Alice's Evidence

[heathercaley]

ALICE’S EVIDENCE
There was a general clapping of hands at this: it was the first really clever thing the King had said that day.

‘That proves his guilt,’ said the Queen.

‘It proves nothing of the sort!’ said Alice. ‘Why, you don’t even know what they’re about!’

‘Read them,’ said the King.

The White Rabbit put on his spectacles. ‘Where shall I begin, please your Majesty?’ he asked.

‘Begin at the beginning,’ the King said gravely, ‘and go on till you come to the end: then stop.’

These were the verses the White Rabbit read:—

They told me you had been to her,
And mentioned me to him:
She gave me a good character,
But said I could not swim.

He sent them word I had not gone
(We know it to be true):
If she should push the matter on,
What would become of you?

I gave her one, they gave him two,
You gave us three or more;
They all returned from him to you,
Though they were mine before.

If I or she should chance to be
Involved in this affair,
He trusts to you to set them free,
Exactly as we were.

My notion was that you had been
(Before she had this fit)
An obstacle that came between
Him, and ourselves, and it,

Don\'t let him know she liked them best,
For this must ever be
A secret, kept from all the rest,
Between yourself and me.

‘That’s the most important piece of evidence we’ve heard yet,’ said the King, rubbing his hands; ‘so now let the jury—’

‘If any one of them can explain it,’ said Alice, (she had grown so large in the last few minutes that she wasn’t a bit afraid of interrupting him,) ‘I’ll give him sixpence. I don’t believe there’s an atom of meaning in it.’

The jury all wrote down on their slates, ‘She doesn’t believe there’s an atom of meaning in it,’ but none of them attempted to explain the paper.

‘If there’s no meaning in it,’ said the King, ‘that saves a world of trouble, you know, as we needn’t try to find any…’

Containing nary a neutron of meaning: rum-quince-cassis with prune and a bit of black ginger.

Mmmmm!!

In the bottle, I smell spices and dark purple fruits.

Once applied, it\'s ginger and spicy, sugary plums. Not like, gross prunes. These are yummy super sugary ripe plums!

On the drydown, the prunes calm down a bit, leaving the spices on top, a bit of sweet ginger in the middle, and yummy purple fruit on the bottom poking around the edges. The overall effect is so lovely!




This is simply gorgeous!! I am so glad I was able to pick up a bottle at Convergence!

[Heavenlyrabbit]

This is spiced rum punch.

 

Warm, fruity and makes me wonder what's in store for Autumn!

[Dracoo9]

Alice why!? This becomes a gross prune juice on me blanketed with what smells like some of my moms potpouri. Shame, because I liked both of the other Alice scents ;.;

[hkhm]

imp: this smells like marmalade while it's still being cooked.

 

wet: this is dead-on spiced quince. this smells so incredible i can't believe it.

 

dry: the quice scent fades until it's very light but the rich spices more than make up for it. i will be getting a bottle of this scent.

[Gwydion]

In bottle: This smells like something I’d enjoy drinking warm on Winter evening. The gingered fruit smells spicy yummy and the rum blends well. Wet: The ginger strengthens but to my mind this is all for the good. Seriously, this is stunning in it’s own way. Dry: Blends back out to spiced fruit as in te bottle, though slightly less rich. It’s still lovely though.

[TheIceMaiden]

I think this is going to end up being a new favourite for me from the Mad Tea Party line. Alice's Evidence starts off bright quince, then settles into a deep spicy plum. This has good throw and lasted for quite a while on my skin. Its warm and spicy and very autumnal.

[Eutectic]

In the imp--Quince kills me, I had to have this for the quince and in the imp it's a yummy quince party!

 

Wet--The quince is there but the plum note is starting to peek out. Spices are starting to become more noticable.

 

Dry--This is a perfect Fall scent. This is a beautiful mulled plum and other fruit cider scent on my skin. Not like snorting your cider from your glass but more like coming into a warm house from the cold outdoors where cider has been mulling for a while. Wow, this is really delish! I will need a bottle for fall for certain!

[Delirium1009]

In bottle/imp: Medicinal, strong, and spiced with ginger. This almost smells like prune-ginger cough syrup. You know, the kind that burns as it goes down.

 

Immediately on skin: This smells much the same on my skin as it did in the imp. It’s a very sharp alcoholic scent much like cough syrup with some prune and ginger. It’s spicy, gooey, and very alcoholic.

 

After a little while: The alcoholic note really seems to have faded and this scent has lost it’s cough syrup quality. Now it’s more of smooth, sweet dried syrupy fruit scent with kick of ginger. Very interesting.

