Privilege

[sookster]

Polished party-girl sleaze. This is a shameless scent, devoid of caution, regret, or introspection. This perfume reeks of tabloid glamour, and has no substance whatsoever. Armoise, tuberose, white citrus, rose absolute, oakmoss, tiare, tuberose, vanilla, linden, and lemon tree blossom. ...

straight sniff from imp is quite green ... reminds me of homegrown weed

interestingly enuff, while it smells "typical" chanel perfumey in the imp, it calms down on my skin
and i simply get the weed with a sweetness to it...odd...& yet goofy...jury's out folks

[tarotgirl99]

I bought Pruno and Privilege thinking I'd prolly like Pruno and prolly wouldn't like Privilege.

 

The reverse seems to be true.

 

Privilege is very green in the bottle and upon first application. Normally I don't like green. But the florals make this sweet and lovely and the green fades. The drydown completely rocks--it is a harmonious blend of soft florals that isn't completely empty after all.

 

This has great throw and lasts a nice long time.

 

Unlike Paris Hilton's chances of remaining famous forever, thank goodness.

[dronzeka]

I'm getting what a lot of other people have described. Wet, I get GREEN. There are all these florals in Privilege, and all I get is what must be oakmoss (maybe armoise also?) because it's just plain green. I think I kind of amp oakmoss, but others are getting the same thing, so it's not just me. It's very green and herbal initially, more like a grassy aquatic than anything else. As it dries, I think I'm starting to get a hint of vanilla underneath. And after a bit, some of the florals do come to the fore and this is a kind of commercial-perfume-y paen to vapidness. Wow - really interesting. Not something I'll probably wear, but I'm glad I have it!

[jarvenpa]

In my heart there is a secret love of the tacky and the trivial, which usually I manage to hide from the world (um, I think I do anyway) with my excellent taste and all that...but

 

Privilege feeds that inner tacky debutante very well, and I do enjoy it.

 

Remember when magazines first started putting those perfume strips in? (or..well, you are all such young things, maybe you do not). They were STRONG. The postoffice would kind of reek of generic supposedly expensive and powdery sweet perfume--even if you hadn't gently torn open the glued perfume sample page and rubbed your eager wrist along it (because hey, in my rural area you weren't likely to get a chance at any perfume beyond, say, Evening in Paris at the local all purpose drugstore, or patchouli oil at yon Health Foode Shoppe, which also sold wheatgerm and dry fake meat stuff.)

 

This perfume has that powdery "I am a mix of every commercial expensive perfume in the world!! And I am glitzy, I am!!" feeling.

 

And...you know, it's fun. And kind of pretty. Privilege tends to make me smile. It manages to convey the "I drenched myself in expensive perfume" and yet still remains light and a bit giddy. Sweet.

 

Nice creation.

[Little Bird]

I wasn't sure if the double mentioning of tuberose on the notes list of this one was a typo or if there really was a double shot of tuberose in it. Either way, I hate tuberose and one mention is enough to frighten me, lol. Still, I tried this on while visiting a floral-loving friend, because I like to try on *everything.* I cannot help myself.

 

Privilege is like my ultimate nosebleed & migraines perfume. It's so sharp that it goes straight to my head, like I just snorted some razor blades. Pain. So much pain.

 

Perfumey hell. Sharp. Bright. Like blinding white florals drenched in department store chemical-perfoom. It reminds me of Stardust quite a bit (so much pain). It smells a lot like too much cheap hairspray and body splash spritzed liberally in the girl's lockerroom. Suffocating, sharp, chemical, cheap.

 

I didn't get the green note that other people have mentioned. This morphs straight into an aggressive, chemical, department store, cheapie white floral the second it hits my skin. Gah. Just remembering it makes me nervous.

[Hayet]

I swear this one smells like the produce section of the grocery store. I get just a wet, almost rotten greenness and an old flower shop refrigerator smell. Not nice at all- and certainly not glamourous! Weird, wierd, weird!! I wonder if my sniffer's broken today? BEcause Pruno was equally icky on me.

[voodoocatwoman]

I have to admit that reading the first batch of reviews on Privilege made me wonder if I had gotten something else. Then I read further down a bit and started picking up the "green" comments. (sigh of relief)

 

In the Bottle: The prior description of rotting lettuce is pretty close to what I experienced. Extremely grassy and astringent. I didn't open the bottle again for a few days.

