The Pool of Tears

[LiberAmoris]

`I wish I hadn't cried so much!' said Alice, as she swam about, trying to find her way out. `I shall be punished for it now, I suppose, by being drowned in my own tears! That will be a queer thing, to be sure! However, everything is queer to-day.'

A sea of salty tears drowning out Alice's light floral perfume.

The Pool of Tears on me is a hazy aquatic mingled with a very subtle floral, perhaps carnations? I like the watery floral effect, and it absolutely conjures up Alice's tears. Eventually the aquatic does 'swallow up' the florals on my skin, and the drydown is primarily a fresh, breezy, oceanic smell.

Aquatic lovers will definitely enjoy this one!

[filigree_shadow]

The Lab's description nailed it. That's exactly what it smells like.

 

Wet, it's mostly salty water but it changes quickly into a spicy floral (spicy florals always make me think of carnation, but I'm not sure if that's what this is) with an aquatic scent underneath. It doesn't smell mainly like water with a little bit of floral, it's mainly floral with a little bit of water. If that makes any sense.

 

Also, it's quite light. Aquatics tend to be bold on my skin and they usually smell masculine to me, but this one is not like that at all. Also, before I got this I was expecting it to be sort of like Ophelia, and this doesn't remind me anything at all of Ophelia.

 

It's interesting. I can't recall smelling anything like this before. Very pretty.

[shelldoo]

in the vial: aquatic, ozone, and breezy salt.

 

wet: wow this is some ozone, aquatic oil. makes my eyes water a wee bit.

 

i am somehow missing the carnation (boohiss) and only getting the aquatic ozone quality. it is fresh and biting, and makes my eyes water lierally. i am not one this type of scent works on, but if you enjoy ozones, aquatics, and scents reminecent of a sunny beach vacation this would be perfect for ya.

[Lycanthrope]

Fresh out of the imp, this has a very saline, airy quality to it. On my skin, it reminds me a lot of Penthus - but where Penthus, like all rose blends on me, turned into a slightly salt-encrusted Rose (emphasis on the capital, yah), The Pool of Tears is like... a slightly salt-dipped Sea of Glass. Less of a radiant white floral aquatic, this is definitely salt-whipped marine air.

 

I also get no carnation or florals, perhaps a hint of perfume is lurking in the blend, but Alice has been crying for a while, so this is all tears and salt to me.

[Diana]

I am not sure why, but I ordered an imp of this. Aquatics aren't generally my bag, but here is it, on my skin, just waiting for a personal documentary and reasonings behind my theories on aquatics.

 

In the imp: Whoo boy. Yes, this is an aquatic. Very typical of standard aquatic notes.

 

Wet: This is almost ozone-ish in intensity. Very watery-sharp-soapy smelling, but that's not necessarily a bad quality. It's just stronger than I thought it would be. I'm not getting anything I can describe as "salty" or "saline" in here. It smells more like freshwater & drowned-out floral notes.

 

Inital drydown: It smells kind of like fresh-laundry + air freshener. I can almost pick out floral notes; there's likely some sort of lily, and just maybe a carnation. I kind of want there to be some violet in there, so maybe I'll imagine that. The overwhelming notes are still the typical "aquatic" which smells not so much like water to me, ever. Heh. This has fairly good throw; probably light-to-medium. I can smell it when I'm not trying to, but it's not super strong.

 

Further drydown: It's a clean and nice scent. It's got an air of aquatic + ozone, even still, and the floral notes are a bit less evident. The throw is a little less strong now. It's pretty, thought not what I'd consider a soft scent, but not very heavy either. I think I just suck at describing aquatic scents!

 

Final thoughts: I think my problem with aquatics is that they just tend to smell like artificial air-freshener-in-a-can scents to me, even if I know well and good that there are real honest-to-Odin notes in there that I do like. I think I resonate better with notes that smell like something more tangible, like actual flowers or spices or cookies. This is actually really pretty, but it's not something that I can see myself wearing with any great enthusiasm or regularity. However, in wearing this today I think I gained a little more appreciation for this scent category, though it won't likely ever make it to the top of my list of scent-family loves. I am glad to have tried this imp! It has made me more likely to try aquatics in the future!

[populuxa]

Absolutely true to the description. It's a very clean salty smell. Like saline solution rather than ocean water. The perfume note is really buried under the saltiness - it's a lineny-floral under there. Overall this is a very dainty scent.

[olympia301]

 

Aquatic like The Mock Turtle's Lesson, but with flowers instead of mint and fruit. Pool of tears is quite salty and a good deal stronger than The Mock Turtle. If you want flowers in the background, this is a great one for you. It lasts a long time and it really reminds me of suntan lotion, and I mean that in a positive and cheerful way, even if I am taling about a Pool of Tears. Very nice summer beach scent.

[Natch]

in the bottle: really strong and salty florals. This is a bit soapy as well.

 

wet: woo! These flowers are strong! This is really strong and potent on me in an odd way and I'm definitely still getting some soap.

