Bordello

[Alaizabel]

A decadent, deep perfume, lusty and luxuriant. The scent evokes images of velvet-lined Old West cathouses, tightly laced corsets, rustling petticoats and coquettish snarls of pleasure. Bawdy plum with amaretto, burgundy wine and black currant.

Bordello is only the 5th BPAL I've tried (after New Orleans - like, Baobhan Sith - LOVE, Eve - intrigued, & Antique Lace - TOO vanilla), but the first that I absolutely cannot get my head around. I cannot stop sniffing my wrist - and I'm not sure if it's because I love it or hate it.

Wet, it first smelled almost cloyingly sweet - someone described it as a cherry jolly rancher, which makes sense to me. My husband described it at various points as "trashy," "like a high school girl," and "cotton candy," all of which I found myself agreeing with - yet I can't bring myself to wash it off.

4 hours later, I am still intrigued and can't stop sniffing it. I think I'll have to hold onto it - maybe he'll learn to love it. Edited October 1, 2007 by Alaizabel

[hkhm]

bottle: wet, fruity booze. as soon as i first smelled this scent i knew i would buy it (and buy it again... and again...) it's quite alluring.

 

wet: the amaretto and plum rise and warm and suddenly everyone in the room is trying to tell who or what smells so good.

 

dry: faded amaretto and wine. the fruit is just a hint at this point. on my wrist it smells much more amaretto-y. under my clothes the scent still has a touch of fruit vying with the amaretto.

 

this is one of my all-time favourites. it is probably the scent i wear most often because i almost always wear it to kendo practice so i smell sweet instead of sweaty. and it gets tons of attention: from a sensei who walked around the class sniffing until he cornered me to one of me senpai who turned to me and asked: "so, what is that? patchouli?" (!) i'm always raising eyebrows when i tell someone it's caled 'bordello'.

 

ADDED Aug. 14:

 

bottle: very boozy amaretto and wine. this just grabs your nose!

 

wet: yummy plum and amaretto. i could bathe in this scent!

 

dry: this goes to a very soft plum and wine scent. very evocative of it's name!

[Czarina]

Cherry, watermelon, sugar. Heaven.

[cranberry]

In the imp: berries or plum. Deep red-purple fruits

 

On the skin: Initially I smell the purple fruit, then another notes comes forward – a bit musky and a bit herbal (almost). I don’t know how to describe what I’m smelling here but it’s interesting and I like it. I think it’s the wine but I’m not sure.

 

Dry the purple fruit are predominant. There’s still a bit of an herbal smell there, must be the tannins in the wine. I like this scent a lot but for berries I have Florence.

[4492]

In the imp - Hel-LO bubblegum! Why, I havn't seen you properly since I was, what, 12? Nice to see you again! Do you remember that time when...yeah, that was awesome!

On - You say this is a new friend? Why don't you introduce me? Well, hi Amaretto, you seem kind of laid back but you're cool.

Drydown - You guys bought me WINE? Oh, guys, you rock! Lets all get fuzzy drunk and me and bubblegum can chat about the good old times whilst Amaretto fusses over us.

 

It's a little bit OTT, but I LOVE this oil! Just must remember NOT to slather. It can get a bit over powering! Smells a little bit like Tesco candles, but not so much that it makes me think negatively of it. MIGHT get a bottle when the imp runs out, but it depends on how I feel when I get there.

Lady Macbeth is a bit sourer compaired - Bordello has a lot more sweetness in it. Unsurprisingly a "funner" scent than LM but considering the characters...!

[The_Merf]

This one is all plum in the imp, but as I put it on it immediately becomes plum and wine, with a bit of sweet amaretto in the background. I really like this at first because it's food-like without being food-y, but it goes food-y on me very, very quickly. I'm reminded a bit of grape-cherry chewables dipped in alcohol; this really is like a more buttery Lady Macbeth. The amaretto and alcohol really start to take control of this one, and it goes very, very buttery, nearly replicating the effect that scents like Grog would have on my skin (the purple plum does prevent it from becoming that strong). It's a bit intoxicating in a bad way to sniff the test spot here, so I think I'm going to have to swap this one.

