Taphophobia

[alicia_stardust]

No scent description.

 

Taphophobia is the fear of being buried alive as a result of being incorrectly pronounced dead. This prototype is an amazing take on that, and it is not your ordinary dirt/earth blend. It has a constant undertone of dark, damp earth, but there is a fragrance that floats on top of that and reminds me of rich red woods and aged patchouli, with just a small drop of bloody medicinal booze.

 

The first 30 minutes are my favorite, where I get something that can only be described as "warm red earth", because it's rich and red yet it's not red musk or dragon's blood, nor does it seem to be any typical wine or plum note. Something here is reminiscent of some of the Poe blends. I think that Tell-Tale Heart, Premature Burial, and Montresor had a threesome. Naughty, naughty.

 

[twilighteyes]

My nose is not very sophisticated when it comes to dirt type smells.

 

For me this is very similar to graveyard dirt.

[Dark Alice]

This smelled like fresh potting soil, mixed with graveyard dirt with a hint of something green. It is actually quite lovely.

[Mordath]

rich, red clay, damp potting soil, the garden after a rain - complex, and much nicer than I was expecting

[femmefatale]

This smells exactly like Graveyard Dirt plus Banana Peel in a Graveyard (minus the banana) with something vaguely red and claylike.

After a little while a wood note (I think that is what it is) comes out, though it doesn't take over the blend, it just adds to it. After about 45 minutes something a bit herbal and medicinal and a bit green is there also. Verrry interesting and far more complex than I expected.

 

This is really wonderful! I am so happy I was able to get a bottle.

Edited June 2, 2009 by Femme_Fatale

[zankoku_zen]

This one definitely has dirt, and another component... that makes me think benzoin (I could be entirely wrong) because it's warm and slightly musky and kinda makes me think of turpentine. I just know I've tried blends before that have had this component and it always ends up in warm, slightly musky and odd reminiscent of turpentine.

 

Yeah. So not for me.

[Coldfire]

This one came to me at first sniff as a green but moldy andmusty dirt. Almost get a vetiver out of this. It stayed musty old dirt the entire time for me.

[sookster]

sweeeeeeeeeeeeeet, boooooooooooooooooozy, circus peanutty dirt underneath my fingernails...

[ljaylh]

To me, Taphophobia smells exactly like being in the middle of a pile of green lawn clippings and garden cuttings that have been sitting out in the hot sun for a day or two - that fresh green mixed with starting-to-compost soil kinda smell. It's actually quite a nice smell, in a dirt kinda way.

 

This is totally not my thing - I don't dislike it, I just don't think I want to smell like it. Funny though.. when testing it at work this week several people commented favourably and asked what perfume I was wearing - one lady said it was a lovely sweet and fresh smell, which is interesting - maybe it smells different when wafting around me than it does on my skin.

 

 

[Blood onmy hands]

This smells like slightly damp soil on me (I don't think it smells exactly like damp, black potting soil, though). As it dries down, it starts to smell slightly green and a bit off. I agree with sunshinedaisybliss's review in that the green parts of this make me think of lawn clippings that are wilting and rotting in the sun. It smells musty on me.

 

Damp soil with wilting, sad, rotting greenery and an overall musty feel. I do like some dirt fragrances (The Potter's Field is *love* for me, and I like Death Cap, Destroying Angel, and a few others), but this one isn't going to be a keeper for me...

[fairnymph]

Sniffed: Brown oil. Soil and sweet, boozy, medicinal herbs. It reminds me of Echinacea syrup (or similar herbal sweetened syrups) with a whole bunch of dirt thrown in. Not my sort of thing.

[Myotis]

I was so excited to get my paws on a bottle of this!

My very first prototype bottle!!

 

In the bottle it smells like Graveyard Dirt with a sweet/boozy undertone.

 

On me, this morphs a bit. It's a spicy wood and moist dirt. The boozy undertone is gone...thankfully.

This is what I would imagine an expensive wooden coffin to smell like after it's been in the moist dirt long enough for the wood to start to rot. The dirt note presents itself the most on my skin and that is what I love the most.

LOVE THIS!

 

 

[yeahbutnobut]

Taphophobia

 

In the imp: thick black amber swirled with dirt. Like Yorick with the amber/resin amped up.

Wet on skin: I think this may be labdanum. It’s a particularly ambery version. And it still smells of soil.

Dry on skin: sweet black resins and dark rotting earth. There’s a treacly scent to the resin, but not in a molasses way, but more like in the dark and smoky scent they have, and the viscous feel they have. I now smell myrrh/opoponax as well as black amber and labdanum. There’s also the earth from before, I smell soil and rotting moss and also some patchouli, maybe even some spikenard. This isn’t fresh rained-on soil, but the earth from deep underground.

