Lady Reading Poetry

[Silvertree]

A leatherbound, tea-stained tome and billows of black satin and lace

scented with lilac petals, pink sandalwood, ambergris accord,

bourbon vanilla, cassis, and frankincense.

[Biocarbons]

This opens with velvety lilac pedals over a touch of leather, cloth, and a bit of Frankincense. The vanilla is muted.

 

I was hoping this would be like a lace, but it's more....simple. Not as well blended as a lace and doesn't have that cognac note.

 

If you like creamy, powdery lilacs you will like this. As far as lilac scents, this one is very pretty (and what I had hoped vigil for harvest suitors would smell like), but I was hoping this would be less lilac and more the rest of the stuff.

 

On dry down, the lilac calms down and I have a creamy cloth smell with frankincense and a touch of leather. 

[doomsday_disco]

Oh, this is so pretty!

 

It's a lilac party at first, backed by a little of the vanilla, but over time, the vanilla note increases in strength and it becomes a lilac swirled with the Lace-esque vanilla (but yeah, no cognac, so don't go into this thinking stealth . It stays like this for a long time with just a touch of the frankincense. Later on in the day, the pink sandalwood emerges and eventually joins the lilac and vanilla as dominant notes on my skin. I believe it's the same one found in Easter Egging, and I think it might be a combination of pink musk plus sandalwood? It has a perfume-y quality to it like the pink amber in Pink Amber and Peony.

 

I think this is really lovely, but I rarely reach for the lilac scents I have (which would be helped if I had a lilac hair gloss to pair them with -- maybe if we're lucky this Lupercalia?  ), so I am going to have to deathmatch it with the others I have and see if I need more or if one of the others will get the boot. It's definitely a contender for a bottle, though!

[Little Bird]

Goes on leaning perfumey / musky / powdery on my skin, like a department store perfume mishmash or even Bath & Body Works.  Sweet lilac on a warm, powdery base with a sharp muskiness poured all over everything (reminiscent of the metallic, musky scent of 80s hairspray after a while).  No leather or incense for me.  It does read as very pink and sweet, especially in the drydown.  Two hours in, it's like buttery lilacs whipped into a pink candy somehow (the cassis and pink sandalwood?) with whiffs of sharp musk every once in a while.  It is intensely sweet.  
I never get anything like leather, tea, lace/cloth, or frankincense.

[RoseThornAndOak]

Ooo pretty! I reached for my William Blake poetry books last night and saw this bottle sitting right in front of them coincidentally, so naturally I had to dab a bit on, over a solid gardenia single note perfume I had already applied, and it was a pleasant reading experience overall!

 

Tried it again today sans gardenia: big blast of lilac, powdery, heady, old skool, almost honeylike and soporific, very Lilas de la Fenetra in the beginning. If you love Lab lilac you will love this. It is a like-but-not-love-depends-on-the-context note for me, so this actually isn't my favorite stage of this beauty.

 

Later the lilac subdues leaving a beautiful soft, lilac-kissed vanilla musky ever so powdery elegant thing. The other notes don't show up much and although I also was expecting something darker, I'm very glad none of the other notes sullied or bullied this out of Keeperville.

 

There's a faint hint of fabrics if I hunt for it, but not in a laundry way, it is legit like smol bits of leather, lace, satin, etc. 

 

So I reckon this fits the mood. It's more the lady than the painting itself, and is perfect for reading poetry and quiet contemplation. 

 

Very nice! 

Edited February 15, 2023 by RoseThornAndOak
Spelling/Brevity lol

[surlygurl]

What everyone else said.  It's all lilac, but with a center of blushing pink bleeding into the outer lilac purple. Later in the drydown there is some sugared cream blending in, eventually overwhelming the lilac (if that's possible!). 

 

If you're a big lilac fan, this scent is a dream come true. 

[saralaughs]

First applied, the lilac is very prominent on me. 

 

I love lilac, absolutely one of the most nostalgic florals for me. I even have a lilac bush in my yard.

 

But on me, it tend to be high pitched and sour. And that holds true here, in the beginning.

 

As this warms though, the sour note burns off, and transitions to a breezy lilac enveloped in a creamy yet airy resinous haze.

 

Further into the drydown, the lilac is not high pitched and becomes a background player on me. 

 

This is akin, to my nose, to a Lace. Almost like a mix of Antique and Black Lace, with just a bit of a mellowing lilac and round, floof sandalwood adding to the mix with an airy feel to it from the ambergris.

 

Laces are hit or miss on me (it's the congac), so with that replaced with ambergris, this works for me. It's a beautiful blend.

 

Deciding on if I need a bottle or not.

[theseagrows]

this one starts with a lot of lilac, a little vanilla and some frankincense. after 1-2 minutes i definitely get leather and tea which adds a sort of odd element that reminds me of gasoline, but in a good way. maybe it's just my skin chemistry? lilac-gasoline...conjures up interesting images. it dries down to primarily lilac and vanilla with some other elements subtly in the background. a lilac with some depth. very pretty but i think i need to re-try in spring.

 

(2nd try for my own reference, in early june-late spring/almost summer: strong lilac with that underlying gasoline note happening again (maybe it's the black satin note??)  but more noticeable vanilla. kind of reminds me of BBWs pink lilac and vanilla candle. ultimately i think something in here amps up the lilac a bit too much for me.) 

Edited June 13, 2023 by theseagrows

[LavenderCoffee]

I had an unpleasant time testing this, ended up washing it off. It started out quite nice and I was enjoying the lilac, but then it went all sharp and headachey which I'm attributing to lilac/ambergris doing weird things on my skin. 

[feyofthefellwood]

I enjoy lilac scents but don't necessarily gravitate toward them often, but for some reason I'm really into Lady Reading Poetry. It starts off with a blast of lilac, which I thought meant this scent wouldn't be too different from Lilac Wood or Vase de Lilas. But this goes through some absolutely lovely (to me) phases that those other scents don't, IMO.

 

After the lilac blast, I get the leather and ambergris (and frankincense?) giving that almost gasoline scent theseagrows mentioned; I've been really into this kind of smell lately, so this phase is wonderful to my nose. Then, hours and hours later, this perfume smells like a lace to me, elegant vanilla with a touch of florals and the pretty pink sandalwood. It's a morpher and has great staying power on my skin. I thought a decant would be enough, but had to get a bottle, in the end. 💗

Edited March 3, 2023 by feyofthefellwood

[Lucchesa]

Lilac is one of the only florals I enjoy, and testing blind I got lots and lots of lilac.  No leather or frankincense; instead, this becomes something more like a creamy poofy pink lilac, with lace-like vanilla; this part lasted for ages, even overnight.  Lovely!

[Irish Sea Mermaid]

Omg - Poetry Lady is DIVINE!! 

It’s as if Wreath of Snow and Lilac wood had a beautiful lavender baby!!! And I am here for it!

 

I’m in love 
💜💜💜💜💜