Countess Willie

[hackess]

COUNTESS WILLIE
Sophisticated, dramatic, well-traveled, glamorous, and worldly, Countess Willie V. Piazza, owner of the French Studio, was a trendsetter in style and fashion. Countess Willie was an educated woman, a patron of the arts, and possessed an impressive library of rare volumes. She featured many historic jazz musicians in her House, including Tony Jackson and Jelly Roll Morton. Unlike many of her counterparts, she was known for having a kind heart and a generous, loving nature. She was fiercely protective: when a patron of her establishment, the nephew of a prominent New Orleans cleric, committed a heinous act of sadism against one of her ladies, Countess Willie shot him dead.

Chocolate plum musk, red musk, amaretto, candied fruits, and red ginger.

It's like the Lawn Gnome and Crypt Queen had a wild, romantic affair, and this is their secret lovechild. It's delicious and sweet, definitely sexy but subdued. I love it and I want to roll around in it.

[Venneh]

Out of all the District scents, this is the one I want to work on me the most badly.

 

In the decant, this smells like chocolate-covered fruits, with a touch of ginger. Oh god, it's amazing, and please, please, let her work on my skin...

 

On my skin, she's an amazing combination of chocolate, the amaretto, and the ginger combined with the fruits, and I just want to roll around in her, like hackness up there. Mmm, god.

 

Oh, pretty Lady, I'll definitely take you home and then some. Bottle.

[jolarocknrolla]

mostly ginger and musk on me and that's totally fine, a few of the sweeter notes show up on the drydown. the SEXY scent of the season for sure, sex sex sex!!! and good spicy sex at that

[cometgirl21]

In the bottle and on me this is Bordello's grown up sister. It's almost identical to Bordello but with a slightly darker edge, which I think is a bit of the red musk. But if you like Bordello, you will like this as well.

[hlemonds]

Mmmm! This is absolutely delicious, and the artwork on the label is lovely! I definitely get sweet plum and red musk, and the chocolate (combined with the plums) reminds me very much of Midnight Kiss (without the tobacco or dustiness of the amber). This is incredibly sexy, and yummy without really being foody. I haven't tried Bordello, so i can't speak to that comparison, but if Bordello is this sexy i should try it! I think the Countess might even be back-up worthy, although she does seem pretty potent, so a bottle may actually last a while

[angelicruin]

On my skin, I get this sexy blend of chocolate, plum, and red musk.

 

Good lasting power on my skin too.

 

I was wise in purchasing a bottle unsniffed.

[tasty]

This is a sophisticated foody dream!

 

Starting off on my skin it smelled like Dr. Pepper, fizzy bubbles and all. Later on in the day, it morphed into Eat Me (I think it's the candied fruits doing this) plus Tootsie Rolls with the musk in there making it classy and grown-up instead of childish and all candies.

 

Delicious.

[ami226]

Oooooh! Red musk is normally a death note on me, but I hope that this one behaves because the rest of the notes sound excellent!

 

On the skin: Mmmmm! Chocolate plum musk! And root beer? Very strange! It casts a lovely scent aura that carries no hint of root beer. I am loving this one!!

 

On the drydown: This one smells sooooo wonderful! It reminds me of another scent, but for the life of me I can't figure out which.

[lefthandmade]

Hm. I get no chocolate. Her first impression is strange and makes me think about vegetables like celery or something like that.
It didn't take her long to melt into my skin in heavenly fruity red musk though.

Mm Gorgeous is your name, countess.

[EmpressPixie]

At first sniff this smells like really good spicy, gumdrops. Fruity and sweet and spicy and I seriously just want to eat it up. Like.. the best spicy gumdrops out there. I'm seriously bouncing in my chair with how mouthwateringly delicious this smells.

 

As it dries, I'm getting more spice that fruit. There is a bit of a sharp scent I don't love in there, but the overall scent is omg!amazing, gnaw off finger good. (I happened to swab it on my finger -- this is a first for me.)

 

Every time I sniff it, I start bouncing in my chair again with out amazingly good it is. I'm certain a bottle is in my future here. I mean, when a scent makes you literally bounce...

[Dark Alice]

For just 2 seconds this is chocolate and plum plus red musk. It is actually a little nauseating. It is just amazing. The chocolate fades quickly and the plum/amaretto/red musk come out to play this is definitely a bottle purchase for me!

Edited December 7, 2009 by Dark Alice

[SurrealReality]

In the Decant: very spicy, sharp ginger and red musk..... much dryer and more masculine than I had hoped for

 

Wet on Skin: ginger (again, very spicy and sharp), red musk, a little candied fruit

 

Dry: wow! This one really morphs! At first it's much sweeter - candied fruit (much stronger), ginger (much quieter), and red musk (much less). After about 20 minutes or so - candied fruit, amaretto, ginger, red musk, plum musk, and just a pinch of dry chocolate. About 1 hr later the sweetness dies down again - plum musk (much stronger), candied fruit (considerably weaker), amaretto (a little stronger), dry chocolate, ginger (very weak), and red musk (very weak)

 

Interesting and very sexy, but I had hoped for a sweeter scent with more chocolate. I definitely won't be keeping my decant

[gwynethr]

Oh holy crap. This is GORGEOUS. I had expected I might like it, hoping that the chocolate aspect would be tamed by the other notes, and it totally is. Chocolate often nauseates me in scent, but this is so subtle and light and just perfect with the plum.

 

OTOH, I'm annoyed that I like it so much. ;-) I was seriously hoping that all the Yules, District, and Miskatonics would be bad for me, but now I've found this and Crib Girls and I'm going to have to get bottles for certain.

 

Even though this smells nothing like Poison or Opium, in some strange way, Countess Willie reminds me of those. They were my major fragrances for years (the perfume, though, not the eau de perfume or toilette, which smelled different to me), and there's a dark, kind of mysterious and spicy quality to this that conjures up memories of how those perfumes smelled to me.

