The Lady of Shalott

[Suu4LC]

The scent of calm waters just before a raging storm, limned with achingly-beautiful blooms, an icy scent, but somehow warm, and mirror-bright: bold gardenia, crystalline musk, muguet, water blossoms, clear, slightly tart aquatic notes and a crush of white ginger.

Oh, this is so pretty in the imp! Crystalline is such a perfect word to describe it-very light and white-sometimes I find aquatics to be too sharp or salty, but I don't find that to be the case here. And I am totally digging the white ginger note.

It is definitely a bit sharper/saltier on my skin. Tart aquatic is a good way to describe it. The gardenia also comes out a lot stronger as well. Meh, I am just not a fan of salty aquatics-in the imp it was more of a white floral/ginger musky scent, on my skin it is more of a salty aquatic floral.

Ended up drying to a soft white floral with just a pinch of aquatic. Definitely a bit powdery. Pleasant, but nothing really stands out about this blend. If you are looking for a subdued white floral/aquatic scent I would recommend this.

[Medievalmaniac]

a nineteenth century bouquet, placed in water. Very old-fashioned florals, but blended with enough aquatic to be evocative of old-world beauty without sacrificing the edginess I have come to associate with BPAL scents. It smells like a room in a Victorian home where the lady of the house sits, wafts of her perfume drifting through the chamber as she reads Romantic poetry and dreams the day away.

 

Tennyson would approve.

[girlcalledmoment]

With The Lady of Shalott, I am reminded of pretty boutique store scents like Penhaligon's Ellenisia, which contains gardenia, tuberose, sweet plum and vanilla, but which has a sweet shampooey quality redolent of apples, pears and shower lather. These scents are pretty, and so is The Lady of Shalott - to me, green apple peel, mimosa, jasmine, gardenia and ginger lily. It is quite aquatic, but only to the extent that something like L'Artisan's Mimosa pour Moi is, and indeed, this BPAL offering could stand among those posh and prim soldiers and fit right in. An English country house scent, I think, with the faintest aroma of nearby stables adding fresh hay to the mix.

[angelamaria]

In imp: a pink tangy, aquatic floral--pretty much what I expected, which is nice. I'm not sure which floral scent is topmost, I have "rose? :s" in my notes, but what I was smelling might be gardenia (as I also wrote down). "Icy scent" seems spot on as at the end of the whiff, but it's not minty, just...brightly aquatic?

 

Wet on skin: that same topmost bright floral note I found in the imp is here (more sure that it's gardenia). It's coming on a bit strong, a bit sharp. It's very pink, sweet and aquatic.

 

Dry: strong, pink floral that is a bit more indistinguishable than the imp/wet scents. It's almost heady, just a bit more and I'd probably get a headache. Tangy and aquatic, like if you're near the mouth of a river, almost near the beach (but not as "beachy" as actually being there). It feels quite true to the poem in that regard. Later, it's softened considerably, retaining it's sweetness but it's definitely a lot quieter now, not as strongly aquatic--definitely smoother.

 

Verdict: I'm pretty pleased to enjoy this scent a lot. I love the poem and I'm happy the scent works for me! It's such a beautiful scent, and very evocative of the poem. A definite keeper.

[lilyliza]

In bottle: Lots of gardenia with a prominent aquatic note.

 

Wet: This is a very much an aquatic floral. I smell gardenia more than anything, which doesn't bother me in the slightest. Eventually the other blossoms make an appearance, and the effect is somehow beautiful and sad at the same time, much like the inspiration of the scent.

 

Drydown: Much of the same- the aquatic notes last much longer on me than aquatic notes usually do. It gets a little powdery and softer as time goes on, but it's always a quietly pretty scent.

 

I was very impressed at how this evoked the poem it's based on. Personally, I think I'd like something a little more modern and a little less melancholy, but I can't deny that it's a beautiful scent. If you're into classic aquatic florals, you should definitely give this one a try.

[Gateau]

In the imp -- sweet wet blooms, sort of lilac-y

 

Wet -- smells like lilac. Oh, there isn't any. Maybe it's how they all blend together, gives me that wet spring flower sense.

