Mysterious Warning

[strahlend]

MYSTERIOUS WARNING
A scent evocative of poisonous family secrets: dry lavender-infused amber, battered leather, nicotiana, osmanthus, and jasmine tea.

In the bottle - lots of wonderful lavender. Reminds me somewhat of the lavender in TKO.
On my skin - very much lavender warmed with amber. Soft, sweet and comforting. Subtly in the background is a whiff of tea that's reminding me of Dorian perhaps, I wouldn't be able to identify it as jasmine tea I don't think. This is a beautiful scent, lavender lovers like myself will be very happy. Edited June 5, 2010 by Shollin

[papermaker]

Lots of lavender. I agree with the previous poster that says it seems to be the one from TKO. The lavender quickly mellows, and I get a quick hit of lavender which is also fleeting in its duration. Then comes beautiful sweet amber with hints of lavender. I get the tea in the background. The tea provides the mystery to my nose. This is lovely

[Invidiana]

Agreed that the lavender seems to be the one from TKO; to me this is actually like an evil version of TKO, and I'm loving it. I'm relieved there's no cat pee jasmine in this one, I don't really get any strong jasmine note, probably because this is jasmine tea rather than straight-up jasmine, but mostly the lavender and sweet amber with a hazy wreath of nicotiana and osmanthus. There is just a hint of leather in the background, but not an in-your-face leather like that in De Sade. There really is something poisonous about this scent which makes it beautifully sinister.

Edited June 4, 2010 by Invidiana

[Venneh]

I'm getting lavender amber, osthmanthus, and jasmine tea. Betting that the lavender will kill this in five minutes or less. On my skin, it's lavender and the tea, we'll see what this does. ...And yip, the lavender takes this to almost nothing, but I like the really faint scent that I get if I huff my wrist for the better part of five minutes. So, yeah, if lavender is one of your death notes, stay away from this.

Edited June 4, 2010 by Venneh

[fairnymph]

Sweeter, darker TKO. Exact same lavender note. I don't get any jasmine or, sadly, tea.

[angelicruin]

I agree with the comparisons to TKO. It's a very soft, creamy lavender note. I can also smell the amber and a tea note as well, but, thankfully, no jasmine. The leather is really subtle and hard for me to pick out except every now and then. This is going to be a favorite of mine.

[Lorelai1945]

This is fantastic! Great for summer- it's nice and soft and stays relatively close to the skin. To me, it can be compared a lot to Dorian and Lilith Victoria. I definitely get the same tea from Dorian, and the lavender/subtle florals are very LV-esque. TKO has a much stronger lavender with more throw, while this one is softer and mingles more with the other notes. I'm not really getting leather- if it's there it's playing nicely. It is sweet without being super sweet. It's not mysterious or deadly to me at all- it's soft and subtlely sweet and feminine. Maybe that's the mystery. I will be wearing this a lot on hot summer evenings.

 

ETA: The longer this dries on me, the more it's reminding me of the original Black Lace once it dried down.

Edited June 7, 2010 by VioletFemme

[raisin]

Just picked this one up today, and oh my god... LOVE.

 

Granted, I'm totally into lavender, leather, and tea, so there were very few ways this could go wrong on me. It's sweeter and creamier than I would have expected, and something about the scent has that mint-like, chilling effect on my nose, without actually smelling like mint (reminds me of the "snow" note I've come across). I don't get much leather, just something faint that keeps the scent from going too girly. I'm not familiar enough with nicotiana or osmanthus to pick them out, but there's definitely something a little floral about the scent that isn't all jasmine. I'm not big on florals in general, but I like these. I don't get anything definitively jasmine tea, or much beyond a hint of amber. It's certainly old and proper and a little bit dangerous, and totally evocative of the concept.

 

Mostly, though, this is a lavender scent, so I love it and will be wearing it a lot.

 

ETA: I've also started to get kind of a woodsy note several hours into wearing, similar to the paper note I've come across. That sort of takes this one from "awesome" to "OMG PERFECT" for me, so... yay.

Edited August 5, 2010 by raisin

[MeiLin]

All of these are good notes, especially amber and leather.

 

In the decant: Oh yay, lavender and amber!

 

Wet: Several people on BPAL.org have said this is the same lavender as in my beloved TKO, and I agree. Very like. The leather is underneath. I like this very much so far; it's a less-sweet TKO.

 

Dry: This is a non-sweet TKO. In place of the vanilla, it's leather. It's gorgeous. Even the hubby says so.

 

Verdict: Definite partial if I can find one.

[MCS4096]

Agree with pretty much everyone here-- this is gorgeous TKO lavender and clean light amber (definitely feels crystalline) with the lightest hint of leather. I would slather this one (and I plan too ) as it's quite light, but very lovely without being generic.

[Little Bird]

In the bottle, Mysterious Warning is a very sweet, cool, vanilla-y sort of lavender and a hint of dry, dark floral.

 

On my skin, the floral aspects go slightly more perfumey, but this is a dark, poisonous sort of floral that doesn't strike me as being really girly or feminine. As it dries down, this reminds me of that slightly soapy, but still dark, dry, and gritty tobacco flower note in The Lady on the Grey.

 

This is sort of like sweet, cool, vanilla-lavender scented dryer sheets + tobacco flower on my skin as it settles down. I wanted this blend mainly for the leather note, but I don't smell any leather here. There are lavender scents that I prefer over this one, so it's not a keeper for me...

[cyanidenoir]

This scent is way sweeter and way nicer than expected.

 

Lavender, amber, hints of leather and jasmine tea, along with something I can't quite define. There is also a bit of vanilla which was unexpected. I'm hoping the jasmine doesn't go rotten eventually.

