Mata Hari

[AlaskaSnows]

...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.

Well, Mata Hari was an Imp of Great Sadness for me. In the bottle this scent is MAGNIFICENT! I have to agree with people who said this perfume was a work of inspired genius. The coffee and the flowers are so perfectly in tune, and original, it is unbelieveable.

During dry down, it's still a work of art. I was sad when I lost the coffee, but it was still a beautiful complex dark floral. But then came the bitterness, until the was such a strong overlying bitter smell I had to wash this off.

Too bad.

[Little Bird]

I'm hesitant to try this. I love the second half of the description. It sounds heavenly. I'm worried about "five roses with soft jasmine". Anything with jasmine in it just turns into pure jasmine perfume on me. May as well be a singlenote.

 

On my skin... smells like coffee. Not like a yummy Starbucks coffee smell with all of the spices and vanillas and extra goodies. Plain black coffee. The jasmine is peeking through under the coffee. Like I just spilled a cup of coffee over a vase of jasmine flowers. Weird. The jasmine and coffee are perfectly balanced... and I'm not so sure that it's a good pairing.

 

After fifteen minutes... oh my God this is the most vile thing that I've ever experienced. Jasmine gives me awful headaches and I hate it more than any other smell in the world. Now it's gotten viciously strong and sort of rotten. Dirty jasmine that likes its coffee black and bitter.

 

I hate this. I've practically bloodied my wrist trying to scrub it all off

[gangstaknitta]

In bottle: It smells like a very sweet foral...mostly jasmine, rose (but not old-lady rose) and a touch of vanilla. No coffee, tonka, or fig, but fig tends to turn up more on my skin. We shall see.

 

Wet: the jasmine is VERY sweet and the roses immediately go a little powdery. Five minutes later--make that a LOT powdery. There is a very faint earthy note in the background, but the roses are def. the stars of the show.

 

Dry: Okay, now I smell like old lady and bubble gum. Oh well.

[ange_glorieux]

::disappointed:: I really, really wanted to love this one, but on me it had the same effect that Depraved did, and turned instantly to dirty diaper. ::cries::

 

The weirdest thing is that I didn't get ANY rose, ANY jasmine, or ANY coffeebean -- just -- diaper.

Edited September 26, 2005 by ange_glorieux

[puck_nc]

If it has roses, it must be tried, even though I felt pretty sure going in that the coffee was going to turn me off.

 

Origin: Bought off LJ.

 

In the Bottle: A very crowded scent, and it's hard to isolate the notes. I get whiffs of coffee & wood.

 

Wet: The coffee is strong, as is the vanilla and fig. I smell like Starbucks!

 

Drydown: It goes sharp & acrid on me. The combination doesn't hang together at all.

 

Verdict: It wasn't the coffee in the end but the mahogany and tonka bean that I couldn't stand in combination with the florals.

[PixieSkull]

In the imp: Can smell rose and jasmine
Wet: Somewhat plasticy smell that is the vanilla and/or tonka bean, rose developing a bit more fresh, the fig comes out a little more.
Dry: Lovely background of rose with the fig and vanilla or tonka bean on top. Can't pick out jasmine anymore (Thanks god, I think so far.)
Overall: Wasn't sure the first time if it was a me scent, but after a few tries I love it. It's a very slow and lethargic feeling when I wear this scent, but in a good "I caught everything perfectly" way. It's very sensual and feminine in a dark, dusky way. I want more!

ADDED Oct. 23:

In the imp: Oh, tonka smells like this. Rose slight, little bitter
Wet: Spicy vanilla/tonka/floral, somewhat dry
Drydown: Sexy, sweet spicy, foody
Overall: One of my favorite scents. I can wear it to school, to work, for my boyfriend. It smells so beautiful I don't want to run out. After a few years of enjoying this, even letting it age and letting it get better, this has become a love to layer. This layers well with Shub for extra sweet, gingery goodness or Hymn for a bit more sweet incense-y depth.

