Ave Maria Gratia Plena

[Teamama]

A pale, delicate, truly angelic blend. A scent created to emulate Adonis' halo of beauty: fragile, distant, and radiant. Rosewood with Sicilian lemon peel, red Mysore sandalwood, pale musks, sweet mountain sage and a dusting of lily, night-blooming jasmine and orris.

This is rare & magical on me. Rosewood frequently turns sour and varnish-y on my skin, but Ave Maria never does.

The blend is harmonious, no one note dominates the scent. The lemon peel is fresh and delicate; red Mysore sandalwood is as always, my BFF; the pale musks are gentle; lily, night-blooming jasmine and orris are pleasingly light. I don't notice the sage, but that's probably because it's doing something nice to the rosewood.

Total GC love.

[achildoftime]

This is such a delicate scent.

 

I get a lot of lemon peel and jasmine. Those stand out first, but are strongly supported by the floral components. No single supporter is easy to identify for me, but they work in conjunction very well. I don't get much of the woods at all. And this holds true for me both freshly applied and dry.

 

Overall it settles into a very cohesive blend. Nothing screams at me or demands attention, it just floats around and is pretty. I think that's all well and good, but I think I prefer something that I can pin down. Since it is pretty light I'll keep my imp for those days when just a suggestion is necessary.

[roseus]

In the imp: soft musky sandalwood

 

Wet: sandalwood, soft and slightly sweet. I get some bright lemon, and the wonky sweetness I get from orris.

 

Dry: everything is so soft and well blended I have a hard time picking things out. It's soft and dry but not too powdery. There's a slight warmth from the sage. It's innocent and reminds me of moonlight for some reason.

[SparkKisses]

I wanted to do a more thorough breakdown of this scent like I normally do - but I can't. I just can't.

 

This smells awful on me. No problem, I thought as I scrubbed it off. My wife likes wearing soft florals like roses, so she'll like it, and our chemistry is so different that fragrances that smell terrible on me smell like heaven on her. Perfect!

 

No. Not perfect.

 

This smelled like straight-up old lady. Funeral flowers in a retirement home. Fussy, powdery, overpowering. I hoped and prayed and cried that the wood notes would appear and save this scent - but it wasn't meant to be. There wasn't even a hint of sandalwood. No grounding note to soothe the nose. Just powder and floral and unwanted memories of grandma's dusty potpourri.

 

Straight to the swap pile with you, Maria.

[Lucchesa]

Hail Mary, full of jasmine. It's practically the last listed note, and it's night-blooming, which tends to be better behaved on me, but in Ave Maria Gratia Plena the jasmine squelches all the notes I was hoping to hear from: the rosewood and sandalwood, the lemon and sage. It dries down into a somewhat musky, powdery floral with good wear length. Not for me. A rosewood, lemon peel, sage and sandalwood blend would be lovely, though, if anybody's listening...

[spookyumbrella]

10% white floral, 90% soap.  That's all I get, personally. If you like your scents clean, Ave is a safe bet for you!

[honey musings]

now this holds a special place in my heart, for Adonis was the lover of Aphrodite, a goddess i'm quite fond of, so i was very pleased to get this in a free imp

 

first sniff: jasmine galore, with lots and lots of lemon

 

wet: a tender smell, that reminds me of standing in front of my grandmother's jasmine bush, or maybe sniffing honeysuckle. 

 

dry: lemony sandalwood comes out on me once it's dried down. the jasmine is still there, strong and sweet. this imp shall come with me on my upcoming trip this summer. this glorious floral and fresh scent shall be my go to light perfume. im pleased with it, happy to add a sweet one to my collection of strange scents.

[RoseThornAndOak]

Welp, its that quintessential musky floral BPAL smell, but lighter I suppose. It is wearable on me but don't see myself getting a bottle. 

[BoneBone24]

Wet: A botanical explosion! Flowers, greenery, and a spritzing of citrus. Clean and bright, and not remotely shy. 

 

Drydown: The botanical garden train continues, with some fresh herbs joining in. Lemony bright, but soft and sort of fuzzy (hello sage!).

 

Dry: The clean headiness of jasmine settles in at the core of this blend, flanked by lemon and sage, and lifted by lily. Complex but serene.

 

 

8.5 out of 10 bones

[MolyH]

The beginning of this scent was all sandalwood and lemon peel and absolutely lovely. As it dries, the florals in it slowly start to bloom on me until they've completely overwhelmed any wood or citrus notes about 45 minutes in. And now it's just a heavy, almost suffocating cloud of florals. And something about the blend of lily and jasmine and orris reminds me of a department store. Hm, pity.