Bewitched

[shelldoo]

Deep, luscious green and berry scents that evoke images of woodland witchcraft and the raw power of nature: blackberry, sage, green tea, wild berries and dark musk.

In the imp: herbal greeness.

wet: very very green, herbal

dry: wow this got a bit sweeter, I smell the berries, they are a very ripe juicy smell, the musk is very well hidden, and the herbal scent (very clean smelling) is lingering behind the berries, I go back and forth w/ this one, sometimes it smells very masculine, and I think wow this would smell great on G, and then I sniff again and it is all sweetness and feminine, very nice! A definite keeper maybe we will both wear it

eta i really really like the smell of this one the second time around

ADDED Feb. 21:

this was much nicer then i expected in the bottle it is very very herbal

wet, wow as soon as it touches my sking the berries just explode

dry: this is simply a gorgeous scentit is not too berryish, it is not very herbal, it is a perfect, grown up summer berry scent. i like this one alot even tho i expected not to. Edited November 3, 2005 by Shollin

[Lady Ravenglass]

Mmmm. This is one of my loves. Wet, it has a sharp, almost gingery scent, which after much sniffing I've realised smells a lot like mint - real mint, when you rub the leaves and the smell drifts up. I suspect that's the sage, and what I'm smelling is the crushed 'green-ness'.

 

I don't normally like herby green oils, but the sharpness is mellowed by vanilla'd blackberries - it dries down to a creamy, smooth sweetness with a hint of green in the background to keep it from slipping into Lady Macbeth/Jester/Bordello territory (I adore sweet scents, but they disagree with my stomach ). I've never tasted the Blackberry Sage tea this is being compared to, but I can definitely see where a fruit/herbal tea comparison might come from as I regularly drink Blackberry and Nettle tea and this certainly has a bit of a similar feel.

 

This is a lovely scent! It's sweet without being nauseatingly candy-like; it's green without being sharp and pointy. There is enough vanilla to calm down the herbs and to carry the berries, but it never turns 'foody'. This is a forest walk in autumn, blackberry-picking in crisp air in the sun. I suspect this will be a 5ml purchase eventually, and I often wear it when I'm feeling a bit gypsy-esque and bangle-hung.

[Ina Garten Davita]

First Impression: Berries and sage.

 

Second Impression: I love this scent but it doesn't seem to like me. There is a note, or two in here that is identical to King of Spades. It's making that wonderful, sensual berry smell turn almost rancid. King of Spades did the same thing, in fact the dry-down on both are nearly identical.

 

Final Analysis: Gutted, as the sage and berries works so well together.

[laochodia]

In the bottle- Smelled way too girly. Berries and sugar scented

I'm so glad i tried it on!

Wet, the berries overwhelmed, but 5 minutes into wearing it, it changed completely.

This scent bring to mind sitting on a mountain porch during the summer with a stick of incense burning. On me, i got a myriad of flowers/berry bushes and a wisp of musk rising to the top.

[Reinaluna]

Bewitched, I kind of like this one. When first applied I can smell the blackberries,musk and green tea. This kind of reminds me of Tintagel without the Dragons blood. I dont know if I like it enough to buy a bottle though, I will have to wear it all day at least 3 more times to decide.

[sarada]

I've tried this several different times and I always seem to swap it away, though I like the ingredients. It's just a little too light and sugary for me. In the bottle it's very light, sugary sweet and there's a hint of that lovely green tea smell that you get in a lot of bath gels, soaps and the like -- this reminds me of a Te Tao shower gel, I think. But it's definitely sugary -- the blackberry scent in this is also present in Glasgow I think, which has a similarly powdery, sugary fruit scent to it.

 

Once on the skin it continues to be very sweet and the tea note dominates after awhile. A very nice green scent but I feel as though there's too much sugar in this tea...and I like my blackberries very dark and bursting with almost wine-like flavour.

 

I am always delighted to get Bewitched in as a freebie and I wear it once and enjoy it but it's just too light and sweet for my regular rotation. Great for summer wear I think if you enjoy very sweet scents. I don't get any musk from this, by the way -- I'm very weird with musk, I usually get a strong whiff of it when I first apply something with musk in it, but this was all sugar on me....it's as if you made iced blackberry-sage tea and drowned it in sugar. Very nice but I don't think it's going to work for me!

[Aurelius]

This was a gimp from the lab.

 

On my skin I do not smell musk or tea, sadly, but I do smell berries. I've tried several blends with berries and they tend to freak out and scream bloody murder on my skin. Bewitched does not. On me it's a very pleasant mix of berry and sage, and I smell just a hint of flowers. This is very pretty.

[Finny]

Out of the imp... green herbs and berries.

 

This smells like berry herb tea, it dries down to a wonderful fruity and herbal scent. It smells fresh and juicy, I think it will be delightful this summer. I get a hint of sage, which is lovely.

