Sophia

[NanookPurple]

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

I wore Sophia today after I slathered Lush's Dram Cream all over my winter-weary skin. Sophia amped up Dream Cream's lavender for a good hour, which I found wonderfully calming and happy. It's since mellowed into a rich, sexy musk and jasmine scent, and the sharp lavender is all but gone. It's nice. Not a favorite, but definitely something I'll reach for again.

[le fey]

In the bottle:

Soft floral, mostly lavender and jasmine. So far, so good - this is a very soothing floral.

 

Wet:

Stronger jasmine and lavender and something else as well. This would be a lovely scent for sleeping in. I'm not sure it's something I want to wear often, but I would love it as a room scent.

 

Dry (15 min):

I'm learning that I love what jasmine does for me - the elements are melding together into a cool, soft floral that is saved from being old-ladyish by, I think, the jasmine and the musk. The result smells like an early morning spring day and is very, very peaceful to me. I think I could wear this.

 

Later (45 min):

Softer still, a little powdery but in a gentle restful way. Usually, if it's going to turn on me, this is where it happens, but this is still good. The musk and spice are coming up and keeping the lavender and jasmine from being cloying or soapy. I haven't noticed any rose, specifically, and I don't know what delphinium is to pick it out, but the over all combination is really calming.

 

Wind Down (8 hours):

Missed the two hour mark, because I fell asleep (see? very, very calming!). Eight hours later, this scent is still here, soft but clear, and still smells lovely.

 

Verdict:

This is the one I will reach for when I am stressed or unable to sleep. Definite keeper.

[Maia]

Sophia starts out as musky rose on me, and something sharp and almost funky is saying hello too. As it dries the scents lightens up and morphs into a soft, herby floral warmed by musk. Sweet and light. As flowers (and especially roses) normally isn't my friend perfume-wise I am pleasantly surprised. A while later the gentle spices emerges and Sophia turns into sweet, soft spice and musk with a hint of flowers. Still light, fresh and very soothing. It goes through some almost soapy stages and it borders on becoming powdery, but I must say it's a quite beautiful scent.

[Nia]

On the imp: behind the perfume, something bitter that hurts the nose.

 

On me: the bitter note is amplified. I get something lovely and soft and just a little sweet (the rose & musk, I guess) and then, SNAP! Why do you hate me and bite me on the nose? Who are you? The delphinium?

 

Once dry, the bitterness is gone, and so is the lavender and everything except a gentle sweetness that has nothing to do with rose or jasmine. Not a keeper.

[Naamah_Darling]

At first scent this is almost like mint bubble gum. But no, that's lavender with delphinium, a very sweet note that's at once sugary and floral. The musk is husky and soft, low. Very pretty. The jasmine is delicate and pale, sweet and cool. The rose is there in the middle, less a note than a supporting player, but I can detect it lending the whole thing a sort of lush and radiant warmth. This is cerebral and sensual at the same time. Fascinating. And there is, indeed, a hint of spice carried on the throw.

 

A remarkably subtle, soft scent that requires some attention to really apprehend. I am impressed by this blend for its subtlety. Even though it contains lavender I would not characterize it as a lavender blend. This is more musky and generally floral.

[metaldog32]

Received this frimp compliments of the Labbies…as always thank you for the generosity!!!

 

Initial sniff from frimp:Smells an awful like jasmine in there…with a touch of sharp lavender.

 

Applied wet on skin: Hmmm…jasmine and rose are in the forefront..with lavender peeking in here and there. Don’t get much of the musks or the spice. I don’t know what delphinium smells like…so I can’t tell if it’s in or not…mea culpa.

Couple of minutes on skin:Lavender softened..and so did the rose with the jasmine..and on the tail end I do get a bit soft spice. Nice enough..however this blend also just hovers very much close to my skin.

 

Ten minutes later:Wow..my skin practically ate this up. If I sniff obsessively enough, I can get something of a soft rose.and a wisp of jasmine...but basically it’s gone.

 

Darn.

 

Throw is soft with lasting power..well..if I keep sniffing furtively..I think I get traces on and off for about an hour.

 

Bottom Line: Sophia is definitely a soft floral with hint of lavender that makes it interesting. Lavender is something I enjoy in small doses; I don’t prefer it in my fragrances that I wear; in this blend it lends itself nicely…a very unassuming and soft blend.

 

Too soft for me though..so off it goes to someone who can get more out of it.

[Nimthiriel]

Initial impression:

It hits me with surprising strength – the jasmine and lavender, I think. This is pretty potent stuff! I somehow expcted it to be softer.

 

First on:

Woah! It turns... spicy. The otherwise so potent florals are crushed by a force of spice and musk. Interesting. Also, my skin itches a little.

