Le Revenant

[tziporra]

A shroud of gardenia, narcissus, and sandalwood with ambrette seed, white cognac, muguet, davana, and white musk.

2013 Version:

Ooooooooo, so pretty ....... Deep cool floral.

Tons of flowers, very rich silky gardenia and well behaved narcissus note. Dusty and dry, like a shroud. I feel like I'm getting a sweet licorice-like base (must be the cognac and musk seed?) to support the florals, plus a glowing ghostly musk to create a ghostly pale feeling. This is gorgeous. Just a dark musky complicated floral, exactly my style. Definite bottle.

Did not expect this one to be instant true love, so happy it exists.

Tzi

Eta: my original notes said "strong true lily of the valley" and then I couldn't find it in the notes so I backed off..... Turns out that's the muguet! Next time I promise not to second guess myself!

[tinyvulture]

I can rarely tell from the description whether or not I'll like a floral blend, but I got a decant of Le Revenant based on the previous reviews. So glad I did! Just like a big, fresh bouquet of white flowers...mostly gardenia, I think. No cognac...where are you, cognac? A happy, romantic blend. A bottle is in order. Oh how I would love single notes of narcissus, muguet, ambrette, davana...so I know just what I'm smelling (and loving!)

[Magycmyste]

I am a little nervous about this one, since it does have narcissus as a note (Crowned With Calm Leaves She Stands was the first bpal I've tried to turn truly funky on me, and the only two notes were narcissus and daffodils, so...). I'm hoping it doesn't hate me, or that the other notes will overpower it, because I haven't had problems with any of them yet. I'm not quite sure what muguet and davana smell like, but I don't think I've had problems with them yet.

 

In the imp: Mmm..... hello gardenia! Sweet floral and white musk, mostly, although there is a sharper floral and woodiness in there.

 

Wet on skin: Definitely a sharper, sourer floral, and some of the sandalwood in coming through now.

 

Dried down: There's still a hint of the gardenia in the throw, but mostly, this is just the sharper floral now. Honestly, I think I liked this better when the gardenia was mixed into in in the beginning, and played with the sharper note. On the bright side, the narcissus has not, in fact, turned stinky on me.

 

Throw: Not a whole lot - there's a bit of gardenia and a bit of something sharper. I do actually like the throw a fair amount.

 

Verdict: *** 1/* Not bad, but not for me, I think. It just gets too sharp too quickly.

[Bookgroper]

I put this on, and gardenia immediately came and punched me in the face.

 

After about an hour, it'd settled the heck down and I was getting wafts of something slightly fruity and really quite pleasant.

 

I rescued my decant from the "Noooope!" pile at that point, but definitely not a bottle scent as that gardenia cacophony was hard going. (YMMV; the only floral I dislike more than gardenia is rose, which is my all-time most hated note)

[BoneBone24]

Wet: Crispy fresh flowers in hues of white and gold.

 

Dry/Drydown: Clean yet devilish. Creamy white gardenia and lily over golden ambrette and cognac. Dry, handsome sandalwood supports the scent beneath the florals. Very smooth and just a bit naughty. As I had hoped, this does indeed smell similar to Tavern of Hell. Compared to that I’d say this is a bit more simple and more floral, but it definitely has all the parts that count. Clean, romantic flowers with a dry, boozy kick.

 

 

 

 

8.5 out of 10 bones

[Soshoni]

This perfume is from 2011.

 

It's a gorgeous white floral, kept from being overpowering by the sandalwood and cognac.

 

Wet, the dominant scent is gardenias.

 

Once it dries, the floral scent is more complex, with the other flowers shining through, and picking up the smooth richness of the sandalwood. I have to really try in order to pick out the cognac, but its the note that blends it together on my skin.

 

After about four hours, this has faded to a faint hint of gardenias and sandalwood on my skin. Lovely.

[doomsday_disco]

This review is for the 2013 version.

 

In the decant: White florals! I can definitely pick out the narcissus in this. I also get a bit of the cognac (which I hope ends up being more prominent on my skin than it is in the decant).

