Maiden

[BetteNoire]

A gentle vision of purity, goodness and virtue: white tea, carnation and Damask Rose.

 

My first review!

I've never understood why people want to smell "fresh" and "clean" - why not take a shower instead of putting on a fragrance? That's always my take on it anyway....until I put on some Maiden to test.

It is "fresh" - but more in that it smells like the fresh air inside a greenhouse, with all the beautiful damp flowers making the air smell so much cleaner than suburban air ever could.

Anyway, on skin at first this is a blast of sweet citrus and tea to me. Then it quickly blooms into the most perfect actual rose I've ever smelled outside of a botanical garden. This is a perfect recreation of smelling a prizewinning rose while it's still attached to the bush - the kind that make you feel kind of drunk when you pull your head away. And the carnation is just enough spicy bite to keep the rose from thinking it should actually be soap (thank god).

Overall, Maiden has made me completely rethink my anti-floral stance, and is on my big bottle list. It just makes me feel pretty!

[mymymai]

• ITI: Maiden is a balmy white tea and rose out of the bottle. It reminds me ever so slightly of a garden party in mid June.

Wet: The carnation on my skin is light, pleasantly spicy when paired with the gentle Damask rose along with the soothing, almost lemony white tea. It's pleasant, soft, and rather innocent.

Dry: While not giving it the whole day to settle like I normally do, the dry down is a bit more powdery and spicy, the carnation and white tea contributing to the bulk of that. The rose is present, but it's just enough to sweeten everything rather than distinctly engage as a rose note. Nice, but not bottle worthy.

[inhumation]

a light, very girly scent. smells like crisp white tea and roses on me.

[JuliskaMarie]

In the imp: A beautifully innocent white floral, with just a tiny hint of white tea leaf. Pretty!

Wet on skin: The carnation is mostly what is showing up (my skin tends to eat rose, so this isn't a surprise). There's a little bit of tea in the background, but it's no longer the dry tea leaf, it's now been brewed & left to cool. Simple, but pretty!

Dry on skin: Lots of tea now! Some dry, some brewed, with carnation in the background. Not as nice as it was, but not a bad smell either.

After a few hours: Fancy tea. Like a white tea with dried flowers.

Verdict: Nice, but I don't think my skin does this justice! It's so much prettier in the imp! I'll save this for when I get a scent locket!

[mystery213]

This is so beautiful and fresh and clean smelling! Normally I go for darker, muskier, foodier or spicier scents, but this is amazing! It is such a beautiful merging of the three notes, with none standing out too much from the others. The white tea adds a bright feel to the scent, and the carnation lends just the right amount of pepper to balance out the sweetness of the Damask Rose and keep it from going soapy or powdery.

[loubric]

How did I not know about this. I LOVE tea scents!! On me it's oh so sweet and soft. The tea blending beautifully with the carnation with just very subtle hints of rose.

Slightly green and milky. GORGEOUS!

[Veronica]

Pretty, but a generic floral on me.

[doomsday_disco]

In the imp: Rose, spicy carnation, and an astringent white tea note.

 

Wet: Velvety rose and spicy carnation, followed by the white tea note. The carnation note quickly becomes the dominant note, which tends to happen on my skin whenever it is present (though there are a few scents that are the exception). It isn't long before it is mostly carnation and white tea, with the rose note taking a background role and smelling more like a fresh rose than before.

 

Dry: Spicy carnation and a sharp white tea note with a hint of the rose in the background.

 

Verdict: I'm not really liking the combination of the carnation and the tea note. I'll be passing on my imp.

[LizziesLuck]

Wet, this is all tea. Almost lemony tea.

 

As it dries I get hints of the rose and carnation.

 

This is very light, and although I like all of the notes, it's just not really wowing me. m do a full day test, as it is very pretty and would be nice for spring, but right now it's just sort of...ok to my nose. Sad, as I adore carnations, but I love them much more in Alice and other carnation blends I have.

[Ashinros]

Wet: Smells citrusy and hints of flowers

Dry: All sorts of flowers. Definitely carnations

 

Light and feminine, reminds me of pale flowers bathed in moonlight. Serene. I can't stop smelling my wrist. Definitely an instant favorite.

