Paris

[crebbsgirl]

Sensual, decadent, and enigmatic. Lavender, softly underscored by lotus and spice.

I really, really, really wanted to like this. I love lavender, and spice. This in the bottle was a pretty complex floral. On my skin - it went bubblegum. It was an overly sweet candy like smell that I just couldn't stomach. I blame the lotus.

[Gwydion]

In bottle: surprisingly attractive. The lavender and lotus do interesting things together, the spices make it smell exotically edible. Wet: mostly lavender, but the other elements give it solid support. Dry: Fades to a rich lavender.

[cemeterypolka]

in the imp:

 

Lavender, but juicy. I don't usually like lavender scents, but this smells delectable.

 

on my skin:

 

Lavender with something a little sweeter, darker and deeper, but nothing cloying, although it's a bit of a heavy scent. This smells just like Lush's Ooh La La soap, which I adore, because it's lavender with a bit of sweet resiny-ness to it. That's what this is. I love it and I want a bottle!

 

drying: Yep, still a delightfully amped-up version of Ooh La La. Still love it, still want a bottle!

 

my rating: 4/5

[emily2531]

the initial impression is mostly lavender, but that fades fairly quickly, and I don't like what lingers. It smells like sour patch kids to me.

[ianastar]

In the bottle - soapy, clean but strong

Wet - a pungent aroma that is hard to describe

Drydown- finally starting to get the lavendar smell

Fade - cream with soft lavendar

[kjirstiben]

First impression of Paris: WHOA, lavender!!! It went on sharp, eye-wateringly pungent and herbal. Fortunately, within the first minute it began to mellow out, and lotus put its lovely foot in the door.

 

Within five minutes, I was smelling something oddly herbal-floral but... it seemed almost... fruity. My notes at this point say: "Spicy, like... apple peel? nutmeg? clove?" Actually, there's a sense of all three to it (at least to my nose...)

 

Over time, the lotus softens and becomes less sweet and mingles with the spices, to form an almost buttery fruit-spicy scent... I am reminded of Bastet, which shares the lotus note... This isn't a long-range scent, but it's something that would make me smile all day long...

 

4 1/2 years later: I'm revisiting this review because I recently, on a whim, revisited my bottle of Paris, and OMG, it's amazing! I'm not sure if this is a consequence of the blend aging, or my tastes changing, or what, but I am blown away. Paris does indeed go on with a blast of sharp, herbal lavender, but I'm used to this from my beloved TKO and I know it burns off almost immediately. As soon as the lavender blast starts to die down, a rounded, sweet lotus starts to show up -- sort of a fruity floral -- and as this stays on my skin, a soft, sweet spice underscores the combination of subtle French lavender and lotus. I spent the day catching errant whiffs of it and wondering, "What is that amazing smell?" So, anyhow, this now goes in my top blends list. I suppose I'll need to look into a backup (so that it ages to this beauty by the time I need it).

Edited September 10, 2013 by kjirstiben

[diamondstars]

A whole lot of lavender..! As it dries down I'm sure I detect a hint of liquorice too?..Maybe it's just my nose playing tricks on me.

It's nice but I wouldn't wear it. It'd make a good room spray for Spring.

[hairfall]

This is my second time applying Paris, the first with me not knowing what was it supposed to smell like, but now since I have gotten a better idea..

 

First whiff, whoa, lavender!

 

Upon applying:

Lavender fades in a zip. Where is the spice, more specifically, where did that wonderful lavender go?

All that is left is what I assume to be lotus.. And that's it.

Slightly floral.

 

Wear:

Not noticable, as I forgotten I had it on once I was out of my place.

 

I would say this is too lotus-y for my taste, but it does deserve another try, just to observe how the scent develops after half an hour to an hour.

[jehrichardson]

When I first smelled this, it smelled awful. Rank and flat and sweet.

 

Now, it is better. I do get the lavender, and consequently can identify the lotus portion of the scent. I think I do not care for the lotus, but it thankfully mostly disappears on the skin.

 

I'm going to age this for a bit longer, then have another go! I really want a close to single-note lavender. Mmm!

[cymbeline]

Smell alike: mmm, lavender always reminds me holidays in the south of France

 

Color impression: Aloof pale purple

 

On me: the lavender is not so masculine in this blend: it's really a sophisticated and ancient style lady's perfume -too bad it ran away quickly leaving just a soapy afterthought, I would have loved to see how it matures on the skin

 

Wearing: ?

 

[awesomeoverlord]

I tried this as part of my quest for a lavender I can actually wear. In the imp, it's beautiful -- I'm getting everything -- wonderful herbaceous lavender, soft lotus, and a hint of that spice. Really gorgeous.

