Winter Solstice Lunar Eclipse

[lookingglass]

WINTER SOLSTICE LUNAR ECLIPSE
Thy shadow, Earth, from Pole to Central Sea,
Now steals along upon the Moon’s meek shine
In even monochrome and curving line
Of imperturbable serenity.

How shall I link such sun-cast symmetry
With the torn troubled form I know as thine,
That profile, placid as a brow divine,
With continents of moil and misery?

And can immense Mortality but throw
So small a shade, and Heaven’s high human scheme
Be hemmed within the coasts yon arc implies?

Is such the stellar gauge of earthly show,
Nation at war with nation, brains that teem,
Heroes, and women fairer than the skies?

On December 21st, the longest night of 2010, a total lunar eclipse will occur. There will be seventy-two minutes of glorious totality while the moon is enveloped in a cloak of luminous, blood-tinged amber. Totality will begin at 11:41 pm Black Phoenix Standard Time.

If this isn’t a magical night, I don’t know what is.

A voluptuous and brittle blend of lunar oils and white chypre shimmering with darkly glowing red musk, golden amber, black currant, patchouli, rose peppercorn, blackberry, ylang ylang, and daemonorops astride Yuletide’s holly berry, white pine, winter rose, and myrrh.

In the bottle, I smell the resins and herbs...strange and potion-like, like a tincture, almost, or a gentleman's drink (Sazerac?). When I put it on, the white, sappy, needley notes come out, and it's nearly citrusy. The berries seem unripe in their tartness. It is very foresty, alive, with a flashing bite, (it's a little scary!) and a sturdy base. Drying down,the scent mellows and redish golden brown notes emerge. The amber and patchouli make it slightly powery and warm, but the scent dosn't loose its lift. I appreciate the brightness with the depth-it represents the concept so well. It truly fades from white to red amber. I wouldn't call it sweet,though, even with the berries and dragon's blood, which is suprising.

I don't usually wear chypres, but I am loving how complex and natural this scent is-and I'd call it more an oriental chypre. I find it very stimulating, uplifting even. I needed something like this when it is so cold and dark. Sometimes scents I find comforting can become overwhelming when the house is too warm or there have been too many sweets offered. The sillage is strong at first but it mellows considerably and the wearlength is medium on me. I would call it gender neutral and brilliant. Edited January 14, 2011 by Belladonnastrap

[zagadka]

This was one of those impulse purchases for me. There was a lunar eclipse, full moon, solstice thing happening and I just HAD to have something that commemorated it. Thankfully BPAL was on it!

 

Its a very light a fleeting fragrance on me, kind of like the event itself. I usually don't go for fresh, light scents (I love deeper, darker fragrance with lots of morphing power) I think they're usually kind of sharp and end up giving me a monster migraine. But, it had lots of notes that I love and thought I would take a gamble.

 

I am still on the fence about this as it seems to fade rather quickly and I don't think I have gotten the chance to capture and appreciate all of the layers. The top is definitely crisp and a bit fruity- I can easily smell the blackberry and currant. Its tart and a wee bit sharp, there is something that hits my nose that I'm not sure if I love or hate! Mingling about seems to be a bit of citrus, too. Something about it reminds me of Mlle. Lilith, Fortuneteller which I ended up giving to a friend. Not loving the top so far.

 

The heart and dry down is softer, more floral. The rose comes through and kind of breaks up the sweetness that the berries brought to the top. It is less sharp and more tart. A bit of powdery goodness.

 

I'm sadly lacking any musk, amber, or patchouli which are my favorites. Maybe letting it mellow out will do it some good. So far its looking like it may be a miss for me.

 

EDIT: definite nope. The top notes make me headachey and the bottom notes smell like old lady and diapers. SO SAD!!!

Edited January 7, 2011 by ECLECTIC

[boxinghelena]

How very strange. The moment I put on Winter Solstice Lunar Eclipse, it was overwhelmingly PEACH on me. I'm a bit confused considering this note is not listed. It's not bad just surprising.