[freyasfae]

This surprised me as it was quite sweet at first like a fruit tea, it gets more floral as it dries down. Surprisingly, the carnation wasn't particularly strong on me as I don't often like the spiciness of carnation.

[PrinceofcatS]

Crossposted to London, against which I tried this one.

 

I want to decide which of my ~spiced roses~ I want to buy a 5 ml of, since I love them all but the end result is so similar it seems foolish to put them all on the Big Bottle list. Today I tried Maiden versus London, since they seem the most similar to me.

 

Wet, I was baffled that I had ever thought they were the same. The rose in London is that perfumey, aquatic tea rose note - which I adore - but is so light and gentle and watery, with barely a hint of any of those spices that I think are intended to make it "dark". Maiden, on the other hand, is all heady, intensely sweet rose, dark, almost edible, with the tea note distinct from the aquatic feel I get from tea rose. The carnation is where I think the spiciness and some of the sweetness comes from in Maiden?

 

My imp of Maiden is rather old at this point, though. I don't know what London's intensity is like aged.

 

When they dry down I realize why I thought they were similar: they really are! The spiciness and sweetness in Maiden calms down a bit and the tea note comes out more, which does, to my nose, mimic the aquatic tea rose note in London. London is sweet, dewy, perfect rose; it's more "perfumey" than Maiden, largely because Maiden's crisp white tea and heady carnation notes make it intensely sweet.

 

As they wear on further, the differences become more pronounced - Maiden is darker and sweeter, London lighter though not less rich and rosy; "perfumey" is the only word I can think of, not artificial but smelling like something meant to be elegantly scented with rose.

 

I had thought for the longest time I preferred London, but in some ways I liked Maiden's rose note more, it's more the carnation I take issue with. I don't know. I need to try them both against Lucy's Kiss.

 

I should add that I have an aged (~6 years?) bottle of Alice which I definitely noticed had gotten a headier and darker rose-and-carnation vibe since I first used to wear it. Maiden is very similar in that regard, so I suspect she's lighter and less rampantly maroon-rose-in-full-indecent-bloom when she's young and fresh.

[Cali]

Appearantly carnation is spicy. Ok, good to know, because yes there's definately a spice in there. Subtle enough, but, it's there. A soft, lovely rose, spices and something sugary-sweet. Really really cute.

[Teamama]

Maiden is beautiful in the bottle, with a lot of complexity. I am jealous of all who can wear it.

 

On my skin, the beauty lasts for maybe 8 minutes. Then my skin turns it into clove single note.

 

Stupid skin.

[PeculiarHeroine]

I suspected from the get-go that I would like this. The list of notes read like the little sister of Alice, and the two are most certainly related. But it would not paint the full picture to say that Maiden is just Alice-lite.

Maiden is feminine with out being girly, sophisticated without being heavy or overbearing, and delicate without vanishing entirely in moments. I love the blend of carnation, rose and tea.

This is going to become a staple in my scent wardrobe, one of the ones that I turn to when I don't know what to wear. And just as Alice is my go-to in colder months, I suspect this will take that place in the warmer months.

Just beautiful.

[Scarlet Woodland]

Maiden is beautifully light and delicate on me with the tea, carnation and rose perfectly balanced. The lightly spiced carnation comes out more over time until it becomes a fresh, rosey carnation.

 

I was on the fence about needing a bottle of this one as it is quite simple but the fact it layers so wonderfully with other scents has pushed me over the edge. Am currently wearing Maiden, Alice and Kumiho layered together and it's just divine. Big bottle for sure.

[KezzieZ]

This one's a frimp from a Trading Post order. I have to admit that this one has my interest from the small amount of notes in it. I've had a liking towards blends with tea notes so far (Dorian and The Dormouse), so that also has me curious about it as well.

 

In Bottle: Super floral. I smell all three notes, but especially the white tea and rose.

 

Wet on Skin: There's something almost citrus-y about this scent on my skin. It's very green as well. I can't really catch distinct notes in it at the moment, but I think the carnation may be coming out as it settles. I'm faintly getting rose in the throw.

 

Approx. 1 Hour Later: By this point, that citrus smell has almost entirely dissipated. While I feel that I can smell the other notes, this is mostly rose on me and I feel that's what other people would detect on me (not so much the other notes). Maybe my skin amps this rose note.

