Cheshire Cat

[ShunnerOfHugs]

Grapefruit, red currant, dark musk, Roman chamomile, delphinium, and lavender.

 

This smells nice and sweet in the bottle, but on me it just smelled like musk and chamomile. It was nice, but a little heavy for me. But if you like musk, or if your skin doesn't amp it up a ton and you like the other notes, you'll probably really like Cheshire Cat.

[Cali]

Tangy, tangy grapefruit, very sharp lavender... I'm almost afraid to put this on my skin.
Once applied, there's something (green?) in there that I'm not a fan of. The musk amps and I'm not sure what to think of it. On the swap pile it goes!

Edited April 13, 2016 by Cali

[Kay Torres]

Very sugary grapefruit and lavender. Not the best description for one of my favorites, but that's what it smells like on me.

[joopjoop]

I haven't had much luck with the Tea Party scents - I guess this just isn't my collection.

 

The chamomile and lavender - both notes I like in some blends, take the grapefruit in this one to a very sharp place on me. I find it refreshing and somewhat invigorating, but even after a few hours I don't get the musk or the currant to round out and ground the scent for me.

 

Sadly not for me, but on someone with different skin chemistry I think this would be lovely. I may hold on to the imp and use it as a room refresher - it is very bracing!

[spikyfairy]

Source: Frimp from the Lab, fairly fresh. Not something I would have picked out for myself, as I suspect I don't like citrus on me..

 

Wet: Fruity & herby & a little minty (?) all at once, which is giving me a bit of a bathroom-cleaner vibe.. Very "fresh". Getting fruitier as it dries, but all I can think of is.. fly-spray! I tend to use "natural" cleaning & household products, and this stuff smells exactly like some "environmentally friendly" fly-spray I bought once..! I think it's the combination of citrus & lavender (very common in hippy cleaning products).

Dry: Every now and then I catch a whiff of throw which is actually quite nice (soft musky chamomile), but at my wrist it's still citrusy fly-spray.. Damn scent associations! Improved with wear, I actually quite liked it after an hour or so, but it was also mostly gone by then. Rather weak - I used up about half the imp just for this one test.

Confirmed for me that I really don't like wearing citrus smells. Used the rest up in an oil burner, and it was nice as a room scent. Just smells too much like something from my cleaning cupboard to put on my body..

[roseus]

This dries down to a light grapefruit, barely sweetened by musk and the bitterness is tempered by the lavender and chamomile. I get just a touch of tart current. It's quite beautiful, and I think may be a bottle purchase!

[lizabelle]

Well, I can safely say now that I love BPAL's grapefruit. It's zingier and juicier than most I've smelled before, with much less bitterness. In this it takes over quite a bit at first, but then the herbs warm up and start to temper it. The chamomile note in this is impressively true-to-life, and the lavender is subtle and more herbal than floral. I've never smelled delphinium on its own before but there is a soft floral in there somewhere, and musk; I'm not sure I'm smelling the current, but it may be blending with the grapefruit. It's a bright salmon pink scent.

 

I don't know that it's a full-bottle scent for me--as far as grapefruit-heavy blends go, I liked Baobhan Sith better--but I'm really enjoying it. It's like a spritz of citrus in a cup of herbal tea.

[renfair]

I got this as an imp, I think maybe part of a lot I'd ordered? Anyway, it came randomly but it was one I'd really wanted to try for a little while. I've never been a huge fan of Alice in Wonderland (barring the stint I did at about four years old of watching the Disney cartoon every single night for a month, and then also loving that live-action musical that was on TV in the late 80's, that I mainly re-watched when I was older for the completely awesome 80's commercials my grandmother hadn't cut out--thank goodness--when she taped it off TV for me ...) but I'm finding myself really loving most of the Mad Tea Party scents.

First Sniff Impression: Fruity, incense tea. Unisex leaning toward masculine.

Wet in Vial: The grapefruit is really nice, but there's enough other scents going on to keep it in the background. It's a sort of floral, citrus-y, herbal mix. It's really pleasant.

Drying Down on Skin: The grapefruit--with I think the red currant, cause it's not just pure citrus--come right out. But the underlying musk and lavender are really interesting. Not so overtly masculine now, it would be a really nice unisex scent.

Dry on Skin: Dry this has just all blended together so well. The grapefruit seems happy to "play nicely" with the others, leaving a sort of sweet green blend. It's fruity, herbal, floral, and tea-ish all at once without being able to pick one any one specific scent. I'd love to smell this one a guy.

