Zephyr

[cinderfallen]

A gentle white scent, breezes laced with the scent of springtime blooms and citrus. Lemon, lemon verbena, neroli, white musk, white florals, white sandalwood, China musk, bergamot and a drop of vanilla.

Creamy! On drydown, it's ever-so-slightly lemon verbena and hint of florals against a creamy white musk and vanilla backdrop. Not specifically lemon or floral at all.

[jasmine]

Before smelling this, I presumed that Zephyr would be another “Hello, I’m Pledge!” scent, but it couldn’t be farther from the truth. The lemon is faint, light, and lovely, buoyed by a gentle blend of white flowers. There’s a soft, creamy sweetness to it that is really remarkable. This isn’t a “foody” scent, but it’s delectable nonetheless.

 

The floral doesn’t seem to be jasmine, gardenia, or honeysuckle -- magnolia, perhaps? It isn’t amplifying on my skin, which surprises me pleasantly. I can pick out the vanilla, the musk, and the lemon, but they all combine in a soft, ephemeral way that has exquisite internal balance.

 

Given a bit more time, the lemon and florals fade out, but the vanilla and musk remain. At this point, I find myself wishing the vanilla were a touch stronger, but that’s probably because I’m so impressed by the vanilla that I do pick up. I would have called this feminine fifteen minutes ago, but this stage is turning into a light, deft musk-vanilla scent that could readily fit on a male. I’m surprised all over again.

 

After a while, it’s faintly powdery on top, just the faintest hint of talcum over the vanilla-musk scent. (Someone on the forums commented that this smells of Secret Solid deodorant; I mention that because I find it quite evocative of the powdery layer on top. The effect doesn’t offend me, but it might annoy someone else.)

 

The lemon has also drifted back. It’s not strong -- it never was -- but I can pick it up softly in the throw, even though I can’t pick it up on a direct sniff. Very odd, but certainly not bad.

 

All in all, I consider this another enchanting success from the Lab.

[outofrhyme]

In the bottle:

Vanilla and florals - not getting much more than that.

 

Wet:

Creamy, vanilla, florals, and the citrus is just barely there. If I had to pick a color, it would probably be pink, or pale blue, or some other pastel. It's too creamy to just be "white," which strikes me as a very cold color.

 

Dry down:

Very nice. Cool creamy vanilla, with the hint of citrus. It's also definitely a little bit dry from the sandalwood, but that's more something I notice in the back of my nose. It smells a little bit whiter now.

Final thoughts:

I like it a lot.

[Musamea]

In the imp and wet: all sandalwood, all the time. To me, this scent is more spicy/sharp than gentle.

 

Dry: This scent is *really* bold, with mainly sandalwood and lemon notes. I'm getting no vanilla and very little musk from it at all. It reminds me a lot of Kathmandu, except without the eventual sweetness in the drydown.

 

Overall impression: I think this scent would make an excellent cologne for men. Unfortunately, I'm not a man and I prefer my perfumes a little softer. I'll be passing this one on.

[mtlaise]

Wet: As soon as I put this on, I smelled the vanilla (which I love), and a few seconds later the lemon and verbena. What a great mix! Did I mention I love this?

 

Dry down: It seems to be softening, something else is trying to come through.

 

Pouf! It just turned to powder. The throw on it at this stage is incredible... I just sniffed my arm a moment ago and wrote about it softening, and the scent had been pretty close to the skin up to this point. When it turned powdery, all of a sudden, the scent wafted up to my face and said "Hello!". Surprisingly, I actually really like this, most scents that turn powdery on me are so close to the skin, and in that bland baby powder sort of way, that I don't really see the point of wearing them, but this is REALLY nice. I can still pick out a few notes, despite the powder finish: the vanilla is still apparent, and I can pick out the florals now too. If I sniff close to the skin, I get a hint of the lemon, verbena and musk. The bergamot never did come out for me on this one.

 

I'm not sure if I'll buy more, but I'll use up the imp for sure.

 

ETA: This has great staying power... I put it on last night, and today I can still smell it before getting into the shower - about 15 hours later. Not much throw at this point, but still...

Edited December 13, 2006 by mtlaise

[sizigia]

Frimp from the lab!

 

In vial: Lemony smell

 

On me: Wet is all lemon, a bit sharp lemon but it dries and white musk ( I love white musk) appears and sweets and deeps the blend.

 

I like it a lot, I find it similar to Fae, is perfect for summertime.

[Deiicide]

Oh a frimp that I've wanted to try, thanks Labbies!

 

Sweet clean lemonly floral, nothing too surprising upon my skin. It reminds me of a more lemony Kumiho. I will pass along my imp to someone that will like it more.

