Laura

[Franny]

There was something he wanted to say to Laura, and he was prepared to wait until he knew what it was. The world slowly began to lose light and color. Shadow’s feet were going numb, while his hands and face hurt from the cold. He burrowed his hands into his pockets for warmth, and his fingers closed about the gold coin.

He walked over to the grave.

“This is for you,” he said.

Several shovels of earth had been emptied onto the casket, but the hole was far from full. He threw the gold coin into the grave with Laura, then he pushed more earth into the hole, to hide the coin from acquisitive grave diggers. He brushed the earth from his hands and said, “Good night, Laura.” Then he said, “I’m sorry.”

Violets, upturned earth, mothballs, formaldehyde (mixed with glycerin and lanolin), and the memory of the taste of strawberry daiquiris suspended in twilight.

This is strawberry daiquiris and violets on me, and then every now and then I get a hint of earth grounding the scent. That was my first impression and it has stuck. I am curious how this will change as it ages. It's like something that is sweet and beautiful on the surface but something altogether different underneath that you can't quite get at.

[mrsrevshamwow]

My experience is similar to Franny, something sweet and beautiful that corrupted a bit by something that you can't describe. Note: this is first impressions right out of the mailbox (for shame!) so I'm excited to see what it develops over time.

 

I love dirt and (inexplicably) violets for their coldness, and I usually strongly dislike sweets. This is sweet without the sugar and earthy (not dirty), and the murky chemical notes lurking underneath give this an edge of saltiness that's really amazing. My husband loves it on me, but he said "I can't believe you got that one," because it's so not my usual fare. Really lovely so far, I'm interested to see what a full day's test and some rest will do.

[Little Bird]

The thought of this scent grosses me out, but if I wear it and don't think about being buried alive, throwing up embalming fluid, and trying to use soap to cover up decay... Laura's fragrance is actually pretty tame and cheerful. I smell a hint of wet dirt at first, but the drydown is all candy-sweet strawberry with fizziness. Like a strawberry version of Blue Fire. It's all sugary, fizzy, strawberry flavored drinks.

[marilyn eyre]

I think I just found my new signature scent.

 

First off, I have to warn you, when you smell this right out of the bottle, you will recoil, because it smells like death. Very fitting. I can't explain the way it smells out of the bottle, I'm just hit with the mental image of death. But then I put it on my skin, and I'm hit with a different scent memory.

 

My father is a funeral director, and consequently, I spent a lot of my childhood in his office in the funeral home. This scent reminds me of standing up on the upper level, hanging around the top floor when there are no customers. Smells of musty curtains and older furniture, of the flower delivery room where I'd collect spare blooms, polished wood, and just a hint of that chemical undertone you'll know if you've ever spent time in a funeral home. And that strawberry note is turns fake on me, but I don't mind, because it reminds me of the cheap Justice (Just For Girls!) body sprays I used to buy when I was ten.

 

This is the smell of me in fourth grade, reading ghost story books I borrowed from the library in a clean visitation room. Well done, BPAL. Well done.

[Dark Alice]

I love this. Strawberry daquiri, with hints of violent and dirt. It's pretty and disturbing all at the same time. I will wear this more in the fall due to the bug attraction factor with the strawberry note, but it is quite lovely.

[lookingglass]

When I smelled this scent, I laughed out loud it was so spot on. This smells just like a dead wife learning in to speak to me, strawberry daiquiri on her breath; I can smell a faint whiff of her perfume, too...her clothes crusty and musty with earth. Wet, it's a chemically blast of preservation chemicals and earth, and the drydown warms up to something almost lifelike...reanimated, slightly putrefied, with the illusion of freshness, but not really alive. Creepy awesomeness!

[Deceitfuldescender]

This dries down to cool violets sweetened with dead on strawberry daiquiri, muddled with something similar to aldehydes. Nicer than the scent list and character inspiration lead you to believe, but still not for me.

[paperflowers]

This is pure dirt with a smear of flowers on me. It's quite pungent! I had to wash it off. It always amazes me how exact the "earthy" scents are.

[milo]

I love the lab's dirt note, and it is here, along with a fruity strawberry. It doesn't mesh well with me, and it does smell like a bad hangover after drinking fruity girl drinks and perhaps passing out in the dirt for awhile. Nice to try, and thanks to a lovely forumite for frimping it to me:)

[zankoku_zen]

Violets, fruity strawberry and a touch of dirt. It dries down to violets and aldehydes, so its a spooky violet blend. If you wanted a violet blend with staying power, I'd pick this up. Medium throw, good wear length.

[roseus]

In the imp: violet-strawberry candy. Very sweet.

 

Wet: Like I dropped the candy in the dirt. Something sharp and medical.

 

Dry: Mostly violet with a little candy strawberry again.

[Rane.]

In the bottle I smell strawberry & violets, some formaldehyde. On the skin the dirt smell really comes forward. After dry down I get the moth ball smell & violets. It is kind of unsettling to smell, like a freshly buried woman is now sitting in front of me. Spooky!

[doomsday_disco]

Laura goes on as sweet violet on me, followed by a mentholic note that must either be from the mothballs or formaldehyde, and then the strawberry daquiri note. Over time, the menthol aspect goes away and it becomes mostly about the strawberry daquiri (emphasis on the strawberry daquiri, which smells like a fake, candy-like strawberry with a bit of a frozen aspect) and violet, a very sweet combo, with just a hint of dirt.

 

I put off trying this decant because I had heard how weird and unsettling and how much of a challenge this one is, but actually, it's surprisingly wearable if you like that sort of strawberry and aren't averse to violets like I am... because the creepy aspects of the scent are either faint or short-lived, at least on me. I'd rather wear this than say, The Burying Ground.   While I'm not a fan of violets and prefer other strawberry scents, I'm glad that I got to try this one and appreciate the artistry behind this scent.