Bette Noir

[cfrancesca]

BETTE NOIR
The Paradigm's martial artist and weapons master, Bette carries a grim secret--that she alone knows Plutonian's one true vulnerability.

Benzoin, wild plum, smoky amber, bergamot, orange blossom, myrrh, and dark berries.

I was generously given a tester of this proto to try.

I get sweet, fruity plum and lots of orange blossom (the sweetness may also be coming from the orange blossom), as it dries I'm getting some smoky amber. I think I was expecting this to smell a bit darker, I'm surprised it's such a young, bright, fruity, and sunny scent but with the subtle smokiness (I'm getting a little myrrh) in the background.

Orange blossom is one of my favorite notes, but I've noticed when it's blended with fruits or florals they don't really work on my skin, and have a tendency to remind me of "fruity hairspray" (I had the same reaction with Zarita, The Doll Girl), but it's just a personal association I have!

I predict this will be popular especially for the summer months. It has great throw too!

[reynardine]

Smells sweet (I’m getting the berries) in the bottle. First applied, it is very smoky, but then the sweet plum and berry scent peeks out. It’s a darker scent that what I expected, sexy. Fall/Winter, I think. Good throw. Lasts quite a while, too!

[fairnymph]

Too dark for me in the bottle, but complex and lovely, I expect great popularity. I only sniffed this, but sniffed, I got very little of the fruit - it was all smothered by the heavier darker notes.

 

Why, why WHY must blood orange - one of my all-time favourite notes - ALWAYS be blended with such dark hateful notes? *whines*

 

I shall update this review as I properly test all the new releases over the next 7-10 days, just an FYI.

[angelicruin]

Definitely pick up the berries, plum, orange blossom, and myrrh right away. Smoky amber emerges a few minutes after application. Dries down to light smoky orange blossom, berries, and myrrh.

[Geminirubyshoes]

Bette is juicy, smoky and sweet. Smells clean and bright when first applied but gets darker as she settles. I don't have many scents with orange blossom in them so I can definately pick that out. I totally love this!

[hlemonds]

Still a little bit unsure of this one. Primarily I get the wild plum, berries, and amber. I also think I'm smelling the orange blossom, although my nose is sensing it at an indistinct floral note, not specifically "Oh, hai, orange blossom." Overall this ends up smelling very.....traditional? Not that I would consider traditional a bad thing, just not necessarily what I was expecting for a weapons and martial arts expert. Probably just the way my skin chemistry works with this one, and how my nose interprets it. I am interested to see if the blend will become smoother with age, so I plan to hold onto it for now

[ami226]

On the skin: plum, slight floral, and a slight herbal scent that might be bergamot? I agree that this smells very traditional.

 

Interesting, but definitely not for me.

[saralaughs]

The myrrh does it again. I'm just not good friends with myrrh. It doesn't speak my language. Nor does it ride my wave. It rides a wave in a total different universe. It does what I fear every blend with myrrh will do...go sharp.

 

The orange blossom in this really strikes a very bright, heady floral note. It's very pretty. But my non-friend myrrh plops down and stays sharp. Not smooth but pokeyouinthedamneye sharp.

 

In the background there is this musical of smoky amber and warm benzoin that I would love! LOVE! But alas, I cannot get over the sharpness of the myrrh. I may try it again on a day I'm not so hormonal but I doubt it will make a difference.

 

[edenssixthday]

Bette Noir - I was about 90% sure I was going to love this, but the bergamot and orange blossom kept me from being entirely certain since they can go wonky on me sometimes. Fortunately, this is a big fat WINNER. It's dark and juicy from the plum and berries and the yummilicious myrrh (which blends so gorgeously well with the plum and berries!). It's sweetened up not just by the benzoin and has a smoky, hazy quality from the resins in it. This is a stunning scent. It's as gorgeous as I hoped it would be and is really wonderful.

[TulaMontage]

 

In the imp I get a huge whiff of orange washing powder!? It's headachey and boozey. Oh please please please don't be like that on my skin....

 

Wet on my skin this continues to give me a sore nose, throat and head. It's just cloying to my skin and smelling of nothing much more than burnt orange rind and alcohol sprinkled with... soap powder!

 

Drying down there is the smokey amber! And the ripe red berries. That's more like it! It's taking forever to dry down. It's ripened into a deep smokey plum, with absolutely no trace of orange, YAY! It took it's sweet time though, and I am not sure how worth it this scent is. It really does give me a thumping sore head for the first 20 minutes.

 

I'll keep her and see how she bodes with age

[Venneh]

I remember testing this at C2E2 and because I had so many scents on my arm, I couldn't tell if this was working or not. In the bottle, I'm getting watery fruits. Hrm. On my skin, it's plum and orange, we'll see what happens. Ends up going really watery and really faint on me. Eh, not quite for me.

Edited May 19, 2010 by Venneh

[Dark Alice]

Light succulent peach with strong hints of sweet amber. Very little red musk here. Definitely a perfumey quality to this one. Not commercial perfume...just sophisticated womanly perfume. Grateful to Eden Sixth Day for sending me this to test.

