Catherine

[Diva Urd]

Named for the ambitious, vengeful poisoner Catherine deMedici, who used perfumes to perform her dark deeds. A sinful blend of orange blossom, rosemary and rose... allegedly the exact perfume she utilzed in her work.

Very herbal, almost, but not quite bitter on me (that's probably the rosemary speaking). That seems to be the base scent. Over that, there is a soft floral top layer that tries to mask the spike of the rosemary, but does not (and seemingly does not want to) quite manage.

It definitely has my interest. I am not in love with it, but I find it fascinating in a different way, even though I can't quite determine how yet. Will have to test some more.

[angstkitten]

Catherine

3/15/06

 

Wet: Like herbs. Rosemary, mostly. Harsh.

Dry: Less harsh now, but I don’t love it. It’s kind of giving me a headache.

[enui]

Strong, acidic, almost bitter.

Wet on my skin it smells like hair removal cream >_< and it stays like that for a few hours.

In the end the acidic part goes away and it becomes almost pleasant, but this stage lasts maybe half an hour :/

[Meg]

In the bottle: Orange blossom... with a hint of something weird in the background.

 

Wet: Still orange blossom and... oh yes, it becomes a bit spicy. I wouldn't have thought that this was the smell of rosmary, though, it's possibly a bit of spicy rose.

 

Drydown: I do get some rose, but it's quite in the background compared to the orange blossom that stays at the front. I think it's a white rose scent, and it sort of grounds the orange blossom. Then the smell dries down into something... well, slightly funky, and pretty dark.

 

Overall: Unusually austere and solemn, with a hint of mischief. Unfortunately my skin seems to hate orange blossom. It smells nice in the bottle, but as soon as it's dried on my skin, it goes pretty funky. I also think that the rosmary note is what I associate to "cow dung smell", so... um. No. Oh dear, and then the rose mixing to that - it reminds me of a detergent that holds extremely bad olfactive memories for me. Goodbye, Catherine. I'm sad it didn't work out.

[juniperus]

Bottle: Sharp and green - the rosemary and something else...sinister. None of the sweetness I'd expect from the rose or the orange blossom.

Wet: Rosemary and rose, less sharp and more full and complex.

Dry: A hint of the orange blossom top note, it's gone from green, then rose, to rose then green...but barely. Still pretty balanced between the two dominant scents.

Later: Went through a phase when it really wanted to go soapy on me...I don't know if that's the orange blossom at work, this has totally different ingredients than the last one that turned soapy on me, so I waited it out with the scent teetering on the edge of madness. Happily, it didn't fall off the edge, so it faded to the rose with the dark green underneath that, less sharp than earlier, just gave it a mysterious quality.

I like darker rose blends when I'm in a floral mood, and I love the smell of rosemary...Rosemary for Remembrance. Dandy happy.

[gwyllgi]

This smells like something from my childhood, and it's driving me absolutely crazy as I try to figure out what. The dominant note that I pick up is the orange blossom, which is particularly lovely but not overly sweet. I don't get much rose in this at all, although the rosemary comes through more and more as it dries.

 

I hadn't expected to like this - anything with rose in it usually turns out cloying on me. Instead, I can't seem to stop sniffing my wrist. The overall scent isn't anything particularly distinctive (even if I can't recall what it reminds me of - argh), but something in it makes it unique, sweetness over a core of mystery.

 

I think this would be particularly lovely as a room scent, too. My perpetual burning of Lightning may need to take a break for this, especially once I upgrade my imp.

[Miyabi]

Oh, no.

 

I was expecting a floral with a touch of herb, but the rosemary and orange really overpowered this one. It came out as cleaning fluid on my skin.

 

Definitely not for me.

[Zeljana]

Wet on skin very herbal but lovely. It's sharp and wicked and very mature. It is very interesting and I'm glad I tried it.

Dry on my skin, this is all soapy roses with just a hint of rosemary.

My mom on the other hand doesn't get roses at all and her body chemistry makes Catherine glow! It really smells great on her.

