Spectre

[ipb]

A wispy, ethereal perfume with a touch of menace. Lilac, tuberose, Lily of the Valley, palmarosa, and white sandalwood.

wet, it was very sweet and floral
dried, it's more a light floral...
it's nice, but not my taste.

my mom loves it though.

[any_old_actress]

FIRST SNIFF: incensey florals...

 

WEARING IT: sweet lilacs, a faint breath of lily of the valley with sandalwood backing it up. there is definitely an incense feel to this scent, a little bit smokey and wispy as the description mentions. it's pretty, but not a scent for me.

 

VERDICT: will be passing the goodness along..

[Ina Garten Davita]

First Impression: I adore anything with lilies in it!

 

Second Impression: This is a lovely, soft floral. The tuberose is light and a touch sharp tempering the sweetness of the lilies. Lily scents normally have a golden feel to me, but this one is pale purple.

 

Final Analysis: I don't love this one as much as some of Beth's other lily blends, but it's lovely enough to enjoy my imp.

[magpiedee]

Do I get notes? Nope. Do I get images? Yes, in abundance.

 

This is the smell of a gigantic, 10-ton, hand-carved 4-poster bed, with a canopy and diaphanous layers of mosquito netting, softly blowing in the breeze from the open window. Tasseled sultan's pillows and roll pillows and scraps of silky cord are thrown all over the bed, and someone is clearly curled under the heavy, plum-colored throw, sleeping deeply in a soft, dark nest. The room is made of stone-- a turret in an old castle, perhaps. Slightly damp, but more cold than anything else. The sky is a velvety dark purple, the moon is barely a cold sliver of icy grin. The stars poke through like bat's eyes, and the clouds give off a puff of werewolf breath. The fire has burned down to embers.

 

In the corner, there is an old vanity, with a cracked mirror and scattered vials of perfume and poison, not that anyone can tell the difference. And sitting on the scarlet velvet cushion, gazing intently into the mirror, is a very forgetful and sensuous ghost. The person under the covers doesn't know it, but the ghost arrives every night, softly sighing and playing with all the colorful sparklies on the table. Ribbons get misplaced, buttons go missing, perfume bottles are turned over, but certainly that could all be blamed on mice?

 

The smell of Spectre, to me, is the smell of an innocent and sad ghost, who haunts beautiful places and longs to feel things again, clutching again and again at a cameo and never quite being able to grasp it. The dark indigo sky, the wolfbreath clouds, the heavy grey stone, the corded velvet, the mosquito net... it all surrounds the spectre like the backdrop of a play in which the same scene is reenacted every night. It is lovely and soft, but also sweet and sad, like a particularly poignant violin solo. It is lovely for sleeping and bathing, but it is not a scent to seduce or startle. Just to gently and sweetly prod the memory, letting bits of ribbon slip through.

[glampyre]

Lilac is my favorite flower-smell, and I'm absolutely pro-sandalwood. () They smell absolutely great together.

[grrrlennyl]

spectre

 

at first: this was a freebie from the lab. it's beautiful. floral, but a bit sweet, and very soft. i really like it.

on: gorgeous! this is beautiful. watery flowers. very sweet, too.

1 hour later: harsher now. more soapy.

5.5 hours later: i keep getting whiffs of this, and it a wonderful, sweet, watery floral. however, when i smell my wrists, i get that harsh soapy scent.

overall: i guess the trick, for me, with this one is not to sniff my wrists. the throw of this scent is quite nice. i'll be keeping my imp, but probably won't get another.

[hypothermya]

Spectre

 

First Impression

 

Lily. A very clean, white, almost florals after the rain lily scent mixed with the faint scent of lilac. I love Beth's lilac blends...

 

Wearing It

 

The white sandalwood in this, which is picked up a lot by my skin, reminds me of the sandalwood in Kuang Shi. Almost bitter. This must be awfully close to what Hakkotsu smells like, with the lily and sandalwood mix. Mainly this is a very white, white floral blend, with the undertone of lilac lending it an etherealness around the edges. The white floral part, is almost creamy and silky smelling, but is so strong and vibrantly white that it isn't nearly as soft as silk or cream would be.

 

I'm definitely not a fan of florals, so this scent isn't for me. But as far as austere, beautiful, and haunting white florals go, this one captures it beautifully.

[etherealchild]

In The Bottle Warm fluid yumminess

 

Wet Overflowing with hot damp blooms; sweat and heat...... Reminds me of the south in late summer...... Wow. The lilac is really heady and voluptuous. Yet it is not syruppy or sugary. I like this one.

