Dawn: Maiden

[bheansidhe]

Tea roses, honeysuckle, heliotrope, olive blossom, milk, and honey.

I splurged at Dragon*Con on the set of four (the labels are GORGEOUS, by the way). Maiden was actually a pickup for someone else because I am not a fan of rose in any incarnation, and honey is typically awful on me. Typically, floral honey blends go one of three ways:
-cloying,
-musty, or
-sour.
But I've learned my lesson and I always skin-test even the most unlikely suspects.

Sure enough, this was the one that appealed least on paper and worked the best on skin. Maiden stays sweet, but never cloying; light, but with hours of stay and persistent throw. It has the milky smoothness of chalcedony or opal. It's just so.. so darn...pretty. Not frilly or bubbly or girly; just clean and serene. Even drydown was graceful; it didn't change, just gradually faded away.

The top note is tea rose - definitely tea rose and not damask or any other type. Tea rose always smells "rosiest" to me; it's clarion, not unbearably heavy. The heliotrope and honeysuckle stay light and delicate, and the olive blossom (which is a favorite note) lends a beautiful round fullness. The milk-and-honey background is similar to that of Dana O'Shee, but somehow never goes feral on me the way that blend does. How does Beth do it? No clue. But I am abashedly fond of this beautiful blend and I predict it will be a real favorite. Edited September 9, 2010 by quantum spice

[izile]

I had wanted to skin test all the Dawn scents at D*Con, but Dawn: Maiden was the one that screamed "TAKE ME HOME!" No death-notes like the Priestess, not sharp, bordering on acric like Mother, Dawn: Maiden was just lovely from start to finish.

 

In the bottle, I'm reminded of a slighly fruity version of "The Rose." I know there's no fruit notes listed, but many actual roses do have fruit-like notes, and there was a light hint of that to this rose. I couldn't smell much of anything else in the bottle.

 

Wet on the skin, it becomes a bit more complex, it's sweet, but not at all smelling of "honey" the way the recent apiary scents do, or like "O" or other honey scents have, to me. It reminds me of the honey in Lady Una most. The rose starts to get some friendliness from the other flowers, there's something kind of sunny smelling, I assumed it was the heliotrope, though, in retrospect, the sweetness could have also been to do with the honeysuckle.

 

Dry, it lasts for hours, has a good throw, and I smelled of sweet - but not at all candy-like - roses with a hint of fruitiness that lingers. The "milk" note never showed up on me, and I can't say I ever smelled an olive blossom to know if it were there or not. The guy I was with kept smelling me and telling me how nice it was. Bonus. It was great for the Steampunk Ball, too.

[edenssixthday]

Dawn: Maiden - This scent reminds me of both Katrina van Tassel and Pink Snowballs in it's sweet, innocent rosiness. The rose is light, soft, pink, and sweet and not nearly as dry as most tea rose scents. The milk and olive blossom really give an innocent, youthful type of feel to the overall blend. The heliotrope really sweetens it up and the honeysuckle, oddly, doesn't suck on my skin in this one. The honey is there, but blends beautifully with the other notes (especially the milk) as to be barely discernible. This is a really gorgeous soft, sweet rose scent, and while it reminds me of Katrina von Tassel and Pink Snowballs, it's a hundred times better than either of them. This one is bottle-worthy.

[zankoku_zen]

Tea roses I think is one of the rose types that smell oddly sour on me. Because this is definitely sour rose with a brush of honeysuckle on wet. On the drydown, its the olive blossom and way way underneath I think I smell some of the milk and honey which remind me of Alice.

 

Overall however this scent does not work for me.

[tativa]

I will update this review sometime in the next month once our lovely dawn has had some time to settle in... but I know everyone is curious right now in deciding whether to spring for a bottle, so thought I'd share some first impressions now.

 

I should note, Alice has never worked on me unfortunately, and I think its the same milk note that has me on the fence right now. Also the same heliotrope that is in fae makes it appearance here.

 

I was surprised how powdery the scent was, as normally rose and honeysuckle are wet and sweet on me. The olive, milk and heliotrope seem to be the dominate notes on my skin, especially the later two. The rose, honeysuckle and honey I was looking forward to are just kind of a floral sweetness on drydown, not distinct as I had hoped.

 

Going to give her a little time to make herself at home, and see if the notes I was looking forward to show up, but as of right now the milk is ruining this for me.

[ianastar]

I REALLY wanted to try Cerrnunos, but had added that to my wishlist during the Switch Witch Swap, so decided to grab Maiden for myself just in case.

 

I normally don't like rose scents, or anything even remotely smelling of roses. This dried down to a very light, white floral. You can smell the tea roses, but the honey notes warm it up and sweeten it a bit so it's not so florally. Overall it's very nice, and I probably wont wear it often like my incense and foody scents, but if the mood strikes, it will be a nice one to wear.

[tarotgirl99]

This is exactly as promised. No surprises. Honey and roses and other flowers. It is the smell of a maiden. Sweet, innocent, gentle and so so pretty.

 

I think I would have loved it a year ago but my tastes must have changed. I like it, but I think it's too young for a crone like moi.

[Dark Alice]

From the imp: Tea Rose , Honey, Olive Blossom and a Headache. I didn't even get a chance to put this on as it has dug into my sinuses and won't let go. This goes off to the swap pile ASAP!

[Molls]

This is lovely: sweet roses, heliotrope, and a soft honey. It kind of smells like a blend of KVT and Symmakhia... I love it, and my 1/2 decant is not enough! It's so light and clean and pretty - probably more of a Spring/Summer scent, but I definitely need a bottle.

[greenranger]

Warm, sweet, roses and flowers.

 

The roses come out on top of everything else, but the honey and milk keep it from going too far. It is a bit like Katrina. It also lasts and lasts on me.

