New Orleans

[wvgemini]

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

In the bottle: Whoosh! This is strong! Very heady, very floral and I’m very worried. Super strong floral scents and I DO NOT get along.

Wet: A little better. Some sweetness to it now and the jasmine and honeysuckle are balancing each other out nicely. But this is not like your usual jasmine. This is Jasmine that has surpassed its peak and is starting to wither and droop on the plant. And the humidity is adding a sour edge to it.

Drying: Heady, lemon is starting to sparkle a little and gawd, you can actually smell the humidity! This is becoming absolutely gorgeous!

A few hours later: I am in a cloud of sultry, steamy, swampy blossoms. I imagine the Garden District smelled like this in years gone by. This is what you smell when someone attempts to describe New Orleans 100 years ago in writing. Not an every day scent and definitely not a dreary day scent but this will be luscious in the Summer!

[FelicityTwitchell]

decay, pretty much just getting decay, yuck

[kjirstiben]

This is a tropical floral with a deep green backdrop... very reminiscent of steamy Southern nights. I have to use a light touch with it in order to keep the jasmine in check, but having done so, this is truly wonderful. A glorious floral-green tropical wash of summery scent. I've been wary of jasmine after a couple bad experiences--this has given me some hope for the florals after all!

[galahad]

In The Bottle

Jamine and spice

 

On Application

Strong jasmine and lemon. The lemon tames the jasmine somewhat

 

Dry Down

Not bad but I am not a jasmine fan

 

Rating (0-5)

1.5

 

[Gold Dust Kitten]

Holy Hell! Intense honeysuckle and jasmine in the imp and wet. This does smell like New Orleans minus the mildew and smut permeating thru the humid air. The dry down is jasmine and lemon spiciness.

 

It's different, but not something I see myself wearing regularly.

[snapesgirl34]

In the bottle – Sweet, floral.

 

Wet – Lemon, jasmine, and honey suckle.

 

Dry – Mmmm, jasmine and honey suckle (the lemon has faded almost completely). This dries wonderfully on my skin, and seems to last a really long time. Most things with flower scents smell very overpowering and artificial to me, but this perfume smells very soft, and like I’m walking through a garden down South. None of that nasty artificial scent.

 

Overall – I really love this one, and may purchase a 5 mL once the summer rolls

‘round again (this doesn’t really seem like a fall scent, much less a winter one). It starts off strong, but fades nicely as it dries and becomes a nice, soft scent. I don’t like a lot of florals, but I do like the more “tropical” flowers like jasmine, ginger blossom, and honey suckle as their all very nostalgic scents for me, so I’m not surprised that I like this one (even though it doesn’t really have a tropical smell). I never got the spice at all though. I don’t know if this is what New Orleans smells like (I’d it imagine it a little dirtier, with Spanish moss and rum mixed in with flowers), but I still love it.

[Seamyst]

In the imp: Very strong, almost pure floral. Reminds me of commercial perfumes you might find at Wal-Mart.

 

Wet: Strong floral, with a bit of honeysuckle and something that might be spice.

 

Dry: It dries to Ivory unscented soap, with maybe a hint of honeysuckle, but not really.

 

Overall: I'm guessing it's the jasmine that smells like Ivory, based on some of the other reviews. Ivory unscented isn't a bad smell, necessarily, but it's not something I want to smell like all day. And the really strong floral is a turn-off, as well.

[peachtreepeartree]

In the imp: Sweet honeysuckle & a strong, almost incense/head shop-like musty smell.

On my skin, wet: Spices! Warm & rich & earthy, and not at all sweet or cloying like cinnamon scents can be, at times.

Drying: The jasmine blooms & mingles with the spices - followed slowly by the rest of the florals. Heady, intoxicating (& still that warm tingle at the back of my nose from the spices!).

Dry: A gorgeous, perfectly balanced, grown-up scent. Its floral/spice mixture is very close to my beloved Chanel no. 5 (though with a "dryer" feel). I can't stop sniffing my wrist! I really, really like it.

