Fledgling Raptor Moon

[CLFilm]

Warm, soft tufts of down and gleaming tawny feathers: clove, toasted sandalwood, aged patchouli, bourbon vanilla, carnation, massoia bark, hinoki wood, and West Indian Bay.

I LOVE THIS. Caveat: it just came in the mailbox about an hour ago.

In the bottle: A lighter Luperci.
Wet on skin: Kinda floral? Hmmm.
Drydown: Warm, smooth, and a bit spicy. Very close to the skin. The woods are peeking out, and the carnation. Reminds me a little bit of Faiza the Black Mamba for a bit, but that goes away relatively quickly. I don't really get any patchouli or clove, not directly. I still get that "lighter Luperci" vibe though, which makes me think they are hanging out underneath.

This is both powdery (in a good way, a first!) and spicy to me, unlike anything else I have from the lab. It just might end up being my carnation/sandalwood dream scent. I think some aging will make it even more beautiful, as it does for Luperci, and this will end up being a fantastic fall scent. Though it is definitely light enough to wear now, in the summer, without knocking people over.

Man, I waffled hard about ordering this and I'm so, so glad I did.

[surlygurl]

This is interesting. It's not at all what I expected.

 

Wet, it's confusing. The only thing I recognize is the golden clove that was used in Winter of our Discontent 2006 (but not 2008). But while WooD '06 was softly sweet & golden, FRM is burnished copper with a bit of verdigris, and not a hint of sweetness. The woods and resins are so well blended that they become a neutral backdrop.

 

Dry(ing): Same as above, but the clove verges on being sour. Resins, woods, vanilla or whatever else is in here aren't making themselves known. Strangely, this scent is pretty light on me. The notes are all wonderful on their own; together, they combine to become "a big bunch o' nothin' " (as my mother would say).

 

This needs to go into the aging box before I make any rash decisions. Maybe by then it'll have aged into something glorious. Until then, I'll revisit my bottle of WooD '06

[Dharklady]

In bottle: Sandalwood, carnation, and a touch of bay, vanilla, and clove

Wet: A little sharp and spicy. The sandalwood and patchouli are fighting with the carnation.

Dry: This deepens and grows very smooth as it warms up, becoming a spicy carnation and sandalwood mellowed by the woods and vanilla. It honestly smells like what I imagine soft, brown feathers to be.

Notes: Very similar in feel to Raven Moon but brown where Raven is black. I’m in love.

 

[brilliantcat]

This is BEAUTIFUL. I wish I'd bought a backup bottle (or 2)! In bottle I get a lot of carnation with the woods but on my skin, it vanishes and I get a lovely mix of the sandalwood, bay, hinoki, massoia bark, and clove backed by a smidge of patchouli. As it warms and deepens, I get a tiny hint of creaminess from the vanilla. Not as much as I'd hoped for but I'm not disappointed to be honest. This is so well-blended and smells so rich and comfortingly soft, I can forgive the lack of vanilla that I expected. It's an amazingly evocative blend. I am embraced by downy feather fluff dotted here and there with full, gleaming feathers. It's a soft skin scent that is utterly cozy and relaxing. If I were a cat, I'd purr. This shot right up into my top 10.

[genhex29]

upon opening the bottle, i was struck by the softness of this fragrance in spite of the generally spicy first impression. i got mostly the clove and patchouli, but it wasn't at all in-your-face potent.

 

a dab on the wrists and inner elbow, and it blossomed into a very warm, soft, almost comforting fragrance. wow. i mean, this is beautiful. i didn't get the vanilla so much, but there was a <i>very</i> subtle sweetness to this on the skin. i think the sweet did more to tone down some of the spice than to make the fragrance noticeably vanilla-y. it's funny, though, how this one smells just a little bit sweeter and more musky on the inside of my elbow, while the spices take the stage on my wrists.

 

after about 45 min to an hour, it stepped back a lot. this didn't have a lot of throw to begin with for me, but it became a noseontheskin smell pretty quickly. the clove tends to be front and center, but there's definitely some patchouli and warm woods as well. while i love this on myself, i can't help but think it would be teh sexy on a guy. damn. i need a guy on which to experiment!

