Danse Macabre

[lady_pandora]

An allegorical expression of the ineffable, indisputable triumph of death, generally expressed in medieval artwork as a violin or flute-wielding skeleton leading a procession of dancers to their graves. Black cypress with oakmoss, frankincense, oude, and a sliver of toasted hazelnut.

Got this as a frimp from the Lab!

This starts out very woody, though when I put my nose right up to my wrist during the initial stage, there was something that reminded me, inexplicably, of dill pickles. My friend, sitting on the other side of the room, said it didn't smell at all like pickles to her, so I decided to stick it out and see what happened.

Fortunately, the pickle note only lasted about a half hour. The eventual dominant note--maybe I'm just thinking of this because I know it's got cypress in it, but it reminds me of this park in South Carolina that is intentionally "swampy" and has many cypresses growing there. If the scent were a color, it would be a very dark green, almost black. The overall effect is sort of dark and mysterious, and I like it. It reminds me of overgrown places in the South in summer. It's pretty gender neutral, too. I'm not sure this is something I'm going to feel like wearing on a frequent basis, but I do like it, and in some moods I imagine it'll suit me well. I'm hanging on to the imp. Edited December 16, 2008 by Shollin
fixed BPAL tags --Shollin

[NotTheRedBaron]

This is at once alluring and terrifying. First, my nose is hit with the burning sharpness of dark woods and resins. It is a heady cloud of smoke and woods and incense at first. But then something else begins to creep forth from this cloud. It is completely unsettling. There is something at the core of this fragrance which reminds me of dust, dirt, and something rotting. I absolutely love this fragrance! However it is one That I want to wear when alone, wrapped up in a blanket in winter.

[Juushika]

In the vial: Astringent warm resinan odd combination, no doubt, of cypress and frankincense.

 

On me: After an initial overwhelming hit of cypress, it calms down to a mere accompanying note. At its heart the scent is warm, smooth, and solid, frankincense perhaps touched by hazelnut. There's a bit of herbal dryness from the oakmoss, slightly powdery and masculine, and a bit of airy astringency from the cypress. The scent is very faint, throw is very low, wear length is low as well. Scent-color is smooth light neutralsgreen, touched by brown.

 

Verdict: The initial strength of the cypress is outright intimidating, but the drydown is surprisingly pleasant. The resin, moss, and cypress is an odd combination, earth-warm but air-cool. It's a very quiet scent, subdued, just a hint of something surprisingly pleasant. But I'm not a fan of pine, and so I can't get past the astringency; the scent is also a bit too light and short-lived for my preferences. This was an interesting blend to try, but I'll pass it along.

 

 

 

[TheOneTheyCallLuna]

I gave this one to my guy. It smells incredible on him. It smells pretty good on me, too, but definitely better on him. On me, the frankincense comes out more than on him, but on me there's also a weird astringent note that doesn't appear on his skin at all. ON him this smells really complex, full of herbs, somehow warm, and very gloomy...in the best way! I hope he wears this one a lot because I love to smell it on his skin!

[sassenacch]

in the bottle, this smells very sharp!

 

on me, however, i immediately smell the frankincense....which is good, because i like frankincense = P i also am getting something i think is the oakmoss, & it reminds me of fall days when the air has that smoky smell, very clear & sharp. after a while, i started getting something that almost smells...orangeish? definitely citrusy, which is weird because there isn't any in it!

 

so, not the best, but after reading a couple reviews, i'm going to see if bf will try it on, to see what it smells like on him.

 

ETA: i smeared this on bf's chest this morning (i asked him if he'd wear it & he dutifully lifted his shirt up - i looked at him & he said "this is where scent goes on guys!") & i sniffed him before he went to class - overwhelmingly cypress & oakmoss! very earthy on him. on me, however, it faded away within an hour - it still smelled faintly but there was no throw at all...i'm bummed!

Edited February 26, 2009 by sassenacch

[MCS4096]

I've always loved the imagery of the danse macabre, but I have to admit to disliking this at initial quick sniff.

 

In the Imp: Mostly cypress.. but overall the effect is "dry" It's like dry grasses, dry wood, dry branches.

 

Wet: Cypress amps of course

 

Drying down: Yep, getting a lot more frankincense, still comes across as warm and DRY.. and theres a hint of the toasted hazelnut. As others have said the cypress takes a back seat, but it is still there so I doubt this would ever become something I'd wear a lot. I agree with Juushika that this is warm earth and cool air.. I get that as well. The image in my mind here is "dried grasses"

[jewelbug]

Imp: A menthol/eucalyptous scent, kinda pine-sol-y

 

Wet: Grandma's art studio? Seriously, this smells like artist supplies (paint and oil paint solvents/varnishes, etc) and sawdust left from her frame cutting.

 

Dry: This continues to smell like my grandma's art studio--paint solvents and sawdust. I love that its incredibly familiar and that it was so easily identifiable. It fades in about 3 hours.

