Gypsy

[Andrea912]

GYPSY
Bourbon vanilla, Egyptian musk, tonka, white sugar, and cardamom.

Wet: yup, yummy bourbon vanilla with a touch of sweet sugar...no tonka or caradamom...but, why is it kind of minty? Like the sugar mint in Dorian...

Dry: same as above but fading quickly...no throw, very soft and since my skins eats any and all BPAL, I'd have to reapply hourly...

Dorian and or Green Tree Viper fans, I think you'll like Gypsy!

[MiasmaResonance]

In the bottle, this smells divine. I smell a tea note? But I think it may be the vanilla.

 

 

 

 

 

 

On my skin, I think I'm smelling what must be the cardamom and musk more so now, with an undertone of vanilla sugar.

 

Though it's kind of fade-y, it's def. added to the favourite pile.

 

 

Also, agreed about the Dorian part. It's really similar, which I love.

 

The cardamom adds a spice to it for me, though.

Edited August 5, 2010 by MiasmaResonance

[musichappens]

Very faint on my skin, but I am able to detect the bourbon vanilla and Egyptian musk the most. I actually like this blend a lot more than I thought I would, so I will definitely be picking up a bottle to slather myself with.

[bloody sore]

Mmm, this was a surprise love for me! When wet, this has a sharp plastic tone, that luckily quickly goes away once dry. Once dry, it's a soft musk and yummy vanilla. Hardly any throw, and not very strong, but it lasts and lasts on me. I'm in love!

[Delirium1009]

In bottle/imp: Warm musk and light spice, accented with creamy tonka.

 

Immediately on skin: This smells of dirty spice and musk to me with a hint of warm creaminess. I think the cardamom is turning on my skin, or the bourbon vanilla is not working on me. This smells powdery and dirty on my skin.

 

A few minutes later: The dirty feel has gone, though this is still a little powdery. It smells of warm, sensual musk mixed with powdery vanilla. The cardamom is very dry, and not sweet.

After a little while: This scent gets much prettier as I wear it. It’s all creamy musk and a touch of spice with a nice creaminess to it. It’s very feminine and sensual in a quiet, waiting way. A bit dry as well.

 

Overall Impressions: This blend scared me at first, as it smelled a bit “off” on my skin, but after just a few moments it settled into a very warm, creamy musk scent that got my attention. So far, this is my favorite of the moth scents.

[sarahmarie]

This scent smells like a moth to me! I know, that's weird, but really - it's dry, and sort of...well, I'm not sure exactly, but it's evocative. It smells like a spicy, woody vanilla with a hint of booze on my skin wet, but as it dries it becomes something I really cannot quite put my finger on. I don't really know what tonka and Egyptian musk smell like, so maybe it's those two things that end up strongest on the drydown. I'm not sure. I know it's like a warm, slightly spicy wood smell on me, with a hint of sweetness from the vanilla. Something about it is odd... I'm not sure if I love it, but I like it and I think it has awesomeness potential - if not on me, then on others.

[isisonearth]

This one is really a musky earth sort of smell. Way too dry on me with none of the sweet to lighten it up.

[theasylph]

This was an epic fail for me as it didn't remind me of any of those beautiful sounding notes. Once applied on my skin the oil smelled slightly musty and vaguely spiced. I couldn't get any vanilla at all! This reminded me of the smell of a book left out in the rain for a month; it had an overwhelming sweet moldy paper smell. I'm guessing the cardamom may do this for me because other blends i've tried that contain it (crib girls) have done the same thing.

[alioth]

Gypsy seems to me like Dorian's slightly spicier little sister. I'm getting that lovely sweet vanilla-musk thing that happens in Dorian, but the tea's been replaced with a light, airy sweetened spice--almost like the cardamom was somehow mixed with sugar. And it's all grounded by the sweet darkness of tonka.

 

I think if people are looking for an utter stunner of a scent in Gypsy they'll be disappointed, but it's sweet without being girly-girl innocent and a little sexy while staying light enough that I could wear it to work without feeling inappropriate. Plus, this is one of those blends that just seems like it is going to be amazing once it's aged. Maybe in a year Gypsy will be what a lot of people seemed to be hoping for right now.

[animalcule]

Blast. This is a faint and dusty (not in a way I would pinpoint as cardamom) vanilla-sugar on me, with a hint of a musk that I don't enjoy (first time trying Egyptian).

 

I'm still glad I ordered a bottle to try before they went down. Could have been perfect... sure my bottle will be for someone else.

[Voleuse]

Huh. I expected this to be sweeter, for some reason, but the cardamom actually takes precedent on me. It's not sweet at all, but rather headshoppy with a hint of smoke. There's barely a hint of vanilla, almost not enough to matter. Over time, it weaves together with the musk to make a fascinating, rather masculine incense.