Conclusion: This scent finished as a sort of spiced fruit tea. It also had very good lasting strength. I could still smell it on my wrist when I woke up the next morning, after applying in the evening. I don't like it enough to buy a big bottle, but I definitely want to keep an imp around.

[Lucchesa]

As the name might well imply, this one is very fugitive on me, disappearing except for a hint of a grin within 30 minutes or so. I'll keep the imp as it's a nice wake up in the morning scent - grapefruit always is for me - but I won't be buying a bottle.

[achildoftime]

It's very sweet grapefruit with currents making sure it doesn't go too bitter and stays fruity sweet in the beginning. Grapefruit is a note I love but it doesn't have the greatest staying power. It doesn't stay the sharp and lively grapefruit I love for very long, but that doesn't mean that it just disappears. There are chamomile notes that are much more apparent now that the grapefruit has burned off. it's much more like a fruity, lemon tea with a little sugar. I like it quite a bit, but I do wish it were a little stronger.

[Mufasa]

I’ve tried Cheshire Cat both fresh and aged a few years (in an imp) and while I think both are nice, I definitely prefer fresh over aged. The initial scent is always a hit of grapefruit but the aged version smells like a drier less refreshing grapefruit more like a sundried grapefruit... if that exists... however while I love the first hour of wear for both versions but afterwards my skin just rejects it, the beautiful citrus turns into a rancid almost vanilla-ish smell but not a good vanilla, a weird warped rotten vanilla... so sad.

[gloame]

This is quite pretty and a little bit crazy smelling. It’s soft and harmonizing, but as you inhale deeper, there’s a little bit of tart craziness in the grapefruit and musk. Very lovely!

 

ETA 1.24.18:

I didn't love this the first time I tried it, but it has grown on me since then. It's still very mint and fruit (I now see the mint is actually chamomile+lavender). It's both calm and vibrant. Paradoxical.

 

Where I'd wear this: Brunch on the coast, high summer.

[h_yeti]

Received Cheshire Cat as a frimp and would never have picked it from the notes, but I really love it! It's primarily a sweet grapefruit scent on me, with some soft herbs and musk hanging out in the background. I don't usually go for citrus scents because I find them a bit too sharp but the sweetness (maybe from the red currant?) really calms the grapefruit down. I can't really pick out the lavender, chamomile or delphinium on my skin, they just sort of form this cohesive, subtle herby-ness. Really nice, will probably pick up a big bottle for summer as I can see myself wearing this one a lot! Just realised the dark musk is reminding me of Bewitched slightly, but sadly the blackberry in that one made it feel too shampoo-like for me to enjoy.

[donkehpoo]

How the heck have I not reviewed this?!

 

Wet: GRAPEFRUIT. The grapefruit is strong, and lets you know it's there without any doubts. There's a little bit of sharp lavender in the background.

 

Dry: Grapefruit is still the main note. The lavender is still there, but it's much softer now. I think I'm getting just a hint of chamomile as well.

 

This is one of my favorite summer blends. If you like grapefruit and your skin doesn't eat it up, give this a try!

[torischroeder9]

In the vial: Grapefruit, with another sweeter fruit scent -- I'd guess the currant -- rounding it out. I don't get the musk, chamomile, or lavender at all. (I don't recognize delphinium well enough to note its presence or absence here.)

 

On my skin:

 

Initially, it's the same sweetened grapefruit I smell in the vial. As it dries and morphs, a grounding scent -- what I think is mostly lavender but may also be a touch of chamomile -- emerges. On top of that is a lighter floral scent, which I'm assuming is the delphinium. The overall effect is fresh and floral and fruity without being overly sweet or cloying. Once the grapefruit fades from initial prominence (my skin amps and then eats grapefruit), the throw is low to medium.

 

After about an hour, all the floral and fruit notes fade from dominance, and I'm left with a sweet, soft dark musk staying very close to my skin. The effect is quite nice, but by this time, it's very faint. Not a practical scent for my day-to-day wear as I'd have to reapply too often.

[monocainsheresy]

Lavender + grapefruit, a little bit of musk. This is going to sound super bizarre but I've always felt this smells like the waiting room at the veterinarian's office.

[FebruaryOwen]

Full bottle from around 2011!  I remember really liking this, but haven't worn it in a while.

