The Apothecary

[harmonyfb]

Tea leaf with three mosses, green grass, a medley of herbal notes, and a drop of ginger and fig.

 

This smells very green and herby. Dry, it...well..reminds me an indoor swimming pool. I don't mean it smells like chlorine, mind, but it has that same saturated-humid-moisture thing going on. I really don't like it.

Edited January 22, 2006 by harmonyfb

[populuxa]

The bottle smelled just like a little sample of some expensive French perfume my dad brought back from travel when I was little. Dries down to a complex, balanced scent. I can pick up the notes listed in the description if I concentrate (There is the slightest hint of fruitiness - the fig, and maybe some bergamot), but it is much nicer to let the blend sort of surrond me, and dream up a landscape of a mythical forest floor. In spite of the spiciness, it is quite delicate and lovely.

[Thaleia]

Frimp from the Lab - thank you! What's great is that this isn't one I thought to put on my wish list from Illyria, but I did get a recommendation for it recently, so I'm glad I'm getting to try it now.

 

In the vial, it's really fresh and green, and very similar to B&BW's White Tea and Ginger, which I also like very much. There's the tea and the ginger, but I don't smell fig or moss. It's an exact dupe for White Tea and Ginger.

 

It gets a bit herbier and grassier when I put it on, but the tea and ginger notes are still prominent. It's now sweeter and less sharp than B&BW's, so I guess the fig is coming out to play. Dry it's a sweeter tea and ginger scent - very light and energising, a good pick-me-up scent. I love this. I'm going to have to pick up a big bottle of this very soon. I give this a 5.

[rhubarbbear]

this smells very green and clean in the imp. not too much tea, sadly. i liked it OK, but it seemed a bit masculine, so i tried it on my dh. his verdict: soap! (of course, he says the same thing about 50% of all scents, it seems....not the most sensative sniffer. still, worth mentioning here since i agree that it's "clean" smelling).

 

the apothecary is nice, but not a real stand out on either of us.

[Heretic]

This was a frimp from the Lab (thank-you!) that arrived broken, so by default, I'll review it first before I dispose of its poor little carcass.

 

In the Vial: Yellow and crisp! I assume this is the ginger.

On my wrist, wet: Lemons. Things tend to turn lemony on me. Smells a bit like a wet-nap with a deeper resonance. This is awfully bright and shiny for me.

 

After 20 minutes: There's some fig, now, coming through. The lemony smell has faded somewhat, but this is still way too sweet for me. We'll see what it does in a little bit.

After an hour: Not much has changed. This smells rather like a fig-scented candle or room spray to me, but in all fairness I detest food and fruit scents in personal fragrance, so The Apothecary is pretty much doomed by its ingredients alone. It could smell like the most delightful edible in the world, I still wouldn't want to wear it. This is probably a great fragrance on someone who appreciates fig, or even as a room scent in an oil burner. Not quite in the "Get It Off Me" category, but definitely not my thing.

[QueenFae]

A light, herbally green scent. Very pleasant and pretty. It goes a bit fruity on me, which I guess is because of the fig. I can also smell the tea leaf, which gives it a bit of a planty kick. It's not overly mossy, thank goodness, because I'm not big on moss, but it does have a hint of earth in it. It's a lovely scent, it just doesn't last on me. Beautiful yet fleeting, like so many other tragedies

[RainyDayGrey]

This smelled nothing like I was expecting, I thought it would be more herbal that it is. Instead it was very fresh and clean smelling. It was a bit fruity on me at first, but it was a good kind of fruity. Why the hell have I been avoiding fig? It smells really good. It also has the same moss note as Zombi, which I loved, so that was a plus. It does get more herbal smelling the longer it dries down, and the fig fades away. This is really nice, I like it alot.

[Sheila]

This is light, herbal, and mossy.

At first, it's very herbal and faint, and just a little sharp.

I like it more as it dries down--the moss comes out, lending a bit of earthiness to the blend, and the sharpness goes away.

