Evening Cicadas and Red Peppers

[surlygurl]

Frost-limned, ice-bejeweled branches, scattered blood-red maple leaves, a few camellia petals, red peppers, and nacreous, multi-colored musks that shimmer like gently-beating cicada wings.

The first thing about this scent I noticed was the peppers. It smelled the way bell pepper seeds taste, that slightly bitter oil. Everything else here is an undefinable blur. This is closer to what I expected Raven Moon to be - shimmery & sleek. This does become something very unlike other bpals, something like department store perfume. But high end department store perfume. It's a bpal for people who say they don't like perfume oils.

I do like this - clean, unisex, not very sweet. Not (full) bottle worthy, but I'm definitely keeping the decant.

[ami226]

On the skin: Slightly frosty yet..... green. Not evergreen, but more plant green.

 

Whoa! This immediately turns aquatic on my skin.... Eeek!

[Prism]

in the bottle - I can definately pick out the slightly bitter scent of red peppers. woods, leaves, and then I get a hint of floral and some musk underneath.

wet - aquatic? and peppers? is exactly what i'm getting. masculine.

dry - mostly aquatic, colone like, and a hint of peppers. Another very good guy scent I'm not going to wear myself.

 

Rating - 4/10 (but it'd be really good on a guy!)

[musichappens]

This is gorgeous! There is this high-end fancy-smancy perfume vibe that I get from it, only better! All the notes seem to be beautifully blended because I can't seem to pick them out individually. Definitely picking this up in my next order.

[Schmoozy]

 

Sweet & spicy snow & leaves. It's kinda dry. dusty even. which is surprising for a snow scent. The musk is there. It's a sweet musk with a metallic tang to it. Kinda like a glow from within. Hmmm, now the camellia petals appear. This is a sweet, snow scent that had hints of spice at the start but fade away as the petals immerge. You can smell the dry old leaves, but they also disappear into the background. The florals have faded too. This was questionable at the start, but it morphs alot in the 5 minutes since i put it on. It's growing on me. It was a loud scent at first, but now it has all mellowed out and I like it. A soft sweet snowy scent with a little bit of musk. Dry leaves and soft florals in the background. I think of November from '07 .

[milo]

Another non-yuley yule! There's a few this year. At first, this is a lovely 'green' blend with a touch of ozone. It reminds me of walking in a greenhouse in late spring or early summer. There is a sharp note that maybe is the red pepper that starts to overpower the blend after half an hour or so. Kind of reminds me of when you squish a stink bug. At first I liked this, but the bitter smell is becoming off putting. Another Yule dodged.

[edenssixthday]

Evening Cicadas and Red Peppers - This is a very green scent, but it's different from the green summer scents. It's icy and chilly, with a hint of dry leaves, musk and spice. It's an early-winter type scent. It's got a slightly aquatic type vibe to it without being an actual aquatic. It's fresh and clean and seems like something that would smell really good on a guy.

[zankoku_zen]

On wet, I can smell the red peppers and it's a very green like scent. I sort of enjoy it, it kinda reminds me to Green Party, not in the notes but the feel of it. As it dries, I get more of the 'snow' component, but its more perfumey and fragrant. I wonder if its the camellias I smell.

 

It sort of smells like some nice expensive floral soap.

[MeiLin]

In the decant: Odd. A cold street, outside a florist, the galvanized tin buckets of flowers all around, and perhaps I've brushed a hanging ristra of chiles--the slightest whiff of them...

 

Wet: The same, but the chiles are gone. They were barely there to begin with. This is very cold.

 

Dry: Oh, gosh. What a morpher. The chill is gone. Musks, a little chile returns at the back of the nose, soft floral. I really like this, but I'm betting Sir won't.

[malaliath]

Evening Cicadas and Red Peppers

 

I had to try this - my husband's screen name for various things is Cicada.

 

In Imp: Whoa. Why am I getting nothing but cherry cough candies from this? Cough candies being sucked by someone who has just eaten red peppers, that is.

 

Wet, On Skin: Wow! There's more red pepper and spicy red leaves. I'm even getting a bit of the ice.

 

Dry, On Skin: It's morphing and becoming a watery, floral mess.

 

Later: The musks are creeping back out. There's a fine line being trod upon here...this is very similar in a lot of ways as Summer's Last Will and Testament on me. I like my imp, but this isn't bottle-worthy for me.

[Upstart Crow]

I had really high hopes for this one given how much I enjoyed Raven Moon, which also has peppers as an ingredient. Alas, the only thing I get from this is the red peppers which quickly fade to a bitter, nondescript scent and then to nothing on my skin.

