Embalming Fluid

[MaidenGenevive]

Embalming Fluid

A light, pure scent: white musk, green tea, aloe and lemon.

 

Ahh, refreshing and clean. This is just as described. It reminds me of my Method handsoap. This would be good for a day where you want to feel bright and fresh.

 

[3 - Like]

[Allumina]

Bright sparkling light floral. Reminds me of the "body mist" type perfume they sell for little girls. Nice, not for me.

[SarahScent44]

In the imp - lemon. * happy sigh* I'm a fiend for citrus. This is light, soft lemon and green tea.

 

On my skin, it's still a very light lemon, accented lovely green tea - very clean, very nice.

 

When it dries, it's still a great lemon-citrus, but it's very soft. I can see why the name of this scent gets bandied about so often. This is a great everyday, work/professional, subtle beautiful scent.

[inurbanus]

Cool, crisp, refreshing -- Embalming Fluid is like a cold glass of lemonade. The aloe is a great touch; it keeps the lemon fresh. This is perfect for summer or a conservative work environment. It deserves its status as a "BPAL Classic".

 

4/5

[akiko]

Imp: citrusy with a weird perfume smell behind it

 

Wet: clean, fresh, and light, definitely citrusy.

 

Dry: citrus-musk-clean. It's kind of like Phobos' friendlier cousin.

[Pyrebi]

In the imp: There's a sweetness behind the citrus that is just lovely. It's gotta be the tea and musk.

 

Wet: Sharp lemony smell. The citrus and aloe have really taken charge now, but it doesn't smell chemical. Thank goodness!

 

Dry: A bit of sweetness has come back. It does have a vaguely lemonade quality to it. It's very nice. I don't think I'll wear this one very often, though--it has next to no throw on me! Seriously, I have to press me nose against my skin to be able to smell it at all! Too bad; it's right up my alley.

[rhiannonsanchez]

Embalming Fluid is a stange scent. In the bottle its very citrusy. On the skin its clean and crisp, but seems to have a hint of something behind it thats wrong and twisted. But in a good way I first wore it out on a very snowy day, and it went well witht the atmospher. I think that its the kind of scent that I will wear again, but keep it reserved for cold weather.

[topazphoenix]

Embalming fluid was lemony, clean and fresh smelling. There's something else in there that didn't agree with my nose, though, and I think it's the tea.

Edited June 9, 2008 by AmandaKay

[hkhm]

imp: tea and very, very light musk.

 

wet: the lemony-ness comes out and mixes with the tea scent. this is a little strong but otherwise quite sunny.

 

dry: this smells more like macha one dry and all i'm getting is the tea scent.

[blktauna]

in bottle: light citrus scent. Really light, like someone's cutting lemons or limes two rooms away.

 

wet on skin: Still very very light. A bit of floral is showing up underneath the citrus. They work well together.

 

dry: Practically gone in 20 minutes. I have to snort my wrist to get the faintest wiff of candy lemon fading to an indistinct floral.

 

Its a lovely light scent but it's too fleeting. I'll enjoy it in the summer I think. I like Phantasm better though.

[willowtreeling]

this smells great on me! It's fresh and clean and reminds me of lemons while not smelling lemony, if that makes sense (scents ha!) The smell reminds me of when I take walks and look at all the greenery--how there are so many shades of green that all compliment each other so well. This is what the color light green should smell like.

[AEris]

This is a very nice scent, and although it's not something that I would choose for myself, I can still appreciate why it has so much appeal.

 

I get mostly lemon and green tea, and it makes for a scent that's super-fresh and soapy. It's reminding me of Elizabeth Arden's Green Tea, except (obviously) much nicer. It's a little too lemony for my taste when wet, but after a minute it smooths out and smells really pretty. I think the musk (which I can't really pick out unless I squint and concentrate) gives the blend a nice grounding.

 

It's a little high up on the "zing" spectrum to be something that I'd reach for, but if someone else was wearing this I would be sniffing at them trying to be discreet about it. This is a BPAL that everyone should try on their skin, just to experience, and I understand why it's such a popular fragrance.

 

4.2 out of 5

[CrazyPretzel]

In Taiwan (and maybe elsewhere that I haven't discovered) you can get refreshing drinks made with lemon juice and pieces of aloe pulp, and Embalming Fluid reminds me of those (not too surprising!) The musk is soft and delicate. Personally I like my perfumes to pack a little more attitude, but for a soft, airy, lemony scent to wear in the middle of summer this will be quite nice. I find it has more staying power than Shanghai.

[ekolmus]

In the bottle: I smell the aloe and the tea. Light and astringent and barely there.

 

Wet: Lemony! There's an almost licorice-like undertone balancing out the bitterness of the lemon. I'm really, really liking this one.

 

Dry: Very light throw. It's too bad, really, because I smell fantastic!

[jwhxtna]

IN THE IMP: Immediately, it makes me think of Elizabeth Arden's Green Tea. Green Tea and Spiced Green Tea are actually my mom's signature scents, so this reminds me of her. Just by that association, this smells warm and comforting and mature to me. But the lemon in this does make it a brighter and more cheery scent.

 

WET: Strong lemon that's almost bitter, like lemon rind. Smells kinda like bathroom cleaner.

 

DRY: Yep, smells like Green Tea, except, well, this is nicer. Light musk with green tea and lemon to balance. Definitely "light and pure", with just enough citrus to brighten it up. Such a pretty scent, but I don't think I can ever wear it without thinking of my mom.

