51

[sadtomato]

Luminescent, glowing, and otherworldly: green mandarin, neroli, honeydew, white amber, guava, freesia, white and green musks hovering over desert scrub, smashed wood, and the dry, biting scent of night air over the Groom Lake salt flats.

i love, love, love, love, love this one!
in the imp it smelled very clean and refreshing...just what i needed to smell as winter is finally melting away and spring is promising to settle in after all.
wet on my skin it gave the same smell...clean and refreshing.
after about 20 minutes light, fruity scents started to come out to play, but nothing overpowering or too sweet.
there's also a nice, natural green scent to it under the light, sweetish fruity scent that gives it that overall clean, fresh feeling.
it's almost a musky, fruity smell...and i LOVE it.
ordered a full bottle off BPAL.

[Limelight]

For the most part, I'm really pleased with this one. In the imp and fresh on my skin, it's "BPAL does classic perfumery." It's got that je ne sais quoi of graceful style - all of the elements come together in a way that suggests class to my nose. It is sweet yet brisk. Once it has dried it becomes a bit too cloying in a manner similar to gardenia, something to do with the freesia, I think, but I enjoy this well enough to have purchased a bottle. 51 is elegant, and I'll certainly consider wearing it on my next date with Bryan Ferry.

[binaryfaerie]

I knew I'd want a bottle of this before I tried it on! It smells heavenly in the imp. White musk can do no wrong with me. 51 is a refreshing green scent. It's a little bit fruity and a little bit floral with lots of fresh air mixed in. Perfect for a summer night. Like some others have said, this one is a bit more "commercial" smelling, so it's quite different from other BPAL scents, but it is no less spectacular. A keeper for sure.

[GingerGunlock]

I'm not sure what went wrong here on me, but 51, while a scent I had been curious about (I was a hardcore XFiles fan for years...I might still be. I haven't seen it for a long time), did not like my chemistry. It was very floral in the imp, and it went on nicely enough (they all do!), but very quickly became sharp and acrid in a way that almost reminded me of nail polish remover, or at least that's the only thing that comes to mind that's the closest approximation. Looking at the notes, I'm going to arbitrarily blame the freesia (sorry freesia) and perhaps the "smashed wood". I know that my skin has previously made a wood note amp like crazy and spoil the rest of the loveliness of a blend (Miskatonic University, I'm lookin' at you).

[kelpsoda]

This is very clean, fresh and perfume-y smelling. I think it might be the musk that makes me think of expensive department store perfume. It reminds me a bit of the fresh green tea in Kumiho, but it's more complex and well-blended (all the floral/fruit/ozone? I can't pick them out). I'm not sure I feel sophisticated enough to pull off wearing 51, but it is certainly gorgeous. The more I wear it, the more I'm thinking I need a bottle.

[Emu Nymph]

To me this is a very "Spring" time scent. It's nice and clean and slightly sweet. And it didn't turn into powder on me so I was pleased I'm really glad I got this one.

[ImperatrixMundi]

Nice!

Smells a bit more like commercial scents than most BPAL but it is much nicer than 99% of those. It is clean, green and refreshing while being fruity and sweet and mysterioulsy musky

 

When it dries down on my hand I get something weird, a stage where something in there reminds me of dry mushrooms Maybe that is just the "splintered wood" notes in there. But it goes away.

 

The white and green musk are all that is left on my skin after a few hours so I actually might want to put this in a locket or in my hair or clothes.

 

Tested Green Phoenix too on my other hand and if you like 51 but find it a bit too sweet you might want to give Green Phoenix a try too, both have the green musk but Green Phoenix is grassier, greener and less fruity and sweet.

[donnatron]

Imp: Fresh green musk, a touch of honeydew and mandarin. Every time I smell this scent I think "This isn't going to last."

 

Wet: MELON! Wow, the melon comes right out and starts sassing me something fierce. The green musk settles to the bottom to set up camp and runs into the white musk. They get along so well that they decide to set up camp together. The rest of the notes just sort of mingle.

