Desdemona

[PurringPulsar]

Desdemona

Innocent, soft and pure: sweet pea, carnation and water lily.

 

In the imp: a fresh, moist floral, slightly green, a bit soapy.

Wet on skin: this is pretty! It's not as soapy now and the floral notes become more pronounced.

Dry on skin: this is so nice. A sweet, pretty, gentle floral scent where I can make out the sweet pea and a slight hint of carnation. I also get another floral note-this one quite sweet and a bit aquatic-which I think could be the waterlily. This is youthful and feminine, fresh and spring like, with a bit of warmth imparted by the carnation.

After a while: the sweet pea strengthens nicely, it's now a soft, almost white, floral scent. The other flower notes still stick around in the background but it's pretty much all about the sweet pea now. I get something a bit green now as well.

Verdict: I was a bit worried that this would smell really soapy on me, but on my skin, this floral scent really (excuse the pun) bloomed on me. It's girly, floaty sweet pea and waterlily, but the carnation gives it a nice twist, and makes it a little warmer and more down to earth, I think. It does get soapy at times but not in a bad way-this is a very pleasant and gentle scent. not sure if it's a favourite but I like it a lot. I'd also love it if there were more scents with waterlily, I'd like to get to know that particular note a lot better.

Edited January 5, 2006 by Shollin

[Sheila]

When I first tried this, I got mostly carnation. Yum--spicy floral goodness that reminded me of Maiden.

 

When I tried this again, I got mostly water lily--or maybe an unlisted white floral. It was very strong, and reminded me a bit of grass. It made my eyes water (even though I didn't put that much on). I definitely didn't like it as much this time.

 

It had aged several months between wearing, so maybe the water lily got stronger as it aged? Or, more likely, maybe my "nose" is not more developed? Anyway, it's not for me.

[Silverstrike]

Desdemona is really light and kind of BBW-ish floral. This smells like a laundry dryer sheet or candy almost. It doesn't dry down to that icky floral scent that I get with Embalming Fluid though (perhaps from the white musk), and this fades quickly (within three hours).

 

This is really easy to wear. I'm not a BPAL floral-scent person, but this is a floral I could wear.

[Kalasin]

This reminds me of a more floral version of Aeval. Whilst Aeval is herbal and green, with a hint of floral, Desdemona is full-on floral, but in a soft way. It is spicy where Aeval is herbal, due to the carnation, and the water lily makes it very ethereal.

 

A nice soft, everyday scent! (as I loves the sweet pea.)

[Voleuse]

This is another aquatic floral on me, very feminine, very delicate, but less sweet than others like it. The carnation is the predominant note on first application, but the overall blend disappears almost immediately. What I'm left with is carnation-scented powder, pleasant and long-lasting, but negligible.

[theseagrows]

i got this as a frimp from the lab- this is not my usual type of scent.

 

this is a light, sunny and watery floral. i think perhaps the sweet pea comes out too much on my skin, because i would think the carnation would spice it up, but that doesn't seem to happen on me. it reminds me of jasmine/honeysuckle, which are too light and sweet for me. i was sure at least one of those notes were in there, and i was surprised to find that they werent!

[niter]

Imp

Holey moley! This is pretty all around. The carnation is fresh with a good throw and the other notes twinkle along side of it. This DOES remind me heavily of Ruby Red Slippers from LUSH (the potion scent) but better

 

Yes, far, far better.

 

Wet

Upon first application, the notes are pleasant with an intense throw. I am swimming in gorgeous carnation floral mix. Gorgeous!

 

I catch a bit of spice too.

 

Dry

 

Breathtaking. It is all mine. Hee heee hee.

[jena]

In the imp:

The sweet pea comes to the front, very clean and floral.

 

Fresh on the skin:

It's a lighter form of Juliet, almost... very floral and light, very fresh. The sweet pea is still the most prominent note.

 

After a few minutes:

This one, unlike most BPAL I've tried, doesn't seem to be changing with time. It's a very light scent, reminds me of stepping outside in spring on the first day that you can really smell the flowers blooming.

 

I like this one a lot.

[reynardine]

In the bottle: Something is strong here? Carnation?

 

On me: Very strong. Yes, it is carnation. Also a heavy alcohol-like smell close to what regular perfume smells like on me. I don't like this AT ALL.

 

20 minutes: Oh, now it smells like sugar? I don't think this scent likes me.

 

40 minutes: Okay, it turned to liquorice on me. Alas, Desdemona, you and I were meant to part. I hate liquorice.

 

Wow, it's amazing how a scent can change so much from person to person...

[jarvenpa]

This is interesting, this sniffing and musing. I ordered an imp of Desdemona based certainly on one or another of the notes listed in it, but as I tried it this evening I didn't check back to see what those notes would have been (I am drawn to a very random assortment of scents).

