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BPAL Madness!
Caitfish

Bathsheba

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The Seventh Daughter, Daughter of the Oath. She was King David’s lover, and the mother of King Solomon. Her scent is breathtakingly lovely, exotic and powerfully sensual in its innocence: carnation, sensual plum, and Arabian musk.

 

Very lovely indeed.

 

There is a round, purple Plumness, a slight spiciness from the carnations, and just a hint of musk.

 

The only downside is that my skin eats it right up, and after 20mins there isn’t much left. (It lingers beautifully on clothing, however.) When my imp is finished I'll probably just get a bottle and slather away. It’s that lovely.

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Wet: Plum and carnation.

 

Dry: Carnation has kicked out the plum completely, and a tiny bit of musk has snuck in. Musky carnations.

 

It's nice, but I wish the plum would have stuck around.

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In the frimp this smells floral to me. 

Wet on the skin I can still smell carnations aplenty, but now I can pick out the nice musk.

After awhile this dries down to a soft scent with moderate throw.  I can't detect the plum at all, but what's there is nice. 

On my skin, Bathsheba is a nice, warm, floral musk that has good lasting power. 

Hmm.  I don't dislike it at all, but I'm not sure I would purchase a bottle.  It just isn't a remarkable scent.  It's very 'polite' in terms of execution.  I will more than likely end up wearing out the imp, though.  So not a scent that will sit unused on the shelf.

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Mostly carnation and plum - a sophisticated juicy floral. In the imp the musk fooled me into thinking there was honey - definitely a sweet golden musk. Very lovely, but not my style.

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This is much fresher than the notes would lead you to believe. It doesn't read very musky to me at all, though it must be there, because this definitely has a "clean skin" sort of vibe to it. The warm, clean skin mixed with the softness of carnation and watery sweetness of plum gives me the mental image of someone just coming out of the bath, warm and moist and fragrant from the bath oils they used. It's a clean scent that doesn't smell like detergent or soap. It doesn't project much, but for this sort of scent, I feel like that's appropriate. 8/10 - a different approach to clean

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A frimp that I never would have tried on my own, what a shame! It's so beautiful that I've got shivers down my spine. I'm more of a resins and incense person, but I never stop hunting for florals I can wear, and I think I've hit the jackpot with this one. A sparkling clean fruity-floral.

 

So many scents conjure a direct connection with something that turns me off: too-much-like BBW scents, air-freshener scents, scents that remind me of commercial perfumes (none of which do it for me--the tang of alcohol fixative always screws me over), scents that remind me of particular people, scents that are too soapy/shampoo-y/lotiony, scents that smell like cleaning products--there are so many things that can turn a perfume wrong for me, that I rarely find any scents without a negative connotation. So I would not say this is "ordinary" by any means--it is something completely unique to my nose. 

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This is really unfortunate. The Arabian musk has jasmine in it. Not a very pleasant jasmine either; I'm pretty sure it's sambac. Once it hits my skin, the jasmine starts amping hard and manages to stomp out even the creamy spiciness of the carnation, completely obliterating any plum to my nose. Plum is my alltime favorite note, so I would have loved to find that dark purple fruity note in a GC, surrounded by some sexy carnation and a bedroom kind of musk. But no, this is a sadly soapy, grating jasmine with pathetic little peeps of plum late in the game but that have no true chance to standing up to that obstreperous floral.

 

I would like very much to extract the jasmine out of Bathsheba and leave her just with the listed notes. As it is, I will keep my imp to remind myself that she's a deceptive temptress (unlike her namesake :P ) and not to buy a bottle of this!

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I have two imps of Bathsheba - one from ca. 2011, the other from ca. 2018. This review is for the 2018 version (aged to 3 years). Review for the 2011 version (now carefully aged to 10 years!) to be edited in later.

 

In the imp: Carnation, tobacco, and a vague hint of aquatics

Wet: Spiced musk, and soapy carnation.

Dry: A very light and sweetly spiced plum, similar to the drydown I get from Every Day You Play With the Light of the Universe. It's extremely light on throw, and very short lived.

 

Stars: ★★★½

Edited by alyelle

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This is one of my favourite BPAL scents because I adore carnation, I love plum and musks and this combination is truly exceptional.

 

My bottle was bought somewhere from 2009 to 2011 so it has aged about 10 years or more. Because of that my experience might be different from using a fresh bottle.

 

I smell/experience: immediately on skin I smell the carnation which is floral, spicy and sweet, all at the same time. The plum is very sweet but it is a deep, juicy and fruity kind of sweet and not a sugary or foody sweet. The plum and carnation really go well together and compliment each other. The Arabian musks complete the scent perfectly.