[filigree_shadow]

Yow, this is amazingly floral on me. I mean, like, almost all flowers. I thought it would be lemony or musky, but all I'm getting is a very powdery heady floral scent. No creaminess or vanilla, either.

 

I think I'll have to try this again later. I just got out of the bath and maybe my skin isn't its normal self right now.

[alliekat13]

Zephyr is one of my favorites. In the bottle it's very lemony, but more of a dessert type lemon...like lemon bars or lemon custard with an herbal bite. On the skin the neroli comes out, that was the herbal that I smelled. The white sandalwood comes out after that, with the florals (can't really distinguish what said florals are though, it's more like the thought of florals instead of actual florals if that makes any sense). The vanilla and the musk really bind this scent together and turn it into something very delicious. This is a very fresh white fragrance, perfect for those early days of spring.

[delicate_fangs]

In the imp: Smells to me like Jergen's Baby Lotion and a faint breath of citrus and flowers. Hmm. Not immediately attracted to this.

 

Wet: Much stronger baby lotion on me. Hm. But now it's morphing.... A floral note is struggling to emerge.

 

A minute or two later: Yeah, definitely floral. And I don't much like most florals. On the other hand, there's something in here that reminds me of both Antique Lace and Black Opal, and it's a note I like. When I sniff my wrists, I don't get the note, but when my hands are on the keyboard it drifts up to me. Hmm! Whatever this note is, it reminds me of a trip to Florida in my senior year of high school. (Warm-climate blossoms, and a little Bain de Soleil suntan lotion? I bought the Bain de Soleil, which was v. expensive compared to anything we usually got, at some store in an area city; I had seen an ad for it in Vogue or some such, all white sand and wishful thinking. In late winter in Wisconsin, those are powerful motivating thoughts.) It does smell sort of like a breeze in a place snowbirds would rather be at that time of year, so yeah, it kind of fits the name here.

 

Drydown: That nice creamy unnameable note is all that's left, now, plus a very faint floral which is actually quite pleasant.

 

Opinion: To me, this smells so much like Antique Lace and Black Opal, both of which I have a bit of, that I'd be unlikely to reach for it. However, I'd like to find out what other people think of it on me, because they often notice things I don't. (I think I might be a tiny bit hard-of-smelling in some bandwidths.)

 

Verdict: Keep the imp. It's a fine 2nd tier scent. Retry later and see what reactions it gets. (I didn't superlove Spanked on me, but numerous people commented on how much they liked it, which is very interesting. One's skin chemistry is individual, and I like wearing something that combines with it in ways that get that kind of rave reviews.)

 

Later yet: There's a lovely vanilla musk thing going on, faint but really nice. I like Zephyr a lot. Not sure I'll spring for a bottle, but I will definitely try this imp a few more times and see.

Edited March 16, 2007 by delicate_fangs

[Elemcee]

Zephyr smells like a pleasant cloud of lemon and vanilla. It's lovely, calming and soft.

It's like sitting in a fragant green field on a nice warm day. It's nice.

[Meg]

In the bottle: sickly sweet citrus musk

 

Wet: Lemon, white musk, a hint of neroli and sandalwood.

 

Drydown: Powdery musk with vague citrus notes. Some citrus is a bit green, I'm guessing the neroli, some is sweet. The floral is very little-old-ladyish powder. I get a lot of sandalwood as a base note.

 

Overall: Ick! A very sickly blend, not sharp enough to be really citrusy, just vaguely "fresh" like some colognes, with lots of sandalwood and very powdery florals. Absolutely not my thing.

[Christine Daae]

Frimp from the lab that I'm testing today!

 

In the bottle: Vanilla, lemon and white flowers.

 

Wet: Errm, lemon? Oh, no. Lemon hates me. This smells sweet and citrusy, and lemon always turns a blend bad on me, but we'll see.

 

Drydown: Okay, this smells exactly like Antique Lace on me now. Well, from what I remember (Antique Lace gives me a headache if I wear it too long so I don't, very often). It's this vague dryer-sheet-ish sort of white flowery smell with a bit of vanilla (not enough to save the blend for me, though). Boo. I can probably smell the sandalwood, but...I don't know.

 

Verdict: Unfortunately, Antique Lace and this dry down to a very generic, white-flowers-plus-linens (lemon)-and-vanilla on me. I don't like either of them enough to keep.

[JennyGardener]

True to its namesake, Zephyr was light and didn't last very long. It reminds me of gentle summer breezes, pleasant and uplifting, but swiftly gone. I've worn it a few times when I was feeling blithe. It's a good scent for that.

[gwynhwyfar]

Le sigh. Eventually, I'll work out what combination of notes does this, but this beautiful scent ... is pure Johnson and Johnson baby powder once it's had some time to warm up on my skin. It never changed, either, staying a nice, strong baby powder up through until I showered.

