Love in the Asylum

[baygirl]

A song of love and madness: two roses, tolu balsam and ambergris with vanilla, labdanum, tobacco leaf, carnation and tonka.

I bought this last weekend at the Black Broom - it looked lonely sitting there with all the catalog scents. I'd debated & debated buying it when it was available online, and ultimately didn't get to it. Am I ever glad I got a chance at this one!

In the bottle is roses with something warm, probably the vanilla. On the skin it's mostly roses, mellowed out with vanilla & a tiny hint of carnation & tonka. The throw on this is amazing, as is the staying power. I applied it before 7am this morning & it's almost 10:30pm & it's still going strong. All day I kept getting these amazing whiffs & for half a second I thought "what is *that*??? " Oh yes, it's me!

[gingersnapp]

This is beautiful! Aside from Rose Red, I've had problems with other rose blends going funky and powdery on me, but this... this is the rose I wanted! It's rich and rosy, but spicy from the carnation. Other than those two notes, I don't have the expertise to identify the other notes, but there is a soft creamy spice laying underneath those two dominant notes. It could be the ambergris, it could be the tonka, it could be the tobacco leaf.

 

All I know is that I love this blend!!!

[Chas]

Love at first sniff! In the bottle it's tobacco and roses. On the skin it spends a moment as a sweet rose, before morphing into this luscious blend of roses and carnations. After a few minutes, something lightly fruity sneaks in to play with the carnations, but it's not overpowering.

 

This scent is lovely. It's sophisticated and feminine, and just a little bit sexy.

[darkwitch]

In the bottle I get spicy rose's, which I love!!!!!

Wet on the skin for the 1st minute burnt plastic, yewwwww, I don't like it.

But then the plastic disappers and I get the spicy roses back, after about an hour I get a very soft vanilla rose. It's a keeper as long as I don't smell it for the 1st minute!!!

[brownbear]

In the bottle this is a very lovely rose. I get a teeny tiny bit of the other notes hiding behind the rose.

 

Usually I do very well with rose scents, but this one my skin just amps the rose up sooooooooooo much. There's other rose scents that fit me better, so this will probably end up in a swap. oh well

[LunaSea]

Despite my poor track record with rose (it always seems to go to powder) I couldn't resist this blend based on the description and other notes. And, amazingly enough, the rose didn't turn to powder on me!

 

Unfortunately, the rose dominated all the other notes, and I have a strange prejudice against rose scents now, despite my love of the flowers. If the other notes would come out to play with the rose, I'd be happy, but as this is not the case, I fear Love in the Asylum is destined for a new home.

 

Cool, creepy label, however! (Or am I the only one who found it a touch creepy?)

[Em-]

I almost didn't order this because of the floralness of it, but the name and the Dylan Thomas and my growing love of tobacco/tonka bean combinations, plus vanilla threw me over the edge.

 

When I saw the incredibly awesome bottle, I figured I'd done the right thing.

 

When I sniffed the intreguingly spicy rose in the bottle, I thought I may ahve found a truly floral winner.

 

 

In the bottle, this is rose, but it is also what must be carnation and a hit of the other notes. It is richer than any other deep floral perfume I've ever smelled and I absolutely willed myself to love this.

 

On my wrists, it is all rose. I do not get any of the other notes. This is almost more rosy than Rose Red...but not as truly pure...there is a spicyness, but not anything distinctive.

 

This is a truly lovely blend, but it is not something that is really me, and I just cannot see myself wearing this enough to justify keeping this bottle. Sigh.

[Gin]

Holy rose! Or should I say, wholly rose? 'Cause that's what it is on me. There's a dash of spice--carnations--but it's pretty much straight-up rose.

[OdetteOdile]

This is more perfumey than I expected. Definitely floral, and not especially sweet.

I'm getting mostly roses, but they're sophisticated roses - roses wearing a dark Valentino suit. Deeply feminine in a traditional, old-school way.

But then there's a tiny, tiny bit of...flowers past their prime note... it's subtle. Hmmm...well now, that sophisticated, Valentino-suited, middle-aged lady is quietly having a nervous breakdown in the privacy of a very upscale mental institution.

