Snap-Dragon-Fly

[hkhm]

SNAP-DRAGON-FLY
`Look on the branch above your head,' said the Gnat, `and there you'll find a Snap-Dragon-fly. Its body is made of plum-pudding, its wings of holly-leaves, and its head is a raisin burning in brandy.'

`And what does it live on?'

`Frumenty and mince pie,' the Gnat replied; `and it makes its nest in a Christmas box.'

Plum pudding, holly, and brandy-soaked raisin with frumenty, mince pie, and a hint of suet.

imp: very softly plummy.

wet: very plummy and spicy-sweet! there is a hint of pastry as well.

dry: this smells almost exactly like mince pie with plums mixed in once dry. i think i will be needing a bottle.

[Iceblink]

The holly is really evident at first--very green--but this dries down into delicious spiced plum and raisin. I have a hard time with plum going all Yankee Candle on me but the spice keeps this from getting to that cloyingly sweet stage. Nice! I'll need to give this the full-day test to see if I need more.

[edenssixthday]

Snap-Dragon-Fly - This opens up as a super-sweet plum scent.... so lovely! As it warms up on my skin, the mincemeat spices really become the dominant notes, and I can smell the pastry of the pie, too. Upon drydown, it's mostly the scent of pie pastry filled with spicy mincemeat and sweet, juicy plum. This is a strange scent on me, but I like it. I'm not much of a "foody" scent person, and even though this is highly foody, it's not foody in the usual way.

[fairnymph]

This is definitely a baked goods, booze and fruit foody type scent with fruit and butter leaping out. I get quite a bit of plum (black plum), as well as a more jammy prune-plum note, tart grapey raisin (not at all fake like candy or cough syrup, and much subtler than those overpowering grape notes and a general mixture of sweet, christmassy dried fruits . There is a little bit of greasy richness which smells mostly like buttery tonka to me, but has a slick oiliness that really does suggest suet - either way the 'fat' here is the strongest note in the bottle. It hink this merges with the almost nutty, slightly creamy & custard grain porridge (frumenty). I also get quite a bit of sweet, golden-warm, boozy brandy - but it's not at all harsh, and tends more towards fruity and complex. A tiny hint of piney-evergreen holly that I probably wouldn't pick out blind is lightest of al, rather overwhelmed.

 

Smoother and more cohesive, with a lot more of the frumenty, and the brighter boozy aspects of the brandy nearly instantly gone, leaving rich golden fruity warmth. The frumenty is now richly creamy, but not in a cloying way, and still has a hint of nuttiness that all the BPAL grain notes do - there could be a little almond, the soft creamy sort from Snow White, not the benzaldehyde/almond extract sort. But it's almost like there's whole almonds that have been ground - I can smell the brown husk of the almond, the fruit has definitely taken a back step in a dramatic and sudden fashion, with really on the brandy's fruit distinct. This now has a very creamy, golden and creamy ivory hued-feel. Still very foody with plenty of fat, but it's better integrated with the other notes. This is a very warm, hearth/kitchen scent; like the scent in the air during the cooler half of pastries baking in the oven - I do believe that's a touch of the mince pie, particularly the crust, coming through.

 

As this dries, the furmenty fades a bit and the fruit amps back up, though the pie crust remains amped, and literally smells flaky - amazing! It's so flaky and realistically buttery it reminds me of homemade croissants baking - a smell I'll never forget. The black plum is still true and a little juicy but mostly deep and sort of plump and rounded - it reminds me a bit of Hellion, and Purple Phoenix - actually, the overall fruitiness at this stage reminds me a lot of the fruity melance of PP, and also a teensy bit of Black Heart - more sweetness now, a hint of almost floral powdery like the sweet pea in BH & the blossom in PP, a little bit of grape candy Pez - though this really does steer clear of the grape candy effect, and is much more realistic, tarter and deeper and subtler, like slightly dried grapes that aren't quite raisins, though there is more raisin tone now than there was initially.

 

This reminds me of a sort of cross between Joulumuori & The Witch's Repast - quite significantly in fact. The booziness and creamy-nutty porridge are very reminiscent of Joulumuori & the greasiness of the suet is DEFINITELY the same as in tWR. Beth has definitely branched out into a unique new sub-niche with these scents, of sort of rustic, warming, foody, intriguing and comforting effect. It's not my style, but I'm impressed by how well blended, balanced, and wearable these scents are while still being so incredible evocative and emotionally appealing. The late appearance of some golden baked apple and golden sultanas (golden raisins) only furthers this effect. In the end, I do think it's more like tWR, but there are still some significant notes shared with J. On me this has moderate throw and good-to-great lasting power.

