Alana Patel

[fairnymph]

ALANA PATEL
Plutonian's one true love, newswoman Alana Patel broke his heart--and, in doing so, helped set in motion the series of events that forever turned the hero into a villain.

Faded perfume, cigarette smoke, and gin.

Only sniffed, but I got generic cologne and stale cigarettes, just unimpressive overall in the bottle. The gin is gin, surprisingly LIGHT instead of the typical JUNIPER IN YOUR FACE that gin so often is. This could be a real morpher on my skin, though, and I look forward to testing it further bc the notes are in theory pretty perfect.



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

[angelicruin]

I just skin tested this one at C2, but I wrote down "Gin & perfume" as my review. It wasn't for me.

[edenssixthday]

This is actually a much nicer scent than I anticipated. The gin is subtle and blends nicely with the perfume note, which is a kind of generic perfume scent, slightly cologney, yet pretty. What makes this scent interesting is the cigarette scent, which is smoky and ashy, but not in a heavy Brimstone kind of way, but more wispy and ethereal. It adds a layer of interesting complexity to the rest of the fragrance. I liked it a lot, but am not sure it's the type of scent I'd reach for often.

[cyanidenoir]

Let me start off by saying I absolutely hate the smell of cigarettes, so I wasn't sure how I'd feel about this scent. But who can resist a blend that actually lists cigarette smoke as a note? I had to try it.

 

It starts off completely gin, which is nice and fresh. There is only a hint of the perfume note when I put it on my skin, but it is there and it adds a subtle sweetness. After the gin mellows out, the "cigarette" smoke note showed up. Yet the smoke isn't really a cigarette type of smoke...more like smoke from pipe tobacco but it's still a bit rough yet pleasant.

 

I really like this scent. It has a strange appeal that I didn't expect.

[milo]

Wet, this really is a 'green' blend. Kind of green musk, aquatics and lemon. It kind of reminds me of Sunlight laundrey soap, which I'm sure most of you are familiar with. It dries to a ozone evergreen dominant with a touch of cigarette smoke. This would be a great 'cleaner', blend, like Dirty and the likes, that you may add to your unscented household cleaner. Oops, after a bit, the cigarette smoke starts to amp on me. I bet I smell like a smoker now. Boo

[devilot]

Alana Patel

In the vial: Sharp. Gin. Generic perfume.

 

Wet: Gin. The "faded perfume" doesn't seem so faded to me. In fact, still very sharp and reminiscent of Smoky Moon.

 

Drydown: Reminds me soooo much of Smoky Moon, which, is a blend I love, but don't need a near dupe/ backup of.

 

Verdict: To my nose and on my skin, Alana Patel is v similar to Smoky Moon. I haven't done a side-by-side comparison, but seeing as it'll take me awhile to get through my 5ml lunacy, my wallet is glad that I can avoid getting Alana Patel, but if my Smoky Moon ever runs out, guess I have a pricier GC option left!

[bluerose]

In the bottle: It smells like stale perfume and cigarette smoke. No gin.

 

On the skin: Stale perfume, cigarette butts, and something gone bad. It brings to mind what a cheap and dirty motel room would smell like.

[lilacea]

I quite like this! It's bright with a touch of smokiness. I get mostly juniper at the forefront while it is wet, a nice light herbal feeling. It is definitely unisex, and I find it quite appealing in it's brightness as it doesn't come from the more usual intensely bright notes, like strong citrus. It's subdued, and has a subtle rain undertone. As for the faded perfume aspect, I am not a big fan of florals and this is what I expected from the mention of "faded perfume". But it's not floral at all, it's more like a whisper of a honey lemon blossom perfume. The tobacco is a touch dry, but under the other notes, it plays well. I only really catch that dryness it if I sniff very closely to my skin.

Edited July 10, 2010 by lilacea

[hereunto]

Imp: I won't lie. I cringed. I didn't want to put it on my skin. It smelled of strong, strong booze.

 

Skin: It sweetens and softens a little upon application. I was hoping it would soften by A LOT because it was so strong and it did soften a lot but it wound up turning sour. It has the same sour tobacco smell as in Champagne and Cigars. Pass.

[Little Bird]

I've tried wearing this a couple times since I got it, and it's always a bit different, but never very good on me. I usually like the lab's gin notes, but this doesn't smell like the fizzy, sweet, juniper-y gin that I'm used to. Something in the blend makes it sharper and more citrussy-soapy, and it reminds me of cleaning fluid at times. The first time I wore this, I got that strong, slightly soapy, cleaning fluid smell and not much else. Wearing it again today, Alana Patel smells mostly like cheap cologne (soapy-fresh and with a lemon-citrus edge), maybe a hint of gin, and a drydown that smells like a hint of dirty ash tray :/. Something about the whole thing is very sour, sharp, and off-putting on me.

