Ephemera

[reverdy]

The scent of loss, love and the echo of time without end: sorrowful violet and chamomile with muguet, white geranium, calla lily and tea rose with a hint of autumn leaves.

In the imp it's a light, floral scent. On me the violet comes out very strongly and I can't pick out much else. Still, I love violet, so I'm really fond of this one. Decent throw and wear length too.

[hushmesilent]

Ephemera is sooo lonesome and sad.

 

Ephemera is standing on a lone, deserted road as the gold and red leaves fall slowly, one at a time. It is feeling the cool, but not uncomfortable breeze on your arms when you should have worn something heavier. It is knowing that it's not going to be okay, but you're going to live. It's saying goodbye for the last time, jumping ship before the ship goes down.

 

Very, very meaningful with me. Fades to crisp autumn leaves.

[gchris]

In Vial: Stinks, smells like old perfume

 

Wet: Wow, totally different now. Smells light, gently sweet.

 

Later: This is a strong perfume. Smells like aged perfume that has been sitting too long.

[kizery]

Ephemera was among the first BPAL scents I tried! Here's what I wrote at the time:

Smells heavily herbal in the imp. Wet: Smells like mint tea and lilies. I think I smell the chamomile. Very pleasant, in fact, this is the only scent so far that I feel really positive about. I can’t smell the violet at all. Dry-down: sweet florals, chamomile. The rose is starting to predominate and it’s still slightly minty. This scent makes me feel tingly and happy even though it’s “the scent of loss.” I was never good with interpretations . Later, Ephemera has taken on a very soft floral smell. Hours later: now it's kind of irritating and musty . Oh, well. I’ll still keep the imp and see if that mustiness keeps happening. It's worth it, for the lovely first few hours of wearing.

[Lyrical]

In vial: a sweet, pale floral.

 

Wet on skin: it immediately becomes richer and deeper, although still light. I can smell violet and chamomile, and yes, autumn leaves!

 

Dry on skin: it's an odd mix of herbs and garden flowers. Not unpleasant, but not something I'd wear. Short wear length and not much throw.

[XShear]

Ah, sweet, soft florals ... why don't you work on me? The tea rose and the violet are poking through the most. However, my nose can't stand florals, no matter how hard I wish they would. *sigh* Lovely though - for someone else.

[taramarie]

Ephemera certainly lives up to its name. On me, it's muguet and calla lily with a little bit of tea rose and maybe a hint of violet. It's so light that it's hard to be certain. I like it, don't get me wrong, but I don't see myself wearing it often.

[MeiLin]

In the imp: Violet and...pineapple?! Seriously, I smelled candied pineapple in there...

 

Wet: A lovely, soft, sweet violet, rich but not heavy.

 

Dry: Violet and muguet, tea rose, and at the very back, the dry leaves and a little geranium. Really one of the loveliest of BPAL's violet scents. This is not an everyday scent; it reminds me of dressing up and having some place fancy to go to. If it were the 40s, I'd wear this out on the town for cocktails and a dinner show, then romantic dancing afterwards. Something you wear with furs, an evening gown, and a hat with a veil. I'll have to see what Sir thinks.

[savage_rose]

This is so lily on me, with a hint of everything else. This is a "muslin curtained, sun streaming through a proper Southern window in a proper Southern parlor, many decades ago" kind of scent. It's such a light, sweet floral fragrance, very young and sweet. Very pretty.

[plunderparlour]

This is a delicate, feminine scent. On wet the rose really jumps out. dry this is a nice floral but it doesn't last long on me. Maybe I should put more on next time.

[Iceblink]

A light, light, light floral. And it's not turning to soap! This is very delicate and pretty. Not much throw but would be great for someone who likes their perfume to be a whisper instead of a scream.

[Cereus]

In the bottle calla lily blended seamlessly with violets. A second pass of this at a later time was more tea rose and chamomile.

 

Wet a faint hint of green peeking from under the white flowers.

 

The violet becomes slightly more prominent as it dries, but this is so well blended that I'm not sure I would pick out all the individual notes without a reminder. I get the lightest powdery note an hour or so after drydown, but I know that's how the Lab's chamomile behaves on my skin. It's actually quite complimentary and finally coaxes out the leafy note.

 

This is floral but not too sweet, and this coming from some one who doesn't handle sweet scents well. The geranium lends a bit of a perfume tang but not an offensive one. This has a bit more throw than most of the oils I've tried, but I suspect that stems from violet's way with my chemistry.

 

I think this would be a lovely scent for spring or daytime formal events.

 

Edit to add: I just realised some of this got into my hair, and it smells fantastic!

Edited September 14, 2008 by Cereus

[Gwydion]

In bottle: Rich and almost cloying, weirdly alcoholic. I think the combination of violet and autumn leaves is confusing to my nose. Given the notes, I have opted not to skin test.

