The Gladdener of All Hearts

[smallvoice]

Honeyed milk, baby powder, lavender, orris root, sage, carnation, angelica, frankincense, and rose otto.

Reviewed for the October testing fest! A different scent each day! This was day one, because I've been wearing it and I already love it.

This smells almost exactly how I wanted it to smell. It could have been a touch sweeter, and the lavender a touch less sharp, but this scent is amazing. The lavender does get softened by all the sweetness and powdery-ness, and it's actually friendly on me. Bonus: The husband complimented me on it. Hooray! I get the baby powder, and I totally get where it smells like babies (reminds me of my sister's kids), but it smells so gentle and lovely. This is not as descriptive as I'd like it to be, but I generally don't wear a lot of lavender (more lately- Villain and Wulric) and this is by far my favourite interpretation. Gladdener of All Hearts indeed! (Also, the milk does not go sour on me!!) I was also worried about the rose otto, but it didn't bother me.

ETA: The description and a note about rose otto. Edited October 2, 2008 by cordia

[themerrybaker]

I think I have a skin chemistry problem with the Gladdener -it starts out smelling wonderful in a sagey-spicy way. After the milk develops, it is not exactly a fresh smell. In about 10 minutes, it smells as if I have rubbed pure canola oil on my arm.

As good as it is out of the bottle, this would be a definite scent locket candidate.

 

ETA

This may have needed to settle for a while - I've had good luck when layering it with one of the lemony accumulated frimps du jour. It will get plenty of wear that way.

Edited November 22, 2008 by themerrybaker

[Jilara]

VERY sophisticated baby powder! It's powdery and snuggly and vaguely sweet and milky, when you first put it on, then it sneaks up on you and becomes sensual in an innocent way, if that makes sense. (Hmm, there's that naked lady on the bottle label...) Someone else remarked that it has a quality of Inez in it, and I have to agree. This is great, because Inez is one of my favorites!

 

I was worried about the lavender, as lavender can go bad on me, fairly quickly. Not to worry. It's heavenly lavender, with roses and carnations in the background, like the sweet sachet tablets an old lady friend used to tuck into drawers. I love that scent.

 

This also has a slightly sweet herbal edge, which I think is the wonderful sage that graces many of my favorite BPAL scents.

 

This fragrance certainly gladdens MY heart!

[Dark Alice]

Sweet and herbal from the bottle to the drydown. I love it. I am going to let it age a little before I wear it.

 

I let it age. It didn't agree with me. The honeyed milk as turned sour on me now I want to cry

 

But thankfully, my mother loves it and it has found a new home....

Edited October 20, 2008 by Dark Alice

[empi girl]

Not my cup of tea, unfortunately. Powdery orris root, which doesn't agree with me, with a hint of carnation.

[AEris]

Damn it, this is BREATHTAKING!!!!

 

It smells like aged Ode to Melancholy (which is a Completely different scent than fresh Ode to Melancholy), which is to say that it smells diviiiiine.

 

Sweetly herbal, fresh, almost candy-like. The rose is so sweet and unlike any rose note I've ever smelled; it doesn't have any of that sharpness or rude intensity that rose usually has on me. Gladdener reminds me of expensive, highly scented guest soap - fruity, herbal, sweet, and fresh all at the same time.

 

I am almost as obsessed with this scent as I am with Lilith Victoria. Goin' broke for teh BPAL!

 

5 out of 5

[Little Bird]

In the bottle... if you had handed me this oil without a label, I would have guessed that it was The Oblation. It has the sophisticated lavender sweetened with honey and somehow even has the tangy, fruity, herbal sort of quality that I normally smell from the lab's blackberry note. It's much better in the bottle than it is on me.

 

On my skin, this instantly sharpens up. I don't know how to describe it, except that it gives me a mental image of dry, thorn-y, desert weeds with sickly smelling flowers. It sort of reminds me of hemlock. I can still pick out the lavender for the first few minutes. In the drydown, the sickly florals and baby powder swallow up any other notes and start to make me ill.

 

The Gladdener of All Hearts winds up being much like Lilith Victoria was on me. Insanely strong and not very good on my skin, with an overall sense of dry baby powder. It's an overwhelming smell of cloying sweet florals and baby POWDER. Very dry and very not-me.

[Peaches 2]

Boy, do I love this! Soft, innocent, and alluring all at the same time. I was worried about the honey, because honeyed scents usually become a honey single note on me, but this is just a sweet, light and creamy floral. It'll be great for the office, subtly sensual enough to stand alone, but neutral enough to layer something more provocative on top for evening, if I want.