 

Dry: There are so many things going on with this scent but it winds up drying down to what I could describe a "glowing green scent." It's very luminescent and ethereal and has a delicate balance of floral and fruity along with the crisp musk and wood. The freesia tends to dominate the scent, but there are so few BPAL blends with freesia in them, that it's sort of fun to run into the note.

 

Throw: Quite strong, actually. A lot stronger than you would think from the notes.

 

Overall: What I find really impressive about this scent is how many of the notes can't necessarily be extracted as essential oils. The bouquets used are extraordinary for approximating the real scents and it all comes together to an absolutely beautiful blend. This is a definite summer scent.

[savage_rose]

It starts out as honeysuckle, but soon dries into this lovely melon-floral blend, with a cologne undercurrent. Perfectly balanced, but fades almost immediately. I think this would be an excellent summer room scent though, especially in a kitchen.

[fairnymph]

In the bottle: Fresh, clean, and green. Slightly aquatic.

 

Wet: More floral. Oooh I really like the florals in this - very delicate, light, and feminine. Perfumey in a traditional sort of way that's very nice.

 

Dry: Strong floral with a hint of fruit and woods; the latter and the musks come out in full force as it dries down further.

 

Summary: One of my favourites for sure. This is really feminine yet clean and sexy. Flowers, musk, woods.

[VioletChaos]

in the imp: i'm getting some of the melon straight away, but it's more like melon liquere than the straight, fresh melon of Yemaya for instance.

 

wet on skin: the melon drifts a bit and this becomes heavy, sweet floral. i can't pick out any specific notes, but there's a spring smell as opposed to a summer floral smell. it's a bit cloying at this point, but i'm hoping it'll mellow a bit in the dry down.

 

dry down: this has become, unfortunately, like Hanami on me- a pleasant-smelling shampoo

 

in all: my guess is, if you loved Hanami and it doesn't become shampoo fragrance on you, you will likely *adore* 51!

 

 

[noirisnoir]

This is my first review on the first imp I've ever tried. I don't know how to dissect scents like all of you do, so this is going to be lame.

 

On me, it smells exactly like Chanel's Allure. I was never fond of that scent to begin with, and the fact that it was worn by one of the few people I've ever hated makes this a no-go.

 

I tried to wash it off after an hour (to give it a fair chance), and now I smell like Clinique's Happy. Less bad, but still not good. Boo.

 

I put a drop on the label, and its much more floral on there.

Edited April 24, 2008 by Noir

[mazaru]

I found it impossible to pick out individual notes for this one. In the bottle and when wet, it smelled very fresh, wet, and oddly salty - almost aquatic. On the dry down it softened a little, and became a more rounded VERY BRIGHT NEON GREEN smell, a little ozony, a little fruity, very sharp and glistening. Dry, though, it turned into a sort of generic cologne smell – quite manly and nice to smell, but not something I'd wear.

[theal8r]

I've coveted this one for a while, but have taken my own sweet time getting around to wanderlusts.

 

In the bottle: WHOA. Strong, huge throw, really ... perfumey with that wicked sharp floral that I can't stand. I hadn't intended to put it on, but I got it on my fingers. *heh* Piercing my sinuses is never a good way to start a relationship with a perfume.

 

Wet: Huh. Not bad. The florals are still very present, but there is a darker sweetness bringing up the rear. The sharpness tones down pretty rapidly on me and the melon starts to come through. Not so much that I smell like a Yankee Candle Co. candle, but making the scent more rounded on me.

 

Dry: This puppy stays around a LONG time. There's a definite green note, which I like, but the overall cologne-perfume smell is still just a bit too much. This would be a nice sub when my Green Phoenix runs out, for sure.

 

Overall: Not bad. Not a holy grail, and probably not something I need a bottle of, but I'll hang on to the imp.

