purestmaiden_

Normally I tend to stay away from violet scents, but I've made it my goal to test every stray imp in my house while I'm working from home for the foreseeable future and I grabbed this one at random today. In the imp: Smells a bit like violet candies On my skin: A slightly sharp, non-powdery violet. On drydown: Pretty much a single-note sharp violet. This scent didn't match up with my expectations (I was hoping for more tea rose), but I still like it! The violet is not powdery on my skin and instead has a slightly sharp, metallic scent that I can't quite put my finger on- if I had to describe it, I'd say it reminds me of the "mercury" note in Shelley, Byron, and Keats. I may have to upgrade my imp to a full bottle!

In my bottle, this smelled very verbena-heavy. However, on my skin the frankincense and rose are the main players. They blend together to create a gorgeous, woody, incense-y rose scent. It's less rose-forward than other rose/incense combos like Rose Cross or Lorraine Cross. The verbena and angelica root are present in the background to add a bright, tart note to the scent and prevent it from getting too heady. It's a gorgeous, unique scent. Though it's got rose in the description and name, I'd definitely recommend it to those who aren't normally a fan of rose scents. This scent has medium throw but crazy wear length for me. When I wear this scent, I can still smell it on my wrists when I wake up the following morning.

I ordered this from the BPTP Etsy sometime in mid-2019. I had a very different experience than most of the other reviewers. I bought this hoping it would be a lilac-forward scent. Alas, this was not to be. On my skin, the lilac is very muted- it's just a tiny sprinkle of lilac water wafting through the background. Black amber is the most prominent scent, followed by oakmoss and violet leaf. I don't get any lily of the valley from this blend at all! It truly does smell like a dark, mysterious, and "blue" scent. It really does smell very elegant and high-end, though the scent overall is much more complex and interesting than standard "fancy" perfumes. Medium throw and very good wear length.

On my skin, this scent is predominately fresh grass and vanilla lace, underlaid with musk, lilacs, and honeysuckle. The combination of grass and vanilla put me in mind of last anniversary's Smug Yale Alchemy Lab, though this scent is more floral and a bit "darker" than that.

This was an interesting scent. Based on the name, I expected it would be very rose-forward. However, on my skin it's predominately cookie crumbs, black tea, and vanilla lace with a small whiff of tea roses in the background. It smells very foodie, like a Victorian tea party. I like it quite a bit but not at all what I expected.

On my skin, this scent is mostly dried rose petals. I get a very faint whiff of sweet rice (think rice candy) in the background with hardly any sandalwood- it basically just smells like a very fancy rose perfume. There's also another salty/buttery scent in the background. I really like it, though. It reminds me of the salty "tear" scent of The Spirit Bridegroom, though the roses of that scent smelled "fresher" than the dried roses here. They are similar enough that I wouldn't recommend buying both unless you are an indiscriminate hoarder of rose scents like me.

Normally I don't go for foodie scents, but this scent definitely changed my mind. On my skin, it smells like a sweet, extremely buttery yellow cake fresh from the oven. The vanilla note is the most prominent, followed by what smells like butter (sounds weird but this is not a complaint). I can slightly smell the currants if I reeeeeally sniff but they are a truly minor player in this scent. If you are looking for a more currant-heavy scent, I would suggest All Souls'. This scent is mostly cake, though that isn't a bad thing by any stretch!

I ordered this scent on a complete whim because I was intrigued by the "toadstools" note, and I wasn't disappointed. On my skin, it's primarily a honey scent with a whiff of cream while wet. The bog cypress and myrrh creep in to give a slightly herbal scent, almost like a wildflower or sage honey. As the scent dries, the rose becomes more apparent. It never overpowers the honey but it's always easy to pick out. The moss and toadstools ground the sweetness of the scent and prevent it from veering into "cloying" territory by adding a hint of vegetal "bogginess". Definitely wasn't sure if I would like this, but it's one of my favorite scents and I'm definitely going to need to find a backup (or two!).

