The Last Unicorn 2021

[zankoku_zen]

Frosty lilac petals, iris pallida root, orris, violet leaf, white chocolate, coconut, wild lettuce, white sandalwood, white gardenia and oakmoss.

[splendidissima]

Oh, gosh, am I the first? All right, let's try to do it justice!

 

I love the novel - I have a signed edition, and I have four of the original BPAL Last Unicorn scents (Molly Grue, The Butterfly, The Amorous Tree, and Arachne), but sadly never got my hands on the original Unicorn, so I can't quite compare, but the listed notes seem to be the same except for the addition of white gardenia. I don't tend to do pure florals much, but I do like fruity florals or scents like White Chocolate and Sugared Violets, so I'm hoping this will go well!

 

In the bottle: a sweet...watery...floral + leafy scent? Having a hard time picking out individual notes, but that's the overall impression.

 

Wet: it's delicate and pretty! It's a lot like the bottle, but I think I can pick out some more specifics - lilac, and gardenia, and some sort of "general light floral", plus something green and misty and maaaaybe a little minty in a chilly herbal way, not peppermint but mint leaves (maybe the "frosty" note?). I don't get white chocolate as much as a sense of something sweet lying over everything and, well, sweetening it up a bit.

 

Dry: it's getting a bit sweeter now! It's very soft, ethereal and diaphanous - very low throw, but it's nice on my skin. Something, oddly, is making me think of Titania, which I also like, so that's not a bad thing! I think it's settled into a cloud of soft, light, pale florals (I think they've blended together now), with a good amount of sweetness, and something green and shimmery and misty and interesting in the background, like fog in the lilac woods. I don't really get coconut, unless that's swirled into the sweet white chocolate, and I think the lettuce and oakmoss are contributing to the "green and watery" background note, but they're not as upfront as the light floating sugared florals. I do absolutely get the sense of magic in a misty forest - it's so evocative, and the background notes make it interesting and complex, like the Unicorn herself.

 

About half an hour later, I'm having a really hard time finding it on my wrist, to be honest! I have to shove my nose against my arm and sniff, and then I go, "oh, okay, still there," but it's very faint. Still pretty, but I think I'll have to slather this to make it last at all, which makes me a bit sad. But at least it should be easier to get more of now?

 

I like it a lot and I'm glad I've got a bottle, but I'm afraid I'm going to go through it fast!

 

Awesome Husband's thoughts: "...sweet...plants? I liked that other one you got better." (The "other one" might mean Rice Milk & Mango, or Peach Vulva, or Burnt Sugar & Blackberry - all came in the same order! Unsure which one he meant... 😄)

[groovyrooby]

I am so delighted with this had to come & review! Tested a couple times now from a bottle that rested a few days.

 

The list of notes has so many things up my alley - lilac, iris, violet, gardenia - and a few red flags - chocolate, coconut, which tend to go burnt plastic on me. At first whiff from the bottle when it had just arrived, I panicked. The chocolate was leaping out, and I was certain this was going to be a heartbreaker. But oh no! Chocolate didn't stick around too long and didn't go awry. It's light and a lovely start.

 

This quickly morphed into the loveliest sweet green floral and it makes me smile. It's grassy, like the Gap's Grass fragrance that I loved so dearly and still fantasize about. The coconut is there, but young! Not toasty! This might be the first time coconut has worked for me. Together, the lettuce & coconut give the florals a delicate, natural sweetness that is uplifting and encouraging. Not a whole lot of throw, but I need this in my life, so I'll just keep swiping it on. Just wonderful.

[Casablanca]

The Last Unicorn is iconic and inspirational, so I wanted to sample it. But many of the notes aren't as much my thing, so I didn't expect to love it like I do.

 

When I first opened the decant, I didn't remember the notes, but I assumed they would be cool lilac and orris and such. You know. Unicorny things. And I just smelled... chocolate? A slightly floral chocolate? Saywutnow.

 

But on my skin it transforms into something delightful and quite different from many other blends. A little wave of creamy white chocolate, then a fresh, dewy, sweet witch's garden of lettuce and greens, cool coconut shreds, white orris, touches of purple lilac and iris. 

 

On my skin I smell sweet, fresh lettuce as the standout note, with everything else a supporting swirl of creamy white and purple. It reminds me a lot of the fresh witch's garden feeling of Blue Moon, with its lettuce, cucumber, and green tea, but with a lot of creamy white background.

 

The orris does lean toward powder for me, as it often does, and I think violet is adding a bit of an aged vibe I don't usually go in for. But I love the fresh lettuce and creamy aspect, so this might become a bottle. 

[Kefliss]

This has a strong bit of that mealy/woody orris root with some chilly white floral support. The florals start a bit sharp (mostly lilac and violet forward) but fade and blend into a robust harmonious whole (gardenia forward) pretty quickly. With the theming, the orris root kinda comes across as a pretty appropriate fantasy horse musk. It's definitely sweet, more due to the coconut than the white chocolate, unless it's just amping the coconut I get very little from the chocolate. It's a pretty amazing clean-wintery-magic scent evoking things like moonlight and water. I've discovered I'm pretty obsessed with coconut scents so I'm deffo going to have to get one of these. 

Edit: The more I sniff it the more the back of my mouth tastes like I just brushed my teeth so the cooling effect is pretty powerful.

