Mata Hari

[Gold Dust Kitten]

... 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.

 

This oil gave me a bad scent reaction, just like Saturnalia and Stranger Fig. I couldn't bear testing on my skin, because the fig was mixed with jasmine and it just overpowered my nose. It's really a schizo scent in the imp - rotting floral, sickly sweet fig, and coffee. This will be the end of my testing and reviews tonight...

[jkfagtongpun]

I've been wanting to try Mata Hari for years as I'm intrigued by it's namesake. However, I was scared as rose and I, we don't really get along. Rose takes over everything on my skin. The thought of five roses!

 

I finally took the plunge. In the imp it was all rose. Oh dear... here's hoping.

 

On wet it was definitely rose but not the headachey rose I usually get. Possibly sniffed some jasmine but it was pretty much just rose. After a few hours it softened and was slightly warmed by the tonka, but that was it. No coffee, no wood, no vanilla, no fig.

 

It's nice but not what I was hoping for. I wanted the coffee and wood to mingle with the rose a bit more. Afraid it is just not me.

[SarahRamsey]

I was really hoping for a signature scent with this one

 

Unfortunately all I got in the imp and wet on me was headache inducing really strong jasmine

 

It was JASMINE!!!!!!!

 

Drying down I'm smelling a little vanilla coffee or something but this is just too much jasmine for me. Turns very soapy on me at the end

 

Not for me sadly

Edited March 24, 2012 by sazzle99

[Innocuousmold]

I was really looking forward to this one but all I get is jasmine. This is my shortest review ever, lol.

[ReallyZeb]

In the imp it was overpowering jasmine with just a touch of rose behind it, and that was pretty much how it was wet on my skin. As soon as it dried, both florals disappeared and I ended up with a dusty wooden scent which left me rather disappointed - no coffee and no tonka to be found anywhere

[anastasia]

one of the stories says she died with a new pair of white gloves on. this smells like perfume from the 1900's. like a modern perfume then. it smells heavily gilded and dense. on me it is ylang rose indian incese. a little bitter and lacking in depth. it smells like something promising that was left to go to ruin. but enjoyably so of course. this is kind of a set piece for me like miskatonic university. maybe its the coffee... its too specifically evocative to wear to work or anything but good for an imaginitive day off...

[Evilynn]

Rose is one of those notes that amp to high heaven on me and go all sharp and scary and give me an instant headache, and yet this is all JASMINE DAMNIT. Can't say I notice any tonka in this, or much of anything else really.

[Deliciousness]

Got Mata Hari as a frimp from the lab. I wouldn't have picked this one out myself, but I'm glad to have the opportunity to try this.

 

In the imp: Wow, is that coffee and floral? Interesting, reminds me of an old lady perfume - somewhat dusty.

Wet on skin: Dusty "old lady floral" (for lack of a better descriptive term) with stale coffee. Eek, I don't think this scent agrees with my chemistry

Dry Down: Still has that "old lady floral" smell. I don't know what is causing this, perhaps the rose or the jasmine? Never had Jasmine smell like this on me though, so maybe it's the rose.

Later: The coffee has dissipated and the scent I'm left with is a warm rose with a touch of jasmine.

 

Alas, my skin ate the oil and I can't smell much of it (unless I huff my wrist).

 

Ok, this isn't my favorite, but it may just be my skin chemistry. I will try again sometime later and see if my nose evolves.

Edited February 28, 2013 by Deliciousness

[Magycmyste]

In the imp: I'm getting a very dark, almost sour rose, with a little bit of jasmine. I kinda wish I could smell more of the coffee, but I guess Arabian Dance works as a good coffee scent for me. And maybe I might get more of it on my skin?

 

Wet on skin: the sweeter floral, the jasmine is coming out stronger now

 

Dried down: back to the strong, almost sour rose. I'm wondering if the imp I have might be a bit aged, or if my skin is just amping up the florals above everything (I don't think it usually does that). Rose and jasmine do have a tendency to be strong on me.

 

Throw: decent throw. I definitely don't need to hold my wrists up to sniff.

 

Verdict: *** 1/* This is a nice scent, and I know a lot of people who would like it, but I don't think I'm going to seek it out. It's a little too close to traditional perfume for me to think I'd wear it often.

[milo]

Whew, this is STRONG on the jasmine. A little dab'll do you! Not getting much else, except for a bit of sourness, which I'm guessing is the rose. After a bit, there's something chewy and candylike, maybe that's the fig. This is definitely a jasmine heavy blend on me though.

