Whirling Wind Moon

[wl552]

WHIRLING WIND MOON
Swiftly walk o'er the western wave,
Spirit of Night!
Out of the misty eastern cave,
Where, all the long and lone daylight,
Thou wovest dreams of joy and fear,
'Which make thee terrible and dear, --
Swift be thy flight!

Dreams of joy and fear: swirling dark and airy musks, mogra, plumeria, hyacinth, lily of the valley, dry white sandalwood, gardenia, pale amber, and oakmoss.

This is impatient me testing right out of the mailbox.

In bottle, it's very, very sharp. Not quite floral, but leaning that way. I'm going to guess it's the sandalwood and oakmoss.

Wet on skin, a very sharp, dry floral. I would guess the sandalwood is what is making this feel dry and I'm beginning to come to the conclusion that I amp oakmoss. It seems like every scent that has it in it, I get an almost astringency.

Drying, it's staying pretty much the same. The musks are trying very hard to peep out around that (still guessing) oakmoss. Hyacinths are one of my all time favorite flowers and I'm quite fond of lily of the valley. My mom always had them planted around our home when I was growing up and the beautiful, lush, sweet scent of them would waft on the air. I can't pick up either of these, unfortunately.

I've got to run to the store. I'll pop back on here when I get back to see how it's holding up.

So far, it's not really what I expected, but it's alright. To be fair, it should probably sit for a couple days and be retested. I'll hope the musks and sweetness of the florals come out more.

Update: Back from shopping... the musks have definitely come out to play amongst the flowers. It's mellowed and become somewhat light, though I can still smell it quite strongly if that makes sense.

Overall, WWM is less musk and sweet floral than I was hoping for, but it's pretty good. I don't regret my bottle, but I won't be looking for backups. Of course, that might change after it's sat for a bit. Edited December 19, 2009 by Shollin

[greenranger]

Apparently my skin amps completely different notes. =)

 

In the bottle, I could almost smell swirling winds. Seriously.

 

On me, the flowers come out to play first. This is probably one of the few times that I am happy to get as many flowers as this has. I can't really pull out the seperate flowers, except maybe gardenia, and I am not truly certain that that's because it is stronger, or maybe having a gardenia bush in the yard when I was growing up made me more familiar with the scent.

 

Drying, this is a fabulous floral scent. I can smell the sandalwood in the back giving just a bit of earthyness to it. The musks and oakmoss are playing support really well.

 

I love this. I am happy to have my bottle. I'm not usually a floral seeker, but, this is wonderful to me. The strange thing is, this really does seem windy somehow; As I am smelling this, in my head I am picturing silk scarves being twisted in the air by a whirling wind.

 

 

[Invidiana]

This is gorgeous. It comes out so much richer than the note list looks--like juicy red Christmas berries swriling in blasts of snow and ice, which must be the musks speaking, with evergreen boughs in the background. As it dries down the warmth of the sandalwood and amber come through. I'm so glad I took a chance on it, it's a beautiful holiday blend!

[theandorran]

This is definitely 'whirling wind' to me. Light and airy, and dry. It's an earthy, musky sort of scent, with a floral touch. On my skin, the hyacinth is very heavy, which somewhat lessens the 'whirling wind' of it, but I think it needs to settle a bit before I make any snap judgements.

[Kimbernunk]

I'm amping the plumeria like madness on this one to the point where it's reminding me, somewhat surprisingly, of Thalia (which is almost a plumeria SN on me). The musks are only slightly noticeable and VERY airy (there has to be a lot of white musk here) to the point that my nose keeps reading it more like an airy ozone than it does a musk. I'm not noticing any of the sandalwood or amber.

 

Pretty, not totally my thing. I'll keep playing with it though because there's definite potential.

[jizatt]

I was so worried about this one, but I love musks, and I love the floral musk of Aeval, so I really wanted to try this one out.

 

So hard to review, but let me start by saying on first test I Love It. There's a definite floral quality to it, but not in the guest soap, floral perfume kinda way. This is so pretty. I'm getting hints of other bpals I love -- dirty, aeval, ... and there's another one on the tip of my tongue (nose?) but I cant quite remember which one this points me to. Its sweet, airy and clean.

[Cheri]

This is a complicated scent and I'm not sure how to review it. When its first on its like a blast of cold wind, but with the musk warming it up. It isn't ozone, but reminds me of walking outside on a cold day and taking a deep breath of fresh air, and then smelling some flowers that survived the first few frosts. Its pretty and I'm betting its going to get better with age. I still don't get how Beth can make a scent smell warm and cold at the same time, but she can and it does that in this scent.

[Wildbriar]

I wasn't sure about this one because the florals sound so heavy and rich but I thought I'd give it a go, and I'm sooooo glad I did.