 

Oh well. I always have my Raven Moon!

[HamletsKeeper]

I’m not a big fan of forest scents but something about this one appeals immensely. It’s got none of the dry woodyness which I find too strong and instead those maple leaves and camelia have a lily-like effect. Very similar to calla lily but much softer. There is a freshness about it that’s nice. It smells more autumnal than wintery to me and I can only describe is as being a muted green scent. The musks in this are all very light and just freshen up the blend rather than darken it. I’m definately keeping my imp but I can’t see myself wearing this enough to warrant a bottle.

 

[femmefatale]

I'm having such a hard time picking out the individual notes. At first it's a very bright and summery scent, but then it mellows a bit and I could swear this has green tea in it. It's very pretty, but reminds me a lot of a perfume or lotion I used to wear years ago.

This is the scent for someone who is scared by a lot of Bpal scents and wants something a bit mainstream smelling, with a twist.

 

Beautiful, just not my kind of beautiful.

[Lirion]

Peppers, peppers, all the time peppers. Bitter peppers at that on me Oh, and some leaves and perhaps some ice. I get a bitter almost herbal smell out of this - it really is the smell of raw peppers, just cut. And it last and last. Eventually it mellow s a bit, but then I have mellow soapy herbal peppers

 

Alas, this is full of fail on my skin.

 

Edited to add: I actually wish this was a roasted pepper note, it would work so much better. Also, despite being lsited as red pepper it smells distinctly like green - it's that bitter edge on it that gives it away.

Edited December 29, 2009 by Lirion

[laslibres]

First sniff: aquatics and flowers, a little bit of white (or crystal) musk, very high-end-perfumey. It's a cool, fresh scent...the aquatic makes me think of spring/summer, like spring water or bathing pools, not winter or frost. I can smell the leaves and petals floating on the water too.

 

No peppers, just fresh dewy flowers...actually no, maybe I do sort of smell red pepper in this! But it's not spicy, it's just fresh and sort of salady. It's like if you slice into a bell pepper, that kind of thing. And it's only if I really huff my wrist...it's in the background from the camellias and the aquatic and the leaves, but it blends with them really well.

 

This is a really lovely, feminine floral...I do mostly get dewy camellia out of this, but the other notes add a bit of complexity. This was another surprise winner for me! It'll be really fun to have around during spring.

[voorishsign]

Hmm. Am slightly undecided.

 

There's a lot I like about the blend - the musks, which work really well on me, the ice note and the wood notes. I can't smell peppers at all but I think there's a dirt note hidden in there somewhere (or maybe it's after all the peppers and I'm just not identifying them correctly) because there's something just slightly sour here, though not enough to spoil my enjoyment of it. This is largely wet and cold with an earthiness that's quite pretty, but I don't know if I need a full bottle. I'll keep my decant around and see where it goes.

 

Still, very evocative and beautifully blended. A lovely and masculine scent.

[MamaMoth]

With all those musks and peppers, I thought it might be kind of heavy... but it's actually quite fresh and clean and a little sweet. The musks give me the same kind of impression as the musk from Dorian, that sort of soapy freshness. The pepper recedes pretty quickly on me, and leaves just a trace of sweet zing. I get a slightly aquatic-floral kind of vibe at first, which picks up speed as it dries and eventually takes over. Smells like nice guest soaps to me.

[rayvn1]

This was unexpected since I hadn't read any of the reviews before I tried it. With the notes I was expecting warm, musky, leaves and peppers. Instead I got frozen, green plant-sap with a slight floral note, like a dewy morning in early spring when you're still getting frosts on the ground. Interesting and very refreshing, but not really my thing.

[Katherynne]

This is bright, cold, and somewhat sweet. It's mostly the scent of woods, sweetened with that "snowy" note and sort of glimmering with the musks. I'm not getting any pepper out of this. Not sure if it's a keeper or not.

 

This fades down into sweet musk. I don't like it; it's not my thing. However, it's nice enough. If you like sweet, feminine 'cold' scents, this might be for you.

Edited January 8, 2010 by Katherynne

[forspecial_plate]

What I smell here is a soft, clean musk, with just a hint of the camellia petals, which sounds like some kind of tea blossom, right? Anyway, this is kind of a posh scent and reminds me of the rice wine and black tea that's in Men Ringing Bells With Penises, except this scent is softer and even more gender-neutral. I was expecting something more sharp because of the leaf and red pepper notes, but I'm really not getting those at all. It's a great scent, and I'm glad I have it! I had a feeling I would like it but I was trying not to get my expectations too high. Oh this also reminds me a little bit of Falling Leaf Moon, so I guess I'm picking up on the leaves after all.

