Yvaine

[ItaliNicki]

The high, crystalline scent of a star-filled night with blue lavender and lush magnolia.

Ohh, what a beautiful, BEAUTIFUL scent. I atually order Yemaya and received Yvaine on accident (hehe) and so glad I did!

This scent is a beautiful lavendar. And not *just* plain lavendar, it's like a sweet lavendar, maybe it's the blue in it. After a while, the magnolia comes out, but ever so lightly. I keep sniffing my wrists!! So glad this accident happened

[Caerphilly]

In the bottle: Lavender. The lavender in Ode on Melancholy. Lighter than typical lavender.

 

Wet: Still lavender. Waiting for the magnolia...

 

Dry: Finally, the magnolia comes out. Lush and crisp, with the relaxing scent of lavender.

 

Overall: Pretty much what I expected. Magnolia and lavender. I love both, so this works for me!! And, it's Neil Gaiman, and it's Yvaine. Can't be better!

[raisin]

I don't get so much of "crystalline" scent, but I do get plenty of lavender, which I love, and after a little bit the magnolia comes out, which is a floral I actually enjoy.

It's less fresh or sharp smelling than I would have imagined, but it's very pleasant and doesn't go very perfume-y at all. It's a wonderfully feminine lavender blend, and something I can see myself wearing a lot.

[milo]

First of, a beautiful lavender with a touch of floral. The lavender is very much like the one in Pontias, but the floral makes it much more softer. Liking it so far! Soon, it's just a sharp lavender soap, and then goes to perfumey floral lavender, kind generic femal axe. Thankfully it's a quick fader. Very glad to have tried this though!

[countessmouse]

Lovely, lovely lavender with just a hint of magnolia. I'm not getting the crystalline note because this scent is so lush. Another favorite!

[Xanon]

Pleasantly surprised by this one, as I am not a huge lavender OR magnolia fan.

I swapped for this out of complete curiosity, as Yvaine is my favorite character in Stardust, and it actually paid off.

 

In the bottle all I get is sharp lavender, but with something else. Perhaps that is the crystalline note.

Freshly applied I get the lushness of the magnolia mixing with the lavender. Gee that's pretty.

Dry gets a little powdery but it is still beautiful.

 

Not sure how frequently I am going to reach for this, but considering I thought that this was going to be total fail, I am VERY happy with it.

Edited April 29, 2010 by Xanon

[Dharklady]

In bottle: Sharp lavender with the hint of a sweet floral underneath.

Wet: The description fits this perfectly.

Dry: Eventually the lavender steps back to let the magnolia shine a bit. It seems to be a quick fader unless slathered.

Notes: While I’m not a fan of floral scents, this one is really pretty. The magnolia is a pretty floral without being TOO floral and I love lavender so no complaints there. Overall a win!

 

[laslibres]

I'm amazed by how these Stardust scents really capture the _feel_ of the book, like if you were a character in the book, the world would probably smell like this. It has a night air smell, and a lot of lavender, and the lavender has a grassy smell to it, which I find real lavender does too. I don't get any magnolia out of this until later in the drying phase, but when it appears it's also very soft and lovely.

 

It really does smell like you're in an English lavender field, at night, and it has pretty good staying power on me, for a lavender blend. I really like this...a very pretty and cool scent.

[Amaranthus]

I love love love Yvaine!

 

Yvaine is a shimmering lavender musk with a creamy undercurrent of magnolia blossoms.

 

It smells like everything perfect and wonderful about a starry midsummer night. The scent makes my brain glittery with joy.

[Aldercy]

Yvaine is such a sorrowful, rich floral blend. But in addition to the magnolia and creamy lavender, I'm also getting a lot of understated musk off this one. I can't exactly say what kind or "color"-- it almost has a grainy, gray, misty quality to it that makes me think of "smoky" eye makeup. It mixes with the floral notes to create something really otherworldly and sophisticated and feminine. I think I might need a bottle of this one.

[tailoredshirt]

I tried this a long time ago, but didn't have much of an impression of it beyond "pretty floral." But I was frimped an aged decant of it and decided to try it again. I think the aging made a huge difference, because while I still think it is a pretty floral, I definitely have a different impression of it this time around. For one, I definitely get ozone! It's a sharp, cold scent. I honestly can't distinguish between the florals, except that I do smell lavender and it feels blue overall.

