Dorian

[Teaker]

Inspired by and created for my beloved Tedwin: my eternal, beautiful, wicked Dorian Gray. Refined, elegant, and lovely, with a noble bearing and seemingly gentle air. This blend is an artful deception: a sweet gilded blossom lying over a twisted and corrupted core. A Victorian fougere with three pale musks and dark, sugared vanilla tea.

 

A musky, masculine cologne over sweet vanilla tea. It's a very warm scent, but it confuses me a bit. I'm not a huge lover of masculine scents, and this one is a bit too manly for me. But it's so sweet! It's a really lovely vanilla tea scent, and it pairs fabulously with the musk. I do find it can be a bit overpowering though, I wouldn't wear this one to work. I compromise by wearing it to bed, where I get to enjoy its sweet comforting warmth and not worry about smelling too musky/manly.

[Pumpkinn]

Despite being vanilla-sweet, this scent is surprisingly fresh and balanced (meaning: not a thick, syrupy mess). I can’t say I get any of the tea, unfortunately. Maybe it’s being masked by the fougere, which I’m assuming has some sort of citrus (OR LAVENDER?) in it that doesn’t like my chemistry as it’s veering ever so slightly into bug-repellant territory.

 

Eventually it turns into a nondescript smoky blah with a little sweet vanilla in the background. There’s definitely something in this that isn’t working for me.

 

So, I dabbed some onto a cotton ball and popped it into my bra. I get more of the tea now, much less sweetness, and the fougere adds a little lemon-cleaner sort of freshness. I’m not too crazy about this method, though, because the sillage is quite weak even for me.

 

I think Dorian would be pretty on anybody else who doesn’t have the same troubles I do with citrus notes. In my opinion, this isn’t overtly masculine but I guess that’s up to how the fragrance reacts to you.

 

EDIT: Silly me, I should've just forgone the cotton ball and tried this in my hair from the start. Mmmm. . .

Edited May 1, 2014 by Pumpkinn

[DevilsCandyCane]

I absolutely bloody love this stuff!

 

On me, it fades to very slightly TKO-tinged Earl Grey tea with a hint of vanilla, and the throw is amazing. It's the most compulsively sniffable thing I've tried in a while, and I love how it's masculine but not aggressively so - definitely the clean, elegant scent of a privately debauched Victorian gentleman, fits its inspiration perfectly, and I think it's shot directly into my top 5 favourite BPALs ever, ever, ever - I will be wearing this A LOT!

 

...as such, I went back to BPAL and bought a whole bottle less than 24 hours after receiving my imp - that's how much I love it!

[Heaven_Star]

I was pleasantly surprised by how much I loved Dorian. Food scents are death for me, especially sugary things, but Dorian doesn't die. It keeps the beautiful, sweet vanilla fougere that it has in the bottle, just deeper.

 

Dorian is a comforting and nuanced vanilla for me - it's not bright, it's just warm and deep. The tea note is there but for me it's only if I look for it, it's not dominant. The fougere pushes a bit more on me than what I've smelled on others but I don't mind it, it's less cologne-like to my nose and just adds a sort of cooling balance to the vanilla. I think the blend would be boring without it.

 

Also, try this one on your man friends - it smells great on my lady skin, but it becomes sexy man vanilla on my man friend

 

5/5 Will always have a bottle on hand. Always.

[Kanashisa]

Personal Rating: 6/10

 

In Bottle: Sweet vanilla lemon.

 

Wet: Lemon is a little stronger on skin than in bottle.

 

Dry: My plebeian nose declares, "Powdery sweet (not as much vanilla) with a hint of lemon, and perhaps a kind of muskiness that makes the sweet less straightforward." It would be unusual, I think, if a man wore it because it's quite sweet and even a little sharp in its sweetness.

 

I wanted to love this perfume, and for the first time I wore it, I really did. Perhaps because of the lemon going odd on my skin all the times afterward, it makes me think of baby powder so it doesn't work for me, unfortunately.

Edited September 6, 2014 by Kanashisa

[aiobhan]

In Bottle: Sweet, light black tea, a little cream, some light florals

On Skin: Still creamy, a little sweet, and some black tea. Florals are slowly fading and musks are appearing (which is consistent with my skin chemistry). Something a little lemony, too.

After about an hour: Sugared black tea and fresh, soft florals. I love this.

[CaptainClo]

My first ever BPAL review…wish me luck!!!

In the bottle:

Sugar-spun vanilla, slightly fairy floss-y/cotton candy-ish. It’s like walking into a circus tent and seeing two beautiful women in baby pink leotards - one with long blonde hair and the other with a dark black bob - performing aerial feats of grandeur on the tightrope.

