Ichabod Crane

[surlygurl]

Dusty black wool, tea with cream, black pepper, muguet, and beeswax candle drippings.

This is one of those blends that I got a decant of, thinking "Oh, it'll probably be weird & I'll swap it. But I should try it first". And I'm glad I did!

Wet, its sour and sharp. Not offensively so, but still really weird. If it had stayed like that, it would've been a swap. But as it dried, the sour went away and was replaced by cream and sugar - not a White Rabbit cream, but a Glowing Vulva cream. Very light florals peek out every now and then. I think I can smell the beeswax, but it isn't strong - just a hint to ground & round out the sweetness. I never get the tea or the pepper, but what I do get is soft, sweet (but not 'OMG sugar!!') and absolutely lovely. On my skin, it's Glowing Vulva's littlest sister who has spent some time in Victorian England. Or something

This may be a bottle purchase

[Cereus]

In the bottle pepper, beeswax, and cream, with the sweetness of muguet.

 

Wet I get the beeswax, creamy tea, and dry pepper. The lily compliments the cream tea, and the pepper brings out the dusty wool.

 

Dry the cream tea is still predominant on me. It reminds me of a less sweet version of Cockaign, especially with the pepper in the background. The beeswax and wool in place of foody scents make this distinct, however.

[tartchef]

Wet: Erm. Sour & salty, but blood-warm... dare I say it?

Pee?

 

 

Oh dear. This is nothing like the bottle out at Shelldoo's. Where's the pepper & lovely unctuous beeswax? Instead I'm getting something frighteningly similar to Milk Moon '07, minus the tropical fruitiness. The muguet is snaking around the lot like a squit of air freshener - a desperate attempt to cover things up, but instead just clashing horribly. Similar to White Rabbit, but gone terribly, terribly wrong.

 

Utterly dreadful on my skin I had such high hopes for this, too...

[Iceblink]

Poor Ichabod. He is SO made of fail on my skin. He smells like a peppered wet sheep dipped in melted wax and is raising welts on my hand to boot. Great concept but I cannot even begin to pull this one off.

[Finny]

A quick blast of Lily, sweet and heady. As it dries down it becomes a honey sweetened tea, with a hint of lily, and a spicy pepper kick. I thought I would hate this, florals do not always do well on my skin. But I really like it.

 

It captures the dandy character of Ichabod beautifully.

[Juushika]

In the vial: I have no idea. It's soft, gently warm, and smooth, but has a vaguely unappealing "after-smell."

 

On me: When it first goes on, this reminds me almost perfectly of White Rabbit, crisp and homey, a touch strange—after all, they both share tea, milk/cream, pepper, and linen/wool. Ichabod Crane, however, is sweeter, softer, and warmer than White Rabbit; the longer it wears, the more the beeswax and muguet come out, and eventually they become predominant. Together, they are warm and golden with a distinct floral edge, reminding me (unexpectedly) of solar oils like Sportive Sun and Leo 2007. Altogether, the scent is smooth, golden, sharped a bit with the pepper, and just a touch refined; the texture of beeswax with the scent of a gentle unisex-or-men's parfum.

 

Verdict: Ichabod Crane is White Rabbit transforming into Sportive Sun/Leo 2007—and I already have those others, and don't wear them frequently. The floral note of the final stage is also a little too strong for my tastes. All told, this is a pleasant scent, unassuming but unusual (not entirely unlike Ichabod himself!), but it fit my personality or have much personality of its own. I'll retest this one more time, but I think I'll pass this decant along to someone else.

[Ravenclaw79]

Wet: Warm in a way my nose can't quite sort out, and peppery.

 

Drying: Weird. It's really not changing -- wool? Yeah, I think this is creamy wool, creamy wool with black pepper on top. This could get sickening fast, I think. Not for me.

[grashopper8]

Weirdly precise to the listing of notes, Ichabod Crane starts out as a creamy wool and beeswax blend. After a moment, the lily-of-the-valley comes out and lends a lightness and clean spike to the other thick notes.

 

This is fascinating and unique, but it's not really twanging my heartstrings....

 

3.2 out of 5

[Apple]

This is so strikingly similar to White Rabbit on me, which is not really surprising if you consider the notes:

Ichabod Crane: Dusty black wool, tea with cream, black pepper, muguet, and beeswax candle drippings.

White Rabbit: Strong black tea and milk with white pepper, ginger, honey and vanilla, spilled over the crisp scent of clean linen.

 

The wool + muguet seem to provide that clean linen note, the black pepper stands in for White Rabbit's white pepper, the beeswax smells very much like honey on me, and the tea is very quiet in both. The milk/cream provides a warm richness.

