A Murder of Crows

[Bangles]

Sleek iris and verbena, grey amber, benzoin, davana, and glossy herbs.

The wet stage is almost all verbena and iris; it's rather similar to the top notes in Crow Moon, so if you're looking for more crows, you might want to give that one a shot!

Drydown, it's all resin - mostly the amber - and I'm not getting any of that lemon that other people have mentioned (which is great, because I fear citrus). This is a really lovely fall scent; I just wish I had more of it!

[alhbooks]

No lemon or citrus on me either, which is odd...Delousing Powder was nothing but lemon on my skin. I'm getting mostly iris, which I would have taken for violets if I hadn't read the description. Soft, gray rather than dark, a little powdery, but not like baby powder, more like the kind applied with a swansdown puff. Very 1920s.

 

I would so buy a bottle of this if I could...just the description sucked me into getting the Pumpkin Plunder so I could have this imp (and the pumpkins are quite yummy too, so I'm glad I went for the whole field!)

[dcmo]

I don't even know how to describe this except lovely. I can't really pick out any individual notes. For some reason, not that they smell alike, but it has the same "feel" as Black Opal to me...almost stone like. I think maybe it's the grey amber. I really really like this and I'm so happy I got to try it. It's so strange because if I sniff close to my skin, I don't really smell much, it's very light. But every so often I have this gorgeous smell wafting up to my nose and I love it a lot.

 

ETA: Forgot to mention, it does have that touch of a powdery scent, but I don't find that a bad thing AT ALL in this case!

Edited October 25, 2007 by dcmo

[penemuel]

This is a very complex scent. I don't get any of the verbena at all, but then again in the other blend that has it (Phantom Calliope) that I've tried, it's there for a flash of maybe a second, then it vanishes.

 

Wet, this is herbal and a little spicy, but when it dries down it becomes beautifully herbal/sweet. The most bizarre thing I've noticed is that it smells sweeter and more powdery on my left wrist, with a tendency to swirl into violet and then back to powder again while on the right wrist it's very herbal/resinous.

 

I'm not sure I understand this different scents on different sides of the body phenomena, but I love the fact that this is almost two entirely different fragrances.

 

And why oh why does it have to be so hard to get? I would buy a bottle if I could...

[euterpe414]

I wanted to love this one but verbena really amps on me and turns somewhat sour. Alas! The amber and iris are so gorgeous with the herbs but I only detect them for just a second before the verbena stomps in and ruins everything!!! I guess I need to make a mental note to avoid verbena in the future....

[slave1]

MURDER OF CROWS

 

In Bottle: Soft violet and resin

 

On Skin: Um, yum?!?!?!!!!!!!!!! Wow, this is absolutely beautiful. I get a soft violet/grey tone from this. Velvet and delicate. Verbena is usually amped on me, but here it is in the background thankfully. I get violet, which isn’t even listed as a note. I smell the gorgeous grey amber. The herbs are also very light and back notes. The benzoin is resinous and sweet but very light as well. Actually this is probably the lightest BPAL scent I have ever smelled. It blooms and is gorgeous for 10 minutes then vanishes without nearly a trace. Wow, that almost makes me cry. It is seriously GONE. Poof! Such a gorgeous scent, that leaves me crushed as it leaves me so quickly. So I’d say I love it, I’m just so sad it has no staying power at all. Very very VERY light throw.

[yeahbutnobut]

Murder of Crows

 

In the imp: lemon sherbet! It’s like sweet lemon and powdered sugar!

Wet on skin: now I smell cherry? This reminds me of those fizzy lemon sweets or sherbet powder!

Dry: oh, this is lovely! It smells just like fizzy lemon flavoured sugar, or sherbet! The verbena isn’t too piercing here, it smells sweet and lemony but gentle. There’s a hint of crushed Parma Violet sweets here too, probably the iris? I don’t smell herbs but I’m sure the amber’s making this sweet. I also smell the same benzoin from Kunstkammer, because it smells vaguely like cherry lollipops. This is the kind of scent that reminds me of childhood sweets that I like, because it doesn’t smell fake or sour. It does smell very powdery though.

After a while: the lemon verbena does clear eventually, and the scent becomes a lovely, ghostly pale iris scent, powdery and cool, with an undertone of greenness from the herbs. The amber sweetens the scent and adds a luminous feel, but doesn’t smell golden. The grey amber-iris combination brings to mind silvery moonlight reflected on shiny feathers (though not black crow feathers-this is a very pale scent to me).

