The Ghastly Garden

[maewitch]

Overgrown oleander, marshy water hemlock, the sugared nectar of carnivorous blooms, putrefying wet greenery, oozing sap, crushed rosary peas, withered climbing roses, and nightshade berries.

Wow. This is lovely.

It does indeed remind me slightly of Embalming Fluid, only in that it is an incredibly soft, sugared, second-skin scent - except that this is sweet grassiness where EF was lemony muskiness.

I'm not huge on green notes, but whatever is in this is a close cousin to the grass note used in Virgo, and they are both delightful.

Bottle.

[Northernskygal]

This is a pretty floral. I can't really pick out any certain note.. this does wear very close, very.. second skinny.. this is the type of scent I enjoy, but sadly, my skin also enjoys eating. I have a lovely scent for all of about 10 minutes and then.. little left, a soft, flowery residue. If it were stronger on me, I would have to have more, as it is a very nice scent, it would make a great everyday scent for someone whose skin wouldn't devour it.

[taramarie]

On me, The Ghastly Garden is very green and leafy. It's nice but not what I was expecting. I'll age it and see if it improves.

[slave1]

THE GHASTLY GARDEN

 

In Bottle: Berry powder

 

On Skin: The berries jump out at me right away, they are dried out and powdery and remind me of potpourri. Then the greenery creeps in, dark and dry… the dryness of several of the notes really make this a powdery scent. The blooms are haunting, casting a beautiful perfumey veil over the other notes. This is a very enchanting blend, very feminine in feel. I’m usually not a huge fan of florals, but the greenery and berries in this are such nice companions that it winds me over. I would wear this again for sure and am considering a bottle. So very pretty! Light throw and short to average wearlength.

[DifferentDances]

Bottle: Mishmash of overwhelming florals

Wet: A tiny sliver of green cuts through the florals, which have turned candy-ish.

Drydown: Candied greens.

Dry: Just the mildest hint of candied greens.

 

My rating: 3/5. Nice blend, but not particularly unique or outstanding. Maybe aging will help it.

[Indefatigable]

In the vial: very green and wet and leafy.

 

On me: a sweet, bright, surprisingly fresh floral (must be the oleander, as the roses are thankfully faint in this one), with something sugary like berries or sap. I'd like some of that greenness to come back.

 

Drying down: there's a faintly spicy note keeping it from being too sweet. It's almost musky but I don't know if there's any musk in here. It's probably some kind of wood.

 

I think... this is a floral I can actually wear. Definitely going to hang onto this.

[yeahbutnobut]

The Ghastly Garden

 

In the imp: green mossy plants with hints of flowers and berries. Reminds me of a non-aquatic Aeaea.

Wet on skin: mossy herbs, flowers and a hint of blackberry.

Dry: do I smell basil here? I think I do, or something like it. This is nicer than I expected it would be. it’s a dark, wet herbal garden, overgrown with thick damp moss (like the moss in Roux Ga Roux or Shanghai Tunnel) and ivy, with hints of flowers and blackberries…talking of which, there’s a note here that threatens to turn to cat pee on me. I think it’s blackberry or one of the herbs/plant notes? The more I smell it, the more I smell ‘bad kitty’ blackberry. I’m keeping an eye-or rather, nose-on that note. it could ruin this damp green scent which I love (and I’m not normally one for damp, swampy greens), which smells a bit like a hothouse, like at the Eden project or Kew.

After a while: ok, the blackberry seems to have left, I don’t smell the dread cat pee here now but I do smell basil and maybe a hint of dandelion? It smells weedy, a really unkempt garden full of brambles and creepers and vines and other strangling plants, under which the smell of herbs and ornamental blooms can just be detected. It is very wet, somewhere between rainy and steamy, almost a jungle scent but not quite. I now smell sweet pea, and I’m keeping my nose on that note because this seems to be verging on smelling soapy.

