Thirteen (13), November 2009

[cfrancesca]

It's Friday the 13th in the Miskatonic Valley! A base of Mother Shub's dark chocolate fudge, raw vanilla, and sibilant black incense dusted by thirteen merrily malefic, ill-omened herbs, resins, and flowers: prune, musk seed, baneberry, myrrh, wild tobacco, hemp, datura, bluebell, cypress, hemlock, snakeweed, opoponax, and black hellebore.

I LOVE this!
When I first put it on I mostly get a musky, sweet fudge for a few seconds then as it begins to bloom on my skin I start getting it all-
the sweet dark musk, vanilla, fudge, tobacco, incense and resins with a just a smidgen of herbs, but it's very well blended.

As it starts to dry I'm starting to get the prunes, which are not my favorite..but it's kinda working.

It finally dries to a fudgy, smokey prune with some musk.

In conclusion, if it wasn't for the prunes I seem too be amping (which makes it a tad too sweet and tiny bit boozy) it would be amazing!
But I still like it very, very much! I hope with some aging the fudge, resins and tobacco come out more.

Edited to add: This is a big morpher! A couple hrs. later it's starting to remind me of Mme Moriarty without the red musk..it's tuned into a lovely sexy vanilla scent on my skin!

[wl552]

This one is difficult to review other than saying, "It's absolutely gorgeous." Why is it gorgeous? That's the hard part for me. This 13 is beautifully blended, I'm having a bit of a time picking out individual notes.

 

In the bottle: a delicious fruity fudge, but not too heavy on the chocolate.

 

Wet on skin: Amazingly, the chocolate gets eaten and I'm getting more of a rich, creamy fruit. I guess that's the prune? But I wouldn't say it's prune-y.

 

Drying: This is where it rounds out into a very well blended scent. I really wish I could describe this better or be able to pick out individual notes. *sigh* It has a sweet, but not foody; musky, but not rank; resin-y, but not powdery, warmness and richness and sexiness to it that is everything I feel makes a perfect scent.

 

It's weird, I can sort of tell it's a 13, but it's not in your face 13, if you know what I mean. This is my fourth 13 and all of them you can tell are of the same ilk; this one is so quiet in comparison. And it's making me sort of tear up because it's so very beautiful. I've only had this kind of reaction to one other scent since getting into perfume oils, (that was GJ's Island Hopping: Cuba).

 

Later: Lucky day!! It stayed beautiful. I feel so lucky to have this!!

 

Overall: So far, this is in the running for 2009's top scent. Definitely in the top five. I wish like crazy I had ordered two bottles.

Edited December 12, 2009 by wl552

[topaz]

Yummy! The last two Thirteen's I ordered have the same mmmmm, gingerbread note with the chocolate. This is definitely fudge chocolate. I get more plum than prune in the fruity undertone- very subtle. As it dries, I can make out some musky florals and maybe that is a hint of cypress. This is very well blended and although I love the in your face scent of my other thirteens, this one will be nice when I want chocolate that doesn't scream

 

The bottle art is great too! Took me a minute to remember what the heck I ordered when I saw tentacles

[Venneh]

In the bottle, I'm getting a scent that's similar to El Dia de los Reyes; dark creamy chocolate, maybe some of the incense in there?

 

On my skin, the chocolate quickly fades away and I'm getting what I'm pretty sure is the black incense and some musk, maybe a bit of chocolate lurking in the background. No, that's wood. Erm. Hoping this stage passes. It eventaully fades to wood/incense, and then to fruit/incense a few hours later. The last stage is lovely, but it takes forever to get there, and the stages in between are full of death notes for me.

 

There's going to be someone who can love this far better than I can; swaps/sales.

Edited December 10, 2009 by Venneh

[silver_springs]

Oh how I was so excited about this one, so, so excited. I need to just learn that incense scents don't like me, they always dominate and turn into powder

 

Bottle: Oh yummy yummy chocolate. I can kind of smell the flowers in the background.

Wet: Ok a little more floral than I thought but I can still whiff the chocolate.

Dry: Yep just powder

 

This is the second 13 I've tried. My first 13 was the original from '05 and it had an opposite effect in that it was too chocolate and I just smelled like tootsie rolls. This one didn't morph the chocolate on me at all.

