The Piper at the Gates of Dawn

[hkhm]

Sublime peace, ecstatic joy, and thunderstruck awe: terebinth pine, patchouli, brown musk, linden blossom, honey, mallow, blood orange, heliotrope, and golden amber.

bottl: whoa! linden! there's orange, pine and heliotrope as well. very vibrant.

wet: this is faint pine, juicy orange, spicy amber... this smells like sunlight. it's just golden and luminous.

dry: this dries to honeyed amber, orange and a touch of something earthy. lovely.

[kakiphony]

In the bottle: Astringent pine on the first whiff, with orange appearing on the second sniff. This seems aggressive and a bit feral in the decant.

 

Wet on skin: Pine is the dominant note with just a hint of orange to brighten it. The overall effect is the olfactory equivalent of sucking on something sour so all the spit leaves your mouth. It also remind me of Christmas.

 

Early dry down (15 minutes): The right wrist is much sweeter than the left. It is mainly orange with linden rising up from below. It is quite perfumey and smells a little bit rancid to my nose. Despite these observations, it is not unpleasant -- just more "sophisticated" than what I usually wear. The left wrist is spicier, with pine sap and a hint of the molasses/gingersnap scent that certain patchoulis produce on me. The left is preferable to the right. I will have to see how this war of chemistry plays out.

 

Late dry down (one hour): For a scent with patchouli and pine, this has turned out to be something fades awfully quickly on me. After an hour, I'm left with a scent that is very skin-like and has next to no throw. It is mainly the gingersnap molasses patchouli smell with just the subtlest hint of the sweet linden/orange comination at the front of the sniff. It's pretty, and quite surprisingly lady-like.

[ivyandpeony]

This is very nice now, fresh from the Lab, but I am really looking forward to a few months from now when everything has mingled, melded and aged a little bit. I particularly love patchouli and/or amber blends after they've had some time to age, sometimes they can seem a little raw to me when they are brand new.

 

Not that Piper is in any way unpleasant now! It reminds me a bit of The Illustrated Woman - a less sweet version with some light citrus and floral notes on top. The pine is very well behaved and allows some of the other notes out, which isn't always the case. Overall, it's a little bit orangey, with woody, spicy and musky notes emerging immediately as the orange wafts away. I think it will be a bit more resinous in time and the patchouli will get spicier, which are pluses for me! Whatever Beth has done to come up with "brown musk," I commend her - it's a warm, furry feeling musk without any pungency or animalic tendencies, yet it's still strong enough to stand up to some very assertive components like pine and patchouli here.

[jewelbug]

Imp: A dark rich musky/resin scent with a hint of tart citrus fruits.

 

Wet: Lots of sweet, zingy, juicy orange to start, supported by rich resin/musk. A few moments later, I get a whiff of something herbal and soapy (linden blossom? Mallow?) as the orange weakens. It’s a fine expensive clean soap smell, and this soapiness strengthens over the first 10-15 min.

 

Drying: a pale honeyed mallow scent starts to come through the soapy scent, supported by a very nice heliotrope smoothness

 

Dry: This deepens and develops a kind of syrupy earthy undercurrent. I don’t’ know how else to describe..its slightly foody..almost licoricey? That’s very unexpected…like herbal soap, sparkly mallow/heliotrope and a touch of anise. 2 hrs in, I get less of the herbal soap, and a darker, muskier, more resinous scent that still manages to retain the sweetness from before. Sadly, there is also a bit of a synthetic burn scent now, too. It ends in a sweet brown scent, kinda creamy/mallow-y, soft and pretty, but still with a weird burny synthetic burn on deep inhale.

 

Overall: Much “cleaner” and lighter than I had expcted from the notes. I didn’t get much in the way of musk/patchouli/pine, but more of an herbal soap with some sweetness to it. Sadly, the tendency to go synthetic on me means I'll be passing this on.

[Coldfire]

Decant: a nice dark blend. Some pine whiffs and patchouli whiffs

Wet on Me: wow this is pretty. Kinda spicy floral not as much pine now

Drying Down: More pine now, with faint breaths of patchouli and the soft amber.

Dry: pine blended with patchouli and touches of the musk now..which might have

kept the amber from turning to baby powder on me.

