Prunella

[leezer]

Ripe purple plums, wildflowers, and cream.

This is interesting. For me there is almost no plum at all; it's all soft cream and various florals. Now as someone who generally does not like florals at all, I'm surprisingly pleased with this one. It is soft and pretty, and has very minimal throw. It'd be a very nice second skin scent. Debating a bottle, but I'll probably stick to the imp for now.

[tasty]

I'm just getting the wildflowers over a slightly spicy, sorta resin-y base. This isn't bad, per se, but it's not the creamy plummy goodness I was hoping for.

[zankoku_zen]

This one was a plummy scent - but it wasn't creamy, but rather 'green' and with a hint of lime.

 

Interesting, but not for me.

[Champagne]

It`s all bitter herbs in the beginning, fresh and real herbs from the mountains high, aah, like a breth of fresh air. And then slowly a highly sugared creamy plum appear like in a fairy tale. I was almost dancing in the street when it morphed. It`s a simple and dreaming little one

[oneiromantics]

In a word: bright.

 

This is all wildflowers on me. I was hoping for some soft creaminess and plummy goodness, but my nose isn't picking up either. Shame.

 

I'm not big on florals, so unless this one settles in a couple of months and loses some of its sharpness, it's not for me.

[Seismogenic]

I was actually kind of surprised that the Lab frimped me a Märchen scent so soon after they were released, but I also think that's pretty cool. I'd never heard the story of Prunella before that particular update went live, and I haven't tried any blends with plum before, so this should be interesting.

 

In the imp: Sweet and plummy, with maybe the slightest bit of something herbal.

 

Wet on skin: Whatever it was that was herbal - possibly wildflowers? - immediately becomes more prominent, and the plum immediately dims relative to it.

 

Drydown: Freshly dry, the cream is starting to come into play, mellowing out the plum and the herbal-flowers. Oddly, though, it manages to smell a little creamy and a little dusty at the same time. An hour later, it's starting to get a little bit funky - dry and slightly sour. Considering the plum almost disappeared a while ago and the flowers/herbs are still distinct, I'm going to blame the cream.

 

Five hours later: The plum is long gone. There's still the herbal thing, and the slightly sour funky thing - wildflowers and cream respectively, I assume.

 

End of the day: Something slightly sour is left.

 

Overall: I'm starting to suspect that cream is a death note for me, considering that White Rabbit and Ichabod Crane went seriously funky, and now Prunella also went weird, though to a much lesser degree. That aside, I was bummed that the plum disappeared within seconds, since that's totally what characterized the scent in the imp. The vaguely dusty herby wildflowers could have been in any number of others.

[kjirstiben]

Prunella goes on as pure wildflowers, though they're tempered (a very little bit) by cream. However, as it dries down, it becomes a sweet plum and cream scent, where the flowers have completely vanished. It's sweet--like grapes and vanilla, even a little bubblegummy. It eventual late stages are a soft, sweet cream. A very loveable scent.

[savage_rose]

For some reason this smells like my Littles dollhouse that I had when I was, well, little. The plum is going a bit sour on me, and the wildflowers smell like really dry potpourri...it's not bad, but it's not particularly good either. I think plum notes might not be for me.

[zee]

This was a total surprise to me - I threw on some oil from my imp just before leaving in the morning without looking up the notes or the reviews. It was an iffy start, I was getting florals and wasn't keen, but when dry it became a deep and creamy plum. I couldn't stop sniffing my wrists all day and nine hours later, it's still lingering near to my skin, and still undeniably lovely.

 

This is a definite keeper and a wonderful surprise, and I'm probably going to be slathering this all over my wrists, neck and hair.

[filigree_shadow]

I could really smell the wildflowers in this when I first put it on. I thought it would be a huge blast of plum, but I didn't get that. Mostly it smells like wildflowers with just a wee bit of a fruity scent with it. It's too much on the herby side for my liking -- there's something in this that's just not agreeing with me. It smells a little bit like a cross between tomato leaf and dandelion. When I come back this test spot after sniffing oils I'm testing elsewhere, I smell a big bunch of big purple fruit at first, but then the herbs always creep in.