~

[Nadirah]

I get the fruity note at first too, This is a very light and airy blend. It smells a little like how Chrysanthemum Moon did on me but not as sharp. The Musk, Patchouli and amber seem to take over with some of the winter rose hanging out. Everything really is blended very well, it is lovely. Is this one a keeper? I get the feeling this will evoke the feeling of the Lunar Eclipse for a long time and it will age wonderfully so I may just be putting it away for later use

[marared]

This one is a significant morpher. In the bottle, I smell a bright and clean pepper. Immediately on my skin, it smells like herbal tea. Given some time to warm up, it turns into a resinous musky patchouli that is very reminiscent of The Hag - warm and faintly fruity. Thankfully, the rose and the myrrh are also so faint as to have no soapy effect. It's very pretty, I'm sure it'll age nicely.

 

ETA: there's also a mysterious pickle note in the bottle.

 

It's definitely gorgeous once it's been on the skin for 10m or so, it's just a little odd til then!

Edited January 17, 2011 by marared

[fetish911]

Smells like a perfumey nightmare on me. I can't pick out 1 individual note that is offensive, but it as a whole is not good on me. Its gotta be the Chypre that I don't like (as I generally hate most florals) this is awful. I love me some red musk, amber and patch, but I don't smell any of there here, just bright white florals. I am sad that I bought a whole bottle of this unsniffed. Off to swap pile she goes.....

Edited January 8, 2011 by Fetish911

[edenssixthday]

Winter Solstice Lunar Eclipse - This smells so good in the bottle - tons of holly berry and pine, musk and resin. However, the moment it touches my skin, the chypre comes out really strong, giving this scent a masculine cologne vibe. And then I smell two of my evil notes, blackberry and black currant, both of which smell like cat pee on me, and the longer this is on my skin, the more the cat pee overwhelms everything else. Without the chypre and cat pee, I think this would be a lovely scent, but as long as those notes are in it, it's just not going to work well with my skin chemistry.

[ellebelle]

For me, this is a peppery-berry blend, quite light and wafty. It's fresh and pretty, but does not stick around very long.

[sqwook]

This really is a morpher, which I guess makes sense!

In the bottle: Herbal, smells like how the TALs are sometimes medicinal-herbal since they're blended for function not scent - it's the brittle and lunar part, perhaps the pine.

Wet on my skin: Hm, herbs are gone and it starts to smell more like fruits (I'll admit that I, too, would have guessed peaches and not berries)

Dry: Interesting enough, hard to describe mixture of lots of things. Not floral at all.

Hours later: OMG, what smells so good.... oh, it's ME! This has become the most glorious lightly spicy oriental type scent. It's hard to pick out any notes, so I'm not sure what's causing this wonderful blend on my skin - probably the peppercorn, myrrh, and perhaps the patchouli (maybe), backed by everything else. Absolutely gorgeous.

[cupcakegernade]

In the bottle, this is soft resinous herbal blend, brightened by the daemonorops and berry notes. One on the skin, the red musk and rose peppercorn become the most noticeable notes. The berries are still present and perhaps a bit of pine. As it warms on the skin, it becomes resinous again. This is a well blended, very complex scent. It very lovely and the husband simply adores this one on me.

[midnight_aeval]

I'm glad I'm not the only one getting peach which I thought was odd since it's not even a note in the blend! The drydown on this reminds me a lot of Halloween: New Orleans. Sort of herbal, fruity, and floral. I already own a bottle of Halloween: NO so I hope this one ages distinctly from it. In the bottle it does smell magical. It reminds me of a still, moonlit winter night in a cabin nestled in the midst of snowy clearing. I can picture the spot really well when I smell this blend. This one might not be one I wear frequently as it's not my usual scent-style, but I really like the imagery.

[thekittenkat]

When I saw that Beth had created this scent, I knew that I must have it, whether or not it worked on me, in honor of this amazing event. The bf set up the telescope that magical night, and we fought the clouds to catch glimpses of the eclipse. Besides, it has blackberry.

 

In the bottle: There's pine and patch, musk and currant, pepper and ylang ylang, all swirling about.

 

Wet: I think that the chypre has come to the foreground, but the currant and blackberry are coming together for a fruity note that is tempered by the myrrh and the pine, and that is keeping the chypre in check.

 

The dry-down: Now I'm getting amber, the dragon's blood (but not too much so), with hints of the holly berry and the white pine and the winter rose. Ever time I sniff it, there's flashes of different things going on.

 

Quite a morpher, but only correct for this once-in-a-lifetime longest winter night haunted by clouds and a full lunar eclipse.