Wet: The floral notes dominate. This doesn't change, but the sandalwood and the cognac are present as well.

Dry: Still floral dominant, but the floral notes are sweeter now.

Verdict: I am glad that I was able to try this one, but I'm also glad that I didn't buy a bottle of this one unsniffed last year, as the cognac wasn't as strong as I hoped it would be.

Edited September 8, 2014 by dementia_divine

[VetchVesper]

2015 Version

 

I haven't sniffed the other two versions of this, but I really like this one. Mostly, I smell well blended gardenia, narcissus, and lily of the valley. The sandalwood and musk bring down the sweetness of the florals and add some weight to the scent. I'm not really familiar yet with ambrette and davana, so I'm not sure what they are bringing to the table. Overall, I'd say it's a lovely white floral with a bit of murkiness to it. Very classic. It has a pretty good wear length on me for this type of scent as well, 6 hoursish, and no soapiness.

 

I probably won't be getting a bottle of it this year, but only b/c of limited BPAL funds. I'm having to be really picky. I hope they'll continue to bring it out though, because at some point, I would like to pick up a bottle.

[Aviatrix]

This feels almost "green" initially, although there are no green notes listed.

It's a very soft and wistful blend of white flowers and a little cognac (not a lot), with the sandalwood grounding everything nicely.

 

It is very pretty, but ultimately not something I would reach for often. I'll keep my decant, though!

[Argentwolf]

A very sweet, fresh floral that also feels aquatic to me. I can smell a tiny hint of the cognac if I huff deeply enough, but don't get any sandalwood really. It's very pleasant and the decant is worth hanging onto, though it doesn't do enough for me to be bottle-worthy. Fairly strong and I imagine it will last for a bit.

[sprout]

In vitro: White floral, gardenia predominantly

 

Wet: Floral! White florals, which are not screechy or high pitched, but soft and whispy, which could be the contribution of the sandalwood.

Drying: A bit of the musk comes out, no cognac, some ambrette (musky and sweet)

Late drydown: White musk predominant with a hint of fading gardenias and ambrette. The sandalwood is evident now and it is glorious. No cognac to be sniffed.

 

Final thoughts: I was moving this imp to the retry pile when I noticed the drydown was the type of white musk and sandalwood I really, really like. Prior to that, I was just going to keep the imp, because I like florals, and gardenia particularly is lovely but this lacked complexity. However, I can tell by the late drydown that this will develop into the sort of skin musk I really, really like so now I have decided I will get a big bottle when I do my combined Weenie/Yule order. Aged, this will be magnificent!

 

ETA--this is the 2015 version

Edited December 4, 2015 by sprout

[sunlitgarden]

2015 version:

In the decant: Florals with an undertone of musk. It has a "cool" sort of feeling, almost watery. The gardenia is definitely noticable, but it's not overpowering the other notes as it can sometimes do.

On my skin: Despite all the florals this really doesn't feel springy - there's a definite coldness and it smells kind of aquatic in a cold water way. Wet, cold florals. Not icy, though - this is definitely fall-ish, not cold enough to frost, just enough to make you chilled. It reminds me a little of what I remember from The Wild Swans at Coole, though I don't have that blend anymore to compare. I checked the notes and the only thing they have in common is the muguet, so maybe it's that.

Dry: It's more leafy-smelling than floral at this stage. Weirdly, while I smelled the white musk in the decant I haven't really smelled it on my skin. I think it might be giving the scent a bit of a powdery/soft backdrop though.

Edited December 15, 2015 by sunlitgarden

[puellacaerulea]

2011 version, which I apparently never got around to reviewing despite having had it in my stash all this time: This is a floral-musk blend with a bit of a classic perfume feel to it. This isn't what I normally think of when I think of gardenia -- it's not lush and tropical, but cool and watery. I'm guessing it's some combo of the muguet, white musk, and davana that's giving me that impression. I can see how one would read this as a kind of aquatic scent. No soapiness or sharpness here, just cool, slightly murky, appropriately Weenie-ish florals.