Croquet

[LiberAmoris]

Pink lime, pink grapefruit, white nectarine, wild rose, sage, woody patchouli, bergamot, and ornery hedgehog musk.

Croquet is awfully springy and pink and fun. It's like a gourmand pink lemonade that leaves a lovely, refreshing aftertaste. When I first applied it, I thought that I would definitely keep the imp, but an hour or so later I'm thinking I might need a bottle. Like Titania, this just feels like a head ornament from a Midsummer Night's Dream----all flowers and fruits and twined up bits and bobs of natural things, working together.

Croquet just feels fun and playful and free of motive. It's the kind of blend I would bring on vacation or wear when I need a lift at work. Mostly I pick up on the nectarine and lime/grapefruit, with the rose and sage poking through from time to time. It does smell creamy, which is hard to explain but quite nice.

[Eemia]

This starts out just bursting with fruits. Wildly amped up lime and grapefruit, so bright and happy. Nothing could be a better pick me up in the morning. I automatically smile when I dab this on. How could you not grin a little when you smell like the best part of the produce section?

 

The sharp, tangy, and bright citrus fades quickly on my skin, and becomes a really pretty rose and soft fruit blend. This is a fantastic rose too, very round and wet and gentle. It actually smells the best at this point. Like a rose with the last fading bits of sparkling grapfruit clinging to its petals. The nectarine is lightly present, and smells more creamy than citrus. I was excited when I recognized it right away.

 

I never notice the patchouli or musk. If it's there then it is very faint and very well blended. I can usually find patchouli at any stage but this time it's pulling a disappearing act.

 

This is beautiful and fresh and appealingly girly. I feel bouncy and cute when I wear this. It actually smells up my entire room when I put this on....it has a lot of throw! I'm so happy that I bought a bottle w/o testing it first...I just knew it would be perfect for me!

[PilotKitten]

There is a quick burst of citrus with this at first but it quickly dries down to soapy florals and a heavy, bitter musk on me. Perfumey and unremarkable. I expected more from this one

[minnalavender]

Oh, how I love this scent!!! It's the brightest, prettiest, happiest, sunniest thing - sunshine and citrus in a bottle. If you like grapefruity, crisp, clean scents you'll adore it. It's effervescent! Instant pick-me-up. Yet like Shanghai and Dirty (to name but two similar scents), it's also sophisticated and understated enough to wear to a formal occasion. People won't notice you're wearing a fragrance - they're notice how wonderful you smell wearing it.

 

On me, the citrus is predominant - I can't detect any patchouli. The musk, too, is just a trace note on my skin. It's almost all grapefruit and nectarine, with a touch of silvery sage and rose in the drydown.

 

The throw on me is close to the skin, very light, and as with all citrus-based scents, fades fast. Croquet would make an awesome spray or spritz, kept in the fridge and reapplied as necessary to refresh you when it's warm outside.

 

I will go through multiple bottles this spring and summer.

[GypsyRoseRed]

On me, Croquet is a short-lived, bright and fruity blend. I agree, this would be wonderful in the heat of summer, because it comes across as very cool and refreshing, with notes of peach and citrus.

[blu°]

This is indeed fun and fruity and lovely. I'm not quite sure it's something I'd wear very often, because I tend to favour the darker, heavier blends, but for what it is, it's quite nice. It makes me think of summer and going swimming.

 

After an initial splash of bright sparkly fruit it dries down to primarily a bright fruity chypre kind of scent. It does remind me of Fae a little, and maybe also of Titania. Something about the woody patchouli, bergamot and sage contrasting the bright fruit.

Edited April 14, 2007 by blu°

[forspecial_plate]

This is skillfully blended, light and fresh, fruity and very well balanced. I was expecting a lot more citrus.....the citrus elements are delicate and subtle, and they fade fairly quickly. It's true, the patchouli is Very subtle and patchouli haters should not shy away from this scent. Actually, I can barely pick out the patchouli at all. It's just sweet and lively fruits over a slightly woody and musky base. Really well done.

