Holiday Moon

[furygrrl]

Bamboo pulp and oude with green and white tea.

In the imp: An almost watery, sweet-tart freshness.

On wet: Clean and vaguely lemongrass-y.

Drydown: Fresh, clean, and faintly citrus. There's a green edge happening, too - something almost minty or grassy. Very pretty.

Overall: Not a fan of the bamboo element (I did detect a VERY brief, polluting whiff of it during the wet stage), but this is such a fresh, clean fragrance otherwise, that I can hardly complain. I almost wish I'd sprung for a full bottle rather than a decant - this would be lovely addition to unscented bath products! 3.5/5

eta: description Edited November 28, 2007 by Shollin

[kat15lee]

Interesting... I swore when I smelled this, it was a pure single note Orange Peel.

 

I don't smell any tea or bamboo... what is oude? Is that the citrusy scent?

 

Well, on one hand, I'm glad I didn't just get a single note of Orange Peel... grrr.

But on the other hand, that is exactly what this blend smells like: in the bottle, wet, dry, and throw.

 

I don't hate it, because I love the smell of oranges, but it's going to need some spicing up. I may have to add some cinnamon, cloves or honey notes. Any suggestions?

 

3/5

[baranoouji]

In the bottle:

Repulsively bubblegummy. Only thing to do is to hold one's nose and apply.

 

Wet on skin:

Green tea at first, slightly bitter and vegetal. But instead of running away or being all flighty with mint or citrus (which gah! I really don't like because it just dominates everything else on my skin), the green tea is carried along by the grass-sap smell of the bamboo pulp. The bamboo pulp lasts longer, being reflected back and forth by the oude. The bubblegummy smell must be the oude, which turns deep and endless while it contains the green tea. Chandler Burr puts it better than me:

 

"It knocks you over, clubs you like a falling stone. Its vast dimension is what astonishes: a huge smell, spatially immense and incredibly complex, a buttery layer as deep as a quarry, entirely animalic in impact, and yet the oudh itself is not actually an animalic, spicy without being a spice. The fungi - the tiny organic bugs that have eaten, digested and defecated this sensual wood - have left behind their fragrance and oudh is the smell of this rotten, priceless wood and billions of tiny dead animals."

 

Dry down:

Bamboo and oude spiral around endlessly.

 

Delicious, wonderful, mysterious -- wonderful enough to hoard a couple of bottles. Why only a couple? Because of the green tea, it's good for productive days. Because of the oude, it's just as good for clubbing at night. This flexibility is good, because Holiday Moon lasts and lasts and lasts.

 

(And everyone will be wondering why you smell so darn good.)

Edited February 2, 2007 by baranoouji

[Brianne]

In the bottle:

Slushy and green

 

On me:

If you like Embalming Fluid, you will love Holiday Moon, I'm pretty certain of that. It's clean and green and very refreshing. Makes me think both of Embalming Fluid and F5. The green tea is the strongest note in this and the bamboo pulp offers a green and slightly bitter note (not bitter in a bad way though). It's got a citrusy edge to it - makes me think of lemon or orange rind - it's sharp and zesty.

 

After it's on for a while it actually sweetens up a little bit and becomes slightly more citrusy smelling but in a softer way.

 

Final note:

Very clean and refreshing - could work on both sexes and also work as a day scent or a night scent. Pretty and again, if you like Embalming Fluid, F5 or Dragon Moon you will probably enjoy this one

[stellans]

I've decided to sniff new oils prior to reading the reviews, because I want first impressions to be without prejudice as much as possible.

 

At first sniff, this oil smells very citrus; grapefruit, which surprised me in a scent named 'holiday.' However, I do like it very much, as the freshness of it clears the mind. This is a good smell for waking up after the presents have been opened, or the dinner consumed. But it's also good just to smell.

 

In the imp: fresh, green, and citrus-y. It smells like grapefruit to me, although I see others liken it to orange peel. It may very well be orange, but it smells a little too pungent for orange.

 

Wet on skin: Still citrus-y, but the greenness comes through more. Is that the bamboo or the tea? Whatever it is, it is very bracing. Not exactly a soothing scent to cause one to drift to sleep, which is what I like my Lunacy oils for, but rather a celebratory scent, one for parties and dancing in the cold moonlight (but not skyclad!).