This seems to morph constantly between smelling like thick lush greenery, toxic berries, and slightly soapy sweet pea or lily. Hints of warm herbs and maybe the slightest hint of rose pop up. It’s like exploring the garden and catching whiffs of different plants at every turn, whilst thorns catch your clothes and nettles sting your skin. This garden is wild and untamed. I’m still torn as to whether I like it though because there are moments when it smells a little soapy, like waxy white petals. But even so, this is one of those really green scents that doesn’t turn to a bitter, harsh, ‘soap of doom’ mess on me. It’s what I hoped to get from the likes of Allison Gross. This also reminds me of Garden Path with Chickens, especially after a few hours, that same dewy fresh greenness.

Eventually I get a lovely sweetness, this must be the sugared carnivorous plants. I really like this sweet phase, mixed with that airy, dewy greenness, it is a lot softer and fresher and less hot and humid. After that it smells a little bit like the lovely lettuce-sweet pea mix from Cancer, but without the sweet/beachy notes I got from that.

Verdict: if Garden Path with Chickens is a civilised, neatly trimmed, pretty and flower-filled sunny garden, then this is it’s darker cousin. This is a wild, weed-filled garden that hasn’t been tended for years, overgrown with thorny plants and ivy and creeping plants and moss, on a hot, humid, stormy night. This is the scent of a miniature jungle, a tangle of strange plants, chaotic and shadowy. It’s fascinating and very complex. it’s quite unique to any of the green/garden scents in BPAL. I’m not sure if it’s a favourite though because there are moments when it turns soapy and other times when I smell ‘cat pee blackberry’, but at other times, this is amazing and very evocative of an abandoned garden with a sinister atmosphere.

Emoticon rating:

Is it a keeper? Not sure yet.

If you like this, try: Garden Path with Chickens, Virgo, Bayou, Roux Ga Roux, Baneberry, Ile de la Tortue, Allison Gross

[n3m3sis42]

In the bottle:

OMG Green! Not that it's a bad thing.

 

Wet:

Green and fresh, with a hint of florals. I am so bad at identifying plant notes. After a while, this becomes almost aquatic, and I'm not sure it's going to work for me (as I hate aquatic notes for the most part). Okay, I take it back... the aquatic bit calms down pretty fast and it's back to green.

 

Dry:

Greenery with an odd musty note. I usually let my blends age for about a week before trying them, and this one has only sat for a few days, so it may still need time to settle. I think I will like this one, but the jury is still out.

[TrailerTrashPrincess]

sniffed from the bottle: smells rather like my daddy's backyard after the grass has been cut.

on skin: no change - still smells like fresh grass, wildflowers and smell of the garden warming in the sun.

this is really pretty!

[Tulliver]

I've been hankering after a bottle of this since the Hallowe'en scents went live. However, I've only recently been able to splash out on more than a bottle or two of anything.

 

Oh my, was this worth waiting for! It's absolutely lovely! Floral, but with greenery and water and a fair bit of dust. This is from the bottle to dry. It hardly morphs at all on me and I'm so glad of it. Not that I don't like the morphers, but this is so lovely it's nice to keep the same scent throughout.

 

It's light, but not weak. It lasts fairly well and has a really good throw while it IS around. I'm SO glad I got this even if it was after the rest of the world. Ahahahah.

[Phaedra]

Wet this is a storng, heady floral. Sugary and wet. When first on this is a fresh, clean floral- maybe hyacinth. It feels like spingtime. This doesn't change much on me. This is a very well blended aquatic/damp floral. It reminds me a bit of Black Moon- like a floral version of it and much sharper. This is okay but is too strongly floral for me. Sadly it also reminds me a bit of bathroom air freshener

[Czarina]

In the bottle: nectar and sap.

Wet: Berries, sap, a very faint rose scent.

Drydown: Greenery. Grass. More berries. Sweet herbal note. The same sap note that is in Roadhouse (prolly dandelions).

 

To me this smells like plants more than flowers, and is quite evocative of a neglected and decaying garden. I must say that when I was a little girl I lived in a house that had oleanders and I don't remember them as having a particularly noticeable scent at all. So I wish I could but I can't for the life of me identify an oleander in this one.

[olive]

This is a very dried up rose blended with something very dry.. the same thing that makes Dragon's Bone so dry. It seems far too ephemeral to have any real impact and the scent is not that interesting, wet or dry.