After a while: spices? I think there is galangal in here. That’s because it turns a little curry-like and autumnal, which I also get with the galangal scents. It reminds me of that slightly spicy scent that some autumn leaves get when they decay. However it still smells strongly of mushy dark loamy earth crammed with resinous labdanum/benzoin.

After a few hours of wear, the shadowy patchouli and spikenard notes are strongest. There may also be a little bit of blood accord, as I get a touch of rusty metallic-ness to it.

Verdict: this is an intriguing scent. It’s like soil mixed with resins, or a darker version of Yorick. I really like it-especially for the first hour, when the resins rule the scent. It smells like a wonderful sticky labdanum-amber with styrax/benzoin and spikenard, as well as moss and patchouli and other deep earth notes. It does turn a little spicier at drydown as a galangal note comes out, slightly reminiscent of rotting autumn leaves, and a hint of blood. It’s a lovely take on the burial-themed scents but I’m comparing it with one of the Putrefication prototypes which smells quite similar, and I think I prefer Putrefication-this one turns a little masculine at drydown and loses that amber scent from before.

Emoticon rating:

Is it a keeper? I like it but I swapped it off.

[cranberry]

First sniff – loam first – just lovely, then anise or fennel. As it wears, the anise smell gets stronger and the loam gets weaker. After a few minutes, I can’t even smell the loam or earth, and just get anise, though it is tempered and lower in pitch than normal, so there are moderating influences there. After about 20 minutes, the anise while present, quiets and the lovely loam and earth smells come out.

[devilot]

Taphophobia

In the Vial: Dirt. Almost a pruney dirt.

 

Wet: Still pruney dirt, maybe mothballs, too.

 

Drydown: No more mothballs, but it's still an unpleasant dirt. Dirty dirt.

 

Verdict: Rancid dirt. Ick. I'm glad I got to at least test this (big thanks to tragedy's imp swap and testers). But I'm even more glad that I hadn't swapped for a decant or bottle unsniffed.

[edenssixthday]

Taphophobia v2 - Dirt scents almost all smell pretty much the same to me. This one smells like dirt with something medicinal about it, maybe even some black musk or black amber or labdanum, but mostly just thick, dark, wet dirt.

[mxtine]

Potting soil, which is not good compared to fresh earth dirt because it can smell musty. On the dry down I smell something very resinous emerging, and it's giving me a weird taste in my throat.

 

 

Not my thing.

[Penance]

Origin:

 

5mL from Reedsong.

 

Preconceived notions:

 

I love dirt scents. I keep telling myself that I've got enough of them and that there's only so much variation you can achieve when it comes to dirt blends, but more of them keep finding their way into my collection. I'm telling myself that Taphophobia is going to be different because it's got both dirt and clay (according to reviews) and maybe even some resins and booze (which I also love). Plus I love the name. Who wouldn't want a perfume based on a phobia of being buried alive?

 

First sniff:

 

Maybe it's just my imagination, but I do believe this really is unique. Just like Badger, it's not "just another dirt blend." While Badger has a nice rooty vibe to it, Taphophobia v2 seems to have some soft red clay and, yes, black amber and possibly some other resins. It's ever-so-slightly sweet and resinous, but the main player here is the dirt. Heavier and darker than Badger's earth note, but not as loamy as Graveyard Dirt.

 

Wet on skin:

 

This is fantastic. Well, if you love scents that smell like dirt, anyway. There's no real change from in the bottle at this point.

 

I personally think that Taphophobia, like Badger, is a very wearable dirt blend. As much as I love Graveyard Dirt, it's not the sort of thing I would wear every day. I love the scent of thick, loamy dirt, but not everyone else does and, while I wear perfume for me, I don't want to wear something so overpoweringly dirty that it puts other people off. So I save Graveyard Dirt for occasions where I'm not going to be around strangers or people who I know are bothered by something so intensely earthy smelling.

 

Dry down:

 

I can see where some people are getting booze from this, but I don't think it's actually booze. I'm leaning toward it being a combination of resins. On the drydown, Taphophobia v2 is soft but dark dirt, a touch of red clay, black amber and possibly some other resins and a touch of some sort of deep musk (black, maybe). It's a dark blend, but, in spite of the name, I don't think it's oppressively dark.

 

The bottom line:

 

I really like this and I'm glad I gave in and added Taphophobia v2 to my collection. It's not "just another dirt scent." Like Badger, it's got its own unique character. Definitely not the sort of scent that you're going to enjoy if you don't like smelling like dirt, but well worth tracking down if you're a fan of that sort of thing, like I am.