[theredkilt]

Mata Hari blooms into a fragrant rose with jasmine around the edges and a biiiiiiiiiit of spice. One of the few scents where rose behaves on my skin, actually!

[lavenderfrost]

In The Imp: Jasmine, tonka (I think), and either fig or vanilla. Or both.

 

Immediate Application: The roses come out just a tad, and then the coffee bean. It's not too intrusive, though. IDK what mahogany smells like on its' own, so it may or may not be in there, I can't necessarily tell. There's a sharpness to this that may be it? Again, idk. Seems like it could just as easily be the tonka. The "undertone" at the back of my nose reminds me a little of Moscow, I'm assuming that's from the jasmine.

 

Dry-Down: Jasmine tonka coffee? ^^;; Not unpleasant, but not me.

 

Verdict: Nah. Worth a shot, but I'll probably pass it on.

[JazzieCazzie]

Testing from a Lab imp

 

IN THE IMP: Roses and jasmine but in a surprisingly nice not-in-your-face blend for me.

 

Dabbed on one wrist

 

WET: The jasmine is clearly what I have been identifying as the "bubble gum" scent in the Euphrosyne, which I'm testing simultaneously (they go well together). But it is so well blended with the other notes that it is not taking over the party or dancing with the lampshade on its head or any of that behavior. It's just very nicely taking hands with the rose (dragging the rose away from its favorite spot of hogging the attention) and playing nicely with all the other lovely notes.

 

DRYDOWN: Great great great great great, I kind of forget about this for while but then when I'm sipping a dream I think "OK, WHAT was the scent on this wrist because it's awesome and spicy and floral and resiny and gorgeous" and it was the Mata Hari. I am thinking the fig is the big winner here because it tends to do that for me. Just come in late and make everything around it so much better. This has a loooooooooooong throw but it's a low key one. Subtle, spicy, lovely, low.

 

On a scale of 1-5. a 4.3

[inhumation]

the roses and jasmine completely beat down the other notes - I don't smell them at all. it's a fistfight between roses and jasmine, and the poopy forces of jasmine have won. swapped.

[BoneBone24]

Wet: A deep and smoky floral.

 

Drydown: Deep, dry rose with a bit of smoky jasmine and a slightly bitter wood note. It’s very dark for a floral, definitely shadowy and mysterious. There's something very classic about these notes; it's a seemingly simple blend that somehow smells rich and sumptuous.

 

Dry: The jasmine takes over the rose now and I finally get a hint of the tonka and fig. Juuuust enough to balance out the bitterness of the coffee-kissed wood. Overall it’s a very velvety sort of scent that makes me imagine myself lounging about on a victorian chaise. Dark, romantic, and soft.

 

 

6.5 out of 10 bones

[Veronica]

Wow, this smells so unique and lovely in the imp. Wet, it's sweet coffee but not excessively gourmand, there's also a hint of spice and floral in the background and something lurking underneath that gives it a slight band-aid note--I think this is the mahogany for me. Dry, it's still sweet coffee--dry coffee, as if you're smelling hazelnut coffee beans freshly roasted--over a light spice and floral base. This needs a retest! Really one of the most interesting BPAL's I've encountered.

[DiesMali]

In the imp: Wat. I have no idea what this is.

 

Wet on my skin: WTF. WTF DID I JUSt...this is strong, sour, unpleasant coffee. This isn't roses or jasmine. D:

 

Dry: The second scent from this order that has been awful for the first 10 minutes, then dries into something gorgeous. Now THIS was what I'd hoped for. There's a gorgeous cloud of rose and jasmine wafting about, and a little closer to my skin are the mahogany, coffee, and tonka in that order. Unfortunately, I'm not getting any fig at all, which is one of my favourite fruit notes, but the rest of this is nice enough that I don't mind. The tonka, jasmine, and rose are now doing something absolutely magical in the air around me, and whoah. Whooooah. This is so, so seductive and unusual. Well worth the initial WTF.

[emanomaly]

Everything's coming up roses....

 

Was super excited to try this out with the coffee smell hitting me straight out of the bottle but alas, like everything with roses, that's all I get in the end, and I can't stand the way rose smells on me.

 

To the swap pile it goes!

[LizziesLuck]

I had such high hopes! It has fig, rose, vanilla, coffee bean, all things that I love! But all I get is Jasmine. I hate to say it, but Jasmine might be a death note for me.

[Myrrha]

I avoided the lab's jasmine for years but now it seems to be working on me! Tested Euphrosyne last night and it was lovely. Mata Hari is even better. OTOH this imp is five years old and it could be that the aging helps.

