Schwarzer Mond

[rayvn1]

The keeper of secrets: opoponax, Tunisian black amber, night musk, antique patchouli, zdravetz, terebinth, myrrh, and Pimenta racemosa.

This is heavenly! Many of my favorite notes in this one like oppoponax, amber, musk and patchouli I'm so glad this works! Resinous and spicy with a dark yellow scent color to it. Slightly sweet and pungent. Good throw and seems to be lasting a good long while. Keeps getting better the longer it sits, in fact! Such a winner

Edit to add scent description Edited January 6, 2009 by rayvn1

[tapestry]

In the imp and wet, this is a shockingly sweet scent reminiscent of almonds. There's some resiny goodness to it which ultimately makes me think of some of the Snake Pit blends -- Snake Oil with who knows what. Maybe it's the myrrh, maybe one of the many notes I'm not readily familiar with, but I actually found myself worried about how sweet it was.

 

After appliation but before drydown, some of the sweetness cut out and I picked up on notes which made me think of Shub-Niggurath's gingery zing. In fact, during the hour or so that impression was there, I told myself "you don't need to find a bottle of Schwarzer Mond; just buy a bottle of Shub already!" I wouldn't really call this Shub Lite since it's a darker scent, but that gingery hint of spice lasted awhile.

 

I'm now at the point of drydown a few hours later, and what I walk away with is a faint but dark perfume which is very reminiscent of incense. It's very lovely, and were it a stronger wear or throw I'd probably want to hold on to this. As it is, I went through all stages of perfume in about four hours, and I just can't be bothered to reapply that often. I might just look into layering Shub with another GC to achieve a similar effect. Schwarzer Mond is very lovely, but this isn't one I can justify hunting down.

[CreamyJade]

This is the 2006 version.

 

In the bottle: Resins, amber, smoky spices.

Wet on skin: Resins, incense, earthy patchouli, the blend is very complex and I can't pick out all individual notes.. There's something that makes me think of a lighter Minotaur, possibly of Scorpio 2007 in it, but without anything herbal in the mix.

Dry on skin: All resins, all incense, amber, sweetness and earthiness on me. It sticks to my skin and makes my head swoon.

Final thoughts: I've had a bottle for a while, I can't believe that I hadn't reviewed it yet! This is an amazing blend, so well-crafted. Every time I open the bottle I think that it was made just for me. It's dark, sensual, dangerous. It's amazing & sophisticated on a woman, but I'd be curious to smell the man who'd wear it. I doubt I'd ever let him go!

[TheOneTheyCallLuna]

Oooooohhh la la! I likeeeyyy this right away! In the bottle it smells a bit cola-ish, but like most BPAL, becomes instantly transformed into complex gorgeousity the second it hits my skin. This has all those heavy resins that I really love, but without the dominant masculine qualities of alot of other resin-centric blends I've tried. This is soft, voluptuous, feminine, but also strong and dark and mysterious. Keeper of secrets, indeed! More, please!!!

 

Edited May 9, 2009 by OneTheyCallLuna

[Diva Urd]

I tried the 2008 version.

 

Vial: A sweet almond note on top, grounded by woody and green notes, most notably patchouli

On: The same combo as in the vial initially, although the almond gets even stronger. Upon drydown, the almond lets up, and I am left with lots of woods.

Later: A note like clove when first sniffing, which then spreads out in my nasal passages and turns into beautifully dusty woods. I quite enjoy this and might try to get a bottle if I can afford it.

[obsidienne]

I expected to love this, but alas -- while wet, I get the medicinal cola of doom that others found. Crazy boozy spicy resinous cola! However! It happens to stop being cola after a long drydown, and it smells really good on my boyfriend. Once it dried on him, it smelled like the darkest, smoothest sexiest resin I could have imagined.

