Morgause

[leahcat]

Morgause

 

Earth sorceress and mother of Mordred, she is, in essence, the harbinger of King Arthur's doom and the downfall of Camelot. She is a sister, or sister-self, to Morgan Le Fay. A bouquet of five night-blooming flowers deepened by dusky violet, purple fruits and the barest breath of medieval incenses.

 

in the bottle: floral! Yes indeed. However, it’s a sweet floral, not quite an icky badly scented bath soap floral.

wet: Floral. Hmm.. my nose isn’t being more specific than that right now. Violet? Sure, I can swing with that.

drying/15 minutes: Floral in my face. I don’t think this is going to change :S

[Julilla Regina]

Yes, this is deeply purple. Not a light purpley lavendar or heather, but a plummy blackberry scent. It is very fruity, but I think it's sophisticated. The incense is very much in the background, to my nose. It's mostly just lovely, sweet dark purple fruits over a whisper of grown up light incense. I think it's really beautiful and dark in a twilight sense.

[lizling]

Lovely. Simply lovely. Very subtle, both in the bottle and on me. Dark, gently sweet, floral on top and on bottom with a fruitiness somewhere in the middle, with just a hint of smokiness. In the bottle, the fruity note seems strangely sweet and out of place, but as it sits on me the fruit note becomes less sweet and more complex, and the dark "incense" smell becomes more noticeable. Oh, heavens to Betsy (or to Beth, perhaps?), I just love this oil. Lovelovelove.

The downside of this oil is that it's not very strong, and it fades as it changes; it gets really lovely after it's been on a while and I wish it would hang around to be awesome!

[joseybird]

The jasmine is very heady and strong, and yet the violets and fruits temper it, so it is not unbearable and overwhelming.

 

This scent has a certain texture that--the scent equivalent of dark, silky hair and soft, midnight purple silk. I press my nose to my wrist and smell one thing; I pull back, and I smell another subtle facet.

 

I was recently in a tabletop rpg in which one of the main antagonists was a modern incarnation of Morgan le Fay (Changeing: The Dreaming; it was an Arthurian game). This would have been her perfume.

[thesibylqueen]

I adore this scent! I was attracted to the description--and to my pleasure, the first whiff when I opened my imp was violet and jasmine: my two favorite flowers!

 

This is a very rich floral smell--while wet, it was all floral. Even my girlfriend, who declares most florals to be 'grandmother' loved this scent.

 

On the drydown, I started catching whiffs of something smoky and burn-y, like a match, almost, and I couldn't figure out where it was coming from--and then I realized it was me!

[vyvyan]

I had hopes for this; I should learn that florals + me only work very, very, very infrequently. Unfortunately, this was not an exception. It was *pretty* florals, mind, but still far too many of them. I think I could smell some fruit underneath, and it did have a lovely purple-y feel to it, but no incense, just a huge pile of flowers. Mnaaah.

 

I could smell it on my wrists for about 4 hours; I had a friend over that evening, and she could smell it 6 hours after I put it on, and agreed that it is just not for me.

 

Oh well. One for the swaps!

[nineveh]

I'm very picky about florals, but the description tempted me into an imp.

 

I like the fruit and violet aspects of this scent, but the jasmine (if that's what it is) goes rather cloying on me. Initially, there was a sharp, blood-like scent, but thankfully that's faded.

 

This is a dark, sophisticated scent, but the night-blooming florals are a bit too heavy on me. I'm discovering that I tend to only like florals if they have something resinous or spicy to accompany them, and unfortuntely the incense hasn't shown up yet.

 

If you're looking for a dark jasmine blend, this would probably be a good choice.

[zankoku_zen]

In bottle: Violet tinged, but deeper and more aggressive than Ultraviolet.

On Skin: I can smell the violet first, and some other floral. There is something very purple about this scent at the moment. Starting to smell some of the incense now.

 

On Drydown: Getting some of the earthiness. This is a very powerful scent. I'm getting a bit of a dark woman, powerful and sure of herself. It smells floral and then gives way to the incense. I get a different 'power' vibe than when I smell Goneril. It isn't so much that she is treacherous and conniving, but rather that the notions of right/wrong just don't mean anything to her.

 

Verdict: I'm going to keep her for now. She is an interesting lady and definitely something else.

[Phaedra]

When first applied this smells softly of violets. After a few minutes a dark fruitiness develops. This has a nice richness to it and is very pretty smelling. I really like this one and will try it again to see if I want to get a bottle.

