Sophia

[Juushika]

The Gnostic goddess of Wisdom. A solemn, deeply profound draught of lavender, soft musks, star jasmine, black rose, delphinium, and gentle spice.

In the vial: Lavender, but not the herbal or dry lavender I'm used to--there's something almost ... minty? clean aquatic? maybe light citrus? here. In the background, a bare hint of musk/spice.

On me: A fougère as it hits the skin: clean and aquatic lavender, perfumey but not feminine. The scent rounds out in drydown, with the other florals peaking their heads up and just a hint of musky spice to ground the scent. And then there was rose. Most rose goes screaming single note on my skin; this black rose is a bit deeper and doesn't have the fleshy tropical sharpness of red rose at its worst, indeed it might almost be pleasant--but it crowds out all the other notes and I get just rose rose rose from the five-minute mark onward.

Verdict: As I don't think Sophia is supposed to be rose rose rose, and as I've no need of another oil that's just rose rose rose (even if this is a better rose than usual, and piques some casual interest in a well-rounded black rose scent--if such a thing could exist on my skin), this obviously isn't for me. I'll scrub it off and rehome my imp. Edited August 17, 2011 by Juushika

[Lyanna]

I really wanted to like this but sadly .... no. It starts out very very sharp — I don't recognize any lavender but that is probably it. There's an off undertone under it, as it dried down it actually vaguely smelled like a dried up sewer. Eww.

 

When it dries down it gets better, but still the off smell is there and in the end the scent dries down to an old ladies' powdery sweet perfume with the off smell underneath.

 

It must be my skin chemestry, cause others have completely different experiences with this. Swap pile, alas.

[Numanoid]

I got this one as a frimp from the lab...smells ok in the imp, but to be honest, when I put it on, smelled like a Band-Aid!

[donnatron]

Imp: I'm surprised there's not amber in this. I must be smelling the musk. It's a soft lavender/rose with musk. Very gentle and sweet.

 

Wet: The lavender in Sophia is very similar to the lavenders used in the sleep blends. It's not a harsh lavender, but rather a soft and sweet lavender that blends well with the creaminess of the star jasmine. Very little rose. Supporting musk.

 

Dry: This is very pretty. It's not a loud scent, nor is it going to break any records for originality, but it's a very feminine and pretty sort of classical scent. Close to the skin, mainly lavender and jasmine with a faint whisper of rose. I have no clue what delphinium smells like and so can't comment on that. I don't get any spiciness from this, but that's okay. It's just a very nice, womanly scent and I can see wearing it in situations where I want to be elegant but discrete.

 

Throw: Skin close.

 

Overall: I quite like this. It's similar enough to other GC mainstays that I won't bemoan its passing, but it's a lovely fragrance and I will use of the rest of my imp.

[Maleficium]

imp: minty lavender with some other crisp floral notes that my nose isn't trained well enough to identify

 

wet: As far as Numanoid and her band-aid comment, that seems to be pretty accurate. Band-aid and a ton of jasmine, which I really do not like.

 

 

off to swappies. I dislike this enough that I want to scrub it off me immediately.

[Monday]

In the vial: Olives and lavender.

On my skin wet: Bah still olives but with a bit of sweetness coming on and some powdery lavender. Very astringent.

On my skin dry: Okay the jasmine has detangled itself there is a lot of sweetness coming from some mysterious note. The lavender is rather powdery which together with the olive scent is ...just....no.

 

Unfortunately this actually smells stale.

[Jangzonrice]

Soft lavender and musk with sweet jasmine. Not overpowering, soft and sweet. Dries down to a soft floral..nice, but meh...

[sunlitgarden]

Although this scent is discontinued, I received a frimp in a recent BPTP package.

In the imp: This definitely reminds me of something. I spent a good 5 minutes yesterday trying to remember what it was. I think it's basically the scent of the indoor area of a plant nursery - all the plants and flowers blending together. There's also something a bit medicinal about this - I think it's the more astringent/medicinal lavender note.

On my skin: yep, more of the medicinal lavender, making this smell kind of "hospitaly". It's kind of like the combination of a hospital and a plant nursery....weird.

Dry, the spices start to come out more, and there's a soft musky base to the scent that I like better. Most of the florals have faded away at this point - it's just kind of a soft musk with a little spice and still a bit of that "mixed plant" smell from the beginning. However, the medicinal stage it gets through to reach this point is off-putting to me.

[freyasfae]

Testing jasmines, and this one is a jasmine I do like - I think because the lavender and musk softens it. It's a gentle jasmine, and gets better on the drydown.

[doomsday_disco]

In the imp: I am not familiar enough with delphinium. I do have a few scents with that note listed, but they also contain a lot of other notes, so I haven't been able to pick it out. This one reads to me as a soft musk scent with soft florals and a breath of warm spice.

 

Wet: I'm still getting soft musk and florals backed by some gentle, warmed spices. The lavender variety in this is a soft lavender, and it's certainly not the star of the show on me. I wonder if that is an aspect of aging, since so many reviews mentioned strong lavender.

 

Dry: I keep using soft to describe this scent, but I'm afraid I can't articulate myself better than that. It's soft and warm. I'm getting the musks, florals, and some gentle spice. The star jasmine is one that cooperates with my skin chemistry: not dirty or heady at all, and it is a main player during this stage.

 

Verdict: This one is nice. I had hoped for lots of lavender, but even though that didn't end up being the case on me, the scent still ended up being a pleasant surprise, especially because of the spice. Not sure if I would reach for it, but I'm really glad I got to try it!

[Cali]

Thank you for the surprising frimp! ❤️ 

I hadn't even heard of this one, so i'm excited to give it a try.

This is a herby floral; soft florals (strongest being the lavender and the black rose), softer spices and maybe... dirt? Nothing too pervasive or distracting about that dirt, it blends well and adds a lovely depth. I imagine some kind of ancient kitchen with dried herbs and spices.. It's lovely!