Xanthe, The Weeping Clown

[strippedhalo]

Guava, orange peel, white pepper, spun sugar and apple blossom.

In the bottle, this smells almost exactly like Hubba Bubba bubblegum. Not quite as sugary, but close.

Immediately after I put it on, and for an hour or so after, the white pepper really came to the foreground, giving it a sort of spicy-sweet smell with just the tiniest floral hint that might be the apple blossom. Maybe?

Six-and-a-half hours later, it's dried down to a really nice, soft, sweet scent that reminds me a lot of the way Mi-Go Brain Canister smells on me. My chemistry tends to ramp sweet notes in anything up to ridiculous levels, and this is definitely sweet, but not overpoweringly so. Also, I put a fair amount of it on, but it isn't the sort of scent that reaches out and clobbers you over the head. It's pretty subtle and skin-clingy that way. Edited September 16, 2006 by Shollin

[noumenon]

I'll be damned...Xanthe does smell like a Cherry Blow-Pop in the bottle! I owe that poor Will-Call sniffer a drink for all the endless pestering I did after she posted that.

 

But it smells nothing like that on the skin. Before it warms up, it smells like a yummy foody Yankee Candle, but once its warm, it becomes a lush, complicated, sweet scent. The guava is the high note, with apple blossom just under the surface, creating it the perception of wetness that conjures up the image of fresh-cut guava instead of flowers.

 

It's just amazing... and it has a soft, deep and warm feel to it just like Moriarty, without having any notes in common. Hmmm...I wonder what they'd be like layered together....

 

Also, it doesn't have a long lifespan on me...it faded significantly after 90 minutes., but that's a lot longer than many of the other scents I've tried. And maybe the reason it faded is because I keep dragging my nose across my arm to smell it again and again...it's so yummy!!!

[smallvoice]

I can see the comparisons to Jailbait now that I'm looking, but at first sniff, this one is heavily-- floral?? -- on me. There's absolutely no reason I should not love this one. It's sweet, fruity and spicy; a more sophisticated (and fruity) form of Jailbait, I suppose. There's even something vaguely reminescent of Arkham (FKA Arkham Revisited) about it. I'm just not sure what to make of it... and that's odd. Like I said, I should love this one. Maybe the pepper note is too strong for me? It is very distinctive. I wish it retained the juiciness of when it first goes on- that first wet stage is lush and fruity. It just seems to get more floral and more perfumey as it dries, and I'm wondering which note my skin is really picking up on. I'll have to think more about Xanthe before I decide what to do with her, I suppose! Overall it's a beautiful scent, just not what I was expecting.

[Aredhel]

Rating (on skin): 3/5

Summarised in a word or two: Candy!

 

In the bottle: Sugary guava!

 

On skin, wet: This kind of reminds me of those tiny little fruit-shaped candies one gets from coin machines inside groceries and the like. Specifically, banana meets orange. It has that that same, chalky white quality to it.

 

On skin, dry: If Xanthe were a colour, I imagine it as a light pink, with twisting veins of yellow-orange. Very fruity, warm, sweet and spicy. I can't put the thought of those teeny, bright-coloured candies out of my head when sniffing this. Oddly, this isn't the first BPAL scent to invoke the memory of those things. I don't know why, but there's almost something alcoholic to this. It's not a boozey smell per se: it just smells as though it might have some small alcoholic content to it.

 

Conclusion/Notes: Very nice, but not my usual fare. I have a decant left over from a last-minute back-out in my decant circle, and while I think I'll keep it, I doubt I'll be getting more.

 

Also, while I'm very, very un-fond of clowns (IT and Killer Klowns from Outer Space have done me irreparable harm), there's something strangely beautiful about Xanthe. If the image were ever offered in print- or poster-form, I'd have to make room somewhere on my art-filled walls for it.

