Black Dahlia

[quikslvr]

Voluptuous magnolias strewn over orchid, star jasmine, black amber and smoky rose.

Powerfully floral at first. A better-rounded tone than Forbidden Fruit, which is what it reminds me of a bit, but Black Dahlia isn't quite as heavy and thick. Gets slightly smoky as it dries. Then a sweet topnote appears, which hits higher in the nose. Goes powdery by the end. Could be appropriate for me for a work scent.

[Aredhel]

Rating (on skin): 2/5

Summarised in a word or two: Smoky amber.

 

In the imp/bottle: Jasmine, and orchids.

 

On skin, wet: The strongest note is the amber, laid over smoky orchid.

 

On skin, dry: Nothin' but amber. Smoky amber.

 

Conclusion: This isn't really bad, but it strikes me as something like every department store perfume I've ever come across. Not my thing.

Edited December 19, 2005 by Aredhel

[requieminblack]

First sniff from the bottle-Straight up Magnolia.

 

After 15 minutes- I was scared of this at first because it has rose and jasmine in it which I generally don't like. I admit that this is a bit more floral than I normally prefer but I do adore magnolia and orchid so this is a tolerable floral. As it dries down my skin starts to amp up the jasmine like it always does and it over power the soft lemony scent of the magnolia. Now this is just too floral for me to bare.

 

Summery- Way to sweet and too much jasmine for my taste. I like Hells Belle much better.

[Lit Chick]

Powerful, lovely floral. It's very beautiful, but there is something metallic and earthy lurking underneath. I find it unsettling.

This is a gorgeous, but a little too dark for my tastes.

[FireInCairo]

On my skin- the rose really comes out in this scent. It's a very thickened rose scent - the other florals really thicken this scent. It's a very lustful..dark scent...

[wolfie13]

I knew this scent would not be for me, but I've always wanted to try it because of the whole story tied to it. The lab read my mind and just sent me a bonus imp (thank you!) of this with my last order.

 

And in fact, it's not for me - it's nearly all magnolia and jasmine on me, with a bit of amber and smoke - REALLY heady, heavy floral, which is not generally my thing.

 

But it's just beautifully done - SO evocative of sultry 40's and 50's pinups, flowers behind the ear, showing a bit of leg at a swanky, smoky bar, a slight air about the place of mystery and danger.

 

I keep an imp of Darkness around (which is a similar type of experience for me) for those very rare heady, dark floral moments, so I'll likely be swapping this. But so glad I got to satisfy my curiousity.

[Rosaleen Dhu]

Lovely! Magnolia and orchid, sweetened with rose and darkened with amber. The jasmine never really comes out at all on me.

 

This scent, for me, is the South. Beautiful, yet somewhat decayed. Sultry and coy.

[Phaedra]

This goes on as soft rose and is a bit powdery. After a couple of minutes a fruit note develops- peach maybe? Overall this is a very sensual blend. I will enjoy the imp of this but probably won't order a bottle.

[binkyboots]

wow, a floral (and it is floral) that I love!

 

it's just gorgeous, I get mostly jasmine with some rose in the background, delicious!

 

even as it fades it stays gorgeous, does not turn to powder

 

it stays very strong even a few hours after I've applied it, and the warmer I get the more throw it has, tonight at my bodypump class I know I'll be getting little whiffs of this wafting past my nose as I workout.

 

strangely it makes me feel very feminine, which as a rather butch kinda girl is a wierd experience. so, it's a very good "girly night" scent. it inspires confidence and a sort of ass kicking feminine side I never knew I had.

Edited June 22, 2005 by binkyboots

[arabella]

First impression: it smells sour, like something's gone off. The initial wet and drydown stage is awful. It keeps morphing from cat pee to roses to dill pickles to something gardenia-like (a rich, creamy floral) and back again.

 

Dries down to: After about 15 minutes, it finally settles down to a nice rosy floral. I could still smell it, albeit very faintly, the following morning on my wrists.

 

Additional Comments: After reading these reviews, the gardenia-like scent was probably the magnolias.

 

Lasted: A very long time on me - anything over 4 hours is rare.

 

Rating: 3 out of 5

[Orodemniades]

I have jasmine issues...just so you know.

 

Black Dahlia is all jasmine and something that smelled like lotus to me, although there's no lotus in here. It starts out sweet and sharp, then powders up on drydown. The scent remains much the same, however, as time passes. I don't know if I'll be keeping it, but the jasmine doesn't go insane on me, so mebbe I will.