 

Edit: Forgive me I spoke too soon. Chocolate did come out about a half hour later and the mixed incense with chocolate is pretty. Still a little more powdery than what I hoped for but I might keep it after all.

Edited December 10, 2009 by silver_springs

[Iceblink]

This 13 is morphing like crazy. It begins as OMG FUDGE! and moves on to OMG PRUNES! after about 15 minutes. This prune bit scared me a little because it was *strong* and a little too fruity...but it passed after a few more minutes and now I'm getting a lot of myrrh and incense and tobacco and the flowers are peeking through, just skimming over the surface. Really complex and deep. This is going to age spectacularly. And I love the label!

[greenranger]

This starts off fudge and chocolate, but, then it goes....in a completely different direction.

 

After about 5 minutes, I wouldn't guess that there's any chocolate in it at all.

 

Vanilla? Absolutely.

 

Vanilla, and flowers, backed by resins. I'm pretty certain that I am smelling bluebells drenched in vanilla and myrrh.

 

Actually, I think I really like this. The greenery is beginning to show up. I think the tobacco and cypress are now apparent as well...and maybe a few other green things.

 

The flower scents are wafting around a bit further out than the rest, but otherwise, it is blending together now. I'll need to try this a few dozen more times, but, I like this.

 

Oh, and the green tentacled 13 on the label is very cute as well.

----

Second wearing: It's still really well blended, except that I am getting some sort of really sexy...musk. I only see musk seed listed, but, mmmmm. This is actually close to what red musk sometimes smells like on me, and I do like. =)

Edited December 11, 2009 by Aerinha

[Aldercy]

This is one of those genius scents that is foody and not foody at the same time, much like Cake Smash (though it smells nothing like it, they just share that quality).

 

Black, bitter chocolate swirled with rich, broody vanilla... definitely musk, a hint of incense (plus a drop of mysterious ginger during the wet stage?)... and something green and alive hovering around the edges. I love that last addition-- it adds a certain eerily pleasant edge to the scent. I think I may be able to smell the bluebell in there.

 

The chocolate settles and fades as it dries, but I still get dusty, dark hints of it. It eventually turns into a scent that really has no category, but it's interesting.

 

ETA: ... and now it suddenly smells like grape? I hope that goes away! I agree that 13 is a real morpher, and I don't say that about many scents.

 

Yeah, this ends up drying to grape for the remainder of the wear time, which I greatly dislike. Maybe it would be okay in a scent locket (if I had one), but it looks like this one might have to go.

Edited December 13, 2009 by Aldercy

[Xanon]

Hmm, this is an interesting one. Total morpher folks.

 

In the bottle: Smells like a much more complex Vice. Like Vice and resins.

 

Wet: It has to be the prunes making this so unusual. Light floral mixed with resins and prunes... but not like the prune that comes to mind associated with old people. This is like the Asian prune candies. It's sweet.

 

Dry: Damn it! I am getting grape! I am sad that the chocolate note that is present seems to be like Vice. I like Vice, but it's not really the deep fudge I was hoping for.

 

I am going to hold onto this and see how it ages. I bet this will age beautifully. And besides, I have already been told that it smells wonderfully.

[mineralgirl]

Well, I knew that this was gonna be 50/50 because I liked some of the notes, didn't like some of the notes and didn't know what some of the notes even were! but... since I had one day to decide, I went for it ......

 

First... the label art rocks.. I love tentacles!

 

In the bottle it smells like sweet fudge and I wanna drink it. I sort of wish it stayed this way on my skin. I'm looking forward to using this in my locket.

 

on my skin, it gets smokier and less sweet/foody but I still like it. It's kinda herby and resinous but there is still a nice little block of vanilla and chocolate at the base of it to keep it from moving too far past the sweetness. I think this would be really nice on a guy too.... however, the longer it's on, the more prune comes foward! (or are we now calling them dried plums?)

 

I'm a die-hard foodie girl but I like this... it's just sweet enough to keep me interested.

[tuesdaynexxt]

Okay - this is gonna sound crazy, but you want me to be honest, right?