 

On me, it's intense and packed full of a variety of scents: Dense amber, dark hot patchouli, rich musk, something a teeny bit earthy and dirty, a little bit of sticky sweet, and something a little bright and sharp and metallic, like a blade caught by the light in the dark. And while I love all of that, it's not good on me. It was smooth on my boyfriend, and it's too jumbled on me for me to sink into it.

 

My boyfriend doesn't like these types of scents at all! How unfair of him to deny me the pleasure of smelling him with this on.

 

It doesn't work on me, and it works on him, but he won't wear it. Drrr! That means only one thing.

Edited October 17, 2009 by obsidienne

[arsenicsauce]

wet- Woah, much sweeter than I expected! It does smell a lot like almond- is that the bay rum?

 

As it dries, it does stay a bit sweet but creeping underneath comes a sour, dark growling myrrh. Uh oh. I think I recognize this myrrh from sloth, and it's seriously dark in a way I don't quite like, remeniscint of the smell of musty book pages. In fact it smells so like sloth that I wondered for a second if there was vetiver involved.

 

I was hoping patchouli would soften it up as time wore on, but it just intensified the musty quality of the myrrh, and I get left with a sticky amber and almond over that dark sour myrrh. I'm glad I tried this because it's an interesting contrast, and I actually kind of enjoy sniffing it, but it's not really wearable for me, and if my amping experience with these notes is a good predictor, it probably will only get stronger with age.

[MamaMoth]

(This review is for the 2008 and 2007 vintages, as I can detect very little difference between them besides the expected aging of the resins. And a huge thanks to the lovely portalkat for allowing me the opportunity to sample these. )

 

I had a pretty good idea that I was going to adore this, and I was right.

 

In the vial and wet on, it's like WHOA Dr. Pepper syrup, straight up. Very syrupy and dark, and intoxicatingly sweet. As it dries down, the syrupyness backs way off, and this gorgeous dark amber dances to the forefront. Slightly sweet and darkly resinous, without being too heavy or oppressive. Just a little powdery from the amber, but in a good way. This is just HEAVENLY.

 

If I had a complaint, it would be that the throw and wear length leave a little to be desired. I couldn't really detect it anymore after about 4 or 5 hours.

Edited December 17, 2009 by MamaMoth

[Anneliese]

I got a bottle of the 2008 version on a whim from a forum purchase (thanks, obsidienne!). When I first put this on, all I smelled was sticky soda syrup spiked with rum. It was intoxicating, but in a bad headache-y way which was only made worse by its powerful throw. Oddly enough, the drydown differed from my left and right wrists -- where my right wrist dried down to a vanilla-tinged amber within ten minutes, it took more than an hour for the cola to fade away from my left. That said, the final result was completely worth it, and I'm still huffing my wrists six hours later.

[lwhitesel]

I'm not so sure this works on me.

 

On first application, I get something that's almost like cherry, a little sour, and a little woody. On drydown, it settles into something akin to snake oil, only a little more sour. Not sour in a good way; sour like "oh no the milk's gone off" -- from my limited experience with opoponax, that might be the culprit. Darn.

 

[Ashmedai]

Wearing the 2006 version on the left hand, and the 2008 on the right. Both are complex, deep, intoxicating, dangerous, predatory and drop-dead gorgeous. The 2006 is sweeter and somehow deeper...is that how this one will age? Yowsah! It's definitely a unisex blend, but something about it reminds me of a perfume my mother used to wear, Yves St. Laurent's "Opium", only darker, richer, it's Opium's diabolical wet dream on sheets suffused with spices. Rawwr!

 

[GeorgeJr]

This is the 2008 version . Very lovely . Quite dark , both in scent & color . Spicy & sweet , but not in a bakery kind of way . I agree with others saying this is boozy . It does have a slight nuttiness floating around in the background as well . It's cool & windy here today , made me feel like Fall . Thought this would go well with the weather & it does .

