La Calavera Catrina

[sea_stars]

The Lady of the Graveyard! Autumn leaves, wild roses, bourbon vanilla, dry chamomile, and a bouquet of bright chrysanthemums and Mexican marigolds.

 

I was really hoping for more rose/vanilla with a background of the other notes....but this is very much too herbal for me. I think this is the first scent I ever washed off my skin. The scent really fits the label and really does smell like I would imagine the lady of the graveyard smelling! You can really smell the dry leaves in there..if it wasn't so herby I think I may have liked it occasionally.

[lilyliza]

In the bottle: Leaves, a few flowers. Mostly leaves though. I totally get what people mean about leaf note = bell pepper. It really does smell like that wet; you just have to wait for it to dry a little.

 

Wet: The leaves are strong enough to temper the flowers a lot, so right now it's a pretty bland, vaguely flowery but mostly just green scent. When I did my initial test yesterday, I gave up on it about 15 minutes in, but then I happened to sniff it about 2 hours later and went "OH MY GOD." So I know it gets better this time- looking forward to it.

 

Drydown: The bourbon vanilla seems to be helping round things out, although not in the form of sweetness so much as very slight creaminess. The chamomile is probably doing the same. The scent is getting pleasantly fuller, but it's still not very sweet. Eventually, the flowers quietly make their way to the forefront, and the leaves take the background. Now it's a pretty autumn floral with just enough sweetness and a tiny bit of zing.

 

Dry, several hours later: Gorgeous. Pretty florals complemented by a touch of vanilla, and the leaves ground the whole thing while keeping it from going powdery at the same time. Throw like whoa too. I love it.

 

You have to give it a little while to work its magic, but this is amazing. I love my florals, but most of them are so spring-like it feels weird wearing them in the colder months. This scent is just right, and I'll probably be wearing it a lot for now. I'd definitely say this is bottle-worthy.

Edited November 8, 2011 by lilyliza

[puck_nc]

Origin: decant circle

 

Initial Thoughts: I enjoy Día de los Muertos, but have yet to find a scent in the BPAL lineup that draws on this wonderful tradition yet plays well on my skin. Time to try again.

 

In the vial: Dry and dusty autumn leaves with a sweet undertone deep in the background.

 

Wet: Ooh! Bourbon vanilla and florals come crowding forward and the leaves are blending wonderfully with them in a nice balance. *dontmorphdontmorphdontmorph*

 

Drydown: Hm. It's going in a rather herbal direction...apparently the chamomile likes my skin. The sweet florals are still there, though, and the dusty note in the vial is completely beaten into submission.

 

Verdict: Well, at least I can wear a DDLM scent now. Not sure I need a bottle though. If only it had stayed in that gorgeous wet stage...

[WidgetAlley]

When I tried this fresh out of the mailbox, it was a sharp green mess on my skin. Here's hoping it's settled! My Hallowe'en costume was Catrina so I really hope it works.

 

Bottle: Still a bundle of sharp green broken stems-- I assume that's the chrysanthemum? From farther away I can smell a faint, soapy rose, some vanilla and an almost alcoholic leaf note. Very odd. Doesn't actually smell bad, just not what I expected! Oh, and lots of chamomile.

 

Wet: Chrysanthemum and chamomile, but suddenly much calmer, with a bright yellow note I assume is the marigolds. Definitely some leaves too. Unfortunately the rose in here goes soapy on me so it ends up smelling like shampoo up close. The throw is a nice, slightly rose-sweetened green herbal scent, though. It's very reminiscent of Orpheus without the blue lavender.

 

Dry: A green, soapy, herbal-floral blend. This is pretty, but it's very close to Orpheus on my skin, and since that one replaces rose with lavender (which works much better) I don't think I need to keep this. Too bad, I was really excited for this one!

[theseagrows]

starts off as a very bright, yellow scent, and marigolds do come to mind. it's very strong, floral, leafy and a bit herbal. kind of reminds me of a shampoo/hairspray scent...so maybe there is some ozone in here? i think initially it's all marigolds, chrysanthemum and leaves. i do not detect any of the other notes. after about 10 minutes, it is still very strong and marigold-y. i don't see this settling down much, but remaining strong and perfumy for quite some time. it has A LOT of throw on me. oh! i just realized it smells like calyx prescriptives on me. like, almost exactly! i used to love that scent when i was younger, but now it's far too strong and green for my tastes. i'll have to swap this one.

 

[Aldercy]

I get mostly autumn leaves with lots of sleepy chamomile and a breath of cool ozone (not sure where that's coming from). The leaves have a strange tart/sweet quality to them, like crumbling yellow maple leaves dusted with sugar. Sadly, this interesting element seems to fade and I'm left with a clean, airy herbal scent that is pleasant, but not very exciting.

