Pontarlier

[theseagrows]

PONTARLIER -- The legendary birthplace of the Green Fairy. Swiss ferns, lilac, blackcurrant, Gallic rose and lavender with a dollop of sugar and absinthe.

 

hm, i thought there was ylang ylang or jasmine in this, but it must be the lilac, which my skin also seems to amp to the nth degree. all i really smell is the lilac, rose and a slight touch of sugar. this smells like generic white floral on me, and since im not really into white florals, i'll be swapping this imp.

Edited December 14, 2006 by theseagrows

[oh_the_horror]

In bottle: Herbs and light florals, something a little sharp.

 

Wet and drying down: Something doesn't like me in this, maybe the Gallic rose, maybe the lilac. It's the old familiar smell of a floral turning sharp, abrasive and nasty once it meets my skin chemistry. I also think it smells like ylang ylang.

 

Dry: Terrible. Ech. The description sounded so great.

[supremegoddessofall]

Sweet lovely lilac! Not getting the fruits or rose here. I'm enjoying this very much.

[Voleuse]

This is rather perfumey to my nose on first sniff, an airy balance of florals. After a while, however, the air in the blend blooms into a cool breeze, lending the floral notes a freshness that I wouldn't have expected. This is pretty! This strikes me as a flower-strewn mountainside, bright and perfect on a crisp morning. I smell the rose particularly, as well as a bitter, musk-tinged note. This morphs into something weird on me, sweet and a little too musky, but absinthe has never been kind with my chemistry.

[PirateMaggie]

Pontarlier is really quite pretty. It's a sweeter, more floral, less sharp Absinthe. It isn't much of a morpher: from application to drydown to the time it finally faded, it stayed exactly as its catalogue description would lead one to believe: absinthe dripped through a sugar cube, with light florals, fruit, and a lovely green leafy smell which must be the fern. I don't think I'll buy a bottle until I use up my 5ml of Absinthe because the two smells aren't different enough for me to justify it (not with all those Snake Oil LEs out there!) but it's gorgeous, with none of the sharp lemon and anise that some find offputting in Absinthe. I would whole-heartedly recommend this to somebody who wants a sweeter, gentler absinthe scent.

 

edited because i tipe gud

Edited January 20, 2007 by PirateMaggie

[Dandelion]

Very soft and pretty, cool and fresh, except for a slightly astringent note that is cloying to my nose on first application, but calms down a lot later. I think I'll be saving this imp for summer, as it has a refreshing smell. It's a very green scent, too, but not sharp, which I like.

[TroubleDoll]

I am immediately struck by the herbal quality of this blend. It reminds me of when I used to make my own herbal teas and crafts. Drying down, there is a bit of powdery sugar and finally a slight creaminess. I am definitely in love with this one.

[grrrlennyl]

at first: bright green.

on: still green, but with a hint of lilac and a bit of sugar. very nice.

2 hours later: this is really lovely when it wafts up to my nose. it's a soft, green floral. however, when i smell my wrist, it's really sharp and soapy.

4.5 hours later: soft, slightly soapy flowers.

7.5 hours later: soapy, powdery flowers.

overall: this just didn't develop nicely on me.

[xoe]

for me pontarlier is lilac. fresh beautiful lilac.

if i think about it, i can tell there are other notes: rose, some herbs. but mainly lilac.

 

it's very pretty. very springtime.

i think it is making me sneeze though.

[cherry crush]

Upon first applying this, I smell bright green ferns with an underlying earthy/fungal note. This quickly fades as the lilac comes roaring out, overpowering the rest. It smells very spring-time, soft and pretty. The fern note is interesting, making it not too sweet or cloying. I faintly smell lavender as it dries, but it's mostly lilac on me. I like it!

[zankoku_zen]

In the imp: greeny like floral

 

On Skin: Green, like the smell of fresh cut shoots, and floral, the lilac and rose standout. I smells whiffs of ferns, which provides a backdrop to the florals

 

On Drydown: It sweetens a bit, but it's primarily a white floral blend. I don't get so much of a 'green' feeling to it.

 

Verdict: This is a pretty blend, and if you like lilacs, this one is for you. The lilacs pretty much stayed all the way from the beginning to the end. After about three or four hours, lilacs are pretty much the only thing I get from this blend.

