Melisande, The Puppet Mistress

[Melantha]

Jasmine sambac, dark musk, violet water, vanilla bean and mimosa.

Jasmine kills it for me, apparently. I loved reading the other notes (especially mimosa! wow!) but all I smell is overwhelming jasmine.

[steffanina]

Melisande, the Puppet Mistress-

 

In Bottle: Deeply floral and cruel with it, almost medicinal.

 

Wet: Wow, the same thing. A cutting, almost medicinal floral scent.

 

Dry: Dries down to something nicely floral, but not really for me.

 

Overall: Not for me.

[maijasu]

When first applied, this is nothing but jasmine, sharp and unpleasant. After the jasmine has faded, I get a beautiful, sweet, powdery violet vanilla, but unfortunately, I just don't enjoy the initial jasmine blast, so I think this will have to move on to a new home.

[korshka]

I was going to post that this was jasmine musk all the way; however, it calmed down. On dry-down, or rather late dry-down, the violet comes out and it is more of a soft floral, sweet floral. The vanilla is not as strong as I would have liked. It has a good throw, especially in the beginning.

 

It's nice, but I don't think it'll be sticking around.

[jewelbug]

Imp: I have to confess that when I sniffed this, I didn't want to continue. Jasmine and I are typically enemies, and in the imp, this is very strong jasmine to my nose. I had hoped the "sambac" would be different, but alas, its not. In the imp, jasmine is all i smell. But I'll try anything once!

 

Wet: Very sweet jasmine. Still at odds with my skin chemistry, but not as badly as in some other blends. And its actually letting some other notes come through, cuz I can smell some bitter violets. This is an intensely strong floral. But in the background, there is a lovely almost citrusy fruity (mimosa?) smell. Just that the jasmine goes wonky on me and overpowers the others.

 

Dry: It takes about 2 hours for the jasmine to recede and let the others play nicely. After it does, this is actually very pretty, though I'm not typically a florals gal. Its a sweet heady floral, kinda fruity and just a hint of creaminess. In this phase, it actually reminds me quite a bit of khajuraho, though I can't tell you why from the notes list. Similar feel, maybe?

 

Overall: This lasts about 7 hours, and while I don't like the first ~2 at all, the remainder is quite pretty. I reccommend this as a complex scent for jasmine/floral lovers, but alas, I am not one. But mimosa/vanilla stage at the end is very pretty.

Edited November 10, 2006 by jewelbug

[Emu Nymph]

I wasn't sure about this one because Jasmine is very hit or miss on me. But I was very nicely surprised when it smelled more of a vanillamust with jasmine under tones. This is home more scent I have to add to my list!

[midnight_aeval]

I'm getting a lot of violet and jasmine from this blend! Unfortunately both of those notes hate me. I try to love Violet, but she is bitchy and stubborn. Jasmine just doesn't care, but has to make her presence known EVERYWHERE.

 

Very, very heady, sweet floral.

 

It was nice to experience Miss Melisande, and the artwork is my favorite so far from CD, but I just can't make her mine.

[slave1]

In Bottle: Violet

 

On Skin: The dominant note is the violet water, followed by the sweet strong jasmine. This is actually quite pretty, the violet is so innocent and then the dark musk shows itself and gives a slight sinister edge. Very velvety and soft. The vanilla gives a gorgeous sweetness and adds to the youthful and innocent feel of this blend. This is a very floral scent, if you love violet and jasmine you must try this scent. As the scent develops though, the musk base becomes even stronger which makes it even better in my book since I’m not a fan of pure florals. With the violet and musk combined, it is quite powdery. While this is a very pretty scent, it is still a little too floral for me. I will keep my imp though, to sniff whenever I need a violet fix. Light to medium throw, average wearlength.

[cuervosueno]

I'm a huge jasmine fan, so when I saw this, I knew I wanted to try it. I only got an imp, though, because I was dubious of the violet. Which turned out not to be an issue.

