Whitechapel

[storme]

A gentlemen's blend, possessed of dignity, charm and refinement, but in truth masking a corrupted, hideous, soulless core. White musk, lime, lilac and citron.

In the imp: mmm! sharp, biting citrus and lilac. gosh, I'd forgotten how much I like the smell of lilac.

On me, wet: slightly powdery lime and musks. the lilac is much less prominent than it was in the imp.

On me, dry: ...interesting! the lime has a much closer throw than the lilac, so at arms length I get wafts of soft, gentle lilac. Close up, the lime and musks intrude and this smells sharp and dangerous but in a *really* good way. Jack the Ripper was hot, apparently.

Later: the citrus dies down, leaving a beautiful lilac-and-musk smell that lingers for ages.

Verdict: even if this didn't work on me, I would keep the imp around for use in scent lockets or just to sniff at. As it is, it works and is pretty fascinating. Awesome! Edited August 17, 2006 by Shollin

[Voleuse]

On first sniff, this is white musk and citrus, subtle but compelling. After a minute, I can smell the lilac. The scent is a halo, dim light in the evening and hooves against cobblestone. Lovely. I'd describe as gender-neutral, but I think it could be a gentleman's scent quite easily.

[lucida]

This is my very first review!

 

I received a frimp of Whitechapel with my recent order and tried it without having read the description or the reviews.

 

Wet: Lime lime lime! Like when you cut up a lime to make gin and tonics. Very sharp and clean.

 

Drying: More complex - I smell the white musk and the citrus, but not the floral notes, which is fine with me. This is a beautiful, beautiful scent, and absolutely perfect for the hot humid weather.

 

Dry: Much more faint now, the lime has backed off considerably. Still a lovely hot weather scent.

 

I will definitely be getting a bottle of this for next summer. This didn't smell masculine to me - to me this was a very gender neutral scent.

[Syzygy]

Because I adore the smell of lilacs, Whitechapel is one of the few exceptions to my No Florals, Dammit rule. It was the lime note, though, that made me spring for an imp.

 

While the initial rush of lime and citron is quite strong, those notes quickly settle down to let a gorgeous, musk-deepened lilac take center stage. This is a dead-perfect lilac note here, folks. There is a row of lilac bushes next to my Post Office, and every day during the all-too-brief time that the lilacs are in bloom, I have to stop on my way to get the mail and just stand there for a blissful moment, eyes closed, inhaling the fragrance that seems to me the essence of springtime. Whitechapel smells exactly like those lilacs, with just a little bit of citrus sparkle brightening things around the edges.

 

I tend to enjoy more complex scents for the olfactory journeys they can contain, but there's a lot to be said for simplicity as well. Whitechapel is uncomplicated and beautiful, and it's perfect that way.

[karikazo]

A beautiful blend, though one that doesn't last long on me. The lime is delicious and citrus-y without being too sharp. The lilac rounds it out and gives it a little powdery sweetness, though not a candy sweetness or the dreaded baby powder. And I guess white musk is OK on me since I find nothing objectionable in this scent!

 

Funnily, on my boyfriend it is much more lime-y and sharp (still nice, though) and strong-smelling.

 

I am going to try it mixed with lotion since it fades quickly on me. But it is wonderfully blended, a really nice fragrance.

[steffanina]

(my first review, whee!)

 

Whitechapel-

 

In Bottle: Lemon. Lemon as Lemon furniture polish. Something underneath, baby powdery.

 

Wet: More lime than lemon, and something else I can't put a name to.

 

Dry: The lemon/lime is gone, and I'm left with what must be the white musk. It's baby-scent like but there's a hint of something more mature, like the most delicate scent of sweat a gentleman might dare to exude. It's both soft and sinister at once.

 

Overall: I like!

[filigree_shadow]

This smells strongly of lime at first... but most blends that contain lime usually smell mostly of lime on me at first. There's a little bit of lilac underneath the lime that starts to come through as the lime fades out, and the lilac keeps getting stronger while it dries. But as the lime goes away a lemony scent takes its place, and I don't care for lemon. It makes the lilac smell sour, and I like lilac so much that I don't want it to be altered like that.

 

The parts of this that I like are things I can find in other oils I like better: I can get my lilac fix from Cordelia, and for a clean crisp masculine citrus scent I prefer Villain over Whitechapel.

[sofiaviolet]

I would expect lilac to pwn this scent, but on me it's all lime and white musk. Terribly chilly, which is great in the recent weather. It doesn't have much throw, though.

[margravine]

Oh, this is very interesting. The citrusy scent dominates at first. It's very sharp. As it dries down the musk and lavendar start to take over. Somehow the citrus pops through that and gives it a quality of being not quite decent. It's just this element of fierceness cutting through the scent of a gentleman like a subtle warning. It's so exactly as the description says.