[Bluestocking]

In the imp: Sweet and very, very purple with a tinge of green. I get the wildflowers above all, with a side of plums and a tiny bit of creaminess. It's pretty, innocent and extremely feminine, but maybe more floral than I expected.

On, wet: Ah, okay, this is more like it. Once it touched my skin, it instantly became mostly juicy, sweet-tart plums and fresh cream, backed with those fresh wildflowers—and they're definitely wildflowers, because they have a green quality to them. I fell like I'm in a meadow, sitting under a plum tree.

On, dry: Not very much changed. It's just rounder, more mellowed, more blended. The cream becomes more and more apparent, and it's blended nicely with the fruit and flowers, so that no one component gets sharp or dominates too much; the flowers are very light and unobtrusive. Good throw, too—I didn't put on very much, but I'm getting lovely little whiffs as I move around.

Later: Still creamy-sweet plums with a breath of florals, but it's also developed a scent that I can only describe as clean—not at all soapy, just very pure, sort of like a fresh breeze, and it only adds to the meadow impression I got earlier.

Overall: Purple, pretty, fruity and feminine. Prunella has a very youthful, wholesome, innocent vibe to it, and I think it would be a perfect perfume for spring—so it can wait for a bit until the weather around here is less Arctic.

 

 

[Suu4LC]

I love the lab's plum notes, so I am very excited to try this blend!

 

This much greener than I would have expected-less purple juicy plum and more stemmy greens and some plum.

 

Yeah I suppose "wildflowers" are not for me-that is mostly what I get-meh. Not my kinda florals. Too green and a little dirty. I thought this would be a more sweet flirty plum scent. I get no cream at all!

 

Ya this isn't for me, stemmy wildflowers and earthy plum. Pretty, but not the sweet fruity scent I had hoped for!

[Ajila]

In the bottle – The sharpness of the floral sits on top of a sour fruit note from the plums

 

Wet on me – A soft creamy floral

 

Dry on me – After about 8 hours it settles into a soft, candied plum

 

Overall – I love the dry down, but not the route to it

 

[catatonic1242]

In the imp: Lightly floral/herby. This smells very green to me.

 

On, wet: Still really, really floral -- I'm not getting plum or cream, just bunches and bunches of wildflowers.

 

On, dry: Dusty flowers. I was hoping that I'd be able to wear a floral if it was mixed with fruit and cream, but I am honestly only getting flowersflowersflowers out of this, and dusty ones, at that. The throw isn't very powerful, though -- this one sticks close to the skin. My application faded away after about an hour.

[amanderinorange]

 

In the imp: no plum at all. Slightly sharp florals with green.

 

On me: quite a difference. The plum really comes out pushing the floral to the back. A little bit later the cream starts to show and blends nicely with the now juicy plum.

 

Overall: I really like this scent and hope to get a bottle of it soon.

[frecklestars]

In the bottle: girly pinafores with big bows in the back, and frolicking in the garden, and filching plums from the neighbor's yard. About what I expected, but stronger and girlier. I have nothing against girly scents (usually I wear floral stuff), but this is slightly more creamy than I had wanted.

 

On my skin: it was all right. It smells like plums, and tea with sugar and milk, but it's just a bit too sweet for me. It's supposed to be "ripe purple plums, wildflowers, and cream". Just too girly for me, though it does smell good.

 

Last thoughts: I do want to smell like plums. I didn't really catch the wildflowers at all; the scent of old cream overwhelmed everything else in the end.

Edited March 7, 2011 by frecklestars

[puck_nc]

Origin: Straight from the Lab

 

Initial Thoughts: I've had a bit of luck here and there with plum scents, though mostly of the Japanese variety.

 

In the Vial: Plum, but a light and pretty plum thanks to the wildflowers, and sweet cream.

 

Wet: The herby-green floral element is stronger, but still grounded by the cream. The plum is very quiet right now.

 

Drydown: Ah, there's the plum! Dark and sweet fruit comes out to temper the herbal into a softer floral note.

 

Verdict: I think I like it. I'll see if I go through the imp fast enough to warrant a bottle.

[unlaced]

In the imp: smells like candy! yum!!

 

wet on my skin: plum. wet, purple and very ripe... I can't really smell any of the wildflowers or cream here. just a mildly sweet plum.

