The First Time I Saw A Ghost

[absinthetics]

The first time I saw a ghost, I was ten years old…
It was my mother’s.

A slightly morbid admission: I lost my mother when I was 15, and I still remember how it felt to hold her hand after she passed away. The scent I’m trying to capture here is love mingled with grief and a peculiar horror, reminiscent of the chill of her skin and the weight of her hand. English roses as a symbol of the love a child feels for her mother, chilled by eucalyptus blossom, iris root, and white lily aldehyde.

This sharp is bright and light hearted, with pretty roses and iris, but the aldehyde and eucalyptus are this strange, sharp essence in the back ground. They become this chemical bite to the scent that is very hard to get beyond.

[savage_rose]

This smells a bit champagne-y--not as much as the prototype, but it has that same effervescent sweetness. But in this blend, it's much more subdued. It smells like a bit like an English garden, and rain, and a bit of sweet sadness muted by the resiliency of childhood. I love it!

[SnowWhiteMoon]

In Bottle: Lots of lily, an ozone coolness, and that iris root peeking up through there. It's delicate and light with a chemical, chilly touch.

Wet on Skin: Lily. Lots of lily and the cold ozone/freon note of Numb. It has an almost baby powder quality to it on my skin that I'm not liking one bit.

30 Minute Dry Down: The lily died down after 30 minutes. It's much softer, more understated now. It's very much predominantly lily on me, the rose isn't there at all, but it's sweeter, and it remains very chilly. I can still, if I close my eyes, get a whiff of baby powder, though. It's really not something I would wear, but it's a very pretty blend. Feminine, ethereal, and cool.

60 Minute Dry Down: It's powdery, a little sweet, but the lily is still clinging as the primary note on my skin. At this point, when I know it won't change much more, it's simply a sweet, powdery, slightly green lily on my skin. Definitely not for me.

[TrailerTrashPrincess]

at the DSLE, Andra and i - without realizing it - both kept singing the name of this, slightly paraphrased, to the tune of "the first time ever i saw your face".

i don't know that we were the only ones, but i know we did it and it struck me as funny. i still can't see the name of this without picturing her gorgeous, smiling face.

 

i also hafta say that this was one of the prototypes i was obsessed with. obsessed, i tell you.

 

i adore this scent. i love this scent.

if i'd read the notes before i sniffed it, i would have been afraid of it and expected to not like it. i'm so glad that wasn't the case!

 

i really don't get any roses. and don't let the "aldehyde" frighten you - aldehydes in regular perfume make me think of things like Chanel No5 which i don't like at all... and eucalyptus blossom must smell nothing at all like eucalyptus leaves, is all i can figure.

 

 

this, this is lovely beyond words. it falls in that same category of BPAL that i love and wear most often... scents like Yes, House of Mirrors, The Evening Star or even Berenice. others i like that are somewhat similar start heading off into the champagne or frankincense categories...

essential a clear-crystal-petrichor type scent, without high-pitched white florals or headache-inducing ozoney nonsense.

[zankoku_zen]

Loads of white musk, rose and orchid, a hint of vanilla and amber. I am not kidding when I say a ton of white musk. This has great throw, and great wearlength. Oddly enough, it does smell motherly.

 

Unfortunately, it smells like a old-timey floral with the rose and musk combined, and I just can't handle it.

 

PASS.

[Haltija]

In the beginning stages of this it smelled so nice, very very floral with a heavy sophisticated vibe about it. It's definitely a white floral and I get no eucalyptus blossom at all, mostly just lily and iris.

 

But oh my goodness the more and more it dried it just became more and more stifling, I had to wash it off because it almost felt claustrophobic.

[alyelle]

I tried this twice, because the first time, my aversion was so instant and so strong that I thought my nose might have been off. Apparently not.

 

In the imp: a truly horrible fusion of decaying flowers, disinfectant, and dirty floor-mopping water.

 

As worn: I have so many things still to review that I've stopped making detailed notes for anything I find unappealing, but throughout its dry-down, this blend never improves much from my initial impression. The lily emerges as a slightly powdery scent, but the whole thing is dominated by a pine/eucalyptus smell that reminds me of the cleaning fluid hospitals use over here. What florals I do get are certainly not pleasant enough to give it a third chance. Instantly into my sale pile.

