The Bride

[ellocentipede]

Vanilla chiffon, honey musk, and pale magnolia.

This is the one Luper that I was sure I would love, and therefore my only blind bottle purchase. The Bride is absolutely stunning! At first I get the same honey musk that is in Lady Una, but then it is joined by the magnolia, which is beautiful, lush, and realistic. I have been searching and searching for a magnolia perfume with no luck, and this one is just heavenly. I don't distinctly smell the vanilla chiffon, but I feel like it's sweetening (and making more realistic) the magnolia note. This is like sticking my face in a magnolia blossom--gently sweet, musky, and heady. Thank you, Beth, for such a beautiful scent!
Edited February 11, 2016 by ellocentipede

[Nepthys]

We have a shapeshifter here. First wearing: 95% magnolia and 5% vanilla, no honey musk at all. It disappeared after 20 minutes. Second wearing: a delicate blend of honey and magnolia that is just lovely and fades after about 2 hours. Most scents can't be warm and light at the same time, I find, but this one does it perfectly. We'll see if it keeps changing on me.

Edited February 13, 2016 by Nepthys

[puck_nc]

Origin: Straight from the Lab

 

Initial Thoughts: I will always consider a scent with magnolia. Vanilla chiffon sounds divine. I hope the honey musk will be light enough not to amp like musk often does on me.

 

In the Bottle: Interesting. Lush vanilla musk with a creamy quality. My first thought was that I was smelling something like Ivory Vulva or even the famed Monsterbait: Underpants. It's surprisingly sexy.

 

Wet: The honey musk comes charging out of the gate. A very come-hither scent with a "white" quality rather than red or dark.

 

Drydown: The magnolia emerges to add a floral character to the scent, which is interesting because I would have thought the reverse: magnolia=top note and musk=base note. But I'm not going to argue. I agree with ellocentipede that the vanilla seems to be a sweetening element holding things together rather than out front.

 

Verdict: This is not the virginal bride before the ceremony. This is the bride on her wedding night, all dolled up in white lingerie and ready for some action.

Edited February 15, 2016 by puck_nc

[Atrous]

First word that comes to mind is delicate.

The Bride has a wispy quality to it.

 

Magnolia with a touch of etherial vanilla and sweetness. I was a bit scared of the honey musk because honey notes sometimes turn to baby powder. This honey smells light and translucent with faint hint of muskiness keeping it from going too sweet or powdery.

 

Weirdly, I am getting a bit of green tea too.

 

Super lovely. I'm going to enjoy wearing this on warmer days.

[doomsday_disco]

In the bottle: Honey musk, followed by sweet magnolia, and then the vanilla chiffon.

 

Wet: The honey musk and magnolia are quite strong on my skin, and I'm not able to smell any vanilla at this point. The magnolia is rather perfume-y, for lack of a better term, but the honey musk is helping to tame it, making it a nice, sugary floral. After a few minutes, the vanilla chiffon note emerges, and it's a light, smooth vanilla note. Now I'm really enjoying this! I think the honey musk is the same one found in Capax Infiniti, or maybe it's the combination of the honey musk and the vanilla that remind me of that scent. I agree with Atrous' description of this being delicate and wispy.

 

Dry: The honey musk still reigns, but the vanilla note has made it a lot cozier now, and both notes have helped tame the magnolia, which is a lot softer now.

 

Verdict: I am really glad that I took a chance on this one. I wasn't sure if magnolia would be my cup of tea, or if it would be honey musk all the time, but this is wonderful, and I'm curious to see how it ages!

Edited February 21, 2016 by dementia_divine

[LizziesLuck]

The honey musk and vanilla chiffon made this an instant blind bottle for me, but I will admit to having some reservations about the magnolia. Still, so excited to try it!

 

Wet: Oh wow, the honey musk is sooo good. Like, eyes rolling back in my head, good. This is beautiful. Softer than I imagined it would be. Sweet, but not cloying. It's romantic and feminine. Well blended, and smells more complex to me than it's 3 notes would suggest. Everything is balanced really well, but the honey musk is the star on me, for sure.

 

Dry: I'm getting hints of vanilla now with that glorious honey musk. This is so lovely. The magnolia never really showed up on me, though there's a barely perceptible hint of floral to this. Love it, so glad I grabbed a blind bottle. This will likely be for special occasions in the Summer (like weddings, maybe!! )

[miss_rynn]

I was trying to pin down why this seems so familiar, but I finally worked out that it comes across as the lovechild of Antique Lace and the Mouse's Long Sad Tale. It has that perfumey vanilla and white flowers vibe to it. The magnolia is a bit too old fashioned floral for me, but the vanilla base is beautiful.

[Little Bird]

Something in this (the magnolia, I think) has a soapy, sour, lemony quality to it. It goes on intensely soapy and I wanted to scrub it off, but the drydown is much prettier. It's very wispy and ethereal... like a cold breeze and white florals at a garden party with gauzy, light streamers and light-as-air, tiny lemon cakes... It's dainty and clean with a delicate sweetness and a sour, lemony, natural floral smell. The honey musk and vanilla are barely there, just adding a slight suggestion of sweetness.
I enjoy The Bride as the soapiness fades, but the whole thing lasts under three hours on my skin.

