Octopus and Abalone Diver

[fairnymph]

Ambergris accord, water lily, freesia, sea spray, molluscan seashell accord, and driftwood.

Very light and fresh - almost foamy sea water, a fresh blue-green-white floral note that I assume is the water lily (it's almost aquatic, very clean and cool), and a little bit of fruity-fresh freesia. This has a much lighter and greener feel than I expected. It's cool, gentle, tranquil. I don't get wood, but this has a faint cologne aspect.

Still extremely light on my skin - it's just a very demure sort of scent - and what must be water lily really shines. It's a bit brighter and headier, 'whiter' in feel, but still cool and aquatic with an almost cucumbery, grassy aspect. This scent on the whole reminds me a bit of Anais Anais (which I love), but more delicate and innocent. It's only very barely oceanic - it's definitely aquatic, but it's only lightly salty - this isn't ocean water, it's ocean MIST. A bit of ambergris comes out on my skin, adding some musky depth, and a little more freesia, which is very lightly soapy-clean (in a good way) - still no driftwood.

Slow to dry, but becoming more floral and definitively feminine as it does so. I *know* this water lily note from somewhere...I think the Black Swan? The grassy note has amped; this is greener, stemmier, and almost a little spicy, while still being cucumbery-fresh. The freesia has gone a bit more soapy, but still within tolerable limits. While I'm not sure what seashell accord is meant to smell like, there IS a sort of chalky, crushed-stone note that reminds me of the note in Julia Stone, or in Sarah (both scents I love), a sort of smooth stony whiteness. And this still smells a little cologney.

This remains subdued, and while for a brief period there's a bit of turbulence as notes emerge and submerge, everything settles down quickly into a beautiful harmonious blend. The almost-troublesome soapiness dissipates as does the nearly-sharp greenness of the water lily, while the smooth white stony note amps, and the ambergris softens into a gentle but rather sexy musk. This is not a scary BAM ambergris note - it's a backup player, not a diva as it was in say, Lilith vs the Giant Crab. If there's wood here, it never emerges on my skin distinctly.

My only qualm with this scent - which is more beautiful than I'd hoped, so it's a very minor qualm - is that it's only so very faintly salty. I'd love a really BRISKLY salty scent without a lot of overpowering notes, and I've yet to find such a scent in BPAL. As I said earlier, this is sea mist, not ocean water. It's not a strongly aquatic scent by any means. I'd describe it more as clean, soft, green-white feminine floral and smooth polished stone with a bit of salty musk. Sutble and lovely, but with good throw and excellent longevity. Another winner!

[DeltaCat]

Yay for non-heavy aquatics!! This is light and faintly floral. I get no driftwood and not a whole lot of seashell accord either. In all this dries down to a feminine, light, aquatic. Thumbs up!

[IridiumFlash]

This one starts off as a light aquatic. After a few hours, it shifts to primarily floral, almost powdery (not the Baby Powder Of Death, but a nice powder). The throw is never very strong, but the scent does have staying power. I could still barely discern a floral scent after 12 hours. I never did pick out the seashell accord, but my nose is not yet well trained

 

Nice. I may have to stockpile a second bottle.

 

 

[ralenth]

Gentle, floral aquatic. Stays close to the skin, delightfully girlish. I'll definitely be keeping this one on tap for days when Danube is a little too heady for me. It's slightly salty too, but I think this adds to its charm.

 

This is the best LE surprise I've had in a while.

[Venneh]

Honestly, this is the scent I'm wanting to work the most, because hey, tentacle sex! In the decant, this is definitely an aquatic scent, a vague cousin to Lilith v. the Giant Crab. On my skin, this is more of an aquatic floral type scent. We'll see how this turns out. Fades quickly, and I'm getting sharper florals and the ambergirs in it, sadly.

Edited February 22, 2010 by Venneh

[starfish327]

very clean. this reminds me of a warmer less sharp ded moroz. i'm just hoping that it doesn't give me migraines with a full wearing like ded moroz did. this does border on shower product to me- this is definitely a soap like blend, but it's a nice balance to my normal funerary incense blends. this may be my favorite of the lupes that i've tried so far.

 

edit: apparently after a couple of weeks settling time, mr. octopus has decided that he hates me. this has turned into hairspray on me and is making me sneeze. sorry, buddy, i wanted to love you!

Edited March 19, 2010 by starfish327

[Dark Alice]

At first this smelled like a fresh aquatic breeze. Then it became perfumey. My skin wanted to turn this into department store perfume with hints of that aquatic note that I love. *sigh*

[musichappens]

A very fresh aquatic scent with maybe a hint of floral. Unfortunately, this turned into an instant headache, so I couldn't wait to see how it developed after a few hours.

