Shanghai Tunnel

[copyshopclerk]

No scent description available.

 

In the bottle: Woodiness (not as in a forest, but rather the scent of wood itself), something a bit damp

 

On: Definitely evocative of tunnels beneath the city! When it's still wet, there's something in it that reminds me of the wet phase of the most recent Wolf Moon, and I like that a lot - very atmospheric. When it was dry, it reminded me of wood silvered and softened by the passing of time and weather. I'm not sure how well it works on me as a perfume - some of the other people there had it turn sweeter on them, where it was almost too masculine for me. I'm eager to try this one as a room scent because it seems well-suited for that.

[edenssixthday]

Shanghai Tunnel - This is my favorite of the three C13 blends, which kind of surprises me because I'll bet if I had seen a written description (to my knowledge there isn't one), I wouldn't have cared for it. It starts off very dank and salty, like puddles in an underground tunnel (no surprise there!), but as it dries, the very distinct scent of rocks and stone dominates the blend. Someone asked what it smelled like, and I said, "Stone!" and her husband couldn't believe a perfume could smell like stone, until he sniffed my arm, and he agreed, "Yep, it smells like stone." It's not something I would typically be drawn to (dank puddles and stone? Not my style at all!) but I love this one. It's murky, slightly aquatic, definitely has the feel of an underground tunnel and is really, really a neat scent.

 

ETA: I smelled it on darkitysnark, and it has a soft, sweet, woody drydown on her.

Edited May 29, 2007 by edenssixthday

[batsy]

In the bottle: Bamboo, all watery and similar to Dragon Moon. I don't know why lychee nut popped into my head but it did.

 

On the skin: It's a green-y Asian aquatic. That's a mouthful. There's a hint of spice that starts to pop when it hits my skin that's nice. It's got an underlying floral component that I'm not sure if it's jasmine; I think it is jasmine, the more it comes out on the drydown. it's a really beautiful scent, all spooky like I've been literally shanghai'd in the tunnels.

[andhowever]

In the bottle: Wood. Definitely pine or something else evergreen. I have Golden Priapus on the other arm and the wood scent is not quite the same, but it's close.

 

On me: This scent seems to change every time I sniff it (which I've been doing a lot, naturally). Right now it's like a tree trunk on a warm day. On, this is definitely pine, and it's possibly ponderosa pine? It reminds me of the way things smell in Central Oregon - dry, hot, and sweet. It's odd that I'm getting those associations when others are getting "damp", but such is the nature of smell, I suppose. I also smelled a little bit of green tea, but that might have been a) the Dormouse from my other arm or my mind playing tricks on me because of the name "Shanghai Tunnel". Oh, this is gorgeous. Definitely my favorite of the blends. To me it's very evocative of Portland and the Northwest in general, because of the extreme accuracy of the wood note. I love Portland to distraction and am away from it 8 months of the year - this is what I'll be wearing when I miss it.

Edited May 26, 2007 by andhowever

[GypsyRoseRed]

If there is pine in this, I'd be shocked because pine smells and I have never been friends. They all go straight to hell on me, but Shanghai Tunnels does no such thing. It's very much a morpher - wet, in the bottle, it does have a dark, damp puddle-y smell but it's still very appealing. On the drydown, it evaporates into a warm, smooth and mild outdoorsy scent (which is a pleasant surprise since those always go bitter on me where this rounds out and blossoms). Very nice, but too masculine for me I'm afraid.

[darkitysnark]

Intriguing!

 

I am not normally a fan of the aquatics. They go immediately to dryer sheet on me and don't come back. But I love woods, and anything that is not traditionally "perfumey" like stone will always get my attention.

 

It seems for me that my monthly special time doesn't turn anything into cat pee (which is a blessing) but my skin does tend to eat up more delicate scents. It seemed like in comparing the same blends with other BPALers this weekend, several blends veered off into completely different corners of their components. Shanghai Tunnel was no different.