So: first sniff: oh dear, so sweet, so poignant, so heartbreaking. Am I reading into this scent based on the name? No, I don't think so. There is a certain romantic sadness about it.

And a visual (I am surprised at how visual these blends are; this is not a normal thing for me):

summer garden, at night, moonlight, white flowers and palest pink, perhaps other very pale colors. But the fragrance isn't pale. Lilies of some sort? I think of the huge white Casablanca lilies I love, but these seem a little--smoother, cooler. Perhaps carnation? Something spicy. And is it jasmine? perhaps sweetpeas, the oldfashioned sort, so deeply fragrant.

I take my pitbull for a walk in the cold night air, and am surrounded by summer garden smell. Well, this is nice!

It's like a delicate jumble of flowers. Definitely summer (though as I sniff I am also reminded of the scent of paperwhites--but no, this is summer. This is late June, or July. And there is a pond nearby, in which the moon reflects.

It's been a couple hours, and it is drying to what seems to be a steady sweetness. I am not clever enough to guess what it is--very floral with an edge of spice.

And heartbreak.

And nostalgia. It keeps reminding me of something...a place? a time?

It's exquisite.

 

update: second try of Desdemona last night. there may have been some Loralei left on my wrists from early morning, but I don't think so...at any rate, in the last, lovely moments before I went to sleep, I thought "aha, that last, lingering, sweet fragrance is bruised gardenias". Very beautiful.

Edited February 24, 2006 by jarvenpa

[elphaba]

Boy, does this last! I put it on at around 8:00 this morning and at 3:45, it's still going strong.

 

Desdemona smells like newborn infant to me. It is a little bit powdery, but mostly it's just pure and sweet. I do get just a hint of spiciness from the carnation, but it's just enough warmth to keep the scent from being completely cool and blue.

 

Especially on the final drydown, I like it much more than I thought it would. It's not really me, but I like the person that it is.

[Neely]

In the bottle: appley floral. Nice. I think it is the sweet pea I am registering as appley?

 

Wet: appley floral. Smells a little like jasmine to my nose, without that funk I get with jasmine.

 

Dry down: very strong floral, I think the calla lilly just amped up. Smells like that old perfume "White Shoulders" that my mum wore. Brings back nice memories.

 

30 minutes: fruity floral, like apples and jasmine.

 

Conclusion: Nice, but not for me. I will swap or send on to enable friends or my mum.

 

Rating on my skin, this is a 4, but for my personal taste it is a 3.

[Cicely]

Desdemona is a slightly sweet (sweet pea), slightly spicy (carnation), slightly clean (water lily) floral that I love to wear on rainy spring days when I somehow feel both melancholy and hopeful at the same time.

 

The softness in the description is so accurate. Wearing Desdemona reminds me of walking through my aunt's enormous garden right after it has rained, while drops are still clinging to the petals and the air smells soft and fresh. Desdemona is the smell when the sunshine begins to filter through the clouds as I sit by the pond where the water lilies float, my skirt billowing around me.

It's so beautiful and evocative- while writing this review I'm sitting on my bed on a cold, bleak morning, but as Desdemona surrounds me (she has the best throw and lasting power of all my floral BPALs) I'm instantly transported to that garden.

[purplegirl]

I bought a bottle of Desdemona for one of my friends for Christmas, and even when I got it, I didn't test it on my skin, I opened it up, gave it a smell and thought, 'Wow, very nice! I'll order an imp at some point to try it out on myself'...

 

'At some point' became, well, never because I kept forgetting, and because LE's are a much more urgent, intoxicating and seducing venture, poor ol' Des got put further and further down on the list of 'haves'.

 

Thankfully, the Lab put me on the Desdemona track, I got a frimp of the lady in one of my recent orders and she is AMAZING! I get pretty much no carnation, but the sweet pea and water lily are sooo gorgeous. I would never have thought a scent like this would be (for me) a 5ml'er, but I think this is a distinct and big possibility.

 

Incidently, someone mentioned that there's a candy-like quality to this blend... when my husband caught whiff of this, he proclaimed it to be his favourite BPAL hands down. He said it reminded him of a candy he ate a TON of when he was a kid, but couldn't pin it down. Two days later, it hit him when he was at work, and called me at almost MIDNIGHT to tell me! He said that Desdemona is those crazy lollipops you used to get back in the day ('80's) they cost 10 cents, came unwrapped and were sort of like a Sweet Tart candy on a stick. They were round, and very powdery in texture? They came two toned. I remember them but never ate them (I funneled every dime I ever scrounged up into procurring gum and jawbreakers - I ate at least 4 a day - which explains why, later in life, I developed TMJ and had to have 3 jaw surgeries!! But I digress...

