Tombstone

[Eemia]

A celebration of one of the first commercially produced perfumes of America's Old West. A rugged, warm blend of vanilla, balsam and sassafras layered over Virginia cedar.

I'm addicted to old cowboy stories. I love the old westerns.

I went to Tombstone, Arizona a few years ago and loved the eerie ghost town quality that doesn't quite disappear beneath the layer of kitschy tourism. There's still the same buildings pockmarked in bullet holes, the same dusty main street, the original town cemetery covered with crude hand-drawn markers. I'm really drawn to that aspect of Tombstone. I can't explain it.

When I bought this perfume I was hoping it would feel authentic, or at least sort of atmospheric. It does have the memory association for me of growing up with a fascination for the old west. So it stands apart from my other perfumes in that regard. Even if it had turned out to be unwearable on my skin I would have bought it anyway.

Luckily, it smells beautiful on me. It's smoky and drawn out, with a sweetness from the sassafras. I like the masculinity and the tough quality. A favorite of mine that I completely love.

[iamblackbird]

What? There's vanilla in this? Where?

 

I also got little to no sassafras after drydown. Sad, because cedar didn't play well with my skin. Oh well...

[sirensea]

In the bottle: This is absolutely vanilla musk. It's a strange blend of masculine and feminine; the type of scent that you'd find if you buried your face against a lover's neck and breathed in deep.

 

On my skin: Earthy, very earthy. Slightly swarthy. Again, brings forth images of hugging someone and smelling their musk. I love this! I can definitely see where the cedar might be a bit too sharp for some, but with my chemistry, it's not so overwhelming that it detracts from the vanilla.

 

I'd like to have a bottle of this!

[vanillaskwirl]

Hmm... I really wanted to love this scent, but I'm thinking that my body chemistry doesn't like sassafras so much.

 

In the Imp: A warm, sweet inviting vanilla

 

Wet: Black licorice and wet cement Never have I had a scent morph this drastically. It's nothing more than a dusty, freshly poured sidewalk and licorice. Bizarre.

 

Dry: The cedar and balsam have come out with a vengeance. Almost strongly enough to overpower the licorice, but not quite. I get no vanilla at all. In fact the woods are so strong, that my co-worker asked me if I was washing it off even though I didn't put much on. I may try it again, but I think it's for the swap pile.

[angelicruin]

Sniffing the imp, it's cedar.

 

Wet on the skin, this is a black licorice and cedar. I love it.

 

Dries down to cedar, black licorice, and vanilla on my skin. I might be getting a bottle of this after all.

[copagirl]

I've really fallen in love with this one, I may need a big bottle.

In the imp, I get cedar and cigar, on wet I'm getting still cedar/cigar but also some yummy soft vanilla. After it's dry and hours later it's soft vanilla, with cedar and cigar equally as prominant.

[crebbsgirl]

This was VERY vanilla heavy on me. I think I'm going to have to try this again, because I really can't decide. The cedar didn't seem to develop for me and on the whole the blend was rather one-dimensional on my skin. I liked it well enough, but I don't see myself reaching for it very often. I think I'll hang onto this awhile and see.

[TilHelvete]

My bf and I both wanted to dip into Tombstone. I pulled it out of the bag, "mmmmm Tombstone!" and he said, "Hey I thought Tombstone was for me!" Haha... so we both tried it out.

 

In the vial it smells very woody with some vanilla extract type top notes.

 

On the skin, the vanilla warms up and softens the woods (which can sometimes smell sharp or astringent) The bf says it reminds him of Christmas and burning wood, and REAL pine and he can't smell the vanilla at all. It reminds him of Fenris Wolf (the highest compliment he can pay to any perfume, trust me). To me it smells how the Fun Dip vanilla sticks taste, but with some soft woods lurking beneath. I really think this is too soft to be a very masculine scent, but it is one of the few vanilla scents that I feel could actually be unisex.

