La Belle Dame Sans Merci

[WhiteRook]

The name translates to “the beautiful woman without mercy”, and is the title of an old French court poem that was later revamped by John Keats. A bewitching, seductive scent, rife with mystery and foreboding.

Well, hrm. I do agree that in the bottle that it smells rather sharp, kinda like lilac and grass, to me. On my skin it's still sort of lilac-y, but it starts to mellow down. After it dries, it sort of smells like roses, still a little lilac-y, and a little bit of lemon. But right now I kind of like it, so I really don't mind. Granted, I'm not sure how long it lasts on me at the moment.

(but then, I don't quite understand 'skin chemistry' yet, so bear with me.)

[odalisque]

Lagniappe from the Lab. This is a really intriguing scent in which I can't quite make out individual notes: is it fruity? floral? musky? spicy? I would describe it as "rich" and "seductive". Maybe even "velvety".

 

It smells much on my skin as it does in the imp, but headier and heavier. Too heavy, in fact, and I believe it's the cause of my headache at present

[ceiswyn]

In the imp: There's gotta be orange blossom/neroli in this. And rose, too, I think, though those can be very similar scents at times. But there's something else too; a soft, rich, spicy note that mellows and enriches. I know what it is - I recognise it - but I can't separate it out enough to identify it; wait. Marzipan? Yes, marzipan. Must be almond, then.

 

On the wrist: Did I say neroli? I meant rose. I meant rose a lot. Brightened by other florals and a trace of herb green. It's particularly sharp and bright on the left wrist; on the right there's just a hint of something warm behind it.

 

One hour later: Yep, that was definitely rose all right. Rose, orange blossom, and soap. Quite strong on the soap.

[kelpsoda]

This is really well blended, and I'm not sure I'm picking out the notes very well. I get a gentle, pretty lilac/lavender, with some lily behind it. It's very heady.

[forspecial_plate]

Deep floral. That's about all I know. I smell roses, but beyond that I'm not sure. I think I've tested too many florals today, but I'm trying to put together a floral enabling imp pack. So there ya go. This smells really good, actually. Kind of a musky floral with a deep dark background. I like it.

[eyeska]

Definitely rosy, very floral. It actually smells like a fresh bouquet of flowers to me. I'm another person who's finding it very pretty and not too soapy or powdery, but just not something I'd wear because it's not quite "me".

[CordeliaSeduced]

I was hesitant to try this blend because I had convinced myself I didn't like florals. Turns out, I like florals a lot and especially dark, musky, mysterious florals. So I second-guessed myself and gave this a shot.

 

In the imp, this smells very perfume-y. I get a lot of rose and lily, which I think lends to my conviction that this smells very much like an elegant floral perfume. Upon applying, however, I got something much more green, possibly with some lilac or lavender. The rose and lily is still there, but fades rather into the background to make way for the lush green notes.

It remained like this for maybe three hours.

...and then, something changed which I can only describe by saying it went sour. The florals wilted, the green got powdery, and something else came to the foreground that was not entirely pleasant. At least not on me. I wish I could place it, but I can only think of shuffling through boxes in my grandmother's basement and coming across perfume from the 30s--it smelled good once upon a time, but now it really just smells like something passed its expiration date.

 

I would be interested to learn the actual notes in this because I know that rose, lily, lilac, and certain greens work well on me. If the sour smell is due to my skin chemistry (which I'm sure it is), I'd like to know what I should be avoiding.

I loved this to start out with, but I think it will be reserved strictly for locket use.

[voodoocatwoman]

I mainly pick out rose in this scent. There's also an incense in the background that gives it a little depth. Another sniff and I get the sharp green that many have spoken of. One more sniff and I get the Ivory soapiness. That's on my right wrist.

 

On the left (and yes, they are different- don't ask, I have no idea) I smell carnation with a bit of rose. No soap, just flowers and thorns.

[gchris]

In Vial: Sharp lemon and herbs

 

Wet: Soapy. Herbal women's perfume

 

Later: Whoa! stil strong and soapy

[Nimthiriel]

Initial impression:

A soapy floral with something darker in the background...

 

First on:

A soft floral, but with something warmer underneath it. Very feminine.

 

Dry:

After about 10 mins, it's mainly roses to me. I don't care for roses, unfortunately.

 

Another 20 mins later, it's still nothing but roses. If there are other notes in this one (which, of course, there is) I'm not getting any of them. How sad.

 

Yet a bit later, I'm getting something that might be lillies, or lily of the valley. But predominantly roses.

 

Finally:

Alas, passing this one on. The name rocks muchly, however.

[Lamia]

This ends up making me smell like guest soap

[inurbanus]

On a whim, I decided to go through my imp bag and find something that I hadn't reviewed yet. I'm actually not sure if I've ever worn La Belle Dame Sans Merci before, since I did a Great Imp Purge earlier this year, which this managed to survive. If I have worn it before, I must have blocked it out.