 

All in all, this is pretty bad. I usually like gin and liked the idea of "faded perfume," but this is more cheap cologne, cleaning fluid, and dirty ash tray on me...

[jencallisto]

In the decant: Juniper and perfume.

Fresh on the skin: Bright, sweet, almost nutty but in a sharp, clear way. Syrupy and astringent, over a base of generic perfume.

5 minutes in: Sweet, syrupy, almost cloying, clear and liquid, but still with a sharp edge that's probably the gin.

15 minutes in: This is reminded me of something, something Yule-esque. It's not quite going scotch tape, but it's close. Still syrupy but with other, less sweet aspects. I'm not getting the cigarette smoke yet. I think this could become a rather nice skin scent.

25 minutes in: Yes, this has become something quite pretty, light and sweet and fresh. It still has a bit of cloying edge and I'm not sure it's really me, but it's become something I at least like.

45 minutes in: Seriously, this smells like something that ought to have "snow" in its name. Also like sweet gin. Also still kinda pretty.

1 hour in: The syrupy quality is almost all gone, now it's more of a light and clean sweetness.

2 hours in: It's going warm and a little cloying. I'm not sure this is for me.

2.5 hours in: The throw is deceptive, it's longer than it first seemed. It's also starting to smell sort of... sour? Hrm.

3 hours in: In fact, it's starting to smell a bit like armpit. An armpit that had a sort of generic, perfumed deodorant applied, but still, armpit. Hrm.

5 hours in: Yup, deodorant. Fresh, light musk, nice enough, but not inspiring for me.

6 hours in: Still going strong as lightly sweet deodorant-y musk.

9 hours in: Still going. Quite light, but distinct.

10 hours in: Still going, very faded.

12 hours in: Very faded indeed.

20 hours in: Still the tiniest hint of it on my skin, but it's basically gone.

 

Verdict: At first, surprisingly pretty if not really for me, then it become a light musk that's even more not my style.

 

One phrase: Sweet gin.

 

[zankoku_zen]

GIN! It's a bright, bubbly note with fizz. But yes, GIN to the max with a hint of perfume. It's like Swank, minus the pomegranate.

[Schmoozy]

Huh. Now this is another that I expected to dislike and here I am huffing my arm with a big fat smile on my face. It's fizzy with whispers of a floral perfume and in the background are wafts of smoke. It's definitely interesting and kinda unique. Nowhere near bottle purchase, but i'll hold onto my decant.

[whisperstilled]

I actually tend to be a big fan of concept scents, so where the description on this one would, I think, throw a lot of people off, I am onboard. I love BPAL's gin note as well.

In Imp: Gin! That intriguingly fizzy, boozy juniper. It's so much nicer than the overpowering note that juniper is in its original form. A little perfume behind it, and a whiff of cigarettes.

Wet: Sparkly and oddly clean, I get just the tiniest huff of secondhand smoke, a scent I am very familiar with.

Dry: This ends up being a strangely perfumey and clean. I can't quite decide whether or not I want to keep it, so I think I'll set it aside and try it again another day. Definitely interesting, however.

EDIT: After some quality time with Alana Patel and I can say pretty definitively that this was a scent that grew on me. Just deliciously clean and boozy and smoky! It's a great scent for summer, as long as you don't mind a scent with a little teeth.

Edited August 4, 2017 by Whisperstilled

[crebbsgirl]

Gin and faded perfume are the standout notes here. Crisp, but not overly sharp, the boozey feel of the gin adds a debauched tone to the "perfume". The cigarette smoke note isn't as bad as I was worried it would be. It's translating to a more tobacco edge on my skin than stale cigarette smoke. I like it, but it's a little too crisp for me.

[Dark Alice]

I have been wanting to try this for months. And sad to say I was sorely disappointed. Wet: The gin takes over. Actually the Gin bitch slaps all of the other notes and just kills the scent. When it finally dries it smells like stale cigarette smoke. No faded perfume, no smoky goodness, no light gin. Bitch slap gin and stinky cigarette smoke at the end of the day. *sigh*

[fufu_berry]

Oh wow. I had just started reading Irredeemable before C2E2, and so I was really wanting to try these scents, particularly Alana Patel. On wet, I got a lot of the "faded perfume" - kind of astringent, a little floral, but not heady at all. Quickly, the gin came to the forefront, very bright and effervescent, but the perfume-note is keeping it from being too cheery. This is *not* happy drinking, which makes sense given the state Kaidan finds Ms. Patel in. The "cigarette smoke" is more like a tobacco note on me - I didn't get any smoke smell, but my skin always eats smoke notes, so it may just be a factor of my chemistry. Overall, I love this scent - it's elegant and gritty at the same time, and fits the character perfectly. Yay!