[sarahmarie]

Croquet is seriously fun. I don't always do well with the fruit-n-floral thing, but this works really nicely for me. It's happy, it's perky, it's fun! The fruit keeps it sparkley and sort of tangy, and it's quite springy. I love it!

[jainabee]

Playful, but bafflingly inconsistent. Keeps wandering away from me! This one's just for fun, and perfect for a sunny day.

 

Doubt I'd buy a bottle, but I'll use up the imp, to be sure.

 

UPDATE:

I do believe I had some sort of allergic reation to Croquet. Alas! Guess it's off to the swaps with this one.

Edited April 23, 2007 by jainabee

[Miss Lynx]

A very interesting and quirky scent, suitably enough... It's predominantly fruit, but with woody and herbal undertones that keep it from being too sweet. I'm not picking up much musk, but it may be that's what's blending all the other notes together -- musk can have that effect sometimes.

 

As it settles in, I can pick up a bit more of the rose, but it's very gentle, not at all dominant. The different notes all seem to be blending and harmonizing very nicely now, into an interesting fruity-herbal mix that's sometimes quite sweet and sometimes not. It's got a freshness to it that makes it seem quite appropriate for spring. But alas, inside of an hour or so it seems to fade away entirely.

 

All in all, an interesting and enjoyable scent, but without a lot of staying power. Not sure yet whether I like it enough to keep it despite that -- we'll see.

 

Grade: B

[flyingpizza]

I initially passed on getting an imp of this, since citrus is nice but not particularly compelling to me. However, some of the reviews played up the sage and muskiness, so I thought I'd give it a shot. Well, it's super bright citrus, much like the grapefruit in Cheshire Cat. This is not my thing, but if you like light, fresh, citrus-y scents, you'll like this.

Edited April 20, 2007 by flyingpizza

[Nepthys]

This has to be one of the most perfect blends BPAL has ever created, emphasis on the blend because no one note dominates on me - they all work together to produce a scent that is fizzy pink gorgeous springtime. Love it, love it, love it. I'm very afraid of rose and mildly afraid of citrus and yet... this is just stunning. I can't compare it to much save for saying that it smells like the happy, spring version of Kali, without the chocolate. So, so pretty. It also has nice throw, perceptible without being overwhelming, and stays consistent. Might have to get a big bottle of this one.

[gaai]

This one started out as a really lovely citrus scent, but then......

 

It morphed into this generic smelling perfume type scent.....I don't know what my skin did to it, but it wasn't pretty......and on top of that it amped it to embarrassing proportions, while I only put a tiny dab on one wrist.

It was weird.....I put some on.....went to the grocery store and halfway through my shopping I smelled this obnoxiously loud perfume and I thought "phew....*someone* needs to go a little lighter on the perfume!!"....still not realizing it was me . I knew it was me when I could still smell it while I was riding my bike back home.....and it did *not* resemble the scent I put on before I left.

 

I wish it'd just stayed the way it smelled in the imp and the wet stage.....maybe I'll use the rest of my imp in my scent locket though....

[thisperiscope]

Ah, Croquet! The scent that started my BPAL fixation. I got an imp from a friend who loves it, but can't wear it. Smells just like Hawaiian Punch on her, but on me it's a lovely creamy lime-spiked floral, sharper and deeper and more sophisticated than any juice drink . Every so often the sage amps a bit, which I love. I'll definitely have to search out more sage-y goodness - this note really works for me.

 

I'm keeping the imp and ordering a bottle, or two or three.

[sookster]

straight sniff from imp is fruity and floral...delicate...pretty and fun

 

once applied lots of bergamot and sage and musk combined with the citrus and floral...

absolutely gorgeous...a perfect blend for a springtime day...

[ariosa]

For me, this was all about the lime and the grapefruit. I even ignored the fact that it has rose in it, because I had such high hopes for it. The patchouli is fabulous, and lends a bit of spice to the mix, but it's not too heavy at all! It's light and fizzy, without being too much.

