Defututa

[damiel42]

Olive blossom, honey, smoky vanilla, cinnamon, jasmine, sandalwood, and champaca flower.

No, wait....?

I should love this, apart from the cinnamon. I amp cinnamon like mad.

But no. All I get is that weird sour milk/pineapple smell I got from Milk Moon. Where's that coming from?

Ugh. I looooooove the rest of the notes in this blend, but NOOOO not a sign of them. How utterly bizarre. No jasmine. No vanilla. No sandalwood. Not even the dreaded, itchy beast know to some as "cinnamon."

A huuuuuge disappointment.

[crebbsgirl]

This had a lot of promise for me, but unfortunately once on it developed an overly-sweet vibe that I couldn't quite place. Cloying almost. I think it may have been the olive blossom paired with the vanilla, but I can't be sure. It was much too much for me though.

[Suu4LC]

Hmm...I'm a bit wary of the olive blossom and sandalwood, but the other notes make me think this could be a very yummy, sexy blend.

 

Guh, in the imp this is WAY too strong on the olive blossom...very overwhelming and floral @_@

 

Yeah, this is very meh to me. It's super heavy on the olive blossom, which is not a note that I like. Along with that, the champaca flower (which I sometimes love, sometimes don't love) smells weird in this blend. This is almost old lady floral on me. Bleh!

 

ETA: Ok, this gets MUCH better on full drydown. That sour floralness goes away, and whole blend warms up. Still not my thing, but if you are a spicy olive blossom sounds appealing to you, I would recommend this blend. It really needs time to dry down though to hit it's high point!

Edited August 27, 2008 by Suu4LC

[Emera]

IN THE IMP: Pungent, very heady jasmine and sandalwood are the idenitifiable top notes to me, but are no doubt backed by the other two florals, with which I'm not as familiar. Honey, vanilla, and cinnamon are not evident.

 

ON SKIN: First on, warm and resinous, a gently golden-spicy scent with a definite perfume-y kick from the sandalwood. In about 10 minutes, it evens out to soft, heady, and fresh white florals with the wood underneath, and a pleasingly sweet, light touch of cinnamon. The blend is slow-drying and lies surprisingly close to the skin. Womanly and sensual, but the florals are rather cool and spring-y in feel, in contrast to the very warm first impression. All of the floral notes seem to blend very well, since I can't make out jasmine individually – the florals actually make me think most of honeysuckle, which is bizarre, given that no BPAL honeysuckle note has ever worked on me, and it's not listed anyway. Still no honey or vanilla, smoky or otherwise, sadly, since they were the big draw for me.

 

LATER: As before, though the sandalwood and cinnamon occasionally shift to take precedence. Overall, a well-blended scent, but far too mature and heady for me.

 

SUMMARY: Fresh, heady, springlike white florals over incensey sandalwood and a touch of cinnamon spice. Feminine and sensual. Medium-strong throw.

[hkhm]

imp: honeyed vanilla with a light floral background.

 

wet: for once, the jasmine is not headache-inducing in me. it is so sweet mixed with the honey i actually like it!

 

dry: this dries to a sweet, strong honeyed vanilla with a light floral back. this is intensely pretty.

[goblinshark]

In the imp: BUTTER!!!!!!!!! Straight melted butter. I'm unsure about this.

 

Wet on skin: OK, this is a bit better. I think I smell honey and something creamy in there. Still dairyish, but not...you know, BUTTER.

 

Drydown: Ooooooooh, this is pretty!! Soothing. I smell almond instead of marzipan, which is usually what almond turns into on me. Just a hint of spice. Reminds me of horchata, a bit!!!

 

Final verdict: Looking at the notes I don't think I would have been terribly eager to try this had it not been given to me as a freebie, but I really, really like this. Possibly enough for a bottle even. Pleasantly surprised.

[megank4]

Ooh, nice so far. Not the bad honey smell I usually get that turns my stomach.

I like the champaca and the jasmine, can't get any trace of cinnamon.

[heartlilly]

This one starts off a bit strange. Sort of like bubblegum, but light and a touch soapy. It dries down into a nice smokey, slightly creamy floral. Really pretty once it gets to the dry stage.

[steffanina]

Defututa-

 

In Bottle: Hard to describe--kind of herbal, and I can smell the jasmine but for once the jasmine does not smell like dirty diapers! I'm going to be optimistic and hope that carries through on my skin.

 

Wet: Sweet and herbal mishmash. Not unpleasant! And I smell something sweet, and the jasmine remains pleasant too.

