Jack

[MandyCassandra]

The scent of warm, glowing jack o’lanterns on a warm autumn night: true Halloween pumpkin, spiced with nutmeg, glowing peach and murky clove.

This came in my second BPAL order, an order I'm VERY happy with, all the way through. I should have ordered Jack the first time...

In the bottle: Buttery, sweet, and spicy all at once. It smells a lot like a spiced pumpkin candle.

Wet on my skin: Sweet pumpkin.

Drying down: The spiciness has come out. This is getting spicy! It was so meek at first, but wow, the spices are nice. The spices aren't like fiery burn-your-nose spices; they're a whole lot sweeter than that.

A few hours later: Oddly enough, the peach has come out to the exclusion of everything else...? It's sweet now, with almost no hint of the pumpkin or spice it had before. Peach is usually a fruity top note...I have to say I'm astounded to be smelling it this late, especially after the clove and nutmeg have gone.

Staying power: On me, I'd rate Jack's staying power at a 3 out of 5, with five being the longest lasting.

Throw: 2/5. This isn't a potent, aggressive scent at all, at least on me. It's warm and sweet, but it keeps to itself.

Impressions: I was really impressed that someone earlier in the thread said that it smelled to her like autumn in Salem. I've never been to Salem, but I've always wanted to go, and autumn is my favorite time of year. I'd say that when I thought of the essential autumn scent, I always pictured something spicier and drier, but that doesn't mean I dislike Jack. Quite the contrary...I love this! This is just a much sweeter autumn fragrance than I'm used to. I love it, though, and I'm glad I bought it!

Final rating: 5/5. This is a lovely fragrance and a very particular mood caught in a vial. I will recommend this one highly and wear it often.

[Larinessa]

Jack is a fabulous autumn scent that reminds me of when I was a kid and my mother was making pumpkin pies for Thanksgiving. Warm, spicy, and slightly buttery. Yummy.

[killerklown]

Can't believe that I forgot to review this! Jack was among my first order and I still love it today. I was also fortunate to pick up a very nicely aged 2005 10ml and I have to say this ages very well.

 

Warm, spicy, buttery and creamy- it layers really well with Trick or Treat!

[veganxmegan]

I recently got an imp of this and was so excited.

 

On first sniff I was a little disappointed. All I smell is sweet cakeyness. Not really pumpkin or spice.

 

On my skin it smells like spicy peaches. The peach is so strong on me. I wish it smelled like pumpkin pies like other people have experienced. ;(

[Deceitfuldescender]

This seems to be mostly peach (cloying) and spices on me (relatively light spices considering I normally amp them outrageously). It isn't unpleasant... but is has a sort of unpleasant buttery note behind it (I assume the pumpkin) and overall just isn't something that jives with me on a personal level. It is getting less cloying, but is still all peach.

[Cocoa]

On me Jack smells really buttery/spicy pumpkin.

Most of all it really goes buttery for me, it doesn't have a raw pumpkin smell is more like candle pumpkin sweet

and the butter never goes down.

[EmmiKristiina]

I've never smelled anything with pumpkin before so this is a first. But I must say I quite like it, in the bottle it seems a bit too foody at first, but on me the nutmeg really gives it a nice twist and the spiciness is just lovely. It's definitely a comforting scent, but there is something in the background I'm not too fond of.

[KittyHawk]

Jack was lovely and autumn-spicy in the imp, but as soon as I put it on, it went to butter. I like buttery scents, but I was expecting more complexity from Jack. I guess this will become a burning oil or for use in a scent locket, because my skin just eats all the yummy spicy goodness. It's a keeper, just not one I can wear. Oh well, all the more reason to pick up some Halloweenies when they go live.

[puck_nc]

Origin: frimp, then bottle from the Lab

 

Initial Thoughts: When I first began exploring BPAL, I overlooked Jack for quite a while as I explored the florals I knew I loved as perfume. It took Harvest Moon 2005 to show me the beauty of autumn notes and scents, and then I got a frimp...

 

In the Bottle: Rich, sweetly spicy pumpkin.

 

Wet: I get a blast of spice and peach as the clove and nutmeg jump out.

 

Drydown: The pumpkin edges back in while the spices begin to blend together into a more "spice cupboard" foody scent.

 

Verdict: I wasn't so enamored of Jack compared to some other pumpkin-y scents, but then I just happened to layer it with Punkie Night. That required a bottle purchase to go with my bottle of Punkie Night and the combo is one of my favorite scents to wear in the fall.

