Ingenue

[Shollin]

Ingenue, from Love Potions:

 

A tawdry Hollywood tragedy, the essence of innocence lost amongst casting couch cushions. Wild clover and gentle melon interlaced with violet leaf, water lilies, smooth wooden notes, and blushing rose.

 

First sniff: Very innocent, very young. Bright and floral -- floaty floral, not heady floral. Something watery and turquoise too. A May Day bouquet floating on a clear lake.

 

Wearing: Definitely watery floral, and very ethereal, but brightly, not darkly like Unseelie. Lily of the valley was my first thought on my skin. Despite all my protestations that I'm not a floral girly-girl, this one is so pretty and delicate I might just have to keep it. After reading the description a lightblub flashed and I yelled “Melon!” That's exactly the note I couldn't pin down -- white honeydew, and very wet. It's girly, but not silly giggly girly... there's something a bit wispy about it, like the ghost of a little Victorian girl carrying a porcelain doll. But not at all sad... maybe nostalgic, but not melancholy. It's very pale aqua-coloured. Doesn't last very long, alas.

[allamanda]

From Love Potions

 

Weird, on application the first thing I smelt was Lily of the valley... mmm that isn't there. Very sweet, very pretty, very floral. As it was drying I started to smell the melon, violet and a few minutes later the clover. This feels incredibly young and pretty (I'm neither!!). Very rapidly faded out to not a lot. Very light and not really to my taste. Not unpleasant, just nothing.

[Sarah]

A very gentle fragrance that reminds me of spring and fresh laundry that's been left out in the sun to dry. When you first put it on, it's bursting with something that smells of sweet fresh grasses, though not quite as pronounced as say, Rosalind. The melon and aquatic notes are most prevalent to me as it dried down. The melon is particularly juicy and invokes memories of my siblings and I sitting in our auntie's garden, eating honeydew.

 

But like so many springtime scents, this one comes and goes as soon as you blink your eye. Very serene and calming.

Edited September 13, 2004 by Sarah

[jj_j]

After reading other reviews of Ingenue, I went back to my bottle and re-checked the label. Okay, it says Ingenue on it, even though it smells nothing like that. Guess I'll take it for another test drive.

 

How odd. First thing out of the bottle is sandalwood. Moderate, but no question that sandalwood is the main component of the contents of this bottle labeled Ingenue (yeah, I checked it one more time). There's nothing else to do but sit and scratch my head, so I wait.

 

Sandalwood.

 

What on earth?!?!! So I wait some more.

 

Sandalwood.

 

About the time I'm ready to give up on this mystery fragrance (a good five to ten minutes), it changes. It doesn't do this gradually, either, it just up and melts, like butter in a hot skillet. Ingenue is suddenly soft brown grass waving in an autumn hayfield, with the lightest, flickering floral note that's a tiny bit starchy. Water lotus, which took a trip to the local greenhouse/landscape company to confirm (winter isn't the best time to find it floating around in water gardens). Remarkably delicate for such a sweet and - I don't know another word for it - starchy scent.

 

It doesn't take long for the water lotus to fade away, and when I'm about to say that my chemistry doesn't let the melon or rose scent come through, a faint, warm white melon note does indeed peek out. Even though I'm not getting the full showing of this scent, this changes things drastically. I have a perfect picture of a little girl growing up in the country, stretched out in the pasture on a blanket, reading with her chin in her hands and her toes pointed to the sky.

 

While I love the water lotus and melon that make very quiet entrances and exits, and I enjoy the dried field grass scent, in the end we go back to ... sandalwood. My chemistry barely lets the melon or rose come through, although it does a wonderful job with the grass notes. In the long run, my body chemistry turns this into something other than what I was looking for.

 

Side note - I put a dab of this on my mother, and she smelled like a fairy garden - riots of soft flowers, bright green springtime, a hint of sweetness, and fresh, gorgeous cantaloupe, of all things. Barely a hint of wood or dried grass notes. If only I could swap my body chemistry away, instead of this bottle!

