BPAL - Catherine
Named for the ambitious, vengeful poisoner Catherine deMedici, who used perfumes to perform her dark deeds. A sinful blend of orange blossom, rosemary and rose... allegedly the exact perfume she utilzed in her work.GC Diabolus scent, lap fresh impInitial Thoughts: Rose. Crap.Now, that's not fair - rose CAN behave itself on me. Sometimes. Maybe. Not often, that's true - but still, I sniffed this at a friend's house and decided I needed to try it, probably because of the orange blossom. I love orange blossom.In the imp: Potent orange blossom and rose. Not cloying or sickly, just WUMFF! Hello, I'm Catherine, welcome to Los Angeles, I'm here to hit you [/stupid cross reference]. If this works, I might be quite pleased with it - there's a tone to it which reminds me slightly of a more mature, slinkier Marae, which is my floral blend of choice at the moment. Unforunately, rose and I have a history.On the wrist, wet: The rose... is behaving itself! On the other hand, maybe it's because the orange blossom is smack-you-in-the-sinuses overpowering. And sharp. This is wearable but not very 'me' at the moment, but I'm quite looking forward to the dry down.Twenty minutes later: My skin's drunk this up quite well, I think - it sits very close to the skin. The rose is behaving itself, and the orange blossom has settled down nicely. I'm even getting some of the rosemary. This is a nice, simple, well rounded floral - not youthful, but not overly mature either.Verdict: Not sold on a bottle, but I'll hang on to the imp.Tl;Dr: A subtle blend of orange blossom and a well behaved rose with a hint of rosemary.