gloom bear

I did a search, but couldn't find a rec thread for black currant and cassis scents...

 

So anyone else love this fruity scent? It always reminds me of good times in Europe. I can't understand why black currant isn't big in the states...it's sooo yummy! It's been very hard to find black currant scented products as well as flavored foods and drinks. I have found a product or two at Lush that has a black currant based scent, and although I'm glad to have found them, I didn't think they were keepers. The scent was nice, but not the product. Anyways...back on the ranch...looking for black currant or cassis scents on the BPAL website and this is the list of scents to read about in my black currant quest. Anyone know how black curranty these scents are? Any other recs would be welcome too! Thanks!

 

Lurid

Masabakes

Medea

Bordello

I'd say Katharina is more like an apricot/peach scent with a trickle of white musk. It gets a little sweeter after sitting on the skin a little, but I don't get any floral notes from it. Knowing that orange blossom is one of the notes, I can almost imagine a whiff of white flowers in the background...but not really. It's definitely not the neroli type orange blossom scent. On it's own it's a bit too sweet for me as a perfume, but I think it might make a nice fruity lotion. I like layering it with another orange blossom perfume that I have, and it adds a nice fruity component to that perfume and adds a bit of variety, but keeps the sweetness of Katharina from getting too much to bear.

Update: I tried this on again, and wow, I'm blown away. It is very different than the last time I tried it on. It doesn't have the dry dead-rose quality to it at all. It's a really nice rose soliflore. It's nothing like the Perfumers Workshop Tea Rose perfume in case anyone is wondering about that. In fact, it smells a lot like the Mrs. Meyers line of cleaning products in Geranium. Now before you take this as an insult...know that I've just called half the stores on the island looking for anything in this line and came to the conclusion that I was going to have to suck up shipping to Hawaii. I'm definitely getting a bottle of this one in my next order! Hmm...better be safe and get two. I can't say how glad I am that this is GC!

 

Original post: London is all rose alright. It's slightly sweet, and has an element of shadow and dried roses, (as opposed to Rose Red's freshness) but not as dead-rose smelling as Les Fleurs Du Mal. It's nice, and the most rosey of the GC scents. It could be nice on it's own but also as a compliment to some other scents.

I'm a rose lover, so of course I had to find a decant of this to try out. I was so excited because this oil is legendary in the rose lovers circle. When I first put it on, I was sooo sad because what I smelled was balsamic vinegar with a touch of rose. But I stuck it out hoping it would go away...it didn't. I wasn't ready to give up yet, so I tried it again today, when it was a different time of month. And score! The vinegar smell faded in about 5-10 minutes, and it truly is an amazing fresh rose straight out of the florist's fridge. It sweetens a bit as it sits longer, but it doesn't get sickly. It stays a nice fresh rose. The only drawback is that it didn't last very long on my skin. In comparison to Peacock Queen which is more like a sunny corner of a rich lady's rose garden, this is a cooler, crisper and slightly sweet rose scent. A great compliment to the rose lovers collection.

On me this is a masculine, strong woody scent, that started to smell bitter after drying. Lasts very well…too bad I don't like the scent.

This is a very womanly floral. I can't pick out individual flowers, but it's more of a perfume bouquet of flowers. It's pretty strong, not sweet, and it lasts well. I like floral scents, and this one is ok, but it's definitely not an everyday scent.

At first Fae was all sweet peach candy and I was not especially liking that scent. But it mellowed out, and now it's a peachy floral and not quite as candy-like. Much better, and not as child-like. As I'm typing this I can get whiffs of if off my arm and am really enjoying it. Def a nice fruity one that I would probably only wear on weekends running errands or as a bedtime scent. I could also see making this one into a lotion.

This one started off minty, but very different from Envy. Envy is sweeter, and Shattered is more herbal, and pretty masculine to me. I find that I'm sort of indifferent to this smell. Nothing really attracts me to it (as a scent for myself or the boy), but I don't feel like I have to wash it off.

It starts off strongly sweet and floral on me, and I wasn't sure I liked it. After 30 min it mellowed out a lot and and was nicer, but I started getting the smell of creamed corn. Hmm. I love to eat creamed corn…but it's not something I want to smell like. It reminded me of blood rose, which went to a strange hot-kleenex smell on me. Eve was like blood rose plus cream corn...oh what a strange thought.

Moon rose started as a strong floral, slightly sweet, but I couldn't smell much rose…more generic flowery perfume and mixed with a fresh soap scent. The drydown is really nice though as it mellows to a rose and fresh soap based scent…with some nice nuances that somehow suggest the clear moonlit night in the garden. It's amazing...I have no idea how it does that, but it does! The soapy scentmakes the floral smell really clean and clear and not cloying.

Alice is pretty much a straight carnation scent on me. It's spicy, but the other notes temper that spice making it a little sweeter and smoother. I get no rose or bergamot in this though. It's nice, but I don't think I'd reach for it too often. I'm keeping the imp though.