 

this was all straight out of the package from the mail, so i'm going to re-visit and see what exactly we have here after it recovers from the cross-country trip. so far, though, i am extremely glad i went for this one. this one's truly bottled art.

[abejita]

As my collection is huge (four years is a long time to hoard), I rarely do multiple bottle purchases anymore. My last one was Womb Furie, and before that it was as far back as Mead Moon. I broke that rule for Fledgling Raptor Moon, and I'm glad I did.

 

My first impression, opening the bottle right out of the mail box, was dry heat. I wrinkled my nose and waited a day.

 

Today in the bottle it's very clove and wood heavy, sharp, but on the skin that impression quickly diminishes and alters into softness. If this scent were a tactile impression, I would say it is like brushing soft down feathers againts your cheek. The feathers are bronze with traces of gold.

 

The sandalwood is definitely toasted, which softens the sometimes sharp woody character it can have. It blends very well with the patchouli, which has the aged character indicated in the scent description. The two notes bring out the best in each other. The vanilla is not currently prominent, but I suspect it will emerge with aging. It seems the type of vanilla that does. The clove and carnation seem to be balancing each other well, too. The massoia bark adds a roundness that I never recognzed until I started trying as many blends with that note as I could. It always sort of makes everything richer.

 

I love this one and it will only get better with time.

[Venneh]

Just got this; yei! In the bottle, I'm getting clove, carnation, and bay. Not optimistic about this. On my skin, this is carnation, bay, and odd types of wood. Astringent to my nose, and making me sneeze. Yeah. This probably won't last very long. Had to wash it off cause I was sneezing so much. Yeah. Not for me.

Edited July 22, 2010 by Venneh

[blu°]

I gave this a quick test yesterday, and will have to update later, but let me just say this:

 

Bird feathers. Birds. More birds. More feathers.

 

Amazing.

 

Not sure I'd wear it much at this point, but as far as capturing a concept goes, this is fantastic.

 

First summary: feathery rather than powdery, but very reminiscent of powdery... with the added oily talc that's on bird feathers... something greenish that I wouldn't have suspected from the notes list... soft, not sweet...

 

It does have a similarity to The Little Sparrow, but is much fiercer and much more distinctively bird musk.

[Schmoozy]

Spicy clove and warm, dry sandalwood are sweetened ever so slightly with carnation and vanilla. Hinoki wood and massoia bark add more dimension to the heavy woods feel, and the aged patchouli rounds it all out with earthiness and warmth. It sticks close to the skin, lasts a good while and manages to wrap me in comfort. I too wish I had another bottle, but I think a bottle and decant will last. I feel the need to break out Mole. It feels very similar.

[LadyMedb]

Sharp-ity sharp sharp sharp (hi, bay), with no resiny softness whilst wet (the remark above about it being astringent applies to my experience of it, too), then turns around and dries down to dryer sheet leftover resin powder on me before I can even get to enjoy the sandalwood.

 

This is the second resin I've tried this month that's done a "dryer sheet" morph, and what's weird is most resins really don't do this on me. I even double-checked today by wearing my beloved Cathedral, which still smells like heaven.

 

I wonder what note my skin doesn't like, as I feel like I missed all of this scent's redeeming qualities somehow!

Edited July 23, 2010 by LadyMedb

[ami226]

Hmmmm, on me I am mostly getting a soft, fluffy clove that doesn't change much from application to dry down. It's not bad, but not what I was expecting at all. I think I am going to have to retest this one in a week or so to see if anything has changed.

[caitilarkin]

In the bottle: Holy Mother of Clove...accented by dry woods and a leetle bit of bay

 

Wet on skin: Still exceedingly clovey, which I expected since I amp clove like WHOA, but I'm starting to notice a hint of sandalwood.

 

Dry on skin: Here we go! The clove has calmed down, the woods are less dry and the sandalwood is playing nicely with the vanilla and carnation.

 

This is lovely after about 10 minutes and really hits its stride after about half an hour. It lasts well over eight hours on me and becomes deeper and more complex as the day goes on.

 

Even in the dog days of summer, I love this one and expect that it will be a huge favorite.

[ellebelle]

This smells like a men's cologne on me. It is bad in wet stage, bad in drydown, bad in far dry down. Am sad. (Chemistry, I shake my fist at you!!)

