Dreamland

[lorajc]

DREAMLAND

By a route obscure and lonely,
Haunted by ill angels only,
Where an Eidolon, named NIGHT,
On a black throne reigns upright,
I have reached these lands but newly
From an ultimate dim Thule -
From a wild clime that lieth, sublime,
Out of SPACE - out of TIME.

Bottomless vales and boundless floods,
And chasms, and caves, and Titan woods,
With forms that no man can discover
For the tears that drip all over;
Mountains toppling evermore
Into seas without a shore;
Seas that restlessly aspire,
Surging, unto skies of fire;
Lakes that endlessly outspread
Their lone waters - lone and dead, -
Their still waters - still and chilly
With the snows of the lolling lily.

By the lakes that thus outspread
Their lone waters, lone and dead, -
Their sad waters, sad and chilly
With the snows of the lolling lily, -
By the mountains- near the river
Murmuring lowly, murmuring ever, -
By the grey woods,- by the swamp
Where the toad and the newt encamp -
By the dismal tarns and pools
Where dwell the Ghouls, -
By each spot the most unholy -
In each nook most melancholy -
There the traveller meets aghast
Sheeted Memories of the Past -
Shrouded forms that start and sigh
As they pass the wanderer by -
White-robed forms of friends long given,
In agony, to the Earth - and Heaven.

For the heart whose woes are legion
'Tis a peaceful, soothing region -
For the spirit that walks in shadow
'Tis - oh, 'tis an Eldorado!

But the traveller, travelling through it,
May not - dare not openly view it!
Never its mysteries are exposed
To the weak human eye unclosed;
So wills its King, who hath forbid
The uplifting of the fringed lid;
And thus the sad Soul that here passes
Beholds it but through darkened glasses.

By a route obscure and lonely,
Haunted by ill angels only,
Where an Eidolon, named NIGHT,
On a black throne reigns upright,
I have wandered home but newly
From this ultimate dim Thule.

The shadowy, fitful scent of nightmare, rife with ill-omen: osmanthus and tuberose over pulsating, heated skin musk, spiked carnation, night phlox and vesper iris.

I will attempt a short reveiw, however, this is very light on me and my sinuses are not cooperating very well. I put this on my wrist an hour or so ago and it is so faint that I can barely detect it (another scent I hope will strengthen with aging). Maybe after slathering this on, I'll have a different opinion though. I can only detect a very tiny bit of carnation in this in a tiny base of *very light* musk. I'm totally ignorant to vesper iris and tuberrose. I've smelled osmanthus and night phlox before in blends and I can slightly detect them blending in with the musk and carnation, but again it is faint. There is not one signle note that is loud in this blend and no one single note takes the lead. It is very smooth and well blended. This is very understated. If you don't like wearing "perfumey" blends, this is your blend. If you want to wear perfume and don't want to make a statement, this is your blend.

[Macha]

Label:

 

I must admit that I wrote my review, looked up at Lorajc's and wondered if we had someone gotten switched bottles. But I don't think we have...so I'm going to shrug and chalk it up to different impressions and different skin chemistry.

 

In the bottle: Gardenia. Wait...no, that's tuberose. But it's strong tuberose. Not that there's anything wrong with that. Just means this is sweet, floral, and strong enough to kick a nymphs' ass.

 

Wet, on skin: Ooops, I think I used too much. Again, I look up at the first review and wonder if I'm losing my mind. I like to think I used a moderate amount of BPAL in application -- not quite hugely slathering, but certainly not a single dab. And this was definately too much. That strong floral tuberose I smelled in the bottle does not lighten on me, but is simply joined by the spicy carnation and iris. It's heady, euphoric, intoxicating, impossible to ignore.

 

Dry, on skin: Many hours after application, this becomes a delectable floral musk. Did I mention staying power? Incredible staying power. It's absolutely divine at this stage.

 

Conclusion: I really wish I could give something more useful. Is this going to be light and wistful on you or heady and thick? I suspect it will depend on personal skin chemistry and whether or not your personal chemistry amplifies certain flowers. Either way, it's a pretty perfume -- although in my case I'm going to use far less of it than I usually do. I'm highly amused that Lorajc and I came up with reviews that were, in essence, completely opposite -- just goes to show how different interpretations of the same perfume can be.

[Thorne]

Clean, sweet florals. The phlox give this blend a spingtime feel. It's a little like a pale, fresh version of Pink Moon. I'm not getting any tuberose at all, but I can smell a tiny bit of carnation, which keeps this from going into sweet floral overload.

 

There's a hint of the musk coming through as it dries, but I would agree that this is a light blend (although it smelled quite strong in the bottle to me). I think this is the same "skin musk" from Buck Moon. Quite lovely, calming and fresh.

