Purple Spotted Swallowtail

[Dark Alice]

PURPLE SPOTTED SWALLOWTAIL
Black plum, opium poppy, dusky amber, opoponax, castoreum accord, dried berries, tolu balsam, clove bud, and lime.

Wet: Rich sweet, black plum..with the barest hints of berry and clove.

Drydown: This is a morpher on me! The balsam is present but it mixes quite well with the plum and berries. I get no lime in this as my skin eats it soooo quickly! I guess it's the castorum accord that gives this the a slightly perfumey edge...but not too much. Overall...gentle clove bud, with plum and balsam wafting in and out. Well done Beth...I bet will age wonderfully!

ETA: Complete drydown...

Clove bud, amber, hints of black plum and castorum accord. Absolutely lovely, fruity, dark perfume.

[Heavenlyrabbit]

This has a serious medicinal blast at first. But hold on! It zooms into a Clove/Lime high and then descends into a the depths of the Plum/Poppy.

 

This is perfume at its finest. It swoops and swirls around and around the various notes before settling into gorgeous velvety bliss.

 

Freaking awesome experience.

Edited June 22, 2011 by Heavenlyrabbit

[Penance]

Origin:

 

5mL from the Lab.

 

Preconceived notions:

 

Most of the notes here sound awesome. The opium poppy is a little worrisome since I don't like florals (although I love opium tar and smoke) and the castoreum gives me a bit of pause because I'm worried it was what made Minamoto No Yorimitsu go super cologney. The lime is my biggest worry, though. I hate lime (and citrus in general). I bought this hoping and praying that the lime would be very subtle.

 

First sniff:

 

Lime over "traditional" perfume. This isn't a good sign. I hate all things perfumey. But I'm hoping that this is one of those blends that will blossom on my skin. It's happened before and I don't give up hope on a scent until it's dry on my skin and still smells bad.

 

Wet on skin:

 

A little better. It's not perfumey anymore (which is very good news), but the lime is still stronger than I'd like. I'm getting the plum, amber, resins and clove underneath the lime and they smell great. But the lime is giving it an almost fizzy citrusy vibe that I don't care for.

 

Dry down:

 

Perseverance pays off! Hurray! It takes a while, but the lime fades until I can't smell it at all. In the end, I'm left with a scent that has a similar feel to Queen of Spades (they don't really smell alike, aside from some superficial similarities in the notes). Plum, amber, clove, muskiness from the castoreum and a very faint floral air from the poppy. This is really pretty now!

 

The bottom line:

 

I'm glad I gave Purple Spotted Swallowtail a chance. It's not my style at all in the bottle, just "meh" when it's wet, but turns into something genuinely beautiful when its dry. And the time it takes to get there is short enough that I don't mind the wait.

[edenssixthday]

Purple Spotted Swallowtail - The top notes are definitely the plum, deliciously sexy opium, opoponax, and something that smells like it's going to go a bit soapy on me, which could be the castoreum, and a thin sliver of lime that's been squeezed into the mix. The scent is dark, but not heavy, sweet and juicy, deep, warm, and very, very, very pretty. The scent lasts several hours on me, which for my dry skin, is really good. There's something about this that makes me wonder what it would be like when layered with Mourning Shroud. Another amazing keeper!

[Invidiana]

Something about this in the wet stage reminds me of Spicebush Swallowtail, a sweet and slightly spicy feel. It's in the drydown that this species of swallowtail differentiates itself from Spicebush and actually reminds me more of blends like Black Butterfly Moon and Lune Noir. The black plum and opium poppy are definitely there but very sheer, and so are the resins and berries. I think the lime was what gave it that tang that reminded me of spicebush in the beginning but as it dries down it doesn't exactly come out citrusy but adds a clean lightness to the blend. This becomes an ethereal dark scent with its own singular mystique; there is a freshness to it but it's a dusky freshness, like shadows looming in the summer twilight. Gorgeous.

Edited June 29, 2011 by Invidiana

[Akurarei]

Purple Spotted Swallowtail

 

In the Bottle:

Smells almost like fresh lemon rind to me.

it does have a slight 'furniture cleaner' note to it, but it's very faint.

 

On my Skin, Wet:

an explosion of lemon, then the clove & some faint resins.

this doesn't last terribly long before it does go a little more 'furniture cleaner' than I like.

 

On my Skin, Dry:

a strange combo of cloves, poppy, & lemon/lime

it's interesting, but not something I usually gravitate towards.

I picture this being more of a fall scent than a spring or summery fragrance.

 

Verdict:

different.

