Szepasszony

[jj_j]

The Fair Lady, Winter Witch, White Maiden of the Storm. Szepasszony is a Hungarian demoness that appears as a stunningly beautiful woman with long, silver-white hair and a blinding white dress. She revels in storms, particularly when hail rains down on her. Water dripping down eaves into a puddle is an invitation for her to cause mischief: she uses the puddle as a magickal tool for casting her wicked spells. It is considered foolhardy to step into a circle of short grass ringed by taller grasses, as those mark the circles where the Fair Lady dances. A chilly, tempestuous whirlwind of clear, airy notes, slashing rain, and a thin undercurrent of white flowers.

Daffodil, with a hint of dandelion, according to my nose, although white flowers are mentioned in the description. Absolutely the scent of sitting on your porch during a thunderstorm and smelling the battered flowers in your flowerbed give off their perfume; cold wind and rain that makes you snuggle deeper into your covers in early spring is definitely present, as well.

Clear, yes, and aquatic - not harsh, though. Dry-down was softly vicious, and utterly wonderful.

[Sistinas]

This is an excellent description for this fragrance. It is light but yet strong at the same time. From the vial it it is floral, but I am not really good at discerning the different components. As I wore it at work I was pleasantly surprised to detect it wafting from me. This rarely happens to me, in fact it never happens with what I consider light floral fragrances. I was a bit nervous that maybe I had put too much on and my coworkers were being polite about it, that I asked a few friends if the scent was attacking them. Needless to say I had nothing to worry about. Szepasszony packs a nice punch, but not overpowering. I have to second JJ_J's comments that it is utterly wonderful. Thank you for the sample Beth, I definitley want to get more of this one soon..

Edited October 20, 2005 by Sistinas

[Aurelius]

I got a freebie imp of this in my order. Thanks lab! I LOVE this one!

 

In the bottle: I can't smell any single notes, but this smells clean and fresh, but with a bite. Something citrus-y?

 

Wet: Still clean, like soap, but with a zing.

 

Drying and dry: This scent retains it's smell on me which is completely different from the other scents I've tried so far. (Most stuff morphs into something completely new) It fades fast, but it smells SO good. I can't wait for my second "test run" with it. Mmmmm!

[Shollin]

First sniff: Fresh, blue, aquatic and starlit. Somewhat reminiscent of the other sea-scents like Tempest or Lightning, but colder and brighter – the brightness of moonlight on snow rather than sunshine.

 

Wearing: I adore these clean-water scents for nasty muggy summer days, and again I find myself wanting to wear them all together so I can compare. Szepasszony is a gorgeous addition to the family – clear dark blue, more of a rain scent than a sea scent, and very slightly sweet in its freshness.

[sirensongsouth]

This is a gorgeous summer scent. Its a crisp, clear watery clean scent. It starts out green leaves and lightly scented daffodils, and then melds into a clean watery scent. Its refreshing and light and perfect for when the temperatures soar and you don't want to wear something heavy and resiny. I also highly recommend this one for when you are sensitive to scent, I'm pregnant and its not too much or too strong for me to wear, and most things are now-a-days.

[Astarte]

An interesting blend, and my first "clean" type of fragrance from BPAL. Its very ozone and to me a little asexual but this doesnt detract from the scent at all. Its initially a strong aquatic but then it dies down to a more airy scent and for some weird reason, its faded within an hour (I didnt put much on though to be fair) and towards the end it morphed into smelling somewhat "clean-cut coconutty" ?_?

 

Delectable and desirable, I cant wait for a bigger bottle to get here.

Edited June 30, 2004 by Astarte

[VelvetSky]

This is a very 'cold' floral aquatic to me. I think I'm getting white lilac and perhaps rosebud here, maybe sweetpea also. Something green underneath all of that, like new leaves.

 

On my skin, this is another of Beth's more linear blends...it really doesn't change much on me from first application to the drydown. It's nice and strong, which is unusual for such a delicate floral. Can a scent be both delicate and strong at the same time? This one is.

