Halloween: New Orleans

[glitterlips]

The distinctive scent of the Mississippi at night mingling with sweet olive and Spanish moss.

Oh lab - you have got this one SPOT ON!!!

Having lived in New Orleans until I was 23, this brought me right back to those first crisp fall days of Autumn. It's a sweet fragrance, but not too flowery. I love it!!

-Mel

[lamenteuse]

Apparently, my skin is magic.

I don't smell any of the lemon scent that everyone else mentions. On me, it's sharp and earthy in the beginning, then dries to this amazing sweet scent, like a floral but sweeter. Almost like....carrot cake?

[Ashenrook]

In the Bottle

Extra virgin olive oil. I love olive oil!

 

On Skin: Wet

...I was not aware there was lemon in this? I'm guessing the olive blossoms have a citrus-y feeling to them, because wow. Extra biting virgin olive oil and lemon.

 

On Skin: Dry

...Now it's olive oil and lemon pledge. Oh no.

 

Afternotes

Okay, I will admit the late drydown period was rather nice. The spanish moss finally started to come out and the scent became much more earthy and peaceful. I did pick out stuff that reminded me of a sleepy N'awlins street with moss-covered trees lining dimly lamplit roads. But, ultimately, it was still awash in OLIVE. Had the olive blossom not have overwhelmed so much, I'd imagine this would be such a wonderful scent.

 

 

Verdict

On an American scholastic grading scale, I'd give this a C-.

 

I guess this drives the point home of being careful just what you test at Lunacies because, like Harvest Moon 2010, I think it got muddled with other oils and I came out with a different opinion of it. Now I kind of regret I didn't get Halloween: San Francisco instead.

[milo]

Very fresh, airy non-heady floral on me. This is very pretty, and what I'd imagine New Orleans to smell like. It does threaten to go fungus on me, but doesn't thankfully. This really isn't the type of scent that I like to wear however. I'm sure is tempted to get the room spray however, I'd love my house to smell like this. This blend seems more springlike than fall to me.

[ravenscanary]

Source: Fresh decant

 

In the imp: Green, earthy, and surprisingly lemony-sweet.

 

Wet: The same. A surprisingly almost candy-like sweetness - I do tend to amp citrusy notes.

 

Drydown: I get a rich, earthy note that reminds me of olive oil, but it's really overwhelmed by the sweet lemony floral. This is really pretty, but almost too sweet, and not as balanced toward the green notes as I'd like.

[crebbsgirl]

I get a lemony sweetness here, but backed with an herbal tinge. Sweet, but not overly flowery. Green, but not too grassy or herbally. The moss lends a softening quality to the scent, so that it doesn't get sharp. I quite like this, but I don't think I would wear it often.

[Aldercy]

I'm getting a lot of razor sharp lemon. I say razor sharp because certain lemon notes almost seem to hurt when I sniff really close. I get something kind of green and ozoney in the background, but it's not breaking through the citrus and is a little bland regardless. Sigh. I had high hopes for this one!

[Antoinette]

This is heart achingly beautiful to me. The lemon starts off a little sharp (which I love) and then mellows out with this gorgeous aquatic feel surrounding it. I really love this scent. Lasts a long time on me too.

[Eemia]

I get a melancholy feeling from this one. I reach for it when I just want to wallow in my own moodiness for awhile.

 

It's very misty, with the sheerest layers of florals and greenery. Only just enough moistness to suspend it in the air, nothing boggy or murky. It has an earthiness that reminds of me of some of the grave loam notes I love in other blends, but less tactile. More of an ethereal variation.

 

This is gossamer light. It never sweetens or develops a bright tone. It stays thin and fine until it just disappears.

 

Very quiet and beautiful.

[surf-tormented]

When it first touches my skin, it is a lemony floral. Not lemon cleaner or anything bad, just a nice floral with a citrus edge. It reminds me of similar perfumes by BPAL: Embalming Fluid, Whitechapel, Phobos, Shanghai. If you like any of these, this perfume has the same feeling to it. It's a warm lemon floral, but more like the citrus is part of the flower, not lemon itself. Exotic in a way and heady, like a magnolia or gardenia. Now I am getting a bit of Sacred Whore of Babylon in this! It never goes candy lemon on my skin like a lot of BPAL's perfumes with lemon in it do. It stays balanced as a citrus floral with a bit of sultry heat to it. I like it. It smells warm and comfortable.

Edited December 18, 2010 by Madame Nyx

[SophieCedar]

Wet: smells exactly like some scent I used to buy from a mall chain.. Damn it if I can remember! There's a sharp rancid decaying sweetness (in a good way) and a touch of water reeds? The sweet olive and spanish moss are there. maybe it's the moss note making me think of rancid and water reeds.

Drydown: mega-shifter. I agree with the other review that said carrot cake... but with a lemon wedge.

[Suu4LC]

I've never been to New Orleans in Autumn, so I won't be able to compare this to the real thing! But this is beautiful in the imp-very sweet bright light yellow floral-I can see where others are getting a lemony scent or light olive oil. Really beautiful.