I hope the 'furniture cleaner' note goes away over time - it's putting a tarnish on an otherwise very unique scent.

not sure how to rank this one yet.

[toku]

Argh! I was really hoping this one would be amazing, but I get next to nothing.

 

In the bottle, it's very sharp (yes, almost cleaner/solvent-y), but upon application it fades to nothing almost immediately on my skin. After an hour, I can't even tell that I'm wearing it other than a teeeeny tiny little pinprick of generic, bland "spice". I'm hoping that this one can find a good home with someone else since it just doesn't work for me.

[Eemia]

I get a roaring plum note right off the bat, backed by that super dark opium. The plum has a harsh, stinging quality rather than a juicy, sweet fruit scent. I like how bold it is... it just jumps off my skin. But it disappears so quickly and becomes all deep spice and musk. The spice aspect never smells familiar. I always think that I could pick clove out even with a full-on head cold but I never notice it here. I didn't even remember there was any clove in this until I double checked after I wearing it.

 

It really tames after about an hour and seems like an entirely different perfume. It's soft and close wearing and much more sweet than I would have expected. The spice is so pretty too.

 

This reminds me of what I imagine a rich, antique medicine would smell like. I think this will only get better as it ages too.

[coldandsleepy]

This one starts off VERY lime on me. I get that on a background of plum and berries. It's great.

 

The lime burns off within minutes for me, though, and I can notice the resins more as it dries.

 

In 45 minutes, this one's almost gone on me-- nothing at all left but a faint breath of incense.

 

I'm sad that it doesn't last on me, because I love the initial smell and like the second stage too.

[AmandaArcana]

In the bottle: I really get the lime and clove. Smells very refreshing.

 

Wet on me: Still limey but with a bit of...something. I really can't tell, maybe herbs?

 

Dry: Sharp, generic perfumy smell that makes me sneeze. No lime, no clove. I don't think I do plum very well.

 

Since I like how it smells in the bottle I'm thinking of trying it out in my scent bug to see how it does as a room fragrance.

[ami226]

My SO doesn't like this one either. To me it smells like those lemon sourhead candies. Very sour citrus with some sweetness as well.

 

Too sour for me, but a very interesting scent!

[invisible iris]

In the vial: Intense lime, with sweet opium and opoponax in the background.

 

On skin: Still a lot of sour lime, but with darker notes emerging from underneath the tartness (opium, black plum, clove) and a distinctly animalistic castoreum lurking in the depths of the scent.

 

Dry: The lime almost completely burns off after half an hour. It leaves a rich but dry perfumey opium-dominant blend, stained dark purple with shades of plum and dried berries, dusted over by clove, and enveloped in a haze of black amber and castoreum. Sometimes opium and black amber can dry down to a cloying resiny sweetness, but here the sweetness is balanced out by the bitter opopanax, the dusty clove, a shadow of musky castoreum, and the remaining sour twinge of lime peel. Like most opium blends (at least on me), the late drydown leaves only the opium.

 

Verdict: Purple Spotted Swallowtail is a sophisticated and dark opium blend with a bittersweet buzz. I am not a crazy admirer of opium, and this is a little dressy for my usual tastes, so my decant will probably be enough. But opium lovers should definitely check it out.

[cfrancesca]

Dark, fruity, effervescent. Lime, clove, opium, hints of dark amber and soft berries are the standouts for me, they're well-blended but you can still pick them out. I don't like the opium and citrusy fizzy scent combo, it reminds me of Champagne and Opium which also didn't work on me.

[Little Bird]

I really should hate this scent. I don't usually like bpal's plum or opium notes, and this starts off with a strong blast of opium and dries down to mostly plum. But it smells so good to me for some reason. Dark and plush.

 

Swallowtail is a bit iffy for the first 15 minutes, but the drydown is like an expensive, polished, elegant sort of perfume that I really like. The opium has that sharp, perfumey white floral smell that I hate, but it's really softened by the sweet, dark, dry smelling plum. And, after a half hour, this is mostly a very sophisticated smelling plum. It smells like a rich woman's perfume on a night where she's all dressed up and attending a stuffy charity event... but in a good way? lol

 

I get a blast of lime in the bottle, but none on my skin. On my skin, this is loads of plum and a touch of floral opium poppy. I don't think I'll ever go through a full bottle of this, but I'll keep my partial bottle.

[saralaughs]

Something in this blend end up being really bland on me. It started out very fruity smoky but ended up being ... nothing? I dunno but it didn't work.