The scent changes from Parma Violets to powdery orris every now and then, with a hint of fruity-floral resin and herbs. This reminds me of Morella now, actually. It’s got that same iris-sage scent to it. the scent becomes a powdery iris scent with a hint of benzoin and herbs, a soft grey scent.

Verdict: this is an interesting scent which smells like a mix of lemon drops and Parma Violets, but with a more sophisticated slant. It’s very lemony to begin with as the verbena makes itself known, but then the scent turns into a powdery, dusty, pale violet-like scent of iris, with a hint of sweetness which might be from the amber. It’s very powdery (no bad thing) at the end, and also reminds me of Morella. I like this one but because of it’s resemblance to Morella, which I have enough of, I don’t feel an urge to track down more of this.

Emoticon rating:

Is it a keeper? I like it but don’t need more.

[naeelah]

Like others say, this is sleek, lightly herbal, and smooth.

 

Wet, it smells primarily of verbena, iris, and grey amber. It's an interesting and lovely combination. The amber adds slight syrupy-ness to balance the brightness of the verbena. As it dries, the verbena and amber smooth out. As another reviewer put it, it smells a bit like lemon sherbert. Herbal lemon sherbert. It's much nicer than that sounds. The overall blend gets softer and fuzzier as it dries. No single note overwhelms the balance. The throw is pretty light.

 

This really is a great foil to the pumpkins, which are so rich and buttery. It's light and fresh but dusky and soft. The amber keeps it from feeling too bright and clean. I really love this as a concept, and I love to see the way Beth interprets black birds (this vs. the Emathides), but it's not the type of scent I'll wear much.

[Ajila]

In the bottle – A sweet green herbal scent with just an edge of muskiness

 

Wet on me – Sweet berryish fruits with a herby background and a hint of white musk

 

Dry on me – Bright, vivacious fruits with dark green overtones

 

Overall – I did not expect to like this, but I do and I’m glad I had the opportunity to experience it

[donnatron]

Imp: Sharp amber and benzoin with a waft of floral.

 

Wet: IRIS! Iris with a touch of the intial sourness I experience with amber.

 

Dry: The combination of ingredients manage to dry down to a resinous violet scent. As a violet lover, I'm very happy about this occurance.

 

Throw: The violet-esque scent goes for miles, the amber and benzoin are sweet and close to the skin.

 

Overall: How pretty and complex. I'm glad to have tried it but am not too upset about it being a LE.

[Lycanthrope]

I wore this once after I got the pumpkin patch but I think I had too many of those on, and didn't give it a fair trial. The imp is very cute, with stylized cartoon crows sitting on pumpkins being all 'lolrawr, we be crowzzzz.' Oil color tends towards light blonde straw.

 

Wet this is a very light, rooty aroma, definitely a touch violet almost, or that could be the iris/orris, earthier floral playing tricks on me. As I let it dry it transitions from that moist rootiness towards squishy, wet, velvety petals. Oh, and there's the resin, gummy, sweet, kind of snappy, it really does remind me of benzoin or copal.

 

This reminds me of The Raven, in that similar deep glossy wing feel, but Murder of Crows has more of a floral, less violaceous tone to it. I thankfully do not get too much verbena, as lemons/verbenas tend to go crazy on my skin. The drydown is more amber than the initial iris, although I can still get that purply petal feel on top of it. A win, but I'll enjoy my imp.

[fairnymph]

In the bottle: Light gold oil. Herbal, woody, with heady floral iris, citrusy verbena, and sharp-soapy grey amber.

 

Wet: I really dislike grey amber, it's very dusty and powdery-sharp. The davana here is very light, adding mostly only a faint sweetness. Verbena is also exceptionally mild. Benzoin gives this a nice green resiny depth. Iris is heady and soapy.

 

Dry: Slightly sweet iris + grey amber powdery SOAP, reall awfully strong and sickening and like ancient ladies dipped in talcum powder and then in floral soap and...omg, sink. Way more floral; definitely some violet as others have noted, and sadly the powdery kind on me. Thankfully only moderate throw, but damn stuff won't wash off.

Edited May 21, 2008 by fairnymph

[theseagrows]

i get a very soft lemon verbena from this with a powdery amber in the background. the herbs are subtle...this is a very soft scent, the citrus isn't overpowering at all. the thing is, it's so soft that it fades too quickly on my skin. it's very pretty, i wish it had more throw. i'll probably swap it just because it's so subtle and i have other bpals that smell so similar on me.

