Grief

[Lunasariel]

Inconsolable: lily of the valley, hyacinth, calamus, muguet, hydrangea, and elemi.

 

In the imp: Soft florals, dominated by what I believe to be lily of the valley, but I'm not sure - the florals are rather omnidirectional. It feels like a soap or air freshener that was designed to be pleasant, yet inoffensive and unobtrusive. Or maybe I'm just getting a soapy vibe because that's where I've mostly encountered lily of the valley before?

 

Wet: At first it's about the same as ITI - a soft, inoffensive floral soap - but now with an interesting aquatic element. But after only a minute or so, the soap comes out in force. Alas!

 

Dry: It softens up a bit over time, and the soap does dissipate eventually, but it never reaches anything other than "soft inoffensive floral." To top it off, the wear time is also far from impressive - five hours tops, and my skin usually hangs onto florals for 6-8. Meh.

[Veronica]

This dries down to a powdery, sweet flora. Something in it is a little too sweet and saplike. Pretty but not outstanding for me.

[Soupy Twist]

A perfect rendition of hyacinth, from beginning to the rather brief end. Great for the beginning of spring when the hyacinths are blooming and I just want to smell like one all day.

[DiesMali]

In the imp: Very faint, watery flowers.

 

Wet on my skin: Strong, dewy hyacinth and white lily.

 

Dry: As this dries, it's exactly what the notes are - soft, feminine, green-white mourning flowers. A little soapy, as floral-only blends tend to do on my skin. I actually really like the hyacinth and lily combination, and while I wouldn't wear this on its own, I might try layering it with something woodsy or foresty and see what that does to it.

[freyasfae]

I love when BPAL captures things like salty tears in a scent. At first, I thought this was a soapy floral, but there was something in the background that reminded me of salty tears which I think may be the elemi. The florals are very pretty, but the lonely, somber type. And it is very light.

[LizziesLuck]

Wet: Wow, this is one of the prettiest aquatics I have ever smelled. I generally don't like them, but I am loving the lily of the valley in this! And then it turns to soap.

 

 

Dry: The most lovely lily soap, but soap nonetheless. It was really pretty for a few mins though! Darn skin.

[FeralFae]

This is so pretty. It's very somber and light, dewy, aquatic and a bit salty. I would have to be in a very specific mood to wear this, but I do see myself reaching for it. I love the name and the description, and the perfume is very evocative.

 

Edited to add that I currently wear this quite a bit. It smells clean yet sorrowful, and very fresh. I love it and I'll be needing a bottle once my imp runs out.

Edited December 18, 2016 by FeralFae

[Casablanca]

Grief smells mixed on the wand, partly soft white floral, partly something a little off. Wet on my skin, it gets worse: this smells to my nose like the whine of a mosquito sounds in my ear. Something has gone wrong with this on my skin. I'm not sure how to describe the icky part of this: like a bland vegetable left in a baggie to get slimy, but not yet rotting?

The odor settles down before long, turning into a cleaner green, like grass. I wonder if that is the calamus. It isn't very friendly with me.

There's little throw to this and it's mostly gone in an hour.

[gloame]

This is going all soap on me! I am so hit or miss with white florals. I can't even pick out anything specific in this blend - it's just a lot of, "No, Gloame".

[milo]

Very pretty, light floral. Comforting, almost. Sweet, a bit of greenery thrown in. It reminds me of a large, domed garden or conservatory in the middle of winter. A bit of brightness among the cold.

[ramblingrambler]

Got as a Lab frimp in a recent order and slathered without reading notes. I expected it to be an aquatic (salty tears of grief is where my mind went), but I can see why it's actually a floral now that I've "read" the scent on and read the notes here. Not gonna lie---I'm not an aquatic or floral fan (on me; I love these on the right chemistry, but that's not mine!), so that's going to come out in my review.

 

Wet, it's a bunch of flowers in my face. There's something extremely sweet in here too.... not foodie sweet, but just... florally sweet. Since I rarely wear florals unless mixed with other heavier notes, I couldn't tell you what it is.

As it begins to dry, the flower-power fades some (oh, you can tell it's floral still, most definitely, as those are the predominant notes), but it isn't as... in-your-face. There's a green note that comes out and makes it a million times more wearable for me.

Into fade-away, the florals high-tale it out of there and leave the greenery. I'm okay with this stage. If only it were this stage all the way through.

 

Floral lovers will be pleased with this, I'm sure. Stay away if flower aren't your thing.

[Lucchesa]

If Grief were a color, it would be a very pale, silvery lilac shade. If it were a sound, it would be a whisper. I love lily of the valley; here it is perfectly blended with the hyacinth and the other floral notes I'm not familiar with (though hydrangeas are blooming all over Seattle right now, so I will have to take a huff next time I pass a bush). Light, pretty, gentle floral -- very like what in my grandmother's lexicon would have been a toilet water, or eau de toilette. A skin scent perfectly appropriate for all those springtime occasions when you're not actually supposed to be wearing any perfume.

[achildoftime]

This is one of the loveliest lily of the valley scents I've tried. It smells like the whole plant, green leaves and all. It's really what I smell the most, perhaps because it's what I'm most familiar with. I'm very grateful that it doesn't turn to soap on me. I'm completely tickled, because I have such good scent memories with the note so Grief is a clear and definite winner for me.