 

I don't smell any indication of rose, vanilla or the other floral notes.

[edenssixthday]

La Calavera Catrina - I was hoping this would smell more like leaves, roses, vanilla, and chamomile, but when I first apply it, it's all marigolds all the time, with the occasional bright head of a chrysanthemum popping up to say hi. It might be nice if I liked marigolds, but I think they smell pretty bad. (I use them to keep the bunnies away from my flower garden because they hate the smell, too!) As it dries down, more of the leaves and chamomile come out, as well as the faintest trace of rose, and I can see how people who like marigolds would like it, but it's still way too strong of a marigold scent for my taste.

[DahliaHayashi]

I am a bit sad about this one. The vanilla sounded perfect to go with the laves and flowers but all I get is flowers at the moment. No leaves, no vanilla! It is nice flowers but to perfumy for me. I will let it age and hope the vanilla deepens up!

[zankoku_zen]

Calavera Catrina started out promising, with heavy notes of marigold and autumn leaves, and has devolved into a chamomile-rose blend. Which while pretty, is kinda generic and definitely not 'autumny' on my skin.

 

Clean, pretty, light.

[surlygurl]

Wet, this is a very strong floral with grounding autumn leaves. I'm really amazed that the wild rose works on me. I keep waiting for it to turn to soap, but it never does.

 

As it dries, the loudness fades and the chamomile, chrysanthemums & marigold come forward. The autumn leaves are always in the background, lending a soft earthiness. Unlike most folks here, I prefer this scent on the drydown, soft & shy. It's not a "me" scent, but I will keep my decant for those rare occasions.....

[ami226]

On the skin: Smells like green plant stalks. Is that what marigolds smell like?

 

*whew* Not sure why, but this one makes me feel nauseous...

[thekittenkat]

In the decant: Yet another well-blended scent, as no one note predominates.

 

Wet: Some sharpness from the mums and marigolds is obvious.

 

The dry-down: At the last, I'm finally getting the autumn leaves with a hint of coolness. What a morpher! I like it, but don't need more.

[Voleuse]

This smells, to me, what Samhain would be like if it was a bright noontime scent. It's predominantly dried leaves to my nose, but with the added note of crunchy dried flowers and tea leaves. It's sweet, but a faded sweetness, at least on me. It's not really my thing, but I think it's a nice companion to Samhain, and a neatly evocative scent.

[mari4212]

In the imp: rather sharp, greenish note. There's a hint of the scent of my mother's old Avon perfume bottles, the ones shaped like various women in folk dresses. It's a scent I always associate with generic perfume.

 

On wet: That green and sharp note is still predominant, but it's losing the chemical tang.

 

Initial drydown: I can start making out the chrysanthemum in this, with a hint of marigold spice underneath. No vanilla, no rose, and only a hint of the dryness that might be the autumn leaves.

 

After five minutes: if I stick my nose on my wrist and huff, I get a bit of vanilla under the spicey floral. The too-sharp green note is almost gone.

 

It's funny, when I first read the notes for this, I was a little worried that my skin would amp up the rose too much like it often does in blends with any amount of rose. That isn't happening here.

 

It has gotten better as it's aged, I used to not get away from the chemical tang even on drydown. I know rose and vanilla are both notes that become stronger with aging, so I think this is slowly going to age into something glorious, but it'll take a while. Into the aging box, and maybe by next fall this will be ready for normal wear.

[porcelina]

i would love this if not for the rose. leaves, herbs, chrysanthemums and lovely sweet vanilla… and ROSE. big old fat bossy rose comes along and takes over la calavera catrina and makes it a rose perfume. come on, rose, can't you let the other notes have their fun?

[milo]

Bitter, acrid and pungent. More so wet, but it's still pretty strong and perfumey even after it dries. I'm thinking the leaves are the main culprit, and the flowers just seem to be sharp and overbearing. My eyes even sting a little. Not for me.

[tinyvulture]

Marigold is such a “yellow” note to me, it makes me think of bright sunshine. So this is a bright, sunny autumn day. There’s also a slightly masculine cologne aspect to it. The autumn leaves, roses, and marigolds dominate, and the herbaceous quality of chamomile is also present. I’m not noticing any vanilla. I like it, but I think I would prefer it on my husband.

[MonkeysInk]

I like this one! It's all chrysanthemum in the imp and goes on very floral and yellow-orange-green smelling. The flowers aren't precious, they're every day flowers growing in the bright light of the sun in the midst of an herb garden.