 

Drydown Sultry florals, than a movement of lightness and soft air above the florals that allows the fragrance not to become weighed down or too heavy. It must be the airy lilly. It's really pretty. I've never smelled anything quite like this.

 

Two Hours Later It has pretty good staying power. The sandalwood gives it a depth, and becomes the belly of it all, the lingering end note. I can't get over the simultaneous lightness and roundness and heat of it...... I never caught any of the palmarosa; it tends to evaporate on my skin.... ::sniffs:: yup, it's nowhere to be found. lol.

 

Verdict Very pretty.... not exactly me, but still very pretty. It's a very unique and offbeat floral.

[Gin]

Oh sweet lilac! Yay! It reminds me of something from my childhood... like a lilac scratch-n-sniff sticker or something. This is a very pretty, unusual floral. I wish I hadn't waited so long to try it!

[shelldoo]

very very floral, the lily of teh valley is the strongest note, and it is not one i am overly fond of...off to swaps

[k00kaburra]

In bottle: Dry, sweet sandalwood and lilac. It makes me think of moth-eaten curtains, white and wispy, floating in the air because the breeze has picked them up The florals make this sweet and the wood gives it the feeling of age and hints at decay.

On me: The tuberose becomes much more prominant, and the lilac and lilies remain. It's still a dusty fragrance, like old pressed flowers, but it's lovely. After the perfume has dried out it goes a bit sharp on my skin; it's still lovely but the scent is being obscured by my skin's chemistry . I think I'll keep it anyway; perhaps at a different time of month I'll be able to make this work.

[JazzieCazzie]

More floral than sandalwood on me, I like this but don't love it as much as I used to ... it is a very girly sweet rich floral, like something an innocent junior high school girl might wear to her first big dance, in a white dress. The tuberose, I think, is predominant when wet and that is just too sweet and cloying for me ...

 

On a scale of 1-5 I'd go with a strong 3.

[OriginalWacky]

Bottle (Imp): Woodsy with a hint of sweetness.

 

Just On: More woods than anything else.

 

An hour or two later: Woodsy and flowery.

 

Around 6 hours: Woodsy incense.

 

12 hours: It's gone.

 

Overall: I like it, but it's not something I'd go nuts to buy more of.

 

After reading other reviews: Wow, I guess I get a similar reaction as many folks, it's nice, but not me. It's flowery, but not overwhelmingly so. It's woodsy but not in a rough way.

[Aredhel]

Rating (on skin): 4/5

Summarised in a word or two: Bright!

 

In the imp/bottle: A very soft, quite pretty white floral.

 

On skin, wet: Soft white sandalwood and a very pretty floral. I'm not sure what it is I'm sniffing -- Lilac, tuberose or Lily of the Valley -- but I like it. It's girly, but not overly so.

 

On skin, dry: Again, a very pretty white floral. It's a very bright, soft, almost powdery scent. I don't catch any "menace" at all.

 

Conclusion: If this weren't discontinued, I'd almost certainly buy a bottle of it. I'm not sure I'd pay as much as I'm sure a bottle of this would go for, though.

Edited December 17, 2005 by Aredhel

[PurringPulsar]

Spectre

 

In the imp: sweet florals, no doubt the lilac and lily of the valley, maybe tuberose too.

Wet on skin: floral! Smells like dewy, fragrant blossoms.

Dry on skin: now a slight greenish note joins the soft, pure flowers. I think this could be the white sandalwood, because this smells woody but also fresh and green. I'm not sure what palmarosa smells like, but that could be there too. There's something cooling about this green scent, dry and cold, ghostly even. It's both sweet and floral but with an undercurrent of cold, sharp, dark greenness.

After a while: this improves with wear. The greenness retreats to the background without leaving, letting the soft floral scents become strong again. This is a very clean, white floral scent, but it has a darker, colder feel to it. I'm thinking the unusual scent in this may be the lilac, here, this floral note is unusual, because it actually reminds me of both fresh blossoms and lilacs on the verge of decay-but not in a disgusting, rotting way. It seems quite appropriate for such a ghostly, solemn scent.

Verdict: this is an intriguing one. There's a lovely blend of dewy, rich, white florals here that I love. An almost innocent, pure floral scent. but as the scent dries, there's also an undercurrent of something slightly sharper, greener, a bit harsh…it adds a cold, ghostly aspect to what would normally be a pretty flower blend. And as I smell more, it actually reminds me of lilacs that are starting to decay…this seems to match the spectral theme of the scent. However, because of this strange note, I don't love this blend, but I do like it. I might keep the imp, as this is quite an interesting, mysterious, quite melancholy fragrance, the name is very fitting.