 

Definitely want a partial bottle of this blend

[milo]

YuM! Wet, this is a gorgeous, warm lavender sweetened by the amber. As it dries, a cooler jasmine comes out, but it is not piercing, or heady, it just makes the blend cooler somehow. There is still a bit of sweet amber in the background, but funnily enough, the lavender has taken a back seat now. Whatever the case, I LOVE this. A warm and coolish lavender blend, slightly sweet amber, and now I'm getting a touch of leather. Lovely, and I'll probably hunt a back-up down at some point. I do hope the amber strengthens with age, as I do favour the wet stage here. But a big WIN!

[tailoredshirt]

This is really nice. Sweet lavender right away, with leather grounding it. There is a tea-like quality around the edges, but it's subtle. The leather fades with time, and more amber comes out. I admit that I like the beginning more than the dry down, but it's all wonderful.

 

It's a very floral blend, but I think it's unisex. I'll definitely be getting a bottle.

[brilliantcat]

This was MUCH nicer than I expected with all that floral. I do like lavender so I imagine that helped. At first it was strongly lavender but the lavender slowly faded and I got more of the amber and leather notes. On the drydown, I got a nice soft leather. It was fairly complex as it morphed with the other florals and the amber backing the lavender and leather notes. I ended up really liking it.

[Pepperminx]

One of those surprise hits. Although I am a Lavendar ho, with capital L. It's totally related to TKO, but the leather takes it somewhere else completely. It turns really soft and creamy the longer it stays on. I friggin' love this!

[countessmouse]

While I really love this scent, the creamy, warm lavender-infused amber overpowers everything else in the mix for me. That's not a bad thing, though, and I think I'm going to have to get a bottle of this one.

[crebbsgirl]

I really like this. Like, REALLY like this. I get lavender and it does in fact remind me a little of TKO. But where TKO is comforting, the leather here adds an edge. The amber sweetens things up here. Just. WOW. This does remind me a little of Liz crossed with TKO. There's a hint of smoke about it too.

[Gwydion]

In bottle: significantly sweeter and more floral than expected. The tea is quite strong and it’s very grassy. Think drinking tea in fields of lavander. I’m really not getting much in the way of leather. Wet: still very outdoorsy and floral. The tea warms up and I’m really getting the amber now. It’s all very bright and august afternoon. Dry: the amber stays strong, mingling beautifully with the lavender. This stays a bright, pleasing late summer sort of scent. It’s not what I was expecting, but it is quite interesting and relatively versatile.

[ravenscanary]

Source: Fresh decant

 

In the decant: Lavender, jasmine and the bitter tobacco smell of the nicotiana over herbal tea. Surprisingly floral. It does give a "poisoned tea" vibe, to me.

 

Wet: Herbal lavender. The tobacco steps back and plays nicer, but overall the impression is a light, musky floral with a bitter herbal undertone.

 

Dry: For some reason my nose is picking out vanilla here. I think the amber might be getting powdery sweet on me, and I'm interpreting it as vanilla, which is odd. Overall, it's still a lavender scent, primarily. This is quite nice, the first lavender blend I've really enjoyed, and I'll be keeping the decant and possibly seeking a bottle.

Edited August 17, 2010 by Bad Wolf

[zankoku_zen]

I can't typically do leather, so this scent totally surprised me. I get lavender, and then something that smells almost exactly like Victoria's Secret Vanilla Sandalwood blend. I think it might be the lavender amber + nicotiana. In other words, it smells deliciously sexy.

 

I love it. I think I need a bottle.

[jizatt]

this is somehow sexy and comforting at the same time. Can blankets be sexy?

 

Immediate application is ALL lavender, and I agree with the TKO comparisons but its darker and not the marshmallow feeling. As this dries though, I get more of the tea/amber side, with lavender moving into the supporting role. This is nice, smooth, gorgeous. I dont really get leather, but I think its part of the dark feeling that I get. I dont get floral, other than lavender and a vague sweetness.

 

Love this =)

[FathomBelow]

Damn, from the reviews this sounded amazing but unfortunately it didn't turn out that way on my skin.

 

In the bottle and wet on my skin, I get very strong, sharp lavender. As it dries down, it passes through a beautiful stage almost like honeyed lavender - a very soft, sweet lavender. But in the final stages before it fades, the lavender disappears, leaving Mysterious Warning smelling oddly like a funny type of melon - maybe because of the osmanthus? I was hoping for something either a little foodier or else something like a lavender version of Dee, but I didn't get amber or leather at all. Darn, darn, darn!

[calivianya]

In the bottle: pure lavender

Wet on skin: Initially very sharp lavender, but after a few minutes I get sweet lavender with amber, and a hint of something that reminds me of Door - the nicotiana, I'm sure

Drydown: Whoa, what happened? It's gone. I'm sad I sprang for a bottle of this unsniffed. I was absolutely right, it smells PERFECT on me... but I lose it after 15 minutes. I'm so sad about this.

 

Edit: I finally got a clocket, and this is now one of my absolute favorite scents since I can get it to last. It's beautiful.

Edited March 12, 2011 by calivianya

[lahdeedah]

I waited a long time before taking the plunge with this one. I'd been eyeing it for months, and when I heard there were a couple of bottles of Madeline up for grabs *squee* I decided it was time to go for it. It's lovely. The opening surprised me greatly as it seemed a ringer for Odd Portents, which I LOVE. It was much sweeter than expected, but as it dries down it keeps moving and morphing. The lavender mellows, the florals become more prominent, as does the tea. I get no leather to speak of, and the amber, which seems quite present in the open, fades quietly into the background after about an hour. At this point it reminds me much of a more floral LV, or Dorian without the white musk. If, as other reviewers have mentioned, it is close to TKO minus vanilla, it might be time to try that one as well.