoint to each other, becoming something richer, deeper and sweeter than they are seperately. Christine brings brightness, brings light to Erik, and Erik gives Christine more depth. It's beautiful.

There is probably no need to explain that I absolutely had to get this fragrance - both this, and her counterpart. I have loved this story since the time I was twelve years old, and I have always felt connected to Christine's character in particular, somehow. (Not that you could tell, or anything.) In the bottle, this is vaguely sharp and lemony? Smells a bit like some sort of cleaning fluid. On my skin, the flowers bloom - lovely - I can definitely smell the frankincense, just a hint of something sacred underneath the pale flowers, lending this blend a bit of a sombre note. The flowers are the sort that brave the first breath of spring, when it still frosts over at night. They are small, pale, but resilient - and sweetly fragranced, at that. (I am speaking in general, I don't know that I've ever smelled these flowers in the wild, myself!) This is a blend that seems to change depending on where I wear it - on my left wrist, this is a sweet, high-pitched floral with a fruity quality, and in the crook of my elbow it is fainter, softer, and there is an almost-spicy quality to it. This has very little throw, as well - close to my skin and sweet, but not cloying or overpowering. This is pale Swedish springs, the bluest of skies and the nip of frost on your uncovered ears. This is a woman grown turned to childish stories because she so wants to believe that they could be true. This is pale and somewhat melancholy, but with a lilting lightness, a brightness, that the character also had - asking the door-closers for stories with her childhood sweetheart, hoping and wishing but never believing that playing at being married would ever amount to anything. Yes, I love this. Predictably, and perhaps inevitably. Also: I'm not sure if these were intended to be layered, but I was wearing one on each wrist and kept getting the loveliest wafts of fragrance...when layered, these scents sing counterpoint to each other, becoming something richer, deeper and sweeter than they are seperately. Christine sings the high, sweet harmony and Erik the rich, polished melody. It's beautiful.

Bumping this thread to see if there are any new reccomendations, or if anyone can help me out! Have recently found out that my fiance loves fruity smells! Since I have been with the man for about 2 1/2 years now, that will show you just how many fruity perfumes I own! Unfortunately the blend that he liked was Earth Ox, which has the PEONY OF SOAPY DEATH in it, so after it settled on my skin he agreed that it smelled "like shampoo." Generally, I'm a floral girl, with a bit of a gorumand edge, but there are lots of fruity notes I like and I hope you lovelies can help me! Big YESes to: ORANGE! (especially blood orange), pomegranate, apple, pear, grape, berries, apricot/peach, fruity-florals, anything that can be described as "sparkly," vanillas & ambers Big NOs to: PEONY, sweet pea, anything too dirty-sexy, anything too sharp or masculine, lemon, coconut edited because I forgot some!

Mr. Nancy is everything I had expected and hoped for, and more! It immediately smells of lime and cookies, with just a hint of the spice from the bay rum. Oooh, I love the lime note in this! It's gorgeous. Eventually it dries down to mostly bay rum and tobacco, sweetened and brightened with the cookies and lime. Nom nom nom. This is even better on my fiance! On him it's a sweet, citrusy bay rum with an underscoring of tobacco. So lovely! I need a bottle of this soon!

Yvaine starts off with a blast of astringent lavender. I like lavender, but sometimes with my chemistry it can be a bit overpowering. I love the character Yvaine, though, I just found her incredibly endearing and different from most sparkly fantasy heroines. I loved reading about (and watching) her crankiness soften to affection for Tristran. This scent is almost a metaphor for her character arc - the lavender starts off sharp-edged and a little pushy, and it softens ever-so-slightly without ever losing that herbal-floral quality that is so characteristic of lavender. It doesn't go pillowy soft and fluffy, it's still a very clear, bright, almost cold scent...but it softens and shimmers a little. Just like Yvaine never became a fluttery, soft heroine, this stays true to itself while buffing off the sharp edges a little. I love this. And I'm probably going to need a bottle sometime soon.

