Alice in Wonderland is the debut fragrance from the very indie perfume house Parfums d'Imperfiction, the brainchild of Konstantin Mihov, a psychology student in Germany and a regular on the Perfume of Life forum. His line is inspired by fictional characters; Alice in Wonderland...
...is derived from the novel with the same name, as you have figured out; it is one of my most precious books and I love the mystery, the obscurity, the oddity, the magic about it. The whole adventure of Alice is to me a contrast between a forest (the magic forest), violets (incarnation of Alice herself) and mint (a tea party perhaps).
The fragrance notes include mint, bergamot and carrot seed in the top; a heart of violet, jasmine and lily of the valley; and base notes of cedarwood and vanilla. The Eau de Toilette is 28€ for 50 ml, and samples are available for 5€ including shipping. For purchasing information, see the Parfums d'Imperfiction blog.
Love that book!! Completely appeals to my inner eccentric (well, not so inner). Frankly, am not a huge fan of mint, but I *really* want to like this because I love the idea so much. And the price is certainly attractive.
LOL — appeals to my inner eccentric too. I guess he'd have ended up in trouble if he'd just written “Drink Me” on the bottle, but that would have been perfect 😉
Wow, love that book, and absolutely adore that packaging! Seriously considering at least a sample order.
I can't find the article of Alice in Wonderland in Perfume of life?
Please help.
thank-you
A, the world needs more perfumes based on fiction — hope he'll do more 🙂
Try:
http://perfumeoflife.org/blog/bittergrace/index.php?showentry=615
There is a “Drink me” perfume (with a proper warning). There is actually an entire Alice in Wonderland scent collection already. Here: http://www.blackphoenixalchemylab.com/alice.html
Has anybody tried any of the BPAL Mad Tea Party scents? Some of them sound rather good–particularly Alice, Frumious Bandersnatch, and The Lion–but of course 1) you can't tell what something's going to smell like from the list of notes, and 2) the company's in the business of selling its product and so is going to describe them in the best possible terms. I'm half-tempted to order at least a bunch of samples; has anyone beaten me to the punch?
Solander, I should have known BPAL would have an Alice in Wonderland collection, it sounds like them! Thanks.
There are reviews for some of them on MakeupAlley!
I have tried a few of them, let's see… The Red Queen is very red, a strong, boozy clash of red woods and red berries. I quite liked it, but you have to enjoy the cherry note.
March Hare is one of my favs too, I like BPAL's apricot note, it's not candysweet like some of their fruit notes and the clove adds a nice spiciness.
White Rabbit was not really my cup of tea, I'd have liked more tea and pepper but I remember it as a soft, milky scent and I'm not a great fan of milky scents. It's a huge success though.
The Dormouse is a really nice tea scent with just a hint of floral, overall I think BPAL are very good at fresh green tea scents, they have a whole bunch (Kumiho and Shanghai being favourites of mine) Their tea note is almost like fresh cut grass.
Alice is also a very soft and milky scent, a little plasticky if I remember correctly and I'm not a carnation fan, but I think this one too is very popular.
Tweedledum is a bright and cheerful yellow fruit scent, mango and citrus, not very sophisticated.
The Caterpillar is a sweet-ish, almost fruity somehow, incense, very psychedelic!
The Unicorn was very meh, schampooish.
The white florals in The Queen of Hearts turn to soap on my skin.
Oh, I didn't realize I had tried so many of them… The Lion I haven't tried but it's a hit among the amber fans. I have to warn you though, turnaround time is usually about 2 months.
Oh and yeah, there are loads of reviews on their discussion board, http://www.bpal.org but I guess it's mostly for the rabid fans and not very “objective”. Negative reviews are certainly allowed though, I know I've written some.
Thanks for the detailed reviews! The Shanghai is actually the only one you mentioned that I've tried, and I did think it was nicely done, although I am not a big fan of oils and not sure the line is really my style. Have only tried about 6 of them though, and it is a massive line so I've obviously barely scraped the surface. Given the turnaround time, it is probably going to stay that way, sadly! Dormouse sounds tempting though…
Ah yes, BPAL was how I became a perfume junkie but now I've pretty much left them behind. I used to eagerly follow all the updates but jeez, they really do release loads of new scents all the time, there's no way to keep up! For the price, I think many of the scents are very decent and fun to try, but many do smell like bubblegum or scented candles. Also, I have a limited amount of money to spend on perfume samples and there are so many other perfumes I'd rather try right now…
That is my complaint with the vast majority of etailer perfume oil lines: it all smells like bubblegum and scented candles. But it is all a matter of personal taste, and I know BPAL has some serious fans.
They sure do! I do think it has more to do with the evocative titles, descriptions and artwork though, a subcultural thing. I guess many go for the “magic potion” thing too, although for me it's cheesy and makes me suspicious of the quality of the actual scents – you can get away with anything if it's supposed to be a powerful love potion or have healing properties…
Many of the perfume oil fans seem to find all alcohol-based perfumes too synthetic and harsh and choking, so it may have to do with sensitivities as well as personal preference. Personally I find the “naturalness” of BPAL quite overrated, who cares what it is if it smells like bubblegum anyway? On the other hand, several expensive niche perfumes smell like bubblegum too… (Encens Epice, I'm looking at you!)