House of Night

[Eros]

A sorrowful graveyard bouquet of somber blooms, funereal boughs, dismal green and laden with grief.

Breath taking...
This is...most exquisite.
Dream-like. Beautiful...sublime. Sweet death and decay.

First impression, sharp!
Then... dry, dead flowers. A dying, weeping rose.
Green, wet, sticky humidity.

Musty, but beautifully so. This is my hearse. This is a mausoleum of despair.
I want to say Morticia's greenhouse, but its SO much more than that.

Isolate the miniature bride beckoning you to come back from the rest of Disney's Haunted Mansion...A lone, haunting beauty, searching in death for her beloved.

Yes, I'm trying desperately here to give this its most deserved and proper due. And, I suspect, failing miserably.

If I may...let me quote olympia301, who said it better than I could ever hope to~
"...and if you are hunting it with your mind while smelling it, it will elude you there as well. You have to let it come to you, like a wild animal, if you chase it you will never catch it.
...this one is a triumph and should be more famous among us as something special and a true masterpiece of the perfumer's art."


And then...it morphs to add a lush, subtle creaminess.

Beth, truly, I am in complete and utter awe. This is has moved me close to tears with its beauty.

[grrrlennyl]

at first: the lab included this as an extra. it's a heavy floral, but not thick.

on: i can barely smell this. it's definitely a soft blend, with beautiful flowers and greenery.

1 hour later: very light and soft. comforting. i can just barely smell some flowers.

2 hours later: slightly sweet, but mostly gone.

overall: this was nice, but not someting i'd grab often.

[SeaMonkey]

This is a beautiful scent and one of the only florals I can wear. Its a very deep, kind of musty scent, like flowers on a grave during the fall, with dried leaves everywhere

[magdalene]

Such a soft and dark blend. Very green. Not something I would associate with decay or grief, it almost seems like a spring scent. Of things growing and the promise of sunlight.

 

Unfortunately, I'm not even a little fond of it.

[paperdoll]

Initial Sniff: Very dark, green,and dirty in the vial. No flowers.

 

Wearing: When this is wet, the flowers come out to play for a minute or so, then disappear into the wet loam. This is very wet and earthy on me. As it really dries, a touch of smoke appears over the wet earth, and eventually a faint sweet floral smell replaces the wet earth.

 

Final Impressions: This is totally different than I expected - very complex and interesting.

[oakmoss]

In the vial, on first sniff, I didn't think I would like this scent. I like woodsy blends as a rule, but this was woodsy with a sharp perfume-counter edge that made me doubt it would work on me. But on drydown, it turned into a blend of somber blooms, indeed, with the woodsy note in the background. This scent feels like New Orleans to me, Anne Rice's New Orleans -- beautiful but full of memories, haunted and mysterious. I wore it to bed and had vivid dreams full of details -- people I know wearing animal and bird masks at a tea party, things like that. This blend deserves more exploration ... it's quite special.

[HoneyHoneyNY]

In the imp this smells slightly spicy-sweet and very complex. Beautiful.

 

On my skin it smells like potpourri. Very beautiful expensive potpourri, but yeah. Maybe it's the dried flowers I read about in the description? I'm not sure. I think I may swap it.

[voodoobaby]

In the vial: I get the scent of night air and trees. It's a dark green color, almost black. There's a hint of pine, but it's not overpowering or metallic smelling like most pine scents are to my nose. Me likey!

 

Wearing: Yes, green and chilly and...what's this? Flowers?! Gah! There was no trace of any floral scent in the imp--I think it tricked me just to spite me and laugh at me. OK, so I can definitely smell violet, but I can't figure out what the others are. Something very sweet. Yet at the same time, the florals are very natural smelling and there's an underlying greenness, like a nighttime field full of flowers and little trees that have yet to mature. It doesn't smell perfumey like most floral blends do to me, but I'm not sure how I feel about it.

 

Later: OK, all but the violet has died down as far as the flowers go, and now there's a strange fruity scent along with the greenness. Fruity...I can't place it, either. It's not lime, something smoother. Oh well.

 

Overall: I...have no idea. Will keep it for a couple more tries before I decide what I think of it.