 

Also, something I didn't notice the first time around was the whiff of vanilla cookies. It's there right at the beginning and lasts the whole time I have it on. It's very strange, and I don't know what would make it smell that way!

 

This is a pretty scent. Not sure if it's bottle worthy, but it's definitely wearable.

[DraloreShimare]

In the vial – Very much lavender!

On the skin – Soft sweet magnolia, with a hint of lavender.

Dry – This scent sticks to me really well, it stays at a nice light floral for hours and hours.

[Gold Dust Kitten]

Lavender and white floral. Light musk. For some reason I hoped it would be more sweet, but I think Beth captured what a fallen star would have smelled like.

[angelamaria]

In decant: crystalline and crisp, somewhat cold, almost haughty. The lavender is the most distinctive note, and this lavender is a very herbal lavender, although not exactly sharp. This does sound spot-on.

 

Wet on skin: oh!! So pretty! On my skin, it loses some of the sharpness, goes a little creamy, but still cool, and faintly crystalline. A bit more approachable; this is Yvaine on earth, for sure, becoming warmer. The herbal-ness of the lavender also smoothes out somewhat, and allows the magnolia to peek out. Very pretty, evocative, ethereal, and feminine. Oh maaaaaan...

 

Dry: dry, this is a perfect clean, almost-crisp, soft scent. The lavender is herbal, but soft and inviting and soothing, and the magnolia sweetens it up and makes it more floral and feminine. The journey of this perfume oil is much like Yvaine's journey throughout Stardust, which is amazing, to have captured that here! Much later, it's a soft, comforting scent, cool and ethereal.

 

Verdict: awww man. Why must this also be discontinued? And I'm sad that I never bid on the bottles I've seen of this recently, as I haven't been able to test this yet. This is perfect, beautiful, ethereal, soft. An absolute love. I have to find some of this...somehow.

[KittyHawk]

Yvaine is heartbreaking for me. It's so damned beautiful, yet so terribly hard to find.

 

This is the lavender that dreams are made of. It's cool, soft, and not the least bit medicinal. I thought TKO was the best lavender scent in the BPAL catalog but oh was I WRONG! THIS is the stuff. And the magnolia is heady, but not soapy; creamy, but not brash. It's a work of art and so worthy of its many admirers.

 

If this were ever to be made available again, I would HOARD (and I rarely buy backups). Of all the super rares I've had the great fortune to try, Yvaine is easily the best. And it's so simple - just two little notes. Amazing. Lightning in a jar, this one. Gorgeous, gorgeous, gorgeous.

[reconditarmonia]

Can't believe I never reviewed this - it's one of my favorites. I too am crushed that I'll never be able to get more of it. It's one of the few scents where I can actually smell the lavender (a favorite note) on my skin, the magnolia adds a creamy depth to it, and there's a cold feeling to the scent.

[Alethia]

Thoughts before testing: I love magnolia and any blend with it listed as a note is an instant try for me. I've been searching for Yvaine since I joined the forum and I'm so glad to be able to test it today!

 

Wet: Slightly sharp floral lavender that's just slightly herbal.

 

Dry down: The lavender is turning more herbal than I would like, and the magnolia is staying well in the background.

 

Dry: The lavender is decidedly herbal and I can only get a hint of the magnolia.

 

Final thoughts: I'm disappointed I was hoping for a magnolia-heavy blend with a hint of floral lavender. It's very pretty, but not what I was hoping for. Although really, it's probably a good thing since this is one BPALicorn I don't have to chase after

 

Verdict: Not for me!

[Magycmyste]

Well, I finally get to test this. I've only bee n able to watch Stardust recently, and I loved it. I need to read the book soon. I only discovered BPAL this year, and besides the Last Unicorn Scents, this was one of the ones that really caught my attention, and I was a little disappointed when I found out it had been discontinued. I snagged a partial bottle on eBay though, so we'll see...

 

In the bottle:Sharp, astringent floral and ozone. I'm not really getting lavender or magnolia at all....

 

Wet on skin: I can't seem to get much on my skin without upending the bottle, which I don't want to do. I am getting a bit of lavender out of this now, but it's a very dry lavender, in line with that ozone scent I'd gotten before.

 

Dried down: Pretty floral - the sharpness has died down a little bit, though it still borders on ozone a bit. I am getting a little bit of sweetness that seems more akin to sugar cookies than magnolia. It floats around my head very subtly.

