Thoughts on a few more BPAL Weenies
(Note on this year's scents: Beth mentioned on Facebook that the 2014 Weenies should be out this week.)
Elegy IX: The Autumnal, and Fearful Pleasure'>The Death of Autumn (2007) is "dark amber, dead leaves, khus, saffron, bitter clove, chrysanthemum, camellia, galangal, and a drop of oud", AKA "a whole bunch of notes, NONE of which I can identify. I've seen this one compared to Chant d'Automne, which makes sense. What I wrote down in my spreadsheet is that Death is "not unpleasant for something that smells mostly of perfume on me, but I'm not hugely keen on it". So far I'll stick with Chant d'Automne for my "dead leaves crunching underfoot and the air smelling vaguely smoky" scent.
Devil's Night (2009) is "the scent of autumn night, fires in the distance, with a touch of boozy swoon, playful sugar and thuggish musk". When I got this one I adored it enough to get a backup (I think I have a partial bottle rather than an imp), but the aging process has subdued it. It was more sweet than smoke when I tried it at first; later on I felt it became a bit more smoky, but
scruloose thought it was another case of "yep, that's perfume, all right". *sighs* It was so lovely and smoky when it was new. If Beth revives it this year, I may pick up a fresh imp and see how much it's changed since 2009. (I think it's been offered...once since then?)
Dia De Los Muertos (2007, and in this case apparently the year is significant, since the vintages vary dramatically according to the reviews) is "dry, crackling leaves, the incense smoke of altars honoring Death and the Dead, funeral bouquets, the candies, chocolates, foods and tobacco of the ofrenda, amaranth, sweet cactus blossom and desert cereus". People's thoughts on the 2007 version start on page 10 of the forum reviews. As this dried down I caught just a bit of the chocolate scent, and it was mostly dry florals and a bit of incense to my undiscerning nose, but I liked it. It was definitely complex and warm.
Elegy IX: The Autumnal (2011) is "red maplewood, plum leaves, fir needle, wildflower honey, patchouli, hazelnut, and green cognac". I think I'll try to give this one another shot and see if I can pick anything out; my nose kept trying to isolate notes and failing miserably. My feelings on this wearing boiled down to "meh".
And Fearful Pleasure (2008, from the Sleepy Hollow line) is "dried orange peels floating in simmering cider, roasted apples, smoldering firewood, chimney smoke, sassafras beer, warm hawthorn wood, and oakmoss". I tend to really like the apple-loaded, autumn-spiced scents, so while this isn't a favorite, I enjoyed it. Once it was dry the scent wasn't very strong, but it stuck around for most of the day, and I found I appreciated it more in intermittent wafts than I did when it was fresh.
Originally posted at http://umadoshi.dreamwidth.org/550378.html. Comment here if you like, or comment there using OpenID. Comments at DW:
Elegy IX: The Autumnal, and Fearful Pleasure'>The Death of Autumn (2007) is "dark amber, dead leaves, khus, saffron, bitter clove, chrysanthemum, camellia, galangal, and a drop of oud", AKA "a whole bunch of notes, NONE of which I can identify. I've seen this one compared to Chant d'Automne, which makes sense. What I wrote down in my spreadsheet is that Death is "not unpleasant for something that smells mostly of perfume on me, but I'm not hugely keen on it". So far I'll stick with Chant d'Automne for my "dead leaves crunching underfoot and the air smelling vaguely smoky" scent.
Devil's Night (2009) is "the scent of autumn night, fires in the distance, with a touch of boozy swoon, playful sugar and thuggish musk". When I got this one I adored it enough to get a backup (I think I have a partial bottle rather than an imp), but the aging process has subdued it. It was more sweet than smoke when I tried it at first; later on I felt it became a bit more smoky, but
scruloose thought it was another case of "yep, that's perfume, all right". *sighs* It was so lovely and smoky when it was new. If Beth revives it this year, I may pick up a fresh imp and see how much it's changed since 2009. (I think it's been offered...once since then?)
Dia De Los Muertos (2007, and in this case apparently the year is significant, since the vintages vary dramatically according to the reviews) is "dry, crackling leaves, the incense smoke of altars honoring Death and the Dead, funeral bouquets, the candies, chocolates, foods and tobacco of the ofrenda, amaranth, sweet cactus blossom and desert cereus". People's thoughts on the 2007 version start on page 10 of the forum reviews. As this dried down I caught just a bit of the chocolate scent, and it was mostly dry florals and a bit of incense to my undiscerning nose, but I liked it. It was definitely complex and warm.
Elegy IX: The Autumnal (2011) is "red maplewood, plum leaves, fir needle, wildflower honey, patchouli, hazelnut, and green cognac". I think I'll try to give this one another shot and see if I can pick anything out; my nose kept trying to isolate notes and failing miserably. My feelings on this wearing boiled down to "meh".
And Fearful Pleasure (2008, from the Sleepy Hollow line) is "dried orange peels floating in simmering cider, roasted apples, smoldering firewood, chimney smoke, sassafras beer, warm hawthorn wood, and oakmoss". I tend to really like the apple-loaded, autumn-spiced scents, so while this isn't a favorite, I enjoyed it. Once it was dry the scent wasn't very strong, but it stuck around for most of the day, and I found I appreciated it more in intermittent wafts than I did when it was fresh.
Originally posted at http://umadoshi.dreamwidth.org/550378.html. Comment here if you like, or comment there using OpenID. Comments at DW: