Marquise de Merteuil

[angelicruin]

Stately, bold, aristocratic and cruel. Opulent galbanum and amber, glistening peach, and a bouquet of French florals, with a merciless undertone of jonquil and heartless vetiver.

Predominantly floral and amber when wet. As it dries, the peach note came out for me along with stronger floral scent.

[stillalive]

first thought: apples! (no, peaches, but I wasn't too far off)

 

second thought: shampoo?!

 

third thought: LUNGS! Can't... breathe...

 

fourth though: hm, no, it's definitely a shampoo scent.

 

Eh. It smells like what my best friend (female) should. I'll try to push it onto her, hehe.

[modillian]

In the bottle, peach and something murky. On the skin, the peach hits high right above the florals, but the contrast with the base notes is killer. They match each other, the high and low, and the contrast is very cruel indeed. This is a very fresh blend, surprisingly. Jonquil is narcissus, kind of a breathy bite in the back of the throat, very distinctive. Galbanum is a musky resin. Vetiver is woody smokey basalmy stuff, which I can only detect a little. The amber throws a great deal, yessss. Holy crap that's a lot of narcissus. I like it, but it's strong here.

 

This matches the concept well, but it's not my favorite floral/fruity/resin blend ever.

[OhioSky]

This is definitley a rulebraker scent on me. This is the first thing with dominant florals in it that doesn't give me a headache.

 

It smells moslty of peach, which is just a beautiful scnet, and the flowers are there but are not soapy or in any way offensive.

 

The flowers turn more... light? sugary? on the drydown and mix very well with the peach.

[hlinspjalda]

In the vial: First resin, then vetiver, then more resin and peach, then floral.

 

Wet: Rose, galbanum, other florals, and a sharpness. The peach is overmastered by the florals.

 

Half an hour: Very floral, dominated by roses, with the resins second. The peach provides a touch of brightness, but not its customary full note. Although the base reads very tannic, like moss or a wood, I think it's probably the vetiver. It smells very clean, though.

 

One hour: This is too sharp to really work on me, but it's calmed down considerably from where it was. I think the galbanum saves this from being total fail on me, as it sweetens everything up nicely.

 

Two and a half hours: Still too sharp.

 

Four hours: Rose and resin, actually better blended now, but still with that sharp bite I don't like.

[jehrichardson]

Lovely!

 

The peach doesn't have that overripe winey/fruitdrink component. The galbanum and amber fight back the florals creditably.

 

Woo... I can't smell the vetiver. Thank goodness, as it generally turns into Deep Woods Off bug spray.

 

I don't think I'm going to be upgrading from imp to 5ml, but this is really quite lovely and gives me hope that not all fruit scents are cloying, and not all vetiver is bug spray.

[crebbsgirl]

I didn't get much vetiver here. This was mainly peach and amber on my skin. A little bright and golden. There's a hint of floral here, but not overly so - and my skin tends to amp the crap out of all things flowery. Overall it was nice, but not something I would reach for very often.

[awesomeoverlord]

First note: thank god I'm not getting vetiver!!! I was afraid to even try this, as vetiver usually induces projectile vomiting for me.

 

The peaches initially smell more like apples to me, but soon mellow out into what I've learned to recognize as bpal's peach note. Overall, the Marquise ends up being just that on me -- peaches -- surrounded by a haze of indistinguishable perfumey florals and a dark...something.

[svelterose]

I am still basking in the afterglow feelings one gets when they've finally received a present they've been waiting for. As such, this may alter my review a bit and since it is the first time I have ever done a review of the scent, please bear with me as I may sound incoherent, scattered, and all around confused. I will most certainly be repetitive but hell, I'm doing a perfume review.

