The Great Basin

[freneticfloetry]

The White City by Night: white musk, a drop of violet leaf, and sheer, luminescent vanilla that has been gently illuminated by a spark of electricity.

Label says "The Grand Basin" (which is actually the right basin, in this case ).

In the bottle: White musk and ozone. Can't detect any violet leaf or vanilla.

Wet: Soap. Like straight, unscented, Ivory soap. Which reminds me so much of my grandmother that I'm a little teary.

Drydown: Yep, still soap.

Dry: There's the violet. It's not distinctly floral, per se, but there's a slightly-sharp sweetness that I associate with violets. The musk is clear and crystalline. No distinguishable vanilla in it, except maybe an overall feeling of warmth that wasn't there until it dried, and the great, nostalgic soap smell is still lingering underneath, but it's not a bad thing at all. It's not an "ugh, this goes to soap on me" soap. It's fresh, clean, wearable soap. And when I get close enough to my skin, there's something almost sugar-sweet - doesn't feel like vanilla, more candyish. Maybe another shade of the violet leaf? This is a tough one to describe, and a morpher, but it's so, so pretty.

Edit: Soap's gone. Now it's floating vanilla violets, slightly perfumey and lightly sugared. If you're a fan of Faith, or violets in general, this one may be a must-have.

[ellebelle]

On me, this is an effervescent vanilla. FWIW, it don't get the "soap" feeling the freneticfloetry gets. It almost smells like a light vanilla mixed with one of the champagne notes (perhaps the musk is giving me this feeling). It's light and refreshing and just perfect for summer! I don't get any violets at all, and that is one of my death notes. It must be very subtle (perhaps the sharp sweetness Freneticfloetry alludes to) and must just be adding to the roundness of the scent. I didn't really think I was going to buy this one, but then I couldn't help myself.

[Poenari]

The Great (Grand) Basin is a very atypical scent for me, but something about it made me buy it. Slightly aquatic- that is probably the spark of electricity, but a soft vanillic musk with the violet leaf coming through. Will be good on a hot summer evening when I don't want something heavy, but still something that is in my familiar range, since I love violets, vanilla, and musk. I may edit this after I give it a good wearing, if I get anything different.

[pinkgyrl]

This was one of my favorites of the C2 blends that my gorgeously kind fairy picked up for me. I was totally surprised! It's very much, as noted, a fizzy and light vanilla. The violet is not strong - which is probably why I like it - and just lends a light and ethereal sweetness to the vanilla - such a pretty and feminine scent! I can't wait to try this again without the other scents on my wrists and will update if needed. This feels light purple to me on the color scale (since my painting brain associates every scent with color).

 

Naughty Rating: This scent would inspire feather light kisses (no tongue! hehe )

Edited May 2, 2013 by GirlinDenial

[littlebeky]

Thanks to my lovely fairy, I got to get a bottle of this! Something about it stood out, but it is a scent I would never usually go for. I like dark earthy spicy or foodie scents typically. The idea of a slightly floral vanilla intrigued me though. Secretly I had hoped maybe it would be a good Elfv4 stand in.

 

Unfortunately for me, it must be the white musk, it comes across as straight up laundry detergent on me. That overly soapy clean smell. Not that it isn't a lovely scent, one that I am sure works well on a lot of people, but it's too clean for me I think. I want to give it time to age and see what happens when I test again since its one of those bottles I may never get my hands on again. But we shall see how it ages!

[Little Bird]

I get a little bit of sweetness from the vanilla and violet, but this mostly smells like a bar of creamy white soap to me. A little white musky as it dries down, but mostly a feminine soapy smell. The bathrooms in my grandma's house smell like this, so it's a slightly comforting scent to me, but not something I'll ever really wear.

[zankoku_zen]

Effervest vanilla, feather light violet.

 

It ends up sort of soapy on me, but this is a light, feminine violet blend.

[becca_s]

The Great Basin was instant love for me, it is the loveliest, softest violet scent. It has just the right amount of throw - not too strong and not too faint. I only have a decant of this scent, but at some stage I have to track down a bottle because this is really gorgeous! I have to save my decant but I want to wear it all the time because it smells so good

[theseagrows]

damn, i was really hoping to love this one, but i think the ozone component ruins it for me...i am not a big fan of ozones or aquatics in general, and in this scent, i love all the notes but the ozone, which turns this into a sweet soapy scent on my skin. combined with the vanilla, it is just too sweet for my tastes.

