Bess

[zankoku_zen]

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.

This one is a rosey, very grape, perfume. It's feminine without being frilly, sort of regal and kinda playful. I like the grape in this. I was very afraid of the rose but it's just a tinge. On wet, I got more of the citrus/orange, but now it's a rosey grape scent. Interesting. Edited November 3, 2008 by zankoku_zen

[Electric Maenad]

Yargh. I got this as a frimp from the Lab (as always, thank you Labbies for your generosity) and have been a little reluctant to try it due to the presence of rose. Unfortunately, I was not surprised by how my skin reacted to Bess - amped the hell out of the rose and turned it soapy, with a weird medicinal edge from (I assume) the combination of rosemary and mint. Hardly got any citrus, regrettably.

 

Le sigh.

 

ETA: This is also one of the few Lab scents I've tried that I wished would go away faster. It's got hella staying power, especially the rose and rosemary bits. Double yargh.

Edited November 16, 2008 by Electric Maenad

[kjirstiben]

Bess went on strong! It was grapes and mint and lemon times one thousand! After I'd applied it, the scent toned down quickly, though--the grapes became softer and an herbal note, the rosemary, tempered all that sweetness.

 

By about an hour in, Bess was almost all rosemary in scent, all herbal. I actually found myself having a hard time believing there was rose in this--I tend to have a hit-or-miss relationship with rose, but it almost always makes its presence known. Distinctly. Not so here, though.

 

Bess continues to be soft grape-mint-rosemary, a fresh herbal-fruity blend that is not at all strong. If this is what a historical scent is like, I think I like the historical scents!

 

At the end of its scent-journey, there is a breath of roses with some fruit--all of this is a barely-there have-to-sniff-for-it sort of thing, though.

 

Lovely. Very original! And enjoyable to have that kind of connection with the past.

[cymbeline]

Swap test!

 

Smell alike: My kitchen environment-friendly soap

 

Color impression: clean yellow

 

On me: Ok, I’ve just discovered that the combo rosemary/mint is a big no-no: I smelled like a dish-soap (a nice one that’s it, but still a soap )

 

Wearing: … sorry but no really ^^;

[hereunto]

In the imp: Huh. Not what I imagined it would smell like. Absolutely no rose at all.

 

Wet: Yech ... most of the listed notes are absent and I'm left smelling like disinfectant in a hospital. NOT a pretty scent, no, unless you're a doctor or nurse or a germophobe. Ugh. Will wait and see if it changes.

 

Drydown: It takes about twenty-thirty minutes, but finally we get some evolution here. There's the rosemary (not a big fan of it but it's better than the disinfectant smell) and is that lemon peel? I don't know, it kinda was there then disappeared in a flash. Still waiting to see if it morphs again. Here's to hoping!

 

Overall: About an hour into wearing Bess, the roses finally come through and once they show up, everyone else is sent home. I've never been one for roses and the idea of five varients of them is intimidating, but in actuality, they're not that bad. It's actually kinda pretty and reminds me of St. Ives Rose Shampoo/Conditioner. I'm not sure I'll be wearing this much (and if I do, I'll have to apply it at least an hour before I go anywhere) but maybe I'll have a better experience with it on a second go.

[Seismogenic]

This was a frimp in my Election Day order, and it's honestly one I'd entirely overlooked until it showed up. I think it's really awesome that this is the recreation of a historical blend, so I'm looking forward to seeing how well this works.

 

In the imp: Mostly grape, with some rosemary, something citrus, and maybe a bit of herbal mint.

 

Wet on skin: Still very grape, with sharpness that's probably the citrus. Rosemary's still there, but the mint is hiding again. I have to admit it's borderline grape allergy medicine, but the rosemary's what keeps it out of that territory.

 

Drydown: Freshly dry, it's still mostly grape. True to form, the citrus is backing out pretty quickly. There's still some edge from the rosemary, but it's no longer enough to hold the grape back from allergy medicine land. Eek! There's definitely no rose yet, also. An hour later, we're still in Dimetapp Land, though more softly. Sigh.