 

A little about my body chemistry...I just woke up from bed and brushed my teeth. While brushing my teeth, I went outside to check for any packages and wala, there it was! The pretty red, white, and blue priority box I'd been waiting for ever since I placed my order on the 28th of March. I took a shower before I went to bed - that's part of my routine - so there's no freshly out of the shower scent (shampoo and soap) or deordorant to confuse my olfactory senses. I have a pretty normal pH level on my skin and since it isn't too hot out, I am not sweating. It's a bit chillier than room temperature - I mean what the hell, it's snowing in April. =O

 

In the vial, it smells strong and rich. It actually reminds me of a set of perfume samples I got years ago. Has anyone ever heard of the Crown Perfumery Co. located out of great Britain? Well, it reminds me of that. Aristocratic, old money, and several manors located all across the continent with a few beach houses for modernity.

 

It smelled spicy when I lifted the top from the vial and sniffed the stick. The florals definitely came through really strong. I am reminded of those late 19th century paintings I saw in a museum. She's holding a bouquet of non-descript flowers and can't really be bothered. I feel like it smells a bit too floral for me - I'm not too much for that because it usually ends up making me nauseous. I'm not nauseous yet so something is going right. =)

 

Side note: I have no idea what galbanum, jonquil and vetiver smells like. In fact, BPAL is the first time I ever encountered the idea that those items could be used as notes in a perfume.

 

Honestly, I bought this because I have a love for peach scents and in this perfume, I cannot detect the peach all that much but I KNOW that it's because I have a set idea of what peach should smell like. I may actually be picking up the peach really strongly but my brain is just attributing it to the mystery scents I have no idea of.

 

In fact, when I first put it on my wrist, I thought it smelled a bit sweet. It probably was the peach. On my wrist, it still smells just like it did in the vial, but less sharper and all the notes seem more even. There's a bit of a kick and I cannot figure out where it's coming from.

 

I'm kind of peeved about how I opened it because when I was struggling with it, I applied too much force and it popped out, spatters and all. I got some on the label and on my homework. Argh, a waste I tell you! I'm so OCD when it comes to new possessions and it just transferred to these perfumes.

 

Again, I can't really detect the peach but that's because I already had an idea of how peach should smell.

 

About an hour in, the spicy note sort of tampers down and I can smell a bit more of the peach. Oops! My friend just told me how he has a really strong sense of smell and that's why he doesn't like perfume or cologne. I offered to go wash it off if it was bothering him and he said that it wasn't bothering him too much. I asked him what he thought of it and he told me he doesn't really know.

 

It mirrored my own sentiments exactly. I don't know how I feel about this perfume. I don't think I'd buy a 5ml but wouldn't mind putting it to use if I ever did get one.

 

Another hour in, the scent seems kind of calmer now. I want to say that it smells powdery but the thing is, it doesn't smell powdery at all. I only say that because it's the only adjective I can think of to describe the picture that's most prominent in my mind: It's a lady, she's about her 2nd or 3rd season in and she's received her first gentleman caller. He exceeds all expectations and has requested for permission to take her out on a carriage ride to the park. She's wearing an expensive day dress with just the right amount of flounce and lace. There's a large hat - the milliner spent hours on the design! - and the edges by which she's holding it is becoming wrinkled from her nervous handling. Whether or not she holds affection for this guy, she is excited about this outing. She's shy, a bit unsure of how the ride will go - mainly due to self-confidence but nevertheless, she can't wait.

 

It's about another hour in and I'm sniffing my wrist every so often to see if I can figure out something else from this. It's even lighter now and reminds me of a sunny, lazy afternoon while I'm taking down nice, clean bedsheets.

 

In conclusion, it really does speak of opulence that characterized the late 18th century in France. I think the strongest note that appears is the flowers. I figured out that it doesn't smell at all like the flesh of the peach but it does smell like peach. It's not the juicy, fleshy center you bite into when you're eating a peach. Rather, it's the outside skin, the baby soft fuzz and pretty pink color that draws you to bite into the fruit. Be forewarned, single gentlement! Don't touch, else you might find yourself shackled to the lady in question quicker than you can blink an eye. This is a proper, well-mannered lady. She's more mature (the musky, spicy note) than the average girl straight out of the schoolroom but still very much a lady. I can't imagine myself wearing this daily but it doesn't mix bad with my body chemistry. Usually, if it doesn't smell awful on my skin, I'm pretty much a go for any perfume.