 

There's something citrus under everything trying to be heard, but so far it's very faint. It almost reminds me of the citrus in several of the Panacea blends.

Cool, creepy label, however! (Or am I the only one who found it a touch creepy?)

Oh yeah. This is the best label I think I've ever seen on a BPAL bottle. It's deeply goth, in an understated, subtly scary way - like if you turn your head fast enough, you might catch something scary flickering in the shadows.

(For me, the picture strongly evokes the Dresden Dolls album.)

Edited August 29, 2005 by OdetteOdile

[tempete]

Hello, rose! My initial fears that Love in the Asylum will be a nothing-but-rose blend were unfounded, but it took a loooong time for the other notes to surface. First, the scent went through a gently smoky phase, and then finally dried down as vanilla- and tonka-sweetened resins.

 

Love in the Asylum ends up being really beautiful on my skin, but it takes too long to move away from the rose garden thing for my tastes. I'll hold onto one of my bottles, and will probably let the other go in a swap.

[Belladonnastrap]

First Sniff:

Ooh. Pomegranate? There's a dark fruity note in this that really smells good. A bit sweet, a bit tart. It smells a bit like Graveyard Dirt & Persephone had hot sticky sex.

 

Wet:

Hmm interesting. It smells like roses but there's something more. I can't quite put my finger on the other scent I'm gathering. It's not vanilla, but something incensy. Weird.

 

Drydown:

Rose. Which is lovely but I don't do very will with just pure rose scents on me. It's actually a bit of a crazy rose...it reminds me a lot of Psyche.

 

Aftermath:

A really yummy rose scent but ultimately not for me. Lacks the oomph I need :/

[slugbait]

Either roses love me or hate me. Either they smell beautiful or they say "hey, let's smell like we've been decaying in the sun for weeks!!!" So I worried about this one.

 

The label on the bottle is really neat. It looks like an asylum room with paint peeling on the walls, sunlight filtering through the windows. A tad depressing, but I like it. It sets the mood.

 

In the bottle, this smells like tea roses. It has a tinge of lemon in there, and tonka and tobacco beneath. Smells a little like vanilla.

 

On my skin, smells a little sour at first, then after a few mintes this turns into a smoky honeyed-rose. Yeah! It smells great. The citrus note is still there. This lasts for about an hour, and then the delicate honey fades. I'm left with a soft rose scent that lasts the rest of the day.

 

A definite keeper.

Edited August 30, 2005 by slugbait

[Scarlettfish]

This is just gorgeous. In the imp, it is a very rich, lush red rose scent. It doesn't change very much for me - it stays rich, deep red rose, with an underlying smokey, creamy base. I am starting to get some of the carnation now...I have had it on for about two hours. Gorgeous rose scent...I love it

[~AmusedMuse~]

My Impression:

This is the most awesome rose scent EVER... the sweet red wine and carnation round this out to be the lovliest of blends. It is a really super lovely scent that I will be hoarding and keeping. Congratulatons Beth, on a scale of 1-5....5

[sarada]

Along with Gypsy Queen and Queen of Clubs, Love in the Asylum is another fantastic example of how to make roses work on me. They each have something dark or smoky in them to keep it from being a headache-inducing sharp floral, and when roses work, they really work and come to life on my skin.

 

Other than the fact that I keep misreading "tolu balsam" as "tofu balsam" the other ingredients intrigued me as they suggest something smoky and sweet, which is a combo that has worked for me before. Predominantly a sweet rose, the tobacco makes this a sultry incense, and the perfect mad companion to Gypsy Queen, without the candle smoke.

 

It lasts and lasts on me, but it doesn't change much, which is fine since I like it so much to begin with. Rose, when coupled with amber, tobacco/smoke, resins, is a marvellous thing. Now I have three LE rose scents that I like enough to wear regularly, and another one or two in the catalogue. Lucky me!

 

ETA: I just need to fully express my love for this blend, which is becoming a favorite of mine as the weather turns toward fall. None of the catalogue rose blends quite capture this kind of smoky rose scent so I am going to have to hold on for dear life to this one. I am hoping and praying that something vaguely similar will enter the permanent collection, because I neeeeed roses and tobacco!