[girlygirl]

Fresh and clean. This frimp from a Lushie was my introduction to BPAL. This is the one that got me interested!

[nali]

My first impression of Embalming Fluid in the vial was that of something sharply citrus, a strong lemon scent with a hint of something green.

 

Once on my skin, the citrus note faded rapidly into something herbal and green (though interestingly, I got more lemon from the crook of my elbow than on my wrist). The aloe was quite prominent early on. It was very summery and reminded me of being outside in a grassy field with morning sun angling down.

 

As the hours wore on, there was something sharp about the way it all came together, an astringently herbal quality. I think a friend of mine put it best when she noted that Embalming Fluid gets "continually plant-ier," because this was almost aggressively green in a sun-warmed sort of way. The green tea asserted itself and stayed strong to the end.

 

My husband's take on it was similar:

 

Initial lemony-ness backed up with a sharp wood rosin type of smell. I wish I could describe it better, but sometimes in a cut area in the forest that has a lot of high grass and vegetation, you get a sharp, cutting smell that has a woodsy base.

 

I think I'd like to try Zephyr to see if it's the springlike/summery scent I hoped Embalming Fluid would be.

[Iceblink]

I needed to fill out an imp pack, and since Embalming Fluid gets mentioned a lot as a perfect hot weather scent and I live in the south, I thought I'd give it a whirl. Wet, it's lemony cleaning fluid. Dry, it's a sharp, very very very green green tea (the aloe must be what's giving it that extra green kick). This does feel like it would be just what you need on a hot hot day, although it's so sharp right now I can feel it in my sinuses!! I think I'll put this imp away until the first 100 degree scorcher and by then it should be aged a bit and just what I need!

[Delirium1009]

In bottle/imp: Citrus green tea. It’s crisp and fresh.

 

Immediately on skin: This is a very crisp, light green tea and citrus scent. It’s very fresh with the green tea and the citrus mixing together seamlessly. As with most blends including white musk, I can’t really smell that note on its own; instead it’s this cool, dry musk that just permeates the whole blend.

 

After a little while: The citrus dies down a little and this settles into a crisp green tea fragrance. There’s hints of the white musk, but it just adds to the cooler, fresh feel of this blend.

 

Overall Impressions: I love the lab’s tea blends and this one is really lovely. It’s on the unisex side, and would be a great warm weather fragrance. It’s very fresh and crisp with a nice citrus bite and a lot of lovely green tea. My husband tried this blend on and it's one of his favorites as well.

[Emera]

Lemon, aloe, a little green tea: a clean, clear, fresh scent. Extremely similar to Shanghai, but a bit crisper and prettier, in my opinion.

[alsatia]

Expectations: Crisp and wet, not particularly strong. Hopefully the lemon won't be too sour.

 

In vial: An aloe plant that has been watered with diluted lemon juice.

 

On skin, wet: Whoa, lemon! We're veering into Pledge territory.

 

On skin, dry: Oh, ick. The lemon calmed down a little, but it's now musky tea and it's reminding me of something unpleasant that I can't quite remember.

 

After time: 35 minutes later, my wrist smells faintly like dish soap, as though I dribbled some on me and didn't get it thoroughly rinsed off.

 

Conclusion: I wasn't crazy about the scent even when it was strong, and given that I slathered it on and it's almost completely disappeared in under an hour, I don't think I care for this one.

[Kelism]

Kind of yuck for me. I liked the concept of a nice fresh scent, but it came off more like a cleaning solution. It was very sharp and powerful and something about it didn't sit right with my head. The lemon was way strong for me and it didn't feel fresh, it felt more like a bathroom. A freshly cleaned bathroom, but a bathroom nonetheless.

[miri]

I liked the lemonyness in the bottle - quite tangy, and I can see why some people got 'lemonade' and others got 'washing up liquid' from it - but it doesn't like me Wet on skin, it quickly turned from zingy lemon to a strong vomit smell. I stuck it out to see if it went nice again when it dried, but it turned really bitter - keeping with the reflux theme, it pretty much smelled like bile.

 

I'm not sure what it was that went funny on me - I'm guessing the aloe or green tea, or perhaps a combination. Searching the forum indicates that people have had mixed results for ageing it, so maybe I'll keep it for a while and see if it improves...

[ryokokoro]

When I first put it on, it smells like some kind of lemon household cleaner for a little while. Once it settles though, it totally smells like green tea with a smoky musk floating on top. The aloe and lemon become just barely present enough to give it a sort of clean that isn't kitchen floor clean. *laugh* This one is definitely bottle worthy.

[donnatron]

Imp: Sharp, clean lemon scent.

 

Wet: This doesn't morph much from imp to wrists. Good thing, because tea has a tendency to get unruly on me. This is simply a fresh, clean smell.

 

Dry: The white musk warms a bit lending a more sophisticated "perfume" air to it, but the scent is overall pretty true from imp to drydown. Really fresh and pretty, I could see wearing this throughout the stick summer months.

 

Throw: Pretty good. I've got it on both wrists and swiped the wand over my clavicle and am in a bit of a scent cloud here.

 

Overall: I was ambivalent about the notes in this, but I get such a kick out of the name. Happily it wound up smelling pretty delightful on my skin. With summer imminent on the horizon, I can see myself picking up a bottle of this to ease me through the hottest days.