Florence

[Electra]

The pearl of the Italian Renaissance. Elegant iris, bright berries, gilded amber and velvety spices.

I should have known better. I ordered imps of Florence and Rome because I was feeling nostalgic about my trip to Italy, even though both have Notes That Do Not Work On Me.

In this case it's amber. Amber does this unfortunate thing where sometimes it smells like a diaper on my skin. It's doing that now.

Not a keeper.

[Taniwha]

Florence is gorgeous!

 

I feared the berries in here a little, but they are subdued and gentle - just right for my taste. This is a warm, sexy blend. I caught whiffs of pine at first (soft, not harsh), then later, coconut, amber and a sweet floral. The spices are lovely - it sort of reminds me of a softer Snake Oil with fruity overtones.

 

I got this in an eBay pack, and it was not on my wishlist, but I'm buying a big bottle. Between this and the Lyonesse I recently fell in love with, I"m going to have to rethink my "I don't care for florals" stance.

 

eta: My nose may be playing tricks on me. It may not be coconut that I smell, but the Iris. It reminded me of Black Opal, and since that also has florentine iris, that may be it. Whatever it is, its lovely.

Edited November 21, 2006 by Taniwha

[mtlaise]

When I first put this on, all I could smell were the spices. As it dried, I noticed the berries and the iris coming forward. I never did get the amber in this, which is fine by me. Although I preferred this wet, it is quite nice as it dries as well. I won't buy a big bottle, but will use up the imp easily.

[euterpe414]

This is such a stunning fragrance, so much so that a day after testing I ordered a bottle (usually I deliberate about these things for at least a week or two...). Iris is one of the few flowers that i enjoy in perfume, it was especially good to me in 13 and Lucretia, and again is good to me in this blend. The iris is at the forefront of this scent on my skin, and the other notes blend together wonderfully to create a gilded background for the flower to rest on.

 

This is not an overly amber scent on my skin, as I thought it might be when I read the description. It maintains a much lighter feel with the berries. i love amber scents and was a little sad about this, but honestly this blend is so well, um, blended (yeah I need a bigger vocabulary) that i don't ever find myself smelling it and wishing there was a bit of something else added in. Florence also has great lasting power, yay!

 

So yes, this is a fabulous blend. Not my typical spicy or rich fare, but regal in its own right, and definitely worth checking out!

[oh_the_horror]

This smelled almost like a sweet pine resin at first. It was really nice. But the berries quickly became too strong and sweet for me. I really don't like berry scents at all.

 

Several people said this was all iris at first. I don't know what iris smells like but I love how this smells in the beginning. It's interesting to see that iris seems to work on me. I'll have to get some more blends with iris in them.

Edited December 29, 2006 by oh_the_horror

[storme]

In the imp: ooh, lots of berry, something that smells a little like mace, and that sticky goldy amber smell.

 

On me, wet: sweet spices and berries and sticky amber. It's somewhat foody, really.

 

On me, dry: oh, there's the iris, but that foodiness has gone sort of powdery on me, and a little stale-smelling.

 

Verdict: Not once it dries, certainly, and before that it was a bit too sweet for me. Ah well.

[brownbear]

At first this smelled a little dusty. I'm sure that was coming from the iris. There is also some sweetness that comes and goes. Overall, it isn't really me (too much iris) and I think the amber is doing something weird on my skin.

[girl_android]

Random imp!

 

In the imp, it's definitely amber, golden and sticky, with some dusty kind of berry going on. I'm not sure I know what iris smells like, actually!

 

Wet on skin, there's an incensey feel to it - spices plus berries plus amber? There's a streak of something that isn't from spices or berries or amber, I'll figure that for iris?

 

Once dry, there's actually something that makes me think green as well as powdery. It's lovely, kind of not for me though, especially not on a warm day! It's a little old for my tastes, not sure why though?

 

ETA: cat leaned on mouse button! I hadn't finished!

