New Orleans

[strick9]

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

Ithe bottle it's a very, very heady floral. Jasmine, honeysuckle, vanilla. Indolic notes that I love. There's something lightly citrus- the lemon is more like lemongrass. A touch of cassia, a touch of anise seed perhaps. All in the background. I love the way this smells wet.

Initial application wet is very much as it is in the bottle, Jasmine being the main player here. Its like crushed jasmine though, like you accidentally stepped on some blossoms.

As this dries, it changes quite a bit, and I'm having a hard time determining if i like this. It oscillates between cinnamon-tinged palmolive dish soap (blegh) and a heady, slighly decaying honied white floral with spice that I actually like- a lot. I keep thinking there's gardenia in here as well.

after wearing for a few hours, it smells like scented plastic flowers. In the trade pile it goes. Edited October 27, 2017 by strick9

[achildoftime]

I have a soft spot for honeysuckle so I really enjoy this. It's honeysuckle and jasmine dancing around each other. It kind of smells spiced in the same way that carnation can be a little spicy. My nose doesn't readily identify lemon in here at all. It's all floral. It evokes a warm summer evening on the porch for me. There isn't much change when it dries, maybe gets a little swampy, but I think that makes it better. Adds a little green plant matter to it. It's a beautiful blend.

[RedPersimmon]

Got a frimp of this from the Lab.

 

Getting a ton of floral from this, like pressing my face directly into the stamen of a flower. Thought it was lily, but checked the notes and they said honeysuckle and jasmine. Not getting any cat-pee or decay. It's pretty straight-ahead, blooming flower to me. I didn't get the lemon or spice before I read what the notes were, but now I can smell them a little bit.

 

It's pretty and ladylike. I can see a woman in a white dress and wide-rimmed white hat walking in a sun-filled garden. I've never been to New Orleans, but this blend smells very southern to me.

[milo]

I thought that I've tried and reviewed this, but I guess not. Hothouse florals, very sweet and luscious, quite strong. I love honeysuckle, and I'm enjoying this one, as we still have 3 feet of snow. New Orleans is on my bucket list, and this one is nice to try, and I do wear this kind of blend on occasion. Reminds me of Faiza, and one of the Grindhouse girls. Nice!

[lady_pandora]

My jasmine-amping skin strikes again. This is basically Jasmine SN on me, with maybe the tiniest hint of lemon, and fades quickly. Hearts for Ghost Friends and Hell's Belle evoke NOLA more for me.

[Lucchesa]

In the imp, this was all about the jasmine. I gritted my teeth and applied it anyway and was pleasantly surprised because on my skin, New Orleans is really interesting. I get more of the honeysuckle keeping the jasmine in line, and I get a fair amount of spice reminiscent of the Lab's bay rum note. I don't actually make out any lemon, but it may also be reining in the jasmine. I quite like this one and will definitely keep the imp.

[doomsday_disco]

I tried this one at Denver Comic Con a few years ago, but I didn't write down my impression of it. So I decided to buy an imp with a recent Lab order to see how much honeysuckle I get from it.

 

In the imp: I'm hit with a blast of jasmine, but I do get some of the lemon, honeysuckle, and a bit of spice.

 

Wet: The jasmine is the most prominent note, but I am getting more of the honeysuckle on my skin than I did in the imp. The lemon adds some additional brightness but doesn't make it outright lemon-y. There really is just a touch of spice.

 

Dry: The sweet jasmine is still the strongest note, followed by the honeysuckle (although it's less noticeable on me now). I am still getting the bit of spice and just a hint of lemon.

 

Verdict: Jasmine can be problematic on me, but I don't mind it here. But I was really hoping for more honeysuckle! I don't think this is a scent I need to obtain more of, but I think I'll keep the imp (even though my boyfriend really dislikes it because of the indolic qualities of the jasmine, which I don't even notice in this one).

[Vaporeon]

Bleh. I have an old imp of this thats complex and deep with cinnamon. The bottle i got recently is not similar at all, sharp and biting with no spice or anything resembling decay, similar to Eostre. 

Edited November 17, 2019 by Vaporeon

[Ghost of a Rose]

Lab frimp, aged about 8 years.

 

In the imp: Florals and spice, well blended and balanced so that I don't pick up any distinct type of either. There's almost an incense vibe which is probably the spice. My nose tends to interpret a lot of non-floral/non-foody notes as incense, probably because I must have had incense with those scents.

 

As I type this, I notice a beautiful floral scent wafting from my hand that handled the imp. It's clearly jasmine and honeysuckle. Jasmine is not one of my favorite floral notes, because it is usually way too strong, strangles all of the other notes, and turns into Ivory soap on me. But here it is perfect, letting the honeysuckle have equal rights and smelling like the real flowers and tea, both of which I love.

 

On me, wet: 100% jasmine at first. But the spice starts to kick in within a couple of minutes. Especially clove. The jasmine continues to calm down, and at 4 minutes, it is spice and . . . wait, toothpaste? WTF? But yes, an utterly realistic toothpaste weakly flavored with mint. The kind they make for people like me, who can't tolerate the burn of the usual strong mint toothpastes. And it's not just mint. I clearly get the paste smell, too.

 

I don't think it is supposed to smell like this. My imp is probably long past its "best by . . . " date.