I agree that this is a huge morpher, but I've worn this now for 2 days straight, and if I had to describe it, I would say: for most of the wearlength, from arms-distance, I get that gorgeous creamy vanilla/tobacco scent that's in Black Lace. Huffing at close range, I get plummy/musky/grapey that reminds me totally of Sugar Moon!

 

I LOVE this stuff!!!

 

Ditto the tentacles!!

 

 

 

 

 

 

ETA: what I meant, not what I said!

Edited December 11, 2009 by tuesday

[Eutectic]

From 13 I get little chocolate from when it dries down. In the bottle it is all cold dark chocolate with something underneath but on it is soft and sweet and slightly pruney with the herbs and vanilla giving it a well rounded character. I love this one!!

[hkhm]

bottle: thick, gooey fudge.

 

wet: incense and cocoa. very dry and warm.

 

wet: this gets a bit musky as it dries. the cocoa note stays tame and pleasant and the incense remains light and airy. i don't get prune at all (alas!) but i love this nonetheless.

[angelicruin]

Right after I apply this, it's mostly fudgy chocolate, but that soon changes. Within minutes, I begin to pick up a musky vanilla incense note that mingles with the chocolate and makes it WOW on my skin. Further drying brings out a sweet tobacco note, and rather than prunes, more plum on my skin.

 

I think this is my second favorite 13 ever (just behind Brian's version earlier this year.)

Edited December 12, 2009 by angelicruin

[goblinshark]

in the bottle I...can't smell anything? on my skin I get musk and cocoa. It is very lovely, but unfortunately it fades really quickly. I'll be interested to see how it ages.

[bianca]

Dang! I had so hoped that this would be more similair to the October '06 13, so i bought 3 of them!

 

in the bottle: I get a sharp boozy hint in this. I guess that's just my crazy nose though. It's like fudge made with some sort of liquor. very warm and comforting at second sniff

 

wet: This gets sorta butterscotch/ fudgey on my skin. definitely warm and VERY sweet with a hint of something herbal under the thick, warm, sweet fudgey smell

 

dry down: what dry down? this goes from wet to GONE on my skin. The scent left is LOVELY - not at all what i had expected but this little powdery puff of warm, buttery, musky fudge. like hot skin and butterscotch spiked cocoa, but i really have to HUFF my arm to get any hint of it.

sadly, this one does not have the staying power i want. 3 of these are going in the sale or swap pile (I don't know if this is kosher - if not, just lemme know i'll delete this part of the post, but for the people who loved it, I tend to forget to post sales and just give them to friends, so if you want another one (or 3!) PM me)

[Blood onmy hands]

In the bottle, this smells like musky, sexy, rich, dark chocolate fudge.

 

I don't tend to like herbal scents, so I wasn't sure that this would work for me, but I'm not getting a strong herbal presence from this at all. It smells like a sexy, perfumey musk and the best chocolate note ever, with a little hint of sweet and smoky resins. It's such a sexy, dark, luxurious scent. It's like the perfume equivalent of dimming the lights in an expensive hotel room, having sex in your little black dress, and then laying in bed laughing and eating expensive, rich chocolates with your lover.

 

I lovelovelove this. My favorite Thirteen is still the orange label one, but this is a close second.

[amandette]

Ah! It's so good! At first, wet, it smells chocolatey. Then the vanilla starts to come out, and it's a little powdery. I then got the incense and flowers coming out, like warm silky vanilla with incense. There's some flowers and herbs, no more chocolate. It's still faintly lingering at the end of the day, a perfectly dusty incense.

 

[surf-tormented]

In the bottle: Straight on deep dark cocoa. Like another review said, a more complex Vice.

 

On skin: First the deep cocoa comes out, then it starts to smell a lot like 13th from March 2009, minus the musk and cherry. It tends to absorb into my skin quickly, so I reapplied it to my black sleeve, since it is a light colored oil (at least in my bottle). That seemed to make it stick around more.

 

Later on: I don't know what to make of it. It is sometimes gone, sometimes fudgy dark cocoa (without the sweetness of oils with the same formulation) or deep fruit, which I guess is the punes. Those two notes work together well and make the scent more sophisticated over all.

