Bess

[TheIceMaiden]

Inspired by the tragic, ill-fated love of Queen Elizabeth I and the Earl of Leicester. This is our modernization of a 17th-century perfume blend favored by British aristocracy: rosemary, orange flower, grape spirit, five rose variants, lemon peel, and mint.

 

I enjoy history and Good Queen Bess is my favourite historical figure. So, of course, I wanted to try this scent even though the combination of notes sounded a bit odd.

 

This starts off rosemary, fresh grapes (not wine), and a hint of rose. It gets more herbal-mint and citrus-y as it dries. I can only wear a dab of this, as rosemary can give me a headache. But it is a very pretty and unique scent.

Edited March 24, 2012 by TheIceMaiden

[ladybird]

What a wonderful surprise! I got this imp primarily because of the historical associations with Queen Elizabeth. It turns out to be a lovely light scent, very citrusy with just enough floral to make it not too biting. It makes me think of sunshine!

 

I'm looking forward to wearing it more as the weather gets warmer, because it feels like the perfect scent for summer. I just wish it lasted longer on my skin!

[Extispex]

This came as a frimp with a forum purchase, and I was a little dubious about all the floral notes. Rose? eeek.... not to mention my skin amps up lemon like crazy. Sometimes its good, sometimes not.

 

But Bess just surprised the crap out of me. I dabbed it on as a whim because it was the only imp in the box I'd left untried. Its truly blowing my mind here. Enough to make me want a bottle.

 

In the vial its quite sweet to my senses, with a hint of wine somewhere.

 

On my skin the lemon amps up just enough to balance the sweetness of the floral. The winey scent fades in and out playfully against the lush backdrop of citrussy floral. This is so much more fascinating and complex than I expected.

 

And the throw! I dabbed a tiny amount on the back of one wrist and I'm enveloped in fragrance. This is heady stuff.

 

Beautiful.

[thisperiscope]

In the imp: POW! Grape Kool-aid! The grape spirit and lemon working overtime - I can taste the sour more than I can smell it.

 

On, wet: Thankfully, the Kool-aid backs off. I get a lift of rosemary and mint and a sharp floral underneath. My monthly chemistry is turning everything sharp! Gah.

 

On, dry: Things have calmed down, and I have a light floral with an herbal backbone. Every so often I get a whiff of sharp rose.

 

This one is a keeper. I layered it with Croquet and the two play very nicely together.

[Mimicake]

In the imp- the rosemary is there, but not as sharp as I'd thought it would be. The mint seems to soften it somehow, and I get the faint hint of lavender.

 

Wet- The rose comes out, soft and sweet and I can now detect the lemon amongst the rosemary. Delicious!

 

Dry- Very soft and sweet, it has developed into a minty rose on my skin, I can't discern the rosemary from the other notes. I keep smelling my wrist, looking for the grape that others talk about, I just don't seem to pick it up.

 

I love this. This is my first purchase and first choice, and I'm so glad that it is working for me. This is going on my big bottle purchase list.

[stellans]

Imp: I acquired this imp in a lot purchase; because of the mint note listed in the lab description, I probably wouldn't have picked it out myself, though I have given other blends with mint listed a shot. Calliope was one of the successes, so I have hopes for Bess. First sniff was sharp and astringent, but with an underlying sweetness. I am not smelling any mint at all, thank goodness, nor is there any discernible lemon note, which seems to amp up on me to an unbearable level.

 

Wet: Just as refreshing as in the imp, though the floral notes seem to be a little more prominent once it's on my skin. I like that. Maybe it's the rosemary and bergamot keeping the mint at bay!

 

Dry: Still refreshing, but there's a lot more floral in the drydown. The rosemary is almost gone, but now there's a teeny little citrus note brightening the flowers just enough to keep the powder away. But I never have smelled rose in this blend -- the orange blossom seems to cover up any rose that might be there. The description says "five rose variants" but they weren't there for my nose.

 

Verdict: I really like Bess, and I'm glad I bought a bottle after sniffing the imp the first time when it arrived.

Edited September 5, 2011 by stellans

[porcelina]

almost all grape, with a little rose and lemon. unusual! it also has crazy powerful throw. this is delicious. i'm officially impressed.

[Bagfish]

Bess is a lovely refreshing slightly herbal scent. I got her as a frimp from the lab, and I would never have chosen Bess myself, so I'm pleased I got a chance to try her. In the imp, Bess is quite sweet, with the orange blossom coming into play, but on my skin, the sweetness dissipates and the lemon, rose and mint shine. Very pretty, and I'm keeping the imp for summer wear.

[hellomoonglow]

In Imp: Baby vomit. My god, you people at the lab are never going to allow me to place another order! Sorry, Beth.

Wet: Clean, soapy, fruity, reminds me of my grandma (who I really miss!). This is a very reminiscent scent for me, already I can say I will get a bottle of this.

½ hr. Dry Down: Grape! Delightful! Roses, orange is there also. Chocolate too, which is weird. Wait, I have Bliss just above it on my arm. I need an unadulterated view of Bess! Trying it on the other hand….

½ hr. Later: Just a whiffy sniffy of chocolate. Not that I have a problem with that, I really like it. I can’t tell where it’s coming from or why my skin sticks to this scent, but I will buy a bottle of this and not just because it is named after my favorite Tudor (whose signature I have tattooed on my foot just below the Tudor Crest) and not because I believe the Earl of Leicester was completely romantic although skanky, but because I love the scent!

