Harvest Moon 2006

[Teggy]

... This Harvest Moon oil is a merging of autumnal scents from all over the globe: chrysanthemum, pomegranate, cane sugar and dusty wheat, sorghum, green tea leaf, rice flower and rice milk, Russian sage, bamboo shoot, elderberry, black cherry, wild plum, red haw, hazelnut, red apple and shagbark hickory.

In the bottle, it smells appley. On me it smells like cedarwood tea (if such a thing existed), has no throw, and isn't fruity at all. I'll give it another try or two and edit this post, then it's off to swaps. I don't seem to do well with lunacies.

[valentina]

In the bottle, Harvest Moon is complex, layered and beautiful. I smell chrysanthemum, fruit, herbs and woods. I think I even catch a whiff of my beloved Russian sage. On my body, it initially amps chryasanthemum/fruit, then briefly amps bamboo and herbs, then goes very apple-berry-pomegranate. It generally stays in that strong fruity note for the duration that it's on my body. I didn't find that it lasted a tremedously long time, probably because my body found the fruits so yummy that it ate them!

[LittleGreyKitten]

Wow. This scent is just amazing. I must say the last two lunacies made me eat my words that the Asian moons weren't doing it for me- Hungry Ghost is a huge favorite, and this will definitely be to. The crisp apple scent hits you first when it's applied, yet it's not overwhelming. Then this amazing, unusual dusty sort of Autumn-in-a-bottle thing hits your nose and... wow. How'd all those ingredients equal the feel of a bright October day? Mmm. I really like the '05 Harvest Moon, but this is probably equally good. The tea and bamboo are noticeable, just a hint. I also get the sugar cane I think, not sure if I can pick out the rice milk though. The dusty wheat smell is just cool as anything, and also possible to pick out. I'm not sure about the pomegranate or chrysanthemum (ingredients number one and two) but perhaps after sniffing Chrysanthemum Moon I may have a better idea what it is I'm smelling in this blend. All in all this is a masterpiece of a blend, and I may just need some more ;-)

 

5 out of 5.

 

Edited to add: As time goes on the wheat note proves a bit fugitive- it's definitely much fainter. The sugar cane has sweetened some and I'm getting some creaminess too finally, probably the rice milk. I'm liking the aged version even more actually- although I liked the wheat note initially, it began to annoy me after I'd worn it a few times all day. I'm rather glad it's oxidizing out of the blend (rather like Lugnasadh or however you spell it). The result is perfection IMO. It's even more like Hungry Ghost Moon than ever.

Edited January 31, 2007 by LittleGreyKitten

[olympia301]

 

Harvest Moon immediately reminded me of Hungry Ghost Moon, but it's fuller and warmer, if that makes any sense. Both of these moons are pleasantly astringent, refreshing, and "grown up". They seem made for a woman who knows who she is and enjoys herself.

 

Harvest Moon is certainly not cloying. It is not redolent with warm spices and fruits like the other Harvest Moons I have smelled. I do smell a sharper fruit smell especially in the introduction, a perfumy "middle", and a lingering but never intrusive background.

 

To me the apples combine without a hitch with the rest of the parts of the blend and become greater than the sum of the parts. This is a very very well done scent. A great portrait of an August harvest, even to Western senses.

[storme]

In the imp: soft, sweet fruits with grains and a hint of sharpness.

 

On me, wet: immediately fainter, but the fruits become sharper and there's suddenly a fair amount of wood and dust.

 

On me, dry: soft, dusty apples and dry woods and sugary hints of other fruits. Mostly this gives me an impression of there having been a fruity dessert made in the room at some point in the past day. I even get the hints of pastry. Weird.

 

Verdict: I like my fruits a little sharper and a little bolder (like in Fruit Moon) and significantly less dry. This is too soft and faint for me, I think. Ah well.

