Lady MacBeth

[GemmaCat]

The essence of ambition, covetousness and manipulation: sweet Bordeaux wine, blood red currant, thyme and wild berries.

 

In the imp: Mmm, slightly tart cherries with something sparkly underneath.

 

On my skin: the berry scent rushes up but quickly mellows out into a complex, rich fruit-wine.

 

Drydown: redcurrent goodness with a hint of booze.

 

Overall: really lovely and complex. It's not a light, bubbly cherry like some of Beth's other cherry scents. This is all grown-up and sophisticated. Another one I need to try

again, for sure.

[silver_springs]

I've been wanting to try Lady MacBeth for a while. I always liked the character, even though I'm not a huge fan of the play.

 

In the vial: Grape, yuck!

Wet: Sweet berries.

 

This is VERY fruity. Nothing like I thought it would be. It's light too, but it lasts pretty decently. I think this would make a great candle or lotion scent. I like it, I don't think I'd want a big bottle, but I'll keep the imp and use it.

 

6.5/10

Edited February 20, 2006 by silver_springs

[undream]

I had forgotten the description of Lady M before trying her this evening, and smelling this one right out of the imp, I thought, "Mmmm, wine & berry?" I'LL TAKE IT!

 

Wearing, it stays pretty consistent, a mix of wine and sweet berries, and a delicious tang, as of green apple. This a deep red/plum scent, a very fruity oil, and I LOVE fruity scents. A big bottle it is!

[niter]

While waiting for a purchased imp from a forumite, I recieved a frimp of Lady MacBeth from the lab. Now I have two but they are NOT the same in color or scent. Since Lady MacBeth has undergone a new formulation, I am pretty sure I have an old one to match my new one from the lab. Hence, I am reviewing them together...one on each wrist.

 

Imp

 

New formulation: The oil is transparent with the faintest of a yellow tint. It has a BOLD, sweet (almost bubble gum) scent to it with the tiniest hint of darker notes as an afterthought. It is quite sparkling and effervescent.

 

Old formulation:

This one is very golden yellow. One would almost think it is not possibly the same scent but it is similar upon first sniff. I can pick up the bubble gum sweet scent but not the dark underlayer. It seems like the kiddy version of the "new."

 

Wet

 

New formulation:

Upon my skin, the scent is gorgeous. The bubble yum scent is gone and I catch the beautiful sense of dark berries as when I wear Bewtiched. This also has the same sparkling qualities of Titania. After a few moments, the thyme presses forward gently driven the blend more towards the dark woods side. This feels natural and sexy.

 

Old formulation:

Weird! On first swab I was struck by more candy gum and then immediately right down to the thyme scent. This scent is not glistening on me and it is duller. Perhaps the new version has a stronger throw thus elminated any perceived throw from the old. It is not something I would dislike, but now that I have smelt what it *could* be, the old does not cut it. It is pretty, but not tart and sparlking like the new.

 

Dry

 

New formulation:

Mmm. This reminds me so much of all the things I love in Bewitched (I must compare them). It is dark, sexy, tart, sweet, herbal, berry! It is intoxicating.

 

Old formulation:

This just does not cut it. It is pleasant but not exciting. It is stronger on the thyme and that is about the only cool part about it. The rest of the notes fall flat on my skin.

 

Overall

The New version is much more powerful and sweet. It is dripping with berries. Perhaps it is too much berry becaue I cannot pick out the other notes, but I can just tell they are there. The old version settled down into an intriguing blend of dark and spice but there was a significant lack of sweet berry for that great sparkle. Also, it seemed flatter on the wear...that is, I could smell the great notes, but they did not seem to POP and smelt as if behind an invisible barrier from their true potential.

[mandragora]

In the imp: Uumpphh, that's some strong Bourdeaux note. Cleared out my sinuses . Kidding aside, strong wine note plus hint of berries.

 

Wet on me: Ooh, sweetness. Blood red curant and wild berries. Very intoxicating scent.

 

Drydown: Okay, it's settling down. Boozy and tart berries. Again yummy smelling enough to want to lick my wrist.

 

Verdict: Boy, the Illyria category is 3 for 3 so far on the keeper list. My next-to-buy big bottles list is growing longer :fears for my wallet's sake:.

Edited February 21, 2006 by mandragora

[Edreaiar]

Mmm, yummy. Upon opening the imp, my first impression is that this is sogoodomg, in that it's fruity, with a little wine. The wine isn't really that noticeable, until I realize that that's what the tangy note is.

 

The second it hits my skin, I can really smell the wine and berries (the berries aren't sour, they're sweet), and promptly fall over in a fit of joy.

 

Alas, five minutes later, *POW!*: all I can smell is berry-scented playdough.

 

Even so, this lasts a looong time on me. I put it on eight or nine hours ago, and I still smell playdough.

