The Unheavenly City

[copyshopclerk]

No scent description available.

 

This. Is. DELICIOUS.

 

In the bottle: Sweet, creamy, not quite foody but close. I think there's a little bit of rose, someone said (and I don't even like rose, to give you an idea of how nice this is). Everyone I saw sniffing this did a "Oooh, wait, lemme see that again!" double take

 

On: It's a little bit red in color - don't know what gives it that quality. But it's *so* yummy - I think there is a light rosy quality to it, with an almost spicy sweet creaminess underneath. I can't place what it is - is that a floral? Is that a foody quality? Whatever it is, it's beautiful. I wish I knew what notes were in this because I'd stalk the boards for other things that smell like this.

 

Someone who can identify notes will probably give this a more accurate description, but I luuurrrrvvve it! Beautifully done, Beth!

 

(Edited to add some of the components - I had to ask! I'm probably going to get some of this wrong, but it includes red musk, rum, gardenia, & caramel accord, and probably some other things that I forgot!)

Edited July 2, 2008 by Shollin

[edenssixthday]

The Unheavenly City - On me, this is a soft, wet gardenia. I feel like there may be some rose in it, but I don't know if it's because I was hoping for rose or if it's because it's actually there. It's very strong on me -- a little goes a very long way.

 

 

ETA: I just asked Beth about this blend, and she said, "We have no secrets here!" then confirmed for me some of the notes in it: gardenia, magnolia, jasmine, and red musk. She said it's kind of like a stronger version of Hell's Belle, and of course, she's absolutely right! However, it's still predominantly gardenia on me, although now I know it's there, I smell some of the gardenia, too. I still don't smell the red musk, which is strange, since red musk usually smells amazingly good on me.

Edited May 26, 2007 by edenssixthday

[batsy]

Oh boy, the oil is red.

 

In the bottle: gardenias'n'cream with a bit of spice.

 

On the skin: There seems to be an oriental-esque quality to all three of these, which is kinda fascinating. Most definitely a floral, with gardenia and a hint of jasmine. I think this blend is the strongest of the three; there's a LOT of rose (to my nose anyway) as it dries, which is very befitting of the City of Roses. Almost like the Rose Garden in the summer when it's dry and all the roses are in full-bloom. That's what this one evokes. If you love rose scents, you'll want this one!

 

Thank you Beth, for capturing Portland's roses in a bottle!

Edited May 26, 2007 by bat

[ariesathena]

Oh this is by far my favorite of the Convergence scents. It smells like roses to me too, but not the bpal rose scent I'm used to. It actually really does smell like the Portland rose gardens, although the memory it evokes for me is right after a big storm. There's another floral note in there, but I'm miserable at telling them apart. One of the other reviews mentioned gardenia and that sounds right, maybe? And there's definitely a spicy note which I'm thinking is dragon's blood? I'd describe the scent as a wet, yet spicy floral. There's a sophisticated yet soft feeling to it too and this is definitely a scent I'll be wearing to work.

[tempete]

The Unheavenly City is definitely my fav of the three Convergence scents that I've tried so far and has earned itself a place on my Top Ten scent list.

 

The only note that I can positively identify is red musk (which Beth kindly confirmed for me). This is probably the main reason why Unheavenly City is so stupendously awesome on me, since my skin seems to have a natural affinity for red musk. The creaminess in the blend smells like vanilla to me, but I'm not sure about that. And if there's gardenia in here, it's well blended because I am really good at amping gardenia (whether in a GC or LE scent) in a bad way.

[andhowever]

Love the label art on this one, by the way!

 

In bottle: As others have said, this one's difficult to pin down. Is it creamy? Is it floral? Is it spicy? Let's put it on and see!

 

On me: Tragedy! Something in this is going very bitter and icky on me. It's probably either the red musk or the dragon's blood. This one, sadly, is not for me.

[GypsyRoseRed]

This is such an interesting, hard to pin down scent that smells very sophisticated, and manages to be clean, creamy and spicy all at once. I can't pick out a single note, but it seems like there's some kind of musk in it. Right? Whatever it is, it's really very lovely.

