A Murder of Crows

[Heavenlyrabbit]

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

Deeply herbal yet sexy blend.

I love herbals but haven't yet used the word 'sexy' in the same sentence while writing a review(I don't think).

Something reminiscent of blond tobacco?

I kept thinking of the Luperci Heroine scents. The Indian ones.

My nose isn't sophisticated like a lot of other BPAL'ers so after doing a search it seems its the Davana that is most prominent. To me it reminds me of tobacco, aromatic cooking spices, tomato leaf even.

Murder of Crows also reminds me of the herbs found in blends like ..... ?

Couple of days later, with the full moon and my hormones switching around I find the herbal side more prominent.

Slightly warm, dry and just a touch powdery.

Overall, this is a sexy herbal. Not sexy in a black leather or mini-skirt way. More approachable and friendly.

[Tramp]

Lemony incense and warm herbals. Wet the lemon is more prominent but it almost disappears on the drydown. Powdery herbals - nothing too distinctive to my sniffer, maybe some tobacco leaf? The incense is a sweet touch of spices. I really like this. Why do I like things that are so hard to get!!!! I'm really glad I have an imp of this

[alicia_stardust]

A MURDER OF CROWS - I wish I had more than an imp!

 

Wet: This has a cool, sleek scent to it. I can't really pick out any individual notes because I can't get past the strong visual image of sleek, shiny crows in a pumpkin patch.

 

Dry on Skin: The verbena amps up immediately and it sits as the strongest note for a good 5-10 minutes. After that, it starts to slowly calm down just enough for the other notes to show their face. The iris has a very dusky, downy quality to it that almost reminds me of violets. Something about the verbena and iris gives this an almost perfumey quality, but that impression is fleeting because suddenly I find myself noticing the resins. Incense indeed! The grey amber remains soft while the benzoin gives off its creamy vanilla-like aroma. That is among my favorite of all resins.

 

This brings to mind cool, sleek, oily black feathers. The zing of the verbena sits as a nice contrast to the resins and iris. It's so gorgeous!

[cuervosueno]

I had a feeling I wouldn't like this. I have a problem with verbena. A serious problem, second only to my problem with rose.

 

But A Murder of Crows? How could I not try it? And since it came with the Pumpkin bushel.....

 

As soon as I opened the imp, though, I knew we weren't meant for one another. I get verbena. Right away. And yes, it is glossy, but in a gilded soapy way (if that makes any sense).

 

Still, I put some one, unfortunately quite far up my arm, as I was out of space from trying Pumpkins.

 

Unfortunate because all I could smell then was the overwhelming verbena soap that wafted aggressively off my arm. I don't like verbena scents. I'm not even that crazy about the scent of the real plant (though that is bearable). I don't like soapy or "clean" scents.

 

I don't like this at all.

 

Sorry, Beth, but we'll have to agree to disagree. My crows would smell different--darker, dirtier, like the cocky birds you see eating roadkill. These crows are altogether too clean and tame for me.

Edited September 25, 2007 by cuervosueno

[taramarie]

On me, A Murder of Crows smells like lemon-scented baby powder. It's a nice, clean scent but not what I was expecting. I'll keep it, though. BTW, the crows on the label are cute.

[grrrlennyl]

at first: beautiful. definitely a sleek scent.

on: beautiful. i can't really describe this. black and sleek, but not dark, if that makes any sense whatsoever.

1 hour later: i'm in love with this. powdery and smooth. i still can't pick out anything in particular, but it's lovely.

2.5 hours later: a bit sweeter now and the verbene is coming out. still gorgeous.

7 hours later: a slightly citussy, powdery scent.

overall: i think this may be a new favorite. i may have to hunt down some more.

[hackess]

Initial impression - a very smooth lemon. It's a clean scent, and doesn't feel dark to me at all. It's similar to Delousing Powder only in that it has a citrusy edge to it: where Delousing Powder was caustic and powdery, Murder of Crows is like a sheet of lemon glass. I agree with cuervosueno; this is not what I was expecting from crows.

