Arachne

[OriginalWacky]

A gossamer scent, as light as a spider’s footfall, touched with sighing mists: pallid flowers, dusty woods and soft herbs.

 

Bottle (Imp): This has a really fresh scent that's sweet at the same time. It's not like anything I've smelled before from BPAL, so I don't know how to describe it.

 

Just On: It's like the imp, but it gets grittier. This makes me think of the color brown, but not in an earthy way. It's more of a chestnut crown color, almost reddish, but not really red, like a chestnut colored horse. If you go here and look down the page for the chestnut horse, that's the color I think of. I don't think of horses though, just that particular color. Wow, what a strong reaction I'm feeling on this one. I keep smelling it over and over and over.

 

An hour or two later: This deepens into a shinier chestnut color with a hint of nuttiness to it.

 

Around 6 hours: It fades down to a very smooth scent.

 

12 hours: It's mostly gone now.

 

Overall: I had such a strong reaction to this one, and I have no idea why.

 

After reading other reviews: I really didn't get any sweetness out of this, and not a lot for florals either. I like it.

[parrot_suspect]

The description intrigued me, so I ordered an imp of this. However, the fragrance wasn't really what I was hoping for. On me it's a light, rather sweet fruity floral with a strong lemon-y, citrus-y note. I'm not one for florals -- I prefer deep, resinous, musky type scents (Sin is my all-time fave BPAL). And I really don't care for citrusy notes. So I guess this will be one for the swap list.

[telesilla]

This was a frimp from the lab, and I'm afraid this review is going to suck. Seems I can only tell what note is in something if I've been told what notes to look for.

 

In bottle and wet: Sweetly green.

 

Drying and dry: I have no idea what I'm smelling here, but I really like it. It's green and sharp and a little sweet. It's a gender neutral scent and it does smell like a slightly sweet men's cologne. I think there might be a touch of mint in it, but that could just be my weird skin chemistry.

 

It's going to be a good summer scent; it's cool and just a little aggressive. It doesn't strike me as being all that light and gossamer.

Edited July 8, 2005 by telesilla

[nineveh]

Hm. This one starts off very sweet. Maybe it's lotus.

 

Then a green herbal scent emerges.

 

As it dries, I get a dry wood, probably sandalwood. The sweetness dies down, and now it's becoming dustier.

 

This is such a strange scent. I have a hard time describing it as other than a dry, herbal, slightly sweet scent. It's fading already.

[olympia301]

 

A likable clean and universally pleasant scent, Arachne stays strong for a long time and doesn't morph very much from the original wet form. I would say that there is a misty aquatic feel to it and it is a bit of a "sporty" smell. Just right for daytime wear.

 

If anything, Arachne comes close to being androgynous with its wet and woody notes being so prominent. It's more of a thinking/doing blend and would be great as a gift for someone who isn't big on smelling exotic. My only complaint is its lack of originality*, but it would be the best choice in many situations where a more conventional scent is called for. Because of its versatility and its ability to last so well, I'd say Arachne deserves more appreciation.

 

*By that I mean Arachne could be presented as a "commercial" blend and I don't think anyone would suspect it's handcrafted based on its smell alone. There isn't any one non-traditional perfume note which protrudes in here, nothing associated with the iconoclast (eg. patchouli, menthol, chocolate, fruit).

[OdetteOdile]

Arachne

I'm not sure what to make of this one. I definitely don't get the bubble gum other people talked about - this barely has any sweetness on me at all.

"Watery" and "herbal," I did get. It sort of smells like the juice from a flower stem.

 

1/2 hour later - it did develop a little sweetness. Sweet green sap.

It smells like a commercial scent. It's really nice, but what it's evoking most for me is department store - I can't figure out why. (This is one of those times that I wish commercial scents weren't nice - they sometimes ruin perfumes for me by association.)

I'd add this to the category of BPAL scents that could do "crossover" - oils you can give to people who have more conventional perfume tastes.

 

1 hour later - this gets prettier and prettier. The sweetness took a while to develop on me. It still smells like a commercial perfume - and in fact, it still smells like a department store - but the store got more and more upscale as this deepened. Also, the department store went South as the floral notes developed. It started off Sears in PA, and now it's Bloomingdales in Miami.

I wish I associated it with gossamer and spiders, but I'll have to settle for a pretty green off-the-shelf body spray.

Edited July 26, 2005 by OdetteOdile

[Lycanthrope]

In the Bottle or Imp:

Apple floral with a gentle herbal base, maybe some light wildflowers.

Wet, on Skin:

Fruits have appeared... it's kind of apple-pineappley, very bright and airy florals here, not rose, jasmine, or any deep, potent floral.

Drying/Drydown:

Oops. It's gone nondescriptly soapy. Maybe with a touch of dry herbs.

