Teatime in Roswell

[Little Bird]

Aliens at high tea: Earl Grey, biscuits, Battenberg cake, and strangely-glowing cucumber sandwiches.

In the bottle, Teatime in Roswell reminded me of Cheshire Moon (citrus-y tea mixed with warm, cake-y notes), but with more of a crisp, watery green smell from the cucumber.

On my skin, I thought that I'd love this scent, but I really don't care for it at all. I normally love tea scents, but this has a dry, warm, perfumey-floral quality to it that I'm not crazy about. I would have guessed that there's some sort of blossom note in this. I can't really pick out the cucumber or tea, but there's a spring-y freshness to the scent that's probably coming from those notes.

I expected tea + foodie, but Teatime in Roswell reminds me of some of bpal's asian lunacy blends more than anything. Perfumey floral freshness with a bit of citrus. Sweet, fresh, and perfumey. After a half hour, it's strongly reminding me of the sweet, generic, musky-perfumey floral scents that a lot of celebrities are churning out these days. It makes me feel like I'm choking on bad perfume (has lots of throw on me, unfortunately) and starts to give me a headache :/. Not good. This definitely isn't working with my skin chemistry, and I thought that it would be so awesome based on the notes...

I'm glad that I didn't go for multiple bottles of this unsniffed, because it's not working on me at all. Edited May 5, 2010 by Little Bird

[Voleuse]

In the bottle, this is all cake, but upon application, it's sweet cucumber and a bit of warm cake. It's faint, and over time, the cakiness fades. This is light and pleasant. Very innocent and sweet, but not long-lasting.

[Schmoozy]

 

Tea and biscuits with a side order of cucumbers. The bergamot in Earl Grey tea combined with cuc's is what really gives this blend it's citrus. It's fresh and crisp, slighty aquatic and really reminds me of squirting cucumbers, as it's got this perfumey floral thing happening. Personally I wish there was more unsweetned tea in this to temper it.

[jillybean]

I was really excited about this one as it's a unique foody scent. I don't smell any tea or cake in the sweet sense but didn't really expect that. To my nose, it's definitely a cucumber sandwich. I wish it would have been less cucumber and more bread/sandwich but still VERY unique and am glad I was able to snag a bottle!

[lavender84]

This didn't work for me at all. The decant smelled of cake and cucumber. So I tried it on and it went sweet cucumber cake, with a bitter tinge. I don't know where that came from but its making me feel uneasy from the scent. I had higher hopes for this scent but at this point, its not for me. Edited May 6, 2010 by ScentedDreams

[CitizenBree]

I am waffling on this scent. When I tried it the other day, i didn't like it. I mean, I liked it enough, but something about it rubbed me the wrong way.

 

It definitely smells like some kind of cakey biscuit. It's not sweet. Maybe it's like an Earl Grey biscuit.

 

But then the cucumber comes out. You know what, I think i just solved the puzzle. It's like an old Victoria's Secret lotion that was fresh cucumber or something like that. I used to like that but now my preferences have changed. Maybe that's why this one confuses me....because i used to like it.

 

Hm....i'll definitely keep the imp. It's seeming like i don't need a bottle.

 

[stitchpirate]

Wet, I got a lot of cake, and a little tea. As it dries, it's mostly cucumber with tea. I like it, it's foody but still a very clean smell without being soapy (I hate when a scent goes soapy!). I'd like it more if it was more like cake, but it's still very nice.

[musichappens]

Wet, Buttery cake with just a hint of sweetness from the cucumbers. Dry, the earl grey tea seems to come out a little and helps to tone down the OMG!FOODY that I got when it was wet. Even though its calmed down a bit since when I first applied it, it is still way too foody for me.

[aquazoo]

Sweet candy. Tea and a touch of lemon.

[cyanidenoir]

When I first learned of Teatime in Roswell, I wondered: "How well will Earl Gray Tea, cake, and cucumbers combine with one another? "Well, I got my answer today and the answer is they blend together very well!

 

In the bottle: cucumber and cake. Smells yummy so far.

Wet on skin: cucumber and cake...still. But now there is a subtle citrus note in the background. No tea notes just yet.

Dry down: cucumber, citrus, cake, and...some sort of creamy note?

An hour later: sweet cucumber. No tea notes at all, but that's ok. This blend is just fine with the cake and cucumber alone.

 

Overall: The only quarrel I have with this blend is that it doesn't last long on the skin - I've had it on for an hour and it's almost disappeared- and it has practically no throw. Other than that, it is refreshing and foody but not too foody. I like the the cucumber takes over and the cake gives the blend and subtle, sweet undertone.

 

Thanks dixiehellcat for this bottle!