[Elilara]

I didn't expect to like this one, as I'm not a floral girl, but alas I've been woo'd!

 

Lovely sweet floral (yet somehow not "girly"), with gentle herbs. Also, powdery yet oily and slinky/sleek. I can picture a crow strutting about with a gorgeous light purple flower in it's beak. It makes me think of "the Raven", but I might just be on a corvid kick- Murder of Crows is like The Raven grown up and mellowed out- more refined. What a happy surprise! I must refrain from seeking out more than my little 5th of an imp! Thank you for sharing this, Cuervosueno!

Edited September 28, 2007 by Elilara

[Babylon]

In the imp: Perfumey and sharp. Lemon with a heady floral.

 

Wet: A bright and screeching scent. If I snuffle, it starts to smell like lemon hard candy rolled in powdered sugar. The floral note is sharp like lavender.

 

Dry: My skin is trying so very hard to eat this scent, but I don't want to apply too heavily. Mostly soft grey amber and sweet floral, no more sharpness. It almost smells like honeysuckle and white musk.

 

Thanks a lot, dpoulsen21!

[edenssixthday]

A Murder of Crows - This is a gorgeous scent - soft, subtle, feminine, and really pretty. It opens up with the scent of iris and verbena, but is remarkably not lemony. As it dries on my skin, I notice it's becoming a woody and herbal, floral. It's so incredibly gorgeous! Upon full drydown, the woodiness of the amber begins to take on the slightest powdery touch (as it often does on my skin), but remains subtle and beautiful. The scent lasts about 15 hours on me, which is one of the longest lasting BPALs I've ever worn. It's really beautiful and it's a shame it's impossible to procure a full bottle of this.

Edited September 29, 2007 by edenssixthday

[wyldeflower]

No lemons for me either and though violet isn't listed, on me this smells just like Lush 'Ne Worry Pas'. Lovely!

[zankoku_zen]

This is sleek and glossy!

 

At the beginning it was a bit too powdery for me. It smelled like iris talc powder. Nice but not menacing.

 

Now I'm getting the sleek and glossy vibe, a touch of muskyness that sets off the iris powder. Not really brooding, but the possibility is there. This is spying a crow in the daylight.

[jolarocknrolla]

aaaaaah, lemony floral. I was kind of wondering if this would have pumpkin in it but it doesn't ... it's mostly floral on me. It's slightly sweet despite the lemony bit, but the soft floral is dominant. It dries down to a soft baby-floral, pretty!

[waternight]

In the imp: Floral and light. I smell violets.

Wet: The violet base is a steady presence, but a second after the oil hits my skin, a gorgeous lemon note blooms on top of the violets and stays there. It's like looking at two separate layers - bottom=violets, top=lemons. There's a hint of powder, but it's not enough to worry me. This really is evocative of its inspiration - sleek, glossy, black, crafty. I do definitely get an avian feel from this.

Dry: The lemon stays for quite a while before tapering off and leaving this a primarily violet scent. I'm absolutely keeping my imp.

[filigree_shadow]

This smells like verbena and amber on me. Not much of anything else, sorry to say. I don't like verbena, and I have lots of amber perfumes. In fact, this reminds me a bit of the Salon's Death and Life Completed. That has grey amber in it too. I like that scent better than this one, though.

 

Honestly, I'm glad this one didn't work on me because I'd be very unhappy if I fell desperately in love with it.

[Ohmaude]

Mmm..I love the Verbena and Iris in this. This is dry, sweet and soft. Powdery and sexy, but not sultry, if you know what I mean. It kind of reminds me a little of sweettarts, if sweettarts were hand crafted by victorian nuns in a convent in the country side. I'm in love

 

Regarding the name, at first I thought, crows, really? I love crows. I guess my first thought would someone would make them all vetiver and patchouli, etc. But then smelling this I could picture crows scattered around a recently harvested wheat field on an overcast fall day.

 

Even though this scent is subtle, it has a pretty good throw about it, more so than I realized. I have gotten quite a few complements, but I swear I can barely detect it, and I used it sparingly, for obvious reason.