 

Dry: The sweetness is nice, the cinnamon is subtle and pretty, and the jasmine is, hooray, not noxious at all. I don't quite think this one is going to be a craver for me, but I'm overjoyed that this is the first BPAL jasmine that didn't go to dirty diapers for me.

 

Overall: Good reasons to like it!

[Reenah]

In the imp, this was kinda bleh, cloying jasmine and a little buttery note. Of course my skin has this ridiculously sappy love affair with honey. The first hour and a half of this is just "I'M REENAH'S SKIN AND I'M IN LOVE WITH HONEEEEEEEY". And I glare at it and say, "Yes, we know, you've made that quite clear from your rather loud romps with Gennivre and Eisheth Zenunim." Eventually, they quiet, and allow a few other notes to worm their way in. The jasmine works VERY well with the honey, and the vanilla is a nice way to temper those two notes, which are usually both feverishly strong on me. Beth's vanilla is so un-foody sometimes, it surprises me, but in a very good way. As for that buttery note I smelt in the bottle, I wish I knew where it comes from, because it comes back a bit after the omgwtfhoney! stage and is a very interesting addition. Sometimes a rich but smooth sandalwood can smell like that, but I don't know what olive blossom smells like, so maybe it's that. The cinnamon is really NOT there for me, at all. Conceptually, this is spot on. It's glow-y (if I had to assign it a color, it would be an extremely light amber) and languid and lazy and very feminine.

[pacifick]

In the imp it's...nice, I can smell the olive blossom, the honey, and the vanilla, but there's no cinnamon. Unfortunately when I put it on it goes straight to olive oil. Straight headache inducing olive oil; drydown is the same but even more so. Apparently I amp olive...off to a friend it goes.

[fiddledragon]

This is lovely...I'm not sure exactly why I ordered it, as I amp cinnamon and jasmine to the exclusion of all else, but this appears to be the blend that breaks that rule :-) Everything blends together very smoothly, even fresh from the Lab. It's a nice languid, sweet blend, no doubt due to the honey and vanilla and champaca. There's a hint of harsh floral (olive blossom? I haven't had problems with it before. Or maybe the cinnamon being weird?) right up close to the skin, but that doesn't last very long, and I suspect it will wear off with a little aging. This isn't really distinctive, but is very nice. It might be a good replacement for anyone in love with Svadhinaopathika from two years ago's Lupercalia.

[femmefatale]

I have no idea. Seriously. I expected to get all honey (like I usually do with blends w/honey), but I'm not. This is a strange one. It's floral but in a slightly incensey way. But not smokey incense. I do get a little spice, but it's still not a spicey scent. Very strange, in a good way.

 

It reminds me and dh of something we can't quite figure out. Makes me feel very nostalgic. We both actually like it quite a bit and hubby keeps sniffing me. I am definitely keeping the imp and will consider a bottle.

[Iceblink]

Fascinating--this is incredibly foody when fresh--honey, vanilla, and a hint of cinnamon! After a few minutes I get the sandalwood and champaca--it's more of a honey/vanilla incense at this stage. Really deliciously sexy. And although jasmine tends to loathe me, I'm not smelling it here at all. This is really beautiful! Very sweet. Lots of throw. A definite winner!

[kbrighton]

In the imp: foody, I want to eat this, not wear it. Honey and--something, I can't pick out the notes.

 

On the skin: A bit overpowering at first but settles down to a sweet tasty floral and incensey blend. I can't pick out the notes. But it is so delicious!

 

It did not seem to last that long, only a few hours.

 

Vanilla gave me a headache many, many years ago. But the headache was so memorable I've stayed away from that scent ever since. I did not read the ingredients on Defututa before applying or I would never have dared try this frimp. But I can't pick out the vanilla and no headache. I'll have to try more BPAL scents with vanilla.

 

ETA: Ah, now I recognize the jasmine, and love the sense of enfoldment (all wrapped up in something comforting) that scent gives me. I wear this when I expect to be facing a stressful situation, calms me right down.

Edited March 3, 2009 by Columbine

[kjirstiben]

This scent was confusing, because it went on in a rush of--I swear--Buttered Flowers. Thankfully, the "butter" scent went away as soon as the oil absorbed into my skin. It was an odd beginning, though. After that, it becomes sweet, then floral. Really, really sweet and floral.

 

Oh! This is the honey mixed with the jasmine, perhaps with a touch of the vanilla and cinnamon… that's why I'm getting the WAYYYYY sweet and WAYYYYY floral combination (jasmine amps on my skin, and so do honey and vanilla).