 

I wanted to mention, I don't smell any ice or frost when I wear this.....it's not like other wintery scents, in my opinion.

[Dark Alice]

No tea. No Cicadas. Just hints of red pepper + generic commercial perfume smell on my skin. *sigh*

[porcelina]

oh no. i wanted to like this soooooo much, but it's all sickly florals on my skin. the camelia just completely overpowers everything else!

[Seismogenic]

I'm intrigued by this one because I honestly have no idea what it's going to smell like. All I can gather is that musk will be a major component, but combined with other things? Can't even guess! I also kind of had to go for a decant of the cicada scent, considering I have experienced two plaguelike periodical cicada emergences in the Washington DC area.

 

In the imp: This is already hard to describe! There's some soft musk, and something chilly over top of it, but between that, there's something warmer and slightly sweet and I have no idea what it is.

 

Wet on skin: Gentle musk with a light dusting of snow is still the main thing I get. I think I'm starting to detect the autumn leaf note that I know from other blends, but it's still distinct from the warmer sweetness that I get from the middle of this in general.

 

Drydown: Freshly dry, the notes are becoming more distinct, and more clearly exactly what they're supposed to be. The sweetness comes from bell peppers and a vague floral note. Combined with that autumn leaf note, it forms a middle ground for a scent that is underlaid by soft musks and crystallized over by faint frost. Everything balances perfectly right now. At one hour in, not much has changed, and that's a fortunate thing indeed. Still a gently sweet center with musk underneath and frost overtop.

 

Five hours later: Still quite prominent, especially given that this is a rather soft scent to begin with. I get a little less of the frost now than before, but still a gentle bell pepper sweetness with leaves and soft musk.

 

End of the day: Very soft faint musk.

 

Overall: This is definitely not like any other BPAL I've tested so far, and I say that in a good way. It's an intriguing combination of notes, and I love how the frosty notes really do seem to coat everything else without obscuring it. I'm definitely going to hold onto this decant, but as much as I love how this works as a concept and in its execution, I think it may be a little too sweet for me to wear regularly enough to warrant a bottle.

[Rouge]

I decided to take a chance on this one, although I don't normally like icy scents.

 

In the vial - Sharp and frosty, like a pine forest in the dead of December.

 

Wet on the skin - Again; this is sharp and slightly bitter. The wood notes are the most noticeable at first.

 

Next few minutes - This scent is definitey an androgynous one. It's sharp and green, but I have trouble picking out any particular note.

 

Dry down - I thought for a moment I had a flash of a bitter red berry, but that was probably the eponymous red peppers. I'd like some more of this note, please!

 

Other notes - Not for me. It's just too bitter and dry. Off to the swaps box!

[fairnymph]

Light, delicately aquatic, almost luminous - it doesn't feel cool, but does evoke mental images of frost and ice, and I do get the light musks (a little creamy, they remind me of the musks in Dorian), and the soft camellia. Pretty and feminine, with a bit of dried autumn leaves below, and then at the end of the inhale, the gentle bite of red peppers, spicy and vegetal.

 

Stronger, less delicate, and a little soapy in an aquatic sort of way; also much more green, more a fresh leaf note though I still get the dried leaves as well. I get an actual cold, vaguely icy note - a gentle mint, to be precise, and a really nice gentle mint - so subtle I can barely pick it out, but it does add a lovely cold edge. The red peppers are smoother now, less vegetal and more just light spice - in fact it reminds me a bit of pink pepper. The musks are amping already, and they're fabulous.

 

Morphing; the dried leaves have come out a lot, and the peppers have turned back to their vegetal state, smelling acridly bell-pepper-ish - that sharp sort of note, but with a slightly burning spicy-pepper afterbite. I don't get any maple, and the camellia is overwhelmed almost entirely. The musks and soft mints are still incredibly beautiful, but they've taken the backseat - this is all leaves and red pepper.

 

I could maybe put up with the leaves (though I don't like 'dry' sorts of notes), but I can't put with the bitter-spicy-sharp red pepper and it, like so many spices, amps continuosly over time on my skin. Really a shame because the lovely soft mints remind me of the cool mint blend in Ded Moroz, and the camellia/musks combo is so much like Dorian, but without Dorian's heavy sugary sweetness - these musks really do shimmer and glow. Good throw and longevity, and pretty unisex.

Edited March 20, 2010 by Shollin