Embalming Fluid

[erikasilverstein]

A light, pure scent: white musk, green tea, aloe and lemon.

I am trying to find a good warm-weather scent to compliment the muggy New York summer.

To that end I am working my way through every light, non-floral scent that has been described variously as 'aquatic', 'fresh', 'citrusy', 'clean', and 'breezy' (etc.)

Embalming fluid is sort of all of these: Mainly lemon.
And the tea note that I get (I think) in Dorian. It almost-but-not-quite smells like cleaning products (er, Pledge). I'm not sure that I could identify the smell of aloe, but there also seems to be an 'herbal' note in there....

This may be a contender for a Summer Bottle Purchase. We shall see

[Honor]

I am in LOVE with this scent, but I do think the lemon could be toned down abit. Not a lot, just a little teeny bit.

 

In the bottle, I smell mostly the lemon, but the lightness of the tea and musk comes through a bit.

 

Wet; Lemon. Just Lemon.

 

Drying: Now the green tea comes out and combines with the lemon and I am in a warm, happy place.

 

Dry: Same as drying, maybe a bit more white musk. But it doesn't seem to stick around on my skin as long as other scents do. I have acidic skin, so I think I tend to "destroy" lighter scents quicker.

 

 

What I sometimes do to "capture" the scent and make it last, and to also tone down the lemon is to spray some of my "green tea" body spray over myself after I put the oil on. Not enough to make everyone around me sneeze, just a spray or two.

 

For the life of me I can't find the aloe, but I'm sure without it, this would smell different, maybe not as light.

 

Also: the name really threw me off. When I think of embalming fluid I either think of wet moldy wood smells (not necessarily bad, but I'm strange) or even formaldehyde.

I'm glad I didn't pay attention to the name, but rather the description.

[theseagrows]

this is a nice scent and very refreshing for warm weather, but my skin seems to bring out the lemon far too much. so all i really smell is strong, acidic lemon over slight green tea. it gave me a headache, it was so strong on me. i washed some of it off and then was left with a softer green tea scent, and liked it a lot better.

[atthis_uk]

Vial: Sharp citrus and tea

Wet: Very lemony, vaguely reminiscent of floor-cleaner.

Drydown: Lovely crisp yellowy-white smell, but fades in 10 minutes, leaving faint but delicious trace.

[Abbie]

In the bottle: Lipton ice-tea-in-a-can. With lemon. Exactly. Not a bad smell but not necessarily something I wish to smell like.

 

First on: My skin actually brings the lemon forward more, which is unusual for me and citrus. I like it better, now... the tea just adds a hint of dry scent to cut the juiciness.

 

Dry: The citrus has faded, but it's still a nice green tea scent.

 

Overall: I like that this isn't too sweet, as I've tended to find with BPAL tea blends. Probably not a big-bottler, but definitely a keeper.

[tansil]

This goes on all soft and lemon, which is great because my number one favorite, Severin, starts out the same way. This has some added dimension though. The lemon is a bit too strong after initial dry-down. Let's see how it does.

 

It stays strong and then starts to mellow out after about five minutes. Then the green tea takes over. I'm not liking this as much as I liked Dirty.

 

And then.. At 40 minutes? Soap. Huh. Oh well.

[Musamea]

In the imp: a light, sweet green tea

Wet: crisp lemon, with a lovely, clean green tea note hovering in the background

Dry: the lemon fades back and the tea comes out more strongly; Embalming Fluid grows sweeter on me the longer I wear it (maybe because of the white musk?), though it doesn't have much "throw." This isn't a perfume that's going to overwhelm other people in an elevator. Wearing it is like having a personal just-barely-spring-day: light and slightly chilly – truly an ethereal scent!

[Fefferbella]

All I get from this is Lemon Pinesol...

 

Not at all pleaant... this one is off to the swap pile!

[lookingglass]

It has taken me a while to try this one because of the name...very creepy...

 

I was hoping that the white musk would redeem the lemon and green tea (we don't usually get a long). No go...this is very sour and gets rancid on me, like rotting lemons in the sun.

 

Still on the lookout for a "refreshing" scent I can wear...

[jenavira]

Oh, my!