 

This is a spectacular year-round all-purpose scent, a keeper, and probably multiple bottle purchase. It does fade quickly on me, so I'd better stock up for frequent reapplication.

[Iceblink]

When this is wet--I have never smelled such strong lavender, EVER. Oh my god. It's so biting! As it dries the milk and honey come to the front and I'm reminded a bit of Eden, with flowers. This is really too powdery-sweet for me, though--those darn carnations are messing things up again.

[Lit Chick]

I was hoping for spicy carnation and cream, and that's not what I get. Still, this is a delightful blend.

Lavender is strong and herbal to start, but it quickly calms down and sweetens. I wish it would stay just a little bit herby, because the blend is extremely sweet on me, with a fruity tangy edge. It makes me think of candy necklaces.

It's adorable and innocent and sweet. A keeper.

 

ETA:

Now aged over a year, and really not worn at all since my first review - the blend has changed! Fresh and wet, I still get the candy necklace vibe. But it calms right down into clean fresh baby, in a very good way. Close and snuggly, with the scent of infant. I'm wondering if my pregnant hormones are warping this into something more lovely as well.

Edited January 16, 2010 by Lit Chick

[Reenah]

In the bottle this is mostly cool, sweet milk, with pretty, PINK carnation and rose, and a bitter, herbal lavender just barely poking out. I amped the honey (as usual) while it was drying and for a good while after that, so it was pretty much just honey. An hour or two later it was still mostly honey with some milk and comforting herbal notes. On my sister, who is nursing, it's mostly milk with sweet pink florals apparent underneath and a little bit of herbiness. Altogether, hers is a lot more unique-smelling and pretty than mine. Maybe it's a new mother thing. *envy*

[Leopard403]

Hellooo, lavender! This is *very* herbal when it is wet, and only after it dries and settles in on my skin do I smell the lovely carnation and faint milk-and-honey top notes. Sadly, those notes burn away rather quickly and leave that very loud lavender. Not sure if I'll keep this one.

[FandF]

Definitely a soft baby powder with a tinge of smarties. As it dries it has a bit more of a rotting rose flowers and damp baby powder smell to it. I like to keep all oils on my skin to give them a fair shake..up to 4 hours of dry down etc. but this one required washing off. This did not work on my skin at all!

[lilirose]

Fascinating how the reviews for this vary.

 

As for me, I hate to leave a not-glowing review for a scent dedicated to our wonderful Beth's beautiful baby, but this one just doesn't work at all on me. In fact, it's one of the few BPALs I've had to wash off. I gave it a couple of hours to see if it would morph, but no dice. None of the listed notes were noticeable other than milk and baby powder. On my skin, it smelled like sour milk and wet disposable diapers. Definitely evocative of a baby, but not the natural, beautiful scent I was hoping for.

 

I'm sure I'll find a loving home for my 5ml- I'm so sorry I can't give it the love it deserves.

[goblinshark]

When I first put this on it smells like LIME LIFE SAVERS. Not really my cup of tea. However, it dries down to a really nice, soft, lavender powdery smell that really does smell like a baby's head. I like it!

[lucyintheSkywithDemons]

Wow... the first "Milk" note EVER I can wear without

smelling like rotten yoghurt.

 

The Gladdener is so lovely - creamy soft lavender with a sweetest hint of honey

and carnation.

 

Glad I got 2 bottles - will try to hunt down more!

 

I went shopping with my best friend yesterday,

and she catched a whiff of Gladdener... she said

" You smell like a fairy-tale"... so if that isn´t a compliment, I dunno...

 

As much as I like "Lilith Victoria" ( the combination just ROCKS hell! )

I adore and love The Gladdener of all hearts.

 

I will wear this, when I feel girly and cute ,

as I wear LV when I feel like Emily the Strange...

 

Love it ! 10 of 10

[Wwindy]

A reviewer above noted that this reminded her of the Burt's Bees baby product scent. I agree! I'm using that line for my daughter right now, and on my skin TGoAH smells very much like it, with the addition of a slightly stronger carnation note. This is really charming, very winsome -- it does indeed gladden my heart. As evocative as it is, I don't think it's something I would ever wear as perfume; I'll keep my decant and maybe dab it around in the coming months/years when I want to remember my little sprout as a baby.