Edited October 5, 2010 by peachtreepeartree

[TigerLilyFeet]

Oh New Orleans is so heady! I can smell this before I open the imp.

I get a lot of pungent jasmine and beautiful honeysuckle....It's impossible to extract true honeysuckle essence, but I'm digging this take on the scent a lot.

It's reminding me of a candle oil I once had of honeysuckle that I loved so much.

In my humble perception I don't feel the decay in this at all, yet I can see how others might.......

New Orleans does capture a decadent night in NOLA yet...I'm not sure if I will order a full bottle, but it's impressive.

Edited February 27, 2011 by TigerLilyFeet

[invisible iris]

For me, this is an intensely nostalgic scent. I've never been to NOLA, but this blend reminds me of my childhood in Houston, summertime evenings with jasmine & honeysuckle in the humid air in the backyard & my mom making Constant Comment iced tea with lemon.

 

in the vial: JASMINE. yowch.

 

wet on skin: It begins with big headachy jasmine at the fore, though that almost immediately settles into a wistful backdrop of less-defined spicy opacity. After maybe ten minutes, the lemon appears, and then the honeysuckle, which helps by adding a sweetness that relieves (to an extent) the headache. And the spice, which I think is clove, begins to ground all that heady floral intensity.

 

finish: This has become a beautiful spicy-floral blend on me. Feminine but not necessarily outgoing, due to the depth of the clove. The juicy- sickly- or rotten-sweetness of it has died down in favor of a contemplative almost-powdery warmth. At first, I thought I'd wear this when I wanted to feel young and southern, and maybe slightly tacky(!), in a Sookie-Stackhouse-sunbathes-in-the-front-yard kind of way. But after I give it an hour, with the retreat of the jasmine into the spicy undertones, I've changed my mind. It gets mysterious and romantic in a way that I love.

 

It lasted for a good 5 hours on me, and I could still smell it faintly the next morning.

[OctoberGwen]

I obtained an aged version of this (no later than 2007.) I like florals but this didn't work for me at all. It's sickly-sweet with a bitter undertone, a very cloying scent that I just couldn't stand to keep on my wrist for too long. It was very hard to wash off, too.

 

A pity, because I visited the city of New Orleans once and was entranced by it.

[ziggystardust13]

Jasmine Soap

 

Its a shame because the city is so close to my heart. I wanted it to be a beautiful scent. Oh well.

Edited October 8, 2011 by ziggystardust13

[KindKit]

I got a partial imp of New Orleans from someone I bought BPAL from. It's not something I would have ordered myself, because I'm a guy and the description was of a very feminine scent. But today I was bored and thought I'd give it a try.

 

I liked the earthy, decaying-vegetation note I got for about the first minute it was on my skin, but that soon disappeared into the strong sweet jasmine and honeysuckle, which I found pretty but definitely not me. Then unfortunately the scent turned very soapy on me--strong cheap jasmine-scented soap--and I washed it off. Possibly jasmine and my skin chemistry don't get on; that would be a shame, because I like the smell of jasmine in (for example) jasmine tea, and I'd have been interested to try a little jasmine in a more masculine scent.

[subtlesiren]

In the imp: Heady floral with a grounding, earthy moss on a very humid night. These flowers are in full bloom, almost at the rotting point.

 

Wet on my wrist: The moss is fleeting, and the blooms are becoming creamier with a splash of citrus.

 

Dry on my wrist: The flowers are becoming stronger again, and the creamy lemon is there, but indistinguishable.

 

I can't tell if I actually like this scent or if I just want to like it so badly that it's a mind over matter situation. New Orleans is a siren call to me, someday I will see it, but at the moment this scent is the closest I will get. For me, this scent would be perfect for a hot, sticky summer night, to embrace the heat rather than counteract. And to think I would ever even consider a scent with jasmine after my experience with Siren.