 

It is a gorgeous scent in the vial -- light and very spring-like. Sadly, my body chemistry doesn't like it. Ahh well.

[labeth]

Given the description, I expected this one to be very soft and barely there, so I put a decent amount on compared to the drop-on-the-wrist method I usually use when trying out imps. This was apparently not the best idea, because this stuff has way more throw than I would have thought.

 

It's a very floral, powdery white smell, with the barest hint of vanilla. I'm not getting any lemon, really, just the vanilla and the florals. It's not bad, but I was hoping for more of the vanilla and lemon and less of the floral, so I don't think this'll be a keeper.

 

Later on, it calms down a lot and becomes pure powder. It stuck around all day, though.

[nevermore]

This one smells pretty good on me. I can't really pick out individual notes, though it reminds me a bit of Antique Lace with something else (maybe citrus, maybe musk, maybe different florals). Everything melds together when it's on my skin. I made a spray out of one of my imps, and it smells very different on my clothes - way more lemon and less powdery vanilla. I somehow ended up with three imps of this, which I think I'll be keeping. Zephyr's nice and light for hot summer days.

[laliloo]

Interesting. I was half thinking that Zephyr might do the lemon household cleaner thing on me that Shanghai and Embalming Fluid both did.

 

However... it doesn't. The lemon is quite a sweet, creamy smell when the oil is wet, but dies down a lot as it dries, leaving a soft, slightly lemony, slightly vanilla-y pleasantly light scent. It's very nice, but not a favourite. I'll keep the imp and try again another day as I've tested lots of imps today, so may not be giving it the best chance!

[Babylon]

Lemon, vanilla, delicious sandalwood, and powdery florals. I love the effect of the first three, but not the last bit. There's no waiting it out either. It's powdery immediately upon application, right through to the very end.

[JenM]

In the imp: Florals and neroli; maybe a hint of vanilla.

 

On the wrist: sandalwood and musk come through clearly. Still not getting any lemon.

 

15 minutes: Oh, going very musky. Time to wash. Oh well.

[aquazoo]

A nice start. A little bit soapy, but there is a lot happening - different notes wafting in and out.

[idoru]

This is the first lemon scent I've tried, so I had no idea what to expect. I've had it on since about 9a, but reapplied around 11:30p just to make sure this morning's impressions were as I remembered.

 

In the vial: airy and clean, white floral with hints of musk and sweet citrus. Stronger -- and less sunshiny -- than I expected.

 

First half-hour: a slightly feminine version of a light men's aftershave. Almost cloying, in the way recently applied aftershave is, though that could just be how unexpected that particular scent is, coming from me. Not masculine enough that I wanted to scrub it off, not androgynous, just.. perplexing. Feminine enough for me to like it, but I DEFINITELY thought 'aftershave' both this morning and tonight. Possibly the sandalwood etc. common to aftershaves, but I detected no lemon, no vanilla, no bergamot -- on second thought, maybe it's the vanilla/florals making it 'feminine aftershave' for the moment.

Mysterious point of change, and from then on: beautiful. The faintest hint of lemon, sandalwood, quiet exotic florals, a bare whisper of vanilla, musk that ties everything together and makes it sing. Puts me in mind of Calypso's island, in the story of Odysseus, for no good reason...

 

Overall impression: not entirely sure what mood it suits (not quite peaceful/idyllic, not quite capricious), but it's lovely -- once I get past the first 30-45 minutes. Had I not reapplied, I'm pretty sure this would still be clinging to my skin in the morning. It's not as sunshiny as I'd expected from the description, but instead it's more like.. watching clouds move across a perfect blue sky, maybe above the ocean. White flowers nodding in the breeze on a sunny day. With a scent like this so close to her skin, Calypso could have kept Odysseus for more years yet.

[Phantasmagoria]

Mmmm... normally I don't like scents with musk, but this one isn't too bad. I can pick out the vanilla and lemon/lemon verbena. There's a bit of sharpness to it. Wearing the scent behind my ears corrects that though, so I only really smell the vanilla and softened lemon.

Edited September 3, 2007 by Phantasmagoria

[jbzoellner]

very fresh, teensy bit of lemon, nice and creamy! the only "aquatic" type scent I can wear...

[Delirium1009]

In bottle/imp: Strong lemon verbena and musk.

 

Immediately on skin: I’m getting very strong but dry citrus and musk, but no sweetness to speak of.

 

After a few minutes: This is not as sweet as I was expecting… I’m getting a light touch of lemon with strong white musk. It’s just slightly creamy and almost plastick-y.

 

Later on: This has turned into a plastic and slightly lemony scent. I think it’s the musk blending with the verbena. I wish it worked better, but it just doesn’t.