Forbidden Fruit - Resurrected

[donkehpoo]

These long-dead scents are back for a limited time in a slightly tweaked form!

As light and innocent as your first time should have been. The fresh scent of lotus hidden behind lightly scented flowers, amber, and citrus.

(Side note: can't remember what the original version smells like, so I can't do a comparison.)

Wet: First hit with LOTS of amber! It's a very fresh, "green" amber, as odd as that may sound.
Pretty strong throw, I almost knocked myself out sniffing my wrist!

Dry: Very, very similar to the wet stage. Still a fresh, "green" amber scent. There's a light floral background note, but it's not strong enough for me to figure out. Kind of reminds me of a lily, but don't take my word on that! Not getting any citrus, unfortunately. The throw has calmed down to what I would call average.

I'm glad I tried this out, but I won't need to upgrade to a big bottle.

[olhenry]

I got an imp to try and wet my immediate thought was, "I smell like I spilled kool-aid all over me". On me it's a pretty strong, sweet, floral. Initial throw is good but it becomes more muted pretty quickly. I'm glad I tried the imp but I won't need to buy a bottle; too sweet.

[Ghost of a Rose]

Imp fresh from the lab.

 

In the imp: Pee-yoo! A noseful of decay! But within seconds, it transforms into flowers. Those white lilies with orange centers (Asiatic Lilies?) that you get from the florist. The ones with the slightly unpleasant scent, that even when impeccably fresh have a tinge of wilt and brown edges in their scent. But flowers, anyway. With lots of orange. Well, that makes sense. And lotus is also known as water lily. So, yeah.

 

On me, wet: At first it is 100% orange. But again it quickly transforms into the lilies.

 

At 5 minutes: The orange has donned a cloak of invisibility made of lilies. I could swear I am smelling real Asiatic lilies just delivered from the florist. Beth has nailed these. This kind of lily is not my favorite floral scent, but I'm fascinated with the perfection of the scent picture. And they are so very fresh. I like it.

I know that "so very fresh" and "note of decay" sounds like a contradiction in terms, but that's just how these flowers are. And this perfume. You smell both things at the same time.

 

At 10 minutes: The same.

 

At 15 minutes, some of the "lightly scented flowers" are starting to come in, increasing the pleasantness of the fragrance.

 

At 20 minutes: . . . But the lilies continue to dominate. Odd that after the first minute this is a total flower fragrance, given the name. It's not at all what I expected! I like how that tiny edge of decay fits in to the "Forbidden" theme. I think of the Biblical mythology of the Garden of Eden. How thoughtful of God to put the "off" note in to the blossoms of the forbidden tree, to warn us humans off. This flower is the perfect choice for the theme.

This isn't an innocent scent to me, with that tinge of overripeness. But I don't get how "as innocent as your first time" goes with "forbidden" anyway. Maybe it's the "before" in the Garden of Eden? Innocent with that warning and forboding note lying in wait in the background.

 

At 30 minutes: Mostly the same. The lightly scented flowers are a bit more of a presence. I can't get over how real and fresh the lily is. I keep sniffing my wrist.

 

At 1 hour: The same, just softer. No amber yet, but it's often a bottom note so I still have hopes for it.

 

At 2 hours: The same, just weaker.

 

At 3 hours: The fragrance is gone for all practical purposes. Just the faintest trace of anonymous plastic-y "perfume." With a subtle tang that must be the final remnants of the orange. I never did get any amber at all. Maybe a little aging will bring it out, if the imp lasts long enough!

 

Verdict: A most unusual and exceptionally realistic floral perfume. 5 out of 6 stars. One for the Favorites box!

Edited September 1, 2018 by Ghost of a Rose

[ShadowEtienne]

I was recently at the Portland Chinese Garden while the lotus were blooming so the scent is pretty fresh in my mind. That fresh lotus bloom scent is definitely present here, and is to me the predominant note. There's a host of other flowers, definitely some lilies to my nose, possibly some star jasmine. It very much smells like a Chinese garden but standing near the blooming lotus.

 

The resins are a soft background note, grounding the rest of the scent. I only get the barest hint of citrus, to the point that I can't identify a specific citrus, just a vague hint of tartness.

 

Overall, this is lovely, and I'm excited to have it!

[crystaltongue]

This is one that you definitely need to let sit on the skin before you decide what you think of it. In the bottle, it is all amber and lotus. One the skin wet, it went through several odd stages of decaying flowers, before the citrus comes out, the flowers come back to life, and whole scent becomes lovely and balanced. It reminds me just a bit of several of the Lunar New Years scents, especially wooden goat. It has more throw than most of the LNYs though, at least on my skin.