Wet:

Putting it on, the lemon definitely stands out. I’m not the biggest fan of it in this state as the sourness of it puts me off. It is like a lemon covered in sugar, with a real bitter note.

After 10 minutes:

Here’s where the sugar-spun vanilla starts to come back to play. There’s still that bitter lemon undertone which I’m not the biggest fan of, but I’m waiting for that beautiful sugar to come back. This is where the scent begins to get more heady (I can now smell it without putting my nose to my wrist.)

Half an Hour:

The sweetness begins to float around my head like a heady, intoxicating spiderweb made of sugar. Musky vanilla also begins to comes into the scent. This is the moment I was waiting for! Now the Victorian element comes out as well. It’s like being in 1870, sitting down in an old mini-mansion for tea with an elderly billionairess and being donned in a long, lace and silk gown, all in black.

1 Hour:

Unfortunately even though the headiness of the perfume is quite lovely, to get the complete essence, I still have to stick my nose to my wrist. The scent is again like sitting in a beautifully cold stone mini-mansion, but now it is as if I have a wonderfully warm cup of milky English Breakfast tea, with a drop of lemon and about 6 teaspoons of brown sugar, with a side of Venetian biscuits.

I’m not sure if Venetian biscuits are exclusively Australian, but just in case they are, the biscuits are “a sophisticated biscuit, with an interesting and delicate taste. Specially designed to melt in your mouth, the biscuit is rich in currants, giving it a fruity edge. The soft white icing has a delicious vanilla and coconut flavouring.”

2 Hours:

My favourite part. Imagine you’re in a Victorian-style room with deep, dark red furnishings. A pale man with dark hair and a musky essence stands next to you in a beautiful cashmere suit. He kisses and nuzzles your neck and whispers to you that the dark side can be very seductive. I can remember smelling Dorian at the 2 hour mark for the first time and thinking precisely this, and I didn’t even immediately make the connection that the man I was thinking of personified Dorian Gray almost exactly! I don’t know how it could personify Dorian Gray’s character so perfectly, but I am most definitely seduced by the gorgeous, gorgeous experience this perfume gives me!

I give Dorian: 9 Haunted Portraits out of 10

[Lunasariel]

In the imp: A fresh vanilla scent with an earthy-spicy undertone, and a hint of (chemical) lemon.

 

Wet: There's an interesting contrast between the vanilla and musk going on here. The vanilla and musk both become much more prevalent over time, with the musk hanging around as an undertone. And possibly there's a hint of soap? (In retrospect, fougeres do *not* play well with my skin, so I'm just glad that it was only a hint.)

 

Dry: There's a strong shift to musk after about an hour, and then back to vanilla tea after ~ 3 hours. The whole thing doesn't last longer than five hours, tops.

 

Maybe I need to revisit this, because I first encountered it (and thus took notes on it) in my BPAL infancy, but...I don't get it. Like, it's okay, but I'm guessing it needs some time to age, because while it's a nice enough scent, I wouldn't put it in my "Beloved Favorites."

 

EDIT: Like Snake Oil, this one really needs time to come into its own, but when it does, WOW. It's a strongly foody scent, black tea and vanilla and sweet sugar (which I first thought was honey, given how it amps on me). Turns out it just needs a few months of aging to make it into my everyday rotation!

 

EDIT 2: After about two years, either my skin chemistry has changed or the oil has. But either way, now I absolutely cannot wear any kind of fougere - the beautiful dark, sweet tea of yesteryear has morphed into pure undiluted soap. T.T Alas, poor Dorian!

Edited June 13, 2016 by Lunasariel

[DiesMali]

In the imp: Vanilla and Earl Grey tea.

 

Wet on my skin: Still vanilla and Earl Grey tea.

 

Dry: Oh. My. Goodness. This is like Jareth, but a little sweeter and without the lilac fougere. It's black tea, leather, and vanilla sugar cookies on me. This smells like a refined Victorian gentleman lounging in a luxurious velvet chair, reading some heady romance novel while having tea and sweet biscuits. That's the image it brings to mind, and I love it. I can see why this scent is so popular - I'm probably going to have to order a bottle of it. It's not so similar to Jareth that I don't need them both.

Edited February 20, 2015 by DiesMali

[agirlnamedfury]

Exactly what the description says: sweet vanilla tea. Yum! I get just a touch of lemon as well, and absolutely no lavender, which is just fine by me!

[JuliskaMarie]

In the imp: Exactly as described - a musky cologne with a hint of sugared tea & vanilla.

Wet on skin: Same notes as in the imp, only the vanilla has taken over as the dominant note.