 

White Rabbit is a favorite of mine, so it's no surprise that I also love Ichabod. Both are snuggly-clean, sweet, comforting scents warmed by gentle spices. Yummy without being overtly foody. White Rabbit has a weird, fruity top-note that isn't present in Ichabod, but I find them virtually identical when dry (when they both smell mostly of honey). I love them both, and I will have to do a side-by-side test to see if I can justify springing for a bottle of Ichabod Crane.

[Pottersville]

Oh, yum! This is a spicier version of White Rabbit, with more throw and more staying power ... and since I love White Rabbit I must have more Ichabod!!! Love this stuff!

[naeelah]

I was a little dismayed by some early reviews of this, but as a long time lover of beeswax, creamy tea, black pepper, and weird notes (such as dusty wool) I kept my hopes high, and lucky for me, Ichabod Crane seems to like me.

 

In the bottle it's a bit sharp and odd. Lots of black pepper and muguet.

 

Wet, it has a strange, minty quality on my skin. I was hoping this would go away as it dried, and fortunately, it has. I can definitely smell the creamy tea and beeswax when it's wet, with a hint of black pepper, but the muguet and wool seem to predominate. The wool is similar to the lab's linens note, but true to the scent description, it has a dustier quality. (I'm not sure I find it as sheepy as the note in Queen Alice; White Rabbit is definitely the better point of comparison.)

 

The muguet and wool find a nice balance with the beeswax and tea once dry. The wax isn't nearly as strong here as in, say, Hand of Glory; together, the wax and tea form a soft, creamy base that isn't too sweet. The lily and dusty wool float over it, providing levity and contrast. The pepper adds just the slightest edge. On my skin, I don't find this as spicy as White Rabbit, and definitely nowhere near as peppery as Aries '07.

 

This is basically a dowdier version of Dorian, I think. I found Dorian a little bit too bright and musky, so this suits me perfectly. This is Dorian when he's old and content to stay at home, darning his socks. Slightly cozy, slightly effeminate, not quite the run of the mill.

 

I love it! I'm sure this will age beautifully. Try it if you like: White Rabbit, Aries '07, Dorian, Glowing Vulva, Hand of Glory, Queen Alice, Lilith Victoria...

 

ETA: 10/30/09 - after a year of aging, Ichabod is nice and smooth! The shrillness of the muguet is gone and everything blends beautifully. It's even woollier when wet but gorgeous when dry. The tea is easier to smell now, so after a few hours when the lily seems gone, it smells a lot more like White Rabbit.

Edited October 30, 2009 by naeelah

[Laurel the Woodfairy]

White Rabbit and O decided to spawn, and they named their offspring Ichabod. God, that mental image is nasty. But the scent is fantastic! Wet, this is White Rabbit + a sexy creamy honey that I suppose is actually beeswax but reads as O on my skin. Drydown is pure White Rabbit, which luckily is a scent I love. In fact, I wanted Ichabod for another black tea scent. I don't need a bottle since I can layer the two GCs for much the same effect (and I already have 'em), but I'll enjoy my decant.

[hypatia]

Oh Ichabod, you're rather odd. But peculiarly charming all the same.

 

I love White Rabbit, so any scent with similar tea/pepper/honey/cream basenotes is one that I have to try. The first time I tried Ichabod, I went a little overboard, and the cream note was kind of overwhelming: heavy and more dairy-ish than I like on my skin. But today I dabbed it on more sparingly, and the results were very nice. I was a little worried that the muguet would be too floral, but it's very pleasant and well-behaved. There's not a whole lot of beeswax (a pity, because I lurrrrrve beeswax), but it's very faintly there in the background, and the main notes are the tea and the cream with whiffs of muguet. I'm not sure where the wool is, but I do smell something a little dusty if I concentrate.

 

The general effect is very much like White Rabbit, except this is a cool scent where White Rabbit is a warm one. Instead of smelling like a piping hot, slightly spicy cup of tea, Ichabod is more like a cup of tea that's cooled off a bit while the distracted tea-drinker pauses to read a (slightly dusty) book and occasionally rearrange the lilies of the valley in his buttonhole. There's a similar domestic quality to both of them.

 

It's a strange combination when you think of it, but it works, I don't know how. I think I'll be alternating Ichabod and White Rabbit on days when I want something comforting and homey.

[birdiefu]

Mmmm, milk and cream! Other than the Milk moons, I don't get much true milk from other BPAL scents, the other notes always take over. This is waaay more milk than cream on me, more like Milk moon 05 minus mint and Milk moon 07 minus fruits, and I love it!

 

Wet, it is super milky cream with a touch of beeswax. The muguet and the wax in the beeswax gives it a weird, yet still appealing feel. As it dries, I get a bit of tea with a touch of pepper spiciness, but the milk is still dominant. I never get the wool note, which is kinda sad to me as I process wool (been going through a black fleece lately, too) for fun and would like a scent with that in it.

 

This ends up smelling like honeyed half-and-half with tea and a dash of pepper. Not "would you like some cream with your tea," but the other way around! One of my top milk scents and I am very happy to have tried Ichabod.