 

Overall: This is *exactly* what her art studio smells like. Its incredibly evocative, but then, not what I want to smell like in a perfume.

 

[milo]

This is quite evocative of Christmas with the evergreen notes at first when it is wet. It gets quite "cleanser" like after a bit, kind of like pine sol, and like another poster noted, astringent. I don't think I would wear this, but I buy unscented cleaning solution and add my imps to it for scent. This would definitely be the perfect one for that.

[Tanya]

I picked this up at the Will Call, even though it was not on my "try" list. I ended up buying a 5cc bottle. It is dry, fresh and reminds me of spots along Pacific Coast Highway, north of Malibu, like Sycamore Cove. It's not the most long lived scent on me, but it would be a perfect scent for hot summer days when sweet or overly fragrant scents would be unbearable.

Edited May 12, 2009 by Tanya

[tragedy]

When I first applied this it morphed very quickly, from a manly scent to pee (yes pee!) back to a manly scent.

Luckily the morphing is a 5 minute process and the pee smell doesnt linger too long.

The lingering on the skin doesnt last too long either.

This is gone before I even get a real sense of it to even review the notes

[malaliath]

Danse Macabre - Frimp from lab!

 

In Bottle: Frankincense incense swirling under dark, wet cypress. No hazelnut sliver coming through.

 

Wet, on skin PINE. Pine Sol pine. Very antiseptic. EEEE, I am being remind of a freshly cleaned outhouse.

 

Dry, on skin: Pine Sol on warm earth. Where did the frankincense go?

 

Later: Ohhh. There’s the oakmoss – and it’s a touch – just a TOUCH – powdery. Very little throw on me, but there's a funereal gentleness about the scent now. When dry on me it's pure oakmoss and perhaps the very tracest bit of frankincense. The astringent pine is nowhere to be found. It seems to be fading very fast.

 

Verdict: I too am curious to know what this will smell like on my husband. I can see myself using this before a meditation or something solitary.

 

[tacey]

Frankincense. Not sure where all the other notes are! This is pretty much straight frank on me. Oh, well.

 

[donnatron]

Imp: Camphor. Freakin' cypress.

 

Wet: This goes on predominantly cypress with something that smells a little like dark musk.

 

Dry: Cleaning fluid. I don't have much to say about this one--you'd think by now I'd be prepared for this because I know I am not a cypress fan (okay, I wasn't prepared because in my head this was Dance of Death and I was mostly hella confused). The longer it dries down the more the cypress dies down but none of the notes are really interesting on my skin. Eventually it fades to a faint frankincense note. A touch sweet--could be the hazelnut.

 

Throw: Average.

 

Overall: I'm not a fan but I'm glad to have tried it. This is probably great on someone who can wear cypress--it might also be a nice home fragrance during the fall and winter months.

[arsenicsauce]

Wet: very evergreen, with a little bit of bitter winter berries.

Drying: jewelbug is right, this does smell like art supplies for a while. Brush cleaner and oil paints and wood. Its longest and last phase is the expected marginally pine-sol flavored cypress on me, but with frankincense- over the two hours it lasts they have a tug of war. It's almost completely gone after then, even right against my skin. This is a surprisingly tolerable evergreen scent, I usually don't go for anything pine or cypress but I could see myself wearing this sometimes in the winter. Most people seem to be calling it masculine, but I'd say you could work this as gender-neutral. The frankincense is sweetened a little by something, the hazelnut or cypress (which usually turns unfortunately sweet on me so this is a good balance) and that makes it less men's-cologne.

[crebbsgirl]

This is predominantly moss on my skin. The frankincense doesn't show up very strongly at all, which is surprising since I typically turn it to play-doh. This does smell a little "cologne-y" on me though. Kind of generic and when I sniff too much I can feel the beginnings of a headache starting. However, on someone with better chemistry than I, I can tell this would be wonderful. It smells woodsy and deep.

[jamethiel]

In the bottle—Frankincense and pine.

Wet: frankincense. Dries down to incense fairly quickly and the pine resin comes out. It's pine resin rather than leaves.

After half an hour: the resins combine and become nicely spicy. The scent fades very quickly—an hour and it's gone

 

I do like this, I just wish it lasted on me. I think I may have to wear it in my locket.

[starfish327]

in the imp: apparently the danse macabre smells like pine trees (the cypress i imagine) and tea tree oil (i need to find what note keeps registering to me as tea tree oil).

 

wet: more pine trees. not much else but pine trees.

 

dried: the other notes start to come out, but this blend fades really really fast on me. it warms up a little and it doesn't go powdery, and the pine-y scent recedes a little.

 

this one is meh. it's not bad, but it's not what i would have thought the danse macabre would smell like- and unfortunately (and unfairly) that turns me off of the scent. the pine note is a little strong for me too. i'm going to hold off on trading this imp out though and try layering it under something.