 

dry down: This turned into a sort of potent, floral laundry detergent on me. Ick.

 

overall impression: Well, I haven't actually tried Alice, so I can't make any comparisons, but I'm sure it's my skin chemistry that mucked this one up and turned it in to detergent. Ah well. Off to the swaps with it.

[Little Bird]

I don't get along with most aquatics and ozones, as they tend to smell like evil migraine inducing dryer sheets on me. Still, I want to like The Pool of Tears, just because it would be a great perfume to wear when I'm feeling angsty and self-pitying.

 

First on, something about this smells strangely like BO and sweat on me . Flowers drowned in dirty, salty water. The dirtiness fades off after a while to linger in the background, but it's still very odd.

 

At the Brookfield Zoo in IL, they have a living coast exhibit featuring all sorts of coastal water creatures. The Pool of Tears smells exactly like that exhibit on me. Cold water, salt, and animals...

 

This is a somewhat pleasant change from the usual dryer sheets smell that I get, but I still don't see myself ever wearing an aquatic scent like this.

[brownbear]

Yes it is aquatic. At first it's all cool, fresh, clean salt water and lavender. Then on my skin it gets a lot lighter and a tiny bit more floral. I wish my skin didn't change it.

[Meg]

In the bottle: A slightly medicinal, sweet and perfumy scent, with florals and... something I can't quite put my finger on.

 

Wet: Same as in the bottle, it has a strange plasticky quality and a touch of citrus - bergamot, maybe?

 

Drydown: It smells like saltwater and plasticky baby powder, with herbs and florals intermingling. There's a hint of spice, very subdued... I wonder if there's carnation in there.

 

Overall: A very perfumy and "clean" blend, but not one I would ever wear. It makes me think of putting talcum powder on my Barbie doll's rubber legs, powder and rubber at the same time. It has a rather sharp bergamot note and vague florals over loads of liquid, it smells both faint and invasively perfumy - you know, that quiet kind of old lay scent that niggle at your nose all day? That's it.

[hypatia]

I like the concept of aquatics, but they don't always work on me (I get the "fabric softener" effect with some of the BPAL aquatics I've tried so far). Ode on Melancholy is probably the closest I've gotten so far, and I think that's partly because the floral notes in it predominate.

 

But the Pool of Tears is an aquatic that works! I'm very pleased to find one at last. Pretty much like the description says, it's a rosey floral with a lot of salt water in it. The salt tames the rose and keeps it from taking over; the rose gives some depth to the salt-water notes. I think it works on me because there doesn't seem to be an ozone component, or anything else that strongly suggests the sea: just clear water and salt and flowers. Very nice.

 

The Pool of Tears stays more or less constant on me, and is light but long-lasting. Now I'll have to try an imp of Alice to compare the original scent and the "drowned in tears" version.

[GemmaCat]

This is the truest aquatic I've tried yet, and smells much more like actual tears than the BPAL scent 'Tears' ever did.

 

The floral perfume is very light and almost sweet, and it swirls perfectly in Alice's tears. I'm still undecided as to whether this is something I'd like to wear, but I might keep the imp around for sniffing purposes.

[GypsyRoseRed]

In the vial, this smells exactly like the description. I get a mental picture of white flowers floating in a pool of saltwater, and while it's not a OMG scent for me, I think it could be very pretty on the right person. BTW, I don't get any spicy florals here at all. On my skin, this turns to pure dryer sheets with a touch of margarita salt. Smells much better in the imp than on me, so I think I'll pass this along.

Edited July 4, 2006 by GypsyRoseRed

[siriusstar]

Aquatics being my #1 favorite scent type, I was very anxious to try this one.

 

In the imp it smells like a *much* lighter cross between Kinsport and Jolly Roger. It is a delicate and rainy scent. It could easily be called 'April Shower.'

 

On: At first it was a beautiful lavender/aquatic- my two favorite things! After awhile it turned into a very light pure lavender, and within three hours it was gone completely. I really slathered it on, too.

 

I like stronger scents, so I'd be more likely to buy a bottle of Tempest and attempt to layer it with Psyche for the lavender, but this is a very pretty scent for work or if you don't want something too strong.

[edenssixthday]

The Pool of Tears - This reminds me a lot of Tears. It’s salty and slightly sweet and fragrant, almost like a very light floral underneath the salt. I’m surprised at how much I like this considering I don’t normally like tear/salt blends. This one works on me surprisingly well, however. It’s very light, but I will occasionally catch a waft of the fragrance, and find it delightful. The staying power is about average, and I’m very surprised that unlike other tear/salt blends, this does not turn into dryer sheets or hair spray on me. I’m going to be wearing this again.

[PurringPulsar]

The Pool of Tears

 

In the imp: aquatic lavender. The deeper scent of lavender with a lighter, brisker aquatic note.

Wet on skin: salty ozone-aquatic, fresh and almost peppery in tone, with lavender.