 

Croquet does not disappoint, but it also doesn't last long on me at all, which makes me very sad! Though this is my second application, and it seems to be lasting a bit longer, so we'll see. If not, I may have to break down and buy a scent locket so that I can enjoy Croquet to the fullest. I thought I'd finished ordering scents for spring and summer, but I think this (and Fae) have me changing my mind, and thinking I need -just- one more order before my trip

 

ETA: the rose is ever-present, as it always is on my skin, but it doesn't amp to levels that overpower everything else. I'm shocked!

Edited May 6, 2007 by ariosa

[zankoku_zen]

In the imp: High floral and sweet.

 

On Skin: I get some of the lime, sugar and something kinda rosey. Overall though, it kinda reminds me to plumeria. Weird, I know.

 

On Drydown: I get more of the lime now, and definitely a light rose around the edges.

 

Verdict: Very bright, and yes, I do get the pink vibes from it. It's a bright and cheery sort of scent, very playful.

[Akurarei]

Mad Tea Party: Croquet

 

I'm not a patchouli fan - but from the reviews this sounded promising regardless.

 

In the Bottle:

I get mostly fruit and not very much else.

The fruits smell wonderful though! They DO smell very pink too!

 

On my Skin, Wet:

Pink Lime!! How amazing!!

Mmmm - Grapefruit too!

But not the prototypical sour pink grapefruit - this is a pink grapfruit grown in sugar, not soil.

Absolutely delightful!

I don't detect any of that nasty patchouli, either - so this is great so far!

 

On my Skin, Dry:

Still sugary pink fruits but there's something else creeping into the picture now...

It does not smell like patchouli - maybe it's the musk.

Well, whatever it is - I refuse to let it take over the sugared pink fruits!

::shakes finger at creeping note!::

 

Verdict:

The finger shake worked!

Croquet never really settles back into the sugared fruits that I flipped over, but the musk stays calm.

The dreaded patchouli never makes an appearance with me - a fact I am DELIGHTED about!

 

Other Notations:

As mentioned before, I am not a patchouli fan at all.

I dread patchouli and typically dismiss any perfume with patchouli listed outright and never consider it at all.

The same thing happened with Croquet.

I read the description and listed notes and dismissed it outright - despite the fact that it otherwise sounded delicious.

Then after reading reviews on BPAL Madness about the patchouli almost being non-existant I decided to give it a shot (because BPAL is always amazing)

Please note - I simply dread patchouli - I do not amp it.

Soooo;

if you simply do not LIKE patchouli then Croquet is worth an imp at least.

if you AMP patchouli, then you should probably follow your own judgement about sampling (imp)/purchasing (bottle) Croquet.

Edited May 14, 2007 by Akurarei

[crain]

I love grapefruit, I love lime, I love nectarine, I love all things fruity and I love pink. I wanted to love Croquet and I do, if only for the 1 minute I can smell it on my skin.

 

In the bottle: It smells like a gum I used to love when I was little- I think it was called Fruit Stripe and had a zebra on the package.

 

On my skin wet: Pink Lime all the way with a little effervescence to it. Bright, fruity, happy- I love it.

 

In my skin dry: What happened to it? Where did it go? I get nothing- no musk, no patchouli (thankfully), and not really anything else. So sad...no bottle in my future.

[asciident]

Wet: Liiiiime. Super lime.

 

First on: Oh man, this smells delicious. It's like my favorite raspberry limeade drink, except not raspberry (it's just fruity like that). Very summery.

 

Dry: Rose! A pink rose, I think, and very soft and gentle. Patchouli and sage keeping it down to earth. There's the tiniest hint of nectarine, too. It's less blaringly lime now, but still tangy, fruity, PINK. So very pretty.

[TheIceMaiden]

Ahhh another miracle scent in the Mad Tea Party line. Patchouli, which tends to both amp and stink on me, does NOT show up in Croquet. Instead I get alot of lime with some grapefruit and nectarine when wet and rose with a little fruit and musk when dry. This is a gorgeous, fun, summery scent and I really love it!! Alas, its not perfect as it fades fast and is very light. (But that just means I need a whole bottle to slather with!)

[sedona]

In the imp - Very citrus with an undertone of something else

 

Wet - Oh lovely lime/grapefruit with a scattering of some floral and a grounding of wood to make it all sensible.

