Mag Mell

[monsteralice]

The Plane of Joy, eternal reward for a lifetime of valor and glory. A place of eternal youth and beauty, strength and honor, music and revelry. The warmth of amber, the puissance of white ginger and the clarity of verbena, with fresh green grass, lush sage and cleansing droplets of summer rain.

Wet: Eating lemon-ginger cookies in a hayfield.

Dry: Loses the lemon, gets sweeter.

Finish: Amber with a touch of ginger.

Duration: Not much left after 6 hours.

I threw this one into my swap pile. Not that I didn't like it, I did; but it just didn't have the oomph of the ones that I've loooooooooved. Still, I reserve the right to give it another try once I've worked through more of BPAL's offerings.

[Shollin]

First sniff: Bright fresh lemon, very very yellow.

 

Wearing: It’s still mostly lemon, but there’s something else here that makes it a bit deeper.

[Jilara]

There's supposed to be an amber note here, but I don't get it.

 

Wet, it's a waft of flowers with a slight backnote of ginger. Reminds me of something I've smelled in Hawaii. It's very etherial, at this point. Almost not there at all, a whispered scent.

As it dries, a smell of clover and grass comes out. It mixes and mingles to smell like a lovely day in a late spring meadow.

[forspecial_plate]

Mag Mell strikes me as a very strange scent. It starts out fresh and sweet smelling, kind of herbal, a little grassy, with a hint of ginger and a lot of verbena, which I happen to like. After that it slowly builds in intensity, and also shifts....a weird foody aspect comes out for me, very much like buttery cookies or baked goods. It still smells sweet, but turns into cake or cookies or something. Pretty odd, and I don't know what's causing it.....there's not one note that stands out, it's more like the whole thing together is resembling cookies to me. Maybe it's the amber and ginger. Weird, and although it's not unpleasant, I'm not sure I want to wear it again. I think Antonino or Polyhymnia are more to my liking for this kind of herbal/lemon-y scent.

[hackess]

Very, very green at first application, like bathing in an herb-oil infusion. Then the verbena hits and all I smell like is cleaning products. Definitely not for me.

[melange]

Wet on my skin, verbena pops out with sage, grass and rain to keep it complicated; as it dries, there's that hint of ginger, and I start missing the grass. The amber starts to thicken it up, but the rain's still there, the verbena is just a tiny hint of freshness, and the sage is mostly behaving. A little bit out from my skin, there's a faint nimbus of freshness including a little more ginger, and in general it's quite pleasant but muted. Rather than being wholly blended, I'm getting little wafts of different notes or different "chords" of notes, and although I wish Mag Mell were somewhat stronger (unless that's just my skin or nose acting up tonight), I'm enjoying it more and more as time goes on.

[Electra]

Gah, screaming verbena. That is all I get, from start to finish .

 

Stupid skin.

[goddessrobyn]

This is now my #1 must have scent!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

I wanted Aries to be my most beloved ginger but it was not... however...

 

Here she is... GINGER GODDESS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Em-]

Fresh and light with something warm - this is an odd mixture of fresh watery aquatic and almost bakery ginger on me, which may be the way my chemistry is reading it with the amber (I do weird things with amber)...I don't get nearly as much of the herbals - the verbena and the sage as I might have hoped, not do I get OMG ginger. Just an odd combination...like eating ginger cookies in the rain.

[little_galaxie]

This is a very citrussy scent that remindes me a bit of Tarot: The Star. The ginger is very warm and rich while the fresh grass keeps everything light and sweet. What an interesting, contraidctory scent! I quite like it, it has a very "golden" feel. The notes sound like they shouldn't go together, but they do.

[Analise]

So, right after I put it on, I sniff my wrist and I'm getting lemon.

 

I run downstairs and thrust my wrist into my roommate's face, "smell my wrist!" she asks, "isn't that the same thing you had me smell the other day? [arcana]" and I'm all...er, no...but it's herby and lemony like that innit?

 

I wept because I wasn't getting any amber out of this, which is why I got the scent in the first place.

 

Of course, now it's been a few minutes and it's not quite so OMG LEMON! (which I assume is the verbena?) but it's not really a scent I think I'm likely to wear, alas.

[Miss Lynx]

Verbena is one of those notes my skin really loves to amp, so any scent with more than a few drops of it tends to turn into lemon-drop candy on me very quickly. This one is no exception, but at least the warmth of the amber and ginger led it a bit of interest, so as verbena scents go, it's a fairly nice one.

 

And once the verbena blast fades, after about half an hour or so, it's very nice.... A lovely spicy-herby amber, with just a bit of that lemony verbena edge to add freshness; a bit like a greener and slightly more complex version of The Lion. It's a very late spring/early summer type of scent, and seems quite nice for around Beltane (suitably enough for its Celtic inspiration, I suppose).

 

There is a slightly soapy element to it -- not sure if that's the grass, or maybe the "summer rain" note... Scents that are supposed to smell like rain, snow, etc. usually just smell like chemicals to me, and can turn an otherwise nice scent into dish detergent or air freshener. But thankfully, here that element is not too strong.

 

All in all, quite likable, but not a standout... If it didn't have the soapy edge and the verbena was a bit less, this might be a case of love rather than like -- amber, ginger and sage are all excellent notes on me. As it stands, while this is definitely the time of year to enjoy using up the imp, I don't know if I'll order more when it's gone...

 

Grade: B, almost B+

[zankoku_zen]

In the imp: Sunny, hint of verbena and hint of rain

 

On Skin: A touch of amber, strong verbena, kinda grassy. Very bright citrusy/grassy.

