Ile de la Tortue

[AEris]

Home to the Brethren of the Coast and a notorious safe-haven for pirates, this island was once described as the common place of refuge for all sorts of wickedness, the seminary of pirates and thieves.

Damp air trapped in limestone caverns, heady greenery, hothouse orchids, nicotiana blossoms, bois de chandel, elemi, palm wine, garambullo, pega-pega, flame of the forest, and a swirl of Haitian vetiver.

My oh my! The pressure of the first review!

I'm having trouble putting my finger on any individual notes...this is a fresh, tropical floral, and I am assuming that the orchid is dominating. This is very young and bright, and awfully pretty. I feel like I'm sitting near a freshly arranged bouquet of dewy blossoms. (adjective overload.....)

Something about Ile de la Tortue is reminding me of childhood. I feel like I've smelled this kind of scent before, and it's making me smile.

It reminds me of gardenia, although I don't think there's any in here. (I guess my nose isn't very sophisticated....)

Very nice. I don't know if it's something I would wear regularly, but I wouldn't be surprised to see some all-out raves about this one

[forspecial_plate]

I wanted to try this because it seems that Beth has been exploring the 'damp stone' note a lot lately, and I wanted to experience that. What I get here is a lot of sharp floral. Very potent. I couldn't tell you which floral I'm actually picking up, or if it's a blend of the flowers in this scent. Actually, I don't know what a few of those things are in the description.

 

After a while, the scent doesn't change a lot, but the sense of 'floral' transforms into something else. Some people are going to think this has a masculine edge to it. Maybe it's the underlying vetiver giving me that impression, who knows. I honestly wouldn't have known there was vetiver here without reading the description. The scent stays rather sharp, and once I was reminded of the Unheavenly City. This doesn't exactly smell like jasmine, but maybe what I'm smelling is 'hothouse orchids'. That seems likely. I will wear this again once or twice before deciding for sure how I feel about it. I've been craving a good floral scent lately, so this did come at the right time.

[sookster]

straight sniff from bottle is most definitely damp and green; a touch

fruit...

 

once applied this amps up hayoogely floral...white floral...gardenia was mentioned

and i, too, smell that...i love the dampness that i sense as well in this...the vetiver

adds a little something extra to make this blend a true beauty that works well

with my chemistry

[Alchemy21599]

In the vial: aquatic floral

 

Wet on skin: orchids!

 

Dry on skin: orchids with a bit of damp greenery. Gorgeous!

[Little Bird]

In the vial this smells like ultra perfumey, bold florals with a hint of greenery and a good dose of soapy aquatic backing it up.

 

On my skin this is sharp, perfumey white florals and a sweet, soapy smell. This reminds me a bit of Dirty, if Dirty were attacked by white floral notes. In the drydown on me, this is even soapier than Dirty. I wanted this to be a green, damp sort of scent but what I get is like a sweet, floral laundry soap. The sharpness fades in the drydown, but this just keeps getting soapier.

 

Ile de la Tortue is intensely soapy on my skin, so much so that I feel like I can taste soap in the back of my throat when I sniff this. I have a hard time pulling off clean type blends, and I don't think I could slather this on without getting a migraine.

[Heavenlyrabbit]

Beautiful floral with a touch of earth.

 

Perhaps Santo Domingo crossed with Midnight?

[euterpe414]

This is beautiful, although nothing like I expected it to be It's a very clean, fresh tropical floral on my skin with a hint of aquatic. It's very light breezy, and very much for spring and summer (in my opinion, anyway). It reminds me a lot of Hi'iaka, but less sweet and with a little bit more greenery. This one has a lot of throw on me and lasts a fairly long amount of time- unusual for a floral on my skin, but I'm not complaining! I do like this one very much, and may buy a bottle in the spring, but for now I have Hi'iaka and a few other tropical florals, so I will just hold on to the imp.

[slave1]

ILE DE LA TORTUE

 

In Bottle: Stone and flowers

 

On Skin: Wow! This is an original scent. So many levels! I smell the orchids right away, one of the only florals that love my skin… followed by the air and limestone. I get an ozone feel from those notes. As the scent develops I smell fruit and a tropical edge. It starts sweet, but the ozone notes and green notes freshen it and keep it grounded. Quite pretty and exotic. It takes me away to the tropics and the heat… the high I get just from being somewhere so beautiful and lush. This is a vaction scent. Not one I’d wear every day, but when I want a quick escape to the tropics, this is a great scent to have nearby. Light to medium throw and average wearlength.

[PurringPulsar]

Ile de la Tortue

 

In the imp: rich sweet black orchids blooming in a rainforest.

Wet on skin: sweet orchids and thick green foliage.

Dry on skin: oh, I think I like this one, it smells promising. It smells of black orchid, my favourite orchid note, sweet and rich, in a thick mass of tropical plants. I can't tell what most of the plants in here smell like but I definitely smell the orchid, greenery, maybe the palm wine too (something in here reminds me of Caliban) but for now I don't smell vetiver. I also smell a feel of dampness here-it's a very humid scent, like the sticky heat of a rainforest.

After a while: the initial heady green scent tones down, and now the orchids (and possibly the other flowers) really show off. The black orchid now smells like a sweet nocturnal flower, with a touch of nectar. I don't smell as much greenery but it is still there, in the background, and I also smell a hint of limestone too. It still smells hot and damp, and it vividly brings to mind a tropical night, with the cries of nocturnal creatures and insects breaking the starry silence, and the humid heat filled with the aroma of exotic blooms. Still no obvious vetiver.

After a few hours-still none of the vetiver but the orchid has now muted to a soft white floral, it's not as sweet and heady but it still smells lovely. I also smell hints of damp stone, palm fronds and maybe a bit of the greenery that came before. The scent is a lot cleaner and crisper now.

Verdict: this is beautiful! It's so hard to find a scent of tropical flowers and jungle greenery that doesn't turn to soap or sharp florals, but this one is perfect and what I wanted the likes of Pele etc to smell like. gorgeous rich orchid notes and a mass of humid greenery, and no off notes at all. even the vetiver doesn't overpower as it usually does-I think it binds all the other notes together. This smells like fabulous lush island vegetation and heady blooms, and it reminds me of Reunion (which, funnily enough, is sometimes nicknamed 'la tortue' because of the island's shape resembling a turtle's shell) and of my uncle's collection of orchids. Definitely one to get a bottle of!

Emoticon rating:

Is it a keeper? yes!

If you like this, try: Hi'iaka, Pele, Shadow Witch Orchid, Caliban, Phantom Queen

[tinyvulture]

a breezy, tropical scent. i love a good orchid scent and this one is happy and summery. i thought it would be a bit more earthy from the nicotiana and vetiver, as well as the mysterious “damp stone,” but i’m not picking up those notes at all. it’s a whirl of various tropical flowers and woods, with a slight sourness from the palm wine that makes it more intriguing.

[edenssixthday]

Ile de la Tortue – I love this! It’s incredibly tropical and damp, with the orchid being the strongest note in this blend. I wish I could describe this better, but the closest I can come to describing it is to say that it’s a sweet, floral, warm, tropical aquatic. I’ve been looking for a couple of blends to wear to an upcoming trip to Hawaii, and this is definitely being included with those that I’m taking with me. Just stunning.

[cranberry]

wet: Damn this is sweet! Orchids? Yes that’s orchid all right. Also something cool, like menthol or eucalyptus.

 

dry: the orchids are still there dominating the scent. It’s the same orchid from Dark Delicacies that I loved, but this is a much different take. For some reason this scent is evoking a visceral reaction from me. It is just so strong.

 

As it wears, I can smell the stone now. This is a very evocative scent and I can just imagine thick jungles, high humidity, lush flowers and dripping caves. This is just beautiful.

[VioletChaos]

in the imp: citrus, and something that smells like voodoo. whatever that might mean to you.

 

wet on skin: sweet fruit and heady perfume. interesting.

 

dry down: it's very well blended. i can't pick out any notes in particular. it's sweet and perfumey, but more than that i'm actually having a really hard time defining this!

 

in all: a sexy perfume. i imagine high-class call girls putting this on before seducing their john for the night. and if that's what you're going for, get a 10 ml of this for sure.

[galleywest]

I really like this one. Florals don't often work for me, but Pele and Ile de la Tortue are two that do.

 

In the imp: flowers. Flowers, flowers, flowers. But they're beautiful, big, round, blooms on a tropical island.

 

Wet, on me: Still the very full smell of flowers. Something lends just a little bit of sweetness behind the flowers, which might be the palm wine.

 

Dry, on me: Ahhh, nice! Still very floral, but very true to the scent in the imp and wet on my skin. The orchids and other blossoms waft gently from me, but are not overpowering. It's tropical and exotic and just right. It lasts quite a while on me and has decent throw. After Niflheim and New Orleans disappointed me, this was a nice surprise.

[alicia_stardust]

Oh, wow. I did not expect this because the vetiver is usually a deal breaker. However, this is so incredibly exotic and evocative. I am not familiar with most of these notes, but I know that I detect the orchids. They're sultry and dusky. I get a sense of tropical moisture and damp air, and layered, lush greenery. Beyond that, the other notes just seem to meld into a highly visually evocative blend. I simply MUST keep this. It's so hard to even classify this into a scent category. I think everyone should give this a try because it is simply a work of art.

[theseagrows]

i definitely smell the orchid here, as the most prominent note. good thing, as orchid is a floral that i enjoy. in the imp it smells like orchids with a grassy herbal. on my skin it's almost like pure sweet orchid, and strongly reminds me of another bpal i've tried before, but can't place. it's sweet, tropical and pretty. i will probably keep my imp but not get a bottle since this reminds me of a few other bpal scents i have.

