Madeline

[sookster]

He admitted, however, although with hesitation, that much of the peculiar gloom which thus afflicted him could be traced to a more natural and far more palpable origin --to the severe and long-continued illness -- indeed to the evidently approaching dissolution-of a tenderly beloved sister --his sole companion for long years -- his last and only relative on earth. "Her decease," he said, with a bitterness which I can never forget, "would leave him (him the hopeless and the frail) the last of the ancient race of the Ushers." While he spoke, the lady Madeline (for so was she called) passed slowly through a remote portion of the apartment, and, without having noticed my presence, disappeared. I regarded her with an utter astonishment not unmingled with dread -- and yet I found it impossible to account for such feelings. A sensation of stupor oppressed me, as my eyes followed her retreating steps. When a door, at length, closed upon her, my glance sought instinctively and eagerly the countenance of the brother --but he had buried his face in his hands, and I could only perceive that a far more than ordinary wanness had overspread the emaciated fingers through which trickled many passionate tears.

The mockery of a faint blush upon the bosom and the face, and that suspiciously lingering smile upon the lip which is so terrible in death: white rose, calla lily, ti leaf, myrrh, stephanotis, casket wood, upturned earth, and wilted ivy.

straight sniff from bottle is rose and ivy...has a similar vibe to "the house"

once applied this is very floral...rose and lily are predominant...very delicate and hypnotic...
an earthy-woody note makes a brief appearance and then fades into the sunset...

a very unusual and interesting blend

[Laurel the Woodfairy]

I nearly died of when I saw Madeline was one of the new scents--as excited as I was about the Maelstrom, I whined and bitched bitterly in my heart that her brother was there but she was missing...as elusive as her wraith-like presence in my favorite short story. Of course, in the story, Madeline returns with a vengeance, so I shouldn't be surprised she's finally here...and with my two favorite notes, rose and ivy, no less. I want to try all the new Poes, but Black Lace and Madeline were the two that could not wait and caused me to break out the credit card.

 

And she was worth the wait. On me, Lady Madeline Usher is swooningly gorgeous. She also seems to have rapaciously snatched notes from a few well-loved blends to take to her grave: she opens with that gorgeous Dublin white rose, the ivy adding an extra touch of fresh florist-shop cool greenery reminiscent of Rose Red. Then the earth notes creep softly forth, and combine with the rose for a fresher variation on Zombi. And there's just the faintest hint of tea...fresh, clean, green, earthy is she, but with my precious rose for added beauty. Hers is the scent of a grave overgrown with roses and ivy, yet the earth smells fresh--newly dug up by its fair occupant??

 

At long last her bottle sits beside Usher's in my BPAL box, and they are at peace. (However, I don't think they would layer terribly well, which is a shame--no incestuous scent-twin shenanigans for a Poe-tic finish.)

[Delirium1009]

In bottle/imp: Light, girly rose and tea.

 

Immediately on skin: Roses and tea. It’s very fresh and lovely. There’s a lot of “fresh floral” to this scent… the lily is poking its head in a little. There’s also a hint of sweet resin and a green note, but it’s very light.

 

After a few minutes: This scent has lightened up a bit, but it’s still a pretty rose tea scent. It’s very feminine and haunting. The resin and ivy are still there, but they’ve gotten more subtle as well.

 

Overall Impressions: This blend is dominated by the white rose, but it’s soft, feminine, and fresh rose… nothing overpowering at all. It’s a very fresh scent with a bit of refreshing tea in it, as if you were sipping iced rose white tea. There’s enough of a hint of the myrrh and wilted ivy to make it a bit more complex, but not enough to change the feel of the blend.

[hipslike___cinderella]

I think it only suitable to preface this by saying... I love rose and lily notes. And although I've only experienced stephanotis in The Queen of Hearts, I LOVE it, so all three of those in Madeline had me very interested.

 

This smells wistful, feminine, and realistic. This is a floral that almost includes the dewiness, the floral being picked at the very height of fragrance. It seems like it will be strong at first, but ends up quite light... if that's possible. Quite simply, this is rose, lily, and ivy. The "wilted ivy and upturned" note is very similar to The House's "creepy moss and moldy earth" (I think someone has mentioned that). This blend also holds up the same, a long time, without changing. I will admit I'm surprised that myrrh is listed, because I don't get the slightest hint of it.

 

This lasts a few hours, and by the end a womanly, almost soapy whiff is left. Very adult-like, and as I said before, wistful. This is a little too straight-up feminine for me to wear often, but I appreciate it nonetheless.

[savage_rose]

This smells AMAZING! In the bottle it smells like tea rose and a hint of greenery, which is nice enough. But on, it just explodes into bloom...the rose is still there, but my skin starts amping something that smells like sweet floral honey. It's less wistful on me, and more a quiet, winsome burst of joy. So, so nice.

[Czarina]

All I can smell in this one is roses and dirt. And roses! And dirt!