 

I really wish I knew what is in this, so I can explain better why it doesn't work on me. I've looked at some of the previous reviews of this, and I have to say, I'm jealous. I don't get anything floral from La Belle Dame -- this is a very strange powder-herb hybrid on me. I don't think that's what was intended when this was created. It smells like baby wipes, as some of the more herbal Rappaccini's Garden scents do, on me. I could burn this in my oil burner, just to see what it's supposed to smell like, but I don't know if it's really worth the effort. Hmm...

 

2/5

[fairnymph]

In the bottle: Light-medium, bright canary yellow oil. Sharply green, headily floral, a little soapy and a little sweet. Ylang ylang?

 

Wet: Soapier, but a bit less sharp. Citrusy, in a zesty unripe manner. A little powdery. Mostly very floral. Violet, rose (either white /andor the type from Rose Red), muguet (heady), narcissus (sharp).

 

Dry: Ahhh I think there is a lily, one of the sharp kinds that goes soapy-powdery on me. The one that's in Hairy Toad Lily. It's no longer sweet or citrusy at all, but all sharp, heady, flowers, powder and soap.

 

Later: Yeah, definitely some narcissus, which has a sharp, plasticky scent on me, and also can be soapy. The ylang ylang was clearly adding that initial, ephemeral sweetness, but it's all gone now.

 

Summary: I disliked this at every single point. It is all the flowers I dislike, and none of the ones I like, without any mitigating notes. It's a (insert 'very' in front of each) heady, sharp, soapy, powdery overwhelming bouquet of flowers. Narcissus, lily, and muguet dominate. Moderate throw and lasting power. It reminds me of a bastard cross between Pride, Privilege, and Hairy Toad Lily.

 

I had to wash it off.

[marared]

I'm in the process of categorizing my collection before it gets out of hand, and I realized that I never really tested this one, which was a lab frimp.

 

...rose. gah. See, I'm not opposed to rose in principle, and I can wear scents that have rose as long as it's a background note with other more powerful scents sitting on top of it and holding it down. This one, unfortunately, is a more prominent rose - I can actually still smell some of the greenery that other people mention, but it's still WOAHWOAHROSE on me.

 

Must go scrub now. Sorry...

[Iceblink]

Rose and lilac turning to soap even faster than I can type!

[galahad]

In The Bottle

Green herbal floral

 

On Application

Rose with apple

 

Dry Down

The rose amps up but has a clean soapy underpinning. Too rosey for me.

 

Rating (0-5)

1.5

[vikitty]

Not my favorite rose scent. Turns a bit soapy which is unusual since the other Lab rose scents work better on me!

[charshark]

In the imp: Lemon and sage(?)

Wet: Lemon with a hint of rose (a lighter kind like blue) and maybe neroli? I swear either sage or cloves are in this too.

Dry: Neroli and lemon. I also get a faint whiff of lavender with sage.

Overall: I'm probably completely wrong about the notes, but that's what I smell! It sort of smells like Burt's Bee lemon butter cuticle cream on me.

[Gwydion]

In bottle: Sweet, alluring, pleasant floral. Wet: fresh, green, springlike. Dry: Vaguely berryish.

[plunderparlour]

on wet rose and lemon with a little green note. i think this smells clean without smelling like cleaner.

i like it.

dry- more rose and is that lavender? i don't know but this is a nice scent.

[djsiberia]

wet: something is making me wrinkle my nose. very sharp and strong and very very much something you would wear to make people keep their distance.

it's very green and there's only a touch of something floral.

 

i think i'm going to go huff some coffee beans.

[awesomeoverlord]

In the bottle, all I really get is roses. There's something else lurking there, but I can't really put my finger on it. Yup, definitely roses.

 

After putting it on, the roses start to fade away and are replaced by this odd generic perfume smell. Very sharp and heady. Not for me, I think.

[copagirl]

In the bottle I'm smelling rose, cinnamon and definitely a green smell. When I put it on I could smell spices first, then rose, possibly lavender? I really wanted to like this one but 20 minutes later it smelled so strongly of roses I had to wash it off! Yuck, it smelled of the little old ladies who used to come in the beauty school I went to. Like Glade air freshener. I guess I will stear clear of roses from now on...lol

[CynicalPink]

Imp: Rose....please be nice to me?

 

Wet: Ooo! Wisteria! This is definitely a florist's floral, not a growing outside floral

 

Drydown: Fine soap! That's not an insult. I smells like extremely expensive french soap that I will never be able to own a bar of. It's amazing how well the Wisteria is holding up to the rose.

 

Overall: It's not unpleasent, but it really is just a bit too soapy for my tastes.

[kbrighton]

Wow, the reviews are all over the place. I'm assulted by floral mix right out of the imp, then ROSES, and an hour later--nothing? Where did you go?

 

ETA: oh, there you, after 30 minutes of vanishment another scent emerges, a nice yet indisticnt floral. I do wish notes were listed, as my nose can't identify them without some help.

Edited April 10, 2009 by Columbine