New Orleans

[alicia_stardust]

Reminiscent of hothouse blooms on a humid night, ripe, but touched with decay. Sweet honeysuckle and jasmine with a hint of lemon and spice.

New Orleans reminds me of a humid night spent walking about, with wafts of night blooming flowers reaching out to caress you. In the bottle I can really smell the lemon and jasmine, but after it dries it becomes a sweet, watery, humid honeysuckle and jasmine blend. The lemon stays in the background but that, together with the spice, adds a nice complementary zing. I think this is a perfect New Orleans fragrance. Sweet, heady, spicy, watery.

[starcr]

New Orleans: In the bottle, all I smell is jasmine. Maybe a hint of honeysuckle, but it's definitely all light florals. On me, at first the jasmine is again overpowering. As it dries, though, the scent changes. Hubby says it smells like soap to him; I think it smells almost like freshly cooked rice. Thereafter, the florals start to come out too, but that ricey scent is always there too. I'm not sure the components blended quite the way they're meant to with my skin chemistry. If I really try, and if I'm keeping in mind what I'm looking for, I can pick out each of the notes listed in the description. They just don't quite come together right on me, is all. I don't think I'll probably be wearing much of this one.

[sookster]

straight sniff from imp is jasmine and honeysuckle...

this certainly evokes images of new orleans in the sweltering heat and humidity...

 

once applied this is really pretty!! the sweetness & spiciness are in perfect harmony...

 

quite lovely indeed...

[Ajila]

In the bottle – Jasmine and a hint of lemon

 

Wet on me – Again jasmine is the main note (given that I’m one of those people for whom jasmine smells like cat pee this isn’t good). There’s also a sharp menthol smell in the background

 

Dry on me – The jasmine remains the dominant scent but warms and melds until it takes on an almost incensy quality

 

Overall – I’m surprised by how much I like the dry down, but I just can’t wear jasmine

[galleywest]

In the imp: Flowers, especially jasmine, and something spicy. There's something just a little funky in there too, and not a good kind of funky.

 

Wet, on me: flowers, flowers, JASMINE, which is loud at first and dies down fairly quickly. But oh oh...

 

Dry, on me: ...that something funky is now very, VERY funky. Whatever is in there to make those flowers "touched with decay" is reacting with my skin and smells just awful. Ugh--I have to get it off as quickly as possible. I'll be giving this one away. It's a shame, because I really like the florals in this.

[InvinciChicken]

I love jasmine. Or I think I do. I wanted to try something different, so I ordered this sultry sounding scent. Yayyy

 

In the bottle: HOLY. This is overpowering. This is an entire garden squished into a few drops. Something is off about the scent of flowers, but I can't really think because it's so strong. I tentatively apply.

 

Wet: omg. I can't smell anything but strong strong florals. Is that the touch of decay? This isn't smelling that romantic right now...

 

Dry: Ok. It's calmed down a little. I pictured a scent reminiscent of walking through a greenhouse, the air heavy with the scent of delicate flowers. This is more jasmine-and-honeysuckle concentrate, with pure fumes being pumped directly into my nostrils. I've always thought of these flowers delicately perfuming the night air with their ethereal fragrances, but maybe I'm wrong. And I put on so little, too. And I think I'm smelling that "overripe" scent, but instead of lingering softly in the background, it's very obvious. Like you've just walked into a dead part of a garden.

 

I do get the laziness, though. And the heat. But I can't smell anything beyond the flowers. No spice, no lemon, not even leaves or grass or any atmosphere at all. Just flowers. Eventually it overpowered me and I washed it off. *sigh*

 

It could be nice, if diluted: I should try that next time. As it is, though, it's not me. ._. I am a little disappointed - it did sound mysterious and tempting. I really wish it worked for me...

[Epiphany]

In the bottle New Orleans is all jasmine and lemon, with just the slightest touch of honeysuckle. Wet, the jasmine comes out in full force and, as it is wont to on my skin, begins to go a bit soapy.

 

As this one dries, the jasmine surprises me and mellows out--the lemon comes forward, along with the honeysuckle.

 

It is not until it has fully dried that I get hit with the spices. Suddenly--seemingly out of nowhere--it's all cinnamon (with a bit of lemon). Huh...interesting. A morpher this one. Eventually the cinnamon also calms down and it becomes a lovely and well balanced spicy scent with a soft breath of floral and a kick of lemon.