 

I'm starting to think I might just be one of those people who collects, tries something once, likes it, but is too lazy to do anything else further with it. LOL.

 

In any case, I did a little imagination exercise and these were the crazy ass scenarios I thought up of:

 

Where this perfume WOULDN'T work....

 

- A night of clubbing with your friends

- A romantic date

- A picnic lunch on a sunny day

 

Where this perfume WOULD work...

 

- With an elegant formal gown you wear to a dinner party thrown by the 60-yr old president that people can go to, to network, listen to speeches by distinguished members, and sip on expensive wine

- A lady surrounded by her maids, she's reading a book and sipping tea from a Winchester tea set

 

I can't wait to try the others. =D

 

Edited April 9, 2009 by SvelteRose

[CynicalPink]

Imp: Floral cologne. Bit sour

 

Wet: Bubblegum-y but still floral. Not getting vetiver, thank heaven

 

Drydown: Guess that's peach and floral...eh

 

Overall: Kind of a musty floral shrug. Not much going on. Meh.

[catattack]

Imp: Sweet florals

Wet: Sweet heady florals.

Drydown: Sweet heady florals. I don't get amber or peach.

Overall: This is way too heady and smothering for me.

[Caerphilly]

In the imp: Apple resin. Finally, apples I like!!

 

Wet: Ok, it's peach or nectarine or apricot. i don't know. Sweet fruit. And generic florals. I've learned that any florals are generic, as much as I like them, floers are flowers. So, this, wet, is peachy flowers. Sweet, and yummy.

 

Dry: Reminds me of a candy I had in Poland. Don't remember what it was, but it fruity, light, and sweet.

 

Overall: A very generic fruity floral. Nothing special to me personally. There are only certain forals I really like. I like this, but only to use the imp. I do love peach, nectarine, etc...scents, so I'll use the imp, but won't get a bottle.

[tragedy]

Oh wow! a vetiver that I can tolerate!

 

This at first goes on like Chanel No. 5. I thought it was going to be a match for that, which isnt a bad thing, I like that scent, but hubby doesn't so it wouldve had to go...

But, on drydown out comes a peach, and more rose... it has that chanel vibe still but more playful.

Mind you, this is still a grown-up lady perfume, but a grown-up lady who lets her hair down.

Very nice!

[rayvn1]

Urgh straight out of the imp this is pretty nasty smelling on my skin. I was sure this would work! I've been eagerly awaiting this one and recently racked up two imps worth. It starts off sour smelling and a bit like cream that's recently gone bad. I haven't had this bad of a reaction to a bpal in a really long time. Eventually it settled down to a peach pit scent that is getting sweeter as the day goes on, but I don't think I can sit through the plasticky wet stage to get to this point again.

[moon8305]

In the imp: Oh my. Pretty. Kind of perfume-y, but I'm intrigued. There's something familiar here.

 

Wet: I get a tiny whiff of that peach, but mostly just floral, and not in a bad way. This is a ladylike, clean, fresh floral to me. There's a bit of a powdery edge to it...maybe that's the vetiver? I'm kinda surprised at how much I like this as I'm usually far more drawn to scents that smell fruitier to me as opposed to floral.

 

Dry: Not much different than wet. This scent is so interesting! I'm really glad I got to try it, and it's certainly on my bottle maybe list.

 

Update: Well, no bottle of this for me. As soon as I walked in the room with this on the BF said I smelled like a funeral home! :pinch: Oh well. There are so many scents to choose from, I'm really confident that I'll be able to find at least one that I like and that he likes on me

Edited August 11, 2009 by moon8305

[Venneh]

I've worn this a fair bit, and almost every time, I've gotten compliments on the scent.

 

I can't really explain what it smells like, except for bright florals and this darker tone as it dries, and dries down to a floral, powdery sort of smell, as I'm not nearly as experienced all the rest of you in this. The best way I can explain it is that it smells like my mom, or at least the perfume that she uses, which I like quite a bit.

