Szepasszony

[mandragora]

... A chilly, tempestuous whirlwind of clear, airy notes, slashing rain, and a thin undercurrent of white flowers.

In the imp: Very crisp and very fresh with a hint of fruity(?) sweetness.

Wet on me: Aquatic and ozone-y, like the beach after a big storm.

Drydown: If you can smell the color Blue, then this is how it would smell. There's a note in there that reminds you a bit of laundry soap but not enough to turn me off.

Verdict: This definitely merits a big bottle. :nod: Edited February 17, 2006 by Shollin

[Wench457]

Szepasszony. What a fun word to spell!

 

ITB it is fruity with a hint of ozone.

 

On: lots of ozone with a hint of floral.

 

Dry: A crisp, ozoney floral. This is all sharp edges, with nothing soft about it at all. That said, I like it quite a lot, and have already bought a bottle.

[merebrillante]

In the vial: Fresh, light flowers.

 

Wet: The flowers fade, and ozone rises to the surface.

 

Drydown: For a minute or two, this takes on that sharp-edged note that always makes me think of men's colognes.

 

Dry: The sharpness fades, leaving one of the freshest, cleanest scents I've smelled in a long time. If an ice storm had a scent, this would be it. In a remarkable bit of synchronicity, I wrote about Szepasszony this morning. I was struggling to find a suitable story about why a particular forest was said to be haunted, and I thought of the Fair Lady's name. After I was through, the mail came, along with my latest order from the Lab. A frimp of Szepasszony, a scent that had been on my To Be Tried list for a long time, had been tucked in with the other goodies. I was so delighted, I ignored the three bottles I'd ordered and tried this one on. Even in the midst of my allergy attack, this fragrance is pleasant and soothing. She really is a Fair Lady.

 

Thank you, Lab Folk!

[PirateMaggie]

This is the way the air smells after a thunder storm: it's crisp and clean and the ozone is very much like a lightning strike. The florals are icy and white and very beautiful. It's an aquatic white floral, like a sharper Prague without the lily. Throw is light, but it lasted well.

 

If I didn't already love Prague so much, I'd certainly buy a big bottle, but Prague works a little better with my body chemistry.

[mermaidrage]

When I sniffed it straight out of the imp, I got an overwhelming nose full of candy. Like, that pure sugar powder in neon colours that you put on a stick and licked off. I admit, I was confused. I ran to my mother who also agreed on candy. I was all ready to be disappointed when I figured I might as well put a bit on my wrists and check back later.

 

30 minutes later. WOW. If cold, hard, clean wind and air, electric lightning, harsh rain and wildflowers could be combined and bottled, it would be Szepasszony.

 

Nearly two hours later, I'm still catching whiffs. I love this. It reminds me of growing up in the tropics during typhoon season and feeling the apartment building sway in the wind.

[Alchemy21599]

In the vial: this is an amazing blend and I can't identify individual notes.

 

Wet: This is a floral for people who think they don't like florals. Crisp and airy, yet subtle floral notes.

 

On: Fabulous! An unusual blend that is fresh and vibrant, yet subtle enough to wear to the most conservative office.

[elphaba]

Probably influenced by the description, the image that comes to mine when I sniff this is that of white flowers reflected in a puddle, occasionally being marred by ripples as rain continues to fall. Szepasszony is a much sharper scent than my other aquatic floral love, Amsterdam. It's not nearly as sweet. Instead it has a high, almost fruity note to the floral. It's very fresh and clean.

 

Unfortunately, this doesn't last long on my skin at all. Less than half an hour. I think it would make a brilliant linen spray, though, so I think I'll keep my imp for that purpose unless I find someone who's desperate to try it. Maybe the scent will stay on sheets longer than wrists.

[juniperus]

Bottle: Strong (but delicate, oddly enough) floral. Dandelion immediately, with something aquatic I couldn't quite identify underneath and a lemony? citrus. Sharpness like glass (or ice, I imagine), less fluid than rain.

Wet: Oh that dandelion - much the same as bottle-bound.

Dry: The white flowers are coming to the fore - not so much the rain, really, except for the really bright smell of flowers and green grass that really seizes the senses after a really heavy rain - not the cloying of flowers past their prime, either.

Later: very short-lived, and not terribly multi-layered over the course, not that I'm saying that's a bad thing, mind you. the sharpness fades fairly quickly, and sweet floral comes forward. I can't figure that the floral is (the white flowers), but it's oddly familiar, a garden-y smell. Daffodil? a really light white lilac? Dunno. It's light enough for a summer scent, but feels really late winter/early spring-y...the time of bulb plants and emergent green. What do paperwhites smell like? It's definitely not heavy hyacinth, but... I don't dislike it, but I'm not certain it's for me, really. Definitely a 'maiden'-y scent, I almost feel too old for it (if that makes any sense).