[iiinterstate]

WOW, sharp pine for sure.

then... a little patchouli.

then... a little orange.

 

This ends up very medicinal on me. Unfortunately, I do not like.

[rayvn1]

This started out as a sunlit orchard of blood oranges with some flowers strewn along the way. Now, however, it's changed into a weird brownish scent with a slightly bitter and sharp hint of citrus waaaay in the back. Some linden blossom coming through also I think. No pine, amber, or patchouli whatsoever Sadly, it's kind of meh on me.

[yeahbutnobut]

The Piper at the Gates of Dawn

 

In the imp: pine and orange and ohhh. That’s what I exclaimed when I smelt this-ohhh. I can’t describe it otherwise.

Wet on skin: pine! Gorgeous sappy pine, and delicious blood orange, and honey!

Dry on skin: blood orange (whoa, lots of that!) and pine sap. This smells beautiful. I adore the pine sap in here. It smells rich and resinous and warm, nothing Christmas tree about this pine. In fact it reminds me of cypress sap in here for some reason. The blood orange is a bold, gutsy citrus which is almost like grapefruit in here, bittersweet and tangy. I can smell honey too, and a floral sweetness from heliotrope, and patchouli. This is a really intriguing blend of notes and I like the way they are mingling…it smells like rich dark greens and oranges and golds and browns. I agree with the painting analogy. This reminds me of the Illustrated Woman fused with Angeronalia.

After a while: the orange sure is persistent! And that’s not a bad thing. It is a lot more bitter/peely than expected though, but in a good way. now I think I can smell more of the linden (interesting light floral) and heliotrope, and something that may be musk. The honey goes all beeswax-y now, and the scent seems to have lost it’s sweetness. But this is still really nice. At this point it reminds me of Pepper, but less floral, much more pine-y.

There are times when I am unsure about this-something in here wants to turn rubbery. I have no idea why but I seem to smell something like rubber or plastic in here-it’s fleeting, but it pops up now and then. It’s a real shame because I love the pine and orange in here, but it seems to be going flat in the way that Illustrated Woman did. Maybe it’s the patchouli? Normally I like patch but maybe this variety/combination is a bit strange on me. it could also be the linden-I’m not familiar with this floral. Where’s the amber gone?

The scent changes again at drydown-turning to a sort of beeswax-pine scent with a patchouli-musk base. It reminds me of Hexennacht now, a similar mix of evergreen and a hint of incense and musk.

Verdict: I loved this at the beginning, a wonderful scent of thick pine resin with bittersweet blood orange backed up with honey and flowers and patchouli. I can’t say why, but this scent seems almost jubilant, a celebration of nature, it’s earthy but a bit flamboyant too, bright colours and vivid scents. This explosion of notes does tone down a little as the scent progresses, and sadly it seems to go a little rubbery on me, which is strange. Almost like a waxy-soapy-plastic at times. I think it’s possibly a floral thing. But it could be a certain blend of honey, patch and pine that may not work, as I think this was the kind of scent that put me off the Illustrated Woman. Though this rubbery scent doesn’t always pop up, it does improve after a few hours. I’ll keep the bottle of this scent, try it again, and I’m sure it’ll improve with age. I just love that just-dry stage too much to pass my bottle on.

Emoticon rating:

Is it a keeper? I think so.

If you like this, try: Illustrated Woman, Angeronalia, Pepper, Hexxenacht, Stranger in Camp

[moon_lemming]

I am wary about applying this one -- it could be headachey, with the amber and the pine. Nothing to do but try, huh?

 

In the imp, The Piper kind of reminds me of department store perfume. It's got that high-pitched floral thing going on. On my skin, it's the same, but... dirty. Ew. I think it's the brown musk, maybe mixing with the patchouli? Musk and amber both hate my skin, so it could be either one, I guess. Oh lord, this is definitely leaving my house. It dries into a dirty medicinal rankness that is impressive in its awfulness.

 

Don't let my review scare you off, I knew this one probably wouldn't work with my chemistry; I just had to try it for the honey and blood orange, you know? Bad decision.

