Persephone

[tempestariel]

Beautiful, radiant daughter of Demeter... her loveliness was so exquisite that even Hell itself could not resist her. Pomegranate and rose.

Two of my favorite scents wrapped up in one! Red roses and dark garnet pomegranate. In the bottle, it's pretty much like a combo of Pom pomegranate juice and dried rose petals, more or less. On the wrist test, the pomegranate, not the roses, comes out strongly. Way strongly!! Later on, the roses come out full force. Now, it reminds me of the antique shop I used to visit when I was five; I miss that place!

In the end: 5 stars, all around!!!!!

[rivki8699]

I'm very excited about this one. It's my first rose scent and I've heard how well Beth does those. Plus I like the fruit/floral combos.

 

In the imp: With each wiff I can either smell the rose or the pomegranate. But not both together.

 

Wet: They start to combine on my skin. The pomegranate is currently overwhelming the rose.

 

Dry: This is quite strong on. And quite rosey. With just an edge of fruit. It's nice, but I think it's a bit too sweet for me.

[zankoku_zen]

In the imp: Roses and citrus like fruit.

 

On Skin: Roses, very cloying.

 

On Drydown: Smells like Cutex.

 

Verdict: Skin chemistry defeats Persephone before the drydown stage. Urgh. I imagine this can smell lovely on someone else... but on me it's like nail polish remover.

[femmefatale]

After reading the desciption I was really excited to try this one. I love both of these scents.

 

In the imp it was very sweet fruit smelling, not much of the rose.

Wet on the skin it was a very tart fruit scent, still not much of the rose coming out.

As it begins to dry down the rose is beginning to show, but it's not overpowering, nor too sweet. Starts to balance out. A very nice fruity rose. Even if your not a big fan of rose scents, try this one out. It's very pretty.

 

ETA: hmmm....after a few hours it's starting to smell....not sure. It's hard to put my finger on it. No longer roses or fruit. Almost a little....stale? Old? Not sure.

 

A while later hubby said it smelled liike mothballs. ewwwww...

I think I will still give it one more chance down the road, but unfortunately, I'm not holding out much hope. I thought for sure this would be "me".

Edited January 12, 2007 by Femme_Fatale

[Naamah_Darling]

Holy cow. This is a fruity, flowery blast of in-your-face sweetness. It's so well-blended that the rose and pomegranate go hand in hand together.

 

The rose here is very glowing and bright, like something spot-lit or painted on black velvet. The pomegranate is a fruity twang so perfectly bound up in the rose that they can't be separated. It's not really pomegranate-like to me, more a sort of sweet sugarplum scent, but it's quite pleasant.

 

There is, when dry, a faint smell of something scorched, which I find interesting; like burnt rose petals.

 

This is reminiscent of several very sweet scents I've tried: Maenad, Bordello . . . this is a bit more subtle and a bit less sugary while still falling firmly into the sweet category. Here is Persephone as a beautiful girl, gathering her flowers, the first time Hades caught a glimpse of her.

[little_galaxie]

Dear lord, this is simply GORGEOUS.

 

The previous adjectives describe it perfectly. Lush. Juicy. Red. Take the sweetest, ripest pomegranate available, squeeze out the juice, mix it with a soft crush of rose petals and you have Persephone.

 

My favorite BPAL by far. It makes me feel beautiful and radiant.

 

I don't know how I'd live if it were an LE.

 

 

ETA: Holy crap, the throw on this stuff is AMAZING! And it lasts and lasts and lasts. I put this on at 7pm last night. Now it's almost noon and still going strong. I kind of want to gnaw my arm of, that's how good it smells. Is that so wrong???

Edited January 20, 2007 by little_galaxie

[jessiesquash]

Juicy and tart + sweet pink roses. Unfortunately, it never moves past being roses and fruit to reveal any depth, but it would make a fantastic addition to lotion or body cream. And I'd have to wear it like that because it just faded to nothing. Grr I hate my scent sucking skin sometimes!

 

Verdict: Pretty but not extraordinary. To the swap pile with you!

[The Perfumed Ferret]

I have to be honest.

