Ode on Melancholy

[meredevachon]

Beauty, joy, pleasure and delight: devastated. This is the scent of the hopelessness, torment and despair of love. Lavender and wisteria, heart-wrenching pale rose, desolate white sandalwood and thin, tear-streaked white musk.

I could, if I really took the time to think about it, probably come up with coherent thoughts about the notes I picked up from Ode to Melancholy and how they worked with my chemistry. But the notes are secondary to the overall mood evoked by the blend. It's perfectly named and wearing it does make me feel more melancholy. Unfortunately, most of the time when I'm in a good mood, I don't want to feel down... and when I'm down, I don't want to exacerbate that feeling. So I don't wear this one very often.

But it was perfect today when I had to take my grandmother to a funeral for someone I didn't know much at all. It put me in just the right frame of mind. And because it doesn't last for a long time, by the time we got home the scent was gone and I was able to go back to one of my more usual scents.

[Reaver]

The most bitter SN lavender I've EVER come across.

 

Can't swap away fast enough which is a shame as I wanted to love it SO much. Lavender is usually my friend.

[Gwydion]

In bottle: Strongly floral. The wisteria is quite interesting. Wet; mostly rose with the other notes overwhelmed but present. Dry:Faint musk with sandlewood and fainter floral perfume.

[Suu4LC]

Very nice in the imp-soft lavender and wisteria, with a hint of sandalwood. More of a sad sigh than total hopelessness, but we shall see how this morphs on my skin.

 

Hmm, unfortunately, this isn't working so well on my skin. The sandalwood is amping to an overpowering degree and the rose is going wonky and weird. It's starting to become stale, slightly rotting flowers instead of that soft lavender/wisteria musk that I got in the imp. As it fully dries it becomes pale sandalwood with a soft breath of flowers. Meh.

 

The only reason this blend makes me melancholy is because of how weirdly it morphs on my skin Will have to pass this one along!

[milo]

On, this is a strong floral, but quickly fades into a pleasant, powdery one. Soft and feminine, but fades very fast. I get a teeny hint of rose, but everything is so well blended that it is hard to pick out any one note. The description is very sad, and is kind of a downer.

[donnatron]

Imp: Wet, dewey wisteria and a touch of lavender. And... the unscented deodorant smell of white musk.

 

Wet: HELLO LAVENDER! And... a bit of violet? What type of rose is this? It smells like a less sweet version of the Wisteria EDP by Crabtree and Evelyn. Very feminine and pretty. Very classical as well.

 

Dry: I get a slightly sweet lavender merged with a pink rose scent over a combo of wisteria and sandalwood. If the white musk is there it's very well blended and is not doing its own thing indepently of the blend as it is so want to do on my skin. This does smell a little like longing or melancholy. Reminds me of heroines from Victorian novels where they pine away in their mansions on the moors waiting for their lovers to return.

 

Throw: Mild.

 

Overall: This is fresh, a bit astringent and very classical and pretty. I would wear this to work because it's inoffensive. Not my favourite but I will use the imps I've acquired up.

[anna1850]

Quite nice and clean but unfortunately like so many florals it winds up smelling a bit like cleaning products.

 

2.5/5 Off to the swap pile.

[revinn]

Initial Smell from Imp: Very subtle and soft. Something a little green. I can't pick out anything else. It's a soothing scent.

 

Wet: Herbal, but I like it more then most herbal scents I've tried. I don't love it, but it's alright. It's starting to smell like those Citronella candles.

 

Dry: Yeah, this went to pure Citronella on me. Oh well.

 

Out of 10: 3

[pseedie]

~~Ode On Melancholy~~

 

Ok, first off, love the name. Reminds me of Meladori Magpie from the smashing pumpkins for some reason..... In the imp, this smelled to me like a bright aquatic floral. It is a full moon though, so maybe the moon is pullin' at my noggin a bit too much...so wet on my wrist it goes. Now I get white flowers with a powdery feeling. For some gawd-unknown reason, my mother's perfume when I was young (I was going to type "growing up", but realized that I'm still waiting for that) pops into my head...does anyone remember Tigress by Faberge?? Ah, yes....Tigress and Southern Comfort, the scents of my youth! [= You know there was a bowling alley involved in there somewhere too, didn't you? Yep... Anyhoo, the fragrance, once dried, brought the rose to the front of the floral bouquet, but the lavender keeps it from becoming too "old lady", which is nice. Ode On Melancholy faded quickly on me, which is a general bpal problem I seem to be having....

 

Verdict: Light, lovely rose-based floral that may bring back bowling alley memories for you, maybe not. But it's worth a sniff if you adore florals.

[ladyhyacinthe]

Hmph...looking at the notes, this seemed like it could be something I'd like. I've now been frimped this twice by the Lab, and it hates me! This smells EXACTLY like an airplane bathroom (or maybe a clean port-a-potty) on me. No delightful lavender, no soft rose, nothing but bathroom. Into the swap pile it goes!

[Monster]

The lavender completley overpowers and dominates everything in this blend. I'm having a hard time sniffing anything else. It's very sharp, floral and medicinal smelling.

If you like lavender, you might enjoy this one. Unfortunately, this one just isn't for me.

[Siberia]

Oh! I'm melancholy because I smell like an old lady. This just smells like "perfume" - I believe it is the wisteria overwhelming all of the other notes. Very sweet and a bit musty.

[skylarkza]

In the imp: Faded flowers. The ones that have started wilting.

