Belladonna

[JuliskaMarie]

The devil’s herb, which he cultivates with skill and pleasure. According to lore, the spirit of this plant may take the form of a breathtaking, achingly beautiful woman, deadly to behold. This scent is a tribute to such a dark and magnificent plant: a rich green and floral blend, earthy and haunting.

 

In the imp: Mysterious herbs, I think there's some Eucalyptus in here, & a bit of dirt. The oil is such a pretty shade of green!

Wet on skin: Yeah, there's Eucalyptus in here! I'm honestly not sure what else, because that's dominating quite impressively right now! I think there's some pine needles in the background?

Dry on skin: Pine needles. Some Eucalyptus. There's some other herbs in the background, but they're fairly hidden at this point!

After a few hours: Almost all gone now. This wasn't very exciting on me. I was expecting a much more herbal scent, but it was pretty much just pine & Eucalyptus.

Verdict: It was boring on my husband too, so off to the swap pile it goes!

[Lunasariel]

In the imp: Industrial-strength bathroom cleaner, like you would smell in recently-cleaned rest stop bathrooms on the I-5. Uh-oh, this does not bode well.

 

Wet: ...Wow, even worse. Now it's industrial strength bathroom cleaner sprayed around an I-5 rest stop bathroom in a futile attempt to cover up the underlying funk. Not quite sure yet, but I think I may have finally found the very first scent I have to scrub off... EDIT: Glad I didn't scrub it off after all! After enduring trucker-poop stink for about 15 minutes, it metamorphoses into the promised earthy-floral blend, albeit heavier on the former than the latter. I still wouldn't call this 100% a winner, but any improvement is still improvement, right?

 

Dry: A faint medicinal-chemical smell. Still on the lower end of "meh." I'm tempted to age this for a good long while and see if it goes anywhere, but, eh, my aging box is getting pretty full, while my swaps box still needs some love, so to the swaps it goes!

[Veronica]

Deep, mossy dark green floral. Earthy and wet and spiced. Not for me.

[freyasfae]

This is very woodsy on me actually - there's a lot more than just green and floral on me, and it definitely has a malicious tinge to it.

[roseus]

Wet this is astringent and extremely bitter. But dry the eucalyptus develops. I can also smell dirt, something dark and green, as well as a floral. Not my thing.

[Convallaria]

The opening is sharply herbal and medicinal - I can almost smell acetone in first few seconds. It rounds up to a more moderate herbal concoction later on, eventually going sweet. Personally, I've hoped it would have remained more sharp, if not borderline "unpleasant". The drydown reminds me of a sunscreen. Not very long lasting and mostly stays close to the skin.

Edited September 1, 2016 by Convallaria

[Casablanca]

Freshly applied, Belladonna's dark, sappy green smell at first reminds me of hemlock, and of conifers generally, which I wasn't expecting from its description. I figured it would smell deciduous and floral with maybe some earth. But it smells like when I trim the evergreen cover bushes in front of my house -- that intensely green-smelling, sticky, sappy stuff they put out when cut.

Belladonna doesn't change much on me, moving from a sharp evergreen to a softer one over time. It smells wintery. I like it, but I have other forest and evergreen blends.

[Mermaid-on-Land]

Ok so when I apply it, it's super herbal and sharply medicinal. A couple minutes in, the berry note comes out and... nope. Ick. It goes straight to a mix of cherry and grape cough syrup. Ack, not for me. I generally like dark berryish scents. I've never gotten this reaction with cherry or any other berry note. Hmm, I dk, my skin REALLY does not get along with this one. The throw was average and it didn't last super long, The description doesn't mention berries so I'm not too sure where that impression came from, but I hate cough syrup so I just couldn't enjoy this one despite the cool name and description :/

[Beary Strange]

In the imp and wet: smells like vapor rub and herbs, very medicinal and strong

Dry: basically the same as wet, except maybe a bit less strong but not by a lot; I never get any berries or fruits, just straight up eucalyptus/vapor rub/ some sort of sports cream

 

The description doesn't lie, it's green--just not the right kind of green for me.

[gloame]

This scent is so green! It’s a wonderful spring/summer scent with a lovely balance of new growth and the earth that growth came from. Smells like laying in a garden. I would wear when I want to feel more connected to nature and it’s sunny out.