 

Drydown -- aquatic, lilac, sweet and flowery. Frankly not that distinctive from other wet springy floral blends.

 

Dry -- staying very nice as a full floral with some whiteness and wetness. I see a lot of lavender and lilac colors, not so much of the aquatics. It's pretty and springlike. It reminds me of my favorite department store-type perfume, Quelques Fleurs, as well as Poisson d'Avril.

 

Not sure I'll rush out and buy a bottle, but it's a very nice scent and will enjoy using up the imp.

[invisible iris]

A complimentary imp from the nice folks at the Lab.

 

In the imp, I get a slightly tart, almost citrussy aquatic note (not unpleasant, not soapy at all), and a hint of muguet. Freshly applied, I get gardenia, muguet, and the aforementioned aquatic, with a bit of white ginger fizzing in the crystaline musk.

 

Once dry, it's gardenia, muguet, what I assume are water blossoms (which smell on the verge of creamy to my nose), with a faintly gingery white musk. After a half hour or so the ginger picks up a little, and the overall scent gains a little more sweetness. Light, faintly sweet floral with a gingery aquatic misty vibe.

 

Verdict: This is pleasant, but it’s not my kind of scent at all. A person who appreciates airy white florals and light musks would enjoy it.

[donnatron]

Imp: Stemmy gardenia and lily of the valley.

 

Wet: Ugh, I just don't like gardenia. It smells off to my nose and on my skin--there is something distinctly banana-like about it. It's purely a nose chemistry thing to me because I couldn't stand it back when I worked at Crabtree and Evelyn and they had the icky Gardenia line (yes, I'm old school ).

 

Dry: Dries down to evil bananas. It smells almost identical to Sacred Whore which is also angry gardenia on me. Just not a flattering scent. The gardenia and muguet are amp to the exclusion of all the other notes. Simply not flattering.

 

Throw: Strong. Strong and gardenia-y.

 

Overall: Not a fan at all. The gardenia is suppressing all of the interesting notes and ultimately this is rather unflattering on me.

[KittyHawk]

Imp: The Lady has been described by others as crystalline and translucent; it's so true--this is the gardenia she picked from the side of her boat just before she drew her last breath.

 

Wet: I happened to layer this over gardenia body lotion, so there's a lot of gardenia going on here; still, the aquatic note mellows the bold floral, and the result is a lovely frozen gardenia.

 

Dry: After about an hour, the musk comes out to play; what a beautiful transformation.

 

This fragrance so perfectly encapsulates the idea of the Lady of Shalott that it nearly brings a tear to my eye. It is melancholic and hauntingly beautiful. I'm so glad I have two imps to go through before I have to spring for a necessary bottle!

Edited August 6, 2011 by KittyHawk

[Lyanna]

Yes, I like this one. It's not up there in my all day favorites, but it's nice enough to wear. The tangy undercurrent again reminds me a little of celery, but not as badly as in Szepassony, and it fades quickly. What I extremely like is that it has staying power — I can still smell it! It now has faded down to an incredibly fresh scent that reminds me of fresh laundry, nice.

[Honey]

Imp: Light, aquatic, sour, spicy.

 

Wet: Very green and turquoise blue. Water blossoms, clean and clear.

 

Dry: Bit sour and green. Light and fresh, very cologne-like. Bit too sour and not sweet/spicy enough for my taste, though.

[angelmecha]

In Imp: I get mostly a sudsy floral in the imp. I can detect a hint of the ginger which is quite nice because it rounds out the soapiness of the rest. So far the florals are covering up the aquatics.

Wet: Super faint floral with a slight tinge of the ginger. The aquatic is more of a "feeling" than a tangible note to me so far. I think the overwhelming note is gardenia. It really does have an old-fashioned floral perfume feel to it.

Drydown: My skin is *eating* this. All that's left as it dries down is a sharp, sudsy floral.

Verdict: It gives me an Antique Lace vibe, though that's probably just because I got the same sharpness from the florals in that blend. It's just a little too clean and sharp for my tastes, though it is quite lovely. This is something my mom or maybe my sister in law would appreciate.