 

Wet: Same grassy ickiness. My untrained nose could pick up nothing else.

 

Dry: Now here's where it turned floral and soft. Not terribly sweet- it did evaporate fairly quickly and I was left with nothing at all... but that's the point of privilege, isn't it?

 

I don't see this as an everyday or signature fregrance, but I do like it.

 

(this is my first review- I hope to pick up more descriptive language AND the nose to know what I'm talking about soon)

 

EDIT: 2 years later, the perfume has lost its offensive edge. It is a beautiful floral that stayed on my wrist all night long. My cat Leo liked it well enough. He usually demands a pet when I settle down for sleep. He got a whiff of the Privilege and latched onto my arm. Go figure.

Edited September 27, 2009 by voodoocatwoman

[500ml]

This is definitely a mix of all the expensive perfume samples you can get in fashion magazines, it's very perfumey and a bit generic, but I'd have to say that the green and watery note really makes this blend stand out. At first it was very musky and ozony, slightly masculine which then changed into this incredibly feminine scent. Most definitely growing on me, but an imp is all that I need I think!

[QueenFae]

In the bottle, this smells very much like a fancy, white women's perfume you would buy in a fine boutique. Perfect! Once I put it on, it was a very bright, heady white floral that reeks of slutty party girl. Almost a generic type floral, this perectly embodies the emptiness of Ms. Hilton's head! Pleasing yet empty, Beth's got it right here!

 

Yes, this is very fleeting on my skin as well. After a minute or two I can barely smell it. I'm keeping this bottle for the hilarious aspect of this scent alone!

[abejita]

I didn't think I'd like this one much, but apparently I underestimated the sheer ick factor. In the vial, it's bitter, white-green smelling. On my skin, it's still bitter, almost hairspray-ish. I can get a little of the floral, but there is this horrible, blaring high note I can't get past. I am going to scrub this off.

[PurringPulsar]

Privilege

 

In the bottle: green? This smells like a 'vegetable-y' green stem scent. In fact, it reminds me strongly of my galbanum essential oil. There's also a hint of cologne, citrus and sparkly flowers.

Wet on skin: a floral cologne. Very perfumey, and still a bit green.

Dry on skin: pretty floral cologne. Very fresh, bright, sparkling and tangy. I think it's the lemon blossom I smell, it is very much like orange blossom but a lot more lemony, that's definitely also because of the citrus notes. I also get the armoise, which I recognise from Agony of Loss. In fact, this reminds me strongly of one of those cologne like scents I used to wear when I was young. It could even be that this smells like my childhood scent, Tartine et Chocolat (which didn't smell of chocolate at all). I don't smell the heady exotic blooms yet, just the glitzy citrus notes and the greenish artemisia.

After a while: this is like a feminine version of Spider at times, it has that same citrus perfume scent to it, only this one has flowers instead of spices. Now I can make out some flowery notes blooming underneath the cologne, either the tuberose or linden. Maybe even the tiare. I can't really smell the rose or vanilla yet.

After an hour or so, I see where the 'empty' part of the description comes from…the citrus notes have vanished to leave a light tangy green-floral scent, which has a strangely hollow feel to it. It's not vacuous or substance-less, it feels airy and open. It's like flower petals floating in a perfumed void, it shimmers, but is a ghost of it's former self. It is actually very pretty though, but it has the same feel as the Agony of Loss, that sense of emptiness. This greenish floral cologne is what remains until drydown-it reminds me of the drydown of conventional perfumes, but without that 'tinny' feel.

Verdict: this is probably the closest Beth will get to making a celebrity scent, and indeed, this does have that glamorous, sparkling and fizzy scent to it, like cologne and champagne, and it smells incredibly perfumey, like something I'd find on the high street. That's a compliment though because that's what it's supposed to smell like! It does reek of glitz and glamour and bling and fame, in a good way. I even get that feel of emptiness, but that doesn't detract from how pretty this smells. As 'celebrity perfume' goes, this is superior to most. I don't like the way that those perfumes are so flat, banal and one-dimensional. This one has interesting facets and morphs nicely, doesn't have that sharp alcohol that commercial scents have, and the notes stand out more. The first stage, where lemon blossom and citrus really shine, reminds me of one of my first perfumes that I ever wore, but that fades into a greenish, airy floral scent. I like this a great deal, but I was hoping for less cologne and more fullness from the flowers, and my beloved tiare was barely there. It does fit the concept very well though, but not too much to be offputting. Because of it's mainstream vibe, this is a great perfume to enable people with.