 

Dry, the florals are smooth and deep, not as warm as Euphrosyne. I get more jasmine than rose. The fig and tonka do a great job of keeping the floral notes restrained. There is a subtle sweetness and creaminess, perhaps from the tonka. I don't smell coffee as a recognizable scent but it does seem to be in that slightly foody base that makes this work so well on my skin.

 

Edit: Not sure if I will order another imp of this or a bottle. It is a bit strong and perfume-y to wear to work and possibly not my most favorite jasmine scent. Looking forward to trying more jasmine in this year's Lupercalia scents.

Edited January 18, 2016 by Myrrha

[Teamama]

Loving Mata Hari!

Imp from a forum purchase.

In the imp, it's Follow Me Boy, plus coffee: sexy baby lotion vanilla jasmine.

Wet: It's roses! No, wait, it's Follow Me Boy! No, wait, it's tonka-coffee baby lotion! Time to let this dry down a while, because it isn't just morphing, it's Tam Lin, the fragrance:
They will turn me, on your arm,
Into tonka-coffee,
But hold me tight and fear not,
I am your baby lotion...

The ellipse there represents about a half an hour. MH is now settling into a fragrance rare. Sweet, rich, and utterly original. It is a relative of Follow Me Boy, so if you love FMB, be sure to test MH. Roses at the heart, the warm, rich kind that I love. Jasmine melded with vanilla and tonka. Sweet fig and mahogany are providing a subtle grounding. The coffee occasionally appears around the edges, but only faintly.

On my bottle list, for sure.

Edited January 25, 2016 by Teamama

[Winterbelle]

I really wanted to like this one, it has several notes I love. But on my it smelled very strongly of coffee, which is not what I want to smell like.

[freyasfae]

Initially, this has the Eastern spices scent that I often don't like, but as it dries down, the rose comes out, it's a dried rose. I really don't get any coffee.

[Zorra]

I went to a very good performance about the life of Mata Hari and I thought BPAL should have a scent named after her. Then I discovered there was one and a friend sent me an imp she had.

 

I wasn't sure if I would like it, because I have tried some scents with a mahogany note that I didn't really like. I should not have feared the mahogany, for me it isn't there in this scent. What is more surprising, the roses only make a very short appearance. They disappear in no time at all, drowned in jasmine. I even tried layering with A Parliament of Foules because that is like nothing but roses on me. Forget it, Mata Hari made it disappear in seconds. I do get a mix of jasmine with something sweet that must be the tonka and vanilla and perhaps even the fig, just enough to take the edge of the jasmine. But where did the roses go? I mean, if a scent description starts with five roses one does expect to smell them.

 

I am going to leave my imp alone for a week and see if anything changes with a bit more rest. I really want to love this scent because of the memory of that performance.

 

2020 edit to add that I soon loved the scent enough to buy a bottle. This is what I get from it now:

I still don't get rose from Mata Hari. Five roses and I notice none. I still get a lot of jasmine. And, at the start, definitely coffee. I think the mahogany, tonka, fig and vanilla, though I do not smell them separately, are what is keeping Mata Hari from just enveloping me in a cloud of jasmine (with a hint of coffee). I would say that on me Mata Hari is jasmine with something dark below it that never really allows the jasmine to fly. Reading the notes I think I smell the fig note, which no doubt has part in the dark side of this scent. Tonka and vanilla I do not really smell, but I suppose they are responsible for the slight sweetness in the dark. I am not sure if I smell the mahogany. Although I have tried several scents with a mahogany note, I never managed to get a good idea of what that note was in the blend (probably because I did not like the blends).

 

I have had this bottle of Mata Hari for several years now, and I still love the scent. 

Edited February 19, 2020 by Zorra

[Casablanca]

Wet on my skin, Mata Hari is a blast-of-jasmine scent, though the jasmine is slightly deepened and warmed by fig and tonka. After a few minutes, I also smell the wood. Weirdly, none of the five roses makes an appearance at this point.

Once dried, Mata Hari's jasmine lowers to a mere dull roar, and the blend is mostly a mix of it and the tonka-mahogany. I start to smell a little coffee at this point, too, but still no roses, and the jasmine is still the most potent.

An hour later, the jasmine is quiet and some rose finally blooms. It's actually quite a pretty rose combination -- maybe of pink and red roses -- but it's faint. I just smell that and a little tonka.

 

Hours later, I smell more rose, and still a little tonka.

 

This ends up fine, but I have more appealing rose blends.