Half Elf v5

[Venneh]

In the bottle, a really sweet creamy scent with a hint of a tang to it. On my skin, it's that sort of creamy scent with the tang turning into wood. Actually... my Trading Post order just arrived today, and this smells like the Glowing Vulva bath oil. No joke. A creamy, tangy woods sort of scent, which is almost exactly a match for what I'm getting out of the GV bath oil. oO The woods are slightly stronger here (on me, the cream part of GV is a bit stronger), but the scent is still pretty much in a good, even balance.

[tartsquid]

This reminds me of another scent but I can't quite put my finger on which one. It's creamy and vaguely powdery - definitely a soft scent. I'm terrible at note identification but my nose tags this one as vanilla and some sort of musk, maybe skin musk. It's very pretty but lacks throw and staying power.

[ow1goddess]

I'm not sure where to put this, because my Half-Elf is not version 5. We won it from the Lab in a Twitter contest. It's a proto bottle but it just says Half-Elf on it, so I'm not sure if it will be the released scent or a different version, but it definitely doesn't smell anything like v5 from the reviews above.

 

In the bottle: Didn't think I would like this at ALL...very strong, sharp wood which makes me think of Pine-Sol although it doesn't really smell like that. I almost didn't try it but I was doing a tester for someone so I decided to skin test what was left.

 

On the skin: I am glad I tried this! The wood is very strong and seems to be different types- I get conifers like pine as well as maybe cyprus and oakmoss? Added in to this I get something that's hard to explain, but smells like a man's body. Not sweat, exactly, but sexy and male. Like a guy who's been hiking through the woods, maybe, not hard enough to be panting and sweaty but limbered up and warm. I don't usually gender my BPAL but this is a strongly masculine scent. It has a lot of throw and staying power- I only put a small amount on my wrist and could smell it all day, and 10 hours later I can still smell it close to the skin. As it ages on my skin, it sweetens a little until it reminds me more of the "blonde wood" from Aziraphale or maybe something like teak, but it doesn't lose the maleness.

 

Overall, I'm not sure how often I'd actually wear this myself, but somewhere out there is a guy who'd get laid all the time if he had this. I do really like it as an evocation of the Half-Elf- sort of a rugged loner trapped between worlds but with lots of appeal.

[saralaughs]

A bit of vanilla and a bit of mint (or the cypress that the above poster is talking about) maybe? It's a really cool scent. I also get a wood aspect but nothing overpowering. Very neutral in gender on me. It's not a strong scent and is pleasant. Soft and clean, sort of.

 

ETA: This is definitely V5 though so it may be different that owlgoddess up there.

Edited March 22, 2011 by saralaughs

[scrappy]

On my skin, this seems to be creamy honey, vanilla, and a bit of wood.

[tarotgirl99]

A wonderful BPAL'er sent me a tester of this. Thank you so much!

 

I get honey and a soft wildflower floral. This is so light and ethereal. Perfectly named! I feel elfin when I put it on.

 

I will have to slather, but I like it.

[cfrancesca]

At first, I get a light and creamy soft vanilla and the same honey I got from Valse Finale et Apotheose (which I find to be slightly musky, powdery, a touch herbal, and just a bit reminiscent of the honey in O). It settles into a beautiful, soft and slightly creamy honey scent. Delicate and pretty.

[Little Bird]

In the vial and on my skin, this mostly smells like sweet honey/beeswax. It's cloying and slightly baby powdery. There's something almost fruity/fizzy underneath it, like a hint of lime and seltzer water, that dries down to a hint of something metallic smelling. I don't really like the cloying honey or powdery aspects of this one.

[Invidiana]

This is definitely in the O family of scents as others have noted and pretty much what I remember from NYCC. It's a soft sweet amber, slightly powdery but not at all in an off-putting way, possibly with skin musk and a vanilla element which I'm guessing is vanilla orchid because it's not a buttery or sugary vanilla but still distinctly vanillic. There may even be benzoin in this, and other light florals that I can't pick out. It's sweet, feminine and quite lovely.

[o0SnowDrop0o]

Thanks to the person who sent me a sniffie of this!

 

Yup, definitely honey and reminiscent of O--although lighter and a bit woodsy--out of the bottle.On the skin, it's softer - I personally wouldn't say it's baby-powder-ish, though. And an hour or so later, there suddenly seems to be a distinct metallic tang emerging... really unusual, but I think I might actually like this better than O... and hope the released version is similar.

Edited April 8, 2011 by o0SnowDrop0o

[zankoku_zen]

Yes, I can see the Glowing Vulva comparisons. Sweet, creamy vanilla, with honey/beeswax and a soft wood underneath. Very feminine, and yes softly sexual.

 

I am amping up the honey bits, but I can see why people would go crazy over this one.

[PurringPulsar]

Half Elf v5

 

In the imp: white chocolate Toblerone! Yes, really. It’s honey nougat and a hint of chocolate-ish creaminess.

Wet on skin: this has the most beautiful honey note. Soft and fluffy honey.

