Mourning Moon

[Heavenlyrabbit]

As virtuous men pass mildly away,
And whisper to their souls, to go,
Whilst some of their sad friends do say,
'The breath goes now,' and some say, 'No:'

So let us melt, and make no noise,
No tear-floods, nor sigh-tempests move;
'Twere profanation of our joys
To tell the laity our love.

Moving of th' earth brings harms and fears;
Men reckon what it did, and meant;
But trepidation of the spheres,
Though greater far, is innocent.

Dull sublunary lovers' love
(Whose soul is sense) cannot admit
Absence, because it doth remove
Those things which elemented it.

But we by a love so much refin'd,
That ourselves know not what it is,
Inter-assured of the mind,
Care less, eyes, lips, and hands to miss.

Our two souls therefore, which are one,
Though I must go, endure not yet
A breach, but an expansion,
Like gold to airy thinness beat.

If they be two, they are two so
As stiff twin compasses are two;
Thy soul, the fix'd foot, makes no show
To move, but doth, if the' other do.

And though it in the centre sit,
Yet when the other far doth roam,
It leans, and hearkens after it,
And grows erect, as that comes home.

Such wilt thou be to me, who must
Like th' other foot, obliquely run;
Thy firmness makes my circle just,
And makes me end, where I begun.

Ethereal, somber, and woeful: Chinese musk, wisteria, white grapefruit, calla lily, violet leaf, orange, gaiac wood, balsam of Peru, and Florentine iris.

I get a soft yet resinous musk mixed with an understated floral. The woods/resins definitely have the upper hand here. None of the brightness I'd anticipated from the grapefruit and orange. Which makes sense since this in Mourning Moon. Still unexpected that they can blend so well with the stronger bottom notes.

A non-floral floral, IMO.

And something there is something very -Classic- about this.

[jrk1857]

Wet this had me very worried. Something in the background smelled much too much like curdled milk. After about 20 minutes, curdled-milk note went away. Now this is very much, as the previous review noted, a woody and resinous smell, with just a bit of floral in the background. A hint of citrus keeps it from being too heavy and oppressive, but the citrus notes don't jump out.

 

This is going to be a great cold-weather scent for me this winter.

 

ETA: I wound up being a bit disappointed the first day, because after a few hours this ended up on a weirdly dusty note. Today I tried again, though, and I got neither curdled milk nor dust. It's also (yay!) more citrusy, although still not strongly so. Mostly, the wet and very dry stages shifted to something more pleasant. I'm guessing either my bottle needed a little more time to recover from being shipped, or my very high stress levels on the first day made it "off" somehow. In any event, this has gone from good to really, really good.

Edited November 3, 2008 by jrk1857

[jehrichardson]

Wet: Oranges and woods with a tiny backnote of sassafrass. I intensely dislike sassafrass, but this really isn't bad.

 

Dry: Much the same, it's rich and refreshing. I'm glad that the woods and the citrus dominate, I was worried that there would be to much floral. As it is, there's just a hint.

 

The scent stays fairly close to the skin and I expect the citrus to wane first, then the florals, leaving lovely woods for the long term. We'll see!

 

Upshot? This is one of my favorites, I desperately desperately love it.

[inurbanus]

Unfortunately, Mourning Moon was so faint on me that I couldn't get a strong impression of it. The most dominant notes were the orange and the grapefruit, with some of the flowers poking through. From what I could smell, this reminds me of Vampire Tears, which I'm not a very big fan of. I'm hoping aging will strengthen this.

[moonstonemama]

my extremely weird skin chemistry strikes again.

 

in the bottle: very citrus. I definitely smell the grapefruit and orange

wet: wintergreen and dead fish.

dry: wintergreen and dead fish.

 

 

once I put this on I don't get any the lovely citrus I was hoping for. I love the lab's grapefruit note, and it's nowhere to be found. There's no floral scent, there's no resins, there's no musk. the description and notes sounded so wonderful, I'm very disappointed this doesn't even come close to working for me.

[GreenSpine]

The artwork on the bottle is fantastic.

 

Wet, first I get a spash of grapefruit and citrus, which fades very quickly. During drydown this goes through a brief, strange phase where it's primarily wintergreen over a very lovely, almost translucent, musk. (I wish I knew where I'm getting wintergreen from - it's not bad at all, just unexpected.) Once it's dry, the wintergreen vanishes and it becomes absolutely stunning light florals and musk.

 

This is a very quiet scent, complicated and thoughtful.

 

EDIT: As the bottle has aged, the wintergreen stage has disappeared completely, and the musk has become more dominant. This has become one of my top ten favorite scents.

Edited April 6, 2009 by GreenSpine

[Coldfire]

I ordered this one and it ends up arriving the day I had to send out press releases on the passing of the lead singer of a band I've worked for over 10 years. Kind of Appropriate eh?