I'm left with a faintly dusty, OLD-smelling scent. It perfectly captures the name.

[Caltha]

The Apothecary

This is one of the fresh green tea scents I like a lot but don't love (I love Kumiho for the extra ginger bite). It's grassy, fresh, light and citrusy with that freshness I always associate with schampoo. It's also extremely faint, especially after it dries.

[kettu]

lemon and fig

lemon disappears, fig moves to the background

tea comes forth: light and tannic

fig moves in again: earthy sweet

 

and then it begins to disappear.

 

All this after about 10 minutes.

 

There's a hint of scent left, but not much at all. I don't think this is going to work for me. *pout*

[Scarlettfish]

I would never have bought this for myself, but I am so glad the Lab included it as a frimp. It's lovely! It is very green and herbal, with a hint of ginger and tea, which usually goes a little strange on me, but here it is lovely and fresh and clean. This is a clean, sparkling scent, with an underlying fruity citrus-y smell to it that I just love. Perfect for everyday use - it's so fresh and pretty.

[Miss Lynx]

Hmmm. Not sure what I think of this one... It's a complex mix, and there are elements in it that I like and others that I don't.

 

At first sniff, I most strongly pick up tea, ginger and fig, but other notes come through more as it dries down. There's definitely something citrussy in there -- maybe lemon verbena or lemon balm. And oakmoss is very noticeable, in the later stages of the drydown. The overall effect is at times a bit reminiscent of Yves Rocher's Fleurs de Thé scent.

 

I'm still not entirely sure how much I like tea as a perfume note. It's ironic, because I'm a very habitual tea drinker and am almost never without a cup of it during the day, but I'm not so sure I like it fragrance-oil form. I guess it depends on what else it's blended with. There are stages in this scent's development where it smells really nice to me, and others where it's a bit off-putting.

 

I could also be slightly biased against this scent right now because I got a migraine while wearing it. I don't necessarily think it's the scent's fault, but having a migraine will make anything smell unappealling. I suppose I'll have to try it again to be sure.

 

Grade: B-

[Alchemy21599]

In the vial: oh, tea and ginger goodliness!

 

Wet: tea, ginger, and... amber?

 

Dry: definately tea and giner with complex herbalness. Perhaps oakmoss? I really like this blend. I think it is Kumiho's big cousin from the city.

 

Subtle, but complex and long lasting. A big bottle purchase for me.

[Laurel the Woodfairy]

Very pleased to swap for this one, as it's been on the To-Try list for ages but didn't seem quite "me" enough to order from the Lab.

 

Hey, now, it's the tea note from The Dormouse, which I just love! Lemon instead of peony, though. After a minute the tea fades to the background and something murky comes out--it's the fig, which I have recently found doesn't like me much. Well, it almost worked, but I'll stick to The Dormouse and White Rabbit for my tea for now.

[tinyvulture]

very green and herbal at first, with a touch of lemon. sweet tea and ginger come in as it dries. fresh, clean, and springy.

[niter]

Imp

From the imp, this blend starts out very herbal, green, and refreshing. The ginger gives the mix a very bright characteristic and I suspect the fig, though hidden for now, well provide a lovely base.

 

Wet

Upon my skin, the fig is the first note I pick up. It is rich and quickly accented by the strong herbal notes and ginger. The herbal notes have the combined strength of citrus notes but are so well blended it is impossible to distinguish them past a bouquet.

 

Dry

The notes meld very well in the final blends…the ginger dominates and is tempered by both the fig and the bright herbal notes. I find the overall characteristic of this mix to be fun, green, and intriguing.

[lunareclipse]

As a disclaimer, this was my first BPAL scent... the one that reeled me in. There's always something special about your first one.

 

Green, crisp and complex, although I can't really pick apart the notes. Reminds me of a sheltered woodland glade. There's something calm, erudite and wise about the scent. Makes me feel like a very witchy witch indeed.