In bottle: mostly grapefruit.  

On skin: for some reason a hint of mint is showing up?

After a few hours: warm grapefruit; lavender is coming through nicely

I love this scent a lot.  It's light and beautiful!  

 

[torikitty]

I didn't remember this had grapefruit until I came back here. This ended up being too perfumey floral on me. I can smell the chamomile, the lavender is there in spirit, but I think I'm amping the delphinium because it's just too floral sweet on me.

[feyofthefellwood]

Candied grapefruit softened by chamomile and lavender. The clarity of the fruit note reminds me of Aglaea, although this has no peach. My sister let me sample this and I enjoyed it more than I thought I would. 

[puellacaerulea]

In the imp, the grapefruit stands out, sweetened by the red currant with hints of chamomile (I never fully pick up the lavender). Once on, the musk amps up a bit and the currant mostly fades, leaving me with an odd but not unpleasant combo of grapefruit and smooth musk. My skin seems to eat this up -- it's very subtle and low-throw after drydown. Not something I need a full bottle of, but will keep the imp around.

[Old.cupcake]

In the imp the scents were all very strong. But once one they all messed together. I could smell the lavender, grapefruit  and chamomile beautifully. I loved it. It almost smelled  a little more floral on me than citrus but I really liked it.

 

HOWEVER as the day went on due to the citrus and my body chemistry I smelled like cat pee! Damn you grapefruit! 

 

 

[Laughing Seagull]

I purchased a fresh imp of this from the lab.

 

Both in the imp and on my skin initially, it is most certainly juicy grapefruit and lavender!  Though the grapefruit is mostly sweet, there is a twang of sourness just on the edge of my sense of smell that I can detect if I shove my nose directly onto my wrist.  The chamomile peeks out to soften things up a little as it dries, providing Cheshire Cat with a somewhat "creamy" aspect.  The delphinium, I assume, emerges after the drydown and adds a light floral overlay to the other scents.

 

After an hour or so, I am left with the most wonderful musk with a whisper of citrus.

 

I am in love with this scent!  My only wish is that it lasted longer, which seems to be a recurring problem I (and many others) have with citrusy scents.

 

It's my new favorite and I want an industrial-sized barrel of it.

 

ETA: After a few days of wearing this, I realized that it reminds me of Adagio's "Leo" tea, which iirc is orange, chamomile, and rooibos, and which a friend of mine once said "is what heaven must smell like."

Edited October 22, 2020 by Laughing Seagull

[Kebab Fiend]

First impression: Grapefruit marmalade.

On skin: Less sweet. The most prominent note is grapefruit, followed by lavender. I can tell the other notes are there but I can't easily distinguish them. This is definitely a favourite, but sadly it only lasts about an hour.

Edited March 27, 2021 by Kebab Fiend
updated review

[Honey]

This is a sharp, bold and vibrant grapefruit that's rather juicy and sweet than overly tart.

I guess that's the red current that gives it a more "orange" and warm, sugary feel.

Right off the bat, I am reminded of Père Noël - must be the combination of citrus and lavender.

I am also reminded of Carnal. Not so much because of the notes, but it has a similar quality: It's a straightforward, simply and fruity scent (if you take out the lavender, of course).

 

After a while, the lavender wears off a bit - or maybe my nose is overpowered by the grapefruit and current?

It's very sharp, and I hope it will mellow down a bit and let the musk and lavender come out to play again.

 

The longer I wear it, the more I can smell the musk and lavender again, but the almost astringent citrus note stays in my nose.

Père Noël, in comparison, is much smoother and more creamy.

I cannot detect any Roman chamomile in Cheshire Cat, and that was the element I was most excited about, especially in combination with lavender.

 

It's a bright and sugary blend for sure, but I cannot see me wearing this as a perfume.

It would make a great home or linen spray, however.

[Luna Fatale]

In the Imp: Grapefruit!

 

On the Skin: Very sour grapefruit, can almost taste it! After awhile it calms down and blends with the dark musk. It's quite nice and after the initial shock of sourness the grapefruit becomes refreshing. I'm not familiar enough with red currant or delphinium to pick them out, but this scent is red and refreshing if that makes sense. It seems like a nice summery scent. There's something sweet and calming about it. I'm guessing that could be due to the Roman chamomile & lavender. It's close to the skin and I'll probably need a roller-ball for reapplication, but I would buy a full bottle. ❤