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La Bella Donna Della Mia Mente

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Soft, lush myrtle and dry, sweet melilot with wild rose, pomegranate juice and peach blossom against a background of deep aquatic notes and a twirl of melancholy autumn breezes.

 

A wet, soft, pale, fruity floral. Very delicate and pretty. On me, none of the notes rise to the top noticeably.

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In the vial: Aquatic peach. Very juicy.

 

On the skin: First applied, I got rose mixed with a fresh peach. As it dried down, it became this weird, "generic perfume" mix. Full dry down, it became very deep rose and myrtle. I'm glad it lost its aquatic notes on my skin, as those usually don't do well for me. This is a very feminine "pretty" blend, sophisticated. I'm glad someone frimped me this, as I would have never tried it otherwise.

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I get something sweet, warm and floral. Pretty but nothing exciting. A deep sniff brights up over ripe peach and an aquatic base.

Edited by delighted

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ITP: Rose and pomegranate.

 

Dry: At first it's rose and pomegranate with something I can't identify. After 10 minutes it smells like icky rose air freshener.

 

Verdict: My first rose blend. Apparently, I'm one of those people with rose-hating skin.

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One of the imps from my first BPAL order, this scent is pretty and feminine like Leanan Sidhe once it dries down, but the fruity peach and pomegranate are a little strong for me at first - I tend to veer away from fruit notes. I like the balance of fruit to floral on the dry down. I would want something a bit heavier or woodsier for later autumn, but it's perfect for September and late August.

Edited by freyasfae

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I can't believe I never reviewed this.

 

I have such a deep love for this scent. It really evokes a feeling for me.

 

It's very gentle, feminine and lovely. The main notes in it for me are the florals, a splash of pomegranate and peach, with a touch of aquatics. This is the ONLY aquatic blend I have ever loved. It's fairly sweet. Light and clean.

 

I have had a score of imps of this over the last 10 years, and keep meaning to pick up a bottle. It always gets passed over for new, flashier LE's, which is sad, shame on me! I will pick up a bottle one of these days and wear this slightly melancholy blend in the Spring.

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I really wanted to love this, but so far I don't.

 

In the imp I got almost a citrus note and my nose screamed "jasmine!" which I thought was strange.

 

Wet: ROSES. Omg so much rose. Possibly too much rose.

 

Dry: Still rose, although it has softened quite a bit. It is a very feminine and floral scent. I'm not sure it fits me.

 

I was hoping for more of the pomegranate, aquatic and autumn breeze notes, but so far it's so rosy to me that I can't get to the other scents. It actually reminds me of when I was only a few years old in the late 1980s and my grandmother used Tea Rose brand products.

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Mmmmm, lovely and sweet. A breath of fresh air and mostly florals and pomegranate juice.

My skin amps up the aquatics in there and turns it into a very freshly manufactured plastic. Too bad, it's so cute in the imp!

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When I first put this on it smells like wet wipes. VERY much like wet wipes. After about five minutes, though, it turns into a nice powdery floral smell. It's pretty, but a little too sweet for my tastes. I really wish I could smell that peach and pomegranate, but I guess my skin chemistry just doesn't want that to happen.

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Wet on my skin, Bella is a potent peach and pomegranate on a backdrop of flowers that seem to have an herbal-citrus tone to them. A touch of salty sea breeze and seawater.

Dried, red roses come forth and a warm, brown background note that reminds me both of dried leaves and oudh. This is lovely, but the note of sadness of well-deserved: it's mostly gone in an hour.

Complex, pretty, and a little melancholy, like sitting on a flowered and fruited terrace by the sea on the last afternoon of vacation. It's uncertain whether you'll make it to this spot again, and your last moments here are indeed short.

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In the imp: Softly herbal, with gentle aquatic notes and peach blossom. An interesting but pretty combo

 

On wet: Peach blossom, roses, and rain.

 

Dry: Similar to wet but a little fruity. This is so refreshing for summer! I'll keep my imp and revisit it then.

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I get a lot of fresh peaches with this. That's what I'm getting the most, but the rose is pretty potent here as well. It's definitely a fruity floral to my nose even if I do think there are some subtle aquatic notes supporting it. They just sit in the back and let the peach and roses shine. It does strongly remind me of a clear spring day. I like this and I think it will serve me well during the spring!

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In the imp: This one smells more like a fruity floral to me than an aquatic. I can't detect the aquatic notes in the imp at all. It's mostly pomegranate juice, peach blossom, and rose to my nose. That said, I'm not familiar with myrtle or melilot!

