The Girl

[Happicuppa]

A seductive, serpentine white scent, elusive, crystalline, and spellbinding: white amber, silver birch, immortelle, davana, pale musk, star jasmine, and ylang ylang.

The Girl is so, so, so lovely. Probably my #1 LE and it is HARD to find a bottle! I have been coveting my tiny imp. Should probably review it.

In imp: floral but also that same creaminess/musk I get from Dorian. Sweet but not overly so.

Wet: Skin hugging musk and crystalline floral abound.

Dry: This is really like a second skin. Body hugging BPAL to the max. Throw isn't huge but that's what gives it the intrigue. Pale musk is doing it for me. Florals never get obnoxious yet keep it feminine--the chilliness is helpful in this aspect. Again, like Dorian, this is the kind of cream/musk/vanilla I can get behind and it's the definition of simply lovely perfume. Staying power is excellent. I get whiffs the next day still. This perfume is one of those perfect blends. Simply amazing.

I regret not buying a bottle when it was out. Hardcore. In the meantime I will hoard the precious decant and stretch it out for as long as humanly possible. Definitely a 11 out of 10. Perfection!

[rivercitylizzy]

I was lucky enough to get a nearly full bottle of The Girl in a lot of full/partials I picked up recently from Melisssa here on the forum (who sold the lot for a song and frimped WAY generously thank you, girl!!). At the time, I did not give it much attention--despite the raves I'd seen--as when I first sniffed it upon arrival I was...underwhelmed. It was somewhat pretty but seemed a very light floral, not my usual thing, and I could not at that time figure why it was so coveted.

 

Silly me, I let it sit this past month and almost--almost--swapped it away for one of my DISOs (BTBT, which I ended up purchasing off of LJ), but something just held me back. This my friends is an instance of divine intervention.

 

On a whim last evening, while I was preparing decants from other recently acquired scents for daily use, I decided to finally test The Girl. I opened the bottle and sniffed and...oh, my. I could definitely sense an elusive, seductive quality as well as the vanilla-amber notes others have mentioned in previous reviews. Now The Girl drew me in and I could not resist a skin test.

 

Wet: Oh. My. Goodness. The "vanilla" is to my nose not a creamy or buttercream vanilla--not a foody vanilla--but a tropical-orchid-fruity vanilla, very lush and alluring, and I'm assuming this is the davana, which I understand has those qualities and which is supported by the amber and musk. The Girl wet on my skin reminds me of Lavanila's Vanilla Passionfruit EDT (though the notes listed for either are nowhere near similar, but I have no idea what's actually in the latter)--which is another signature scent of mine and I LOVES IT. So much. OMGOMGOMG I can't believe I almost gave this away!! I would agree with other reviewers that for me the throw is moderate--you have to be within a couple of feet to catch the scent, which I feel is completely in character with the essence of the scent. I totally want to bathe in it

 

Dry: I'm still getting that uncanny similarity to Vanilla Passionfruit from a distance but when I sniff at my wrist I find the silvery birch note is becoming evident on the drydown--a shimmering, flickering pale mint-like note that sets it apart from the other perfume and gives it a much more otherworldly quality. The davana is more balanced with the other notes in this phase and dry this is a completely lovely, very complex blend, slowly revealing flashes of its other facets as you linger over it. I could get lost in this.

 

The Girl lasts and lasts on me as it has on many others; nearly 12 hours after I first put it on and I can still smell it, though it is now mostly birch, light musk, and pale amber. Truly a captivating blend, masterfully done. Definitely one of my Top 10 :love!:

[Circaea]

The Girl showed up as a sniffie kindly frimped to me by a forum seller. I'd been curious about it for a while, with all the swooning hype, and was very pleased to be able to try it.

 

Fortunately, for all its rarity, it is a bit meh on me: kind of a light, spicy floral. I don't get vanilla or musk. Someone else mentioned Morroco, and I get that, too. The Girl almost has a carnation-like bite to it. Not for me, I'm very relieved to be able to say.

 

 

 

 

[missastro]

I don't know if it's skin chemistry or what, but recently this one has started smelling extremely sharp to my nose. It causes almost a burning feeling at the back of my throat - it's intense, especially considering how light the overall throw is on me.

 

I'll give it a couple weeks in case it's my skin, but I might have fallen out of love with this one.

[donnatron]

Bottle: Astringent. A strong combination of birch, musk and what is most like davana.

 

Wet: The secondary notes warm and become a little creamy. It's a semi-vanillic scent but... not totally. The jasmine is very subdued, which is unusual on my skin. But the primary scent is that very identifiable birch, which is just perfection.