 

This dries down more green than yellow and fades quickly on me. I really like this one, and think it might last longer in a locket or on my shirt than on my skin. It's one I would enjoy wearing every day, especially in the fall as the days of summer fade.

[LizziesLuck]

This starts out like a pretty floral soap. Though the leaves are the same note I recognize from other blends I love while in the bottle, on my skin they pretty much disappear and the florals take over. It's a really pretty, clean, bright floral, but sadly it's not very autumnal on me. The leaves do come out a bit more as it dries, but so does whatever has gone soapy, and it's not a great combo on me. I was so sure this would be the perfect fall scent for me! Sadly I was wrong.

[marared]

2017 edition:

 

Backstory: I was a little nervous blind-buying this one, because I tried Flor de Muerto many years ago and for about ten minutes it was FLAMAZING, and my skin chemistry turned it disgusting and vile. But I loved the initial green marigold scent so much that I decided I wanted to try this to see if maybe the components were different enough.

 

Happily, the marigold does NOT go sour, and the rose (my other concern) does NOT amplify this into floral hell. It's marigold and chamomile with *some* rose - I don't really smell any of the vanilla (it's just baaaaarely in there, holding things together, no real sweetness to it) - or the mums, oddly enough, and mums can be kinda obnoxious. It's not as green as Flor de Muerto, due to the dead leaf aspect, but it's still a cheery scent - a bright and sunny autumn day, gusts of wind send golden leaves slowly shimmering into gardens.

I'm gonna have to think about buying a backup. It's gonna end up a 2nd or 3rd tier favorite - not the sort of scent that makes random strangers compliment me, but I like it and might be reaching for it regularly.

[lady_pandora]

I blind bottled this because it sounded so intriguing, though the marigolds had me a little worried--I remember planting marigolds as a kid, and they kind of stunk!

 

But it turns out that La Calavera Catrina is really nice. It's not much of a morpher; from beginning to end I mostly get a yellow, dry, herbal, wildflower-y scent that makes me think of sunset in a golden field in late summer or early fall. There's a girl in the field, maybe, with the sun picking up highlights in her hair. I can't tease out where one flower ends and one begins, and I can't make out the rose or vanilla at all, but I think they're what keep the other notes from being too bitter.

 

Lovely scent, and unlike anything else in my collection; definitely a keeper! This is a death scent in a way, yes, but not human death; this is the death of the sun at sunset, or the crops at harvest time.

[joopjoop]

This is gorgeous and may be my favorite BPAL rose ever (although the competition is stiff!).

 

It is definitely herbal, particularly to start, with the marigolds, mums and a background of dried crunchy leaves providing a strong counterpoint to the wild roses. I like it just fine that way (because herbal rose is my jam), but just wait - and then - OH YEAH! Soon it dries down to gloriousness: gobs and gobs of gorgeous roses paired with beautiful smooth vanilla, and with just a slight herbal edge to it that keeps it from going too sweet. And it lasts and lasts! I wore to a party the other night, got several compliments, and generally felt like a queen.

 

I ordered a bottle immediately. And if the bottle smells anywhere near as good as the imp, I'll be ordering a couple of backups as well before the Weenies come down.

[mishi-bear]

This was a pretty nice floral combination. Rose is the strongest note, a pretty sour rose, not in a bad way. The other florals are nice and a bit herbal, made dusty and slightly earthy by the leaves and slightly sweet by the vanilla.

 

Overall not a bad one. I got a decant and won't spring for a big bottle, but this imp will get a lot of love.

[freyasfae]

This is the 2017 version.

 

This is the epitome of what I would call a "green floral" - something akin to wildflowers, but a little more sophisticated and even herby (probably the dead leaves and chamomile). Unfortunately, after awhile, it goes a little sharp on me - reminds me of a hairspray I have used before, yet I am not completely put off by it. The vanilla is well-described from others as "rounding it out" and quite prominent on me and the rose is very subtle. Good throw. It is definitely more later summer/early fall.

 

I think per reading other reviews, I am going to put this in my BPAL box to age until next late summer and see if the sharpness wears off. I like sharper scents, but even this is a bit too sharp.

Edited November 29, 2017 by freyasfae

[trinitysite]

On application, the first minute or so are astringent/bugspray/nope, which I think comes from the marigold, but it settles down to a sweet floral. I like rose, and too often rose is overpowering, but not so here: it's definitely present, but not taking over, and other herbs/flowers are blending in nicely.

 

It actually reminds me of Summer's Last Will and Testament, which is my favorite late summer/early fall scent, although that one is a little more bitter/cold.