Manila

[rockchickie]

A tropical, humid, lush scent, with a faint echo of Pacific breezes, jungle blossoms, and deep wet woods. Sampaguita blossoms, banana leaf, palm, and narra.

My first BPAL scent! I'm glad because my mom (and half of my blood) is from the Philippines. Another reason I'm glad this is my first: how the scent is on me is very different than the vast majority of the reviews.


Wet: Heavy Sampaguita! I get absolutely no banana and just jabs of Sampaguita, with a hint of something very woodsy (the narra, perhaps?).

Dry: Now just really really woodsy...but also breezy and warm. Mellow. A bit of banana as the Sampaguita fades but the wood is just too prominent for me.


Was really hoping this would be lighter and fruitier but oh well!

[Em-]

Sweet banana with a lush tropical floral backdrop. This is a gorgeous blend if tropical florals are your thing. Unfortunately, while they are lovely to look at, I'm not so into the scent of them, so this is one of those blends that I am thrilled exists, but am happy to send to a new home.

[porcelina]

I get no banana. In the bottle it's vaguely green and fruity but on me it's just generic florals and some sort of salty aquaticness. Definitely swapping this one!

[forspecial_plate]

This is a very pleasant, slightly fruity floral at first, and I don't really get a sense of 'banana'. It reminds me a little of lotus, maybe a little lighter, but definitely a bit fruity. This doesn't last long....a lot of the floral part fades and then I can smell the woods. Very nice overall, not a whole lot of throw, but my skin is dry this weekend and I've been doing a lot of dishes today, so maybe it just sucked up the scent. It has that characteristic 'bpal scent' for sure, and I do like it a lot. Maybe a little too floral for me to keep but we'll see.

[xoe]

wow. my nose must be way off or my imp is mislabeled. to my nose this is dragon's blood and cedar. See. i told you: way off.

[Nia]

in the imp: Banana.

 

Wet: flowery bananas!!

 

Dry: a very sweet blend with a perfect balance of flower and fruit. This reminds a bit of Lush Miranda soap, although it is even sweeter. The banana is not so prominent and it is hard to pick up any individual notes. A very good thing is that the sweetness calms down after a while. It makes me feel like buying Miranda so I can layer!

[Victory]

emzebel said what what I think about this oil. In the imp, I found Manila a bit distasteful, but on it is almost exactly what I would have expected from the description. It's lush, humid, faintly banana-ish, tropical. Perfect for wearing on a tropical vacation, much like Black Pearl, but as with Black Pearl, this isn't my sort of scent.

[The Perfumed Ferret]

Banana Starburst! Mmmmm......*insert Homer drooling* waaaay to sweet for me to wear, but it brings back good memories. *dashes off to buy a pack of Starbursts*

[LadyCrow]

In the imp: Fruity and floral.

 

Wet: I have no idea what these notes are supposed to smell like, but I'm getting spicy fruity-floral here. Wait, is there something like apples? I got a similar "apple" whiff in the wet stage of Morocco, oddly.

 

Drydown: Aha, banana! And thus it remains, subtle and close to my skin (although I didn't slather; I can see this being rather overpowering if one did), very consistently throughout the drydown -- this one isn't much of a morpher. I can tell that the "banana" thing is made up of two separate notes, one closer to my skin and one further away; I'm just not good enough at tropicals to tell which is what.

 

Verdict: It's lovely, but not for me. I rarely wander around in sarongs with a big gardenia pinned above my ear, and this seems to be that sort of scent. I would absolutely wear it to be in a production of South Pacific, but that seems unlikely in my near future.

[greencat03]

In the bottle: wow, that perked my nose up! Strong, almost a bit heavy floral. I'm guessing this is the the blossoms.

 

on: incensy, spicy floral. I think maybe a whiff of banana. On me I have to be careful to apply with a light touch, too much of Manila and the strength of the floral gives me a slight headache. But with a light touch its gorgeous.

[wikkidraven]

this is lovely! like catching a whiff of bananas in the tropical breeze, sitting in the shade.

 

i might have to find more manila

[Miseraya]

In the imp: Floral? Hey... where's the bananas?? Unlike pretty much everyone else, I'm getting no banana in this, it's all florals... Maybe on the skin...

 

On the wrist: Floral. Bugger. This is a heavy floral scent on me. No bananas.

 

 

Drydown: Is there a resin note in this? My skin is doing the thing it does with incense/resin/wood notes...damn. Off to the swaps.

[lamenteuse]

in the bottle: fruity with a scent of sweet flowers. Not what I wanted at all. Thankfully, to me, it didn't smell overly banana-ish.

 

on (wet): still fruity, with less of a flower scent now. There's a hint of spice and wood in the background, but still too sweet for me

 

on (dry): Tropical spice! With a nice splash of a savory flower scent (not too sweet). Actually rather enjoyable. It does have a bit of a tropical feel, but more of a sultry nights in Brazil feeling to me than an afternoon in Hawaii (sadly, I really wanted this for a Hawaii craving I have right now). Enjoyable, but didn't last long. In a few hours it was barely there.