 

Five hours later: It's not unlike Cairo now, which is a very welcome change. I rather like this stage. Shame it's so faint, and that it takes this long to get to this point.

 

End of the day: Gone.

 

Overall: I have to wonder if my impression of this would be very different if I hadn't needed to take that crappy grape allergy medicine pretty much daily for years when I was little. That grape is super fake and chemically, but despite the fact that Bess' grape smells much more like real grapes, I can't help but be reminded. The herbal edge from the rosemary and mint is far from a chemical edge, but the hardness it adds to the grape can't help but make it medicinal in my mind. I'm really disappointed; I really wanted to like this one! Curse you, Dimetapp, for ruining grape!

[Indigo78]

Advance apologies to any Bess's, but I thought this was unlikely to suit me based on the name alone. Surprises happen, though. In the imp it is herbal and sweet, and the combination smells like an odd new candy. I also need to express how much this smells like Pez to me. Mature Pez, maybe (from the rose and rosemary), but Pez nonetheless. The grape note reminds me of Urd, minus the aggressive Patchouli. The roses are perfectly disciplined for once, really just suggestions of themselves. The citrus and grape meld seamlessly, like in those old school cologne waters. Very 'Acqua di Somewhere', Bess pulls off classy and cute at the same time. And pretty, if not a tiny bit "strange".

 

ETA: For some reason I think this would smell sexy like woah in the rain, and it will be on my skin often when Spring returns

Edited December 24, 2008 by Indig0

[ami226]

Wow! This smelled completely different on my than I thought it would.

 

In the bottle: definitely smell some rosemary with a bit of mint in the background.

 

On my skin: Bess immediately turns into a licorice smell. Could be my skin chemistry is a bit off at the moment, but I get a huge whiff of black licorice. Sadly, this one has to be traded away.

[CynicalPink]

Imp: Completely herbal. No signs of rose.

 

Wet: Everything goes off at once. On me, the grape spirit amps right away and stays in charge for about 20 minutes before letting the other notes have a voice

 

Drydown: Once the grape backs off, it's like a really good chord - grape, rosemary, and citrus. The mint is extremely subtle and so are the roses, thankfully since most rose notes eat my arm and kill everything else.

 

Overall: This is me shilling for my favorite scent. It was the first imp I tried from my first ever order and it's been my go-to perfume ever since. It just works on me. One of those lucky things where the notes you really love just play well with your chemistry. It's deep, complex, and a bit aristocratic: Exactly what I was looking for. Again, it's my all time fave so this review is totally biased

[ouch!]

Zesty at first..with a slightly herbal edge to it. The Orange parts of this are dominant throughout. The rosemary is there, I can't really get rose or mint.

 

The whole blend sweetens up a whole lot more on drydown and becomes less herbally, it's still quite dominated by Orange. It's quite a fresh smelling oil, with a slightly dark twist to the orange side.

 

I like it, but it's not THAT special. Sorry Labbies.

[inkaddict]

In the imp: flowers and rosemary. Something sweet, but I can't say what, exactly.

 

Wet: Woa, boozy! The grape spirit is sweet, almost cloying, and at first I can't smell anything else. Then the mint comes out, and this gets even worse.

After a few minutes the roses and lemon beat the grape and mint down a bit, and my stomach starts to calm down. Unfortunately they're still plotting in the background and planning their revolution.

 

 

Dry: Mmm, roses and herbs! The first Bpal rose bland I can wear, and which actually smells like roses to my nose. There's still atrce of sweet booze and almost no mint.

It's a fine scent if I keep my wrists well away from my face, but as soon as I catch more than a whiff my nose remembers the grape spirit explosion and my stomach starts to protest.

 

Verdict: Er. I'll give it another try but if the grape spirit goes Kaboom! again I'll give it to my mother hoping that it will love her more.

[binkin]

In the imp: Grape bubble gum!

