Needlework

[Invidiana]

Oolong tea, lilac, sheer musk, crushed ginger, wisteria, delphinium, and lavender.

Of all the epic fails on my skin, I would have never guessed this was one of the biggest recipes for disaster from the description but apparently it is. It starts off sharp, quickly sweetens, goes absolutely cloying and reminds of something I can't quite put my finger on until... NAIR. With my chemistry it smells exactly like old-school Nair before all the fancy scents came out to make it halfway tolerable. Lilac is already an iffy note for me, and mixed with everything else it just produced one epic, epic fail.

[surlygurl]

Like others have said, this starts off as lilac single note. It's a clean clear lilac, very suitable for springtime. As it dries, some other florals come out and the "color" of the scent changes to light blue & lavender. I get no tea, but I'll assume that the tea is what makes it fresh & clean feeling. A tiny bit of ginger tries to peek through the florals but doesn't quite make it.

 

Dry, this goes a bit soapy. I blame wisteria - Aquarius has wisteria and it goes to scented drier sheets. This isn't drier sheets, but it would be lovely mixed with unscented liquid body wash.

 

I was so hoping to love this, but it was not to be.

[metaldog32]

I was lucky enough to purchase a decant from Delirium1009-thank you.

 

I love lilac; it’s one of my favorite flowers so I’m hoping this is a win for me.

 

Intial sniff from decant:I get mostly the oolong tea, some sort of floral and the lavender.

 

Applied wet on skin-Okay..still the tea but the lilac is coming though a bit as well ..but it’s muddled..I’m still getting more of the other florals and the musk. Still not registering the ginger.

 

Couple of minutes on skin-Still the oolong tea in the forefront..with the florals right behind it….very pretty..but not as lilac-forward on me as I had hoped.

 

30 min later- Wow..on me this is primarily the oolong tea with the non lilac florals backing it up and the lavender on the tail end . Either the lilac is so well blended I can’t tell or it’s MIA with the ginger.

 

It’s actually really pretty but again..I was hoping for something a bit more lilac-forward.

 

Lasting power is clocked around3-4 hours and throw is soft to average.

 

Bottom Line Needlework to me is a great choice for a cool summer floral. It’s delicate and cool; I wish I had more lilac translate on me and because of this the decant is all I need. I’ll keep up my search for the perfect lilac outside of Frederic Malle’s En Passant..hehehe

Edited March 14, 2010 by metaldog32

[angelicruin]

Light mix of floral notes and tea on my skin. I can't smell any of the lavender though.

[ami226]

This has a plastic/clay tinge. Very strange. Then it becomes a light floral. I don't really like this one at all...

[blktauna]

metaldog32 and I got pretty much the same thing.

 

I too was hoping for a nice Lilac scent but on me this is a light lavender/floral that fades quite swiftly. No lilac at all.

[moosue]

Oh boy, I don't know about this one.

 

In the bottle (it's really warm from being in our incredibly hot lobby): warm flowers. Lilac specifically, but wow thats soapy. It's also not as strong as other scents are in the bottle.

On, wet: Okay...I smell lilac, and what MUST be wisteria. I also think I don't like wisteria, now that I'm smelling this. The lilac is actually quite true to what actual lilacs smell like, but its weird to be wearing it. I get very little tea, and the ginger must be the note that's giving me the "stinky daisy" smell when it mixes with the flowers. I recognize this ginger from Sudha Segara, although the scents aren't at all similar, the note is the same. On the skin, this does turn into a "cool" scent.

 

Dry: I don't know, I'm waffling on this one. If the wisteria and ginger were to just back off, this would be fine. The fresh, true lilac isn't there anymore and is now closer to my mom's lilac scented hand soap. Happily the tea does come out more.

This does indeed smell like a hot summer day in the shade, but would be much too heavy for summer wear for me.

This just doesn't suit me. I want to love it but don't think my bottle will get enough wear. My mom can try it, and if she doesn't like it, this will be going to swaps or sales.

I love the bottle art, it's beautiful.

 

ETA: So this tones down after awhile to a beautiful lilac tea. Just like I wanted, ginger and wisteria back off and leave this really pretty smelling. It just takes a couple of hours to get there.

Edited March 19, 2010 by moosue

[anomie]

Imp: Flowers and ginger. Pungent!

 

Wet: LILAC. Hints of tea and ginger underneath with a grounding of musk.

