Mata Hari

[bookishgrrl]

...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.

Wet on Skin: Er, roses and... mothballs? odd.

Initial Dry: WE ARE ROSES HEAR US ROAR. And still a twingy moth-repellant background. Maybe it's the mahogany. Bookishguy: "Yes, that's it... you smell like old lady's closet!"

OK, whew. the mothballs are gone by the first 10 minutes. I can sense some sort of sweet vanilla-esque scent in the background trying to come through, but the rose notes are just beating everything else senseless.

Later: The jasmine, jealous of my skin's love of amping rose has decided to pick a fight to see who can be stronger; ROSE v. JASMINE, fight of doooooooom!

Final Verdict: This was a morpher, but in the end, jasmine won. However, it apparently scared away the fig, coffee and every other note (besides the early dominant rose) I was hoping would come out. I need to pick my florals very carefully, it seems. And I was really hoping for a nice complex scent. Grrr, skin chemistry

ETA: lab description Edited September 29, 2007 by Shollin

[kourika]

In the bottle, I honestly thought that Mata Hari smelled horrible. The rosey scent was more like rotting, moist flowers than the fresh rose scent I was used to in the previous rose scents I'd tried. Upon application, I immediately got the "soapy rose" smell I get with most rose blends, so I decided it was probably a bust. However, after a couple of hours it dried down to something sweet and gentle. I don't think I'd buy any more Mata Hari, but it was a rose scent I could almost wear.

[BrightRedScream]

So when I smelled this in the imp...I thought - ew.

Stale...coffee...gross.

It reminded me of when I worked in an office, and when I had to rinse out the coffee pot.

Yucka!

 

But when you are trying Bpal - you must not let the smell in the bottle influence you - or you will miss out.

 

Once on the skin I got the coffee smell still - but the mahogany really started to come out. The vanilla is there, just very light giving a hint of sweetness to it. I'm not sure what a tonka bean would smell like, so I'm not sure if I'm smelling any tonka beans...

As it dries I'm getting that juicy tone of fig....

 

Smelling this, I am envisioning exactly what the lab described...

I can see that woman...I can see her applying this scent to herself.

It's intoxicating.

 

I want this in a 5ml.

[dragonryder]

Neat! The blending is unique and at first I thought it wouldn't work at all for me as I'm not a coffee scented type of person. But the coffee blends nicely and adds a mysterious note.

[Eunice]

I know already this is a large bottle must have!

Every time I smell this, the scent changes. Sometimes it smells a bit like coffee sweetened with fig. Next it is mahogony with jasmine. Then jasmine with rose. This seems very fitting for the name. I need a large bottle of this!!!

[blueroses]

Mata Hari smells lovely and unique in the imp and when first applied ... like roses and dry coffee beans (not the creamy coffee smell of Miskatonic University). Unfortunately, jasmine overpowers the rose and the wood note takes a chemical turn. I don't get any fig or vanilla - this scent isn't sweet in the slightest.

 

This would be great for people who like jasmine and don't have a skin reaction with the mahogany note.

[Trixie]

Really strong roses and some other something, like cat pee and weasels. I don't smell anything I'd recognize as coffee the way other people did. I also don't smell jasmine. I don't smell vanilla or fig. And I couldn't wait to see if they would appear -- had to scrub it off (though it's still clinging to me). It's just way too strong and rosey for me.

[RavenVelith]

Oh man oh man. I'm worried about them roses. Hopefully they don't have thorns. You know I once got stabbed in the hand by some roses at work--oh nevermind.

 

In the bottle: Coffee. Smells like the house when Sean's up in the morning. ::.snicker.:: I dunno if I like this in the bottle though...It's...headachey. It's them damn roses!

 

Wet: BLECH. Too much rose. Way too much. Rose + My skin doesn't seem to go well together. Bye bye coffee too. Oh gods. Maybe it's that jasmine too. No...I can't wait for this to dry. Off it goes. Stupid thorny roses and their prickings.