Edited September 20, 2005 by sarada

[jessamynit]

I must admit, I'm not big on poetry, or Dylan Thomas, but one of my favorite Cure songs is "Birdmad girl" and it was cool to figure out where that came from. it is a lovely poem!

I wish I liked the scent as much. it does have that "two, five and seven" rose which is nice but... well, what I'm finding is that so many of these scents are really nice but if I haven't fallen in love with it, why keep it?

 

still... I have a hard time letting go... I'll probably try again...

 

anyway, the rose is the strongest note on me, for sure.

 

edited to add that I LOVE it! it was obviously a lukewarm reaction at first but I find it more and more to be rosey, spicy goodness...

Edited September 3, 2005 by jessamynit

[Honeywhip]

I guess I lucked out, this was all spicy carnations and tobacco on me, alternating sharp and sweet, then eventually morphing into a warm, dark, comforting calm like a pipe full of Captain Black. Fantabulous.

 

For some odd, the label made me think of "The Yellow Wallpaper" by Charlotte Perkins Gilman, except in black and white, of course...all gloomy and claustrophobic. Very evocative.

[QueenFae]

When first applied I immediately smelled the roses, but they were fleeting. This is a magically morphing scent, a definite shapeshifter. After the roses, it goes fruity, almost berrylicious on me. Now an hour later, it has softened up to a lovely carnation and tonka bean. All together a very nice scent, perhaps not as hardcore as I had expected for Love in the Asylum, but a beautiful surprise all the same. Very pretty

[urraca]

This is a difficult scent for me to review because not only, as some have said, it is a morpher that changes while you wear it, it also changes on me from wearing to wearing.

 

This morning when I put it on I got a sweet rose with a little amber (amber-gris?) behind it that took turns with a green, leafy (as opposed to dried) tobacco scent. It dried down to a warm rosey-scented tonka/vanilla. It didn't have much throw but it did last a long time. Reapplying a little this afternoon to review it, I get a strong rose scent mixed with what must be the balsam, a slightly astringent scent that is a great foil for the sweet rose. I wonder what this will dry down to....

[tesao]

i've had both hits and misses with rose scents. rome, for example, delights me. so, although advertised with two roses as the first components, i was swayed:

 

1) only the lab could come up with a dylan thomas poem scent. and i LOVE him

 

2) there were other elements that i love: vanilla, tonka, carnation, tobacco.

 

in the bottle: sniffing, my skin tingled. rose, yes, but not forward rose. in front were green, dark, spicy smells. yes!

 

on my wrist, wet: rose, rose, rose. spicy rose, mind you, but rose.

 

drydown: rose, rose, rose, ROSE.

 

never a hint of the promise sniffed in the bottle. i have to say, though, that the rose itself actually worked for me, which is odd. pure rose has never worked on me. i'm guessing that even though i couldn't detect the other notes, they were there, nevertheless, working their suble magic on the blend.

 

so, i'll keep it and see if there are times when i want to feel surrounded by a heady garden of hybrid tea roses. i've never really had that luxury before.

[PurringPulsar]

Love in the Asylum

 

In the imp: sweet, 'honeyed' rose. Mmm, rose.

Wet on skin: oh, this is lovely. It's a sweetened, sugary rose. Like a fresh rose covered in vanilla sugar…and I detect some carnation comes creeping in.

Dry on skin: wow. This is beautiful! It's a light and crisp rose coupled with a deeper rose, with a profound sweetness from the vanilla and tonka, and possibly the balsam and ambergris, and also a nice soft spiciness from the carnation. It has similarities to Magdalene, Alice and Maiden, and yet, it is different, more complex…it's truly sublime. I can't even smell the tobacco here.

After a while: still predominantly rose-but then again, I love rose so that's a good thing. All the deep, sweet notes mingle and balance out, forming a lovely background for the rose. I think I can smell a hint of tobacco smoke, wafting gently without smelling overpowering. The scent becomes mellower and the rose seems to melt into the sweet vanilla-tonka-balsam-tobacco backdrop really nicely.