 

Dry:

After about 10 mins, it remains spicy, but it lets the florals through more. It's a very pleasant scent, and it does make me think of wisdom.

 

20-30 mins afterapplication, it has gone considerable softer, with mainly musk and soft lavender in. I enjoy it.

 

Finally:

It wasn't quite what I expected, but I'll keep it for now.

[DifferentDances]

Wet: Poop. I believe this is the jasmine. Either that or a poorly chosen musk.

Drydown: Poop with soap.

Dry: Spicy poop with soap.

 

Methinks it's a combination of the jasmine and musks. My rating: 1/5.

[zankoku_zen]

In the imp: Musky with sharp lavender on top

 

On Skin: The lavender is pretty prominent. I also get some jasmine with a warm musky core

 

On Drydown: It smells positively incensey. The lavender and other florals are gone. It's got this musky incense smell to it.

 

Verdict: Erm... to warm for my tastes. Pretty but not something I would personally wear.

[enderfem]

Bottle--Wow, this is nice. I can smell the jasmine and lavender but there's something dark and spicy here...almost a licorice undertone, but not heavy like Black Annis. Something heavy and thick, making the scent more complex.

 

Wet--the spicy part is more pronounced, almost overcoming the star jasmine. Hm. Maybe it is the musks and the spice together? Whatever it is....it isn't something that I would usually think of as "my thing", and yet...I can't stop smelling it.

 

 

Drydown--Its gotten a little sweeter, a little lighter. More of the lavender and jasmine notes. There's still enough of the dark spicy to make it interesting. Sexy. This is a perfume with an agenda. A very clear, very dark, very sensual agenda.

[idoru]

Starts green, but quiets. It's just that, a 'quiet' scent -- almost strikes me as a room with dried lavender or where lavender incense had once been burnt, but without any cloying smoke to it. Very clean and airy.

The jasmine barely perks its head up [star jasmine vs. common?], and Beth's black rose blends gently into the lavender, delphinium and spices; a perfectly balanced soothing, musky floral. A 'calm down' or an 'I am grounded' scent.

 

If you've ever been to the cloisters/garden of a [ca. 9th-12th century] monastery or abbey, that's the feeling of centeredness Sophia allows.

 

Oddly, when wet, I get a momentary scent-memory of my mother's Clinique Aromatics Elixir, but that's gone as soon as it dries.

 

- Not a rose scent, if you aren't a rose person.

- Not a jasmine scent, if you don't normally do well with jasmine. [This didn't amp on my skin.]

- Pleasantly herbal lavender, rather than sweet-sweet, but also not overpowering.

 

Definitely worth a try, even if you shy away from some of the listed notes.

[hellomoonglow]

Another scent that smells overwhelmingly mint with a splash of hot dogs. Weird. Not for me.

[Trish]

In the imp: Lavender and rose, with a sharp green astringent note that smells something like linament. All the things I hate in one imp!

 

Wet: Lavender scented linament.

 

Drydown: The linament fades a bit thankfully, and in it's place comes rose. And a little musk thankfully.

 

Dry: Thank God for musk! It's turning what would be a "wash it off now" blend into something far warmer and smoother on my skin. The lavender has all but gone, so it's a musky rose, jasmine and linamnet scent. But the linament isn't overly strong. What does that anyway? I've had it happen in a few oils now but I've never been able to work out what it is.

 

It isn't long and the jasmine announces it's arrival on centre stage in it's normal attention seeking manner. I like jasmine, but it doesn't somehow work for me as a perfume. I'm not sure why because it doesn't turn on me or anything, it just isn't "me" or something.

 

Musky jasmine with a drop of rose. It is a darker floral and despite my aversion to it in the imp it's actually ended up ok. But not enough to keep. Mind you if I were into florals, particularly darker ones, I'd be all over this because it has ended up rather nice.

[AEris]

ooohhhh mmmmm this is a nice little feminine garden herbal floral butterfly wings faeries in slow motion kind of scent!

 

It begins strongly with lavender and backed by jasmine and rose, and I guess there's a little musk in there to sweeten the deal, but I can't pick out the musk with my nose.

 

This begins to dry down into a scent memory that I can't put my finger on....I think it's the combo of black rose and star jasmine, it's really making my brain itch! What does this remind me of??!!

 

I like Sophia a lot, it's different than what I thought I might be interested in a perfume, but it does make me happy. It's best after it's dried down for a little while....just feminine, pretty, and herbal. I have a 5mL, it's probably aged somewhat b/c I got it on the forum, and I think I'm just gonna keep the whole thing!

[hkhm]

imp: rosey musk with strong, sour spice.