[Eliyetres]

I think it's the lemon that ruins it for me. It smells like pine resin (not as a BPAL note but IRL) and freshly cut wood. Wich a cat just peed on! Yuck!

[persephonehazard]

As today's tester, Hemlock, vanished so entirely from my skin after a few hours I decided to branch out and test a second scent today. This led me quickly to the unexpected discovery that I seem to have not one but two imps of New Orleans. I have no idea why this should be; all I can think is that maybe Beth frimped me two of the same scent? Goodness knows. I certainly haven't ever bought it. But anyway, here we are.

 

I'm certainly getting the "touch of decay" in the imp. I think I can smell honeysuckle, too, and maybe a bit of lemon. It smells fresh and pretty with a slight dark undercurrent, and I'm beginning to think that I might not mind having two imps of it in the slightest. Then I swipe a little onto my skin, and the very second I get a sniff of it wet I begin to rethink that decision. This smells of nothing if not soap. And not just any soap, either - it smells of a nursing home. Just exactly like a nursing home. Sanitisation and cheap stale perfume and the least glamorous kind of impending death. After a short while I start getting hopeful notes of something minty or eucalyptusy and I get my hopes up again, but they're mostly being drowned out by the old lady soap.

 

I wave my arm in my boyfriend's face while he's trying to play the new Star Wars MMORPG and frown. He knows what I mean by now and dutifully sniffs at me. "You smell very...er...clean", he says, trying to be helpful. I wander off muttering about retirement complexes and go outside for a cigarette, which sometimes seems to help perfumes settle in. Once I'm back inside the honeysuckle is much clearer, but the strong overcurrent of soap is still overpowering and I'm really not sure I shall ever want to smell like this, alas.

Edited January 15, 2012 by persephonehazard

[evekrieg]

I received this in a swap for Mary Read (which smelled like sweaty socks on me) and boy am I ever happy about it. I didn't know what was in it when we swapped, but it is sure a fascinating piece of work. Normally jasmine and honeysuckle are flat-out nasty on me but this has this lovely, strange spiciness. It's lush and does actually remind me of a hot summer night or a greenhouse. It's definitely a weird scent, sexy but slightly off. I was surprised by how much I liked it.

 

On a side note: there's something in it that gives me hives. I put it behind my ears at work and was itching. Later, I noticed that I had two giant spots where I applied the perfume. No idea what note would've made me react.

[Scorianelle]

This is my sister's perfume and she kindly let me try it. I should probably start by saying that New Orleans really demonstrated the differences perfumes can have on (and to) different people. We opened the imp together and each took a sniff. She felt it smelled very floral, whilst I had a sweet honey scent under some very distinct cinnamon/spice. I immediately liked the spicy edge.

 

Whilst on both of us the perfume amped to whatever scents we had found stronger in the bottle. On her it became a very light, demure floral. While on me it was a strong, clean lemon scent rounded beautifully by nose tingling spices. The unfortunate part is that this stage didn't last very long and it quickly went soapy on me. A very strong lemon soap which was a little too much for me. So all though it was lovely for a little while, I'll be letting her keep this one.

[whitsunweddings]

In the imp: Honeysuckle/jasmine with a hit of warm spice. I don't usually care for jasmine blends, but this is very pretty.

Wet: Lemon coming out, spices still prominent.

Dry: Mothballs (as jasmine always goes on me, woe!), but it's relatively nice mothballs, with lovely lemon and spice. It'd probably be really lovely on someone who doesn't have jasmine-destroying skin.

Ten mins later: ... And I'm having an allergic reaction. wtf body why are you so weird.

[Dizcodancer]

<div class="bpal" style="background-color:transparent; border: 1px dotted #000033; color: #000099; padding: 5px; width: 90%; align:center;margin:0 auto 0 auto"><i><!-- bpal scent start -->Reminiscent of hothouse blooms on a humid night, ripe, but touched with decay. Sweet honeysuckle and jasmine with a hint of lemon and spice.<!-- bpal scent end --></i></div>

 

In the bottle: Whoosh! This is strong! Very heady, very floral and I’m very worried. Super strong floral scents and I DO NOT get along.