 

On Drydown: Mellows out a bit. I get more the sage/grassy vibe and the rain note is floating to the top.

 

Verdict: Pleasant but not remarkable for me. I'll probably end up swapping it away.

[t_for_tau]

There's some wonderful notes in here, the green and the ginger...but there's something that's just too sweet for me, spoiling it - an almost candied lemon scent. Overall it's bright and sunny and fresh and sweet at once, just not for me.

[LadyCrow]

In imp: Verbena!

 

On skin: This romps between the verbena and the grass and sage; ginger is faint but omnipresent. It really does smell to me like bounding off into a grassy field in summer -- another scene set by playing on our reactions to smell, and done very skillfully. Had I blended this, personally, I would cut down on the verbena just a little, because it can tend to overwhelm -- but now I have to go back and seek out blends with that grass note.

 

An imp I'll keep around through the fall and winter to remind me of summer... if it lasts that long.

[stardreamer]

Fresh on, it smells sharpish -- I thought perhaps there was citrus in it, but I guess it's the verbena. Like citrus, that doesn't take long to fade, and then it becomes much sweeter; that would be the amber, which tends to go a bit sweet on me, and probably the ginger. I don't get sage or aquatics at all, and grass only a bit (if that). Staying power is poor -- 5 hours and it's pretty much gone, faster if I'm out in the heat. I like it enough to keep, but it's not going to be a favorite.

[tinyvulture]

When I apply this, I immediately smell something extremely lemony… must be the verbena. It’s very strong, as it tends to be on my skin. The combination of verbena and ginger is sharp and clean. The green grass and rain notes also make this, overall, a very clean, fresh, springtime scent. The overpowering lemon, however, is too much for me. Off to swaps!

[steffanina]

Mag Mell-

 

In Bottle: Lemon, and a little bit of ginger.

 

Wet: Lemon pledge-y.

 

Dry: Fades quickly and wasn't anything that turned me on, so. Saying bye to it.

 

Overall: Unremarkable for me.

[Ajila]

In the bottle – Grass and lemon grass (more probably the verbena). Fresh and bright

 

Wet on me – Light and bright and green with a slight citrus tang

 

Dry on me – Green and fresh, like a summer field of wild grasses, with an additional element of burning rubber

 

Overall – Without the rubber this would be quite lovely. I’m developing a collection of bright spring scents almost by accident. I may have to pay that area of the BPAL catalogue more attention

[ceiswyn]

In the bottle: It smells light, and slightly wet. Flowers with just a hint of fruit, grass and herbs.

 

On the wrist: Is that lemon verbena I sense? Oh, this is nice. Sharp and herbal - lemon verbena and grass, with just enough ginger to add an extra complexity - with, yes, clean, fresh rain. It's exactly what it says on the tin.

 

One hour later: My skin did the aquatic thing again. It's all gone soapy and slightly air freshener. *cries*

[ClareN]

Damn! I love the wet stage in this so much - it smells like a mango-lime sorbet I used to make when I lived in Venezuela. I know there's no mango listed, but it definitely has a sweet/fruity vibe, and I guess the lime is from the lemon verbena. So sweet and golden. I don't like fruit notes and I don't do refreshing scents, yet this was on its way to becoming one of my favorites. On me, it has this incredibly realistic lime note - like a freshly cut lime, rind and all. I've been dreaming of a lime scent like that and THIS IS IT.

 

Until the drydown, when it becomes another soapy aquatic I can't stand. Oh, cruel world.

Edited August 17, 2007 by ClareN

[laliloo]

Lovely! A super frimp from my BPTP eBay order. Needs another test, but first impressions are great. A bright, golden-green scent. Finally, a lemony scent that doesn't just go to detergent on me. The amber likes me enough to keep the lemon under control, I think. I'll keep the imp, and will consider a 5ml.

[CrazyPretzel]

In the imp: sweet amber, ginger, a little verbena.

 

Wet on me: lemon sherbet, supersweet amber. Ginger kicks in and cuts the sweetness after a few seconds. Like lemon-ginger herbal tea with lots of sugar.

 

After a few minutes: Awesome green grass and sage notes come in to play soon. Still sweet lemon-ginger and amber; a little foody. Like a slightly grassy/herbal Shanghai or Phantasm.

 

Drydown: amber, lemon, and sweet grass. Both refreshing and a little candy-like. Reminds me of Ricola cough drops…. I like it though!

[JenM]

In the imp: grassy and a rich ginger.

 

On the wrist: very grassy, but the ginger mix makes it smell almost of a Christmas tree. On drydown, the verbena comes out very strongly.

 

An hour: mostly faded to something that smells like clove. I know. There’s no clove in it. But that’s what my nose is telling me.

[Trish]

In the imp: Amber, verbena and lemon.

 

Wet: Warm and bright, sweet yet with a touch of tartness.

 

Drydown: I can definitely pick out the ginger now, the freshly cut raw ginger type..

 

Dry: Lemony sage, very bright and cheerful. I don't generally like green but the sage in this is quite nice. To me this is a very yellow scent.

 

After 30 minutes or so it changes quite a bit. The amber comes out and rather than being yellow it's deeper and more golden in colour. The lemon and sage has subdued also, so it's more amber with touches of lemon verbena and sage, and with the tiniest bit of ginger.

 

And then grass shows up and wrecks it for me, just when I was starting to think I rather liked this. It also fades incredibly quickly from this point.