[karihan]

Oh, but I had high hopes for this one when I sniffed it in the bottle. Lovely yummy cake, with a shot of tea and a hint of cucumber. Alas, when it dried on my skin the EVIL GLOWING CUKE NOTE OF DOOOOOOM took over and beat down all the cakiness. The tea tried gamely to stand out, but the cukes won the day. One to be rehomed, I'm afraid!

[anomie]

Imp: CAAAAAAKE!

 

Wet: Buttery CAKE! And a cucumber slice.

 

Quick drydown: Cukes and biscuits.

 

Later drydown: Tea, with a cucumber sandwich. Interesting but not bottleworthy.

[milo]

In the imp, this is all about the cake, with a very separate note of cucumber. Once it hits my skin, the cucumber dominates. It's a sharp, fake cologne cucumber. The lab's cucumber doesn't agree with me apparently, and though I get tea, nothing really goes together well in this blend. No cake either, though I think if there were cake visible, it would clash even more. Not my cup o tea, I'm afraid.

[ami226]

On my skin: The greenness of cucumber with the sweetness of cake. Maybe a hint of tea.

 

After drying a bit, the cucumber has faded a bit and now I can mostly smell cake and breadiness.

 

Even later, I can't smell cucumber, but I am definitely getting more Earl Grey.

 

Hmmmmm, I am afraid that even the hint of cucumber is throwing me off. It just isn't for me....

[thekittenkat]

This is my fave of the Black Helicopters series and the only one I was tempted to order a bottle unsniffed/untested. It is as good as I had hoped. If you like the Lab's various tea scents, you should like Teatime in Roswell.

 

In the decant/bottle: Sweet tea and cakes.

 

Wet: The Earl Grey (has bergamot orange) tea has a lot of sugar in it. I suspect that comes from the biscuits (what the British call cookies) and the cake (Battenberg cake has apricot jam for filling and marzipan for frosting, which comes from almonds). Only faint hints of the bergamot, but it is there.

 

The dry-down: As this dries, the delicate hint of bread and mint arrives from the cucumber sandwiches. Also, the Earl Grey tea comes on a bit more strongly, but seems like Lady Gray instead, which is fine, as I prefer her to her husband, the Earl. Really, this is a proper tea party, and I shall have to indulge myself in seconds. Please pass the milk and lemon.

 

 

[IridiumFlash]

There's plenty of cake at first, but it gets eaten fast & I'm left with plates of cucumber sandwiches. The cucumber isn't as strong this time as it was the first time I tried the scent. Also, this time I'm getting some tea. Not a noticeably bergamot-y tea, but a nice, black tea. I like it enough to order a backup bottle.

 

 

[heathercaley]

At First, I'm picking up on yummy cake. It's delicious for sure. I'm usually not so much of a foodie person, but lately I've noticed that foodies are starting to appeal to me. I'm actually quite happy with this latest development.

 

But saddness... the cake fades into the background and I'm left with tea and cucumbers. It's not bad, and it's actually a pretty good trick! I love morphers, but I was hoping that the cake would want to stick around and play with the tea and cucumber.

 

Hopefully as this ages, some of the notes will sweeten up so that way we can at least have some sweet tea with cucumber sandwiches. I would be happy with that

 

 

Verdict: One lump or two?

 

[zankoku_zen]

Okay, so on wet I definitely got buttery cake dough and a hint of bergamot. It dried to something much yummier... and stranger. The vanilla cake aspect calmed down, and I get whiffs of aquatic cucumber every now and then. I am very pleasantly surprised by this one.

 

My only concern is that every once in a while I get a whiff of something 'plasticky', which could just be the type of vanilla we're talking about. Unfortunately, my skin eats this right up.

[Ondine]

It was the cake note from Left His Nurse While in a Crowd and cucumber on me. No lovely Earl Grey, no tasty cake. (The cake from Left His Nurse was bad on me, like dry stale chocolate storebought cake. This was like that but with a weird cucumber overtone.) This actually made me a bit nauseous

[pandorasmuse]

In the decant: WOW. Sugary butter. It reminds me of the time my sister made a “cake” for our mom, who was sick at the time… it was margarine and jelly mixed together. Mom’s such a sport—she ate it to make my sis happy!

 

Wet: Lots of butter. Where’s my Earl Grey? That’s what I was hoping would come out the most strongly. I love tea.

 

Drydown: There’s the tea! And the cucumbers, too. There’s still a hint of buttery sugar, but it’s not as smack-you-in-the-face as it was when I sniffed and first applied. Once it dries, it’s pretty awesome.

 

Later: This is very pleasant, but it doesn’t last too long. This would be absolutely perfect for me if there was no butter—tea, sugar, and cucumbers would be heavenly.