[Stephanie]

Definitely like a creamier White Rabbit with lily! I'm not too partial to WR, but I like this! Reminds me of the first Milk Moon, too. Yummy.

 

Introspective and sweet.

 

I will get a bottle of this!

[Hawke]

The topnote from the imp is a warm, buttery scent that must be the cream. Immediately beneath it, however, is tea with lemon. Intriguing.

 

Wet on the skin, it's pretty much the same, though the buttery bit blends back into the overall scent pretty quickly and the "lemon" disappears. And then it's back, but it's not lemon any more, it's a floral. Sweet, not overpowering, but it's an odd sort of note for a perfume named for a male character. Granted, a not very manly man, but still.

 

The lily changes again, sweetening further, until it smells like honey, not a flower, which makes me much happier. I think there's a hint of the beeswax now, too.

 

This dries down to a gorgeous cream and honey scent, which is amusing as the note's not listed, and the lab's honey usually doesn't work on me, but this one does. What an amazing morpher. Definitely keeping the decant, considering a bottle.

[Leopard403]

I guess if I'd known the meaning of the word "muguet" I might have ordered this sooner. I bought an imp and an empty bottle from a lovely forumite after I'd heard it smelled of lilies. Dur. Lovely scent, this, though I don't smell the complexities of the pepper like some others do: For me it's a wet-smelling lily scent, a fresh bouquet without the green.

[GhillieDhu]

My skin tends to turn everything sweet, and unfortunately Ichabod is no exception. I was hoping for a scholarly aroma of musty wool, strong tea, and beeswax. What I got? Sweet buttery vanilla cream, heady lilies, and a tingle of pepper, with a fuzzy undertone of sweaters. It's warm and cosy, and I can see why people like it, but it's just too thick and sweet for me.

[kawaiiferreto]

I can't explain what this smells like other than . Like others have said - it's warm and cozy and inviting - but unique (which is the wool note I think.) It's also a little creamy, and sweet but not too too sweet. Awesome!

[lilacea]

A unique blend. Kind of thick and rich to start with, smells like rich clotted cream, honey, and something slightly "interesting" added to the mix. I believe that's the lily. It's got a honeyed sweetness to the beeswax, the tea is lovely yet subdued and very close to the skin, but there's something that smells slightly off on my skin. I don't know if it's the honey/milk combo, because these can go wonky on me fairly often. It's hard to describe, almost like it's too rich? But even saying all this, it is a blend I still enjoy, lily and pepper are a fabulous combo in my books, and once that initial rich cream dies away a little, it's a soft, comforting scent.

[aquazoo]

Starts kinda medicine-y. Maybe that's the pepper? Now the other things are coming in. The beeswax, definitely, and is that bayberry? I like smelling it because there are so many interesting notes, just not sure that I like the overall effect. Maybe it's the cream that's a bit off. Eventually that disappears and what is left behind is nice. But it takes a while for that to happen.

[theseagrows]

something in this is going wonky on my skin, probably the beeswax, but i'm not sure. i smell something sort of vanilla-like, which i am guessing is the tea with cream. there's the muguet in the background and the strangeness of the beeswax coming through. i have a love/hate thing with this beeswax. one minute i like it, the next i don't. i'm not sure if i smell the wool or pepper in this-perhaps they are background elements. i'll probably have to try this again for the final verdict.

[livingdead71]

Ichabod is very interesting. It goes through a fairly long stage of strong tea with cream. It dries down eventually to a pretty honey like scent, probably beeswax, that actually reminds me of the dry down phase of Katrina Van Tassel. This scent lasted all day on me, with a lot of throw...no need for my usual midday refresh. I can see why people would compare this to White Rabbit, but Ichabod is much nicer on me. I don't think I'll need more than my decant though, since a little goes a long way!

[MeiLin]

Well, the cream is spoiled, and that's all I get: Sour milk. I actually had to wash this off, and I rarely have to do that with BPAL. It's probably a skin chemistry thing.

 

I may let it age and try it again, but my initial hit? blech.

[gnl]

In the bottle: You know, if you had asked what wool smelled like a minute ago, I'm not sure I'd have a ready answer. Now? It smells like Ichabod Crane. It reminds me of knitting, which I suppose makes sense, plus there's a little bit of tea in there as well.

 

Wet: Lily isn't listed as a note, but that's what I'm getting: wool and lily. The lily is super strong at first, but after a minute it blends nicely with the wool so it's not a super floral-y smell.

 

Dry: The lily has faded and black pepper has taken its place, though wool is still the stronger scent.

 

Verdict: I definitely like Ichabod. I'm just not sure I'd actually *wear* it that often, as wool's not exactly the most exciting thing to smell like. (I'll have to try White Rabbit, though, just based on the reviews here, to see what it is everybody else apparently smells on this one. *amused*)

 

4/5