 

Wet: A little better. Some sweetness to it now and the jasmine and honeysuckle are balancing each other out nicely. But this is not like your usual jasmine. This is Jasmine that has surpassed its peak and is starting to wither and droop on the plant. And the humidity is adding a sour edge to it.

 

Drying: Heady, lemon is starting to sparkle a little and gawd, you can actually smell the humidity! This is becoming absolutely gorgeous!

 

A few hours later: I am in a cloud of sultry, steamy, swampy blossoms. I imagine the Garden District smelled like this in years gone by. This is what you smell when someone attempts to describe New Orleans 100 years ago in writing. Not an every day scent and definitely not a dreary day scent but this will be luscious in the Summer!

 

I've been meaning to write a review of New Orleans for a while now, as it's absolutely my favorite BPAL scent - ok, my favorite scent *among all perfumes* of all time! I read through many of the reviews in this thread, and I had to include this one, as it's very on point with my feelings about New Orleans as well.

 

Super heady and humid. It is certainly strong, but I like that about it because a little goes a long way I also am not fond of super florals (like Amsterdam) so this is just the perfect mix of spicy, floral, sweet, and wet. A city that smells this luscious is a city I'd love to live in forever

[BoneBone24]

Wet: A sweet floral. Very yellow.

 

Drydown: Definitely honeysuckle with a bit of smokiness from the jasmine and brightness from the lemon. Slightly soapy at times, but only a little. Golden and summery.

 

Dry: Same as the drydown but with a touch of spice folded in. Sweet and sticky honeysuckle supported by spiced jasmine. Glowing and sensual. Occasionally a moment of soapy tartness appears but it mostly stays true. Hazy yellows.

[Gwydion]

In bottle: That’s a whole lot of jasmine. Did I mention the jasmine? Seriously, jasmine. It’s eating the honeysuckle up, so that separating it takes real effort. The lemon is a weak second, and the spices are more edge than distinct in themselves. There is o chance of anything nice happening if I combine this with my natural scent, so no skin test.

[sth0]

I had a lot of hopes for New Orleans. I thought the jasmine and "dark stuff" would add a depth to the honeysuckle.

 

In the imp, it smells like spicy jasmine with an astringent lemon edge. I am eternally grateful that I only had to endure 5 minutes or so of the awful lemon smell while it was wet.

 

As it dries down, the honeysuckle blooms. Jasmine is so hard sometimes (a difficult personality?) and I think that the spices die in its wake. I would have loved for the spices to play a stronger role but mayhaps it is my body chemistry dampening them. I still smell honeysuckle but it is second fiddle to the jasmine. It would not be so bad but it is beginning to smell like a car air freshener.

 

Disappointed :/

[Incendiare]

Oh yeah, that is definitely jasmine. And then with the second sniff comes the honeysuckle. Flying Fox, anyone? When I apply it, something dry and woodsy emerges out of nowhere. Perhaps it's a vague dry spice in the background. Whatever it is, it is taking everything, which is shocking since I usually find jasmine and honeysuckle overbearing.

 

The honeysuckle burns off within the first few minutes. A heavy jasmine is left mingling in the air.

[enfleurage]

I've always loved the heady narcotic quality of jasmine, and in New Orleans it's absolutely beautiful. It reminds me of the sleepy walks I used to take through my neighborhood in the summer, of running my hand through the vines that weaved through gates and fences. Sometimes I'd stop to press my nose into a spray of jasmines and just inhale their scent. I wasn't sure if I'd like this at first, because it was quite indolic and headache-inducing when wet. I started to adore New Orleans when it finally settled on my wrist. What I smelled when I lifted it to my nose was pure unadulterated jasmine, lifted by the lemon and creamy from the honeysuckle. Might need this in slatherable quantities, preferably a bath oil.