 

Drydown: Oh, this is really interesting. The lilac's settled and I'm getting a lot of tea . Mmm. Nice.

[zankoku_zen]

WISTERIA ATTACK!

 

I get wisteria, lilac and lavender. If you can handle wisteria, this is a nice, floral blend. Very spring like.

 

Unfortunately, wisteria loves my skin, and I don't love wisteria. At all.

[azurephoenix]

I can see the potential of this, lovely light florals with a soft musk... but something in this reacts to my skin and adds a light layer of pickled sourness to the whole thing

 

I'm beginning to think Shungas and I will just not ever be friends.

[msbcozad]

In the bottle Needlework smells like an expensive, grown-up perfume. Freshly applied, it goes sickeningly sweet but it finally settles down to a generic floral mix with a touch of greenery in the background. After a couple of hours, I can finally smell the tea note. The scent stays close to my skin.

[thekittenkat]

In the imp: Floral tea.

 

Wet: Floral tea but with added ginger. All the flowers are sort of flying and floating around and in and about the tea note, which has some ginger bits at the bottom of the cup.

 

Dry: This is like the best cup of flowery tea ever, with just a little bit of musk (only now appearing) to keep it from being too delicate. Instead the ginger and the musk give this floral tea scent a rich grounding. Too bad it's not really tea, or I'd be tempted to drink it, with some honey stirred in. Of course, it's just perfume oil, not tea, but this is another wonderfully well-blended scent. At the moment, this may be my fave of this year's Shungas (now tied with Autumn Moon of the Mirror Stand). It's like a spring garden in a bottle.

Edited April 30, 2010 by thekittenkat

[Schmoozy]

 

Yes this is exactly floral tea. More specifically lilac tea. It has touches of lavender and ginger making it spicy and herbal. After it has the chance to drydown this turns into a waispy floral heavy on the lilac. Very springlike and pretty, but a decant will be enough.

[SlySionnach]

I had bought this one on St. Pat's, and somehow thought I'd bought Pink Mood (brain, where were you on that?! ). Luckily, I checked before I made my second Lupers order and now will have Pink Mood coming along shortly. So, I will admit, I was a bit disappointed that I was getting this first...

 

But, oh, not anymore!

 

Bottle: Flowery tea. Now, quick fact, tea gives me migraines. At least, ingesting it. But I've always enjoyed the smell of tea (and yearn to drink it so badly...soo badly...)

 

Wet: My god, hello lilac and ginger. I love the smell of lilac - scent memory from picking the flowers off of the neighbor's forest of them and bringing it home. I also love the smell of ginger, and all the Asian-feeling blends.

 

Dry: I'm in love. Honest to god, head over heels. The tea is still there, as is the ginger, but the flowers are doing The Dance of the Flowers from the Nutcracker all around me, teasing the tea and ginger into playing with them. My nose is officially connected to my wrist and my sister is wondering why I'm such a weirdo...

 

Overall: Gah! Thank god I ordered this bottle. Brain, you were smart that time

[countessmouse]

Tea and musk in the bottle. Musky floral wet on the skin, and then it dries to lovely, lovely wysteria and lavender goodness with just a hint of spice. I think I have found another favorite!

[crebbsgirl]

Predominantly tea and lilacs on my skin. Unfortunately this goes soapy and a little "grandmother-ish" after about an hour or so. Hmmm... too bad.

[bheansidhe]

No tea… just lilac and hints of lavender over white musk. Some wisteria eventually. Smells like high-end Caswell and Massey Persian Lilac soap, but without the soap base.

 

Ends up as single-note lilac. If that's your thing, this is your blend. Sophisticated, not at all soapy or shrill.

Edited April 1, 2010 by bheansidhe

[steelgossamer]

I was so excited for this one, and I am very disappointed.

 

In the imp: floral, lavender, and a bit of something sharp.

 

Wet: Lavender and powder with a bit of tea

 

Drydown: Lavender floral, powdery, herbal- very soft

 

Dry: POOF. Gone. Once it's dry, it lasts for less than an hour before it's completely gone. I will have to try this one again and hope that it sticks around a bit longer next time. For now though, very sad. It's quite pretty until it fades away.

[fairestrocza]

In the Bottle: heady, but soft, florals

 

Wet on Skin: Burns a bit going on (only the first time). Creamy, slightly spicy floral.