[LittleGreyKitten]

This remind me strongly of the good parts of Mi Go Brain Canister. This makes sense as it shares several notes. Xanthe is sweeter, sugarier, and lacks the Jasmine Of Doom, thank god. I do quite like Xanthe. The sugar cane makes it more wearable for me I think, and the guava is the most prominent note.

 

5 out of 5.

 

EDITED TO ADD: I kinda forgot about Xanthe for a while. Today I broke her out again, applied and promptly forgot I'd done it. About 20 minutes later I was all "what's that amazing smell?" Xanthe. Surprise! The sugared guava had morphed from being nice to being OMG AMAZING. It's strongly reminiscent of Treat 1 but yet... more. It's not as simple though it has the same strengths (sparkly-pure sugar, fruit). Xanthe is so sparkly pink smelling, it's ultra-girly. I like smelling ultra-girly sometimes. The sugar cane is an awesome note, I love it. I do get bubblegum sometimes out of it, but it doesn't bother me. Mostly I smell utrasugared guava.

Edited January 31, 2007 by LittleGreyKitten

[dorei]

In the bottle: Uh, I smell Robitussin. No, seriously. Robitussin.

 

Wet: Still Robitussin. Oh no. Okay, don't panic.

 

Dry down: Inhaling with a slightly open mouth (hey I have a cold) oh... so THAT's the white pepper. Interesting. Less cough syrup smell now. Oh good. This may be a keeper after all. Now I'm getting apple blossom, with a touch of the citrus of the orange peel.

 

Overall, if I can get past the first five to ten minutes of the cough syrup thing, this is a very nice blend. I may eventually give it to someone who can appreciate it more, but I can see me wearing this on occasion.

[QueenFae]

I love love love this one!! I forgot what the ingredients were, and when I first smelled it, I was sure there was some kind of grape or currant berry in it. It's a very berrilicious scent, and the top notes are sort of like a combination of Titania and Jester. The undertone is a breezy, dark floral scent. The guava must be what is creating the berry bubblegum effect for me, but I really like it! Beth should put guava in more blends! This is definitely one of my favorite CD scents, I'll certainly enjoy my bottle!

[Blood onmy hands]

In the bottle: Gah! Balloons! This has the same rubber smell in it that I got from The Candy Butcher... only it's a lot stronger in the bottle here. It kind of makes sense here though, since I can see the relation between clowns and balloons. I keep thinking of the clown in Stephen King's IT with the whole "Want a balloon?" thing.

 

On me, that unpleasant rubber smell is nowhere to be found (yay!). And wow... I love this. The Weeping Clown is a big winner for me from the Carnaval . I don't know why anyone would cry when they smell this damned good though.

 

I definitely get the fruity citrus notes from the guava and orange peel, but the guava gives this a sweet and pleasant tropical fragrance and keeps the orange peel from becoming too sharp. The apple blossom is also quite noticeable, but it's candy-sweet, pink, and gorgeous.

 

This makes me think of fruity lollipops; and, with the spun sugar in the drydown, this is all lollipops and something like cotton candy on me.

 

I don't get any pepper here. Just fruit and candy and sweetness.

[saralaughs]

Spicy cherry lollipops. Yup. Peppery suckers. It would be nice if I could somehow equate that in my head but it just seems so weird to me.

 

A unique blend but not for me.

[maijasu]

I was pleasantly surprised by Xanthe. I was expecting bubblegummy or candylike, but what I smell is actually quite a bit more complex and mature. It is fruity, to be sure, but the apple blossoms are prominent on my skin and balance out the fruit quite nicely. And the pepper keeps the sugar from taking over and turning the whole blend syrupy. Another masterful blend, and one to add to my ever-growing wishlist!

[Shug]

i love fruity scents so Xanthe was a must-try.

 

it's very sweet at first contact with my skin and i'm getting the bubble gum scent that a lot of people have smelled. thankfully, it dries to GUAVA!!! i'm addicted to those mexican guava nectar drinks. i can smell the pepper with the guava and i love how it makes this super sweet blend interesting. when fully dried a couple hours later i get more of a sweet slightly peppery floral with just enough guava lingering to keep it different from other floral blends.