[Reinaluna]

House of Night: This is a very interesting blend. It is dark florals, this one makes me think of Hades more than the actual Hades blend. It does have that gloom to it. It sweetins up after 40 min give or take. I dont know about a bottle but I do enjoy having the imp.

[OriginalWacky]

Bottle (Imp): Citrus and something else I can't figure out.

 

Just On: Lime.

 

An hour or two later: Wow, it's like, gone.

 

Around 6 hours: Yeah, nothing left that I can smell.

 

12 hours: Well, it's still gone.

 

Overall: I liked what little there was of it. My skin seemed to just suck it all dry very quickly.

 

After reading other reviews: I don't get somber, dismal, or grief at all out of this one.

[Aredhel]

Rating (on skin): 3/5

Summarised in a word or two: Sad!

 

In the imp/bottle: Green and herbal, just this side of medicinal.

 

On skin, wet: Lush and green, and a bit floral. It smells just a bit astringent.

 

On skin, dry: Damp mosses and light, faint flowers. It really seems kind of sad.

 

Conclusion: This is very... strange. It's dry, but damp, and lush, but astringent. Weird, but lovely. A bit too floral for me to wear often, but I could definitely see keeping the imp for funerals (it seems terribly appropriate).

Edited December 17, 2005 by Aredhel

[Blood onmy hands]

I wanted to try House of Night because it was described as green, and I love anything that smells grassy or plant-like minus the florals. For the first few minutes on my skin it was a lovely sort of peppery green smell, like the stalks of flowers. However, it quickly morphed into a sickeningly sweet floral. Like a vase of decomposing flowers. It makes me sick to my stomach, I had to wash this one off...

[ephemera]

Wow. Just wow. I got this as a frimp in my CN order and I'm so glad I did! It's not something I'd have chosen myself, but it's niiiiiiiiice.

 

In the bottle - green, but not too green. There's a slight musky undertone that evens it out.

 

On the skin - the green is prominent for all of 30 seconds, and then it starts to fade into a murky, greenish scent with some kind of undertone that makes me think of walking by the graveyard in New Orleans.

 

Later - Awww! As it's fading it's turning powdery on me!! That's just not fair! *pouts* Maybe I can use it as a diffuser oil...

[quimerula]

This is a quiet and soft perfume, serene is a good word to describe it when it first touches my skin.

 

I get a smoky touch over a green bottom line, not herbal nor floral but something between.

 

As it dries down I get an acid edge, astringent, sad but with rage.

I get a very sad feeling from this one.

[gangstaknitta]

Wow. This was not at all what I expected. It smells very herbal and green in the bottle. On my skin, it smells almost peppery and gingery at first, but without the bite that typically goes with ginger. It smells like damp, mossy woods (but not like actual wood, if that makes any sense ) and barely sweet herbals. It seriously smells like the swamp at night in the summer. On the dry-down, there is something that smells ripe and juicy, but not fruity. I'm probably not making any sense but I'm keeping this one!

Edited September 6, 2005 by gangstaknitta

[Miss Lynx]

I had high hopes for this one based on the reviews I'd read, and it did smell really interesting in the imp, and when freshly applied -- sort of partly floral, partly foresty. But alas, after a few minutes my skin started amping up the florals, and soon they were all I could smell. Kind of the same thing that happened with Crossroads, and various other dark floral blends. Forest go bye-bye.

 

Eventually, after a few hours, it did dry down to something less flowery and more woodsy/incensey, which was nice, but it was also pretty faint by then. For most of the main duration of the scent's strength on me, it was very strongly floral, which is not really my cup of tea.

 

It's not a bad scent by any means, and if my skin didn't amp flowers the way it does, it would probably really nice, but as it stands, it's probably not for me.

 

Grade: C+/B-

[darkwitch]

Just got an imp of this yesterday: in the Imp cypress with something green and smokey.

On my skin the cypress really stands out, and then fades down another resiney one came out but I'm not sure if it was sandlewood or not. Now after about 20 mins I have florals, smells like jasmine and lillies, with a deep green background too it. It stands out too, no fading for me and has a really far throw, someone just came in and asked me what that smell was, they where about 15 ft from me!!!!

I really like this one and will be getting a bigger bottle.