 

Oro

[storm the legion]

Yay, my first review!

 

First Sniff: I smelled the jasmine, mostly.

 

Wet: Man, is that ever sharp. I'm smelling the magnolias now. I can still smell the jasmine. The first time I tried it, my nose started itching because it was so sharp. Now it's not as bad.

 

Dried: I'm getting that rosy scent now; it's gorgeous. It faded too fast, though. I couldn't really smell it after three or four hours; I had to put my nose directly on my wrist to sniff it. I am totally not smelling the amber in this.

 

Overall: For a first imp, I really like it! I love jasmine. It's very floral, and not as strong as I thought it would be. Maybe not 5 mL-worthy, though.

Edited June 28, 2005 by storm the legion

[aurore]

Black Dahlia - At first, a bit too perfumey for me. I think I need to just stay away from florals. It does have an unusual hint of sweetness, but the strong musky florals are just way too overpowering.

Strangely, after thirty minutes or so I started getting whiffs of something familiar. I thought it might be Lush's candy fluff, which I dust my sheets with, but I've been out of bed awhile and I'm far enough from the bedroom that it doesn't really make sense to be smelling it.... I sniffed both my arms and decided it must be Black Dahlia. When I sniff it closely it's got that perfumey thing still going on, though much less strong and nearly tolerable, but when my arm is 12 inches below my nose I can definitely smell the sweetness... and it's Lush's ROCK STAR soap. Wow. This will definitely require further testing, since I am obviously quite torn at this time...

WAIT, it's not rock star, it's.. it's... YOU SNAP THE WHIP!!!! *dies* I have to make a lotion with this or something. But I do worry about that florally smell. The second time I put it on, ten minutes ago, I'm finding the wet stage more tolerable, almost rather nice. But I think it's somewhat psychological, knowing that it will soon smell like black currant. Unfortunately, this does seem to fade rather quickly... or maybe that's just me, snorting at all off my skin?

After an hour or so; It seem that my skin reigns in the perfumey notes and the throw is pure black currant. If I sniff my wrist directly I get perfume with an undercurrent of currant, but if I wave my wrist around about 6 inches from my nose I get You Snap The Whip. Oh goodness, I'm going to shower and then slather and see how I like it then.

Well, it must have been a fluke; I slathered after showering and it was just perfume. Must have been something already on my skin that reacted with it, though I have no idea what it was. I guess I'll be swapping it. Too bad...

[subbes]

Origin: Frimp, key part of a rather morbid set this order (murder victim, goddess of destruction, and zombies, oh my!)

 

In the bottle: sweet florals, a bit of smoke.

First application: Jasmine. Nothing but loud, shouting jasmine -- the bathroom cleaner scent.

 

Drydown: First, Jasmine, then a hint of magnolia. The jasmine in this is really strong for the first ten minutes. Then, the magnolia perks up more, along with the orchid. The jasmine fades but still stays.

 

Drydown: Magnolia, jasmine, a tiny hint of orchid.

 

Overall: Too much jasmine for me. I was hoping star jasmine wouldn't suffer the "bathroom cleaner" curse that plain jasmine has on me, but... no. Without the jasmine, this would have been the beginning of summer in Mississippi, and an okay scent for rooms (I'm not big on florals), but the jasmine tips the scales the other way.

 

Off to swaps, sorry.

[brownbear]

wooo!

 

Wet and dry on my skin this one is a vavavoom heavy floral. I was thinking jasmine, magnolia, gardenia type flowers. Must be the orchid in there; I've never smelled it on it's own, but blends with it seem to behave this way. I feel like I should be strutting around in something tight and cleavage bearing. It would help if I had a southern accent. I just hope that it doesn't go to powder or old lady in another hour.

[slave1]

In Bottle: Floral extreme.

 

On Skin: I have to admit, I got this one just for the name. I am a big fan of the Black Dahlia murder case and it’s always intrigued me. The scent sadly does not. It is much too floral, the magnolia, jasmine, orchid and rose are all standouts, you can smell each of them. The black amber gives a nice warm depth which keeps it from being too pretty. It does become a bit soapy on me after about 10 minutes. I wore this to a very conservative job interview and the woman interviewing me liked it, but then again, I’m not a conservative person so it figures it doesn’t suit me too well.

[OriginalWacky]

Bottle (Imp): Smells quite flowery.

 

Just On: Oh yeah, almost all flowers.

 

An hour or two later: Soap. Figures, my skin ruins it.