 

drying: ahhh there's the cream. (I love the lab's cream note so that's a major thumbs up!) sweet, tasty plum and sweet cream.

 

dry: a teesny bit of floral creeps in the background once it's dry and established but the flowers are more of a background note to the plum and cream.

 

I need a bottle yesterday!!! *drool*

Edited March 12, 2009 by unlaced

[anna1850]

I was really suprised when I tried this because all the reviews are so positive but there's something in this that smells really funky. I'm not sure what but it's seriously unpleasant.

 

On my arm it smelt so bad for a few minutes and then faded quickly to nothingness, which I suppose is a good thing in the circumstances. I tried it on a piece of cotton wool to check if there was something weird going on with by body chemistry and it didn't smell much better although it lasted longer.

 

It smells a bit like rotten woody plums to me. Very deep and not sweet. I don't like it at all. It's funny though, I can't work out what the note is that's killing it. It smells a bit like some kind of wood but there's nothing like that listed in the description.

 

1/5 Very bad but faded quickly.

[lunaticana]

so this is clear. plum loves me

lord, this scent is gorgeous!

I love the way the plum and cream mingle together, it makes me feel like when I was very little

I guess there was something I used that smelled like this during summertime (yes, I started very early )

in the beginning I was a bit afraid it would end up smelling plasticy but it didn't!

it is just a perfect scent for my days in Spain and I want, no I NEED a bottle

 

if you like this try> Hairy Toad Lily, Shadwell

Edited March 17, 2009 by lunaticana

[Brianne]

Prunella goes on like sharp white florals, but does eventually tame down into florals backed by a softly sweet plum. Reminds me of Spring - nice but definitely a floral!

[fairnymph]

In the bottle: Light yellow oil. Spicy, honeyed, creamy wildflowers. Gorgeous! I get carnation and/or clove (the spice). Not fruity, surprisingly.

 

Wet: Sweeter, spicier, richer. It's an intense, cloying spicy note, which makes me think clove over carnation.The honey is like (appropriately) wildflower honey. I get some daisy, too. The cream is very strong, almost foody.

 

Dry: Something a bit sharp, green and herbal. Sort of stemmy and a bit grassy...dandelion? That almost vanilla-ish, rich cream note has almost completely faded, along with the honey. A bit soapy.

 

Later: Finally a bit of plum emerges, though it's a very meek plum note. It sweetens the blend back up and adds some depth. Still too spicy for me, alas - almost cinnamony.

 

Summary: Spicy (a la Frumious Bandernatch) carnation or clove (or both), over sweet plums and greenish wildflowers (dandelion, daisy) with hints of mild honey and vanilla cream. Decent throw, great longevity.

 

It also sort of reminds me a bit of Hod, thought without the delicious musk. Maybe if you layered FB with this? Of course, it's also a bit more spicy and floral and plummy...

 

[sprocket21]

Add me to the "does not get any plum from Prunella" crowd. On me it's just straight florals; they're pretty enough, but I'm exceedingly disappointed that there's no plum, as I ordered it solely because of the plum note. Instead it's just wildflowers with a touch of greenery. I can't really detect the cream, either .

[amyw]

I opened the imp and I swear I smelled the nutty cocoa note that's in Velvet, but it faded almost immediately into a nice, creamy plum. Now when I open the imp I don't smell that anymore - very strange. I came here to see if anyone else smelled that but I think only one other person so far has mentioned a nutty note. It was too strong to ignore though.

 

Anyway, I also don't smell the wildflowers much, which is fine as I'm not a huge fan of florals. They stay in the background on my skin. On me, this is a sweeter, slightly creamier Bathsheba. Sans musk of course, and less like traditional perfume than Bathsheba. I'm a fan of plum so this suits me just fine! Very pretty. My SO thinks this smells like plum wine.

[Lyrical]

In vial: like Midwinter's Eve with cream! The plum is sweet and juicy.

 

Wet on skin: as it touches my skin, the sweet plum goes bitter and the cream curdles! I wonder if there are violets in the wild flowers?

 

Dry on skin: powdery violets and cream, with a hint of plum! Absolutely nothing to write home about. I'm sad! Now this has gone quite nasty, and I'm going to wash it off. This appears to be a chemistry issue, as it was lovely in the imp!