Embalming Fluid

[fairnymph]

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

In the bottle: Green tea, lemon, white musk! Sharp and fresh and sour.

Wet: Almost piney in its greenness; astringent. Green tea reigns. Lemon and white musk linger just behind. The aloe is much fainter and lighter and softer.

Dry: Clean, bracing. All the notes are still going strong, but have blended together nicely for a smoother effect. I'm recalling Tweedledum, the Spell of Amorous Love, and Phantasm.

Summary: Powerful, invigorating green tea, lemon, and white musk - along with some cologne-y white flowers. The aloe is much vaguer. Crazy strong throw and lasting power. Unisex.

Too piercing for me. Edited June 20, 2008 by Shollin
fixed BPAL tags, added full description

[gchris]

in vial. green tea and citrus

 

wet. This smells like it has grapefruit in it to me even though I know it is not mentioned. Must be the lemon. This reminds me a lot of F5 but with the added lemon. They both have similar notes as well.

 

later. Staying power is great! It is fresh. Would be a great everyday scent. I need more.

[Suu4LC]

This smells in the imp pretty much exactly how I would expect this blend to smell-a combination of it's notes.

 

The aloe is a bit strong on my skin. Kind of reminds me of when I used to get a sunburn and would have to rub aloe vera gel on my burnt skin.

 

This is nice, but not my favorite of the light, citrussy scents from bpal I've tried. It's got too much of the aloe vera gel and lemon cleaner smell for me I think. To the swaps!

[Lamia]

This is quite lemony, without the Lemon Fresh PineSol pain of some others. The musk really helps dampen the citrus so that even though it's quite clearly LEMONS, it's not puckering.

[martiangurll]

Embalming Fluid

 

 

Preconceptions: I love green tea freshness so I expect to like this, but the aloe is a wild card. To be honest, I am digging the name so I want to love it already.

 

In the imp: Green tea and citrus yummyness. IF I drink it, will I be an embalmed zombie? Sweet and fresh.

 

Wet on flesh: Green tea spiked with citus. Reminds me of my Rainforest Macha tea spiked with lime (although this note is lemon--I really have trouble distinguishing the two. The white musk adds a layer of softness and feminity. I am not sure what single note aloe smells like but that must be what adds a slightly herbal impression to the blend.

 

Dry: The musk predominates but doesn't overpower the tea. The citrus "burns off" after a while but the effect is lovely.

 

Overall Impressions: Unisex, or at least Metrosexual. If you can pull off wearing white musk, and you metrosexuals know who you are--can you wear pink? Seriously, this is fresh, uplifting, and optimistic. I just love this and the name is really cool too. I can't wait for someone to ask me what I am wearing so I can see their reaction. Very unique and will wear very well in hot months. Bigbottleworthy.

[alicia_stardust]

This one is pretty straight-forward to me. It is very light, fresh, and clean because of the tea and white musk. The aloe and lemon only serve to brighten and freshen this. This seems like a pick-me-up sort of clean scent. Refreshing, despite its name.

[kittycatpurr]

In the imp: The tea and the lemon together are very attractive in the imp, but I can't tell if I'm going to like white musk or not.

Wet: Big lemon top note.

Drydown: The musk has come out to hold hands with the lemon. It's basically lemon cologne. I do like it.

Dry: This has good last. The white musk choogles along the entire day. After taking a shower, still had a stripped-down version, which I also liked.

Later: Here's the thing. I love lemon, but I don't love tea on my skin so much. I still like this, but am hoping that Zephyr or Moxie will be my perfect lemon.

[sparkybish]

All green tea on me, and I forgot how much I hate green tea smell!

[Raqassah]

Mmmm...this one is a keeper

 

In the imp/bottle: Green tea with lemon, white florals and just a drop of white musk.

 

On skin, wet: A light, pure scent: white musk, green tea, aloe and lemon. Mmm…light and fresh. Tangy.

 

On skin, dry: Absolutely lovely. No one note dominates. Don’t get that much lemon. Nice, bright and fresh without being soapy or fake. Quite complex on my skin. Undertone of musk not at all powdery.

 

It has good staying power, even if it doesn't have a very strong throw.

 

Conclusion: A keeper. My husband liked it too!

[Coldfire]

Oh the rapture that is Embalming Fluid. I may have just found the one I need to hoard forEVAH!

 

In the bottle this is all lovely green and citrus. but not a clearly defined citrus...

just lovely citrus. And wet on me it gets more green and citrus intense. And this

stays very green and citrus as it dries down on me. It does not stay as long as I

want so I may need to bathe in it, but the throw is awesome while it lasts

 

This is beyond bottle love, THIS IS FOR THE HOARD!

[darharper]

This is the first BPAL scent I tried and my first review, so, here it goes.

 

In the vial: Wow! Very citrusy and herbal. Lovely. I really want to like this. Please skin, be kind.

 

Wet on skin: Lots of herby, lemony, bright notes. The lemon makes it a bit to sharp. I am not sure about it.

 

Dry down: I LOVE it. On me, it turned into a musky, green, herbal scent with just a wee hint of lemon which seems to add the right amount of balance. I tried this after a very long business trip and very little sleep. When I got to the office, this lovely scent is wafted about me and kept me energised. It is a clean, fresh scent that reminds me of the herbs drying in my grandma's kitchen during the summer. I kept smelling my wrist and smiling. The staying power was fabulous (4 hours in and it still smelled lovely and there was a bit of scent left the next morning) and the throw was great.