 

Though it started with the in-the-bottle startling dryer-sheet wetness I've come to associate with acquatics and bamboo scents, that dissipated within the drydown phase. What was left was what kittyflop likened to "something sort of green and slimy, but in a good way". It was like a muddled non-food herbal releasing it's odor into the initial liquid.

 

About half an hour later or so, I picked up a very subtle, cool wood note and a sort of gritty, gravely stone. Very clean and really different from anything else I've tried or have.

 

It's not the usual blend that I reach for, but just for fascination alone this one is at least worth trying, if not having around for the occasional ol factory shake-up.

[Kittyflop]

What was left was what kittyflop likened to "something sort of green and slimy, but in a good way". It was like a muddled non-food herbal releasing it's odor into the initial liquid.

 

OK, that came out totally wrong, but I admit I did say it.

 

I love Shanghai Tunnel. I was trying (in my poor verbal skilz way) to describe somthing both mineral/stony, and green/mossy/living. The aquatic element is different from what I normally think of as 'aquatic'. It smells like underground. It morphs over time, from the aquatic to the woods/greens to the stony coldness. A very unique aroma.

[LittleGreyKitten]

This is such an interesting scent. It goes on all chilly, dark and in some way sort of sweet on me... it isn't masculine at all. It is not really aquatic on me either. The initial phase is just fricking gorgeous... subtle, intriguing, and very complex. And dark. The label fits well.

 

Then, it dries. This sharp odor overtakes all the goodness, and it becomes pungent and weird. It gets more so over time, and it smells like an entirely different scent than the first opening notes smelled like. Unfortunately. I'm guessing it's wood or stone that's coming out and kicking the subtle, sweet, dark scent's butt.

 

I'm not giving up so easily though. I'll try it a few more times, or possibly finally get a scent locket, as I'd find it totally worth it to get that initial phase to last longer. It really is unusual and gorgeous, until it all goes wrong. I'm not gonna rate it, I just can't- I think it's my skin chemistry causing weirdness.

[naeelah]

I asked Beth what the notes are, and she rattled off a long list. I can't remember them all, but I know it included black musk, teakwood, oak moss, spanish moss, and kelp. There was also some kind of root, I think, and red (?) sandalwood...

 

Wet, it has a very sharp scent, I think from the mosses. Dry, it's, well, very dry. A little bit dank and musty, a little bit spicy, a little bit woody, a little bit musky. There's a quality that reminds me a bit of sea air. It's not at all sharp or cologney, as you might expect from the mosses or the musk. More than anything, the musk seems to deepen the scent and make it more like a perfume and less like Eau de Basement, but on my skin the musk does become more and more prominent as the scent dries.

 

It has been different every time I tried it. The first day, it was very sharp and dry. The second day, much sweeter, almost with an unusual floral quality. Today, it seems much truer to the notes. It's that root that I can't remember the name of that changes, I think. Beth said it can go either very dry or fairly sweet, depending on your skin chemistry.

 

It's certainly very evocative of the tunnels, in a wonderful way. If you're a fan of dry, earthy or woody scents, then definitely give this one a try! It's very gender neutral. I think it's equally at home on men and women, but it's probably the most masculine of the convergence blends.

Edited May 31, 2007 by naeelah

[scourgeotheseas]

Shanghai Tunnel

 

In the bottle: woodsy (gee - I hope that's not sandalwood!), a little green.

 

On me/wet: Spicy! Is that a musk? Yep, there's sandalwood. A hint of florals. And more sandalwood. BPAL's sandalwood amps on my skin until there's nothing else left.

 

Drydown: Damn you, sandalwood!!! That just ruins it. I hate to smell of pencil shavings.

 

(However, well over an hour later, the sandalwood disappeared and it became this super gorgeous scent. I don't think I wait that long, though. )

[minnalavender]

Ooooh I LOVE this! I'm not a big evergreen/pine fan, but Shanghai Tunnel is the exception to the rule. It is so fresh and brisk, with great throw and lasting power.

