Black Moon

[maijasu]

The absence of light: motia attar, black orchid, mugwort, English pear, cucumber, blue lotus, jonquil, massoia, calamus and crystal musk.

This is a soft, airy floral scent. It reminds me of Bat-woman in feel, though it doesn't smell the same. I was actually hoping for more cucumber and pear, but I can barely smell them at all. It does smell nice layered with Schwarzer Mond, but I don't think I need to keep both of the bottles that I ordered. Maybe one. It's well-done, but smells more like a traditional floral perfume than I would prefer.

[Rheliwen]

This really reminded me of Scorpio in the bottle, but not quite on. I find this to like a more tropical and floral black pearl. It has that same purple electric quality going on, but with orchids and pears and musk.

 

As it dries, it gets more crystalline from the musk. It's really lovely overall...so different than I expected based on the other reviews I read.

[Gale]

When I opened my bottle of Black Moon and sniffed, I almost melted--it is that beautiful.

 

Wet, it is a heady floral, gorgeous and deep. I can't pick out any one note.

 

Dry. it softens and a tiny, tiny bit of jasmine peeks out. In the background, I swear I smell something like coconut, even though it's not listed in the notes.

 

This is every bit as beautiful as Schwarzer Mond, but in a glowing, warm way vs spicy and dark. I have to try the two together!

[keltic]

In the bottle: wow, this is much "brighter" than what I expected from something called 'Black Moon'. It's a cacophony of strong florals, with that distinct, deep note of orchid and jasmine (motia attar) in the fore. No fruit smell at all.

 

Wet: whoa, the floral is dark and rich, bordering on decaying. It's that dark cloying type of smell I associate with lilies and one of the reasons they don't work on my skit. The lighter notes are playing in the background, and it does eventually settle into a strong floral, but the type you find in a night-blooming garden. It's odd that something so powerful (is it the throw? my association with the lily-type scent?) can still resolve as delicate.

 

Dry: that heady, cloying note does calm down, but it turns to powder. A sweeter floral is still trying to play in the background, but the scent just doesn't work with powder being the main note.

 

Verdict: not what I expected. A clever floral blend, for that brief moment between wet and dry-down and it was a night-blooming garden, it was lovely. I wish it dried to bring out the fruit on me, but alas, I never picked up on the pear. Off to the swap pile.

[birdiefu]

I was a little wary of Black Moon with the plethora of florals, but it's pretty nice!

 

Wet- Dark, sad florals that aren't too overwhelming. I get a taste of a jasmine-esque flower, but not as sharp or overpowering as jasmine usually gets.

 

Dry- The pear comes out and mingles with the flowers. The florals aren't very apparent and I wouldn't classify this as a predominantly floral blend at this point. There is some sort of supporting base below the fruit and florals which must be the musk and to my nose some smooth light resins.

 

Overall- Very nice! I am pleasantly surprised by this blend as it is definitely wearable for me even though it has a lot of florals.

[urraca]

Oh, this is such a pretty floral blend. It reminds me very much of Dreamland too, one of my favourite scents, with orchid playing here the role that tuberose does there. The crisper notes of pear and cucumber are probably what help the orchid avoid being cloyingly sweet, but mostly this scent is so smooth and well blended that no one note bullies the others for attention and all you get is a luscious bouquet of flowers.

[pkthunder]

I've decided that florals are the easiest for me to wear, and this is a very sophisticated floral. It immediately brought the image of black orchids to mind. It's a mature scent; I feel older wearing this (but not necessarily old like grandma ). I love this. As I only have a decant I'll have to save it for special occasions.

Edited October 6, 2006 by pkthunder

[sookster]

straight sniff from imp is a very heady floral

 

upon application this softens up a wee bit...but remains all floral...

i get no pear, cucumber or musk and that is sad

 

after 30 minutes the florals are still going strong...i think the lotus and orchid

are the most predominant notes that my chemistry amps to the max...

 

will let this little imp age and see if that will make it better for me *sigh*

[indicolite]

It started off as a really nice floral with the same note as in Sacred Whore of Babylon that makes me think of melons. But now it has a certain - edge to it that makes me wary (ETA: The edge is lotus, yes. Now changing my profile to affirm the sad truth: lotus makes me headachey.) This is all in a locket, by the way. On my skin it sort of vanished fairly quickly, before I got a good look at it.

 

I do not know about this one. I will give it a chance, but I will not scrimp on giving away a couple of decants if other people want them more.