[Shollin]

First sniff: Soft florals and a touch of sharp wood.

 

Wearing: Lily of the valley always goes to Instant Soap on my skin, and it’s done the same here. Sigh.

[olympia301]

 

As others have said, it is indeed a lovely soft lily floral with lily of the valley notes. Very pretty flowers. I don't find much character to this one, no set of notes which combine more than to make a pretty flower mixture. The name of it is wonderful, but the perfume doesn't quite have the unusual flair that Beth's blends are noted for and I would have to call it a very conservative perfume with a Goth name. If it were still around, I think I would have tried it and liked it but bought and used Asphodel for a floral rather than Spectre. Nice, but Beth did it better later.

Edited February 18, 2006 by olympia301

[filigree_shadow]

I think Spectre is pretty. It's a white floral, soft and floaty. It reminds me of some other floral BPAL oils, but I don't know which ones. It is lilies, that's for sure. And tuberose always smells good on my skin.

 

No "touch of menace" that I can detect, though. Just a pretty floral.

[LittleGreyKitten]

Woohoo! Major thanks to the labbies for the fr...bottle? Anyway, this was a very, very welcome surprise with my order. It is one of the few florals that really appeals to me, in a visceral way. It's so hard to know what draws the line between "pretty, but won't wear it much" and "OHGODMORE!" This lands in the latter category, and it's damn hard to find a floral I feel that way about. I suspect the sandalwood helps it. Its just soft, pretty, feminine, but delicious. I love it. The floaty-softness of this blend is amazing. Too bad it's discontinued, but I will snuggle my bottle of it. 5 out of 5. I think it's the lilac & sandalwood that are blowing my mind- I love sandalwood, and fresh real lilac is my favorite floral scent.

[desu]

In the imp: A lighty spicy-floral scent.

 

On me: Spectre is a faint floral before gradually warming up to a delicate spicy lilac scent. It's a bit too faint for my tastes, though.

 

Later on: The roses are going soapy on me just as I thought they would. :/

Edited May 24, 2006 by Princess of Mars

[Little Bird]

Spectre does not work out well on me, and I honestly wasn't expecting it to. Tuberose is unbearably sharp and harsh on me and lily often goes soapy.

 

At first, I'm getting mostly a sweet, slightly powdery lilac scent, but even the hint of sharp tuberose in the background is making me queasy.

 

Drydown... this is soapy, a bit watery, and unpleasantly sharp. I'm not getting any sandalwood, but this is a medley of rather sadistic florals on me.

[VenusFlyTrap]

I adore lilac and Spectre is the most lilac of all BPAL.

 

My skin does well with pretty much any scent and seems to love white florals especially.

 

Spectre with components of lilac, tuberose and Lily of the Valley is, indeed, on first impression from the white floral family. It is mellowed out and grounded with the addition of the white sandalwood.

 

I really like this scent and hope that one day, it will make a comeback!

 

[edenssixthday]

Spectre - The very first note I detect is rose – pretty, soft, sweet rose. As it begins to dry, a trace of something woody becomes noticeable. I also begin to detect the soft and “rounded” scent of lilies. It’s a strong floral, yet it is also somehow ethereal and wispy. It’s a pretty scent, yet it’s not particularly unforgettable – it’s just not very unique. It reminds me a lot of several of Beth’s other blends (Sepulcher and Venus, in particular) and I just don’t see myself lusting for more of this one. The scent lasts for several hours on my skin and it’s got some really great throw for such an “ethereal” scent – I keep catching beautiful, lovely wafts of the scent swirling around me despite applying only a small amount of the oil.

[supremegoddessofall]

Mostly lilac, with the other florals in the midground. Light sandalwood. Smells like drier sheets. Not sure if that's what I want to be smelling like.

[Reedsong]

This is a wisp of fragrance, a pallid and quite unique scent. I'd feared soapy lily or soapier lilac, but the two strongest notes on me are the tuberose and the palmarosa, and somehow, the final result brings to mind the word 'primordial.' I can't assign a gender, colour, or category to the scent, and words are kind of failing me to describe it.

 

Spectre is elusive, haunting, and marvelous. If it's ever resurrected I will shriek for joy and then buy a whoooooole lot of it.