Raven Moon

[boxinghelena]

Mournful and Never-ending Remembrance: shining, moonlit ebony musk with benzoin, myrrh, smoky vanilla, patchouli, nutmeg, and dried red chili.

I took a risk with Raven Moon. Any type of black/dark/ebony musk usually does horrible things on my skin. It smells great in the bottle but when I first put it on, I could only smell the musk( possibly the benzoin as well) and it wasn't looking good for me. It did dry down to a scent that I can tolerate. This must be the patchouli, which loves me and the myrrh. I'm not getting any nutmeg and I think the dried red chili component is making the scent a little wonky on me but I'm hoping over time it will morph into something I will love.

[GreenSpine]

At the risk of being completely unhelpful...

 

I LOVE THIS AND NEED LIKE, A MILLION BOTTLES!

 

(Seriously, it's perfectly grounded by the resins and patch. The musk is gorgeous, the vanilla subtle and darkly velvety, and the pepper is hot but not screaming. It's already love, and age can only make it better.)

[ellebelle]

in the bottle: this is very musky in the bottle. Basically, the musk is just about the only note I smell.

 

wet: Musk and resins. As noted by some of the previous reviewers, if you are into resinous scents, you should like it.

 

drydown: The musk backs off a little as does the intense first resinous scent. It becomes more balanced into a spiced resin. I was really hoping for more vanilla in this, but I don't really smell the vanilla at all. It reminds me a little of Fascinum and Azathoth.

 

verdict: I'll try it one more time, just to be sure, but I think this is going off to the swap pile.

[Cheri]

This is so weird, but when I tried Raven Moon a little over an hour ago, all I could think of is that it smells shiny, like a Raven looks. Its a work of art. The way I see it is that when Beth blends a scent its her interpretation of what that certain thing looks like, feels like, and smells like. I paint, but I can only paint what I see or experience, and my paintings are realistic representations of people and places that I've had contact with. This scent is like that. Its a perfect representation of a Raven that Beth created.

 

I smell musk, vanilla, and myrrh, and the spicy pepper. It warms up a bit as it dries, but never loses that inital shiny black feel. I almost didn't order Raven Moon because I was afraid it wouldn't work and, I should have known better.

[MamaMoth]

This is one complex blend, it's hard to pin down any individual elements. The black musk gives it an oily, almost soapy quality when sniffed close to the skin, but when married to the resins and the chili, it produces a dark and glittery throw. The dried chili is really cool as a perfume note; bright and spicy but somehow somber.

 

Resinous, musky, spicy. The mental image I get is of an oil slick on black pavement, refracting iridescent strange rainbows.

 

This is lovely, and I can't wait to see how it ages.

Edited January 15, 2010 by MamaMoth

[Rheliwen]

Has anyone mentioned this one's uncanny resemblance to Black Lace? It's missing that cotton vanilla scent but the base is very similar. It feels a tad more masculine, with an ambergris type of vibe without actually being ambergris.

 

It's very well blended, warm and close to the skin.

[cuervosueno]

I am so sad about this one. I had to have it: vanilla, patchouli, myrrh, nutmeg and chile?

 

So it never occurred to me that I would get none of those notes, not in the bottle nor on my skin.

 

This is musk. All musk. I know it says dark musk, but this smells like a white musk to me or an egyptian musk, one of those so-called "skin musks." It smells silvery and moonlit and....musky.

 

I wish it smelled like black lace but my bottle really doesn't at all.

 

And I don't particularly like musk. I wish I was getting vanilla. Or resins. Or spice. But I'm not at all, and I don't think this is one that will age and be ok for me, because I don't think those notes are suddenly going to appear for me.

 

And it lasts and lasts. Put it on last night to try it for the third time and when I woke I could still smell that skin musk. Yep, the one I don't like.

 

I may try it a couple more times, but I doubt this is going to work on me at all. Off to swaps!

[stellans]

Ravens call, are you listenin'?

In the lane, blood is glistenin'

A terrible sight

the mayhem tonight

walkin' through a battle-weary land...

 

Wow. This Lunacy evokes a very strong sense of The Morrigan for me: all dark, and terrible, and savage...but terrifyingly lovely as well. To my nose, the benzoin (which has always come across as resin-y to me), patchouli and myrrh reign supreme, though the spices and vanilla are recognizable. I agree with the previous posters who say this is a morpher; smelling it in the bottle I worried that the slight cologne-ish scent would spoil this for me, but I was oh-so-wrong! Raven Moon didn't even have to dry to morph into instant love for me, because I love it from application to dry-down. Now I'm sorry I only bought 2 bottles!