 

The aquatic nature of Szepasszony is really interesting to me. This is rain, as the description says, not ocean or lake. Fresh and cleansing, not salty. This is a perfect summer scent.

Edited July 3, 2004 by VelvetSky

[isyche]

For me, if Danube is deep blue water, and Tears is salty green water, this is crystal clear cold water.

I think I detect a faint background white floral undertone in this, but it's mainly a pure clean rain scent. I like it - it's one of my favorites out of the BPAL aquatic scents I've tried.

Edited July 7, 2004 by isyche

[allamanda]

Szepasszony

 

When first applied crisp like grapefruit and I would agree with jj_j, I think I smell dandelion in there.

 

This is drying to a beautifully fresh but gentle perfume. The crisp edge is still there tempered with light florals. My nose feels there is also faint touch of lavender, but quite rapidly I can no longer smell different notes, just a perfectly blended wonderful perfume.

 

My poor bank balance, I can feel yet *another* large bottle is required.

Edited September 19, 2004 by allamanda

[grrrlennyl]

at first: the lab gave me this as an extra, and i'm in love with the description, since i love storms. the smell is beautiful, like crushed flowers during a cold storm. i can't wait to try this one.

on: this is gorgeous. it's floral and powdery. i'm really loving it.

1 hour later: this is definitely much lighter, but it is still beautiful.

3 hours later: it's more powdery than floral now, but still beautiful.

overall: this is one of the prettiest oils i've tried from bpal. i think it works well in humid weather, but would also be wonderful during colder months. i'll probably be buying a 5ml once i use up my imp's ear.

[ninglor]

This doesn't last as long on me as I had hoped -- perhaps an hour and a half -- but it's utterly gorgeous. Veiled and mysterious tang in the bottle, entirely shocking vibrancy on the skin. The flowers grow stronger as it dries.

[TygherRayn]

In the bottle: Blue. This is blue. This is the water scent I've been looking for. Lets just hope it stays blue when I wear it.

 

Wet: It's a summers night, after the heat has broken, sitting on the front porch while the rain pours down. Blue green .. not like a sea, but like a combination of falling rain and a lush garden being drowned in it.

 

Wearing: This is a scent for hot summer nights when I can't -bear- to wear anything heavy or sweet. When I need -wet-, but it's not coming from the sky. Who knows .. with enough muttering and this scent .. maybe I can coax some, so my poor plants won't bake in this southern summer heat.

[Northernminx]

I bought this for the name - our current role-playing Changeling chronicle has a villainess based off the winter witch mentioned in the description. She is not a nice character...but if she wore this she'd be in a better mood and might stop freezing the rest of us in our tracks.

 

Beautiful. Utterly..utterly...beautiful. This is the clean floral of my dreams. It's the scent of sitting on your porch in sweltering heat when the storm rolls through and pummels your garden into losing its flower petals.

 

It's deceptively ozone like and light in the bottle, but on my skin it's a zap of chill winter air and lightning with a gorgeous light white floral underneath. I'm getting more of a sweet pea and snap dragon scent from the flowers. The floral is never overwhelming and is instead, clean, crisp and beautifully light.

 

Big bottle, definitly a big bottle.

[Tesseljoan]

If anyone is famialiar with Buffy the Backside Slayer from Lush, this smells exactly like it during its wet phase, lemony but with a greasy feeling to it. I was almost ready to wash this off, but the lemon fades and the aquatic notes come through more, with the florals. I find she is sharper than Storm (the scent) is.

[twistygirl]

I got this one as an extra in my last order, and as usual, Beth's intuition is totally on target when she picks out those extras - I would have never thought to order this one myself, as I am definitely a heavy, spicy, exotic-smell kinda girl, but I *love* Szepasszony! The particular floral notes aren't anything I can identify, but whatever they are, they're just stunning. Not at all cloyingly sweet like I often find white florals to be. This is, as others have said, the ultimate perfect hot weather scent. It's so fresh and clear and watery, and it's clean without being the least bit soapy. It's aqua, perfect refreshing aqua, and though it is very light and clean it does have some power and ooomph behind it. It wafts from my skin beautifully and has good staying power. Although aquatic scents are pretty much gender-neutral, I also find it to be very, very feminine. It sort of reminds me a bit of Tommy Girl without the mass-market chemical overkill. I can NOT stop sniffing my wrist. This is yet another one that I will need a bottle of.

