The Clock Strikes Midnight

[strahlend]

THE CLOCK STRIKES MIDNIGHT
The moment of passage between the waking world and the swirling mist of dreams: black currant, frankincense, blue musk, mugwort, and wisteria.

I didn't have high expectations for this scent. When my decants got here and I sniffed the imp I was surprised how much I liked it. In the imp it's very pretty in that musky-dusky floral kid of way. I smell quite a bit of frankincense and musk and a maybe spiced floral. I like this more than I anticipated.
On my skin – this is sweet and resinous smelling. Something is reminding me of expensive hand soap.
After dry down, this is soapy enough that is is outside of my range of preference but it is compelling and very pretty.

[dawndie]

Wet: acetone

 

On skin: white foofy floral, the wisteria apparently

 

Half-hour later: warmer and more dusty from the frankincense

 

In conclusion: I love to find floral incense blends, and this one's almost there. The wisteria is so strong in the beginning; maybe aging will bring out the frankincense and blue musk. Lots of potential for gorgeousness in this one.

[edenssixthday]

The Clock Strikes Midnight - I love blue musk and frankincense, but black currant tends to go really, really bad on me, so I wasn't sure how this would turn out. Wet, it smells like nail polish remover. As it dries down, the frankincense gives it a dry huskiness that's kind of nice and the blue musk lends a bit of sweetness to the blend. The black currant still turns on me, though, and there's something else not quite going right on my skin (mugwort? I have no idea what that smells like), so i'm afraid this one isn't a winner on me.

[Incendiare]

In the vial, the blackcurrant and frankincense are prominent. It's sweet and resiny but in a slightly unusual way. Wet, it is starting to smell like floral incense, and the blackcurrant has taken a back seat. I'm liking the floral incense though. Reminds me of the really good quality incense I used to burn in high school while doing homework, so smelling this blend at this stage is definitely making me feel more relaxed. Nice blend but not quite what I look for in a floral incense blend.

[Lorna Brigid]

This really is a purpley blue scent, to me.

I honestly cannot make up my mind if I like it, LOL!

In the imp, the frankincense and blue musk are most prominent.

On my skin and after drydown, every note listed pokes out at any given time. It is very pretty, and very floral. Not very sweet at all, there is a bitterness, here (the mugwort?)

It's pretty, I just haven't made up my mind yet if it is me.

[sqwook]

There's something here that reminds me of the warm sweetness of rosewood. Blue night-time florals -- without jasmine & without white florals for once. Really nice. Manages to be kind of warm and also kind of night-time-cool-lavender-blue, at the same time. I don't get any fruitiness. It evokes very very much the color and beauty of wisteria- delicate flowers cascading from strong ancient vines. I think it's perfect for its scene in the Nutcracker, as the magical dream fades away in a hazy confusion.*

 

*ETA: Just realized that the clock strikes midnight early in the production, not near the end - the scent reminds me more of the music near the end. The music when the clock is striking midnight is not nearly as magical, and I think that the scent evokes a certain magic.

Edited December 13, 2010 by sqwook

[Dark Alice]

I need two bottles of this. This is just the most gorgeous blue musk, frankincense, currant scent. It truly is evocative and like I said...I need two bottles of this. It's just that damn good. Soft and dreamy, extremely evocative. I love it.

[PersephonesChild]

To be honest, I'd completely forgotten I'd ordered this, but looking at the notes, I can see why I did-- lilac, wisteria, black currant, and frankincense are notes I love, but haven't really experienced in combination. In the imp, I found this scent surprisingly hard to place-- fruit (black currant) over other unplaceable notes.

 

On my skin, things swap around a little, and lilac dominates as the top note, over a swirl of incense. It's a very mysterious scent, and it's purple without being very fruity. I like it-- I think it fills a void in my collection. It's not overly sweet, and I have to tell you a lot of the lilac blends I've been trying lately (mostly from other companies, but akin to Ichabod Crane) have been built on cloyingly sweet bases. This is not that, and I'm very pleased.