 

I was ready to be disappointed, since so many people seem to not get along with this one, but I swear I put it on and it was like the whole world got a bit brighter. It smells like aloe on me, not unpleasantly, but I can get the tea and the lemon occasionally, and the musk is probably that indefinable thing that stops it from floating away completely. I absolutely adore this; I may need a bottle.

[Thursdae]

Embalming Fluid is as lovely, light, and melting as a lemon mousse. On me, it requires lavish application to lift it off my body and into the air. One of my top ten favorites.

[SeaMonkey]

In the vial, its all lemon, but once it dries on my skin, its all green tea, with lemon and a touch of white musk.

 

This is primarily green tea on my, but its nice. This would be a great light summer scent

[harmonyfb]

In the bottle: A very green scent - it brings to mind fresh, wet greenery.

 

Wet: Lemony!

 

Dry: The lemon becomes very astringent, and I can smell the aloe. Frankly, it smells more medicinal than anything.

 

Verdict: Not for me.

[niter]

Bottle

Bright, lemony notes against the green tea. What an uplifting blend!

 

Wet

MMM this has to be the only lemon scent I like on me. It smells like freshly made lemmonade. The green tea and the musk make this bright and sparkly.

 

Dry

This remains a bright, not cleaner like, lemony tea. It is so pretty!

[herongale]

preconceived notion: This is the first of the many, many imps that I will be reviewing of the set that <lj user="meimi"> sent me, all of which were generously offered simply because I have not smelled them before. This is one of the most notoriously named BPAL oils (competing only with "nuclear winter"), seemingly designed for the cutting-edge young emo, but as far as I know it's got a pretty devoted following all around because of the tea and lemon notes.

 

in the imp: This smells like lemon cookies. No way is it strong enough to embalm flesh; it might be good for embalming fur coats, however. In fact, this is nature's Febreeze, seeming to promise cover for all levels of mustiness and sour but unable to cut the edges off anything more foul.

 

wet: lemon-spritzed tea, lightly spicy but primarily cool and refreshing.

 

drydown: This is a delicate, simple fragrance that would be perfect for early morning, dewy and cobwebbed with a Celtic sweetness. It sort of reminds me of the sunrise service at Easter mass, when all the young girls are dressed in lovely pastels and everyone else are wearing filmy springtime clothes that are really too scant for the cold spring morning.

 

verdict: gorgeous. Would use it all, and consider getting more. I think this would be nice on job interviews, actually.

 

post-conceived notion: THANK YOU MEIMI I LOVE YOU

[jejunery]

On me, Embalming Fluid smells exactly like a freshly-opened packet of Tazo Zen. (This makes sense, because Zen is green tea blended with lemon verbena.)

 

It remains the same for most of the day—no deviations into lemon Pledge territory, and the white musk remains a soft, grounding base. It's clean and refreshing, but light and not sharp or in-your-face.

 

While Embalming Fluid isn't a showy, complex, overtly sexy scent, it's still one that I've received compliments on and that I reach for year-round. Don't let its lack of flash deter you -- it's big bottle-worthy, and one of my desert island BPALs.

[judas_kiss]

Origin: Gimp from a forumite

 

In the imp: Sunny, bright, almost-ripe lemons. There is a certain "greenness" to this scent. It is not a "green" scent in an herbal scent, but more of a citrusy-fresh green. I can tell already I'm going to love this one.

 

On me (wet): Juicy, bright lemons. There is a hint of freshly brewed green tea and a tinge of spice which makes this blend just SO mmmm

 

Drydown: The lemon dries up a bit and I am left with a scent which can only be described as my long-sought-after perfect "clean" scent. This is absolutely gorgeous and is going to bump into the top ten, for certain.

 

Overall: A very bright, clean scent. This is perfect for the office or other such venues where a cleaner scent is warranted. Not girly, and not masculine...it's a perfect asexual scent. Bravo again, Beth!!

[des]

Starts out as clean, sweet lemon that mellows into a green, fresh airy scent. I really liked this one--it's a great daytime scent, and it perked me up just having it on.

[Meg]

In the bottle: Sharp lemon and green aloe. Ooh, this smells wonderful! I have been putting off trying this one for weeks now, because it smells so lovely in the bottle, I'm afraid I'll be disappointed once it's on my skin!