[Splendid Molerat]

Ingenue starts out with wild clover, crushed violets, and water.

 

[Note to self: roll in a clover patch at next opportunity.]

 

Dreamy innocent. In a tale of innocence lost I would expect progressively fleshier notes, and as this warms up I am getting the slight musk of melon, and an allegorical pink rose.

 

This is the girl who went to be in films, and ended up sleek and nude on a sepia-tinted postcard.

 

Pleased to have met her.

[ivyandpeony]

I was beyond excited to find a gift imp of this in a recent order... could Beth be dabbling with this one with plans of eventually re-introducing it? If so, I'd be thrilled. I'm hoarding most of this imp for warmer weather, because this one smells so lovely and summery to me. Very fresh, wet early morning blossoms blended with sweet but not overripe melon. It makes me feel like I'm walking barefoot through dewy grass... this evokes much more the ingenue before her deflowering to me. Really lovely.

[slave1]

In bottle: Pure Violet.

 

On skin: Still very heavily violet scented. The most pure floral, feminine scent I’ve smelled. So dainty and pretty. The sweet clover note is starting to be noticed… I smell no melon and wish I did since it’s one of my favorite scents. There is a little tartness of rose…

The scent fades pretty quick on me, but I like it lighter since it’s so floral. I also notice, as its fading, the wood note makes itself known.

This is a teaparty or wedding scent. So formal and elegant.

[shelldoo]

*whines* no not dc'd please please

 

 

this is one of the most gorgeous violet blends i have smelled.

 

it is violets and melon a touch of clover and a breath of rose, this is an omfgwtbbq scent...someone needs to swap me for some

[anmorata]

Ingenue:

 

Ingenue surprised me. I was expecting it to be seriously rose, and had completely forgotten about the violets. Every other violet scent I've tried has been horrible with my body chemistry.. until now. It's a beautiful blend of violets and roses. Gorgeous.

[Lit Chick]

I rec'd this as a gift from the lab, and thus had no idea what the notes were when I tried it.

 

Unfortunately, most of the notes in Ingenue do not play nice with my chemistry. Violet is perticularly tempermental on my skin.

 

Oddly enough - while this was not something I'd wear, it was very fun. It was an extremely active scent on me, with all the notes vying for dominance. It did not resolve into something lovely, bu never went off into horridness, either - unexpected.

[clover]

Ingenue

 

I had been dying to try Ingenue for the longest time...and several months ago I was able to after getting a bottle from jj_j. I was so excited to try it, because the notes sounded delightful, and it had clover in it! Eep! Unfortunately, the Ingenue in the bottle was very bitter on me...very sandalwoody. So disappointing!

 

Flash forward to yesterday, and an imp of Ingenue showed up in my order! (Thanks, Lab!) I'm not sure if it's been reformulated, or if the other Ingenue I tried had aged a lot...but this imp smells nothing like the one I had tried before.

 

This is everything I had hoped Ingenue would be - a very sweet violet with just a hint of green. Perhaps just the slightest touch of rose, but the violet is much stronger on me. The melon isn't necessarily discernable, but something is sweetening up the florals in a very nice way.

 

It's truly lovely: sweet, innocent, fresh, sparkly and spring-like. I do hope that this little imp means it may be coming back ~

[Sara]

Wow, I didn't realize this was discontinued, as it was a frimp in my last order.

 

Initial sniff: Soft watery florals, can't detect the rose yet (yay). This scent has a sort of pale green quality to it

 

Swipe: I already know I'm not going to care for this one much, but at least it hugs the skin. The florals are more wet and slightly stronger now.

 

Drydown: The rose is a very soft note in this, rounding out the others and lending itself lightly. Usually it overpowers everything...blech. But not this time.

 

Overall: This is a very soft fragrance that I can see on a little girl. I actually got a strong impression of a little girl in the late summer sun prancing around the yard in her mother's clothes. Thankfully I don't get the "innocence lost among Hollywood cushions" at all. I just get a little girl on the cusp of "growing up."