[sissa125]

Imp: Fresh cut grasses and leaves

Wet: Herbal, medicinal flowers, unguents.

Dry: The cleanest scent I have tried so far. It's waking up after a long illness and seeing the sun streaming through your window. It is optimism and rebirth. A keeper!

 

This is one of my favorites so far. It is perfect for early spring; clear and light and wet and leafy. There is a citrusy feel to it, through there are no citrusy notes listed. The ginger may be giving it a fresh bite. The fig gently rounds it of with some sweetness, and is in perfect balance here. I did not like the gummy fig in Intrigue, but here it is perfect.

[damuddymeg]

In the imp: Wet, green, herbal.

 

Wet: Slightly sour, very green and herbal. Not terribly impressed thus far.

 

And then?

 

Dry: Oh. My. Goddess.... Dry, this transforms into something complex and amazing. Green and herbal, still, though the sour note is long gone. I'm not getting any ginger, though there's a slight green-earth note of fig. It is light, mild, and a touch sweet. But damp and green. A slight smoke overtone from the tea, a touch of earth and moss. I was very hesitant with this one, and I shouldn't have been. It's amazing, and, for me at least, is very much a spring and summer scent. Fabulous.

[Magda]

At first this starts out wonderfully--astringent green tea and herbs. It's very green and fresh, calming and invigorating at the same time.

 

Then, after about half an hour, something jumps out and grabs me by the throat. It's not listed in the notes, but I'm pretty sure it's my eternal nemisis, vetiver. It slithers into my sinuses and cackles gleefully as my skull begins to throb. I scrub it off thoroughly but it remains, taunting me. Why is it that my skin insists upon holding on to and amping up the one note guaranteed to give me a migraine?

 

Off to the swaps box it goes. Sigh...it really was lovely at first, though.

[joiedecombat]

The Apothecary surprised me. In the bottle, it smells appropriately green - a deep, juicy wet green, not at all dusty or earthen. On and wet, it still smelled green, with a bit of an astringent note that I'm sure is the tea leaf, but the other notes kept it smooth enough to keep it from being too sharp.

 

Somewhere within the first two hours, the scent grew deeper and a little sweeter, losing the astringence... and eventually turning into a fruity scent. Not a very sweet fruit; it's a warm scent, still a little herbal, and a little spicy... I can only assume this is the fig and the ginger. It ceased to be a green scent at all. It's very pleasant, though.

[Aurelius]

On the skin this is very sweet with a bright burst of green grass. It's very fresh, like I'm romping around in a field. And man, I love fig. After a while the grass smell fades and is replaced by tea. It last this way for hours, as a sweet tea, until it finally fades away altogether. I agree with others: it's both calming and invigorating.

[storme]

In the imp: Glorious tea, with some sharp citrusy herbiness behind it.

 

On me, wet: Stil tea and sharp citrus (I assume that's the ginger) - this is really lovely and light, but it's maybe a touch too light, and it's fading fast.

 

On me, dry: This is incredibly faint. I can get the faintest trace of sharp citrus over tea if I wave it, but none of that fig or ginger mentioned in the description.

 

Later: hmm, now I'm getting faint traces of sweetness. Man, if this was just a bit kickier and less faint I'd probably love it.

 

Verdict: This is like a weaker Embalming Fluid at the start, and then it sweetens a bit into something sweeter and less green (Budding Moon, *that*'s what it reminds me of!), but still really faint. Ah well. I guess I'll try to trade it to someone in the hopes it'll work better on them.

[Nekomata]

Got this in a trade.

 

It's pretty much greenery and herbs, very sweet in a dry sort of way. Reminds me of hiking.

[Ryvre]

In the imp: Green and herbal.

 

On my skin: Herbal with a touch of citrus. Maybe that's the tea note- it tends to smell like lemon on my skin. This is very clean and light.

 

I like this a lot, but my skin eats it. It doesn't even last an hour before it fades completely. I might see if I can make it last longer in my hair. If not, it's off to the swap box.