[eviltemptressdq]

well, i know what this one smells like out of MY childhood! The "forest" smell that was in my scratch and sniff Bambi book. LOL. The one I didn't REALLY liked, but kept sniffing anyway? random.

 

anyway, this smells very grassy/herbal to me. I want to not like it, but keep on sniffing it. Hard to explain. On my wrist? the strong herbal smell is a little less strong... giving way to the mellow smell of a flower (probably the orange blossom, as it is not rose-y).

 

overall? not sure i LOVE it, but it is nice!

 

*edit* This just totally went soapy on me! how bizarre... boo

Edited May 14, 2006 by eviltemptressdq

[HennaFairy]

bottle:

trong floral musk. Not what I'd go for but I'll give it a chance!

 

wet:

musky floral… strong rose

 

dry:

the muskines goes away - I can smell the orange blossom and roses. Still a stronger floral than I prefer. Eventually the rose takes a back seat, and it's much more pleasant.

 

overall:

I like it a half hour later, but it's just not me.

 

rating: 6/10

[storme]

In the imp: bitter, bitter neroli and soap.

 

On me, wet: still a lot of neroli and soapiness to this, and not much rosemary at all.

 

On me, dry: this is rather a muted, bitter-orange-blossom over softer florals. It's a softer neroli than I'm used to in BPAL, actually. There's only the faintest wiff of rose, but it's a pleasant, sweet rose. The rose and the neroli don't work together so well, though.

 

Later: well, this does all blend together pretty nicely after a while - it's startling, since neroli Does Not Work On Me Ever.

 

Verdict: This plays a lot nicer on my skin that I thought it would. I quite like this, in fact. I'm not sure it's a scent I'd ever reach for, but the imp can stay.

[Elrianra]

I smell Lysol in the bottle. Just sharp, chemical citrus with a high note of something bitter-sweet... very... soapy. Hrm, this is new because I've all but proclaimed my loyalty to the lab's rose notes. On me wet this is just a citrus soap... no floral whatsoever. The rosemary sharpens this, gives it that soap-like tang. Like a really good hand made soap that uses essential oils and not a store bought, factory produced in bulk soap... but still, it reminds me of soap!!! Dry, this turns right around and goes from citrus-soap to a bouquet of roses in a crystal vase while you suck on a creamsicle... the rosemary has faded, leaving the creamy and slightly citrusy orange blossom note behind - and it smells actually CREAMY to me. The roses are, well, quite plainly, a timid half dozen white roses from the local grocery store's florist. Pretty but designed for a short life and a brief drying spell to make them last longer. Once this warms up, it turns all over on me again: soapy florals with a touch of herbals, it reminds me strongly of a few shower gels and massage oils I have. How infuriatingly coy!

[malanna]

Catherine smells like both sunblock and cleaner. It's heavy on the rosemary, but the rose slowly comes out and it smells vaguely soapy and sort of like Come to Me. The orange blossom emerges, and it just ends up smelling like a lightly scented rose soap.

[opaleyes]

::wrinkles nose and winces:: I don't get orange or rose from this. It's straight rosemary. It reminds me of something I had when I was little, but I'm not sure what. It's definitely giving me a headache though. Ick.

[lilfaerywingz]

This was disappointing to me because I wanted a scent named after me...but it didn't work out

 

Bottle: Overwhelming old perfume

 

Wet: I smell mostly Rosemary, but a little whif of the orange blossom comes out

 

Dry: I only smell what seems like roses, but is a little powdery

[hologhost]

Wow, that's a lot of rosemary! It's all I smell. Not for me.

[fairy]

This one was another sour scent. In the bottle it really smelled tart. It softened a tad when applied but still had that sour smell to it. It didn't sit right with me. I think it might be the rosemary

[euterpe414]

I had meaning to try this for a while, went to WillCall, sniffed it, swiped it on my arm, and bought a bottle immediately!

 

I don't normally go for blends with neroli or orange blossom, but the rosemary really makes this wonderfully herbal- it somehow took the strange BO smell that orange blossom sometimes gets on me away.

