Bon Vivant

[Witch's Dagger]

Bon Vivant

An effervescent blend of crystalline champagne notes and sweet strawberry.

 

I got this as a gift from renaissancerouge - Thank you so much!

 

Before I begin the review proper, I have a couple of words - this oil has acted strangely from the beginning, basically splitting itself into the champagne part and the strawberry part...

 

So, on with the review:

 

Preconceived Notions:

A friend of mine recently introduced me to his tradition of having strawberries and champagne for Beltaine. So, I thought this might make a good oil for that holiday (May Day).

 

Testing it:

In the vial: Champagne

 

On the wand: Strawberries

 

On me:

First impressions: the left wrist smells like champagne, and the right wrist smells like strawberries. I can *kind of* see where people are getting the sweet, fake strawberry smell, but to me this is still very *real* strawberries drizzled with sugar. Very sweet, yes, but not at all fake-smelling. But that's only on the right wrist

 

10 minutes later, I notice the scent wafting around me. Mmm... Wow. Yes - strawberries and champagne. I wanna party! (said by someone who usually hates parties and avoids them unless she knows *everyone* involved)

 

40 minutes later: It's starting to fade . I can still smell it on my wrists, and at this stage, both wrists smell alike, and both wrists have both strawberry and champagne in them. I still haven't gotten the fake strawberry scent, and I really like it.

 

Final impressions: I do think it's not one I'll wear regularly, but will save for Beltaine and other summer occasions of revelry. It's too sweet and fruity for my usual preferences.

[isyche]

In the vial: Candyish strawberry. I thought so.

 

On my skin: Surprisingly, not so candylike. This has the same sparkly evanescent quality that Shattered had, which must be the champagne. The strawberry is very faint and I get mostly champagne, like a champagne cocktail with a bit of strawberry syrup added..a fizzy pale pink smell. Very festive.

 

Later, however, the strawberry gets stronger and we're back to the candy smell. I like the beginning champagne-y phase of this, but I just can't take the fruit candy thing.

[darkling]

In the vial, this smells like sickly-sweet strawberrries.

 

Wet on my wrist, I get the scent of bubbly champagne. I can not imagine how Beth so accurately captured the smell of champagne in a perfume. It is exquisite.

 

After a half hour or so the strawberry element becomes more noticable and it no longer has the tang of artificiality that was present in the imp.

 

Bon Vivant lingers throughout the day with the perfect mixture of strawberry sweetness and champagne effervescence.

[kimberlygem]

Wet this is like sweet strawberry syrup. On drydown it is still bright and not quite natural but not plastic or artificial either. More like artificially flavored strawberry soda pop would smell like. The champagne comes through with a hint of something lightly floral. I tried this layered with Loviatar later and it was wonderful and summery but like a lush summer night, not a sunshiny day. Lasted all day too.

 

 

 

 

 

Kimberly

[Miggins]

I had such high hopes for Bon Vivant but my wicked skin chemistry got in the way. It smells so divinely sweet and perky, but on my skin I just thought of red Gummi Bears and the jelly snakes that were in the penny sweets when I was a kid - a “pretend” strawberry smell and sadly no champagne notes for me. *sniff*

[vividdreamer]

I wasn't sure about Bon Vivant when I first sniffed the imp, but decided to try it yesterday before work anyway.

 

My initial thought was "Sparkly! Strawberries!" and for ten minutes or so I enjoyed the bubbliness of champagne and the sweet, ripe strawberry scents as they mingled together. For a few minutes, Bon Vivant is a happy, giggly party filled with fun people and great times.

 

And then...it's gone. Well, not quite GONE, but very faded. It's the morning after, and all the champagne has been consumed by my skin, and all that's left is a bowl half-full of mushy fruit that didn't get eaten the night before.

 

Not a lot of staying power in this one, and it doesn't make my list of favorites. But it matches its description perfectly, and like any good party, it was fun while it lasted.

[diabolique]

this was straight champagne on the wand of the vial. i didn't expect to like this one as much as i do. as soon as i put it on my wrists, it went straight into my "big bottle" wishlist.

 

i am simply amazed at beth's talent. it took me back to sniffing those first few oils and thinking, "what kind of divine creature could compose something so good-smelling!" it isn't so much that i like the smell of it (which i do, of course) as much as it's how well she managed to capture the scent of champagne and strawberries.

 

on my skin, the first thing i could smell was deep, juicy berries. it wasn't the artificial strawberry note from lollipops, but it wasn't the somewhat tart smell you get from the actual strawberries. this is how they actually taste when you leave them in the refrigerator until they're almost too ripe and pour cream all over them. immediately following the strawberries was an ultra-fizzy champagne.

 

this is what all of those cheap "champagne and berry" body sprays aspire to be.

