The Lady of Shalott

[Meganaut]

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.

 

 

 

This starts out as a blend of light florals. The muguet and gardenia make themselves known immediately. As it fades, a sort of salt water note comes out. It's hard to describe, but it really put me in mind of the faded end of Lightning. There's something in this blend of white flowers and aquatic notes that is so frustratingly, maddeningly familiar. I'm not getting much in the way of musk. My skin must just totally absorb BPAL musks. It's very fresh and cool, but in a way that is not breezy. It's very white. I could see this scent coming out of a pond surrounded by gardenias and lilies.

I'm not sure whether I would buy a big bottle of this, but I'm leaning toward yes. I'm not usually a huge fan of florals, but the aquatic notes keep it from being boring.

 

- Karen

 

ETA lab description

Edited June 15, 2006 by Shollin

[maijasu]

At first, I smell mostly aquatics and sweet floral, but on my skin, this becomes almost totally a sweet white floral. It goes through cycles where I can barely smell it, and then the scent reappears--kind of odd but a nice surprise. It's a very light scent, so even though it's a bit "perfumey" for my taste, I find it to be very wearable. I'm not sure yet whether I'll get a big bottle, but I'll definitely continue to use my imp this summer!

[QueenFae]

Definitely a very light, aquatic scent. The aquatic notes are somewhat "tart" as the description promises, which gives them a bit of a bite. There is a backdrop of lovely, white florals that remind me of night blooming jasmine. I can't smell the white ginger at all, but I can detect a little bit of a white musk. This reminds me of Ophelia. It's a lovely blend, but not quite my style. Not a lot of throw and I'm sure my skin would devour all traces of scent within an hour or so.

[Miseraya]

I'm afraid The Lady of Shalott doesn't like me. Upon opening the imp, I am assailed with gardenia, but I persevere. I really have no choice in the matter, it got all over my fingers.

 

I give it time, but alas, this is far too floral for me, beautiful, but not me. A must have for gardenia lovers!

[edenssixthday]

The Lady of Shalott is the first BPAL aquatic I ever tried, and I was about 80% sure I liked it, but not fully decided. I’ve never been drawn to aquatics, but in this case, the gardenia balanced out the aquatic notes in a really pretty way, and the ginger gave it the tiniest bit of “zing” that I had never encountered in an aquatic scent before. I tested it several times over the course of a few months, and finally determined that it is a perfectly reasonable scent, very nice and pretty, but it’s just not really something I’d wear often.

Edited July 8, 2006 by edenssixthday

[nightbird]

If I wore aquatic-type scents, I'd be very pleased with this one; it reminds me of standing on the riverbank on a sunny day, but without all the unpleasant smells like mud or dead fish. Not my style, however, so I'm swapping it away.

 

rating: 3/5

[SultryWolf]

in imp, and on: Gardenia, somehow watery, and just the faintest touch of ginger. Feminine and mysterious. Fades too fast!

[neuilly]

In the bottle: Hello Gardenia! A very floral blend. Very pretty...not sure it's me.

 

On me: Very pretty floral. Slightly aquatic as if the flowers are just floating on the surface of a pond.

 

 

Nice, but not me.

Edited August 8, 2006 by neuilly

[Taniwha]

Wet on my skin - gardenia drenched in seaspray.

 

Later, my beloved lily of the valley emerges to embrace the gardenia, and they live happily every after.

[gaai]

A light floral aquatic.......a little chilly when wet.....a little salty in the dry-down....I don't normally care that much for florals, but they are very light in this blend and the aquatics and muskiness are taking it to my kind of level.

Aquatic scents are very calming to me.....so I see this being a nice evening, unwind type of blend, for when I'm in a florally kind of mood.

[filigree_shadow]

Hmm, yeah, I see what other reviewers were talking about when they mentioned banana and celery. I can really only smell that while it's wet, though. When it's dry, it's almost totally gardenia on me. It does seem to be a bit tart, maybe a little watery... but pretty much the only thing I can smell other than gardenia is ginger. The combination isn't working for me, sadly.

Edited February 13, 2007 by filigree_shadow

[steffanina]

The Lady of Shalott-

 

In Bottle: This one's hard to pick out. I got a whiff of orange after a little while, but that was the only thing I could put a name to.

 

Wet: An underlying note of female musk, not really pleasant. Soon it's settling into one of those sharp hot ozone-y floral blends.

