Leanan Sidhe

[quimerula]

... Her perfume is a crush of Irish herbs and flowers, Gaelic mists, and nighttime dew.

Light and soft floral, not what I would expect from it's name.

It has an acid bit in the bottom, not quite soapy... maybe verbena.
Balances quite well as it dries down.

I will edit later, due to lack of ideas.

[girlmadasbirds]

this didn't agree with me at all... it turned to a very powdery floral on me and i also got the "soapiness" others have mentioned.

[Brianne]

In bottle:

Strong white floral, that's it.

 

On me:

All I get from this perfume is a strong white floral that makes me think of lilies, and soap.

 

Final note:

I didn't get any herbally scent from this at all, it just smelled very floral to me, and made me think of hand soap.

[empi girl]

I thought this was a very feminine, pretty, delicate scent. It reminded me very much of a much sweeter, floral version of Dublin. I have Dublin and love it, and decided I didn't need 2 that were similar... but I may be wrong.

 

There was no soap on me, and very little herb. It had good staying power, and the most delicious waft...

[rdeadline]

I thought thiis would smell strongly green or dark. Instead it was light and smooth in the bottl. It kind of reminded me of the gorgous Eternal. On it remiinded me of a very expensive perfume that your grandmother brings out only for speical occasions. (hey, i had an irish granny) On, it is simply beautiful and lasts and lasts. This is a Lady's scent.

[theshapeshifter]

I've only had this on for about 45 minutes, but I wanted to record my thoughts so far - so I'll come back and edit if need be.

 

In the imp: Fresh aquatic floral.

 

Initial application: It packed a quick punch of that almost-dryer-sheet-but-much-nicer bright fresh note that I also got from Tempest and Szepasszony, but I like it even better here. Very green and clear, and all I can think of is "spring in a bottle".

 

After 45 minutes: It's calmed slightly, and I can start to pick out elements of water, white floral and crushed herbs. I haven't been to Ireland (yet!), but it's certainly evoking mornings on trips to Scotland, when we'd be hiking and the sun would break through and burn off the low-hanging mists.

 

Wearing this, while listening to Idlewild's "In Remote Pt. 1/Scottish Fiction", is almost a religious experience. If Leanan Sidhe stays this lovely as the day goes on, a 5 ml is going in my next order.

[Shollin]

First sniff: Leanan Sidhe is a bit floral, mostly herby with an aquatic tinge. It’s very pretty, and very ethereal.

 

Wearing: It’s more floral on my skin, a very sweet floral like honeysuckle. After it dries a bit more it shifts from honeysuckle to honey and flushed skin, and it’s definitely growing on me… actually, it’s more like it’s seducing me. I’d dismissed this one as a girlie floral – pretty, but not me – and then a half-hour later it sneaks up and pounces me with otherworldly passion. Fan-bloody-tastic.

[leahcat]

Leanan Sidhe

 

in the bottle: oh dear, it’s reminding me of some badly scented floral soaps. The supermarket types that I avoid like the plague

wet: okay, more herbs now, with other scents that kinda remind me of those ‘fresh rain’ drier sheets. That must be the mist and dew.

drying/5 minutes: Ah! Much nicer and softer now, likely from interacting with my skin and warmth. This is much more a pleasant herb and mist combination, the sort of thing I’d find in a dream.

dry/25 minutes: Hmm. I’m getting more floral soap but perhaps it’s my nose changing, not the scent. It’s rather nice... but I don’t do florals! Ah well.

[requieminblack]

First sniff from the bottle- Very light misty floral

 

After 15 minutes- This blend totally smells like a hot house. It is a very 'wet' humid scent. The florals are the baby soft variety....I smell heather, lilac, lilies, ect. This DOES smell like Irish flowers in the nighttime dew!

 

Summery- I admit I am not a fan of florals. This comes off as baby powder and dryer sheets on me once it mixes with my skin chemistry. However, I am amazed and fascinated by Beths amazing ability to capture a scent so perfectly.

[Penance]

Preconceived notions:

 

I really, really doubt this will work on me. It sounds similar to Unseelie, which was a disaster on me, but I'll give it a shot.

