Violet Fog

[Seajewel]

A November twilight: orris root and white sandalwood bruised by violet petals, champaca attar, and smoked lavender.

[Lycanthrope]

I feel like as one of the resident violet lovers, I have to review this!

 

Just got it today.  Wet it smells like one of my holy grails, Stealthily, Stealthily, and a few of the notes are similar (orris/iris, violet, lavender) with the addition of sandalwood and champaca.  It smells very, very similar initially but on drying down, the champaca brightens it with a bit of an interesting bubbly tropical floral tone.  If there is sandalwood it's quite subtle and a bit on the dry side.  It smells a bit like the smoky, hazy purple entwined notes of Stealthily but with a nag champa incense stick lit in the distant corner of the room. 

 

I do like this, but I also have a lot of Stealthily, so I may just enjoy the single bottle

 

(un-stealthily adds 17 to virtual cart)

[coulrophobe]

In the bottle, the lavender is pretty sharp and dominates the blend. Lavender doesn't tend to last long on me, so I am not deterred!

 

On my skin, initially lavender/violet combine and the result is straight up soap. Very nice soap, but soap nonetheless. Luckily...I kind of like smelling soapy. Given a little time, the orris and sandalwood make themselves known, and the blend smells more complex. Still a bit soapy, but more of a "freshly showered and now I'm burning some incense" feel. Not my most poetic review, but I'm out of practice. 

 

I like this Fog, soapiness and all.

[Beary Strange]

in the bottle: very sandalwood forward but I feel like I can smell most of the other notes as well, except what I think must be the violet smells more like just bruised flower petals generally (edit: violets, it smells like violets and greenery)

 

wet: the florals are coming forward in a big way, while the sandalwood and champaca is still present but fading fast

 

dry: purple florals (edit: it's violet I'm picking up on here) and champaca (not sure what happened, but after sitting a bit, it's orris root that comes forward, not the champaca), the sandalwood has left the building, leaving nothing but the barest hint that it may have been there

This is like fancy soap meets mature floral perfume. I don't think I'd necessarily wear it out, because it does lean a bit old lady perfume, I'd say it almost has a stuffy quality to it, but it's nice to wear while lounging around in soft PJs. This is the first time I've tried one of the lab's violets, and I have to say, this violet leans almost too astringent for me, but not so close that I dislike it. I do, however, want to try some violets that are more on the sugared side. 

 

Edit 3/3/22: I tried this again after letting it sit for a bit, and it's not giving me astringent old lady perfume vibes anymore at all, in fact it's smelling very different. Now it's a nice, light violet floral with some orris root to give it a powdery quality. I kind of get the lavender, but it's faint behind all that violet, and the champaca might be propping the orris root up, but it's definitely in the background. Still don't get any sandalwood on drydown, which is fine, this smells absolutely beautiful as is. 

 

Also, on Fifteen Minutes of Fume, they referred to this as smelling like grayed out purple. And they're entirely correct. It's wild, it's like BPAL bottled a color.

Edited March 3, 2022 by Beary Strange

[Casablanca]

There's a lot of violet floral going on in this one.

 

Up front, I get a lot of violet flowers, lavender, and orris, with a whiff of sandalwood. Champaca contributes from golden, tropical vibe, which manages to blend with the pale, cool, powdery, and delicate personality of the other notes, despite its contrast.

 

In drydown, I stop noticing sandalwood. The blend settles into a powder-puff violet-lavender-champaca-orris mix, and there it more or less remains. 

[theseagrows]

this one starts with champaca, lavender and a green violet that is not the least bit powdery, then i get a ton of sandalwood. i get a dry powderiness later from the orris root. the violets are so green they go slightly sour on my skin at some point. the perfume then dries down to a sandalwood-orris with hints of green violet. it is soft, pretty and dry with a vintage feel.

Edited February 28, 2022 by theseagrows

[zankoku_zen]

Violet smoke. I feel like this is a Victorian Alice in Wonderland sort of scent. A mix of things that shouldn't go together, but sort of do? Medium throw and wear length.

[groovyrooby]

As @Beary Strange mentioned hearing in the video reviews, I can totally see the 'greyed out purple' vibe here. I didn't get the smell of violets, but I got the sensation of chilly lavender. Sometimes I love lavender, but sometimes - like here - it goes sour on me. This has an ozone sourness that effectively suggests a thick, heavy, cold and humid quality to the air. But maybe it's the smoked bit that makes it sour to my nose. I hoped for violets and got none here. No champaca, nothing floral, just a bitter, herbal lavender and a dull, woody sandalwood.

 

[forspecial_plate]

This was a risk for me that didn't quite work out.  I was hoping for more champaca.  I smell lavender, violet and the white sandalwood which on my skin is on the harsh/woody side.  This might be one of the lavender notes that kind of turns harsh and chemical on me, reminds me a little of perm solution or something.  

 

This isn't terrible on me, despite what I said above.  But now I have Despondency and that is working out really well for me.  I think I would almost always pick that over VF. 

 

PS, I layered a little Charcoal, Champaca Resin and Tobacco Absolute over VF, it didn't really help me like it more. 

Edited November 15, 2022 by forspecial_plate