 

Overall Impressions: I have to admit… this scent kind of scared me at first. But after just a few minutes it smoothed out into this rather nice spicy prune scent. Unfortunately it’s still not something I would wear much, but it’s an interesting scent nonetheless. Ginger and prunes. Yeah.

 

[angelicruin]

Sniffing the imp, it's like sniffing liquid red hots.

 

Wet on the skin, spicy rum punch. I'm really loving this one so far...

 

As it begins to dry, I can finally pick out the prunes note. Dries down to spiced dark fruit rum.

 

Yes, I will be buying a bottle of this.

[CynicalPink]

Imp: Prune juice and ginger. Not a nom

 

Wet: Smells way less burnt now. Still ginger mania, but more like spice fruits than a nasty mix.

 

Drydown: Christmas candle. I smell like a Christmas candle.

 

Overall: I like Christmas. I don't need to smell like Christmas.

[fairnymph]

Light gold oil. Sweet, rich, and spicy-tart. Exactly as the description says, with a boozy but not heavy or buttery rum. It's not quite foody, but almost. Mmmm quince!

 

Sweeter and richer; much more prune and ginger. The prune is almost like a concentrated plum scent, or like stewed plums, with a cooked/baked fruit note. It goes really well with the tart quince and dark, slightly medicinal (in a good way) cassis. The ginger has a dry, hot-spice sort of edge, but I can handle it for now. The rum makes me think more of brandy or fruit liqueur.

 

As others have noted it's very much a warm Autumnal scent of spiced fall fruits, baked and spiked with some liquor. Autumn is my favourite season but I tend to poorly with Autumnal-smelling scents because I don't like to wear spice. Unfortunately, this IS going more and more spicy hot on me - sort like, intense ginger candy, those ginger chews. Or the ginger version of red hots.

 

Hmmm. Not really a lot of morphing, but the notes - which all balance each other very well, thought perhaps the ginger leads by a bit - have merged more fully. It's a very well-blended scent, very harmonious although you can smell each note distinctly. It does, unfortunately, smell a bit like potpourri - I'm reminded of the Christmas Tree Shop.

 

Yeah. It's potpourri. Stewed plum, citrusy-quince, and dsry spicy ginger, that almost has aspects of other spices - clove, cinnamon. It's a very spicy blend, with almost no booze or cassis remaining in the final stages. Great throw and decent longevity.

 

[moon_lemming]

I have absolutely no idea what quince smells like. I do know what Alice's Evidence reminds me of in the imp, though: You know those pecan rolls you can buy a plastic tray of for a buck at 7-11? This smells exactly like the cinnamon nutty paste stuff that is in those rolls.

 

On me, the spices pick up and the rum pops as well. The cinnamon doesn't completely take over like it usually does, but balances nicely with the rum instead. Spiced rum indeed. I think that's as spot-on as the description can get. I have developed a sudden craving for Hallowe'en parties and mugs full of warm spiced rum.

 

Delicious. I don't know if I'd WEAR it, but I'd drink it. (You know, if it wasn't perfume oil.)

[sfsassy]

Smells like a really strong spiked punch. Very dark purple fruits.

This will be a great fall/winter scent for me.

[oakmoss]

Since my mind's nose is always so easily influenced, I like to try on new scents without going back to read what the notes are first. Last night I applied some of Alice's Evidence at bedtime and then spent the next half hour being distracted from my book trying to figure out what the heck I was huffing on my wrist. It was so familiar, but elusive.... autumnal, spicy, apple-y... dreamily thinking about Alice's evidence, the stolen tarts... but this scent isn't buttery (thank goodness!) or nutty, as so many baked goods scents are. Finally it hit me -- this blend is exactly like mulled apple cider. Not apple juice and not boozy or thick like rum, but tart, spiced, warm, rich but not gooey. It's the perfect autumn scent, the one I've always hoped some of the Halloween blends would be, but weren't quite. My verdict: I need a bottle of this!

[Dark Alice]

Gorgeous dark spicy fruits. Yummy dark plum? purple fruits. I hate prunes and refuse to eat them...but apparently my skin loves to smell like them. This is truly a winner and I may need a bottle in the cooler months.

[AmandaArcana]

Goes on realy strong with me, I have to use it lightly! Also it lasts all day. Very spicy, totally getting the ginger with some prunes. Can't really get the rum though. Fortunately I do well with the prune scents...wierd! This makes a great fall/halloween scent.