 

While Drying: I can identify lavender if I work at it, but it is definitely not the dominant note. The tea is present, and I like what it is adding to an otherwise floral blend. I don't smell lilac, so it must be the wisteria, delphinium, or a combo of the two that is defining the scent at this point. Still a bit of zing and some redness where I applied the oil (ginger?).

 

After a Little While: Floral aspect is dying down. Mainly a spicy tea with something slightly sugary. No longer burning my skin. I tested this again during a different point in my cycle, and got an odd almost-but-not-quite anise scent (I detected a hint of this in the imp at a later time too).

 

Later: Fades to a very light vague floral... But, at a different point in my cycle, the florals all fade and this dries down to mainly a tea scent. Gotta love skin chemistry!

 

Final Thoughts: I wish the ginger had a bit more oomph in scent, and less oomph in skin reaction. This was one of the scents I was most looking forward to testing. It is not bad, but not outstanding, and I find myself a bit disappointed. Fairly rapid fade.

Needlework earns a 3.5/5 on my skin.

[strahlend]

In the imp it seems to be all lilac and nothing but lilac.

On my skin there's still a whole lot of lilac but also another flower scent that I'm thinking might be the wisteria, after a little while it seems like some musk comes through a little. And that's pretty much it, I love lavender but I don't smell it or any of the other listed notes. Very flowery.

[sunlitgarden]

Needlework

 

Needlework is heaven if you're a lilac lover (which I am). Lilac is very dominant in this blend, especially when wet. After several hours I can smell the musk and ginger more. It's a lovely light floral, perfect for spring. I'm very glad I got a bottle.

[heywilma]

I am full of regret, guys, regret that I didn't snatch up more of this when the Shungas were still available. I love this. I go seeking tea notes (my brain probably makes a little boop boop boop sound that gets more urgent the closer it gets to tea), and for the most part they end up smelling nothing like tea or they last for a pitiful second then fade into something else entirely, but Needlework. Man, Needlework is the tea that I've been looking for. It's deep, bitter Oolong tea, none of this weak English stuff (I do love the English stuff, don't get me wrong, I just love the fragrant Asian teas more), and it lasts and lasts. It never loses the tea note, either, although it does morph into something more flowery after a while. Brilliance in a bottle. I will be looking for a back-up for sure.

 

Incidentally, it's the only BPAL so far my mum has liked.

[lunaticana]

this is so typical

I really was in the mood for some good ginger today

and I did not realize that my morning-arrived Needlework contains it!

it is a delightfull scent, I can not say any different, so cheerfull, so soft..

very summerish, but the beginning, not the super duper HOT days, there is still a light breeze

in the early afternoon

I KNEW this was gonna work out for me!

I am just amazed by the fact that it smells like how I used to smell myself when I was very little

offcosre I already had many scents and children-perfumes in my collection then

so, I guess it is the lavender together mingled with that lilac and wisteria I adore so. much.

[Wwindy]

I should start out by noting that I'm definitely not big on most florals. This is very wearable, though!

 

The lilac note is absolutely true to life. I find that when I apply this scent to "cold" skin, the lilac is a little too dominant for my taste -- but when applied to "warm" skin (i.e., fresh out of a hot shower) the lilac seems to burn off just that little bit more, enough to bring out some of the other aspects.

 

Real wisteria always smells a little grape-y to me, and I'm not getting that at all here. I'm also not picking up much or any ginger, unless my nose is mixing that sharpness with the tannic tea, which I do get. Overall, this is lilac with a bit of pleasantly sharp tea and a hint of lavender, warmed up by a really lovely, light, close-to-the-skin musk. The lavender is perfect -- not too marshmallow-y sweet, not too eucalyptus-y astringent, but right in the middle and much more realistic (at least to my nose) than the Lab's lavender sometimes is.

 

Like I said, I'm not generally keen on florals -- but this is very, very pleasant, and a great warm-weather scent.

[sarielswish]

In the vial, this is a *very* herbal, green scent. Color, light purple-green.

 

Wet on my skin, it smells like fresh cut herbs - the ginger, lilac, and lavender are prominent with my chemistry. The herbs are very appropriate - it's a very spring-ish scent.

 

10-15 minute drydown - It's very pretty, but I don't see myself wearing it much. Something just doesn't seem 'me' about it. I think it's the lilac in this one... I don't know if it's the note itself or if i don't care for the herbs it's combined with, but it's just not appealing to me that much.