Midnight Mass

[catattack]

... This perfume is a traditional Roman Catholic sacramental incense, most often used during a Solemn Mass. Traditionally, five tears of this incense, each encased individually in wax that has been fashioned into the shape of a nail, are inserted into the paschal candle. This is, of course, represents the Five Wounds of Our Risen Savior. Symbolically, the burning of the incense signifies spiritual fervor, the fragrance itself inspires virtue, and the rising smoke carries our prayers to God.

 

Midnight Mass 08:
This smells almost exactly like Penitence to me. It has the addition of a wood scent (maybe cedar). It's okay. But I probably won't be reaching for it.

[Mountaingrrl00]

Starts out smoky and heavy on the frankicense, then dries down to this gorgeous soft woodsy scent I can't get enough of. There's cedar in there but it's not sharp, and it seems to be blended with some other wood smells. There's a lot of soft warm evergreen needle smells - balsam-like - and the loveliest sweet resins. It continues to soften up and lasts for a very long time. I wish I'd discovered this when it was still up on the site, because this is easily in my top ten BPALs in the four years I've been smelling them.

[WidgetAlley]

Midnight Mass '08

 

Bottle: Lovely, soft waft of sweet incense ash, polished wood and a tiny hint of sweetness. Very subtle, very pleasant.

 

Wet: Much the same as the bottle. It smells like the soft grey fluff left behind after burning incense more than the actual smoke. It's very warm and golden and soothing and pleasant.

 

Dry: Woodier now, predominantly sweet polished wood with just a few hints of ash, and already fading. This is pretty, but I wish it lasted longer.

[CreamyJade]

In the bottle: Soft incense and pine or cedar.

Wet on skin: Sweet incense smoke, soft woods.

Dry on skin: Less woods, more incense, more sweetness.

Final thoughts: Oh this one's a beautiful blend! It's complex and dark, soft and sweet incense smoke and dry woods. A keeper!

[Aldercy]

*WAILS and RENDS GARMENTS* Cedar. Cedar, you bastard. Get away from my frankincense and myrrh, hateful beast!

 

 

... okay, I think the sheer force of my cedar exorcism actually helped.

 

This is a big blast of cedar when wet. Which almost made me cry. But it is getting better on the drydown. Definitely more smoky, peppery resins now, and the cedar slinks into the background to morph into something more mild and evergreeny. The base of the scent is now more of a dark brown frankincense with a tiny drop of rose. The rose is somehow not floral, it's just a speck of rose-infused incense which is barely noticeable beyond the other notes of myrrh smoke, rough bark and maybe a hint of beeswax. This is definitely a very serious... very dim, flickering, smoldering kind of scent. I've been suffocated with quite a lot of Roman Catholic incense in my day and this is definitely the basic premise of it, but more suitable for human wear.

 

I think I am somewhat disappointed just because I wanted something really similar to Valentine of Rome, and this just isn't quite it. If I hadn't been expecting the greatness of VoR, I would have been much more impressed. Also, I should know better than to try this when it's fresh out of the mail. I will let it settle and cool from its journey and see if that makes any improvement.

 

Also, I love the label art.

[MamaMoth]

2008 decant

 

I would have bought a bottle of this unsniffed if it were available, that's how sure I was that this would be a home run with me. I love incense, and wax, frankincense and myrrh.

 

On me, this amps beyond all control. It feels like undiluted frankincense, pine, and cedar resin. Waaay too sharp, waay too woody. Insanely strong and not pleasant at all.

 

I tried putting the tiniest little dab on and rubbing it around to cover my whole arm. Still amping out of control, and giving me a headache. And my arm got really red and blotchy. YIKES!

 

 

[RockyChristine]

Mmmmm, positively wonderful.

 

I got this in trade as an imp. I'm completely in love with incense and similar scents, after twelve years of Catholic school.

 

In bottle: Some incense, something that reminds me of wood of some sort. A bit like a more masculine cologne.

 

Wet: Similar to bottle. I think this scent likes me. The incense is really nice.

 

Dries well and lingers. Also, when I leave this bottle open, it leaves a nice scent in my room. I may have to get a 5 ml of this.

