The Sorceress

[Aviatrix]

Jean van der Velde II
An evocation incense of frankincense, styrax, lavender buds, mastic, and white sandalwood mingled with moonflower, violet absolute, tuberose, and dark musk.

I was wary of the lavender, because that notes doesn't always work well for me.
It does indeed open up with a big blast of lavender, which put me a little off. After some drying down, however, the lavender subsides, and I'm getting a lot of the violet instead, overlaying the resins and the musk. Those are in the background and not too prominent. The tuberose is sweet in the background, too, but I'm not sure I'm getting any moonflower.

Overall, it is a nice dark floral scent, but I will have to let it settle a bit more (this is straight out of the mail) before deciding whether I will hold onto the bottle, since the lavender is a bit too much in the beginning.

[stellamaris]

I don't really get specific lavender in the wet stage, it's more of a "green" thing, which gives way to a beautiful lush floral, but not a round white floral like say Avenger, but a slightly sharp dark thing. I love the heck out of this one, I can see wearing this day, night, it's really good. The musk and the frankincense make it more dark, sophisticated. That said it's not like a department store perfume at all. Dreamy.

[savage_rose]

This has a lot of "meh" notes on my skin (violet, incenses) that tend to become sharp and shrill or turn to powder on me, but together this is just magic. Very well-balanced scent, nothing was too prominent, it was just a lovely, mysterious scent.

[LiberAmoris]

The Sorceress is one my favorites from my Halloweenie order this year. It's tough to describe, but it smells like flowering moonlight resins on me, like blues and purples and whites and dark shadows. I've only recently connected the dots and realized that I love tuberose, so I can smell it here because I'm now obsessed with it, but the strongest notes on me when wet are frankincense, lavender, and violet. The moonflower (also a favorite) and tuberose are just gorgeous, bringing a haunting sweet whiteness to the blend as it dries. Those night flowers crest underneath and knit up with the mastic, sandalwood, and musk in a way that smells almost seamless. It's definitely incensey (the influence of frankincense, styrax, and mastic!). Absolutely lovely.

[patina]

In the imp: Herbal shampoo? But high-quality shampoo.

 

On, this is a delicate pastel purple scent. The incense rounds the whole scent out. The tuberose has a softening influence and the white sandalwood acts like a canvas. Somehow this is neither powdery nor like traditional perfume.

[theseagrows]

this starts off with lots of lavender and something kind of resiny maybe? about a minute in i get the other florals and it gets pretty "whoa floral" at this stage. it's definitely a nighttime floral scent and the lavender has all but disappeared. it turns into a strong tuberose/moonflower combination that dries down to a tuberose-musk. it's very pretty and lush, i do quite love tuberose scents, though i seem to be amping it up to a 11 a bit in this i like this one, but a little goes a long way for me.

 

ETA: an hour later and it's gorgeous. need a bottle, stat. and thank you BPAL for doing more tuberoses the past few years.

Edited November 3, 2015 by theseagrows

[quickdrawkiddo]

I definitely agree with the "nighttime floral" description -- this is pretty heavy on the violet and moonflower. Violet always goes soapy/powdery on me so I'm not really feeling this.

[zankoku_zen]

Moonflower, violet, tuberose with hints of lavender and musk. This one is a light floral with darker elements serving as the base. Good throw, good wearlength.

 

Sexy white florals with evil intentions.

[milo]

Lovely berry-like musk, a bit dry from the sandalwood, but luscious and juicy at the same time. A bit along the lines of Mme Moriarty, Misfortune Teller v3, Crypt Queen. I really like this, and would like to explore this one further. May be an upgrade...

[Little Bird]

I didn't like this when I first got it, because the emphasis was on all of the notes that I didn't want - sharp, perfumey/musky, white tuberose, herbal lavender and baby powdery white sandalwood. With age, though, this has lost some of the floral sharpness to let in the dark, incensey resins, and the moonflower's sweet, cool, powdery tones keep it from smelling like pure baby powder on my skin. Dark violets, cool and sweet moonflower, and incense with a backdrop of sharp tuberose department store perfuminess and a hint of herbal lavender. The lavender and moonflower make it smell like a night/sleep blend, but the other notes give it a sexy edge. Not my favorite, because still the tuberose, but I've felt like keeping my decant.