First impression: Girly fir! Disclaimer: Jasmine and I don't usually have a problem with each other, so if you usually do have a problem with jasmine, this review might not be helpful to you. In the imp and wet on my skin, this smells like fir trees and something vaguely fruity-floral. (The hycainth?) I do detect the oceanic notes, something high and slightly salty in my nose. Drying, this smells like Christmas trees and flowers and sweetness, in the best way possible. This is sort of a robin's-egg blue and dark green scent (pine/fir never smells like any other color to me. Uncreative, I know). This is sort of...opalescent in quality, changing between blues and greens and violets. This is just beautiful - sweet but not cloying, floral but not powdery or overwhelming, piney but not masculine. It's sweet and pretty, feminine and delicately odd. Egle is not the scent I expected to like best from the Marchen category, but she and Rapunzel are battling for my top spot. A sure winner from the Marchen category for me!

First impression: ...uh oh, this smells like Rose Red. So in the imp and wet on my skin this smells like green apples and sappy stems and just a little bit of rose. It goes asplode on my skin, too, in a way that most BPAL scents do not. It reminds me a LOT of Rose Red, which ended up not working on my skin. I was sort of expecting that, in fact I was hoping this would be my "fresh, new blooming rose" scent since Rose Red didn't work out on me. This tones down quite a bit with a little time, thank goodness. Eventually it does start smelling more like roses than like apples - the apple quality is similar to Rose Red, too. It's warmer than I remember Rose Red being, but other than that it is quite similar to my nose. (I do not have a terribly sophisticated nose, though.) In the extreme drydown, this is a lot like the rose note in Katrina Van Tassel, which is one of my favorite rose notes ever. It's a very pretty rose, and I quite like it, I even love it in the extreme drydown - but I do have quite a few rose perfumes that I absolutely love from start to finish. Would definitely be good for layering with things that don't have quite enough rosey oomph!

First impression: This actually smells salty. Wow. In the imp, this is vaguely unpleasant as it smells salty, like tears. Seriously. It's probably a combination of the salty aquatic and the metallic note that combine to create this odd 'tang.' Not exactly inspiring confidence in me to try it on my skin, but on my skin the saltiness tones down a little, and the sweetness of the floral and the amber balance it a little bit. The amber does go a little powdery in this, but it's not unpleasant. It's soft and pretty, sort of pinky-golden, with that metallic/salty tinge that makes it more than just an amber-floral blend. Eventually this mostly smells like sweet powdery amber, but with a metallic/salty bite. I'll probably have to wear it a few more times to see if it's a keeper, but it's interesting for someone who doesn't usually have issues with amber. I can see how if amber usually goes to powder on you this might not work out for you at all, though.

First impression: ZOMG FLOWERS. Gosh, that's pretty. In the bottle this is faint and fairly understated. On my skin it blooms (pun intended! *rimshot*) into a lovely springy floral in the vein of Poisson d'Avril. It is sweet and floral, but not headachey or overwhelming. It's...happy, and pretty. My skin does amp up florals, though, so it's got some throw on me. The fiance smells lilacs, and I honestly can't smell anything distinct from anything else, though this does have a lilacy quality to me. (I don't know if that's just because this is a lovely springy floral and I expect lilacs in a lovely springy floral, though.) This somehow manages to smell like an explosion of flowers while not being screamingly floral. This dries down to something that smells like floral dusting powder, but then there are probably 2 perfumes in the history of the world that don't end up smelling like either powdery sugar or powdery florals on my skin after a while. This might be tied with Poisson d'Avril as my favorite springy floral. It's rainy and warm up here in Massachusetts today, so it feels perfect for the weather.

First impression: Green! Very green indeed! Wet on my skin and in the imp this is pretty much the same: cucumbery greenness. It smells like a salad without the salad dressing. It's really fresh and crisp smelling, with a hint of something deeper. And it has some serious throw on me! I don't normally wear straight-up green scents (I do sometimes wear green florals), so I wasn't really expecting that. I wonder how this compares to Squiriting Cucumber? Unfortunately I don't think I can do this justice, other than to say YAY GREEN! In the extreme drydown, I do get a hint of something a little floral-sweet - but then, that's what my chemistry does to pretty much anything. Unless it's foody, and then it's vanilla-sweet. I was excited to get this gift imp because, hey, Green Party! But I didn't really expect to like the scent at all, since green is usually not my thing in perfume. (I think especially in commercial perfumes, since commercial 'green' perfumes smell super fake.) I do really, really like this though! I think I will have to keep it on hand for those days when I want to smell fresh and growing and green. This is quite lovely.