 

I did use a small dab, so it's possible this is a lot stronger when more is applied.

[coulrophobe]

In the bottle: a very light, creamy-white floral scent.

 

On: Ditto. To me, this smells like a lighter version of gardenia; I'm guessing that's the tuberose? When I was young we had a gardenia plant in the house, and when it bloomed, this was the smell that wafted through the house (if smelled directly it was extremely strong and pungent, but just catching a whiff of it on the breeze, it was quite pleasant).

 

Definitely a night-time floral; there's a soft, dreamy quality to it. Like several of previous reviewers, I find this to be very light and understated. Another one to put away until spring, perhaps. Or... since I'm not finding the nightmare-laden description very fitting for this quiet, feminine scent, maybe I'll try it as a sleep blend.

[Lycanthrope]

Comes on strong, goes out dreamy, creamy, and all-so softly into a thrum of tasty, exotic musk mixed with faint florals. This skin musk that's listed as a scent brings to mind Coyote, of all blends, except that this blend starts off with a powerful chorus of white florals blended with a nutty, earthy scent, possibly sandalwood. Mid-drydown I'm catching a lightly grassy aroma and it goes through a phase where it resembles the sweetgrass-musk of Coyote and Scarecrow, then passes into a deliciously creamy musk that lingers, hints and touches of the tuberose and other sweet florals whispering in the background.

 

Grounding, very much so.

[olympia301]

 

One of the prettiest of the LE's I have tried from this Halloween update. It strongly reminds me of the enchanting "ghost" note I love so much in House of Night. There has to be some element common to the two. It started off as a floral blend which I had to take note of, whether it was for admiration or shock remained to be determined. Gradually that intensely beautiful symphony started to bring home the theme of the blend and I was under its spell.

 

It is indeed House of Night without the greenery surrounding the grief. Dreamland is a gorgeous blend full of passion and staying power. It can be slightly cloying but if you like heavy scents with excellent throw and long staying power, investigate Dreamland and love it while it is obtainable. It is indeed a floral but the sum of the parts is executed flawlessly so it becomes a new and exotic flower which has never been planted before. You won't say "tuberose!" or "Rose!" or "Gardenia!" but you will say fabulous floral because the Lab has seamlessly woven their scents together to form a new entity.

[shelldoo]

in the bottle: musky, powdery, slightly floral

 

wet: floral, i wish i knew just which one, it isn't the carnation, it isn't the tuberose, it does remind me a bit of gardenia. and there is a hint of muskiness

 

as it dries, this is a soft pillow on a bed of flowers. for me the skin musk is the most obvious note, but not in an obnoxious way, the flowers are wrapped arund the musk. but it is almost impossible to discern where one flower begins and another ends. it is like a hybrid, is beth doing cross pollinization at the lab?

 

i wouldn't say i would be the poster girl for soft, light, etheral florals. but this one i would wear. it is beautiful, wistful, and a touch of longing all poured into a beautiful bottle w/ a gorgeous lable.

[Little Bird]

I really expected to hate this one, being that white florals pretty much always give me a migraine. But it's such a light and soft floral that it doesn't really bother me. The drydown is powdery and reminds me of the carnation scented dusting powder that my grandmother used to wear. That floral powder note is mixing with a lovely creamy musk too. Musk usually doesn't work on me, but this is a wonderful creamy scent that is clinging to my skin.

 

I don't think that I'll need a full bottle of this one, but I definitely will be keeping my decant. This is a very classic girlie sort of perfume on me. Very light and pretty

[UltraViolet]

4

 

In the bottle

Lovely carnation, musk and iris is what I smell primarily.

The last reviews of the evening were nearing as my nose announced and it was between four more DIMV blends to end for the night, I chose Dreamland of the 4 left because quite simply it was the prettiest smelling in the bottle of the 4.

 

On

It's like "Eos" (the warm skin part without the jasmine) and "Amsterdam" (that fresh water and young green grasses thing) mixed with carnation and subtley sweet phlox.

Love it.

Waaaay better than "Maiden" for a carnation blend for me, because it's got a touch of sweetness whereas Maiden is pretty straightlined for me in that regard.

 

30 minutes

It's gotten a touch muddier on me but nothing heinous. It's still a beautiful scent that I would wear, maybe even at night before sleep.

 

Throw:

average

 

Scent category:

Floral/Animalistic

 

Summary

This is a cross between a fresh floral, and a sweet soft and powdery floral with the scent of warm musk. And it works beautifully. There is one note in here that gives it that push towards a blend of "fitful scent of nightmare, rife with ill-omen" and I think it's the osmanthus. There is also a subtle creaminess about this blend.

It's not too strong of a floral for you folks who don't like strong florals, an it's not cloyingly sweet for those who are leery of those.