 

Yes. Desdemona. Gorgeous! A must have, even in imp form, for everyone!

(Same with jawbreakers)

[PirateMaggie]

This is a very pretty, unobtrusive light floral. The carnation gives it a slightly spicy tinge while the water lily gives it a sweet, aquatic hint and the sweet pea lifts it and gives it a sense of innocence. Not my favourite BPAL light floral, but I'll certainly be using my imp.

 

ADDED Dec. 24:

 

This begins as a bright, clear white floral with both a strong spicy note from the carnation and a lovely aquatic undertone from the water lily. Unfortunately, as it dried my skin amped this one way up until I got a perfume headache, and it turned into an overly strong drier sheets-and-detergent smell.

[bifemmefatale]

Laundry detergent. That is all I get out of this. Tide. Soapy clean laundromat. The carnation is nowhere to be found, for me. This might be a good linen spritz, but there is no way I'm wearing it. Glad it was a frimp.

[jidabug]

This was a smooth, sweet floral, very light and bright. Not cloying, as some sweet florals can be. Very girly. I think I'll keep this to use as a light floral for days when I want to feel more feminine.

[storme]

In the imp: soft, gentle pale-purple florals. fairly sweet.

 

On me, wet: soft, light florals. it's just verging on going powdery, and with that green carnation edge behind it. The sweet pea floral is definitely the strongest note, though.

 

On me, dry: this is light but with a pretty good throw. That powderiness is still lurking behind the sweet gentle florals - it keeps making me think of sherbet.

 

Verdict: This is certainly very soft, and I'll buy innocent and pure, too. I'm not sure it's very me, but it's pretty enough that I'll keep this imp around.

[juniperus]

Bottle: Lily and sweet pea. Light and pretty.

Wet: Carnation coming out, the three in balance.

Dry: more of the lily and carnation, less of the sweet pea (bummer, I like sweet pea. it's that backyard thing..bear with me)

Later: The water lily is the dominant note, which is lovely and all, but it isn't necessarily a great note for me. I think I'd love this one on someone else, someone who doesn't broadcast the more bitter notes of the lily like I seem to.

[nerdcraft]

This was a generous freebie from poppycocteau.

 

preconceived notions: I'd forgotten the notes in this, but I thought it'd be soft and floral.

 

in the imp: Smells very similar to Ophelia, the same watery green-blue floral. This is the water lily, I'm pretty sure.

wet: Same - blooms into a lovely floral. Soft and aquatic.

dry: A slightly warmer floral than Ophelia, due to the carnation coming out more, but the water lily note they share is still really evident to me. It has the same "historical floral" feeling that the other Shakesperian scents I've tried do, if that makes any sense. Well...that somehow makes sense in my mind. haha. These don't smell anything like any other floral perfumes I've tried outside BPAL - very unique and lovely.

 

season: spring, summer, but really any season

office-friendly? yeah, definitely.

 

overall: Very nice. Soft and innocent and pure. Yep. This is also pretty long lasting on me. I might consider a bottle in fact.

[Medici]

In the imp: Watery florals. It's not overtly aquatic, but I do get that sense of fluidity. It's a little pink and a little murky green to my nose.

 

Wet: Sweet pea and more of that aquatic floral.

 

Drydown: Just murky water with a lingering bit of sweetness that borders on being soapy.

 

Verdict: Sweet pea, nine times out of ten, usually fairs well with my chemistry. This blend would appear to be the tenth time where I end up with soap bubbles. Woe.

 

2/5 on Medici's Scale o' Lurrve

Edited April 30, 2006 by Medici

[lysistrata]

This was a frimp from the Lab, and not a bad one, either. It reminded me a lot of the smell of my grandmother's house on the beach. I think it's the carnation. Light, sweet, and rich, with a slight seaside flavor. Gets sweeter as it dries. A little too sweet for me, but really light and appealing.

[HennaFairy]

bottle:

floral but more dry…

 

wet:

light floral, not too sweet

 

dry:

interesting floral…. Not bad

 

overall:

nice but not for me

 

rating: 6/10

[sophia_helix]

A pretty, spicy-sweet floral at first, when it's just sweet pea and carnation. Then water lily takes over, and I really don't like that note (in general or on my skin). Too soapy, too watery, not for me.

[purrbox]

allow me to preface this review by saying this:

 

 

i don't know what it is about this one, but something in it makes me really motion sick. even when my body is remaining stationary.

 

i think it might be the sweet pea that disagrees with me so much, because several other blends i've tried that included it have really made me dizzy.

 

on top of that, this one is way too floral for my taste in the bottle, but dries down EXTREMELY powdery. definately not a keeper.