[rosesinmotion]

Szepasszony is:

 

The smell of water pooled under a thickening crackle of ice;

The truest blue I've ever slathered on;

Light, white florals gone aquatic;

Perfectly described by Beth;

The very image of a drop of water;

My perfect scent.

 

To wax slightly less enthusiastic and be more pragmatic:

 

My skin chemistry did very little to alter this scent on me. It stayed true on my skin.

 

It isn't the most overpowering smell--I'd have loved a little more throw.

 

It isn't the longest lasting either, though my skin tends to devour oils.

 

However, it IS my perfect scent. This is the reason why I have decided to worship BPAL.

 

My score: 5/5. (And I'm DEFINITELY going to big-bottle this. )

[gwyllgi]

My chemistry does wonky things with this, and I'm not quite certain why. I was expecting a floral ozone, and I got... bleach? Yes, it smells just like scented bleach, a thin veneer of floral over nose-burning bleach.

 

This is depressing, as it's lovely in the imp, sharp and not-green, with the ozone notes I was looking for. It'd probably be marvelous as a room scent and I'm going to give it a shot in my car diffuser, but I doubt I'd use it enough to justify a big bottle.

[mirutai]

A light ozone and aquatic scent, but with a swirl of white floral/fruitiness which stops it from doing the acrid "men's deoderant stick" thing on me. The floral component is light and sweet, and somehow seem wet; I think this is what is giving the impression of fruitiness... watermelon! That's what it reminds me of!

 

For a light scent, there's a surprising amount of throw initially; I can smell it wafting around for an hour or so after application. It's faded by midday to a barely-perceptible scent on my wrist, but that's not atypical for me and light florals.

 

Cool and wet, lightly floral but not too sweet; this is great for summer! Add Szepasszony to the very short list of aquatics that I like!

[Meg]

In the bottle: A sharp, pretty bitter aquatic, with florals and mint.

 

Wet: Mint and lots of marine ozone notes, nearly salty. There's something very bitter in there, like the white skin in citrus fruits.

 

Drydown: Bitter, bitter, bitter. This is a slightly soapy and very biting scent that I can't quite qualify. There's a very clean side to it, really like soap, and the bitterness could be anything, possibly a mix of citrus, really metallic ozone and possibly geranium.

 

Overall: It reminds me strongly of one of my Dad's aftershaves, in a less masculine version. It has the similar bitter, metallic, biting note and I already can't stand it if it's on a man. I have no idea what's in this, but it doesn't suit me at all. On the other hand, it fits the description very well, it's aquatic and pretty evil. Good for those who like very fresh blends.

[Spring Snow]

I tried this imp on a rainy morning, which was a perfect setting for this lovely scent. It's a perfect sweet, mellow, cool rainy scent with a few flowers floating about in the puddles. It's got a very "charged" ozoney scent, and it's got a decent throw, and (at least on me) very long lasting--going strong after about 7 hours. Enchanting!

[maijasu]

In the imp: I smell lemons! That's not in the scent description...

 

Wet on skin: Lemony fresh goodness. Not pledge-like at all. Yummy and slightly sweet, and very refreshing.

 

Drydown: Oh no, it's getting a sour note. Yikes! And the lovely lemon has disappeared. I can see this being a great scent for some, but not for me!

[Victory]

Yes, this does smell like rain! It's very clean, very fresh and invigorating. I have a hard time picking up on BPAL florals, so I can't talk about those, but the aquatic-ness is lovely. Doesn't last very long, but I'll definitely be pulling the imp out when I want to feel clean.

[catrinella]

Imp: Ozone and wind. It's clear and sharp, but I can't pick out notes.

 

Wet: Lemons? I see I'm not the only one, but they're not in the description. Anyway, I get lemons and daffodils (definitely not narcissus, thank heavens). Hope the lemon doesn't go nasty like Lolita did.

 

Drydown: This is the first I've worn where the notes are so blended that it's crazy hard to pick out anything. It just smells silver and white, floral without being girly.

 

1 hour: Restrained white florals with a lemon undertone, yes, but definitely an aquatic first. This smells like steady rain with wind, the kind that gets up under your umbrella. In fact, the physical scent-plume feels windy - the aroma moves around, sometimes where I applied it and sometimes not.

 

2 hours: Faded to not-quite extinction, but that's pretty much the case for me and non-resin BPAL. If I had the imp with me, I'd reapply immediately.

 

Verdict: Keeper, even with the early fade. I love aquatics and don't wear florals, but this is lovely. Feminine without being sexy, self-controlled without being icy, confident without being arrogant. Work-appropriate and also good for a night out (you know, when you go out with someone who has intentions on you and you're not interested?). Big-bottle list.