 

This scent is floral, spicy, sweet, fruity and musky. It is not a light scent. Scent throw is good and lasts long. 

 

When I put this on I instantly love the scent and it makes me feel like myself. I feel strong, positive, capable, grounded and sexy. But it is also sweet and innocent. Suitable for all kinds of situations. It is suitable for work, dates, family functions and being around children. Of course it all depends how you personally feel while wearing a scent. I don't necessarily feel like this scent smells like it is a naughty one, or like it could be seen as inappropriate in any way. And it probably also depends on how you carry yourself and how you behave yourself. I often think there are (at least) two sides to every scent. A scent can be both sensual and naughty and pure sex, but also innocent, comfortable and just confident or strong at the same time. I love that duality.

 

Like all BPAL scents I feel this is great for all genders, nothing is masculine or feminine, it is whatever and however it makes you feel. In the same way all BPAL scents are also innocent and sensual at the same time because it depends on the wearers personality, mood and vibe. And it is suitable for all ages (most BPAL scents are in my opinion, perhaps only the ones with alcoholic notes and tobacco/smoke notes are not).

Edited by Freya778
Added another paragraph

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Fresh from the lab frimp!

Bathsheba is clean, sophisticated, simple, and... addicting? I usually don't like florals but I cannot stop sniffing myself. It's too nice to be a shampoo scent, yet there is just the slightest hint of soap. It's so hard to separate the three main notes, because they're blended together so well. I wouldn't mind all my clean sheets smelling like this.

As it dries, I'm getting a bit more of the spiciness and musk. Or maybe it's the plum, showing its sweet card. Whatever's happening, I'm not sure I like it. It's sharp yet soft, strong and fresh. It's so very interesting to me but I don't think I can handle wearing it on my person.

Thank you for the fun, labbies!

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I have, in the past, loved this scent. I have, apparently, not reviewed it.

 

In the imp: Musky carnation, mostly. I'd believe plum if someone told me, but it's not something I'd pick out unannounced at this stage.

 

On my skin:

 

Wet, it's a big swirl -- carnation and then plum and then musk. As it dries, it feels like both the plum and the musk work to support the carnation. They're very strong supporting notes, but I'd say the blend is plummy, musky carnation rather than any other way around.

 

This is where it stays on me. The musk grounds it and adds depth, the plum is juicy, but carnation is the strongest on me. I like this a lot, but I think the plum makes it a little too sweet for my skin chemistry.

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A dry, spicy musk, with that gooei plum wayy in the background giving it a delicious depth. Hmm... 

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I love plum and carnation, and unlike every other musk I have tried this one did not immediate trigger asthma when I sniffed the imp, so I actually tried this on. When wet on the skin, it is DELIGHTFUL. Rich plum and spicy carnation with just a little spicy warmth. As it dries, though...well.

 

Upside: I am not allergic to this musk!

Downside: Once it dries, the musk is about all I can smell. And it turns out I just don't like musk at all

 

So, if you like musk but have been allergic to others, maybe give it a try? But if musk is not your jam, this won't be either.

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With musk and carnation, I expected a bolder scent more like Morocco, but on application I got a light, soapy floral. It opened up a little bit with wear, and I could recognize the carnation and plum, but between the two, I think I prefer Morocco.

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I basically agree with @Freya778 over here except for the gender neutral bit.  I tend to wear very feminine scents and consider this one to be so.

 

I have been wearing carnation scents for over 40 yrs and spent the first 20 of those wearing that carnation from scent your own places then Bellogia which was a carnation based scent from 20's.  Spicy Florals for the win win win

 

Plum is one of the few fruits I can wear since it is adds a meaty sweetness without turning to fizz or being too high pitched

 

Egyptian and Red musks are my favorite

 

How could this scent be anything other than a winner?

 

When I want to feel pretty Bathsheba is it.  I will wear it to church Sunday morning and not feel as if it is too sensual but it is also date appropriate.  It is gorgeous, unabashedly feminine {IMO} and utterly inoffensive.  It has enough throw that it doesn't completely morph into a snuggly skin scent but isn't loud.  It isn't as innocent as some of my roses {and I like the uber girlie tea, pink or white roses} nor is she brazen... {like big 80's precede you to the room florientals I wear when I want to be roar sexy}

 

Bathsheba is the coquette in my collection.  If I had to compare Bathsheba to a fictional character I would say Kaylee Frye at the party tasting those strawberries.  Effortlessly beautiful and utterly charming.

Edited by elka_knits
I keep editing because I cannot express how this scent feels. Like it is a whole vibe

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