 

verdict: EDIT I orginally gave this a 3.5 out of 5, but after wearing the scent a few more times, I've grown to love it. It's much more spicier now and perfect to wear on a hot, humid day because the scent stays on you and really punches out. And a side benefit to wearing this scent, my boyfriend seems to love it on me. I sat down by him on the couch and he nearly broke my ribs when he pounced on me. 4.5 out of 5!

Edited July 18, 2007 by lamenteuse

[Nimthiriel]

Initial impression:

In the vial, it's a loaded, tropical scent that has me grinning from ear to ear. It smells delicious, exotic, and... sunny! It also reminds me of a boutique I frequent, for some reason.

 

First on:

Wet, it's a little spicier than the first sniff hinted. I can also sense a slightly soapy background, but I hope that fades away.

 

Dry:

After about 10 mins, the spice is a little more subtle, and there's no soapyness at all. Yummy, yummy goodness left. It's indescribable to me, but it's absolutely marvellous.

 

20-30 mins afterapplication, the scent has become much more mild and timid, but it's still exotic. It has almost gone a little creamy now, but it's still a really lush scent. Yum.

 

Finally:

My second favourite scent yet – it's officially my second (and more playful) me-scent from now on. ^^

[boojum]

All I can think of is "pina colada" for this one. I smell pineapple rather than banana, no matter how hard I try, with a hint of coconut and a sweet vanilla. Yum.

[aquazoo]

Pineapple. Very nice tropical scent. Keeper.

[Kimiko]

The imp is waaay too fruit punch for me. Sadly. Too much sweet and fruit and banana.

[Nyneveh]

In the imp: very fruity, sweet and tropical, with an ever-so-slight muskiness.

 

On the skin: Wet in bottle: this is the banana boat- in a good way- like green banana, fresh and sweet, not saccarine spotty brown banana. I am not a big banana person, I only like them if they still have a hint of green on them. That's what this smells like, underripe banana, so fortunately for me, I like it.

 

In addition to the underripe banana note there is a light pink-white floral in there softening things up and the slightest touch of wood. Aha, wiki'd Narra and it's red sandalwood. The nose knows! The narra gets stronger on drydown, but I've yet to meet a wood I didn't like. I also wiki'd Sampaguita and it's a breed of jasmine. Ordinarily jasmine and my skin chem don't get along, but this is not heady at all, quite subtle in fact.

 

Manila will be a fab summer scent, I think I'll be saving this imp until then and so I can pretend I am on a tropical island and not in the middle of the desert.

[Honeygirl]

Bottle: Tropical

 

Wet: Juicy and tropical, banana. Like a tropical drink, almost.

 

Drydown: Maybe a bit of floral coming out, like I'm sipping that tropical drink and have a nice big tropical flower in my hair, and the wind is blowing the scents together.

3.5 outta 5

[MaeKitty]

Bottle: Sweet and candy like. Reminds me of swedish berries and perfume.

On Me: Banana, fruit punch, tropical flowers and burning. Burning? Gah! Skin burning! I guess this one just wont work on me.

[laforetnoire]

In the bottle, it smells exactly like banana flavored antibiotics. But when applied, it becomes more fruity and I do smell a bit of leaves and vegetation too.

 

Unluckily, bananas are not my cup of tea.

[djsiberia]

in the imp: ewwww banana..there's no green scent

 

there are florals in here and ba-na-na (sorry, katamari reference)

 

um, not really a fan of fruity florals, and i don't think i want to smell like a sweet, floral banana...so off to the frimp pile with this.

 

 

ETA: it also kinda smells like this medicine i'm giving my cat right now...that sickly sweet artificial banana scent...

Edited March 1, 2008 by djsiberia

[AEris]

Banana candy and woodsy florals.

 

Nah, not a fan...

 

2 out of 5

[donnatron]

Imp: Penicillin.

 

Wet: Cola. This scent seems to be morphing into my diet the week I had my tonsils out.

 

Dry: Get ready to read the sexiest thing you've ever heard. Like, seriously, brace yourself. The crook of my elbow currently smells like a flea market armoire stuffed full of banana-flavoured marshmallows. Yeah. You want that.

 

Throw: Minimal.

 

Overall: I think it has potential to smell amazing on someone else's chemistry. But this one was awful on me from start to finish. Sorry, Manila. I'm sure you're a lovely city. But I'm afraid that this imp just is not my friend.

[VioletChaos]

in the imp: sweet, spicy banana! yay!

 

wet on skin: the banana mellows considerably and mixes with a soft floral and something a little candy-like. i'm really enjoying this

 

dry down: everything i already mentioned is still present, but it has mixed further to become something sweet but sophisticated- i'd wear this on a summer nighttime date!

 

in all: not the over the top banana of Has-No-Hanna, this is a beautiful tropics blend that has potential to be a great cross-over for floral and foodie folks