[reconditarmonia]

Oh dear. I don't know if it's the cypress, the oakmoss or the oude (I liked the frankincense in Eclipse so I don't think it's just that, but maybe the combination of it with the other notes) but something here does not like me at all. Too sharp and green-brown for me.

 

(I don't know whether it leaked or whether the smell is just that strong, but the box I keep my imps in smells of it.)

Edited February 1, 2010 by reconditarmonia

[girasol]

Frimpage!

 

In the imp: Herbacious antiseptic.

Wet: Menthol and eucalyptus (I know there ain't none in it, but that's what it smells like to me for some reason)

Dry: Oh dear. Oh, deary me. Danse Macabre, you have made me smell like a flatulent koala that fell into a vat of baby powder after smoking two cartons of menthols. You are not my friend.

[Seismogenic]

I'm performing Saint-Saens' Danse Macabre in an orchestra concert this afternoon, so what better reason to test this oil today? That piece is why I wanted to try this one to begin with, in addition to the fact that the scent notes sound interesting.

 

In the imp: Astringent and heavy on the cypress, with something dustier backing it up.

 

Wet on skin: Still lots of cypress, but not quite as sharp as before. The oakmoss is definitely more distinct now, and I think I may be getting the hazelnut more prominently out of the dustier background.

 

Drydown: Freshly dry, this is cypress, oakmoss, and hazelnut in that order. I get a little hint of other stuff further back there, but it's still indistinct. At one hour in, the cypress has calmed significantly, and blends more homogeneously with the oakmoss and hazelnut.

 

Five hours later: Oakmoss is the main note now, while the cypress is pretty much all gone, and the hazelnut with it. It's at this point that I think I get a little bit of frankincense, but it's subtle.

 

End of the day: Very faint oakmoss.

 

Overall: This is an unusual and intriguing combination of notes, and I like it! I think it works well as a scent in and of itself, but I also think it's aptly named in the context of the Saint-Saens piece (and other symphonic examples of a danse macabre, like in Mahler's Fourth Symphony). The sharpness of the cypress absolutely strikes me as a representation of the deliberately out-of-tune violin solo representing Death, and the odd combination of the other dark and dry notes seems a good way to describe stumbling bones in scent. I also love that this is a music-based scent in general, and I'd love to see more of those in the catalogue, since this one works so well. So yes, in short, glad to have this imp!

[HappyLoveJoy]

This smells damned good on me! Way better than I thought it would based on the notes. I admit that when I first put it on, it smells like pine tar and smoke. But then within just a few minutes something wonderful happens and this changes into a rich, resinous incense with the scent of sweet, sexy wood swirling throughout. It went from bitter/black/burnt --> sweet/darkest brown/toasted. I don't know how it is that I'm getting something floralesque but there it is. It's what makes this dry and pretty and not just dry and smoky. Like Forspecial, I can smell something similar to Golden Priapus; probably the pine/cypress connection. As for the hazelnut, I either can't smell it or its toasted quality is camouflaging it within the charred and smokey parts of this. I am so happy it works this way with my chemistry and now I want a bottle!

Edited February 10, 2010 by HappyLoveJoy

[Invidiana]

This is in the same vein with the Goblin Rider, except its more masculine counterpart. It's much heavier on the evergreen with all the cypress--very Christmas tree--and while I still get the dollop of delicious resins in the background, they aren't as prominent as in Goblin Rider. This one would be great for a guy, but overall it's just too masculine for me.

[SophieCedar]

Very elegant and deep scent. The toasted hazelnut can be detected in the background, which is surprising! I love oak moss so this is a perfect fit. Warm, dark, and slightly nutty. Like leather without the bite (and more natural smelling)

Edited March 13, 2010 by SophieCedar

[lunchboxmonkey]

At first this is a powdery, dirty, mossy scent on me. It quickly dries to just an indistinct powder and then fades away completely. Another skin chemistry fail for me

[Dharklady]

In bottle: This one is pretty hard for me to identify as I'm not familiar with many of the scents stated in the description. It reminds me of a fresh cut pine bough that has been smothered in moss to cut back on the scent. It makes me think of a unlit funereal pyre out in the woods.

 

Wet: Woodsy, almost like fresh pine. A very wet coniferous forest sort of smell with a sharp note that I can't quite identify.

 

Dry: The sharp note has faded and the pine receded as well. Somehow a soft sweet note has come to the foreground, maybe the frankincense? It's more incense then floral. My skin seems to be quickly devouring it but it still has a wonderful woodsy-ness to it. Depending on it's staying power, this could easily become a personal scent.

 

Notes: This was a little more woodsy and less earthy then I wanted for my original purpose. It puts me in mind of a stumbling upon a ancient tomb creeping with vines or funeral pyre in a dry dark coniferous forest. Definitely a keeper.