 

This is vile; both on me and in the imp. I love both Rose and Pomegranate, but this smells like burning asphalt on me. It's really terrible.

 

I really wanted juicy, floral goodness.

Edited February 14, 2007 by The Perfumed Ferret

[The_Merf]

In the imp: This smells really beautiful...it's a simple blend, but I can detect both notes and they go together really well.

 

Wet: This is a very juicy blend at the start, and the pomengranate note is the most powerful one.

 

Drydown and wear: This doesn't quite maintain its vitality, and the rose takes over as the strongest note. It's a bit of a dusky rose, but there's enough pomengranate to keep this interesting. It's one that I will have to mull over.

[acaciasears]

In the bottle, this is so tart and juicy that my mouth waters as soon as I breathe in. I cannot wait to put this on.

 

Wet: Wow this is strong, and ROSE strong. Very very rose. Still juicy, but I think I was hoping for pomegranate with a splash of rose and not the other way around.

 

Drydown: Still rose, still tart. I love the tartness of it, and I thought for sure I could wear rose - can't everyone? It seems to be really intense on me, which makes me a little sad.

 

I still like it, but I'd love it on someone else's skin that took to it better.

[modernsaints]

Imp: Ew sour. Rotten sour, can't pick out either of the notes, just... gross.

 

BUT I had faith and tried it on my skin! And wet, it's... still sour.

 

Drydown, though! I gave it fifteen minutes and it calmed down wonderfully, and now it's a gentle rose with a really nice kicky tang to it. Still... I don't want to say sour per se, just with a sort of bite to it.

 

I think you'd have to be in a very specific mood to wear it - it didn't really click with me, but I was feeling very lethargic. Maybe on a peppier day!

[mspixieears]

Rose seems to work well on me in conjunction with other things and I got htis as a random imp in a mystery pack but it absolutely hated me. It's too cloying and I don't get enough of its fruitiness because it fades instantly and starts on the rose immediately. It would probably have been more enjoyable as a fragrance if the pomegranate were more prominent on me.

[The_Merf]

I had to mull this one over multiple times before I could review it. I wanted to love this scent desperately; I don't mind red roses, and I absolutely love pomengranate. When I first put it on, it's really lovely, and a very fragrant, juicy pomengrante with a slight hint of rose around the edges. However, almost every time I put the oil on, the rose will dry the pomengranate up, leaving a very dusky, dry floral on my skin. It's very heavy to breathe into the nose, and something I would only be in the mood for every now and then. It's an imper, but not a bottle.

[DifferentDances]

I got this because I've always loved Persephone's story, and I couldn't resist.

 

That said, pomegranates aren't my favorite fruit at all. I've tried that Pom drink, and it's just not for me. But I figured it might be different as a smell, so I gave it the ol' college try!

 

Anyhow, this goes on my skin a very solid rose with a sour tang that I assume is the pomegranate. Eventually the rose dominates, leaving only a slightly sour tang at the edges.

 

Sadly, not for me. I like it much better once layered with Hades.

[evilbee]

Now THIS is the true rose I've been looking for (rather than the pretty pretty powdery version that I found in Alice and Hope) along with the bright red tang of pomegranate. It zings and is entirely womanly in a softly powerful way. It will match nicely with a short red dress and red shoes (if I had either... I feel a shopping trip in the works). It's fun; not quite favourite material, but really hits the mark.

[Akurarei]

PERSEPHONE

 

In the Bottle:

Very Rosy - but also juicy from the Pomegranate. I smell almost nothing except the rose, the pomegranate doesn't stand out for me in the bottle, it just makes the rose note seem crisp without being powdery.

 

On my skin, wet:

Still mostly roses...ahh, there's a hint of the pomegranate!

yay!

 

On my skin, dry:

yep, roses

and we're back to crisp roses that have a juicy feeling to them from the pomegranate note.

I want to describe this perfume as a fruity rose, but I cannot really say that I knew the fruity note was pomegranate unless I had read the Lab's description.

 

Verdict:

Very, very pretty and girly.