Hi,

 

I also love love love florals, and I really really love Peacock Queen. Really. These are the ones I've tried so far that were very floral sans green on me:

 

Blood rose (sweet rose at first, and then went to kleenex smell on me)

La Belle Au Bois Dormant (strong mixed floral, and went coconutty on me after a while)

London (tea rose, it does sort of smell dark)

Maiden (spicy and slightly sweet rose-carnation)

Muse (mature mixed floral)

Peacock Queen (full bloom roses, not tea rose to me though, deeper)

Pele (a sharper white floral smell)

Persephone (swet fruity rose in the recs, but to me smelled like salami-rose)

Versailles (strong floral, not sweet)

 

 

These were also floral I think, but I didn't like them.

Les Fleurs Du Mal (aptly named, smelled like dying roses)

Queen Mab

The Empress

This is a very feminine floral scent, rich mature floral, just a touch sweet. It's not young and fresh. Nice, but can get a bit strong.

I didn't get any floral smell from this, just a sweet sweet smell of sweetness. As I'm not a sweet scent fan, this will be put up for swap.

Bon Vivant started out a very sweet, bad strawberry candy smell. After drying, it mellowed out to a less sweet, creamy smell, with the artificial strawberry in the background. It reminds me of Natural Escents strawberries and champagne. Admitedly, this is better, but I tossed that one, and this will probably go into the swap box. It is too sweet and fake-foody on me, and for my taste.

With Embalming Fluid, I thought I had mistakenly put on Shanghai. But I checked the imp and sure enough, I did it right. They smell so similar going on, and even after drydown. It's a light lemony smell...not like candy, and not a pucker-face tart lemon either. More like a lemon soda smell. I really like both of them, and after some tough comparison, I think I like Shanghai just a hair better, but it doesn't last, whereas Embalming Fluid does. The only thing that gave me pause before buying a bottle of this is the name. It makes me think of a field trip to a morgue. It was actually a really interesting field trip, but man, the smell of formaldehyde is disgusting. But then I got over it after wearing it a few more times, and I ordered a 10 ml of it.

 

As a side note, I think it layers over The Dormouse nicely.

This started out a sweet rosey smell, not perfumey at all. But I'm a rose lover and was dissappointed that the rose in this didn't work on me. In 5 minutes this started smelling like sweet kleenex.

On me this is a subtle scent, that starts off pretty rosey. It's not a specific type of rose to my nose (hehe) and not perfumey or too sweet. In 20-30 minutes, the rose gradually faded to a warm skin scent. This is pretty interesting, and might be a good one for skin scent lovers to test out some rose scents. I prefer my acutal skin scent to the one this oil imparts, so I'll be passing on a bottle of this, but it is definitely an oil that I enjoyed trying.

Dormouse starts out very lemony and fresh. It smells clean in the non-aquatic way. The lemon fades very fast and within a minute is a greener smell, more like lemon leaves. Within 5 minutes it has changed again and is a light clean smell, that is almost floral but isn't. Really nice, and this may go on my bottle list.

just wanted to add my mental associations:

- If you like L'Occitane The Vert or The Vert Menthe, try Shanghai.

- If you like Elariia Gardenia, Pele smells almost identical to me.

- If you like Elariia Rosa di Maggio, try Peacock Queen. Peacock Queen is like this only stronger, and lasts better. No perfume in that line as far as I know.

- If you like Crabtree & Evelyn Evelyn Rose, Peacock Queen is like it, but better IMO, because Evelyn will give me a headache where Peacock Queen won't.

- If you like The Body Shop Tea Rose, try London.

- If you like Stella McCartney, try The Empress.

- If you like coconut lemongrass, try The Star.

- If you like honeydew, try The Unicorn.

 

I'd also like to pose some questions:

I if like Dior Addict and Addict 2, what should I try?

I if like Stella Sheer and Rose Absolu (don't like the regular Stella)

 

Just my opinions.

A nice spicy floral that is lightly sweet. It's to floral fragrances what cinnamon is for gum. Great change of pace for me since I'm normally a floral or soft clean scent person. I don't think I'd buy a bottle of this, but I would probably keep an imp around.

La Belle starts as a strong floral, with an older feel, but lightens with time into a coconutty scent on me. It is also a touch powdery. Although it is a pretty scent, it's not for me.

This smelled like dying roses…like when you get a bouquet that is past it's peak, and yet it was so beautiful you just aren't ready to part with it. Love the concept, but not the smell.

A fresh grapefruit scent, and if it stayed that way, I'd like it. Half an hour later, the citrus totally dissapated and it was a light powdery floral. Not bad, but I liked the initial smell better.

I put it on, and the first impression….it smelled like salame. After drying off a bit, it smelled very rosey, but still with that salame smell. Half an hour later, the salame smell is almost gone (might be mental at this point), and the sweet rose lotion scent is left. I like it, but I think just remembering that it smelled like salame will make me either hungry or sick...depending on my mood.