The Sluggard

[sarielswish]

Pious frankincense, angelic gardenia, unsoiled pear, and staunch ho wood conflict with prickly, overgrown thistle, idle labdanum, and lethargic lavender.

In the vial, I *think* I'm smelling gardenia, pear, and lavender, but for some reason it seems to be hitting an olfactory blind spot of some sort. Weird. Color, pale lavender.

Wet on my skin, I'm almost afraid of this one. I think it's going to be a bit too floral for me. Very distinct pear, frankincense, and gardenia. Odd combination, I must say.

10-15 minute drydown - Yup. Floral floral floral frankincense. Not for me.

[filigree_shadow]

I was expecting this scent to be loud, but it's not. It's soft. I can smell lavender in it, but it's not too strong. Maybe a wee bit of other things, but it seems like mostly a soft wood with a soft lavender. It definitely does seem like a lazy scent. I like it. Sweet and a little floaty.

[sunlitgarden]

The Sluggard

 

Frimp from the lab. This is... weird. My first thought was a sweet mint, but I think it was the astringency from the lavender. I wasn't sure other than that, it was kind of a mushy mix. After looking at the notes, I can smell the frankincense, and sweet gardenia and pear with a woody background. It's very sweet, and it isn't really working for me, unfortunately. It gives me a headache.

[SophieCedar]

Wet: dominant note is pear. Truly I can't smell much else (weird considering how strong gardenia is usually!) maybe a pouf of lavender but this is super sweet pear with a slight woody note underneath.

Drydown: the gardenia popped out singularly for a second then melded nicely into the mix. The frankincense is a bit stronger, but it just translates to a drier pear, if I'm not thinking too hard about it. This is actually well balanced, clean, woody and fruity.

[melrose]

Way too sweet and oily. Fortunately, it fades quickly.

[milo]

Wet, musky, sweet pear. Dry, much the same, sweet pear, less muskiness, kind of heady. This really reminds me of a jasmine-like perfume, though it doesn't go powdery. Not a big fan of pear and jasmine so this one is off to swaps.

[Suu4LC]

Hmm, I am not sure what to make of this-I don't know if i've sniffed bpal pear before. I like lavender. Gardenia is sort of hit or miss and i'm not huge on frankincense and wood, but this could be a really interesting blend.

 

Hmm..in the imp it's sort of a sharp lavender/thistle-y scent. My prediction is, on my skin this will go to a lavender/powdery wood pretty quickly.

 

Ok, actually on my skin this is not quite what I expected-a lot more pear and gardenia actually. A touch of lavender, but barely any wood or frankincense. Really a very white feeling scent-mostly the pear and gardenia. A little sharp, but very pretty. As it mellows, I get a bit more of the wood and lavender.

 

As it fully dries down it sort of goes into a pretty, delicate light lavender scent with a touch of light woods. Almost like one of those fancy ~french milled soaps~

 

This does fade awfully fast-after a little over an hour it is practically all gone save for a whisper of lavender, wood and powder. This is something I would maybe want a low partial of, but couldn't see myself wearing too often. It really is very pretty, especially in that early wet stage where it is pear/gardenia loveliness!

[TrailerTrashPrincess]

my skin amps gardenia like WHOA (and can turn many commercial perfumes into seemingly straight gardenia, whether or not that's an apparent ingredient).

so i've got GARDENIA-mint ('cuz lavender is a cousin of peppermint, and they smell very similar to me) on a woody stalk, with the sweat-smell of pear creeping in.

after an hour or so, i begin to get a bit of what i imagine is a thistle-labdanum, being somewhat soapy, but i still don't have any frankincense.

[stellamaris]

Dear Beth, I have over 100 Big Bottles now. They have filled two shelves of my medicine cabinet, and four other shelves in my bathroom. The backups and the three I want to sell are on a tray on my dresser. I don't really have anymore room for Big Bottles. Let's not talk about the imps. Let's just not. You need to stop.

 

OK, srsly? I got this one as a frimp. WTFaerie. This is so good. I LOVE the frankincense, and thanks to you Beth, I can now spell it, and the sweet fruity flowery thing. I love this. I needy need it. Just one more, yeah?

[undream]

This is almost entirely gardenia on me, a gorgeous, big, beautiful, humid gardenia. And I L-O-V-E gardenia, so I'm having many happy moments(!) until a note I only register as the hairspray note I usually get from jasmine pops up, and then it is a big sad fest on my face.

 

I am not getting any scent other than gardenia and this weird, acrid, prickly thing (aqua net!), however after an hour or so the pear does start to peep out? And the whole thing turns into the sort of "candy gardenia" or "candy floral" that I saw an earlier reviewer experience. Altogether a beautiful perfume and a definite keeper if it weren't for the unpleasant hairspray thing. Boooo for my chemistry.

[hecate_jones]

In the imp: PEAR. That is all. Pear juice. Juicy, juicy pear.

 

Sniffing it, the DH said "Smells like pears in apple juice"

 

On skin, the gardenia really comes out to play and it gets very, very floral. Too floral for me. Still very pear, but now it's a flowery pear.

 

Drydown: Neroli and gardenia. The pear is all but gone, except for the sugary sweetness.

 

If this smelled as good dry as it does wet, I'd be in love, but it gets too floral for me, in the end.

