Samhainophobia

[BoneBone24]

The fear of Halloween. Menacing Haitian vetiver, patchouli, and clove with a shock of bourbon geranium, grim oakmoss, and dread-inspiring balsams pierce the innocuous scent of autumn leaves.

 

(2013)

Wet: Vetiver, that’s for sure. But softened by something smoother, the balsams perhaps.

Drydown: Earthy, smoky, and smooth. Vetiver, balsam, and a bit of the patchouli, geranium, and clove. It smells very much like walking through the woods in late fall, with most of the leaves dry and brown and fallen upon damp earth. There’s a slight sweetness in there that I can’t seem to place, almost like a drop of apple or plum. The initial blast of vetiver has completely mellowed at this point, with only a hint of smoky earth lingering on.

Dry: Sweeter and smoother while still retaining the spicy earthy goodness from earlier. It does resemble Samhain quite a lot, but this I’d say is a bit more outdoorsy and doesn’t have that mentholated quality. It truly does smell like the woods in late fall with a slight chill in the air and a hint of spiced cider cooking somewhere nearby. Basically, this stuff is crazy good.



Samhain + Black Annis = Samhainophobia

9 out of 10 bones

[Gateau]

I wasn't planning to try this at all due to dread vetiver, but I dabbed some on to test. Was surprised by how much I liked the rich leafiness of it, almost a fresh tobacco leaf scent, and how little of the bad vetiver funk I got. This is more of the green leafy kind of vetiver. I did, however, get an odd sort of chlorine note, and eventually it dried into something strongly powdery. But while it was nice it was quite nice.

[tharsei-thanate]

2013

 

Hm. I got a decant of this hoping that it would work better on me than Samhain. While there is a striking similarity to Samhain that's making me frown, overall this indeed works much better. Instead of gross powder like in Samhain, Samhainophobia has smooth balsams and a gentle kiss of vetiver and a light whirl of soft leaves. It gets more leafy and sweeter as it dries, which I quite like.

 

This is nice, and I will definitely keep my decant. Not sure about a bottle at this point, though, since that Samhain smell lingers through every stage and I'm not a huge fan of it. I'll see what more aging does.

[CiaoBonefish]

Wet on Skin: Initially this is all vetiver all the time. I find vetiver to be very deep, earthy, and even slightly smoky with a hint of nuttiness about it. I am getting a hint of woods, the balsams I think which are smoothing the edges slightly and making the vetiver a little less feral. I don't get a hint of clove at all which is great because I'm not a fan of clove at all. This vetiver is surprisingly alright so far because usually I find vetiver heavy scents too overbearing.

 

Dry on Skin: As this dries the vetiver deeps into the background and relinquishes some of its nuttiness. I'm surprised by how much the patch and the balsams and the oak moss are coming out now! It smells like a lovely combination of deep leafy woods and vetiver. It is a rich warm scent without much dryness at all. I think the most prominent note is the patchouli on me with vetiver coming in second and hints of balsam peaking through here and there.

 

Overall: Wow! I love this more than I thought. It reminds me of Samhain without the apple and with added vetiver and woods. Samhain but deeper and more eerie, more feral. I don't think I will pick up a bottle of this, but I do enjoy it quite a lot, far more than I expected. In all honesty, any kind of variation of Samhain can do no long in my opinion, but nothing will ever beat the original Samhain!

[thekittenkat]

This is for the 2013 version.

 

In the bottle: Vetiver indeed, but gentled by a good mix of all the other notes.

 

Wet: Much as on cold sniff, but the leaves and balsam are moving around the vetiver, trying to tame the beast.

 

The dry-down: The balsam and the leaves are dominant now, but they rest on a bed of all the other notes crafted together. Just a wonderful evocation of walking through a mixed forest on a calm autumn day.

Edited November 24, 2013 by thekittenkat

[milo]

Strong, aggressive, masculine blend. I'm getting the vetiver and leaves right away. Doesn't change much. Reminds me a bit of Lush's Icon perfume, but maybe my nose is off. Slightly cologne, but not in a bad way. I would like to smell this on a guy.

[Aviatrix]

This is the first vetiver blend that has worked relatively well on me! Yay for that!

 

It's strong and smoky and would probably work better on a guy than on me. I'm mostly getting the smoke note, but it's somehow softer than I would have expected. Still strong, though.

 

I'm glad I got to try it, but it's not something I would ever actually wear. I can see this appealing to a lot of people, though.

[theredkilt]

It reminds me very much of Samhain and its medicinal vibe. I think it's more of a extension of the dark vibe revolving around Samhain: patch, mullein, fir, leaves and added vetiver.

[stubbornfire]

I read through 2-3 pages of reviews on this scent before deciding to pick it up from someone second hand, and while I'm not disappointed, I'm still not sure I'll be keeping it!

