Rapture

[malanna]

Sensual ecstasy, the blinding red fire of the apex of sexual pleasure: Moroccan rose, Sumatran rose, mandarin, Egyptian myrrh, night-blooming jasmine, bergamot and neroli thrust into Arabian musk.

When I first applied this, this was a musky scent. While I didn’t actually like the scent, I didn’t straight out dislike it, as I normally do with musk scents. I could actually see myself growing to like it over time. The musk reminded me of Darkness. It’s a dark musk, that’s slightly reminiscent of a blown out candle, the smoke wisps rising in the air. It’s not too smoky, though. After an hour, Rapture turned into a clean scent, a bit like Come to Me, but lighter and with less of the French milled soap quality. I rather liked this stage, even if the scent didn’t stand out so much. After another hour or two, there were some light florals. I’m inclined to say that it was a white floral, because the florals weren’t that distinctive, but, like I said, the florals weren’t that distinctive, so it’s hard to say. After another hour or two, it smells like nothing. I mean, there is a slight scent, but my first impression from sniffing is that my wrist smells like the clean scent of nothing, a nice scent. It’s only when I really think about it and sniff harder that I get that there is a scent. I like all the stages in this scent. While I don’t think that, in the end, this would end up being a scent I really liked, I think this is a scent that would be fun to get to know.

[Jessica]

Rapture was all rose in the bottle. We used to have this huge Abe Lincoln rose bush right by my front door. The thing was a monster, so big we couldn't dig it up if we wanted too without like... a back hoe or something. Anyway, it was gorgeous and the smell these huge red roses gave off was wonderful. This is what Rapture reminded me of.

 

Unfortunatly, as I wore it through the say I was getting annoyed with it. The rose was SO rosey! I decided that Abe was good in small passing doses, but I didn't really want to take him around with me everywhere.

 

Very pretty, just not exactly me. To the swaps!

[surf-tormented]

Even though I love rose, jasmine and musk, this one is just ok. Not bad, not great.

 

I think in blends like this, the rose comes out more on me and drowns out the rest of the notes, which I can still smell, but they are faint.

 

I would recommend this to my local harem. It would be a good oil to put on when one goes to bed.

[ashtonrose]

This dries down to a musky baby powder. I'm not too fond of it, but my husband loves it. I guess it's a keeper for the nights alone.

[tart]

Rapture is a warm rose scent. I recognize the myrrh because it smells slightly burned on my skin. Rose blends for the most part turn soapy on my skin. Unfortunately, I can't smell any of the other notes in this -- and the ingredient list sounds so amazing! Rapture seems like it would be an exciting, sexy scent. It's very boring on my skin, though.

[Gin]

I tried some Rapture last night. I knew I had tried it before but couldn't remember if I liked it or not. I put it on and one of my first thoughts was, "oh no, this has jasmine in it...?" That means that in my last trial, I probably washed it off before letting it fully develop. This time, I left it on and was pleasantly surprised. Looking at the ingredients, this should be awful on me--jasmine, myrrh, and neroli are all notes that I generally avoid, and rose and bergamot aren't always good, either. However, it started to dry down into something lovely. I can only describe it as "incensy jasmine" like how one's fingers might smell after touching a stick of jasmine incense. I'm not sure if I like Rapture strictly because of how it smells or because I'm just so happy to find a jasmine scent that is fabulous on me, so I'm not sure I'll buy a larger bottle, but I'll definitely use up the imp.

[dcmo]

A really nice balance between the rose and jasmine. Very feminine, and slightly sexy without being overt. I found that this scent fades very fast on me, and even in the initial dry stage, I have to have my wrist right under my nose to smell it.

 

It's very pleasant but I prefer my scents to be longer lasting and more apparent.

[requieminblack]

First sniff from the bottle- Rose

 

After 10 minutes- This is a softer rose blend. It is a lot less harsh on me than most florals. This actually smells like a big fresh pink rose.

 

After 30 minutes- The jasmine has come now and this is turning into that horrible 'perfume department at Macys' smell that I can't stand.

 

Summery- No go. Florals just don't work on me.

[britgeekgrrl]

In the imp: cheap, floral perfume. Strong and sweet.

 

Wet on skin: much the same.

 

Half an hour dry: Oh my god, I want to marry this stuff. It's amazing what a little dry down time does for a scent!

 

I read the description but, honestly, all I can smell is a warm, sensuous mix of jasmine and what smells exactly like sandalwood but can't be because (from what I can discern) sandalwood isn't in this particular scent. Just a hint of rose, too, but it's hiding behind the jasmine.

 

Definitely a good scent for a date night - sexy but not overpowering. But I like this one so much, I'll probably be wearing it to the grocery store and perishing from sheer delight the entire time.