Edited July 29, 2021 by Kefliss

[zankoku_zen]

White florals, wood and a whiff of chocolate and coconut. It's very much like I remember the previous Last Unicorn. Cool and warm at the same time. Good throw and wear length.

[freyasfae]

My 2016 review:
 

Quote

 

The chocolate is pretty strong in the bottle and when wet on me, but it fades pretty quickly and I am left with a more floral scent with chocolatey undertones. I never thought chocolate would be a note that I enjoy, but I am finding in these unique combos, I really enjoy it. This is like white chocolate coconut in a mist of florals. Lovely. I can't express how much this evokes the Last Unicorn for me, it's an innocent and sad scent. The notes would seem to make it light, but it has a lot of depth like the story itself.

 

2021:

 

The chocolate is not nearly as prominent for me in the 2021 version. In fact, without the description, I probably wouldn't think chocolate, so much as general sweetness added to the pale florals and greenery. I think the addition of the gardenia has shaped it towards more floral from the get-go, which is fine by me as I adore gardenia. I think I may like this version more!

 

[hhelix]

This is a beautiful, etherial perfume reminiscent of a Blue Moon. I don't get any gourmand facets like the chocolate or coconut, but maybe they are adding a creamy element. The lettuce, lilac, orris, and violet leaf are watery and dewy. The gardenia is very subdued, just a little buttery lunar twinkle in the twilight. Something about this blend (the oakmoss? the orris root?) veers toward make-up territory or face cream, which I really like. Every 2021 scent I've tried so far from this collection is so well-blended, and they all compliment each other. Now I want to read the book while wearing the scents, as they seem very evocative of the story. 

[Exquise-moi]

Delicious opalescent gourmand lettuce torte sprinkled with delicate flowers and dappled by the light of the full moon.

[roseus]

In the imp I get mostly white chocoalate, then coconut, and then a swirl of cool florals. It's smells delicious and inviting, but at the same time something you know you should definitely not eat. Like a little fae cake. Wet it gets a little less gourmand. The iris and orris definitely come out, luckily not veering into musty territory as they tend to on my skin, at least not yet. But definitely adding some powdery edges to the scent. Getting a soft gardenia and lilac as well. Dry everything is really well balanced, and the notes seem to all blur together, though I can pick out a hint of green from the lettuce that I couldn't before. Ethereal, truly the scent of a unicorn.

[Llanval]

thanks to a surprise frimp from roseus, i was able to give this scent a test before my Last Unicorn decant circle ships and oh my gosh, every time i step out of my comfort zone with bpal lately, I am rewarded with a delightful experience. I am NOT a gourmand lover, i am NOT a foodie fan. The idea of a white chocolate note in this bottle initially put me off even *trying* this. But again, I was wrong. 

 

This starts out with a big sweet, creamy rush of white chocolate and twinkling lilacs. It's the only way to describe this bottle.  I get sweetness of a different sort from the coconut, and a green clarity and brightness hiding under the weight of the chocolate and lilacs from the lettuce and oakmoss.  The first 10-30 min are rough, because it's so much white chocolate, but paired with the literally twinkling lilacs, it somehow saws the rough shriek of the lilacs off into the same sort of magical creamy blossom breeze that i liked so much in cherry blossom vulva, but not quite as creamy. Only knock against it is the lasting power is low on me, and I easily lose track of this scent after 2 hrs.  Others can smell it on me, but I can't. This is exactly the sort of frosted lilac magic I didn't know I needed so badly.  This is a bottle purchase for me, which is CRAZY, for me - the foodie hater, lol. Plus I despise/loathe/repudiate gardenia and I get none of it in this bottle. no gardenia. Just sweet white chocolate that doesn't really read as chocolate and twinkling, frosted lilacs and greens. truly a glittering frosted purple scent, magical and fae in nature. Sweetly beguiling, and yet not entirely earthly. Just like a unicorn should be.

 

I liked this so much more than the Lilac Wood, can't believe it!!!

Edited September 8, 2021 by Llanval

[doomsday_disco]

I am sure I tried the original, but never wrote a review? Or am I just imagining that I tried the original?  

 

Anyway, I swapped for this just because I hadn't tried it, even though violet, orris, and iris are historically bad on me. This starts off strong on the crisp, green, watery lettuce note, and then the iris joins in after a bit and is high-pitched and perfume-y on me, per usual. I think the violet leaf may also be adding some astringency to this on me. After a while, there's some powderiness from the dry, white sandalwood and orris swirling together, and I also get the moss. I'm not getting much of the sweet notes, sadly, although I'm sure they're helping to make this a little less sharp than it would be otherwise. I keep thinking the original was stronger on the white chocolate, but perhaps I'm confusing that with Lady Amalthea, which I definitely did try.

 

This one isn't for me, since I was hoping for more of the white chocolate with these florals, but it was nice to get to try it.

[ghoulnextdoor]

This is a deliriously ethereal, gauzy, gossamer slip of a scent, with that wintry, woody orris and the aqueous verdancy of the lettuce, and the white quartz, snow-melt nip of chilled water with the tiniest bite of bitterness, the last drop in an icy chalice of sorrow. But there’s a carnal quality there, too, of worldly concerns and sensual delights, like…cupcakes. A mild cocoa butter creaminess and a milky nuttiness coalesce to form a tiny mythical gateau, a small frosted treat with a floral crumb sprinkled with a scattering of star shards– that one might leave out to lure magical creatures… fairies or pixies… or even unicorns.