[Siberia]

2009 Version

 

This is a beautiful, light, sacred incense. I smell frankincense and myrrh, with the lab's beautiful sandalwood underneath (at least I think I do). There is something very fresh and green smelling (maybe some sort of evergreen) when I first apply it wet. It seems very, very light to me, without much throw or staying power.

[cheeseburger79]

I'm 7 years old again at St. Anne's Cathedral in Detroit. The impatience of the actual service is soothed away a bit by the insanely gorgeous blue and gold domed ceilings, ornate mahogany carved stairways, confessionals, pews and alcoves, giant marble statues and rows upon rows of sun streamed stained glass, hundreds of beeswax candles lit in prayer burning on tables all around the church-the vast glorious example of architecture that it was(and is, though I'm far from Catholic anymore I still visit that church-it's beautiful and peaceful), makes me feel tiny, distracted from the boring droning man on the pulpit..the building itself is enough to entertain me for awhile.

And the smell of the gold swinging censers was always my favorite thing-I've been looking for something to

recapture it for AGES-Demeter,Etro,others...no.

Midnight Mass has done it. The 'Holy Grail' of Incense perfumes...pun intended.

[thekittenkat]

This is for the 2009 version.

 

As a child I would attend Roman Catholic Mass with my grandmother, even though I was brought up as an Episcopalian. During my adolescence, the new priest of our local Episcopal church decided to upscale, so to speak, the church from Low Church (very plain, like a Methodist church) to High Church (more like the RC in various practices). Of course, one of the items introduced was the use of the incense censer during Holy Communion. So I'm very familiar with the smell of church incense, and Beth has perfectly captured that scent in a bottle. An interesting scent memory of smoke, incense, and resins, and reminiscent of the woods that our very modern church (the building itself) was constructed of, once the liturgical incense had permeated the beams over the years.

[Prism]

This is for the 2009 Version:

 

in the bottle - church incense. It makes me think of old wooden church pews as well in a big old sanctuary.

wet - it's about the same. Very incense. and dusty. overall i would not call this pleasant. its kinda going powdery on me too.

dry - powder and incense.

 

Rating - 2/10

 

It's just not for me. Then again, I have no pleasant mental associations truly with what this scent reminds me of, and I'd prefer not to walk around smelling like that.

If I want a meditation/make me think about religion perfume, I'll be reaching for Samhain or white light or goblin rider (the last one is like a ritual around a fire at night in the woods. mmm. Okay i'll stop babbling now).

[Lupin1]

The 2009 Version

 

In the imp: Just general spicy

 

Wet: Overly musky and a bit unpleasant

 

Drying: Now the incensy smell is starting to come out. It's pretty strong and smoky, but just a bit sweet. It smells very... Eastern Orthodox. Close to the Catholic incense I know and adore, but a bit smokier, spicier and more exotic. And very strong. I slathered this on my neck and for over an hour I felt like I was standing right under a smoking thurible. Definitely not one for slathering. Which is good-- that means it'll last longer!

 

Dry: This is where the magic happens. It mellows out a lot, but is still prominant for five or six hours after I put it on. It sweetens up a lot on me and starts to smell exactly like the incense I remember so fondly from my Catholic days (unlike most former Catholics, those memories are all very pleasant ones for me). To tell you the truth, this strikes me more as an Eastery scent than a Christmas scent. Maybe it's just because my parish used more incense at Easter than they did at Christmas-- I don't know. I just get more of light and spring and renewal than a dark, cold winter. It's absolutely beautiful, though.

 

Definitely my favorite bpal so far. I may need a second bottle of this. Or a third.

Edited December 5, 2009 by Lupin1

[ami226]

'09 version

 

On the skin: Oooh! Incense! Mmmmm! It isn't bad! Sadly the SO doesn't like this one.

 

Seems to fade kinda quick and turns bitter. Not so nice now.

[musichappens]

2009 Version

 

This started out as a unique scent that I thought I could grow to like, but after about 30 minutes I changed my mind. It just made my nose so super itchy that I scrubbed my wrist to get the scent off.

