Independent

[scotchgrrl]

Gift with purchase of the forum-only Election 2008 scents. No description available.

 

I hope this is the right place for this....

 

The Election Day imp of Independent came with my box of goodies today.

 

Very interesting scent. Both in the imp and on my skin, wet and dry, I get a very effervescent scent. It's got a strong citrus to it, very tangy. I like it a lot. Not sure I would wear it every day but every now and then it will be a fun scent to wear.

Edited December 1, 2008 by Shollin

[karihan]

Those who purchased the Election 2008 scents (Tabella and E Pluribus Unum) also received a frimp of a scent representing one of the parties of the Presidential candidates, one for each bottle bought. Independent was one of my frimps.

 

In the imp: Mmmm, tangy! Citrus most definitely.

 

On wet: The predominant note on me is a sweet citrus rather than a sharp one, mandarin or tangerine I think. There's something floral there too, but it's well blended in. Possibly orange blossom?

 

Dry: There's a tingly-freshness to the scent that I think might be ozone, but I really can't be certain. Something breezy anyway, and very light. The citrus and florals are more equal partners now, very nice!

 

Overall: Ooooh, I like this one! It kinda reminds me of a lighter Aizen-myoo, without the yuzu sharpness. Very fresh and delicious. This one's a keeper!

 

(Accidentally made another post for this scent, so I'm moving my review here and asked the mods to remove the duplicate.)

Edited November 27, 2008 by karihan

[ElinaMakropulos]

The Independent Party smells like sparkling, lemony cola. It's delicious, and goes nowhere near "lemon pledge" territory. It's interesting, when I sniff it, the first thing my brain goes to is "lemon" but immediately after it has that fizzy coca-cola scent/feel. I mean, it smells like it's fizzy!

 

On drydown it's less lemony and more like sweet woods with a touch of lemon balm. Absolutely lovely and I adore it!

Edited November 27, 2008 by ElinaMakropulos

[greenranger]

Sniffed in the imp, cola....serously fizzy cola.

 

On me, it gets very lemony, very fast. Lemon juice, lemon rind, and lemon/lime soda all combined. I smell like I sliced open a lemon and smooshed it all over my arm.

[pennydreadful]

After reading the early reviews, I was hoping that this would be the imp I received, and luckily, it was. I agree with the previous reviewers who said this smells like fizzy lemon soda. It reminds me a lot of Demeter's Ginger Ale, but much more citrusy and much more throw.

 

I ADORE this scent and I don't know how I'm going to live knowing I only have an imp of it!

[hkhm]

imp: soda.

 

wet: citrus soda. there's also a faint tea-ish scent behind it.

 

dry: less fizzy, but very warm and lemony.

 

edit: i can still catch a faint lemony whiff the next morning. it's faint but it's there.

Edited November 29, 2008 by hkhm

[Malista]

In the Imp: Seven-Up!

On skin: A little more lemon, a little less lime, but effervescent, citrus, and refreshing.

Dry: Pretty much the same. It doesn't last long, but it's really very pleasant and sort of fun. Fizzy lemonade.

[hellomoonglow]

Lemon Lime Goodness! I love this! This is what I think the Absinthe scents should smell like, although I don't know why, because it smells nothing like what Absinthe should smell like. Ya follow me on all that word diarrhea? This is the first lemon I've smelt that doesn't have cleaning fluid undertones. Drat! Why can't the stuff I love be available in bottle?

[Lycanthrope]

What? It's fizzy, a little different, peppy, and very headstrong.

 

Like Alkaseltzers! Effervescent.

[bibliophile]

This is really, really nice. I generally enjoy Beth's lemony blends, and this one is unlike any other in my collection. I also get a fizzy citrus from this... mostly lemon, heavy on the rind, with what smells like a touch of lime. It doesn't have any of the sweetness that a citrus soda might; the fizziness reminds me more of a dry seltzer. Dry, it's astringent with an almost-herbal undertone. It reminds me a bit of Twenty-One minus the juniper, and is way more wearable for me. I will treasure this imp!

[jencallisto]

In the imp: Fizzy light lemon ginger ale! I'm not sure how it's possible for an oil to smell this fizzy, but it really really does.

Fresh on the skin: Still fizzy and very lemony, a little sweet and a tiny bit bitter and maybe a little chemically. It inches toward cleaning fluid for me, but it's still quite nice.

5 minutes later: It almost insanely bright and fizzy. I have Democrat on my right wrist and Independent on my left, and they each provide a welcome respite from the other -- if I get tired of the Democrat's sweet, thick beeswax, I can switch to the head-clearing citrus fizziness of the Independent. If I feel like the Independent is in danger of searing my brain right out of my head, I can ground myself in warm honey resin of the Democrat.

