divadienst
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i could be very factual about millarca (and say e.g. that for me the rose is most prominent to begin with, then a creamy vanilla quality comes out after a couple of hours), but i think the best way to talk about it is to describe what it brought to my mind's eye. for me it's one of those scents that foremost conjures up a particular scene and it would feel a bit reductive to just recount the notes. as soon as i opened the decant and put it on, it reminded me of the spare room in my grandmother's house where i used to sleep when i spent the night. not because it smells the same (it doesn't quite), but because of the image and the associations: peace and quiet in the home (a perfect rainy day scent), a kind of old-fashioned femininity that others here have identified as victorian or also having grandmotherly associations for them. yet the room i imagine is different and it's more a combination of things: my grandmother's house, my godmother's house, my own imagination (not the image of an old woman per se but rather her in her youth or the memory of her being younger). a woman's bedroom up on the first floor in a cottage or a country house. it overlooks the garden or neighbouring farmland. the walls are white and there's a landscape or a still life hanging up; there's a dark wooden beam in the ceiling; there's a bureau the same colour as the beam. the bed is neatly made, a floral duvet cover. there's a thick green carpet, out in the hall there's a mirror. the drawers are lined with scented paper - rose, of course.
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i think it might depend a lot on your friend's skin chemistry and it's been discontinued, but moscow from the wanderlust series might be a good one if you can manage to get hold of it: 'A rich, bold blend of imperial rose, carnation, lush jasmine, lily of the valley, dark musk, amber, bergamot and gilded tangerine.' apart from rose, which i love, i don't have much experience with florals so far, but was really looking forward to trying it because of my own connections with moscow. however, on me the dominant notes turned out to be the tangerine and the carnation, and for my own preferences it was too sharp; but for someone who likes that kind of thing, it would be perfect!
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soft and gorgeous. i went for this one because it has very similar notes to from whose eyes as they glanced flowed love, which is my absolute favourite scent so far, and it didn't disappoint either. the composition is a little different (a bit more subdued, less skin musk), but similar in tone and spirit to me: graceful, feminine, composed and dignified yet still conveying intimacy and hinting at something beyond innocence. the name is very well-fitting: in the bottle the scent has a rounded, thick quality reminiscent of pearls. to begin with on the skin the pear cream is strongest, but it's not at all a gourmand if that idea would be enough to put someone off, and i wouldn't say that the pear is particularly green/juicy. later on the honey and vanilla come through more clearly, though they stay closer to the skin. i've worn it several times now and i still don't feel like i can give an answer about how long it lasts, it's kind of beyond the usual 'fades after ___ hours' or 'lasts ___ hours' experience. it sort of lingers all day in a way that's perhaps too subtle for others to notice, but after you think it's faded or disappeared, its presence or the memory of its presence still somehow makes itself felt. i've been wearing it a lot in the hot weather, which the pear and skin musk lend themselves well to, but i could imagine it working well all year.
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i ordered a decant of this one because of the silk note, which i was interested in trying, but i ought to have anticipated that because of the ginger it would be a weird one on me. i am learning that even if there's a note i'm not keen on that is listed quite far down the list, i shouldn't underestimate it: it will still come to the fore for me and it will spoil things. this one gave me a headache and i had to wash it off! it seems harsh to me; the notes rather jostle for attention rather than working together. i have had really mixed success with the bpal lavender, and still can't work out if it agrees with me or not. i don't think it works here - the ginger and the carnation are also sharp in their way and the three don't fit well together. i don't get any dates (a note i know i like), and there are others i wouldn't know how to pick out: peony, ube, persimmon.
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i'm quite surprised by how little i have to say about this one. it has a lot of notes i like (rose! beeswax! myrrh and frankincense! amber! saffron! what's not to like?), i was looking forward to it, and i will use up my decant - but i'm left with the feeling that i don't necessarily 'need' this scent, because others do similar things for me, but...better. it doesn't stand out to me in any way. the rose and beeswax dominate, and the beeswax gives it a 'cleaner' feel than other rose scents i've tried which feel more explicitly sensual. that's all!
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i was thinking about leaving this one to age a bit longer before trying it again to see if it improves before leaving a review. i know scents can improve with aging, but i don't know if it ought to be a prerequisite. am i just impatient? is it bad to want instant gratification from a scent? the good: though it's ostensibly simple, it's very pretty, and light and warm in a way that i think would work well in a lot of different situations and at any time of year. i will also say it's very well-blended (something i've noticed with all the lupers i've tried this year) and perfectly balanced. i just wish it all went further somehow! this is one of those that's too close to the skin on me and the fact of it seems like a bit of an injustice because it is nice and it would be nice to be able to enjoy it more. i am happy to keep scents to myself, but i don't like it when even i can't smell them! who knows. i will hold onto it, and keep returning to it.