Edited October 21, 2011 by stellans

[cyberpuff]

When I first smelled Raven Moon at will call, I had a split second of flashback memory. I couldn't place it and needed to save some focus for all the other scents, so I just moved on. I ordered a bottle, because the notes of smoky vanilla and chili pepper were too tempting.

 

In the bottle, I get that memory and I've placed it- it's from high school, a long time ago, and I was hanging out with this group of older deathrock people (that's what we called it before someone termed it goth) and they took me to this witch's apartment in the haight ashbury because one of them had to pick up her psychic advice for the week. This bottle smells like that witch's apartment- dark, complex, earthy and smoky. But clean.

 

I pick up myrrh, benzoin and patchouli right away with the bottle sniff. It's got more going on than that, but those three stand out first.

 

Wet on my skin, it's the same. There's a little bit of musk creeping up, and smokiness. I'm reminded of a more colorful version of Cathedral.

 

Drydown, I get patchouli. And myrrh. Where is the vanilla? It's still earthy, almost like pulling up roots.

 

After an hour, something really sour kicks in. I think that's chili pepper, which does.not.work. on me. I know this now.

 

I'm really sad about this. I tried it two days in a row and the same thing happened. What made it better once it hit the sour on the second day was that I put Snake Oil over it and they mingled together wonderfully. Maybe one day I can still hang out with the cool kids...

 

I'm going to keep the bottle around to see how it ages. Maybe that chili will soften. Also, I love love love the label artwork.

[ralenth]

Bottle: Woodsy cologne, then spicy resins. Raven Moon seems to be shifting around in the bottle... with each whiff, I'm catching a different dimension.

 

Wet: Smoky and woodsy, dipped in delicious resins.

 

Drydown: Soft, tendrils of smoke brush against my skin. The brazen raven of the wet stage appears to have winged away.

 

Dry: Soft, smoky musk that hugs really close to the skin.

 

Overall: Dry, it smells a lot like I expected Black Butterfly Moon to smell (at least conceptually). It's gorgeous and I think it would make a great layering scent. It's a little more subtle than my usual fare, so I'm not sure how much play it will get solo.

[Katherynne]

I was hoping to love this but I think it is possibly going to give me a migraine. I am getting nothing but benzoin, maybe a hint of chili if I put my nose RIGHT up to where I applied it. Wet it smells almost like clove cigarettes, the vanilla Djarum kind.

 

I really don't know if I like it or not. What a perplexing scent! If it doesn't give me a migraine, then I'll try it again -- if it does, I'm swapping it off ASAP.

 

EDIT a few months later and after a few more testings:

 

This isn't causing a migraine like I thought it would -- but the beginning is VERY strong and clove-y, almost painfully so. As it dries down, I'm getting more of the dried red chili in there. Whoever said that this oil gives them a sense of An Morrigan is correct; I get that feeling also. The vanilla takes a while to come out, maybe thirty minutes to an hour into wear. This scent is really... weird, you guys. I STILL don't know if I like it or loathe it!

 

The vanilla end of things, when it dries way down and softens out, is kind of darkly comforting and nice. The stages it goes through getting there, though, are what I'm not so sure about. There's a dry, acrid feeling about this scent. It's almost malevolent in the beginning stages -- this oil definitely goes on with its claws out and has to be given time to dry down into something suitable. I think this might get swapped.

Edited February 16, 2010 by Katherynne

[kirayna]

Ordered this on a whim with my first order, had a quick sniff of everything and this one leapt out as the weird scary one, so figured I’d have to try before all the others or I never would, and I’m glad I braved it!

 

In bottle: ikk … slap some on quick before I change my mind

 

Wet: definitely ikk! I can’t pick out notes in this, to me it smells like Lush’s Icon, which on me is dark dank death by suffocation, may need to scrub it off

 

After about 20 mins: ooh, what happened there, suddenly it’s turned yummy! Dark and musky but not suffocating anymore, patchouli started to appear, a faintly sweet vanilla and something… warm? I’m guessing that’s the chilli.