Edited February 3, 2007 by Girl Android

[filigree_shadow]

Something about this scent smells a little bit off to me. I've tried it several times because I always think I should like it, based on the notes. I usually like berries and amber, iris is all right, spices are okay if they're not hot-smelling spices... but something about this one just doesn't work for me. It smells powdery and reminds me of old ladies. The berries don't smell fresh and juicy, they're too distorted in this for my tastes. I normally like ambers, but as I discovered in Hymn to Proserpina, fruits with ambers can be a bad combination on my skin. Unfortunately they're a bad combination for me in this blend, too.

[ariosa]

I received Florence in a batch of free imps to try from a fellow BPAL'er, and tried it for the second time last night. Initially, right from the imp and to my skin, it had a 'oh man, NO, commercial perfume' kind of vibe, but that faded within a minute to this gorgeous, warm, spicy berry. I love it. I kept sniffing myself all night (I'm new to this whole BPAL thing, but it seems to me that if I want to keep sniffing myself, I've got a scent that works for me!).

 

No note stood out more than others in the drydown. Each note would poke its head out individually, but they really all seemed to blend together so nicely. My only disappointment is that it didn't last super long on me (several hours is better than none, though!) -- but I will likely order a larger bottle of this! Love it!

 

ETA: apparently this lasts longer on me than i can smell. my sister-in-law complimented me on it last night, and could totally smell it, when my nose could no longer pick it up at all.

Edited March 3, 2007 by ariosa

[lightgatherer]

This blend actually worked fairly well on my skin - nice amber with decent berries. The iris, fortunately, was nowhere to be seen. The spices, unfortunately, were also nowhere to be seen. Without the spices the berry and amber blend, though nice, was a bit boring. I wouldn't see every really wearing this.

[Trish]

I got this as a frimp, otherwise I never would have tried it as amber and I don't tend to get on very well. But I am very glad I did now! Yes the amber does turn to powder as normal, but before it did I was finally able to get a good sense of what it smells like! A wonderfully golden sweet resin, and now I really hate it that all bar two blends containing amber have gone to powder on me (and I can't smell it in those two - Sin and Fenris Wolf).

 

So before this turned, it was lovely! A smooth sweet golden scent with a touch of berries, noticeable fragrant spices and a touch of iris.

 

Damn you skin chemistry! *shakes fist*

[zankoku_zen]

In the imp: iris and something green

 

On Skin: something green, like fresh cut flower stems, and the iris.

 

On Drydown: Still very iris oriented, but I get a musky woody tone from it that turns very powdery after an hour.

 

Verdict: The amber turns too powdery on me in this blend. I do love the iris note though.

[Bagfish]

Florence was a frimp from the lab (thanks labbies), and is something I would never have chosen for myself as I don't like iris or berries in other scents. So its a good thing that I was frimped this as it is a gorgeous scent and smells nothing like I expected the sum of the parts to smell like.

 

The berries don't stand out, just give it a bright sweetness, the iris mellows the berries and the amber grounds it all with a dusty, mellow sweetness. The dry down is sweet, soft and subtle and lasts all day. I love this, it is a serious candidate for a bottle at some point, the my first Frimp-to-Bottle in two years of BPAL!

[neuilly]

For the life of me I can't tell you why but I get...patchouli?! The one note that hates me. I do, however, get a lovely blend of berries, amber, and iris in the background. However the patchouli or what seems like patchouli is taking over and it's a note i really can't handle.

[cchampio]

Florence is immediately VERY sweet and floral on me. Virgin nose here, so I can't pick out the note exactly, but something in this smells exactly like the air freshener or fancy soaps that my grandma had in her bathroom when I was a kid. Maybe the Iris? For me, it's all bathroom. Maybe someone else can love it without any weird childhood connotation.

 

Sorry, Florence, off to the swap pile for you.