 

On, wet: GRAPE BUBBLE GUM

 

on, dry: GRAPE BUBBLE GUM with something interesting going on underneath

 

on, dry, the next day: The GRAPE BUBBLE GUM has faded and left just the interesting part. I'm going to try this again at a different time of the month and hope that I react differently to it because I reaaaaaally like what's under the grape, but I don't want to smell like Bazooka gum all the time!

[awesomeoverlord]

Hmmm...this is oddly boozy to me...maybe it's the grape? This is nicely blended, but unfortunately orange blossom is my worst enemy and it amps within seconds of touching my skin. Overall, though, it's a nice fruity floral with a fair share of herb on drydown. I'm not getting a whole lot of rose, but I know it's in the somewhere, lurking behind the orange flower.

[catatonic1242]

In the imp: Whew, that's astringent. Rosemary, which isn't one of my favorites, plus mint. It's very strong.

 

On wet: Okay, the mint takes a backseat almost instantly and I get more of the florals, but still a very strong rosemary presence. Oddly, this one smells purple to me, almost like this "grape" scented plastic ball that I had as a kid...

 

On, dry: Alrighty, I expected this to go absolutely haywire on my skin, because most of the time that's exactly what roses do. Instead, I'm just getting a vaguely musty generic perfume smell. It's not highly objectionable, but it's also not very personal -- it's just kind of eh. Also, I'm getting no throw at all from this one.

[Kikkervisje]

Wet: For the first second or so, GRAPE. But this either goes away or is subdued by other scents quickly. Next short stage is lemon and mint, with some other herbal, which I assume must be the rosemary. It doesn’t really smell like rosemary to me, but I assume that’s what rosemary smells like in combination with other scents? After that, it goes to a primarily minty scent with the grape and a hint of lemon (rather than the lemon dominating, as before). The throw seems a bit like grape bubblegum. The rose is slowly coming out as well.

 

Dry: A musky herbal grape scent.

 

Wear Time: 3-4 hours

 

Fits Description?: n/a

 

Overall: Complex and unlike anything else I’ve tried. Not really for me though, the grape scent. I loved the mint, lemon, rosemary phase. Very little throw.

[isisonearth]

Imp: Beautifully herbal. I smell rosemary and mint right away.

 

Wet: Lemony at first but it quickly blooms into a delicate rose.

 

Dry: The mint is back...mmmmmm. This is just a gorgeous close to the skin blend. I love the whisper of flowers and herbs. I could see needing a bottle of this after some more wear.

[sadtomato]

this is all grape and rosemary on me...but it's quite nice.

like an herbally wine.

[Lamia]

This is a pleasant floral. It reminds me of a soap my grandmother would use - bright and happy and floral. She probably bought it in a department store.

 

After reading other reviews, I can detect the grape, but it's hiding behind the florals.

 

Very nice, prettily feminine, but not me.

[Delirium1009]

In bottle/imp: Grapes and rose, with a hint of the rosemary. Very odd.

 

Immediately on skin: This is a weird scent. It’s like herbal grapey roses with mint. I know you could basically get that from the note listing but it’s hard to describe. It’s like fruity and herbal, smooth, with a cool, plasticy finish.

 

After a little while: The grape fades into the background and this becomes more of an herbal rose scent. It’s smooth, but plasticy and somewhat sweet. The mint isn’t really obvious but this has a cooler feel to it. It’s very well blended, too.

 

Overall Impressions: This scent is unusual. The notes blend together, but it’s hard to describe. It’s sort of floral, herbal, fruity, and cool all at the same time. It has a slightly woodiness to it and a hint of plastic too. I don’t really like this, but I don’t hate it. It’s just odd.

 

[Vampire Sass]

Bottle:

Fresh fruity roses.

 

Wet:

Very flowery, and less fruity than in the bottle. Tiny hint of mint.

 

Dry:

Mint is gone, back to being very fruity and warm. Very very reminiscent of Titania.