[savage_rose]

At first this smells like milky fruit (wtf?) and then it mellows into a light, sweet powdery floral. It's okay, but not what I was expecting.

[Christine Daae]

I think I was most excited about Gladdner, of all the babysmells. I loved the idea that this might smell like freshly washed babies, I love that smell! Plus the notes - honeyed milk, baby powder!, lavender, carnation - all sounded so lovely. So my hopes were quite high.

 

In the bottle and wet on my skin, this is sweet, powdery herbal lavender. Mmm, clean baby smell. Definitely get the baby powder and the lavender, not much else at this point.

 

As it warms on my skin, I get a bit of the orris root and sage, making it just a bit more herbal. I don't get any honeyed milk or carnation at this point. It's a sweet, clean, powdery smell - quite pretty and soft.

 

When this dries down, I do get the honeyed milk for a bit...just a hint, because at this point the scent is very faint unless I press my nose to my wrist. And then all of a sudden it smells like SweetTarts - like powdered SweetTarts. I'm not sure what's making my skin do that, or making my nose smell that...but I liked how this started off and not so much where it ended up. So sad!

[ealasaid86]

In the Bottle: Lavender pure and simple.

 

On My Wrist: Soft lavender and creamy milk.

 

Verdict: I like it but I can't decide whether I want to keep it or not. Its soft and sweet and yet I cannot make up my mind.

[twilighteyes]

This one is so innocent and sweet. It really reminds me of babies – I think I may have had some kind of cream or something for my son that smelled similar. It’s almost foodie on me yet still a sweet, light, floral. Reminds me of some kind of floral candy? I want to say sweet tarts, but it's not really tart.

 

ETA: 12 hours later I can still smell it on my (outside) wrists.

[Coldfire]

Imp: carnation and lavender…and the rose otto I think

Wet on Me: more carnation and the rose now. Very strong

Drying Down: Very……not tart or sharp…but not sweet either. But floral that is for sure. Must be the carnation and the rose otto. I’m not getting any lavender in this or the honeyed milk or frankincense.

Dry: that sharpness has mellowed out now. A softness comes in..the baby powder. Which cuts the carnation and rose otto to something sweet.

[kjirstiben]

The Gladdener of All Hearts is a lovely, innocent, delightful scent.

 

Initially on, there is a breath of strong lavender, but it quickly dies down and plays nice with all the other notes, creating a mix of sweet, herbal, floral powderyness that smells like nothing so much as "clean baby smell" (a very good smell, even to someone like me who's a teensy bit wary of babies).

 

After an hour or so, one of the florals in this hovered on the edge of getting too sharp and/or overpowering... I still had the soft, powdered smell at a distance, but when I sniffed close to my wrist, I had some over-sharp floweryness. Perhaps the rose otto? I seem to have an on-and-off relationship with rose notes...

 

The scent faded out true to its inital sweet, floral, herbal beauty, and was, all in all, a wonderful scent experience. Not quite perfect (that sharp/sour floral twinge I get isn't thrilling), but very, very close.

[veronicafranco]

counting with babyhead!

1 - lavender

2 - carnation ahhhh

3 - rose otto

4 - baby powder

(1234 happen one at a time, within the first few minutes. neat.)

5 - together, they are weirdly sharp for a while

6 - way later, i like it. baby shampoo/babyhead for sure.

 

i'll have to see whether i can live with the initial lavenderyness. something about this makes me want to use it in the bath, which says a lot about how evocative it is... as i almost always shower.

[furygrrl]

In the bottle: Mmm...sweet n' lightly creamy. The colour "pink" instantly popped into my head while I sniffed this - that, and the thought that this would be the *best* bubble bath/bath oil scent evah!

 

On wet: Sweeet! Powdery! Candy-like! YUM!

 

Drydown: Still mostly sweet, candy-licious powder, though I'm detecting something almost spicy underneath - peppery carnations finally making an appearance, if I'm not mistaken. Then there's the honey and frankincense adding this insanely edible, golden depth to balance out the sugary, milky florals - SOOOO GOOOOD! Freaking *gorgeous* stuff, seriously.

 

Overall: Honestly, I wasn't expecting much from this blend - I mean, honeyed milk and baby powder? For reals? - but I figured I'd give it a try since I love carnations and creamy florals like Alice. Am I ever glad I did! This is absolutely WONDERFUL - easily my favourite baby blend of the bunch. Well done, Beth!! 5/5

Edited November 10, 2008 by furygrrl