Dry on skin: Musky vanilla, with a little tea & cologne.

After a few hours: About the same as dry.

Verdict: I don't think this one is really my style. It doesn't smell bad on me, it's just not really my taste. Might be a little too masculine for me. I'll see how it goes on my husband instead!

[vanilla323]

This scent was very basic on me sadly. Wet on my skin it was a sweet yummy tea scent but that was about all I ever got from it even on the drydown. It was pleasant and sweet and such a realistic tea scent but none of the other notes came out. Tested this back in 2010 though and my bottle was from maybe 2008. Don't know if that makes a difference but thought I'd mention it. Sadly this was too light and simple for me.

[DoktorDandy]

Dorian was the 2nd BPAL I tried, and was also somewhat of a letdown, after all I have heard about it.

 

In The Imp: Interesting, sweet, sugary, a little strange in an unidenifyable way. Promising but no dark notes that I had expected.

 

Wet: Sweetness! Sweet, creamy. Lower range of sweet, more like custard rather than the delicate high sweetness of a cookie or a cake. Nothing dark, no tea, nothin'.

 

Dry: Auugh, no! No leather, no cologne, no lavender, no dark tea, no lemon, even. Only sweetness and vanilla! Did I get a dud imp or something? Was it mislabeled? Drops away to a dry, baby-powder like note then suddenly retreats meekly, almost dissapearing into a demure little vanilla dissapointment. Citrus never showed up to the party, and I had been so looking forward to the tea, but nothing even remotely close to that ever happened. Dorian was a vanilla and baby powder smelling fop that had a tantrum and tired itself out, rather than the sweetly dashing, dark haired gentleman I had been promised. I like foppish things. This however, smells like a pretender.

 

Final Thoughts: I'm very happy that I tried it out, and I will see if something different happens as it ages. I'm really hoping 6 months or so in a box with turn the vanilla into a syrupy glower and will bring up the dark and masculine notes that other people speak so fondly of. Maybe this would be fine if I was more flouncy or feminine but I'm really not. I didn't come to Dorian looking for a light, feminine, appetizing foody sort of smell. I will save it, and try it again at a later date to see if it's changed...

Edited May 17, 2015 by DoktorDandy

[marilyn eyre]

Mmmmmm.

 

Sexy vanilla tea dry and wet on my skin.

 

I need more.

[stubbornfire]

I knew I'd love this, but I hesitated when some reviews mentioned a hint of lemon- I'm not big on lemon scents unless it's a cleaner. :|. Should have trusted my gut sooner.

 

I really can't pick out any notes individually - it says fougere with tea and that's what I get! But uhm..it's not the *smell* of tea it's an impression of tea. It smells like being in a bright room, lots of sunshine, and someone just set a cup of tea down on your table for you. That's what this smells like - the sound of a teacup and saucer being set down for you by someone. And maybe there's a handsome gent wearing something light nearby but you only really catch a bit if it when a breeze passes through.

 

This is not very helpful, sorry. But 31 or so pages in I'm sure other people have helped more! I also don't know how old this imp is, so.

 

No tea, no sugar, no lemon distinctly - just a lovely impression of a lovely afternoon.

 

Edit- aha, must be the musks! I do love musks...also there IS a hint of vanilla. Kind of reminds me of the drydown of Theodosius! Not foodie though, just lovely.

Edited June 20, 2015 by stubbornfire

[PeculiarHeroine]

Oh my, but this is sophisticated.

Unlike many other reviewers, I don't really get the individual notes of tea or lemon or sugar, I just get sophistication.

This is a grownups perfume, the three musks making it subtle and hang close to the skin, while the other notes, which I can sense but not exactly smell, keep it from getting too serious.

This is a gentleman, proper in every way, but with perhaps a wicked eyebrow raised at the lady across from him.

This will get reached for when I want to be lovely and the most elegant lady around.

[spikyfairy]

This feels superfluous given the wealth of reviews, but might as well add my 2 cents.. Mainly tried this one because it is popular & I was curious (and of course the Wilde connection). I am not a big fan of vanilla or sugar, and still figuring out how I feel about musks.
More-or-less transcribing from my notebook (this was a lab-fresh imp):

Wet, in imp & on me: Wow, delicious! Vanilla definitely there, but so well blended I almost can't tell. Sweet though, almost a baked-goods or butterscotch vibe. Liking it more than I would have thought.. No tea though.
Dry: Same, but with an under-current of men's cologne that is getting stronger as it sits on me. I am getting the "corrupted core" - on the surface it is sweet & enticing but there is something kind of wrong underneath.. It is interesting, and I can see why it's so popular, but it just does not suit me.
Quite long-lasting on me; still cologne-y and sweet several hours later, faded to musky and sweet by 8+ hours.