 

After an hour: The musk has died off and patchouli seems to have blended into the chilli and nutmeg, it’s now soft and warmly spicy with a dash of vanilla

 

7 hours after application: still a soft, smoky, spicy vanilla but very subtle now

[Blood onmy hands]

In the bottle, this smells like sour, slightly powdery resins.

 

On my skin, the sourness backs off, thankfully. I was worried about the black musk (smells like cheap men's cologne on me) and the chili, but I don't smell anything musky or peppery here. Mostly this is dark, resinous myrrh with hints of sweet vanilla and a very baby powdery drydown. I'm not sure what in this is going powdery on me, but the drydown is all dark, sweet resins and tons of baby powder.

 

I don't like powdery scents, so this is kind of disappointing. I'll have to try this on my husband and see if it smells better on him.

[naeelah]

This is extremely well blended. I have a very hard time identifying what's in it. This is a good thing, really, because it just creates a quality of "glossy black" that's perfect for the theme.

 

First and foremost, it's strong. A little goes a long way, and it lasts all damn day. I put it on at about 8 this morning. Here it is 3:30 and still at a perfectly respectable strength.

 

Primarily, I smell the ebony musk. This definitely is not regular black musk. It doesn't smell like regular black musk, but I also know it's different because I asked Beth on twitter. This is most akin to blue musk. It has an oily undertone with a bright, smooth top aspect. It is dark like the night sky during a full moon, cool and clear (whereas black musk is dark like crude oil -- thick and enveloping).

 

Underneath the musk is a dusky, fuzzy, smoky blend of notes. It reminds me in some ways of the lab's dark incense blend. I really can't pick anything out. Not even the vanilla. Hours and hours later, I can smell a creamy aspect in the scent, but it doesn't stand out immediately as vanilla. I don't smell patchouli. The pepper adds a pointed bite; it doesn't stand out as distinctly as black pepper does, but you certainly notice the eye-watering sharpness. It's hard to say anything dominates the blend. It's just...black. But sleekly so.

 

Actually, this reminds me a bit of a dark version of Coco by Chanel. It has that similar seamless blend of musk, resin, and spice, with a bright edge to the musk without the scent being light and sparkly. Raven Moon is very elegant and definitely unisex.

 

If you like this and want something similar in the GC, try The Raven (obviously). It's very similar, with a slightly floral, fruity edge. Also try The Velvets, which has a similar "dark but cool" quality.

 

For LEs, you might enjoy Romantigoth (if you can find it -- for a similar but more pungent and swarthy scent), On Darkness (elegant, cool, fuzzy, faintly fruity), The Emathides (dark and intriguing with a sweet center).

 

--

ETA: age is serving this well. I can actually smell the notes slightly more distinctly, but in a good way. This used to give me a headache, with the sharp pepper. The pepper has lost none of its potency, but now it is better balanced by the sweetness of the vanilla, so the scent is somewhat less aggressive, overall. The patchouli remains strikingly subtle. Definitely a gorgeous blend.

Edited August 9, 2011 by naeelah

[milo]

This one was a no-brainer bottle purchase for me, as I love all the notes. Upon getting the bottle, however, I sniffed, and it smelled quite awful. My mom is a herbalist, and makes homemade Echinacea tinctures. If anyone has taken echinacea to ward off a cold, it smells just like that wet.

Thankfully, this disappears quickly when applied, and we're left with a gorgeous smoky vanilla with a touch of gentle musk. Quite amazing, actually. Like others have noted, RM is quite the morpher. At one point, after 15 minutes or so, it actually disappeared completely, but came back a few minutes later. This is not a 'strong' blend on me, it's quite a delicate, soft black 'velvet' blend. Whoever said this blend smells like black velvet would, is bang on. There is a touch of spice here, that is just enough to make it interesting. A TOTAL win, and I'm likely going to try and hunt down a back-up. Aged, this will be even better, and I'm wondering how it will layer with Snake Oil. Hmm.

[Lethran]

In bottle: Musk, incense, and patchouli are dominant. It is pleasantly complex. It’s quite masculine with the spices giving it an edge. Wet: The benzion is doing some exciting things with the nutmeg and chili. The vanilla comes out as it warms, sweetening it. It continues to lighten on the skin, smelling almost fruity. It’as a lovely scent for late fall and early Winter, spicy, insency, sweet, and richly dark. I was worried about this blend due to the ebony musk, but while it has a dark affect, it’s not too strong. Dry: Mmmm…. Myrrh and nutmeg dominant. This is quite the morpher, but in a good way. The musk is just at the upper end of what my skin can handle and imparts a masculine sexiness to the blend even as it gradually lightens in feel with wear. I am so happy I swapped for this. It’s surprisingly delicate and spicy without loosing its sophistication.