 

Definitely a big bottle. I want to bathe in this perfect scent!

[milo]

This is such a great summer scent! There is a nice clean lemon scent that is perfectly balanced with what I guess is the tea. It is not very sweet, and quite refreshing. Very much a bottle worthy scent for me!

[ouch!]

I REALLY REALLY like this!!!

 

I've had my imp for an eternity but never got round to wearing it yet! Well...it was the pick of the week last week and I've fallen in love!

I really want to smell this next to 51, so when I get home I will..

 

They are in the same vein for me, extremely fresh and uplifting...

 

When it's wet it's mainly lemon, but a really nice lemon...not washing up liquid lemon...not fake lemon..it's almost like a green tinged lemon..

As it dries and has warmed up on the wrist a bit, it just becomes this incredibly pleasant crisp smell..the green tea is giving it a slightl herbyness, and the white musk I cannot detect but I'm sure it's adding to the overall smell!

 

I just WISH this lasted longer..it's a shame, citrussy things tend to go fast on me...

 

I think this has to be added to my bottle list though, because it will be beautiful for summer!!

Edited June 9, 2008 by ouch!

[idoru]

Folks really seem to love or hate Embalming Fluid.. I can't put myself in either camp.

 

My first impression was "lemon!" with a chaser of soapiness, no musk at all. A pale green scent, if you will.

 

About 5 minutes in, green tea rears its head.

 

My notes: ".. gets continually plant-ier."

I tend to like clean scents, but this stays overall TOO clean-smelling. Plantiness + cleaner + lemon [with a hint of white musk] = not right for me, but I don't hate it.

[stillalive]

Smells almost exactly like Shanghai to me... must be the green tea and lemon. Nice scent, doesn't want to stay on me.

 

ADDED July 16:

 

alright, on second try (or maybe it's because I'm on my period) embalming fluid is everything that shanghai refused to be on me. I think I prefer it a little more, because it's a bit stronger and less sweet.

[Andrea912]

Wet: Elizabeth Arden Green Tea. Clean, fresh; the green tea and lemon is refreshing.

 

Verdict: Nice summer scent; not for me.

[Kabooki]

Wet: I smell like I just got done cleaning the wood in my house with a bunch of lemon pledge. Surprisingly enough even though I’m a Virgo I don’t like to smell like cleaning products…

 

It dries down pretty fast and becomes just a very faint scent of lemon cleaning products, oh wait there is a touch hidden deep within of the aloe. I really wish I was getting the green tea everyone else seems to have found

 

Maybe I can wear this one when I want to convince my husband I just got done cleaning

[ImperatrixMundi]

I like it. But it smells almost exactly like the green tea and citrus shower get my father always uses. I'd wear it if it was not for that.

[Happicuppa]

Oooh I like this...it reminds me of lemon zinger tea! Very hard to smell on me though:( I think this is a perfect lemon/aloe/tea blend and I think I'll need a bottle. Clean, lemon-y and I love the tea/aloe vibe too. Like I said, not great throw but I like the wafts of it I'm getting. I'll just have to apply more liberally.

 

4.5/5...this might be my new summer scent! <3

[charshark]

Love Embalming Fluid! It's a nice, fresh and crisp citrus scent with a bit of green tea and a wee bit of white musk. The only thing I don't like about it is that I wish it would last longer on me.

[AthenaRose]

I bought an imp of this for my fiancé to try, and he didn't care for it.

 

So i tried it myself.

 

Soapy. Like hand-soap. Reminds me of Kiss My Face self foaming handsoap... the "c-weed" one that has aloe and lemon in it. I like Kiss My Face products, but that particular scent always smelled somewhat like urine to me. So much, that when my fiancé would wash his hands with it, i'd be like... "hey... you've been using the urine soap!". And well, Embalming Fluid, sadly, reminds me of that.

 

So no, not for me. It's similar to Shanghai, which i prefer because the sweetness in Shanghai makes it more wearable, personally.

 

2/5

[vikitty]

I love this so much! Lemon, a bit of white musk, and something fresh. I wish the throw was longer, but I love it.

[Caerphilly]

In the imp: Lemon and aloe. Clean, but not like Lysol or another lemon cleaner. It's delicate. Can't detect musk at all, which is good.

 

After 5 minutes: Lovely, clean lemon! The tea and aloe linger in the back, preventing this from turning into a lemon pine sol scent.

 

After 30 minutes: The musk is coming out, unfortunately. But the lemon still stands out.

 

After an hour: The white musk is overpowering. A bit too much. The lemon, aloe and tea linger in the background when I want them to stand out.

 

Overall: I was expecting to love this. But the musk overpowers the lemon and aloe, and I don't really like musky scents. It wasn't headachy, but it doesn't smell as clean as I would like it.

Edited September 5, 2008 by Caerphilly

[angelicruin]

Green tea & lemon are predominant notes on my skin with a hint of muskiness. Very fresh scent.

 

ADDED Aug. 29:

 

Inside the imp, green tea and citrus.

 

On my skin, green tea is he strongest note. This is also quite lemony.

 

Definitely a bright, cheer me up scent, despite the name of the blend.

[NixieCakes]

This is all Green Tea on me. Almost like elizabeth ardens Green Tea.