 

In imp: musky floral. I don’t like it in the imp.

 

Wet, it smells slightly rose-like. Wait, now the jasmine is coming out, and I like it more. Yes, yes. Jasmine with a hint of vanilla.

 

Uh oh. Do I really NEED another jasmine scent? Part of me is saying yes, yes, because this is subtler than some of the others I like. Reminds me a litle of Red Flower's Indian Jasmine lotion. I do smell smell the red musk, and it has a slightly civety scent...(I’ve been comparing civet scents trying to distinguish them from musk). But the vanilla adds a gorgeous note to it. I might have to have this after all.

 

Ah, but I gave it some time, and after the dry down, it is to jasmine and red musk which is a bit too much like the love me/fire of love/dixie love perfume on me, so maybe not?

 

I never get the violet, which is fine with me.

 

After some thought, I've put it up for swap. I kind of like it, but I have other things I like better.

Edited September 30, 2006 by cuervosueno

[juniperus]

Bottle: violet, mimosa, and a hint of the vanilla. wow, this is lovely!

Wet: the same, with the addition of jasmine moving in and out, sort of floating over.

Dry: the jasmine is present, but not taking over yet..I can still discern the violet and mimosa, but no musk yet.

Later: the jasmine is amped, but it'a not out of control nor has it grown to a sweet/sourness of rotting florals as it's been known to do on numerous occasions.

[tasty]

I can smell the jasmine/violet in this blend, and while I lovelovelove violet, this floral combo is not for me. Also, there's something in the background that reminds me of (dare I say it?!) cat pee.

 

Ack, this is a definite no with my skin chemistry.

[aimeceleste]

My skin doesn't amp this as much as it does most jasmine blends, but I still get way more jasmine than any other smell.

[theseagrows]

first off, jasmine smells like....mothballs or bad breath on me-really hard to explain, but it does not smell good. not bpal's jasmine, anyway. at first all i get is the jasmine-strong, sharp and sour. ugh.

 

then when it dries down it's a vanilla-violet-musk that is a bit powdery, but it's a GOOD powdery. in fact i really like it a lot when it's dry, but the first half an hour it smells gross on me. i'll most likely keep my imp but not buy a bottle of this one. i think i'd like it better if the jasmine was more subtle.

[jenleigh]

When I read the descriptions of all the CD blends, Melisande was the one that jumped screaming out at me from the descriptions. Jasmine? Violet? YES.

 

And so it's really no surprise that my instincts were right with this one, and it's really my favorite CD that I've tried thus far. The jasmine and the violet are gorgeous together, and the musk just plays in the background, grounding it from getting cloying or sweet.

 

I definitely need a bottle or three before this goes away.

[silver_dollar]

I just get jasmine, and plenty of it. Fortunately, I'm in the minority that likes the Lab's jasmine note, but I was hoping for more complexity, especially because the other notes sounded so good. The drydown is sweeter and candylike, like in New Orleans. I guess jasmine turns into jasmine candy on me after a while. Not entirely what I expected, but it's okay.

[nightbird]

in the bottle, this smells floral, but I can't name the specific flowers. oddly, I don't smell the jasmine in this blend when I sniff the vial - it makes its appearance once I'm wearing it. and then it turns to soap, as jasmine tends to do on me. there is also something slightly bitter in the background that I can't place.

 

the artwork for this oil is gorgeous - one of my favorites!

[pkthunder]

In the bottle, I could smell [most] all the notes blended together. Once on my skin, the jasmine popped right out, and then settled down into those yucky little pink soaps shaped like seashells.

 

The florals are fading fast, though, and the vanilla musky scent that is left behind is nice.

 

I sampled this on my right hand and Pulcinella & Teresna on my left, and not surprisingly, when put together, the puppet mistress and her puppets blend well.

[Meg]

In the bottle: Rather green... violet and a bit of jasmine?

 

Wet: Jasmine and green violet.

