Wilde

[siriusstar]

A sophisticated traditional gentleman's cologne, with just the slightest taint of patchouli's passion, tonka bean's decadence, the philanthropy of bergamot, moss' cynicism, the sharp wit of lavender, and the hopeless romantic longing of jasmine and thyme.

I really liked this one in the bottle. It was less distinctive than some of the others and very masculine, but still very pleasant.

When I put it on though it smelled just like Deep Woods Off.

I might try it again to see if the bug spray thing was temporary, but I think it would be to masculine anyway. I like some of the more masculine scents, but this one isn't going to do it for me.

[helarctos]

Wilde...

 

Fresh bergamot, smelling almost lemony, taking the edge off the jasmine to keep it out of the coloratura range. The lavender is herbal, not floral, here.

 

I could see this as working for either gender, not so strongly masculine as I'd expected.

[olympia301]

Loved it. Put it on and thought,"This is what I have been waiting for!" During drydown it was entirely unique, not too sweet with a melange of indistinguishable scents that had me sniffing and sniffing. There was dignity and citrus. It was a bit astringent. I don't care if it is for men...This was great.

 

Then, about 45 minutes later-HAMSTER CAGE! What?!? It started to smell like cedar. I can't stand cedar. I re read the description and there was no cedar in it so it must be my skin chemistry that made it go all wrong. For the right person this would be the living end of perfume, throw all the others away and give me a 55 gallon drum of it and let me love it. Alas, my love affair ended after a brief 3/4 of an hour. I was just as heartbroken as if it had been the real thing.

 

I will be giving this a try again. Like a jilted besotted lover crawling back to the guy who broke her heart. Oh well. It was fun while it lasted. Who knows, it might last this time.

 

Ammended to add: One very attractive aspect of Wilde is it reminds me of a favorite scent I had long ago, Kiku. Kiku was made by Faberge (a company which was merged with some conglomerate and disappeared...they made some wretched perfumes like Tabu and Tigress and one gem which was Kiku). I think Kiku was real bergamot and an incensy backdrop and it was more "artificial" smelling.

 

Ammended again to add: I tried Wilde one more time. The same thing happened. This time when it started to "turn" I noticed I was sub consiously trying to stop the nausea from ruining my day. That is a bad sign. Better stay away from Wilde. Boo hoo. It is such a lovely starter.

Edited March 4, 2005 by olympia301

[UltraViolet]

In the bottle

I smell a piercing note and bright lavender.

Wet

ooh I likey.

Immediately I smelled musk and then a "dad's cologne" smell but sexier.

I can pick out everything except the thyme.

 

10 minutes

For you Lush users this seems to me like an adult male version of Ickle Baby Baff. Almost like if you mixed that piercing myrrh note in Icon and Ickle Baby Baff. Or maybe I'm just delerious.

It has a medium amount of throw.

I am already so freakin' addicted to Wilde and it's only been 10 minutes.

 

20 minutes

And again, it just keeps on getting better the more it dries.

This will be 5 winners in a row.

It's now sweeter, more powdery and only less sharp and bergamot-ish.

 

Jeez, this is fantastic. I let my husband sniff it and he really did too, he said it smells like an old mens cologne called "Drakar". I hope I spelled that right.

I don't know if I would buy more. Not to wear at work anyway, I think this would be the type I would buy another imp of so I could secretly put it on my pillow to smell it all night.

[tart]

Wilde was pretty good at first sniff...

...but I really, really don't like it. I think it's the lavender -- I hate the smell of lavender! Wilde would be wonderful except for whatever this astringent note is that I'm smelling. It makes me feel kind of nauseous...

 

I would still recommend Wilde as an introductory BPAL scent for a man. It's good. I just hate lavender.

[ianastar]

I so wanted to like this, as Oscar Wilde is one of my favorite authors. It sounded so sophiscated and intellectual. But it reminded me of this fragrance I used to wear in 9th grade….Fahrenheit from Christian Dior. And I don’t need anything to bring back memories of high school. It was too man’s cologne smelling, similar to most men’s fragrances on the market today. At least I have my beloved Dorian to remind me of Oscar Wilde.

[Koumori]

I was chatting with a friend on AIM on the evening that I tried this. My comment to her: "Wow, I smell like a bisexual Victorian brothel!" And I did, and it was awesome. I prefer masculine-leaning scents, and this one toned down the lavender to a not-too-sweet point perfectly. It makes me want to start wearing sleek pantsuits to work.

[Northernminx]

Lemon pledge. I can’t say much more as my chemistry did the weird thing again and I never got anything else. Sigh. Oh well. Short and sweet review because when my skin does this, there's not much else to say.