[heartbeast]

Wet, this is a rush of innocent white flowers. These settle down very quickly, and are followed by an ozone tang so sharp it almost veers into "too masculine" territory. (Weird. Why should that scent have a gender association? When you think about it, it makes no sense.) Thankfully, it settles into a pleasant version of all those "Ocean" type scents on the market. I've got clear blue gel candles with seashells in them that have a similar scent.

 

For some time, I was thinking "Okay, it's one of those ocean fragrances, nicer than most but nothing special, oh well". Then at some point in the middle of the afternoon--and I started my day early, so this was a good 6 hours or more after I put the scent on--I found myself enveloped in a delicious tangy scent I utterly could not identify. Not citrussy, not herby, yet somehow a little like both of those. A strong, silver-white, terse, badass no-nonsense bitch smell. Crisp and almost unisex.

 

Wow. The sort of thing I won't wear much, but when I'm in just the right mood, it'll be the only thing acceptable.

Edited August 23, 2004 by heartbeast

[Faerykin]

Swiped across wrists and along collarbone.

 

Initial Wet (8-8:30am): This is incredible! Beth never ceases to amaze me with her wonderful creations. This is the perfect combination of air and water, with a familiar underlying sweetness that I just can’t seem to identify. Gorgeous! This is the scent of that fresh cleansing that comes after the storm has washed all negativity away – cool, crisp, untouched. Simply Stunning!

 

Initial Dry (8:30-10am): This doesn’t change much from wet to dry. It is still a wonderful blend of air and water, with an underlying sweetness. It actually has a rather calming/peaceful effect.

 

Throughout the Day (10am-1pm): Okay, I was mistaken. The calming effect was only temporary. This is now making me restless (much like Titania did). I want to be outside – the breeze tousling my hair and the rain on my face. Interesting how it morphs from calming to energetic without the scent noticeably changing at all. It still brings on a sense of peace.

 

I can see where this could be described as a perfect summer scent. Just sitting here with it wafting around me makes me a bit chilly.

 

By 1pm, the scent has all but dissipated. I can vaguely smell it on my wrist, but it is no longer present in the air around me – so, rather short-lived. I’ll definitely keep the imp though!

Edited September 8, 2004 by Faerykin

[Dianella]

I wore this today and I'm not sure it was such a good idea - I have a cold and it's wreaking havoc woth my sense of smell.

 

When I opened the imp I smelled something so familiar. I', not even sure what it was, but I KNEW that scent. I think it's the ozone. It usually gives me headaches too. Not a good start.

 

I applied it and the ozone I had been smelling faded (YES!). I was left with a very cool smelling perfume. Very aqautic and very cool. I like the cool part, I'm not so sure about the aqautic part. As time went on I the aquatic notes evaporated and the soft florals underneath came out more.

 

Ultimately I'm unsure about this perfume. I'll retry it when the cold goes away. It just seems like it's not *me*, whatever that means. To ponder...

 

 

Incidently, a friend of mine, when I presented her my wrist, said I smelled like Angel. Weird. I hate Angel, and I certainly didn't have that vibe from this perfume!

[tempete]

This was a generous freebie thrown into my first order. Unfortunately, Szepasszony was pretty one dimensional on me: it was very sharp, almost painfully so, like a jagged piece of glass rather than slashing rain. Dianella's review makes me think that it's the ozone note that my body chemistry latched onto. It becomes more bearable when the ozone note recedes and the white florals underneath emerge, but it doesn't last for much longer on me at that point.