[Ryokumuji]

This was terribly butter like in the imp and initially on my skin. Once applied, the spices and peach totally drown out that butter scent, and I can still smell the pumpkin on my skin. The spices totally remind me of apple cider. Actually, this would be more comparable to a sweet peachy pumpkin bread that's super moist, fresh out of the oven, with just a little butter spread on top. An awesome fall scent but I think foodies would like this too. I could imagine wearing this at other times of the year too because it's so tasty.

[jkfagtongpun]

Boo. Hoo. Hoo. I was so excited about this. Halloween/fall is my most favourite time of year. Pumpkin pie is the most wonderful comfort food for me. Sadly, this was just too sweet and synthetic smelling for me. It reminds me of Yankee Candles - nice, because they remind me of home, but I don't want to smell like one (been living outside the US for 11 years). Dang it! The search goes on for the perfect autumnal scent that will work on me!!!

[Vega]

Sniffed: A glowing, intense butter note with something winey, "alcoholic" about it. It makes my nose wrinkle.

 

On skin: Whoa, Jack is a blend in overdrive. Like many others have mentioned, the pumpkin note is so buttery it's nauseating, and the peach is so ripe that it's practically fermenting and giving off this juicy "alcoholic" vibe as a result. I can't make out any spices, just pumpkin on steroids smashed against a fermenting, liquefying peach. This is very nose-tingling, glowing like a Jack O'Lantern indeed! Colour impression is the red-yellow skin of a peach -- madly glowing.

 

Verdict: Wholly unpleasant, it's way too buttery and fermented. Can't wear it at all, eeccch!

Edited August 20, 2011 by Vega

[Tamalee]

I bought an imp of Jack thinking it would be cool to wear on Halloween, what with the pumpkins and all...

 

I could smell pumpkin and peach at first along with spices but now it just seems to be peach. Buttery, too - maybe that's the pumpkin?

 

It says Fall to me but less Halloween and more Thanksgiving.

 

I'm definitely going to wear this again and finish off the imp, maybe even get a bottle of it later on.

 

Edit - More time has gone by and now I definitely smell the spices. No pumpkin, no peach - just spices.

Edited September 4, 2011 by Tamalee

[Idjit]

OK, I absolutely love this scent in the bottle and for the first 10 minutes after applying. Even then, it didn't have much throw at all. But then the pumpkin starts to fade and now, after only 30 minutes, I smell nothing. Even when I stick my nose right again my wrist there's just a very faint smell of nutmeg. I'm so disappointed because I really love it in the bottle. Maybe I can use it as a room scent. Or just open it every once in a while to sniff.

[Woollyworm]

I tested this on a chilly, rainy day.

 

 

Preconceptions: I was expecting to dislike Jack. Intensely. The blend sounded so unlike anything I would ever wear that I figured there was no hope. I feared the peach note would be fake and plastic.

 

Wet: In the imp and freshly applied to my wrist, I was discouraged. It smelled, quite literally, like a butter scented candle.

 

Dry: This quickly settled into a warm, inviting, sweet spiced pumpkin. I can't really detect the peach as a distinct note, but it must be contributing to the overall sweetness and juiciness. I'm certainly not getting any fakey-fake plastic from this.

 

I surprised myself by liking this. People around me REALLY like it; comments galore! I can't see myself wearing this very often, but on a chilly damp autumn day like today, it is perfect. Good throw and last for hours without undue morphing. Warming and comforting.

[KatharinaNordh]

Been wanting to try this for ages now (ok, that's not true; I've been wanting to try this ever since I fell in love with Pumpkin Princess)

 

It has the same absolutely disgusting initial 10 or so seconds as Pumpkin Princess - and then, just like it does, this smooths out - the heavy, revolting bread-smell is gone and now it just smells like butter-based pie with fruits.

 

It is lovely and warm and delicious and I want to EAT it.

I can't actually see myself wearing it very often - but I am already developing an addiction to how it smells, so you never know - it may very well be part of next order.

 

This, to me, is Not needing comfort food because I now AM comfort food

 

Edit: Layering this with Dana O'shee is the ultimate PMS-cure, the perfect comforter and makes me realise what next order will be

 

Sooo much a "tea, autumn, candlelight and cuddles" smell

 

Edited because:

This was written in late Autumn/Winter - now, it is Spring and Jack still works wonderfully - and I have a bottle coming

Edited March 9, 2012 by Asinya

[coldandsleepy]

Aha. I tested this one yesterday and spent the couple of hours before it faded entirely (too soon!) sniffing it and thinking, boy, this is one SWEET, fruity pumpkin. Browsing the notes, it makes sense now-- that sweetness/frutiness must have been the peach.