[neuilly]

This is very fall! I get the apple but it a very spiced up apple, and the dusty wheat for sure. Hints of hickory. Also every now and then I get hints of bamboo and a definite tea note. It's actually a very beautiful scent but I'm not sure I could see myself wearing it that often. I love how complex it is though! (without being overwhelmingly so)

[damuddymeg]

LOL--the friend that I enabled at work got hers mailed to the office, so I got to try hers before I get home to mine (to be delivered in a few hours! Yay!).

 

Oh wow. This is definitely WAY different than what I'd expected from the notes listed. I expected sweet and milky floral. Instead, this is crisp, a bit woodsy, green and barely sweet. This absolutely SCREAMS for cool fall mornings and indian summer afternoons.

 

The cherry goes slightly cough-syrupy on me, but only briefly. Then it and the wood notes die back a bit, and I'm left with more fruit, apple and pomengranate and green tea. A bare touch of chrysanthemum. A warm touch of rice milk and sorghum under a slight bite of sage.

 

Absolutely fascinating, and sure to vie with my current autumn favorites!

[joseybird]

OOO! I smell tart apples, spices, herbs, and autumn leaves...the green tea "brightens" the scent a little, making it seem a bit more buoyant and "crisp" than last year's version (so if you weren't terribly hot on HM 05 but still like autumnal BPALs, give this one a shot!). This is wonderfully evocative, though it smells nothing to my nose like Lughnasadh or Mabon (DARN!). I like this much better than last year's version.

Edited August 18, 2006 by joseybird

[quikslvr]

Apple-y start.

 

Then all the rest comes through, all at once, becoming a bit bewildering to the nose. Rice flower, tea, sage, berries/fruits, what I assume to be the hickory, and the dust from the wheat. Allatonce. The pomegranate comes through, then the green tea and sage together. This one's a morpher, it seems like.

 

As it dries down, the scent itself becomes more dry and complex and evocative. The apples come back then, still dusty with the wheat and grainy with the sugar, softened with the rice and sage, deepened with the woods.

 

They just keep getting better and better is all I have to say in the end here.

[Beatrice33]

Ooh, I love this! I haven't smelled any of the other Harvest Moons, so I can't compare, but someone said this was like a daytime Samhain, and I totally agree. It's dry and woody, a bit fruity, with that crisp "autumnal air" thing going on. Since fall is my most favorite season, I love it!

[eggplant]

In the bottle this smells like last year's harvest moon, which is one of my favorites. On me, it quickly turns to burnt apple scented plastic! Maybe I'll give it another try, but otherwise this is definitely off to the swaps.

[wolfie13]

In the bottle: lightly fruity - apples and pomegranates - fresh, not super-sweet

 

Wearing: I get a tinge of floral - chrysanthemum - and some light crisp apple.

Then the bamboo and green tea actually really come out on me (my skin amps these notes.)

 

I can see the progression from Hungry Ghost Moon to this one. Actually, come to think of it, it seems like all the Asian moons have exhibited this type of progression - Beth seems to carry over some notes from the preceding moon and adding new ones - you can take the whole year as a total body of work. I'd love to line them all up beginning with Holiday Moon and sniff in order.

 

Its not a morpher on me - it stays mostly the same and I don't really get any of the super-fruityness or sweetness or grain notes that others seem to be getting.

Its dry, lightly woody, lightly green, lightly appley.

 

Other comparisons: It's a lot different than Harvest Moon 2005 on me. That one was spicier initially and eventually went really floral on me, which 2006 does not.

 

And I can totally see how someone would call this "daytime Samhain".

(I did actually try Samhain 2005 on for a side-by-side comparison and it seems they were closer in my memory than actually wearing. Samhain is much darker, and earthier though they share the same apple and woody aspect. And I was reminded, of course, of how much i LOVE IT. It's more me, for this type of scent, but it is QUITE strong - maybe I should keep this "daytime" version?)