[crebbsgirl]

On me this is buttery cucumber cake. I am not a fan. This is thickly sweet and foody in a most unpleasant way given the current temperatures here. It's not meshing very well with my skin chemistry at all. I'm getting a lot of cucumber and then butter and sweet cake. Pass.

[Dark Alice]

Wet: Watery cucumber with hints of cake.

 

Drydown. Cucumber sandwiches. No thanks.

[Gwydion]

In bottle: Wow! Pretty much as described and utterly delicious. I can easily pick out black tea, bergamot, cake, and the cucumber note from squirting Cucumber. It’s an odd combo, but completely yummy. Wet: Now I can pick out the bread too. The items balance well, while staying distinct. Dry: Fast fading, alas, but the cucumber does some interesting things with what’s left of the cake and bergamot.

[moon_lemming]

Cucumbers, buttered bread, and black tea give way to CAKEY CAKENESS with . . . and I know this is strange, and no one else has gotten this at all, but I smell strawberry jam. After it dries, the throw is mainly red-jammy cake -- a moist pound cake kind of cake -- with a hint of cukes. It's A+ good, but I wonder what it smells like to other people, since I'm sure this strawberry jam thing is a fluke and my brain is reading something wrong.

 

Maybe my decant was contaminated somehow? I'm not sure. I looked up Battenberg cake to see if there was jam involved. There is indeed, but it's apricot jam, and what I'm smelling definitely isn't apricot (one of my "bleh" notes).

 

I almost didn't stick this review in here because I'm sure there's something weird going on, even if it's just my chemistry. I figured I would do it anyway, just in case anyone else has the same strange experience.

 

Maybe it's all a conspiracy!

Edited June 14, 2010 by karen

[PurringPulsar]

Teatime in Roswell

 

In the imp: buttery cucumber sandwiches, and cake. I do not like the buttery sandwiches here.

Wet on skin: cold butter, soggy bread, cucumbers…and a gorgeous sweet cake undertone.

Dry on skin: ok, that’s not too bad. Still buttery, but bearable. I can’t smell the earl grey specifically, sadly, I was hoping for a strong black tea infused with bergamot but I don’t really get anything like that, just a weak tea, a very nice iced tea, but not proper strong English tea. The biscuits are less of a distinctive blend of shortbreads and digestives and more of a white sugar or icing scent, I can’t smell anything like the cookie notes from cookie scents. Very pretty, I must say, not biscuity enough for me, though I think I smell cake. Soft white cake, but not the yellow and pink ‘windows’ of batternberg cake slices, and I can’t smell any marzipan or jam. The cucumber actually turns from the slightly icky cucumber sandwich into a very pretty fresh flowering cucumber plant scent. It actually smells more like melon at times. But the buttery note, which is oddly salty, comes back every now and then.

After a while: after about half an hour, this becomes incredibly pretty. It’s not a defined foody scent; all the notes have merged into a smooth, sweet scent with elements of fruit, cake and sugar. There seems to be a hint of white amber or white musk that remind me of other alien scents like 51 or Alien Invasion-probably the ‘strange glow’-and this binds all the notes together really nicely, and it’s in here that I think I smell bergamot and tea. I now smell the cake note a lot more clearly, and it does have a hint of icing to it-a blend of fondant and marzipan (the good stuff without almond flavouring) attached to the cake with jam. I smell delicate crispy biscuits and a wet sugary note like sugar cane. The cucumber really has turned to gorgeous melon, similar to Fee or Twinkle Twinkle Little Bat.

Verdict: this reminds me of a cross between Chewing Bits of String and the Boneshaking Velocipede scent-the sweet tea, salad and sugar scent of Chewing, and the sweetened cucumber of Velocipede. There’s also a similarity to Left His Nurse-this is the summer version of that scent. It does smell like a proper English picnic at times (all that’s missing is grass and strawberries) and it's almost like a sci-fi take on the Mad Tea Party line! But other than the disturbingly realistic cucumber sandwich note, I can’t really distinguish the other goodies in this scent other than a watery, sugary, slightly cakey, slightly floral scent. However, the drydown is gorgeous-a soft white amber and musk with sugar and melon and cake and sugar cane and marzipan, and a jug of iced bergamot tea. This then ends up smelling like a foody version of 51 or Pollution. I like this one, especially after an hour or two, but I don’t really like buttered cucumber sandwiches as food and kudos to Beth for making it so realistic, but it’s too real for me!

Emoticon rating:

Is it a keeper? probably not!

If you like this, try: Squirting Cucumber, Twinkle Twinkle Little Bat, 51, Alien Invasion, Left His Nurse, Boneshaking Velocipede