Moon of the Terrible

[fairnymph]

On New Year's Day
each thought a loneliness
as winter dusk descends

Desolation at the last moment in the gloaming on New Year's Day: winter snow with lavender, benzoin, lychee, white resins, and a cluster of melancholy, lachrymose lunar herbs and florals.

WC review:

Wet and early dry stages were slightly sweet, bright exotic lychee and strongly herbal lavender, albeit a very BLUE feeling one (a more herbal and pungent version of the same note in Yvaine), which possibly felt more herbal because of the mentholic eucalyptus. The lychee note is very true, natural, and DELICIOUS. Uniquely faceted just like actual lychee fruit.

The white resins and some high pitched florals were also very present initially and for a few hours into drydown. I found these both a bit harsh and they reminded me of the sort of sharp hairsprayish notes in L'Inverno and more mildly in Snow, Glass, Apples. Sadly, this aspect of the blend made the scent one I will not be buying.

I do not like pine and pine does not like me, and there was NO pine in this. Also no mint. The snow was that odd indescribable slushy note combined with the eucalyptus for a cold aura. The snow/eucalyptus and sweet, musky (?) benzoin came out a bit more with time as the lavender softened a bit. Yes, I realize musk is not listed but I amp musk and I got some musk from this.

After a few hours, this settled into a BENZOIN and musk with a very heavily resiny backdrop. Faint wisps of lavender and lychee very close to the skin. I SLATHERED this and it did fade noticeably, though the benzoin and musk amped.

[Rheliwen]

Oh wow, this is beautiful!

 

Initially, I was hit with a blast of soothing herbal lavender, followed by what I thought of at the time as a sweet lipstick smell, sort of like strawberry (I'm assuming that's the lychee). I smell sweet florals like buttercups, things of that sort. Sweet, demure, unassuming. I also think I smell basil.

 

There isn't much snow from this like some other snow scents. I mostly get a creamy herbal fruity floral. It reminds me of The Oblation without the berry. So very much my type of scent. The lavender is trying to do that aspirin trick it did in gladdener but the sweetness is keeping it at bay for now.

[hkhm]

bottle: lavender and benzoin.

 

wet: this almost smells sweet and fruity as soon as it hits my skin. but then it instantly changes to a sweet herbal lavender scent.

 

dry: hmmm... it's still lavendery but there is a definite fruity scent far in the background. this was never a "snowy" scent like i was expecting.

[RottenLullaby]

In bottle - All lychee, a little snow.

 

Wet on skin - A little strong, soo much lychee it made me sneeze.

 

Drydown - A nice sweet fruity lychee scent, I don’t get much of the other notes, but that’s allright.

[Delirium1009]

In bottle/imp: Fruit and lavender with a touch of white amber or musk perhaps.

 

Immediately on skin: This is a cold and almost soapy fruity herbal scent on me. The lychee is bright and almost a white juicy citrus while it blends into the peppery lavender. The combo is chilly and very much a “wake you up” kind of scent, but it’s also rather clean and has a definite soapy feel on me.

 

After a little while: The soapiness goes almost completely away after wearing this for a while and I’m left with basically the same scent I started with, minus the soap. This is cold and herbal with bright, juicy citrussy lychee. The herbal part of this is mostly lavender, but there’s also some almost woody herbs thrown in too, but far in the background. This has a morose quality to it, but it’s very bright at the same time.

 

Overall Impressions: This scent is a nice mix of lavender and lychee, with some nice cold extras thrown in. The snow note I love from the lab really isn’t present, but it still has a cold feel to it overall. There’s an annoying soapiness to this on my skin at first, but it fades and I’m left with a morose but bright cold citrus/fruit lavender scent. I’ve heard lychee described as something like plum and citrus combined, and I think it’s much closer to citrus in the blend, but it’s still very juicy.

[angelicruin]

At first sniff, this is a sweet herbal scent. Very pleasant.

 

Wet on the skin, sweet, snow-covered lavender & pine. I know Pine is not a note in this blend, but there it is on my skin.

 

As it dries, pine scent goes away and it becomes a light, musky, floral with just enough sweetness to make it so, so pleasant to smell on my skin.

[CynicalPink]

Imp: Cold. Lavender is in there but it's staying in the background. A bit of fruity sweetness.

