The Caterpillar

[dorothy humbird]

Heavy incense notes waft lazily through a mix of carnation, jasmine, bergamot, and neroli over a lush bed of dark mosses, iris blossom, deep patchouli and indolent vetiver.

I tested this out on my wrists again tonight to refresh my memory on my thoughts...

The first time I tried this, and again this time, the smell reminded me of a particular high-end bed-and-bath store around my hometown, where I got a very beloved bedding set. It's a very feminine association, and perhaps that contributes to me associating it with a classic style of perfume that a lady of an older generation might wear.

To me this smells like powdered incense; I suspect a good deal of what I'm smelling is patchouli, although I can't tell for sure, having limited experience with it. It's smoky, but in a light haze sort of way... this doesn't feel deep to me, as I would really expect with moss and vetiver involved.

Overall I like the smell, but not to associate with me -- I'd like to keep it as a shop-smell. Maybe someone will want it from me at some point...

[slave1]

THE CATERPILLAR

 

In Bottle: Sweet floral

 

On Skin: I get a soft powdery violet feel from this scent. The jasmine and neroli seem to be the dominant notes. The carnation and bergamot help cut the heavy sweetness of the jasmine. I can’t actually really smell the patchouli in this blend… just that I get a little hint of incense. The vetiver is suprisingly light as well, just a little helping of earthy tone. About a half hour into drydown it becomes primarily a sweet floral incense. Pretty but nothing that special to me. It has a medium throw and average wearlength.

[em_h]

Wow, this was a pleasant surprise! I got a frimp in my last order, and based on the notes, and the reviews here, I assumed it wouldn't work on me -- jasmine usually amps to the exclusion of all else, and most florals are just not that great for me in general.

 

But this is actually really nice. The jasmine is definitely present, but it doesn't actually take over; there's a nice spicy incense waft with a musky earthy note beneath it. Not too light or too heavy, not too floral, fairly complex with some good depth, very enjoyable.

 

My only reservation is that the staying power is no better than moderate; it's not one of the long-lived scents. But it's much, much better on me than I thought it would be, and I'm very pleased to have it.

[supremegoddessofall]

Overwhelming florals with jasmine and neroli unfortunately being the top notes. Barely getting the patchouli. Not for me.

[Deiicide]

It was a nonsurprising floral upon myself with the sharpness of the velivert just adding an uneasiness. Not for me I'll be passing the imp along.

[Lionesse]

I'm so sad this one didn't work out for me. From the list of included notes, I thought for sure I would love it. But nope. It smelled sweet in the bottle to me. On my skin it blossomed into a riot of very overpowering flowers. My husband made a face.

 

About 15 minutes later it turned into a very strong soapy smell, that I could even taste on my tongue. And I had to go scrub it off =(

 

I wish I knew which of the notes is responsible for this clash. I am going to guess its either the carnation or the iris.

 

*sigh*

 

Lionesse

 

*EDIT* I think for now I am going to say it's the Iris note causeing trouble for me. Because my new fave Bow & Crown of Conquest has carnation, and it is beautiful on me.

Edited January 8, 2007 by Lionesse

[Eros]

Jasmine. Nothing else. No surprise, jasmine always SCREAMS its presence and obliterates every other note in a blend.

[hipslike___cinderella]

Wet and in the bottle, this is a soft mix of greens... mostly jasmine and neroli, and just a speck of vetiver. On my skin, it's exactally the same with slight hints of incense; not dark or cloudy incense, but light and springy. This doesn't change too much after a while, except that the neroli becomes stronger. It fades gently and becomes a little bit powdery. This is pleasant, especially as a room scent. I don't really picture the Catepillar with this; I hoped it to be darker, mustier, and more forest-like. Unfortunately, I don't smell the least bit of patchouli. My boyfriend loves this on me, but I'm afraid I won't spring for the 5ml after my imp is gone.

[hecate_jones]

Holy smokes, it's a florist's shop.