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i blind-bottled this one when i came across it on facebook and i'm so glad i did!! on me this is exceptionally well-blended, such that i'm not even sure i could say what the dominant note is because it all fits together so well. the incense is very subtle, the almond very sweet and with a real softness around the edges. yet still it projects very well, which i'm glad about. it would be a shame to keep it to oneself!! on me it basically lingers all day; i think it's faded, and then all of a sudden i get a waft of it. it's perfect for sunny days and really glows, but i look forward to wearing it in other seasons too. the name is a perfect summation for me of how it feels to wear. it is both sophisticated and intimate - not necessarily intimate in a 'come hither' way per se, but rather having an assurance in who one is and showing that to others. it kind of sets the esteem i should have in myself and should ask for from others.
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this one has been a real surprise favourite. i really liked the concept of the faces of the lovers and this is one of four from the set i ordered decants of, but i wasn't really expecting this specifically to be the one i liked most. i should qualify all this by saying it doesn't quite smell as i'd expected. considering it has so many floral notes - the hyacinth, poppies, lily, plus the cypress - i don't know if i can pick any of them out. it's true i don't know if i'd be able to identify them in turn (!) as i'm not really experienced with these notes, but i'd think i'd at least be able to identify that there is something floral going on. here, the date predominates, along with the skin musk (a note i love), and some myrrh. it lasts about seven or eight hours on me and has a good throw. it draws one in and gets deeper and sweeter. 'grounded' is the perfect word to describe it as @flumphlordsaid: though it's very summery, it has a real depth and richness which i think balances out the warm weather and somehow brings you back to yourself. i wore it all of last week during our heatwave.
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pressure's on as i'm only review #2. as an opera fiend in my work life and my personal life, i had to try this one out. what a fascinating scent!! it takes you on such a weird journey. it's incredibly long-lasting - about ten hours, which is probably the longest any scent i've tried so far has lasted. on one occasion i put it on in the evening and i could still smell it when i woke up the next morning. to begin with the pine is strongest on me. it has a sharpness i don't really like, and which worried me; it was so strong i thought it might even give me a headache. yet then the pine withdrew into something much less heady and which i appreciated much more: everything kind of levels out, and i liked it more and more the longer it was on. the sea salt (+tears???) is oddly compelling as it blends with the red musk into the skin. sometimes my skin chemistry really amps up wine, but here it blended into the background with everything else, so i wonder if this 'dark' wine really is different to the one i've encountered elsewhere. there are a other notes that either i just don't know how to recognise or are just lying somewhere in the overall blend ('storm wind over stone-cold battlements'???), but rather i would say it does evoke a mood - a kind of severity and harshness that concedes nothing. you really can see the rocks at the waves' edge and the grey sky darkening into night. i still have no idea when one would wear it and it defies being put down into 'summer' or 'winter', professional or intimate, etc; but i find myself wanting to wear it again and again so i can think it all over more. the whole thing is so weirdly intriguing in a way i can't classify as 'like' or 'dislike'. i don't need a bottle but i'm really glad i've been able to try something so different to my usual, with so many new-to-me elements and which conjures up such a story. it's made me imagine other scents inspired by opera and what they would be like - evoking my favourite heroines and so on. thread coming soon???
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i try to let things rest for a little while after they've arrived with the post but i was too tempted by this one when i'd heard such great things and have quite recently discovered i enjoy gourmands, and had to try it on the first day. anyone from the uk will be able to envision (or the olfactory version of envision...) exactly what i mean if i say that in the bottle, and for the first hour or so, for me this smells exactly like jammie dodgers. it is, as others have said, definitely a sweet raspberry jam; and it has a grainy quality (i think from the buttercream) that must be what's reminding me of the biscuit. for that first period i was thinking: this is fun in its way, but do i want to smell like a jammie dodger? i enjoy the sensory experience of trying new scents, but ultimately my favourites, and the ones i want to wear, are the ones that i feel reflect part of my character: am i a jammie dodger? - i don't think i am. after about an hour, however, it settles down and, though it fades to become a bit closer to the skin, becomes 'pretty' rather than just 'tasty', and this was something much more like what i would conceivably wear. i like the lab's honey note but sometimes it is quite faint on me; here, however, the three elements were perfectly balanced and i found it more noticeable. on me it lasts about six hours. i got 2ml in my decant, and i'm glad i ended up with a little more than usual because i will push past the jammie dodger phase and use it all up. i spilt a little bit on my desk one day and now whenever i do my ironing the wood heats up through the pressing cloth and my room starts to smell of it again.