 

A very nice blend.

[Dinah]

This is a slightly sharp fruity scent on me - more like apples than berries when wet.

 

As it dries, first the tea and the herbs come to the surface and then it gets darker and muskier. I can smell the blackberries now.

 

This is absolutely lovely. It's a perfect balance - the musk creates an earthy foundation together with the berries, and the green tea gives it a very fresh, clean smelling upper layer. On my left wrist, the green tea is stronger, and on my right wrist there's more musk. Ooohkay.

 

I really like this. It's a terribly rainy and grey day, very nasty, but Bewitched reminds me of how walking through rainy heather feels and how fresh and invigorating the wind is when you're out in nature.

[darkitysnark]

Bewitched

 

My first swap faux-pas (in that I accidentally swapped with two generous forumites for the same thing, sheesh) that naturally didn't agree with me... so I'll have twice as much to swap out.

 

In the bottle:

Berries and that generic perfume smell that you get when going through a section of a store with lots of different perfumes.

 

Wet:

Strong, sweet berries. I'm not getting dark berries, as I had hoped, but the bright reddish berries I also got in Tintagel (minus the leather).

 

Drydown and later:

This pretty much stayed the same for the rest of the day (now going into hour four). It's a strong, straighforward red berry with a cologne aftertaste in the back of my throat, and at the very end of a deep nose-to-wrist sniff, even a little BO.

 

Conclusion:

I love berries. I love eating them, I love wearing makeup in their hues, I love surrounding myself with all things berry-licious. But apparently it looks like berries do not like me, or at least they just don't like my skin. Off to swaps with ye (and yer sister too!).

[requieminblack]

First sniff from the bottle- This smells like berries!

 

After 10 minutes- Yep, as the others have said this smells just like blackberry sage tea! It is really sweet and fruity.

 

After 30 minutes- Once it dries down it smells just like a Strawberry Shortcake doll just as someone else mentioned!

 

Summery This one is fun, but a bit too fruity for me. Off to swaps it goes.

[dcmo]

In the initial wet stage, I'm only picking up the green scents. Which is not really me, but thankfully when this dries, it is softer, sweeter, and more of the berry scents coming out. Thankfully I didn't give up on this in the early stages, because this is really lovely.

[Pixie-elf]

First Sniff: Berries and... other stuff?

 

On my skin: Berries... Mmm... Sweet JUICY berries...

 

After 5 minutes: Mmm... Blackberry. This smells really nice and blackberrylike. Yum.

 

After 10 minutes: It's still berryish, but I can smell a little herbiness coming through.

 

After 30 minutes: More berrylike than herby but it's getting a bit stronger....

 

After an Hour: Berry scent + Herbs are equal now.

 

After 2 hours: Faint berry and herbs, equal on me, very nice.

 

Conclusion: I won't be buying more. While it IS nice, it's not me. It's off to swaps probably... If you like Berries, and you like a little herbiness, then you'll like this. It's very pretty just not me.

[Sheila]

I tried Bewitched this weekend and it instantly shot into my top-ten list (sorry, O). At first it reminds me of smarties--very sweet and candyish. But then the musk kicks in to ground the scent and keep it from going too sweet. I don't get any sage or tea--just blackberries and musk. Lovely!

Edited August 29, 2005 by clover

[Macha]

I bought an imp of this from the lab, since I was hoping to find a scent evocative of picking blackberries in the summer when I was young.

 

In the vial: Oooh. This is very much the smell of blackberry sage tea. A light, sweet berry scent that is really quite beautiful.

 

Wet, on skin: Blackberries! This is simple, true, and juicy. The blackberry smell is very sweet and vivid, but less evocative of the wilderness that I'd hoped. Not that such is bad in any way. After a little bit, this starts to smell almost candle-ish on me, but it's still a dead ringer for blackberry sage tea with lots of sugar. I can easily see where this might be too much for some people.

 

Dry, on skin: The berries fade a little, allowing the sage and musk to have more of a say in matters. I like this stage quite a lot, since it lends some desperately needed complexity to the blackberries. It dries down quite pleasantly.

 

Conclusion: While I don't need a bottle of this right this instant, I would by no means object to having a large bottle should the opportunity present itself. I find that this is a playful, straightforward fruity blend that delivers exactly what it promises. It has excellent throw and staying power, and would be fabulous in the summertime.

[Renny]

I absolutely love Bewitched. It's one of those scents that doesn't change much for me, smells pretty much the same on me as it does in the bottle. But it's also one of those that doesn't last through the day. The berries are very strong, but there's a huge undertone of green, woody scents. A hint of green tea is thrown in there too. It makes me think of woodland magic.