Edited November 12, 2014 by PixieSkull

[Freyja Lux]

When I first opened this imp, my boyfriend was standing over me. He leaned over, took a sniff, and reared back yelling "Ack! Bad breath!" No, he wasn't referring to me! He still hates the smell but I hardly think its that bad.

 

I smell jasmine, and I can't wear jasmine. Ack. Its bitter and kind of burns my nose, and its got a lot of bite. Once it mellows on the skin a bit, its a very complex smell and VERY floral, and I can hardly detect the coffee at all! My nose is not a well trained one yet so I may not be picking up on the subtleties... however it's far too jasmine-y for my taste but for someone who wears that scent, they would love it!

[hangingfire]

Imp: All the floral notes jockey for attention at once. What's interesting is that the bit on the cap smells powerfully of coffee, but not the main part of the imp.

 

On, wet: Warm, dusky florals. Hard to distinguish one note from the other. For some reason I'm just not getting the rose at all; it mostly seems to be about the jasmine, the tonka, and the vanilla.

 

Drydown: Jasmine and vanilla, mostly. Hours later, all that's left is a trace of vanilla.

 

It's a pleasant, sexy blend, but it didn't bowl me over. I'll probably swap it for something I feel more strongly about. I'll give it another test run before I decide for sure.

Edited October 3, 2005 by hangingfire

[joseybird]

Heavy, monotone jasmine and winey roses. At first, the tonka and vanilla make beautiful music with the rest of the composition, but then the rose and jasmine go incredibly shrill and the notes become a chemical cacophany on my skin. I think I'll pass.

[LyndaM]

I really like this one, I'm so glad I got a 5ml! In the imp and wet, the coffee and jasmine compete for attention. I normally detest jasmine, but after drydown it's a perfect blend. The coffee didn't really linger past drydown either, and that was kind of a shame because I liked it. I do wish the roses showed up more, I might try to layer this over a little London (my layering standby!) to amp it up.

 

Overall, a very nice strong mixed floral with good waft and staying power.

[Firewaver]

Hmm, this was not at all what I expected. The coffee smell is apparent in the imp and only for a few moments after application, after which mata hari shifts into full throttle floral mode.

 

Smells very jasmine laden. Argh.. i think i have a few too many jasmine scents in my bpal box for this one to pass muster.

[paradoxicaljlb]

Mata Hari is hiding something from me. The coffee, for one. And all of the lovely notes mentioned in other reviews. The only thing I can smell is jasmine, jasmine, and more jasmine. If I could turn down the volume on it, I might get to know this lady a little better.

 

An hour or so later, I get occasional hints of coffee, a whiff of fig, the teeniest little taste of something warm. The jasmine is still center stage all the way to the end.

 

Verdict: I'm glad I met her, she's a beautiful stranger, but we just weren't meant to be. Two ships passing in the night and all that.

Edited October 19, 2005 by paradoxicaljlb

[atthis_uk]

Vial: Acrid coffee, hints of rose and fig.

 

Wet: Aaagh, bad coffee

 

Drying: Coffee fades into heavy rose and jasmine. Smells rather stale. Vanilla develops as it dries. Meh. Not for me - I really don't like strong florals.

[wingedcorset]

All the reviews I've read of this are like: OMG THE COFFEE!!! What coffee? I get jasmine and rose and rose and jasmine. Pretty, but overly floral for me. From wet to dry, the whole thing is amazingly jasmine and rose. I can barely smell the coffee in the vial, but that's it.

[theseagrows]

in the imp i immediately smell the jasmine. my skin tends to amplify jasmine in scents as it is, so i wasnt sure how this would work on me. but on my skin the jasmine is this is less overpowering. yay! mostly i smell jasmine, vanilla and/or tonka and the coffee bean. this reminds me of something but i'm not sure what exactly. nevertheless it's a warm golden floral and is very pretty.

[astridclaire]

I'm new to BPAL, and I'm learning what works and doesn't work on my skin. I really wanted to like Mata Hari, but all I can smell is JASMINE while it's wet. It's overpowering and it is giving me a headache.

 

What's interesting though is that when it dries down, I smell ylang-ylang behind the jasmine even though the discription doesn't list it.

