Mata Hari

[mooncityminx]

... Her scent is striking and bold with a delicate yet dark undertone: five roses with soft jasmine, warmed by vanilla, fig, tonka bean and mahogany, spiced with a drop of coffee bean.

In the vial: jasmine and something weird

Wet: sweet jasmine and something sweeter that I can't identify

Drydown: I think that must be rose poking through the jasmine, but I'm not sure. It smells very strange to me. That's an awful lot of jasmine. Okay now it smells less weird. It reminds me of Lush's Butterfly bath bomb. Actually it's pretty close to the same fragrance. Interesting. It's very strong though. If it were dilluted I think it would be nicer. I could see mixing this with lotion or into unscented hair products. This jasmine is nicer than some of the other bpal jasmines because it's sweet and not diapery at all. Sorry, but that's what some of the other bpal jasmines make me think of. I don't know why.

This is going into my keep pile.

Oh, you know what? This smells exactly like Jasmine Henna Fluff Ease! Awesome. I love that stuff. Edited February 10, 2009 by Shollin

[paprikapapaya]

I, too, didn't get the coffee smell with this one.

 

Wet, I get strong florals, with antique wood in the background. Pleasant.

 

Dry on me turned out terrible. I smelled like dried, crispy flowers mixed with...death. A lingering, overpowering scent that reminded me of a funeral home. Truth be told, I was getting creeped out wearing it so I had to wash it off.

 

Not for me.

[asciident]

Wet: Sharp and acidic. Mahogany and fig?

 

First on: Bitter incense...

 

Dry: Sharp and kinda nondescript. Meh.

[TilHelvete]

Eugh, I thought I loved jasmine. This was not the sweeter brighter jasmine I love in Lush's Godiva shampoo. This is the awful, bitter scent of jasmine that I smelled at an occult shop in New Hope which nearly ruined me for jasmine. I really don't smell anything else in here, and it doesn't morph on me much either. Though something in it did remind me of Debauchery, which I also hated. I can see why everyone on the forum here seems to be so averse to the jasmine note now that I've tried Mata Hari.

[Saya]

I'm not really sure what to say about this oil. It's a bit bland, with a hint of rose. After reading all of the notes I thought this would be interesting and had potential for greatness, I was wrong. All I get is a generic, watery smelling floral.

 

I'll pass on this one.

 

Score (1-5) - 2

[liquidtrance]

The jasmine and rose are most distinct.. Yet strangely they don’t do the usual plasticky, nose-wrinkling scent here.

Up close, I start to get that nose-wrinkling, but then it is quickly replaced by surprised glee. I think the vanilla is stepping in to bring it all together in a great way. The rose and jasmine blend really well, and neither is particularly overbearing. The fig may also be helping with this, making this one big pleasing scent. No coffee at all. This is definitely the best jasmine/rose blend I've ever tried, though.

[frozensapphyre]

Too overwhelming, suffocating musky floral. Think maybe its the jasmine, it almost makes me want to sneeze. Definately not working for me. Usually rose notes are overpowering on my skin, to the exclusion of all else, but not this time. Also a resiny element, incensey but its just not blending well on me.

[Dianora]

I was going through my imps and put Mata Hari on. Two seconds later, I was furiously scrubbing it off. I thought I'd like it. Roses, Vanilla, Tonka, Mahogany and Coffee? Yes please! But there is Jasmine, my note of death. It amped and instantly gave me that "impending headache of doom" warning. It also goes funky on my skin, making this smell like, well... dog breath. I wanted to like this, but... no. Just. No.

 

Apparently this exotic courtesan has halitosis. Not for me.

[isentropic]

Oh Nelly.

 

When I first opened this imp, I grimaced, closed it immediately, and shoved it back in my imp box.

 

A few months later I finally got up the nerve to take it out and try it on.

 

Dab, dab. All I can smell is the most foul stale coffee smell I have ever had the misfortune to headache through.

 

Open reference page. Angrily click review link. Knowing sigh of relief after first interview.

 

I'm still not a big fan after the drydown, but it <i>definitely</i> improved compared to that original, godawful coffee. The rose still smells a bit stale, but its a comfortable floral. I am getting a light headache, though, so I think it will stay in the swap pile.

[rayvn1]

This one was a heartbreaker, because I would have been happy if it had gone any way at all with rose, vanilla, fig, tonka, mahogany or coffee.

 

What does that leave? Jasmine. Aaaaalways gotta get in the way, Jasmine

[kerikeri]

Bleh... this is the first and only BPAL blend I've tried that I strongly disliked. I don't normally like florals, but the background notes on this one sounded so awesome that I had to try it. Unfortunately, when it goes on all I get is roses and a sharp, sour note unpleasantly reminiscent of dirty socks.

 

Thankfully it stops smelling like a locker room after a few minutes, but I'm left with nothing but a bland floral. I never get any of those tasty background notes that could've made this complex and interesting. After reading other reviews, I'm thinking it's probably the jasmine that's not playing nice here. Sigh.

[Bamels]

I was after something similar to Lush's Silky Underwear. In the imp it smells of jasmine and florals. So far every bpal jasmine scent has smelled of pee on me, but I'll be brave and give it a go. When on I can smell a strong floral soap, there's a shocker! I'm not going to let it dry because I know that any soap smell on me just gets worse.

 

Verdict: immediate floral soap smell.

[BuxomM]

It's floral and wood, jasmine and mahogany.

[muteddragon]

Excuse me, but: it smelled like a restroom with a coffee spill. Personal experience, trust.