 

Very pretty and sweet, just not me, sadly I associate roses with my own childhood and of old ladies - I just don't like their scent.

[isyche]

I've been hunting for this and I finally got an imp on ebay.

 

Ingenue is very appropriately innocent and light and girly. Violet is prominent in it - sweet, dewy violet, very pretty. I can also detect the clover, which backs it up with fresh greenness, and I think the melon is making it cool and a little watery. I like rose, but I don't get much rose from it.

 

I love it - I totally want more if it comes back.

[sarada]

This is absolutely glorious when I first sniff it -- unlike anything else, really, that I've come across. It's floral but a tender, green floral...I catch a glimpse of the powdery floral rose and violet that I recognize in some other blends, but this becomes stronger on the skin and doesn't have that sort of powder scent that I associate with most other violet and rose blends I've tried.

 

I love wild clover but only get a slight hint of it, as that tender green scent. It is a very tentative scent...it steps onto the stage and then gets bolder in the limelight. I don't sense the wood or melon...this is a very slightly aquatic, softly green scent with just a touch of powdery rose and violet. I don't know if this is an older version or the more recent one that might be popping up in some orders, but I think it would be very popular if it came back. I don't know if I'd order a bottle, because this increases in power as I wear it and the rose keeps edging out the other scents, giving it a funeral parlour kind of feeling....but it's a very beautiful and brilliant blend. It is very soft and innocent to me, spring flowers and fresh air...I don't think I could pull off wearing it except as an after-bath spray or a lotion, but I would love it as one of those (I love rose/violet for those purposes).

[OriginalWacky]

Bottle (Imp): Oh this is sweet, with something else to it.

 

Just On: Mmm, this is pretty decent. It's not really sweet anymore, it immediately changes to something with a little bite to it.

 

An hour or two later: Sweet, flowers, and the bite has mellowed. Maybe there is something woody in here?

 

Around 6 hours: I like the flowers in this, they are a tiny bit sweet, and very pleasant to my nose.

 

12 hours: It finally faded down to a soapy powder, which is pretty decent. I'm really not a flower girl, but this is pretty nice all in all.

 

Overall: I can wear this, but I think it would be more loved in another home, especially since I have so many others that I adore.

 

After reading other reviews: Ok, so the sweet is the melon most likely, and I see the flowers. It's up on the auction block, as I need some funds, but it is a lovely scent, and would eventually get used around here.

[Chas]

I received this as a frimp from the lab. I also didn't know it was discontinued until after I'd tried it.

 

In the bottle, it's very sweet, but not foody or floraly. Very strange. Wet on the skin it immediately turned floral. Similar to Venice, but not as strong. After a few mintues, it faded a little, and all I could smell was rose. I was ready to add it to the swap pile, but the longer it stays on my skin, the more I like it. The rose is gone. I can't identify the notes, but it's a very sophisticated scent.

 

The description describes it perfectly; it's innocence lost, but not necessarily in a bad way.

[chopchica]

Ingenue showed up as a gift imp a few orders back. I'd heard nice things about it, and so before throwing it into the swap pile, I decided to give it a quick try. It turned out to be an excellent decision.

 

I don't tend to like florals or melon, but somehow they combine perfectly in Ingenue giving me just enough of each fragrance to feel like there's a gentle cooling cloud surrounding me wherever I go. It's one of my top summer fragrances. In fact, I'm wearing it right now.

 

I don't know why this one was continued, but I'm going to assume that it wasn't because of lack of interest or positive response, being that almost everybody seems to love it. I'd be thrilled if it came back.

[jessamynit]

mmm, I also am hoping it comes back as it's lovely and definitely an amazing, slather-worthy oil. I can smell the melons, and a sweet freshness (clover?) mixed with a bit of floral, and it all combines together just perfectly: not too sweet, but lovely and fresh and mmm... I would definitely wear this one all the time if I could.