[caitilarkin]

I got a decant of this thinking it would be the big hit of the Yules for me (citrus, honey and amber always do well on my skin) and that I would end up buying bottles and bottles of the stuff.

 

In the imp: Strong brown musk and some pine

 

Wet on skin: Patchouli has entered the fray, making this a very woodsy, husky scent.

 

Dry on skin: This blend has been entirely taken over by patchouli and brown musk with some pine in the background. No amber, honey, florals or citrus are to be found.

 

Now, I love musk and like patchouli and pine in some blends. But there is nothing sweet or citrusy in this blend at all, which I expected especially because I usually amp citrus and florals. This will probably go to someone whose skin chemistry is more compatible with this combination of notes.

[zankoku_zen]

This one was very medicinal - and it makes me sad because I was hoping for the honeyed amber oranges that everyone was talking about. I get a hint of that --- but I think the pine makes it more medicinal. It is still a golden scent but it has a deep green streaks on it.

[fairnymph]

In the bottle: Deep peach/light amber coloured oil. Woody, fruity, slightly sweet. Brown and golden. The pine, patchouli, musk and amber come through strongly, with lighter fruit, and very faint florals.

 

Wet: Definitely citrus, but the blood orange isn't as exotic as it could be - still nice, though. The linden and honey are more present, and the patchouli and amber have softened. This is lighter and brighter.

 

Dry: Those woods and resins have returned, majorly. This is very earthy (but not like dirt or soil), brown, and warm. It's also very comforting. The honey and mallow have amped a bit, and they make this very smooth.

 

Later: Patchouli and musk have taken over, though I can still detect the other notes lightly. I think this is just a bit too grounded for me, and a bit too much like a headshop.

 

Summary: Deep, earthy patchouli, woodsy pine resin, and rich, sexy musk. Amber provides warmth, light honey and mallow smoothness, heliotrope gives this a light golden floral tinge, and fresh linden keeps the blend from being too heavy.

 

It's really, really gorgeous, evocative, and fitting. So well-blended, with each note still apparent, and a natural, subtle evolution on my skin. I think this screams VIRGO (I'm a Virgo moon); it's clean and pure yet grounded and earthy, youthful and energetic but calm and wise, too. I'm so wavering on whether to get a bottle or not, because this isn't a traditionally me scent but I very much enjoy it.

 

 

[Blood onmy hands]

In the bottle, I smell a sharp orange, musky floral, amber, and sweetness.

 

On my skin, the citrus in this is so sharp and bitter, like orange rind, and that's all that I can smell. This doesn't smell like blood orange usually smells on me either; this is a much sharper orange. In the drydown, it's still mostly orange, but there's also some musk and an odd, ashy sort of note.

 

After about an hour, this is still mostly bitter orange on me, but the other notes are going to soft baby powder. All in all, this is too sharp for me, and I don't care for the powder.

 

I expected a lot more from The Piper

[nellieburger]

In the decant: This scent reminds me of a candy I once had as a child… So familiar, but I can’t put my finger on it!

 

Wet on skin: Orange mixed with something else…

 

Dry on skin: Definitely muskier… Not as sweet as before. I still can’t put my finger on what the familiar scents are… Not too sure what to make of this one!

 

[Argentwolf]

Man...what a flippin' cocktease.

 

I get a brief, teasing whiff of orange, and then a pine branch smacks me in the noggin. But I like the orange...so I keep coming back to sniff again...and keep getting pine needles shoved up my nose. And then amber and incense come around afterward to douse my wounds in a medicinal bath, and prep me for round 7,531 of this endless cycle.

 

This is like eating cantalope and honeydew because I know it's good for me, and liking it for two bites, and gagging the rest down.

 

It's like trying to convince myself, again, that sewing is a fun and enjoyable activity that anyone can learn.

 

It's like dating a Scorpio.

