Young Woman Powdering Herself

[Seajewel]

Rosewater, gardenias, and dusting powder.

[wendyb1063]

This is a lovely, old-fashioned scent that lovers of powdery florals will enjoy.  The powder is not particularly sweet and there is no cream/vanilla note; it is indeed like an old-fashioned dusting powder.  The throw is moderate, and after 8 hours, I can only smell traces on my wrist.   I may have to upgrade my decant. 

[roseus]

Yes definitely old-fashioned! It's powdery but not dry, and definitely makes me think of a vintage vanity set up. The rose is soft, and the gardenia gives the scent a good body. It feels clean even though there's no white musk or soapy notes. I think it's just the association. 

[theseagrows]

this definitely smells vintage to me-i get a lot of rosewater and powder with hint of gardenia. i think the gardenia adds a tiny whisper of greenness but overall this is a very rosy/powdery scent. not too sweet or dry. 

[RoseThornAndOak]

Heady AF in the beginning man, Jesus. It's power rose, it's power, animalic gardenia, it's power powder. I do get a pinch of greenness, too.

 

The final drydown: Dang, this is a reminder to always, always skin test. It is a much softer blend of the three notes and boy is it gorgeous. I agree it has a vintage vanity setup vibe, maybe a 1930s feel. I feel like this is what many vintage perfumes were supposed to smell like before they went off, a light powdery floral with a hint of green. I've definitely encountered much more blinding white powdery blends, and find this highly wearable in the current era.

 

You know what, I love it. I was kind of expecting Sweet Honesty vibes with the powder, but the gardenia and rose lift this enough out of that territory and make it more fresh, elegant, and mysterious. I feel like this would match prettily with cold cream (random tangent: I know it's not known as a hand cream, excema treatment, or sun balm but I've been using it on my hands and elbows and holy smokes they are sooo soft now).  No note dominates, it's a perfect match of the notes, yet each note is detectable.

 

Femme and pretty.  

[zankoku_zen]

Classic rose powder. Medium throw and wear length. 

[Little Bird]

I have no idea why I bought a bottle of this because rosewater is usually too sharp for me in perfume (though I love rosewater in skincare products), gardenia is usually too bold and heavy of a white floral for my tastes, and I don't tend to enjoy powdery scents.  Young Woman Powdering Herself starts off scary, but a half hour into the drydown, does mellow out into something pretty and wearable.  It goes on sharp, like nailpolish remover, with sweet, chalky powder, and dries down a little less acetone, but still has a screechy hairspray quality to the white floral gardenia that never entirely goes away, though it does fade a lot over the hours.  The rosewater comes out and freshens things up in the drydown and, mixed with the sweet powder, smells like dewy, sweet, pink roses after a while. 

Candied pink roses, but still dewy and fresh, with a lingering undercurrent of sharp gardenia, and a sweet, powdery finish.

[tinyvulture]

Old-fashioned, ladylike, clean blend. The dusting powder is strong, along with the rosewater and sharp gardenia. I would like a soap of this scent.

[Assimbya]

This is recognizably the same rosewater note from Razors in a Doll's House in the Carnival Diabolique collection - it's a sweet, gently fruity rose, here blended with a soft, lightly powdery gardenia. It feels very pink to me, and feminine in a very nineteenth-century type of a way. Tremendously pretty, and there's a cleanness to it as previous reviewers have suggested, though it's not at all soapy. 

 

I assumed the painting of which this was an interpretation was the George Seurat of this title, and so my immediate association was of course Bernadette Peters in this iconic Sondheim role. After a little bit of research I realized that the inspiration for the scent was a different 19th century painting by the same title, and I am mildly disappointed! But I could still absolutely see this as Dot's perfume, and love imagining as the scent she applies before her mirror in the above-linked song, imagining herself as a follies girl. The scent doesn't feel quite me, and it's not my dream gardenia (so far that spot goes to Mrs Emma Marsh), but it's so pretty and likable, and I'm delighted to have a scent that makes me think of Dot, even if that association was based on a misapprehension. I'll definitely be keeping my decant.

Edited 2 hours ago by Assimbya