 

for the first time in a long time i'm glad that i live in arizona. i can pretty much wear this summery scent year round.

[nerdcraft]

in the bottle: - Fruity, sugary candy.

wet: - Immediately goes through a bubble-gum stage. Smells just like that powdery, rock-hard, bright pink bubble gum I hated getting at Halloween. Oh, dear. Okay. Okay. It's settling down some, and I can definitely smell the orange peel and apple blossom now. Oh wow, this is good! It's becoming a cloud of sugar and fruit and sweetness.

 

dry: - This is awesome! I can't explain exactly why I love this, but I do. It reminds me of...something. Another BPAL scent I've tried, but I can't put my finger on it. The pepper note gives this a bit of spice and deepness, so it's not too terribly fruity and sugary. I feel like this is the fruity candy counterpart to Midway - a sugary scent that smells like carnival food that's still quite wearable.

 

 

overall:

Very, very yummy. I'm glad I got this one, and I'll wear it a lot, especially when I need a cheer-me-up kind of scent.

[portalkat]

Xanthe is much more complex than I had expected. It's very fruity, but the sugar and apple blossom combine in such a way that it reminds me of incense, especially with the white pepper which gives it a sort of smoky note. The sugar in this reminds me of the sugared incense in Midnight on the Midway and also the sugary lemon blossom of Carnaval Diabolique. It is absolutely gorgeous. This is another CD blend that I absolutely love and my wallet will weep with Xanthe.

[magikalcrab]

I was really really weary about this, because of the white pepper, as I'm not much for spicy scents. I digress.

 

In the bottle and wet/dry on skin, all I get on this is sweet, fruity, amazing apple, guava and orange. It's just fantastic. Yes. I am really not good at this describing thing, and I just adore how this scent lingers.

 

As an aside, my father is glaring at me from the hallway, which tells me he can smell it from there, which is almost unheard of for me and BPAL - I can normally smell it, and those close enough to touch me, but it doesn't tend to linger over-much.

[ocicat]

Oooh, this is nice!!

 

Smells like Jailbait when first sniffed, but it settles into soft, sugared citrus which I love.

[forspecial_plate]

I put off trying this for a couple days, because of the way it smelled in the imp...very sweet, sugary berry or bubble gum. How strange, when I first put it on, it immediately changed into this deep, sultry, red fruity smell. Quite a surprise, then I thought to myself...was I really expecting bright and cheery? I mean, given the name and concept...

 

So yeah, Xanthe has a rich, still sugary but deep and sultry, fruity scent with the barest hint of something smoky or spicy in it. Oddly though, I don't think I would call it warm. The throw is light to moderate, and fades a lot...but it's still there, in a subtle way, 3 hours after I applied. It reminds me just a little bit of Lurid, although I haven't tried that for a couple months, so my comparison might not be accurate. I'm really happy with the CD scents I've tried, and this is no exception. I also don't think I need a whole bottle. It's a really evocative scent but somehow doesn't fit my personality as much as some of my favorite bpal oils. Also for some reason I feel like layering this with Blood Moon. I think the wild spiciness of that mixed with the sultry sweetness of Xanthe might be a nice combination.

[fiddlehead]

Xanthe was the one CD oil I figured I wouldn't like. I'm usually not that fond of fruit scents, but I'm trying to branch out.

 

Annnnd....It's really nice! It smells much like fresh guava juice at first. Sugary, fruity, sweet, thick. It's got a bit of a bite to it, which I guess is the pepper. The other notes blend nicely to make it more than just a guava scent.

 

I doubt I need a whole bottle, but this imp is going to get lots of love in the Summer.

[aimeceleste]

This is very sweet, with a pleasant sharp undertone, probably due to the pepper and orange peel. It's complex and very pleasant.