 

The rose appears more in the drydown, goes through a slightly soapy stage, and then mellows out quite a bit. When this is dry, all of the notes are well blended into a sophisticated herbal scent.

 

I love this blend because it gives off a very powerful, strong and feminine air- an impression of a knowledgable and powerful (perhaps slightly evil..)woman, and who doesn't want that?

This is a very timeless blend, and I will definitely wear it often.

[neuilly]

At first there was a fair amount of rosemary but it died down very quickly, Now I'm left with plain rose. Very single note on me, and note my favorite type of rose either. No sign of the orange blossom anywhere on me!

[edenssixthday]

Catherine is a perfect example of why I try on every BPAL scent I get even if it doesn't smell good in the bottle. I opened my imp of Catherine, and it smelled like 100% cat pee. I doubt there's been another BPAL scent that I found as reviling upon first sniff. But I was determined to test it out, and I'm glad I did because the instant it touched my skin, it turned into the most incredibly beautiful scent. It's incredibly powerful both in it's throw and the general feel of it. It's full of strength, passion, and beauty. The scent is slightly bitter on me at first, but after 30 minutes or so, it subsides into a truly lovely floral. I love most BPAL rose scents, so I was very surprised to discover there is rose in this because it's blended so well that I don't smell any distinct rose scent at all. In fact, none of the notes are distinct to me. This is a beautifully crafted blend that's sweet and soft while maintaining its strength, dignity, and allure. Will be very tempted to buy a full size bottle of Catherine.

[Dinerdulcinea]

imp: orange blossom. This reminds me of a perfume I used to have when I was a kid, only this is much nicer (the perfume I had was orange blossom).

 

on wet: oooooo...I like this! I feel MEAN and STRONG! yea!

 

dry: it is a little bit more spicy now. I still really like it. I would not mind smelling like this all day.

 

Dry later: It gets more spicy and faint as the day wears on.

 

verdict: Really neat blend. I will keep the imp, but am not sure I would buy a bottle at this point (if I had to choose between this and some others I like more.)

Edited September 6, 2006 by Dinerdulcinea

[yellowrose]

This imp is circulating as part of the General Catalogue swap.

 

Upon opening Catherine, there is a note that reminds me of jasmine, but isn't. It's sharp, bitter, and not something I want to put on my skin. I'm sticking to sniffing in the bottle and good thing.

 

My nose has not stopped running since the initial exploratory sniff and now, it's completely stuffy. Neroli is the most likely culprit. And it's on my fingers. Ack!

 

Safe travels little imp.

[akabob]

I tried this one earlier today. I ended up frimping it to a friend of mine after I tried it...it was just too green. The rosemary went wild on me and I ended up smelling like my parents' backyard which is rife with wild rosemary. After a half-hour it finally dried down to a soft rose that was barely noticeable with just a tiny touch of what I suppose was the orange blossom.

 

Not a scent for me...definitely one for women who love herby, garden scents. This is light and reminds me of walking through the roses with handfuls of rosemary. Very old-world. Which I guess is appropriate, given the inspiration for the perfume!

[jenleigh]

It took me a few sniffs to figure out what Catherine smelled like, and when I did, I grinned.

 

This is very similar to Lush's Amandopondo bubble bath on me. The roses and the citrus from the orange blossom blend together really nicely. I don't get much rosemary from this, which is good because that tends to go a little mediciney.

 

The imp's definitely a keeper.

[Tess]

I've never had much luck with rosemary, but I love orange blossom. This is a frimp and I'm pretty happy they tossed this in for me.

 

In the vial - Whoa, this is HEAVY rosemary. I can sense the florals back there, but it's heavy on the herb.

 

Wet - This is so heavy on the rosemary it's actually making me cough...

 

Drying - Holy freaking throw, Batman. This is strong like crazy with a bizarre mix of rosemary and orange blossom, the rosemary dominating. STRONG.

 

Dry (1 hour) - Something about the combination of these notes makes this smell exactly like rose geranium with some spicey rosemary. Don't ask me how it works, but that's the way it goes. Still tons of throw, too.

 

Overall - Very much not my thing, but someone might find this lovely.