 

On my male friend: Completely disappeared into his natural skin scent on application, then re-emerged a moment later as amazing delicious caramel boy! OMG. Never went as cologne-y on him. Gave him the imp, it was obviously meant to be.

[roseus]

This didn't go cologne-y on me. It was a nice sweet, musky tea in the best way. Warm, sweet, and soft yet rich. Beautiful staying power, it wafts up gently throughout the day.

[Lambent]

The hype for this scent is largely deserved, I think. I was afraid it would get too sweet or foody on my skin, but that wasn't the case. An almost sharp lemon is tamed by light musks and the Victorian fougere. I really do enjoy fougeres and this is no exception. Truly refined, indeed, and wearable year-round. It also lasted an amazingly long time (10+ hours) which is rare for me as my skin sucks up most perfume oils unless they consist of heavier notes. I am completely seduced.

[Jenjin]

Started out with a Dorian imp and recently graduated to a bottle. It is one of BPAL's luxury stars.

 

IN THE BOTTLE:

Raw sugar, tea, lemon squirt, subtle musk and very slight vanilla folded down.

WET:

I would say this one "explodes" after application. When the oil touches the skin, the heat causes a certain reaction that amps sultry Dorian, in the days after he sells his soul.

DRY:

Dorian's beauty is dazzling, and the underlying sugary muskiness, grinding with dark, sticky vanilla envelopes me and makes my toes curl. Pleasure!!! The sweetness amps during dry down and the lemon fizzles out.

NOTES:

It seems to have a "memory" when you wear it. I keep catching little whiffs of it throughout the day--even into the next day, I can "remember" what it smells like. It's definitely "alive".

Dorian demands a certain type of activity while wearing. It's not something I can wear daily-its more of a bedtime, sex smell in the way it invokes pleasure and musk. .

RATING:

8.0

Edited May 1, 2016 by Jenjin

[RobberBaroness]

 

In the bottle: Soft and floral at first, but then something rich and mysterious hits that I’m still trying to identify.

 

Dry: Increasingly foody, which I see as a good thing. Like a vanilla and chocolate cake with hints of strawberry. If I could eat this scent, I would.

[nolifeking]

Dorian Dorian..how I wanted to love you...

 

First, I get pure lemon tea, and then, woah! Fougère amp to heaven it became a gross cleaning product cologn-y stench...had to scrub it off at best I could for it bothered somes of my co-worker ^^"

 

However, on the boyfriend, this is a black vanilla sugared tea with a drop of lemon...pure perfection ♡ (but too sweet for the liking of said Mr haha) Now I get the hype! I'm so jealous..stupid skin chemistry :/

Maybe once it age, I coud wear it? Who know!

[sleep_hero]

wet: I get musk, vanilla, and lemon with a hint of tea

dry: Mostly vanilla with some musk to temper the sweetness, also some kind of soft floral smell.

 

I'm in love with this, it's soft, elegant and sexy at the same time. I was hoping for the tea smell to be stronger but I'm not mad. I'll be buying a bottle for sure!

 

ETA: I accidentally put too much on before bed, can't recommend it enough, it was divine. BRB anointing everything in my apartment forever

Edited June 5, 2016 by sleep_hero

[LizziesLuck]

I tried this way back in 2005. My notes from then say, "whoa, dryer sheets". But my tastes and my skin chemistry have changed since then. And this is a BPAL classic, I mean, Beth created it for Puddin, I gotta give it another go.

 

 

Wet: Wow, that's smelly on me. Something in it smells like pee? WTF, skin, WTF? In the imp it's a lemony tea with vanilla. As it dries more, it does get a lot less weird, the notes I was expecting start to show up. Mostly warm musky tea and vanilla. Which is still a weird combo on me. And yes, past self, it's starting to smell like laundry, you may have been right.

 

 

Dry: You know, this dries really nice. Tea and vanilla. If I didn't already have Theodosius, which is amazing tea and vanilla bean on me, I might be tempted to get a bottle. As it is, I am keeping the imp, and contemplating getting a Dorian hair gloss from the Post.

[Casablanca]

Black tea with vanilla sugar dominates, with a twist of unlisted lemon -- well supported by soft musks and a balanced and slightly perfumey accord from which I can pull no individual notes (presumably the fougere).

Some have said they love this as a relaxing bedtime scent, but since I associate the black tea note with caffeine, it's better for me as a congenial afternoon pick-me-up. A favorite scent for an afternoon out. All the loves.