[gwynhwyfar]

In the vial, this blend is overwhelmingly rose. It's like a rose party (even more than Two-Five-Seven!) where the roses are running wild all over the place because there's no adult supervision. I don't get any other note at all because the roses are just totally out of control ... and it doesn't get much better on my skin.

 

The only difference being on my skin makes is that after drydown, there's a bitter herbal managing to make its way out of the choking stranglehold of the roses.

[jasmine]

This is sharp on the wand, with a bright burst of fragrance that is almost, but not quite like orange peel. I can smell the grape underneath, and the lemon beside the orange. I don’t smell roses at all, which is a bit of a disappointment, but I don’t smell mint either, and I’m not complaining about that.

 

Hmm. I still can’t detect the rose uniquely, but I think the rose is forming the middle body of this scent. It’s sharp, but it isn’t thin -- it has definite body. The rose seems to be at the center, with the grape below and the citrus above.

 

I like this scent. My jaw isn’t on the floor, but Bess is pretty. This fragrance isn’t doing anything wrong and it’s doing good things right. Therefore, Bess is worth remembering.

[melange]

Attractive and refreshing, on me Bess is not a rose scent but a clean, spicy herbal perfume softened by roses and sweetened by grape. Bess fades rapidly on my skin into a barely-there herbal green blur; if it lasted longer, I would be tempted to bottle it.

[Lunaratu]

Smells at first like some kind of grain alcohol that has some kind of flower or fruit in it. However, after it dries it settles down into an extremely light, unobtrusive floral. It’s clean but slightly sweet mixed with the floral—most likely the rose. Yet this is extremely light. It’s a good scent but not my usual type of love.

Rating: 3.5/5

[Jocelyn]

Unfortunately, this smells like grape kool aid and vodka on me. It sort of makes me gag. I had to wash it off. Will be swapping for sure.

[Honeygirl]

Bottle: Citrus and herbs

 

Wet: Citrus and herbs, it's very bright and vivacious!

 

Drydown: The citrus settles down a bit, which is disappointing, but it remains very bright. It makes me feel slightly energetic like moxie does.

3.5 outta 5

[akiko]

I got this as a freebie.

 

In the bottle, it was all rosy florals. Dry on my skin, it smelled exactly like my grandmother's fake rose hand lotion.

 

I took it to Thanksgiving dinner and made my sister try it. It worked on her, so I made her take it. (I tried to enable, but I think I failed.)

[TrailerTrashPrincess]

frimpsniff: candy! so surprised by this... but this smells like candy ribbons

 

on skin: this blossoms into a gorgeous scent! still candy ribbons, but with a little more orange and a bit of rose.

i'd call this unisex and i bet it'd smell teh yumz on certain guys.

[lainevierge]

Wow, orange lemon & grape equals Kool-Aid. I loved how unusual this was in the imp, but on me it's nothing but sugary drink powder, after the original sour citrus scent passes. I think I'll be staying away from the fruity notes from now on.

[AEris]

I get rose, citrus, and herbs....smells like a tea party!

 

This perfume lives up to what it's dreamed up to be.

 

It's a nice rose blend, but not one I would wear again (I am extreeemely picky with rose, and not in a sophisticated way, I'm sure).

 

3.5 out of 5

[prettybird]

Lord, this is a complicated scent. Everytime I smell it, I smell something different. The rosemary definitely prevails over the orange for me, making it an oddly foody scent. I don't get the mint or roses at all, which I'm not really complaining about. I get less of the grape as it dries, more rosemary.

 

This is an odd statement to make, but: I don't like smelling it, but I like smelling like it. I'll definitely be using this imp.

[Gwydion]

I read the ingredients and decided not to put this on my skin, so this is an in the bottle review. Very, very grape, with a little rose, citrus, and mint underneath. Very much not my thing and it made me rather queasy just sniffing it.

[forspecial_plate]

Bess…..at first, this smells just plain weird on my skin. I can’t even make sense of it. Later, it settles down into something light, herbal, and slightly fruity. It’s not bad, really. Just not doing a whole lot for me. Reminds me of Himerus a little. Nope….this one’s just not for me.

[ImperatrixMundi]

Roses and grape spirit and not much else. Not heavy roses though, light and fruity one, probably because of the other notes that got beaten into submission by the rose.

The grape spirit smell remains. It is not boozy and not a grape scent for me at all, it really smells like actualy grape spirit to me, like Grappa, mage from what is left of the grapes after sqeezing the juice out to make wine. Weird because everyone else seems to get actual grapes. To be honest I would have preferred smelling grapes to smelling rose.

[Verilita]

In the Imp- Non descript citrus, it's not bad (like cleaning product citrus) but still not my cuppa tea

 

Wet- Boozy, I think it's the grapes but as soon as I put it on my skin I thought "herbs and wine"

 

Drydown- It's sweetening up, the boozy smell is gone and the citrus isn't as strong, I think the roses are starting to come up

 

Dry- it reminds me of something from my childhood but I can't remember what. The roses are gone, as is the grape leaving only this herbal citrusy smell that has this really familiar sweet scent. Ugh this will drive me mad! I'm pretty ambivilent about this particular scent, it's not terrible by any sense and it works well with my skin I just don't know how I feel about citrus. I'll have to give this one another go later on.

Edited March 3, 2008 by Verilita

[mhickle]

In the imp, I just can't place the smell. Sweet, maybe a little of the rosemary? I sniffed again, shrugged, and dabbed it on. Wet, it smells like...hmmm...yes, a mint jellybean. And then...it disappears...Bess sounds so lovely, but she just doesn't stick around very long.