 

Wet: It's amazing that this can actually *smell* cold! There's fruity floral over the lavender and it's gorgeous. With the other "snow" scents I've tried they went weird and maple, but this is nothing like them.

 

Drydown: This is amazing. Fruit, flowers, and musk are all working together without any one note going over the other. This is going right to the top of my favorites.

 

Overall: I'm so glad I tried the Lunacy scents at last. This is also one of the rare moments where I totally get such a theme-y scent's meaning. This is a cold scent without people. Just a landscape covered in cold and blue. I'm going to have to be very careful not to use this all up within a month

[siddal]

In the bottle and wet, this reminds me of the blast of lavender and something very sharp that I smelled in one of the Agonies, and also Bitter Moon. After about 20 min. I begin to smell the different fruits and finally it dries down to reveal a softy and musky vanilla and a purple fruit. It sort of reminds me of Trish McEvoy #9. Very pretty and a keeper for me

[mgrazulis]

Wet on the skin, herbally lavender and sweet chilly lychee fruit.

The lavender is soothing--not bright. The lychee is citrusy as it folds over the lavender.

As it dries, I get more of the "snow" note just a hint of cucumbery vanilla and resins that reminds me of pinon wood and meditative white copal mingling with the ozone of benzoin.

Now the lychee is quite subtle and has a softness that reminds me of plum.

Overall this is a light fruit with gentle contemplative florals and resins.

It is chilly, cold and sad in a wistful way--a midnight walk in the desert snow.

Beautiful and a bit melancholy...perfect for me on this last day of the year!

Edited December 31, 2008 by mineralfairy

[jehrichardson]

In the bottle it's got the same flat herbal lavender. Ugh!

 

On the skin it transforms... the lavender brightens up and the lychee appears. It's a wonderful fruitiness without the over-ripe, wineyness of many of BPAL's berry/fruity notes.

 

This is sharp, clean, a bit soapy, sweet with lychee, bright with lavender, just a bit floral and cool.

 

This isn't my favorite looney, but it's good. I can see myself wearing it on days when I don't want to smell BPAL-y, just fresh and clean.

 

Full Disclosure: I put it on, then climbed in the car with my husband. He then started sniffing himself and the car saying "What smells weird??". I did *not* fess up

[jencallisto]

In the bottle: Sweet, bright, a little astringent, a little metallic.

Fresh on the skin: Sweet, a bit sharp in a soapy sort of way. Mostly a bright herbal floral with some salty aquatic. I definitely get the melancholy.

5 minutes later: Ah, it's sweetening up a bit, bringing out a little lychee, though it's still on the bright and astringent side. Still primarily an herbal floral -- a lavender-y herbal rather than a green one. It's still a little soapy for my taste -- I'm not a huge fan of aquatics or snow scents -- but it stays on the nicer end of the ones I've tried.

10 minutes later: It's making my eyes threaten to water just a little, yet I still kind of like it anyway. It's got this white resin center, surrounded by sharp lavender, young green lychee, and sad salt tears. And you know, it's actually rather gorgeous.

20 minutes later: This would be a very nice soap. A bit intense, but clean and complex. I wish I liked clean scents more.

30 minutes later: Oh! This has softened and sweetened a bit, and the resins are coming through more. It doesn't strike me as very me -- it's very white, even if it's a rather beautiful lonely, intimidating, melancholy white -- but it's definitely starting to grow on me a bit.

1 hour later: This is really reminding me of something. I'm not sure what, though. It's also taken on a slightly icky note in the center, something that reminds me a bit of the part of the Arkham scents that I've tried that disagreed with me. But the sillage is quite pretty, in a soft sweet insidious way.

2 hours later: It's stabilized into a softly astringent, fruity white herbal-resin-floral, still with a soapy center that puts me off a little, despite liking the sillage, which is really rather lovely, particularly the lychee-ness. Overall, I like this stage quite a bit, as the soapy center seems to be fading and only apparent right near the wrist. There definitely seems to be some musk in here as well.

3 hours later: Occasionally I catch a whiff of this when I move my hand around, and I think "Pretty!" every time. I think that's a good sign. It's warmed up quite a bit and is mostly lychee and musk and a little floral, dark despite the inherent whiteness. I also think there might be osmanthus in this as one of the florals, which may explain why I can't stop sniffing it despite my officially mixed feelings.