 

Wet: Pomegranate and rose are the most prominent notes, followed by the peach blossom. I wasn't very fond of pomegranate and rose on my skin in Persephone, so I'm a little disappointed that these are the main notes on me in this one.

 

Dry: Now I'm getting the aquatic note, which dominates the scent, though the combination of the aquatic with the rose note makes this somewhat soapy on my skin.

 

Verdict: This one isn't for me.

Edited by dementia_divine

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La Bella Donna Della Mia Mente is one of my absolute favorites. It's very aquatic, the aquatic and rose being the strongest notes in this to me. The pomegranate is also fairly strong and adds a touch of sweetness to this. The leaves add a bit of earthiness far in the background. The other scents however may as well not exist.

 

The throw on this is good, and the scent basically lasts all day. I will say that while this is advertised as autumnal, it doesn't really feel exclusively so to me. I wear this often in the spring and summer, just because aquatics always feel suitable to those seasons to me.

 

Definitely big bottle worthy for me. I think it's worth trying if you like aquatics + rose, or aquatics + fruits.

Edited by mishi-bear

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In the imp: Fruity! I received an imp of this in a welcoming swap and when I sniffed it I wondered why it wasn't on my list of things to try. I looked it up and saw it was because there's rose listed in the notes, and I automatically dismissed anything with rose. Still, I trusted my swap partner's judgment, so I put it aside to try on a day where I was feeling brave. Today is that day. Sniffing more carefully this time I can smell the peach blossom.

 

Wet: Fruity aquatic, and then... there's the rose. Everything gets smothered by the rose. Sigh. On the upside, I only really smell the rose if my wrist is up to my nose; my skin seems sympathetic and is throwing the pom more than anything.

 

Dry: A very generic perfume along the lines of plug-in air freshener. No thanks.

 

Something like this without the rose would probably be a winner on me, but not this one specifically. Still glad to have tried it, especially since I can now add pomegranate to the short list of scents I enjoy that my skin doesn't immediately devour.

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Reopening a 2015 imp!  I love roses, pomegranates, and peach, so I'm hoping for good things.  

In bottle: bright and fruity

On skin: the rose is really coming forward but has a backing of some sort of greenery

After a few hours: this smells really sweet and lovely.  Very floral, mostly rose, but more complex.

I'll keep the imp for sure, and I'm thinking about trying to get a full bottle.  

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Fresh frimp from the Lab (in an imp pouch, no less!), two weeks aged. This was one of the first BPAL'S I tried back in 06-08 somewhere, and its vaguely familiar from what I remember. It has a very bubbly aspect to it, like Bon Vivant or what's the other one? London? No, hmm one of the Wanderlusts I think. It smells like champagne, pretty flowers, and dryer sheets to me, an odd mix indeed! Something in this is making it go sour on my skin, probably one of the fruit notes (dangit again skin chemistry Arggghhhhhhh!), but I'm not ready to part with it because I love the champagne note! I'll try it again in a scent locket. :)

 

For fans of Bon Vivant, Lazy Daisy, The East, Deep Midnight's Lace Parasol 

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Frimp from the lab.I never thought about trying this blend, because aquatics, pomegranate & myrtle are notes that my skin usually wrecks.   

As usual, my skin threw this blend out of whack as it dried, but it stayed true long enough for me to confirm that it's really lovely.

 

The sweet clover was the standout note, smelling very true in the early drydown. Peach blossom & pomegranate provided added sweetness, while tempering the myrtle. The aquatic note was just a whisper.

 

As I wore it, my skin chemistry slowly wore away at the balance, turning pomegranate to Red Vines, aquatic to soap, & myrtle to a bitter green leaf. Stupid skin.  I may try this frimp out in a locket sometime, but definitely don't need a full bottle.

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This one is heavy on a soapy / baby wipe type of floral that drowns out the the other notes for me, unfortunately. I get a bare hint of rose on the top but it's fleeting. Par for the course for me, as BPAL florals tend to not work on my skin chem.

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Peach trees, wild roses, and myrtle grow intertwined in a grove by the sea. The water is still today, but its still depth and chill blows in on a gentle breeze. The peach trees and the roses are blooming. There is a sweet herbal undertone here that I attribute to the melliot. I'm getting almost none of the pomegranate, only perhaps a slight sweet tartness.

 

This is lovely, and I'm very excited for the imp I was gifted. Might try to pick up more of it in the future.

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