[Nyx_DevineNight]

In the bottle: I am getting vanilla and magnolia.

Wet: Wow, this is very well blended on my skin and at the same time I can smell each individual note as well. I have not tried magnolia before this, so I didn’t know what to expect with it. But this is a rather pretty scent so far. A little on the perfume-y side, but its not too perfume-y. If that makes sense.

Dry: The magnolia comes out on top more as it dries. I can still smell the other notes, but they are all in the background now. It seems I like magnolia and it works with my skin. At least in this scent. (And my hubby actually likes this one.) I'm glad I was able to try it and I will be seriously considering a bottle.

[macabre_fae]

Oh, this is pretty!

 

It is very feminine and I too agree that it has an aura of delicacy about it. The honey musk takes more of a backseat and lets the magnolia have more of a presence in this blend. The magnolia is subtle and fresh. If you can imagine a field of flowers filled with warm golden light and wispy sprites fluttering about and basking in the glow, that is how this smells. Overall, this is beautiful and a blend I'd pick up on days when I want to feel like an ethereal fair haired fairy frolicking in golden light.

[Lambent]

I get a non-foody vanilla with a soft lingering breath of a musky floral hovering around the whole. The dry down is reminiscent of Antique Lace (on my skin, anyway). I think I'm going to need a bottle.

[Geminirubyshoes]

I knew that I would love this. Magnolia is one out of two white florals that always work for me (Gardenia is the other) so I will always be drawn to anything with Magnolia in it. The floral with the honey musk is all in the wet stage and then the beautiful, sweet, light Vanilla Chiffon comes out on the dry down. This is a lingering scent with decent throw. I could actually smell myself in the car on my hour drive to my boyfriends house today and it was glorious. I cannot wait to wear this in the heat of the summer

[Leopard403]

This year's Lupers are WINNING with creamy, sophisticated, well-blended scents. The Bride is all creamy magnolia grounded with non-foody vanilla, with the softest hint of musky honey. (I tend to amp honey, but not in this blend!) A very feminine scent for Spring!

[PrinceofcatS]

I wanted this from the moment i saw it when the Lupercalia update went up, but I had reservations about it all the same. I worried it would be too overpoweringly sweet (and I ordinarily adore honey as a note).

 

There was initially some suspiciously baby powdery note lingering around, but this quickly becomes a very delicate magnolia that honestly smells more like a real flower than anything I've worn before. I agree with earlier reviewers that the honey and vanilla notes only seem to enhance the magnolia for me. I've never worn Antique Lace, but this does remind me of white lacy wedding gowns - warm from being worn recently. I can definitely detect vanilla or honey in the background when i sniff for them specifically, but it's really just lazily blooming white magnolias for me.

 

This reminds me of the discontinued scent Eos (which was a skin note, jasmine, buttercup and honeysuckle) - it feels similarly sweet, light, springy florals + warm skin to me - but it's much prettier; that one definitely has a lingering baby products note to me.

 

I really recommend this to anyone who was on the fence about it because, like me, they feared it would be too strongly sweet/have an edible honey or vanilla note, and I would also recommend this to anyone who is equally fearful about a powdery, "perfumey" white floral, because this is soft and realistic and sweet, not particularly perfumey to my nose.

[LiberAmoris]

The first word that came to mind when wearing The Bride was pretty. This is just so pretty. It's sheer and delicate on the skin, almost like a floral skin scent. The magnolia is the most prominent note, but there's a dusting of vanilla chiffon and a drizzle of honey that seem to permeate and merge with the magnolia itself. A gorgeous blend for spring!

[DiesMali]

In the bottle: Honeyed vanilla.

 

Wet on my skin: Oh. Ohhhhhh. Magnolia! It smells exactly like a freshly bloomed magnolia flower! YES! And some musky honey and vanilla, but mostly magnolia!

 

Dry: I am generally not one for white florals, and honey is hit or miss on my skin, but something in this (the magnolia) just called to me and I had to have it. It's true to life magnolia, like the huge white blooms they get down in the deep South, backed up by musky sweetness from the honey and vanilla. It's a bit 'antique' smelling, if that makes sense, and just very beautiful. White upon white upon white, but not too perfumey, nor soapy. Lovely, feminine, and I think it has sort of a velvety feel to it. Unlike anything else I have, which is good!

[rosedamask]

This is so beautiful! Chiffon is a great word for the vanilla in The Bride: it's like smelling big, fresh, dewy-petaled magnolias and honey-sweet skin through a sheer, floaty veil. It's very light and delicate, but still has great longevity on me so far - there's good sillage for the first few hours, then it moves into something more skin-close but still very sweet and striking. I'm glad I blind-bought this! It'll be gorgeous to wear outdoors in the spring/summer.

[tarotgirl99]

This is a lovely scent--the magnolia note is potent and the scent has lasted for the last seven or so hours. And it has serious throw. I can see me wearing this a lot to social functions. It's mainstream without being dull.