 

And a hint of ivy.

 

Very atmospheric.

 

Moderate to low throw and wearlength.

[Mrs.Black]

Madeline, God bless her, is a wearable Zombi. Over the years I have owned several bottles of Zombi, only to sell them barely used, because, although I do like the scent and remain in awe of the phenomenal concept captured in it, that upturned soil smell was way to strong and realistic for me to wear with a straight face on non-Halloween days. The damp soil note is present in Madeline too, but much more tempered by the flowers than it is in her more sinister brother. Ironically, I prefer the soft pink tea rose in Zombi to the more pungent white rose in Madeline but, in the end, I'd rather have a big bouquet of flowers with a bit of wet soil attached to it than a whole upturned grave with a few scattered beautiful roses.

 

Edited to add that testing Madeline has given me cravings for Zombi *again*.

Edited December 6, 2007 by Mrs.Black

[inurbanus]

I'm on a quest for the perfect white floral, so Madeline sounded like the perfect Poe to try. This one is a thick, heavy bouquet, dominated by white rose. Occasionally I can sniff some dirt or ivy, but they come and then go. I was expecting Madeline to be a little bit fresher, but overall this one is lovely. It's definitely not something I could wear everyday, though. Anyone who likes Zombi or Languor should give this one a try.

 

4/5

Edited December 8, 2007 by inurbanus

[medvssa]

This a rose like the one in Rose Red, with the green parts well included into the blend, but so pale and melancholic! The sadness I think is induced by the lily, and perhaps the (veeery subtle) golden, solemn myrrh.

 

The wood and earth are in the background. I am grateful for that since, even though I love earth notes, they tend to overwhelm me if they are dominant. Luckly this earth is not that upturned. And the wood doesn't get to cut on the dampness of this fresh roses. Beatiful!

[edenssixthday]

Madeline – This is mostly a rose and dirt scent on me, similar to The House, but rosier and less earthy. I also smell the calla lily in this, which tempers the sharpness of the rose in this blend, and I definitely smell the sweet, soft, green scent of ivy that I recall from Dissipation. I think that without the earth note, I would adore this scent. The throw and the staying power are both quite strong.

[theseagrows]

this reminds me of the rose version of premature burial (old version, i haven't tried the new PB.) the dirt note is subtle like that in PB, and is not as strong as the one in zombi. also the dirt note in zombi is long lasting, but this one doesn't last long on my skin and gives way to a pretty floral scent. the stephanotis adds a softness to the scent and i can detect the ivy. calla lily sometimes goes wonky on my skin, but it's ok in this blend...though i can't necessarily pick it out. definitely a keeper!

Edited December 14, 2007 by theseagrows

[tarotgirl99]

Earth and some nasty-edged floral are too center stage for me with Madeline. It's a shame, because there are some sweet flower notes trying to peek out, but they are overwhelmed by bitterness and acridity.

[SarahScent44]

Madeline, in the imp, is earth, wood, and leaves.

 

On my skin, it's the smell of decaying wood and earth - so artfully done.

 

When it dries, there's a little floral overtone to the rotting leaves. An awesome piece of art, but not a good perfume for me.

[mhickle]

Normally, I am decidedly not a floral person. But there is something about this that works. It's floral, yes, but there is an earthy quality to it that makes it sing. In the imp, it's very green to my nose, and at first application it remains green, almost tropical - grassy but no grass I've smelled around here. The flowers start to emerge as it dries down, with that earthy quality keeping it, well, "grounded," so to speak!

[ivyandpeony]

I absolutely adore BPAL's white rose note (I could be the only BPAL fan who has at least four bottles of Parlement of Foules, for an example). And that ivy note! It's not used enough in my opinion, and it's so gorgeous and authentic (my house is surrounded by ivy so I know and love that wet green smell).

 

But when I wear Madeline, my skin grabs the soil note and amps it to the exclusion of anything and everything else in this blend, which smells so marvelous in the bottle. This has happened to me many times before, with Zombi, the venerable King and Queen of Clubs, Penny Dreadful, The Premature Burial, Destroying Angel, Burial, The Death of the Grave Digger... such a long list. So I wasn't really surprised that this was the result I got - just a little sad!

 

I'm going to give her another try before I send her away forever - hope springs eternal when you love white rose. And I am sure that Madeline is absolutely lovely on that faction of people who smell great with a teeny sprinkle of dirt on their roses.

[Little Bird]

Madeline is my definite favorite of the retail exclusive Poes. I like the white rose note quite a bit. I also tend to love ivy notes. Earth notes are iffy, but I do like them when mixed with the right floral note and greenery.

 

Madeline is a really great mix of rose, green, and a touch of earth on me. The white rose note goes rather sweet on my skin, like tea rose. The ivy seems to add a lively dark green impression. The blend surprises me in that it's a cool sort of smell, and almost a bit damp smelling on me, like crushed stems. I briefly get a bit of a musty woods and earth note from this, but it's mostly a light rose scent on me. Very pretty. I'm not sure if it's full bottle material (Parlement of Foules remains my ultimate white rose blend), but I'm keeping my decant.