[Altaira]

This a fairly light scent on me with the frankincense the strongest note. Interestingly, while I can see why this is called Midnight Mass, it doesn't smell like church to me. Church incense always had a dry, acrid smell as it burned (disclosure: although raised Catholic, I haven't been to mass in about a decade to my memories are a bit fuzzy). This does not smell like burning incense at all, more the box were incense i stored.

 

Overall, it's a nice scent but it doesn't really do anything for me.

[ouch!]

2005 Version.

immediatley I'm reminded of "Cathedral", but this is like an upgraded version. I'ts got the same woodsy element and some Frankincence. But Midnight Mass has got a definate vanilla note on my skin and something a bit more perfumey than Catherdral.

 

It's not an amazing scent to me, it's different for sure..because..well..people don't normally walk around smelling of churches but I really like the idea. This perfume is just too woody for me.

 

[meaganola]

This is a worn-in-Clocket review: I have a bit of the 2006 version left (and a whole lot of the 2008 incarnation), and I can barely smell anything right now, so I decided to go for one of the older Yules in my collection that has just been sort of languishing for a couple of years rather than test something new since I won't be able to tell anything apart. But I *was* able to smell this one despite my congestion, and it's all spicy sticks. Not really something I would reach for on a regular basis, but it will be nice to have the decants for future use. It's probably just my childhood, but, curiously, this reminds me more of camping in the summer in the '70s with my cousins than Christmas.

 

(If this doesn't make sense, we can blame the Ambien! Time to stop posting!)

[lainevierge]

'09 version

 

In the imp this is all incense and resins, and after the initial black gumdrop stage on my skin it fades to sweet, smoky resiny goodness and reminds me a bit of No 93 Engine. A lovely Yule scent.

[DeltaCat]

v. 09

 

I get a slight hint of cedar for some odd reason. It isn't terrible but I am wondering where that came from. As it dries down I get less of the cedar and more of a sharp sharp spice incense. Finally it has dried down and tamed down. Wow it was strong for awhile.

[wl552]

Wore MM '09 today.

 

This is pretty awesome and I'm picking up a decant circle leftover bottle. I'm not sure why this year MM works and last year didn't. *curious*

 

Anyway, it's all lovely smoke-y (but not the choke/cough kind of smoke here) church incense. Or what I would imagine church incense to be like since I've only ever been to a Catholic service all of one time back when I was 14. lol

 

It's a very somber and beautiful thing, Midnight Mass '09. ♥♥

[laslibres]

2009 version: starts out as sticky resins...maybe amber and pine. As it dries, it turns more smoky, more woodsy-incensey...I'm really not good at separating out different incense notes, and I really should be! I like a lot of incense blends but all I can describe this one as is "woodsy incensey."

 

This one is a little sharp and medicinal, almost, and a little sweet...it still smells a little _sticky_ somehow, like resins too. And a bit of frankincense? I don't know, this is a bit "hrm" on me. I think with a little aging it could be really beautiful, though...but lab-fresh, it's kinda...nondescript, and a little too chemical-ish.

[Coldfire]

 

 

 

Decant: evergreen-y resin-y goodness

Wet on me: like standing in a forest of evergreens while swinging an incense censer

Drying Down: the evergreen woodiness recedes and the incense comes out to play.

Dry: It's Christmas eve..and I'm outdoors in the snow in a clearing in a forest with all the stars shinging bright and Mother Moon shining down . THAT is the mood this evokes in me.

 

[voodoocatwoman]

09 version

 

Smoky incense- unfortunately, the smoke is strong and I smell like I've been barbecued.

[cecukemon]

'08 version

 

I'm not a religious person but I love old churches - the peace, the contemplation, the often spectacular architecture and artwork. Midnight Mass is a very evocative scent that brings all those feelings back - smelling it I am in a gothic church, an hour or two after mass - there's cold sacral incense lingering in the air, but also a hint of stone and wood. It's a distant scent and yet I find it oddly comforting.

[smgudan]

v 'o9

 

on wet, it smells incense-y and like old wooden pews, just like a Catholic Church mass, as the description says. on drydown it smells more woodsy and like resin. not a strong throw, but very pretty and smells just like the description. i will keep the imp to try it, don't know if I would get a bottle or not, because of how quickly it fades on me.