[SophieCedar]

Realizing now that I shoulda ordered a back up bottle of this one. Its Ninon without all the sharp notes. This really is wonderful. Sweet golden vanilla and warm/non-powdery honey musk. The magnolia isn't sharp or super present. It just is. Perfection.

[freyasfae]

Now, this is the Southern Belle scent I have been needing. Many of them are too heady for me (and too literally humid), but this is a non-sultry Southern Belle - the kind who makes chiffon pies and brings them to the church fundraiser. She prefers pearls to diamonds, and always makes sure her underwear matches her outfit, you know in case of car wreck or other such "accident."

[quintessentially]

Nepthys nailed this one on the head for me: warm and light. I thought there would be more throw for a magnolia-dominant scent (which is precisely what I smelled when I opened the decant, so I was hopeful) but upon application, it was more vanilla chiffon with a pale undercurrent of magnolia running through it. I had to bring my nose right to the skin to smell much of anything after dry-down. Eventually honey musk came peeping out, kinda like a quick flash of pale naked skin through the filmy material of The Bride's undergarments. It's very quick, so you might miss it. And after about 30 mins, all of her was gone entirely.

[SimplySyra]

Here comes The Bride and she's BEAUTIFUL.

 

This is a lovely ethereal honey musk interwoven with a soft fluffy cloud of faded vanilla. The magnolia settles just below these two scents, adding just the right amount of texture and sweetness to bolster the scent without overtaking it. Warm, smooth, gently sweet, and lightly musky. I adore this scent. It's definitely not overbearing, but it does persist for about 3-4 hours after application on my skin, especially if applied to my throat/neck. Regardless, I don't mind reapplying so that I can be constantly engulfed.

[Christine Daae]

When BPAL released the Lupercalia scents this year, I was just about exactly a month away from my wedding. So when I saw this, a scent called The Bride with three notes I like, two of which I particularly adore, I knew I had to at least try it!

I had already decided on a wedding day perfume, so I waited until I came back from my honeymoon to order this one - if I fell in love with it, I’d still always associate it with being a new bride!

In the bottle: So when I said “three notes I like, two of which I particularly adore,” the two I particularly adore are the magnolia and vanilla - I like honey, but it takes a backseat to those two. In the bottle, this is ALL honey musk - I recognize the note from Lady Una.

This is the second time I’ve tried this blend and the first time was All Honey Musk All The Time, which is pretty but not very “me” and not what I was hoping for with this blend, but it was fresh out of the mail and I knew I needed to let it settle a little before I drew any real conclusions!

Wet: OH WAIT OMG IS THAT THE MAGNOLIA??? I get a little bit of greenish magnolia here!

...oh and immediately it disappears behind the honey musk. On my skin, this is a dead ringer for Lady Una, because that one was primarily honey musk on me as well.

My skin has a tendency to pull any sweetness in a blend forward - if there are any vanillas or sugars in a blend they will be the most prominent note on my skin, and it tends to amp up any sweetness in other notes as well (florals, musks, resins, particularly sweet fruits). I am starting to think that perhaps honey is one of those things I can’t always wear because of this tendency (violet is another one that I’ve noticed recently just turns to candy on me).

It’s not even that I don’t like the honey (honey musk) note, I do! It’s a pretty, sheer honey note - not too cloying or sticky-sickly sweet. It’s just that it’s incredibly loud on my skin and drowns out everything else, and I really, really wanted the magnolia in particular.

I do, every so often, get a little bit of the magnolia in the throw, and I can see what this must smell like on someone with more agreeable skin chemistry: an incredibly pretty honeyed white floral! It's just severely overshadowed by the honey musk on my skin 90% of the time.

All is not lost, though - not only have I found quite a few other white florals that I adore, I am wondering how this will layer with things that are less sweet but white-floral-heavy nonetheless. I might get something closer to what I was looking for if I layer this with one of those!

[sunlitgarden]

In the decant: Sweet, light. It's a nice balance of the sweet vanilla/honey/musk and the floral magnolia. The vanilla/honey are making me think of cake a little bit (a white, fluffy, wedding cake type -- which I guess is appropriate given the name of the scent). It's not really a foody scent though. It's just sort of the suggestion of cake rather than having one right in front of your face.

On my skin: Still a light, pretty scent. There's something almost minty-smelling when I sniff it closely. I'm not getting a lot of throw from this scent, and what I do get is mostly the honey and vanilla. There's a bit of the "Play-Doh" type smell in the vanilla but I've found that with other scents with vanilla this sometimes ages out (it did in Joyful Moon) so I'm not overly concerned about it.

It's a nice scent but a bit too light on me to be one of my favorites.

[yakiguri]

I took a gamble on this blend too since, while honey and musk are both phenomenal on my skin, the last honey musk blend I bought (Capax Infiniti) went all sorts of NO on my skin.

 

I have nothing to worry about here. The vanilla here is the exact same vanilla I got from Impressions of the Floating World, with it's light but chewy peanut-butteriness. The magnolia here is strong but not headache-inducingly so as the honey musk reins it back and gives the blend a backbone of soft sweetness. This is quite lovely and if you're waffling on it, get it as I get the feeling this will be quite difficult to find once the Lupers go down.