[neddykapoozle]

Lovely, lovely, lovely.

Lily and muget and violet and chamomile and yummy light florals. VERY light on me, wistful.

I don't wear my imp much, but my teddy bear is dabbed with Ephemera quite frequently and he smells absolutely wonderful!

I might have to get another imp to keep scenting him with.

[femmefatale]

At first it's mostly violet an rose with just a hint of lily. No autumn leaves. Still, it's very pretty and very light. This is definitely an up close and personal scent.

 

As pretty as it is, it's not really me and I'm really trying to only keep the ones I know I will wear and love.

[tinyvulture]

Creamy, white, slightly fruity muguet (lily of the valley)and deep violet are the main floral notes I can make out in this sweet, sad bouquet. The rose is completely gone, and I can’t smell the autumn leaves either. I was really hoping for them! Soft, pretty and wistful, but not my style – off to swaps.

[Coldfire]

 

 

 

Imp: hmmm muguet and tea rose and geranium.

Wet on Me: WOAH sour geranium and rose.

Very old lady-ish

Drying Down: very musty geranium and rose.

But I am amping rose in a bad way

Dry: sorry…no love for me on this. Turned to air-

freshener rose on me. I wish…but no joy in mudville.

 

[Argentwolf]

Oh goodness, this is absolutely gorgeous. This is my first time smelling violet so intently, and it is really, really lovely. This scent lasted all day, lingering particularly in my clothes, letting me fancy myself to be an exquisite, delicate, highly-feminine creature. Another one to add to my list of favorites.

[Mousesong]

I wish I could tell you what ephemera smelled like on me, but no sooner were the words "OMG THIS IS AMAZI--" out of my mouth then I managed to spill the entire imp on the carpet.

 

So: on the carpet, ephemera is lovely, light, and paaaale pale white with pearlescent touches of pink and blue, if that makes sense. I am not good with notes, more general impressions. This is what feathers SHOULD smell like, instead of smelling, to be honest, rather bad.

 

I couldn't say what the staying power was like on a person, but my room smelled pretty strongly of it for quite some time. I have a cat with rotting teeth and even when she was grooming herself by my head I could smell ephemera: that's a powerful statement of strength in a smell.

[awesomeoverlord]

In the imp, I get a nice blend of florals -- wet, DISH SOAP! On drydown, it mellows out to a more perfumey floral (I can detect some of the lily, especially) dishsoap, but it's eau de palmolive, nonetheless

[binkin]

In the imp, it smells like florals and... something else. On my skin, wet, it's quite the same way.

 

While drying down, it has one hell of a throw and some aspect of it made me think "old lady perfume." There's something heavy and sweet about it.

 

Once it's dry I like it although my skin seems to amp the violet and rose to the exclusion of all the other notes, which means it's not especially interesting on my skin, sadly. It does remind me of indolent hot summer days in a formal garden, which means I'll be trying it again when it's warmer to see if I like it more at that time.

[WidgetAlley]

Frimp from the Lab. It will be soap, because it has rose in it, but I will try everything once!

 

Imp: Chamomile tea! And muguet, and lily, and violet. It's really quite pretty, a soft floral, but with an herbal twist. Smells like a lovely springtime tea.

 

Wet: Violet, violet, violet, Grandma's old perfume. Then the chamomile comes out and tones it down a bit. Then the tea rose, and guess what? It smells like soap. Further away from my wrist I get the muguet, which is actually a floral I really like, but here it's kind of ruined by all the SOAP. I'm shocked that the geranium isn't making me sick-- geranium and lemongrass oils both tend to make me nauseous.

 

Dry: The best chamomile soap on the market, which would be great in the shower but not so much on my wrists. I'll pass, thanks!

[ephemera]

This is my namesake, I wanted to love it. (Beth did not create this for me, I should elaborate there.) But the lilies and the rose and the violet… this was all florals and those do lousy on my skin, sadly.

[magikalbrownies]

i smell like palmolive for my dishwasher...

 

 

or ariel laundrey detergent...

 

no.

[Caerphilly]

In the imp: Not really what I was expecting. This is almost all lilies with something light and sweet. The Chamomile, I think. No rose or violets, which is why I got the imp in the first place. I still like it though.

 

Wet: Light and sweet. Smells like a generic floral. Pretty, and it's just right for my taste, but I've smelled so many similar scents like this one that I'm not thinking anything special about this one.

 

Dry: Soap and fades to nothing. This really was a nasty strong soap smell for two or three minutes, and then couldn't smell anything at all. Sad, I liked the beginning.

 

Overall:This sounded pretty. It just didn't work on me. It's definitely lily that turns to soap on me, I know now. I love lilies and especially lily of the valley, but they hate my skin chemistry. Alas, I cannot wear this.