So , this is quite nice , if not really going into my top 10 . Very wearable . Could be unisex but I feel it may be a little more feminine . Just the way my nose interprets the sweetness I think . I think I prefer the musk to be slightly heavier in my blends .

Later ... I tell the GF my opinion on the scents "manliness" . She basically disagrees with me , saying it smells really good on me as well . So , what do I know ? Not much , I guess

Edited May 23, 2010 by CoopieCat

[NicoleJoy]

This scent is playing games on me, and I love it!!

 

I didn't know what to expect when I tried this on. The bottle was a freebie I won (Thank you!!!), and I couldn't remember the notes for the life of me.

 

My first impressions, wet, were pure amber, tonka, and sandalwood (??) - powdery, rich, and soft.

 

Minutes later as it dried, something earthy and beautiful emerged. It was then that I remembered I chose this one for the antique patchouli - my all time favorite.

 

And now, I smell the myrrh and what seems like cloves. Definitely something spicy, overlaid with the patchouli and Amber.

 

Sexy, sweet, dark, and beautiful. Oh how I wish I had a full bottle of this, now...

[surlygurl]

So I got this bottle from the lab when it was new. It was *strong* and a bit scary, so I put it away to age. This is one of those scents that aged really well.

 

Fresh in the bottle, it's still dark & scary, like resins & turpentine. Almost unpleasant. On my skin, it morphs almost immediately into something less harsh & a bit sweet. It's still resiny, and the sharp medicinal bit smells like pine sap. As it dries, there's something powdery-sweet going on, floating in and out. There's something in the background that I like but can't place. After a time, the turpentine/ pine sap calms down even more and the "what is it?" scent reveals itself - Cola! I love cola scents!

 

Dry, the cola and the sweet powdery something band together while the scary resins & sap fade into the background. Mostly, on me, this scent is sweet & dirty cola. I love it!

[pixiedoo]

I purchased a bottle of this from eBay unsniffed, purely based on the reviews and had very high hopes for it as it contains a whole load of note I love.

 

In the bottle: Dr Pepper laced with turpentine...a wee bit scary!!

 

Wet: Dr Pepper, pine and turpentine...still scary!!

 

Dry: PINE, PINE, PINE. I hate pine!! I smell like cheap disinfectant that has been mixed with sticky golden syrup. The wonderful resins, musk, amber and patchouli never make an appearance, the sweetness disappears and I'm left with...you guessed it...pine

 

I am very sad as I was convinced this would be a favourite but this was a major fail for me. I tried wearing it again just to make sure but it wasn't to be. Back to eBay it goes

[mxtine]

I'm a sucker for naughty boy scents and this is amazing! I smell cola, but it's not the mainstream chemical Coke/Pepsi variety but a natural, spicy cola I tasted once. The musk, amber and patchouli gives the cola note a smooth creaminess. Later, it smells a little musty, but I rubbed the oil to break up the scent and it turned into a delicious spicy, incensy floral. Nice...

[Vega]

I've tried both 2006 and 2008, currently reviewing the 2008 version. I think both are quite similar.

 

Sniffed: Dark, resinous and dry, but with a glowing, high note.

 

On skin: That high note (whatever it was) disappears quickly, and dry incense and resins come forth. A full scent, but also dusty from the amber, and slightly incense-sweet. I'm not familiar with some notes, but I can smell patchouli, amber, musk and myrrh working to create this intense, dry scent. Even though Schwarzer Mond is very dark, it's also somehow warm and not heavy. This is an enveloping, puissant darkness: not malevolent or crushing, but one can't ever get "familiar" or comfortable with it either. Colour impression is pure black, perhaps slightly reflective. I can imagine Schwarzer Mond as a tall, thin, powerful sorcerer leafing through forbidden grimoires. Indeed, the Keeper of Secrets...

 

Verdict: An austere, contemplative, yet intense blend that fits its description! And, so far, the only dark-and-heavy BPAL blend that I like. I don't think I'll wear it often, but I'll keep my decants.