 

Dry down - This is very zingy thanks to the citrus notes. I can't pick out the floral but it's lurking around definitely and the wood tone must be from the patchouli. This is a very well blended creature.

 

Unfortunately the citrus edge died pretty quickly and left me with what can best be described as a metallic after thought...it smelled like I imagine blood would taste

 

I'll keep this one and try it in a scent locket as the first stage is very pretty and spring like.

[Nia]

In this complex mix of ingredients, all I feel is a nice floral with a touch of fresh fruit. It is a bit disappointing, as my favourite BPALs are normally fruit-and-flower blends, but here, the fruit ends up eaten whole by the rose. So, after a fun first explosion, it is a rose perfume with a bit of grapefruit waiving a shy hand from behind.

 

The good point is that it is amazingly long-lasting, as I could still detect it after about six hours.

[PurringPulsar]

Croquet

 

In the imp: sour fruit sweets! This smells like lime and grapefruit, but a little sharper and sourer. It’s also a little peppery/spicy, oddly.

Wet on skin: ooh, now the sage comes out along with nectarine!

Dry: mmm, this smells like sweets! The citrus notes smell very sugary, which I like, they also smell like gummy sweets. The nectarine adds a ripe, juicy, peachy scent. Such a fun, summery fragrance, this is a smile in a bottle! However under all that candied fruit lie some deeper, grounding notes of sage and patchouli, a little bit of rose, and that lovely fuzzy musk that I recognise from other animal themed scents-with the sage and wood it reminds me of Buck Moon or Coyote…with pink sugar on top. This reminds me of Treat #1 with an earthy undertone.

After a while: once the citrus notes fade, the scent is of pure powdery-woodsy pinkness. It’s almost dusty, I get roses and dusty pink woods in here now, but it does remind me of a batch of Baghdad I had which didn’t have the spice and amber-musk to it on me, but smelt of roses and powdery ‘pink woods’ and potpourri. Back to Croquet…the ‘powdery pink woods’ seem more suited to this scent, the musk makes that scent even fuzzier and the nectarine adds even more sweetness.

Eventually this odd dusty stage does improve as the sugary nectarine strengthens a little (though this smells more like a peach-it’s fuzzy!) along with the sage, the scent still feels warm and velvety, and still pink, but has less of the odd ‘potpourri’ scent I got before.

This settles into a soft, velvety but slightly powdery-dusty drydown of pink rose petals, peaches, pink sandalwood (not listed but it smells like sandalwood to me) with a brush of herbs and musk, all of which have a little sprinkling of sugar. A scent of pink and light brown…which becomes a little bit spicy after some time.

Verdict: I'm not sure what to think about this-I like it, that's for sure, but I'm not sure if I love it yet. I love the start of the scent when the citrus notes just sparkle. The scent starts off a wonderful blend of happy lime and grapefruit and nectarine dancing over a gorgeous sage-patchouli-musk scent, with 'hedgehog musk'-turns out it's that same furry soft musk that I love from other scents inspired by mammals, like Buck Moon, Coyote, and the Groundhog. It reminds me of the sugary tangy fruity candy of Treat #1 over a soft and snuggly yet earthy base. But then the scent does something a bit weird. It turns to powdery pink rose potpourri and sandalwood. It reminds me of a batch of Baghdad I tried, with that same dusty, old-fashioned pink powdery sandalwood scent. And I wasn’t as keen on that Baghdad batch, I preferred the spicy, exotic rose and amber scent from my imp. This dusty pink potpourri phase does seem to fade, with the scent turning into a comforting fuzzy scent. It's nice, but I'm not sure whether I love this or not.

Emoticon rating:

Is it a keeper? I'll keep the imp around.

If you like this, try: Enraged Bunny Musk, Baghdad, Treat #1, Rose Moon

[CrazyPretzel]

Erk. I had high hopes for this one because of the pink grapefruit, but somehow the blend, which sounds lovely, once on my skin boiled down to just two things: lemon and wood. And that combination put me in mind of furniture polish. Ah well. One for swaps.

Edited June 14, 2007 by Baitu