The Lady of Shalott

[Miss Despair]

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.

 

Lovely aquatic white floral, mostly gardenia. A very clean, feminine, springtime scent.

Unfortunately, with my body chemistry, the aquatics vanish (I'm beginning to think BPAL aquatics don't like me!), then it turns into a weird plasticky smell that hardly resembles the bottle/wet smell at all. So sad this didn't work out on me, since I love gardenia and aquatics and clean, soapy scents.

[Morsigne925]

This is really and truly the first scent I've tried that I *immediately* thought to myself "I need to get a bottle of this."

 

Imp/wet: Gardenia

 

Drying: Ginger comes out more - this reminds me of visiting the botanical gardens in Hawai'i and smelling all of my favorite things there (I love tropical floral scents like plumeria, pikake and flowering ginger). Unsure if the ginger note is supposed to be the flowering ginger or the root but whatever it is, it is magical. I feel beautiful wearing this. 5 stars, absolutely getting a bottle.

[tyche]

I'm going to be getting a bottle of this one soon! Gardenia is one of my favorite scents.

Edited September 4, 2014 by tyche

[miamaslegi]

In the imp, this was a lovely, sweet, gingery aquatic. Once I put it on, the gardenia came out to play and tried to drown out everything else. After about an hour, this is now back to being a sweet, lemony-ginger aquatic, which is very pretty but very faint on my skin. While I do like it a lot, it's so very soft and faint on me that I will probably enjoy it as a room scent rather than a body scent.

Edited September 6, 2014 by miamaslegi

[anaengel]

This is a nice simple aquatic floral on me. For the entire thing, it's a little salty with gardenia in there. It does not change on me throughout the day. This is perfect for when I don't want something that could be different later on and me wondering what I put on. It also comes to a very calming element on me.

[doomsday_disco]

In the imp: White floral notes with an aquatic vibe.

Wet: I think I am mainly getting the gardenia and muguet notes. The scent still has an aquatic aspect.

Dry: Strong white floral notes along with aquatic notes and some ginger.

Verdict: I'm not a fan of aquatic scents, so this one is not for me.

Edited January 11, 2015 by dementia_divine

[Veronica]

This is very pretty--clean, fresh floral. I primarily get gardenia, which makes it smell like clean laundry/detergent. There is a slightly wet/aquatic tone to this, but it is primarily floral and linens to my nose. Fresh, clean and pretty.

[DiesMali]

In the imp: Gardenia, my old friend!

 

Wet on my skin: Cool, wet, aquatic gardenia and something I can't quite identify.

 

Dry: This doesn't change a whole lot as it dries, which is a good thing! It's primarily that cool, softly-sweet aquatic gardenia, with hints of other flowers beneath the surface. Reminds me of flowers and petals floating in a stream. It's a very blue scent, blue and almost icy. It's something to wear for when I want to feel soft and feminine, maybe a little melancholy.

[Greenwoodtree]

This scent is sweet and delicious and goes through many stages before it settles to a gingery, aquatic floral.

 

I generally do AWFUL with BPAL florals, but for some reason this works, and is delightful.

[DoktorDandy]

Oooh! A wow reaction right away!

 

Here's the floral I was looking for! The Lady of Shalott is all big, screaming florals on me- green and white ones, huge, hothouse blooms and so heavy. It's GREAT. There's a sweet honeysuckle-like scent that starts up, really overgrown and oversized. Creamy honeysuckle-like scents give way to glorious gardenia with something doing some backup wailing- maybe lily? When it dries, it continues to create this nice effect when I sniff it, similar to the feeling of breathing in cold air. It goes warmer eventually, and will do it faster (noticed this on multiple tries) the warmer the weather is. Reminds me very distantly of my favorite Pacificia soap- the Tahitian Gardenia one.

 

This elbowed it's way to the top favorite scents and so far, she's reigning as the unexpected queen of the florals. Friends and family like this on me the most. There's a bottle of this in my future.

[lexyOZ]

This one of the most utterly perfect gardenia perfumes I've ever encountered.

It's just huge bunches of luscious white flowers and the most gentle of aquatic notes floating in the background. Ginger starts to come out with the dry down and give the flowers a little pizzazz. The flowers eventually fade leaving just a lingering floral over a gorgeous musk and ginger.

Totally bottleworthy.

[freyasfae]

Soap, soap, soap. Funny when I read reviews about some of my favorite florals, a lot of reviewers mention soapy, and yet they are never soapy on me (or at least in a bad way), but this is just soapy, soapy, soapy. It does have A LOT of throw and wear.

[cyborgcap]

Lovely sweet and bright, this is a very wet white floral, leaning more towards floral but with a strong sense of wetness that keeps it aquatic. Was a bit odd at first but quickly settled into something sweet and lovely and fresh, the wetness keeps the florals from becoming sharp. Love this.

[lady_pandora]

I almost didn't get to test this one, because I had a brain fart. For some reason I read the label as "La Belle au Bois Dormant," which I've tried before and was meh on because I amped the plumeria too much, and was getting ready to throw it into swaps unsniffed. And then I got another look at the label! Well, The Lady of Shalott is a story I've always had a soft spot for. I love how she chose to turn and face the world even though she knew it meant invoking the curse. So of course I had to try it.