[JLH]

In the vial, this smells very strongly of the plum and the dried berries. Wet on my skin, it starts off with a burst of tart lime and the soapy-floral castoreum (to me, castoreum smells like very fine soap, which I enjoy but I know others may not). The plum and dried berries are still present, and they make this blend sweet and juicy as well. As it dries the lime fades away as I was hoping, but so does the plum. I'm left with a dusty floral-ish resin scent and a hint of dried berries. I think this scent does an excellent job of translating the colors of this butterfly (bright purple, light green and black) and it's a lovely blend, but it isn't really my style. I think an imp will be enough.

[Diva Urd]

In the vial: Oh yes, there's the castoreum accord - I hope it won't be as scary in here as it was in "Minamoto no Yorimitsu." There's an effervescent fruitiness to this, as well - smells like musky soda

 

On: A smidge of lime, a little bit of plum, some florals, and... the castoreum behaves! No super-cologney nose full of powder, just this somewhat fizzy musk in the background. This is really rather nice!

 

Later: Huh. It's gone. Kinda sad, I might have wanted more if it had stuck around... at least this makes me feel less apprehensive about castoreum, though.

[astarinel]

This is impressively lime-y when on wet, to the point where I have difficulty picking out any other notes.

 

There's something vaguely dark underneath it, almost a bit perfumey or soapy.

 

As it dries, I get a little bit of plum and some dark smokiness. Surprisingly, the opium doesn't take over and become unpleasant, which it has a history of doing on me. This isn't a very me scent, but it's very interesting in how it develops from this blast of sweet citrus to a sort of smoky dark resin scent.

[calivianya]

I get a fresh lime with a slight hint of plum when this is wet. It's getting a slightly sour edge to it as it dries, possibly from the castoreum accord as that never does well on my skin. This dries down fully to a rich lime/plum smell, very perfumey and slightly sour. It's not for me.

[milo]

In the imp, lotsa lime! On, I'd call this a 'green incense' with purple, fruity overtones. At first I didn't really dig this, but I'm loving the lime plum combination. As long as the incense behaves, we may have a winner. I like this because it's fruity without being foody, kind of a grown up fruit. This has a tinge of sour, that keeps the plum in check. It is kind of perfumey, but in a unique way. That being said, I'm not sure I need a whole bottle as it's not 'WOW MUST HAVE MORE', but I do like it and may hunt down a decant or partial depending on how the rest of the wear of this goes.

[zankoku_zen]

This reminds me to Minamoto and the Earth Spider and the GC RPG scent Evil. I get the castorerum musk, clove, hints of lime and plum.

 

It's dark, delicious, musky. It may end up being too strong and dark for me, but its a wonderful scent.

[moosue]

In the imp, I absolutely adored this. It smelled purple! It smelled fruity and rich at the same time, just very purple. On the skin, the bright fruity notes vanished in all of about 5 minutes and what was left was a dark, dusty, strong perfume. A very vampy scent, not my thing at all. It lasted several hours and I didn't dislike it, but it's not something I'm eager to wear again.

Looking at the notes, I get a lot of the opium, and the plum is present only at the beginning. I could not detect any clove, and clove is generally a very distinct scent.

[angelamaria]

In decant: whoa. Dark and resinous. Berries and balsam, with a bit of clove, and lime like in iced tea--I mean, like the lemon/lime that you find in iced tea drinks, perched on the rim of your glass.

 

Wet on skin: dusty incense and lime; very incensey for me. Wait, no, not dusty--something is turning powdery here. As it dries, this is quickly turning into lime powder. A powdery lime that is in the dirt. *nods*

 

Dry: incensey, dark, spicy. Very purple-brown to me. I can definitely see this being popular, but this isn't my kind of scent and I can't wear much of this without getting nauseous--and something turns to powder on my skin, too. The powder does kind of die down the longer is stays on my skin, but I'm not sure what note it has taken away with it.

 

Verdict: nope, not for me.

[yakiguri]

Wet: WHOA lime! O_O

Dry: OK, here come the purple fruits. I'm immediately reminded of Medea (dark, foreboding, purple), just replace the initial herbal blast of Medea with lime. PSP is also a bit more perfumey/spicey than Medea, which according to previous reviews must be coming from the castoreum.

 

Overall: I like this blend, but on me it's not quite unique enough from Medea to warrant having bottles of both.

[Lorna Brigid]

Ya know, I like this. I just don't like it enough.

It is like Black Butterfly Moon, but it's missing the chewy center; the sweet and spicy heart that BBM, one of my top ten, has.

I get mostly the oppoponax, berries and amber. There's that little kick of balsam and lime, and it's cool... but just not like I had hoped it would be. *shrug*