 

Dry: The oude mellows this oil into a woody green scent with still the breath of citrus. It's more soothing now than bracing, and still delightful to smell. It doesn't have a lot of throw, but in a scent locket, it will be very nice. I will add some tomorrow morning as to the longevity of this scent. Since I use a roll-on (approx. 2 imps oil in a 1/8th bottle topped off with Neutrogena Unscented Body Oil, the scent tends to last me quite nicely through the night after the initial application.

 

Verdict: I'm glad I have 1.5 bottles, but I think I want more.

 

Edited for a "Morning After" report: the scent melted away by morning, leaving only a sweetness behind. It was very nice to wake up to, and I look forward to this Lunacy rotating back around.

Edited February 22, 2010 by stellans

[Musamea]

in the bottle: Smells kind of like the cucumber-melon shower gel I had a few years back. If I huff deeply, I can get a whiff of the woodsy, pulpy bamboo. Huh.

 

wet: Very, very fresh and wet sort of scent, still sort of melony, but in a resinous way, with a slightly sweeter tone that's probably the green tea. The bamboo's just barely peeking out.

 

drydown: This blend gets sweeter and sweeter on me, which makes sense, since I tend to amp tea notes. Still not getting much bamboo, but the oude (which my googling has revealed to me as being a "resiny/woody" scent) has faded into the background and keeps this scent grounded and mysterious and just the slightest bit spicy -- from farther away, the scent that's drifting up from my wrist and elbow is clean and sweet, but also deep, sophisticated. Mostly the teas and bamboo here. It's *almost* department store perfume, not in the cloying sense, but in how it's slightly familiar to the nose and the way it morphs on skin. But this is definitely the scent that department store perfumes wish they could be.

 

initial dry: This scent goes way sweet on me, but it was a subtle, shifting metamorphosis that I couldn't fully appreciate until I opened up the bottle and took another whiff (I think what I first mistook to be melon is actually the bamboo pulp). I do wish it didn't go all tea, all the time on me, though I must say that this tea scent blows even Embalming Fluid out of the water.

 

extreme drydown: This one's a fast fader. I'd forgotten that Beth's teas tend to explode in sweetness on me and then die a very quick death. What's left a couple hours into wear is a warm, resinous scent that sticks close to the skin. Ambers and the like cling to me FOREVER, so maybe the oude is following the same principle? It's gorgeous (warm like Beth's amber notes, but lighter and sweeter), though I'm not sure if there's any kind of throw to it. But I can definitely say that I like this scent from start to finish. I'm curious to see if aging or skin chemistry changes will affect the amount of bamboo that comes through, but overall, this is a sexy, fun scent that really does feel like a celebration on the skin. I'm absolutely pleased with it and think the 30 bucks I slapped down for it, unsniffed, are totally worth it.

[Naamah_Darling]

Green!

 

This is juicy and green and sweetly perfumey, somewhat reminiscent of Dragon Moon because of the juicy almost melon-like note of the bamboo. It's very pretty.

 

There's a fruity note to this that is probably the oude blending with the bamboo. Once it hits body heat, the tea notes are sweet and dominant. This smells a lot like the green tea shampoo I am so fond of. Overall, I'd call this clean, vegetal, and slightly soapy in character. It smells a lot like Dragon Moon, but less deep and resonant.

 

The throw is very pleasant and moderately strong. It's almost rosy in character, in fact. Like clean, white rose.

 

Lovely, lovely.

[xoe]

excellent! delicious! citrus with depth. beautiful!

[kitsunenotsuki]

Wow! This smells so nice. I love the light, slightly acidic scent.

On me it smells like pure lemongrass, with maybe a hint of white tea.

It's rather strong at first, but as it dries it fades into a light, very sweet, lemony scent.

 

All in all I really like this scent.

[DifferentDances]

I was lucky enough to snag a half-bottle, and now I'm on the hunt for more because Oh WOW. I can't identify half of what's in here because my nose isn't that well trained and it seems well blended to me, but ooooh, the sensory memories with this.

 

Wet, it smells like my mom, and a childhood spent squished in with various aunts. Dry, it smells like shopping in Kyoto, or maybe slipping through the trendy section of a major department store in Tokyo --it smells like that one glorious summer that makes me wish I could go back.

 

Oh lordy I need more of this.

 

My rating: 5/5

Edited June 9, 2007 by DifferentDances

[Mimicake]

I love this one! I hoped for a light green scent and I've found it! It smells a little like green tea and a whisper of pine. I can't decide whether I would want to save this one for Christmas or keep it as a summer scent. I want more of this one!