Edited January 11, 2011 by thekittenkat

[cyberpuff]

Winter Solstice Lunar Eclipse is a bottle I picked up more because of the event than the scent, although seeing red musk, golden amber and patchouli in the note list was encouraging.

 

In the bottle: Herbal, alpine, berry. Reminds me of last year's Blue Moons plus something else that I can't quite name.

 

Wet on skin: The herbs calm down, the hollyberry comes front and center.

 

Drydown: Berries, pine and a touch of bright pepper.

 

20 minutes later: Hey, I just remembered the other Bpal this reminds me of- Quick Grope Under the Mistletoe! But a midnight, outdoor version!

 

An hour later: Finally I can smell tiny traces of the amber and patchouli. It's faint and never quite overpowers the elements of winter night cool established by the pine and berries.

 

Overall: Super nice interpretation of a very rare event. It's unusual for me to like a scent that doesn't have an in-your-face anchor to it. None of the resins dominate nor misbehave, and the fruit is there but never edible. It doesn't really last much longer than two hours on me, which was about the length of the event itself, no? The florals rush by, not sticking around for a noticeable amount of time, evoking the clouds that rolled through the sky that night. I'll be holding on to this one, it's unlike my go-tos of red musk and sugared food stuffs!

[tacey]

Fantastical, glowing, transitory, haunting... this is a beautiful rendition of a magical night. With so many notes, I had no idea what to expect, but it's truly a unique blend with nothing dominating. It does seem to vanish quickly from my skin, as others have noted. I love it anyway - the gradual changes will keep my attention all day.

[MerriAnneStowe]

I have now worn this four days in a row, and I'm still having trouble figuring out what to say about it. When first applied, the impression I get from it is woody, not like tree trunks or limbs, but more like branches from brush or bushes. Once dry, it spends a while smelling of red/purple fruits. I also picked up an impression of peach in this phase, even though peach isn't one of the listed notes. In the final phase, the red musk seems to be predominant.

 

This isn't a very strong scent, as in it doesn't have a lot of throw and I have to slather it pretty heavily (for me) in order not to have it quickly fade away to almost nothing. But it does last quite a while on me, at least eight hours.

 

I like it.

[cfrancesca]

I find this one very complex, mostly fruity, tart and dark, with a touch of herbs and pepper and I'm getting some citrus-like sharpness from the chypre. After a few minutes I start to amp the patchouli, the fruits remain tart and are berry-like. Strangely, I don't get any red musk.

[hlinspjalda]

In the bottle: Wow, this one is complex. I get evergreen, tart fruit, something like iris/orris, and a peppery-spicy note. Didn't get much of the expected musk, amber, or patchouli at all!

 

Wet: I get the dark fruit notes, the peppery one, and something sweet above a gentle rose note. There's so much more going on with this one, though, that it's hard to pick it all out. Definitely needs to brew a while.

 

One hour: Still dark unsweet fruits over a very complex midrange. I like this one very much but it's quite difficult to isolate most of the notes in it. But the main discovery for me is that the musk, resins, and florals aren't dominating the mix the way I'd expected.

 

Two hours: Less fruity now, with a light dry woodiness about it. There is a bit of resemblance to The Wild Swans at Coole, which is one of my recent favorites, so I guess it's the "white chypre" blend which they have in common. (I have no idea what distinguishes a white chypre, but I'm guessing there's not a lot of patchouli in this one.) I am still amazed by the way the other ingredients are overcoming the expected musk, resin, and patchouli. This is really exceedingly complex and, on me at least, it smells like nothing save itself.

 

Three hours: Now the balance has shifted back in favor of the fruit again, but only just. The mossy aspect of the chypre has done its usual souring on my skin, although in this case it's manageable due to the many other mitigating ingredients.

 

On me this is a 4 out of 5, and I will definitely wear it.

[filigree_shadow]

I put on enough oil for a test, and I kinda liked it but could barely smell it. So I put some more on my wrist. I still kinda like it, but I can still barely smell it.

 

I usually like chypre perfumes, but this one seems a bit herbal and slightly fruity. Not too much in the mossy/musky direction. It's sweet, and I think I can smell the pine in it, plus a little bit of pepper. It's complex, and it smells good. It's just that I'm choosy about what goes with fruit notes, and this combination isn't quite right for me. I think it's great for the concept, and it's not a scent I dislike, but I like lots of other BPAL perfumes better.