5 hours later: This has gone thoroughly beautiful -- light, sweet, delicate, a little honeyed.

7 hours later: Mmm. Sweet, faded, deliciousness.

8 hours later: I don't understand why the later stages of this smell so good.

9 hours later: Still there, faint and lovely.

10 hours later: Just a slight hint of it left. How in the world did it turn out so beautiful?

 

Verdict: I'm going to have to try this again, but in the end I liked it way more than I thought I would. Even the soap phase isn't that bad, and once past it, it becomes really quite gorgeous. I'm not sure I need both the bottles I have, but I bet I'm keeping at least one.

 

One phrase: viciously beautiful.

[papermaker]

In the bottle this one is all lavender.

Once on my skin there is the lavender of course but with snow covered fruit which helps calm down the herby lavender smell.

Once dry the flowers and benzoin add a vanilla loral scent to the lavender and snowy fruit.

This is a very pretty blend.

[Dymphna]

In my notes, my review of this is long and rambling. I'll try to cut it down to size here.

 

In the bottle: Lavender and a floral, reddish berry that I eventually realize is the lychee. Now I get why people described lychee as a berry-rose scent. It doesn't smell like roses per se, but it's reminiscent of them. MotT reminds me of The Oblation, minus the honey, and with the sharp blackberry swapped out for floral-berry lychee. It's kind of soapy, though, which worries me.

 

Wet: For a while, I can smell a rich, greenish-brown herbal note which I thought was tea until I checked the notes and saw that tea wasn't listed. Instead, I'm thinking it's probably the benzoin and white resins mixing with the "lachrymose lunar herbs" (I love that phrase!). Still somewhat soapy, but shading more toward a lavender-berry-scented tea, which is a nice smell although I wouldn't drink it.

 

Dry: Soft, floral, pink-but-not-sugary berries and a hint of lavender. I wish the tea-ish scent had stuck around, but the resins have retreated way into the background. I never smell snow, though this does smell very cool. It's more of a spring scent to me, though, not at all icy. It's very pretty and soft and ladylike and sort of perfumey, but not very "me." I was hoping for more of an icy lavender, but I think I'm amping the lychee. This is yet another blend that makes me wish my mom would wear BPAL because she'd probably love it. This is definitely her type of scent.

 

(Yeah, I know that wasn't exactly brief, but you should have seen the original!)

[caitilarkin]

In the bottle: Resins and lychee with lavender in the background

 

Wet on skin: Something is amping unpleasantly, almost like sweat (blames and glares at mysterious lunar herbs). And where is the Lab's lovely snow note that I adore so? The lychee and lavender are still present, though.

 

Dry on skin: Ah, here we go! The scary sweaty smell is gone and I'm left with a lovely blend that smells exactly like the description: chilly winter fruits and florals backed by cool resins.

 

This is a faint, close-to-the-skin blend on me and lasts about four hours.

[kjirstiben]

Moon of the Terrible goes on smelling of berries and the forest mixed together, and stays sweet, fruity, and foresty for its first two hours of drydown.

 

At the two hour mark, however, I had a "burnt grass" smell emerge out of it that worried me--many scents never recover from this--but after another hour it had pulled out of that stage to become a very different scent, a subtle, tart, herbal scent that was quite lovely and something that I enjoyed smelling all day long. This is very unlike any other scents that I have to date. I like the character that the lychee gives it.

[Coldfire]

 

 

 

 

Decant: lavender and aquatic ozone? must be the benzoin.

Wet on Me: Lavender tamed by the snow and herbs. Light but not whispy

Drying Down: less lavender. More aquatic and lychee now. The lunar florals make a ghostly base.

Dry: mostly the lychee and florals now. It’s not bad. I’m glad I got a decant to try. Wish the lavender had stuck around more.

 

[GreenSpine]

On my skin, this reminds me a little bit of Snow, Glass, Apples, actually - as if someone took out half the musk in SGA, substituted a very citrus-y, almost grapefruit-like lychee for the apple, and gave it a light touch of lavender. It has the same bright coldness to it, but is less aggressive, more aloof.

 

I like this.

[Blood onmy hands]

In the bottle, this smells like frozen blackberries and lavender. It isn't a minty, snowy, or menthol type of frozen, but the scent just smells cold to me somehow.