Emoticon rating:

Is it a keeper? one bottle, for sure!

If you like this, try: Agony of Loss, New Year's Eve in Dogville, Lorelei, Spider, the Unicorn

[slave1]

PRIVILEGE

 

In Bottle: Dry and mossy

 

On Skin: This scent has a very dry powdery feel that makes my nose tickle. Kind of a stone/dirt note… ahhh… it’s the oakmoss. The florals come out next, quite stark and sharp. It is pretty and feminine, but very empty. Like a bouquet of flowers but the flowers have no color, they’re just a black and white photo. Very snooty, very expensive smelling but very lacking in substance. Very Paris Hilton. As the scent develops, I sense a rotting note coming forth. Like flowers that haven’t had their water changed in a few days. It’s light and in the background, but it taints the beauty the scent has overall. The florals and oakmoss are strongest and the vanilla sweetens them only slightly. Overall it is a very white empty scent that is nice enough, but nothing exciting or overwhelmingly memorable. Strong throw and average wearlength.

[DifferentDances]

Bottle: Oh dear, I'm not going to like this at all, am I?

Wet: Nope. I feel like I soaked for three days in a vat of oldschool department store perfume most commonly worn by old ladies with garish makeup, cut with a big bucket of ozone/aquatic men's cologne.

Dry: Less overkill of florals, more cologne. I don't get anything green from this scent, and I LOVE green scents.

 

Bleah. My rating 1/5.

[Eemia]

I haven't worn this until today because I wanted to wait until I was in a completely frivolous and over-the-top girly mood. This seems to suit my current attitude perfectly. And it goes with my new big sunglasses.

 

Strong green and slightly bitter at the beginning. Smells very expensive too. The florals are second string to the green notes. I can smell something rosey but it isn't the lush, sweet, moist smell of rose that I am used to. It's really perfumey and unnatural. This smells very hard and glittering, which makes it feel even more like an expensive perfume to me. Superficially it reminds me of the splashy Stardust 06, which I love.

 

It dries down pretty much the same, only the greens lose some of their sharp edge. This only lasted a couple of hours before I had to reapply. In spite of myself, I really feel fantastic in this. This does have a glamorous and feminine vibe. I can see myself wearing this alot. In fact, I want another bottle so badly!

[taramarie]

I don't think there's much I can say about Privilege that hasn't already been said. In the bottle and wet on my skin, it does smell like a debutante rubbed all of the fashion magazine perfume samples she could find all over her vast amount of exposed skin. Then, she kept doing it every five minutes. Dry on my skin, it does smell like she decided to add the samples of men's cologne.

 

In short, Privilege is heady and over-the-top florals, citrus, and aquatics. It's definitely not me, but I'll keep it and wear it when the occasion arises.

[Jilara]

I missed getting my order in, because I naively had faith in the justice system keeping Paris under wraps just a little longer. However, ebay has obliged me with a bottle. And I'm glad.

 

I must have weird skin chemistry and weirder associations. I don't get commercial perfume except sniffing it in the bottle, when the rose and tuberose put in their appearance. You think of a paradise of rich flowers. I put it on, and it's still quite floral when wet, then goes straight to summer wildflower meadow as it dries down. It doesn't smell like a party girl. It smells like Faerie, something wistful and fleeting, promises not kept. There's something herbal (armoise? I checked, and it's mugwort, "felon's herb" -appropriate, a faerie plant), with a bit of oakmoss. Something sweet, dry grassy, fleeting scents with little substance. I think of summer high meadows in the mountains that look flowery, but when you go to run through them, you find they are stony with a misting of wildflowers scattered over them. It's full of pretty, wild, waste places.

 

Dry, it's even more interesting. No substance. It's all linden flowers and and a little lemon blossom, a strange emptiness, like eating a feast with little taste, that does not satisfy. I keep sniffing, wanting something...well, MORE. It's a fleeting fall scent on the wind, promising Indian Summer, but not quite delivering. But wow, on me, that last stage lasts and lasts...

 

All that said, I really like this scent! It's light and summery. To me, it evokes those dying summer days, when you're back in school, and already nostalgic for those great summer days that are now just a memory.