[herbhealer]

I love smelling this from the imp - I get flowers and incense and gold. On my skin, it was too sweet to keep wearing. I would love this in a candle to warm up my house on a cold night.

[kwsix]

I am totally stunned at how lovely Florence is on me!

 

In the imp, it wasn't anything special - brightly floral with a base of amber. I almost passed it by without putting it on my skin, then I reminded myself that I must try everything on my skin, because I never know how it will turn out. I'm so glad I did.

 

On my skin, Florence turns into the most gorgeous creamy sweet and spicy scent. The flowers stay soft and golden, and the amber just glows in the background.

 

As it dries, it becomes more spicy and the berries start to peek out just a little. It's still a very creamy blend on me, almost like there's tonka hiding in there somewhere. This isn't a candy sweet scent, despite the berries. It's more of a hint of fragrant, deep purple fruits that brightens up the amber and florals.

 

Overall, Florence is a winner on me. It's feminine in a grown-up and sensual way. The spiced floral aspect reminds me of Hetairae without the honey. I am seriously contemplating a 5ml, and at least want to get another imp.I've ordered it already.

Edited June 15, 2007 by evilmistressoftoast

[hipslike___cinderella]

For whatever reason, I had a hard time reviewing Florence, but I'll do my best.

 

In the imp vial it's rather floral. I'm not sure what iris smells like alone, but it's very pretty. Someone earlier compared it to the iris in Blood Pearl, and I can see the similarity. The "berries" are hard to distinguish to me, and instead of naming any, I can say it's one big, swollen, juciy scent; warm and red. The amber provides the base here.

 

This gets much better on my skin. It becomes earthy and sexual- and I swear, swear, SWEAR I smell patchouli! Really! I let it sit on my wrist forever to see if it was just my nose tricking me, and I kept re-reading the description, but I swear I smell a distinct earthiness that's patchouli (and I'm not one to smell something "dirty" and scream "patchouli!" right away; I love patchouli and can pick out a billion subtleties). The end result is musky, sexy berries and amber.

 

I'm guessing there's some spice falling under the "velvety spices" category that I don't even know the name of that must be giving the "earth" feel. I like this blend for what it's for, and rose above what I expected (I read "berries" and groaned), but it's still not my kinda thing.

[maribouquet]

imp: floral, amber

wet: something smells piney to me & the berries are very sweet

dry: still sweet, but also play-doh scented

[modernsaints]

Ugh... something has gone horribly green and sharp and sour in this. Is it the berries? I have NO IDEA what is doing this, but... eck. Wow, this is WRONG on so many levels. Boooo, skin chemistry.

[wikkidraven]

ditto with the herbally green going on in Florence. a very soapy, spicy iris.

 

this doesn't agree with me at all.

[heysunshine]

This went all spicy powder on me. No berries.

Edited April 3, 2008 by heysunshine

[grifyn_whiffs]

In the imp:

 

Hmm. Starts of kind of sharper than I usually like.

 

(Ah! Amber, we meet again. I recognize you by your tendency to go to powder on me, almost without fail.)

 

Amber: You never know, it might be different this time.

 

(Doubt it.)

 

The sharpness has turned only slightly sweet. Powdery, very old lady kind of perfume.

 

The berries are here, in the vaguest way possible... now it's sharp, powdery berries.

 

Ugh. I don't see this one going anywhere but down. I'm gonna go wash it off.

[forspecial_plate]

I thought this was vaguely fruity, and somewhat spicy and/or herbal. I did think 'berries' when I wore it. I didn't have the description with me, now I want to try it again because I can't remember if I smelled the amber or not (or iris....although I'm not even sure what iris smells like).

 

So, yeah.....somewhat spicy berry scent, medium throw and duration, not a bad scent. I've been exploring fruity/berry/wine scents lately, giving them more of a chance. This one didn't quite work for me, even though it's not offensive. Just not exciting me much. I will most likely try it one more time because of the amber.