I'm reviewing the 2019 version of this scent. This is the perfect sweet resin blend. The "polished woods" scent predominates, although as others have noted the scent is more evocative of, say, a bannister that's been polished by hundreds of hands running over its surface than a "wood polish" scent. Frankincense and myrrh round the scent out, and the vanilla starts to peek out on drydown (though it never predominates). Although my skin typically amps honey scents to "Honey SN" status, I actually don't get any honey from this blend at all beyond the general sweetness of the vanilla.

I agree with other reviewers that this is for orris lovers! On my hair, it's primarily orris and rose, with a bit of light blue musk floating in the background. It's a very light and ethereal scent, and it has good staying power but very low throw. I've never been able to smell the blackcurrant in this blend for some reason, but I also use a vaguely fruity-scented shampoo so it might blend into that.

I bought this scent on a whim, and what a pleasant surprise! Wet, it primarily smelled like sweet, boozy rum. Once it dried down, it smelled like a combination of carnations, rum, and whiskey with a hint of wood in the background to balance everything out. I did find that I had to let this one rest for a bit, though. The first time I tried it, it smelled like pencil shavings soaked in cheap whiskey. It wasn't until the second try that it really developed into a more balanced scent.

I found this scent to be very sweet and cloying on my skin. The brown musk, tonka, and clove were nowhere to be found- it was all buttered rum and sweet, sticky honey. It had great throw and long wear length. I liked it, although I don’t think I will reach for it much.

I was hoping I’d get grapefruit and bois de rose from this scent. In my decant it smells very musky with hints of clove and glass. The clove vanished as soon as it hit my skin and all I got was the lab’s “glass” note (which I love) and red musk (which smells like baby poop on my skin). If you like red musk and it plays well with your skin chemistry I think this would be a lovely scent! But it’s not for me.

Two of my first BPAL purchases were Candy Phoenix and Two, Five, and Seven, and back in the day I used to layer them sometimes. This smells EXACTLY like the combination of the two and I’m in love. It’s a perfect lush rose scent with a heaping helping of sugared currant thrown in!

I get sandalwood and balsam with a bit of ambergris and moss in the background. I agree with Atrous that it smells extremely “perfumey,” even though the notes read as very masculine. It had great throw and wear length on me. Normally, I’m more of a floral scent gal, but I enjoyed this. It’s also the first scent in a couple months that my guy has commented on, and he loved it. I’m thinking I’ll get a bottle since it’s very different from anything else I own.

I bought this out of curiosity and I’m glad I did! It’s one of the rare amber scents that doesn’t turn to powder on me. This scent is primarily amber on my skin, with a whiff of the “glass” note and a sweet musk on the drydown. There’s also a sweetness that I’m assuming is the “poison” note but I can’t pinpoint just what the scent is. I know it doesn’t share many notes, but Galerie des Glaces really reminds me of the perfume my mother wore when I was younger (Dior’s Poison).

I was really surprised by this scent based on the notes. In my decant it smells like vanilla and green tea, with a weird sharp scent that reminds me of citrus. On my skin, it smells like citrus Lysol with a hint of rotting fruit underneath. At first the vanilla was quite prominent, so I was hoping it would drown out the cleaner scent. Unfortunately, I was not so fortunate. The weird cleaner scent gets stronger and starts to take on overtones of cheap men’s cologne as the day wears on. This has great throw and wear length. Unfortunately, it gives me a headache- which is a pity because it lasted for 24+ hours and through several attempts to wash it off. All of these notes are usually a win for me, so I’m a little confused as to why this scent is *so* bad on my skin chemistry.

I ordered a decant of this to test. In the vial, it smells like honeyed bread and goat’s milk. The lab’s goat’s milk note usually fades quickly on my skin, so I was expecting a “bread” scent. Unfortunately, this smells like burnt coconutty plastic on me. It has a depressingly long wear length and medium throw, and even after I washed it off mid-morning I still caught whiffs of it throughout the day. On someone else this would have likely been a lovely scent but it was awful with my skin chemistry and the scent of coconut disgusts me, so it was a loss on my end.