Verdict: I can't believe I never bought this. This is one of the loveliest rose scents out there. this is a rose sweetened by vanilla, with a little hint of carnation, and a host of other deep, sweet notes that make this a wonderful and complex rose fragrance. I was worried about the tobacco and the vanilla being of the 'evil' kind (ie it becomes cloying and too sweet on my skin), but in here I can hardly smell the tobacco-though it could account for the slight smokiness, and the vanilla blends in fantastically. The complex variety of scents eventually settles and becomes rounder and smoother in the drydown. I adore this scent and will be hunting a bottle down.

[Undine]

From Love in the Asylum I predominantly get a strong rose, green just like I like, but the other ingredients hold their own. I don't particularly smell the high green note I would expect from the ambergris--maybe it mixes in with the rose scent--, but the carnation's spice and the underlying sweetness of the labdanum (which I don't know from Adam, but I read that it smells like amber) come up, as well as, of course, the spicy vanilla of the tonka. I also read that tolu balsam has a vanilla-like smell.

 

I don't really know what distilled tobacco leaf smells like, especially if it was green tobacco leaf, but I do know the scent of a cigar so I can pick out the general idea. I suspect that is the most interesting note in this blend. It's kind of an uneasy scent to me, deeply sweetened by the vanilla scents but a little bitter and smoky. Sometimes I really like smoke, but not so much this one. Like cigars, perhaps it's an acquired taste.

 

On, this scent smells much like it does in the bottle. A green, strong rose with a vibrant undercurrent of deep, rich sweetness that takes a twisted turn. It's unsettling, perhaps partly because rose is a stereotypically pure, virginal, or even old-lady scent and this one is so unfamiliar backed by that bad-boy, uncomfortable tobacco scent. It's really perfectly named.

 

It's very nicely blended, but like Gypsy Queen, is not for me. I like scents that remind me of nature and natural places more than this one does. So, off to swaps or sale it goes.

[coulrophobe]

I almost didn't order this because of the roses, but then caved. Recently I've been having an uncharacteristic run of good luck with rose scents, so I was hopeful.

 

In the bottle: I can definitely smell the roses (uh oh...) and something else that's a bit sharp and green.

 

On: While the roses are the dominant note, they're not too out of control... I'm picturing quiet little pink roses, rather than loud obnoxious ones. As LitA dries down, I do catch little whiffs of other notes - a bit of carnationy spice here, a bit of powdery vanilla/benzoin there. But mostly this is a subtle rose scent.

 

It's not quite me, but I'm thankful the roses aren't out of control or too artificial smelling on me... and given my luck with most rose blends, that's pretty high praise!

[feline.by.design]

Love in the Asylum seems like a regular sort of rose scent. I hadn't actually expected so much rose, as in the bottle I seemed to catch whiffs of something I'd describe as "hospital scent," encompassing the sickly-sweet scent of whatever's used to clean and sterilize as well as preserve. That didn't come out on my skin, however.

 

Instead, I find Love in the Asylum to be a soft rose blend, a little on the powdery side. Looking back on the other reviews, coulrophobe's review pretty much matches my sentiments. It is a "subtle rose scent" and as it dries, I too catch whiffs of vanilla, but the primary note is the rose.

 

This would be lovely for posh events or for work for those of you who work in an environment where business dress is required. I'll hold onto my bottle for those rare occasions a gentle rose fragrance is appropriate. However, I don't see myself using it much as a mid-twentysomething who wears jeans to work, school and out-and-about. I can't think of the last time I wore a dress, embarassingly enough.

 

I almost wish this was a "me" scent, as the person Love in the Asylum is suited for is someone very delicate and feminine who is opt to enjoy the finer things while maintaining a twinge of sadness in her heart.

 

-doreen

[ShadowMaat]

Dunno why, but for me it smells like roses steeped in alcohol. Or maybe it's just the intoxicating effect of the roses. It's a lovely, light scent with just a hint of madness underneath to keep it interesting. Definitely a keeper.