[blaqpearl]

I really wanted to love this. But this one turned out to smell like tart red wine on me. I no longer drink alcohol so this didnt make me happy. Oh well, maybe someone else will love this.

[k00kaburra]

In bottle: Jasmine and ylang ylang. 'Purple fruits' made me think of plums and grapes, but I'm not getting hints of either. There is a faint sweet fruit note beneath all the florals, but it is too weak for identification at this stage.

On me: This has become rather 'old lady floral' on me. Jasmine and faint, dusty incense - it is more like the memory of incense. The incense's presence can be felt, but it cannot be detected; it is as if it was burned years ago and traces of the aroma remain, but not even a few grains of ash remain of the actual incense.

[Falathwen]

I had to try this because I am a fan of violet and Arthurian legends. I am guessing that two of the night blooming flowers in this blend might be jasmine and gardenia because my skin chemistry turned this blend into a strong "white" floral. As it dried, the violet attempted to make an appearance but sadly this blend is not for me

[telesilla]

I'm not a huge fan of florals, but I couldn't resist this one between the name, the fact that it's got some fruit happening and that bit about the medieval incenses.

 

In the bottle and wet on me: A nice heavy but sweet floral.

 

Drying: It's still floral but there's some fruit now showing up, as well as a little bit of resiny smell that I think is the incenses.

 

Dry and later: This is just like Spiritual Skies violet incense I used to love back in the '70s. If there is rose in here, it's well hidden and isn't going either soapy or metallic on me. It's still a floral, but it's a dark smokey floral. Don't know if it's a big bottle or not, but I do really really like it.

 

GF's reaction: Another big hit; I think she'll end up trying it too.

[Dark Sparkle]

I chose this scent partly because Morgause is my favourite character of the Arthurian legends and also partly because I could not resist the combination of violet, nightblooming flowers and incense .

 

In the vial: Jasmine and violets with a spicy note, quite perfumey but I love perfumey .

 

Wet on skin: Wow, heady floral indeed! The violet is quite prominent. After a minute or so, it turns very berry/plummy on my skin with the violet in the background, this is truly a purple scent of many facettes ranging from fresh bright violet to sweet dark plum and blackberries.

 

Drying down: Fruity notes really love my skin, it seems, because it becomes the main driver of the scent as it dries, the incense peaks through and gets acquainted with the other notes, lovely .

 

Overall verdict: Morgause really is a lovely, intriguing scent, very feminine and mysterious - I feel I can not do it justice by wearing jeans and a t-shirt - this calls for long, flowing robes and ribbons in my hair. I need a bottle of Morgause *sigh*.

[PurringPulsar]

Morgause

 

In the imp: violet, jasmine, gardenia and plum. Maybe other fruits and flowers, but that's what I smell here.

Wet on skin: yup, there's gardenia here, but it doesn't react horribly with my skin to smell nasty like some gardenias do, but it does add an interesting edge. There's also jasmine and violet, and some deeper florals, and maybe some plum.

Dry on skin: mmm, this is quite nice! There's something nice and mystical about this scent. The florals are most prominent here, but there's a bit of sweetness there as well, thanks to the purple fruits. It's a very heady floral bouquet, with a bewitching feel. I think there's just a hint of smoke there as well.

After a while: the plum scent grows ever stronger. I'm impressed that the BPAL plum note really does remind me of those really juicy sweet plums that I eat. The wispy, ethereal florals seem to be anchored, or grounded, by the fruit note. Together they combine to give a rich, purple scent, it has a sense of mystery. There's still just that hint of smoke there as well.

Verdict: this was an unexpected surprise! This is a lovely bouquet of ethereal floral scents such as violet, jasmine and gardenia, but they are very well blended here and they don't smell soapy. The plum and other fruits add a juicy, sweet depth to the fragrance, grounding the florals. The overall scent is mysterious and heady, sweet and dark-it has a really nocturnal feel. I'm not sure if it's a favourite yet, but it's a gorgeous scent none the less. The only disadvantage is that it seems to fade quickly on me.

Edited July 18, 2005 by yeahbutnobut

[olympia301]

Very floral, very strong, and (as others have noted) purple. Very much a woman's perfume, done in the time honored style of big flowers, Morgause holds that royal secret of purple as it does have a grapey quality in the background. Morgause is one where jasmine intertwines with gardenia and violet to come up with a big, dark, juicy flower perfume with long legs and not a bit of tannin in sight. Highly recommended for when you need to come on strong. It lasts and just a tiny drop will scent a room. As with your femininity, use with caution.