[Gin]

Alice's Evidence has a good, strong throw. Unfortunately, like the Frumious Bandersnatch before it, it goes spicy cooked plum on me and goes dangerously close to potpourri/candle territory. On top of that, I get an almost snowy note (wtf?) which just screams Yule! to me. I am very sad about this! It sounded fantastic.

[Little Bird]

I tried on Alice's Evidence and instantly had a flashback to trying on Frumious Bandersnatch & The Dodo. My skin chemistry amps up spice notes, and this is all spice all the time on me. It reminds me of that terrible, head achey feeling that I get when I wander down the potpourri section of a craft store, or get trapped in an aisle with hundreds of holiday spice candles. Yes, this smells like cinnamon and cider spice on me (just the spice, no fruit) in the worst way - cheap home fragrance.

 

Alice's Evidence is cheap cider spice candle on me... not good.

[bubblefish]

HELLO THERE PLUM.

 

Layered over that initial BURST of plum, I've got lovely spices, like a fresh potpourri bouquet. I really like that mingling of spices with a hint of something flowery in there.

[TrailerTrashPrincess]

after a particularly disgusting mixed drink that involved prune puree (it was intended to be awful and it was) i wasn't real sure about the prunes in this. and cassis is usually a surefire dealbreaker note.

 

that being said, in the imp and on my skin this doesn't change much - it smells like a Snow Moon / Libertarian hybrid on me. like Yule season, with cinnamon brooms and yummy scented things all around. maybe a dab of Ho Ho Ho in there, too.

 

so, yeah, now my arm smells like christmas. all i need now is some Elvis Sings The Wonderful World of Christmas in the 8-track player!

[Iceblink]

The throw on this is INSANE. I'm testing several different scents right now and the prune/plum is just going crazy. Lots of spice and a hint of ginger to back up the plum, but once again I fear that the BPAL plum note is going totally potpourri/candle on me. I may tuck this away and try it again in winter, though, because it's not a warm-weather scent at all.

[Ajila]

In the bottle - Dark, slightly bitter fruit

 

Wet on me - Sweet and spiced, but still very dark fruit, I'm thinkin that it's the quince

 

Dry on me - It disappeared very quickly leaving a dry, musky feel

 

Overall - As a blend it didn't really make an impression

[vampirate]

In the bottle Alice's Evidence smells like a tasty pastry or cobbler. But after it dries on me I loose the yummy fruity smells and the spices get way too amped up for my preference. So in the end I'd probably like it more as a home fragrance, but not so much as a perfume.

Edited August 25, 2009 by twinklebat

[Em-]

Ho-leee-crap. This is good.

 

Seriously good.

Like, enough to make me do my first review in prolly a year or so good.

 

I only got an imp of this, even though Beth's plum blends tend to make me want to do naughty things to myself, because I was a little afraid of the prune and sometimes rum can go a little syrupy on me. I was also thinking, "Self, you have an awful lot of plum blends that you love but forget to wear. Do you really need another one?"

 

In retrospect, the answer is OH MY FUCKING GOD YES.

 

Serously.

 

Although, oddly, if you had asked me last night when I tried this for the first time what was in it, the spices are about the only thing I would have gotten right. I would have guessed carnation and honey and cinnamon and nutmeg. Basically, these smells to me like warm spiced mead, like my husband and I used to get from this gigantic wine store out in western Mass. I retrospect, I can see how I read the sweetness of the plum and the rum (oh, hai alcohol) as honey, and the spices as, well, spices, but also the slight spicy floral of carnation. Really, it makes sense to me in my head.

 

And really, who the hell cares. If you like any of the notes, run, do not walk, to add this to your next order. Seriously. SRSLY.

[tartchef]

Hrm. Potentially tasty... not an instant winner, but I am a sucker for black currants & they are delightfully prominent here.

 

At first sniff, there is a scented-candle element to Alice's Evidence that made me grimace - spicy rummy "plum", a bit flat & artificial. I think I am having increasing trouble with ginger - Shub has started to give off this craft-store vibe, as well...

 

Left to dry down, though, the quince & cassis muscle in, adding a lovely tannic juiciness that cuts through the generic spice. There's a cool, fresh element, too, that keeps the scent from getting too cloying & heavy.

 

I'll hang onto this for colder weather & see if a bit of aging tempers the ginger & rum...

 

ETA: I neglected to mention just how strong Alice's Evidence is. Normally I can test 2 scents on my forearm with no trouble, but the throw is so strong, I'm not even going to try. One swipe of the imp wand is scenting my entire office...

 

ETA2: Aaaaand the rum is turning into bay rum. Ick.

Edited August 31, 2009 by tartchef