[mountainwitch]

Harvest Moon is the first “lunacy” I’ve ever ordered from the lab. Was it ever worth it . . . I can’t get enough of this fragrance; it’s sweet, balanced, and complex. Some of the notes are so subtle that I didn’t notice them until I tried the blend on top of a moisturizer; that’s when the apples finally appeared, crisp and sweet. Sometimes cherry tends to dominate blends I try, as does plum, but that doesn’t happen here. The overall result is sheer gold, warm and glimmering as the sun on a bright September afternoon.

[Dymphna]

I finally got my Harvest Moon! And I am in love with this blend! Oh, happy day!

 

In the bottle: Oh, yes, this is definitely apple! Crunchy, dry, grainy apple, like a Red Delicious. There's some spice, but not so much that it overwhelms the apple. This is definitely a fresh apple scent rather than a cooked "apple pie" scent. There's also that fresh air scent that others have mentioned. The more I sniff, the more it seems that a breeze is floating out of the bottle, a breeze that originated in an apple orchard on an autumn day. (When I picked up my package at the post office today, I stood at a counter and just sniffed at this bottle for a few minutes. It's so complex and so beautifully autumn-y that I couldn't tear myself away for a while.)

 

Wet: Ooh, is there pomegranate in this? I have to check the notes. Yep, there is. Mmmm, I love pomegranate! I don't usually like fruity blends, and I was kind of worried that this would end up being All Apple, All The Time, but pomegranate is one fruit that I love to smell like, and it makes the apple seem crisper and more grown-up. Oh, I'm very happy about this.

 

Dry: Drying, I get more of the spices (is there nutmeg in this?) and then that creamy note from the rice milk, which I was really looking forward to. It's definitely not a dairy type of creaminess, which makes it seem fresh and unusual. Oh, and here comes the dry, almost woody scent of the wheat. And maybe some of the woodiness is from the red haw? Whatever, I really love it! This is fabulous. I can see myself wearing Harvest Moon all autumn long. Like many others, I wish I'd gotten more than one bottle, but I'll definitely cherish the one I have. Thank you, Beth, for putting some of the best parts of my favorite season into luscious liquid form!

[Eros]

In the bottle: Tart, crisp apples with an hint of pomegranate in the background.

 

On skin: Blossoms into one of the most perfect, most beautiful Autumn blends EVER. I definitely get Samhain '05 here but the tart/fruit/smokiness is richer and it's a touch sweeter. Wild, tart berries, sage, dry, leafy woods. Beautifully blended, no one note rises above the others. This is like a village celebration in the center of an enchanted forest.

 

I'll definitely be hunting down another bottle or two

[jidabug]

In the bottle: Apples, sharp and crisp. A hint of something sweetly spicy.

 

On, first impression: Cinnamon and apples, like a fresh-baked apple pie or a warm cup of cider.

 

On, second impression: Some smokiness comes out at the end, which ruins it for a while, but it eases off to a mellow autumnal kind of scent. It's definitely evocative of the autumnal season and I think will be a staple fragrance of mine when the leaves start to turn.

[maijasu]

I love this blend! I haven't tried the other HM's, so I can't compare it with those, but this is really autumn-in-a-bottle if anything could be.

 

Apple dominates, and I also smell the dusty grains and a slight hint of a "perfumey" floral, but not enough to turn me off, just enough to make it more complex. It's also one of the few apple scents (Pumpkin Patch #1 being the other I can recall) that don't turn icky with my skin chemistry. I know I'll be reaching for it often as the weather cools. Buying the Lunacy blends unsniffed is such a gamble, but this time was a definite win!

[sihaya09]

This is pretty perfumey on me, at first. It had more than a passing resemblance to Mabon on first sniff, but a little less green. As it settles into my skin, it gets a little more red-apple-y, but retains a kind of dustiness and dry woodiness. It's

 

It smells like Autumnal air. Pretty, but kind of light on my skin.