[Elrianra]

The first sniff of the imp is mahogany and floral with a blast of vanilla coffee following closely. On me wet, the florals and coffee and tonka mix into a thick heady blend that's reminiscent of cough syrup. The florals and fig are clearly making an entrance. By the time it's dry, this is a soapy rose and jasmine and vanilla mix with just enough fig to make it reminiscent of a holiday shower gel I had a few years ago. It stays soapy for another hour, never morphing further and thus I wash it off.

[juniperus]

Bottle: rose, followed by jasmine and fig. mmmm.

Wet: that fig is glorious! rose, and a hint of coffee on the bottom..the jasmine flows in and out.

Dry: jasmine coming up to bat. noooooooooooo!

Later: I'm aaaamping the jasmine again! Oh no, it sure ain't my friend. (sorry for that Gene Autry moment. I was overcome.)

[weaver]

I get used coffee grinds, mothballs and a bit of lurking rose. Sadly this will not work for me.

[cranberry]

At first sniff I smell jasmine underlain with notes that I can’t identify. It’s warm, rich, and sensual smelling. It reminds me a lot of some of the Lupercalia blends. Nothing in particular – no spot on equivalent, but something about the attitude and tone of this scent that brings out the association for me.

 

There’s something vaguely edible about this scent. I remember when I first tried it I noticed coffee right away but this time I can’t smell it in the least. Maybe it's age? Maybe it's my nose? Regardless it smells different now than how I remember it smelling. I remember thinking this was an odd scent and one I wasn’t too taken with. Now, I’m really enjoying it and glad that I hung onto my imp.

 

ETA: Thanks GC swap for getting me to pull it out again!

Edited June 15, 2006 by cranberry

[karengypsy]

In the vial: Rose, jasmine, coffee bean

 

On me: The rose really amps up on my skin, followed by jasmine and tonka. As it dries, the rose gets softer, the jasmine fades, the tonka stays warm and soft, and the coffee bean adds a bit of spice. This is such an exotic blend - the name Mata Hari truly fits it!

 

Verdict: This is one of the first BPAL scents that I ordered, and it is my favorite to this day. So glad I finally ordered a bottle!

 

Rating: 5/5

[Melantha]

I normally like coffee smells, but not this one. I ended up washing it off because my skin disliked it so much. No florals in evidence.

[urbanruralferal]

I got this as a frimp in a swap. I put it on not knowing any of the notes.

I washed it off in about 20 minutes. My whole family was alarmed at the powerful nature of the rose in this blend. I was smelling up the whole house with a sort of rose-y toilet cleaner odor. I only swiped the tiniest bit on and I could taste it, literally!

Now that I read the description and all these fab reviews I am almost tempted to try it again to make some sense of it, to be fair, but...

no.

It will go to the next, perhaps more appreciative, home, asap.

 

ETA:

It is too bad I work as a janitor. so many things fall under the "cleaning products" category, but I am sure I am just exposed to too many. This definitely smells similar to the rose scented bathroom cleaner we use.

 

**My daughter has tried it now, and I can smell the fig, at least I think it is the fig, similar to what I smelled in Cairo (the blend). Coffee, none. jasmine, not yet. Roses, sure, but they are very faint and balanced by dry spice. It is a somewhat nostalgic scent, i think.

Edited July 2, 2006 by urbanruralferal

[Jocelyn]

Smells like jasmine in the vial, with some coffee. I smell no rose unfortunately.

On it smells like jasmine and coffee addicted old ladies. Which sucks, I really wanted to like this one.

[batsy]

In the vial: Coffee'n'roses.

 

On the skin: Ok sorry but this is not a mix I like. It actually smells like dirty diapers and baby powder on my skin. I can pull the roses and coffee but I can't stand the combo. *tosses quickly into the swap pile*

[aestien]

Bottle: sweet vanilla rose and just a hint of coffee

Wet: rose & jasmine, the sweetness of vanilla and fig, the cinnamon smell of tonka. This scent on me goes through a strong soap stage, which I believe is the rose and jasmine, although, I didn't mind it in this blend, as it smelled to me of the most luxurious, old fashioned, triple milled french soap

Dry: This dries down gorgeously as the rose and jasmine fade into the background, leaving a warm, roundly sweet cinnamon vanilla fig with a touch of coffee and mahogany

 

This is a rich, warm scent. I had to look up Mata Hari after trying this out. What a fascinating woman she was. I wondered if the coffee note in this was a play on words since Mata Hari had Javanese descent, and I also found out that Tonka used to be used in pipe tobacco, which seemed highly appropriate.

