The Lady of Lake Ronkonkoma

[ellebelle]

THE LADY OF LAKE RONKONKOMA
Lake Ronkonkoma is rumored to be a bottomless lake and conduit to the netherworld. The gods of the Lake demand an annual sacrifice, using the restless spirit of a long-dead Seatauket maiden to lure unsuspecting men to their doom. Balsamic, reedy water, sweetgrass, algae, loosestrife, and lady’s slipper.

I find the Lady of Lake Ronkonkoma to be a salty aquatic in the same family as Jolly Roger and A Fit of Artistic Enthusiasm. Wet, it smells almost a little bit floral and kind of bright. As it dries, it darkens into a reedier, saltier scent - I'm envisioning a lake bottom with this scent. This is a unisex scent to me - it smells good on me, but I think it would smell good on my boyfriend as well.

[Invidiana]

Here's to one of the few aquatics I can actually wear without turning it into generic soap. I would have passed this by had it not been for the "balsamic" in the description; I love balsam and also have a certain fondness for sweetgrass in the right blend (like L'Autunno bath oil). Thankfully I don't turn it to swamp and amp the balsam and sweetgrass the most, with the greener and "reedy" notes staying well-behaved in the background. There is enough green and salty water to stay true to the theme but it's not overwhelmingly seaweedy. It actually reminds me more of the smell outside after an autumn rainstorm rather than a swamp. Overall it's a resinous dark green scent with aquatic elements, very unique and strangely attractive.

[porcelina]

hmm. aquatics are not generally my thing, and this is probably my least favorite of my nycc purchases. the sweetgrass is really nice but the flowery wateriness of it all is not good on my skin.

[absinthetics]

A very nice aquatic. It has a decent throw and it's very pleasant. There's a sweetness in there that is very feminine.. I like!

Edited October 13, 2010 by Absinthetics

[Ravenclaw79]

In the bottle: A pond, clear water with fresh greenery nearby.

 

Wet: A pond, mixed with the smell of my yoga mat (which isn't a bad smell, but it is unexpected here).

 

Dried: The yoga mat's gone. It's a clear, flowing stream. Definitely the nicest aquatic BPAL I've smelled yet.

[fetish911]

I do love a good aquatic & this one fits the bill. Its got a nice little salty green tang to it. Clean & pretty. So far another win from the event

[bloody sore]

A very dark and greenery kind of aquatic. Nice and clean, but not anything special. Kinda has a cucumber vibe.

[samarablackcat]

Wet, I get the saltiness from Calico Jack, but that's where the similarity ends. I feel as if I am standing on the edge of a lake, cattails swaying in the breeze and little fishes are swimming in the shallows (see them there?) A brackish water, this one. Silt flowing through your toes as you wade to shore.

 

As this dries, more of balsam peeks out (to my nose this always smells like weeds, when the green stains your hands). Lots of weeds and green things growing. When totally dried, there is a whisper of soft sandalwood, giving this a resiny feel without being harsh.

 

I am pleased to have the opportunity to try this; it's very evocative of its description, as it keeps calling me back.

[zankoku_zen]

Salty, floral aquatic. I get weeds and balsam from this.

 

Aquatic, pale, clean.

[Little Bird]

I wish that aquatics would work on me, because they always sound so pretty on the people who don't have problems with them going soapy. This isn't as soapy on me as some aquatic blends, at least. I get the dry, delicate smelling sweetgrass and a clear, watery, cucumber sort of smell that I actually like, but the drydown has a quality that reminds me of expensive floral bar soap. I can't really pick out the wood or resinous elements that others have mentioned. Watery cucumber, dry grass, and floral soap... I didn't have too much of this to test, but it seemed to fade really fast on me and didn't have a lot of throw.

[milo]

A very nice fresh water aquatic on me. Not cologney at all, very fresh. I'll certainly enjoy my imp probably more in warmer weather. It does fade pretty fast on me, though.

[AliBabble]

I got this one off ebay, and was glad that i saved the entrance fee to comic con, and this was the oil i was most interested in, cause i'm on a water/ocean/lake kick....anyway, now that i have it, i think it's not gonna work. It's too strong or harsh or something - and i don't usually like aquatics, so i don't know what i was thinking...i think the visual imagery appealed to me...it does smell reedy and balsamy, and that makes it pretty interesting. it reminds me a bit of halloween san francisco, but more intense somehow. it really does have a murky, sinister feeling - so - good job there, on capturing the mood...but it's somehow just too sweet (from the balsam) and intensely clean, as in laundry. it reminds me of "pearl diver" soap from villainess, which is a scent that grew on me over time....this might work better in warm weather....

[edenssixthday]

The Lady of Lake Ronkonkoma - This is definitely a freshwater aquatic, and reminds me of a semi-stagnant pond. It's full of murky algae, which I just love, and definitely has a reedy quality. It's also lightly floral, but that doesn't keep it from retaining a gender-neutral quality about it. There's something in it that's a bit too perfumey for my taste, and that something could very well be the balsam, as that's a note that's iffy on me. Overall, it's a nice aquatic, but not a keeper.

[Gwydion]

In bottle: Sweetly aquatic, and a touch more floral than expected. The balsam goes beautifully with the water, sweetgrass, and lady’s slipper. I like the way the algae counterpoints the sweeter notes. I now with there were more blends with reeds in them. This matches the concept well, very ladylike and aquatic. Wet: Even lovelier on the skin, with my natural musk, combining with the balsam and aquatics to make it subtly more sexy. This is the loveliest use of balsam I’ve seen in a while and the way it blends with the other elements is so delicate and liquid. It’s not my usual thing, and would be much prettier on the right woman, but even on me it creates a scent poem about reedy banks and long hair. Dry: Balsam, algae, sweetgrass, and florals in the order of strongest to weakest surviving notes. Quite pretty.

[ShannonElisabethJones]

There's a sharp or peppery note in the aquatic florals that I'm really digging. I love this one.

[Nascargot]

I snagged this on the BPAL etsy recently and had rather high hopes for it. I don't have the best experience with aquatics, but hoped a lake-inspired scent would fare better on my skin than an oceanic one. From the bottle, I can't say I smelled much too special about it, and was already a bit worried for my nose. There's little difference for me between wet, drydown, and long-term; sniffing my wrist made me recoil as the soapy/salty smell was just too overpowering with my chemistry. Turns out I amp it ridiculously - a day later and it's still clinging, even to clean clothes, and I find it quite tough to get rid of. I really got the feeling a chunk of bar soap was sitting on the back of my tongue every time I took a whiff of this, and the throw was quite strong as well.

 

I'm not sure if it's my body that makes me dislike this, or that it just turns out I have a distaste for the notes involved. I'm not upset or disgusted with the scent! More than anything, I'm just surprised at how it played out.

[ShadowEtienne]

This scent reminds me of coastal wetlands, the water more fresh than salt, but there is a touch of biting salinity there, some of it coming in on the air.

 

Rich sweetgrass and florals, reminding me of all the blooming things in the coastal wetlands in spring, blur together to a pleasant, aquatic floral with some distinct greenness to it.

 

The basalm is a quiet background note that helps balance out the sharpness on me and give a light woodiness to the scent.

 

This does evoke something lovely and melancholy and just a touch sinister. It's a beautiful aquatic, and more on the freshwater side than many of my favorites which gives me some nice variety. I'm definitely glad to have my half of the bottle I split with a friend.