Lune Noire

[Delirium1009]

Lune Noire: Beth's Creation
The encroaching darkness: black orchid, jonquil, white pear, white amber, gardenia, olibanum, champaca, sweet clove, tonka, oakmoss, and blue musk.

In bottle/imp: This smells sort of like cherry flowers. Breaking it down I get a very bright, almost juicy fruitiness melding seamlessly with florals and a light amount of oakmoss.

Immediately on skin: When I put this on, I’m still getting almost a cherry-like feel to it. I’m pretty sure it’s the orchid, champaca, pear, and gardenia all melding together. This is juicy and dark, but not overly sweet or floral. And most of all, the cherry feel I get doesn’t smell at all like cough syrup. After a few minutes the notes are breaking up. I get a lot of orchid out of this, but it's tamed by a touch of pear and champaca. The gardenia adds a nice richness. There's almost a slight underlying musky woodiness... or at least something a little dry to balance all of these other juicy notes.

After a little while: As time goes on, this gets a little drier-smelling overall. There’s a definite bit of cool musk now, which balances out the thickness of the orchid. This smells floral but thick, dark, and rich with a dry, musky overtone and an overall cool feel. It’s almost fruity, but not quite. Mostly, though, this is an orchid scent with champaca and gardenia adding a bit of wild floral-ness, and a touch of pear and oakmoss. I think the white amber and clove may be giving this the drier feel, but I’m not sure.

Overall Impressions: This is a very lovely scent in that dark, rich manner that Beth does so well! Primarily, this is an orchid scent on me, but it’s more complex with hints of other florals, pear, and musk and dry amber notes. It's not too floral, too cool, or too anything, really. It's very nicely balanced.

[Dark Alice]

In the Bottle: Very light scent of pear and something else....something dark. I think it's orchid.

 

Wet on skin: Very light pear and strong gardenia in the dark. Very subtle, the gardenia (which my skin tends to amp) is strong but the orchid seems to pull it back into place and not overwhelm the rest of the scent on my skin.

 

Drydown: It's like walking on a cool september night near gardenia and black orchids. I am going to let this one settle and age a bit, however overall it is an unbelievably gorgeous night/dark scent. I can't wait to wear this in the fall.

Edited August 9, 2008 by Dark Alice

[galahad]

In The Bottle

Primarilyfresh and juicy pear!

 

On Application

Pear, orchid and jonquil. The orchid is behaving so far. This is one of the darkest florals so far. There is almost a tar note.

 

Dry Down

The orchid and jonquil try and fight for dominance as the pear remains a constant bystander at the beginnig of the drydown. Gradually the oakmoss, some of the spiciness of the clove and the cool, powdery blue musk emerge to blend with the whole. My initial alarm at the florals was premature. This is gorgeous and i am so glad a snaffled a couple of bottles.

 

Rating (0-5)

5

[Heavenlyrabbit]

The notes in Lune Noire sound like it was made specifically for me.

 

And this does smell divine for about one minute before it completely disappears.

 

Heartbreaking.

[hkhm]

bottle: i get pear, amber, musk and tonka. so sweet and pretty.

 

wet: this is like bright pear candy. the gardenia appears but has a very pleasant, soft scent.

 

dry: very light gardenia and tonka. not anything like i was expecting but very beautiful.

[alicia_stardust]

In the bottle this smells mostly of a juicy pear that has been dusted with a soft amount of resin powder to give it a touch of depth and atmosphere. It keeps that same pear-like quality as the oil first dries before morphing into a hazy, dusky orchid-amber with little hints of oakmoss and resins, slight hints of gardenia and blue musk.

 

I get a general feeling of something deep and mysterious, dark, serene, tranquil, fluid. This blend seems to have a complexity to it that makes it really hard to quantify but no matter what, one thing is obvious: this is really, really gorgeous!

[mgrazulis]

In the bottle: black orchid, wet pear and a hint of orange smoke

Wet on the skin: jonquil, gardenia, magnolia, blue musk. For a brief moment, the jonquil is quite strong. The gardenia is more subtle than I expected, floating with the champaca in the cool musk.

 

Drydown: The orchid is back with the pear and the aroma from the clove has a soothing effect as if to keep one from swooning in headiness in the luxuriant gardenia and champaca. Once the flowers blend, they soften. Damp bark and creamy tonka seep through the blended flowers.

 

Gorgeously complex...dark, nocturnal and lovely.

Edited August 12, 2008 by mineralfairy

[Lit Chick]

This should rock my world. So many delightful notes. So many favorites!

So why is it so "meh" on me?

 

I ordered this with Snow,Glass,Apples - and that should have been hideous, but it was magic. Lune Noir should be my holy grail, and it's not.

I think it's the blue musk.