Persephone never wavers in the consistency of her scent - she always smells like juicy roses; full of sweetness and purity.

Very well done!

Edited April 9, 2007 by Shollin

[taramarie]

Persephone is one of my favorite Greek goddesses, so I would've bought this without even knowing what was in it. Having said that, this blend is exquisite. In the imp and on my skin, I smell roses with a tart, fruity base. I've never smelled pomegranate before, so I assume it's that. I can't stop sniffing my wrists.

 

This is definitely going on my bottles wishlist.

[xleighx]

In theory, this sounded great. I heart roses, and I heart pomegranate.

In the imp, it smelled like yummy pomegranate.

On me, it turned to frickin' soap. It spread at least 10 feet from me to my roommate, who then freaked out. I washed it off and offered it to another roommate, who kinda liked it. It's hers now.

I am now bitter.

Catherine did something similar, but more subdued. I don't think it was the rose, b/c Moon Rose is perfect on me. What could it be?

[bryghtrose]

It starts out sweet, but fades to a dry poqdery pomegranate. I was disappointed, but I've learned that food-based scents don't work on me.

[stellans]

Imp: beautiful, juicy red roses, with an underlying tartness, which must be the pomegranate. I am in from first sniff.

 

Wet: Rosy tart sweetness, so very very good to my nose. I just smile when this hits the olfactory sense, who is so happy with this scent. If the drydown stays as wonderful as the wet... well, let''s just say those old Clairol Herbel Essense shampoo commercials don\'t even come close to how happy smelling Persephone makes me. Just sayin'.

 

Dry: Yippee! It's just as wonderful dry as it was wet! It's still wonderful several hours later, and the throw is quite pleasant as well: neither too strong nor so weak I have to walk around with my wrist at my nose. I tried it in my scent locket, and it smells wonderful there too. Why have I waited so long to wear this and review it? Who knows? I'm doing it now though, and gushing all over the place!

 

Verdict: I would have ordered an imp of this myself, had I not received it from the Lab as a frimp, based on the notes listed alone. Once sniffed, a bottle was necessary because this is my now signature scent... yes, more than The Empress, or Venus, or even Rose Red. Persephone is wonderful both to my nose and on my skin to others' noses as well. I'm so lucky this is a GC blend, because I don't have to angst over it disappearing any time soon. I hope. (I stocked up with 3 bottles just in case, though: thanks to the Lab, eBay, and the forum.)

Edited March 21, 2010 by stellans

[JennyGardener]

I think this is a perfect perfume for communing with the Goddess. It smells ultra-feminine, sweet and yet mature. Loving and yet dark. Perfect for Persephone in her role as Queen of the Underworld. And since Persephone is a patron goddess of mine, I will treasure this scent for those times I wish to connect with her and draw upon her powers.

[euterpe414]

Oh this is fabulous!!! I have notices that while sometimes rose doens't play well with me, the combo of fruit and roses (any fruit, really) seems to work fabulously well. This is no exception. It's dark and sweet, with the deep red of both pomegranite and rose melding together. I love how rich and glistening this scent is! As an aside, if you like Blood Rose you should definitely check this one out, and vice versa; they both have a similar rich deep red velvety feel to them. That being said, this is just lovely and a true BPAL classic.

 

[Mimicake]

I was hesitant to try this because of the rose, but once on it wasn't as heavy to me as some of the rose blends. The pom was very light, and after a few moments on my skin all that was left was rose. It does have a strange lasting power that others haven't had on my skin, but overall rose and I just cannot seem to be friends.

[prettybird]

Persephone is nothing but a big rose party on my skin. I can't smell the pomegranate in it at all. I'm really not a big rose fan or a fan of feminine scents, which this very much is. It's nice for somebody else, but not really for me.

 

None of the pomegranate scents work on me, which is a tragedy considering it's my favorite fruit.

[purplemoonshoes]

In the imp I smell a sweet, softened version of pomegranate. On my skin it's much more tart, but you can still smell the rose in the background. It's a deep rose, reminscent of Rose Red. Blends into my skin quickly and becomes a light but moderately long lasting blend.