[Miss Lynx]

At first sniff, this was very, very green -- the fern note, maybe. The lilac caught up soon afterwards, but thankfully it and the rose didn't seem to completely take over the scent in the way that florals so often do on me. It still had a very green, fresh, herbal undercurrent. I suppose the herbiness might be partially the absinthe as well.

 

At that stage, I found myself partly liking it and partly not. There are some nice aspects to it, but there's also a touch of something that's a bit reminiscent of that snowy note that's in Talvikuu, Crow Moon and a few others, and that note really doesn't work well on me -- it just gives a harsh, synthetic edge to the scent.

 

Eventually it fades down to just a gentle lilac, but on the whole, I think this scent is not for me.

 

Grade: C

[stellans]

Imp: When I read that the notes of this blend I knew I'd love it, no matter which notes dominated my nose. In the imp, it's lilac with only a hint of green. I smell no lavender, rose, black currant nor any absinthe. There does seem to be a sweetness which speaks of the sugar, though.

 

Wet: Still lilac and greenery, not much else. Which, I must add, is just fine with me because I love lilac! It puts me in mind of lovely southern nights, warmish, with the full moon lighting up the countryside. The scent of lilacs is a very good memory-evoker, and I have good memories!

 

Dry: Still lilacs, still green. No lavender, no rose, etc. etc etc. But it's really ok, because this is a lovely, lovely blend with plenty of throw and stay. I like it better on my skin than in my scent locket, however. On me, the scent warms and grows. In the locket, it's very static, and compares unpleasantly to the way it smells on -- more so, to my nose, than many other scents I've tried both ways.

 

Verdict: I'm glad I bought a bottle of this from eBay after sniffing the imp. It's a nice warm weather blend, and I will enjoy wearing it this summer. I also like La Fee Verte, and will try Absinthe soon.

Edited March 20, 2009 by stellans

[outofrhyme]

In the bottle:

Greens, florals, some weird sharp acrid notes.

 

Wet:

GREEN PLANTS and something cool. Florals are also sorta there, I get the lilac especially. I seriously smell like the grass in a garden.

 

Dry down:

Still too green. With that slighly unpleasant acrid planty-ness. Hints of delightful notes, but they just won't come out. I mean, they creep out a little - sugar, rose, lilac - but not quite enough. Ends up very musky on me, for some reason.

 

Final thoughts:

Not for me There were a lot of promising notes in the bottle, but it just doesn't work with my chemistry. It would be gorgeous with the right chemistry. On me, it reminds me a lot of Crossroads... I bet this would work well for someone that also liked Crossroads.

[luckybuzz]

Okay, I am totally not a floral girl, and I expected to sniff this and put it right on the swap pile.

 

But. Oh. My. God.

 

I have never smelled lilac like this that wasn't still hanging on a tree. This is amazing. It smells like the spring when I was seven years old. I'm just sitting here sniffing my arm and smiling.

[Neely]

In the bottle: green fresh ferns and lilac.

 

Wet: green fresh ferns, lilacs, lavender and bitter Absinthe.

 

Dry down: lilacs and ferns, with Absinthe and sugar.

 

30 minutes: lilacs, ferns, and Absinthe.

 

Conclusion: I am with Luckybuzz, I am not a floral girl and expected to sniff this, try it and immediately give it to my buddy Mandragora. But I love it!!!! I can see myself sitting in a black wrought iron chair at a black wrought iron table on a warm evening. I sit outside a cafe where golden light spills out from gaslight. The street lights on the cobblestone street in front of me are gaslights. Horse drawn carriages and pedestrians in Victorian garb walk by. The cafe has huge lilac bushes and ferns growing near the tables. I sit and sip my Absinthe in a glass with a metalwork holder and slotted spoon on the table with remants of the sugar cubes I melted into the glass. Someone plays a violin nearby. Nice job evoking a place Beth and labbies. Nicely done indeed. Big bottle in the future!

 

Rating 1-5: this is a 5.

[ladybird]

In bottle: Mostly lavender, with a little greenness that must be from the fern

 

Wet: Still mostly lavender and green, but with the rose coming out. (Sigh. My skin really wants to strengthen rose notes.)

 

Dry: Lilac! Here comes the lilac. It's softened and made more complex by the slight green notes that remain, and by the sweet sugar - and of course, by the rose, because my skin just can't let any rose fade into the background. But mostly it's lilac. I've been looking for a lilac scent for ages, and I think I've finally found it. Yay!