 

Wet: Slightly sharper and stronger. Sweet pale flowers.

 

Dry: Less sharp, but the flowers are strengthening. This scent conjures the word "beguiling" in my head. It seems so soft and innocent and yet...

 

A while later: Wispy flowers. Almost smothering though. They smell nice on me, but it is threatening to envelop and drown out other scents - much like melancholy drowns out other emotions. Quite fitting actually.

 

[LadyMedb]

I really like the rose-wisteria-lavender blend, offset by the musk. It's a very delicate scent, sweet and soft. However, the reason this particular combination works so well is no mystery - it's kind of a time-honored floral perfume recipe, and on dry-down, it unfortunately smells like any (nice!) generic floral perfume. That's not to say that it's not lovely, even bewitching in the imp. It's just that I feel like I've smelled it before, even though it's a nice example of its genre.

Edited May 19, 2010 by LadyMedb

[girasol]

In the imp: Smells very green, like flowers that someone has stomped on and smashed up the stems.

Wet: As above, only stronger.

Dry: There's a particular floral note that I'm really amping here... possibly the wisteria? It's much nicer than when it just smelled like crushed green stuff, but still definitely not for me.

[irishelf]

Imp: very lavender, rose.

 

Wet: I get so much rose and sandalwood! I like it in the wet stage.

 

Dry: Hmm...something in this goes powdery, and though there's the white musk I love so much, there's not much else holding my interest here. It's a nice scent, though.

[SophieCedar]

I was hoping to feel sadness but alas, this brings good memories to mind. Oh well!

My old hometown has victorian housed, brick sidewalked craggy sections where wisteria grows like crazy on the homes that allowed it. This reminds me of spirited springtime strolls. Actually makes me happy.

 

12 years ago I owned a night lily lotus moonflower scent that was totally heart-wrenching.. sweet and sad. I keep searching for it in bpal scents. However have not yet found a match. Onward I go!

[lilwhiterabbit]

This is a pretty floral blend that's much stronger in the imp than it is on my skin. I'm hard pressed to pick out any notes, other than lavender, but it smells quite nice. There's a spiciness on me which comes and goes as well. I think that's probably the musk. Overall, it's nice, but not something I absolutely adore. It's very soft on me and fades less than an hour after application.

[gingiemay]

Rose, white musk and sandalwood are very strong. I get no lavender or wisteria. Smells very "cologne" like. This is definitely a traditional floral type perfume.

[aquazoo]

This is very soft, not much throw at all. Then I get detergent — this one is not happy on me at all.

 

[RhinestoneHousewife]

In bottle: Floral and green

 

Wet on skin: Super strong floral, maybe the wisteria? Definitely a bit soapy.

 

Dry on skin: The soapiness is gone leaving rose and wisteria. Sweet and musty is right.

 

Verdict: A little too traditional floral of a scent for me. Would make a great room freshener.

[jizatt]

I tried this today (after a long hunt from reading the most melancholy scents thread) -- such a pretty pretty blend. I can definitely see this being a sad, grey day scent. I even get a salty sense of tears (the power of suggestion?). I can't pick out much in the way of individual notes now that its dry, but I thought I could smell sandalwood and wisteria when it was wet. I dont get a strong rose at all, which makes me happy =)

 

This sad little jewel will stay in my box, as a strangely comforting scent. Maybe its like watching sad movies when you feel like a good cry. Indulgently melancholy.

 

 

[reconditarmonia]

In imp: N/A (the imp of Plunder in my order broke, so everything smells like that)

 

Wet on skin: A floral I don't recognize (which may be the wisteria, or a combination of the other notes that comes over as unfamiliar), seems aquatic initially

 

Dry: Rose with something that sweetens it, reads as blue-purple, and is probably the wisteria. Not getting the lavender, which is disappointing since I bought this in the hope of a nice rose-lavender blend.

 

Verdict: Pretty. Probably not bottle-worthy, but I'll definitely use up my imp. I'm glad this works on me, since I love Keats.

 

Edit: I still don't get lavender, but what I've been identifying as wisteria is similar to Crabtree and Evelyn's lavender hand lotion. Neither smells particularly like lavender to me, but I guess that's the lavender.

Edited June 20, 2010 by reconditarmonia

[sakuratart]

Smells of heady freshly cut lavender. The fresh lavender smell is strong when wet I can smell it from a distance, it's very clear and pronounced. After drying down the musk and sandalwood mellow it down a bit but also kind of give me a headache and remind me of lavender soap. After about 15 minutes it's softened significantly and it seems like the rose may add a hint of sweetness but for me this scent is really almost all lavender and musk. And definitely a slightly overpowering irritant for my sinuses.

It also doesn't really conjure up Melancholy for me, just musky floral perfume.

 

Conclusion: Pretty floral but not for me. swap.

[angelicreprieve]

First applied I smell powdered violets, reading the scent description makes me think it must be lavender and wisteria. I'm surprised, I would not have expected to enjoy lavender and wisteria at all, definitely not together, but these two heady powdery florals seems to balance each other well. I think I like white musk, though I am also not usually a big fan of musk. This perfume takes a bunch of notes I would not expect to like and blends them into a perfume I would definitely wear when the mood struck ...

 

as for the mood, it certainly lives up to its name. It reminds me of a funeral bouquet, or a lonely twilight morning still raw with the pain of recent separation - its almost a light floral for a beautiful spring day, but not quite. I think I'll save this one for quiet reflection and comfort.

 

Doesn't seem to morph very much.