[donnatron]

Imp: A touch of white rose mingled with a general green/earthy scent.

 

Wet: White rose doesn't seem to like me. It goes sort of sour, but retains an innate rosiness to it. The earth scent is out of control, amping up on my skin. The myrrh is waiting to make it's full entrance, but I can smell a touch of it.

 

Dry: This is very true to the scent of Madeline. All the scents join together to really create a scent "memory" of her, and it's quite effective. Unfortunately, they don't sit well on my skin and the scent winds up smelling like sour, rotted white roses over dry, splintered wood and moss.

 

Throw: Fairly soft.

 

Overall: I acquired a half imp of Madeline out of curiosity. I'm glad to have tried it, and I think it's very true to the scent, but it doesn't really work on my skin. I appreciate the artistry that went into it, however.

[maribouquet]

Soooap! Ack, lily. >

[zankoku_zen]

This one is a sharp, soapy rose blend. Mmm. Rose soap.

[jencallisto]

In the bottle: Roses, mostly. Light and thready and not too sweet.

Fresh on the skin: Completely different. Wow. Dark, almost opiate but not sweet, like a deep, evil, resin. I barely get any floral at all, at first.

5 minutes later: Smells kind of amazing in my hair. Rose and... something else. Something insidious. On the skin, still dark and mysteriously un-floral.

10 minutes later: I think I'm starting to get a tiny bit of a slightly sweeter rose-based floral on the edge of the skin, but the dark bitter resin still predominates.

40 minutes later: A very perfumey floral, more dark than sweet, but strangely ethereal despite its weight, and with a bitter edge (like the tears wept in the description). I get a sweet rose wisp from my hair, but on my skin its goes warm and thick and heady. Is that green bitterness ivy? This is the least sweet rose blend I've ever tried.

1 hour later: This is fascinating. Very... absorbing, somehow. It reminds me of the last verse of Natalie Merchant's song "Ophelia" -- Ophelia's mind went wandering, you'd wonder where she'd gone/down secret doors and corridors, she'd wander them alone/all alone.

1.5 hours later: A little powdery, a little soapy. Mostly a bitter dark green rose, but ghostly and beautiful, somehow. Next time I'm going to try putting more in my hair, because the hints I get of it really are lovely. This would be an appropriate goth club blend, I think.

2.5 hours later: I'm wearing a sweater with extra-long sleeves today and the cuffs are acquiring just the faintest bitter rose scent. The actual aroma on my wrist has powdered down to a subtle sweetness with a little spicy-bitter kick to it. Soft and dark and lovely.

7 hours later: Gone.

10 hours later: Though, there are still delicious remnants in my hair. Mmmm.

 

Verdict: I liked this a lot. It's a rose blend with an intense darkness and bitterness, unusual and evocative and quite beautiful.

 

One phrase: Bitter rose.

[filigree_shadow]

Shoot. I missed the "upturned earth" part of this description before I put it on my skin. If I had seen that, I would have tried a much smaller test area. As usual, my skin amps the earth note like CRAZY. I'm testing 4 different BPAL oils right now, and as soon as I put Madeline on my arm, all I could smell was sweet, sweet dirt. I can't smell a thing from any of my other test areas.

 

That said... this is better than Zombi. Way, way, WAY better than ones like Graveyard Dirt or Premature Burial. Queen of Clubs and Zombi are probably the only perfumes with a dirt/earth note that don't make me dive for the soap next to the sink, and Madeline is better than either of those. I like that dry sweet ivy note with it, and the floral notes are very pretty.

 

Anyone who likes florals with earth notes really ought to try this.

[stellans]

I spent today wandering around in a happy haze of roses, lilies and dirt! No, really...roses, lilies and dirt, and they all played well together on my skin and made me happy. Madeline is a soft, sad scent but it made me happy because I loved how I smelled wearing it. The white rose in this blend is superb, the calla lily is well-done, and the dirt note is just enough for a nice accent, and there's a slight underpinning of wood as well. I really didn't smell any myrrh, which is unusual with a blend in which myrrh is listed as a note because while I don't amp myrrh, I always can tell it's around. The ivy note is also slight, but the green is there and lends itself quite well to the blend. This was a lucky purchase, because I foolishly thought I had enough rose blends. Silly me...what was I thinking?

[kattharia]

When I first discover something, I tend to go overboard. and BPAL has certainly been no exception!

When I saw this on EBAY and read the notes, I had to have It! I still hadn't figured out the reviews yet

on the forum, so I just blindly bought it. WOW!!

In the bottle I get a lovely wood and moss with light florals in the background. On however I get roses and green with just a hint of a sweeter floral. It is absoultly gorgeous, and I will wear It often this summer!