The Gaoler's Daughter

[filigree_shadow]

Gardenia, neroli, and white peach with vanilla amber, cream, and honey.

This is very pretty. I wore it a couple of weeks ago and it just about knocked me over (it's super strong), but I really enjoyed it. It's a lovely scent. The flowers aren't overwhelming in it -- they balance out the peach nicely. The vanilla amber, cream, and honey are so pretty. December doesn't seem like the right time of year for this scent, but I think it will be perfect in about four months. Also, I should note that my husband really likes this scent on me. Edited January 31, 2009 by filigree_shadow

[naeelah]

Each time I try this, it morphs a little differently. In December, it remained mostly syrupy peaches. Now, the syrupy peaches fade away as it dries. Once dry, I thought there was rose, but I think that's just the combined effect with the neroli (as obviously, rose is not a listed note).

 

Dry, it's predominately gardenia and neroli with light vanilla cream and a hint of fruit. The gardenia doesn't scream gardenia like many blends. It's a light, perky gardenia, not a thick, voluptuous one. (More Bigger Critters than Whore of Babylon.) Everything here blends pretty well. I'm very happy that the peach is no longer rampaging through the countryside, because it works much better as a coloring note. The neroli is acting like a base note, providing a dry, almost brittle foundation for the sweetness. It's a nice contrast.

 

On the whole, this is a creamy, sweet, lightly floral vanilla with a hint of fruit. I wasn't going to keep the decant at first, but now that the peach is cooperating, I like it. It's a light, spring-like, innocent kind of blend.

 

Try it if you like: Katrina van Tassel, Eisheth Zenunim, Cleopatra Testing Poisons on Those Condemned to Die, MB: Bigger Critter, Symmakhia.

Edited February 13, 2009 by naeelah

[Ajila]

In the bottle – Sweet, bright peach with the headiness of the gardenia and the honey

 

Wet on me – Again the sweetness of the peach and honey just about ward off the potential sharpness of the gardenia

 

Dry on me – Sweet peach with the high note of the honey with occasional wafts of the gardenia

 

Overall – On the whole the blend was very pleasant, but I’m not certain that it will be a favourite

 

[kjirstiben]

When I first put it on, this smelled strongly of neroli (bitter white floral) with a soft peach underneath. Neroli is obviously one of those florals that amps on me… it is making its presence known from the first second it touched my skin. There is, however, a sweetness that I can barely smell underneath it.

 

After a while, I have a sweet honey-peach scent on me, once the neroli (not soon enough) recedes to the back of the scent.

 

This is a floral, peach, honey scent, without too much metamorphosing, once the neroli stops amping to screaming levels on me. I think it would be nice on someone else, but due to the problems I have with neroli (and to some extent with peach), this just isn't the scent for me. Sigh.

 

Recaplet: Screaming floral, then peach with honey--never quite works.

My rating: 1 of 5 (I'm not fond of it.)

Color impression: Peach and cream.

[magikalbrownies]

whatever it is in this, its really green. like, i feel im in the middle of the florists' while they cut off leaves/stems prepping the flowers. must be the gardenia.

 

applied: gardinia and ever so slight peach. actually nix that, peach is not so detectable but the honey is. its honey and gardenia on me.

 

overall: im not crazy about it but it mixes nicely. maybe a good scent to put on when im at a loss as to what to wear.

[azndragoncrimson]

I have discovered I like my scents on the simpler side. Honeyed peaches in the bottle, which is something I wouldn't mind smelling like, but it fades a lot when it hits my skin, like a slightly sour, weak peach tea with honey. On it's own, it feels like the Gaoler's daughter is missing something, so I decided to layer it over some of my Body Shop Satsuma body butter and it turns into a quite lovely, wearable addition. Dithering over whether to track down a bottle...as in what are the odds of finding a better simple honeyed peach scent?

[RaeiNarcissus]

This was an unhappy finding. I tried this on at the lab and it was nice, so I got an imp of it.......and it's nothing like what I tried in the lab. Instead of getting all the lovely vanilla and honey and all those others........ I think the neroli and gardenia take center stage and make everyone else smell....bad. I may give it one more shot, but this one just did not pan out for me.