 

 

But this isn't a negative review at all. If it did work on my skin, I'd buy a 10ml- a first for me.

[Missmoonlight]

smelling: wine+berry, something dark magenta!!

 

on my skin: raspberry+caramel! Dad says "berries yoghurt"...this is nice and I knew I'd have liked it! It's purple, indeed. Not lavender, not mauve, not dark greyish purple. It's jewel purple, it's a purple berry. on my skin the wine note disappears...I'll keep it!!

[loves_requiem]

mmmmmm

 

i LOVE the currant nd berries in this...its sexy, mature and not oeverl sweet.

[batsy]

In the bottles: big juicy berries! Wheee! For some reason I like berries and had no idea I would!

 

On the skin: It's like fresh raspberry fruit roll-ups with wine. Oh my! It's sophisticated yet powerful berry. Yum! I wanna eat my arm again...

 

Yay for a frimp I would never have tried otherwise! I need a bottle...

[PurringPulsar]

Lady Macbeth

 

In the imp: summery berries soaked in red wine, this is gorgeous! It reminds me of those berry fruit salads I eat.

Wet on skin: once on the skin, the dry scent of wine is more apparent, and I smell thyme now.

Dry on skin: now the scent is very tart and dry indeed. The notes I smell now are no longer the plump, sweet berries I got before (though I do get hints of those), but a dry, crisp scent of dry red wine and sharp blackcurrant (and I think blackberry as well) sharpened by thyme. I get a hint of the 'grainy/yeasty' note I got from the Harvest Moons and Mabon as well, for some reason, it may be the wine and berries doing this…it's a piercing, clear scent with a little hint of something metallic.

After a while: after about half an hour, I can smell mainly blackcurrant and wine, with other berry notes-I'm pretty sure there's blackberry in here. It's a bit like a drier, crisper, less lush Bordello with the blackberries from Mabon in the place of the plum.

After a few hours, the scent is very faint but I get traces of red and black fruits with hints of herbal thyme. But it's not as strong as before.

Verdict: this is one of the BPAL berry scents that really works nicely on me. at first, it's a fruit salad of sweet, juicy summer berries soaked in wine. Then it moves towards a drier, sharper stage, a strong crisp red wine note sharpened by thyme and blackcurrant, and I'm sure there's blackberry here too. At times the scent has a slight sharp metallic aspect to it, reminiscent of blood or knives-very appropriate for the character. It reminds me of other berry and wine BPAL scents, and I like it a lot…but it fades so fast on me. After a few hours, all that's left is a faint trace of herbal wine, but its just barely there. But I do like this scent a lot more than I expected.

[abbycomix]

Mmm, tarty but sweet berry goodness! This worked much better on me than Jester, which was just way too strong of a tart berry. Lady Macbeth calms down into a sweet red berry wine. Very nice! It's fruity and sweet but sophisticated. Thanks to madelf for this frimp!

[redlisse]

This smelled so very promising in the vial! Sweet sweet berries and strong wine, with a dark, yet slightly effervescent undercurrent. How lovely.

 

On me, however, those juicy berries and that sparkling darkness turned to straight grape soda. Every once in a while, I caught a whiff of that intriguing dark note - but then it was back to sticky-sweet grapeyness. I hate grape soda. I hate grape flavoring.

 

*sigh*

[Nekomata]

In the bottle this remids me of kool-aid, very tart and berry scented. Mmmm.

O my skin the tartness mellows out and a sweeter berry scent is left. Smells just like a wine-cooler! A definate winner. :9

[kayte]

When doing initial sniff-tests of my order, my friend told me to "never wear this," but she was wrong!

 

In the imp it is juicy, fruity, and I smell the wine.

 

Wet the wine and currant come out, and this scent is very red.

 

Dry the oil still smells wet! It is quite fruity, like big juicy overripe berries, and I can easily picture them "bleeding" red juice all over my hands. The wine and currant are still present, and the whole impression I get is just... dangerous. I like it a lot, a very evocative scent.

[Phaedra]

***Note- I believe the imp I have is for the original formulation. I can't confirm this but I got it as a frimp in a swap and it's tarted.*** Wet this is sweet apples or peaches. When first on this is soft, earthy and sweet. It's hard for me to pick out the notes- maybe lotus? This isn't very strong (that could be due to the age of the imp though). I think there is berries or grapes in this with something herbal in the background. This one is okay but nothing special on me.

[moon_lemming]

Do not ask me how, but I get chocolate-covered fruit from Lady MacBeth at first. Sort of a richer 13 with juicy berries in there.

 

It dries into an artificial strawberry scent, which is sort of too sweet and plasticky, but as time goes on the artificiality turns into wine and it ends up as a wine-y berry. Not so much strawberry anymore, more of a raspberry/cherry hybrid. Lovely. I don't know if I like it enough to get a bottle -- that artificial phase lasts for a good half hour -- but I'm definitely keeping the imp.