 

At least I know now to stay away from scents with jasmine in them!

[Dark Seraphim]

For me, it was pure coffee with a hint of jasmine. Beautiful, polished scent that doesn't last long on my skin, but is truly wonderful as a burner scent. Too bad my mother doesn't like it. She says it smelt like poop and bugspray. Bah. Does happen to be a scent I like a lot as a room scent. I can't imagine it not being on my favorites list. 9/10.

[Belease]

Sadly had to wash this one off - something in there is giving me a bad headache! Didn't smell any vanilla, no fig and definitely no coffee. This was just overpoweringly floral on me and I smelt like stale potpourri. Really, really disappointed because fig, vanilla and coffee sounded like a winner. Perhaps it's the jasmine, but I love jasmine in other things.

 

Definite swap pile material.

 

Reading the reviews above, is it possible the scent has been tweaked? No one else seems to be getting much coffee out of this recently!

Edited December 6, 2005 by Belease

[wichapi]

SUBTERFUGE! Pure subterfuge!

 

Mata starts out as one thing , then turns into quite another.

 

This may be very apropo for the spy/espionage aspect of Mata Hari, but she is my first miss with BPAL. Outside of the oils containing patchouli, this one made feel

 

Brilliant in concept and execution, but just doesn't mesh with my constitution. Sorry Lab.

[Kittyflop]

First on: Floral, dark and warm floral.

 

After a bit: Spicy dark warm floral – the floral being jasmine. It’s got a kick to it. The waft is strong – it’s hovering all around me. I can’t quite pick out the notes, not the coffee anyway, although that may be lending to the overall ‘warm’ quality I’m getting. That and the vanilla.

 

Later – still VERY spicy, very jasmine, very lovely. She's sticking around for the late show, too - I think she'll be up all night!

 

This is an apt tribute to our courtesan and spy – exotic and dangerous, and very womanly.

[merebrillante]

In the vial: Flowers and vanilla.

 

On the wrist: Jasmine and vanilla, with a vaguely sour tone.

 

Later: Goes through a synthetic rubber Barbie doll phase before drying down to just vanilla and tonka bean. Others complained of an overpowering coffee scent in the first half hour. I never smelled coffee at any point. This perfume doesn't have a great deal of throw, either. I think this one is a pass.

[Fefferbella]

I *really* wanted to love this blend, but sadly the jasmine note overpowers everything else.

 

I get a bit of coffee and vanilla in the background, but nothing else.

My imp is slightly aged, so maybe that's the reason for the strong florals?!?

[ajcj213499]

Mara Hari is a very unique blend.

 

Wet, it smells like wood and coffee with jasmine, but it dries down beautifully. The most impressive thing about it is it's staying power. It really lasts all day on me (which is very rare).

[Sycorax]

In the vial a mixture of coffee and fig dominate, with a few very light floral overtones. It smells delicious, but the roses keep it from becoming too foody for my tastes.

 

Surprisingly, the coffee note still predominates when I try this on my skin. I've been known to amp up certain florals, as well as fig, so I was worried about this becoming too sickly-sweet. Thankfully the wood note keeps that from happening. As the perfume wears, the wood just gets stronger and stonger. |

 

Oddly, even though the ingredients are quite unique, this is one of the only BPAL oils that smells very much like (quality) department-store perfume on me. I think that might be the jasmine note's doing. Honestly, I'm not sure how I feel about that. I don't usually have call to wear those sorts of perfumes.

 

I'll probably hang on to the imp until I make up my mind.

[Alannah]

This is the first BPAL rose blend I've tried that hasn't worked for me. In fact, I was shocked to read the description after I tried it because I can't detect any roses!

 

This oil stays consistent on me, from wet to dry. I get no coffee whatsoever, or rose. All I can detect is the jasmine and what I'm guessing is fig. It's almost juicy and very sweet, in an aggressive old-lady-with-too-much-perfume-on way. I wished I hadn't put so much on because it was overpowering. I wish the wood and coffee would come out to balance things a bit, but no such luck.