 

Sweet, slightly floral, very fresh and evergreen - on my skin it's like a walk in a springtime forest - but as in Black Opal, I can faintly detect that "stone" note. How does Beth do that??

 

I can see wearing this both in the summer to combat the insane dry heat here, and also in the winter near Yule when pine is seasonally appropriate. Very gender neutral - anyone could wear this and smell great! Like Western Diamondback, oh would I love to smell this on a man!

 

Gorgeous, unique scent, and my surprise favorite of the Convergence scents!

[shadesong]

In bottle: Stone and wood. Wet stone.

 

On me: What's lost can yet be found/Under/Underground. Ummm. This is dark. Hand on the damp stone wall, age-silvered wood overhead. Lichen. Secrets. Oh, this is a new favorite.

[sarada]

Shanghai Tunnel reminds me of a camping trip in a rainstorm at night -- dark, mossy, green and woody, with steam rising off of wet rocks. There is a shot of something almost menthol that comes and goes, which particularly makes me think of slick, mossy hot stone, but otherwise it drifts between varying shades of dark, shadowy green, layers of musty, murky moss and dusty soil. Even more than a tunnel it makes me think of a cave in the woods where you run for shelter at night during a storm. It even reminds me of the mildewy scent that our canvas tent would pick up in the basement at my parents' house.

 

I'm trying to pick out what specific wood or tree scents are in this and I'm not even sure. Could be a hint of evergreen or cypress, and something like redwood or red sandalwood, but it's like the forest itself: so many different textures and layers of similar shades of green and grey-brown that it's hard to pick things out individually.

 

I love murky, wet, mossy places. This is wet woods and caves. Absolutely gorgeous and I am thrilled to have a bottle. Unlike anything else, and I hope there are more murky mossy wet scents in the future!

[Reedsong]

I'm getting bamboo and eucalyptus at the beginning, and the impression both in the imp and on initial application is sharp, watery, and dank. There's a bit of woodiness, too, maybe spruce. The image is of being lured into a tunnel by a dark, scary VapoRub pusher who whispers, "Pssst - you need mentholatum, I got what yer lookin' for..."

 

As it dries down, the "New Shimmer is a perfume, AND a home disinfectant!" antiseptic quality fades, and what's left reminds me not of dark tunnels, but of the crisp, woodsy mountaintop air from my family's vacations in Tennessee! Reading all of the "dank stone" reviews, I wasn't sure I would like this one, but it's a definite winner - a very distinctive and pensive sort of blend.

[alicia_stardust]

In the bottle: I get a cool, damp, mossy smell that is almost fresh but also has a sinister quality. I smell something wood-like (sandalwood? a dustier, dry wood of some sort?) as well.

 

On my skin: Wet, dark cement! I really do smell wet cement! Something almost spicy comes out, but it's brief and is overshadowed by the stone, wood, dust, earth, moss, and aquatics. I guess all of those impressions sum this scent up. Murky, dark. A bit masculine. I *almost* want to add the word patchouli to my impressions but I am not sure if that would be correct.

 

Overall impressions: I can't believe how dead on this is. I am personally terrified of the Shanghai Tunnels mostly because many years ago I had a dream about touring the tunnels, getting lost, and being trapped by ghosts so I could never leave. That was *before* I had ever seen pictures of the tunnels, and the images from my dream matched. Beth has captured some of the dark history of Portland in a way that evokes ghostly images, trapped souls, and a dark city history.

 

This scent is very, very different than the ones that usually end up being my favorites. I normally cannot wear earth, damp, mossy, slightly masculine aquatics, especially with all that stone/cement in there. But this is very nice. I love the throw much more than up close to my skin. It's worth checking out if you get the chance, even if this isn't something you'd normally expect to like.