 

In the bottle my nose picks out the oakmoss first as a very wet, green note with the musks and sandalwood grounding the scent nicely. Wet on my skin it remains very green. I can definetely detect the floral notes but they aren't out there in my face, they're very subtle and fresh. After a bit of drydown there is something that becomes almost minty, very cold, fresh and crisp. Over time the sandalwood and musks come forward and warm up the scent a bit more but that note that is reminiscent of, but not exactly minty remains to brighten up the scent and tickle the nose. This is an aptly named perfume and evokes the feeling in me of fresh snowflakes on the wind. I LOVE it and may have to seek out a second bottle.

[pandorasmuse]

In the bottle: Lots of florals overlaid by some sort of woody, musty smell--I'm guessing that's the oakmoss. This kinda reminds me of the house my four maiden great-aunts lived in. Old-smelling and a little musty, but filled with the sweetness of flowers. I'm getting a hint of the musk in the back of my nose.

 

Wet: Sweet flowers, a hint of musk. Much less musty than in the bottle. Cool and distant, like wind in the branches.

 

Drydown: Hmmm. More florals. And it's starting to smell a bit like soap... please go away, soap...

 

Later: Everything is kind of muddled together now. The florals smell very musty. I'm really not sure about this.

 

I don't think this one is for me. It reminds me too much of my great-aunts' house. The floral notes are a bit heavy for me, too--I suspect it's the lilt of the valley, but I don't know enough about what works for me yet to say for sure. This is really too bad--I love the bottle art and the evocative description. I even ordered the shirt. I'm keeping the shirt, and I guess I'll let the bottle age a bit longer and retest before giving up, but I suspect this will be going up for swapping in the not-too-distant future.

[ellebelle]

I get ozone. Lots and lots and lots of ozone. It smells really sharp and astringent on me.

 

Beneath the ozone, there is a sweetness there that is probably the lily of the valley and the plumeria. I get almost no musk and no amber.

 

I would love this scent if it weren't so sharp, but it kind of tickles my nose as it is. I'll keep the decant to see if it mellows over time, but I can't justify looking for a bottle when there are other blends I love more.

[stellans]

Well, color me totally heartbroken... although it isn't listed as a note, both fresh in the bottle and on my skin is a strong mint note. I dared not wear this at night, as I usually do, last night because just sniffing it out of the bottle made my stomach jump, and then the littlest bit on a toothpick to my wrist had me scrambling for the bathroom and the soap to scrub it off.

It's not the sharp peppermint of the Lick It series, but it's there...it's there...mocking me. Edited June 5, 2010 by stellans

[surlygurl]

On my skin, this starts off with a high pitched floral and something fruity. The 2 merge and other florals come out to play. The blend of scents do combine into something light & airy, with a little moss holding it all close to the earth. This is still a high pitched floral, but it's playful like small gusts of wind that blow your hair in every direction on an otherwise calm day.

 

[pinkstardust420]

Sharp, dry earthy musk. There is a slight sweetness there that's keeping it from going too overboard on the sharpness of the fragrance - something juicy/floral (Plumeria??) Very unique!

[MeiLin]

In the decant: Very sharp floral, the plumeria, lily of the valley and gardenia predominant, coming out rather aquatic. Oh dear. Aquatic = no.

 

Wet: Flat 7-Up. No, srsly. Sickly sweet aquatic. Double oh dear.

 

Dry: Aquatic with a faint gardenia and fainter sandalwood afternote. Fail to the point that I'll wash it off.

[Coldfire]

 

 

 

Decant: clean white blooms

Wet on Me: more Clean white blooms. So far not cloying or overwhelming.

Drying Down: Getting the sandalwood and hyacinth with the baby powder of amber

Dry: Gentle, sweet, floral without over whelming.

[papermaker]

While I expected this to be a heavey scent on me it is anything but. It starts as a floral, but quickly becomes so much more. It is like a whirling wind in that one sniff its florals, the next its musk. It is a heady floral without being headache inducing.

[Blood onmy hands]

In the vial, this didn't smell like much to me. Sort of a pale, clean smell. On my skin, it instantly turns into sharp, soapy, chemical florals. It smells like a spritz of sharp, cheap, floral perfume over a soapy dryer sheet. After about fifteen minutes, the scent calms down a bit, but I'm still not loving it. It's a little bit sweeter and creamier, perhaps thanks to the gardenia, and the sandalwood/amber comes in making things smell powdery and dry.

 

Whirling Wind Moon is mainly perfumey, sharp floral, dry soapiness, and powder on me. The drydown is lighter and not as sharp, but it starts to smell like baby powder. All in all, this is very not-me. My decant is headed to the swap pile...

[Schmoozy]

 

This is everything I had hoped for and more. Dry sandalwood and oakmoss is sweetened by amber and florals. Plumeria and lily of the valley stand out more than the hyacinth, while the dark airy musks keep to the background. It's woodsy, cold, and powdry. Love it.