 

Oh wow, this is so gorgeous on my skin-a sort of bright lemony floral-though as it starts to dry there is an odd note underneath...I don't want to say chloriney, but just...a little off-from far away this smells beautiful but up close it is a bit weird...Yeah, this scent confuses me...if it wasn't for that weird undertone of something this would be so phenomenal on me! It's hard to find a lemony floral that doesn't go Pledge-y and this stays on the right side of that line. Grr...I wish I knew what note was going weird on my skin-this happens sometimes and I still haven't pinpointed what does it.

 

Unfortunately, that weirdness really put me off-I can see this being SO gorgeous on some people, but some note in there just went weird on my skin. Also, my skin ate up most of the scent when this fully dried down. So lovely in the imp, but unfortunately just not for me

[imaginepageant]

In the Vial: Wow, this is nothing like the New Orleans blend. It's rather light and crisp, and aquatic - as the description says, the scent of the Mississippi. I'm also getting a lot of lemon, somehow. The olive and Spanish moss are very subtle, giving the blend a soft, sweet, and slightly green background.

 

Wet: The aquatic note goes immediately soapy, then powdery. The sweetness disappears altogether, but then drifts back in, though it's now more subtle than before. That green note is getting stronger, and mixed with the lemon, it's making this smell like Mr. Clean, or lemon Pledge. Nooooo!

 

Dry: Very soapy, but thankfully less household cleaner now. It's soapy in the way that rose notes go soapy on me. It's clean, but earthy at the same time. The olive is really coming out now, too, and is the nicest part of the blend, to my nose. This scent makes me think of sitting by a river and watching a red-sky sunset.

 

An Hour Later: I kept smelling something lovely wafting around me, but when I sniffed my hand again, it wasn't the oil. I finally realized that it was my hair. As for Halloween: New Orleans, the olive has surpassed the lemon, but the blend is just edging into rancid butter territory. Yay.

 

Overall: Don't let the rancid butter thing scare you - that's just my messed up skin chemistry. Otherwise, this is a great blend for those who like clean, crisp scents. Unfortunately, that is not me in the least. I did quite like the sweet olive, though, and will keep my eyes peeled for other blends with that note that might work better on me.

[biocarolyn]

Wow, I like lemon, but I smell NO lemon. I guess what I smell is sweet olive...whatever it is I really like it. It is a gentle floral scent, with a watery undetone. Really pretty, really understated, and just beautiful.

[Poenari]

I'm retesting my decants from last year, while waiting impatiently for the Halloween update, and finally posting some reviews. So this review is for the scent after it's been aged for a year.

 

It's still primarily a soft, lemony citrus! Citrus usually fades quickly, so I had hoped that the moss would have come through more. I love the smell of spanish moss, but I don't catch it here. It's definitely an aquatic scent. It's a pleasant enough scent, but I don't care to wear aquatics or citrus, so it's not right for me.

 

 

[The Poison Queen]

In the bottle: Gorgeous sweet, heady Osmanthus- that's the sweet olive. Absolutely perfect, I second the smell of this being perfect. Many times in fall you can walk down by the river in the Quarter and find the Osmanthus in bloom, and this captures it perfectly!

 

On my skin: Exactly as in the bottle. Sweet olive and a touch of something aquatic. Maybe a bit of Spanish moss. It's just a little bit cold, and I love it. I love this scent! It really is a perfect capture of NOLA in Autumn!

[Anne M.]

I don't get lemon or aquatic from this. It smells like peach to me. It almost reminds me of something you'd put in a shower gel or bubble bath. It's not bad, though. Very sweet and light. I wouldn't buy a bottle of this but I will enjoy my decant. I think I'll like it a bit more in spring than autumn, though.

Wet - I got juicy peaches too, but all my partner could smell was jasmine. Drying - I'm getting sweet olive as well, similar to Lush's Olive Branch scent, with a green aquatic underneath.

I only put on the smallest amount from the top of the bottle and I can still smell it without needing to have my nose near my arm.

[dejected-underwing]

I am deeply in love with this scent. When I received my decant in 2010, all I could smell was Lemon Pledge. Today, though, it comes out on my skin as a sweet, juicy rose after the initial dry-down. Just to be sure I wasn't imagining things I insisted my friends smell my wrist and tell me what they thought it was: roses all around. Rose scents tend to turn sour on me; I wish I'd sprung for the bottle!

[ACVail24]

This one smells like sweet olives and air to me - it's very light and actually makes me think of summer

[ObliqueRed]

Bright, floral aquatic with a light citrusy tang to it- sweet but it's a fresh sweet, not a cloying sugar sweet. I love it.

[rayvn1]

I just bought a decant of this, and there's nary a hint of lemon pledge, thank god! Instead I get a sweet aquatic that's almost a little minty with slight florals and the slight scent of decay. This one seems to have aged well. It might be a keeper. Very atmospheric and bright at the same time.

[theredkilt]

It's one dense scent. It doesn't read airy at all to me. There's an unsettling note that messes up everything.

[LizziesLuck]

This is strange on me - not what I expected. It's somewhat sour in a lemony kind of way. It smells sort of clean, in an aquatic kind of way. Interesting, but not for me!