[magikfanfic]

In the bottle: Ooooh, melon. This one sounds kinda good. Mostly lily and rose in the vial, though, with the suggestion of some wood notes underneath but msotly just a floral feeling over all.

 

Wet: And the melon goes away the instant it touches my skin and instead smells like roses in full bloom. Roses have a habit of doing that on my skin, though. Although the melon is still there to temper it down a little. I like this one. It smells a little old fashioned, but it still smells the best out of the last 10 or so blends I've tried.

 

Dry down: The rose is dying down and mixing with the...oh no, wooden notes and a headache that kinda just started and is going full-blown rather quickly. It's still rose but now the clover is coming out more. And the wood, which makes my head ache. I had such high hopes for this one, and it seemed to be working fairly well, too. And now it's at a very odd wood/lily stage. My head is pretty unwilling to take any more of this so I have to wash it off and probably sell the imp as soon as possible. Well, it was almost meant to be.

[xoe]

I too received the discontinued Ingenue as a freebie. Ingenue is very innocent, verymuch for a teenager. It's nice, but it isn't for me.

[dcmo]

I also got this as a gift from the lab in my most recent order. Wow, I'm in love - thank you thank you thank you lab!

 

In the imp, it's really an aquatic floral, with the water lillies being the main note. On my skin, while still wet, it's still the water lillies but sweetened by melon a little. As it dries down, the violets and rose makes an appearance which makes this scent get better by the minute. I haven't picked out any wooden notes or clover.

 

I'm so glad I got to try this. It's perfect for summer. Now I'm on the hunt to see if I can find more of this because I don't think one imp is going to last me very long. Thank you again lab!!

[rainbow]

Oh, so beautiful, and so sad that it's discontinued. Ingenue starts out as a very violet fruity scent. When I put it on there's fruit and voilet, and something darker in the background, but that quickly disappears. Wearing- this is a perfect fruity/floral blend. It has multiple components of both scent families, and they are mixed together very well. It's a fun and cheerful scent, which gives off wafts of violet and of melon. Fun to wear, and like a bright, sunny day.

[Rackham's Vanity]

Like jj_j, I also got sandalwood from Ingenue, bafflingly. There's no mention of it in the Lab's description, but there it is, and loudly to boot.

 

Ingenue's a strong little scent, and an aquatic, perhaps owing to the prominent melon. For a floral, it's very cool and sweet, evoking night flowers in midsummer...I really appreciate the coolness of this scent, as most florals blaze white hot with my chemistry.

 

The sweet melon never recedes completely, though the floral notes come and go. The phantom sandalwood remains ascendant throughout.

 

I love Ingenue, to my own shock and surprise (another floral scent I like! What's happening to me??!?). Here's another vote to revive her from the Land of Discontinueds.

[olympia301]

Aptly named sweet and floral, Ingenue reminds me of some perfume or bath product I had as a young woman. I can't pick out the melon but it is a tender scent and I agree with the person above, I don't get thrashing around on the casting couch so much as I do the wistful calm before the storm of life and love which we have all felt during the time when we are leaving adolecence and just about ready to start the courtship dance.

 

I do get a well mannered violet in the blend, as well as an amazingly accurate clover (a scent that few people pay attention to). Mixing through the air to my nose, it is really wonderful has a sweet and recognizable "ghost" which Beth is famous for. The parts have co-agulated into a different and most beautiful scent which rides above the oil on your skin and becomes a wholy different and remarkable "quintessence"...a new entity, utterly unique and fabulous.

 

To me this is a blend best suited for those under 30, and the rare one of those who has a bit of purity left.

 

The icon is Audrey Hepburn, the American actress who defined the idea of "ingenue" to so many people.

[magdalene]

in the bottle: sweet, cool melon.

wet on skin: This is interesting. Normally, I can't stand anything even remotely resembling a melon, be it smelling one or eating one, but this isn't offensive to me. It's an innocent scent, light and slightly fruity sweet.

dry: As other people have mentioned, there's a small hint of sandalwood to this, which warms up the melon a little.