[roseus]

In the imp this smells like tears, salty and aquatic (but a soft one). As it dries the florals become easier to pick out. Cool-toned, reserved, and lovely. A little salty and sad.

[doomsday_disco]

In the imp: Sweet, white flowers mixed with a bundle of more astringent ones that do seem representative of salty tears.

 

Wet: The astringent floral notes are the most prominent on my skin. Beneath them, I can smell the soft lily of the valley and sweet hyacinth.

 

Dry: The lily of the valley and hyacinth notes are playing a bigger role now, and the scent smells sweeter and less tear-soaked than before.

After a while, I still get lily and hyacinth, but with a soft aquatic vibe.

 

Verdict: The scent is evocative of its name. I think it is pleasant, but probably not something I'd choose to wear over other florals in my collection.

[wickedcookie]

Sweet white floral lovely, when first applied.

 

Quickly became a little soapy in a rich expensive kind of way. Simmered down and hovered warm floral most of the day. I know at one point it wafted past and I thought "Oh! There's the hyacinth"

 

About 8 hours after application, I got home from work and hubby buried his face in my neck and said "You smell like summer."

 

This morning, probably 20 or so hours after application, it still lingered, something sweet and light, a little different than the day before, right at skin level.

 

I love how it changes throughout the day.

[torischroeder9]

In the imp: Lily of the valley and hyacinth among other less discernible floral notes. 

 

On my skin:

 

Wet, the lily of the valley is a touch more prominent, though I can clearly pick out the hyacinth as well. The drydown sends the lily out to the scent's edge while the hyacinth becomes the main player closer to my skin. One of the notes -- I don't know which -- also goes just a bit powdery. The powdery quality disappears as the scent develops; rather, it begins to throw out a lot of hyacinth as well as lily of the valley. 

 

Ultimately, this is a thin, sweet floral on me, with nothing to warm it. To me, it does evoke the cut flowers of funeral arrangements, minus the notes of greenery or sunshine that would make them feel vibrant and lifelike. Grief does well at evoking its namesake, though doing such a good job of it is also what makes me not want it for a daily scent. 

 

Solid throw and wear length. 

[follis]

I was actually grieving when I tested this imp, and I don't think it matched. Different grievances, different feelings. 

 

Green, floral, soap smell. Not soapy, but reminds me of what's used in them. It didn't quite work for me, but has good wear and throw. 

[sarandipitee]

Gentle, sweet, floral. A soft lily of the valley shampoo blend. Too floral and soapy for my taste. 

[puellacaerulea]

Was recently frimped this in a decant circle. This one isn't a big morpher -- both in the imp and once on, it's pale, watery, funereal flowers, with a touch of something slightly acidic. (I actually went looking for this review topic in Ars Moriendi first.) Overall, light but sort of somber florals with a slight aquatic vibe to them. Similar enough to other pale florals I have that I don't need a bottle, but will keep the imp for when I'm a floral mood.

[Hesper]

Warm, white flowers. My last experience with these was Long Night Moon 2020, which I dug for its gorgeous shiver of frost bespelling the lunar garden. Grief is much different. These are warm, damp white flowers in a summer rain; broken green leaves, elemi’s citrusy zest, and woody spices from the calamus help ground the otherwise-overbearing floral sweetness of it all.

 

Somewhere, an aquatic element (hydrangea?) plays into it, and pours rain over the flowers, and they thrive in it.

 

The name is fairly inappropriate; this is a cheerful, playful scent to me. Being caught out by that unexpected rainburst while playing in a garden...Springtime in a bottle.

 

It turns into something very soapy on me, likely the lily-of-the-valley’s effect; it’s a pretty soap, but not necessarily what I want my skin to smell like. I’d turn to Long Night Moon first, for that frosty moonlit bouquet, if I was craving pale flowers. This is too welcoming, too gentle, and too docile for me.

 

I’m glad the Lab sent me one to try, though!

[ShadowEtienne]

Grief was my first sample towards discovering that lilies and my skin (and thankfully also my nose) love each other! Because of it and a few others I sampled at the same time, I'm now basically seeking out everything lily I'm not allergic too (that unfortunately narrows it down more than I would wish).

 

In the Bottle: A very bright, vibrant floral, definitely smell the lilies and hyacinth, but in a very fresh still on the plant sort of way, the resinous element seems to ground it some. If it smells true to the bottle, this will be lovely!

 

Wet on skin: Gets a tiny bit spicier floral on my skin almost immediately. The smell is a little richer, like some petals got crushed, but similar. This seems to have quite a bit of throw!

 

On drydown: The flowers are definitely alive in this one! They've had some crushed petals and leaves, but they are fresh and growing and vibrant. These are flowers I really like, and that's a good thing. I think this is one of my favorite non-jasmine floral combinations. This is a very springtime scent to me, it also really doesn't connect to its name for me at all?

[MolyH]

This is a very high-pitched, soapy scent on me. As it dries, a get a little bit of the aquatic, watery element that other people talk about coming through, but alas, it never stops being a rather sharp, soapy mess.