 

Wet: Same as in the bottle, but the lemon is slightly toned down, and there's the smell of green tea somewhere in there. So far, so good. Yum! Now my greatest fear is that it'll turn to soap, as white musk often does that to me...

 

Drydown: The scent becomes subtler, but still stays sharp with lemon. The tea comes out with a slightly bitter and rather green note, it adds to the elegance of it all. The aloe lends a green softness to it all. And it's getting nice and sweet with the musk, but not too much, thanks to the lemon that takes the edge off. I think it has a good staying power, too.

 

Overall: Lovely aloe-lemon-tea all the time! Oh this is wonderful! I had no idea that I would enjoy lemon scents so much, but now I'm going to go looking in that direction. Apparently because of the acidity of the lemon, the white musk doesn't get soapy, huzzah! Oh I love this, it's so energising and comforting, so unbelievably bright, like applying pure light to your skin! Besides, the concept of telling someone that I'm wearing "Embalming Fluid" as a perfume is priceless. Absolutely on the big bottle list!

[slave1]

In Bottle: Bright green tea

 

On Skin: This is a beautiful green tea scent. It is so light and bright… this would cheer most anyone up. The lemon is yellow and tart, the aloe is refreshing and the musk is soft yet warm. Not what I’d picture embalming fluid smelling like. I have actually smelled it before and it’s a very sour chemical smell. This is 1000 times prettier, don’t worry. I wouldn’t mind my body smelling like this when I was dead. Anyway, a beautiful scent that reminds me of the sun in spring.

[Katinka]

My skin must amp up greenery, because I got pure aloe from Embalming Fluid. I'm going to keep it around, though, to see if it will tone down the rampant herbs of my Santa Eularia. On goes the quest for the perfect lemon scent...

Edited January 9, 2006 by Katinka

[ktesedale]

I was worried about this, because I've had problems with greenery, but this scent turned out great on me.

 

In the bottle, it was very lemony.

 

Wet, it smelled like lemon Pledge or some other cleaner. I was really close to washing it off due to a headache when all of the sudden (in the space of maybe 30 seconds, I swear), the lemon just cut out and I was left with a faint lemon scent and a strong green tea note. It was really weird.

 

Dry, it smells just like lemon and green tea (a combination I'm not a huge fan of, drink-wise, but smells wonderful), with the faintest hint of aloe and musk in the background. If it wasn't in the description, I probably wouldn't have noticed it.

 

Like a previous reviewer, this got a little sweeter as time went on - likely the musk - but it was in the background, very faint.

 

It's a great scent on me (after the first few minutes, and I'm willing to sit through those), and one I'll be buying a large bottle of for the summer.

[Jocelyn]

In the imp- lemon.

 

On: it smells like cleaning products for the first 5 minutes, and then softens to a nice light green tea/lemon scent. But mostly lemon.

Only problem...it lasts about 40 minutes.

[elphaba]

Embalming Fluid is one of a few BPAL scents that, although I was intrigued by the notes, I never ordered because I am a delicate and sensitive flower who was put off by the name.

 

It's quite a nice scent, as it turns out, very light and lemony. At the very beginning there's a bit of something bitter that I'm not sure whether to attribute to the tea or the white musk, but it eventually goes away and is replaced by a pleasant sweetness. I'm going on four hours with it now and I can still catch occasional light whiffs of it in the air.

 

Overall, I think I prefer The Dormouse for this kind of a light, fresh tea-based sort of scent, but I'm glad I got to sniff Embalming Fluid.

[wolfie13]

(This was generously frimped to me from Ice Queen - she spied it upon my wishlist.)

 

In the bottle: Just as it says - I smell the tea, aloe and lemon and I really like it.

 

Upon application: For the first 30 minutes or so it remains exactly the same - just lovely - I was thinking "oh maybe I finally found my summer scent".

 

But then.... it gets totally soap-y (and loudly so) on me! SO unexpected - add this one to the long list of popular and well-loved bpals that don't work on me.

 

And nobody wanted to have a summer signature scent called "Embalming Fluid" more than me!

 

(Should I re-think my sale of Spirits of the Dead?? Count on Holiday Moon??NOTHING I've ever tried in this vein has been "the one".)

Edited January 13, 2006 by wolfie13