[kwsix]

In the imp, Pontarlier is lilac, lavender, and ferns. I seriously doubt if I would have figured that out without reading the description first. At best I probably would have come up with lavender, flowers, and some green things.

 

While the oil is wet on my skin, I mainly get lavender. I think my skin loves lavender, so that's no surprise. As it dries, it becomes lilac with greenery. I don't detect rose at all, and couldn't specifically pick out ferns or absinthe. It just smells like sweet fresh lilac and herbal plants.

 

Overall, Pontarlier is the truest lilac scent I've ever encountered, which is funny to me because there are so many other notes in the blend. It truly smells like the fresh-cut lilacs that my Mom used to put all over the house when I was a child, so I appreciate it for sentimental reasons if nothing else. I don't think I would wear this often if at all, but I would like to keep an imp around and perhaps try it as a room scent.

[Extispex]

In the imp I get lilac and lavender. Nice combination, but I smell lavender every night when I go to bed, so I don't want to wear it during the day. Its a scent I prefer to associate with sleep, so it will continue to lull me to sleep.

 

Wet, on.... mmmm this is really nice. The lavender fades into the background, and I get a sharpish greeny-white floral. Its like stepping into a flower shop, with all the cut stems and ferns. Its very true on me, and I like it a lot.

 

This does very nicely on me, surprisingly so. As it dries, it picks up a hint of powder, but not so much as to be offensive. If I were a floral gal, I'd wear this often. But I'm not, so the imp should be enough for me.

[swilde]

Oh, this smells just like the lilacs I used to pick for my mother every spring, only balanced with juicy rose. (Real rose, not that musky, pungent hippie rose oil.) The fern must be helping to give it green outdoorsiness.

 

Lavender is the mid note, rounded out by absinthe herbs (no anise or wormwood, if you're scared.) I smell melissa and coriander.

 

(EDIT: what I though may have been anise as time passed must be currant.)

 

To be honest, I've had no luck with any of the Wanderlust (I've tried Machu Pichu, The Hanging Gardens, Kyoto, Manila, Whitechapel, Yerevan, Tenochtitlan, Moscow, Eden and Athens) but this has renewed my faith in the line.

Edited July 6, 2007 by swilde

[Ajila]

In the bottle – Some sort of harsh air freshener (the ferns I guess)

 

Wet on me – Quite medicinal, I get the black currant and a slight liquoricy tinge that I assume is the absinthe

 

Dry on me – Very faint, but warm and sweetly herbal

 

Overall – What’s there is nice enough, but it’s barely notice able

[funkmoppet]

Wet, this one is all about the fern and lavender. Wet, herbal, and fresh.

 

Drying down, the lavender backs right off and it's all green, freshly cut stems in someone's spring garden. Not getting any of the sugar, or rose (remarkably, as I did get a whiff of it from the imp). I can see where it might have a touch of La Fee Verte to it, but only so very slightly.

 

It seemed to pretty much be all fern on me, and then suddenly, in the throw - lilacs. Lovely! Up close, the ferns are still going strong, but the throw definitely has the lilacs now.

 

Then it dries down and turns into Grandma's Ye Olde bath-cubes.

 

It was an interesting journey, Pontarlier, and you almost had me at the ferns'n'lilacs - but no. Not to be.

[The_Merf]

In the imp: I expected this to be way more floral--it's very green and herby. I can't pick out the lilac at all--I don't even pick up on the lavender that others sniff.

 

Wet: Green and...apples? I swear to god, this smells like BPALs apple note--very crisp fruit.

 

Drydown and wear: OK, now this is back to green herbs and the slightest hint of lavender and currant. There's also still an apple-ish smell, I swear. This is a bit too bright-green for my liking; I really wish that I could have smelled more lilac!

[maribouquet]

imp: a sort of coniferous floral

wet: sharp and tangy with an emerging sweetness that threatens to go to powder

dry: do I detect evil jasmine? something in here is starting to get that nasty, sour scent that jasmine gives me

 

the jasmine-like floral is gone, leaving a nice spicy scent...a little masculine. Not really me.

[tartchef]

In the imp: lovely lush dark green ferns with a haze of lavender

 

On me: expensive triple-milled lilac soap.

 

Pooh.