 

[Dark Alice]

Sweet spicy plum. Where as alice's evidence had the crust/pie note. This doesn't. This is a nice slightly sweet spicy plum. And it's a keeper. Keeping the imp...may hunt down a partial eventually.

[Little Bird]

In the imp, I didn't think that this was very promising. It smelled like cheap craft store potpourri mix of fruit+spice. I expected this to be like a replay of Frumious Bandersnatch, which is a spicy, cheap, room fragrance-esque hell on my skin. My skin amps up spice notes and I don't have good luck with plum. That said, much to my surprise, I really like this scent (maybe even love it). I only get a hint of spice on my skin at first, but it just lends a warm, cozy feel in the drydown.

 

Snap-Dragon-Fly is a lovely sugar plum type scent on me. Bath and Body Works had a LE sugar plum scent for Christmas around 12 years ago that I loved and never got over, and this reminds me of that scent. It also reminds me of bpal's Midwinter's Eve, but this smells warmer and sweeter than Midwinter's Eve.

 

I'm not sure how to describe this other than "sugar plums." It smells magical, warm, and comforting. It's sweet, but the fruity-freshness of the plum keeps it from being too sweet.

 

I'll definitely be getting a full bottle of this in the future.

[ellebelle]

Sugared, spiced plums. This smells much, much better on than in the imp.

[angelicruin]

Sweet baked yummy-ness. Plum pudding, brandy, & raisins are the strongest notes on my skin.

[crebbsgirl]

Well there's plum and mince showing up on my skin. And then something decidedly funky. I think it might be the pastry or something. It's going to buttery funk on me. Yup, not a fan of this one on me. I can smell the holly but it's getting pummeled by the buttery funk and fruit.

[zankoku_zen]

Oh my goodness. This is a soft, delicious plum. Very foodie, sweet and with a touch of cinnamon and porridge.

 

Delicious.

[Suu4LC]

Ooo, I love getting lab frimps of blends I'm itching to try! Mad Tea Party is my favorite of the GC lines-there have been so many blends I've loved and so many of the new ones sound soo good to me, including this one!

 

In the imp this is a very deep, rich, heavy, savory scent. Plummy and crusty and kind of boozy. Very purple.

 

Oh, this is wonderful on my skin-I have always been a huge fan of lab plum notes-they just go so well on me-this kind of reminds me of Bordello actually...all dark and purpley. I pulled out my Bordello bottle to compare and they are definitely different though. Bordello is more red-purpley, this is more black-purpley. As it dries, I notice a bit of a cinnamony spice and more of the mince-pie. It's almost a little to savory for me...

 

On the drydown, it sort of loses it's uniqueness and punch and becomes a bit flat. My skin just didn't hold the complexity very well. This is a fun, unique blend, but I have other purpley blends that do better with my skin.

 

 

[loubric]

Warm spicy fruity sweet plum pie.

Starts out being very rich, creaming and foody - a bit too overwelming for me.

 

After about 5 min the food releaxes and the fruity plum is more apparent. YES it's a full on plum fest

[Dharklady]

In Bottle: plum and raisin pudding

Wet: Raisins and plum brandy with the suet and pie adding a nice grounding (almost bready) note.

Dry: This is a really nice blend, the raisin and plum combine well and it gets a hint of spunk from the brandy while the last two notes stay melded in the whole, it definitely grounds it.

Notes: It’s a fun boozy little fall scent. Not good for everyday but worth keeping the little imp’s worth of!

 

[moon_lemming]

Snap-Dragon-Fly really really REALLY reminds me of something but I can't put my finger on what that is. It just won't come to me. It's kind of driving me nuts, actually.

 

Anyway, in the imp this blend is super-sweet and warm and plummy, but almost in a savory way. On me it's mostly sweet plum and a little bit of spiciness, but more sugary than spicy. If it were a candle, it would be one you'd burn around Christmastime.

 

I'd love it if I didn't have a bias against plum-scented perfumes, but I do, so sadly this one is not for me.

[impolight]

:::SNAP-DRAGON-FLY:::

 

Thunderstruck! Snap-Dragon-Fly smelled JUST LIKE a fresh loaf of bread just in from a wood-fire, stone oven!

There is this very grainy, doughy, buttery note in this (at first sniff) that is accompanied by a hint of of Ash and cinder!