 

Just as I was afraid, I'm really, really loving this, I want to wear it all the time. It's been in heavy rotation. I'm sad I can't buy gallons of this stuff.

[hkhm]

imp: i think sleek violet describes this well.

 

wet: oooh! wet lemony violets.

 

dry: back to violet. very soft violet. there is something in the back that is still lemony but it's too far away.

 

what a very nice blend, i'm glad i decided to get the pumpkin plunder so i could try this one out. it's playing nice with all the pumpkins in the patch as well...

[deleahrium]

Argh! Memories of Numb. Sharp, cough-inducing, painfully perfumey and powdery. What's in this that makes it smell so HARSH? I guess it's nice if you're into powdery scents, but this is way too cold for me as a scent like that.

[Lunaratu]

Sweet, light, airy, but dark. There is something velvety, sweet, slightly herbal, dry, resinous, and extremely atmospheric about this. I love this. Just wish I had much more than a sniffie of it. It’s one of my favorites of the entire plunder, sadly enough. ::shakes head at self::

Rating: 4/5

[n3m3sis42]

In the imp:

Herbals, not sure which ones.

 

Wet:

It sort of reminds me of shampoo. I think that's the verbena, but I don't have a very sophisticated sniffer.

 

Dry:

This pretty much just smells like faint, weird lemons on me. I'm glad I got to try it, but it's not going to be a new favorite. Which is really okay since I'm sure it would be hard to get more than just this imp without ordering a second Plunder.

[supremegoddessofall]

Well, I don't get the licorice that a lot of people have reported, but this still isn't for me. Very herbal and lots of benzoin, but almost none of the iris or amber.

 

Score: 2

[ceiswyn]

What an appropriate sniffie to be testing, given that I seem to be on an Agatha Christie kick

 

In the imp: This is a dark smell with a slightly musky quality. There is something woody there, and something slightly unusual, somewhere between herb and spice, that I feel I ought to recognise.

 

On the wrist: It sharpens on the wrist, becoming a little less musky, and the wood and herbs come through strongly, with a thread of something brighter that must be iris. There's a faint spiciness to it, and an unexpected hint of... violet?

 

One hour later: Well, it was very nice, briefly. Now I smell like slightly spicy parma violets. How is this possible?

[Blood onmy hands]

Murder of Crows was probably my biggest disappoint of this year's Halloween goodies. I love crows. I think that they're so intelligent and beautiful. Next to owls, they are my favorite animal. This scent just doesn't seem to fit my impression of them in any way. It's perfumey, lemony, slightly soapy, and sharp with a drydown of sharp lemons and baby powder. Something about it gives me the impression of used lemonsoap dishwater. It's not dark, complex, or 'smart' enough for me. Too simple, chemical, and clean. I want to be able to wear crows but at least my little 1/3 decant will be enough...

[sookster]

straight sniff from imp is deliciously floral and herbacious

 

once applied...hugely violet; a touch of lemon...

 

this remains violet for a short duration and then gets a bit more complex

and sophisticated; interesting and i am glad i got to try beth's heavenly

creation!

[cranberry]

When first applied, this is a mix of verbena and iris. Amber too. The verbena is there but it’s quiet, which is good because I usually don’t care for verbena. As it wears, even though the verbena is mild, it’s starting to do what verbena always does on me – that is, turn nasty. I don’t know if it’s my nose, my skin or my brain, but when I smell verbena after it’s been on a bit, I smell this weird raw flour scent. And that's what I'm getting here. I can't stand it.

 

Luckily, that weird smells doesn’t stick around long – after about 20 minutes it’s pretty much gone and I’m left with a predominantly amber – incense – violet/iris scent. This stage is absolutely wonderful. It doesn’t last too long after that but while it lasted it was fantastic and quite beautiful.

 

Overall I like this a lot, but that weird verbena stage is really bad. There’s too many oils that I love at all stages to fixate on an oil that smells good only part of the time.