Laura Belle McDaniel

[Lycanthrope]

Sleek vetiver-limned musk with tobacco absolute, smoky vanilla, carnation, and lavender.

I get a hint of the sweet vanilla-carnation-lavender right off the bat, which is my scent cue for scents like Hod, Bow and Crown of Conquest, and Dolce Stil Nuovo. But! Boy! The vetiver-limned aspect is definitely present since I get a husky vetiver chomp at the first bit, and it's not subtle at first! It's like two different personas trying to fight to the surface - the restrained prettiness of the vanilla-lavender, bridged with husky vetiver musk, combined with the carnation. Tobacco makes its appearance as a very rich, potent smoke, and it's a very good tobacco indeed. Polarizing for me since I can't tend to pull off tobacco due to skin chemistry. It's not a cigarette tobacco, but the tobacco leaf type of richness. The floral blend lends this a type of strong femininity (scent wise!) which really fits the character of the blend well. This is a feisty no-nonsense-but-still-rocking-the-perfumes type of scent. Drydown this is definitely not your sweet, sleep and relax type of vanilla-carnation-lavender blend, it retains its purposeful grittiness. As time passes, the vanilla-lavender rises to the surface and I get glimpses of TKO sweetness.

 

ETA:

It is interesting to see what skin chemistry does! I'm a single guy in my 30s, and to me, TKO has always read as vanilla-lavender forward. When I'm wearing Laura Belle McDaniel it does have a bit more husky tobacco. I thought maybe I was crazy because the reviews below mentioned that this did not have strong resemblance to TKO. So, I wore it a few times. Scents in the family of TKO, Hod, Dolce Stil Nuovo, all seem to light up the same notes for me - the whole creamy vanilla lavender + carnation spice that reads to me as 'lavender vanilla!' I still get that same feel, although it appears it's not everyone's experience.

Edited June 11, 2015 by Lycanthrope

[HerbGirl]

This is so beautiful. Vetiver haters have no fear - the vetiver seems to serve as the stems to the carnation, which is amazing! Very artistic. Creamy/stemmy/carnation with just a hint of lavender...

This smells/acts nothing like TKO, imho.

Edited May 31, 2015 by Herb Girl

[bheansidhe]

It's the smoky vanilla, musk, and tobacco that dominate at first - in fact, when applied wet, this is strongly akin to the tobacco-and-caramel combo in Tiresias the Androgyne. Laura could be a coconut-free sibling of Red Lantern. Lavender flickers intermittently in the background, like grain streaks popping up in an old reel-to-reel movie.

 

As it wears, carnation blooms over but does not obscure the gritty smoky vanilla/tobacco. If vetiver is your death note, have no fear: it's just a dark background supporting the other notes. Also, there's zero resemblance to TKO or any of the other lavender-based blends.

 

Overall impression: smoky, warm, musky, somehow gritty and feminine at the same time. The caramel impression never wavers. (I can't wear tobacco, so I'm just posting notes before I pass the bottle to its rightful owner ;-).

 

ETA: Oops, I lied? After two hours of yard work in the hot sun, I'm left with a soft carnation perfume that - as Herb Girl rightly notes- blooms on its inconspicuous vetiver stem. Very creamy and feminine at this point, with none of the gritty tobacco left over. YMMV.

Edited May 31, 2015 by bheansidhe

[Ryan Hemphill]

So here's a weird one:

 

On my wrists, I get soft vetiver and fine tobacco at the forefront, with a very muted vanilla-carnation in the background.

 

On my inner elbow, I get CARNATIONS!

 

I much prefer how it comes out on my wrists. The tobacco note is just gorgeous, and the vetiver is mellow and smooth.

 

 

***Update 2 hours in- Laura Belle has really gotten her stuff together! After a lot of back and forth and being a bit overwhelming, everything has developed became something awesome. This is totally what I would expect the beautiful tough girl in a Western saloon to smell like.

 

At the beginning, there was little throw to speak of, now, I'm surrounded in sultry, smoldering smoky vanilla, tobacco, and carnations.

 

This is a keeper for sure!

Edited June 7, 2015 by girlryan

[theseagrows]

oooh, like this a lot. right off the bat i get the tobacco, vetiver and a little carnation. in a few seconds i smell hints of lavender and the vanilla amps up a lot more with the musk. thankfully this is not that super strong vetiver either, it's quite nice. after awhile, when the scent settles into my skin, it's a creamy vanilla-carnation with a bit of smokiness and musk. there is some verrry subtle vetiver and lavender in the background, but those are just supporting notes, at least with my skin chemistry.

 

i kind of figured this would be an instant hit for me, so glad i got a bottle!

[DJ Sin]

Beth artistry outshines itself with Laura Belle McDaniel and this is a really complex and beautiful blend.

 

The best way to summarize this blend is gunsmoke spicy florals. It dries down to a spicy vanilla floral on me. The vetiver is gritty and smoky and reads as gunpowder to me. It brings up memories of gun shooting with my father in Colorado Mountains.

 

My biggest regret is not hoarding another bottle of two of this. (Sorry Midnight Aeval!)

[dottie_doom]

This is my favorite of the DCC decants I got this year. In the decant it is VERY smoky, but on application it mellows out and the lovely spicy carnation comes out to play. It complex and rather lovely, not as harsh as the first sniff leads you to believe.

[zankoku_zen]

I had a sinking suspicion that Laura Belle McDaniel would be awesome for me. And I'm glad to say that its true. I get a soft lavender vanilla, with an overlay of musk and tobacco. It's got enough smokiness to keep this from being cuddly. As it dries, you get a slightly more spicy carnation on at the wet. This one is sexy and sophisticated, without being stuck up. This is for a woman that appreciates the richness of velvet, and sleekness of leather, and isn't afraid of a little sweat on her.