Tricky!

Another sniff, less cautious now, reveals gigantic Brandy soaked Raisin!

This will nearly make your eyes water! You can just about feel the dry, alcohol sting at the back of your throat!

The Plummy note in Snap-Dragon-Fly is excelsior!

This smells very much like a succulent, fresh-picked, ripe summer fruit; juicy-fleshed with a taut, tart and shiny skin!

Some of the fruity characteristic might come from the Mince Pie ingredient, but there isnt a whole lot of the Brow Sugary Spice, either.

The Salty/Buttery element likely comes from the "Suet" note.

On the Skin: The Plum in Snap-Dragon-Fly really elevates right alongside the Suet which is really... Peculiar.

This delighful incongruence goes hand in hand with the concept of a "Snap-Dragon-Fly".

The Frumenty aspect is a nice, rounded-out subtlety... It soothes the spirits as would a steaming bowl of rolled oats in heavy cream with Cinnamon & Sugar.

Spectrally, this fragrance falls somewhere between plum-purple and leather, and it has... Shine.

Snap-Dragon-Fly's fruitier aspects would compliment Her body chemistry, while the Salty, Brown, Smoky aspects would favor His...

All in all, Snap-Dragon-Fly is a pretty good fragrance.

This one would wear exceptionally well as a wintry fragrance; at a family gathering, seated round an expansive table.

A rousing applause for this 4 out of 5.

[ralenth]

Spicy plum pudding with flecks of brown sugar - far less jammy than Alice's Evidence. A bit of buttery smokiness from the suet rounds it out nicely. Definitely a tolerable foodiness.

[Schmoozy]

 

One of my new favorites from the Mad Tea Party. Foody, spicy, nutty and plummy. It's rich, and fragrant, lasts forever and makes me hungry! I can't wait until the fall to wear this daily.

[galahad]

In The Bottle

Fruity and buttery brandy. I'm scared as butter doesn't work on me!

 

On Application

The butter note immediately dissipates on the skin leaving an incredibly rich brandy/pastry/fruit scent.

 

Dry Down

This really doesn't morph from the above. It stays rich, boozey and kind of foody. I like it but not a bottle purchase for me, I think

 

Rating (0-5)

3.5

 

[sunlitgarden]

Snap-Dragon-Fly

 

I have been getting a lot of Mad Tea Party frimps lately! This smells gingery-spicy to me at first. Now I'm getting sweet plum and brandy. It's foody but not overwhelmingly so. I think this is a keeper but will need to be tested again in fall/winter.

[ami226]

On the skin: I can smell some of the fruity plum and a brandy/honey sweetness. This is like a fruity baked good.

 

Definitely not for me.

[dawndie]

Wet: spiced plums

 

On skin: total dupe of Trick #2, dark fruit with a bit of spice

 

Half-hour later: more "bread-y" with grains and bird-feeder-suet

 

In conclusion: the spiced plums in this are delicious, and I really like the heartier grains appearing later. I don't go for many foody blends but this one is interesting, it's like an instant meal! I want to go on a picnic lunch with this one.

[patina]

Bright, happy plums and brandy.

 

I was scared of the suet, but I shouldn't have been. There's some woody holly and some pastryish foodiness, but this is mostly plums, rasins and booze. Very Christmassy. I'm happy I have an imp.

[grrrlennyl]

Snap-Dragon-Fly

 

On: Foody, sweet, and spicy.

1 hour in: A sweet and spicy bread.

1.5 hours in: Just vaguely sweet. No notes are really standing out.

2.5 hours in: Slightly foody, but still mostly sweet with a bit of spice.

Overall: This is interesting, but not really my sort of foody scent.

[Gin]

After failing with the Bread-and-Butter-Fly, I thought I'd give Snap-Dragon-Fly a chance. Freshly applied, it's plum and holly and a strong-and-weird baked note. As it dries, the pastry (?) note fades and it's plum and a sort of cold note (holly) that also fades fairly quickly. I'm left with a bright, predominantly plum scent that reminds me of both Bordello and Midwinter's Eve (two favorites of mine). It's not as loud as Bordello, not as somber as Midwinter's Eve. Love it.

[MiasmaResonance]

Very much a holiday scent. It is very rich. I can definitely smell the meaty notes, though they are faint compared to the meat note in The Witch's Repast, and I get the alcohol as well. Overall, this reminds me very much of TWR, but it is lighter and slightly spicy, and has more of a fruity note..probably the plum. I like it very much.