[AngelaTarantula]

oh how this makes me want to i am completely in love with smoked vanilla and it isn't in many blends so when i saw this i knew i had to have it. so imagine my disappointment when it turned to pure powdery resins on my skin... powder is icky! i am gonna hang on to this to age. i pray that the powder disappears and the smoky vanilla takes over

[zankoku_zen]

Yup, yup. I can see this being like the Emathides, it's got that dusty (why hello clean patchouli), musky kinda purple blend. I get a faint whiff of red chili on the drydown. The benzoin makes it warm, the vanilla adds a touch of sweetness.

 

Not my kind of blend, but very well crafted indeed.

[theseagrows]

aw, i was 95% sure i would really love this one, but it doesn't really work on me, sadly. i think maybe the "moonlit" part is something ozoney-aquatic, because that's what this is like on me-resiny and smoky, with black musk and ozone. i don't get any vanilla or nutmeg that i can pick out. the ozone turns kind of weird one me...i think i'll have to swap this one

 

2012 version: haha, had i realized this was a previous incarnation, i wouldn't have tried this, but i guess it slipped my mind. i like this scent, and at first, t's a bit too ozoney for my tastes. though to be honest, it's not all THAT ozoney, i just tend to steer clear of those scents. again there is no vanilla coming out, but this time i think i am liking this scent more . it's kind of sexy in a dark way. not sure if me or my skin chemistry has changed, but i am liking this!!

Edited October 18, 2012 by theseagrows

[ravenrigan]

This was one fo those scents that just had to be done. Thank you Beth for bringing out a raven scent for the full moon of the big scary bfday with a 0 on the end.

 

I also get feathers. And moonlight, and incense, and black silk velvet.

 

When I was going though one of my intensely magickal phases I had a pair of crow wings* which had been dried and preserved in salt on my altar that I used to waft my home made incense blends around me with. I used quite a lot of Benzoin and Myrrh, and used to raid the kitchen cabinet for spices and hebs.

 

This smells just like those! I can almost see them in front of me, dark, a little dusty, fragrant but disturbing, feather, a hint of bone, and just the faintest rasp of salty dry dead birdskin.

 

It's also very much like Schwartzer Mond without the Sarsparilla note that I sometimes get from that.

 

This is going next to Inez, and Snake Charmer and Schwartzer Mond and Glowing Vulva in my all time favourite BPALs corner.

 

*(They came from a farmer Up North, who used to cull crows by the hundreds to keep them off his bean crops - I've never looked at vegetarianism in the same way since)

[arsenicsauce]

wet: I admit I was really really worried when people started reviewing this scent as "musky", because black musk is epic do not want on my skin, but this is different. Less sour, but similarly animalistic- I can see how they're related.

Dried: Yeah, musk is still dominant. I get the feeling there are other things behind it making it far more wearable than any other dark musk I've tried, but it's blended so that I can't pick them out. I'm going to have to sit on this one for a few days to decide whether or not I want to keep the bottle- I like it, and it's very different from the other scents I have, but I'm not sure how often I'd wear it. It really does kind of make me think I'm smelling a bird, as weird as that sounds.

 

I finally realized that the faint sweetness I was smelling is smoky vanilla, aptly named. It becomes more prominent and a little woodier after an hour or two.

 

This is really a morpher on me. Now (about 3 hrs after application) it's down to delicious smoky vanilla with very faint undertones of gentle musk and nutmeg, still keeping up a medium throw. In fact it reminds me strongly of another scent I've had on the brain recently, Morocco. I need to test them side by side. This is not at all the drydown I expected, but it's really fantastic. I'm really interested to see how it ages- I was toying with the idea of putting it up for swap because it's in some demand, but as long as it stays like this after it settles, you'll pry Raven Moon from my cold dead fingers.

 

NEXT DAY: It did not stay. Man I am not sure what happened or how it happened so fast, but I applied a little bit this afternoon and it went all wrong. Like, cloyingly sweet on application, unpleasantly musky on drydown.