 

Very weird--vanilla-cinnamon-honey are smelling warm and sweet while jasmine screams on top of the mix in its typical jasminey way… these scents really don't feel like they don't belong together.

 

Unfortunately, this never did resolve itself. My skin wanted to amp both scents in opposition to each other, and the screaming floral that is jasmine always felt like it was at war with the sweet honey cookie-smell that stayed closer to my skin. I think that with the right chemistry, this could be really pretty, but it never quite resolved itself there for me.

[ouch!]

YAY!!! An instant love! I love it when this happens.

I wasn't sure of this because of the Jasmine but...it behaves very well.

 

This smells absolutely gorgeous on me and I'm loving it as much as it loves me in return.

 

On me this a beatifully soft smoky musky vanilla, the musky side of it is reminiscent of the dry stages of another one of my BPAL OMG loves, Sed Non Satiata. It's cosy and fluffy and so so soft. The Jasmine is there but it's subtle, the Champaca flower is too but again..it's subtle. This reminds me of Regan too. The way Regan went so soft on my skin. This is doing the same.

 

The vanilla does die down a bit when it's really really dry but it's still so so musky, and the champaca flower is overtaking the jasmine. (yay).

 

Gosh it's so so nice I love it!! Going on my bottle list.

 

ETA: Cinnamon? never would have guessed in a million years there was cinnamon in here. Also..now that I've re applied a few times, the wet stage of this has a very strong similarity to Khajurao which is in my top 5 LE's. No wonder I'm loving this stuff so much!

Edited January 16, 2009 by ouch!

[odalisque]

Well, rats, I was all ready to love this one. I got it on, though, and it smells exactly like some well-known conditioner that I have used before and can't put my finger on. (One of these days it'll come to me at 3am in bed.)

 

I'm guessing it's the olive blossom, since I think Defututa is the only blend I've tried with that accord. It's a really hard scent to describe, kind of a sweet herbal green with a fruity-floral tang. I got zero woods, though.

[QueenFae]

This is soft, lovely and mysterious. I think I'm smelling mainly olive blossom, jasmine and honey. There's no sign at all of the cinnamon or vanilla, this is more of a floral than a foody. The jasmine note in this is very pretty and quite strong, and it's very beautiful under the cloak of the honey. Defututa is refined yet sexy at the same time. I like this very much.

 

Not terribly strong, but very beautiful.

[milo]

I wonder if I got a mislabelled imp. I get none of the notes that are listed at all. To me, this is Monsterbait Bloody Mary all over again, or Candy or Pink Phoenix's cousin, or another fruit/candy-like blend. Not a candy fan, I always try them, to see if there is an exception to the rule. To me, this is very girly and pink with a sweet strawberry vibe, definitely not me. Mind you, when I sniff the imp wet, all I get is honey with a bit of fruity floral. I guess my skin is broke.

[aedes]

Holy damnit christmas! I want a bottle of this right away.

 

I usually try to stay away from vanilla, because I think it takes over a scent. But it's playing really well with the other scents here. It's just rich and tawny and warm. Smelled like caramel in the imp, but on my skin it really blossomed. Doesn't smell foody or frilly, just sexy, warm, confident.

[masquedbunny]

In the imp: To me, this smells like cake frosting. All honey and vanilla, and I think I should be eating this rather than wearing it.

 

Wet on skin: Florals become clearer and sweetness is less foody.

 

Drying: Still mainly olive blossom, honey, and vanilla. I'm not really getting cinnamon from this. The jasmine is becoming more obvious, but so far (knock on wood) it's balanced out by the other notes.

 

Completely dry: My original fear (that I was going to smell like a cake shop all day) has been relieved. It is sweet, but warmly so. The jasmine is continuing to behave itself. There's a slightly green and woodsy note underlying it all that's come out to play--the sandalwood, I'm guessing. Very pretty.

[modillian]

This works perfectly on me, but somehow I don't like the combination of florals (which reads "blue" to me, and "blue" scents don't work on my skin, which is different than the salty and bitter oceanic or refreshing water notes, which read as "clear" to me.) Something about the jasmine here is different, much less grating and biting, and the latter of which I am learning is the way I prefer jasmine, funnily enough. I didn't know what olive and champaca blossoms smelled like, just their stem-y biproducts, but I do not like them here. :/ What a disappointment!

[stillalive]

it's actually quite lovely! I was surprised. Florals grounded by honey and vanilla. Not exactly my scent, but a great blend.

[aquazoo]

Hmmmn, this is interesting! The honey vanilla is nice, and the florals are mixing nicely. I do get a bit of olive there, too.