 

ETA Where I'd wear it: When I need to feel more connected to the earth

Edited July 16, 2017 by gloame

[lizabelle]

Very dark green and spicy, in a camphorous sort of way. It doesn't remind me of pine, exactly, but it feels related. There's a sort of black pepper edge to it that makes it feel very masculine to me; I get no floral notes out of this at all, so there's nothing to soften up the harsh green character. It also has almost no throw on me, so I'm thinking something here just doesn't like my chemistry.

Edited May 17, 2017 by lizabelle

[achildoftime]

It just straight up smells like a jungle. It's lush, green, and waxy. But kind of like vicks vapo rub. Just a hint though. It doesn't bother me as the plants and vegetation more than make up for it. I kind of really like it and as a bonus it cleared up my sinuses without being really harsh. So I really can't complain. It wasn't really what I was expecting, but I'll take it!

[Soupy Twist]

Black pepper and juniper. Like Pottaskefill jumped into a pine tree. Pass. So much of the Garden line hasn't worked for me, and the only one I was really fond of, Squirting Cucumber, is DC.

[doomsday_disco]

In the imp: Lots of evergreen!

 

Wet: Yep, this is very coniferous on me. I get something rooty behind that, a bit of spice (pepper?), and after a few minutes, a floral aspect emerges. There’s a waxiness to the scent, too.

 

Dry: This ends up becoming much earthier. It’s like evergreen, pepper, and patchouli, with the floral aspect still lingering in the background? The evergreen note smells like a dried out tree after a few hours. I think there may be a hint of berry, but it’s difficult to tell as it is so light by this point!

 

Verdict: I can’t see myself reaching for Belladonna, but it’s more pleasant than I thought it would be, and I’m glad that I got to try it.

[torischroeder9]

In the imp: Deep, green, and complex. Herbal, bitter, dirt, and mint. 

 

On my skin:

 

Wet, there is a note that's almost like menthol or eucalyptus and another that calls to mind vetiver. As it dries, I get notes that smell like pine and citrus cleaners but do start to settle down toward a more natural evergreen scent. As it develops and unfurls on my skin, it loses a bit of evergreen freshness and sharpness, and another note -- musty and almost musky -- appears. I have to admit, this new note is a little like stale body odor. 

 

The body odor element does not fade. If anything, it becomes more distinct. If it had stayed more evergreeny, I probably could have found an occasion for it. But this is just not meshing well with me. 

[Permanent.Black.Ink.]

Belladona ABSOLUTELY requires a skin test with a full dry down, like 20-30 minutes.  She is like a kid who sneaks out of the house with a different set of clothes stored in her backpack--there's a whole other situation here, and you need to wait around to get to witness it.  

In bottle: very medicinal

Wet on skin: wet upturned dirt and fresh green plants

dry on skin: freshly cut grass

 

On me this one will stay for about 6-8 hours with low throw.  I feel very comfortable even wearing it to work during super hot FL days.

[IoPan]

Belladonna:

 

In the bottle: Herbal and green with a hint of something citrusy-sweet. Maybe bee balm?

 

Wet: Herbaceousness quickly gives way to camphoraceous/Vick’s Vap-o-Rub smell.

 

Dry: Lavender, rosemary, sharp/heavy herbs. Still a note of Vick’s but it’s less strong.

 

After 30 minutes: Vanished entirely on me at about 20 minutes.

 

[fairybites]

Very green and herbal, I believe there's a faint dirt note in here as well and a touch of spice. The spice and green notes, especially the eucalyptus, were very strong when first applied, but now that it's going away I'm getting the dirt and spice.

 

Fades quickly and I'm not a big fan of green scents. Will be passing this along, but was glad to try it.

[Honey]

This blend starts out very camphorous and green. Sharp, biting, grabbing your attention!

 

During drydown, it mellows out quite a lot.

There is still camphor and pine, and maybe some other green notes that blend into this herbal concoction.

It reminds me strongly of tiger balm or any traditional bath salt or sauna additive.

There is a woody undertone that comes out the more the blend dries down - nevertheless, it's not really my kind of scent.