 

My only concern is that the wisteria may be going slightly off-- I like it, but at least in Les Fleurs du Mal, it doesn't much like me. I'm getting occasional whiffs of "drowned flower mush", but they don't dominate. I like it, I'm definitely going to hang on to my decant.

 

ETA: Mugwort comes way up in late drydown-- it's now a more mellow/less minty version of Beltane 2008, which is good, because I liked Beltane, but it was too powerful for me!

Edited December 14, 2010 by PersephonesChild

[Blood onmy hands]

This smells like sweet lilac/wisteria on me with a pale, dreamy quality from the blue musk. I'm not getting the watery feel that I usually get from blue musk, and it's not perfumey, but it's almost a shimmery scent, if that makes sense. I can't pick out the frankincense or black currant exactly, but the scent feels like it has a hazy depth to it, like it's some sort of magical incense that's lulling me to sleep. The black currant just adds to the rich, blue, sweet feel of the wisteria.

 

The Clock Strikes Midnight is so pretty, dreamy, blue, and sweet, but also rich and heavy... it smells like a fairy tale.

[Schmoozy]

Hmm this blend is so over the map, that I can't really pinpoint it. At first it's black currant with blue musk. It's tart and lush, and the blue musk joins in and adds a wispy dream-like quality to it. Once the resins - well frankincense joins in and then for a brief moment it somehow translates into patchouli. At this point, I want to wash this s$%t off.

But the moment is brief and the frankincense just needs time to adjust with the musk and black curant. I honestly can't smell any wisteria or mugwort, if there in the blend somewhere, they are very understated. I'll definitely keep my decant to experiment with.

Edited December 16, 2010 by Schmoozy

[SophieCedar]

Wet: black currant and frankincense with blue musk. It's a dark herbal resin with a blue black color impression. I'm surprised by the way this turns a bit sour on me because I tend to do well with every ingredient listed.

Drydown: apparently, I'm not the right chemistry for this. The frankincense it colliding with the rest of the notes. I think I would have fared better with myrrh. I had very high hopes for this one. It was right up there with Jacob's ladder. Unfortunately, something is not mixing well with my skin.

[angelicruin]

This is heavy wisteria & frankincense on me. I had hoped the black currant would be stronger. I don't even smell the black current over the floral and incense notes.

[Venneh]

First and foremost in the imp, I get FRANKINCENSE!!, and waht could be an amazing scent underneath. On my skin, frankincense dominating and if what's underneath could ever get out, a really lovely scent. Come on, don't dominate, frank...

[zankoku_zen]

GIANT hit of wisteria and frankincense. Wisteria so doesn't work for me. I smell frankincense and black musk underneath, so it smells kinda dirty to me.

 

Ugh.

[thekittenkat]

In the decant: Cool blue musk and frankincense.

 

Wet: The currant and mugwort are bullying all the other notes, alas.

 

The dry-down: The cool blue musk make a lovely return.There may be wisteria, but the real flower always smells like purple grapes to me, and I'm not getting a grape note here. The currant and mugort have returned to the depths, to ground the blue musk. It is sort of dream-like. An interesting scent, but I don't know quite what to make of it.

[melange]

What does this smell like? Wet, it smells very familiar, like one particular thing, only I just can't place it. As it dries, it stays pretty true on my skin, just quieter. I can't get over this one. It also lasts longer on my skin than some of the other Yules this year.

[heleng]

This is fairly light and keeps close to the skin.

Wet I get a hint of frankincense with a little berry floral

As it dries the musk blends beautifully with the frankincense. The dry down reminds me of a lighter sweeter version of Raven Moon.

Verdict: keeper.

[milo]

This one starts out a weak and watery frankincence. It dries stronger, but I get no floral or fruit. That being said, I do like this, it's dark and musky with a a bit of sweet woods. I do have blends similar to this, though and do not need to upgrade.