[arsenicsauce]

Wet: Fancy soap. Next!

 

Dry: Wait, actually... this dries down sort of pleasant. It takes around half an hour for the soapyness to dry down, but then it actually smells nice. It's hard for my brain to process this in any other way than "smells nice", I've literally never smelled a "nice" strong rose scent on me before (bar obsidian widow, but that one has so many earthy grounding notes that work on me that this doesn't- actualy there are strong similarities in the rose note now that I'm looking for it, so maybe one of these "roses" does work on me when the rest don't). Jasmine, which for the record I don't like either, makes the floral aspect less specifically rose even though I usually amp the hell out of rose. It doesn't smell like coffee at all, which I admit was the only reason I started to look for an imp of this, but I think I might be detecting the fig and vanilla warming it up a bit. It's a little sweet, though not in a foody way.

 

It's overall not my style, I think, but I'm pleasantly surprised at how this turned out.

[Aldercy]

I like the description of Mata Hari (rose and coffee sounds like it could be an interesting combination), but the scent isn't working for me.

 

Aged imp (old label), and it's pretty much all rose and weird jasmine. Jasmine is generally pretty nice on my skin, but not in this particular blend-- smells like wet powder and old linen or something. I get no woody or dark notes to balance out the flaming florals, I'm afraid.

[starfish327]

This is the only rose scent that I've tried thus far that I didn't amp into oblivion, and thus will remain in my collection.

 

In the imp (I have no idea how aged it is, however) it's a warm floral. It's much closer to the spicy floral than the green floral end of the spectrum, which already makes it much more pleasant than some of of the other blends that I've tried. I actually can't pick up on the rose in the imp- the tonka and the jasmine are much more prevalent.

 

First applied, I actually get locust blossom- heavy, soapy floral, which made me a little concerned. But once it dried down it actually became a sweet rose. The rose is constrained by the other notes, though I'm not sure that I can actually tell what the other notes are beyond something spicy and maybe a resin? I don't get food out of this at all- no coffee or vanilla.

 

It's a pleasant rose though, and it's the first rose that hasn't turned into bathroom cleaner on me.

[SophieCedar]

This smells like japanese or traditional prayer incense in the bottle.

 

Wet: incense rose and jasmine... where's the coffee? I was bummed out.

 

Drydown: this is floral. I didn't expect much different.. the jasmine married nicely with the rose. I just wish I could smell the fig, vanilla, and tonka a little more. I smell coffee now! These sweeter notes are now working their way around but the jasmine and rose are a bit bossy. Overall I like this, as long as I'm truly in the mood for it that day.

[DeltaCat]

Oh hai jasmine. That's about all I get. It isn't a bad smell, it's just all I get. The husband approves, lol.

[misscoldheart]

I rejected this one at first, but decided to give it a try...

I don't get the coffee that a lot of folks are reporting...At first it smells like musk and generic floral, dare I say "old lady", perfume. Not so good...

After a bit it dries down to a soft powdery vanillaish jasminey scent that is nice, but there's something sour underneath that isn't too nice. I really wish I was getting more rose...

This one is just "ok" and will remain in the swap box unless something amazing occurs soon here with it.

[lilwhiterabbit]

I don't always amp rose, but will about 50% of the time, so I was a little wary about this one. In the imp the rose smell is really strong, so I was worried that it wouldn't work on me. Fortunately, I was surprised by Mata Hari. Not only did it work, but it worked well--I can smell everything from the coffee to the fig and the roses are subtle and lovely with a hint of the jasmine in the background. If it works on you, this is a really complex blend, like walking into an old fashioned upscale nightclub with several scents swirling around you.

[norskette]

null

Edited November 1, 2011 by norskette

[CitizenBree]

Roses and vanilla are two of my favorite notes. Though I missed this one on my first venture into BPAL, it eventually found it's way to me.

 

Unfortunately, on first sniff from the imp, I would have put this in the swap bin. But hopefully we all know to give it at least a test on the skin before doing that. In the imp, it smells really weird. I get the roses, but it's weird roses. Like chemical roses. blech.

 

I took a risk and put it all over before work. Going on wet I still get that chemical sniff. I think it's just a generic perfume-y scent. But in the background I get the roses, so this is shaping up nicely.

 

I don't know what notes I amp yet, but the rose comes out strong in this one. It takes a bit before some creaminess comes out as the vanilla makes a presence.

 

It only lasted about 3 hours on me. At that point, it was very faint roses and some faint vanilla (never in the same sniff though, weird).

 

I'm adding this to my rose death match battle though I'm not completely in love with this one as I am other roses, so I don't think it will fare too well. 3/5 stars.

[Tenshi]

This was one of the first scents I tried from the lab. Being a noob, the notes sounded delicious and because I find the story of Mata Hari to be strangely fascinating, I ordered an imp of it.

 

Unfortunately, this was not what I expected.

 

On me this scent was far too florally. I didn't even smell roses, just jasmine. There was no coffee at all as far as I could tell, not even in the bottle. My first instinct was to scrub it off immediately, but I decided to give it a chance and wear it out. After about 45 minutes, it dried into a scent that I can only describe as "old lady floral perfume".

 

I was really hoping for the warmth in this scent, with the coffee, vanilla and mahogany. On me it was only nosebleed inducing jasmine. It's really a shame but I'm not eager to relive that experience.

[acbombshell]

5 roses is an apt description, as rose is all I smell from this, both wet and dry. It's very heady and cloying to the point that it gave me a headache. I was disappointed that the vanilla and tonka weren't more present-I couldn't smell them at all!