[edenssixthday]

Whirling Wind Moon - This is a really lovely fragrance. On me, it's predominantly plumeria and cold, dry, ozone-like winds, which must be the musks and white sandalwood. I'm quite surprised that I can't identify a few notes at all in this blend (Lily of the Valley, gardenia, amber). It smells the same to me in the vial, wet on my skin, and dry on my skin. It's not a morpher at all. It's quite beautiful.

[zankoku_zen]

This one was definitely light and airy, slightly sweet and grassy on wet. And then, the sweetness I think comes from the lily of the valley and plumeria actually. There is a certain 'coldness' that I equate to Ice Queen. In fact, it kinda reminded me to IQ without the berries, and more along the 'floral' component of IQ.

[fairnymph]

That sharp, piney-hairspray snow note - BOO. Where is the snow in the notes? I see no snow or ice. Then I get a lot of florals and cologney white amber. It's complex, feminine, rather traditional, a little heady and a little sweet. I can pick out *maybe* a little plumeria, but barely - well-blended, this is.

 

Still PINEY SNOW FAIL, in fact more strongly and harshly so. Whyyyyyyyy. i do get some musks now, and the white amber in this is beautiful, and I also get some ozone (I got some before, but it's more obvious now). A bit of hyacinth and a bit more plumeria this is sweeter and almost fruity. Also more gardenia - it's a bit bright/sharp, but not the amping kind or the headache kind. The lily of the valley is there giving the heady feel, but it's light.

 

This dries quickly. I think the plumeria and mogra (i.e. jasmine sambac) are merging on my skin - to me they're similar florals anyway, both sweet and tropical and pleasant. They're stronger, but better yet, so is the hyacinth and it has a lovely fruity brightness, with a lightly tart/tangy edge. This would be so lovely with the damn pine-snow, which refuses to calm down, let alone go away, and is making my rosacea flare quite badly.

 

Not much morphing. Still 80% piney snow. The hyacinth continues to amp a bit, and it's very lovely. The lily of the valley stays light and doesn't even go powdery at all. The musks and white amber are soft and smooth and round out the blend...well, except for the nasty harsh snow. Now it really reminds me of something, with the fruitiness of the hyacinth - The Snow Maiden, or Ice Queen, or both. It's in that vein.

 

After several hours, the oakmoss finally comes out, and I'm left with it, light musks and white amber over faint sweet flowers, but sadly still tainted by the harsh piney-snow. I never got sandalwood, and the gardenia was always so nice, and the florals were altogether beautiful here - but totally ruined by the snow. If the drydown were it, I could maybe handle it - but I can't wait 6 hours for a perfume to be okay. Lower throw, and not-so-great longevity.

[jrk1857]

This goes on strongly floral, but not in a bad way. A rare exception to my distrust of overly floral perfumes. It helps that the plumeria is more of a fruity note on me. Fruity light floral.

 

After a few hours the musks and amber are more apparent, but the flowers aren't completely gone. Less feminine than earlier.

 

I often have trouble with oakmoss and sometimes with jasmine, but not here.

[saralaughs]

This is really good. I'm happy it worked on me. It's been a while since I've purchased a lunacy and liked it enough to keep it.

 

Anyway, it goes on and is very floral. But it is also windy. For real. It's weird. I think it's the musks, oakmoss, and that frosty note that is sometimes used in the Yules. Combined they make this really airy feel that is joined by a beavy of floral accents. As said above, I can't really pick out an flower individually and it isn't a smack you in your face floral either. It's actually quite unisex.

 

And OMG. The amber in this is just YUM. It reminds me of Ded Moroz a bit, in the feel of it. That amber that doesn't go to powder but is warmy and snuggly yet still a bit cold? Yes.

 

Lovely. Glad I took a chance and got a bottle.

[MerriAnneStowe]

My overall impression of Whirling Wind Moon was of chilly, wind-swept desolation. The dominant note was icy and reminded me a bit of Snowball Fracas. Nothing that I picked up made me think of florals.

 

The throw is excellent; I immediately thought "oh no, my usual amount is 'way too much with this scent!" For a couple of hours I felt like I was walking around in the middle of a cloud of Whirling Wind, and even after 6 or 7 hours I was still getting the occasional whiff. By then the scent had settled down to what I think must have been the musks - the iciness was pretty much gone.

 

This wasn't an OMG LOVE, but I like it.

Edited February 14, 2010 by IridiumFlash

[Venneh]

In the decant, I'm getting a very sharp, dry floral. Hrm. On my skin, this smells almost... aquatic, and sharp. Bwa? We'll see what this does. Ends up being a sharp aquatic cleaner scent on me, obviously, not quite working the way I hoped it would.

Edited March 1, 2010 by Venneh