And you fresh floral folks like Cupide will like this I think. It also has good staying power.

 

Purchase again?

Yes

 

1-5 rating (5 being best)

4

 

Edited November 28, 2005 by UltraViolet

[graycat]

I really expected to hate this one, being that white florals pretty much always give me a migraine. But it's such a light and soft floral that it doesn't really bother me.

 

wow, you where lucky. i will sometimes put a little on at night before bed and i find that i get a deeper sense of the smell. well, 3.45 in the morning i'm running to get my imitrex. way to floral and clean for me. i'm scared just to open the bottle now and see if i can pick out any notes. silly head!

 

damn, i have never smelled a good true to life osmanthus yet. i'll just have to go out into my yard to do that i guess....

[clover]

Dreamland

 

Sniffing from the imp: Dang! That's some strong tuberose.

 

Upon application: The tuberose is by far the strongest note in this blend on me. I may be able to detect just a hint of sweaty carnation, but that's it.

 

After a few minutes: Even though the tuberose is strong, it's such a sweet floral that this smells very innocent to me - the kind of floral perfume you would put on a little girl to wear.

 

A few minutes after that: The other florals make a hint of an appearance, crystallizing the scent ever so slightly. It's very sweet and pretty.

 

I don't get any of the musk at all - UNTIL: I tried this on last night, and when I woke up this morning I could still smell it on my wrists. It had dried down to that same powdery sweet scent that all blends that have white musk in them dry down to on me - Fae, Alice, Dorian. So it's there, it's just soft - holding the scent in place.

 

Conclusion: Understated, sweet and innocent. Not something I would wear all of the time, but which would be perfect in certain situations.

[tempete]

After The Haunted Palace, I was most excited for Dreamland, because I love iris, carnation and skin musk. Of course, those are the notes that I pick up least from this scent...

 

I get a strong hit of iris right after application, and then it vanishes almost instantly. Nooooo, come back! The iris note has been stomped into submission by a creamy tuberose note, which I normally like in small doses. Then the skin musk twined with a faint floral note takes over for a while, and this is the stage that I like the most. Eventually, however, a powdery floral note (phlox?) pushes the musk aside and Dreamland ends on a very floral note.

 

I think that I would have liked this better if the skin musk note was more prominent on me for a longer stretch of the scent's evolution, but since Dreamland was largely florals on me, I doubt that I'll be keeping the decant.

Edited November 1, 2005 by tempete

[aidenraine]

Wow, this is a scent that gets sucked into my skin if I ever smelled one. I doused it on my wrist and I can barely smell anything.

 

Something vaguely green, a very faint floral, a touch of sweetness.

 

Where did this go?

 

I guess I do faintly smell iris and tuberose.

I just slathered more on and still nothing.

 

*shrug*

[Loligo]

There's a WHOA FLORAL note at the beginning -- I'm not sure which flower it is. But for me this quickly settles into something quite similar to Dragon's Musk, a sweet, heavy musk with a warm, almost spicy floral component.

[Heavenlyrabbit]

Lovely, light bouqet of flowers. Again, I sense the removed, akashic quality floating throughout all of the Poe florals.

 

The carnation plays well with others, a first from BPAL's carnation which usually screams SPICE on my skin thus drowning out all other voices.

[PurringPulsar]

Dreamland

In the imp: fresh, moist, watery flowers. Gorgeous.

Wet on skin: the floral note gets fuller and sweeter…

Dry: this is lovely! This is a cool, fresh, moist floral scent. I can definitely smell iris in this, and possibly a little bit of carnation and tuberose too. These are dew covered and fragile blooms, it’s like smelling real flowers after a spring rain shower, but with a hint of powder as well. It’s quite beautiful. I hope the musk comes through soon.

After a while: this gets more and more powdery, but that’s not a bad thing at all. This a good powdery scent-almost dusty, pale, ghostly, wispy, the scent of faded flowers. I think I can just make out the musk, but it’s a very subtle musk, for now anyway. The moist iris really reminds me of another BPAL with iris, can’t remember what though.

At the end, I get the sweetness of phlox coming through.

Verdict: this is another ethereal and haunting Poe themed perfume, a dusty, pale, light floral scent-quite fresh, moist, dewy and clean. A soft springtime scent, flowers kissed by raindrops, which then becomes a powdery-white, cool, airy scent. It’s a lovely scent, but I’m not sure if I want a bottle. Will keep the decant though!

[Scarlettfish]

God, this is beautiful. I love the Poe collection. On me, this is a spicy floral and musky blend. In the bottle and on the skin, the musk jumps out at me, but upon drydown it becomes the most gorgeous carnation floral scent, with a hint of skin musk. It doesn't smell like I'm wearing perfume, if that makes any sense - it feels like I'm naturally emitting a gorgeous floral smell. It really suits the name, too - it's kind of dreamy, fitfu land refreshing all at once.