Edited October 6, 2006 by indicolite

[Tess]

I am completely unsure why I bought this. It has jasmine in it, which always makes my nose freak out. Add to this that I've discovered just recently at work that I do NOT like the way pear scents smell. This could be bad...

 

In the vial - I'm getting a lot of pear and lotus, with quite a kick of the cucumber. (I should have mentioned that I ALSO don't like cucumber.) It's very aquatic.

 

Wet - Very little jasmine, mostly the other florals with a hint of the cucumber.

 

Drying - Yup, there's the jasmine drowing out everything else. Normally at this point it because a waiting game, where I sit around and wait for it to calm down and let other scents through.

 

Dry (1 hour) - This is so very faint. Mostly it's jasmine with hints of lotus and cucumber and pear. But faint. Very perfume smelling.

 

Overall - This just isn't me at all and I just can't see myself liking it. On someone with the ability to wear aquatics, this would be a lovely, cooling scent. The musk didn't even give a hint of itself. It makes me so sad.

[pekeana]

I've been hesitating about reviewing Black Moon, tell the truth.

 

On my skin, it's very much jasmine and cucumber with orchid and something a little acrid beneath. It kind of smells like the unholy bastard lovechild of Blue Moon and Danube to me. It's very strange, and slightly flat on my skin.

 

HOWEVER:

it is perfect for its intention -- this scent is not warm, nor cold, not sweet, nor savory, not floral, nor fruity. It is all that is and all that is not: the void. The space between. The silence and the darkness and the absence of all being.

 

I don't know how Beth does it.

[amberlox]

Black Moon -

 

Strange floral. Nothing spectacular. I could pick out the cucumber note before I even opened the imp, it was the first to waft to my nose as I picked up the vial. Sweet. Reminds me of Mott's Apple sauce. My skin amps all the notes a little too well. It is strong but light. Strange.

 

Verdict: Swap.

[mmcfa2]

this is just a lovely floral comforting scent. The drydown reminds me of a softer desdemona. I think this is the most delicate of all the bpal I have tried and i find it tremendously uplifting. I wish i had bought more!

[Honor]

(I'm so bad at these....)

 

 

In Vial: Juicy and "glistening"...can a perfume smell like that? Well this one does. Smells aquatic-like, with the the cucumber and pear jumping out. Actually, the cucumber and pear are pretty much all I smell, with some musky floral underneath.

 

Wet on Skin: Aquatic-Floral. The cucumber and pear are still prominent, very similar to how it smells straight in the bottle, with some of the florals and musk coming in stronger.

 

Immediately, this brings to my mind the phrase "shades of blue". Seriously, all I can think as it dries and morphs are different shades of blue. First a midnight blue, calming down into a deep navy blue, and finally bright blue.

 

Drying/Dry Down: As it dries, the cucumber and pear disappear, although overall it retains the "juiciness" those notes brought...but the musk and florals take center stage on dry down, although I can't pin point anything in particular.

Overall on dry down it becomes a musky floral, similar to "Midnight" but not as heavy. It's very comforting and pretty. I'm sorry I don't have more.

[kraken]

In the Bottle: Florals, then ... white wine and bananas?

 

Initial Wet: Sweet florals and that weird banana-ish note. I don't know most of the notes listed in this blend, but it reminds me of sweet tropical florals. Not the real heady flowers, but the subtler scented ones. Whoa, wait, stop the presses... there's pear in this? A fruit that's not going insta-sour on my skin? *happydance*

 

Initial Dry: Mmm, still the light tropical florals and now a bit of green behind it--could that be the cucumber?

 

Drier Dry: The throw remains quite powerful through the drydown. There's a few minutes of soured fruit, but then it goes away, never to be smelled again. The scent fades slightly, but then remains present for hours. It even picks up a bit of sweetness from the pear. Yummy!

 

I was expecting for this to go sour on me, but I was very pleasantly surprised. It's a nice tropical-ish floral, the type of floral blend I like. Definitely a keeper.

Edited October 12, 2006 by kraken

[euterpe414]

Like others of you out there, jasmine is my nemesis, yet somehow this blend managed to work on me! Usually jasmine takes over on my skin and turns blends overly heady, thus inducing a giant headache! Maybe it's the fact that it is motia attar? I am not educated enough on the different incarnations of jasmine to know, though.

 

Black Moon, on my skin, is a very cool, dark floral. I definitely smell (if this makes sense) the 'absence of light' part of the description. The notes are very well blended; although it is incredibly evident to my nose that there is cucumber and orchid in this blend.

 

The scent does not last very long on my skin, but that's OK, as I think this is a scent I'd want to wear pretty much only at night, and breezy, cool nights at that.