[Miss Lynx]

Wow -- this is the most watery scent I think I've ever smelled. I've tried a number of BPAL's aquatics, though they usually don't seem to work terribly well on me, but this has to be the most aquatic of them all. Which is odd, given that it starts out describing it as being composed of airy notes!

 

It's very light and cool, and while I can pick up on the floral notes as well, they don't seem to be as overpowering as florals usually are on me. I could definitely see associating this with rain, though not so much storms -- it's too gentle for that.

 

There's also a bit of a cloying, commercial-perfume kind of note -- maybe something like the ozone that ruined Lurid for me? I don't really get the whole idea of "ozone notes" in perfume, anyway. Actual ozone is an oxygen variant (and nasty air pollutant) that doesn't smell like much of anything; it just makes it harder to breathe. I keep seeing it turn up in scents associated with storms, but it just smelles like cheap drugstore perfume, and I've never known a storm to smell like that. Oh well. I think I just need to put it on my "notes to avoid" list.

 

Grade: C

[cranberry]

This is a light, sweet, airy, floral scent w/lots of ozone. Once on, it becomes slightly aquatic, must be the ozone. It’s a fresh, clean scent that’s feminine and very pretty. It reminds me of some of the other great BPAL aquatics but with a floral edge. It’s nice, not my usual style, but I’ll keep the imp.

[copyshopclerk]

In the imp - Sharp, clear; a very light floral edged with cold watermelon rind. Very "blue" scent, expect the oil to match even though it's clear!

 

Wet - Rain, faint floral (lilac?), watermelon rind. Very charged, yet cool. Does not cross into cleaning products territory. It's gorgeous!

 

Dry - Sharpness fades over time; then smells like post-rain instead of the charged scent right before a storm that this has when wet. Refreshing & lovely. Sweet, but still clean.

 

Absolutely beautiful. I actually just got this based on the name (I recognized it as a Hungarian name) and completely fell in love with it - now I'm on a quest to try other aquatics!

 

I've found that it's *the* perfect thing to wear on a hot summer day because it's such a cooling scent. It also layers beautifully with the Big Blue ballistic from Lush (which is my favorite Lush scent, so I'm in heaven combining the two!)

 

I'm getting a bottle of this!!

[urraca]

It is a classic aquatic scent, ozoney and maybe a little sweeter than usual. I like the white florals in it. But I think it is what is giving me a headache. Too bad.

[lookingglass]

Why am I trying all of these aquatics? Because it is summer and I want something cool and clean smelling. Know here, though, that they just don't do it for me, and so if you love aquatics please skip this review.

 

This smells citrusy at first...like grapefruit. With some little clean flowers that are just too fresh and white. Then there is the Mr. Clean aquatic notes. I so wanted to love this.

[peppermintgum]

This is the very first BPAL scent I've tried on, and I'm not so sure about it.

 

In the imp it smells incredibly strong, and sharp. I don't really get any notes from it; it just sort of hurts. It's very sweet and alcoholic smelling.

 

On my arm, it stays basically the same... Very sweet and alcoholic. It smells like a really cheap perfume.

 

5 mins later - at last it's starting to mellow a little. Unfortunately it's also already given me a bit of a headache. It's very floral. I'll check back a little later to see if it progressed any.

 

Well, after an hour, it became very light and powdery and much nicer, but with so little throw I really had to bury my nose in my wrist to smell it...

Edited July 13, 2006 by peppermintgum

[neuilly]

In the bottle: Actually smells like my dryer sheets...and while I actually love the scent of my dryer sheets, my clothes will already smell like that so I don't need to smell like it myself. But I'm sure it'll change once it's on my skin! Refreshing scent though but cold.

 

Wet: I can smell the dandelion some people have mentioned. Aquatic but still smells a bit too much like my dryer sheets. This is not the generic dryer sheet scent that people complain about but my scented sheets...which I do think are made to smell aquatic so that would explain the similarity. It is a nice scent but once again I'm not sure I want to personally smell like that.

 

Dry: It really is a nice scent, and fits the description to a T, but I'm stil caught over the fact that it smells like my laundry. I think I may keep the imp but not go for a bottle.

[Ryokumuji]

This was a frimp from the lab. I'm not sure if I would have tried this scent right away otherwise but I like it. My sister thinks it smells like bubble gum. It's got a sweetness to it but I wouldn't call it bubble gum. To me, it smells just like the description... Wind, rain, and white flowers. It's sweet but clean.

[filigree_shadow]

Some other reviewers described this as a cold aquatic floral -- I think it's chilly but I wouldn't call it cold. It smelled a little bit minty at first, but that didn't last long. It's kind of breezy and aquatic, with some pretty white flowers. It smells fresh and clean to me, totally inoffensive. A little bit like soap, but often the aquatic scents smell a little like soap to me. This is perfect for a day like today, when it's 91 degrees but the RealFeelTM is 102. Ugh.