 

------

 

It's a pleasant enough fragrance, but I already have a perfume with rose in it and I'll probably get another as a Christmas present. This one doesn't offer me anything very new, but it's worth trying if you're a fan of rose and tea notes (if you like tea notes more than rose, I would suggest trying out an imp of The Dormouse, though it is still slightly floral with some peony and the scent can come off a tad soapy to some people). I personally didn't get much carnation in this (surprising, considering the other reviews), but it may be the timing of the month also interfering with the scent somewhat.

[milo]

Rose rose and ROSE! Not a soft, sugary rose, or greenery with rose, or a beautiful voluptuous tea rose, but a fake air freshener rose with Axe musk. I have been wanting to try this for awhile, and I must say I'm a bit disappointed. It clears up after a bit, the muskiness fades, and it's a bit sweeter, but I'm still not wowed.

[Coldfire]

Imp: mmmm white tea, but then rose roaring under my nose
Wet on Me: no tea, no carnation...rose
Drying Down: that air freshener rose. I'm eternally optimistic that one day a rose scent will work on my skin. This is not one of them.
Dry: Alas poor rose you loathe me so. To trade!

[Lucchesa]

I love carnation, and Alice is my happy place, so I have been meaning to try Maiden for some time. In the imp I smell the tea and rose, and wet on my skin tea and rose are in the foreground. I get some carnation, but it's the very quiet florist's carnation, not the spicy carnation I love in Alice. BPAL tea notes are often lemony on me, which is great because their lemon tends to go all Lemon Pledge on me, so for a while I get lemony tea and rose and the faintest hint of carnation. But as it dries, the carnation gets spicier and more assertive. I was afraid this maiden would be too faint and virginal and retiring, but no. This is the maiden who can get the unicorn to lay his head in her lap but then clambers on to his back and rides hell for leather through the forest for safety when the hunters approach. And Maiden got me through a whole Zumba class with lovely lifts of carnation while Hellfire, which was on my other wrist, just rolled over and went to sleep. Maiden has catapulted herself to the top of my summer scents list.

[Nikki Scarlet]

This was the first scent I took interest in while looking through the catalogue for the first time. It sounded simple and pretty, and I thought it might make a nice everyday scent.

In the imp:
The rose and tea are lovely, but something about the carnation seems to be throwing it off, I think? Or maybe it's the rose and carnation that are blending together nicely with the tea throwing things off. I'm not sure.

On me, wet:
Strangely medicinal, and I'm not fully sure what's causing it.

On me, dry:
The medicinal effect wears off. Then it goes through a pretty strongly spicy phase which almost but not quite takes it into headache territory, before calming down into more of a powdery scent. At this stage it's very nice! The rose is turning sort of soapy, but that's not something I mind too much.

Verdict:
This is sort of similar to Alice, but grown up and much more confident. The scent progression almost seems to tell the story of the Maiden's life: sickly childhood, rebellious early adolescence, then suddenly a blossoming into a delicate beauty. I'm not sure it's big-bottle-worthy, but I think I'll keep the imp.

[achildoftime]

I get a lot of rose here with some carnation and the suggestion of tea. Rose sometimes doesn't work for me. Either it's not my taste or becomes a little overwhelming. I actually really enjoy this one. It smells like an actual rose and carnation bouquet. It's a little spicy from the carnation, and the tea keeps it a little lighter than rose usually is. I am enjoying it way more than I was expecting.

[cassiejaynebunk]

Maiden smells like a princess having tea with the Queen (with a twist of lemon, no sugar, thank you) in a drawing room with roses on the table. I am not picking up much of the carnation, maybe just a little bit in the background.

[spookyumbrella]

I get no carnation, and that's just fine, because this is beautiful without it!

 

First applied, it was 50% white tea, 50% rose, and as it dried down the tea kept amping up and the rose kept calming down. It seems to have decided on being 70% tea to 30% rose.

 

Maiden is a fresh, clean, pretty floral made for wearing in early spring.

[feyofthefellwood]

When first applied, this brings to mind pink roses. Then the carnation and tea balance the sweetness with subtle spiciness and lemon. On the dry down, the lemon in the tea combined with the carnation spice, for some weird reason, makes my brain think it's smelling curry sometimes. 😅 Despite this, I still enjoy the scent, however.