 

Unfortunately, as soon as it touches my skin, all those great herby notes disappear and all I get is soft sweet lotus (or what I'm identifying as lotus). Very feminine and subtle. Still lovely, but not for me

[Seismogenic]

This oil seems to already be having an effect on me, even before I've sniffed it. I decided it was time to try this one today, and immediately considered wearing something a little nicer than I usually do. I mean, who in Paris walks around in jeans and a schlumpy t-shirt? Would an oil called Paris even let me get away with a hoodie that says San Francisco? I then considered that I'm being really silly, but I compromised with it and am wearing a polo rather than a t-shirt.

 

In the imp: Very sweet, but with an edge that falls somewhere between perfumey and chemical. Hm.

 

Wet on skin: That weird edge seems to be mellowing out a little when this hits my skin, which is a good thing, but it's not entirely gone. I'm assuming the intense sweetness is the lotus, and it's definitely the most prominent thing here, though there are spices supporting it from below.

 

Drydown: Freshly dry, the sweet lotus is still absolutely in charge, though the spicier notes are starting to hold their own. However, the balance that they're in, at least right now, strikes me as distinctly Yankee Candle-like. At one hour in, it's definitely still in incredibly sweet candle territory. I'm half expecting it to push over the sweetness barrier into French bakery territory.

 

Five hours later: Incredibly sweet lotus is still the main thing going on, though the whole scent is fainter now. There's more lavender now than there was before, but it's definitely only a secondary note.

 

End of the day: Gone.

 

Overall: I've never been to Paris (or to anywhere in France, for that matter), so I have no real impressions of the place, olfactory or otherwise. That said, I don't think I'd expect Paris' characterization in scent to be so incredibly sweet as this oil went on me. I'd probably expect something drier or haughtier, and that might be what happens if the lavender actually shows up in this blend like it should. It certainly didn't on me, though, and while I'm generally good with reasonably sweet things, Paris was a little over the top for me. Maybe it didn't deem the polo shirt good enough and aimed to snub!

[MissMercurial]

Ack!

I adore lavender (the plant, at least) and, other than this one, have never tried anything with lotus in it.

I now know that I appear to AMP lotus. I got a hint of lavender when this was wet, and about five minutes after that it was so strongly, sickeningly sweet that I had to wash it off :/

Since I didn't smell any spices, I'm pinning it on lotus.

I might try this again at another time, but my first impression so far has not been complimentary D:

[Bluestocking]

In the imp: Spicy lavender. I don't get much of the lotus itself right now, although it's softened and sweetened the lavender here—it's not sharp, super-herbal lavender, but rather fresh and clean. Lots of very nice spice here. I admit that before sniffing, I was… bemused…at the choice of lavender for a Parisian concept scent, because lavender is something I associate with Provence, but I'm ready to roll with it now.

On, wet: Lots more lovely, warm, sexy spice, and already the lavender and lotus are bending together—the lavender gives a fresh kick, but beyond that, the lotus is candy sweet and soft and tying it together. All right, now I'm getting a picture of where this is going: confident, alluring in an effortless way. Bold and feminine—this is a savvy woman who knows style and carries it off with class. So… yeah, that's like Paris in a bottle, or at least that's how Paris makes me feel.

On, dry: Already blended into a harmonious, spicy-sweet-fresh whole. I love lotus in general, and it really does nice things here to meld the spice and lavender together. It gives this a sweetness that you wouldn't expect from a lavender blend.

Later: Pretty much unchanged, but still very pretty.

Overall: It's an elegant, very feminine blend, but not at all snooty or pretentious—it sort of makes me think of Audrey Hepburn and the Paris of Sabrina, which is not a bad thing. The scent doesn't seem to be very long-lived, but it's so good that I think it's worth the effort to reapply.

 

 

[TheOneTheyCallLuna]

In the imp, Lavender with bubblegum lotus notes.

 

On the skin, lavender with a soft breath of spices and an undercurrent of aquatic sweetness. The scent continues to become more and more pleasing on my skin as time goes on. The sweetness of the lotus keeps the lavender from becoming medicinal and the spices add depth. Very pretty and girly!

[Coldfire]

 

 

 

Imp: I smell the spice and the lotus more than the lavender

Wet on Me: Lotus over lavender, the lotus sweetens the

lavender with touches of the spicey vibe I get from carnation

Drying down: definitely spicy more than anything. Sweet spicy,

like a carnation.

Dry: I’m so getting carnations over lotus out of this. No lavender.

I love lavender. Nice that I tried this tho.

 

[dnagirl]

I'm having a hard time figuring Paris out.

 

In the bottle it is harsh to my nose, with a very odd undertone. I mostly smell lavender.

 

Then, I put it on. What a strange smell. Lavender and something sickly sweet. I've worn this two days in a row now and it sets my allergies off like crazy, making me sneeze. I know it isn't the lavender, as I've worn plenty of other lavender oils. Weird.

 

As it dries, I still don't like it very much. It still has that strange sickly sweet undertone.