 

Also, I want to try layering this with Antique Lace to see if I can get a vanilla/berry combo of tastiness. I'm getting hungry just thinking about it.

[juniperus]

Bottle: oozy boozy - wine and thyme. I like thyme.

Wet: very sweet, the currant and berries have eclipsed the thyme completely.

Dry: wine and currant, with the berries farther to the rear. no thyme at all at this point.

Later: sweet berries and wine, slightly mellow finish. Not me, not at all, but would be lovely-with-a-kick on someone who can wear sweet.

[dtp]

This was the first scent I tried, and I chose it because the description sounded amazing, and the gentle scent from the unopened imp smelled so good. However, as soon as I actually opened it, I suspected it wasn't going to work for me, and sadly I was right

 

Bottle: Wow! Very sweet, somewhat overpowering, and nothing like what I expected from the name, description, or the scent from the unopened imp. It takes me a while to place the scent, because it's one I'm unfamiliar with--it's that artificial grape flavour/scent that I associate with my childhood trips to Florida. I can't tell yet whether or not I actually like it, though. I'm hoping it will grow on me.

 

Wet: Grape, grape, grape. I love grapes, and I love fresh grape juice, and I love wine, but this scent is nothing like that. I'm still getting what I've come to think of as 'Orlando Mall'--I'm 10 years old again, it's my first trip to America, and my first encounter with this weird flavouring/scent that we don't have in England. It's kind of a nostalgic scent, but not something I'm sure I want to wear.

 

Dry: I was hoping this would mellow on the dry-down, but I was unlucky. The sweetness is a bit sickly and cloying on my wrist, and I get a tickle in my throat if I sniff it directly. However, it's a scent that I want to like, because it has nice associations, and I'm still hoping for the other notes to come through.

 

Later: This has very good staying power... which is sadly unfortunate, because I can still smell nothing but grape. After a few hours I have to wash it off, because it is just too sickly for me. A great shame.

 

I'm going to see if this works for my mum, and maybe try layering it with something that'll tone down the sickliness of the scent on me. If that doesn't work, it's going on the swap pile. Sorry, Lady Macbeth! You just don't work for me.

[dnipbhsw]

When this first touched my skin, I thought, "Grape popsicle!" It's a sweet, dark purple scent that is clean and refreshing. I think this would make a great summer scent. After a few minutes, I could detect a splash of red berries and a little bit of something warm and herbal, probably the thyme.

 

I like this on me, but I would LOVE it on my sister. She's into sweet, foody scents and I think she would adore this.

[sophia_helix]

Wet:

 

My brain goes "gaaaah, graaape" even though I know it's the redcurrant. I do not like grape.

 

Drydown:

 

Winey berries, kind of like Fortunato or Montresor. Not grabbing me. For purple-berry scents, I prefer the hint of sage in Bewitched.

[themerrybaker]

Lady MacBeth is way fruity-sweet for my tastes. This is type of scent that makes me leery of wine blends (Madrid was another). Lady M needs to find herself another castle.

[mountainwitch]

Ever since I tried Montresor and Black Tower--with disastrous results--I've been leery of red wine scents. Lilith, however, worked with my skin, and now I can add Lady Macbeth to that list too. This scent is very bright, sweet without being cloying, and just overall fresh and sparkling. It's not quite how I pictured the Lady Macbeth, even though I had a friend who claimed the saddest line in Shakespeare was, "The Queen, my lord, is dead." This Lady Macbeth is younger and brighter than how she's usually portrayed, but she is certainly still ambitious.

[edenssixthday]

Lady MacBeth was my first true BPAL disappointment. I instantly fell in love with the scent – sweet, fresh, fruity berries and currant with a hint of herbal goodness. Oh it was so lovely I couldn’t stop sniffing my wrists and breathing it in as deeply as I could. I don’t think that at the time, I had ever smelled anything so lovely. And then, 15 minutes later it was gone. So I re-applied it. And again, 15 minutes later it was gone. By the end of the day, I’d gone through the entire imp, and really hadn’t had more than a few minutes here and there of the pleasant scent. I gave up on it. Finally, after I purchased a scent locket, I picked up another imp and gave it a shot I the locket, and that gorgeous, sweet, herbal, juicy goodness hangs with me all day long now. It’s a fabulous scent when it’s not busy getting eaten up by my dry skin.

[bifemmefatale]

In the imp: Grape soda!

On: Grape soda! Fakey grape with a huge throw and a hint of blackberry behind it. Ack nonono, get it out of my house.

[TrailerTrashPrincess]

sniffed from the imp: thick and sickly sweet.

 

on skin: grape soda with a bit of jelly-filled-doughnut filling (not the pastry, just the goo)

 

i didn't expect to like this at all, but i do!

a red-purple kind of smell. very little throw, but pretty good staying power.