[anshara]

In the imp: Sage, wood, and a hint of berry

 

Wet swiped on wrist: sage lots of sage. A hint of berry beneath it.

 

drydown 10 minutes: herbed berry: Actually Yankee mixed berry candle

Another hit for the lab.

[antimony]

Hooray! A berry scent that *isn't* all sickly sweet and sticky-smelling.

 

The sage doesn't come across as foody, just kinda green and grassy. The berries are very blackberry-ish, kinda tart. I couldn't pick out the tea, and the musk wasn't musky, there was just a smoothness underpinning the scent.

 

It lasted maybe 4-6 hours on me before it was all gone.

[ccdoodleme]

This is my first review of the FIRST scent I have tried from BPAL, and what a way to begin!

 

In the imp fresh berry and LOVELY green smell, like a fresh cut bouquet of flowers.

 

First impression on my skin, still very very berry-ish, yummy and green, made me feel happy and girly

 

Dry down, scent didnt change much, maybe a little warmer, little vanilla

 

DH LOVES this one as well!!

 

This one lasted all day.

Edited March 16, 2005 by ccdoodleme

[paperdoll]

Initial Sniff: This smells like a forest floor covered with berries. It also smells a little like a cherry cough drop (complete with the power of mentholyptus).

Wearing: Oh my. The dark green smells are strong, with just a touch of berry peeking out and sweetening it up. I cannot stop sniffing myself. I can smell the sage and the tea (though it smels like outside, not like food), and I swear there is just the tiniest hint of pine. After several hours, the berries take over and this becomes very sweet.

Final Impressions: Skadi is the first winter - pure and white and young. Bewitched is Skadi in her final summer - she is old and wise and mellow with age. She appears different now, but is just as beautiful as she was in that first winter.

[theshapeshifter]

In the imp - SAGE, strong almost to the point of being medicinal - like grabbing a handful of leaves right off my sage plant on a warm summer day and crushing them under my nose.

 

When first applied - The sage disappears immediately, replaced by a burst of sweet juicy blackberry. At first impression, it seems quite simple, almost like a single-note scent.

 

After 10-20 minutes - The berry is still predominant, but the sage and tea are playing a solid supporting role now, so that it's become a scent of sweet blackberry tea, as several others have cited. The musk seems to be quite mild in this, just adding a little depth - which is great news to me, as this is the first musk-containing BPAL I've tried, and I've always had bad luck with musk in the past.

 

After 6 or 7 hours - It hasn't changed much further in the drydown, except to become even more well-blended, as the berry-sweetness mellows into something less candylike, more grown-up. The only thing is that next time I'll apply a little more... I was quite sparing with the imp this morning due to my apprehension around the musk issue, and the scent is becoming fairly faint. This will be a 'slathering' fragrance, and a strong contender for purchase of a 5 ml!

[anmorata]

Bewitched:

 

Wet: Slight berry hints, slightly spicy.

Drydown: The green tea really makes quite a debut during the drydown, as does the sage.

Longterm wear: Gorgeous. The notes mingle well, and are very well-blended. Hurrah!

[thesibylqueen]

Like some, I did not get any tea or musk from this scent, unfortunately. In fact, in the bottle and on my skin I reeked of cherries, rather than berries. After an hour or so on, the scent mellowed out to a soft, fruity sage, which was pleasant, but it was a very muted scent, unfortunately--I would have slathered on more, but didn't want to go through the cherry phase again.

 

I am going to use this oil for body lotion, though: its got the kind of fragrance that would layer well, I think, under another, deeper oil.

[kmasden]

This is a nice, light, but girly scent on me. Wet, it is sweet and fruity, very pretty blackberry scent. As it dries down the fruity kinda dissappates into a cotton candy smell with a perfume wafting from it. In the end, it smells too much like Lush creamy candy bath products, which aren't my favorite. Would be an excellent scent for those that love creamy candy, pink sugar etc... and also a great scent for a young girl as it is light and sweet.

[voodoobaby]

In the bottle: Candy-sweet berries mixed with a deeper, fresh greenness that's probably sage. So far it's a very misty scent; ethereal, yet with substance.

 

Wearing: The moment it touches my skin, it turns very clean and light. This is the perfect late spring scent, when it first starts turning to summer but the breezes are still cool. It's for some reason reminding me of a clear soap I had once that didn't smell soap. Cool and refreshing.

 

Later: I get the sugar note, and call me crazy, but is that strawberry I smell? Think a fresh strawberry dipped in powdered sugar, throw in some other sweet treats, and you have the smell I get. It's yummy, but it's not deep at all--this is one I consider a little two-dimensional. However, it's fresh and light and carefree, and perfect for the lovely Oklahoma spring weather. I will probably wear this a lot before the season's over, particularly on leisurely strolls through the neighborhood or anything having to do with sun.