 

Deeply womanly, subtly sexy.

 

ETA: I find this to not have a huge throw, but great staying power. This is more of a skin scent, but it sooo awesome.

Edited June 15, 2015 by zankoku_zen

[milo]

I thought I'd be all over this one, as I'm a lavender and bourbon vanilla fiend. Unforunately, all I'm getting is the smoky vetiver, my nemesis. Ill try her again another time, but for now, this damsel does not make the cut.

[SophieCedar]

You know, I got a bottle of this a while ago and neglected to review it? A shame! A travesty! Anyways..

 

Does anyone remember Lush's Skinny Dip? Yup, this smells similar on me. Vetivert is kinda strong when wet, less apparent in the summertime. Carnation and lavender are an even 2nd. Tobacco and smoky vanilla combine on the drydown, warming it and providing a more appealing, less pungent base. Its goooooooddddd. Sexy without being trampy, not too powdery, just different enough from Gun Moll to prevent me from selling it off.

[LizziesLuck]

Wet: Hello vetiver! Nice to meet you! This is the first time I have ever been able to pick vetiver out in anything, my skin always eats it. It's woody, a little smoky, earthy, a bit nutty, and altogether lovely. I am not sure why so many people don't like it. This is gorgeous so far, but could be the other notes. I can pick out the tobacco a bit. The sweet creaminess of the vanilla. the herbalness of the lavender. Not getting any spicy carnation yet. Hints of a dark musk. This is so well blended. It's dark and rich.

 

Dry: Lots of dark vetiver! It does go through a short, slightly unpleasant phase where it's sour and quite vegetal, but that passes and the sweetness of the vanilla comes back and tempers it. I really like this, and it's quite different from anything in my collection, so I do believe it's a keeper!

[Little Bird]

I get tons of smoky vetiver from this for about the first hour, and it makes me smell like I've been sitting too close to a campfire all evening. Woody, ashy, black smoke. After that first hour, the smoke starts calming down and I love the spiciness from the carnation, a bit of creamy sweetness from the vanilla, and the earthy, golden sweetness of the tobacco. I never smell any of the lavender, but I'm okay with that, because lavender is an iffy note on my skin.

Smoky, spicy, and earthy with a deep, rich thread of sweetness. I like this one a lot.

[JTobias]

Normally vetiver scares the hell outta me. The vetiver here is strong and dark and GORGEOUS...I've never smelled so darkly sexy. I feel like a 1920s screen goddess behind the curtains at night: smoky and dark and girly floral.

[Seajewel]

The first time I tested this recently (no idea what I thought when I first purchased it years ago thanks to a lovely fairy), I wrote it off as "not interesting" and "too sweet." How odd. Today, it's all husky smoky vetiver with a hint of carnation. The sweetness grows over time and almost, but thankfully not quite, peers into the bubble gum territory, but the sexy smokiness remains. Not interesting? Au contraire! This is gorgeous, and I'm glad I retested it and learned to appreciate it. Oddly, I don't get lavender at all and the carnation is pretty subdued as well. I'm used to carnation being spicy gorgeousness as in Spanish Red Carnation SN or Inez, but here, there's not much character to the carnation. The sweetness may be mostly the vanilla or the musk. 

 

Edited to add: lasting power is great too. It's not a loud scent, it's fairly close to my skin, but the next morning, it was still there without having changed much. Still deliciously smoky. 

Edited August 20, 2020 by Seajewel

[artisjok]

I’m so thankful for the tester of Laura Belle I got in a swap. I can’t tell you how many times I considered buying or swapping for a bottle of this....

 

On my skin, it starts off as an oddly disjointed leather and lavender. I assumed it would come together in the drydown. Unfortunately, what I got in the drydown was a thick, nauseating powder.  

All the notes sound like absolute win, such a bummer. 
It’s a reminder that decants are often life(wallet)savers. 

[VetchVesper]

I've discovered I rather like the mix of lavender with these darker, earthier notes, but the vetiver in this is just not quite behaving.  It reminds me of chicory and retains a bitterness on my skin that, though in the background, keeps disrupting the warm, earthy lavender and creamy sweetness going on.  Unfortunate, because without that, I think this would be a total winner.  

 

Other notes - I don't really pick up carnation.  The tobacco is warm and dark vs. the sweet, chewy kind.  Vanilla shows up to just add a hint of sweetness.  I don't really notice the musk except at the beginning, when I got sort of a sweatiness to the blend I didn't care for.  That went away after a few minutes though.  There is a nice balance between the notes.  Gender neutral, leaning a titch masculine b/c of the mean ol' vetiver.    Sigh.... Guess, I'll be passing on my bottle.

[Lucchesa]

I bought this from a friend's sales page because it sounded like my kind of thing, and it is, exactly.  It's beautifully blended with no hard edges.  Herbal lavender and spicy carnation are among the least flowery florals; I think a guy could easily pull this off.  It's dark, sweet and smoky from the vetiver, tobacco and vanilla, really mellow and lovely, everything balanced.  I've been wearing it as a winter blend, but I think it could be lovely for hot summer nights as well.  It seems like this is a blend that depends highly on skin chemistry to work its magic, and I lucked out!

[DiZZysTARdust]

as a tobacco lover, i’m sad to say i don’t pick much of it up in here. that’s okay tho because laura belle is beautiful no matter what. this is basically all carnation all the time on me. cool carnations with their spiciness enhanced by some of the other elements. it’s a little more bright and vanillic in the bottle and they blossom more on the skin, with the vanilla lingering around the edges for me and a little powderiness but mostly just big velvety carnation. decent throws and laaaaasts forever on me without much morphing