 

Absolutely adore this

[Northernminx]

So soft it was barely there on me, this was a soft, sweet and light floral that my skin just absorbed at an enormously fast rate. I never really had the chance to figure it out as it simply was so light and wispy (and pretty) that it kind of evaporated. Stupid chemistry.

[lookingglass]

Sweet, light, fruity floral, with enough musk to make it seems as if my body could really just smell like this naturally. It is clean, refreshing, while not being soapy or aquatic. I'll keep it for Spring...

Edited November 14, 2005 by lookingglass

[AlaskaSnows]

Wet: All fruity osmanthus with a light background of tuberose.

 

Dry: A spicier floral, warm, a sort of low calm background smell close to the skin.

[cupide430]

And you fresh floral folks like Cupide will like this I think. It also has good staying power.

 

I love that April name-checked me in her review. And for that, I was very excited to try Dreamland. Unfortunately it didn't work on me quite as well as I hoped. It was an almost air-freshenery strong floral at first. A lot of Tuberose. As it dries, it does calm down a bit and loses the air freshener vibe. What I'm left is Amsterdam with an extra shot or two of something stronger and more heady. I do appreciate this blend, but it isn't quite my flavor of floral. I've found a lot of the DiMV florals to have a similar headiness and sweetness that just doesn't work for me.

Edited November 17, 2005 by cupide430

[sookster]

this blend is absolutely gorgeous

 

a very sweet and musky floral and the carnation is heavenly ...

a whisper of spice

 

i did a side by side comparison and this blend has something

quite similar to the notes in buck moon.....

 

astonishingly long lasting on me is always a plus

 

love this!!!

[walkingundine]

In the bottle: Crisply floral, a little spicy. I think that's carnation. It's pink but not in a bad way.

 

Wet: It's oddly smooth, and I detect a rich sort of note that reminds me of Utrennyaya- bits of gold in with the pink and flowers.

 

Drydown: This is so mild and nice. I have a wicked migraine, so anything that smells of anything should be nauseating- but it's not! It's calm, and comfortable, and really clean.

 

In sum: I don't think I've ever been so happy to smell like a girl.

 

Throw: Mild.

 

Staying power: I predict several hours.

 

EDITED 12/14

I've now tried Dreamland several more times, and I like it more and more. In drydown, I definitely discern the same super-sexy musk note that's in La Petite Mort- it's sort of dark and golden both at once. The Lab description references nightmares, but I tell you, I put this on and sleep like a baby. It's my new wear-while-sleeping scent. I wake up in the morning with my wrist crammed up against my nose.

Also: Over time I'm finding the pink floral note to be less crisp, and more plush. It's discernably a fresh-petals scent rather than a distilled-whole-flower scent.

As a total picture, it is still quite girly, but it's somewhere between very clean and innocent and very very dirty and wicked.

Edited December 14, 2005 by walkingundine

[k00kaburra]

In bottle: Frail, delicate, and delightful. It's like a rainbow in a bottle, with every whiff a different color in the spectrum. There's a very transient quality that truly makes this a dreamy fragrance. It's fruity at the moment, but with definite white floral and perhaps an aquatic influence.

 

On me: Maybe gardenia? Definitely some white floral that's creamy and lovely; actually it may very well be tuberose, when I think about it. It's also somewhat salty, so I do think some aquatic note has been tossed in. I really am enjoying this one (perhaps because the scent I reviewed before it was terrible for my nose) and this one is so peaceful and serene. I think there's a white musk, or perhaps it's whatever musk is in Snow White - but some sort of special musk, that's lovely.

[Diana]

Oddly enough, at first whiff, this smells not floral at all. It smells green and ozone-ish and reminds me of Hemlock a great deal, with a bit of the Apothecary thrown in.

 

After an hour or two this becomes more of a pronounced floral blend. And whoa. Iris. That is one note that always becomes overwhelming on me and drowns out everything else. It does have enough of some other notes that it's not making me cry. I think the phlox in here that's reminding me of Arkham Revisited a tiny bit.

 

Now that I'm reviewing the ingredients, I really don't know what possessed me to get this one. I don't like iris and tuberose at all. I do love musk and carnation, so maybe that's why. I boggle myself.

 

There isn't a whole lot of throw with this one, nor is it particularly potent (and probably not an all day lasting scent either), which is fine with me with this specific scent, because I generally don't want to waft out FLOWERS all around me.

 

This is the one Demon in my View scent that for me has been only "meh." I don't hate it, but I won't cry for Argentina when I run out.