[jewelbug]

I was so excited by the list of notes in this blend--clove, vanilla, carnation,and sandalwood especially. Sadly, this comes off as a very musky (where'd that come from?), masculine cologne on me. I like it (moderately), for a man, but DH was unimpressed by it. So, off to a better home this goes..

[wl552]

Hmmm. Interesting! I think this is one where aging will benefit it a lot.

 

On skin, I get mostly soft, warm, fluffy feather lined twig-built nest. That would be the wood/bark and possibly the bourbon vanilla and/or carnation. I'm not really picking up any clove, patchouli or bay.

 

It's not bad, I don't not like it, but it's not completely stand out at the moment either. Again, I truly believe aging will really develop this into something I can love. I definitely don't regret my bottle at all.

[Blood onmy hands]

Aw, I am so disappointed with this scent . I ordered two bottles and the labels are so dark that I can barely make out the bird design on them, and the scent is lackluster on me as well. I really hope that this improves with age.

 

Clove, patchouli, vanilla, carnation, and bay are all some of my very favorite notes, but this is a thin, powdery, weak sort of scent on my skin. It's like a mix of baby powder, dust, dry wood chips, and something faintly sweet and oddly waxy, like chapstick :/. I'm crushed...

 

[yamiko]

In the bottle, this kinda smells like generic men's cologne. On me, it gets very light and powdery (actually, more incense than powder, now that I think about it) and not at all what I expected from the notes. It turns from a dark woodsy scent to a light woodsy scent. It's not the sort of thing I usually go for, and yet, it's not powdery enough for me to dislike it completely. I think that aging it a little bit will make it very nice.

 

ETA 1/28/11: I was right, aging did make it quite nice! It's not quite as powdery as before. It's a bit smoother, and a bit spicier too. It still smells a little masculine to me. Reminds me of a darker Sunbird.

Edited January 29, 2011 by Kaylee

[MeiLin]

In the bottle: Soft and sweet. Vanilla, sandalwood, something sweet--I think the bark and possibly the carnation, but I'm not getting the characteristic spiciness of either that or the clove. Way in the back is the bay.

 

Wet: I'm getting a "clean animal" smell, like your cats when they've been outside--a laundry-from-the-line feeling, but no cotton or linen overtone. Something warm from the sun. The carnation is coming out, along with the clove. This is very subtle and I think it'll be an early fader. So far I'm nuts for it. It reminds me of Ivanushka minus the fur. I'm probably misremembering, and will have to "split test."

 

Dry: Carnation, dry sandalwood, vanilla, patchouli, a tiny bit of clove. Still soft and somewhat cuddly.

 

I like it. It'll be a comfort scent, I think, but not as comforting as my new favorite, Gypsy.

[Reedsong]

At first, the sandalwood and the bay were the most prominent notes in this scent, which meant Lemon Dusty Death the minute it hit my wrist. I was about to banish it from my collection with a loud HMPH; I haven't ordered a Lunacy in months and was mad that Raptor had fooled me so viciously by its delicious-soundingness.

 

And then, and then, and then, it dried down. And it dazzles me.

 

Fledgling Raptor Moon is a primordial scent; it joins one of only a few BPALs (Jezirat al-Tennyn, The City in the Sea, The Black Tower, Graveyard Dirt, Dana O'Shee, and Obatala being others) that cross the line from "unique" into "archetypal." Here, for my enjoyment, we have archetypal green-musk-wood, how I'd imagine an ancient forest on an island of spices might be.

 

It's the fragrance of a freshly-cut branch, still running with sap, and a wind carrying heavy dark-sweet aromas from afar. I smell the rich green top notes, and then as my nose is moving away, I catch that deep-sweet after-scent and think, "Wait, what was THAT?!" and lean in for another long sniff.

 

This is gorgeous, and I am so pleased for taking a chance on this bottle; I certainly wouldn't have wanted to miss this one. A masterpiece, and one of the best Lunacies - indeed, the best BPALs - I've tried in years.

[crebbsgirl]

I wanted to love this. I really did. All of the notes were total win for me. And then it hit my skin.

 

The carnation bloomed instantly on me, and for awhile overpowered almost everything in here. Then the toasted sandalwood came forward and added a rather bitter edge to the scent. About an hour in, it reminded me of Count Dracula a little bit. It was sharp on me. I kept waiting for the vanilla or clove to come out and round things out here, but it just didn't happen. FRM and I just were not meant to be I guess.