[Morganza]

I really wanted to love Bordello, but it just doesn't work on me. I wanted it to be sexy and womanly, but to me it's pure bubblegum. I don't smell amaretto at all. As it dried, it got more of a fruity-scented-candle smell that neither my husband nor I enjoyed.

[fireflower]

In the imp: I smell fizziness and plum and amaretto. Very creamy, light and fruity.

 

Wet: The fizzy aspect fades. It's still very creamy. Definitely the amaretto. I smell a nice mixture of fruits.. the plum and the currants. Not getting the wine anymore.

 

Drydown: Very light. My nose needs to be next to my wrist to smell it. But what I smell is very beautiful. It's creamy dark purple fruits. No fizzy wine aspect here. Just very sweet, warm, and comforting. I really like this.

 

Verdict: I really like this. I've been trying so many spicey, herbally and foody imps lately that this one was a nice surprise. Still debating over whether it's big bottle worthy since it's so light on me.

[blacklacestatic]

Wow! Pleasantly suprising!

 

In the imp: Sweet, fresh... not exactly what I was expecting from a scent called "Bordello".

 

Wet: These prostitutes are very clean and very pampered! This is amazing. Sugared fruits and amaretto. So sweet and sexy. I was expecting something heavier, maybe even muskier. But this is heavenly. I don't smell the wine at all. My boyfriend likes it alot too.

 

Dry: The currant gives it an edge, as if night is falling on the cathouse.

 

Overall: I think I found my new favorite. Sexy Fantasy Scent. My man gives it a 4 out of 5. I give it a 5 out of 5. LOVE IT!

[xibalbagrrl]

Ohhh...

 

When my friend introduced me to the magic of BPAL love potions, this was the very first thing I ordered.

 

So, you might imagine my disappointment when my skin turned it to cherry cough syrup, and even that disappeared in an hour or so. No wine or amaretto for me

[alicia_stardust]

Bordello is mostly sweet plum on me. I get very little of the amaretto, but there is definitely a richness and warmth to this. It's not all purple and juicy fruit. I really like this, but I think it's a little bit too cloying and sweet for my skin chemistry. You should definitely try this if you are a fan of wine, berries, plum, or currants.

[thecaitycat]

Aaah, one of my first true BPAL loves...

 

In the bottle - This smells like it could be an alcoholic drink, minus the alcoholic bite. I smell amaretto and plum. It's what I like to imagine a cocktail of amaretto and black currant vodka tastes like. It's incredible!

 

Wet on skin - Still edible. It smells like something I could lick off of my wrist. The amaretto and plum are both very strong, but they complement each other beautifully. They don't fight for the spotlight; they share it.

 

Dry on skin - The only real difference is that it's fainter dry than wet.

 

Verdict - LOVE LOVE LOVE this scent! It makes me feel powerful and sexy without the sadistic edge that Wanda gives me.

[akiko]

Imp: Fruity. At first sniff, plum, then something vaguely cherry (the amaretto).

 

Wet: Wow, this is super fruity.

 

Dry: Hmm, at one point, it goes through a fake-y candle-y smell, but mostly it winds up being a nice mixture of plum and amaretto. Probably currants, too. I can't find the wine in here.

[Victory]

Bordello doesn't make me think of velvet, it makes me think of satin. There is something completely cool, smooth, and silky-slick about this scent. Some scents seem to have colors, this one smells exactly the way satin feels. None of the notes stand out to me (possibly because I smell Bordello and my brain starts chanting satin, satin, satin). This isn't a street walker's scent, it's a courtesan's.

[Josh]

This smells identical to Runts candies.. really fruity yet slightly chalky hard candy. There's an incredibly faint Amaretto hanging around in the background but you'd never know it was there unless you were told it was.

[MaidMirawyn]

I thought long and hard before buying this, because I do NOT want to tell people I smell like a bordello...

 

But it's too intriguing. It's very fruity, plum and cherry and berry, and not much else.

 

On, it turns to something more complex, even before it's completely dry. That must be the amaretto. It's fruity but warm, a bit exuberant and larger-than-life, with just a touch of wine.

