Black Dahlia

[Ahania]

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

 

I love jasmine, and amber, and I like magnolias. I don't know what orchids smell like, but none of that matters, because when I put this on, all I smelled was roses. I'm not a rose fan but at first it smelled pretty and I was pleasantly surprised, but in a couple of minutes it turned into flailing sneezies.

[monsteralice]

Wet: Mixed floral with a smoky edge.

 

Dry: Has a nice throw. Rose and jasmine are prominent and the smoke is gone.

 

Duration: Had a good throw for 2 hours, was still good on the wrist for at least 12 hours (then I went to bed).

[Sashan]

In the Bottle: Sweet, sharp and a little smoky

 

Wet: First sniff I get a strong whiff of magnolia followed by black amber. It then turns quite smoky almost like ash.

 

Dry: The smokiness fades and the magnolia starts to shine through. I can smell the magnolia over the jasmine with the black amber underneath. It's becoming a beautiful blend of florals, a little sweet yet a little spicy. This is gorgeous - a lush dark floral perfect for a night out.

 

Hours later: The rose came through and took over, as rose always does. It then turned to powder. My husband described it as talcum powder crossed with palmolive soap.

 

 

I really loved the initial stages of this scent but rose and I just don't get along *sigh*

[Browneyes]

Imp: sharp floral

Wet: the florals come to life, predominantly rose and magnolia

Dry: sharp, smoky, heady floral, pretty, but not big bottle

[filigree_shadow]

Woah. Holy moly that's a lot of flowers. The really strong cloying kind. Tons of jasmine. Yow, this is kind of pungent on me. Er, no, this isn't gonna work for me at all. Often I can tolerate florals even if I don't really like them all that well, but I can't even tolerate this one. It's getting washed off.

[euterpe414]

OK, I don't even know why I tested this one. It has the evil combination of doom for me- jasmine and rose. PLUS other flowers added in (well, okay, I do love orchid, though). Of course when this one hit my skin it was like the apocalypse...sharp rose, musty cloying jasmine and some other floraliness mixed in for good measure.

 

Ultimately jasmine is giving this one a musty BO edge. Maybe it's the jasmine and magnolia combo. I don't know for sure, but I do know that this is not working for me. bleh.

[stellans]

I love magnolias and roses, and I like some jasmine, so I was very optimistic about this blend. Fortunately for me, that optimism was not, I repeat, NOT misplaced.

 

In the imp: floral, with a strong rose scent foremost.

Wet on skin: again, rose is the strongest up front.

Dry: Oh, nice! Now the other notes are starting to pop up, mellowing the aggressive rose note! I am really liking this blend. My poor wish list just keeps growing & growing & growing...

Verdict: The throw isn't all that strong, and it doesn't last as long on me as I would like, but the scent makes up for it. I kept smelling my wrist all day.

Is it a keeper? Definitely.

Edited February 28, 2008 by stellans

[mspixieears]

The smoky rose is evident first off though there is a hint of a dark chocolate note which softens the floral composition. I get all rose first – wet and on immediate drydown. I can smell the black amber though wouldn’t have identified it unless I knew the notes beforehand. The magnolia and jasmine aren’t discernible to me though I can smell the stereotypical white florals. I would prefer the magnolia to shine through more. An hour and a half and it’s still far too rosy for my taste. It ended up being swapped away, alas.

[silver_dollar]

I wore this when we went to Biltmore. Mom kept saying I smelt like a funeral home all day. I don't know if that's the point, but I have to agree. It does smell like a funeral home. It's not entirely unpleasant, but I think I'll be swapping it anyway.

[Victoria]

i thought i would like this since i adore magnolia trees and the scent reminds me of New Orleans and the South in general, but alas, methinks magnolia smells better on a tree than on me.

 

update: i tried this again, 2 weeks after my last post, and now i really like it. i've read that your sense of smell changes with hormonal fluctuations, and that seems to be the only thing i can attribute to my feeling that this scent was too cloying the first time i tried it. or perhaps i had put on too much. still, i would definitely use this scent sparingly, a little goes a long way. and be patient: within an hour or so, Black Dahlia turns into a lovely, lovely dark floral.