 

First sniff:

 

Definitely not like Unseelie. I smell soft, sweet flowers (similar to honeysuckle) and vaguely soapy herbs. This is soft where Unseelie is sharp. It's very much a hazy kind of scent, like mist over a meadow. It's not my normal kind of scent, but so far it's not bad.

 

Wet on skin:

 

This reminds me of another scent...Juliet sans pear, maybe? I'm not sure. It's very soft and feminine but unoffensive to my gender neutral/masculine nose. It's clean smelling. Like spring in a meadow full of tiny flowers.

 

Dry down:

 

Mainly herbs now with a hint of sweetish flowers. I want to call this a more feminine Oisin, although it lacks the white musk note that Oisin has. This really isn't bad at all, though I prefer Oisin's slightly more gender neutral scent.

 

The bottom line:

 

I like this much more than I thought I would. It's feminine without being too feminie and very well-rounded.

[tempete]

Leanan Sidhe is a well-blended floral combination with an herbal undertone. Unfortunately, it smells fairly perfume-y on my skin, for lack of a better term. I tend to prefer Beth's floral/white musk combinations over pure floral bouquets, so I passed Leanan Sidhe onto someone else.

[Imbrium]

I ordered a bottle of this unsniffed - how could anyone resist that description?

 

In the bottle: this does have the sort of generic department store perfume scent that a few other reviewers have mentioned, which made me a bit nervous.

 

On: The generic perfume-y scent disappears as it dries, hooray! What's left is lovely - soft and green. It doesn't smell particularly floral to me, just green and slightly aquatic, very much a softer version of Dublin.

 

The first time I wore this, it faded within a few hours, but I've had this on for awhile now, and I can still smell it, so I'm hoping it will last.

[misfitroxy]

In the imp, this is very wet, floral and herbal all at the same time. Almost masculine-ly aftershave-like.

 

Initially on my wrist, I’m catching something floral that reminds me of jasmine. It’s not quite as dark, but very “white”.

 

As others have noted, the scent is clean. It’s not quite soapy, more like a fresh rain sort of damp cleansing scent. I’m not really catching the herbs in it, just lots and lots of field flowers. Though there is a kind of darkish element that comes out as it dries that makes me think of the subtle spices underneath the rose in Lucy’s Kiss. Since ultra dry Hamadryad reminds me of Anais Anais, I can’t really make that comparison. But this does evoke more traditional feminine perfumes as you’d find at a department store counter.

 

Overall, the blend is pretty, somewhere between womanly and girlie, floral yet wet and summery. It’s not something I can personally wear but I’m sure will be very loved on many others.

[Gin]

I was a bit nervous about the "herbs" but Leanan Sidhe is lovely. It's a little soapy-herbal at first but dries down into a gentle watery-herbal scent.

[Tesseljoan]

Leanan Sidhe is a flowery, herbal sort of scent, with perhaps a faint aquatic in the background (it evokes the mists wonderfully). It is pleasant and not too prominent. I'm not sure I'll wear this often, as it's not quite 'me' but I'll keep the imp around.

[Orodemniades]

I could have sworn I reviewed this already...

 

Imp: Wet and sweet, kind of vaguely floral

 

Wet: Mmm...nice...but will it last?

 

Drydown: Oh, lovely wet green florals! It's sweet, but not overpoweringly so, and there's this green undertown that smells like, oh, I don't know...a damp meadow at twilight?

 

Overall: Gorgeous!! I ordered a 5ml, but I think it'slikely that I'll be ordering a 10ml soon. I frequently wear this to work, or out on the town when I'm shopping. I adore this scent, and am so glad that I took a chance and bought it unsniffed!

 

 

Oro

[nevermore]

Wet and in the vial, Leanan Sidhe smells vaugely like dryer sheets or fabric softener, or somthing laundry related. Didn't really pique my interest, but for the sake of science ( ) I tried it on. On my skin, it turns into a nice, if not very exciting floral. I can't pick out any notes, but it smells similar to something else I've smelled (though not laundry products). I can't quite put my finger on it. Anyway, Leanan Sidhe isn't really my style, so I think I may pass it along to someone else. Overall - nice, but not me.

 

Edit - Ahah! I've got it. The florals in Leanan Sidhe smell similar to the florals in Chaste Moon, just without the sweet, creamy goodness.