[CiCi]

I was lucky enough to win this in an Ebay auction from the Lab and I love it! First sniff I can smell fruit-but it is the kind of fruit that I smell at Easter in the Easter buns my Grandma used to make with the citron dried fruit. After application and the drying down time, it is very light and the tea and bamboo flavor comes out to gently blend with the citron. I love all the Moon scents and so far I think this is my favorite!

[Myotis]

Upon sniffing this, I got a sweet citrus-y lemon scent. I was a bit reluctant to apply it to my skin as most lemon scents go all "skunky" on me.

But I went ahead and dabbed some on my wrist.

Immediately it turned a bright orange/lemon scent. Not bad.

After about 5 minutes, that fades down and it's all pure green tea with a hint of bamboo!!

I'm sooooooooo glad the citrus note stepped into the background. I love the green tea scent!!

Glad I took the chance and picked this one up from ebay!!!

[waternight]

In the bottle: Cool and green and refreshing. I don’t know what bamboo pulp and oude smell like, so I can’t comment on them, but I do get the teas. There’s almost a faint minty note in the afterscent.

Wet/Drydown: Very close to the scent in the bottle. Green and refreshing, with just enough of a bite. Slightly woody. It’s a very green-plant smell, lightly sweetened by the teas. This is just gorgeous. Hmm… now I’m getting a note that’s reminding me of white musk. This scent is both calming and invigorating, if that makes sense. Light, but definitely present. I wish I had more than just ~1/2 a bottle.

Dry: Becomes a bit more “purfumey”, but it’s still gorgeous. It’s deepened a bit, taking on a slightly musky tone, and the teas have deepened as well.

[Jilara]

Wet, this is very similar to Dragon Moon, which I love, but with a lighter touch. The bamboo note is most prominent, slightly sweet and almost cucumberish.

 

Dry, the tea has come out, but the bamboo fades quickly, unlike in Dragon Moon, where the dragonsblood backs it up. After an hour or so, Holiday Moon is all tea notes, with no bamboo at all.

 

Still, for that first hour worth of scent, I'm glad I was able to score a bottle off ebay.

[Salsa Shark]

This is a sweet, airy green scent - simple, but beautiful. Its almost entirely tea and bamboo as far as I can tell, but with a soft musky quality rather than the initial tartness I could smell in the bottle and which most of the 'clean' scents have on my skin. I don't get any citrus from this at all.

 

There isn't a great deal of throw, but it clings to my skin for longer than I was expecting, just a soft feminine fragrance floating ever so faintly around me. Absolutely lovely.

[LadyCrow]

In the imp: Mostly green tea.

 

Wet: BAMBOO! and tea, and an increasingly strong citrus.

 

Drydown: A reviewer on the first page said it brought on "feelings of serenity." I have to agree, especially if you mean Serenity, the Firefly-class transport ship: Inara would absolutely wear this for moments when something lovely and spring-gardeny was called for, and Kaylee (assuming she couldn't get Strawberry Moon!) would love the bright, fresh sweetness that comes out more and more as this starts to dry.

 

Although I still don't know what the hell oude is, or how to pick it out as a note, I must say: this is the ONLY scent I've tried so far with ozone as a prominent note that didn't wind up smelling like men's deodorant on me at some point. (Compare Thunder Moon, for example.) It does smell very clean to me, but I think that's just through association -- citrus has been in soaps forever, for example.

 

Verdict: I still prefer Dragon Moon when it comes to Lunacies, but this seems like... well, Dragon Moon minus the DRAGONZ BLUD. It's strongly bamboo, but with an amazing throw that I don't usually associate with that note, or with tea. Very, very nice.

[khiseer]

Gorgeous very light green but also citrus scent. I love tea notes I can see the similarity people are saying about this and dragon moon. This stronger and more citrus and without my beloved dragons blood however. It has a lingering sweetness that just makes you keep sniffing and sniffing. I almost compare the citrus tartness to a sweeter grapefruit, it's very nice.

[emshort]

Very light and fair scent, which doesn't change very much. In the bottle, on my wrist, wet or dry, it has that light deceptive citrus quality that comes from tea blends (how come I misidentify teas as citrus?). It's a very restrained scent, and makes me think of this field trip I took in school to a Japanese garden.

 

There's also something else there, though, a deeper note (maybe the oude, since I don't know what that's supposed to smell like) which grounds the scent and makes it seem a little less shallow and superficial than similar blends.