[dicyfer]

Unsure what version I have... probably 2008.. Nope! It's 2006.

 

Open this and I'm taken back to my incense-burning days... that lovely flavor of smoke that made me kindasorta want to try smoking (I didn't!). Everything is black and dry fragrant leaves. Very resinous and heady. I don't detect any sweetness (but I'm very bad at that) and I certainly don't get a cola/syrup scent. (Thank god!). I'm so glad I was able to track down a bottle! This is definitely one of my favorites.

Edited March 30, 2011 by dicyfer

[Gin]

I wish I had the vocabulary to describe this. It's spicy in an unusual way, it's almost piney, but not quite--must be the terebinth? It's dark and earthy. I bet it would be really sexy on a man, but its a little too much for me.

[Ella LaRose]

at first this smells like a medicinal patchouli, but once it dries it is a sweet spicy warm amber, even my husband likes it!! and he doesn't like much:)

[strahlend]

In honor of the black moon today and the new vintage of SM that was recently announced I thought I'd bust out my bottle from '08 that I've been hoarding and give it a review.

In the bottle it seems kind of sharp and pungent. Sniffing a moment longer something warm and inviting comes forward and starts mingling with the pungent element and it seems completely different than my first impression.

Wet on my skin I get that bandaids thing that other people have mentioned - but just for like, 10 seconds.

During the first few minutes this is some strong stuff. Lots of patchouli, lots of slightly medicinal resins. The scent strength is intense and I feel like I could probably be smelled a block away. I have a problem with scents fading, so I'm digging that.

After about 15 minutes or so this blend has mellowed out and turned into something FANTASTIC. It has a warm, smooth, soft wood, patchouli base. There seems to be some spice to it, reminding me of warm and fragrant clove. It sparks my imagination to think of visiting an exotic spice market with wood and spice and resins all wafting around. I would think there's some bay rum in here, but it doesn't seem to be a listed note, so maybe it's just a similar feeling.

Overall this is a gorgeous scent and it's no wonder people covet it.

 

Edit to add:

I received my 2011 version today. It seems to me like the dry down result seems the same as the previous version, which is awesome. The start is a little different though, a bit more mild and not so intense. I'm going to chalk that up to aging. I'm glad to have this bottle as a backup for when my '08 bottle runs out.

Edited July 16, 2011 by strahlend

[Viridian]

I bought the 2011 version on a whim because the older ones were so loved, and I've been on a kick to try out some of the more popular scents. This is not remotely a blend I'd pick out on my own!

 

In bottle: whoa. This is strong, sharp, almost medicinal. Spicy. Not entirely unpleasant, but seems like it might be a very masculine blend.

 

On skin: still sharp and herbal. I can smell the musk and... is that myrrh? It is myrrh! I love myrrh! I see this has both myrrh and opoponax, like my beloved Darkness. Mmmmm. There's definitely a floral of some kind in here, and I think it's the myrrh, but I see from looking that it could also be the zdravetz, which is a geranium.

 

As it dries down I'm getting a spicy musk with a hint of dark, dark floral. Not getting a lot of the patchouli or the amber, both of which can amp unpleasantly on me. I am getting a good bit of the musk, which could make or break this blend for me. There's something that reminds me of Scorpio 2007, which went to a very un-complex powdery musk on my skin. This is more what I expected Scorpio to be, honestly - it's very dark and complex.

 

It's staying really spicy, and fairly consistent even 1.5 hours later. I get more of the musk out of it at the end, but it's not going powdery at all, yay!

 

I like it better and better as it dries down, but it's so the opposite of what I usually go for. I think I might like it best on my husband, though I kind of think if you're someone who can wear, say, YSL Opium perfume or the original Dior Poison, you can wear this. It's definitely not the same kind of commercial OMG PERFUME assault on the senses as those two, but it's the same sort of dark dark DARK spicy scent.

