The Unheavenly City

[curlofsmoke]

Straight on it's a lush floral with a burnt sugar edge, reminds me a little of Hell's Belle. Must be the gardenia. Then it develops and becomes pinker, fruitier and strongly reminiscent of Bordello. I think someone said there was Dragon's blood in this? So maybe the cherry of the Dragon's Blood? Strangely, DB always seems to smell different on me depending on what it's mixed with. Can't detect any jasmine or red musk (which both usually dominate a scent for me). An hour later and is still Bordello-ish with a strongly creamy edge.

Verdict: I waver between thinking this is a nice warm elegant scent and thinking it doesn't completely work on me. Well, it was good to try it but I'm glad I'm not desperate to track some more down.

[jewelbug]

This was an unexpected and spectacular gift from the ever-generous and dear-to-me Thursdae. Thank you, love!

 

Imp: My first impression of of some thick, syrupy-sweet blooms. They're slightly bubblegummy and very sweet--if I had to guess florals (which i'm awful at, for the record), I'd probably say lotus and gardenia. In the background, there is something slightly woodsy/dirty/corrupted--unheavenly, even . Oh, and maybe a hint of cherry?

 

Wet: The thick sweet florals predominate. There is almost a vanillic creaminess to them, and I still get a lotus/gardenia impression. Under the creamy florals is a layer of sharper scents--florals as well, I believe (rose? violet?). Now, those don't do too well on me, normally...but they seem to be an afterthought in this blend, and are working quite well. The whole blend is quite pretty. It reminds me of another one I've tried--Hell's Belle, perhaps? I don't have that anymore, so I can't compare...

 

Dry: The thicker, sweeter florals start to tone down--they're still predominant, but the rest of the blend is more apparent now. Something resinous with a wood note comes through, and there is even something that smells a bit of wet soil (very faint). That sharper, bitter floral is more noticable now, and the more i sniff, the more I think it is rose (but not so noticable that it scares a floral-wary person such as myself--and not soapy/powdery as rose often goes). The scent becomes darker, richer, a hint dirty/smokey/boozy/musky. Its beautifully done.

 

Overall: I like how this blend portrays its subject matter--sweet at the start to lure you in, but then you become acquainted with the unheavenly city's darker, more dangerous side (right about when you're falling through a trapdoor to the shanghai tunnels!). The overall scent experience is a very sweet floral, so creamy that it has an almost foody feel, but it gets even more comlex and interesting further in the drydown. Definitely feminine to my nose, and for some reason I could imagine myself a hellcat southern belle when I wear this...I'll definitely hold onto this--can't wait to smell it aged!

 

Perfectly blended, Beth! (as always...)

Edited June 27, 2007 by jewelbug

[ariosa]

GypsyRoseRed sent me a little sniffie/tester of this C13 scent, which I never imagined I'd ever get to try!

 

The Unheavenly City is lovely. It's everything everyone above me has said -- warm, rich, creamy, almost foody, but not quite. I almost get a lotus/dragon's blood feeling from this. It's incensy without being powdery, and sweetly floral without being zomg overpowering.

 

It's very sexy, and I'll be saving it for special occasions, to make my wee bit last and last!

[jenrandom]

Thanks to GypsyRoseRed and her C13 sniffie circle!

 

The Unheavenly City starts out creamy and fruity on me, and slowly settles into a sharper berry(?) and musk with cream keeping things under control. It's lovely! But it's kind of heavy on my skin. I'm really glad to have gotten to try it!

[Hayet]

This one barely shows up on my skin. It's definitely all dragon's blood on me, with a kind of heavy, complex floral lingering juuuuust on the edge of my senses. And a wee hint of musk. I wish I got the creaminess that other folks are finding, but it's just too faint on me to tell. Nice, but I prefer a louder scent!

[supremegoddessofall]

Fruity. Maybe some peach in here? Kind of bubble-gum little-girly.

[sookster]

sniff only...

sweet creamy smooth gardenia...i wish i could have tried it on but

a sniff will suffice

quite lovely and i am sure very complex...thanks to you lovely forumite for this

opportunity!

[kwsix]

In the imp it smells like a rich, boozy floral. On my skin, it blooms into a creamy white floral that I would guess is lotus or gardenia, or a combination of the two. It's the type of floral that makes me think of bananas. There is a hint of berry way in the background, but it's overpowered by the waxy florals. It's a lovely blend, but really not my style. I'm very glad that I had the chance to try it, though.

[moon_lemming]

Hmmm. The Unheavenly City is one of those blends that's hard for me to review since there are no notes listed. It's a warm almost-incensey almost-foody blend that's a little spicy. It's not all up in your face about it, though.