(Later added: I looked over the other reviews and very few noticed anything like this. But a few people mentioned "minty", "strange and medicinal", "green and herbal." A couple mentioned "lavender", and one said "eucalyptus". I believe we are all picking up the same note, a sharp hot herb. The kind that gives you a burning sensation when it is highly concentrated. But it is not like that here. The concentration is low, which is why we can't definitely or unanimously identify it. There's just enough to provide an impression of warmth - together with the clove oil - which of course is fitting for New Orleans. So now I do think it is an intentional note.)

 

At 25 minutes: Clove and toothpaste. With a hint of wood which is probably cinnamon. Huffing my wrist up close, I don't especially like this blend (that toothpaste.)

But the sillage is absolutely gorgeous. Half jasmine and half honeysuckle. At just the right strength.

 

At an hour: Up close, it's all toothpaste now. But the sillage hasn't changed and is still gorgeous. And since that's what other people smell - and me too, when I'm not nose-to-wrist - I love the perfume anyway, in spite of the toothpaste.

 

At 3 hours: Toothpaste, with a little flowers and spice starting to show up again. The sillage is gone, as far as I can tell by trying to smell it. But every now and then, I get an unexpected whiff of that beautiful jasmine and honeysuckle again.

 

After about 4 1/2 hours, it's all soft florals. No more toothpaste at all, yay!

 

After 9 hours, my wrist still smells like beautiful flowers.

 

After 13 1/2 hours, I can still smell a trace of flowers, and they are still beautiful!

 

I never detected any lemon or decay, for which I am thankful in both cases. They might be subtly contributing to the impression of toothpaste, though.

 

An odd thing happened. The first day, I put a drop on my left wrist and it smelled as I described it. The next day, I just swiped the wand on my right wrist because I was going out in public immediately and didn't want it to be too strong. That day I smelled only the flowers, never any spice or toothpaste. The third day, I put a drop on my left wrist again, and it smelled like this again. The difference was very noticeable and extreme. Like wearing two completely different perfumes.

 

So, do my wrists have different skin chemistry? Or was it because I used less the second day? Or because I put it on the second day immediately after showering; so maybe my skin enzymes were temporarily absent; or maybe it was interacting with soap traces on my skin?

In any case, that was unexpected and interesting!

 

Verdict: 4.5 stars out of 5. I subtracted only 1/2 star for the toothpaste, since it was noticeable only when huffed right up close, and the rest of the scent was so beautuful and lasted so long.

Edited August 22, 2018 by Ghost of a Rose

[Greenwoodtree]

If you love southern flowers, this is for you.

[torischroeder9]

In the imp: Honeysuckle, jasmine, and a bit of spice. 

 

On my skin:

 

Wet, I get the same jasmine, honeysuckle, and spice. I actually get a fair bit more spice than I was expecting from the scent description and my concept of a "New Orleans" scent. I'm not sure if this is due to the imp's age (indeterminable, except to say not Lab-new) or not. As it dries, the honeysuckle strengthens, and the spice fades; it's not gone entirely, but it's much more what I envision a "hint" of spice to be like. I don't get a similar hint of lemon although I can't tell if it's blending in with the florals or being eaten up by the florals -- or if it's a factor of age. 

 

Both jasmine and honeysuckle are often overwhelming on my skin, so I'm very pleasantly surprised by how wearable I find New Orleans. I'm not sure how often I'll find myself wanting to reach for it, just because of my personal scent preferences -- and thus it may find its way to my swap box eventually -- but I'm interested to keep it around for now. 

[bambi]

I knew I was taking a risk with this one. I amp both jasmine and honeysuckle. I like both notes, but they do tend to be overwhelming on me. In the imp, I get greenery, florals, and lemon. Neither the jasmine or honeysuckle are distinguishable at this stage. On my skin, I get both of the florals, still indistinguishable. They are not sweet florals, and the tartness of the lemon keeps them a little sharp. As it dries, the jasmine becomes distinguishable from the honeysuckle, and it's definitely the stronger of the two on my skin. The tartness of the lemon fades, and I get a small hint of "spices." Later, I start to amp the jasmine much more, and this gives the impression of walking through a garden on a very humid night. A garden full of jasmine, some honeysuckle, and maybe some lemon blossom. This is rich, floral, and the tiniest bit spicy. Beautiful on the right person.

[Llanval]

Jasmine. Honeysuckle. Funk. 

 

This jasmine came DIRECTLY for my throat and sent my flyiiiiiiiiing!!! But unlike Mr. Bezos, I actually made it more than 100ks over the Karman line. Launched at light speed straight into a dimension where everything was jasmine. Even the atoms. Oooooof. 

 

Wow. Big nope for me. But on the right skin? This would be a beautifully heady rush of overwhelming but diaphanous jasmine&honeysuckle florals with a drop of real world, street-level funk. If this had some crystalline rain or dew, then I'd say it's the perfect expression of the fantasy of New Orleans. 

[ShadowEtienne]

New Orleans was one of the first things I ordered in search of my jasmine scent (jasmine is one of my favorite smells), and while it's not my perfect jasmine, it's definitely a lovely scent that I will enjoy my imp of.

 

On me, it's definitely night blooming garden in a warm humid place. Pretty even balance of jasmine and honeysuckle, some earthy spices (I think that there might be a little bit of cardamom in there, but a few other things too) that remind me of warm garden at night after heavy rain. The lemon in the description isn't coming through much on me, but I think that it may be keeping the scent from being too sweet.

 

As it settled on my skin, New Orleans did evoke a rather vivid scent memory. It reminds me of viscerally of hiding under the house at my paternal grandmother's house in Nashville making friends with the snakes. I'm not sure if that's a good or bad thing, but it does make me a little less inclined to wear the scent often.