[milo]

Violet leaf and a touch of mint at first. It's kind of reminding me of Violet Ray at this point, only less violet. Dry, this is faded into almost nothing. A whisper of musk, ozone,and a touch of violet leaf. Not getting any vanilla, which is rather disappointing. This would be OK for spring and summer if it didn't fade so fast.

[ami226]

Smells like crystalline musk, violet, and a hint of vanilla to me. A very effervescent, pretty scent.

 

The airy quality to this fades a little after awhile and from then on it is violets and vanilla. Not bad, but not me.

[MCS4096]

Quite promising at the start-- I can recognize each lovely note and it's clean and sweet and pretty. Then it gets a little soapy (yep, Ivory). I'm a bit torn because one second I'll smell straight up soap in the throw, and the next I'll catch a whiff of sugary vanilla or violet. I think I like it, although it's not my usual sort of thing.

 

Edit: typos

Edited October 17, 2013 by MCS4096

[brilliantcat]

I've lived in the Chicagoland area my entire life and I have a bit of an obsession with the 1893 World's Fair, so I was highly disappointed that my health precluded me from attenting the Con to pick up the scents inspired by this magnificent event. Luckily I was able to get ahold of testers/decants of the scents I was most interested in, this being one of them. Partially for the inspiration, partially for the notes (particularly vanilla, my favorite ). In the decant, this smells clean. I primarily get a light lemon cream, which it seems no one else has noted On me, definitely clean. I think the ozone and musk are somehow creating a lemony association in my head. Fine with me! A bit soapy, very light. The White City at twilight, glowing softly in the newfangled electric lamps. Likely not something I'd wear often, but perfect for hot summers.

[Wren12]

Picked this up at C2E2, what a great time that was!! I knew that I loved all the notes, but wasn't blown away by this right out of the bottle. New it was primarily a light, airy, clean scent. Very slightly like Monastary in the Mountains, which I adore. I got no vanilla at all, which made me sad, but it was still nice enough for a bottle.

 

I've had it aging since then, and happened to pull it out tonight on a whim.

 

Well, hoo-freaking-ray, this one likes to age I guess!

 

Now when I sniff from the bottle I get a strong hint of clean, fresh air, warmed by soft vanilla which I hadn't noted before, but I know vanilla tends to age well, and this is definitely the case. On wet it is clean, sweet, and soft vanilla.

 

As it dries the vanilla warms and is buoyed by a soft muskiness, tempered by the initial clean air scent, so it's not overly VANILLA MUSK, but more subtle, sweet, and really quite amazing.

 

So glad I kept hold of this lovely.

 

ETA: Rereading some of the reviews after writing this one I note several "feminine" descriptions, but for me this is much more unisex, bordering on an almost masculine cologney vibe, but an extremely soft, non overwhelming cologne. This may also be because I'm a guy and scents with ozone tend to smell cologney to me.

Edited May 18, 2014 by Wren12

[porcelina]

a gentle, pure, clean white scent. earlier i reviewed The Palace of Electricity and said it smelled like an attractive, freshly-showered man; this is like the female version of that. it is a lovely, clean perfume that smells like you just got out of a beautifully-scented bath.

[Honey]

Wet, this is super strong! But it is sunny, floral, sweet and elegant - not astringent, heady or heavy at all.

It smells very clean and electric for sure- heavy on the white musk and ozone.

I don’t detect any violet flower (and I am pretty sure about that since it usually makes me nauseous). Violet leaf has a totally different quality - one that I actually enjoy as it brings a freshness that is not as green as wet grass or any moss.

It’s also very feminine due to the vanilla and comes with a lush, even tropical feel due to the soft floral spiciness peaking out.

 

I think this is a great take on a commercial perfume: Strong, yet light on the musk, feminine, floral, clean.

It’s not offensive at all and very likeable. Layered with coconut I could see this as a great blend to bring a beach vibe to summer.

And even just by itself, it is the best “wrapped in a freshly-washed hoodie” scent I can imagine.