 

Judging by the red color of the oil, I'd hazard a guess that there's dragon's blood in that thar imp, but that's about as far as I can go when it comes to guessing individual notes.

 

It's sort of quietly sexy; it's a very nice blend -- I think it's my favorite of the C13 blends -- but it doesn't smell WOWZA enough on my skin for me to hunt down more.

[goddessrobyn]

Damn GypsyRoseRed and her generous sniffing circle!!!! If not for her I never would have tried this and this would have never fallen in love.

 

I know from earlier posts that this has gardenia in it... but to me (possibly because I've never smelled (or even seen) a gardenia), I get a wonderful rose scent... the fresh rose of Rose Red not a rose scent as most perfumes have (I loathe rose scent becuase I don't think it smells anything like rose flowers)

 

There's also a lot of spice in this... I smell dragon's blood and possibly just a touch of musk. It reminds me of a creamy floral version of Wildfire.

 

I think I'm going to have to sell my soul for a bottle

Edited July 26, 2007 by goddessrobyn

[Laurel the Woodfairy]

(Tested at the home of lovely Portlander Darkitysnark)

 

Oh, this is pretty. Reminds me of a more subtle, complex Lady of Shallott--gardenia and other sweet white florals with an aquatic undertone. Very pretty, rather light. More heavenly than un-, I think!

[parasolfringe]

On me this smells like the most sexy, spicy, musky apple cider ever created. Very spicy and very RED. Strong throw, a beautiful, creamy scent. It's amazing and everyone should try it!

[crazyredhead17]

I'm on the tail end of a cold that stole my sense of smell for a few days, so my note sniffing is off.

 

In the imp, it's very creamy but bright and non-foody sweet.

 

Wet, it's OMG!Flowers with a small side of cream.

 

As it's drying, the flowers seem to calm down leaving it a warm, creamy, almost spicy sweet scent. It's very pretty, but it does give me a twinge of a sinus headache (although that could be the cold). Not something I'd reach for often, but a very pretty scent indeed - I'm glad I got to try it.

[dixiehellcat]

In the imp, slightly foody, which turns me off, but hey, it's the only chance I'm ever likely to have to smell it, so I bravely dab some on anyway.

 

On me, spicy floral notes start to come out. Almost carnation-y, but without the weird greenish ick that carnation scents often turn on my skin.

 

This is really the only C13 I wouldn't mind owning some of, especially if it lasted longer on me.

[funkmoppet]

Sweet floral. At first I wondered if this has Dragon's Blood, as it has a similar sweet smell.

 

On the skin, the florals are dominant and sweet. The red musk gets its chance as it dries, where the blend gets a creamy edge to it.

 

Dry, the sweetness of the florals returns, and it's gone a little powdery on me.

 

Not wild about this one. On me, The Witch Queen is a more spectacular musky floral.

 

Very glad to have tried it, but it's not grabbing me.

[Keslynn]

In the bottle, a strong white floral cradled by caramel.

 

On my skin, the white floral really comes to the fore. Usually, when I think white floral, it's very gentle, but this is not. The flowers are white and gorgeous and in your face, and you don't mind because being in your face means you can sniff them more. The caramel note floats through the bottom, adding a gorgeous creaminess without tipping the blend over into foodiness. Now that I've read scent descriptions, I can recognize the red musk, but it's so well blended that I wouldn't have picked it out on my own. It adds a hint of spice. Despite me describing the notes separately, this scent really is blended very well. It's hard to pick everything out.

 

Unheavenly City gives me the feeling of both power and sensuality. This is a woman with a spicy temper beneath a sexy demeanor.

 

Verdict: Love this scent. It's complex and very very sexy.

[cranberry]

Many, many thanks to the lovely Ghosttown for an opportunity to try and own this oil!!!

 

When first applied, this scent is strong, creamy gardenia. It’s more than just gardenia though. There’s spice there too. I also think there’s dragon’s blood and red musk here too – I’m getting a spicy, cream, musky floral that has a bit of the fruitiness characteristic of dragon’s blood on me. This is just so gorgeous.

 

I like Noumenon’s comparison that the Unheavenly City is for gardenias as what Rose Red is for roses. I agree completely.

 

As it wears, it gets sweeter and berry-like. It’s reminding me of the berries in Florence (which I love). What a fantastic oil!

[naeelah]

I got to try this on over the weekend, and it seemed completely different from when I tried it on at Convergence. Clearly my skin or nose, or both, go insane when I'm out of town, because perfumes I sniff and buy when on vacation always end up smelling drastically different later.

 

I don't remember what it was like back in May, but last weekend it reminded me very, very strongly of Sacred Whore of Babylon. So close was the resemblance that I breathed a sigh of relief and thought, here's one less LE I'll have to track down if I fall in love.