[Scarlettfish]

Oh, this one is just gorgeous. The name is perfectly evocative of what it smells like - on me, this is flowers and the woods and even a swamp at night. It's sorrowful and subdued, but beautiful at the same time. It is so well blended I can't isolate one or two notes. Upon application it is very green, with flowers poking their heads out upon drydown. Love it and will have to pick up a bottle for when I want to feel really still and quiet.

[atthis_uk]

Vial: smoky green with an astringent tange, can't make out any particular notes.

Wet: Herbal, bitter but not unpleasant

Drying: Became less sharp but still herbal, then suddenly overwhelmed with pine.

After a few hours, had faded to a soft misty green smell.

[harmonyfb]

Unlike everyone else, I smelled no cypress, no fir, no smoke. Only flowers.

 

In the bottle, and wet on my skin, there was a loud "perfume" scent which I associate with commercial perfumes. But after it dried, it was...you ever stuck your head inside a florist's cooler and taken a big whiff? That chilly, beautiful jumble of flowers? That's what this smells like.

 

It's very familiar somehow, though I can't put my finger on the predominant floral note. It doesn't smell sorrowful at all to me, either. It smells...happy.

 

I have to say, it's nothing like I expected from reading the description or reviews. I really like it more and more as it marries with my skin. My husband likes this one a lot, too (he paused this morning as I put it on to say, "That smells nice.")

 

I'll be wearing this one fairly often, I think.

Edited November 8, 2005 by harmonyfb

[Fefferbella]

Yikes... floral to the max.

 

Roses and lillies mostly. I've been searching for a floral that agrees with me, and House of Night starts out as a very pretty floral on my skin but there is a note of something gross underneath.

 

After 15 minutes, it hits me... it's flowers and CAT PEE. *eww*

Had to wash this one off.

[aidenraine]

Truly a fresh smell! I wish I could find mopping solution in this scent It's like cucumbers and pine. I do get something slightly musky in here, and it darkens the fragrence so "Night" seems pretty apt.

 

Ah, ok as this dries it becomes lemony, so now I am getting fresh greens, pine, and lemon.

 

It gets somewhat powdery when it dries, but mostly it's lemon, pine, and a bit of musk. :>

[Meg]

In the bottle: A very powerful and dark herbal scent, slightly resiny, like fir trees. A few lighter florals wisp out from time to time.

 

Wet: There's something spicy, slightly like tobacco, eucalyptus and pepper that gets added to the mix, making it pretty sharp. As it dries, it becomes sweeter and mellower though.

 

Drydown: This slowly becomes a very green scent. I was really expecting flowers, but no, it smells of menthol or perhaps eucalyptus. There's also something very dry in it, I think it's black tea. And smoke, now I get whiffs of smoke. There's a creamy flower note in there somewhere to sweeten things up, but I can't tell what it is.

 

Overall: This is intriguing. As time goes by, this gets sweeter and sweeter on me (my skin does this with everything), but the smoky and green background makes it much more than a sweet floral. It makes me think of a house that has been abandoned, where plants have taken over, lots of green weeds and white flowers; and then, ghosts of the past come back, smoking cigars and drinking tea, before disappearing into the background again. Fascinating.

[Celogrl]

I received this courtesy of the lab. My, this is beautiful. It's deep, heavy and 'serious' but not necessarily somber on me. Somehow, it's an enveloping and comforting scent. Mellow green leaves, some with the dry, autumnlike smell are predominant. Woodsmoke? Yes, just a little. This is very light on the florals and that's fine too. There is nothing I do not like about the inspired mix. Beautiful job, Beth and lab.

[moon_lemming]

This is one of the oils that I can admire even though it's not something I'd wear. It goes through so many gorgeous morphs, it's just too . . . dark green for me.

 

Starts out as a sharp smokey tree scent that turns into a sweet floral, has a phase where it smells almost sugary, or like it has a layer of vanilla, and ends up as a really soft, dark floral.

 

So beautiful, and it didn't even morph badly on my skin, it's just too dark for me to wear.

 

edit: Half an hour later, WOW, it's just a sweet, almost fruity, quiet floral, not exactly bright, but not dark anymore, either. More like twilight. This is another one I'm going to have to try out a few more times.

Edited January 7, 2006 by karen