[lumay]

What a sweet sniff! Sadly, this is not the sort of smell that I like to wear at all. Hamadryad is about the "lightest" I am willing to go. I smelled the champagne throughout, and the fruit note was stronger in the vial than on me. Maybe my skin picks up the sweeter notes and "ups" them? Too sweet for me.

[summer]

Mmm! When this first goes on, it has that sharp, fizzy scent of champagne -- a sparkly, "carbonated" scent. As it dries, the sweet strawberry scent comes through, but it's so very natural smelling! Not like fresh raw strawberries, but like strawberries macerated in sugar. Something about this scent reminds me very much of Lush products. And that's a very good thing.

 

This is the first strawberry scent that hasn't reeked of Strawberry Shortcake heads to me. It's a very enjoyable scent -- a nice "weekend" scent that I probably won't wear all the time, but will enjoy when I do.

[Faerykin]

Bon Vivant

 

Swiped across wrists and along collarbone.

 

Initial Wet (8-8:30am): This initially went on a bit bitter, but quickly sweetened up – then turned a bit sour. If sweet and sour had a scent – this would be a good example.

 

Initial Dry (8:30-10am): This softens dramatically. The champagne is much less sour than when wet and the strawberry really begins to sweeten up. This only continues to sweeten, while the champagne takes a back seat.

 

Throughout the Day (10am-Noon): This continues to soften and I can barely detect the champagne any longer. Slowly fading away is a slightly-spicy sweetness. By noon, the scent has dissipated in the air around me. Though, my wrists smell like my hands do after a day of strawberry picking.

 

Overall: A little too boozy for me, and I really didn’t appreciate the initial tart bitterness of the champagne. The strawberry is nice … but, overall, the scent faded too quickly. An imp off to swap.

[ChupaChup]

This was a generous extra from the lab, thank you. I was a little hesitant to try Bon Vivant as fruits in a perfume don't usually work on me. As soon as it hit my skin, I got a burst of the champagne, it's really brilliant how Beth can do that, you almost smell the bubbles. The strawberry is very soft at first and I thought I would enjoy the perfume after all. Unfortunately, the tang of the champagne faded fairly quickly and the strawberry got too sweet. So, not for me, but a fun one to try

[omly]

Only two notes, yet this wasn't what I expected at all (why do I never learn?). The champagne is effervescent with a light alcohol smell. The strawberries are not the syrupy sweet confection that they are in many scents. Instead they are the slightly less sugary, natural combination of sweet and almost sour/tart of strawberries that are just barely ripe enough to eat. These strawberries are like the ones that come in the clear plastic containers that always seem just a little under or over ripe. After drying it sweetens a little bit, in search of that perfectly ripe one, but doesn't get too sweet. Unfortunately the alcohol smell from the champagne will keep me from wearing this one, but it was definately interesting.

[Longstofly]

CHAMPAGNE! That was what this imp screamed at me when I first opened it up. It tickled my nose and then the strawberry snuck in.

 

On me I can smell the champagne very strongly at first but it fades really fast. It leaves me with a wonderful sweet strawberry scent that reminds me very much of strawberry shortcake and strawberry lipgloss I had when I was younger.

 

It's a very happy nostalgic smell for me which is not something I would have expected out of this scent. I am definitely glad I got it though and I will be giggling forever over "strawberry shortcake goes boozing" becuase that's exactly it!

 

I don't think I'd get a 5ml but the imp's a definite keeper!

[Reinaluna]

Bon Vivant smell just like the description, Champagne and Strawberries. A nice aroma, not good enough for a bottle for me but Im keeping the imp.

Edited September 26, 2004 by Reinaluna

[Lucretia]

very sweet out of the bottle. Smells like candy once I put it on. Starbursts maybe? I rather like this, definitly the sweetest scent I've tried so far.

An hour later it smells like strawberry soap, almost exactly like the soap I'm using now from the bodyshop.

I dunno, I like this one quite a bit, but it's a bit too sweet for me in the end.

[Lina]

This one had no staying power on me which is a shame because I love the scent. It is bubbley and the strawberry isn't that flavored bubblegum smell but more like berries still attached to the vine. The champagne isn't strong at all and the smell went away too fast for me.

[enozgirl]

I was anxious to get my grubby little hands on this one

 

In the bottle: Strawberry wine. It's bubbly strawberries. It's Strawberry Shortcake on New Years Eve.

 

Wet: It's very strawberry, but still a little tang from the champagne. It's the scent I've tried to get out of every damned strawberry soap and shampoo I've tried. This is what I wanted Strawberries and Cream from Victoria's Secret to smell like. It reminds me of the smell of the strawberry shampoo I used to use when I was 8. I've been trying to get that smell again. I think I've found it!

 

Dry Down: It just gets sweeter. The tang is there, but the strawberry's loving me. It's really light, and not sickeningly sweet. It's just sweet. Like the smell of really ripe strawberries in the grocery store. It does fade kinda quick, though. I put it on at 9 this morning, and at 11ish, I'm sticking my wrist to my nose to smell it. Though, I didn't slather it on as normal, so that might be partly the cause of the lack of staying power.