[enderfem]

Imp: This smells like a candy from my childhood. Dark thick sweet syrup. Really nice, very evocative of my grandmother's living room. A bit weird for a name like Bordello.

 

Wet: Darker than in the imp...more plum than sugar now. Still very nice.

 

Drydown: I don't know what it was before, but now it is those little strawberry candies with the soft center. I love 'em, but I don't think I need to smell like them.

[twilighteyes]

I can smell the plum and black currants immediately this time. Last time it was very wine-y. No amaretto at all.

[DEMONDAHLIA]

This has become my favorite every day scent to go to .. I get tons of compliments on it!!

In the bottle : I get all juicy plum ..

On the skin : The plum softens and mixes with the boozy warmth of the amaretto.

Dry Down : The ameretto and plum blend together for a soft hazy fruit scent .. the wine comes into play for that ever so gentle whiff of tartness.

 

Throw is excellent Ive had people approach me from across a room and ask what that wonderful smell was.

It has an average wear/length .. I find it lasts a wee longer in a scent locket.

[SeaLady]

First reaction: Whaaat?

 

I ordered an imp of this just for the hell of it, because. . .I want to smell like a Bordello. I was hanging on the hope that by some bizarre fluke I wouldn't get any amaretto, and I'd like it, and I'd be able to wear it with my corsets and things.

I have to say it's surprising that that's exactly what happened! No amaretto (which nauseates me like none other), sweet sugared fruits, and a lil bit of booze is what I get. The first couple of minutes on it's a little overwhelmingly like candy, and then it quiets down to something delicate and smooth and scrumptious.

 

I'm so happy!

[Lyrical]

In vial: lovely, lovely plum - sweet and fruity, with a hint of amaretto.

 

Wet on skin: the same - sweet and fruity - straightforward and pretty.

 

Dry on skin: ooooh - I like this one! It's going slightly sharp, though. Lots of fruity scents that are sweet on other people seem to go sharp on me. This stays nice, though - just a bit fresher than before. As it fades it goes sweeter again. Throw and wear length below average.

[CordeliaSeduced]

I was very excited to try this one, and I'm excited to re-test later on, since I think this may be a bottle-buy.

 

In the imp, things always smell sharper to me than they do on my skin. Once it was applied, I got nothing but full-bodied fruit--boisterous plum, dark currants, all mashed up together in some sort of flirty compote smeared all over my skin. Once it started to dry, out came the booze--the wine was noticeable, particularly. Every now and then I'd get a whiff of something else that I couldn't exactly place as amaretto but could definitely interpret as an alcoholic beverage (as could everyone around me!)...

The throw was decent, I think--I could definitely smell it, as could people in my immediate area, and it lasted almost five hours before slowly fading. I'm going to have to re-test this in a week or so to see if it holds up as well with my skin chemistry before buying a bottle. I also might want to steer clear of cars while wearing this, since my SO's family was convinced they had spilled a bottle of something in the back of their car before discovering it was me.

[Delirium1009]

In bottle/imp: Strong, sweet plum candy.

 

Immediately on skin: This smells of strong plums and currants, but not fresh ones… more like if they were made into a sour candy. It’s a bubbling, fizzy scent… very playful. It’s very fruity and sweet though.

 

After a few minutes: This blend is still very strong, fruity, and fizzy. It's a plum/berry fruit scent, with a strong boozy undertone. It's sweet and has an almost sour candy feel to it. To my nose, it smells a lot like berry Nerds.

 

Overall Impressions: If you’re a fan of sweet, fruity scents (especially plum or currant), give this one a try. On me, this is extremely sweet with a fizzy/sour candy quality to it. I don’t really like it on me, but I can understand why others enjoy it.

[Gwydion]

In bottle: Plum!!! Did I mention the plum? With booze under it. Wet: Fruit candy. Very intense. Dry: Gone to vaguely fruity soap fast with almost no transition.

[taramarie]

On me, Bordello is a juicy, sugary plum over booze. It's definitely a cousin to Midwinter's Eve. I love it and I can see myself wearing it often.