30 minutes later: This is _so refreshing_. It may smell sort of like dishwashing liquid, but in a nice way, not actually soapy at all.

1 hour later: Fizz fizz fizz. Bright, effervescent lemon soda or seltzer, not too sweet.

2 hours later: Ooh. I think it's softening a little, while still being fizzy and light.

3.5 hours later: Hmm. Still a soft and mildly fizzy citrus, but it's starting to take up just a hint of plastic that kind of reminds me of the ozone in Snow White, which kept reminding me of scotch tape. This hasn't reached nearly that stage, but it's kin. Maybe it's more like the ozone in Snow, Glass, Apples (which I liked more), but not as icy? Just bright and fresh and delicately fizzy.

5 hours later: Huh. This has faded down to slightly flat but still fresh-smelling lemon soda with a bit of sweet scotch tape, still pretty nice.

 

Verdict: I enjoyed this -- it was pleasant in all stages and so unusual that it would've been hard not to. I don't know that I'd wear it often, but I think I'm keeping it.

 

One word: fizzy.

[Seismogenic]

I have to admit, when I sniffed this one at Will Call, my initial reaction was along the lines of, "Yikes, cleaning fluid!" I am not going to let that sway my nose now that I get to do a proper test, though!

 

In the imp: Uhh. This sits somewhere between fizzy citrus soda and...yeah, lemon cleaning fluid.

 

Wet on skin: This sweetens immediately, fortunately pushing it more toward soda and away from Pledge, even though the fizzy aspect also seems to have disappeared.

 

Drydown: Freshly dry, something more cola-like has shown up, likely as the lemon fades. It's rather like that diet lemon pepsi they used to sell. At one hour in, the lemon has faded even further, and the cola smell is less cola-y, though I honestly can't quite figure out what it does smell like.

 

Five hours later: Oddly - extremely oddly - this now smells like something that is partially burnt, but was extinguished before completely being reduced to ash. No, I don't know where that's coming from! It is perhaps also faintly lemony still, but it sure ain't cola anymore.

 

End of the day: Gone.

 

Overall: Well, that as certainly the weirdest progression of smells to ever come out of a BPAL oil on my wrist! I'm rather baffled by it, and I certainly wouldn't have expected that from my impression at Will Call. That said, I'm still not a fan. If it'd stayed in the fizzy citrus cola stage, that would've been good, but that stage went away far too quickly to be considered the dominant blend here. As it was, the bizarre burned smell lasted the longest, and I could do without that. I'll probably try to swap this for another one of the political party imps.

[Eros]

Very tart, sharp citrus at first. Stays that way for a few minutes after application then softens into what I can only describe as fresh spring water with a twist of tart lemon. Faded fairly quickly on me, it was gone within an hour. Nice while it lasted

[LauraB]

As everyone has said, this does smell like really fizzy lemon or lemon and lime. There is something about it that is "perfume" as opposed to "I've just spilled my Sprite" but I honestly couldn't tell you what makes the difference...it is really nice though and I'm holding on to mine

 

BTW, as a Brit, I have no idea what Independent means politically - if this is severely right wing then please don't enlighten me!

[PersephonesChild]

From reading all the other reviews, I determined that this wood be my favorite-- and lo and behold, it's the one I was given! Thank you, magical labbies!

 

I completely agree with the comparison to Demeter's Gingerale-- which was my favorite pre-BPAL perfume! There definitely is something a little more citrus-y than just straight-up gingerale, but it's sort of layered on top of the ginger. It reminds me a little of Mythos Mixtures' Fizz Pixie, though I would say more gingery. It has some serious throw for such an effervescent scent-- which is great, because my sense of smell is actually not that good. In conclusion... I think I have a new favorite! A new, very difficult to obtain more of favorite...

[Dark Alice]

This smells like a cross between Ginger Ale and Lemon Pledge cleaner....I thought I would like this...but it is way to strong for me....I guess I will have to find it a new home.

[Little Bird]

I’ll just have to echo what everyone else has said about this blend. It’s a fizzy, bright, slightly sharp lemon scent. It only lasts about fifteen minutes on my skin, but it’s an uplifting and clean smelling little pick-me-up while it lasts. I prefer Snow Angel for a fizzy lemon type of scent, as it's not as sharp and lasts a lot longer on me.

[obsidienne]

First sniff in the imp: FIZZ! Wow!

 

This is like, as others have mentioned, a really bright fizzy lemon soda. Tangy, a hint of what I think might be green tea as well. Very bright, it makes me think of a white light that is tinged with pale yellow and green-gold.

 

On me it smells almost like tangy citrus with some salt. It's unisex. It's bright and cheerful as all get out. I like it! A teensy dab packs a very intense scent punch.