[BuxomM]

I get mainly gardenia and lavender. Very sharp floral, it's reminds me of a cleaning product. I prefer the foodie stuff so this is not for me.

[Gwydion]

In bottle: This is sharp and intensely fruity. The lavender and pear are strongest, with the labdanum in strong support and gardenia crowding close. It is definitely prickly, and is a love it or hate it sort of scent. Ho wood is the pervasive canvas on which the bright, intense scents are splashed, frankincense and thistle are understated, but well blended. No skin test as it’s too intense in the bottle.

[miishanyan]

Origin: Frimp from the lab!

 

In the bottle: I can smell the lavender above everything else, but there's something sweet all tangled up in it too. I think it might be the pear, but this smells amazing. There's a hint of smokiness to it as well.

 

Wet: The lavender is still the most obvious note and I have a feeling it will stay that way, but the sweet pear is still there, and there's a floral note that's coming through too, the gardenia perhaps? This is a gorgeous, luxurious scent.

 

On the drydown: Yummmm. This scent is just opulent, rich, and I love it. It's very different from anything I've ever smelt before, but I just love that sickeningly sweet lavender smell, along with the smokiness that comes through a lot more as it dries down.

 

Verdict: I always sort of forget about this scent, then find it, put it on, and am overwhelmed by how lovely it is. So happy to have gotten it as a frimp, and think I will look at getting a bottle of this soon. It's really lovely.

[Magycmyste]

In the imp: Sweet fruit. Possibly a little too sweet.

 

Wet on skin: Still sweet fruit, but a little softer on my skin.

 

Dried down: Soft and sweet.

 

Throw: Again, soft and sweet.

 

Verdict: *** I'm a little undecided on this one. I wasn't liking it too much at first, but I'm actually liking the drydown scent a lot.

[doomsday_disco]

In the imp: I'm mainly getting lavender and resins from this.

 

Wet: Lavender and resins. I am getting some gardenia and pear as well. The more this sits on my skin, the weirder it gets. It is now an herbal, resin-y pear scent. I'm not enjoying it.

 

It is becoming less sharp over time, and now it is pear dominant, with the herbs, resins, and florals in support. The gardenia and the herbal aspect of this blend is somewhat reminiscent to BPTP's Three Impossible Errands bath oil.

 

Dry: It's a rather odd scent. There's a sweet aspect from the pear, an herbal quality to it, and then the floral and resin-y components.

 

Verdict: This isn't really my cup of tea. I won't be purchasing a bottle of this before it is discontinued, but I will keep my imp of it since I'm collecting imps of all of the Mad Tea Party scents.

[thekittenkat]

In the imp: Incensed woods, thistle, and lavender.

 

Wet: The juicy pear is just that.

 

The dry-down: The woods and frank return, in a mild fashion, with hints of gardenia and fainter hints of the pear. I like this and shall keep the imp.

[Ghost of a Rose]

Discontinued

Category: Mad Tea Party

 

 

With three of my fave scents (gardenia, lavender, pear), this sounds promising.

 

In the imp: clear amber color oil. The fragrance is sickeningly-sweet and very fruity. The pear and gardenia overpower everything else.

Ugh.

 

Wet on my skin: There is a hint of incense in the throw, but up close it is the same ultra-sweet smell as in the imp, with an added sharp woodiness.

 

At 10 minutes: The lavender note develops within minutes, which goes a long way to counteract the excessive sweetness. I like it much better now. After a few more minutes, a faint undertone of woodiness kicks in, and the incense begins to strengthen. By the 10-minute mark it is a lovely and far more complex blend of gardenia, lavender, and incense. The pear has already vanished.

 

At 20 minutes: Now a softer, pretty scent of powdery gardenia with some depth from the wood and a trace of spiciness from the incense or resin.

 

At 30 minutes: Mostly a beautiful soft gardenia, although the wood, incense, and resin are lurking in the background if you know to look for them.

 

At 1 hour: Gentle gardenia and warm resin.

 

At 2 hours: Faint. Mostly resin with a little gardenia.

 

At 3 hours: Barely a trace remains.

 

Verdict: I'm glad that I gave this a try instead of rejecting it after that initial cloyingly sweet whiff from the imp. This gardenia-based blend turned out to be one of my favorite perfumes! I'm bummed that I didn't buy a bottle before it went out of production.

Wear it in a scent locket if you want the pear note to last, but I vastly prefer it after drydown on my skin.

 

My rating: 5 stars

[roseus]

The frankincense starts of really sharp for me. The wet stage is very herbal and sharp. Dry the gardenia takes center stage, a very creamy floral scent. The other notes are so well blended that I have a hard time picking them out but they really compliment the gardenia.

[Lucchesa]

I was lucky enough to get an imp of this, and (sadly, as I'll never find it again) I love it! It's the longest lasting BPAL lavender blend I've encountered -- usually I get a big salvo of lavender and then it fades rapidly, but here it is sticking around. I think that's because it's backed by the frankincense -- I'll need to explore lavender-frankincense combinations. Or maybe it's the thistle, in which case I'm probably SOL. Anyway, it opens with lovely, realistic lavender, herbal, a little sharp, and then gradually the gardenia (one of the few florals that's reliably good on me) begins to emerge, soft with a little sweetness from the pear, although the resins help keep the sweetness in check. The wear length isn't great on me, but that's my skin for you.