BPAL - Blood Countess
Elizabeth Bthory, also called Erzsbet Bthory in Hungarian and Albeta Btoriov-Ndady in Slovak, was the Bloody Lady of Hungary. In order to preserve her youth and loveliness, the brutal and incomparably savage countess captured, tortured and slaughtered innumerable young women and bathed in their blood as part of her beauty regimen. Ah, vanity. Corrupted black plum, smoky opium and crumbling dead roses covered by a deceptive veil of Hungarian lilac, white gardenia and wild berry.GC Diabolus scent, lab fresh imp.Initial thoughts: Rose. Crap. Why do I keep picking scents with rose in them?I really want this to work on me just based on the concept - ah, Countess Bathory, in my teenage Goth phase I spent a lot of time reading up on you - and eyeing up the list of notes, I want this to work even more. I'm really hoping the gardenia and the plum come forward, and the rose doesn't mess it up too much for me.In the imp: Gardenia and plum! \o/Okay, I can kinda get the 'berry' and maybe the lilac (Can't really remember what lilac smells like) but the gardenia and the plum are very prominent. I now remember why I sniffed this at a friends house and immediately went DO WANT.On the wrist, wet: That's potent. Hmmm... gardenia, yes, an unidentified floral (Must be the lilac) but the berries are coming forward more than the plum. Strange. Oooh, but this IS good... incredibly good, in fact. I'm pretty much sold on a bottle now, and I'm REALLY hoping it doesn't do anything stupid in the drydown.Twenty minutes later: Potent, but very nice. Gardenia, lilac - a hint of rose 'fuzz' - and while the plum isn't very strong, the sweet, ripe squishy red berry note is quite prominent. This is strong, but it's got great character. It's sassy and playful, not overly sweet but not overly womanly either. I'm really liking it!Verdict: Keeper, and a bottle before too long methinks.Tl;Dr: Fresh gardenia and lilac with a hint of rose, hovering over sweet ripe red berries.