[schackjj]

Well, isn't this interesting! Iwas gobsmacked when I read the list of what's in this blend because I DETEST rose, gardenia, and did someone mention jasmine? that would be my number 3. Yeesh! Yet I love this and I've been huffing the back of my hand all day

 

On me, this is softly foody (not that I'm a huge foody blend fan) and it's fabulous. I can detect the musk and cream accord. And it laaasts - I put on a dollop at 10 a.m. or so and I can still get a whiff of it 11 hours later!

[darkitysnark]

Since I have been smacked upside the head by Murphy's Law of Lunar Cycles, and How They Line Up Way Too Well with Massive BPALing, I have been smelling The Unheavenly City on a number of other people. I wanted to get this for my MIL as a replacement for her bottle of gardenia SN that was lost in her house fire and loved the idea of the other notes going into the blend.

 

This is a very red blend. The wee dab I put on my wrist from the tester looked like a dollop of lip gloss! I can see the red musk before I even smell it!

 

On me, but more importantly, on everyone else that tried it, the predominant note up front is an assertive (but not meaty and aggressive, as it can sometimes be on me) gardenia. There is jasmine and rose as well, but it's gardenia's show.

 

This all calms down a little later (probably due to the creaminess), but still remains mostly gardenia to my nose. The bit of spice is not proportional to the shade of the oil to me - it's very subtle and unobtrusive. Beautiful. Now... how to explain the nekkid lady to the MIL...

[Kittyflop]

Since I'm terrible at naming notes, I had to cheat and read through previous reviews. This is a gorgeous, strong, creamy floral. It's gardenia in all it's glory. I haven't found the rose yet, but it may just be well blended, and the musk gives it a lovely earthy feel. It's the best kind of flowery. It has tremendous staying power, too. A beautiful tribute to this city!

[Wench457]

This is stunning in the bottle. Complex and floral, sweet without being foody, with a hint of spice to make it interesting. And that's what it's like on my skin too - for about five minutes. Then it turns into pure - lotus? What's up with that? Not the bubblegummy lotus, but the powdered drink mix lotus. Stupid skin chemistry ruins another perfectly beautiful scent on me.

[LittleGreyKitten]

Oh my, my. This is incredibly gorgeous. It is somewhat like BiggerCritters in that, it is a floralbutnot. I get lots of sweet swoony goodness... vanilla? cream accord? caramel accord? To me it smells most like a wondrous vanilla or cream, mostly; the caramel is usually a heavier note to my nose. I cannot frigging BELIEVE that it has jasmine, magnolia and gardenia in it. Those are usually sheer hell on my skin (with the other exception of BiggerCritters, and Lydia a bit)... I would have guessed less aggressive, heady flowers, maybe light rose and moonflower. I may be a convert though, I love this scent. The red musk sure is in visible evidence- bright red oil!- but it is subtle on my skin. I think my skin is picking out the foody notes and they're taming the florals. The florals are indeed there a bit but they're GOOD.

 

I would say this smells mostly like sugared, vanilla-ed soft, soft flowers... truly beautiful ones. I also get a hint of "rain" or something, not ozony but almost like a hint of what some other perfume oil places call rain musk or china rain or something... maybe it's just that this blend is light and airy in feel, not heavy and deep. It does kind of fade fast, but it might deepen.

 

This is such an awesome blend. I am so, so giddy that I was able to get it. I am bummed that I ruined the label like a dork on the way back, but I'll live. Dratted leaky imp. (Thought it was Lydia at first, but no.)

 

5 out of 5, hoardable. Likely to be a coveted one (though it sounds like Crumpets might be more so.)

[chrisann]

When I asked Beth about her C13 blends, she said her inspiration for this one was to make it smell like a WHOREHOUSE It is AHMAZING on me, and I stole my GF bottle of it too (muhahaha..)

 

There is definetly a "creamy" accord in this perfume, and I smell lush juicy red berries, crushed with flower petals. More spicy, berry, musk, with the floral elements weaving throughout, but not dominating. Edible (in the I want to nibble on your neck way) enticing, with a defiant edge of naughtiness, that elevates it from being just another floral scent.