[Emma2403]

In the bottle: lemon, like a lemon candy. It reminds me my childhood when my grandma gave me such candies and I was always disappointed because they were too sour for my taste back then. Ah, nostalgia.

 

On my skin: it's even more lemonish. I honestly cannot smell anything else. Now I'm craving for those candies I was referring to.

That would be the perfect scent for a hot summer day (not to mention, it's August but rainy and 18°C).

Sniffing it again a couple of minutes later, I recognize lilac now. I would never have thought of mixing lemon and lilac, but it's pretty.

 

 

After a couple of hours: first, there was lilac, then in the end, it was only white musk. All the lemon is gone.

 

Verdict: very pretty and refreshing but unfortunately it went poof very quickly.

Edited September 2, 2006 by Emma2403

[Eros]

Strong lemon-lime in the imp. Once applied, Lemonheads candies. The musk tries to show itself but it doesn't quite make it. Very light blend and disappears quickly. More of a masculine(duh, right?), blend. On him, while it's fairly yummy & he likes it quite well, it makes me sneeze :/

[blackfelicula]

In the bottle: Ooo, I get lime and citrus when I smell Whitechapel.

 

Wet: Lime is definitely the dominant note in this one, though I can catch a whiff of something floral underneath. That must be the lilac.

 

Drying down: I’m really enjoying the citrus of this. I think the musk is softening it just a touch. I think this is a wonderful scent for citrus lovers of any gender, though I can see how it would work nicely on a man.

 

Dry: The lilac is getting louder than it was, and the musk is becoming discernable, but the blend is still primarily citrus. This really is a lovely balance. Do’h, my nose feels like it wants to sneeze if I sniff it up close. Eh, the occasional sneeze is worth smelling like this.

 

Later: The citrus has mellowed more and my skin has amped the musk, after four hours. It’s still an enjoyable scent. I may have to put this on the list of scents I want 5mLs of.

[birdiefu]

At first, Whitechapel is all bright lemony/lime. After about 10 minutes the lime dies down and leaves behind what I guess is the lilac. It smells to me like old dead rose petals, not the most pleasant scent. 20 minutes more and the lilac fades, leaving just a trace of white musk on my skin. Very odd morphing as it goes from note to note and I don't get anything mixed together- just lime, then lilac, then musk. The white musk stage is nice if I can refrain from smelling myself until it shows up, but by then the scent is so light it's barely detectable.

[Clementine]

Whitechapel starts out all lime and zest, but then it quickly turns sour on me. The wet application is so promising, so I am sad that this doesn't work! I will try it a few more times to make sure it's really a dud.

[themerrybaker]

You put the lime in the baby oil and mix them both together...

 

I like White Chap as a clean subtle warm-weather work friendly scent ( a bit like Embalming Fluid) but there seems to be some baby oil thing going on here. Not bad, just unexpected. Will enjoy the frimp, but don't need a whole bottle.

[Neely]

In the bottle: lemon Pledge.

 

Wet: lemon with a light floral. The lilac apparently aren't bullies, but refined and sweet.

 

Dry down: Lemon Pledge with a soft floral.

 

30 minutes: the Lemon Pledge tones down and thsi becomes a clean crisp, almost Victorian Man's cologne on white linen.

 

Conclusion: this became a clean crisp Victorian gentleman's cologne, and while I loved the end result, the LEMON PLEDGE, portion of the show, just is not my thing. I don't like lemons. I don't like them in lemonade, cakes, cookies, or even in tea. Limes and orange yes. But the citron in this just overwhelms everything else, and encourages lime to misbehave as well. Stoopid skin chemistry. So this is not for me.

 

Rating 1-5, on my skin, this is a 3. For the scent itself it is a 4.5.

[jasmine]

Lime! Hello, lime! How are you today! All my face are belong to you!

 

...okay, now that I’ve finished that little bit of silliness, I must say I’m surprised. I wasn’t knocked over by the lime scent while Whitechapel was still in the vial -- in the vial, it’s only one note among many -- but the lime is very prominent on my skin while the oil is wet. As it starts to dry, it becomes cooler and a bit more aloof, but I still can’t get over that first giddy rush of lime.

 

As it dries, it picks up a bit of masculinity, though it still doesn’t strike me as overwhelmingly masculine. I think I detect a resin of some sort under the lime, but, looking back at the description, I think it must be the musk. (I’m still very bad at discerning musks and resins, but I am getting practice!)

 

Whitechapel is a chill smell... very aloof. The lime isn’t giddily exuberant any more, but it’s still shouting loudly on my arm, and all other notes in the blend are entirely drowned out. I don’t particularly dislike lime, but I don’t have any particular fondness for it as a solo scent, either. Oh well.

