Val Sans Retour

[moonstonemama]

 

 

in the bottle: citrus (lemon) and a bit of mint

 

wet: very citrus and a bit herbal

 

dry: this is a lovely clean sunny citrus, not a lot of throw. but it's nice and bright, the herbalness (lavender and mint?) has faded almost completely out.

[schackjj]

In the Bottle: Sort of aquatic or ozoney.

 

Wet: Citrus (lemon & ?) but not strong, a wood note too.

 

Drydown: As it dries, the lemon strengthens, but there's something definitely wintry, perhaps the juniper or fir mentioned. In just minutes, the juniper-or-whatever drowns out the citrus The wood hangs in, though.

 

This fades really fast, but would be worth trying in a locket.

Edited August 15, 2009 by schackjj

[totheo]

I got some citrus and the idea of something green but BAM - my skin ate this in a matter of minutes. I mean, completely. There is not even a HINT that it was there. That's never happened before o.0

[imaginepageant]

Review from 2005.

 

In the Vial: Bright lemon with a tinge of sweetness, and a hint of greenery supporting it. It took me a few deep breaths to realize it, but these smell exactly like lemon and honey Strepsils, which are throat lozenges. I don't know if that means there's any honey in this blend; I doubt it, because I hate all honey notes, and I'm not smelling anything bad in here!

 

Wet: The green grows stronger as the lemon mellows out, which effectively destroys the Strepsil smell. Overall the blend softens from something bright to something quiet and serene.

 

Dry: A soft ozone note is coming out now, in a way that reminds me the tiniest bit of Lightning, though definitely not half as sharp and biting. It's not overwhelming, but grounded well by the lemon and green. It's ever so slightly soapy, and very clean and fresh.

 

An Hour Later: It's softened even more, and gotten very faint. Otherwise, the scent itself hasn't changed.

 

Overall: Nice, but not my style. I'm not a fan of ozone, and I like scents to be stronger than this is.

[myth]

I got this is decant back in 2007. When I first tried it back then, I thought I smelled cedar. I guess I liked it because I kept it, but I've never worn it. I'm trying to pare down to only things I wear so I'll actually wear all of those, so I'm retesting some stuff again now.

 

I do get some kind of wood here… maybe not cedar, possibly sandalwood [but not powdery, so not white] or some other kind of light wood. But I also get a bit of a soapy note... possibly a light musk? I don't really get pine or citrus like other reviews. I might buy juniper though... what I smell is not an evergreen note but something that is woody-green-bright like one almost. If there is citrus it reads as rind, bitter and a little sharp. There is an impression of air, slight dampness, of being in a field or forest, only with no humus smell. This is clean and airy, with light fresh wood. It's ok, but not really me. I like the wood aspect, less so the air/damp, which just toes the line of trying to go soapy. Surprisingly good on me for anything with "clean" going on in it, but not something I'd wear regardless. It wants to give me a headache if I sniff too much.

[AEris]

Woody pine, not citrusy on me. Then it disappears.

I've got a really old lab imp, the oil just probably didn't age well.

[milo]

This ends up being a soft, powdery woods on me. I'm getting maybe a touch of jasmine here as well.

[tharsei-thanate]

Wow, this oil is very clear! In the imp it's lemony-sweet, all white and yellow, like a lemon dessert of some kind. Wet on my skin it turns into lemon hard candy (certain fruit notes turn hard candy on me so I'm not surprised), and there's also another note in there behind the lemon that might be pine? Hard to say. In the drydown the lemon moves away from hard candy and sorta begins to smell like some kind of lemon cleaning product. It doesn't go full out Lemon Pledge or anything so I can deal, haha. Once dry it veers away from cleaning product and smells cool, tart, sweet, and bright, like lemonade, and I feel like there's something warm and woody way in the background but I can't identify it.

 

Overall, not bad for a lemon blend! I can see myself wearing this on hot summer days. :-)

[torischroeder9]

My imp label says "Val San Retour," but since that looks similar to a couple of other reviews, I think I'm in the right place. 

 

In the imp: Lemon Pledge and Pine Sol had a baby, and it's in this wee vial. 

 

On my skin:

 

Wet, the evergreen is the most prominent. As it dries, the evergreen disappears almost entirely, and I'm left with sugared lemon. Given some time to develop, the evergreen makes somewhat of a resurgence, this time as a supporting player. So it's sugared lemon against a pine backdrop. Not so much for me. 

 

Low throw.