Over Time/Longterm:

Kind of like LUSH's Rainbow Worrier, what with the dry and dusty herbs at the base. However, the soapy floral never really goes away.

Final Verdict?

Sigh. Soap. Swap.

[QueenFae]

This is a soft, green, herbaly clean scent for me. It's like a mossy, green, flowering forest floor. It's one of those scents that makes me think of soft whispers, warm breath, and secrets. It's elusive and airy, like when someone leaves a faint trail of frangrance in the room after they leave. I like it a lot more than I thought I would, and I think I'll enjoy my impie.

[lissamc]

Wet: A darker floral, with a subtle wood base. Nice.

 

1 Hour: A pretty enough floral, with a bit of a green bite.

 

2 Hours: Fading. Going more herbal.

 

Verdict: Didn't last long on me. Pretty, but nothing spectacular. Being a weaver and spinner myself, I really wanted to love this one, but...*shrug*. I'll probably swap it off to a good home.

[luxuria]

This smells like a slightly less feminine Ulalume in the imp- aquatic white floral. I smell lily, I think. It's pretty! Very light.

 

On my skin...it smells like One n' Only's Colorfix. I try to shake that assocation and I just CAN'T. I'd describe it, but, uh, if you've smelled it, you know what I'm talking about. Not pleasant. My skin doesn't place nice with the Queen of Spiders

[Little Bird]

Arachne is a very light and pretty scent on me. At first it smells like sweet grass, but it dries down into more of an aquatic scent with what I believe to be sweet lotus. Something about it is innocent and girlie to me. Comforting, even.

 

It has a sweet, cool smell that I love. It's very faint and lasts only a couple hours on my skin, but I don't mind reapplying. I'm surprised that I actually like Arachne. It's going on my list for future 5 ml purchasing

[arabella]

First Impression: Sparkly, fruity wine.

 

Dries down to: A very light, fruity wine - not unpleasant but nothing special either.

 

Additional Comments: From reading the description, I see I'm way off base on this one. I don't get florals, woods or herbs at all. Maybe the imp was mislabelled.

 

Lasted: About an hour.

 

Rating: 2 out of 5

[Phaedra]

I got this one in a swap. Wet it smells fruity and a bit spicey. When first applied it smells a bit herbal, like grass maybe mixed with an almost dusty smelling floral. After a couple of minutes the fruit comes out more- maybe grapes or currants. I think this would definately be deep purple grapes. This softens into a gorgeous warm, fruity, incense blend! This reminds me a lot of Queen of Clubs- love it!!

[Miss Lynx]

I almost didn't try this one, but I'm glad I did. I originally ordered it more for my partner than for myself, but once it arrived, she took one sniff of it in the imp, and refused to try it, saying it was much too sweet for her. I don't like super-sweet scents either, not at all, but I'll try anything once, so eventually I pulled it out of the swap pile to try a bit on, and I'm glad I did.

 

Yes, in the imp, and when wet, it's an insanely sweet floral. But that sweetness starts fading within minutes, and the drydown is completely different — a light, dry woodsy herbal, with just faint floral overtones. I can definitely get the gossamer reference — it's a very light, gentle scent, and fading away already, after only an hour or so. But it's nice, though not really my kind of scent.

 

Ironically, the drydown actually reminds me a bit of Whippoorwill... which is my partner's favourite scent! So I think I'm going to suggest she conquer her "Arachne-phobia" and give it a try.

 

Grade: C+

[rainyseason]

My nose doesn't seem to agree with most the other reviews or the description.

 

I get cherries and incense. Not really what I'd consider a floral, and certainly not light on me.

 

It reminds me of independent music stores, long flowy skirts and sitar music.

 

It's not a “me” fragrance but overall I like it.

[herongale]

in the bottle: A clear light yellow color. The immediate scent is that of a mildly astringent Bubbilicious bubble gum. Although in other reviews this is listed as a delicate scent, in the bottle it hits me like a pink chewy brick... it's not subtle to me at all. I would like to point out, also, that this scent is about as "gender neutral" as my breasts. If I am going to imagine anything, it is that of a 9-year old girl playing with her Strawberry Shortcake dolls. The scent is not repellant, but nothing about it moves me either. Fairly one-note.

 

wet: It's even more like bubblegum. But somehow my feelings are softening. Even though it's a strong scent, it's pleasant and yummy. I want to lick my wrists continually with this on (in fact, I did once... trust me, not a good idea). It's really that juicy first bite into a really large piece of pink bubblegum-flavoured bubblegum... prolonged. The notes are sugary and alive.