[roenim]

Whitechapel ended up not being what I expected. Not a bad thing, but I was just surprised at what it ended up smelling like on me. Pleasantly surprised, mind you.

 

Wet, it was fresh and citrusy but not lemony. I think that must have been the lime. Lovely. Not too feminine, not too masculine either. Nicely gender neutral. This part is what I expected it to smell like. But...

 

Dry, It smelled floral, but not cloying. Sweet and warm. It must be the lilac and white musk. I can still smell a bit of the lime in there, but it's very faint and it just tempers the lilac. Preventing it from being to flowery.

 

On me, this has moderate throw. It's a calm scent. This smells exactly like how my grandmother smells. Just lovely and comforting. I want to go over to her house and give her a big hug and just smell her. Not at all what I expected Whitechapel to end up smelling like and definitely not "masking a corrupted, hideous, soulless core". I love the smell, but it's not me. I'll probably get just imps of it instead of a bottle for when I miss my grandma and she's too far away to hug.

[supremegoddessofall]

Nothing but citrus hell. None of the other notes at all. Blech.

[swilde]

This smells just like Mountain Dew. I thought I caught a little bit of lilac at first, but then... lemon lime.

[Spastik_Kitty]

In the imp: Lemon lime suckers.

 

First on: Hmm, it's like a non-offensive floor cleaner, a bit sweeter.

 

After a bit: Well, it takes on a slightly dusty floral bathroom air freshener quality on me.

 

Thank whomever it smells better on my husband, I need to wash this off.

[PurringPulsar]

Whitechapel

 

In the imp: lemon, lime and lilac! Citrus fresh and bright.

Wet on skin: lime, lemon and lilac. At this point the lemon note actually smells like verbena.

Dry: citrus and lilac. I really like the lilac in here, smells like the real thing, and the lime note is lovely and strong. Like sipping a margarita under a blooming lilac tree. I smell lemon verbena here as well (or is it lemongrass? It smells more like a herbal lemon than a fruity one). I can’t smell the musk yet.

After a while: the citrus does tone down as expected, and the scent remaining on my skin is a very pretty lilac and white musk fragrance. Very light, still slightly lemon-tangy, not very strong, but very pretty. At times it smells almost like pure lilac, especially because the musk here is so subtle. And at the end, it’s all lilac, soft dried lilac blooms, with the faintest trace of musk. It’s pretty, but hasn’t got as much throw as it did when it was full of citrus.

Verdict: this is a very nice citrus musk-very citrusy and tangy at first when the lime is very powerful. This sharpness does tone down (unfortunately, that’s the way with most citrus) making way for a gorgeous and genuine lilac note. The musk is barely there but the lilac is so nice, it doesn’t go wonky on my skin. The problem with this scent is that it’s not got much throw, it hasn’t got the presence and complexity I like, and it doesn’t last long either. Not sure whether to keep it-it’s a very pretty scent but I’m not sure I’ll wear it much.

Emoticon rating:

Is it a keeper? Not sure. It’s nice but doesn’t stick around much on me.

If you like this, try: Villain, Cordelia, F5, Jonathan Harker

[maijasu]

I'm getting two different scents from this. Close to my skin, it's all lime. Farther away, it's a floral musk with some pretty good throw. Very unusual and interesting. I'll be keeping the imp around to see if it grows on me.

[neuilly]

For the first 5-10 minutes this smells like lemon wet towelettes...well, ok, lemon/lime wet towelettes, but it's not the greatest scent. It then goes into a very brief lemon candy phase, But then...

 

After about 10-15 minutes the sharp citrus blend fades into the background and the lilac and musk come out to play! I'm rather oving this scent...I look quite ridiculous because I'm at work and I keep sniffing myself. This is mostly lilac and musk on me but there seems to be some sort of slightly sweet note to it that I can't place for the life of me. I also get that slightly powedery feel that others have mentioned. The musk note lasts the longest, but all together this is a very beautiful scent.

 

Technically I would say that this is a gender neutral scent but I can't think of any guys I know who would wear it.

[theblackcloud]

White Chapel

Wanderlust

 

A spring day, you are outside and mom just hung the sheets out to dry. The air is clean, crisp and there is not a cloud in the sky. You can see the boy next door, he has this cute boyish grin that makes you just a little bit bashful and you want to hide. So you run through the sheets, your hands make them sway and you get lost in a sea of white. You are laughing out loud and enjoying this little game of him looking at you and you looking at him... then you realize your hands weren't clean, they were covered in dirt and looking back you know it is too late to change what you've just done. But he's laughing too, that boy next door, so right now it seems okay.

 

I was happy to receive White Chapel as a frimp in my Bitter Moon order and even though it is a gentlemen's blend, I truly do adore it. Who knew lime could be so wonderful on my skin?

 

*edited for spelling... d'oh!

Edited December 3, 2006 by Shollin