 

Don't get me wrong - it is a lovely scent. Very dark-purple and slinky. It starts of with a sweent bang that reminds me a lot of Dragon's Milk before it gets all grown-up and sophistocated.

 

When I was in college and skinny, I had a fantastic, outrageous, skin-tight purple velvet BCBG dress with long sleeves that ended in half-gloves. It was so very Morticia-Adams-Goes-Glam. I loved it. I only ever had the guts to wear it in October, but I wore the hell out of it in Octobers.

Lune Noir is what I should have smelled like in that dress. Slinky, dark, maybe a touch wicked.

But alas, I am not that slinky, dark girl anymore. I think I'm going for less secretive scents lately.

 

If you want a little mystery... prowl in this scent. Grrrr.

[tempete]

Freshly applied Lune Noire smells like a really yummy liquor that bartenders use to make exotic drinks. The pear note is dominant in this stage and makes the scent sweet, but it doesn't push the too-sweet boundary for me. Lune Noire gradually loses its sweetness and acquires a creamy note as it dries down. Fortunately for me, gardenia (one of my archnemesis notes) doesn't make a headache-inducing appearance.

 

Black Moon didn't work on me at all but I think that Lune Noire is a keeper!

[greenranger]

Night flowers. It smells like an overgrown garden full of things that don't open up till after it's dark. So far, it's really nice...for a floral.

 

Except that the floral portion never does last on me. What it is becoming is a tonka/oakmoss/musk scent, with the musk going sweet like it does sometimes on my skin. Is blue musk related to purple musk? Penumbra went way sweet on me.

 

 

The flowers are merely a memory adding sweetness to the already sweet musk. The rest of what is left on my skin is tonka and oakmoss.

 

The final scent is too faint for me. Ah, well. It will make someone else happy.

Edited August 17, 2008 by Aerinha

[sheridankm]

Lune Noire reminds me very strongly of Swan Maiden, a favorite of mine. The two share gardenia, jonquil and orchid, and in the wet stage they smell practically identical on me, with Swan Maiden a little more classically floral with the lily and muguet. Then the sweet musk of Lune Noire comes out--still very, very similar perfumes, but Lune Noire is a little dryer, a little more summery, maybe even a little sexier. Good for a hot summer night, but it's not dark-feeling at all.

 

It's also strong, whoa. One tiny dab on my wrist fills the room with scent.

[inurbanus]

A very pretty white floral -- like if Bat-Woman and White Moon mated, this would be their offspring. I didn't apply this with a glass wand, as I normally do, so I can't really judge how much throw this has, but it smells lush and a little decadent. This doesn't really smell "dark" to me at all. It's sweet, but stately. I think I'm going to have to retry this a couple more times before I can figure out how much I like it.

 

3.5/5, for now

[CreamyJade]

In the bottle: Sweet pear and dark florals.

Wet on skin: Oh lush! The pear is still very present. It's still a very sweet smell on my skin.

Dry on skin: The sweetness dries down, I can smell the musk. It becomes something darker and creamier when the pear leaves. Lovely!

Final thoughts: I never was one for florals (though I love Midnight on the Midway), but this scent is marvelous! I wish I could recognize the flower notes better to find out exactly what I love about this scent. It's definately worth a second bottle!

[slave1]

LUNE NOIRE

 

In Bottle: Floral musk

 

On Skin: Ok, this is probably the prettiest floral ever. I am so happy I ordered 2 bottles unsniffed. Oh my god… I could just drown in my wrist… This is so feminine and gorgeous. The blue musk is dominant giving it a bit of a Blue Moon edge, then the florals come into play, the gardenia perfectly creamy. The amber is soft and with the other resins create the softest blanket for the other notes to be cuddled in. The pear is sweet and a bit tart, the oakmoss clean and a bit ozoney. The sweet clove is a shocker, because clove tends to go metallic on me, but here it is very subtle and warm. I cannot explain how much I love this. I thought I wasn’t a floral person, but I will wear this scent whenever I want to go outside my foody box and feel all ladylike. Beth you are AMAZING! Medium to strong throw, average wearlength.

[Stephanie]

A deep, rich velvety blue-white orchid scent.

 

It has dewy, crystalline top notes and dries down to gorgeously soft, slighty spicy flowers. It's like a twilight garden in the tropics--where it's not "humid" but lush.

 

I'll echo most everyone's sentiments here and say that this is absolutely stunning. I will need more than one bottle.

Edited August 14, 2008 by Stephanie

[KaliVerra]

This is the CREAMIEST orchid/gardenia scent to me... almost delicious smelling - like, lickable I'm truly bowled over by Lune Noire... 5/5!

[Czarina]

In the bottle: berries (I know, my nose is strange).

Wet: sweet pear and tonka with a wine/grape note.

