Love's Philosophy

[abejita]

LOVE'S PHILOSOPHY
Percy Bysshe Shelley
The fountains mingle with the river,
And the rivers with the ocean;
The winds of heaven mix forever,
With a sweet emotion;
Nothing in the world is single;
All things by a law divine
In one another's being mingle; --
Why not I with thine?

See! the mountains kiss high heaven,
And the waves clasp one another;
No sister flower would be forgiven,
If it disdained it's brother;
And the sunlight clasps the earth,
And the moonbeams kiss the sea; --
What are all these kissings worth,
If thou kiss not me?

Vanilla, saffron, and cream.

In the bottle: Creamy vanilla. I can tell this is going to be really nice.
Wet: A face full of creamy vanilla. There is a hint of Black Lace here. I think it's the same vanilla. The cream is also very apparent. Saffron is just a breath.
Dry: This is more or less what I wished Underpants had been. Underpants had a really high-pitched, hairspray kind of note to it that just killed the blend for me. The blend is fairly simple and straightforward. From the notes, I feel like it should be a seriously foody blend, but while that gourmand element is there, this is not a foody like, say, Día de los reyes. I am a vanilla lover, and this is a great vanilla. Saffron is always a winner, too. Cream, though, is hit or miss (though when it hits, it hits BIG). I am pleased to say that the cream in this blend is just gorgeous. No sour milk or buttery weirdness whatsoever.

I predict that this blend will be wildly popular.

[akiko]

This is the first bottle I've bought unsniffed and unreviewed. I'm glad I did

 

Bottle: French vanilla and something spicy, maybe. There's something not-sweet in the background.

 

Wet: The not-sweet comes forward a bit more, and the creamy vanilla goes all yummy.

 

Dry: French vanilla, like my current shower gel (ShiKai), but with an added something not-sweet. I'm guessing that's the saffron, since I have no idea what that smells like.

 

I also predict this will be wildly popular.

 

Edit, 2/6: Whoa, I got the mint other people talked about. It lasted about 30 seconds, then disappeared. Don't know if it's a hormonal variance in skin chemistry thing or what.

Edited February 6, 2008 by Winterwind

[phantasmmysteria]

I bought two bottles of this, unsniffed. It's truly gorgeous, and so I can't say I regret my impulse buy.

 

In the Bottle: vanilla frosting! Are you sure I can't drink this??

 

Forgoing the call to the Poison Control Center and applying it to my wrist: Hmm... this actually has a cool, almost "minty" quality to it as it's drying. Perhaps minty isn't the best word, but something very "fresh" is mingled in with the vanilla and cream. Almost at drydown, I have this terrible moment where I think this is going to turn into French Vanilla scented candle (like MB:Tokyo Stomp did), but it settles quickly past that stage.

 

When it's dry: This is a beautiful vanilla, tempered by the saffron so as to not be foody at all. While I bought this with the hopes of something like Underpants, this has a very slight powderiness to the edge of it that reminds me strongly of Antique Lace. So, if you liked AL but couldn't handle the floral notes, Love's Philosophy might be just for you.

[jolarocknrolla]

i'm really not sure how to describe this other than vanilla frosting! it's not cake-y or buttercream though, it's a bit lighter than that. I guess the saffron is in there towards the back as something very slightly and softly spicy, but not so's you'd notice too much. very foody, but gentle and not overwhelmingly rich. this is every bit as lovely as i'd hoped it would be. winner!

[Heavenlyrabbit]

This is more like Vanilla Shake to me.

 

Weird association, I get a somewhat sophisticated, aristorcratic, woman like Katherine Hepburn.

[mooncityminx]

In the bottle: buttercream

 

Wet: Ugh! Wintergreen! Everyone who read my review of Chokmah knows that I have some very nasty associations with wintergreen. So much so that it usually makes me nauseous. Luckily, I was out and about the first time I applied this and let it dry before washing it off. I spent about twenty minutes feeling sorry for myself and wondering what to trade it for. *sniff* Yep, right now it is still chalky wintergreen. Bleh. But hold on because in the next stage it is about to do something wonderful.