 

Throw: Sugar cookie, very faint.

 

Verdict: *** 1/* It's pretty, but didn't impress me as much as I'd hoped. I'll hang on to the bottle for a bit, maybe give it another try, but I think this one may need to find a more loving home. At least I won't feel too bad about missing out on it.

 

ETA: **** Ok, so it took a bit longer for the magnolia to come out than I expected. I'm enjoying this a lot more now, so I'll bump it to a 4. I think I'll definitely have to try it again before thinking of giving it up.

Edited October 10, 2013 by Magycmyste

[LizziesLuck]

Pretty much what is says on the tin - lavender (love) and magnolia (not doing it for me in this). The magnolia is somehow smelling rather a lot like jasmine? I don't think I have had that happen before. Either way, it's ruining it for me. To be honest, I am ok with that, I have other intentions for this decant anyway.

[alyelle]

First purchased in 2009, worn many times since then! Somehow I've neglected my reviewing duties - though I'm not sure how as this very quickly became a favourite of mine (impulse purchasing done right).

 

In the bottle: a strong lavender, with faint soapy overtones in my initial early notes; these died down after a few years, as the magnolia softened out.

 

Wet: early on it was magnolia and musk, with a trace of airy aquatics. It's become more magnolia-dominant during the aging process, though always with a solid helping of lavender and blue musk. There's less vanilla than TKO but the overall effect is quite similar and when I ran out of my sleep helper one time, this proved a very useful substitute. (Let it be known I do not sub in discontinued LE's except in extreme cases; at that time, I had been about three weeks without decent sleep and was at my wit's end.)

 

Dry: this one has definitely benefited from aging - my early notes read "soft floral blend, nothing exciting". Yvaine really was a slow grower and surprise for me; I didn't love it nearly as much as I do now, as it didn't really do anything special til about 2012. Very careful storage has resulted in an utterly delightful scent now - the blueness of the musk fades off as the day progresses into a lovely mauve, leaving a mellow and stable blend of vanilla-tinged lavender and magnolia. Very long lived, and perfect for sultry summer days and balmy autumn nights. Absolute fave, will be keeping for as long as I'm able.

 

Stars: ★★★★★

[doomsday_disco]

Yvaine is a beauty.

I get a stunning lavender note (not a medicinal variety here!) backed by a light musk throughout the first few hours of wear, but then the magnolia emerges ends up gaining enough strength to overtake the lavender on me. By that point, it is like a nice summertime floral scent. But I vastly preferred the phase when the lavender was queen.

I'll definitely be keeping the decant, but I am glad I don't love it so much that I need to find more. (Fairy Market, on the other hand... 😭)

[Betula]

This scent has been at the heart of a long search. In 2010, flush with my first official paycheck in college, I bought a bunch of BPAL. At the time, there was a tiki collection out, and I was torn between buying Tiki Princess and Yvaine. I bought Tiki Princess, thinking to myself, "Well, Yvaine's general catalogue, right? I can always buy it later!" 

 

Talk about bad timing. I managed to get a tiny dribble of a sample from a generous forumite, and after that, I spent ten. years. hunting this scent down, finally managing to procure a bottle. Today, I slathered it on. 

 

Yvaine goes on very sharp. The lavender, an aquatic, and a lot of musk clash together, clawing for your attention. Then, the harshest of the lavender burns off, and the skies clear, and Yvaine enters its dreamy stage. It smells like velvet, and cool air, and how violin music sounds. It smells like the way a pillow feels. It smells like something your crush would wear, a delicious skin scent that you only really notice when you hug them close. It honestly sparkles. The scent is gray, and silver, and purple, with a hint of blue. The lavender keeps it from being too sweet. The magnolia keeps it from being too harsh. The musk is a soft blanket lying underneath it all. It feels like looking up at the stars. 

 

Yvaine doesn't have a lot of throw, and its main 'oomph' stage doesn't last very long, but it lingers. The skin scent phase is reluctant to leave. 

 

If you can get your hands on this, do it. It's so beautiful. I think it's the prettiest scent BPAL has released, and its attitude is just like the character it's named after. 

 

Thank you so much, to the generous forumite who gifted me a sample all those years ago, and the one who gifted me an empty bottle. Thanks, most of all, to the forumites who let me buy a bottle and a partial of this. You guys have let me rest easy, knowing my perfume search is finished.