[zankoku_zen]

I smell orchid and jungle flowers, very hot, very sultry. It's also slightly sweet.

 

Pretty, but I'm beginning to think I'm a more 'civilized' sort of gal, since most of the 'jungle' themed florals have not worked out for me.

[savage_rose]

A sweet, intense yet light floral. Gorgeous, layered florals, like a dense flower jungle. It fades far too quickly, but while it's there, it's nice.

[scotchgrrl]

Woof! This is soooo pretty.

 

In the bottle I can pick up the bois de chandel, being somewhat like jasmine, and the palm wine, the sweetness comes through.

 

Wet, I get all of the other floras one by one, including the greenery. It's like standing in the Ewe Gardens in Florida. Beautiful smell!

 

Dry is when I start picking up the wet limestone along with the floras. It's not strong, just a hint in the background of damp lime and dust.

 

Overall, this reminds me of trips we took when I was a kid to a couple places. The floras come from all the vacations visiting my grandparents in Florida and the other notes, the greenery and limestone, from camping trips rock mining in Montana, Idaho and Arkansas.

 

This is just, again, soooo pretty. *runs to add this to the wishlist*

[juntarou]

Ile de la Tortue

 

Not even one page of reviews on it? What a shame!

 

In the Imp: Mmm, fresh green and humid. Like that time I steped from the dry hot summer day into a cool humid greenhouse. I like it! The descriptive blurb makes you think it should be a pirate smell, but it's more of a tropical unexplored jungle in the rain smell.

 

Wet: The flowers come out more a minute or two after I slather it on. (Yes, I slathered for a trial. I live dangerously!). I stumbled upon a cavern next to a waterfall, wet flowers glittering around the cave mouth.

 

Drying: Exploring the damp cave. It's a bit more earthy, I guess the vetiver is coming out to play (interestingly, vetiver seems to like me, while vetivert made me gag. o.o). My left inner elbow is liking the flowers very much.

 

Dry: I have my nose in the crook of my elbow sniffing the orchids. Wet earth on the back of my hands.

 

I usually don't like florals much, they sort of leave me indifferent. Floral notes mixed with other types though, that's more interesting! I'm on my moon right now, so the smell might change on me next week, but it would be worth getting a bottle just for that one week out of 4. Hey, it's 25% of the time! This is just what I want to smell right now, after the shower, to prolong the clean fresh feeling.

 

Happy, dreamy, wet and green to me.

 

My bottle wishlist is just getting longer. Argh!

Thank you, PhantasmMysteria, for frimping this to me! I would have never gotten to smell this lovely otherwise!

[SarahScent44]

In the imp - heady is right! It's completely floral, hot, damp.

 

It becomes a little clearer and cooler on my skin - still primarily floral.

 

When it dries, it's lush yet light - totally floral - really nice.

[Suu4LC]

Hot, heavy, humid floral in the imp. These kind of scents never tend to do well on me, and vetiver tends to be one of my enemies, but this perfume could prove to be an interesting experience.

 

Oooof, this is VERY strong floral, very thick and overpowering when it hits my skin. It's a combination of very heavy florals and a note of humidity this is quite reminiscent of a jungle atmosphere. As it dries, a more earthy/dirt kind of note comes out beneath the floral perfumey smell, and there's something that's kind of...mildew-y. Blech. Guh, time to wash this one off-not for me at all. Kinda smells like someone spilled flowery perfume on old chlorine-y damp dirty towels...

Edited May 27, 2008 by Suu4LC

[goblinshark]

This smells very "classic perfume" to me. It's a beautiful, fancy sort of smell, but I think it's a little too um...hm. Grownup, maybe? for my taste. If I ever wanted to wear something really sophisticated, I'd reach for this.

[filigree_shadow]

When I first put this on, it was a soft, tropical floral. Mostly orchid -- a velvety petaly orchid. It doesn't stay that way, though. The "limestone caverns" part becomes noticeable, the scent becomes more humid, and it turns more perfumey. It gets deeper and a little bit darker.

 

To be honest, I'm not all that sure what many of those notes smell like, so I can't tell what I'm smelling. I do know that I can't pick out a vetiver note, but I can pick out the nicotiana (that seems to always be a highly "perfumey" smelling floral on me and not like tobacco at all).

 

It's a pretty, fairly traditional-smelling humid (but not heady hothouse) floral. Deep, a little bit stinging, but with a nice foundation that seems to be from the wet stone note. This is the kind of floral that I like.

[JunkieCosmonaut]

Ok ok ok this is going to be a weird description but I put this on and WOW. OMG. O. M. G!! @_@

 

I felt so sexy wearing this.. like I should by lying down on a slab of limestone on a small deserted lushy green island, lazily running my hands in a pool of cool water. It smells beautiful yet feral, feminine but barbaric at the same time.

 

I'm so in love <3

Edited July 4, 2008 by JunkieCosmonaut