 

Around 6 hours: Soap.

 

12 hours: Soap.

 

Overall: Okay, so my skin turns this to soap.

 

After reading other reviews: I got no amber out of this, and it was soapy all the way through. AH well.

[Rackham's Vanity]

This was very jasmine on me to start. I'm not a floral person, but I love the scent of jasmine, and Black Dahlia seemed replete with it.

 

About two hours later, the jasmine died down, and the amber moved forward, trailing a ghost of rose behind.

 

Then, all of a sudden, the scent was gone. It began so brashly, I was surprised it was so short-lived. All that remained was a whisper of clean, aquatic rose.

 

Lovely, but brief.

[Lori]

At first, I was just going to review the scent and didn’t have much to say past that in the imp and wet on my skin, I smelled Magnolias and Jasmine, both very strong! This is a really strong floral, almost headache inducing, although when it dries, it is bearable. But again, it is “just” a floral, and although I always considered myself “just” a floral wearing girl (I am starting to change my mind about that after trying out and loving a lot of Beth’s foody and sugary scents!), I didn’t think this one was for me.

 

However, after reading in some of the reviews that this scent was named for a grisly murder victim, whose killer had never been charged, I had to find out more about the “Black Dahlia”. I went to http://www.bethshort.com/index.htm and found that, although her nickname denotes more of a wicked, dark, strong woman, she, in fact, was quite innocent and dependent and a tragic, sad figure.

 

I can now see where Beth was going with this scent (or at least this is my interpretation of where she was going). The Black Dahlia, also named Beth, was severed in two, her stark white, naked body shown to the world. In this blend, we have two white flowers, magnolias and jasmine present. The darkness of the crime is represented by the dark amber and the smoky rose.

 

As John Gilmore, author of “Severed”, says, “that pale white body severed in two...Beauty and darkness and death. Three irresistible elements burning brightly like a dying star.”

 

I think this scent captures that.

 

Whether I like this scent or would want to wear it, does not matter any more. I honour it as a prayer to the victim, as I believe it was meant to be.

[Little Bird]

I'm not well versed when it comes to floral blends (not that I'm really well versed about anything, I am just especially strugglin' when it comes to florals, lol). The only two flowers that I can usually identify are jasmine and rose. I know what those smell like, really! I definitely get jasmine and rose out of this. They seem to be going soapy on me.

 

It's not my sort of perfume, and the jasmine is overpowering as it always is on me. Black Dahlia is another floral soap blend on me.

[urraca]

I so wanted to like this and I was sure I would since there is nothing in it that usually disagrees with and favourites like rose and amber are present. But it is soapy on me. Just underneath the soap I smell a beautiful magnolia orchid sweetness that I would love to free from the soap but I can't. Is it the star jasmine that is causing me grief?

[AlaskaSnows]

In the Bottle: Smoky jasmine and light amber. I SO love this instantly.

 

Dry: much the same but mingles, perfectly balanced. This reminds me of an older sophisticated woman wearing lots of amber jewelry. This, for me, is almost pure jasmine with some gorgeous harmonious notes to round and balance it.

 

1 to 10: 10 Buy Again: ASAP

[Scarlettfish]

Black Dahlia is a very lush floral - I'm mostly getting magnolias and jasmine, with a hint of amber underneath. It is very Southern-Belle, with just a hint of darkness underneath. Very evocative of the 40s and an old-style sophisticated perfume. Definitely going to have to get a bottle of this, I can't stop sniffing my wrist. This has gone striaght into my top 5 BPALs, it's so delicious!

[Monster]

This smells like diapers or scented maxipads ><

The floral scent smells like it's trying to cover up something bad. It's a hospital smell, plasticy and artificial. I just really don't like florals at all.

[Colère]

Bottle: Sharp (but sweet) department store perfume.

 

Skin: Forget sweet, this is all about green! But not any green, a sort've bitter yellow-green I associate with summer weeds. And, dude, is that SALT? It's sort've like Playdough warmed by your hand. Weeds and Playdough; not feeling this one yet.

 

Skin, Later: Ah HA, there's the cheap 50s perfume again! There's a creamy powderyness to it, like expensive talc. Under the migraine inducing sweetness there's a subtle spiciness that's a little more grown-up, but it's not pronounced enough to dominate (damn!).

 

Verdict: Nope. Too dime-store perfumey for me. It also comes across as a bit sentimental (like something my grandmother wore), and overly generic. The scent stays, though, and left a nice touch of high class soap on my wrist in the morning.