[Penance]

First Sniff:

 

Hmm...very aquatic. It reminds me of Bayou in some ways...something about the aquatic sort of vegetation scent I'm getting, but there's more to it...flowers and ozone, maybe? I like ozone very much, so this is a good thing.

 

Wet on Skin:

 

Smells almost exactly the same as in the bottle, but the flowers are picking up, edging out the ozone and making it softer and less hard-edged. I like this, I really do, in spite of the fact that I normally avoid florals.

 

Dry Down:

 

The scent is fading quickly, but is holding pretty much true to the way it smelled in the bottle. The flowers have come out and have edged out the sharp edge of the ozone, which makes a little sad, but there's still the salty, aquatic sort of smell of water and aquatic vegetation. It's nice, but I wish the scent would stay as strong as it was initially.

 

The Bottom Line:

 

I like the scent, but I wish it lasted longer. I also wish that the ozone scent was more prominent. It smells like a lake in a meadow after it rains, which is wonderful, but there's just not quite enough of the electric scent of recent lightning that I like and the scent fades pretty quickly on me. I like it enough to finish the imp, but I won't be buying a big bottle.

[TroubleDoll]

This scent is so refreshing. I smell citrus which I usually hate, but this is sort of ethereal, floating, lemony and airy. I love it, now if only I could pronounce it correctly...

[inkstone]

I received a decant of this from the lovely AlectoNox.

 

In the vial

It's an airy, clean smell. Florals, ozone and something vaguely lemony. Overall it gives the impression of cold and sharp.

 

Wet

Oh, that lemony smell is bursting onto the scene. I don't know if I like this. I do smell daffodils and dandelions, mingling with something like grass and leaves. It's sharpening even more and yes, it does smell like cold rain beating down. Unfortunately it smells like cold rain beating down on lemon-scented insect repellent.

 

Drydown

The sharpness eases up, so I'm not cringing anymore. The florals keep it soft, but whatever that other note is, it keeps the scent sharp when I sniff my wrist.

 

Final thoughts

I don't think I like this. I can still taste the insect repellent in the back of my throat. The drydown's kinder, but ultimately I don't think this is for me. I can see how it'd be ideal for humid, summer days. It certainly has that crisp, refreshing feel to it. Well, into swaps you go.

[pkwench]

Szepasszony

 

Oh, my. What a beautiful scent! Szepasszony reminds me of why I love and despair of Bpal. I find a new, beautiful scent seemingly every time I sample a new batch. Some people have lots of cats? I'm going to have lots of perfume bottles.

 

Szepasszony is a wonderful, sexy salty aquatic with gentle floral notes. Something about it reminds me of a perfume oil I smelled in a Make Scents shop years ago. That was called China Rain and Szepasszony has that same, forlorn aquatic beauty to it. But, of course, perfected. The scent evokes images of pale blossoms having been thrown into a quiet, salty bay.

 

This perfume is orgasmic to the 10th power.

Edited November 5, 2004 by pkwench

[UltraViolet]

Szepasszony

 

This is a watery blend such as Sea of Glass and Water of Notre Dame.

It brings bright and ice blue white imagery. The white flowers are the undercurrent and a powerful one (for an undernote).

It’s fresh smelling and almost citrussy, as it is a touch sour. It’s watery which is usually calming but again underneath is a fierceness that isn’t allowed to come to the surface which keeps this lively.

This is another nice aquatic scent. I like it better than Lightning, Tempest, Water of Notre Dame, but not as much as the more serene and pretty, “Sea of Glass”. The two are close to each other in the aquatuc blends.

I may or may not use up my imp but I won’t buy more. I like Sea of Glass better.

[Lina]

This is my second try at Szepasszony love. I am not sure what it is that I am not fond of...but at least I tried!

 

In the imp: A greenhouse of one type of flower. Juicy.

 

Wet: Sharp and I still smell the floral scent the most. I normally like florals. This smells clean and fresh.

 

Dry: (2 hours) It has calmed down and it is a pretty scent but I think it is just not for me. I still smell the sharpness of the flower scent. This still smells very fresh and clean.