 

This one VERY much surprised me and proved that you shouldn't judge a scent by how it smells in the bottle. This one's going on the "get a 5ML ASAP!" list.

 

- Johanna

[paperdoll]

Initial Sniff: This is very pretty in the vial. The myrrh warms, the mandarin sparkles, the rose and jasmine are lush.

Wearing: ROSE! and jasmine. Sadly, the myrrh, mandarin, and musk all desert me and I am left with screamingly loud florals.

Final Impression: Stupid body chemistry! If you can wear rose, give this one a try!

[atomic*orange]

This was a freebie from the lab, as these are not notes I would normally pick for myself. But that's half the fun, right?

 

bottle: Neroli and heavy floral.

 

wet: Hello, neroli! Sharp sharp sharp, with a big foofy cloud of jasmine underneath. The dreaded neroli recedes, leaving persistent jasmine and something of a very soft near-lemony quality. The mandarin/bergamot?

 

dry: Mostly jasmine, not much rose here and no myrrh in sight.

 

conclusion: I love smelling jasmine on the vine but this is just too old-lady on me (florals generally don't work for me anyway.) This imp will go on to make someone else happy. Off to swap!

[shelldoo]

in the vial it was myrrh and jasmine

 

hits my skin and becomes MUSK w/ a hnt of jasmine, my hormones must be making everything w/ musk go haywire today this is so ultra musky

[wickedgoddess]

Origins - imp from the lab.

 

Wet - rose and musk.

 

Dry - oh this is nice! Rose, jasmine and myrrh are the predominant notes right now. Floral with a dark undercurrent, my favorite type of floral! I may need a bottle of this! Very sexy! This reminds of a bit of my beloved Flame of Desire, only with rose. There is quite a bit of throw to this, but the scent as a whole is not very long lasting. Two hours later it is naught but a faint memory.

 

On the wickedgoddess scale of 1 to 5, with 5 being best, this rates a 4.

[VorpalBunny]

Rapture is very musky and a little fruity. Complex and dark, I think the myrrh comes through a lot. I don't smell the rose and I barely smell the jasmine. It's a fun, dark-sexy scent.

[Eros]

In the imp, JASMINE.

 

Wet/on skin, JASMINE.

 

Drydown and 2-3 plus hours later, JASMINE.

 

I really like jasmine but I've discovered that if there's *any* at all in a blend, its going to overpower all the other notes. RUDE JASMINE!!

Still, I'll give this one another try and hopefully, the other lovely notes will come out to play.

[PurringPulsar]

Rapture

 

In the imp: whoa, posh French perfume! Rose and musk are dominant, but there's a tartness that must be from the citrus notes in this.

Wet on skin: wow, rose, musk, jasmine, and other fruitier notes blended into a sophisticated mix.

Dry on skin: this reminds me of Othello, but much nicer. It reminds me of something my mum wears, or my godmother wears-it's very perfumey. Very mature and posh, quite sexy. The jasmine adds a light floral touch, white the rose becomes more defined and the musk and possibly the myrrh adds a decadent depth.

After a while: this doesn't change too much, it just remains a sensual and sumptuous blend of deep musk and rose and jasmine.

Verdict: this is really nice, gentler than the other 'perfumey' BPAL blends, but very sophisticated, floral-musk mix which is both subtle yet sexy-the rose and jasmine are defined, yet well blended with the musk-I think the myrrh adds depth but is not as prominent as the florals. However the fruit doesn't really show up. This is a very mature blend, the sort of thing to wear to make me feel posh and ladylike-and this is a great scent for hot dates and romantic evenings out. Not one to get as a big bottle, but I really like it as an imp.

[quimerula]

A lovely floral, quite subtle.

I can smell jasmine, neroli and a drop of rose.

This is very nice, if you like florals you'll enjoy it!

[Little Bird]

I was hesitant to try this as it has a lot of things in it that don't usually work well on my skin chemistry or that tend to give me headaches (roses, jasmine, and musk).

 

At first, this smelled like a crazed blend of roses, screechingly bright and gave me that nosebleed feeling. Then the jasmine came in and actually seemed to calm the roses down. It became a nice floral blend, soft and very feminine. I hate florals like this, but even I had to admire how pretty it was.

 

Then... after a half hour... musk. Nothing but musk. I'm used to that happening though... my skin will amp up the musk in almost anything.

 

This is a very strong fragrance, a tiny dab on my wrist and I can still smell it clearly around me even three hours later. Which is bad, because the musk is giving me a bit of a headache...

[nineveh]

Oh hey, look who hasn't learned her lesson about jasmine. Let's see what happens with this one.

 

Well, it's not turning to pure jasmine, although I can smell its thick burnt note on me. This is very powdery. I think it smells just like Elizabeth Arden's Blue Grass powder.

 

It's definitely not working on me. I don't smell any of the roses, myrrh, neroli, etc., just jasmine and powder. I wish I could wear this; I love the other notes.