[Edeniade]

In the bottle: It smells interesting, very sweet but with a tang. Not too musky, not too much vanilla, but I can't smell much cardamom.

 

First swipe: Warm, comforting scent. I don't smell much vanilla or sugar but now I can smell the cardamom and the musk. I always think I'm extra man because I always amp all musks to the extreme but in this case it's not overpowering. It's complex and enchanting without too much of any one scent.

 

Drydown: The saddest thing about Gypsy is that the lasting power is so little and the throw is very weak. I would eat this scent up if only I could smell it for more than 2 hours!

[jencallisto]

In the decant: Spice cake.

Fresh on the skin: Similar, but darker and not actually all that foody.

3 minutes in: It's tingling a bit, but it's on the inside of my elbow rather than on my wrist, so that's probably why. Also, it's got a distinct scent of cigarettes in the very center of the fragrance. Odd.

7 minutes in: Wow, this is strong. Long throw, too. Very dark, warm and sinuous.

15 minutes in: This feels very familiar to me -- dark, slightly spicy vanilla and musk, hardly sweet at all and somehow quite exotic and mysterious as well as comforting.

40 minutes in: This is pretty stable. Nice, if not quite inspiring.

2 hours in: ... More and more musk, less and less of anything else. Laundryish. Damn.

 

Verdict: Nice enough, but not super compelling. Faded to just musk really fast.

 

One phrase: Vanilla musk.

[apinchofsugar]

This started off smelling as other people have described -- spicy, musky, sort-of Dorian.

 

But now that it's settled down on me, it's all vanilla sugar! With an undercurrent of some spice, but it's barely noticeable. Basically, it smells like Boo (circa 2009)! (Which means I love it. Lots.) Finally, skin chemistry made a blend work for me.

Edited September 16, 2010 by apinchofsugar

[puddingirl]

I took a gamble with this one, I like vanilla but was unsure about the other scents. In the bottle I can smell all of the notes, it slightly reminds me of a type of barfi (Indian sweet made with milk, sugar and sometimes spices), very nice! The scent is a lovely warm vanilla, just the right mixture of spice and sugar. It reminds me of my other favourites; snake oil, penny dreadful, dragon's milk etc, that same warm sweetness. It's not as strong as the others but I really really like it. This is a very comforting smell, and about as bakery as I can go (ie. not very much)

[starfish327]

very very faint (at least to my nose) mint and sugar, with a touch of something that's going to plastic. the mint and vanilla get increasingly strong as it's on, but it reminds of the long dry down of lick it till it's sticky.

[mxtine]

I'm wondering what everyone is raving about, and I finally received a full decant of this as a freebie to test. It's a plasticky vanilla, very flat and musty. Cardamom must be giving it the musty, dusty smell, which is surprising because it works so beautifully in Cat Allingham. Several hours later...this is still flat, musty vanilla.

 

ETA: I have to admit this perfume ages wonderfully. My initial impression was not good. I retested the same imp last month and fell in love with this dusty vanilla beauty. The vanilla deepened and blended so well with musk, and there's a bit of spiciness with the cardamom. It still has a plasticky quality but it doesn't last long after application and is rather comforting. I think Beth did a wonderful job of making this smell like a fuzzy gypsy moth.

Edited April 7, 2011 by mxtine

[wolfensong]

Anticipations: At first didn't like the idea of a cardamom note, but got a bottle with an imp left in it just to try it out. Slightly reserved.

 

In the bottle: very feint. A little spicy, in a snake oil kind of way, but not much else. A bit sweeter than SO though.

 

Wet on the skin: wow! This changes a lot when it gets on my wrist, it's all sweet and boozy and bright. The bourbon vanilla doesn't so much smell like bourbon vanilla as it does bourbon AND vanilla to me. The spice is almost gone, though for some strange reason I'm getting something slightly... cinnamon-y? What? No, I don't get it either.

 

Drying: the musk is all up in the vanilla, now, and the boozy bourbon is almost gone. That spicy note that I can't identify is still there, but it's too sweet to be cardamom. This does feel very exotic and playful, though, not nearly as dry and clean as I thought it would be. I like it!

 

Dry: leaves a bit of a honey-amber kind of musk behind, and takes the spice with it when it leaves. A close to the skin kind of scent, not much throw to speak of and doesn't last long.

 

Throw: close, and my skin ate it in about an hour and a half.

Notes I detected: Sugar, bourbon, vanilla, cinnamon, amber or honey musk.

Overall impression: I actually really like this, and will probably wear it dancing. It just feels so close and playful.

[milica]

This is stunning!!! A few of my favourite notes are in here and I just knew it would be spectacular!