 

This might even become a favorite.

[lizardqueen]

Ohh... and I had such high hopes for the Countess, too!

 

I put this on, and it's immediately a big fat no. I wrinkled my nose and told my partner it smells like feet. That's not quite it, though. It just smells... wrong. I feel fairly certain it's the chocolate plum musk.

 

Once it dries down more fully I get more of what I'd been hoping for: a touch of amaretto, a bit of red musk, some candied fruit. (ETA: sniffing it on my arm again, I'd almost swear there's a bit of leather in there...) It's still not the pure unadulterated joy I'd been hoping for, though. (Maybe I had my hopes up a bit too high? ) Ah well. You win some, you lose some, right?

Edited December 8, 2009 by LizardQueen

[Heavenlyrabbit]

This was a gigantic FAIL of epic proportions on me.

 

It was sickening and I could not get to the sink to scrub it off fast enough.

 

Something in this reacted horribly with my skin chemistry. Wish I knew what it was so I could assiduously avoid it for the rest of my life.

Edited December 8, 2009 by Heavenlyrabbit

[TrailerTrashPrincess]

amaretto is cherry-almond-doom, and "candied fruits" don't bode well, either.

 

overall, this seems like Boomslang and O and some gummy candy. seems like it might ought to work on me but it just...doesn't.

[Little Bird]

In the bottle and on my skin at first, this smells like I just opened up a bag of fresh, squishy gummi bears. I don't know how to describe it other than gummi bears, lol. I like the smell. I find it really cheery. Countess Willie starts to smell really awesome when the red musk and ginger come out to join the bears, though. My skin amps up red musk, which smells like a really sexy, red, almost smoky incense on me. So I'm getting sexy, warm incense, a little extra heat from the ginger, and a touch of sweetness from the candied fruits. It makes me feel exotic and sexy when I put it on, but it also smells happy and approachable. Over the hours, the candied fruit morphs more into a sultry plum smell, but the red musk and ginger stay strong, smelling hot and incensey.

 

I actually bought this because it mentioned chocolate, but I don't smell anything like chocolate here at all. It's really awesome without the chocolate, though. Countess Willie is sexy, exotic, and playful smelling on me. I can see myself wearing this one a lot. :love!:

[Chapanis]

In the bottle this is sweeter brighter and less chocolaty than I anticipated.

 

Wet on spicy sexy plum musk with just a drop of hot ginger. No chocolate at all.

 

Dry down this is really growing on me. On the dry down it warms up a bit while retaining the spicy sexy plum musk.

 

This is a winner and I am so glad I took a chance on the bottle unsniffed.

 

The Countess is addictive. I want her more every time I try her.

[Schmoozy]

 

 

Interesting. Chocolate, plum and red ginger. Upon initial application it is bitter with the chocolate & amaretto adding a touch of sweetness. Unfortunately all I can smell is the red ginger and red musk, and I don't like it. A unique blend, just not for me.

Edited December 12, 2009 by Schmoozy

[distracts]

In the decant: Smells like chocolate and fruits.

 

Wet: WOW. Deep, dark chocolate and amaretto. This is STRONG.

 

Dry: The other notes come out to play, tempering the chocolate and amaretto a bit. It's still strong, but not as BAM! IN YOUR FACE! as it originally was.

 

This is a gorgeous scent and I can see it being perfect for lots of people, but I think it's too sultry and obviously sexy for me to wear. I definitely get the comparisons to Midnight Kiss, which is why even though I'm all "Wow, this smells AWESOME!" I think I won't be getting a bottle... I had a bottle of Midnight Kiss and loved the smell, but never wore it because it wasn't "me" enough! I want to keep my decant because it's so sexy... but realistically I will never wear it again.

[Iceblink]

This is one of the most epic fails EVER on me...something in here does NOT like my skin chemistry! It's weirdly planty/vegetal when wet and very off-putting. I do get some of the listed notes once it dries--plum, amaretto--but it's very faint and not worth that awful first 30 minutes or so. Tragic!

[milo]

Dayum, but this is good!! I get a very sharp red ginger at first, which is kind of overpowering. This fades to a juicy plummy musk with a touch of DARK chocolate and a hint of spicy amaretto. There is a touch of booziness here, which only adds to the charms of the Countess. I was scared of the amaretto, as it can sometimes go "cherry-like" on me. It is kind of cherry-ish here, but not so that it bothers me. In fact, it is so well blended, everything just melds together perfectly. Uh, bottle purchase, Yeah Baby!!

[pinkstardust420]

Amazing! Gorgeous fruity amaretto musk...ginger came out with a bang at first, but quickly scurries away! Warm and sexy!

[marared]

Major morpher. It's downright nasty in the imp - all red musk and ginger, very bitter. I was afraid to put it on. But it changes within thirty seconds of hitting my skin - the fruits come charging to the forefront and it turns to a faint fruity musk. Not much throw, doesn't hang around long, but it's much MUCH nicer than the initial first impression.

 

It also goes well with Morocco - I layered the two entirely by accident. Imagine the creamy carnationy Morocco wonderfulness with a plummy background...

[kerikeri]

I was so excited to try this, because it sounded like an even more awesome Bordello, and Bordello was my first true BPAL love. I don't have it with me to compare them directly right now, but Countess Willie definitely has the same creamy, "purple" feel to it, with the lush juicy plum and boozy amaretto notes. There's a sharp bite to this that Bordello lacks, though-- the ginger provides a little nip of spice, and the musk adds a perfumey edge. Unfortunately I can't pick out any chocolate.

 

This is a lovely scent, sweet and fruity but also a very sexy, adult blend-- it'd make a great date scent.