[BoneBone24]

Wet: sparkling light flowers - it's pretty!

 

Drydown: rain and flowers, definitely evocative of the theme

 

Dry: uh-oh. it's gone soapy.

 

 

 

Soapy florals are not my thing. Oh well.

 

4 out of 10 bones

Edited July 2, 2013 by BoneBone24

[karykeion]

Oh, this broke my heart--The Lady of Shalott is my favorite poem and I was really looking forward to trying this, and...well.

 

In the imp: Gives me the same "Aww!" reaction I had when I opened Cordelia. I don't know how to explain this, but it's really cute. I can smell rain, and flowers, and GARDENIA!!, and some other combination of plants that I can't place because my nose isn't some kind of black belt in perfume yet and more than four notes make me go "omg what delicious witchcraft is even IN this bottle".

 

On me, wet: Oh no, soap! I mean, it's very nice, green, flowery soap, but that's basically what it is, it's just soap and kind of bitter flowers. Uh.

 

On me, dry: Yeah, still soap. I'm sadface, but oh well--I can try my luck with Ozymandias while I'm looking at favorite poems!

 

I'm starting to come to the conclusion that there's a specific fresh water note that doesn't work on me, or maybe it's specifically water combined with florals, because Amsterdam with its fresh running water and tulips did exactly the same thing. It's not aquatics in general, since Lighting and especially Caliban are perfectly fine. I shall have to experiment further!

 

 

Edit: WAIT. I tested it again and I think the Lady just arbitrarily decided to bestow her favor upon me this time, because the musk is working. I have learned my lesson about blends with musk, which is that (in the case of Bewitched and ultimately Cordelia) on my skin, musk will attack and subdue any other scent with extreme prejudice--and my chemistry hates it, so I just kind of smell like skin and gross. But the musk in Lady of Shalott is behaving! It's giving the gardenia and lily of the valley this really nice, gentle warm backdrop and depth and my skin isn't amping it! YES!!

 

I want to add also that this blend breaks my heart because of the flowers involved. In floriography, gardenias symbolize secret love, and lilies of the valley symbolize sweetness, humility, and returning to happiness. I can't help but associate her "return to happiness" with the boat floating down to Camelot, and the gardenias referring to her love for Lancelot.

Edited January 27, 2012 by karykeion

[OctoberGwen]

I love Tennyson's poem, and the Woodhouse print of the Lady in the boat is on my wall.

 

This blend nails it, and it's lovely. I generally don't like aquatics but this one works on me, and I'm very glad.

 

Beautiful, sad, watery floral. The musk and ginger really ground the scent, preventing it from being too overwhelmingly flowery or aquatic. Everything just flows together.

 

Exquisite.

[jkfagtongpun]

I have a sinking feeling that gardenia just doesn't like me. I used to love gardenia scents when I was in my early 20's and Lady of Shallot sounded perfect with her gardenias, musk, watery notes, ginger... I should have loved her.

 

Alas... no. Gardenia seems to overpower everything when it is part of a blend and is on my skin. It is a very 'old fashioned' floral scent to me, antebellum aunties is what comes to mind. It sometimes triggers migraines with me and then *poof*! Turns to powder.

 

It just wasn't meant to be... sigh.

[AmethystDahlia]

In Bottle: Kind of cologne-y. I think I'm smelling the aquatic notes more than anything.

 

On Skin: Definitely getting more of the gardenia note, and it smells sweeter and more floral than it did in the bottle. I actually prefer it on my skin.

 

Dry-Down: It doesn't seem to last long. I put it on maybe twenty minutes ago and it's already pretty much faded. There isn't much throw; even when I press my nose to my wrist I can only faintly smell the floral notes.

 

This was a sample given to me by my friend captnklaus. I do enjoy the scent, so I'll definitely be using the rest of the imp ear, but I don't know if I'd splurge for a bottle since it fades so quickly on me.