 

Sadly, after about an hour I'm left with nothing but the remnants of my enemy--soapy jasmine. Drat! And I thought I'd finally found a great jasmine scent! (I LIKE jasmine, it just does horrid things when applied to my skin).

[donnatron]

Imp: Lush jasmine and lemon. If this was a tea I'd be all over it.

 

Wet: Jasmine! Pure, unadulterated, heady jasmine. Like so many of us, jasmine can go soapy on me, so I'm nervous.

 

Dry: The jasmine is the dominant note with a slight undercurrent of lemon. There is a complexity to this scent that I can't describe but also lurks in the background. It's really sultry and lovely. I think, though, that it's definitely an acquired scent. I wouldn't wear this on a first date, for example.

 

Throw: Really good, especially for a floral.

 

Overall: Today is my Very Important Lesson day. I tried this when I first received it and it was at a different point in my cycle. It went soapy and gross. So I tried and tried again and now have been rewarded with a really lovely scent that is true to the original scent I envisioned. If at first you don't succeed, try, try again. Sometimes it works!

[goth_huntress]

The rot smell overpowered the rest for me. I couldn't even try it on.

[wyndham]

So this is jasmine! I've been doing the bpal thing for a over a year now, but somehow this was first real encounter with it. I feel like I finally 'get' it now.

 

On me, New Orleans is *very* jasmine, and the jasmine goes strangely unpleasant. I think this is the sort of thing I'd like to sniff in short doses, like if I had the flowers in a vase... it's just too much for me to wear.

[savage_rose]

Ah, the kind of jasmine that loves me! As it dries, it blends perfectly with the honeysuckle, making this sweet, assertive floral bouquet o' lusciousness. Sexy, sweet, and so worth a bottle.

[djsiberia]

very floral. wet: i get lots of jasmine.

dry: the jasmine calms down and now i'm getting honeysuckle and the lemon is very very light.

[Suu4LC]

Hehe, when I pulled this frimp out of my bag after will call my boyfriend, who lived in New Orleans for 3 1/2 years during college) affectionately joked that it would smell like stale vomit and chlamydia JK NOLA, WE LUV YOU!

 

In the imp-wow-this is the perfect representation of florals on a humid night. The way Beth has captured humidity here is remarkable. I feel like I'm gonna start sweating any minute just by sniffing it!

 

Whew, it's quite strong on my skin. The smell of honeysuckle and jasmine through hot, thick, humid night air. The florals start to get a bit stinky and sour on my skin, unfortunately. Especially the honeysuckle. O_<

 

Bleh, as it dries down it loses that interesting humidity note, and just becomes super strong stinky florals. The kind that gives me a headache! >_O

 

This is not for me at all, but I am so glad I tried it, especially because that first sniff and the first few moments on my skin were such an interesting olfactory experience!

[Lyrical]

In the vial: I think this sharp floral must be honeysuckle. Peppery spice and jasmine too.

 

Wet on skin: pretty much what it says - sweet flowers with lemon and spice. I hate jasmine!

 

Dry on skin: if you like sweet, soapy florals, you'll like this. I don't.

[sadtomato]

I LOVE this scent, but then I am a floral lover. Only thing is, this doesn't remind me of New Orleans at all.

I thought most of New Orleans smelled bad and the scents I remember most are Voodoo shop smells and moss and mildew smells.

That said, this is a gorgeous scent.

Very floral, very heavy, very warm.

Perfect for a hot, humid day...which is exactly what today is...which is why I decided to wear this today and test it out.

The Jasmine isn't really the main note here, but the hothouse blooms which can't be individually deciphered but are just a gorgeous, melodic blend.

This one has me sniffing myself non-stop and several people have commented on how great I smell and have asked me what I'm wearing.

I think I need a bottle of this to get me through the summer...makes a hot, humid day not so horrible.

This scent reminds me more of Alabama, Georgia, etc... than New Orleans, though.

[goblinshark]

New Orleans

 

Wow, this is SO SO floral!! I am a huge fan of florals but this is like floral with a capitol F. In the bottle it smells like a million flowers with a perfumey undertone.

 

Freshly applied it SCREAMS sweet flowery perfume. (I am still pretty new at this and have no idea how to pick out individual scents for the most part, especially when there are a bunch of flowers mixed together, so this is probably a more interesting mix than I am making it out to be but all I detect is like, HI FLOWERS!) Thankfully this dies down within ten minutes or so, and it fades to a jasminey floral. I definitely pick up on the 'decaying flowers' scent; the first time I tried it on I had to scrub it off because it smelled like rot, but the next few times I wore it I could only faintly smell it and did not find it unpleasant.