 

After awhile, all I can smell is the most perfect, pure vanilla. Not too sweet and perfectly grounded. He agrees.

 

This is definitely one I have to purchase.

[djsiberia]

no vanilla pops out, upon first sniff its all balsam and cedar.

 

[stellans]

mmm, mmm, good! That's what wearing Tombstone means to me...it makes me feel all warm, fuzzy, and hugged! I love the sassafras note, which mixes so well with the vanilla so that neither is overpowering, and keeps the cedar from taking over as well. This is such a nice, herbal, sweet, woody but somehow dry blend...it really is indicative of a desert town like Tombstone. I love that this blend is so gender-neutral, in my opinion. It smells equally wonderful on Mr. Stellans as it does on me. This is a GC blend which needs to stay around for a long, long time. 4 of 5 stars, easy.

Edited April 29, 2011 by stellans

[ekolmus]

In the bottle: Root beer!

 

Wet: Smoky cedar... then WHOA TOBACCO. I smell like the inside of a humidor! Don't know whether to sniff more or choke. I guess that's the balsam note? Because tobacco isn't listed as a note in this blend.

 

Wet, 1 minute later: Tobacco, cedar, root beer float.

 

Dry: The sarsparilla and vanilla give the smoky, woodsy top notes a sweet finish. I really like this one, and apparently it likes me too - I had to wash twice and scrub my wrist to get the last of the smoky smell off.

[Coldfire]

 

 

 

 

Imp: I get sassafrass and cedar and hints of balsam

Wet on Me: cedar and sass….and oooo I’m loving it!

Drying Down: ooooo slight bits of vanilla come out with the cedar…interesting. The sassafrass is still being sassy.

Dry: a warm vanilla sassafrass with cedar underall, and if I sniff long and slow I catch the ghost of Balsam. Oh I am loving this!

 

[Mayhem27]

I bought Tombstone strictly for the name! I wasn't even sure if it would work, since vanilla is very hit and miss on me. In the imp, I get a strong vanilla with a tiny bit of something else I can't quite make out. The vanilla concerned me, especially after I put it on. The vanilla was very strong, but I was pleasantly surprised that it toned down a bit. It has a very dusty smell to it, but mixed with the vanilla, it just works! This had excellent throw, and lasted quite a long time on me. Tombstone is definitely an odd scent! It smells exactly how you'd picture and old western cowboy town to smell. :-) I really didn't expect to like this much, but I do!

[loladae]

Yum. This is a creamy, woody scent that doesn't do anything funky on my skin. It's a perfect balance of cedar and vanilla, slightly dusty. And the best part is that I know it will get better with age, although my imp won't be lasting that long...I just had to rave about this! Definitely a favorite and in my top five right now though we all know it will change in a month...

[sylvanusurban]

 

In bottle: Aromatic woods.

 

On me, wet: Dry cedar – not the rich dark cedar I smelled in Velvet’s drydown phase, but a breezy outdoor-in-the-sun, slightly pencil shaving-y cedar.

On me, drying: The scent warms up and I can smell the other notes. It’s nice, though I think I can smell a hint of that sharp/sour balderdash that vanilla so often tries to pull when it hits my skin.

Later: Mmm, it’s become softer, breezier, and just a little bit sweeter.

 

Verdict: It’s nice. I could see myself wearing it.

 

[caitilarkin]

Vanilla is always win, cedar is almost always win...the other notes in this I wasn't so sure about before I tried it...

 

In the imp: Lovely rich vanilla with hints of sassafras and dry cedar

 

Wet on skin: Ugh, the cedar is amping and it's turning to pencil shavings! I've heard about this phenomenon before, but this is the first time it's happened to me.

 

Dry on skin: The vanilla and sassafras are struggling to climb out from under the Godzilla-sized pencil shavings, but it's a losing battle.

 

This is the first time cedar has hated on me.

[splendidissima]

In the imp: cedar and general woodiness.