 

 

 

Bottle: somber is right, but there are traces of the musk, wisteria and the orange and white grapefruit.

Wet On Me: more wisteria and musk with the citrus now becoming whispers and tracers

Drying Down: Mostly the musk with the wisteria now. Not getting any of the citrus anymore.

Dry: gentle, and definitely somber musk with wisteria. This is a quiet scent.

[dluszcz]

I think "ethereal" and "somber" are perfect adjectives for Mourning Moon. I would also add "bitter." Wet on my skin, and in the bottle, this is a bit of musk and raw wood overshadowed by a strong, bitter pith of the grapefruit. This isn't a "good" smell at this point, I find it a bit disturbing. After it dries down, the bitterness fades a tiny, tiny, bit, revealing a hint of the sweet calla lily. At the end of the day, it's raw wood and bitter grapefruit.

 

Overall, this is really the taste on your tongue when you get a bit of the grapefruit's pith in your mouth, and your face just automatically screws up. Strangely enough, I enjoy Mourning Moon. It's what I wish aquatics were like on me. I did not find this minty, or at all like Vampire Tears, which was all sickeningly sweet almond-cherry candy for me. This is frozen, mud and a biting, dry wind, bringing winter in.

[angelicruin]

In the bottle, orange and grapefruit.

 

Wet on skin, still got the orange and grapefruit, but I am also picking up the musk.

 

As it dries, I smell vanilla drizzled on the orange and grapefruit and still smell a light musk. I am not really getting any woodsy notes, and I can barely smell any floral. It's most creamy citrus blended with musk.

[hkhm]

bottle: this is very faint. a faint wood scent with some herby or floral note. almost too faint to tell.

 

wet: musk and grapefruit. a very unusual combination.

 

dry: this dries to a soft, almost woodsy grapefruit. grapefruit almost never stays on me so this is quite a pleasant surprise.

[Dark Alice]

Wet on the skin: I smell like sweaty old gym socks and Grapefruit. There is something in this that makes the grapefruit smell rotten. I don't know if I will be keeping this one at all.

 

Drydown: Now this scent has just gone poof on my skin!!! It has completely disappeared leaving behind the lightest hint of nasty gym socks. I now have to wash this off. I am Not a fan. This one is going up on evil bay for sure.

[bristlecone]

In the bottle: Grapefruit and something chemical... like cleaning fluid.

 

On my skin, wet: Grapefruit and menthol? Plus some musk. It borders on unpleasant without actually going there.

 

On my skin, dry: Wow, this is pretty! I get grapefruit and orange and there's a little bit of that menthol note underneath it, and some sort of velvety wood/resin scent. It's really not very strong; I have to hold my arm up to my nose to smell it. If a scent could be considered translucent, I think this would qualify for that term. I think that someone who doesn't normally like citrus scents could still enjoy this.

 

(Edited to add that I'm suddenly getting a lot of musk in the drydown. It reminds me of the musk in Buck Moon.)

Edited November 13, 2008 by bristlecone

[livingdead71]

Mourning Moon smells very purple to me. It actually reminds me a lot of Smarties candy. I don't really find it somber, since it smells like candy, which makes me very happy. I smell the grapefruit more in the scent locket, than on the skin. I really love this scent and think I will wear it a lot. One of my co-workers said I smelled nice when I had it on, which is always a good sign!

[lysithea]

Initially, in the bottle this smelled odd. I can't really put my finger aas to why. Perhaps my nose was a bit wonky this morning. Anywho...

 

There is a distinct backnote of sassafrass that was quite unexpected. I was immediately reminded of Stimulating Sassafrass Strengthener without any of the vanillic tones. As it dries, it went through very distinct floral stages on my skin. I will admit that Florentine Iris does not play well on my skin, but the woody notes kept that in check, thank goodness. I never really got the orange or white grapefruit. On late drydown, the chinese musk remains. I do find it both comforting, but sad. Very fitting for the scent and it's description.

[dreadpiraterustypants2]

whoof!

the label art pushes all the embroidery out the way and just delivers straight up skulls (with fangs!) huzzah-

 

preconceived notions: unsure of this one, there's been more than a hand-full of mixed reviews. I'm hoping for a musky wooden grapefuit-cross fingers-

 

in the bottle- woah! I see where y'all get gym socks- a super potent and complex brew., yet underlying is a very disgruntled grapefruit. And i most certainly whiff calla lily, although it really strikes my schnoz as an easter-ish lily. Definitely a White scent. a floral citrus with an underlying anchor of something unknown...perhaps a woody musk?