[Saya]

Given the description I thought I'd love this blend, unfortunately it just isn't working for me. Starts off really strong, it's one of those in your face scents that would be pretty if it wasn't so overwhelming. After a couple of minutes something makes this blend turn for me. I'm not quite sure what not it is (right now I suspect the 'smoky' part of the amber), but this just isn't as wonderful as I would have hoped.

 

 

[veronicafranco]

wow. add me to those who thought this would be darker. it's fuchsia to me when first applied - i mainly get the plum, berries, and orange blossom. when fully dried down, the amber does peek through. not getting a lot of myrrh or bergamot; the benzoin i guess i can detect because i know it's there. after a number of hours, this smells a lot like "red door" (elizabeth arden?) on me (only, of course, nicer). i think that's the amber + orange blossom. not what i expected (noir), but this is very pretty and i will wear it again for sure.

[MCS4096]

Vaguely underwhelmed with this one. It was the only Irredeemable blend I thought would be a sure bet.. and yet.. It goes on lovely-- bright juicy fruit and swirling incense, a little brighter than I expected. It's just a little generic feeling to me. I have so many wonderful incense/resin that this one doesnt stand apart. When it dries down the fruit is gone completely and it's a nice, light powdery amber. Which I like, but again.. not outstanding. *sigh*

[Ishianti]

First impression out of the bottle: Plumy, creamy and smokey, the faintest tang of citrus, lovely deep and fruity. Wow!

 

Drying down, the sharpness of the myrrh starts to emerge, taking out some of the fruitiness. Benzoin's a bit more notable now too. Still smokey, enough to tickle my nose slightly, but that beautiful deep plum is taking a back seat unfortunately.

 

If I can keep that wet scent going in a locket or something, this would be fantastic. Over all, pretty nice, but I wish the plum would be more prominent.

[pinkstardust420]

Definitely getting the amber in this one softened by maybe a little orange blossom? - but sadly no berries or plum! Pretty though!

[Little Bird]

I thought that I would love this, but Bette Noir falls flat on my skin. I can't pick out any of the listed notes at first, except for the smoke in "smoky amber." As it dries down, I can smell something sour and fruity, that could be the plum or the berries, and something is also going intensely soapy. I don't think that I've had an issue with any of the listed notes going soapy on me before, so I don't know what the problem might be here.

 

On me, Bette Noir is super-soapy bar soap, sour fruit, and something sharp and perfumey total failure.

[Monster]

Bette Noir is a morpher on me. In the bottle it smells sharp, it's all bergamont and herbs. On my skin I'm getting LOTS of orange blossom (similar to Lady Lilith) except with that stinky diaper smell I associate with jasmine weird! Just when I was about to transfer this to the swaps box...Bette Noir morphs again! Dry, this is all plum, berries and amber on my skin. I've been testing this off and on throughout the week and as soon as I get past the wet phase this is absolutley gorgeous to me. I find myself repeatedly sniffing the test patch on my hand. This is really very pretty, I just need to make it through the first two phases in order to enjoy the last

Edited June 6, 2010 by Monster

[crebbsgirl]

Ok, I thought I would love this. Unfortunately, the plum note is a little too strong for me here. I don't do well with overly fruity scents, and I seemed to amp the plum here. It went a little sharp on me. It does go very "perfume-y" on my skin too. I also got a lot of smoke here. Overall, it was a heady fruity floral with just a hint of resin.

Edited June 12, 2010 by crebbsgirl

[LadyMedb]

This is definitely a "perfumy" BPAL, which I usually like. In a way, it's no exception, but the plum and the orange blossom....it's too much fruit. Dark and deliciously layered as it is, it's too much of a...here, I have to say it...fruity floral perfume for me to want to wear it every day.

 

That said, SOMEONE SHOULD because it's so very well-blended!

Edited June 14, 2010 by LadyMedb

[Pottersville]

Ditto to finding this a very "perfumey" perfume! I can't really pick out individual notes either. To my nose, everything blends into a very sweet, cloying floral melange, which is odd because I think orange blossom is really the only floral? I was also expecting something darker and smokier than this Bette Blanc!

[blu°]

This is deliciously deep and full-bodied - ripe fruit and orange blossom and benzoin - in the decant vial, but turns soapy/perfumey flat on my skin, too. Maybe the amber, or something in the combination of the fruit and floral with the myrrh.

 

I might try it in a scent locket, because I really like the scent in the vial.

[marared]

I was really really interested in this blend, but the myrrh scared me a little, as it can sometimes go kinda craft-store-soapy on me. And it certainly tries to do that, but that stage doesn't last very long. It definitely is a cousin to Dionysia, as I had hoped - what it reminds me of, really, is Dionysia + Ecstasy True Love without the patchouli, as it's got that nearly gooey dark floral aspect to it - I can really only specifically smell the orange blossom on immediate application, but then it blends seamlessly into a dark plummy amber that sits very close to the skin but lasts a good long while. If Dionysia is too much fruit and too much patchouli, this would be a good alternative.

[zankoku_zen]

To me, Bette Noir is a more grown up, darker version of Bordello. Smoky plum, swirl of orange, and dark perfume. If you like Bordello, for me this had a kiss of Voodoo Queen or Gun Moll with the smokiness layered on top of it.