Dry on skin: glorious! I don’t smell any floral or Glowing Vulva to this, just a gentle honey nougat scent. The honey is dominant, and it smells like a cross between the honey notes in Valse Finale and Dana O’Shee, a very sweet and comforting honey, no sharpness at all. Though it does seem to have a fruity undertone too, like peach or apricot, maybe it’s a peach blossom honey. There is also a white fluffy scent like nougat or perhaps vanilla cream or marshmallow. The best way I can describe this is ‘spun honey’ or ‘whipped honey’ because it has such an airy feel.

After a while: still creamy honeycomb gorgeousness. It doesn’t change very much but I don’t mind, it’s like honey nougat and a hint of vanilla/white chocolate and I love it. It’s not as fruity now, there’s a chewy honeycomb scent to it. The only problem is that it seems to fade away rather fast.

I’ve also noticed that this scent does smell a little different with each wear, even though it’s still undeniably honey-after testing a second time, it smells a little sharper and more like O, not the nougat from before.

Verdict: this is a really beautiful and uncomplicated honey. I think it’s a blend of different honeys, elegantly mixed together, sweet and sticky honey with honeycomb and slightly sharper pollen-like honey, but there are light and fluffy nougat and gentle vanilla nuances, and a hint of white chocolate. But the main note is honey and it’s delightful. I’d say this scent is to honey what Elf v4 is to vanilla, in other words, a prime example of this note at its finest.

Is it a keeper? Yes!

If you like this, try: O, Valse Finale et Apotheose, Dana O’Shee, Queen of Sheba, Honey Moon/Hony Mone

[Gold Dust Kitten]

At first sniff, I thought of Mead Moon: Beeswax. I'll have to agree with yeahbunobut on the "spun honey" comparison once it hits my skin. It's a beautiful, pearlescent white honey with a good bit of pollen. I don't smell anything floral and I can't compare this to O or Glowing Vulva, either. It's the same delicate honey note in Lady Una.

 

I think it's lovely.

[Penance]

Origin:

 

Tester from Scrappy.

 

Preconceived notions:

 

I'm not sure if this is a scent I would have sought out on my own, but I'm really glad I get to try it. The reviews sound interesting, although I'm not sure if Half Elf v5 sounds like it's something that I'd really like or not. I'm waffling here. Beeswax and honey can miss the mark on me, sometimes by a wide margin. But vanilla and wood are almost always good.

 

First sniff:

 

This reminds me of another scent, but I can't quite place it. Maybe it's a combination of a couple scents. I think possibly it's reminding me of The Light of Men's Lives mixed with something I can't put my finger on. There definitely seems to be beeswax here (it has that creamy, sweet waxiness to it that I associate with the Lab's beeswax note), but there's also something with an odd tanginess here I'm thinking it's some sort of honey. I haven't tried Glowing Vulva, but this is more or less what I imagine it smelling like.

 

Wet on skin:

 

Even more tangy than in the imp. I also start to get some of the wood that other reviewers have noted. It's faint, but it's there. I can't identify what sort of wood it is, but it smells like some sort of blonde wood. Something with a gentle, almost feminine scent, rather than the intense woodiness of something like cedar or mahogany.

 

Dry down:

 

Definitely beeswax (creamy, almost silky smelling), tangy honey and light, pale woods. There could be some sort of white florals here but I can't pin it down any more than that (since I'm not a floral fan and I tend to be at a loss to identify anything other than rose, lilac and honeysuckle).

 

The bottom line:

 

Half Elf v5 is delicate and feminine but not your standard florals and vanilla sort of "girly" scent. It's pretty, but not really my style. I am glad I got to try it, though and I can see why other people like this one.

 

I think part of the issue here is that I love the smell of real beeswax, but (for some reason) the Lab's beeswax note never seems to work for me. Something about it just doesn't sit right with me and it borders on turning my stomach. I'm also not a huge fan of the tanginess of the honey in this. If I'm going to wear a honey scent, it needs to be a soft, sweet honey rather than the almost citrusy type that's in blends like this.

 

ADDED May 19:

 

Origin:

 

Tester from Scrappy.

 

Preconceived notions:

 

I actually didn't read the reviews before trying Half-Elf v5, so I didn't really have any preconceived notions about it. I would expect something at least somewhat ethereal and delicate (the Elf part), but other than that, I've got no idea. Sometimes blind adventures are fun.

 

First sniff:

 

Hmm...tangy but sweet at the same time. Weirdly enough, it makes me think of a gourmet take on an orange cremesicle. That's probably not even remotely helpful, but that's what I get from it at this point.

 

Wet on skin:

 

Okay, this is definitely honey. The first time I tried it on my skin, it was very similar to the scent in the decant, but now that it's had time to recover from its trip through the mail system, it's settled down.

 

Now it's a slightly tangy honey scent with a hint of musk and maybe a very light touch of some sort of blonde wood. It reminds me a bit of the honey blends from the Rappacini's Apiary line. It's not your standard, simple honey scent. It's still fairly simple, but it's not just a sweet glob of scent. It could be some sort of wildflower honey, maybe mixed with honey from some sort of citrus tree.

 

Dry down:

 

Soft, slightly musky honey. Still a bit tangy and with maybe a touch of very light florals. It's delicate and ethereal, just like I'd imagined.