Wet: mostly wood, but with a hint of something darker and dustier that might be the sassafras. This does smell exactly like you would expect the Old West to smell (well, a romanticized Old West, not the version with horses and sweaty people and poor hygiene).

Dry: after about an hour, the vanilla starts to peek out and sweeten things up, but it can never quite overcome the weight of the woods, and I mostly still get the dusty, wooden-buildings-in-the-sun feel from the cedar-balsam-sassafras mix. Incredibly evocative scent, but not, alas, for me.

[rayvn1]

Frack. Me.

 

 

This stuff is amazing! I would bathe in this. God! I can't get over this scent. Srsly. Top ten. I'm pretty much raving about this, but it's not the feared and dreaded sasparilla meltdown I got from the Saloon #10 atmo spray (I think I was confusing sassafras with sasparilla...) Instead, it's the smoothest, richest vanilla musk - Black Lace in masculine form

[samhainschimera]

I received a frimp of Tombstone from a lab order and HOLY CRAP. I wound up loving this way more than the bottles I bought. It's ever so slightly foody, to me it smells like a bakery or a candy shop on an old west dusty road. LOVE LOVE LOVE this scent.

[kohimame]

I received this as a frimp in my first order, and I love it so

 

It took me awhile to realize it's full potential though. When I first smelled the imp, all I could detect was a minty scent with sweetness behind it. I want to say that's the sassafras, but I'm not sure.

 

Putting it on wet, CEDAR. And when I say cedar, I mean enough to make your nose wrinkle and your eyes water! I didn't care for it at first, but it was also compelling. I kept having the urge to sniff my wrist.

 

Drying down, the cedar calms down a bit, and the vanilla starts appearing. This is a warm vanilla though, nothing sweet or foody about it. As the day goes on, the cedar gently recedes and you're left with a warm, spicy vanilla.

 

It's a beautiful, unique scent. It reminds me of being in the desert right before a storm, and smelling the fumes coming off the creosote bushes. Definitely bottle worthy.

[claudia6913]

In the imp is a very woody vanilla. Different, but good.

 

Wet on my skin the vanilla takes a bit of a backseat to the cedar. I'm not sure what balsam or sassafras by themselves smell like, but I think they are a bit more in the front of the blend at the moment.

 

As this dries, I think I've discovered I'm not much of a 'wood' person. I mean, the woody smells of patchouli and sandalwood incense is fine, but actual wood? Hmm, I'm not sure. Tombstone is nice, but not for me I think. Or maybe it's the wood+vanilla. I love vanilla, but not in this blend.

[Ceisdein]

In the bottle: Smells like vanilla and dead pine brushland with a light background of cedar and something else (sassafras?) that's a bit punchy. Warm and sexy and dry. The wand of my imp though, is straight up cedar.

 

Wet: Cedar with only the barest hints of sweetness wafting around.

 

Dry: Dusty cedar.

 

This one just flattened out on me. Not so much hot old west as warm old closet. Too bad, I really liked it in imp. I'll have to try it on my boy, maybe it'll behave for him.

[Usagi]

Imp: light wood(as in pine floorboards outside the general store), and root beer(definitely sassafras)

Wet: root beer on a hot day; fizzy and creamy

Dry: creamy sawdust

 

This scent is cool! They could use it as ambience at some ghost town, like Calico or Oatman.

[Maia]

Wet, this is slightly smokey, sweet and woody. Once dry, however, the vanilla comes forward and once dry Tombstone is almost pure vanilla on me. The cedar gives the scent a warm, dry base, but it's barely detectable. It's a very nice vanilla, maybe my favorite BPAL vanilla so far. And I loves me some vanilla, so this is a winner.

 

 

[flurry]

I love this one.

 

It smells strongly of cedar with earthy and sometimes musty undertones. It makes me think of mountain forests. It also reminds me of the boxes of saltwater taffy I used to get at Christmas when I was a kid.

 

It lasts a long time, and gets a little sweeter towards the end. I never smell the vanilla, it is more of a chocolatey smell.