 

Truely tounge wagging goodness.

 

A+ with a bawdy wink

[filigree_shadow]

At first, this is a musky floral -- smells like a white flower with soft petals -- with a little bit of some kind of smooth creaminess underneath. As it dries the flowers aren't as strong and it's muskier. It gets sweeter, too. I love the musk in it, and I'm glad it turned into a scent that is not overtly floral!

 

This is a very pretty, deep and luxurious scent. I really like it.

[scourgeotheseas]

Unheavenly City

In the bottle: Whew! Giant, wet, night-blooming flowers!

 

On me/wet: My random guesses for notes (before reading the thread) were magnolia, jasmine, red musk, and dragon's blood. Looks like I hit some of them right! It starts out on me as an almost overwhelming floral, with big hits of magnolia and gardenia. There's also the background greenery and waxy notes I come to expect of these guys. The red musk starts out a little funky on me, but is basically drowned ot by the florals. I thought dragon's blood, because of the floral quality and its insanely red color! When wet, this one is superstrong and heady!

 

Drydown: Wow! It changes a lot! This lightens up a lot on me, becoming sort of sweet in the drydown. The florals have calmed, and I begin to smell the jasmine some more. The green, waxy notes have faded as well. A certain spiciness starts to come out...that's nice. I'm liking this a lot more than in its initial stages.

[alicia_stardust]

Portland was my home for the past seven years and I am beyond thrilled with the blends that Beth created for Convergence 13.

 

The Unheavenly City

In the bottle I smell creamy, juicy florals and a somewhat musky, dirty note underneath that gives just the right amount of discord to the florals.

 

On my skin I get more of the florals, and I peeked above to find out that it is indeed gardenia that I'm detecting. So I smell the gardenia at the forefront of the florals. There is a sultry, almost skin musk scent that comes into play. Beneath that, my guess was red musk though for some reason the red musk in this behaves very differently on my skin. Normally red musk amps and it makes red musk blends smell nearly the same no matter what else is with it. The Unheavenly City is different. It's as if all of the notes blend together and the lines between them are more blurred than usual.

 

Overall this is an earthy, flowery, creamy, musky scent. So far it's my favorite of the C13 blends!

[minnalavender]

I suck at picking out notes even when they're listed, so I'll just list impressions here.

 

Guhhhhh. Sex in a bottle. The Unheavenly City is a dusky, creamy, languid floral, with some spice and a little sting, so I'm tentatively guessing cinnamon or cassia is in there - the red color of the oil would tend to support that guess. I don't know if musk is a note, but it has the down and dirty yet somehow sweet smell that musks turn into on my skin. The throw is very close, and I applied a generous dab to my inner wrist.

 

If I could wear it, this is something I'd slather on if I were going out at night, esp. if I knew I'd be cuddling with someone. Unfortunately I think the stinging and skin irritation it produces is going to make TUC a strictly scent locket candidate for me.

 

But hey - just because my skin objects to it, my nose doesn't. It's gorgeous! I can see this scent being one of the all-around favorites of the CXIII offerings. It's a beautiful, sultry, sexy scent and I love it.

[harmonyfb]

I'm almost sorry I tried this. I could easily see buying two or three bottles.

 

In the imp, this was mild and sweet; a gorgeous red color not unlike claret.

 

On my skin, it was a delicious blend that was spicy without being overwhelming, and foody without being sick-making. It's sort of a rich, almost fruity scent, eventually drying down to add a subtle hint of vanilla.

 

I'll be over here hoarding my imp, and hoping against hope that Beth releases a similar blend in the future.

[shadesong]

In bottle: Confusing! A sweet, almost commercial-perfume scent, with a jumble of Stuff lurking in the background.

 

On me: Not commercial. A bit of musk, a *tiny* bit of floral. Smooth, musky, creamy, not too heavy.