 

On me, this starts off with a cool, smooth lavender that I really enjoy, and a juicy fruitiness that's still reminding me of the lab's blackberry note (but I suppose it's the lychee). The drydown isn't awesome on me, though. This dries down to cold snow, citrussy notes, and something like slightly soapy, white florals. I keep getting images of white laundry soap stuck in my head. It's very clean smelling on me.

 

Moon of the Terrible might be too clean and white for my tastes, once it dries down. I'll keep my bottle and see how it ages, but I'm not loving it at the moment.

[milo]

This is such a beautiful blend. The lavender and lychee are perfectly blended to create it's one uniqueness. I'm so glad I don't get any kind of snow note, as the lab's snow does not work for me. That being said, this is a "chilly" blend, perfect to represent January. I'm always very sad that aquatics/snows do not work for me, and I've finally found a blend that is a good substitute. Will be using this one sparingly!

[tartchef]

Mmmm... this is lovely, not terrible! The palest lavender, plump & fresh, with a wash of ice-cold lychee (which always smells a bit like pink grapefruit & roses, to me).... the benzoin is lurking, adding just a bit of warmth & weight. The slushy snow note combined with the lavender is threatening to go soapy - there's a faintly bitter edge to this that I'm having trouble shaking... the white resins & lunar herbs, perhaps? Shame, too, because otherwise, Moon of the Terrible is beautiful, bracing & cold... I'll try this again in a few days, in case it's just my chemistry fluctuating a bit...

[zankoku_zen]

I definitely got the initial fruity blast with huge lychee overtones on top of the lavender. All of that calms down and it's a nice lychee/lavender blend with a bitter, herbal edge to it.

 

RATS.

[cyrenitis]

This gets lovelier every time I wear it - a little reminiscent of Psyche, but fruitier, without being fruit punch-y. The lavender is still pretty potent at first, but as the lychee & miscellaneous florals come out, it morphs into a lovely calming sweetness. I wish I had about a billion bottles of this.

[yeahbutnobut]

Moon of the Terrible

 

In the imp: lavender with an almost floral/rosy lychee note.

Wet on skin: sweet lavender with a hint of other darker herbs, and sharp lychee.

Dry on skin: oh, this is gorgeous! It has turned a tad powdery now but this is dominated by the lychee, and I love it! This fruit note is so underused in perfume so it’s always a joy to smell it as the main note, like in here. It’s not a sweet lychee like I’m used to eating, but it smells just like lychee syrup, very aromatic and complex, exotic and quite floral, almost like a white rose at times. Underneath it I smell the lavender and benzoin, I’m assuming the powdery smell comes from the white resins. Or maybe the snow note? I don’t smell the usual ‘BPAL snow note’ in here. this reminds me of Lurid with a brighter fruit note (lychee) in it.

After a while: the lavender fades, and this becomes a bit more powdery. But I’m not complaining. It still smells strongly of lychees. It’s pretty much a lychee perfume. It’s a little drier now, not as juicy as before, this now has a more floral feel to it, and there’s something almost clean, skin-musky, to it. I was hoping for a more resinous aspect from the resins, and a bit of sweeter benzoin, but I love this anyway. I don’t get much cool snow though-other than a feel of powder. It’s a warm powder though.

Verdict: lychee! I love lychee and it’s a note that I don’t often see, so this lychee-dominated scent makes me happy. It’s the lighter sister of On Darkness, a lavender-benzoin scent brightened with the fragrant, almost floral fruit note of lychee and it lasts for a good long time too. I don’t smell anything particularly wintry here-and nor does this smell terrible, or even dark or gloomy, in fact I find this scent quite bright, comforting even, especially when it goes into the powdery skin musk and lychee drydown. I’m very glad I bought a bottle of this.

Emoticon rating:

Is it a keeper? Yes.

If you like this, try: Lurid, On Darkness, Earth Ox, Rozpustnica, Dolce Stil Nuovo

[BuxomM]

It's mainly lavendar with something snow fresh and some sweet florals in the background I can't identify.

[voodoocatwoman]

Cold and beautiful on application. I pick up mostly lavender. After it dries, it turns powdery but still maintains that tang. I don't know what lychee smells like, but I will assume that this is what I am getting. I really like this.