 

Dried, now it morphs on my skin into something beautiful. The lavender comes back to the forefront, the sweetness has mellowed and I get a wee bit of spice. It has taken almost an hour to get to this point though and my nose is still running.

 

Ultimately, I don't know if Paris is worth the trouble. I'll probably stick with Yvaine for my lavender kick.

 

In the swap pile she goes.

[lishal]

In Imp: Herbal lavender with a touch of sweet and crispy lotus.

 

On Skin: Upon application, I got a really nice whiff of the lavender and lotus getting together for a party. Then they crashed the party. I am usually okay with lotus scents, and I love lavender scents but when these two get together, they don't play nice on me. I'm getting that sickly sweet medicinal smell some people have talked about and unfortunately, this scent conjures up images of the dentist's office.

 

Dry: I got a headache from this scent and the dentist's office imagery is funny but it's not the kind of image I was hoping for. Paris broke my heart since it smelled so nice in the imp. Oh well.

[angelicruin]

Sniffing the imp....Hello Lavender....

 

Wet on my skin, it's lavender and sweet Lotus. It's a sweet, clean scent. A very soothing soft lavender scent.

 

I'm not sure I will ever buy a bottle of this, but I will definitely keep my imp.

[revinn]

Another frimp from the lab.

 

Initial Sniff from Imp: Whoa, that's really sweet.

 

Wet: Still sweet, but now something herbal is creeping through.

 

Dry: I think there's a note in this that was also in Mouse's Long & Sad Tale, or at least something similar. It went sour and rank on me, just like that scent did. I still a touch of that sweet, yummy smell, but whatever turns on my skin dominates. Oh well, my lavendar loving friend might have better luck with this.

 

Out of 10: 5

 

ETA: Hmm, after a short period of time, that sour smell disappates, leaving that sweet almost grape smell behind. This is actually very nice; not me, but still something I'd like to have around.

Edited April 21, 2009 by revinn

[ImperatrixMundi]

Lotus = Bubblegum

Paris = spicy bubblegum with lavender

 

One of my worst BPAL experiences so far. If you dislike lotus I cannot recommend this.

[sprocket21]

I don't have much to add to previous reviews - on me, Paris is a mix of lavender and bubblegum (lotus), with a bit of a powdery feel to it. The lavender isn't sharp or too strong for once - usually blends with lavender bowl me over and give me headaches. The lotus goes very well with the lavender here.

 

It doesn't seem reminiscent of Paris the city, but it's still a nice blend. I could see this as a bedtime blend, what with the subdued lavender.

[bubblefish]

I've never really been a fan of lavender, and this blend is potent with it. Except, it's just a bit stronger than most lavenders that I've smelt and morphs from a slightly soapy lavender to a strong, sharp scent of fresh crushed lavender.

[EdenIris]

I had a completely visual reaction to this scent, like paint on a canvas. First, aquamarine lotus, blending into pale lavender, with an obvious demarcation of brown where the spice (I get mostly clove) kicks in. I tried this at bedtime, so maybe that's what happens when you test a scent in the dark.

 

The lavender is a bit sharp at first, but everything comes together beautifully. I thought this would be a good nighttime scent, calming with the lavender, but it's a good one for any time. Could be very professional with a hint of secrets.

[WidgetAlley]

Frimp from the lab! At least half the frimps I got this round were from the Wanderlust category... and the Labbies must be frickin' psychic because that's my very favorite!

 

Imp: Right off the starting line, Paris is just... odd. But in a neat way. I definitely get a beautiful sharp French lavender, but following close behind is the strong, sweet, almost bubblegummy lotus. Under that are some beautiful soft spices, definitely clove and maybe allspice or nutmeg. There might be just a hint of mint, too.. or it could just be that lovely, stinging brown clove. The edges of the notes blend into one another beautifully, like a watercolor.

 

Wet: The most beautiful spiced lavender, clove, a hint of something minty and a gorgeous, subtle lotus. This is a soft, clinging skin scent, but it has a wonderfully deceptive throw-- you'll think it's gone and then catch a whiff when you turn your head. The scent overall is cool and peaceful and just.... pleasant. Not a wishy-washy okay sort of pleasant, but a genuine lovely I-want-to-smell-this-for-the-rest-of-the-night-and-possibly-longer pleasant. I really think this blend showcases clove in a truly unique way-- there's not a thing Christmassy or festive about this, instead you're free to smell the amazing scent of cloves without prior bias.

 

Dry: The drydown of this is very similar to the wet phase, just a little softer and closer. This is a truly beautiful, pastel-feeling second-skin smell, and one that I just can't get enough of. I will definitely be using my imp, and depending on how fast it disappears, I may even contemplate a bottle. This is perfect for every time, every mood, every season and every event... a lovely, deep, yielding and feminine scent.