[jenleigh]

I haven't smelled any of the other Harvest Moons, but this one is just lovely. In the imp, I got a bit of the apple and pomegranate, with just a bit of the grain behind it.

 

On my skin, though, this turns into a warm mug of apple cider. There's something that warms this and makes it "sunny", so to speak - I'm not sure what that is.

 

I want to put on a big warm sweater and go apple picking wearing this.

[maewitch]

This is interesting.

 

The opening notes are delicate, just a wiff of crisp apple, which dissipates into the gorgeous and unique dusty grains scent. I can't really place any notes here, all I get is that feeling of dusk in a hay field, with that very dry, spark-could-start-a-fire ambiance.

 

It is such dainty scent, a mere suggestion of the season in the still air.

 

I'm going to give it some time to age, because I get the feeling this will develop very well.

[magikalcrab]

Havest Moon 06 really intrigued me. I was reading the description and pondering ... there are quite a few notes in it that I know never work with me, but the apple and rice milk really sounded interesting, so I decided to give it a shot.

 

Well. Here goes. I'm kinda bad at picking individual notes and descriptions, but I'll give it my best shot...

 

In the bottle, all I could smell was a really heavy herb-y scent, and the tiniest hint of maybe some kind of sweet fruit (the pomegranate?) underneath it.

 

Wet on skin it was exactly the same, and almost had me running to the bathroom to wash it off - herby, barky Autumn smells always sound great in theory, but they rarely turn good on my skin.

 

However, I stayed true to my conviction that it COULD turn out Ok.

 

Now it's drying down and it's too good to be true. Sweet and fruity with a hint of gorgeous cream and the tiniest throw of green tea, which keeps it from being too sweet.

 

On the whole, I'm giving this scent a strong 3.5/5.

[sapnak]

When it's wet, I smell like apples and booze. As it dries, I smell more and more like a harvest yankie candle until its overpowering. I was hoping for something more herbal.

[empi girl]

I got this recently in a swap, and thought I would love it, based on reviews. I've been looking for a great apple scent, and this sounded like it. But for me, it isn't. I do get the barest hint of apple initially, but it is under perhaps the pomegranate? What I think I detect is chrysanthemum, pomegranate, hints of apple, and lots of spice. I know it isn't listed, but there it is, blooming on my skin. Smells like clove and cinnamon, neither distinct. I also thought there might be a musk in here, but again, not listed, so perhaps it's my imagination. Anyway, I believe the chrysanthemum is what is giving the scent the perfumy quality. After 15 minutes, this scent becomes a strong, spicy, perfumy scent. In fact, it reminds me of a christmas candle. I left it on, hoping it would change, but it doesn't. I'm sad to be swapping this, and will hope for my perfect apple scent to show up for Halloween.

[dawna]

In the vial, I am getting pure apple almost.. Its like stepping into an apple orchard. So gorgeous.

 

Wet on the skin, the smokey autumny love that is present in some of Beths scents pops out. The apples blend with this into an amazing scent that I hope never goes away.. but..

 

On drydown.. the apple has left the building. I have lost all fruit and it morphed into dusty late summer florals mixed with that gorgeous smokey undertone. I really wish the apple scent would have held on my skin, I am smelling no fruit at all.. the florals are pretty though, nothing too heavy, they are quite lovely and don't give me a headache at all like soem florals do.

 

I am keeping this imp and am going to use it as a room scent because OMG in the vial it is pure apple love.

[Bagfish]

Wet, Harvest Moon '06 smells just like a freshly cut open red apple.

 

As it dries down, the fresh apple smell morphs into an oil that is a dead-ringer for Samhain '05. Very odd, I wasn't expcting this, there is a sort of pine-y resinous spicy smell. After a couple of hours smelling like Samhain it goes from resinous and fruity to dry and dusty and slightly smoky. I imagine this is the chysanthumums coming out.

 

I have never worn an oil that morphs this much, its almost confusing

 

I'm not sure if I like this, but it deserves another try-out before being swapped.