[sarada]

I'm testing an imp of this, and of course the deep red color is influencing my perceptions a bit -- it actually looks like dragon's blood darkened by red musk to me. My first sniff of it, incredibly, reminds me of that jumble of scents that greets you when you walk into a store that sells a lot of oils and incenses -- this is the impression that red musk usually gives me, but it is not too heavy in this scent. I really don't know what gardenia smells like on its own except that I like it in certain combinations (generally with fruit or incense scents), but there's something in this that reminds me of the Hanging Gardens, which boasts "three gardenias" so I am guessing that is the culprit.

 

But really what strikes me in Unheavenly City is what I think must be dragon's blood, not only because of how brightly red it glows, but the distinctive cherry-like scent of DB, which gradually fades into something like a sweet floral. This is heightened by the incensy musk and the general sweet, heady floral scents in the background. It's actually quite a lot different than I expected, as I'd describe it as a very floral dragon's blood with a touch of red musk -- and maybe, since it reminds me a little of the late drydown of Blood, a hint of something like clove (but just a hint). It is a deep, and constantly-changing fragrance that I think will smell radically different on individuals (and it sounds like it does, from the reviews!). I think I'm happy with an imp, so I'm glad I was able to get some!

[Reedsong]

The red musk and the magnolia combine into a fresh, almost fruity quality, softened by gardenia. It's good for about five minutes, until that fruity sweetness starts to combine with a strange creamy note, and not in a good way. My hand is starting to smell like honeydew melon dipped in caramel - which smells about as odd as it would probably taste.

 

I'm wondering if there's dragon's blood in here, as The Unheavenly City has that same sickly-sweet quality that every single Ars Draconis blend has on my skin. Awwww. I had high hopes for this one, but looks like it's not going to work.

[nikkoblue]

oh my.

 

I was lucky enough to score a bottle in a swap.......

 

Bottle: pretty. I smell vanilla, and some florals, and I too get something that's slightly dragon's bloody? But it's not as POWDERY as dragon's blood, so I don't know if that's it. There's definitely strong floral going on.

 

Wet: uggh! Gardenia, which is nice, and something that smells very wet, like celery on me. Very strong scent. There's something else peeking through though that gives me the hint that this phase will pass.

 

1/2 hour: still vaguely vegetal, but beautifully gardenia........CREAMY gardenia, but not tuberosey.

 

2 hours: wow! This is beautiful, dark, musky vanilla with just a hint of gardenia.

 

I will never part with this bottle. It's FANTASTIC.

[tarotgirl99]

I was sure this would be my favorite of the Convergence scents, because I am a rose girl.

 

Fee, fi, fo, fum, I smell lotus in the underbelly of the Unheavenly City. And I hate lotus. I barely smell rose, though this is floral. I like a full-bodied floral, and this seems kinda thin to me. It does have throw and longevity going for it, but it's not for me.

 

I am so glad I am not in love with this scent.

[CiCi]

I was lucky to be able to go to Convergence and lucky to purchase The Unheavenly City. After applying it, the first scent I detected was gardenia, not overpowering, but just softly there blending with the spicy red musk. Red musk is one of my favorites so I did recognize it as well. My neighbor has a magnolia tree that if the wind blows just right, I can smell the beautiful scent of this lovely flower. There is just a touch of this magnolia flower in here but I cannot smell jasmine at all. I liked The Unheavenly City at Convergence but I tried on so many different oils that I didn't get the full effect until I tried it on by itself. A truly remarkable blend!

[slave1]

THE UNHEAVENLY CITY

 

In Bottle: Sweet foody floral

 

On Skin: Delicious! Wow!!! And a nice red color!! I get a sweet caramel and floral from this right away. Not two notes I could have ever imagined together… but wow! Creamy and sweet… like an elegant dessert. This has a very strong throw, you just need a little dab. The florals are super sweet, I smell gardenia for sure which is always a hit on me. The florals are kept in check with a soft, velvety background musk that has just the right amount of a spicy edge. I also smell an extra sweet note, perhaps vanilla, and a bit of a boozy note. Yum! That combined with gardenia and jasmine make this one of the sweetest blends I’ve smelled in a long time. That being said, I could see this one giving some people a headache if they apply too much. It is heavy, drippy, and sticky sweet. This is my favorite so far of the Convergence blends and will hang onto my bottle tightly. Very strong throw and long wearlength.