Dry on skin: not bad, but very, very ozone-y. This is a fresh, breezy aquatic note, though it's very airy, and not as salt-watery as I expected. I was hoping for something like Penthus, but this aquatic is more like the ozone in Tempest, a fresh, sea sprayed rainy/stormy scent with a hint of clean washing, and oddly, something reminiscent of pepper. Behind it all is a hint of white floral, probably sweet pea, or a white lily note. Thankfully it's not turning to the nasty 'photocopier ozone' note I got in Tempest, thanks to the florals.

After a while: now I see what others mean when they say scents turn to 'dryer sheet' on them. I'm getting that exact effect here-a crisp ozone note which has a real 'freshly tumble-dried' feel to it, with whiter than white clothes thrown in for good measure-and even a hint of the static electricity that sometimes occurs when drying (yup, it's storm ozone alright). It's not a bad scent-it does bring to mind fresh, warm, dry laundry, all warm and fluffy and clean, but I wanted salt water and flowers, not Eau-de-Laundrette.

After a few hours, I do get hints of the fresh ozone that I liked in Urania, but event that doesn't get rid of the dryer sheets scent…

Verdict: I was really hoping this scent would be a cross between, say, Alice and Penthus-maybe with Alice's rose and carnation with the same wonderful salty water note from Penthus, or maybe the lovely marine note from Sea of Glass. But instead, it's all ozone on me. And dryer sheet ozone at that-this is the first scent when I really do smell tumble-dried clothes, as opposed to clean linen drying in the breeze. This scent is less like floral tears, and more like electrified thunderstorm air with a good portion of clean laundry. It's not a bad scent but it's not what I was expecting…it also reminds me of Tempest, which I wasn't keen on, so this will probably go up for swap.

Emoticon rating:

[ginevra]

Salty. Very salty. Have you ever smelled that expensive French grey salt - I think it's called Fleur du Sal, or something like that? That's what this reminds me of. It's like none of the other aquatics I've sampled. The flowers just barely peek out. As others have said, the Lab description is spot-on.

 

ETA: The second time I tried this, it reminded me of dryer sheets.

Edited August 3, 2006 by ginevra

[slave1]

In Bottle: Sharp floral

 

On Skin: This is a very sharp floral aquatic. It is one of those scents that does bring tears to my eyes because of how pungent it is. It smells like floral sea salts that you would use for your bath. The florals seem to be overcome by the “tears” though and it becomes more soapy and aquatic as the scent develops. Very bright… a white and blue feel. It’s a pretty scent but the aquatic perfumey feel gets to be a bit too much on me. Average to strong throw, short to average wearlength.

[malanna]

Aquatic! It really does smell like a pool of tears--well, metaphorically. It's a sweet, slightly floral aquatic, and if you think about it, little girls' tears are probably sweet (amidst the slight saltiness of tears) and vaguely floral, an innocent floral.

[steffanina]

The Pool of Tears-

 

In Bottle: Very aquatic, very sharp. Almost masculine.

 

Wet: Interesting! Very intense, not floral or fruity or spicy...I can only say aquatic.

 

Dry: This is unlike any scent I've tried or tried to describe. Yeah, I get the aquatic nature of it. I think sea spray, mermaids and cold coral-crusted treasures. Very, very interesting. I think it will grow on me.

 

Overall: I like!

[empi girl]

I am trying to find an oceany scent that isn't too ozoney, or too masculine, and hope this might be it. On, I get a slightly sharp salty aquatic that reminds me of ocean spray. I don't get any noticeable flowers, and it is a touch perfumy, but not in a nose-itching way. I would consider it a unisex scent. I like it as it is, since the sharpness softens somewhat, and it becomes a little sweet, but what I am really hoping for is that when I try it with my tuberose oil, that it will smell like Hawaii!

[theseagrows]

i sort of knew i would either really love or really hate this one. i can't pick out the florals in this, but it's a soft, bright floral that comes through the main aquatic note. i think the 'salty' part does not work with my skin chemistry. the aquatic gets a strong bitter edge to it on my skin that is nearly nauseating. now that it's faded it smells soft and clean and kind of pretty, but it's too aquatic for my tastes and the bitter note at the beginning isn't worth it for me. this one will go to swaps.

[PilotKitten]

a fresh aquatic scent with a hint of sweet florals. I get a slight salty-type tinge to it, that I've sniffed before in BPAL's blends with a "salty sea air" type description... but it's not a true "salt" scent. No imp decapitation but it still managed to leak all over itself in transit. Thankfully, it didn't harm any other labels in it's overzealousness to be sniffed.

[Deiicide]

A fresh aquatic scent that is more in tune to Sea of Glass then of say Tempest. While Sea of glass is more of the white florals with equal parts of aquatic, The Pool of Tears is more of a traditional lilac and lavender to my nose with equal parts saltiness with ozone. It reminds me of Sea of Glass in that way and sadly both were not wowed with me. I think I'll pass this along to someone else.