 

I should send this far, far away from me if I know what's good for me. *flings*

[Victory]

I hadn't planned on buying the Piper, but the Will Call reviews sold me. (Honey and amber? So much my thing. Pine and patchouli? So NOT my thing.) When the bottle was fresh, the blood orange was really strong- so much so that I said, a-HA! THAT's what's in one of my CT3s. I find that the scent blood orange is orange in color, but not citrussy, if that makes much sense. As the bottle has aged, I don't notice the blood orange much at all. When the oil first hits my skin, there's a sort of tingling in my nose. It's similar to the grassy note in Hay Moon and in Coyote that I dislike fresh but which is so wonderful when the oil has aged for a long time, and that makes me really excited to see how Piper ages. It's a sort of golden note, maybe the heliotrope gives it the golden feeling. I see that mallow is in both Hay Moon and the Piper, which may be triggering the tingling (but then, tall, dry grass notes are in both Coyote and Hay Moon, so who knows). When the oil is dry, the honey is apparent, which I love, since I can't get enough of the Lab's honey. The honey is joined by what I keep thinking is vanilla, but it's not listed so it must be something else. Later, the honey becomes a bit powdery, probably from the amber. When dry, the scent really clings tightly to my skin. I have to have my nose right against my skin and breathe deeply to smell it, which I'm of two minds about. It worries me when others can smell my perfume since I often dislike smelling others' perfumes, but on the other hand, I like smelling my own perfume. But I'm a true dabber; applying more might resolve that problem.

 

I think the dawn imagery is apropos. When the blood orange was present, it was like the bright flare of color when the sun is ready to rise, followed by bright beams of light creeping across the landscape, which is in turn followed by the lazy golden sunshine of the sun above the horizon and heating the earth. I'm pleased the pine note isn't more evident on me, but I can see how that would fit with the darkness before the dawn.

 

I rarely wear this oil, since it doesn't call out to me the way my other perfumes do, but I'm pleased to have it in my collection. The evolution of notes is beautiful.

[Miss Lynx]

I knew I had to get this one. not just because the notes sounded really appealling, but also just because of its inspiration. The Wind in the Willows was one of my favourite childhood books, and my very favourite part of it was the encounter with Pan. I remember getting chills down my spine reading it -- not in a scared way, but an awestruck way -- and I can honestly say it was probably one of the influences that made me a pagan in later life.

 

But when I have such high expectations for a scent, I'm always a little nervous as to whether it will live up to them. So I opened up the decant I got (I actually already had a bottle on the way by this point, since the decant package didn't arrive until after the WitW scents went down, and I didn't want to take any chances on this one) with some trepidation -- but my first sniff reassured me considerably. In the vial, and freshly applied, it smelled really nice -- very piney, but not with that pine-air-freshener feel that evergreen-based scents can sometimes have.

 

As it settles into my skin, there's a delicate sweetness that rises up, making it an almost feminine scent -- the honey and florals, I suppose. It's still grounded by the earthy notes, but there's much more lightness and sweetness to it than I would have expected. It manages to be both earthy and ethereal at the same time.

 

If anything, it almost leans toward being a little too sweet, especially for a scent associated with a deity like Pan. Though that's likely just my skin chemistry, which has a tendency to sweeten up many things.

 

Still, it's a very unique scent, and one that, while it's hard to know whether it will work for me in the long run, I will no doubt enjoy further exploring.

 

Grade: B+

[filigree_shadow]

When I first put this on, it had kind of an orangey-resiny scent, and I'm pretty sure I could smell the mallow too. It had a soft overtone. The blood orange fades out over time, and it seems like mostly a sweet resin scent. I really like both linden blossom and heliotrope floral notes, but I can't pick them out very well in this scent. It does seem like after the orange fades out it's replaced with a sweet floral, but I wouldn't have been able to identify the floral. I already like this, but I think it'll be particularly beguiling after it has aged for a year or so.

[kjirstiben]

Mostly pine when I first put it on, this scent is a different side of pine than I usually smell. It's more of a "brown-smelling", woodsy pine, rather than a sharp, green version.

 

As it dries down, it turns into an amber-pine mix that is lovely and sweet with a little honey underneath, and as it continues to develop, I have a warm, sweet honeyed amber that is delightful.

 

This has no bad stages and I like all the notes, and because it has amber in it, I foresee it getting better over time… what's not to love?

 

Recaplet: Warm, sweet, honeyed amber after a woodsy pine start.

My rating: 5 of 5 (I LOVE IT!!!)

Color impression: Warm clear light brown.