 

And yay, I like the oil! First wet impression is greenness and water lilies. Then it turns into pretty much lily of the valley single note for a while; I am not a LotV expert by any means, but this is familiar from Belle Epoque. The sense I get from it is cool, dewy, green-white, creamy. Very pretty. Later, I get some gardenia too. It doesn't smell quite as "damp" in the later stages, but it's still white-green and cool. A lovely scent for a hot day, or a rainy one.

Edited May 18, 2016 by lady_pandora

[Mermaid-on-Land]

I was very excited to try this one! It's been my favorite poem since high school, and I even once did a pastel copy of the Waterhouse painting as a school project, so this went immediately on my wishlist when I saw it lol. Ooh it smells a bit clear-spicy right out of the imp, I think that's the ginger. It's not candied ginger (for some reason that's what I was expecting) just nicely spicy. It gives it that "mirror-bright" feel. And it's a definite aquatic floral. This is really pretty and crystalline. The gardenia here is reminding me of the floral note in Sacred Whore of Babylon. The overall perfume is fresh but not overly light. I definitely smell the concept of a pool of water before a storm, you can kinda smell that ozoney scent far off, just a tiny hint. The color vibe is turquoise and off-white. Ok now the gardenia’s gone sort of sweet and powdered sugar-y, the same as in Sacred Whore. The ginger and aquatics stop it from being sweetness overload but it doesn't have the fresh vibe as much now. Oh dang, there it goes. Gardenia won and now I smell like floral powdered-sugar icing. Apparently gardenias are a Kanye West note on me: "Hey ginger, ima let u finish, but gardenias are the sweetest floral of all time" A couple hours after the gardenia takeover the throw loses power and it starts to fade. This wasn't as long lasting as some other ones on me. I really like this for the first couple hours! It perfectly evokes the poem. Kinda wish the gardenias didn't take over but I'll keep the imp and enjoy using it for the awesome concept!

Edited June 4, 2016 by Mermaid-on-Land

[Soupy Twist]

A pretty if generic aquatic floral. No ginger. Like Sea of Glass's younger cousin.

[LizziesLuck]

Gingery floral dryer sheets! I would love for my laundry to smell like this! It's quite nice. Very clean. Not powdery at all. I don't typically like aquatics at all, but as the ginger and floral notes come forward and overtake the dryer sheet effect, I find this is actually quite pleasant. Not sure I can see wearing it. I like gardenia quite a bit though, in the right blend, and this is a very nice gardenia. It's great with the ginger, smells tropical and heady. Sadly, those aquatic notes add just enough of the "laundry" vibe, that I don't truly like this, but I can appreciate it.

[Miss Landau]

This is the "weakest" BPAL I've encountered in quite a while, I can barely smell a whole imp in my scent locket when I hold it right up to my nose less than an hour after loading it up. What I can make out is a generically pretty floral, very delicate, with the warmth of ginger. I do like it, it's just that I'm reluctant to buy a 5 ml bottle if it's this weak on me.

[Casablanca]

On the wand, I smell airy, clean aquatic flowers.

 

On my skin, though, this is initially a musky, aquatic gardenia with a nip of ginger. At the first application, this borders on cloying, but it settles within a minute into an airy, aquatic floral with a little ginger warmth to keep it interesting. It smells subtropical – lighter than a steamy-green jungle blend, and more like a hidden, flowered pool on a Hawaiian vacation.

 

The Lady drops to nearly zero throw on my skin even before she dries, and she fades to a more generic aquatic floral before winking out completely. She was lovely at first, though.

[gloame]

A sad sea, crisp and limey. Frigid, somber waters around a desolate place. This is very lonely. The gardenia is lovely. A very rare aquatic win for me! I would consider a bottle!

Where I'd wear this: The beach, Cornwall, dead of winter

[JuliskaMarie]

In the imp: Aquatic (& slightly citrusy) floral with a little bit of ginger

Wet on skin: Citrusy-gingery aquatic floral

Dry on skin: The ginger is doing that lovely thing BPAL’s ginger note tends to do & now it’s a ginger with white/aquatic floral notes swimming around it. Unusual, but pretty!

After a few hours: A very faded/subtle version of how it smelled dry.

Verdict: A bit more confusing than what I normally go for, but pretty & very wearable!

[spookyumbrella]

What a gorgeous, fresh floral aquatic! This will be beautiful in the desert heat that is my home, as the scent is nice and cool.

[follis]

I am using an aged imp from 2017. 
Wet - floral, something swampy, it does have something that feels a bit icy but not minty like toothpaste. My partner says it initially smells like a masculine scent. 
Dry - warm florals, still getting that chilled feeling. Good throw. Maybe something akin to ginger in the background. 
Later: it's a soft warm floral on me now. I don't normally like florals but this one is quite nice. 

[monocainsheresy]

Cold aquatics and ginger, with some undefined floral clouds - elegant, understated, and feminine.

[Vefenna]

This scent reminds me of fresh watery flowers, like the real bouquet. From the bottle I get lots of magnolia, a little bit of ginger and aquatic notes.  It's beautiful, feminine, crispy aroma. I enjoy wearing it, plus it lasts all day on me.