Edited April 19, 2007 by Tragic Thalia

[neuilly]

Rose and jasmine soap *sigh* And it sounded so beautiful too. The scent is nice but nothing amazing. Off to swaps.

[tinyvulture]

this is an extremely strong floral.

 

some jasmine notes smell good on me and others don’t. the star jasmine in this blend seems to hate me. and i’ve never been able to wear magnolia. it’s making me sneeze, actually. i love orchids, but they’re overwhelmed here by the other floral notes. i can barely make them out, and i can’t smell any rose at all. the amber lends its usual wonderful soft warmth, but it’s not enough to tame the overpowering jasmine and magnolia combo. swapping.

[jiggahava]

Yowza. Jasmine and magnolias are a heady mixture. It's like my face is pressed right against the petals. Good thing I love both these flowers so much. I'm not getting any rose and the orchids are pretty pale on my skin, so this is all white flowers and headiness. Mmmm. This is a keeper for sure. Only downside is that there is almost no throw.

Edited May 3, 2007 by Hava

[radishbaby]

In the imp : Definitely getting a whiff of magnolia, it's hiding out but I can detect a trace of it here and there. Other than that this just smells like a very nice woman's perfume - definitely a night time scent but other than that there's no allusion to it's names sake that I can detect yet.

 

 

Wet : This is just strong amber on me. Poo! I wanted magnolia. There's definitely some rose beginning to make its self known and true to its description it is smoky. It smells as if someone took a very fragment blossom and wafted it over incense or a cigarette. Its kind of a dry scent under all the blossoms and its the first hint that Beth's managed to catch yet another concept in the bottle. The smoke and the amber together make for something very discomforting, here's the hint of blackness in all of this. But as soon as I try to peg it down a bit more it flits away just like the real mystery murderer it's definitely there adding a darkness to what would otherwise be a very normal perfume. It definately smells like a man's scent that's been covered up - but in a very good intriguing sort of way.

 

 

Dry Down : The amber has receded a bit and the jasmine is making its self known. The magnolia is still awol.

 

30 min later : Boo! This is already starting to fade! Just a very nice floral combination now.

 

60 min later : Pretty much faded away to my nose and my Grandmother isn't awake to tell me otherwise. Mellowed out to a very sweet floral with a hint of something creamy in it which might be the magnolias. I'll try this one again sometime to see if it doesn't change a bit.

 

Over all : This is a gorgeous lovely scent, very nice and department store like however I was hoping for magnolia! in my scent and I didn't get any at all but wow what a heck of a show the black amber put on. I wanted this to be more reminiscent of Beth Short however all I get is just nice perfume. Not big bottle worthy on me but I'll enjoy the imp.

[purplemoonshoes]

In the imp: a dark, rich orchid with a undernote of magnolia

 

Wet: Hmm, another flower comes out...jasmine maybe?

 

Drydown: Deep floral; I catch a little of everything, with a base of amber

 

Later: Staying power, but not much throw; it softens and sweetens a little over time

 

Orchid scents are my thing, so this works for me. Also, ambers stay a long time on my skin, so that helps too. I wish the magnolia was a little stronger. It works well for the name.

 

ADDED Dec. 20:

 

Smoky flowers in the imp, but unlike most smoky scents it fades quickly into my skin. Why does my skin love to eat BPAL? Another swap.

[PersephonesChild]

Mmm...

 

I'm liking this. I like the jasmine in it-- it's very innocent, it reminds me of being very, very young and with my grandmother. The amber gives it a much more grown-up tone. The magnolia also conjures up childhood, since I'm a southern grrrl. I don't smell much rose. I like rose a lot, so that's a little sad, but I don't think the blend really needs the rose. I'm very satisfied as it is.

 

It's a very floral blend, but does not induce headaches. I feel like many perfumers would have gone a step further and thrown in some lavender, but as someone with an intense hatred of lavender, I'm pleased to say Beth saw that discretion was the better part of valor.