 

I really like this. There might be a 5ml of this in my future!

[Penance]

First Sniff:

 

Strawberry lipgloss. I smell strawberry scented lipgloss. I'm in 6th grade again and it's not a good thing. But I'll give it a shot, I wanted to try this and I'm going t try it...*bravely forges ahead*

 

Wet on Skin:

 

Nope, still strawberry lipgloss, and it's getting worse. This smells exactly like those nasty Bonny Bell lipgloss things I used to love so much smell like. Unfortunately it brings back bad memories for me...

 

Dry Down:

 

The lip gloss scent has dimmed somewhat, but it's still sickeningly sweet and artificially fruity smelling. I toughed it out, but now I'm going to wash it off. I wanted to like this, I really did. I love strawberries and champagne, absolutely adore them, but this just smelled way too much like cheap strawberry lip gloss, which on its own was sickening enough, but when combined with the memory of middle school, was downright troubling.

 

The Bottom Line:

 

I wanted to like it. I tried it. I can't stand it. To me, it's the smell of cheap drugstore strawberry lipgloss...the kind that makes you nauseous to smell it and that tastes almost as bad as it smells. Sadly, it's going to have to be swapped.

[pekeana]

In the vial, I get the strawberries and I get the champagne...

 

But on me, it all smells like champagne.

 

I reek of booze.

 

*twitch*

[AnnetteL]

I don't know why I insist on trying all these fruity-sweet fragrances, because they rarely work out for me. Bon Vivant opens with a sparkly champagne note, but it turns into strawberry bubblegum after less than half an hour and there is no further development. Maybe it would be nice as a bubble bath or something similar, but it's SO syrupy-sweet and just doesn't have the interest factor I'm looking for in perfume.

[miss apple]

Bon Vivant

 

In the vial - yep definitely strawberries and champagne and though I know how talented Beth is, this just amazes me at how much it smells like the real thing - it seems like it should be bubbly.

 

Once on, wow this is really, really sweet. I don't like drinking champagne and I'm not overly fond of the scent but when combined with a candy-like strawberry smell on my skin, it really doesn't work as a perfume for me.

[Sara]

First sniff: Mmm...this is very tasty, mouth wateringly tasty if you will. It's a very bubbly fresh sparkly fruit smell.

 

Swiped on skin: Woah, this stuff just "pops." I'm sticky with "sparkly and bubbly" strawberry and champagne scent.

 

Drydown: Hmm..weird. It takes on an almost potpourii spicyness along with the sparkly (yep, still sparkly) fruitiness.

 

Overall: Mmm..I like this one much more than I though. It's got a kind of innocence attached to it. A playful innocence tinged with a bit of grown-up spice. Very pretty. Unfortunately, this oil has completely disappeared from my skin in a couple of hours. I mean completely. Normally the oils sort of fade down to a sickly playdoh/floral smell - but this one is just gone. Luckily, it hangs on to my hair like nobody's business, so I'm still surrouneded in a cloud of loveliness.

[malanna]

I rather thought this would be like Hollywood Babylon--a light, grounded strawberry--since both are strawberry scents. However, once I put this on, it really popped. It's very bright and sparkling. It's a frivolous strawberry, but you can really smell it, so at the same time, it's deep. It reminded me of Dewberry from The Body Shop. A nice scent, if a bit too bright for me.

[Caitfish]

Wooo Booze! - Caitlin, who is not yet 21.

 

Alright, Bon Vivant sounded absolutely joyous to me - and I don't mind smelling young. I am young. I still have some My Little Ponies, so there!

 

Champagne and Strawberries are the traditional after - hot air ballon ride toast treat. I had the pleasure when I went on an early morning balloon ride over the beautiful painted desert of Arizona. I hoped that this scent would remind me of that feeling of elation, wealth and breathlessness, and she did!

 

In the bottle, all I can smell is champagne. On me, the two notes are equally prevalent. It's an effervescent, giddy smell. I've worn it several times since when it's gloomy out or I need a boost before an exam or a presentation, and it's so effective.

 

It's a simple smell, just the two notes - but they are both expressed very clearly and are so effective. BV has surprising staying power, it *definately* wafts, and I wouldn't wear this one if you're the designated driver or your license plates have expired.

 

Big bottle for me!!!

[yellowrose]

Bon Vivant was a gift. It was not on my radar previously.

 

In the bottle, the scent of strawberry is overwhelming. There is not a hint of crystalline anything. This immediately reminds me of Bonne Bell lip gloss and the overwhelming olfactory experience of walking into a Spencer's Gifts circa I'm not going to tell you (sorry!).

 

As Penance said, ". I'm in 6th grade again and it's not a good thing." But I am not as brave as she. Too many scent memories to give this a fair shot.

 

Bon Vivant will be placed in a good home.