[donnatron]

Bottle: Blood orange, pine and patchouli.

 

Wet: Lots of patchouli! This is good--when I first received it the blood orange and pine were in a battle to the death. The blood orange is still present and I get a faint hint of the honey--I think it might be the Jezebel style honey. The honey actually doesn't seem too psyched about being on my skin chemistry.

 

Dry: This probably still needs awhile. The brown musk/pine combo is medicinal and the blood orange sort of screeches over the whole thing. I can definitely smell a base of elements that I like and since all my favourite notes are strong agers I'm not going to give up on this one yet. The longer it stays on my skin the more the patchouli comes out and the pine sort of mellows into a lovely, warm scent. But right now the drydown stage is around an hour and that's a little long to wait when there are people to see and things to do.

 

Throw: Quite mild considering the ingredients.

 

Overall: I like its potential more than I like the blend itself. I would say I wouldn't be wearing this until the fall/winter anyway so hopefully it will fall into line by then. A lot of really promising ingredients, they just seem a bit too interested in infighting with each other at the moment.

[crebbsgirl]

This was pretty light and golden on me. I was hoping for more patchouli or something I guess. It called to mind the scene in Wind in the Willows perfectly however. I didn't get an overabundance of pine here, like other reviewers seem to. The honey was gorgeous, but this one just isn't calling to me as a scent.

[Voleuse]

Hm. This is very...foresty. Not evergreen, exactly, but green and cool. There's something like...a lake, vast and rippling, and a brisk wind, and a hint of sunshine. This is gorgeous, peaceful, patient.

 

[Invidiana]

I wanted to love this one so bad, so bad....unfortunately it didn't love me. My skin amped something very, very pungent that came out like rancid dirt on me. It was possibly the mix of pine and patchouli that didn't do well with my chemistry, who knows. Hopefully someone else won't amp whatever I did and get a chance to enjoy it more.

[thebirdofhermes]

In bottle: Peachy-orange oil. Very sweet and honeylike, with hints of something deeper. Mmpfh. I like so far. ::crosses fingers and hopes nothing goes a-morphing::

 

On skin, wet: Smells... Just like it does in the bottle, but a bit muskier. That somewhat concerns me, since I cannot say I'm overly fond of musk. Still nice, though. Very wearable, and if it doesn't go extremely musky, it's one I think I'll love. It's a very snuzzly sort of scent thus far.

 

On skin, fifteen minutes later: I think it's completely dry, and.... OMG. Just. O. M. G. It's not gotten muskier, but there's a smoky richness that's developed up against my skin, which I suspect may be the patchouli. Interesting, since patchouli tends to go clean-smelling on my skin. Still has an overlay of honey and soft, warm, just barely powdery sweetness which I suspect is the amber. I am really liking that warmth, and am surprised if it is amber since I recall being a bit put off by the idea of amber (most ambers give me headaches). It's clean and soft and warm and golden. Or pale orange, I'm not quite sure which colour it smells like just yet. It's kind of vascillating between the two. I'm leaning more towards the orange the more I think on it, but the first impression was gold. From a bit of a distance, the honey is easily discerned, with a bit of something softly floral. I'm not really feeling overpowered by the floral, which is quite nice as I don't tend to think of florals as snuzzly, and I was hoping for snuzzly.

 

I'm not getting any sort of imagery that directly relates to the name, but it's pretty much everything I hoped it would be when I saw the name and made it my personal mission to hunt down as much as I could. I really just want to cuddle up under a blanket and snuzzle my wrists and bliss out right about now. It's just... omaogjagrgurhtsnkjcneoa. If I could only smell like one thing for the rest of my life, I think this would be it.

 

WHY DID IT HAVE TO BE AN LE?!

 

Oh, yes, the throw seems pretty good to me. With my wrists about a foot from my nose, I can catch little hints of something here and there, but it's not over-powering. Keep in mind, though, that I prefer a lighter throw because strong scents give me headaches.

[Lysi]

In the imp, this smelled like some kind of vague incense. Couldn't begin to pick out the notes. Wet, I got pine and citrus-but-not-quite-fullblown-orange. Dry it has turned a bit powdery but I swear this smells like root beer! Very odd. I like it, though!