I was really nervous about trying this scent- I love rose, but my skin has an unfortunate tendency to amp myrrh notes heck and turn them to straight baby powder. Wet in the bottle: Primarily sandalwood incense with a vague fruity and floral scent to it. Sandalwood and myrrh are the only notes I can pick out, the rest smells like flowers and stone fruits. Wet, on skin: Still getting heavy sandalwood incense with a hint of rich florals- my old friend powder is nowhere to be seen. I also applied this pretty lightly and I was pleasantly surprised by the throw- it’s not overwhelming but you definitely know it’s there. Dry, after about two hours: The rose came to the forefront after about 30 minutes and it’s only become more prominent since then. This scent smells like a bouquet of roses tossed on a rosewood altar, with incense burning several rooms away. The roses are a voluptuous red rose, reminiscent of Two, Five, and Seven or Peacock Queen. The scent has a slight dusty and aged quality to it, but emphatically not in a powdery way at all! The throw has also, weirdly, increased since I applied this scent. Dry, after about ten hours: Still smells like wet, fresh red roses placed in a dusty church. The incense becomes a bit more prominent on drydown, but never enough to overwhelm the gorgeous roses. Final thoughts: I was really pleasantly surprised by this scent. I was expecting it to be rose scented baby powder, but it’s a new favorite for me. I grew up attending a Catholic church that was constructed in 1850, and they had a little alcove with a life-sized statue of the Virgin Mary in a corner. On certain holy days, people would come and leave roses in the alcove, and this scent somehow perfectly evokes the scent of fresh red roses heaped on that little altar in that dusty old church. I have no idea how Beth managed to make a scent that’s dusty without being powdery and I’m so happy. In terms of other lab scents, I would describe this as a cross between Rose across and Bear Prince!

I first ordered my current bottle in 2009, so I just wanted to provide a bit of a comparison on how it ages. Fresh, this scent had a green and sugary quality- the effect was somehow one of candied roses, and it was a light and sweet scent that almost had notes of sugar cookies and sugared grapefruit. On the skin, the food notes faded and I was left with sugared roses. It had low throw but decent wear time, though it faded quite noticeably by the end of the day. Now, the scent has almost an earthy and fruity quality. Upon opening the bottle, the first whiff I get is of roses mingled with jammy pomegranates. These roses arent buds, though- theyre lush, vegetal roses in full bloom, perhaps in the early stages of decay. On the skin, the fruity scent fades completely and Im just left with a rich, voluptuous, and sexy rose scent. Perhaps its just the age, but it smells almost as though a resin note is present in the background. The scent just gets deeper and rosier as it dries, and the scent actually seems to intensify throughout the day. It started to take on these qualities after about a year, for what its worth, and has merely gotten better with age. I first bought this scent when I was 19, and the light and fresh scent was the perfect girlish perfume. Aged, its the perfect mature rose, and I get so many compliments on the scent. I dont own anything quite like it, and I will be so depressed once I finish this current bottle.

Purchased this straight from the Lab in the hopes that I would get a strong floral. In the bottle, the scent smells like a cool, moonless night with a light waft of floral and ozone scents. There’s also a hint of moss and lichen. At first, on the skin, this blend transforms into a slightly ozone-tinged dupe of Bath and Body Works’ cucumber melon body soap. After about an hour, the scent suddenly transforms into an ozone-heavy blend, with whiffs of mint, thyme, and the smallest hint of moonflower. I’m not sure if this is a keeper. The initial cucumber melon phase is unfortunate, and the scent has low throw and weak staying power (only lasted about 4 hours on me). But I do love the light ozone scent I get in the drydown....I may keep it and use it a few more times before making up my mind.

In the bottle it smells strongly of whiskey and smoke, with a more muted chocolate scent and the faintest lingering whiff of coconut in the nostrils. I’m expecting a boozy chocolate scent on the skin, since my skin tends to amplify chocolate notes. But once it hits my skin, the scent just.....vanishes. I’ve tried wearing it on three different days since it’s arrived, and perhaps it’s because the bottle is too fresh, but something about my skin chemistry just cancels this scent out completely. Upon applying I detect the faintest hint of chocolate that completely vanishes after about two minutes. For now, I’m going to set this bottle aside for a few weeks and see if improves with age. The concept of smelly like smoky whiskey with a hint of chocolate is appealing, but the effect of this scent is underwhelming.