 

I'm not wearing it presently, so I can't review it in depth, but it was quite heavy on gardenia and other florals. There was definitely some rose present. It seemed to be a light and creamy rose, but perhaps that was just the effect of the blend as a whole. The floral bouquet was really lovely and smooth. Gardenia was most prominent, but everything blended nicely, in good balance. There may have been a tiny drop of vanilla in the mix. Behind it all was a bed of red musk, which was noticeable but not as sharp and untamed as in Sacred Whore. Perhaps it's an issue of age, but it seemed like Unheavenly City had less musk in the blend.

 

If you're a fan of Sacred Whore or similar floral red musk scents, give this one a try, if you won't mind falling in love! I have to say I preferred this to Sacred Whore, because the floral bouquet was better balanced -- but I like SW well enough that I'm content to keep her.

[ralenth]

In the imp: Roses!

 

Wet: A soft, sweet rose scent. I have trouble with roses, so it should be interesting to see where this goes.

 

Drydown: Carnations dipped in cream. This is quite lovely. There is an underlying muskiness tantalizing my palate.

 

Dry: Vaguely green and cream. I'm not used to scents becoming less defined with time. TUC is certainly a nice blend at this stage, but it is tough to put my finger on it.

 

Overall: Pretty, but not a must have.

[CrazyPretzel]

The last of the decants from Ahania's int'l sniffing circle. This oil is a beautiful nearly-ruby shade of red!

 

In the imp: red fruit, gardenia, a little musk.

 

Wet on me: violets like the violets in Lucretia (where the heck did the fruit go?) and honey.

 

After a few minutes: Spicy violets and honey.

 

Drydown: Violets, spice, and honey, and the gardenia comes back. After a while, when the violets fade, I can smell strawberry, and I know that I wasn't going totally crazy when I smelled red fruit in the imp.

 

This is very pretty but it's a fast fader on me, and I have Lucretia for my sexy-violet scent, so while I'm glad I got to try this I'm not going to pine for it (unlike Crumpet Rebellion and Voodoo Queen!)

[Emma2403]

What a lovely dark red colour!!

 

In the bottle: OMG, that's lovely!! Violets, gardenia, very creamy, sweet but not foody.

 

On my skin: it gets a little darker... spicy musk and still violets. It's okay, but I preferred it in the bottle. I suspect there's dragon's blood as well (and I'm not a fan).

 

After a while: sweet creamy floral. Very strong throw as well.

 

Verdict: very beautiful although I'm not a floral girl.

[greymatter]

I got really lucky and found a bottle that did not require me to sell my soul and/or progeny.

 

Preemptive notes: I do not like roses, most florals, red musk, dragon's blood, most cream accords or strong fragrances.

 

... so why the hell do I love this?

 

In the bottle: Cherry cough syrup? Something sticky-sweet and coy.

 

Wet: Whoa. Hello, gardenia! It's a creamy, addictive, sweet scented floral. It's. . . really nice.

 

Dry: Can't type. Nose stuck to hand. It's a sweet, semi-waxy floral with cream and . . . who the hell knows. It's gorgeous! That's all you need to know.

[n3m3sis42]

In the bottle:

Strongly incensey.

 

Wet:

Yup, definitely incensey.

 

Dry:

Thankfully, this dries down to the yummy sugared flowers others seem to be getting. I could see buying a bottle of this if presented with the opportunity to do so.

[Mixxi]

On me this smells quite sweet and I can smell red musk too. I think I can also smell some florals (not sure which though as I'm bad at guessing florals but they're quite light) and also some sticky cherries. This is very sweet and girly but also sexy and more complex as I smell something either woody or resinous underneath.

Damn I do really like this actually but I'm trying not to show it as I'll never be able to wear it again.

[cuervosueno]

I got an imp of this at the same time I got a partial imp of Formula 54, and to me they are similiar. In that thread, I said that if Formula 54 is the sexy bad girl who has been out all night drinking, then The Unheavenly City is the same girl as a dominatrix in an S/M club. F54 has an air of dissipation, like staying out all night and drinking and smoking way too much, but there is a jolt of red musk in the Unheavenly City that pushes it further.

 

I get gardenia and red musk from the imp, but on my skin it blends together very well, and I get a hint of rose (not enough to scare off a rose-hater like me). It doesn't have the heavy boozy note of the F54, but the red musk is intoxicating enough (and not usually a note I enjoy). There's a spicy note that is more clove cigarettes than it is cooking spice. I don't get any dragon's blood at all (which is good because I amp that like crazy).

 

Anyway, overall this is pretty good. It's not a scent I would have chosen on my own, but I like it.