 

wet: sour lemon furniture polish with an awful rose soap smell. the rose here is one of the worst i've ever tried. true, rose almost never smells good on me but this smells just terrible. this scent is strong and brash and just... sour.

 

dry: this just will not fade and go away! this is the first bpal blend that i have actually hated. i suppose there was bound to be one that smelled terrible on me but i wasn't prepared for how bad this smelled.

[brownbear]

I can't think of what this reminds me of. Maybe birch? It's cold and peppery. It's a little minty and the lavender is coming out. It's definitely herbal. I don't think I'll really wear it much.

[Ravenclaw79]

In the imp: Something bitter and a little medicine-y, a slight hint of Vapo-Rub.

 

Wet: There's still something weird going on here -- it's like a dry-smelling Vapo-Rub, honestly, like that plus a little smoke or incense. I suppose it might be the lavender playing tricks on me. It's almost like a lavender mint. It's also sorta like a doctor's office.

 

Drying: It's softened into something vaguely grassy, powdery and lavendery, with an odd undertone that smells like sparklers on the Fourth of July. Overall, it's alright, but not for me, though I've gotta say that the sparkler undertone is fascinating.

[Brianne]

When this first went on, I was a little turned off by the jasmine and lavender - they were both overwhelming. But literally in just half a second, it morphs into an unsual powdery herbal scent. It's feminine but unisex in a way too - I don't know if that makes sense but I think it smells feminine in it's powdery clean vibe, but then the herbal quality makes me think a man could wear this and pull it off too. After a while, I do get something a little... menthol-y. It's slightly medicinal.

 

Surprisingly, the jasmine isn't awful on me here and I can't detect the rose at all. Despite those facts, it's still not really for me, but I am sort of intrigued by it at the same time.

[Wwindy]

In the bottle, this smelled strongly of jasmine with an edge of something sharp and astringent. Wet, the jasmine was a little more cloying but still spiked by some sort of herbal sharpness -- I don't think it was the lavender, unless Beth's lavender note is *very* different from what I'm used to. There was no musk and no spice at all as far as I could tell. I didn't like that stage at all and was waiting to see what the scent would turn into after drydown, but never got a chance as it vanished completely after less than 20 minutes! No staying power whatsoever on me... which might be just as well, I guess.

 

Not the scent for me, alas!

[Laurel the Woodfairy]

WTF? Having had Sophia on my wishlist for awhile but forgotten the notes, I would have sworn it contained lotus--this horribly strong bubble-gum note exploded when I applied it. Underneath I could smell something like sandalwood, which eventually came into its own in the drydown. However, now I see that there is no lotus and no sandalwood here, so I guess it was the always-evil jasmine that took over, and the combination with other notes gave it this new twist. The other notes are all great, but that fracking jasmine can ruin anything for me. However, I'm happy to note that my Mom really likes it; jasmine plays nice on her. So now it lives in her imp box, and perhaps that's appropriate anyway--she just graduated; the Goddess of Wisdom is a fitting scent!

[MaeKitty]

In the Bottle: Lavender, musk and spices

On Me: Has very little throw. Reminds me of how my local pagan shop smells. Lavender, a soft jasmine, a little bit of rose. For some reason, this reminds me of how a baby smells. Diaper and all. O_o I don't think this one is me.

[etienne]

The note description sounds nice but unfortunately, for some reason my skin does bad things with this. I get a really strong smoky, burning woods type note in this - I don't understand where that comes from but it's definitely there. It's off to the swap box...

[DogNPonyShow]

In the bottle: Musky floral with a powdery undertone.

On: Powdery mint, like a stick of sugar free gum (that is the first thing that came to mind!), that morphs into a lovely sweet floral. Unfortunately it fades very quickly and has virtually no throw.

Verdict: This was a frimp that I'd otherwise never have even thought would work on me, but I'm thrilled to finally find a floral that doesn't make me sneeze. I may not wear this all the time, but it's definitely a keeper.

[Gwydion]

In bottle: oddly familiar. Under the strong florals, the spices lurck, reminding me of an herbal remedy shop I used to frequent. The musks are present, but muted. The delphiniums are a fascinating touch. Wet: chemical. Too much for me. Is that cinnamon in there? It smells like cough syrup on me. I also burns a bit, so I shan’t be able to leave it on for a better test. Did I mention the rash? Clearly for Wisdom there must be pain.

[hypatia]

How...odd. When I tried this one on, the first note I got was lemon. Strong, sourish lemon. And there's no citrus anywhere in it. I don't usually get weird body chemistry effects, but Sophia may be one of the exceptions. The drydown is lemonade with something that reminds me of those Valentine's candy hearts with the messages on them. Maybe it's the star anise saying "candy" to my nose; I don't know. But this is possibly the strangest reaction I've ever had to a BPAL scent.