[greenranger]

I sniffed this in the bottle this morning and put it on on a whim. I couldn't remember what notes were in it, but, sweet and mild is how it seemed and was about what I was in the mood for.

 

With no notes to look at, I tried to recall what was in it. I thought I smelled resin, and myrrh is high on the list of things tha t will make most anything work on me. Myrrh was probable. Beyond that I was stumped. It's mild, white, and almost pearly..... Which fits the name well,but when I looked again at the notes I was flummoxed. How could those notes possibly produce the mild sweet smell I am getting? Red musk? Patchouli? Flowers? Huh? I've been sniffing and learning for a couple years now and this one makes me feel like I am back at square one.

 

I like it. It fits the mood I am in. It lasts and lasts and lasts on me. The notes, though, led me to think this would smell entirely different than it does.

[lefthandmade]

Wow! Pine, amber, rose peppercorn rush up from my skin and my eyes water a little, but at the same time this is both bright and gentle. Blackberry, yes, over there, but no ylang ylang and that's okay. That was one of my worries.

 

Two mins in and it's calming.

 

Calming a lot actually. I'm not used to the red musk calming down this much and being this light. It's more amber-y than musk-y on my skin after a while. It works though. And it's not like the red musk is gone, I just have to snuggle my own skin a little to get to it.

 

Gorgeous scent! I love it!

Edited January 17, 2011 by lefthandmade

[zankoku_zen]

Well.... this is quite a morpher. On wet, I get more of the blackcurrant, hollyberry and pine. But as it dries, I get more of the musk, pepper and rose.

 

More wearable than I thought it would be. This scent definitely changes according to what notes your skin chemistry amps.

[porcelina]

in the bottle: super fruity, woah! looking at the notes, there are indeed fruits here (black currant, holly berry and blackberry) but i wasn't expecting them to be so fresh and, i don't know, juicy!

 

on my skin, the first thing i smell is tart fruit (it reminds me of cranberry) against a warm and fuzzy backdrop of resins and musk. there is a tickle of spice (the peppercorn? yum!) and the barest hint of pine. this is a very complex and well-blended scent. it's hard to pick out most of the notes. it smells wonderful and expensive. this feels like a formal scent to me- something i would wear out for a very nice dinner or show or to a fancy holiday party. it is warm and luxurious. so glad i got a bottle!

Edited January 26, 2011 by porcelina

[crebbsgirl]

I also get a blast of fruit when I first apply this. As it settles, the blackberry comes out prominently, as well as the black currants. There's a tartness to this. I'm getting just a hint of red musk here, which surprises me, as usually red musk is a pretty dominant note on my skin. This is pretty sharp on me, and I was expecting something a little more musky/resiny, I think this will probably age well, so I'll keep it for a bit and see if things smooth out.

[stellans]

I love the notes of this blend so much I could hardly wait to try it, and it did not disappoint. Surprisingly, the patchouli (which I love, and usually amp) didn't take over this blend at all: the pepper is stronger than anything else! That is so unusual and so awesome that it makes up for how this blend has no staying power. But, since I am adding this to my Lunacy Rotation to wear at bed time, it only has to last long enough to accompany me to Dreamland, and it does.

 

The pepper is uppermost, as mentioned previously, but I can also smell the holly berry, the myrrh, and a little bit of ylang-ylang. I wish the patchouli would step up a bit, but I love this oil anyway. I have to use quite a bit, more than usual, to be able to smell it without having to sleep with my wrist under my nose, and as I said, it doesn't really last very long, but it's a lovely, lovely blend. 3 of 5 stars.

Edited June 12, 2011 by stellans

[Blood onmy hands]

I was pretty hopeful for this, as I like almost all of the listed notes. The overall scent smells very muddled and cheap on me, though. It smells of sharp, chemically, drugstore floral perfume, but also is reminiscent of cheap potpourri and has a medicinal edge that turns soapy in the drydown. Everything that could go wrong here seems to turn on my skin. Sharp white floral, something that turns cloying sweet, and something that smells sharp, dry, and soapy, like dryer sheets. Blech.

 

It's hard for me to pick out any one note here. It's a little white floral, a little musky, a little sweet berry, but mostly just bad, sharp, and soapy... I can't pick out anything like red musk, rose, or patchouli, and those are usually strong on my skin.