 

Overall:

I am disappointed that I got so little of the mint and absolutely no rosemary scent. I liked it a lot, but it was so similar to Titania. The main difference between the two was that it was more long-lasting and less flowery than Titania.

 

 

[Suu4LC]

Whoa-very sharp in the imp-a bit hard to describe-I definitely get the rosemary in there, though thankfully it's not reminding me of seasoning-definitely also get the rose, and the sharp combination of lemon peel and mint. Maybe a hint of grape? I think the lemon peel is my favorite part of this-hopefully it will temper the rose!

 

Hm...I kinda like this on my skin-moreso than I was expecting-it's sort of a grapey-rose scent...with lemon peel giving it some zing and freshening it up!

 

On full drydown, I will call this the most sophisticated grape scent imaginable! A lot of the other notes fade into the background (especially the lemon peel and mint). The rose isn't ZOMG rose-y, so if you are a rose love you may be disappointed it's not more noticeable, and if you hate rose, you shouldn't be scared off from this blend. Overall it's sort of a grapey floral scent, but not in a candy or synthetic way. Not something I would need a bottle of, but definitely an interesting blend to try!

 

 

[milo]

Wet, this is pretty fruity with an effervescent quality. About 15 minutes later, I smell like a fruity, sweet, white wine, not dry at all with a bit of rose thrown in. Seriously, I wonder if people are going to think I'm drunk if I go out in public. It is VERY winey on me, and definitely won't be wearing this out.

[loubric]

I was excited and wary about this scent because I love lemon peel and mint, they do wonders on my skin but rose is a whole other story. I thought it would be okay because the rose is one of the bottom notes...

 

In the IMP it had a weird spicy floral smell, almost like it was trying to hide a bad smell, but wasn't succeeding, I sort of liked it but I was scared ... what would it smell like on me?

 

On me ... I smell like those hard heart candy's (the ones that say "I love you" or "Be mine") it's lovely! The rose does come through (of course) but in a very pretty, subtle way, so that I smell like rose flavoured candy!!

 

On me this is a very pretty, floral and youthful scent... pity I didn't get the mint or lemon peel but I love it all the same!!

Edited March 17, 2010 by Lilly

[skylarkza]

In the imp: Herbal roses. This smells like a less intense version of Radox Bubble bath.

 

Wet: This is almost bubbly. I think that this is just my associaion with rosemary and Radoz bubble baths. I am also getting lime and rose syrup.

 

Dry: Rose and lime. Very light and playful.

 

A while later: This is a barely-there scent. It IS there, it DOES exist more than 1mm away from my skin. But it is incredibly gentle and subtle. The slightest hint of rose and mint. If I bring my wrists together I can almost detect a tinge of honey (I think it is reacting slightly oddly on my right wrist). I think that I can pick up the rosemary which is what giving it the "I have just bathed" smell from when I was a kid. Very nice, very subtle.

[KesHiro]

I had a very strange childhood. Most parents plopped their kids in front of cartoons. Mine did too but they also let me watch Masterpiece Theater with them and so was born my obsession with the Elizabethan era. Bess was a free imp with one of my orders and it has gone to the top of my bottle list.

 

In the imp, I get lots of rosemary and mint with a touch of lemon peel. It's very herbal, but not in a kitchen or medicinal way. More like you tripped and took a brief stumble in your backyard herb garden. Wet, the grape aspect begins to come out and it smells a bit like sweet white wine. I was afraid this was going to go over into wino territory, since I tend to amp booze notes and my skin chemistry often pushes them into drunk-drunk-drunky-drunk . . . blergh!!!

 

Fortunately, the lemon peel and orange blossom beat the grape down so that it plays nicely in the background. Once dry, I'm left with a pleasant citrus mint with touches of herb and grape. This is pretty, fresh, regal, and hints at the witty flirtatious behavior of a royal court. I plan on ordering a bottle for spring, as this seems like the perfect scent to wear as the weather begins to warm up.

 

Thank you again, labbies, for knowing just what to stick in my order as a sample!

Edited December 16, 2009 by Kejiaron