 

It's very strong and if I apply too much I get a headache from it. Still, I do rather like it, and although I may not purchase a bigger bottle I will definitely (sparingly) use up the imp. I suggest this only for people who REALLY like floral scents. Like, a lot.

[jiggahava]

This works SO well on me. At first the lemon and spices clashed with the flowers, giving off some odd dirty-type smell. Then after 10 minutes, the flowers bloom. I know when I love a blend when I want to run out and seek every BPAL with those notes in it. Right now I'm tempted to look up scents with honeysuckle and jasmine and buy them all. I swear there's some magnolia in this as well, even though it's not listed. I might get a bottle because it's so heady and beautiful. Honeysuckle and jasmine are very tropical smelling flowers to me. There's nothing delicate about them, they're big, bold and they make a statement. They're very sweet smelling as well, and I'm a sucker for anything sweet. The throw is moderate, not too strong. It makes me want to visit the south.

[Indigo78]

New Orleans is a Bayou sidestreet where salt is high in the air. The two topnotes, Salt and Stems, balance the florals pretty well (which are suprisingly faint on my skin). As it dries I get a more aquatic note, and hints of spice. None of the decay mentioned by others...

 

I expected this to be more like Bayou - more evocative of N.O.'s spooky side - but this was a pleasant surprise, and it captures the essence of the city (minus the Vampires ) pretty well.

[lizardqueen]

This smells lovely and complex in the imp: the honeysuckle and the jasmine and the lemon and spice all show themselves and twine together.

 

On me, when wet and especially when dry, I get HONEYSUCKLE + jasmine. My skin seems to looooooove honeysuckle. My nose, less so. It turns kind of rubbery on me, not enough for me to say "hey, that smells like rubber," just enough for me to say "oh... there's the honeysuckle. Hrm."

 

This might be a candidate for a scent locket, if and when I acquire one...

[isisonearth]

I love jasmine and honeysuckle and here they are in all their unabashed glory, very evocative of walking through gardens on a humid evening. The lemon is the smell of warm uncut lemons and the spices are subtle but exotic.

[greenranger]

Wet, on me, Jasmine.

 

Drying, still jasmine.

 

I don't seek out florals, usually, but, I actually do like jasmine, sometimes. I like honeysuckle all the time, because the house that I grew up in had lots of honeysuckle all around it. This smells more like jasmine so far, though.

 

This might do very well as THE jasmine scent if it holds up as it is.

 

Beautiful so far.

 

Beautiful, but, it fades really fast on me. Anathema, with the honeysuckle and the opium, lasts better on my skin than this.

Edited July 21, 2008 by Aerinha

[sophia_helix]

Ack ack jasmine! Don't know what I expected from the description, but still. The notes in this are so simple that if you know you like jasmine or honeysuckle, you'll definitely like this.

[vikitty]

Too much jasmine. Would like it more if there was less jasmine as that's all I smell once it's dried down.

[Delirium1009]

In bottle/imp: Sweet flowers and smoky jasmine.

 

Immediately on skin: This is mostly jasmine with a little of the honeysuckle peeking through. It’s very smoky and heavy, and there’s a little bit of warm spice to this.

 

After a little while: As I wear this, the jasmine and honeysuckle blend together a bit more and what I’m left with is a sweetened jasmine scent with the smallest hint of warm spices. This isn’t as smoky a scent as other blends I’ve tried that have jasmine in them; it seems the honeysuckle tempers that well.

 

Overall Impressions: The jasmine in this is the dominant note, but overall this is a pretty blend if you like jasmine. It’s slightly sweetened by the honeysuckle and a bit of the spice peeks through. I don’t get any lemon though, which I was looking forward to.

[rayvn1]

This was one I was feeling pretty meh about before trying it. In the bottle and wet it was a sock to the nose of jasmine, but dry it was a sock to the nose of honeysuckle. This is one of the strongest BPAL scents I've run across - crazy throw and staying power. I did start getting a bit of a headache, but I'm not going to blame that on New Orleans until I've worn it a few more times. The sheer overwhelming FLOWERS of this one make it something I won't wear very often, but I enjoyed mixing a bit with Santa Eularia's uber-herbiness and letting them grudge match.