[asciident]

Wet: Lemon? Strange.

 

First on: Gardenia and lemon and neroli.

 

Dry: Same on drydown.

[Thursdae]

The Gaoler's Daughter starts out very floral on me, with a penetrating sweetness that reminds me of lilac. After a few minutes, the peach note rises and honey winks an eye.

 

I didn't know what would happen with this one. I love neroli but not gardenia--and on me, it doesn't smell like either one. It's florals and stone fruit. I imagine sitting in a garden on a summer afternoon, among a profusion of flowers. I've got a dish of sliced peaches and cream with a spoonful of honey drizzled across it. I can hear one lazy bumblebee rumbling from stem to stem.

 

Smells good and makes me feel good. A bit of summer sunshine in a bottle.

 

[catattack]

Wet: Sweet candy floral

Drydown: It smells of sweet/tart fruits. It morphs and becomes the funky bitter stone fruit.

Overall: Maybe some aging will mellow it, but it morphs from a yummy wet stage to a funky drydown. I'll test it again in a few weeks.

[ShadowsDance]

In the vial: Gardenia, peach, and something sour..

Wet: Peaches! With a floral background.

Dry: Soapy peaches.

[donnatron]

Bottle: Sweet amber, a bit of peach and gardenia.

 

Wet: Lots of gardenia. An odd, sweet, strong green smell under a bright, warm peach. The vanilla amber, cream and honey are there but not really acclimated to my skin.

 

Dry: This is pretty. Still a strong peach and green smell but the amber, cream and honey sort of smoothe it out and make it more subtle and skin close. There's a lovely sugary quality to this.

 

Throw: Close to the skin.

 

Overall: I like it. Fresh, The Gaoler's Daughter was a little too green and gardenia for my taste but time seems to be smoothing that issue over. I can't wait to smell this next summer. If it lasts that long, that is.

[rayvn1]

Almost forgot to review this one! I'm a sucker for vanilla amber or the vanilla musk I think is in Illustrated Woman (?) so I had to give this one a try. I remember it was pretty non-descript on me. Sweet, pretty and feminine with peach and gardenia. Not really my cup of tea though. Glad it went to a good home.

[LaurenO]

Very pretty. Like a fresh, floral O. I only have about half an imp left, I might need to track some more down.

 

ETA: I did track more down I love this more as it gets older. I'm getting quite a lot of honey and cream now, but there's still that fruity-floral freshness about it. I don't find it too heavy either. It's just perfect.

Edited December 29, 2009 by wickedpixie

[Geminirubyshoes]

I can't believe I never did a review for this!

I love love love peach and this is a yummy peach for sure. Sweet,creamy, like the perfect ripe peach in summer. Mixes really well with the gardenia and vanilla, I get zero neroli from this. Which isfine with me because I typically don't like neroli. It's nice to wear this in the dead of winter because it gives me hope for warmer days.

[Venneh]

Just got a bottle of this in a swap, eager to try it out.

 

In the bottle, it's a mix between the florals, the fruits, and the cream. On my skin, I'm getting a mix between the gardenia and the neroli that gently mellows out; a really bright, fresh scent. Not getting the vanilla amber, peach, or cream just yet. The honey, amber, and cream come in a bit later to mellow out the scent a bit, but it's still a very bright, beautiful scent, with a sweeter, gentler edge. Definitely happy with this.

Edited November 23, 2009 by Venneh

[kawaiiferreto]

Lightly peachy floral. It's nice, but it also doesn't stand out enough to me for me to remember to wear it out of my other BPAL smellies.

[SophieCedar]

Someone else mentioned it and I agree: this morphs differently whenever I wear it. Both times I rotated the bottle exactly the same amount to ensure anything that could have settled to the top was remixed.

 

In imp: vanilla is super detectable here. Can smell peaches but none of the florals or neroli really.