[Tess]

A sudden surge of hormones hit me and I just felt the need to try something SEXY...

 

In the vial - Gah, it's official, I don't get along with jasmine, especially when it's mixed with rose. And this is HEAVY jasmine to me.

 

Wet - Oh, there's myrrh! My hero, dampening the jasmine!

 

Drying - The neroli and the musk are peaking out just a little bit and the myrrh is doing it's best, but it's still really heavily floral. And whoo, does this thing have throw! I am a cloud of floral!

 

Dry (1 hour later) - Meh, it's still really jasmine with a little of the musk and myrrh. Wish the bergamont would come out...

 

Overall - Jasmine and I have never been friends and this faded really fast anyway. Into the swaps with you.

[Sara]

Initial sniff: Ugh...rose...I utterly despise rose sometimes. It's like "Rose? Oh loverly!" then I actually sniff something with rose in it and then it's like "Rose? ughh...."

 

Swipe: Eeep! It got a little worse. There's this deep, stinky sort of heaviness behind the rose, me thinks it's the jasmine.

 

Drydown: Lotsa powder, rose, and a smidgen of jasmine...yeah..um...no thanks.

 

Overall: I'm always happy to try new blends, as I want to try them all eventually, but my record is pretty poopy. There are about 20 "a'ight"s, 10 "likes", a few "mmm"s, and one "holy mother of god I need this in a fucking I.V.!!" Sadly, this falls into the other (largest) catergory: "umm....no"

 

Oh, I did forget to mention that I tried this blend on about 10 minutes ago...and it's already fading super fast. Currently it's basically rose with a splash of soap and a dollop of queasy powder.

 

Edited for lasting time

Edited July 15, 2005 by Sara

[daybreaksdisdain]

Very floral and nice. The musk never appeared on me . The rose can be a tad overwhelming at times but then it retreats.

 

Pretty cool but not a must have.

[OriginalWacky]

Bottle (Imp): Hmm, not quite musk or civet, but evocative of them.

 

Just On: I'm gonna say musk.

 

An hour or two later: Musk with something else peeking out.

 

Around 6 hours: Yep, it's musk.

 

12 hours: Faded musk.

 

Overall: I actually kinda like it in a way.

 

After reading other reviews: Ding ding ding... it has musk, and apparently that is what took over this scent almost completely. It's a decent musk, and works okay on me. I can't say that I got sexy out of this one at all.

[Lycanthrope]

In the Bottle or Imp:

Musk with a bright lily or tuberose overtone.

Wet, on Skin:

A very well blended floral! I can hardly pick out any of the notes individually, but it just sings 'Hail, for I am a glorious floral,' all the while dancing carefully over the musk base without overpowering it.

Drying/Drydown:

Jasmine jumps to the front here. I must amp it like rose and lily, but not to the same degree. Plus, I like jasmine, so no beef here. There may be some rose as well, but all the florals hold together and nothing goes out of check.

Over Time/Longterm:

This reminds me of Aveda. That same spicy, musky, woodsy floral with primary notes of rose and jasmine... I do like Aveda, however, and this is just like their Chakra line, complex and natural aromas that are unisex and unique.

Final Verdict?

Mmm. I don't know if this is bottleworthy since I have so much Aveda stuff leftover, and this is also another 'in the mood' fragrance.

[jewelbug]

In the Bottle: I smell jasmine, woods and orange. Hubby says it smells like stained wood tables and oranges. Interesting.

Him:

Wet: Retains orange scent, gets powdery and has what he describes as "an unpleasant undertingle." What I smell is jasmine and rose with some orange and a hint of spice. I think the "unpleasant" thing to him is jasmine. For some reason, I have problems with Beth's jasmine notes turning into cat pee on my skin, and I suspect hubby has the same problem.

Dry: It’s dry rose (dry like powder) with a bit of jasmine, and a woody note (is this myrrh?) In 40 mins, its almost faded on him, which is just as well, cuz it wasn't working well on him. Girly, powdery and strange jasmine interactions….

 

Me:

Wet: Very strong jasmine and little else. Again, I'm having problems with the jasmine note reminding me of cat pee (similar to what happened to me in phantasm). Hubby says its "Old Cat Lady" smell. Like an old woman wearing perfume that hangs around too many spraying male cats. Ugh. Really, that makes it sound worse than it is, but he's got a point.

Dry: Luckily, the jasmine tones down rather quickly, and the rose takes over, but gets dry and powdery, so the cat is mostly gone, but I still smell older than I'd like. It pretty much stays in this rose powder phase for the duration, which is only about 2 hours.

Overall: Didn't work on either of us. I think I might start avoiding jasmine, despite having liked it in the past--I wore it often. My skin really messes it up now. How upsetting!