[tajana]

Wet: Soft. A bit of the fresh brightness of honeysuckle pops through. It does smell a bit "sunny", but right off the bat the gentle milk and honey dominates the scent. There's a bit of distinctive olive blossom peering in, but mostly I get a soft dab of powdery-sweet heliotrope and demure rose in a pool of soft milk and honey.

 

Dry: The milk isn't sour, and the honey isn't feral or syrupy- this is like the milk and honey from Alice or Dana O'Shee. However, Dawn: Maiden is stronger and more potent than either of those two. It lasts way longer, and the throw is more aggressive... a very light application goes a long way. The honeysuckle, tea rose, and heliotrope balance each other out, but after it dries down, the olive blossom pretty much disappears on me. The tea rose is really innocent smelling and dainty, much like the rose in Alice. The florals get more and more understated with time. After a while this is all milk and honey with just a dusting of heliotrope and sigh of rose.

 

Overall: I was envisioning a more floral, wearable, personality-infused relative to Alice, but instead I got Alice's equally bland older sister. It doesn't have enough pizazz from me. I wouldn't mind having some soap or something in this scent, but as a perfume, it's just not doing it for me. It's like a dessert that has neither brightness nor depth, just sweet fluffy blandness.

[Lorelai1945]

Somehow this goes from smelling like soft milk and honey to SOAP! on my skin in about 60 seconds. It's a nice soap, but soap nonetheless. Disappointing.

[Schmoozy]

Stunning. Soft, warm honeyed milk and rose. It's simple, kinda classic in feelinf and just so very pretty. Rose, milk and honey fans will love this.

[Little Bird]

This smells sooo pretty in the bottle. It's like a cool, sweet, sort of fruity smelling rose and cool cream. Bpal's milk notes sometimes smell sour or cloying on me, but this is like creamy, honeyed vanilla. Yummy.

 

I wish that it were that good on my skin, but the vanilla cream fades quite a bit on me and the scent turns perfumey and slightly soapy. The honeysuckle comes in and makes the blend warmer and sharper, and the rose has a soapy tinge to it. The longer I have it on, the more this smells like an expensive bar of rose scented soap. Boo.

 

I think that I'll try this one in the scent locket, because it smells lovely in the bottle, but lackluster when it's actually on my skin...

[theseagrows]

i love tea roses and oliveblossom. the others notes, if too strong, can often be dealbreakers, but with the two notes that work, this scent is really lovely! i mostly get tea rose with a nice backing melange of which i can pick out no notes. but this works very well with my skin chemistry. the tea rose is subtler and softer than it often is by itself, and i like it. i will definitely keep my imp. i think this would be really nice to wear in the spring, especially.

[angelicruin]

Tea rose and honeysuckle notes dominate this scent, but the milk & honey notes do soften it and keep it from being an explosion of floral on my skin.

[grrrlennyl]

Dawn: Maiden

 

On: Slightly soapy roses with a bit of sweetness.

1 hour in: Soapy rose.

8 hours in: A smooth floral. Slightly sweet from the honey.

Overall: This is just OK on me.

[crebbsgirl]

Again, I'm rather surprised that the roses behaved here. They stayed soft, and actually quite pretty. This is a creamy, soft floral on me, with predominantly rose and olive blossom with honey. It does get a little soapy on my skin, but it stays soft, and the soap doesn't get screamy like it usually does. I quite like it, but my husband is not a fan.

[alterosen]

Strangely, this is very sharp & unpleasant on me. I wish it was like Katrina van Tassel & Pink Snowballs but instead of creaminess, I'm getting a very high-pitched floral that my sinuses hate. I don't usually have a problem with tea rose, heliotrope or honeysuckle but something here does not like me at all. It gets a bit fruiter as it dries but is still, most emphatically, NOT for me.

Edited February 13, 2011 by alterosen

[lohengrin]

In the vial: Rose and something heavier, with almost a carnation-like spice to it. Maybe the olive blossom?

 

On skin, wet: That heavier note becomes dominant, with the rose underneath. But already there's a hint of soap, and that worries me.

 

On skin, dry: Soap with a background of that almost-carnation note and the rose. :/

 

After an hour: Only gets soapier as time goes by. Even the rose is gone, and I usually amp that like craaazy.

[LizziesLuck]

In the imp it's soapy rose. Love me some rose!

 

Wet: I dunno what that is, so maybe olive blossom? I don't know what olive blossom smells like. Come on milk and honey and roses!!

 

Dry: This is an odd one. I cannot pick out a single listed note, not one. It has gone a bit powdery, but, powdery WHAT? This is really intriguing, but while I can't stop huffing my wrist, I can't see actually wearing it. I am doing a horrible job of describing this, but that's because it's indescribable on me. I guess to sum up - weird powdery floral(ish), not entirely unpleasant, but not wearable for me.

 

Also, as if no one has reviewed this is 4 years?? That's crazy....

[Teamama]

I agree with findaghost (respectfully snipped,)

Wet:...this is like the milk and honey from Alice or Dana O'Shee.

D:M is related to Alice. If Alice is your cup of tea, I predict you'll like her a lot.

 

In the bottle, wet & dry, I experienced D:M as warm tea roses, sweetened by heliotrope, milk & honey. Olive blossom was fugitive on my skin; I never detected it.

 

It's warm, sweet, feminine, and joins Alice in the category of "Blends that smell better on my daughter than me."

[Lucchesa]

Dawn: Maiden is super duper pretty. Olive blossom goes soapy on me sometimes, and that is the case here as well, though it's not a deal-breaker because it also gives this maiden great throw. The milk and honey keep the tea rose from going sour on me. Soft, feminine, not particularly me. Super pretty, though!