 

This is gorgeous and mysterious, and I like it a lot!

 

ps- like others have mentioned, it does go quite well with Schwarzer Mond!

[PilotKitten]

Smells surprisingly bright and fresh on me. I really love it.

[Xiabelle]

I don't usually care for jasmine...

 

This is a bright, sweet floral in the bottle, very clear and bright. It's lovely, but I'm not sure since usually I'm not a bright floral girl.

 

On, it's all sweet jasmine and pear with... I'm not sure what else. Perhaps the orchid. Or the lily? It's really lovely, and I quite like it. It's feminine, but it doesn't smell like I bathed in flowers. Just sweet and bright and clear.

 

It's starting to settle down, and the musk is coming out too... veyr beautifully blended and it's just gorgeous on my skin. I keep getting wafts up ...

[k8tey]

From the bottle and on my skin, it's pear and strong coconut. The massoia smells like super-crazy-coconut.

 

As it dries, I get mostly jasmine and massoia, with a little pear.

 

I want to love it, but there is something about this I don't like, I just can't put my finger on it. I wasn't expecting so much coconut smell, for sure. I'll try it again a few more times, and then probably keep it regardless.

 

Edit: Rereading this, I have no idea what I didn't like when I first tried it. Maybe because it wasn't what I expected? Now I love this scent and get compliments whenever I wear it. It's sophisticated and cool.

Edited December 3, 2006 by k8tey

[sofiaviolet]

Cucumber, with an undertone of rot. I swear, it smells like I rubbed cucumber melon lotion on a corpse or something. Some note in here really really hates me, and most of them are so obscure I have no hope of guessing which it is.

[for_the_nonce]

Wet: this is all cucumber and pepper, with something a tiny bit sweet- but not pear or florals, just sweetness. So far, its really *bad* on me.

 

Drying: It's growing on me. Still predominantly cucumber, but the pepper has backed off. And I think I can smell the lotus now.

 

Dry: The cucumber becomes more subtle and the florals start to come out; now its a spicy floral with just enough cucumber to make it smell *clean*

 

Overall: this is very subtle and clean in a really unique way. It doesn't have much throw and I don't think it's going to last very long on my skin, but we'll see. It's growing on me, but I'm going to have to test it out a few more times before I can decide if I really like it or not.

[wikkidraven]

this came out of the bottle and turned into a bouquet of scents on my skin...almost overpowering floral, but not in an offputting way for once. i'm the first to say i'm not a fan of flowery scents, but i'm loving black moon.

 

seems to work itself out into a blend of goodness as it dries, and even turns a bit sweeter, which i definitely like. sweet, musky and green... does that make any sense? oh well, i love it. i am really happy i managed to track down a bottle and a half of it to add to my collection.

[sophia_helix]

Um. Oh my god.

 

I just got my bottle of Black Moon yesterday. I'd been seeing all the hoopla about Schwarzer, and was kind of sad I hadn't gotten that one, especially since the floral Asian moons have been nothing but misses for me. I tried it on anyhow.

 

I can't even describe what a beautiful, rich, cool, utterly delicious floral this is on me. I don't detect even a trace of jasmine, thank god, but something so sophisticated and gorgeous I could just die. I think it might be the orchid and the jonquil, with perhaps a hint of the blue lotus, and the pear giving it that extra hit of sweetness...I just don't know. All I know is that this is the only BPAL floral I've ever tried that's been strong and long-lasting without having rose or lily in it, and that I just want to bathe in it.

 

Maybe I'll snap up people's unwanted bottles, since I know this hasn't been as popular as its scent-twin. Lucky me!

[LadyMedb]

This is a beautiful humid jasmine scent, floral enough not to be a traditional fruity floral, yet fruity enough (crisp pears and lush cucumbers) to give it a warmly tropical feel. The musk darkens it and adds sillage. The whole blend is sparkling and pure while retaining a dew-kissed sexiness. It's one of those any-season, any-occasion, maybe any person (well, if you're a woman) scents. I love it.

[Scylla]

In a word, Black Moon is perfection! Somehow I missed it when it was time to order--it just didn't sound like it would work. I was lucky to be able to try it at the recent Chicago meet and sniff and it smells AMAZING on my skin, wafts beautifully and lasts a long time! The only note that I can definitely pick out is the pear, which entwines beautifully with the florals. And I am NOT normally a floral scent person!

 

It has definitely become my all-time favorite Lunacy (and I've been here since the beginning), and, dare I say, could be vying for the spot of my favorite BPAL scent EVER!