It's very green, and with lots of florals all sort of mixed together.

One whiff it's jasmine, then some other floral, and maybe a rose?

Very interesting and complex, but way, way, way too floral for me!

[Browneyes]

Frimp

 

The Caterpillar is indeed lazy and kind of stoned. On me it becomes a generic perfumey heady floral scent. Captures the image of the lazy Caterpillar rather well. It's pretty enough. But meh. I miss the patchouli and vetiver kick! They're very much buried by a mountain of flowers. If you like thick and heady florals try this.

[DenMother]

I was sorting through my imps to get rid of any jasmine ones as jasmine hates me and I feel ill just smelling it I thought I would try it as I love so many of the Alice blends. (I don't know why I do it to myself)

 

The strangest thing with this scent, once it was on my skin was that after no more than 5 minutes it disappeared, completely, without a trace, no more, gone, poof vanished!!

 

I feel sullied and unusual

[stellans]

This is such a great blend! I am finding more and more that blends of the Mad Tea Party are wonderful, and perfect for me. Well, most of them anyway.

 

In the imp: sweet, but with a sharpness (the carnation?) and the earthiness of patchouli and vetivert. This bodes well for me and this scent working out.

 

Wet on skin: I sniff this, and it makes me think of lush gardens, indolence, and earthly delights.

 

Dry: On me, the patchouli amps up but not outrageously so. The floral notes keep it sweet and a little lighter than patchouli normally is, but the earthy notes are the dominant ones. How satisfying it is to smell this blend! I keep sniffing just for pleasure. In my scent locket, it smells just as wonderful as on my wrist. The throw is there, but not overpoweringly so, and it lasts quite a long time.

 

Verdict: Definitely a keeper. I'm glad a splurged on a bottle of this.

Edited May 1, 2008 by stellans

[filigree_shadow]

I'm not too fond of carnation or jasmine, and moss is hit or miss, but the other notes in this usually work on me.

 

This smells like jasmine incense to me at first, and surprisingly, I kinda like it. Usually jasmine makes me run screaming in the other direction. As it's drying the patchouli warms it up and makes it smell even more incensey, much more so than floral.

 

This scent has some deep, smoky notes in it that I really enjoy. The florals aren't overwhelming at all after it's dry. Just nice, sweet incense. I think this scent is calming and relaxing.

[Em-]

Woah. Jasmine jasmine jasmine, with a thick, heady kick in the eye of something darker. Honestly, I cannot get past the jaz to really figure it out, although I'm sure it's the patch and the vet.

[phedre]

Wet: bergamot, mosses, and patchouli.

 

Wet: very mossy and dark, indolent is a great descriptor for this. Patchouli and sweet jasmine.

 

Drydown: Oh pretty. This smells like a hookah bar with incense drifting over everyone. This might be my first Mad Tea Party bottle!

Edited April 6, 2007 by phedre

[TrinitySydney]

In the bottle I smell jasmine. I whole load of jasmine and nothing else.

 

On, it changes rather quickly. The jasmine is still forefront on me, but it has a lovely background of incense and cream. As others have said, this one is complicated. I don't think I could even begin to try to pick it apart note by note, but I can say with certainty I really like it! It's sophisticated and classy...but with that very dark undercurrent that reminds you it's a BPAL blend.

 

I'd like to get a bottle of this in the future. Oh I wish the 10mls hadn't been done away with.

[jade_starlight]

Hmm, this one is interesting. It starts out fairly heavily floral, but something green and slightly sweet pops up almost immediately to tone the flowers down a bit. Then as it dries something creamy and slightly powdery takes center stage. It's nice enough, but I don't know that I'd ever wear it.

[ouch!]

ooh this is ever so pungent, in a nice way.

 

It is indeed, really incensey but very very floral and perfumey at the same time.

I can't detect any moss or anything green like that, it's just a very strong perfumey floral with alot of incense. I think the Jasmine is the most prominent floral... It doesn't really change much from wet to drydown either...