 

Just ordered a 5ml, will try to post a better review.

 

ADDED Sept. 22:

 

Wearing this for the first time out of the bottle, and not an imp.

 

In the bottle, I get a sweet floral, with what might be the peach, a bit of amber, and just a hint of darkness underneath, which might be the vetiver? Not sure. But once on my skin, I get the sweetness of the florals and amber, and a bit after application, that darkness comes out.

 

EDIT: It fades down to a really sweet floral with what I think is peach and the powdery softness of amber on me, and the vetiver/galbanum (no clue what those smell like just yet). It faded really quickly, so I don't think I applied a lot. Reapplying it.

 

This is one of my favorite scents, and has been ever since I got it in my first order as a frimp with Mad Sweeney.

Edited November 29, 2009 by Shollin

[Reaver]

I always see comments that people love the smell of their BPAL box/cabinet and want that in a perfume. Well, I've found it. Or at least what my box smells like! (Lulz) With added peach. Kind of fruity, kind of resiny, kind of floral, kind of earthy. It all blends together to make a kind of expensive-smelling, well-rounded scent that I would never wear, ever. It's really pleasant, quite sweet and it brings brilliant thoughts to mind - stagecoaches and big frocks and for some reason, frogs (that'll be the vetiver kicking in) but I really think that this perfume is quite specific in the person that will want to wear it. It's almost like it was blended for a specific persons personality and I would find it quite hard to carry as it's so strong. As I'm not the right person, this will wear me not vice versa.

 

4/10 as it's nice enough, just a bit confused and too much in it to make it wearable for me.

[HamletsKeeper]

Ahhh, such sweet serenity.

 

Bottle Sniff A full, fleshy ripe peach and something slightly sharp under neath. But a golden glow encompasses this scent.

 

Wet Glorious blended perfume. You can tell it's peach but it's like a swarovski peach, all sparkles and spangles reflecting light in all directions. It's juicy and perfect, not a bruise or blemise upon it. The galbanum is like a small fruit knife on the side razor sharp and if the vetiver is there at all I cannot smell it.

 

Drydown There is a honey-like note shiny through now which I imagine is the amber it turns only slightly sweet and allows the fruit to explode into a bouquet of flowers. I can smell jonquils and what I think may be lily. Overall it's a gentle yet sophisticated scent, much more delicate than the description would imply. Its all grace on my skin and not even a hint of "bitchiness" which I expected. Clearly the Marquis is far more subtle at her craft than I have given her credit for.

 

Revision: I like to revisit a scent especially if I found it amazing first time around. So this is my 2nd wearing and I have to say it doesn't hold the punch for me that it did the first time. It's still a crystalline peach but lacks the juicyness and fleshiness I like in perfume fruits. It's kind of brittle with jonquils on the side. Amber is by far the most dominant note in this blend for me and that makes the whole thing smell like vanilla. Vetiver has left the building unfortunately so I'm finding this morphing into a slightly tart but sweet scent. I don't like it as much as Les Bijoux which keeps the fruit fresh and the scent deep.

 

Oh poo! On extreme drydown it's vanilla cinnamon sugar that a peach walked past. Another failure for me.

Edited October 2, 2009 by HamletsKeeper

[donnatron]

Imp: Mild, pleasant peach with some florals and a touch of that blindspot scent that seems to hit me with amber--I know there's a scent there, I just can't smell it.

 

Wet: Huh. Peachy. Quite peachy. It's one of the strongest peaches I've tried in BPAL that doesn't go ungodly sweet on me. Faint, faint, FAINT hint of vetiver. Like I was wearing vetiver yesterday and put this over top.

 

Dry: When I put this on, I could smell a strange, familiar scent sort of wafting around. Then I realized it was shampoo. Then I realized I wasn't alone:

 

second thought: shampoo?!

 

third thought: LUNGS! Can't... breathe...

 

fourth though: hm, no, it's definitely a shampoo scent.

 

Not just me! Up close I can smell the sweet peach and a touch of floral over a remarkably behaving amber. The throw? Entirely shampoo.