[Ina Garten Davita]

First Impression: Bergamot and lavender.

 

Second Impression: I hate to say it, but it's turning a bit Windex-y on my skin. Such a shame as it's lovely in the vial.

 

Final Analysis: One of the first masculine blends that didn't sing on me.

[aritei]

Smells lovely in the imp, but I can tell it's going to be too masculine for me!

[Alice Aforethought]

The spikiness of the lavender is through first, but is soon replaced by a light, clean citrussy scent which is deliciously musky and smooth on a bloke, but just smells fruity and sweet, and indeed somewhat artificial on me.

 

At least that means I get to smell my lovely in it.

[wickedgoddess]

Origin - imp received in a swap.

 

I wanted to try this because it sounded so herbal. I love all of the ingredients: lavendar, thyme, jasmine, patchouli, bergamot and tonka. But one whiff out of the bottle and it was all over. In the bottle this smells like department store perfume, the kind I am allergic to. This is the first BPAL I couldn't even bring myself to try on my skin; I just could tell I would hate it. I guess I had better stay away from the "masculine" blends, because so far I have had a similiar reaction to all of them.

 

On the wickedgoddess scale of 1 to 5, with 5 being best, this rates a 1.

[darkkat]

This was one of the scents that the bf had in his first order from BPAL, which he chose because he absolutely adores Oscar Wilde.

 

In the bottle, this was very lavender-y. Nice. When the bf put it on, the strength of the lavender remained, but was joined by a layer of citrus - the bergamot, I guess. The whole thing was strong, but not overpowering. Relaxing, I'd say.

 

After a few hours, the lavender and bergamot had mellowed somewhat, and there was now a smell of moss and jasmine as well. I liked this a lot, because it remonded me of summers in the Irish countryside, when we would go walk my uncle's dogs down country lanes and go to a glen with several mini-waterfalls, mosses and grasses everywhere, and woodbine. The scent wasn't quite the same, but it had similarities for me.

 

The bf said he liked it, and certainly was taking big sniffs of his wrists throughout the day.

[quikslvr]

Whoa! Lemon/bergamot at first. A bit of a whiff of the (Burberry?) cologne my dad wears--very commercial. Lavender emerges swiftly. Very clean, sophisticated, and masculine. Goes herb-y after awhile--the thyme and patchouli coming out?

[mmcfa2]

This one is a clean MAN smell. Hubby has complained about an oily undercurrent to many of the BPAL oils. Not so with Wilde! He loves it as much as I do!! SWOON!!! I think I see this and severin in a hubby order....

[k00kaburra]

In bottle: Bergamot and lavender.

On me: My skin just drinks this up! It's gone.

Reapplied - it's a very manly cologne. In a way, it's too commercial; it doesn't smell different enough to me to justify purchasing it. Then there's this annoing disappearing factor; my skin isn't holding the scent long enough for me to even attempt to figure the oil out. There's definitely bergamot, and I think I get hints of tonka bean, but the jasmine is invisible and on my skin, that's most unusual.

[Little Bird]

I loved Wilde desperately when I first got into bpal (smelled like sexy lemon italian ice, lol). Then it went through a phase where it smelled incredibly dish soapy on me (but also, I was on meds at the time that seemed to mess up my skin chemistry). Now I'm trying it again after several years more of experience and while my skin chemistry seems to be normal, lol.

 

In the imp, this smells lemony, sweet, smooth and cool. I think I'm picking up the lavender and bergamot.

 

On my skin, this smells sweet, cool, and refreshing, like a sweet lemon ice on a hot day. The creamy, vanilla-y tonka makes the whole blend smoother and sweeter, and the lavender smells cool and gorgeous.

 

Bergamot, lavender, and tonka, in that order. I don't smell any patchouli, moss, jasmine, or thyme exactly, but I suspect that the thyme is adding a bit of complexity and zing to the blend, and it and the lavender are keeping the blend from turning sickly sweet.

 

Yup. I love this. It smells great on me. The lavender really smells masculine enough for my husband to pull this off, even though it is a bit too sweet on him. This and Vicomte de Valmont are two of my favorite masculine blends to give away to the menfolk in my life.

 

Edited September 5, 2009 by Little Bird

[Brianne]

In bottle:

Smells like Cool Water in my opinion!

 

On me:

That bergamot is definitely the predominant note on me, on my brother it was more of a warmer bergamot, which I assume was the tonka coming out on him. This is quite masculine, I couldn't see a woman wearing this, though I'm sure some may like to! It's a nice scent, very cologney. The longer I wear it, the more that lavender comes out, but the bergamot is still the strongest on me.