[zankoku_zen]

Fizzy lemon! At least, that is what it smelled like at the beginning. This bright, effervescent citrus. Now it's like a combination of ginger ale and lemon pledge.

 

Merp.

[Scylla]

In the imp Independent is totally fizzy cola! I asked my husband and kids to tell me what they thought it smelled like, and all three of them concurred!

 

On me, it is still a bit cola-ish and fizzy, but with citrus. Definitely a light-hearted pick me up kind of scent!

[PurringPulsar]

Independent

 

In the imp: 7Up. Yes. This smells just like 7Up or Sprite. Fizzy limeade.

Wet on skin: fresh lime! Lime overload!

Dry: fresh fizzy lime and soda water. This is probably the most lime-y BPAL ever! it smells like a blend of lime Jelly Babies and Sprite. It’s bright, zingy and effervescent-very, very effervescent. That’s because it also smells like Perrier. You know how sparkling water has that odd sharp taste? That’s what it smells like…incredibly carbonated. It also smells a bit like champagne. Though it seems to veer away from fizzy drinks (alcoholic and non) to another type of fizz, that of an aspirin. Hmm.

After a while: now it seems to be a contradictory mix of fizzy aspirin and a cocktail! It’s lost that initial sweetish lime scent from before but does have something vaguely citrus-like. I do smell a lot of gin though, the martini gin scent from 21. Or maybe Swank without the pomegranate. It’s boozy and clear, but also refreshing, and also oddly chalky. Strange combination.

The drydown of this is a kind of cleaning fluid smell. Not like the rankness that Pruno turned on me, this is cleaner and shinier. But I like my citrus smells to smell like fruit (or even drinks), not bathroom cleaner!

Verdict: this one is interesting-first it smells just like a well known brand of fizzy lemonade or like sparkling mineral water. I quite like that. There’s a nice lime scent to it too. But then the scent goes into a strange aspirin stage and then turns to gin, and then goes soapy. I really liked the bright, bubbly, sometimes champagne-ish scent I got at first but I’m not keen on the drydown. So this is not my sort of scent overall.

Emoticon rating:

Is it a keeper? Not really.

If you like this, try: Te Po, Blue Fire, The Hamptons, Swank

[Ajila]

In the bottle – Cherry cola

 

Wet on me – A kind of warm lemon

 

Dry on me – A warm yet clean scent

 

Overall – I like this scent quite a bit. I actually think that it would be a good little girl’s scent; it’s sweet without being cloying and completely asexual without being bland or completely floral

 

[savage_rose]

I got to try this thanks to the lovely ivyandpeony! And it's gorgeous...light, lovely, and intensely effervescent, like New Orleans but even more so. I wish this was in the GC, because I couldn't stop sniffing it.

[fairnymph]

In the imp: Colourless oil. Sweet-tart, sparkling, fruity! Citrus and booze. Lemon-lime sprite/7-up and vodka? Super refreshing.

 

Wet: Sooo sparkling! Very clean, and a little soapy now - reminds me of lemon liquid dishwashing liquid mixed in with the sprite and booze. Happy, bright, airy.

 

Dry: More soapy and cleaner-ish as it dries, and the sparkle is going a bit powdery as the booze fades somewhat. Getting a bit of junipery-gin and something else sort of green that amps.

 

Later: It's definitely gone the way of lemon dishwashing liquid as the lime/initial booze/sparkle fades, but I like that smell myself. It's not in a bad way. Mentholic note is either lavender and/or some form of mint.

 

Summary: Over time, it goes increasingly coldly mentholic/sharp in a very invigorating, sinus-clearing way. Beneath it is the slightly fizzy-sweet, softly powdery, pleasantly soapy lemon detergent. Strong throw & longevity.

 

I don't ever get cola. This becomes increasingly cool/mentholic on my skin - unusual, as most mentholic notes start off strong and fade. There's got to be some other note beyond the gin causing it. I'm reminded very vaguely of Melpomene and a bit less vaguely of Delousing Powder.

 

 

[Monster]

A very kind forumite included this in a package she sent me after hearing how I was crazy for lime scents latley.

Independent is (in my opinion) the holy effing GRAIL of lime scents! Oh how I love this one...ohhhh I wish this were available in 5ml size!

I agree with the person who said "fizzy citrus soda". That is a perfect description of this oil. It's bright, fizzy, cheerful and care-free smelling.

Surprisingly, this citrus blend actually lasts a while on my skin (unlink most citrus scents which usually fade within minutes). This one kicks around for about an hour before it disappears into my flesh.

 

Beth, if you are reading this...GC?? Please?? Pretty please???