[fountaingrl]

Once again I am blown away by Beth's artistry. Not because I love this scent -- I don't -- but because she has produced a smell so dead on to the description and goal that it is like a portrait or personality profile in a bottle. Beth, this is uncanny.

 

The scent in the bottle is very floral. Almost sharp, almost over-sweet white floral.

 

Wet on skin is OMGFLOWERS. But it dries down very quickly, mellows out some, softens. And it is lovely. Maybe even beautiful.

 

But there is something about it that is a ringing "so what?" This does NOT have the soul note that most of Beth's blends do. I know that sounds all hippy-dippy, but I am sorry, something about most bpal blends have a vibe to them whether or not you like them. They feel real, they feel full and round even if the round is a big round "yuck" on some people. This blend is not round. It is pretty in a thin, generic, two-dimensional all-surface "yah it's pretty but that's all it is" scent.

 

It's Paris Hilton's portrait, perfectly rendered in perfume form. Playful and beautiful, but disconcertingly hollow, and no depth to challenge the intellect or spirit. All quick pretty flash that at the end of the day is nothing terribly special. I am not wearing it again, and I won't be keeping my bottle, but I am amazed at how well this captures the essence of spoiled shallow debutante.

[harmonyfb]

In the bottle: There's that same bitter, horrible note that made me hate Y.uki-Onna with a blinding passion.

 

Wet: Still smells like rancid orange peel.

 

Dry: Some sort of sweet blossom covered with rancid orange peel. Ugh.

 

And....big headache.

 

Conclusion: Anybody want this?

 

ETA: Dry, some minutes later, I smell sweet linden blossoms and perhaps the faintest rose. This stage is absolutely beautiful, but it's so faint I have to press my nose to my wrist to smell it. Certainly not enough to put up with the rotting orange peel to get to it.

Edited July 20, 2007 by harmonyfb

[hackess]

Imp: Floral girly perfume; a little sophisticated, but like Greed, it really gives a sense of false status or power.

 

Wet: This is a totally vapid scent. This is the most "perfumey" BPAL I've tested. I'm pretty sure I remember at least one of the "popular" girls from high school wearing something much like this. And yet it reminds me of something about to go sour...

 

Dry: ...And then I realized it smells like our current bathroom deodorizer. Appropriate.

 

This is incredibly well designed. It is exactly what I'd expect a selfish, vapid debutante to wear.

[visualworlds]

This smells exactly like my grandmother's old Avon brand perfumes! The ones that would come in the weird-shaped glass bottles... I still go up in the attic sometimes and smell the empties after all these years. In any case, I really dislike this scent. It isn't something I would be remotely attracted to or want on my body.

[ariosa]

I never, in a million years, expected to like this blend -- but because it was Beth's creation, I purchased a decant of this, and one of Pruno to try, thinking I'd like Pruno the most. Boy, was I wrong!

 

I LOVE IT. This is the second time I'm saying I love a floral tonight, and I think I might be coming down with something! It's very green and light, and in the end the vanilla amps just enough to temper the flowers, just giving me a green and sweet feeling. It's tuberose and vanilla and oakmoss and I freaking love it. Man, why do I have to be broke? I want to track down a bottle of this, too!

[Severuslovesme]

Privilege smelled harsh and bright in the bottle but on my skin the citrus and vanilla combined to form a surprisingly charming scent. I really wish Paris was still in jail, because Privilege is my new favorite scent!

[Em-]

Like a lot of other reviewers, it seems, I get primarily fresh, floral *perfume* from this. There is a hint of citrus that almost makes it me, but not quite. It is very pretty, and if you like serious florals, then this might be you. Alas, me, it's not.

[grrrlennyl]

at first: a very woody floral blend.

on: some light citrus and floral notes.

1 hour later: a warm, citrussy floral.

5 hours later: the citrus notes are gone. this is a slightly powdery floral with a bit of wood to it.

overall: not for me, but nice.

[greymatter]

I have an imp because I despise Paris Hilton and everything she represents. I am happy to take part in anything that mocks her existence.

 

That said, Privilege is not for me. Too floral, too overdone and vapid - in short, it's exactly what it's meant to be and I love that fact. So I'll be keeping my imp (along with my imps of Pruno and my imp of Delousing Powder - the Paris Hilton trio).

 

Beth is a genius, though. When I sniff this, I get a distinct impression of a big-eyed, glammed up human void.