Hungry Ghost Moon 2006

[suki]

... Offerings of ginger candy, sugar cane, smoky vanilla and rice wine mingle with a ghost’s perfume of white sandalwood, ho wood, ti, white grapefruit, crystalline musk and aloe. This scent is tapered by the presence of seven herbs, woods and resins used in the purification of the spirit and the purging of earthly concerns from the soul.

in the bottle: i'm getting a sweet juicy pear thing, reminds me of Perilous Parlor, but the aloe in this blend makes it a little more 'fresh' smelling somehow.

wet on skin: a bit of ginger-the candied kind-and some lemony white tea. this is nice, light.

dry down: more lemon tea, a bit of ginger. very light, a little sweet. lovely.

in all: a few days ago, on the first actually hot day we had here in nyc this year, my immediate thought was "oh no! most of my BPAL oils are on the heavy side- what will i wear when it's in the 90's and totally sticky out?!" well, i do believe i have found that oil.

[alicia_stardust]

This one is very sweet on me. It's like grapefruit and candy, with a smooth and mellow layer of sandalwood, and a nice bite of candied ginger. It's just enough to give it a kick without making it too warm or spicy. This is really pretty and calming to me even though grapefruit is often a vibrant frangrance, and it's one I'm glad to have kept around.

[Lyrical]

In bottle: cold and clear - ginger and white grapefruit.

 

Wet on skin: something creamy (almost milky) is mingling with vanilla, ginger and the bitter tang of grapefruit. It is sweet, cool, pale and very pretty, but there is something a little ghostly and intangible about it too.

 

Dry on skin: it remains an exotic and intriguing combination of creamy, sweet, bitter and soft. The icy cold musk is tempered by the creaminess, and the overall effect is like a very expensive, luxurious, lightly fragranced body milk. Grapefruit is the first note to fade. It reminds me a little of Tiki Queen. Not much throw and medium wear length.

 

Overall verdict: quite different from my usual favourites, but sophisticated and lovely, and I'm sure I'll wear it a lot in hot weather.

 

Next day: I love, love, love this scent! I can't get enough of it!

[zankoku_zen]

This one is a sugary light citrus. It has a definite Asian vibe, in the same vein as Fire Pig. Whereas Fire Pig is this juicy gingery fruit love, HGM is more light, delicate and sugary.

 

I didn't think I'd like this, but I do!

[Lethran]

In bottle: Very delicate. Vanilla, wood, and grapefruit mostly. It really does evoke loss and the insubstantial. Wet; grapefruit on top with a delicate musky undertone. The other elements slowly come out with the warmth of the skin. The asceticism of the woods, resins, and aloe, is given richer undertones my the foody elements. Dry: Mostly sandlewood with a sweet sugary element to it. Not bad, but not stunning.

[GingerGunlock]

In the imp, the notes of Hungry Ghost Moon are too varied for me to be able to pick out. It's a lovely, light smell, though.

 

Wet, it's sugary and gingery and I get some of the plump greenness that I associate with aloe. However, in drydown, the rice wine (I assume it's the rice wine, anyway), turn it into a sharp, slightly sour odor. I think that, to date, this has happened with every alcohol note on my skin, so I shouldn't be surprised. But it was so sweet and light and nice until that point.

[Heeroluva]

In the bottle I get musk, sandalwood, and a bit of ginger with a bitter note. Wet the ginger disappears, to be replaced by grapefruit. When it finally dries it's a musky grapefruit. Isn't bad, but seems more like a man's scent to me.

[gchris]

In Vial: Fresh and clean with a hint of lemon

 

Wet: Mmm.sweet. Smells like lemon sugar cookies. Very sweet and syrupy.

 

Dry: A nice light lemon sugar. Not foody anymore.

[Salsa Shark]

This is almost entirely sweet, candied fruits on me. The throw smells like pretty generic exotic fruit bubble bath, and while the scent is a bit more grounded and complex closer to the skin, it's still far too sweet for me to wear, though there ginger stops the sweetness from becoming too cloying and the citrus too tart. There's also hint of woods and resins that give it a sooth airy feel, but they're just a background to the rest of it.

 

It's a very nice scent, just not for me at all.

[Emera]

White grapefruit and fresh, gentle spices and woods. Clean, sweet, astringent. On skin, it took on a touch of soft vanilla, but the citrus and dry, astringent scents are by far dominant. Light and pleasant.

