Calaveras

[MiasmaResonance]

Clever little satirical poems in the style of epitaphs written to tease the living and ease grief over a loved one's passing. Xocolatl, tequila, copal incense, smoke-dried jalapeños, vanilla pods, and cajeta.

Very buttery in the bottle. I really don't get any chocolate here. However, you can't truly appreciate the complexity of this scent until you apply it..

Whereas it was buttery sugar with a hint of something in the bottle, applied it is a spicy (I can tell it's jalapeno!) and smoky almost chocolate-y scent with a sweet, buttery finish. Definitely autumnal.

A winner for me.

[Honey]

Thank you tesseljoan for that wonderful unexpected frimpage!

 

 

Imp: Smells like many foody BPAL scents that turn horrible on my skin. I detect a nutty scents of baked goods, cream, caramel and burned sugar. There is also that evil celery note.

 

Wet: Chocolate and jasmine rice. Very nutty and rich. I get the smoked chili peppers. very smokey, tart, not too sweet and.. nutty (nut more like actual rice and no almond or hazelnut).

 

Dry: Smells like my kitchen after I have cooked something delicious with chilis, curcuma, coconut milk and rice. A very savory scent, so non-sweet foody. A note of anis/fennel/celery plus chili remains.

[rayvn1]

Smoky, smoky, smoky foodie. Whew! Copal and muted vanilla way in the background. It's fun but a little too rich somehow and overpowering.

[Lailya]

Received a decant of this from the ever-awesome Catalyst and I need to share how much I love it.

 

In the imp, it's a sweet buttery-caramel with a bit of bite to it - the tequila, perhaps? Really lovely regardless.

 

When first applied wet, it reminds me very strongly of Miskatonic University: for whatever reason it smells almost exactly like a nutty coffee, but hey, I love coffee!

 

Dry: Oh my God. Oh. My. God. It's turned into a truly gorgeous spicy chocolate rounded out by the vanilla and a bit of caramel-sweetness that has to be the cajeta and just a touch of smoke. Sweet God take me now, I can't get my nose away from my wrist, I smell delicious.

 

I love this scent. Beth, if you see this, I beg of you, PLEASE bring this scent back for Halloween this year I will buy SO many bottles omg.

[porcelina]

calaveras, in the bottle, has a deep dark cocoa and caramel thing going on, with a touch of spice.

 

the pepper is not green, fresh jalapeno, it is dried and spicy, a bit of smoke. on my skin, there is no sweetness- just peppery spice, smoke. it's a dry scent. it smells like a cabinet full of mysterious spices and ingredients. but there is something there that my skin does not approve of- probably the sugary cajeta- and the resulting plastickiness ruins it for me.

[b00cat]

Whoa..this is strong stuff! I pulled out my decant to see if it mellowed with age but it just gets stronger .

 

Smoky foodie cocoa..and I agree with other reviews that get "coffee". I've decided most foodie scents are not for me, but I can see how others would love this. Oh well.

[fufu_berry]

Oh man, this is one of those scents that I'm sure would be lovely on other people, but is terrible on me. I was hopeful that the smoky jalapeno and copal would be most prominent, but this is a buttery, stale, vanilla-cajeta mess on me. Strong vanillas smell really weird on me, and the extra sweetness from the cajeta is overwhelming. This stuff has a powerful throw, and stays and stays and stays. It's very foody on me and not very spicy, which was the opposite of what I wanted, but others will likely enjoy. Bummer that this didn't go well for me.

[Wren12]

In the imp...Mmm...dark, dark chocolate with a touch of booze.

 

On wet...yummy, dark dry chocolate, with vanilla, a sharp smokiness, and a touch of heat.

 

On dry...not much morph, its such an amazing scent. The dark chocolate blends flawlessly with the heat of the peppers with a sweet, warm vanilla undertone. The copal watts through the scent providing a wonderful, low key incense note.

 

All in all, amazing, goes on the bottle list. Lovely wafts of it keep hitting my nose with different notes, altogether they blend into something amazing.

 

ETA: after several hours the vanilla note dies down and your left with a smokey, very spicy chocolate. This is so good.