 

Dry: Sometimes I totally get this scent and sometimes I find it completely offputting. I think it's the davana interacting with my chemistry. It dries down to a really soft, subtle shimmery grey sort of scent. It's not really a scent where I can discern a lot of notes, other than it being a soft, fuzzy sort of silver scent with a very distinct birch note.

 

Throw: Moderate.

 

Overall: I get the hype over this one. It's a really pretty and subtle scent without being generic. It reminds me of a cooler version of Pollution or a warmer version of Blue Moon 07. Will enjoy my bottle and wear the hell out of it at work when I want to smell unusual and pretty without being offputting.

[Monday]

I have a little bit of this oil in a vial thanks to a wonderful frimper!

 

In the vial: it smells like powdery lavender and is somehow rather masculine. Must be the musk or maybe the birch.

Wet: it seems to have disappeared. No wait, it's there just very faint. It amps slowly when it dries.

Dry: still a purple kind of scent like powdery lavender (there isn't even lavender in here ) and masculine musk. It's odd that a blend called The Girl smells so manly. It also has a distinct shower-gel quality like a wet shower stall after someone used badedas.

 

This one goes straight into cologne territory after a half an hour on my skin. It's not an unpleasant scent but not what I had expected.

[kawaiiferreto]

I got a testable sniffie of this in a swap and I am SO glad I've had the chance to at least try this. This was sooooo lovely. This was a warm, sweet, floral, and a little creamy? almost. It's so balanced. It was light-ish throw, which I like.

 

Both amber and jasmine usually go evil on me, but here they don't! (although I'm not sure I've tried white amber, and star jasmine specifically.) I LOVE star jasmine in person and I'm so happy I actually got some of that and not bitter sharp YECH like jasmine seems to go on my skin. I think this has convinced me to not entirely give up on amber and jasmine notes!

[neuilly]

So I got a decant of this when it first came out but I either didn't review or didn't test it. It's just been sitting in my box since then. At first it actually reminds me of Silver Phoenix - not sure why. It does have a sort of silver/crystalline shimmer to it. But it settles down to more of a skin musk. It's nice but I'm not in love with it. I think I put it up for swaps for someone who truly loves it.

[Alethia]

Thoughts before testing: I've heard such great things about The Girl that I had to test it when a decant came my way. It doesn't sound like something I'd like, and the star jasmine worries me as it tends to go very strongly of cat pee on my skin.

 

Wet: Stunning. It's silvery and beautiful.

 

Dry down: And the jasmine turns everything into a stinky mess.

 

Dry: Nothing but cat urine

 

Verdict: Pass

[Atrous]

This was generously frimped to me by Sunshine.

 

Wow, I was expecting a soft floral but what I got was an in-your-face masculine. Uber masculine. Masculine scents don't bother me. I wear many of the Lab's fragrances that are described that way...Dorian, Baron Samedi for example. But, this one smells like the cologne my step father wears. I mean, it's identical and I don't want to smell like my step dad.

Looks like I dodged another rare scent bullet.

[freyasfae]

I got a sniffie of this with a swap, and I was able to try just a little bit on me. What I could get from it, I really liked, which was surprising considering the ylang ylang didn't bother me, nor did the star jasmine. The birch, pale musk, and davana really make this an interesting, silvery scent.

[LizziesLuck]

Wet: Ermagerd this is so pretty! It's beautiful and unique. The florals are almost musky. It's sexier than I expected. Upon reading the notes again, there's musk in it, that explains the muskiness. Wow. Hard to describe! But gorgeous.

 

 

Dry: This is AMAZING. Musky, unique florals, just the right amount of sweetness....I get what all the fuss is about, and I am so glad I found a bottle! <3

[missnix]

A lot of BPALers seem to love this scent, so I scooped up a decant when I got the chance.

 

Fortunately, given how sought-after and expensive The Girl can be, I don't really care for her at all!

 

On me, it was sharp and vaguely masculine. It immediately called to mind an unfortunate scent memory; my mom and me would occasionally receive (and both despise) cheap bath / spa type gift baskets for Christmas from well-meaning friends or family members. We both have sensitive skin (excema, adult acne, nickel allergies, etc) and more often than not, these gifts would have something in them that would set our skin off.

An especially egregious example that sticks out in my mind was a lavender-themed suite of products that gave us both especially bad rashes. I was not really fond of the smell of lavender before that episode, and it absolutely cemented my enduring dislike. For some reason, even though lavender is not listed, The Girl smells almost exactly like that lavender shower gel that caused me so much misery.

I'm sure on others it can be a gorgeous scent, but I am not one of those people.

[celestia]

♔ The Girl

 

In the Bottle: Sweet milky white floral.