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cross-posting from fb, as someone over there was asking about 'the perfect 90's hippy store incense', and then i realised that even though scherezade has been one of my big favourites so far, i've never written about it here! i answered: one of my favourite bpal scents and is very incense-y to me, even though it doesn't explicitly list the specific notes others have suggested [that comprise this incense/hippy store smell]. when i first opened the bottle it reminded me straight away a lot of my very free-range childhood - children's yoga workshops, going on holiday to festivals and to communes i didn't realise were communes, shops with organic chocolate before this was a big thing etc. i wasn't sure if this was something i wanted to smell like, as i remember all those hippy shops smelling quite heady and overwhelming!!, and i don't really think that's who i am as an adult, but on the skin it dries off and becomes truly gorgeous and, rather than just being a nostalgic flashback, i find it very womanly and sophisticated. the spices are very very soft on me, not at all 'sharp' as i can sometimes find them. scherezade came to me as a frimp in my very first order back in january, and i was really impressed by how well the lab had chosen my frimps to match with the notes in the things i'd ordered myself (spellbound, othello, and the rose also came to me that way as unexpected freebies, and all three also have remained enduring faves). i found it such a touching level of attention and really guaranteed i'd be bound to find something i liked!
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i am discovering there's nothing more agonising than finding a scent i really like, only to find my skin eats it up and it disappears straight away! it doesn't bother me if i sample something i turn out to be not that keen on and it doesn't stick around, because i know it's not for me anyway and i don't feel i'm missing out on anything. but this could have been truly wonderful and i'd have tried to get hold of a bottle if only it lasted!! ô rage, ô désespoir. in the imp and wet, it's very lavender-forward, to the point i couldn't pick out much else except a little bit of the almond peeking out. at that point it was more like straight lavender rather than lavender cream. i am very fussy about lavender; sometimes i love it but sometimes it dominates everything else too much, and i was worried that would be the case here, but then as it dried off it transformed into something that appealed to me much more. the lavender softened and the creaminess came through. like others, i also got a really pleasant vanilla (from the cream? the buns?). the almond definitely feels like almond paste, similar to the almond cream i've come across in other scents, rather than 'dry' almond, and i'm really glad i'm now discerning enough to be able to tell what's what. cardamom was the only thing i didn't really get. but i don't have much time to enjoy all this; it all vanishes right away. i really regret it fades so quickly, but will keep trying my decant and enjoy it for the brief ten minutes it lasts, as they will be a delicious ten minutes.
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so interesting to me how different people's skin chemistry reacts to certain elements so differently! like @OxfordComma, this went very soapy on me. i am learning that citrus notes really do not work on me; even though here the orange peel is listed quite far down, and some of the other notes are ones i not only usually love but also tend to do well with - jasmine, myrrh, my beloved rose!! - here everything simply goes soapy and quite sharp. i do not want to smell like soap!! - a couple of other scents i've tried have felt clean and fresh (by candlelight, which i've also been wearing recently and enjoyed testing) without being explicitly soapy in this way, so that world is possible...but only evidently as long as orange and lemon are not involved. otherwise they really do take over. i don't think i get much violet or cypress, but i am less familiar with these so i probably find them harder to pick out. in all, i've found the luper scents i've tried so far very well-blended, so perhaps they do still contribute to the overall picture even if i don't get them. the throw is also quite low on me; i couldn't really smell it well until i put my arm right up to my nose.
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my quest to find the beeswax scent of my dreams continues. this one wasn't a match to the scent i'm trying to find, but i really love it nevertheless. just opening the bottle already it has a thickness, a creaminess; not the actual smell of cream but rather something of the depth and texture (i think the same thing others have described as like honey or treacle). in the bottle and wet i mostly get the sufganiyah, which you can imagine dusted with sugar, but then as it dries the olive and fig come forth. after about an hour there is a slight slight powderiness, which i think must be the amber, but it's very subtle and then it sort of passes away. the only thing i can't pick out at all is the pomegranate, but maybe it's in there somewhere - overall, it's very very well-blended and nothing overwhelms anything else, and it lasts a long time. even though lots of the notes are ones i associate in theory with the mediterranean (the fig, pomegranate, olive oil & blossom etc), it is definitely very warm and cosy and feels very different to other scents i've tried that also evoke that region. i think it's the beeswax and the amber that give it the warmth and make it seem better suited to rainy days reading and writing than being out in the sun.
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i am on a mission to find a good beeswax scent. for easter a friend of a friend went to jerusalem and brought back lots of little beeswax candles, one of which made its way to me. it smells so wonderful that i can't bring myself to actually burn it because then i know it will be gone!, but i will feel better about doing so if i can find a scent which smells the same. this is a very quiet scent that grows and grows; skin musk does very well on me and it feels like it really blooms once it's had a minute to settle. i think that remains the most dominant note throughout for me; there are a few scents here that i don't get (cacao, cardamom, wool), and i can't tell if it's because it's all just too well-blended or if they genuinely just don't seem to come forward on me, but i don't mind because i like it so much (and i don't have to be able to identify everything to like it...). it doesn't have much throw, but it does still last a long time close to the skin and it's a scent i feel happy to keep to myself. as others have said, it's very cosy and comforting. i have a couple of other beeswax scents either to test or winging their way to me, so i don't feel like i can justify getting a bottle of this one before it disappears, but i hope it's not something i'll come to regret!!