Edited November 8, 2009 by arsenicsauce

[surf-tormented]

I was inspired to buy this oil because Poe was being re-buried and celebrated in style and Raven Moon reminds me of this time.

 

In the bottle, it smells sweet. A hard to place sweetness, because I can't describe it as flower sweet or candy sweet. It's more of a clear sort of sweetness. Perhaps it is the musk, I don't know.

 

Wet on my skin, it smells dark and deep, like a vanilla incense highlighted with myrrh and musk. There is almost a mushroom like fungus scent lingering under that. Yet that part is fresh. It is the note that stays with me.

 

Upon drying, the perfume oil starts releasing its spices, I can smell the chili and nutmeg. It adds a nice finish to the oil. Of course, all the rest of the notes are in there too, in the back.

 

I wore this starting at bedtime and when I woke, I could still smell the reminder of the perfume, the hint of myrrh tinted musk and smokey spicy vanilla and the fresh fungus soil like note there in the background.

 

I do like this, though I probably won't buy moons for a while unless they don't have myrrh in them or aren't too fruity (sorry Peach Moon). The myrrh tends to dominate on my skin, sometimes to bad effect. But not with this one, Falling Leaf or Black Butterfly Moon...I think that has been 3, so I am bound to hit one that messed up my skin like Sugar Moon and ended up smelling like I had sprayed hair spray all over my bad self, thinking it was perfume. I'm waiting for this to happen again.

 

Raven Moon does capture the dark sadness of Poe, the mystery of the grave and remembrance of our own mortality. It reminds me of burning incense in a crypt, perhaps after a long rain. Or perhaps being it one's den and being visited by a visage beyond the grave. The musk in it blends really well with the other notes, I can sense it there, but it isn't overpowering. I find this a really nice unisex scent. It's sort of making me gothicly giddy right now. Or maybe that is because I need to eat breakfast!

Edited November 9, 2009 by Madame Nyx

[ljaylh]

 

First up, I want to thank the lovely nrl1978.. I initially turned my nose up at Raven Moon (me + Lunacies = poor success rate) and then the reviews started coming in from Will Call and I thought hmmm.. maybe I need to get me some of that. So I put out an ISO, and she popped up and said she'd grab a bottle for me.. and now here I am.. smelling fabulous!!

 

*ahem*

 

So, back to the review. Well - what can I say that hasn't already been said.. this is a beautiful blend - like many others have said, I wish I had bought more than one bottle. No particular note stands out above the others - the smoky vanilla is dark and smooth (not at all sweet), the musk and patchouli are deep and velvety, and the benzoin is present but not to the point where it's pushing anything else out of the way. Although I can sense the nutmeg and chili they're not making this spicy as such - just adding a bit of oomph to it.

 

Raven Moon actually reminds me a bit of Hellhound.. weird maybe, since there's really no common notes between the two, and it's not even that they smell alike - it's just that this has a similar feel in terms of being dark and slightly menacing - but where Hellhound has a tobacco & rum kick, this has a smooth velvety caress.

 

I bet this is going to smell even better after some aging... but I'm not going to stash it away - it shall be worn, and often! And I shall now engage my ninja stalking skills so that I can lurk around the sales threads and find another bottle

 

[tragedy]

ahhhhh this is GORGEOUS!!! its like ... black... powdery... like feathery...

*scratches head*

I dont even know how to describe it other than stunning! Its blended so well, and I got this with intent to age because the notes all age well.. but .. nope, this is getting worn pronto!

[lwhitesel]

Wow. I had to try this one three times or so before deciding anything about it.

 

First time? I have no clue what the specific notes were, but put it on and it just smelled like BOY. A nice scent for a man, but a no-go for me.

 

Second time? The patchouli came through like crazy, and with the nutmeg combined to make a Crazy Cat Lady scent. Also a no-go, since I like cats but have about fifty years to go before I become a Crazy Cat Lady in earnest.

 

I have no idea why I kept trying this one out. Maybe because it was so different the first two times, I just wanted to keep my hopes up. It's the first lunacy I bought, and it showed up right as I was thinking that I needed more not-summery scents.

 

But! Third time? The undertones of vanilla and myrrh helped the patchouli and musk settle down. I don't think I've ever been able to make out the chili, but it must contribute a little bit to that nice, cold, autumnal spiciness. And now I can't get enough of this! I am using up my bottle so quickly!