 

drydown: This is a weird scent. I keep wanting to smell it, and then say "mmm... I love it... no, wait. I don't." The gum scent doesn't ever go away, but it does become light fairly quickly and yet sticks around for a long time... several hours, in fact. It's almost like my skin WANTS to like it, but deems it too artificial. Maybe even too young. This is something that would well suit a pink-loving young goth... but it should be someone who likes to wear pink and black together. For someone like me, who is purely a pink and white girl, it doesn't quite suit.

 

verdict: I like it, may keep the imp, but would not buy any more.

[PixieSkull]

In the imp: Pleasantly sweet, fruity floral. A sweet candy, like the Japanese floral candies.

 

Wet: Reminds me of my boyfriend's shampoo and conditioner, therefore I'm loving this stage. Can't pick out anything right now, but it smells like lovely soft flowers and wet ground. Beautiful and soft!

 

Drydown: Now there are some herbs coming through, nice and dark green. The soft florals are moved a little further back so that they all mingle and mix evenly. Still lovely.

 

Overall: Will definately keep the imp, probably not a big bottle need. Lovely soft, floral scent that would be perfect for a cool spring day.

[pekeana]

Arachne is rather odd. I don't think it's supposed to be as sweet as it is on my skin, but.... I smell soft, gentle florals, bitter herbs, and very young, pretty woods, and something almost fruity that stands out at the top of the scent and screams "I'm sweet and you can't stop me!" I rather like it, but it's a little odd.

[arpeggiated]

I don't really care what's in this blend. I just adore it. It smells like fairy dust would, and it's definately a 10mL purchase for me.

[Lori]

Sniffing the imp: A soft, greenish white herbal. Not as strong as Belladonna or Hemlock.

 

Wet on wrist: Oh, how pretty! These gorgeous white flowers are coming through to dance with the herbs. Everything smells gossamer light and bright and dewy and sweet.

 

Dry-down: A perfect, wonderful blend! It has morphed into a wonderful blend of crushed herbs, flowers and incense spices, all caught into the same web, saved for consumption.

 

I wonder if I wear this, if the spiders living in and outside of my home will give me more respect! They like to spin their webs on whatever I can easily walk into. Maybe they have been trying to get my attention and have me join their spidery guild or something. I can start by wearing Arachne. I want a big bottle of this one!

[Gwen]

Admittedly, I was horribly worried about the "light as a spider's footfall" part, so slathered this on unmercifully.

 

I thought it would be just another baby powder scent, but it went more herbal on me. Herbal-musky...not that floral surprisingly. It did fade eventually though. An unexpected triumph, nonetheless.

[SnornL]

I hesitate to pin this scent down to any one colour when describing it... for me, it's more like the pale rainbow refracted from the dew glistening on a spider's web. Freshly applied, the floral comes through the strongest (I'm not huge on florals, so I can't guess what it is, but it's very sweet and bright), but as it dries, it retreats behind a misty veil and it's easier to catch the woods & herbs. But they're behind the mist too; the main thing I smell is just a sense of coldness or freshness, like a spring morning. Cool spring days are the perfect time to wear this perfume - I gave it a shot on one of the warmer ones and found that the dusty aspect of the scent became overwhelmingly pronounced. I've been wearing Arachne a fair bit lately, and found it varies in how long it sticks around (this is probably weather-related again, it's been all over the place lately), but after about 2 or 3 hours I'm usually left with nothing but a faint musky-incense smell which wasn't discernable in the blend before. It's still very pretty though, this is one which has me smelling my wrist constantly all day. I'm going slather-crazy with the imp, and will definitely buy a 5ml.

[The_Merf]

In the imp: This does smell quite sweet. I can't really distinguish anything though.

 

Wet: As I was raising the wand to apply, I finally figured out what this smells like--bubble gum. It keeps that smell when it is wet on my wrist.

 

Drydown and wear: This gets much, much better on drydown. After it sits on my skin for awhile, it does smell like fairy dust, as it were. I was stunned that I actually wavered on the "swap pile or finish-but-don't-get-more pile" question, because it did not tickle my fancy when it was wet. However, I'm just not a light scents sort of person--a lighter scent just has to blow me away for me to wear it regularly. I'm sure that there are many people who would appreciate this scent. It turns out very pretty, but it's not me.

[carolinachiquita]

This is a soft and smooth melancholy scent - it was quite sweet and herby at the same time if that is possible! I did like this one but not enough to buy a 5ml - I think its one that I will keep in my purse until the imp has gone though. Or maybe I'll make it into a body lotion??!!!!

[iriedanym]

This is currently my all time favorite scent. Maybe it is because I grew up in California, but I can smell the green meadow smell coupled with wildflowers. While it smells floral like in the imp, on the skin it is rather mellow, and I can see where the gossamer that everyone is talking about comes from. Perhaps it is me, but I sense carnation in the blend, which gives it that floral/spicy edge.