First impression: yummy! In the imp, this is pretty and plummy. On my skin, it is very plummy and flowery indeed. It's got a vaguely strange undertone, something a little odd under everything. I suppose that might be the cream, but it doesn't smell anything like cream... I'm not really sure what it is, but something in this is a little unpleasant to me. It might be the plum - it's tart, almost sour. I don't get any cream, unless that's the sour note, and the wildflowers give this a little herbal/floral edge to the plumminess. All in all, not my favorite of the new blends that I have tried lately (but probably very pretty on someone whose chemistry agrees more).

This is one for the The Lab Is Psychic files - I've wanted to try Black Lily for ages, and I got it as a frimp in my latest order. First impression: pretty! In the imp and on my skin, this is a quiet, sweet lily. It has a darker, duskier quality to it, but it is still recognisably lily. I generally don't have an issue with lily notes turning to soap, but I can see how this would work on people whose chemistry does generally turn lilies to soap. The darker, creamier notes turn this velvety instead of soapy - it's practically candied. Reminds me a little bit of Tiger Lily - I think this is the same lily, only instead of it being bright, sunny, and honeyed, this is dark, warm and velvety. In the drydown, I catch a whiff of what I think is amber, which might be where the darker tones are coming from. It's a similar amber to the extreme drydown in Bastet. This may be one of my new favorites. So pretty and warm, velvety without being powdery, and elegant without being matronly. Lovely.

First Impression: Soft and “clean.” Wet on, this is almost soapy – almost – but in a good way. It has just enough sweetness to lift it out of the “soapy” quality as it dries a little. As it dries, it warms up and leaves the soapy quality behind, it becomes very sweet and pretty – the lettuce gives it a light, crisp feel, the bois de rose note gives it a bit of depth and character, and the florals round it out and make it sweet and light and pretty. Eventually it dries down to mostly orris and bois de rose. This is a pale green and pink blend, almost translucent in quality, and my favorite so far of the Marchen blends. <3

So I got a full bottle of this one unsniffed, hoping it would be beautiful on me, since Beauty & the Beast is my favorite fairytale ever (and movie - the Disney version, though I love the Cocteau version too). I tried this last night when it was still cold from the outside, and I wasn't totally in love with it. But I am nothing if not stubborn when it comes to liking things for their names, so here's my formal review! First impression: Woody! A lot woodier than I expected. Wet on my skin, this is mainly woods, very faintly sweetened with a tiny bit of fruit/floral. I'm not terribly wowed by this at this stage, I think I expected more peach and less woods. The osmanthus is pretty, though, I can pick that out. It's sort of...dusty. The throw is a lot peachier than it is up close, but I don't get a ton of throw from any BPAL and this is no exception. It is quite pretty, but it needs a little while to mellow on the skin - it becomes less dusty/dry and more peachy and floral (which is what I was hoping for). She's a keeper

I think I was most excited about Gladdner, of all the babysmells. I loved the idea that this might smell like freshly washed babies, I love that smell! Plus the notes - honeyed milk, baby powder!, lavender, carnation - all sounded so lovely. So my hopes were quite high. In the bottle and wet on my skin, this is sweet, powdery herbal lavender. Mmm, clean baby smell. Definitely get the baby powder and the lavender, not much else at this point. As it warms on my skin, I get a bit of the orris root and sage, making it just a bit more herbal. I don't get any honeyed milk or carnation at this point. It's a sweet, clean, powdery smell - quite pretty and soft. When this dries down, I do get the honeyed milk for a bit...just a hint, because at this point the scent is very faint unless I press my nose to my wrist. And then all of a sudden it smells like SweetTarts - like powdered SweetTarts. I'm not sure what's making my skin do that, or making my nose smell that...but I liked how this started off and not so much where it ended up. So sad!

Dried orange peels floating in simmering cider, roasted apples, smoldering firewood, chimney smoke, sassafras beer, warm hawthorn wood, and oakmoss. There isn't much to be said about this blend that hasn't already been said a thousand times over - it is the scent of mulled cider, with hint of nose-tingling smoke. It's dead-on, and incredibly evocative, but I'm not sure that I really want to smell like this. ...which I guess is okay because it raised welts on my skin. Oh well. I guess this one will have to go to a better home.