 

Wet: Such a lovely, gentle, and pristine milky white floral! The pale musk is uplifted by immortelle, davana, star jasmine and ylang ylang to create this wonderful clear, creaminess in the floral which I could only describe as a milky white orchid. There is no vanilla listed in the blend, but it definitely smells creamy and reminiscent of a sheer, or pearl-like white vanilla musk, perhaps why I feel like all the blended florals remind me of some kind of white orchid. When wet, it’s very slightly fruity, which white amber has done to my chemistry with other blends, like Blooming Flowers of Spring and First of the Three Spirits. This fruitiness burns off quickly though, leaving the amber to morph into an amazing rich, white, creamy, and airy-almost-powder-like scent with a pearl-like texture.

 

Drydown: The drydown intertwines all these notes together so beautifully and seamlessly- it’s like a glowing, creamy white musk against gentle, pale white florals. It’s quite an intense scent with impressive throw, given how naturally gentle and soft all the notes sound. There is no tell-tale “bubbly/fizzy/sparkling” or piercing lavender, ozone, or mint note to conceptualise the ‘crystalline, serpentine, and seductive’ properties of this scent, which I think is remarkably difficult to do without. The blend, somehow, is successfully able to elicit and evoke this impression using creaminess, which is incredible.

 

TL;DR: Rich, creamy, silvery white musk and milky white florals

[lilacea]

One of my all time favourites, I've been inspired to review this (finally) after trying Zorya Polunochnaya. That's not to say the two smell the same, however they evoke a very similar feel to me.

 

The Girl was such a surprise, ordinarily I really don't like a lot of florals, especially jasmine. However the jasmine is so tame in this and quite seamless. Initially the scent is sharp, sweet, and quite creamy. The floral elements are like cool night blooming buds, all pristine and white. The dry down is where it becomes special. It has tenacity, a beautiful lingering skin musk, it becomes almost pearlescent. It's feels like it blooms on the skin. It's a hard one to pin down individual notes for, to me it's an incredibly evocative scent. It's comforting, close, floaty, so pretty, so enlightening. It's like an instant mood lifter without the usual bright notes I associate with the scents that have this ability.

[feyofthefellwood]

I never thought I'd get to try this one! All I can say is that this community is amazing when it comes to noticing people's ISO's, and I'm really thankful for that. 💕 As other reviewers have attested, this is a gorgeous blend. Whether from being well-blended or from aging, to me, The Girl is almost all vanilla musk. I'm not able to pick out many individual notes. It's *very* similar to Ava from the OLLA collection; at first, I thought they might be identical. However, when comparing them, I found Ava sweeter (which is funny, because I never thought of it as being that sweet before), while The Girl is cooler and more subtle. It's probably the most wispy, ethereal vanilla perfume I've tried so far (although vanilla isn't listed in the notes . . .). It has a silvery, glowing feel similar to Zorya P, but the vanilla in Zorya P is much more sugary than in The Girl or Ava, IMO. I think the birch here gives it that neutral, silvery tone. Overall, I'm definitely going to cherish this one and will hope for a resurrection someday.

Edited May 6, 2020 by feyofthefellwood

[bambi]

I am not usually a floral person, but my friend let me try a bit of hers, and something about this scent worked fairly well with my skin. It's soft, ethereal, floral, and feminine all the way through. It's probably not something I could see buying for myself, but I'd absolutely wear it if it was given to me.

[doomsday_disco]

Oh shit. Oh fuck.

 

I did not actively seek this out. A very kind BPALista sent me a decant because they wanted me to try it.

 

To me, most rares are not worth the hype. Usually I'm happy to have a sample, but don't need more of it, or I don't like it and am glad to have dodged a bullet.  But this one? This one is stunning. 😭

 

The Girl is so well-blended that I can't pick out all of the notes (plus I'm not too familiar with immortelle or davana), but to me, it smells like a beautiful white amber and ethereal vanilla (? or vanilla-esque) musk scent infused with florals (the only one I can identify is the ylang ylang). I'd say it is in the same scent family as scents like Butterflies, Flowers, and Jewels Attending and Ava, only those scents are brighter, and this one is deeper with its amber, and not as floral despite containing more floral notes than Ava?  

 

I will never let my mom try this scent, because she always falls hard for scents like these, and the last thing she needs to do is want yet another rare scent.  

 

I am going to cherish every last drop of the decant that was sent to me, and maybe once it gets to its dregs, I will seek out more. But hopefully it won't get to that point, as I really don't like to hunt down rares, especially with so many new scents on the horizon. But goddamn, this is gorgeous. Thank you to the kind soul who sent some my way.  

 

Edited October 26, 2022 by doomsday_disco