[tartchef]

Nyommy Very pale & delicate grapefruit, with a lovely hard sugar & ginger background. Beautifully balanced, too - equally tart & sweet & woodsy... Hungry Ghost Moon is a translucent celadon green scent, fleeting but very calming & soothing... it'd be amazing in a salt scrub coupled with a cool shower. Perfect for when it's almost too hot to wear perfume I'll have to hunt down some more for next summer...

[inurbanus]

Given the fact that Hungry Ghost Moon is my favorite Black Phoenix Alchemy Lab scent, it feels odd to have not reviewed it before. Well, I guess there's no time like the present. Hungry Ghost Moon is a bit of an enigma. It's sweet and fruity, and at times I can catch a little bit of floral hidden in it as well. But I don't think those descriptors really describe why I love it so much. It's a shimmering scent, utterly ethereal, and without compare. The grapefruit in this is sugary and joyful - this is something I wear when I want to celebrate. I can't smell the ginger in this, or the woods, just a sugary sweet blanket of scent. The closest thing I've been able to find that is similar to this is Arcana's Haint, but Hungry Ghost Moon has so much more depth. I don't know if HGM is for everyone, but if you like sweet scents, you must try this. It's incredible.

 

5/5

[jewelbug]

Bottle: A gentle, sweet citrus. Not really tart, just a sweet creamy citrus scent. Like ginger creamsicles.

 

Wet: Sweet, light creamscicles with a bit of white musk . Also…the fruitiness here is a little fruit loopy.

 

Dry: The greenness of some woods comes out and some musk, all under a vanilla fruit loops smell. It’s a truly sweet and uplifting scent, sophisticated, yet still playful. Its very “clean” but not in the soapy sense—like purity in a bottle. Gets a little powdery, but in that orris dusty way, not like baby powder. but stays creamy citrus and pure.

 

Late Dry: ginger/fruit loop creamy candy, musk and woods. Its deeper now, more powedery/less sweet, but its still awonderful blend. Its warm sweet and innocent.

 

Overall: I was giving this a retest and proper review. I remember liking it when I first received it, but not really loving in. Thus, I was expecting to test and then swap it for something else….only…well, I’m not sure I want to swap it anymore! Its really lovely!

Edited July 2, 2009 by jewelbug

[ouch!]

This is so fun and gorgeous!!!

 

It's a massive bundle of fruity musk, kind of like Croquet and Xanthe mixed together. It's a very fun smell. I think I can get grapefruit mostly but there's a slight hint of wood behind and a whole lot of other stuff too. The ginger is there making it light on my skin. It's just very BRIGHT!!

 

I LOVE it!!!!

 

The dry stage waves goodbye to the parade of lights and fruit that passed by in the wet stage and the wood makes itself known so much more. Also the herbs..it's almost a completley different blend now. This is still gorgeous...and it's much greener.

I'm still waiting for the vanilla, it's very unusual that vanilla is hiding!

 

Nope..no vanilla, just gets much more woodsy and herby. LOVE!!!

 

I wish this wasn't so rare...I also wish my friend hadn't spilled half my precious imp over my bed! ARRRRGH!!

[galahad]

In The Bottle

Sweetish ans slightly spicy. Definitely smell crystalised ginger

 

On Application

Really quite perfumey and I still smell the giner....yay!

 

Dry Down

Really fresh and clean. Starts off powerfully but fades quickly. I love it

Rating (0-5)

4

 

[tajana]

*Squeal* I love it!

 

Fresh on the skin it's delightful, juicy tart grapefruit: like those awesome, sour grapefruit gummy candies encrusted in a bit of sugar. And ginger! There's candied ginger here to make the zingy grapefruit even more delightful. There's a fresh note that must be aloe, because it smells the way that a cut open piece of aloe looks. As it dries down, the brilliantly bright edge wears off and the smoky vanilla softens it up without overpowering anything else. All those notes, mixed in with whatever else I didn't mention, dance around atop a bundle of fresh, light woods.

 

The only bad thing about HGM is that it doesn't have a whole ton of lasting power. That, and it would be a little tricky for me to find more of it. Even though grapefruitesque citrus is the only thing they have in common, it reminds me a bit of Aizen-Myoo, so even when my decant of Hungry Ghost Moon runs out, I will somehow survive the spring and summer months.