Edited June 2, 2005 by nevermore

[aidenraine]

This smells so... familiar. I can't place it at all but it reminds me of many things, so it's not an entirely original scent. It's like a combination of Irish Spring soap (sorry, heh, but I grew up with that around). It's definitely lush and green, but in a bit of a contrived way. As I write it's still drying on my wrist though, so I'll give it some more time. It does seem to bother my sinuses a bit though.

 

Maybe Irish Spring meets Anias Anias? It's like a lovechild of the two. I smell purple flowers in here too (not violets... more like iris, lilac, and crocus flowers

 

...

 

As this fades it gets sweeter... but is still cloyingly perfumely. I think perhaps too many flowers in this for me.

[ChupaChup]

Leanan Sidhe was a gift to me from the lab in my last order, thanks labbies . This is very reminiscent of Dublin, another etherial, misty scent. I like it a lot for the first hour, it's softly floral with a tiny bit of green herbs and something vaguely sweet underneath, almost milky or grainy. But gradually, that sweetness begins so smell slightly fruity to me and I don't care for it at that stage. Still, a lovely interpretation of the theme, well done!

[Muppetk]

Wet: the perfume department at any big store.

 

Drying: a pinch of soap joining in the perfumey-ness. Where are my herbs and green?

 

Dry: still perfume section of a department store with a pinch of soap. Bummer! This one doesn't like me. To the swap pile, Robin!

[Sara]

My first sniff brought to mind an impression of my mother, and this felt like something she would wear. After application the scent became wicked strong, wicked "momly", and just...well I can't explain. Nostalgia was pulling at me super hard trying to place this scent.

 

I can't pick out any notes.

 

But, I can tell you that I finally figured out what scent or childhood thing this blend reminded me of...ready? Navy (was it by Covergirl?), this is Navy, dead fucking on with the addition of a sort of "depth" and richness. Finally figured out what my memory was nudging me towards. Even if it was a wrong nudge, as she never wore Navy, feeling that it was "cheap." But I sure loved it as a young girl, it made me feel more sophisticated and grown up.

 

Personally, I like this a lot, and I might even wear it...IF it didn't remind me so strongly of my mother. I have a perfect image of her wrist in my mind when I sniff my own wrist (not that I need to put my nose to it, this is a very strong scent) and this, by far, is the most "commercial" and "perfumey" oil I've come across - with the twist of "richness" only BPAL can do.

 

Edit: after time this becomes more powdery and looses it's wet connection to Navy (which was wickedly dead accurate), but still remains grown up and I really think I'll send it to my mom.

Edited June 15, 2005 by Sara

[blaqpearl]

This one was definitely a green scent. Very herbal with a hint of floral. Drydown this smelled too commercial on me. Although wet was very nice...I will have to pass on this since it is definitely not a me scent.

[urraca]

This is lovely, wet, green florals but not rich southern blooms like orchids and gardenias. These flowers are like meadow flowers after a cool spring rain. I wish I were better with notes because they shift and change in subtle yet distinct ways through the life of this long-lived scent. I do think I get a tiny bit of white rose towards the end as the scent grows a little sweeter.

 

I think this is a scent that a lot of commercial perfume houses have tried to mimic with chemicals, without success. Yay to Beth for giving us the real thing, once again.

[arabella]

First impression: Meadowgrass.

 

Dries down to: a light "green" scent - herbally with a breath of floral underneath. Quite nice. Very delicate and wispy - if you reach out to touch it, it disappears, then drifts back when you least expect it, while Clannad plays in the background. Initially, I thought this would be too ethereal for me but I keep coming back to it, so there must be hidden strength in this blend.

 

Lasted: A reasonable length of time (on me that's anything over an hour).

 

Rating: 4 out of 5

[Aurelius]

in the vial: honeysuckle? Some sort of sweet light floral.

wet: It starts as a light floral scent and gets stronger over time.

drying: almost tea-like. very nice.

dry: light and almost powdery, in a good way. Every once in a while I get a whiff of something stronger, almost like an "edgy" note.

 

This is very nice. It's not an overwhelming floral on my skin. It's sweet without being super sweet. Lovely!