 

*is waiting, goes to get orange juice, comes back, takes vitamin, checks email, reads conspiracy news, sniffs wrist, is disgusted, reads article*

 

Dry: It takes quite a while for this one to get to the magic stage, but now that it is here, it's wonderful. Vanilla! and something delicate and sweet like a powdered sugar donut. It has almost no throw at all, but it does last a really long time. For me, the intial wintergreen stage is a little much, and afterwards the fragrance of the vanilla isn't very strong. I'll be keeping my bottle, but most likely I'll be layering with it.

[Eros]

Huh, at this point, after a few tries, I'm pretty much right there with Tempest. With a few differences(no wintergreen for me, no wonderful). First time I took a sniff from the bottle, rotted cream. Not *sour*, I can do sour(reminds me of puppy breath ), but rotted, foul. Applied it to skin and yep, same thing, and...chalk. The vanilla eventually takes over, and it's quite a lovely vanilla, too, but where's the saffron??

 

Today, after 3-4 hours, artifical marshmallow with a hint of coconut dusting powder(??), and cardboard. In spite of the mention of marshmallow & coconut(and rotted cream), it's not really foody on me, which is fine. It's not reached the magic stage for me yet. Hope it does soon. I'm going to hang onto it for a while, with fingers crossed

[lapetiteflower]

wet? it smells like buttah. as it dries down it smells just like vanilla vodka (i may try layering with boomslang and see if i can make a chocolate martini !) later stages lean more towards a spicy/smokey/snake oil type of scent.

[AliBabble]

weirdly enough, i am getting a bit of that wintergreen smell too. huh. i don't get cake and i don't get butter, i do get kind of a creamy...wintergreen. huh. the vanilla is really nice, and i can sense the mintyness getting weaker and the vanilla getting stronger as it dries down. it's almost like a minty buttercream center of a candy. it is a mellow scent, certainly pleasant, but alas, it doesn't have the resemblance to underpants that i'd hoped for. not much saffron to my nose. this smells more exciting in the bottle - somehow on my skin it's a bit uneventful.

[littleone101701]

My skin must really hate me; I'm getting the French Vanilla candle that PhantasmMysteria was afraid of. And a cheap vanilla candle at that. But I LOVE Antique Lace and Black Lace, in which some of you smelled similar notes. Oh how my chemistry confuses me! I think I'm going to keep this bottle around though and see how it works after it ages a bit. Here's hoping!!

Edited February 1, 2008 by littleone101701

[1demondog]

I didn't love this one either, unfortunately. To me it smells like flat Vanilla Pepsi. I really wanted to like it but I just can't.......... Definately off to swaps with it!

Edited February 1, 2008 by 1demondog

[Lucretia]

I already know I don't do well with bpal vanilla notes, but I keep trying. Alas, still no dice! This smells somewhere between a vanilla smoothie and a vanilla candle on me. I imagine it would work for people who do well with other vanilla scents though.

[Pottersville]

Mmmmmm .... this is what I imagined the salver of saffron cream ordered in Ama Clutch's memory smelled like in "Wicked"! The vanilla, saffron, and sweetness are undercurrents to the creamy topnotes. The overall scent is "skin cream" (like "skin musk"!) and isn't foody in the least.

[Delirium1009]

In the bottle, this is slightly playdoh-ish and spicy vanilla. On my skin at first, I get a nice warm vanilla with a hint of saffron, which on me at first smells a lot like cola. So for the first few minutes I smell like super Vanilla Coke

 

This scent settles down on my skin rather quickly, and it develops into a very sweet, creamy vanilla scent with a warm spiciness. It's very soft and almost a fluffy scent; the warm feel I get from it is so comforting.

 

It almost feels to me like Tombstone without the cedar, which is the one note I didn't love in that blend. It's a very sweet scent on me, but most of the lab's vanilla blends do that.

 

Overall, I really love this one!