 

ETA: Does it remind me a bit of Aizen-Myoo? Yeah, but the resemblance is passing, the dry-downs are completely different. I didn't realize how much I'd NEED HGM until the weather warmed up. I've never tried another BPAL like it. It's light and wonderful and all-around delightful, and the lasting power is actually pretty good the more I've worn it... it settles down close to my skin after a while, but I actually get hours of goodness out of it. Really lovely, I hope that that Beth serves up another scent with a ginger candy note sometime soon.

Edited June 10, 2009 by tajana

[caitilarkin]

In the bottle: Sugary citrus and white musk

 

Wet on skin: The wood notes are appearing, but they are remaining light and don't overpower the tart but fragile citrus. The ginger is a distant spiciness, which is great because, while I love ginger, it tends to turn dirty on my skin in combination with any of the lab's citrus notes.

 

Dry on skin: The citrus becomes sweeter and less tart, the musk fades and the light, blonde wood notes are more prominent.

 

The citrusy lunacies work wonderfully well on me.

[TheOneTheyCallLuna]

Wow...this is...not what I expected at all! Grapefruit and citrus with lunar herbs. Some kind of tea smell that reminds me of Lantern Ghost of Oiwa (is that generic "ghost" smell or something?) Not bad, maybe nice for late spring or hot summer nights.

[Tess]

In the bottle - Grapefruit and musk and sugar and a touch of ho wood! Oh dear gods, this is lovely.

 

Wet - GRAPEFRUIT!

 

Drying - This is like Cheshire Cat (which I ADORE) only tamer and more grounded. I'm not getting any ginger in this, but I am placing the wood notes. The sugar has really died down. It's much more of a musky wood now with a splash of vanilla and grapefruit. Well, maybe more than a splash of grapefruit, but it's not as in your face with the citrus as C. Cat is. It's bright and sweet and just WONDERFUL.

 

Dry (1 hour) - Well, it WAS wonderful. Now it's just missing. Sigh.

 

Overall - If I could keep that drying stage around for more than 15 minutes, this would be a winner. But it just disappears on me.

[mhickle]

This is very, very sweet at the imp and wet on my skin. Fruity citrus, a bit of sugar, and not much else. But wow this morphs once it dries!! It's sharp and slightly masculine, and quite faint. Mostly getting ginger and tea out of it, with a little woodiness to it.

 

I would really like it, but it's so faint I have to take really deep sniffs to get any of it at all!!

[rayvn1]

This was a sniffie frimp received in a swap with a good amount of oil to test I was a wee bit concerned because while all those notes sound lovely, especially the vanilla, musk and wood - grapefruit and rice wine tend to dominate on my skin. I end up with a sweet, fresh, light scent with strong lashes of ginger and grapefruit sugar. Sweet and light, but not my cup of tea. Many scents with rice wine or lighter musk are just too pale and polite on me.

[Ohmaude]

I love the name for this one.

 

It's absolutely wonderfully blended, not a dominant note in the bunch, though it is reminiscent of Baobahn Sith, so there is the grapfruit, ginger, and tea components...but so much more deeper and complex.

 

This is the scent for summer. Fresh, sweet and calm.

 

I really, really hope this is re-realeased someday. Every time I use it, I see the decant volume drop. If you can get your hands on some of this, it's your lucky day!

[angelicruin]

Very sweet on the skin. I'm getting sweetened grapefruit and sandalwood mixed in with a light musk.

 

Light and refreshing.

[kunoichi]

In the bottle, this is a sweet, high and lovely scent; not just a plain sweetness, but a mix of deliciousness with a tang of citrus and green things - very nice. On my skin the ginger and herbs starts to come through as the scent warms up, floating on top of a much more complex sweetness that is almost hidden behind it - it soon fades and a sugared vanilla comes to the fore of a now very lovely scent. After a few hours it becomes a nice vanilla musk with hints of its other flavours underneath. Just lovely!

 

[swtlilqtk]

Wow...this is just lovely. The first smell I get when I open the bottle is Orange Glo cleaner and it was slightly scary....upon application though, WOW! It turns into a soft, musky orange vanilla scent. Staying power is awesome and it smells strong but not overwhelming. This is gorgeous and I think I need a backup bottle of this. Great winter/fall scent.