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September 04, 2006
BPAL: Midnight on the Midway and Gennivre, L'artiste du Diable
Part of the Carnival Diabolique series. I did well enough on BPAL sales this summer that I was able to purchase the entire Carnival with my earnings-- knowing full well that I'd be selling off plenty of it, just not sure which parts. And I have to say that it sure was cool to have them all show up in my mailbox, complete with little cards for each scent and all kinds of other extra goodies.
Sarah and I met today at the Broad Street Cafe so she could check them out, and we lined them all up on the table, each with its card, and I could feel the collector part of my personality twinge a little. But by the end of the afternoon I knew that some of them have to go. And probably a good bit of the rest of the BPAL collection does too. How many lifetimes of perfume does a girl really need? I don't even wear that much, anyway.
Ooooooh-kay. Oh, by the way, I'm linking to the artwork for each scent for a reason. Go look at it. It's great.
Midnight on the Midway
"Lightning splits the sky, illuminating the skeletal skyline of the carnival rides: sugared incense and night-blooming flowers."
I think this Carnival marks an new phase in Beth's work; while I think she's repeating herself to some extent, I also think her scents are becoming more complex and interesting. Combining incense and floral is a good example of this.
Sarah and I both tried this one this afternoon, and we both found that it's a morpher-- it goes through three distinctly different stages. Wet, it's sweet and a little spicy. After a some drydown the florals stand out-- on me, it was fairly pleasant even though I'm not much of a florals person.
On final drydown, it becomes a soft, sweet vanilla with maybe a little floral. It reminds me a lot of Antique Lace, except without the weird thing that sticks in my nose that Antique Lace has.
This one is a keeper.
Gennivre, L'artiste du Diable
"Hyson tea leaf, pale mint, sugar cane, orange blossom, lemongrass, and honey."
I swear, this smells like jasmine to me, but now that I read the note list, I realize it's the honey.
While I love honey in my tea and on my pancakes, it does not agree with me in my BPAL. This one won't be difficult to give up.
Posted by lisa at September 04, 2006 08:03 PM
Comments
I looked up my order in my DB and Gennivre was the third one I had ordered, along with Candy Butcher and Theodosius. I'm glad it wasn't that vetiver scent after all, but based on your description I'm not too eager about Gennivre. Maybe I'll get lucky and the honey won't be overwhelming on me. I know I sniffed it this afternoon, but for the life of me I can't remember it.
I am definitely going to order Midnight on the Midway after trying yours. Over six hours and I can still faintly smell it, and it still smells great.
Posted by: Sarah on September 4, 2006 10:14 PM
Gennivre is very complex in the bottle. After reading the notes, I was surprised I didn't like it-- but since this is my second bad experience with honey, I think I'm just one of those people who amps honey in an unpleasant way.
Posted by: lisa on September 4, 2006 11:31 PM
ok, so a) your comment won't post right away because i have to approve it first and b) you might get a server error but your comment probably posted anyway and c) previewing doesn't work so i've removed the preview button.