[serpentyne]

In the imp, I got icy and mirror-bright - not sure about warm, though. Definitely floral and aquatic, delicately feminine. On skin, becomes slightly headier and warmth comes through. On drydown, still beautifully floral, but less delicate - seems to me to be heavier in a sense. Very pretty. (:

[SkySamuelle]

Lady Of Shallott... was very bitter florals when I first wore it and I remember thinking it was very 'victorian', but then in a couple of hours it sweetened to a lovely, very sweet, very 'white' floral scent. Shame the scent literally died very shortly after. It saddens me that I never got the watery notes. Body chemistry is so cruel.

[SkySamuelle]

Lady Of Shallott... was very bitter florals when I first wore it and I remember thinking it was very 'victorian', but then in a couple of hours it sweetened to a lovely, very sweet, very 'white' floral scent. Shame the scent literally died very shortly after. It saddens me that I never got the watery notes. Body chemistry is so cruel.

 

Taking back this - second and third wearing made a terrific difference. Sweet, white,like flowers on waters - addictive when you wear it during the 'right day'. Very delicate scent, beautiful. Shame I still have not figured if it's the too warm days that make the chemistry difference or not.

[ShadesOfFree]

This is the first aquatic scent I've liked. Ever.

 

For some reason, this is coming across vaguely vanilla/resin, on me. There's a tiny hint of "soap", too, and the flowers + water, which in my mind is like... crushed, pulped flower petals. Some kind of flowery goop. The description is right - this is both warm and icy, and that is fascinating to me. Brilliant.

 

It's very pretty... unfortunately, gardenia gives me migraines. I can feel it beginning to kick in right now. So, even though this is a really pretty, well-blended scent, it's not one I can wear without serious pain.

[ChesterCopperpot]

Smells like roses and gardenia in the imp, but on my skin it is almost exactly the scent I remember from that book "Pat the Bunny" from my youth! Crazy how some scents stick with you. I like it. On me it stays the same the whole time: floral pat the bunny.

[ianastar]

Definitely aquatic!! Its like clear, fresh blue waters. I was expecting it to be more floral given the notes in it, but its not overly floral at all. Ill keep this and try it out because I dont have anything like this.

[MaidrinRua]

In the imp: Ooooooh, that's lovely. Gardenias in the rain. Light, wet blossoms. A pretty, light, floral scent. Girly. I think this is probably what I would have wanted to wear in high school.

 

Wet: Gardenia, gardenia, and more gardenia. Still, very pretty but a little too girlish for me.

 

On dry-down: The Lady of Shallot sadly doesn't suit my body chemistry at all and turns to something super powdery and soapy on my skin. Like the inside-of-an-antique-store-purse powdery. :< I still get the occasional whiff that reminds me of how pretty it was in the imp, but I think once it's been on me it smells like some fancy soap I bought at Marshall's or TJ Maxx that smells great in the bottle or tin, but just didn't work out on my skin.

 

Overall: Pretty, but doesn't suit me.

[ringmaster-red]

In the bottle: clear and aquatic. I can smell the gardenia very strongly.

 

Wet: Gardenia. Straight up gardenia. Getting some other florals, and now the aquatics are coming out. It’s warmed up a bit by the musk. It’s mostly florals, the strongest is gardenia. It flows, and the aquatics are very river-like. It’s a clear, bitter scent. Very melancholy. Not much throw. It brightens up a little after a few minutes. I don’t think I’m getting any ginger. The aquatics become clearer with time. It certainly conjures up the image of standing on the riverside with watery florals all around. There’s some green to the scent too. I actually quite like it. Oh, now it’s going into dryer sheet land. I hope this phase passes soon.

 

Dry: Ooh, the ginger just peeked out. The spice gives it a nice kick out of soapy land. The scent is much fresher now. It’s all clear gardenia, ginger, and aquatics. It’s very nice. Oh, there’s the ginger! The ginger and musk are coming out and it’s actually blending beautifully!!! Now the scent is sweet and warm, faintly floral, with a bright clarity to it, rather than very bitter and melancholy. It’s got a soothing, calm, quiet feel to it. I actually really like this.

 

I might buy a bottle just for the sentimentality I hold for the poem, tbh.