 

Stars: ★

[porcelina]

i definitely get a champagne note from here, but also something very cold, and sharp florals. then there's this soft, powdery, vanilla-like note that kind of covers and mutes everything else? at first i really do not like it at all, but as it dries, i could see wearing this at least once and a while. it's elegant and very unique and i can't think of any other bpal in my collection to compare it to.

[VetchVesper]

There is something in this scent, perhaps the musk?, that reminds me of a hand lotion my mom used when I was a little girl. Hence, the scent impression I get from The 1st Time I Saw a Ghost is one of soft, white, cool hands, which seems to fit pretty well with what Beth was going for, so that's kind of neat.

 

Overall, this isn't the kind of scent I'd wear much, but it's pleasant. The eucalyptus blossom is sweet and almost lemony rather than the medicinal kind of smell. The florals are present, but muted behind a hazy screen of white/synthetic smelling musk. Not cheap musk, just not natural, musky musk. It's cool, very floral sweet, clean, and has a sort of effervescent quality to it. I can see the comparisons to champagne, but maybe crossed with white tea or snow. It lasts forever on me.

[Poenari]

Initially on my skin I smelled a slightly soapy rose note, so I looked up the notes before trying to identify anything further. OK, so there is rose here, and it is the kind that turns to soap on me. Disappointing. But the rose hasn't amped to eleven as so often happens with soapy rose notes, so that's a plus. After about 15 minutes, I can smell the lily and something else that is slightly green but woody at the same time. Overall, this remains a white floral scent to me, and while it's very pretty, it's not in my wheelhouse. It smells like a room full of funeral flowers and greenery to me- there's that combination of pretty floral with a hint of sadness. I'm happy to have the decant and that I had a chance to try this.

[Little Bird]

I've put off reviewing this one, because it's nothing but death notes for me. The aldehydes are sharp, soapy and powdery, with a sour green edge, the rose smells stuffy and old fashioned, the iris unbearably sharp and perfumey, and the eucalyptus adds a medicinal chill. It smells chemical, soapy, powdery and like some sort of medical disinfectant. I can't pull this off at all, but I am not a fan of aldehydes, iris, or eucalyptus.

[Rachel L. Fox]

I love the story this perfume tells. It smells like a morgue (disinfectant and chilly air), which fills you with dread and sadness, but then it blossoms into soft, phantasmal florals and something that smells sweet and far away--vanilla and honeyed tea? I have a lot of favorite BPAL scents, but this may just be at the top. <3

[WinterRose27]

Wet: Lily and a cool, chilly feel from the eucalyptus. I became sad as this smell and feel left me...

 

Drydown/ Overtime: Quickly becomes and stays VERY powdery on me with hints of roses/floral. It must be the orris that makes it powdery?

 

It smells like what a funeral smells like to me: the coffin, the wood and its lining, the dusty lamps and the bouquets of flowers...everything in the room taken in and interpreted through smell.

Edited March 22, 2017 by WinterRose27

[Cali]

Oooh on first application this is lovely!! Didn't really know what to think of it in the imp but I love the mintyness of it.
I usually dislike eucalyptus very much but this is very well balanced (and in the background).
The white florals are almost similar to the ones in Lady Lucille Sharpe but they're dustier, and go a bit more stuffy on drydown. Melancholic and beautiful. There's something ozone-y in there which, when completely dry, swirls around the rest of the notes like a mist. From A to Z this is almost like a scare to acceptance of actually having seen that ghost!

Very happy I got to try this!

[alyelle]

A decant from 2015 - I was very unimpressed in my review then, and this has been in a dark box for swapping ever since.

 

In the imp: My initial notes described this as "a truly horrible blend of decaying flowers, disinfectant, and dirty mop water". They are... not far wrong. From the vial, this doesn't seem to have changed much, although the eucalypt is a bit stronger, and the decay a bit less pungent than I remember.

 

Wet: Definitely improved. This was sickly on me in 2015, with a strong pinesol note and not much else. Over time, the rose has strengthened; it is a vast improvement from the smell of the vial and after an initial dab didn't disgust me, I put on a regular amount.

 

Dry: No comparison to its younger days, where it stayed like mop water; now, the rose amps up, backed by a softly spicy orris, and the eucalypt remains mellow and gentle, like the blossoms of the trees I grew up with and not some 1980's hospital corridor nightmare. I've never been so happy to be proven wrong about a fragrance, because this was one I really wanted to love when I first bought it and was gutted when I did not. It wears close to the skin, but well and for a reasonable amount of time.

 

Stars: ★★★½, a great improvement on my original one.