[theseagrows]

what a mish-mash this is. i get an aquatic-herbal, some floral and some sugariness in this. it's so complex, i can't decide whether i like it or not. i tend to like sugary florals, so that part is good, but the aquaticness might be a bit too much for me (putrefying wet greenery, i guess?) i dont get much rose from this, but sence the berries way in the background. it's very interesting...i do like it, but i am not sure i would wear it much.

[mspixieears]

Reminds me of Fairy Market, minus the sweetness. I’ve tried a few BPAL florals that have been quite similar. The flowers are more potent in this blend than in Fairy Market. I think I’ll be holding onto my decant.

[Lamia]

This is mildly disappointing, as in the bottle it's alluring and wicked. On skin, it smells like lemony furniture polish without any of the vile chemicals. It's a quick fade, and I ended up adding more before I headed out this morning.

 

It starts very perky and yellow, rather than ghastly and green I can't identify the ingredients, but there is a floral in there a few layers back. Ah well. Considering how divine Lurid Library and Forbidding Foyer are on me, I can't complain about this

[MaeKitty]

You know, I didn't even really feel the need to try this one. Generally, I'm not a huge fan of florals, so I just didn't see this one working. Some how, the nectar, wetness and sap seem to have darkened these florals and weighed them down with some dampness. I really actually enjoy it. It reminds me of a perfume a loved one used to wear, so it's slightly melancholic. A lovely nighttime scent. Definitely a surprise for me.

[KaliVerra]

GREEEEEEEEN, floral, herb-y, sugary and LOVELY!!

 

Can haz replay in '08 plz??

[angelicruin]

In the bottle, definitely smell the Oleander and rose notes. Wet on the skin, the sap note comes out to join the floral notes. As it dries, it's a very light "green" scent with a hint of woods.

[delicate_fangs]

in the decant: very very VERY floral. I approach with trepidation.

 

wet: VERY floral. Much high-noted floweryness. This is probably not going to work on me.

 

Yep, there comes a jasmine soap parade! Though there's something nice in there too.... is that stephanotis? And a creamy background which is rather pleasant. But the soap festival of jasmine and friends, or whatever that is in there, is drowning them out.

 

later: Huh, now it's going to herbal soap. A change, but still not a win, alas.

 

later yet: Almost washed off the scary flowers just now. But am going to give it a bit longer.

 

still later: eventually there is a very pleasant drydown, but I think for me it's not worth the long journey. Oh, well. Floral lovers will like this one, though.

[ImperatrixMundi]

Not so ghastly at all, more like a hot and humid greenhouse full of tropical plants. A moist green scent, very plant-y. The greenhouse is definitely not bright and airy, it is very dark and overgrown.

For a floral I like it more than I would have thought but it's not my thing at all to wear.

[jizatt]

I'm really wondering if mine was mislabeled, or if my chemistry is really this wonky. I get dark brown sugar (which is possible I guess, reading the description), and some type of dark spicey thing. When it first went on I smelled spice over dark floral, so I guess this is just... how I wear the Ghastly Garden.

[mgrazulis]

Candied nectar of roses, oozy sweet and sugary when wet. Morphs into green, tangy dank ozone, damp with languid oleander and downright poisonous. Will be a fun one to wear!

 

 

[Schmoozy]

 

Lush, green florals sweetened with berries and nectar. For a blend to contain so much earthy greenery, it sure is sweet. The lightest hint of roses poke through every now and again, but this is sweet nectar and berries alongside vibrant lush blooms. It doesn't feel very weenie or even fall like.

[Invidiana]

"ghastly" plus "garden" might make some people think of mold and rotting plants, but this is hardly the case. I do have to admit the "puterfying wet greenery" unnerved me a bit. However, far from anything decomposing, this is rather a patch of very alive twisting, twining, gnarly night-blooming things that snare hapless insects for dinner. Even better, the sap and dark berry notes keep it from being too jarringly "green". This is one garden of good and evil (well, mostly evil) I wouldn't mind walking into at midnight