 

The bottom line:

 

Half-Elf v5 is a pretty scent, no doubt. It's not my usual sort of thing, but I like it. I think it would probably layer fairly nicely with some of the released RPG scents.

[sunshinedaisybliss]

On my skin, this seems to be creamy honey, vanilla, and a bit of wood.

 

Yep.. this is me, too. I'm finding Half Elf v5 reminds me a lot of Haloes, but without the warm/golden tones - this is less golden than Haloes but I definitely recognise the same oak note. And Half Elf v5 is very honey-ish, where Haloes doesn't have honey. But they are similar, honest!

 

My other comparison would be with O, I don't deal very well with O - the honey is very cloying on me - and the honey in Half Elf v4 is borderline cloying, powdery sweet. I don't see the comparison to Glowing Vulva though - I really don't think there's teak in Half Elf v4, nor the cream that GV had.

 

And I am picking up a floral in here somewhere - there's a slight purple tinge, violet perhaps.. or iris? Maybe orchid? It's very very subtle, but I think it is there, mixed in with a nice soft vanilla. And do I detect a whiff of chocolate? Maybe!

 

So after a full dry-down, Half Elf v5 gives me mostly a soft clean honey with a nice background of soft wood and a hint of vanilla. My colour pick would be honey blonde.

[midnight_aeval]

From the bottle this blend is promising - a light, airy, feminine scent. However, on my skin it turns to the stank that my skin chemistry does with all honey notes. Ugh. I don't get any similarities to Glowing Vulva, unfortunately. It's like a floral version of O. Great if O works for you, not so great when it doesn't

[astarinel]

Honey, beeswax, blonde woods, something vaguely floral.

 

The wood note here calls to mind Aziraphale, for me, very light and dry. The most prominent notes, however, are the honey (which is a "light" honey, more like the white honey in Valse Finale or door) and a beeswax that reminds me of Hanerot Halalu.

 

Okay, now that I'm done comparing it to other things, it's very pretty. I'm always looking for light, wearable honey scents (because while I love the heavy, thick, and sexy ones, they're harder for me to wear to work and in casual situations), and this definitely fits the bill. It's a gentle, sweet scent, slightly powdery. As it dries on my skin, the wood and floral notes that I could smell in the bottle and while wet sort of fade into the background, leaving just the airy beeswaxy honey scent lingering around. Relatively low throw, but decent lasting power.

[killerklown]

In the bottle: A creamy beeswax

 

Wet: Beeswax with a light floral

 

Dry down: The beeswax gives way to honey and florals

 

Dry: Some sort of woods, I want to say oak maybe? The florals mingle too much for me to pick any single one out. The honey/beeswax note stays wafting in the background, giving this the right touch of sweetness.

 

I definitely prefer this to the released version.

[ami226]

On the skin: Definitely getting a bit of honey/beeswax, but this is very good compared to other versions of BPAL's honey! Normally it turns really off/funky on my skin, but this one is actually really pleasant. A nice beeswax (not too sweet) with a few florals. Slightly reminds me of a less honeyed version of O with a little more floral added. The beeswax really helps to smooth out the florals into a pleasant scent that doesn't hurt my nose in the slightest. I would say this is actually the honey version of Elf v4 (vanilla floral).

 

Huh, finally a beeswax scent that doesn't turn weird on my skin! I think this might be a keeper!

[TulaMontage]

This is straight up baby powder on my skin. It had so much creamy resiny promise in the imp. I'm very disappointed with my skin chemistry I am SO hit and miss with honey notes.

Edited June 4, 2011 by TulaMontage

[ellebelle]

This is all beeswax. Oh, beeswax, how I love you. You are one of my favorite notes in the world. This smells nothing like Glowing Vulva to me. Of all the bottles in my collection, it smells most similar to Tetramorph v2. As it dries, the powdery beeswax-y smell that is so much like tetramorph (to me) backs away and I get a touch of wood/light florals. I love this so much more than the released version.

 

On the far far drydown, I get a light bark-like smell that I associate with the drydown on some of BPAL blends. No big deal - just means this is one I'd have to carry with me for re-application.

Edited June 14, 2011 by Ellebelle

[tuesdaynexxt]

This is really lovely stuff.

In the bottle and when first on, it reminds me of O. But almost as soon as I put it on, it began to remind me of something. After awhile, it came to me: this is almost exactly like The Girl on me, but in a stronger version! Lovely, lingering all day, it's almost gone, but I still get a waft every now and then.

[Tramp]

It smells like creamy vanilla amber honey musk goodness with a hint of wet green plant stems.

Edited June 25, 2011 by Tramp

[Ondine]

This smelled exactly like Honey Moon 2005 on me. Straight up honey, like in O or Mead Moon: all honey all the time.

[Lorelai1945]

Wow. On me, this is nearly identical to The Girl, except it is more honey and less vanilla. There is definitely a wood note of some sort in here, and it has that same kind of icy-cold feel that TG does. I like it- it's sweet from the honey and cool and woodsy and kind of delicate. My skin kind of sucks it up, but I think it works well as a skin scent.