Edited July 23, 2005 by olympia301

[puck_nc]

This was an addition to my wishlist because I'm always about the florals.

 

In the bottle: a nice dark floral with a hint of musk that adds an element of mystery. Very nice!

 

Wet: Okay, it's official. Violet and I have a difficult relationship. The scent is sharp, astringent, nose-tingling violet, with the musk clinging on for dear life.

 

Drydown: Eventually the violet softens, leaving a faint, sweet musky floral. It's a pretty scent if I'm patient enough to wait on it, but not an instant hit with me.

[Loligo]

Jasmine -- why did it have to be jasmine? (Note to self: in future assume that unspecified "night-blooming flowers" means jasmine.) It the beginning, the harsh "perfume" thing that jasmine does on me dukes it out with the beautiful violet. About half an hour later, they both recede, leaving a very powdery floral incense with hints of grape Kool-aid. Not by any means a winner, but I had to try it -- some of my very favorite BPAL blends are rich, over-the-top scents that I would never have guessed would work.

[tesao]

provenance: lagniappe from the lab rats!! yayay!! gotta love them!

 

in the imp: two thoughts. 1) mmmm. gardenia or pikake? 2) oh no. florals.

 

on my wrist, wet: at first, this smelled the way it did in the bottle. yay! hawai'i!

it smells vaguely reminiscent of Pele. then, jasmine showed up. and about a minute or so later, violets started hammering on the door. my skin has the unfortunate (for me) vice of amping violets waaaaaaay up.

 

on my wrist, dry: yep. the violets have arrived in full force. squadrons. platoons. the other, white florals are hinted at still, but very much in the background, and very much in little tiny whispers. and it is starting to get very powdery.

 

drydown: screaming, powdery violets. massive headache. loads of throw. time for this one to get scrubbed off.

[Celogrl]

Ahhhh- I feel Queenly when wearing Morgause! First impression: very purple. The violet is dark but still sweet, the florals are subtle and it mixes together for a sensual but regal fragrance. This is gorgeous- from wet application to violety, powdery drydown. Two thumbs up (if I had more thumbs they'd be up, too.) This is absolutely lovely.

[Scarlettfish]

This is just exquisite...it's a very deep, silky purple, very evocative of evening and mystery. The jasmine and violet are prominent, but the incense and fruit prevent them from being overwhelming. It is very well blended and just gorgeous. Definite big bottle purchase.

[Little Bird]

I was really hoping that the promise of fruits and incense in this would keep the florals from becoming overpowering and giving me a headache. Sadly, I don't really smell any fruit and I definitely don't smell any incense.

 

Morgause is all jasmine and violet on me. The jasmine is very strong and smoky, almost strangling the violet. Still, the violets manage to peek out every once in a while in a burst of sweetness.

 

If you like jasmine and violets and you're a floral person, you'll love this. It gives me an awful headache though.

[AlaskaSnows]

Morgause is one of my Top Ten, and for me gets a 10 on scale of 1 - 10. This is a sophisticated floral, with a hint of muskiness, but just a hint. Never bitter, never too sweet, it's very dignified and sophisticated and gorgeous.

 

I get a medium strength floral that does not morph upon drydown, with a lot of restrained jasmine. It's gorgeous, and I would wear it anywhere.

[Lycanthrope]

Aw, sage makes an appearance in this aroma, which seems to be prominent in Aeval, too, and it definitely overamps and hangs on my skin.

 

Starts off quite sagey, with a very faint violet undercurrent that I could only pick out because I was primed to think 'purple' and 'violet' by the description. There's also a slight wet fruit plumminess to the scent that can't in any way compete with the herbal, potent blend of green leafy incense that is led by sage. It pretty much stays constant on me, sort of weird for a BPAL blend, and settles into a very green, herbal sage violet. It's not me, though.

 

Swap!

[Voleuse]

Very light and purple, on first application. The violet is evident immediately, as well as a hint of sweet and green in the background. I have no idea what the other florals might be, or the fruit. It is a gorgeous, smoky-but-not-smoky scent. Dusk is the perfect word for it.

 

Over time, the scent gets sweeter, more floral. It becomes more like itself, if that makes any sense. It doesn't fade very much at all.

 

I'm not sure if I wear violet well, but I love the smell of it. I really like this scent.