 

Throw: Remarkably strong.

 

Overall: I buy unscented shampoo and conditioner because I don't want to smell like shampoo and conditioner. So I'm not exactly into a perfume that makes me smell like shampoo. It's pretty, just not my style.

 

[Tess]

In the bottle - This is not what I expected. The peach is extremely light to my nose, almost overpowered by a "generic" floral and amber. Overall, it's very perfume smelling.

 

Wet - Ah, okay, THERE is the peach.

 

Drying - I feel like I should know this floral. Wisteria? It's bloody strong, whatever it is, stomping out all the nice peach and amber. No, no.... maybe it's freesia. Whatever it is, it's all I can smell.

 

Dry (2 hours) - Smells faint and powdery and perfume like.

 

Overall - Newp.

[KesHiro]

Frimp in one of my orders.

 

Hm. I wonder if this oil has some common ingredient with Sacred Whore of Babylon because I got the same weird, nasty off note that I did when testing the latter.

 

In the vial, I get peach (and it's a very beautiful peach note at that!) and something . . . off. I don't know how else to describe it other than sweaty. Maybe it's some of the florals? Wet, it's peach and florals. I love the peach in this blend because it is so juicy and true to the fruit without being too sweet. But something weird in Marquise keeps rearing up and creating this off note. It vanishes with the drydown phase (thank goodness), but then so does the peach and I'm left with only florals and some of the other notes. Once dry, this is florals with a faint off note reappearing. Maybe it's the vetiver?

 

I don't know what is in this that does not agree with my skin chemistry, but I will not be purchasing this oil. It's a shame it didn't work because that peach note is so pretty and I imagine that this would be fabulous on someone with the right skin chemistry. Sadly, I'm not that person.

[Finch]

Flowers and amber; sweet and almost powdery with a warm scent of peach lurking quietly underneath. After a while it morphs into something that smells a little like the faint traces of incense caught on a summer breeze.

[lahdeedah]

The Marquise is one haughty b*tch for sure! This is beautiful, but diabolically so. It's the headiest BPAL I've tried thus far, the throw is REALLY strong, and I barely swiped the imp's wand across my wrist!

 

On wet: Peaches, peaches, peaches. Agree with the poster who said it smells like the throw a peach gives that draws one to consume it. This is a very very ripe peach, perhaps already over the edge to rotten.

 

Drying down: The peach is still the predominant player, but the jonquils are casting a glare of superiority in my direction and hitting me in the back of the throat with their sharp bite. Still no sign of the vetiver and the amber's still afraid to assert itself. Don't know enough about galbanum to comment on that one yet.

 

Dry: More or less the same. Close to the wrist it's got this ozone note and everything is melded nicely together, but that peachy throw is still going very strong and I kind of need it to have calmed down a bit. It'll probably be awesome in an hour, but that's too long to wait for one's perfume not to knock people over, n'est-ce pas? So in the future, I'll keep this in mind and wear it when I need to feel cruel, French, and opulent-- now where is my powdered wig?

 

 

[Sinmara]

I don't get any floral scent whatsoever from this on my skin. It smells predominantly of amber on my skin, with a hint of peach. I'm loving this one, so far one of my favourite scents.

[Deiicide]

After taking a look at the notes, I could already sense disaster on my skin. It likes to amp vetiver (not like a soft brown scent some folks get, but rotten dirt) and amber likes to go powdery. I think it may have to do with the fact that the imp is about a year old or more, but when I put it on all the florals and everything else seemed to be tempered and nice. Everything is behaving itself, the sharp smell of the vetiver is there but not as bad, there is a slight powderyness from the amber but it tempers with the peach. It's a very soft, rich lady feel blend. As it dries, the powerderyness fades and the peach comes out more. I feel like a sophisticated jolly rancher. The aged imp is interesting, and the throw is lowish. I get wafts of the peach as I'm typing this up on the computer, I think it may have to do with the aging effect. I think I may the imp however I don't see myself wearing it very often at all.