 

Drydown: The violet gets stronger and dominates the blend, with jasmine right underneath. There are hints of vanilla and mimosa, specially mimosa, very sweet. And then I think everything turns, because the violet doesn't really agree with my skin.

 

Overall: It reminds me of a grandmotherish blend. The violet always does this to me, and the jasmine doesn't really help, it's very traditional-perfume-ish. I certainly can't get any pictures of a puppet mistres when it makes me think of a little old lady. Damn.

[Emma2403]

In the bottle: jasmine, mostly. Something a little bit boozey, maybe.

 

On my skin: very floral… only jasmine (the usual jasmine curse!) but for any reason, I don't dislike it as much as usual.

 

After a couple of hours: the jasmine takes hours (literally!) to fade away, and finally lets place to musk. It gets much nicer in the end.

 

Verdict: swap pile, although it's one of my "favourite" jasmine scents.

[myoubi]

Heavens! Must-hoard-never-be-without-it-again...

 

Before I switched to buying BPAL, one of my favourite scents was YSL Cinema. My only complaint was that it was a bit too heavy for me; but otherwise it was perfect, sexy without being a come-on and jim-dandy with my skin chemistry. I got attention whenever I wore it. Lots of lovely scents, but I never found anything to replace it.

 

Melisande is Cinema without that heaviness; it's a little sweeter and it's rather more subtle, toned down enough to be a daywear scent instead of just an evening one. Versatile enough to be worn anywhere if I just feel like it; subtle but not meek.

 

My most discerning sniff-tester took a whiff, thought, took another sniff, and said in a surprised tone, "Actually, that's quite nice. That... smells quite nice on you." That's the first time he's ever made a positive comment without any reservations about any of my scents. sold.

[Em-]

Melisande is a crafty one, she is. In the bottle, she is powerfully jasmine laden. But on my skin, a rich vanilla sweetness comes out, and this is actually a very pretty, not migraine inducing blend on my skin.

 

Still, it is not something that I will regularly wear, so, in the interest of enabling, I've gifted my bottle, which was itself a wonderful gift to a friend in the hopes of bringing her into the fold...

[cranberry]

In the imp: this smells very fresh – flowers but light and airy.

 

On the skin: There’s jasmine in here, but it’s not the high pitched jasmine that you run into sometime. This is a much smoother, melodious jasmine. I have to agree w/Bagfish that this is similar to stages of Khajuraho or the Perfumed Garden. As it wears the jasmine dominates and it’s virtually impossible for me to discern other notes. Of course, saying that it does seem to me that there’s a touch of incense in here, totally unexpected. I like this but I have other florals that I like better.

 

So in sum, this was great to try, I totally enjoyed it, I’ll keep my imp but I won’t be seeking out a bottle.

[sofiaviolet]

OOOOH. This is lovely. The jasmine is most prominent. The violet and musk are less discernable but they make this a darker scent that it otherwise would be. I don't really smell any vanilla, but I don't think it would improve the scent if I could smell it. The darker notes come to the fore as this wears.

[tempestteapot]

Wow the jasmine on this one is strong. I had to refer back to find out what other things I SHOULD be smelling. My skin as apparently ate all the other notes. I may as well be wearing straight jasmine oil. Which isn't BAD per se. But not all that I'd hoped for.

[klavierbarrette]

bottle: violet

skin (wet): violet!

 

when it dries it turns to the jasmine, but still stays very pretty. i get just a HINT of vanilla, and it doesn't stick around very long. when it is fully dry i get the jasmine and mimosa. i do wish the violet stuck aroud longer though. :/

 

i bought this scent just because the picture on the site reminded me SO much of one of the characters in the book (well, it's just a 'story' now) i am writing. and this is something she would wear. she loves flowers but this is more 'sexy' and well, she's a dominatrix. :x i absolutely LOVE this scent. i am buying another bottle for sure. this is a very special scent to me. THANK YOU BETH.