 

Final note:

This is a nice scent for a guy, I don't like it as much as I like some of the warmer scents, but any guy who enjoys something like Cool Water, will probably love this. My fiance loves it, so it's going to him!

 

EDIT: After a little while, this scent has really grown on me. It warmed up a bit on me as well and there was something slightly minty underneath. Really nice!

Edited July 1, 2005 by Brianne

[dcmo]

Very masculine, crisp, clean. I would associate this as the male version of Dirty.

[Spastik_Kitty]

My husband received this as a roak from dcmo at the mns. Thank you!

 

In the bottle: This is the perfect men's scent (and I dare any man to wear this around me and not expect to be molested). It's clean and fresh, some sweeter notes and some citrusy hidden in it's depth.

 

First on: The combination here blends to a slightly spicy aquatic citrus scent with a sweetness lurking underneath.

 

After a bit: I want to start licking my hand in sexual frustration. The bergamont and thyme lead way for a citrus effect with a slight apple juice impression, the lavender and moss add a mild astringent effect, the tonka and patchouli make for a slightly sweet spiciness.

 

Over all the top middle and base are perfectly blended and balanced and I couldn't possibly ask for anything more in a masculine scent. I must acquire a 10ml to slather my husband in daily.

[herdivineshadow]

In the bottle, this smells cool, clean and a bit citrussy.

 

On my skin... immediately I'm thinking this smells a lot like the aftershaves my dad favours, only not as overpowering. A bit of a "Ack! get it off, get it off" reaction for me really.

 

Later, it mellows out a bit and becomes warmer and spicier.

 

I think I'm going to have to try this one again, and if I'm still not too keen on it, it'll probably go to a friend who I know will like it.

[~AmusedMuse~]

My Impression:

To me this is a great masculine scent. Love it I can't actually pick out individual notes other than to say that the lavender noted in the description is not like a floral at all, it is definitely an earthy, herbal which works fantastic in this.

My scale of 1-5 ....4

[Nachtwulf]

In the bottle: Wow. o_o It's certainly pungent. But not bad, it's just all 'sharp and pointy' after me burying my nose in the warm cuddly spice of Jack and Hellcat. Still, it's not like the 'driving a spike up your nose' kind of sharp, but it's clear, a bit sharp, and yes, very masculine. Very Victorian indeed; makes me think automatically of a friend of mine because I always think of her when I think 'Victorian boys' .

 

Wet: Hm. Reminds me of .... soap. Very /nice/ soap, the sort you get in boutiques, with raffia around it in a bow. (largely, I suspect, because I tend to buy soap with lavender and bergamot in it.) But soap nonetheless. It's the smell of getting out of the bath after a nice scrubdown with handmade soap.

 

Dry: Clear, pleasant, mostly lavender with hints of other foo. Unfortunately, it still reminds me of soap.

 

Final Opinion: Mmm. If I was into soapmaking, I'd totally use this oil. It's surprisingly masculine for being made up of flowers without any tobacco or leather notes, though I think it could've benefited from something warmer, like musk. It's clear, it's clean, its.... post-bath-y. It's nice, and doesn't offend my sensibilities in any way, but I STILL can't get past the 'I just got out of the shower' thing. Might just be me, though. (It also smells kinda funny when combined through 'throw' with Jack. But I /know/ that's my fault. )

[sarahj]

Wilde

 

freebie from the lab

 

in vial: citrus and lavender

 

wet: very citrusy, very masculine

 

dry: a nice blend of patchouli, bergamot, moss, and lavender

 

verdict: too masculine for me, but smells great on my husband, so I gave the imp to him

[hangingfire]

Thanks to Blood onmy hands!

 

In the bottle: It's all about the bergamot, baby! The patchouli puts in a guest appearance, but it's mostly the citrusy goodness. Actually, it reminds me of Dior's Eau Sauvage, only not quite as, well, sauvage.

 

On, wet: Still mostly bergamot. A bit of lavender makes itself known, alongside the patchouli, and there's an herbal green note

 

Drydown: The patchouli seems to have gone wandering, leaving the bergamot, herbal notes, and a bit of lavender to hang around. A little goes a long way, though; after sniffing and sniffing it to try and get the notes down, I've got a slight headachy feeling.

 

It's a very sophisticated scent, very charming and elegant. Masculine but not aggressively so. I should persuade my husband to try it out -- it might smell better on him.

 

EDIT, some hours later: Now the bergamot has mostly gone, and now I get all the other notes back: patchouli, moss, and lavender, mostly.

Edited September 8, 2005 by hangingfire