 

Dry: Actually I do find this rather pleasant after an hour. The hot florals are no longer so sharp; it might be nicer in a larger quantity, but I'd have to wait until I hit the dry-down to get to the part that's nicest.

 

Overall: I like, but conditionally.

[kwelge]

Imp: Water with a bite of ginger, slightly sweet.

 

Wet: Water with more ginger, definite sweetness. Floral starts peeking out.

 

Dry: Soft blend of florals, water, and a little hint of ginger. Another lovely light floral!

 

Verdict: Alas, my skin eats it. :/ Probably not a bottle candidate, but planning to keep the imp.

[fairy]

Flowers flowers everywhere...and then soap. Pretty soap, but still soap.

[Eunice]

I really want to love this but every time I fall in love, some note comes out that makes me cringe. I'm guessing it is the muguet. *sigh* This is a swapper for certain.

[storme]

In the imp: lots of gardenia and aquatics and ... is that what crystalline musk smells like? Man, that's pretty - very bright and watery.

 

On me, wet: urgh, something in this darkened and murkified this as soon as it hit my skin. Musty florals and aquatics.

 

On me, dry: hmm, I wonder if this is the water blossoms or the muguet, but that musky scent is sort of like rotting flowers. It gets a little better with time, but it's still drowning out everything but a sort of celery-ish scent. Eurgh.

 

Verdict: Not working for me at all, I'm afraid. But it smelled so pretty in the imp...

[charmingdetails]

Such a beautiful scent- clear and watery with a hint of sweetness and spice. Very elegant and feminine. Gardenia is the strongest note here, and oh, how I love it. It's accompanied by ginger, giving this blend an almost tropical feel... reminds me of an evening in Hawaii or Tahiti. The aquatic and ginger notes keep the floral slightly crisp and not too sweet. The gardenia note seems to last a couple of hours, but the blend lingers as a gentle, watery scent for several hours more.

[gloom bear]

The Lady of Shallot is floral scent, but before I can ponder the floral notes, I started to smell…nuts. Pecans actually. So flowers….and pecans. So. Odd. And then it started evolving a sanrio eraser smell in the background.

[Dark Sparkle]

I got this imp as an extra with an ebay auction

 

In the imp this oil is out of this world of floral and aquatic yumminess: Beautiful blue/green aquatic notes and a creamy floral which I guess is the gardenia. Unfortunately it disappears a few minutes after application and I simply cannot detect any notes except from a vague gardenia note.

 

I think I will need to test this oil more times to see if it still disappears; too bad because it is such a beauty in the imp.

[supremegoddessofall]

Interesting. A wet gardenia. Definitely aquatic. Hint of sharpness, which I think is from the ginger.

[Babylon]

Wet: A watery generic floral smell, like something you'd scent laundry detergent or dryer sheets with.

 

Dry: Dusty dryer sheets.

[klavierbarrette]

imp: wet gardenia

skin: gardenia, ozoney notes. after about five minutes you can smell the ginger.

 

it's a very 'light purple' scent for me. i was sooo hoping i'd like it, because i ADORE lord alfred tennyson, and this poem.

[Athena's Owl]

imp: rose? Jasmine? not quite either but reminds me of both, and its definitely not rose *and* jasmine.

 

wet: greener, now...uh oh, plastic doll heads. I wonder what Dr. John seward and this lady have in common?

answer: ginger! hmmm.

 

after a minute or two the doll head effect drops back, just in the same way. hmm. it's a sweetly floral blend. this is another nice one, but not in the way that I usually seek.

 

after a long time, it's the faint impression of barbie heads.

 

maybe i'll try it again in a week.

[blackfelicula]

I'm reviewing this now because a frimp of it with a cracked lid leaked in my package today. Its own label and the label for a frimp of Ophelia were soaked with it. Luckily none of the bottles I paid for were harmed by it!

 

Given how I was introduced to it, I am somewhat biased against it.

 

It is a sweet, aquatic floral. Where it got on my fingers, I kept sniffing. It is compelling, like Amsterdam and Nifelheim were to me. I am not usually fond of aquatics, and I only marginally get along with select florals, but this kept my attention without driving me away.

 

I am rather sad that I can smell little else, but it is a pleasant enough scent. There are other florals that have more thoroughly captured my heart, but I will likely finish the imp.

[djnevermore]

Keep in mind, I'm not a fan of florals. But I must keep some of this on hand. The gardenia is mostly what I smell. It's very very true and clean and obvious but not overwhelming. Fresh, sweet and sad..... Great for gardenia fans!