 

Very light overall, I don't put much oil on ever, and it's not got a lot of throw. But I think it's great, and I like how it's not just sweetness and light. It's got a nice depth to it.

[jessamynit]

This is just lovely!

I definitely got bubble gum the second I put it on and got all ready for it to go to the swap pile.

However... it mellowed pretty quickly into a lovely, floral and sweet scent. Not enough sweet to be cloying, and not enough floral to be soapy; just right! I was sniffing and sniffing my wrist all day, and I smelled damn delicious!

I have enjoyed a lot of the foody BPAL scents lately, but it's nice that this one (on me at least) has those fruity and candy elements but doesn't only give me a foody feeling. It's just gorgeous! What a nice surprise.

[Emma2403]

In the bottle: orange and sugar. Maybe some guava too. But mostly very ripe orange and I must say, I find it quite sickening.

 

On my skin: orange bubble-gum… where the hell does the bubble-gum come from? I cannot decide whether I love it or hate it… it's very unusual anyway.

The sugar amps up now; if it existed, I'd guess orange cotton candy would smell this way

 

After a couple of hours: still very sweet, too sweet for me… I think it's mostly guava. It has a very tropical atmosphere, but I prefer Shango.

 

Verdict: very interesting. I'll have to try again because I still haven't really made up my mind about this one…

[abejita]

This is a very thin, piping scent, to me. When I first opened the imp, I couldn't smell anything at all. It began as muted on my skin and stayed that way for a long time. Suddenly, some high notes start to break through the veil. It's tart and sweet, candylike and fruity. The apple blossom is also coming through loud and clear.

 

It's pleasant enough, but just note my style. It reminds me of Tweedledee, but more sweet than citrus.

[Meg]

In the bottle: sweet guava and hints of pepper.

 

Wet: Still guava, joined with the unpleasant bite of pepper. I get hints of florals and lots of sugar coming in.

 

Drydown: Very lovely guava, with very nasty pepper. They fight for dominance and I hope that the guava will win. There's a fight between a slightly aquatic fruity floral made up of the guava and the apple blossom, I think, and unpleasant pepper - and finally the guava wins, phew. The orange also comes out a bit, making the blend a sweet fruity mix... and then the pepper comes back for a fight.

 

Overall: On the one hand, there's pepper, that smells like burnt flesh on me. On the other hand, there's hypersweet fruity quasi-gunk. They don't blend well together, and actually even if there was only the fruit, I wouldn't be able to wear it because it's much too sweet. Xanthe's a bittersweet fruit, and not one that really works out on me.

[eggplant]

I just applied this one randomly and I'm really surprised how much I like it. First applied it DOES smell like blowpops, especially the bubblegum center. It quickly mellows down into a delicious fruity sugary scent. I smell the guava but there's something else that anchors it and prevents it from being over the top sweet. Maybe the pepper? Anyway, I love this one, and I'm glad the carnival is around for an entire year because this is going to be a perfect summer scent.

[silver_dollar]

It's really extremely fruity. I get mostly guava with white pepper, which always tends to go a little smoky on me for some reason. It's like what I expected Macchu Picchu to be like. It's gets sweeter and softer on drydown, and seems to last quite a while.

[Galatea]

In the Imp: Tropical fruity sweetness.

 

Wet: Wow, sooo sweet and fruity. I'd swear it was some kind of bubblegum.

 

Dry: After the sweetness of the wet phase dries out a bit the white pepper really sinks it's teeth in for a bit of bite. Plus, it's not til now that I even noticed the orange peel, it's rather acidic and bitter. This is a very odd, chaotic and just downright strange blend. It's sweet, bitter, pungent, fruity and just a bit stronger than all of this together would seem to be.

 

Throw: Very strong, throw for the first two hours is actually really high.

 

Overall: Can't say I really like this, it might just be me and my stomach at the moment (hence why I will be trying this again later), but this is turning my stomach. Too sweet, too peppery, too strong, too bitter - just really, really not for me.

 

Rating: --