 

In the bottle, it smells like strong vanila and musk. On the skin, strong cardamom, vanila and musk. The only bad thing is that cardamom grows stronger in firts two hours and then fades away, leaving vanila/musk/tonka combo. I love all of it's changes, but they are not long lasting. In 3-4 hours everything's gone. I'm going to wait for few months before I start wearing it all the time, to see if the aging will help.

[Ceisdein]

In Bottle: Sweet, bright vanilla and spice. A slight hint of something plastic.

 

Wet: Oddly vanilla mint. Very sweet and cool. A tiny bite underneath from what may be the cardamom.

 

5 Minutes Later: Well, that was fast. The mint has gone screaming from the room at record speed, leaving only his socks behind. Now it's woodsy, musky and slightly spicy with only the barest hint that anything minty was there at all. The sweetness has died from a sugary brightness to a much more mellow honey-ish scent. That was an incredibly fast, dramatic morph.

 

Dry: Spice bread with simple vanilla icing. Not a super sugary vanilla but a warm sweetness. The longer it's on the softer and drier it gets until I'm left with a cushy amber. Then, surprisingly quickly, nothing.

 

Overall: Tiny throw and it is quickly eaten by my skin. That's bad. But the comforting feeling of it and wild morphing are good. Interesting. I can see this being fabulous for layering as it would just add a little depth to a ton of things.

[claudia6913]

In the bottle: This is a sort of musky, slightly woodsy vanilla.

 

Wet on skin: There is a sweetness that wafts around the musky woody scent. For some reason this now smells like old lipstick - that plasticy scent.

 

Drydown: An odd woody/plastic mesh.

 

Dry: Smells like old lipstick.

 

Overall: I know there is a "scent" in there - that's it's not really old lipstick I'm smelling, but just the way these are blended, that's what it reminds me of. I think maybe the bourbon vanilla has gone a bit weird on me. Same thing happens with Sachs. I'll stick this in the age pile with Sachs and hope the bourbon vanilla rounds out to a non-plastic scent. I think it's a combo of the cardamom + the plastic vanilla that is giving off the old lipstick feel.

[grrrlennyl]

Gypsy

 

On: Lots of cardamom on my skin, with some musk. Not sweet at all.

Half an hour in: Dark, warm, earthy cardamom with a hint of sweetness.

1 hour in: Yup. Cardamom and musk. The sweetness is gone.

1.5 hours in: Lots of cardamom with a hint of sweet tonka.

2.5 hours in: Still mostly cardamom, but with a bit of lovely musk peeking through.

3.5 hours in: Mostly warm cardamom with a bit of musk.

5.5 hours in: Very faint, warm musk.

Overall: I was hoping this would be magical on me, but the cardamom was too much.

[subtlesiren]

It seems this one is incredible chemistry dependent. Hearing comments of too much musk is making me quite envious. All I get from Gypsy is powdery white sugar, but oddly enough it isn't as sweet as I thought it would be. I would love some musk to come forth and deepen this light scent, give it more throw. Strangely, every time I smell this, I think of my mom. None of her perfumes smell this way, but yet all that comes to mind is her. That being said, I would rather this smell envelope me when giving her a hug than waft up from my own self. Well, I will keep it around for a while and if it doesn't grow on me, I know where to send it!

 

Edit: Wore Gypsy yesterday when I was feeling under the weather and it was so comforting! The dustiness of the scent was what I needed, as opposed to the warmth of a scent like Cockaigne (another of my comfort scents) and it lasted all day. I will be keeping this one for days when I need just the faintest whisper of scent.

Edited March 12, 2011 by subtlesiren

[angburfield]

This scent totally embodies what a gypsy smells like: exotic, enticing, boho, mysterious, sensual and very sexy. Spiced up tonka vanilla (from the cardamom) topped with musk. This scent stays close to the skin and blends in (I agree very skin chemistry dependent). Spicy sweet musk LOVE!

[beturtlement]

Imp: Sweet and simply nummy... out of a large swap I just received, this one was the one that I wanted to try from first sniff.

 

Wet: At first, it almost smells like an orange creamsicle.. but not quite.. almost like a mixture of pale citrus and mint- very hard to explain, but it totally gave me a creamsicle vibe. It's very light and sweet, like if it had a consistency, it'd be just like confectioner's sugar.

 

Drydown: Starts to get a little deeper- something giving it more oomph in the background. Still sweet, but with a touch of warmth and body, and a hint of a light, powdery floral. Not "baby powdery", just powdery in the sense that if it had a texture, it'd be light and fluffy.

 

A.) I'm totally psyched this didn't go plastic, like most sugary and light BPALs do.

 

B.) While I really like it, it's a little too light 'n fluffy to grab a big bottle.. if there was a little more warmth, this would be fantastic for me. I will probably keep the imp to see if maybe I can layer it with something so I can make it work.