 

Even later: Where does this scent keep going? It's not here, then it is here. Odd. Get no vanilla notes, get no Sugar Moon like qualities (thank the Gods for that, I didn't like that scent at all) but some spiciness comes through.

 

In conclusion: I had this on one wrist and the March 13 on the other. I originally was going to buy an odd number of 13s (consider it some Hoodoo throwback) and now I have two, so I thought I would sell the one I liked less. The March one is really strong on me, which is both a good and bad thing, since the cherry or some other note of it makes me sneeze as it comes forward in the mixture. In contrast, the Lovecraftian 13, is really mellow, it smells great, but isn't strong like I enjoy. But that one has the best 13 label I have even seen and who knows what it will do in six months of storage? I have had gentle scents become ones with great throw with time.I feel I have sort of lucked out with two chocolate scents that aren't foodie, so maybe I should keep both.

Edited December 15, 2009 by Madame Nyx

[Viridian]

SO glad I ordered this one!! The last 13 I tried was all chocolate-fruity on me, and I thought maybe I wouldn't order another until I saw the notes in this one. Chocolate and incense?? I am SO there.

 

I love it a lot. It turns to a soft, sweet (but not TOO) incense-y cocoa with a drop of vanilla. It's SO good. At first I thought it was going to amp resins because it had a brief syrupy moment while wet, but it mellowed quickly into something really gorgeous and subtle.

[hlemonds]

This is amazing stuff! I love the scent itself, and the artwork is so great! On me this is not foody at all. I am testing it fresh out of the mailbox, so it isn't even room temp yet, but i can already tell this one is top 20 material (maybe even top 10). In the bottle i can smell the wonderful dark chocolate, and the gorgeous incense underneath. Wet on my skin the cocoa is still present, but backs off considerably. This scent is not all that sweet on me. After the initial wet phase i do smell the prune/plum rising to the surface, mingling with the incense. The chocolate and vanilla are virtually indistiguishable in the early drydown, they act as a mildly sweet base for the incense (which is probably my uneducated nose mixing up the tobacco, myrhh, and some of the other "incesnse" type notes). I'm also getting a hint of musk, but again it isn't an overt musk, it's a lovely addition to the background.

 

ETA: Completely dried down this reminds me very much of Snake Charmer and Mme. Moriarty. Maybe the prune/plum and vanilla with the incense vibe? Must be. It's good!

Edited December 16, 2009 by Hillary

[juniperus]

Bottle: oooh daaark. chocolate fudge and a hint of prune are all I can identify easily.

Wet: there are hints of biter herbs behind the fudge. interesting. (here's hoping my personal notes of ill-omen don't come out and play nastily! tobacco and cypress, I'm looking at you!)

Dry: the herbals are getting feisty. uh oh.

Later: Rotting vegetation, motor oil, and a hint of ashtray. I don't know whether it was the hemp, datura, snakeweed, or hemlock, but something else is adding to the badness that is cypress and tobacco on me. Hope springs eternal - but, really, I should know better. Cypress is a bitch.

[papermaker]

In the bottle this is rich chocolate. Once it hits my skin the chocolate runs away and hides for awhile. It turns into herbs and prune. Not bad a little different though. Dry I want to run around singing the song from Cinderella So This is Love. It is a pruny/plum incense with tobacco and vanilla.

[lwhitesel]

In the bottle, this smells like boozy chocolate.

 

Wet, it's a sort of chocolate-dipped fruit. Fruity doesn't work on me, but I was willing to give this one a try, but the prune is just too prominent.

 

And then...it vanishes there's sort of an idea of spicy vanilla left, which would be amazing if it actually stuck around. So disappointing!

[milo]

This is a bit odd on me. Up close, I get a musky, spicy cocoa. A few feet away, it is sharp and cologney, somewhat like an '"axe" blend that my son wears. It is kind of similar to the Feb 13 blend, only less smoky and spicy. I get no plum, sadly. I will give this another go in a few days, but for now, I don't like the perfumey axe aspect of this blend.

 

OK, now two days later, the axe has disappeared, thankfully, and a wonderful musky cocoa is present throughout. There is a touch of spiciness that gives it a bit of oomph. The downside, is that it's a fast fader, and gone after only an hour.

Edited January 3, 2010 by milo