Drydown: heavenly. I can't pick out the individual scents without looking at the description list. I also get a very faint wood note.

 

I know that grape/wine is not one of the listed notes, but this has a very sweet note to me that is very reminiscent of how Blood Phoenix/Prospero smells on me.

[milo]

In the bottle, very florally, but not overly so. On, the florals amp on me, I'm betting it's the gardenia, which seldom works for me. Off to swaps.

[suki]

in the bottle: sweet, complex musk.

 

wet on skin: it's...wow. it reminds me of the smell i would encounter in my aunt and uncle's attic when i was a small child- that scent of hidden treasures and musty old dust that smells really good. ancient.

 

dry down: a complex blend, i can't pick out *any* individual notes. all i can say is that it is sweet without being cloying, or floral or food. it's musty and musky. and it fills me with a childhood nostalgia that is disconcerting in it's strength!

 

in all: get this- it's like nothing, NOTHING else.

 

 

 

[ouch!]

This is really really pretty! Much prettier and lighter than I had expected.

 

It's mainly pear when it's wet, with a floral there too..I'm taking this to be the Orchid. It's lovely. I wouldn't say it has the stongest of throws though. It's going to be one of those perfumes you have to get very close to smell properly.

As it dries the pear fades..(as fruits always do on me) and it becomes more floral. Orchid and Jonquil are taking over and it gets stronger.

As much as I don't want to say it...this stage does smell slightly like a counter store perfume..so..I'm waiting for it to change again...(please please Tonka, Champaca and Blue musk come out to play?)

 

Drying further, there is a faint trace of Champaca (nyum nyum) but it's holding on to that floral..commercial kinda smell.

 

From there it just fades quietly to a soft floral...Champaca very faint..

 

Overal it's still very nice though..

[dluszcz]

The best way I can describe Lune Noir is that it must be Penumbra's little sister. It's purple and sweet, but not as dark and deep, more floral. This is pretty and very girly girly.

[Blood onmy hands]

I was hoping that the clove, tonka, and oakmoss would make this more than just a fruity floral on my skin, but I can't smell any of those notes in Lune Noire. On me, this is a subtle floral scent with a hint of pear in the early stages.

 

Black orchid is one of my favorite floral notes, and I can happily pick it out in this blend at first. It smells juicy, exotic, and sultry. The drydown is more perfumey gardenia than orchid, and the pear fades away. The gardenia might be sharp enough to give me a headache (that sharp, white floral scent), but this stays light enough on my skin that it's not really offensive.

 

I like The Premature Burial & Phantom Queen more for my black orchid fix. I was hoping for a complex, sultry, dark floral from this, but Lune Noire just goes to a light, white floral on my skin. I probably won't be keeping my decant.

[Suu4LC]

I was intrigued by this scent when I saw the description, but also intimidated-I had no idea what it would smell like...so I didn't order it. Thankfully I got the chance to sniff it at will call and fell in love. This is a GORGEOUS scent. A sexy sweet smoky orchid/purpley scent. I think what really makes this blend a winner is just the right amount of the champaca. Perfectly blended! So glad I got a bottle of this!

[butcherbaby]

it took me a few tries to realize how much i *really* like this scent...at first it seemed way too light for my scent slurping skin but slathering and layering did the trick.

this is such a well blended scent it is difficult for me to pull out any single notes. the pear is evident in the bottle, but when i wear i swear all i can think of is *blueberries*- not so much the smell or taste but the *color*. just and endless deep indigo blue. too dark to be blue moon, yet not dark enough to be quite black this might also be my mind making the "logical" assumption that blue musk MUST smell blue.

so it smells like blue musky pears and dusky evening florals, in a surprisingly light, yet long lasting scent.

 

i fear that this scent may have suffered from being released at the same time as the resurrected schwarzer mond, and was overshadowed by it. it is, however, a goregous and masterly blend in it's own right, and you can be sure i'll be snatching up another bottle or two as soon as i possibly can.

Edited August 24, 2008 by butcherbaby

[iiinterstate]

I picked up a bottle of Lune Noire on a whim, even though I don't usually care much for florals. The tonka made me do it, and I do have a bit of a love of champaca as well.

 

At first, LN has such strong floral notes it actually made my eyes water a little, but after about 20 minutes, everything settled down a bit. Now I'm mostly getting champaca and gardenia with a bit of pear. It's very nice. I'm not absolutely positive it's my taste yet, but I'll have on to it for awhile and see how we get along

 

I chose to wear this to work today, and I've decided that Lune Noire is a lovely and complex scent that's definitely me. After about 8 hours of wear, the primary note on my skin is still champaca, but now it's balanced beautifully with the tonka and amber. I will be keeping this bottle and tracking down another one. I imagine this will age well!

Edited August 27, 2008 by iiinterstate