[savage_rose]

This smells like incense to me, sage-based, like a bundle of incense. It smells very clean underneath.

[voodoocatwoman]

No lemony goodness for me. All I get from Murder of Crows is herbs. Not bad but definitely not what I would have expected.

[forspecial_plate]

This is a sooty and dusky grey scent, and it reminds me a little bit of Bat and Bat Woman. But this has feathers instead of fur and skin. : )

 

Loved having the chance to try this scent. I like amber usually, and verbena too. I think what I'm getting from this is mostly floral and herbs, with a background of amber. I don't get much verbena at all, and nothing fruity like I might expect from davana.

 

Thanks so much to the wonderfully generous forum member who sent me this! : )

[angelicruin]

This is a beautiful scent. Sniffing the bottle it's a very creamy benzoin & verbena, mostly.

 

On my skin, the amber is just gorgeous. Very resinous. I can smell the herbs and floral notes but the vanilla-creamy quality just makes everything including the amber soft and comforting.

 

I wore this scent to bed last night and just re-applied some more after work this evening. It's a perfect scent for me at bedtime. Very soothing.

Edited May 19, 2009 by angelicruin

[stellans]

I fell in love with this when the decant circle I participated in sent me a just-testable-enough sniffie of this marvelous scent. By dint of some judicious swapping, I managed to scrape together 4 full imps, which now reside peacefully in a pretty little rollerball bottle.

 

I get no verbena at all from this blend; it's all lovely, lovely purple flower (iris or violet? I waffle back-and-forth!) with just a hint of benzoin and amber, but mostly the lovely, quiet purple. This is a very subtle scent, and does not have a lot of throw, but it lasted a long time past initial application. I love both iris and violet, so any blend which highlights them is bound to become one of my favorites. 4 of 5 stars!

Edited August 7, 2011 by stellans

[kunoichi]

In the vial this is a light fragrance, with a touch of gentle florals over a soft base; the scents are blended together very well making it hard to pick notes. It does not change much on my skin, although some of the florals come out to play a little more strongly than in the vial. After a few hours, all that remains is the smooth and lovely combination scent of amber and benzoin. It is quite a nice scent!

[MissMercurial]

Very slick and subtle - hard to catch a real sense of it, to my nose. I guess my skin soaked it up to some extent, because I had to sniff reeealll close to smell it. But not a real attention-grabber; swapped it to a loving home.

[AnyseLawsBray]

In vial: Iris.

Wet: Soft iris- usually I read iris as aquatic (and the closest thing to aquatic that actually works for me) but this one is decidedly different. It must be the combination of notes. I get the impression of fluffed black feathers. The amber gives a dustiness that anyone who has been around birds could tell you is spot on- they secrete a dust which coats their feathers, making them water-resilient.

Dry: Not getting any tartness/herbaceousness, which I expected from the verbena/'glossy herbs', but I recognize the sweetness of benzoin in the background. I had to look up davana, apparently it's an herb native to India that smells sweet/fruity, and is very dependent on skin chemistry. I get a tiny kick of extra dulcitude from it.

 

Verdict: Glad I got to try it out, it's a great conceptual scent for me.

[Vega]

Sniffed: Sharp, pale herbs contrast with a warm sweet base of benzoin and grey amber.

 

On skin: A fascinating and not entirely harmonious contrast between sharp, cool non-green herbs (and perhaps some florals) and deep, warm benzion and amber. The scent is full-bodied and well-rounded, both resin-warm and floral-cool; the feeling is polite yet a little distant and aloof. Colour impression at this stage is dove-gray, or the off-white of dusty old lace. Even though A Murder of Crows starts off quite pleasant, I was a bit worried about verbena, one of my death notes. And sure enough, verbena begins to assert itself after a while, and gradually overwhelms the other notes with its sour, thin scent (a lot like old sour sweat). Ugh!

 

Verdict: A Murder of Crows wasn't wowing me from the start, but verbena really spoiled everything. Pass.

[CemeteryAngel]

Murder of Crows 2007

 

I managed to acquire a bottle, and it is really lovely.

 

In Bottle--It smells very light and soft and sort of floral.

 

On Skin--I smell like lemony baby powder, and I like it!