[provocateur]

In bottle: rose and powder.

 

On skin, wet: jasmine and powder

 

On skin, dry: powder.

 

conclusion: powder!

rating: 0/5

[luna65]

Thanks to nursekins for the imp.

 

Imp: You know, I don't smell the roses in the vial; it's all sweetness and coffee, no florals at all.

 

Skin: The rose says I'm coming out! I want the world to know, got to let it show!

 

Drydown: Boy, those five roses ain't foolin' around, baby! They let jasmine come to the party too, though. There's a little fig and a little woodiness once the roses tone down. This is sweeter than I expected, and I like Beth's rose notes, but I almost feel this is too girly on me, not femme fatale enough.

Edited October 4, 2006 by luna65

[fictiontragedy]

I got this one as a free imp from the lab andI was in no rush to try this on as roses and I seem to have an ongoing battle.

 

However every time I opened the imp I smelled coffee and it was strangly tempting me. Not that I wanted to smell like coffee but I wanted to see how it progressed. So I caved and put it on.

 

These roses like me and strangly I hardly smell rose at all. I do smell Jasmine but me and Jasmine have always been friends. I also think I smell the coffee but only faintly. I don't smell fig but I do smell Vanilla. I'm going to have to test this one out more then once as it's so complex but I think this might be my new favorite floral. It's lovely.

Edited August 9, 2006 by fiction tragedy

[edenssixthday]

Mata Hari - On my skin, none of the florals or the vanilla appeared. Even the the scent of jasmine, which is usually bold and confident on my skin, was completely absent. Rather, Mata Hari was a dry, woody scent. The mahogany took center stage on my skin, with the tiniest hint of coffee bean and tonka. It was not a scent that appealed to me in the least, so I passed along to my sister, who was able to give it a good, loving home.

Edited August 14, 2006 by edenssixthday

[littlewillow]

Initial impressions: In the imp, this is a very sharp smell of bitter, acidic, cold and strong coffee.

 

Drydown: During the first few seconds, I got very, very sharp coffee. The coffee is practically peaking into alarmingly sour sharpness, but luckily that effect lasted only a few seconds before it faded into gentle mahongany smokyness. Wow. What a rapid-paced assault on my sense of smell. The latter scent is something I'd be happy with all by itself, but it faded away almost as soon as the coffee.

 

After drydown: Spicy jasmine all over. A very wonderful scent, reminds me of how the souqs and shops smelled back during a visit to Dubai. Sweet, very oriental and incense-like. I still get occasional whiffs of sweet coffee and wood on the edges. I absolutely love this. Mata Hari becomes very balanced on my skin - the earlier scent of jasmine fades a bit, letting some room for vanilla, roses and mahongany. After a while the scent fades a bit, becoming mellow and not too intrusive - just enough to be there, but not too much to overwhelm my senses.

 

Summary: Mata Hari is very elusive on me - I keep thinking that it stays spicy and oriental, but I keep getting surprised by occasional whiffs of the other notes. Layered and secretive sweetness. This is also the first BPAL scent I've tried - After reading some of the earlier reviews, I was slightly afraid of taking a risk with a scent that seems to work for some, but not on others, but I'm glad I took that risk. I'll definitely get more of this at some point.

[Scrangie]

In the imp: Coffee and... urine.

 

On my skin: Day old coffee, urine and flowers.

 

I don't know what's in here that's giving me the pee smell... Jasmine? Ylang ylang?

 

Maybe I am just imagining it. I'm not that fond of florals.

 

This is really bad on me.

[SultryWolf]

I had this one on my list as a Don't Want, because I cannot stand the smell of coffee, but just got a frimp from a generous forumite.

And I love it.

Can't smell the coffee, and the rose and jasmine combine to pretty well simulate Gardenia, which I adore.

 

It's actually rather frustrating to find that I like even the scents that I shouldn't!

How am I supposed to save any money at all?