Edited February 25, 2010 by musichappens

[thekittenkat]

Lilies and I don't usually get along, but what a lovely surprise here: the water lily don't jump up and beat all the other notes into submission. Instead, it and the freesia combine to give this scent a touch of sweetness that it needs to offset slightly the tangy salt of the sea spray. There's hints of the ambergris, but since I wasn't sure what the seashell should smell like (perhaps a light stone note), the major base note is the driftwood. Sea aquatic and woodsy, with touches of sweet spice. This invokes the beach during a calm evening sunset walk very well. May need a back-up. And, it lasts a long time.

[greenranger]

Wet, this is a light and fresh aquatic.

 

As it dries, the freesias are trying to take over, and there's some water note in here that isn't playing nice. Though I like the look of freesias, I have never been fond of their scent. I don't think this one is for me.

[Little Bird]

I find freesia to be a very perfumey, sharp, air-freshener type of floral note, and it gives me a vicious headache if I'm left smelling it for too long. I get a lot of perfumey freesia from this scent, with a background of soapy aquatic. It winds up smelling like perfumey floral scented dryer sheets on my skin, strong and headache-inducing. I had to scrub this one off after a half hour, but I honestly wasn't really expecting it to work on me...

[Kimocean]

I am totally in love with this oil. On my skin it develops into a slightly salty musky sea scent with a hint of stone (I assume that's the shell accord) and some flowers thrown in to make it more feminine. It stays close to the skin but when I catch a whiff of it I want to close my eyes and breathe deeply. This is what I've been dreaming of in an aquatic scent. It's sexy in a way that is deeply personal, a sensualness I associate with sea glass. It's the scent of making love after a long day at the beach and it's very, very good.

Edited March 2, 2010 by Kimocean

[kohimame]

I'm very divided on the Octopus and Abalone Diver scent. In the imp and going wet on my skin, it smells the same: a very strong floral with a slight tang to it. I hate to say it, but it smells like something Glade would make. As it wears on my skin though, other elements come out which temper the floral a bit. The end result is more what I wanted it to be, a light floral with a hint of water and salt. It has strong throw and very good wear.

 

It's a nice scent, and I'll definitely keep my decant, but I doubt I'll get a bottle.

 

 

 

 

 

 

[wl552]

Last one in this batch...

 

At first it is SALT! with a bit of sweetish, maybe fruity? florals. Mostly it's very salty. I don't mind salty scents too much, so not immediately bad.

 

Dried, the salt has left with a somewhat metallic feeling to the very sultry florals. Like maybe the edges of tropical flowers have been dipped in sterling silver. The sweetness hasn't completely left, but lingers right on the edges of the olfactory experience... it's battling the metallic feel for second place after the florals. Way in back, there still seems to be something of a juicy fruit.

 

I'm just not too sure about this one overall. Definitely not one of those instant loves. *sigh*

[megank4]

This is really nice, and I don't usually like aquatic scents!

 

Reminds me a little of Parenthope.

fresh and fruity, a bit salty

[angelicruin]

Aquatic salty sea notes and lily on my skin. Very clean smelling, though it does border on being "soapy".

[Ravenclaw79]

In the beginning stages, this is all soap -- another aquatic that just smells like soap to me.

 

At the end, though, hours later, it's really interesting and kinda nice, seashell and loveliness. But am I willing to wait through all of that soap? Probably not.

[ami226]

This.... is very aquatic. It reminds me of the smell of a hotel shower for some odd reason. Strange

[Amaranthus]

This starts off as salty clean ocean spray, and blooms into a light, almost fruity floral.

 

As it warms up a note comes out that must be "seashell accord," it is warm and soft, like lightly vanillic powder.

 

It's much sexier than I would have expected from an aquatic floral blend.

 

The smell makes me imagine the colors aquamarine and gold. I love it!

[hkhm]

bottle: very sweet aquatic.

 

wet: freesia and aquatic. i would never have guessed that i would like such a scnet but i find myself very taken with it.

 

dry: this dries to a silky soft freesia scent with a gentle watery note that is too ethereal to call "aquatic". much nicer than expected.

[zankoku_zen]

Sweet, bright fruity aquatic. I really get the water lily and green grasses. I find this delicious, light and tasty. Perfect for the summer.

 

Off to find a partial bottle...

[Voleuse]

This is a fresh and lovely aquatic, a bit cologney and very cool and clean. I like the way the aquatic balances out what could be quite musky, so that it's soothing instead of aggressive. There's a hint of saltwater in the background, but overall this is very "ocean sweet" to my nose. It gets sweeter, juicier over time. This is a great scent for warm weather.

[aquazoo]

Yep, that's salty beach! It's got some flowers wafting through. It fades fast, but some nice wood at the end.

 

[Invidiana]

This is a fresh and very true seaspray scent. It really comes out like a seaspray single note on me, with a very light floral background and a hint of wood, but mostly salty seaspray. It's personally not my type of thing; I much prefer Giant Squid for my sea scent because of the citrus and resins, but if you're a lover of straight-up seaspray you can't pass this up.

[glitterlips]

It went all perfumey on me, smells like something I could get at a department store. My allergy ridden nose can't handle perfumey scents so I have mine up for sale.

 

-Mel