 

It reminds me of a meadow on a hot August day...

[missnightshade]

My boyfriend actually was the one who wanted to try this one... I can definitely smell the dark, dusty/smoky rose. The amber and magnolia blended together beautifully. It makes him smell like an evil, yummy blossom! I wanted to just eat him up. Later on it fades to a faint, musky floral. This one is certainly going to be a big bottle purchase!

[jainabee]

My grandmother was orphaned during the Great Depression. At 16, she ran away to Los Angeles. Half Bette Davis, half Bettie Page, she raged against every obstacle. She conquered poverty, divorce, the death of her first child.

 

She is now a glamorous diva, residing in a quiet haven in Westwood.

 

This smells exactly like her.

[readiness]

in bottle: magnolia

wet: still magnolia but softened

dry down: Magnolia with a touch of roses

 

30 minutes later - it's roses and sugar with a magnolia hint

 

Classic floral blend but definitely not an everyday scent. this is a dressed up with pearls scent.

Edited July 9, 2007 by readiness

[Nia]

on the imp: a slightly soapy floral that reminds of lilies. Ick.

 

Wet: a vague, tiny floral hint.

 

Five minutes later: This smells very little on my skin. It's just a standard floral, in which a rose-jasmine combination is more noticeable than any other element. Not a memorable scent.

[stardreamer]

Not something I'd have ordered for myself; the description suggests that it's going to be much too floral. And the description is right -- this is entirely and heavily floral, much too much so for my taste. Fortunately, the magnolia and jasmine overpower the rose, so it's tolerable to wear for a full test. Staying power is moderate; it's pretty much gone after 9 hours, although that did include being out in the hot weather. Bottom line: not my thing, off to the swap pile it goes.

[funkmoppet]

Frimp from the lab.

 

Oh boy. Jasmine.

 

I can barely smell anything else in this but jasmine, wet and dry. And I'm not a fan of jasmine unless it's in someone's garden. Sticking it out to see what it does after a while, and it goes to a soft, powdery less-aggressive jasmine with magnolia.

 

This is the kind of floral I just don't like, so it's coming off.

 

Swapsies.

Edited July 20, 2007 by funkmoppet

[grifyn_whiffs]

I'm currently having something of a love affair with black orchids right now. ANYTHING orchid. The note works great on me. BUT, this one suffers from the star jasmine, which is kind of front and center. This could be because I had a middle school love affair with jasmine (can you say jasmine soak?), and now it makes me kind of sick (as did middle school in general). It jumps out of every blend it's in and gives me a headache.

 

Other than that, this one is floral and dark purplish, the way Purple Phoenix smelled to me, though they don't seem to share anything but a general floral quality. The jasmine paired with the amber is making this go to powdery with my skin, though the smoky rose makes a valiant effort of redeeming it in the final stages. Harumph.

Edited July 25, 2007 by Grifyn

[arsenic]

In imp: Magnolia and jasmine.

 

Wet: Orchid! Very strong and no other notes.

 

Dry: The throw on this scent is crazy; people passing within 5 feet are wondering who the smell is coming from. A whole load of orchid with a little rose and amber.

 

I was hoping for some jasmine but I never seem to get any when wearing lab scents. I already have an orchid oil so I won't be hanging on to this one.

[ClareN]

I love jasmine, the flower, and I even love Lush's jasmine products. But for some reason, BPAL's jasmine note doesn't resemble jasmine at all, to my nose. It's this weird, bitter, dry, papery, almost soapy scent. I saw someone else on this forum describe it as "funky rice" once, and that seems about right. I'm sure some people must perceive it differently, or there wouldn't be so many scents with jasmine. But I'm jealous of anyone who gets a real jasmine scent from that note.

 

Anyway, that's what Black Dahlia is - that weird jasmine note drowns out everything else. I've stopped trying with BPAL jasmine, but I think this one came to me in a mystery imp pack. Such are the perils of mystery imp packs.