 

It does have a beautiful, dark, calm sort of smell - not feminine, but not really masculine either; beautifully androgynous. Unfortunately, something in this also smells a lot like booze on me. Like a cheap wine or margarita or.. something. I love the incense-y smell I get close to my skin, but the booze smell is very prominent and it's what people near me pick up first. Okay at a party, maybe, but not fine 99% of the time.

 

Will give it some time to settle on my skin a little more but I'm afraid I will be swapping/re-selling/just plain giving away my half-bottle.

[Malaena]

This smells just like the apple pie moonshine that I make. It smells EXACTLY like it! My mind is blown.

[sunlitgarden]

Samhainophobia 2011:

 

This is really not a scent I was expecting to like at all due to some of its more prominent notes - vetiver usually smells like either wet campfire or BBQ to me, and patchouli often smells like BO. I do really like clove and oakmoss, though. I acquired my low partial (probably a decant or less in there) from a traveling circular swap box a couple years ago; I sniffed it and was like "wow, this is awesome!" The main word I would use to describe it is "smooth" -- while the more "dirty" elements can be recognized in the bottle, on my skin it's a well-blended fragrance that reminds me of the smoothness I sometimes get from cognac/tobacco scents. It's not sweet, but the clove prevents it from getting too bitter or dark. I actually found the Haitian vetiver SN to be more smoky/rich/dark and less bitter/burnt/ashy, so it seems to be doing its thing here without ruining the blend for me. Good to know -- I may need to only try blends with Haitian vetiver specifically. Samhainophobia is a little more on the masculine side, though not overwhelmingly so; it kind of reminds me of Autumn Moon of the Mirror Stand (which I didn't love; I actually think I swapped it away in that same circular box).

 

I feel like Samhainophobia has a similar "base" to Samhain with the patchouli, clove and woods/leaves (which makes sense, really, if you consider them variations on a theme). It's similar enough to Samhain that I don't really feel like I need full bottles of both, especially since I like the sweeter notes in Samhain. Samhainophobia is not really something I feel the need to put on as a perfume (except I did for this review and am liking it) but I enjoy having my little bit of oil to sniff when I feel like it. It's a good reminder that my preconceived notions about a scent might be wrong.

Edited September 24, 2015 by sunlitgarden

[Lucide]

2016 version.

This is such a great smell and I am glad that I picked one up!

It is definitely related to Samhain, but it is a creepier, darker version.

 

At first it smells a bit cologne-y to me at first, and a bit manly (not that I mind that). A bit of a sharp scent, probably the vetiver (?).

 

On the dry down the sharp edge goes away and it gets smokier and smokier.

Later on it gets a bit smoother and a tad bit sweet on my skin and it is truly a gorgeous smell. It is indeed a bit like Samhain without the apple. Very evocative of taking a hike in autumn forests all by yourself, while there is some smoke lingering in the air.

 

I am not very good in detecting all the different layers and notes in a perfume, so I can not tell you much about that, but I can say that this will get a lot of use from me!

Edited November 16, 2016 by Lucide

[Kay Torres]

This one ended up smelling very men's cologne-ish on me. I'm not sure if it's because it *actually smells* like cologne, or if it's because the smell reminds me of the man - all trees, clean man sweat, and wooodsmoke... I put a dab on a pillow because it's an amazing scent to cuddle into for sleep, but I won't wear it. I'm a little too traditionally feminine for this one, and it doesn't feel unisex at all.

[lizabelle]

2016 version

 

This is very different than I expected from the notes--I was thinking sharp, green herbal but this is sweet, gooey patchouli on me. I think this must be red patch (my favorite); it's very similar to the one in Fake News, prominent and perfumey. I could have sworn there's honey in here, because whatever's tricking me into thinking so is a complete dupe for the one in Third Charm. In fact, if Fake News and Third Charm had a baby you'd probably get this. It's dark, honeyed patchouli that almost has a molasses quality. I won't be hunting down a bottle desperately right now, but the next time it comes around I'm definitely getting it!

[Lucchesa]

I got to try this today at a meet 'n' sniff - dripped a drop on the back of my wrist from a wandcap around 5, and it's still going strong at 8:30. At first it was a big bad vetiver-patchouli combo, and very dark in tone. No sweetness at all, just harsh vetiver and patch, definitely on the masculine end of unisex.

 

I can't say I paid attention to every stage in the drydown, but it softened and sweetened until at a certain point I thought I was smelling Samhain, which has kind of capricious, unpredictable throw on me. I'm a huge fan of Samhain, so this was a welcome development. Ultimately on me Samhainophobia transformed into a just slightly darker, more sinister Samhain. I have a bottle of Samhain, so I'm not sure I need one of Samhainophobia, but I'll definitely pick up at least an imp if it comes around again next fall. It's a fantastic experience.