Berenice

[AliBabble]

A cerebral scent, dry, and white. This is a perfume of thought, not heart, and of unforeseen pain and sudden obsession, touched with uncertain twilight and ambiguous horror. Stargazer lily, white musk, clear aloe, blonde amber and winding-cloth linen.

i'm not sure what i think of this...it's very clean, and feminine - i want to say there's something conservative about it, or formal. a little uptight, or prudish. very proper white flowers, but not quite innocent, they're definitely very present and bold - but this is not a sensual scent to me, though it is very pretty and ladylike. it is crisp, that's for sure - i get mostly the linen, folded tightly. it's a dressy scent, but also one that would be nice to wear to work. a little sharp, i think it'll work best on me if i use only the tiniest amount - there's something almost aggressively feminine about it.

[gchris]

In Vial: Gentle, sweet, kind of baby powder-ish

 

On Skin: Reminds me of the perfume ‘white shoulders’ that my grandmother use to wear. It is soft but smells like something an older woman would wear, I’m sure I have this association because of my grandmother.

 

Drydown: This has turned out to be a rather strong floral. I not sure which note or if it’s the blend of notes but this really gives me a headache. I have smelled all of the notes on the way and during dry down, except the aloe.

[matokie]

I'm having trouble making up my mind about Berenice! In the bottle and immediately upon application the musk was very strong for me, as well as the crisp linen. I was in love until the lily unfurled itself, which is just too sickly-sweet of a scent for me. And now it seems to be playing peek-a-boo with the musk and amber, so that one moment I'm sniffing my wrist appreciatively and the next I'm wrinkling my nose. Maybe Berenice is too cerebral for me!

[fairnymph]

In the bottle: Fresh, clean, floral. The lily is lovely.

 

Wet: Lily, musk, and aloe dominate. Amber and linen linger behind. A clean pure scent that is only the wee slightest bit feminine.

 

Dry: Similar, but the amber and linen are amping, providing dry warmth. It's also going a tiny bit soapy, but bearably so far. There's also gentle floral sweetness here, reminiscent of Victoria - the lily I suspect.

 

Summary: Clean, delicate floral. The amber provides only slight dry warmth. The lily, musk, and aloe are both soothing and oddly refreshing. I feel like I've taken a long bath and I'm clean and renewed, but relaxed. Great throw, moderate lasting power.

 

So far, I'm hanging on to my decant...

[Lamia]

Grandmotherish, but also classy and bright. It pulses, alternately fading unexpectedly and then surging back as powerfully as when first applied. Not me, but a clear fine scent.

[crebbsgirl]

Alright, I agree that this is a pretty "perfume-y" blend. It smells to me like a relative to Antique Lace. The lily and aloe and white musk are standouts during the wet stages. But as this dries, it settles into itself and warms a little bit. I'd still place it as a relatively "cool" scent but it's a little too much so for me in the wet stages. The lily calms down and the amber and linen notes come out more in the drydown, and this is where I get the similarity to AL. I like it, but I don't know how often I would wear this, as it smells a little "classic" for me.

[jessiesquash]

I'm so surprised that I haven't reviewed Berenice before! This was one of my first bottles and it still remains a favorite although I rarely remember to wear it. It's almost in it's very nature as a scent to be forgotten among all the new shinier scents. It plays into it's funereal aspects. For me it's primarily a summer scent because it's light and floral. It's very perfumey in the sense that all the florals blend seamlessly and it's heady in the way of more conventional perfume but I think that's why I like it so much. As someone with one foot still planted on the commercial perfume side (I still can't give up my Ralph Lauren Romance) it gives me the best of both worlds but because it's BPAL I can feel smart and smug and a little bit nerdy all while smelling divine. I wore it today for the first time in awhile because it's super hot outside and a coworker mentioned that I smelled good, a bit powdery was her description. I like to think that's a bit of the dust blown off the winding cloth.

[lahdeedah]

It took me months to finally get to testing my imp of Berenice, bought back when I went on a quest for collecting a bunch of the Poe offerings. Wish I hadn't waited so long! It's not the kind of scent I usually go in for, but it is truly beautiful and classic. And the best part for me is that the white musk doesn't go either soapy or mannish on my skin which is its tendency in most BPAL I've tried with that note. It stays sweet and even and clean and lasts for a long time, though it seems not to have much throw. I will treasure my imp and may even search out a bottle....

[countessmouse]

I am SOOOO glad I snagged a bottle of this one. It morphs a lot in the beginning - greenish at first, then the clean linen, then an old-fashioned perfumy tone and then the florals with the musk. It looks like the lily and the musk are going to stick around a while, which makes me very happy. What a great scent!

[ObliqueRed]

This reminds me very strongly of a commercial perfume I've smelled, but I can't place the name of it. Regardless of that, though, it is a very pleasant scent, soft, warm florals (I guess the warmth must be the white musk or the blonde amber?) with a hint of linen underneath. "Dry and white" is an excellent description. Unlike other blends with amber that I've tried, this one isn't turning powdery on me; more research shall have to be done.

 

Guy Test: This is not a passionate perfume on me and it got a mild reaction: "That smells nice."

[aphrodisms]

Clear and clean without smelling like soap. I think it's mainly the lily, aloe, and linen note that I get. Definitely a translucent kind of scent.

[PumpkinGuts]

Berenice gives an impression of freshly washed and powdered skin without smelling soapy. The aloe lends a crisp juiciness, for lack of a better term, helping it avoid powder bomb territory. It may be due to age, but the lily note is soft and creamy, and takes a backseat to the musk, aloe, and linen. It's what I imagine a first class Titanic passenger smelled like. 

 

Embalming Fluid and Dirty didn't work on me, but this one does. It'll be so refreshing to wear in the scorching summer heat, when I'm sure to avoid icebergs.