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BPAL Madness!
LiberAmoris

The Countess of Morcar's Blue Carbuncle

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"The goose, Mr. Holmes! The goose, sir!" he gasped.
"Eh? What of it, then? Has it returned to life and flapped off through the kitchen window?" Holmes twisted himself round upon the sofa to get a fairer view of the man's excited face.
"See here, sir! See what my wife found in its crop!" He held out his hand and displayed upon the centre of the palm a brilliantly scintillating blue stone, rather smaller than a bean in size, but of such purity and radiance that it twinkled like an electric point in the dark hollow of his hand.
Sherlock Holmes sat up with a whistle. "By Jove, Peterson!" said he, "this is treasure trove indeed. I suppose you know what you have got?"
"A diamond, sir? A precious stone. It cuts into glass as though it were putty."
"It's more than a precious stone. It is the precious stone."
"Not the Countess of Morcar's blue carbuncle!" I ejaculated.

Dazzling blue musk, white juniper, iris pallida, white oudh, and sugar crystals.

The Countess of Morcar's Blue Carbuncle is like pale, sweet, blue incense on me. Blue musk always smells like aqueous musk on my skin, like something watery and a touch floral melded to musk. Here it does dazzle, but the juniper and iris help temper it, while the white oudh and sugar crystals bring a hefty dose of sweetness and incense. On the drydown, the juniper and iris continue to develop and cut through the sugar—a welcome progression. I like this, but it may end up being just a touch too sweet for my tastes these days. Lovely blue fragrance, though, and the juniper is especially nice. There's definitely a shimmering effect here that captures this fictional gemstone well.

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I agree with LiberAmoris on the blue incense aspect. While it is still wet on me it's a sort of bubblegummy scent - but in a nice way, mind you.

As it dries I get more of the individual notes, especially a soft iris in the background. The sugar crystals are not too prominent, so if you're worried about them going artificial, you needn't be. :)

It has the right balance between musky and floral, sweet and solemn.

I really like this one and I think it fits the idea of a dazzling jewel very well.

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A sweet floral in the bottle. It's hard to describe when it goes on — sweet, light, and fruity? Iris? It sounds silly but I want to call it "grown-up Juicy Fruit gum" — it's sweet and fruit-like and juicy, but not in a childish way. After a few minutes this dries to something more like a flower stamen, which is sad because I really liked the fruit part, and in 10 minutes the entire thing has quieted to a floral powder. No musk, no juniper. Kinda disappointed; this had a lot of promise.

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Wet: Bubblegum. Did not see that coming. Though now I see others got gum from this too. I agree with Soupy Twist, Juicy Fruit is pretty accurate. It's not terrible, but not something I want to wear, at this stage.

 

 

Dry: Still a lot like Juicy Fruit gum, but with some musk. So, like perfumey gum. It's quite interesting, but not something I would wear.

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Blue musk, iris and a touch of juicy fruit gum. It's sweet, musky, and like a more celestial, ethereal version of Jailbait actually. So if you loved Jailbait but wished it was less sun-drenched, summer sultry and more sophisticated and perhaps adult, try the Countess. It's like the grown up version of Jailbait. Good throw and wear length.

 

If Jailbait is bright pink, this is more of a silvery blue color.

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I did get that juicy fruit gum vibe others have mentioned before. I let it age a few months and it now smells more prominently of juniper (I recognize the note from the BPTP Juniper + Mint hair gloss). It has one of the most pleasantly refreshing, clean (not laundry-esque, but more in the sense of the transparency of a crystal) drydowns I've smelled from a perfume oil--no "sticky" smelling residue or powderyness. It never crosses the sweetness threshold. I think it's perfect for any casual occasion.

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I let this one age, but I'm still getting prominent bubblegum from it. Dries down several hours later to a delicate musk with a pinch of floral. Not the one for me, it turns out.

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Funny, I got bubblegum in the wet stage on blind tasting and wondered if there was lotus in the blend. Nice to know I wasn't going nuts. This dried into a blend with a lot of sweetness from the sugar crystals balanced with an understated musk. I never got any juniper -- maybe white juniper is different? -- but there was a note that reminded me of Nevertheless She Persisted, maybe the oudh, with that glinty metallic feel to it. I still can't distinguish iris. This is a really useless review, isn't it? It's pretty and lasted a long time on me, but I don't need more than a decant.

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