[slave1]

SHANGHAI TUNNEL

 

In Bottle: Clean ozone and dirt

 

On Skin: This is so interesting!!! I love the clean ozone note, so fresh yet still bablanced by the earthy dirt note. Clean and dirt together? Yes it can happen! It has a dark vibe and the dampness of the ocean air trapped in a tunnel. This is a perfect Portland scent! I also catch a very light smidge of pine. Like a forest in the distance. Wet, outdoorsy, clean yet dirty… I love it. Very fresh and stimulates my sense of smell. The pine becomes stronger as the scent develops on my skin. I also smell a strong mossy note that combined with the aquatic note reminds me a little of Zombi. It has a light throw and a pretty short wearlength on me.

[fountaingrl]

This is a crazy smell that I have vacillated on....love /hate/love/hate ....finally decided on LOVE!

 

It starts out dry and piney, and within moments on me the Dreaded Pencil Box 'o Doom comes out to play, complete with a tone of graphite that suggests scantron tests in grade school. Usually that is all she wrote for me, and I'm done. I gave up on cathedral because of the pencils, I have only ever liked Lucretia as far as anything with a wood note.

 

Then. Then we have Shanghai Tunnel. Good lord, it becomes "lost in a hot forest with pine or sap smell somehow plus bark PLUS wet and moss, just outside the damp cave where you are sitting."

 

How astounding. There is a rock smell, and it turns out I like to smell like rocks somewhat.

 

Beth I love you!! More rock smells? Rock smells! Pine smells! Swoon!!!

[black*cat]

In the imp it smells like a sharp aquatic, on my skin I get some pine or juniper with a sharpness to it, as it dries it smells more woody & mossy.

 

It would smell great on a guy, but it's not for me, another blend I'm happy to have tried though.

[dawndie]

Wet: sharp alcohol hairspray

 

On skin: water, clear with chlorine, and dirt -- "perfumed earth"

 

Half-hour later: something more cologney and masculine has popped in, juniper-like

 

In conclusion: this is the most evocative of the C13 blends, in that I really feel like I'm underground -- I smell water and earth and plants. Not something I want to walk around smelling like, but what an experience!

[juniperus]

dampness. wet (almost musty) wood, earth, and the edges of evergreen. I can catch hints of clay, even (seriously: ground clay, not stoneware) and above all this smells wet. the aquatic in this is giving me a bit of a headache (always does). evocative, very much so.

[storme]

In the bottle: dark and woodsy and sort of dank-smelling.

 

On me, wet: hmm! sweet dark damp stone and woods - pine, possibly and maybe a little cedar.

 

On me, dry: a lovely soft woodsy outdoorsy scent, wet stones and dry woods.

 

Verdict: I would really not have expected to like this the most of the blends. But it's lovely, evocative and fresh and spring-like.

[Blood onmy hands]

I was so excited to try this, since a few people have described it as a wet stone smell. I'm always looking for something that smells like wet stones or wet pavement. Unfortunately, I don't get that impression from Shanghai Tunnel, so my quest for wet pavement scents continues. I digress.

 

In the imp I can smell a sharp, almost metallic aquatic and the chill of eucalyptus/menthol. In the drydown it's something of a dark, chilly, menthol & juniper on my skin, with more of green, sharp moss and dry woods coming out over time. Shanghai Tunnel is cold, sharp, and masculine on me. Not a favorite.

[elspeth]

This reminds me of walking in the woods over one of those old wooden bridges. The little ones that run over creeks. The water however smells more like ocean than fresh water. It's spicy but not like the spices I don't care for. I agree that it really doesn't smell like stones to me. It settles down to a really warm woodsy scent. Absolutely great!

[DangerInRed]

Wow, this is not what I expected at all and I love it! On me, Shanghai Tunnels smells like a mix between watery, earthy and fresh. It gives me a bit of an Obatala vibe and I wear I smell coconut, although I don't know why. It kind of has a beachy feel, with saltiness and moss, damp earth and sunblock residue. Very nice, I definitely want some of this!

[Bain]

Nifty weird! At first sniff, I get a very reedy, woodsy scent, second sniff is a little more green. On my wrist, it's almost like sniffing a pine tree though, and that thought made me laugh, because it's not at all what I expected.

 

Hurray for the first woodsy scent I've found that I like!!