[Bluestocking]

Before I start, I should point out that my decant has aged for several years and isn't the 2011 version of the scent.

 

In the imp: Sweet, but not overly so. Very complex but smooth and dark-feeling, which is entirely appropriate. I don't know if I'd call it masculine, necessarily, but it is very powerful, sort of virile feeling, like a dark, starless night in a forest filled with magic. I'm definitely getting some piney twang from the terebinth, with a dark swirl of opoponax, myrrh and musk, and the black amber to sweeten things up and balance the terebinth. Something a touch spicy here, too, which I like—maybe the pimenta? Not really getting patchouli at this point.

On, wet: A blast of fresh terebinth as it's applied, and then it instantly sweetens on me to a myrrh-opoponax-amber-musk blend, with a pleasantly warm, spicy edge. It's decidedly dark-feeling, but not threatening or foreboding. There's something very comforting, sort of reassuring about it to me. I don't smell the patchouli per se, but I feel like it is there, in a subtle way, just keeping things grounded and earthy and not overly sweet. It's quite unisex on me; I'm perfectly comfortable wearing it, but I can also easily imagine it smelling gorgeous (and more cologne-like) on a man.

On, dry: This one doesn’t morph much as all. The terebinth makes a revival for a little bit as it dries down, adding a nice piney quality to contrast against the sweeter resins, but it doesn't stick around for too long. For the most part, this is about the amber rising up and the spiciness becoming a bit less edgy, more rounded and mellow, though still warm and rich. It's taking on a very light, almost-floral quality over the top of things here, too, and I'm wondering if that's the zdravetz. (Not a note I have much experience with, so I can only speculate.) Still very handsome.

Later: More of the same, just smoother and better blended balanced. A bit more amber and musk than myrrh and opoponax, but those four notes are still the heart of the scent, dark and deep and beautiful. Patchouli has never made a prominent entrance; it's just there down below, very low-key, adding that depth and keeping everything in balance, like the wizard behind the curtain. Beautifully done!

Overall: I am so, so grateful to Juniperus for the generous decant of this, because it is absolutely wonderful and I'm so glad I got the chance to try it. I wasn't counting on anything going in, because I can go either way on myrrh and piney notes, but now I can easily see how Schwarzer Mond earned its reputation. It's like a velvety black night, dark but not frightening, deep and shadowy and yet somehow reassuring. It's beautifully blended and balanced, smooth and spicy-sweet with a beginning tinge of evergreen, a subtle hint of dark floral, and a warm, resinous heart. I'd think that even patchouli-haters could love this blend, because it's just SO subtle here, just hanging out in the base and keeping things grounded and barely even registering as an individual note. Totally unisex to me, too. I'd be very happy to wear this in the right mood, but I'm also going to look forward to trying it out on a male test subject—and then asking him to give me a hug.

 

This decant will be cherished.

[sfsassy]

2011 version.

 

Let me start by saying that out of the 3, this was my fave by far. It's the most complex and unusual.

Others were saying that it's herbal and I have to agree with them. It's a strong herbal scent and I LOVE herbal scents.

Outside of saying that, I am having a hard time pin pointing notes or even saying why I like it as much as I do.

Winner!

[lahdeedah]

I'm so glad they re-released this one, I just got my bottle of 2011. I"m a big fan of dark, spicy scents and this one is that in a BIG way. For me it's reminiscent of Clemence on mega steroids. Deeper, darker, etc. I really like it. I'm a great friend of myrrh, opoponax, and amber, and those lovelies combined with the terebinth and night musk give me the sort of dark forest under a black or new moon sort of feel. It does give a strong cola-like impression on first sniff and while wet, but that recedes quickly once dry. There's a powdery sweetness that I'd guess is the opoponax (sweet myrrh) and amber keeping it from being too dry of a spice and as a poster mentioned upthread, it's not scary or foreboding. It's just dark and velvety and secretive as the shadows.