Edited January 26, 2013 by Wren12

[Alshneato]

Very chocolatey in the bottle- but it also smells like patchouli to me... so I didn't put it on my skin. I also have a decant that does not smell like patchouli- but it is still not something I would wear- but, it does smell like a great scent for someone else!!

[Kit Foxly]

Goes on with a whoosh of chocolate, a sour-tang twist of the jalapeno, and a serious WOW. It's a glorious colour, too - a rich red-orange. Fortunately, I haven't managed to stain anything with it yet...

 

As it dries, the tequila comes out to play with the chilli, and the incense rises with a hint of amber and a curl of smoke, but the chocolate stays in the background with the cajeta to give it all a warmth and sweetness. I was worried about this being too foody, but it's a well-balanced scent that plays nicely with both my skin chemistry and my tastes.

 

It lasts for 12+ hours most times I apply it, and stays delectable all that time.

 

The Cat loved this, and so did I.

 

(Cajeta is dulce de leche by another name, as I've discovered a couple of months after deciding I loved this one! This amuses me intensely - I couldn't get away from dulce de leche when I travelled in South America - I swear it followed me around and snuck into my food if I glanced away for a moment. And now I want to wear it. Oh, the irony...)

 

One important and odd note – this scent interferes with sleep for me. If I put it on after about 6pm, it will keep me awake until the small hours! (The few nights I've managed to sleep with it on, I unfailingly woke between 4 & 5am and couldn't get back to sleep) Weird, and not entirely convenient...

[mymymai]

ITI: I remember absolutely hating this one the first time I smelled it. It was just all jalapeno and chocolate. I wanted to toss it so badly, but I gave it a chance to age. Sure enough, I still have the overwhelming urge to gag when I smell it. There's just something about the jalapeno, xocolatl, and vanilla pod that turns my stomach sour.

 

Wet: Yep, not liking it. I think it's the jalapeno mixed with the xocolatl scent. I normally don't like chocolate notes as it stands, and paired with a non-sweet spicy note, it just makes for a bad time for my nose

.

Dry: After a 17 hour day, all that remains is copal and a hint of vanilla pods with a slightly spicy tinge. It's even decent now that it's had time to settle, but I'm not willing to give it that time on my skin.

[theredkilt]

What i get is smokiness backed by incense and copal, but it all ties in a very subtle way and some faint sweetnes lurking in the background. Smells like cocoa paste brewing on the stove with bits of smoked peppers thrown in.

[Naomi Kelsey]

When I was a kid, the Avon Lady still came around, and my mom bought me a little scented pin shaped like a gingerbread man. The drydown on this lovely, very foodie scent smells a lot like this---warm, molasses-y, brown, rich, carmelized sugar-y goodness.

 

It is by far the most lingering scent I own--it's very rich and smells just like food when you first apply it. Notes of gingerbread, nutmeg, dark brown sugar, and vanilla are certainly there. This is the only scent (so far) that doesn't dry down to an almondy vanilla musk on me as well. There's a slight fragrance of rich fruit as well--like the currants used for gingerbread men eyes.

 

Recommended for fall or for holiday--it's a bit much for warm summer nights, I think!

[LizziesLuck]

I should not be testing things, I was on call all night last night, and have to go back on call in a couple hours (whose stupid idea was that? Oh right - mine) I feel too exhausted for my brain to even work. But I needed a pick me up, and a lovely friend sent this to me so I am going for it!

 

 

Mmm. MMM!! Spicy, smoky, resinous chocolate. Bitter-sweet. Unique. Glorious. This is good stuff! Something in it almost smells caramelized. I love this, and am so happy to have it! A new favourite Weenie for sure.

[ramblingrambler]

Calaveras is Tezcatlipoca minus spice on me. This is a beautiful scent, and well worth aging for more depth. (I used half of my original release when I got it and aged the other half. Despite missing out on its glory—Worth it!)

 

Tezcatlipoca is one of my very favorites because of the spice and the foodie, incensy, resins goodness, so Calaveras comes in on my (long) list of favorites but not at the tippy-top since the spice is lacking. If you're into any of these things, especially if you're into all of them, it's well worth a blind buy if you haven't tried it. The notes are all balanced and weighed beautifully, perhaps with just a hint more chocolatey (cocoa) goodness than the other notes.

 

Love.