[slave1]

LOVE'S PHILOSOPHY

 

In Bottle: Milky cream

 

On Skin: I expected this to be like Underpants… or maybe even Antique Lace... both scents which are heavenly on me. But… something in this blend went terrible on me and it doesn’t even remotely smell like either of those blends. I am heartbroken. It smells very sweet and yummy in the bottle, but when I put it on my skin, it has a plastic smell with a bit of a minty tone. And not a foody minty, but more like something “scented” minty. Like a plastic minty toy. I’ve seen other people mention a chalky quality to this scent and they are totally right. It has a chalky powdery smell. I am trying to give it a chance, because the description sounds like it was made for me. After about 15 minutes the vanilla become the primary not and the mintiness fades, but even the vanilla is not the normal BPAL vanilla note I love. It smells artificial. I hate saying anything negative about any of Beth’s blends… but this one just doesn’t do it for me sadly. It has a light to medium throw and short wearlength.

[scarletgenesis]

I adore Love's Philosophy.

 

In the bottle and once applied/wet, I get a creamy vanilla buttercream scent.

 

Once dry though, it morphs into less foody and all warm, sensual romance. Vague, right? The vanilla and cream temper each other, so neither is too sweet or foody. The vanilla has a bit of smokiness to it, and the saffron is right at the edge (I assume that's the other note I'm smelling, since I'm not able to pick out saffron alone by scent yet). But there's definitely some mild spice showing its face.

 

Love's Philosophy has stayed on my wrists and in the scent locket all day. I can still smell it 14 hours after I applied it!

 

I'm really happy to find a scent that is truly romantic without being flowery or too foody on me. And this was my first 2 bottle purchase. I had a feeling I'd love it, and since it was an LE, I wanted to make sure I got enough!

 

I'm also pleased that both of the cream blends I've tried so far (this and Glowing Vulva) have worked really well on me.

Edited February 5, 2008 by scarletgenesis

[bellis]

Guh. This is beautiful, exactly as described: creamy vanilla with hints of saffron. This is delicious, has decent throw, and lingers on my skin for ages. This is even better than Underpants, on my skin I'll definitely get another bottle before it goes away.

[ND¢]

It comes off on my skin as a sort of bleh thick-orangey curdled... bleh. Sigh. I am so glad it will find its loving home elsewhere as I *know* it just has to be good and my skin says *buzzer sound*.

[MeiLin]

In the bottle: Sexy vanilla icing!

 

Wet: Whoa! Mint! Coconut! Eucalyptus?! Man, my skin chemistry is strange!

 

Dry: It smells like nothing so much as Hawaiian Tropic suntan oil from the '70s, which I loved, luckily.

 

I like it well enough that I keep smelling myself to see what the bugger is doing now--it keeps morphing!

Edited February 7, 2008 by MeiLin

[porcelina]

i SO wanted this to work, but no luck for me. it smells exactly like a cheap vanilla candle.

[devilbunnyart]

Wow! First, let me say I love this and it's totally a keeper! But it had to dry down before I knew for sure! The wet stage totally scared me!

 

At first, there was something kind of sharp in there. In the bottle, it had a note that smelled very much like Mr. Nancy or Sugar Cookie. And on the skin, it really did smell like Vanilla Coke or something! At first, I was so sad! Oh no! Soda!

 

But then it dried down and all my dreams came true! It's the smokey toasted vanilla note that I love. I think it's similar to what you can find in Tombstone, but don't quote me on that. Warm vanilla with saffron swirled through and a smooth creamy finish. I love it. ::Sniff:: Mmmmm!

[Alchemy21599]

In the bottle: bourbon vanilla in skim milk.

 

Wet on skin: wintergreen?!?

 

Dry: The cream note must be doing Very Bad Things on my skin because the lovely vanilla goodness for which I hoped did not appear.

[joseybird]

Chalky wintergreen and cheap vanilla candles >_< I thought I'd love this so much I bought 3 ;-;

[shellyshells]

I can smell all of the above... vanilla, saffron, & buttercream! YUM! ughhh but minty-ness. I want to like it but the minty is just urghh. I'll hold onto the bottle to see how it'll age... hopefully it gets better.

[persephanise]

All I get is Milk of Magnesia + cheap vanilla scented candles.

 

I'm not sure how vanilla +saffron + cream could go wrong. *cries* I guess it wasn't meant to be!