Wet: vanilla amber burst and the peaches get syrupy like someone smushed them onto my arm with vanilla caramels and honey.

Drydown: gardenia and neroli has appeared! The gardenia is not as heady, being up against such prominent sweeteners. The magnolia in Josie did a bit more scrappy fighting to stay a level with the peach. However if Josie was too much for you.. definitely try this one! She's much less brassy.

Edited April 28, 2010 by SophieCedar

[lilwhiterabbit]

This is one of the only scents I own where I can pick out each of the individual notes if I try. It's a light, bright peach scent with great throw that isn't overwhelmingly fruity. Or, rather, it's not the sticky sort of fruit familiar in a lot of blends. It smells sort of like a walk through a peach orchard at the very beginning of summer with other scents on the wind. There's just a hint of gardenia and honeyed creaminess. Probably my favorite peach scent so far (and I'm a big fan of peaches), it's bright and airy.

[Sultaana]

As much as I love to eat peaches, man do peach blends hate to be on my skin. I really wish this loved me more because it's SO gorgeous in my decant, but it turns more floral freak show than sweet peaches and cream. I think my main problem is that I want it to smell like peaches, and it smells like peach perfume. Which I suppose is better, since it is a perfume oil, but it's just not for me.

Edited August 16, 2010 by Sultaana

[Gin]

GORGEOUS. Heady tropical florals and peach, dusted with vanilla sugar. This is absolutely divine.

[ND¢]

A few people have mentioned lemon and citrus. That's what I get right out of the bottle, a screaming citrus backed by a green smell that slides into a more manageable floral with the citrus pounding and shouting on the other side of the door. And it's kind of a floor-cleanser citrus. Sigh. But as it dries, it does become more, well, becoming. Floral and more floral. Not a scrap of peach. Not one. And that's why I got it, so that's unfortunate. Maybe a tiny whimper of vanilla in the background. It's a basically pleasant scent and I'll keep it and see if it can grow on me.

[LizziesLuck]

Wet: Blarg - all neroli (the only note in this I don't like, of course) aka soggy cardboard. Hoping it settles. Currently it's awful and I am saaaaddd.

 

 

Dry: Yeah this is all bitter neroli on me. SO SAD. I love all the other notes, but I can't smell any of them. If you like orange blossom/neroli give this a go, otherwise - be warned. It may break your heard.

[Lucchesa]

The Gaoler's Daughter may be a Yule, but it feels more like a Luper. It's one of those gorgeous soft creamy honeyed florals Beth does so exquisitely. I'm not big on straight florals, but add in the amber, honey, vanilla and cream, and I'm all over it. Gardenia is one of the most reliable florals on me, and I love neroli, so this could hardly go wrong.

 

Wet I get the strongest dose of neroli, a bright, tart counterbalance to the sweeter, creamier notes. I love this, just want to keep sniffing my arm. I canned peaches in orange juice once, many years ago, and am reminded of that. Over the next couple of hours, both the citrus and the peach notes fade down, leaving the creamy honeyed gardenia and vanilla amber. It's lovely all the way through.

[Kytha]

This is quite an aged oil by now, but what's surprising is how strong this still is! I make this review with the note that I'm trying it just as my period's starting, so I'll have to test it again to see how different it is without hormones coming into play.

 

 

In Bottle: A slightly screechy floral -- the gardenia and neroli come out on top, and not much else.

 

Wet/Early Dry-down: More gardenia, more neroli. Its a cold, bitter and sharp floral at first -- almost a bit metallic, I'd say -- but as it warms up, it develops a fair bit of complexity. Hard to pick out what's going on, but the bitterness fades rather surprisingly quickly, and a bit of fruit peeks through.

 

Dry: I'm shocked, after the cold and floral start, how the heck this manages to dry down to something that's almost a little ... vanilla cookie-y, without the butter? It's hard to describe, but 'warm vanilla' would be most apt, I think. This stage lingers for a while, and is fairly stable.

 

Start to finish, it takes about four hours to need a re-application. I'd consider it to have medium throw -- might have had more if I'd applied a larger amount!