[XShear]

I think this might be love! From the first whiff of it, it was a gorgeous, juicy melon ... must be the honeydew and the guava combined. It's now softly settling down into a equally gorgeous musky aquatic scent that sits well with my ever-so-picky skin. Yeah, this is love.

[taramarie]

On me, 51 has a top note of salt, a middle note of citrus, and a base note of light musk. This is a light, neutral scent that is ideal for summer. I'm so in love with this and I want a bottle ASAP!

[miri]

PRETTY! This is very delicate and light… It's a very pale green, clean, with a delicate hint of sweetness around the edges - relaxing with cold cucumber slices over eyes while somebody else mows the lawn, maybe.

 

I like it - very light and refreshing! And as it dries, it sweetens. Some of the fruit may be hanging around in the background - it never quite comes to the foreground, but it does give it extra depth...

[greenranger]

This one started off clean and refreshing.

 

After a bit, the scent seemed to warm up, and then? Most of it just vanished.

 

What was left smelled like ozone, and maybe one other note with it. The two notes left don't behave well together to my nose when left by themselves.

[kythryne]

Oh, this is PRETTY. It reminds me of a place I used to live in Florida, about ten years ago; someone in the neighborhood had an enormous night-blooming cactus growing on his fence, and I'd go walking at night with my dog and luxuriate in the smell of the warm summer night air and the cactus blooms and the salt breeze blowing in from the ocean. And orange blossoms, which were usually gone by then but sometimes summer would come early enough that they'd overlap.

 

This is ethereal and beautiful and I'm going to have to buy a bottle. I can't pick out any distinct notes, just a beautiful and very unique scent.

[Kabooki]

This I think is going to be my signature scent when all is said and done. The fruits and the florals work so well together creating a wonderful dance of smells.

 

I have tried an aged version in an imp (not sure how old) and bought a bottle, and there are some differences, but both versions are wonderful and recommend this to anyone.

[n1k1ta]

Definitely pale green, fresh and bright; floral and woody. Instalove for me. Perfect summer perfume. I get a lot of citrus and freesia. 51 has a bite to it--it's very zingy.

 

The citrus fades a little after half an hour, but 51 remains fresh. The perfume remains true and the musks never overpower the other notes for me (gasp!).

 

After four hours, 51 is more floral, but deliciously so! I think this is going on the bottle-buy list!

[Andrea912]

Wet: perfumey; fresh; reminds me of CKOne; freesia is a bit strong; good for summer

 

Dry: becomes way too strong; Dillards department store; too bad cause it's a nice smell

[dluszcz]

I would describe this scent as "cute". Predominantly, the fruitiness of melon stood out, then blended down as the light florals and musks appeared on dry-down. It reminds me of the drug store-purchased perfumes we used to spray ourselves down with after middle school gym class- the sort that came in myriad variey, identifiable by the color of the plastic portion of the bottle. I think this would be really pleasant for a tween starting out with fragrances.

[plunderparlour]

in the bottle this is very pow! flowers!

on wet the freesia is the top note with musk undertones

dry down this smells a little generic for bpal. it's pretty and works but i don't find this as interesting as some of the others.

[Mishinka]

I was wanting for so long to try this. My reaction to it wasn't an immediate "OMG yes, so worth the wait!", but I'm not at all disappointed. It's an interesting scent.

 

This is one of the greenest scents I've tried yet, but it's green in a different way. In the imp, I get a big blast of honeydew and a very green citrus. After a second I can smell the musk. It's very sweet, but not cloying.

 

On, it gets more floral, and I do think I smell the wood notes someone else mentioned. It's still very fruity, but not quite so sweet. The musk comes out as it dries, and the scent gets much drier than it had been. Fresh, it was very wet and green on me, but that goes away after a while. After an hour or two, all I have is sweet, floral musk clinging to my skin. I get much more of a desert feel from this than an alien one. It's like the desert toward the end of the rains--there's this profusion of flowers and green that go away quickly, leaving just a whiff of their smell in the middle of the dry scrub. I like it more the more I smell it.