 

It's defintaley got alot of throw and lasts a long time. Would be nice as an evening thing for a lady, but not really for me....

 

 

[500ml]

This is actually the first BPAL scent I've ever smelled and I was happy to find that the scent immediately appealed to me. At first sniff I got very strong incense, then jasmine. Wet on my skin the incense still stayed quite strong, but there was a strong underlying floral blend. At first I found the jasmine a tad too overpowering, but I felt comforted by the scent as it reminded me of a perfume my grandmother used to wear. My boyfriend wasn't overly fond of the scent, he found it too strong and old lady-ish, but I really loved how the notes blended together after a while. The incense stayed the strongest note on my skin which I didn't mind at all. It does fade a bit, but for example I can still faintly smell it 6 hours after applying it.

[erraticprophet]

Let me start off by saying that this is an amazingly complex scent that brings back many memories for me. I wasn't sure if I'd like it so much with all of the patchouli and incense in it, but I wanted to give it a go.

 

Initial Impression: Holy patchouli! Strong incense and patchouli. Very hippy dippy. Reminds me of a girl I knew in college.

 

On Wet: Jasmine! Where'd the patchouli go? I smell a lot of jasmine and a hint of incense. I'm not a floral fan, but this isn't bad. Kinda smoky.

 

On Dry: Now it's more of a mossy, blended floral with incense undertones. Every so often I really amp patchouli until I think I can't stand it anymore, but then it softens up again to that nice green-y floral.

 

Final Impression: This is an amazing scent! It has so many layers and changes so many times. Hours later, it's changed again on me to something more dark green and woodsy with floral and incense background. I love how this unfolds.

 

Rating (on a scale of 1-5): I gave this one a 4.5. I will definitely purchase the 5ml. Love this!

[bookofblues]

In the imp: Helllllooo vetiver! Mostly vetiver, with a floral undertone.

On the skin: Jasmine comes out. A hint of the carnation too, with a strong perfumey incense note.

As it dries, The Caterpillar softens to a dry floral incense. Almost like Nag Champa.

Nice, but not for me.

[Trish]

In the Imp: earthy, incensey, a little green and sharp

 

Wet: softens immediately, in fact it nearly disappears! Soft, slightly sweet floral incense

 

Drydown: Soft floral with a touch of incense that gets up my nose if I sniff my wrist too closely. This is completely different to what I expected, which as something far stronger, darker and heavier. I'm not getting any moss, patchouli or vetiver. The florals are muted, I can *just* pick out the jasmine.

 

Dry: Huh. Just when I was starting to get some nag champa (which I love) it turned to powder. Hmmm.. there's no notes listed that have gone to powder before on me, although "dark mosses" is new to me. Oak moss works for me though.Hmmm... *resniffs* yep, all powder now.

[purplemoonshoes]

Yep, incense. There's a creamy note in the imp, but the patchouli comes out strong on my skin. Not really my style- just a little too dark. I prefer spices and florals. But this would smell great on a man.

[LadyCrow]

In imp: Floral, but bitter -- sharp and bitter. Hello, vetiver!

 

Wet: Deep and mossy. I don't get jasmine so much as the carnation almost immediately as a top note.

 

Drydown: Dark and indolent indeed. I get the bergamot and neroli, but behind them there's always this fat, lazy patchouli rolling around in some nag champa on top of some oakmoss. It dries down very, very sweet.

 

This is... this is groovy. If anybody asks where I am, tell 'em a hookah-smoking caterpillar has given me the call. Go ask Alice when she was just small.

[heartbreakangel]

Wet: Vetiver and moss. Very medicinal and sharp.

 

Dry: It went herbal, with the jasmine warring to get out around it. Very strong, and very sharp. I'm starting to learn that my skin amps up jasmine like there's no tomorrow, so this isn't for me, either. Bleh.