 

lets see on the wrist- mmm- i still get lily- any lushies liken it to lily savon soap? or ghost shower gel- this goes pleasantly powdery on me- while still making itself known. no woods, just a lily musk- and a harmonious citrus (not quite grapefruit, more orange-ish to me snifter). quite somber. GO POWDER GO! its as if that bottled gym sock smell has gotten a healthy dose of baby powder on its tootsies. Probably powder = musk. I feel quite taken! -

I think this one would struts its stuff as Gothic Loli personified- Oh, its dark alright- but remains playful and light all the same.

 

throw- whelp, I doused me neck...sooo perhaps its somewhat large at the moment, but it ain't a tame one!

 

over the hours- a quieter musk, sort of reminds me of a powder fresh pitt stick....which is to say, still yummy soft-

 

verdict- To think my order almost was not to be!

Edited November 17, 2008 by dreadpiraterustypants2

[neuilly]

Ooops, I forgot to write this review when I actually tried it! I'm just going to copy my notes and hope they make sense:

 

Light and tingly. Some orange, slightly powdery and sad. A bit like a sandalwood fan I own.

[zankoku_zen]

This one is indeed a nice somber, demure, sophisticated floral. It makes me think of funeral bouquets --- it's got plenty of white floral.

 

Pretty. Somber. It's name is very appropriate.

 

ADDED Feb. 4:

 

There was a sharp bitter tinge to this blend on wet (very similar to the bitterness in Moon of Terrible). On the drydown it fades and I can smell more of the grapefruit and violet.

 

It's a sharp, almost salty blend on me. I'm not sure I like violets, since so many BPAL blends with violets listed as a component smell sharp to me. Pass.

[papermaker]

In the bottle: citrus and woods.

On the skin: less citrus more floral

On drydown: resins, musk with a hint of citrus.

 

It is light and pretty. Like its name says it seems to be for somber occasions.

[Minerva]

Something... sniff, sniff... doesn't smell right to me about this blend. I'm getting a strange stale gum and molding dirt note followed by a whiff of citrus peelings... I even think I'm too much of a wimp to try the blend. Off to swaps for sure.

[mgrazulis]

Gentle woods and resins blended with somber purple and white florals. The fruit tops are muted with a hint of bitter. Skin-close, quiet with a sedate translucent musk. Funereal yet classic.

 

[sookster]

straight sniff from imp is grapefruit, wisteria and violet leaf...

 

once applied orangey musk with a hint of woodiness...a unique and interesting blend...

[Blood onmy hands]

I really dislike the way this smells in the vial, but it's even worse on my skin. In the bottle, it's crazed, sharp grapefruit and something 'off' that's reminding me of rotting fish (grapefruit perfume oils often smell rotten to me). I think I can smell a strange wood note in here as well.

 

On me, this is insanely sour. Sour mess, burning wood, and rotten grapefruits. I was hoping that the violet would be a star player in this blend, but it's nowhere to be found. In the drydown, this smells really salty and sour and awful on me

 

Mourning Moon is in the top five of my least favorite scents, I'd have to say. The label art is awesome, but the scent is a horrible mess on me. Blech.

[caitilarkin]

In the vial: Sharp, non-foody citrus (mostly grapefruit) and balsam, florals in the background, backed by musk and wood. The notes can be detected separately but are in harmony with each other, at least to my nose.

 

Wet on skin: The florals are way in the background, adding a distant sweetness to a blend that is largely citrus and balsam at the point. The whole scent is grounded and unified by the wood note(s).

 

Dry on skin: Blended and sweeter; each note makes its own contribution to a blend that is a perfect expression of the poem in the scent description.

 

After three tests, I've come to realize how evocative this scent is: the morphing process of this blend reminds me so strongly of what it feels like to be mourning the loss of a loved one. The sharp, bittersweet citrus suggests the initial agony of grief, the florals are the sweetness of memory (which ebbs and flows), the balsam is healing and the grounding wood notes are a reminder that life goes on. Mourning Moon beautifully captures the universal process of bereavement and remembrance in scent.

[Victory]

Mourning Moon's name is very apt. When I smelled it, I didn't smell the notes, I just had this huge sense of mourning. It smelled maybe like something that a dead loved one owned, that you've kept in a drawer to take out and remember them- a little stuffy with dust and age, and just so sad. It's an amazing oil in the sense that it triggers the sense of bereavement, but I'm just as happy not to have the oil- I don't want to go looking for that feeling.

[milo]

This one is a bit difficult to review for me. To me, it is a soft, powdery whispy floral, I quite like it coming from one who doesn't really like most florals. It reminds me of the scented pretty ponies, not sure if you can get them anymore, but quite feminine, something that you would imagine a young, pretty child smelling like. Fades quickly. I'll probably enjoy the imp more in the spring time.