 

Interestingly, I got more or less no spice out of this aside from a slight whiff of clove when I first applied it. After that, it turned into pure sweet buttery pumpkin and fruit. I like that, though... I have a lot of spicier pumpkin blends from BPAL and was happy to smell more of the pumpkin and less of the pie.

[Verilita]

In the imp buttery pumpkin with an undertone of popcorn?. Seriously the butter is overwhelming!

 

Wet the butter really mellows out and the pumpkin comes forward, but it's not too strong. There is a hint of some sort clove and nutmeg here but they aren't too strong either.

 

Dry where did the butter and pumpkin go?! All I smell now is peach and clove!

 

This one really changes from bottle to dry, and smells a little like potpourri to me, I'm not sure if this is an every day scent or not just yet, but I'm willing to give it another try.

[BoneBone24]

Wet: butter and something hard to peg...booze?

 

Drydown: frosted spice cookies - yummy!

 

Dry: a bevy of holiday treats, specifically peach cobbler, wassail, and assorted cookies

 

 

Jack is festive, warm, and delicious. I never picked up on the pumpkin, but I definitely got the peach and spices, along with butter, sugar, and a touch of apple. It smells like the dessert table at a holiday party rather than autumn, which is surprising but not a bad thing. I will definitely wear this during the cold of winter to remind me of warmer times.

 

6 out of 10 bones

Edited July 2, 2013 by BoneBone24

[Drae]

Frimped (in two different swaps, received on the same day!) to me, I was weary of the pumpkin but I'm a peach and clove lover so this was a must-try.

 

In the imp: I don't detect the actual pumpkin note, but it's very orange and warm and filling and spicy. I get a slightly fruity buttercream icing and I kind of want to eat it

Wet on skin: The butter becomes way more pronounced and its bordering on WHOA too much. The peach and pumpkin sort of meld into one. The nutmeg is just hanging out in the background and the clove is invisible

Dry: the butter pulls back a bit and the peachkin goes pretty sweet.

 

Verdict: This isn't as offensively pumkin-scented candle as I thought it was gonna be, but I certainly don't want to smell like a peachkin I might keep the imp to test out in a diffuser.

Edited December 29, 2011 by Drae

[whitsunweddings]

Allow me to wax pretentious for a moment:

 

Jack is interesting to me because it is so redolent of a culture that is not my own. I'm from New Zealand, and Jack is based around concepts that to me, are very American: Pumpkin as a sweet food (which we don't do here), the season of "Fall" (we do have seasons here, but - at least where I am, at the bottom of the North Island - they're often not very distinct from each other. Autumn is generally just like "Huh, there's some leaves on the ground and it might rain a bit more than it did in summer"), and Halloween as a big celebration (which we do here, but only half-heartedly and with much wailing and knashing of teeth from certain parts of the community). I don't think I've ever seen a jack-o-lantern in real life. So, to me, this is as exotic as smelling a perfume based around ~sacred polynesian blooms might be for some of you. Just an interesting thought! Anyway:

 

In the imp: Butter, pastry, and peach.

Wet: Spicy butter.

Dry: The butter and pastry bugger off somewhere, and I am left with spiced, juicy white flesh peaches (hmmm, so glad those are in season right now). It's delicious, though not really something I can see myself wearing daily.

[Dani87]

Imp: buttery spiced pumpkin

Wet: warm pumpkin pie

Dry: I didn't get any peach, instead this turned into a yummy pumpkin pie, and apple cider. I really love this scent.

[bellumed]

Up close, this smells clearly like a pumpkin candle with notes of nutmeg—something some people might consider a negative, but I actually like the “candle” scent quite a bit. According to my mother, from a couple feet away the spices dominated and then occasionally a whiff of pumpkin would hit her. Either way it’s yummy, and I will use this lots come October!

Edited June 28, 2012 by bellumed

[AmethystDahlia]

In Bottle: Smells kind of like caramel popcorn actually! Sweet and yummy.

 

On Skin: Now I'm actually smelling the notes that are in this, particularly the peach and spices. Also sweet and yummy, but in a different way.

 

Dry-Down: This one definitely lasts a while on me. I took a shower while wearing this (I forgot I had it on), but I could still faintly smell it afterwards.

 

Final verdict: Keeping the imp for sure. I may splurge on a bottle some day.

[Redillon]

I got the imp months ago but never tried it past the sniffing stage. So, today was the day!

 

It's all butter in the imp. Very rich and buttery. I don't get much else but butter.

 

Wet on the skin it begins to open up a little. I can smell a tart waft, but it's not peach, it smells more like apples, it's probably from the spices.

 

Dry: Wax. Damn it! My skin turns everything to wax. It wasn't on half an hour before it went straight to wax. My skin chemistry sucks!!!