[Ashenrook]

My first Lunacy scent! When I first saw the notes for this back in June, I didn't think too much of it. Clove? Patchouli? Oh dear, that sounds really not me... I was wrong!

 

In the Bottle

It's spicy, yet... subdued. There's a grassy smell to it that is cooling, so I'm guessing that's the bay. Other than that there's carnation, sandalwood, and a hint of clove.

 

On Skin: Wet

The clove and patchouli are somewhat prominent at first, but they are balanced and not overwhelming like they tend to be. They then become these faint back notes and instead you get this warm woodsy smell with a hint of carnation. There's also this odd...creaminess to it that I can't quite attribute to the bourbon vanilla. I think it's the massoia bark since it, supposedly, has a coconut-y scent.

 

On Skin: Dry

The sandalwood is becoming more prominent in all its toasty loveliness, though, oddly, I don't seem to detect much of the bourbon vanilla but the milky sweetness is there (which I'm darned sure isn't the massoia). I still smell clove and patchouli, which are, surprisingly, still playing nice on me while the carnation drops to the midground a bit. The coolness of the bay mingles with the sweetness of the massoia and there's a small 'bite' of something evergreen in the background (which must be the hinoki).

 

Afternotes

Still a lovely blend of toasted sandalwood, carnation, clove and patchouli – all wreathed in an implacable sweetness.

 

 

Verdict

On an American scholastic grading scale of A to F, A being best, I would give this an A!

 

I was, truthfully, extremely surprised by this scent. There was so much spice and wood that I figured it would go all pear-shaped on me like perfumes of that sort tend to do, but the tempering with the bay, vanilla, and carnation brought enough a unity to it that appealed to my water-elemental nature. (Year of the Water Dog AND a Pisces? So many water signs...)

 

Overall, I love this scent to pieces and I am very glad that I bought a bottle of this. It will likely be my go-to scent for this transitory period between summer and fall since I can't very well see myself wearing this in spring.

[Kiraze]

bottle: warm and softly spicy - mostly wood

 

wet: sweet soft spices blend beautifully with dry wood - this is surprisingly light though at this stage so i need to slather

 

dry: this is very soft and warm and comforting - spices, vanilla and dry wood are all still there and blend together beautifully but so softly that it is barely there

 

this is absolutely beautiful scent but i wish it was bit stronger on me - need to try how this behaves in hot and humid outdoors as ice-cold office usually fades most of warm scents. I love this little birdie anyway as faint, beautiful notes last pretty well and make me feel relaxed and happy

[Suusje]

I don't usually give weird reviews, but I can't seem to help myself with this one. It smells like evil fabric softener. Soft and fluffy and clean but not in a fresh way, but more in a dark and evil way. I kinda like it.

[bloody sore]

On my skin, how much you put on makes a very big difference.

When I first tried this, I just used a dab from the lid, and it was mostly clove and a scent I really couldn't place. But didn't like. Too sweet and very powdery.

Then I tried it again and used a full dab from my finger. MUCH better. Carnation comes out, and most of the woods. Very very nice and something I think I will wear.

[Delirium1009]

In bottle/imp: Light florals, a bit of dry spiciness.

 

Immediately on skin: This smells of light florals and bay, with a touch of clove. It’s not sweet or particularly warm or creamy on me, like I was hoping. It’s a little herbal and dry with a touch of powder, and then just a touch of warm sweetness from the carnation.

 

After a few minutes: The carnation comes out a bit more, and the bay dies down. This smells like lightly sweet carnations with a very powdery finish.

 

After a little while: The carnation seems to fade a bit, which lets the other notes come out. Now this is a very warm but powdery sweet and earthy scent. I get a bit of patchouli and sandalwood spiced up a little by clove. It’s dry and warm, but has a hint of baby powder to it.

 

Overall Impressions: Yoohoo, vanilla, where are you? I had such high hopes for this blend, but the creaminess I was hoping for just wasn’t there. I got lots of carnation, then after an hour or 2 I finally got some spiced warm earthiness. I’m sure others will have better luck with this one, but it doesn’t work well on me.