 

I think I actually like this better than, say, Embalming Fluid, precisely for its slightly stronger sense of permanence. And because it hasn't got that slightly artificial note that E.F. has.

[Lethran]

In the bottle, sweet and clean and very green. Wet: strangely complex and compelling. It reminds me of tempest and of Kumiho a little, but it’s nore interesting. The bamboo really stands out. It is also making me think of the sea. Dry: Gentle clean vaguely floral tea scent.

[ymmat]

Oh Holiday Moon, how confusing you are. When I got my bottle, I adored the scent. It was hints of green tea with lilts of spice which was really quite pleasant. I have not, as of yet, put it on my skin, but I did wear it in my scent locket. By the end of the day, I had to take the locket off because I was being overwhelmed with the scent of pine. When I smelled the locket up close, it didn't smell at all of pine, but if you held it about 3 inches away from your nose, it bowled you over.

 

I shall try it again, but the pine thing... not so fantastic. Considering that my skin amps pine like nobody's business, I'm almost tempted to put it on my skin to see if it's really pine or if something truly funky is going on.

[fairnymph]

In the bottle: Green, zesty, resiny, fresh and aquatic. Bamboo and green tea, and maybe some white grapefruit zest. Cool and clean.

 

Wet: Very similar, with the tea and citrus notes amped, and a hint of white florals. At this point, extremely clean and unisex. A green-white scent.

 

Dry: Zesty green tea, hint of bamboo and a resiny wood note, maybe the oude? Very fresh and bright, greener than before, even. Not going soapy, amazingly.

 

Summary: Fades rapidly, even though initially it has really amazing throw. The citrus zest fades the most, but so does a fair deal of the green tea. This exposes the lighter white tea note and watery bamboo, as well as the pale oakmoss-like resin, which gives the scent some woody, slightly sexy depth. Still, it's very fresh and cool and unisex.

 

Reminds me of Ebisu. It has that same, unripe-zestiness and greenness. A bit too much so for me - and I like Ebisu more and have plenty of that.

[zankoku_zen]

This one is a light, refreshing scent. I definitely get green tea from it. Unfortunately, as it dries, it veers from the green tea/light aquatic straight to generic dryer sheets.

 

I should have punched the tires out at the green tea line, but that didn't happen.

[tehriaz]

it's SO good for ten minutes and then it turns to nauseating bitter oakmossy crap, which is the ONLY smell my skin holds onto for more than fifteen minutes, EVER.

 

how the hell can you people wear these good notes for so long?

[metaldog32]

I almost have to get lunacy because I’m a Moon child so this is why this has been waiting,..patiently I should say…to be tried out.

 

It’s been an awfully long time I’ve done a review again..this happens from time to time..I take sabbaticals on writing anything…and then I wait until I can’t take it anymore..I need to express the thought..hehehehehehehe…

 

Anyway..onto the review.

 

I’ve been wearing this for a couple of days already..and as Cranberry stated in a previous review I kind of liken Holiday Moon to Dragon Moon-2006 version but I wanted to be sure so I did the old comparison on wrist test.

 

Initial sniff from bottle: Pulpy tartness…freshness…a bit bracing..absolutely getting the green and white tea. Really crisp. Very much like DM except the latter has the floral note blended in that comes from the dragons blood.

 

Applied wet on skin: The smell almost exactly alike; HM and DM again except the latter has that floral overtone which probably comes from the cherry blossom or dragons blood resin. The former just smells crisp and refreshing.

 

Couple of minutes on skin: Both give off the bright tea blast with bamboo…really very refreshing but light in feel…it seems like it would be great in the warmer months..like right now actually in the humid Garden State. Although Holiday Moon was released in December of 2005 I really think it does shine in the warmer months.

 

10 minutes later: Well…it’s a fading fast on me…still the bright crispness of the bamboo and tea…again..it’s almost a dead ringer for Dragon Moon except the latter has that layer of floral that seems to make it last a bit longer and stronger on my skin.

 

Hour later-Faintly there..just the slightest wisp of the green pulpy bamboo with a whisper of the tea..

 

Drydown: Practically non exisistent..unfortunately..it’s just me. DM by comparison does have the faintest waft of floral.

 

Lasting power on both of them is a bit short lived; 3+ hours with soft throw; strongest was in the wet phase.

 

Bottom Line: Holiday Moon is a great choice for summer but it really does ring like Dragon Moon 2006 sans the floral. Nice enough..but it doesn’t wow me. I might consider trying to layer in order to make it a bit more prominent.