Mourning Lace

[Ghost of a Rose]

A contemplation of death: fragile vanilla blossom with polished oak, bitter clove, frankincense, myrrh, and green cognac.

 

My imp is a decant from the lovely and generous spiresinthesnow.

In the imp: Oil is clear and light yellow in color. It smells like a men's spice cologne to me - clove is the primary note, with wood, incense, and a teeny bit of cognac.

On me, wet: The cognac is much stronger on me, making this a clove-and-cognac fragrance with the other notes as accents (although no vanilla is discernible yet.) It's a very intriguing and unusual combination, and the two notes blend beautifully.

After 20 minutes: The clove has taken control again, and the cognac, wood, and incense notes are evenly balanced as secondary players. Still no vanilla, which is fine with me. And there's a distinct and very beautiful smokiness, like fine pipe tobacco. Also a distinct soapiness, like a men's bar soap.

After 30 minutes: Same as above, although it's beginning to lighten up.

After 1 hour: The soapiness has gone away, and it's lovelier than ever.

After 2 hours: Now the incense, clove, and smoky notes are all about equal and the overall scent is much softer. A bit of vanilla hovers in the background.
After several hours: Just some incense with a hint of vanilla remains.


Verdict: These particular notes are just gorgeous together and I can't stop sniffing my wrist. And it keeps on getting better and better (smokier and softer) as time goes by. But it's too unisex/masculine for me to crave a full bottle. I'd adore this on a guy. Who would have thought, with "lace" in the name? I'll certainly enjoy using my imp, though!

My rating: 4 stars

[whitsunweddings]

In the bottle: CLOVE CLOVE CLOVE. Lovely.

Wet: Seriously just like clove cigarettes.

Dry: Smoky cloves with a hint of cognac. I need more of this.

Half an hour later: Alas! The smoke and cloves vanished and all I get is sweet cognac. Bum!

[joyfulgirl]

in the bottle: CLOVES!

 

on my skin: cloves and cloves and a little vanilla incense and cloves. christmasy, autumny, quiet and warming. this is pretty much exactly what i wanted "the smiling spider" to be. i LOVE it. i got a bottle unsniffed and now i'm glad i did. i may need to snag another before this goes away. it's lovely and quiet and i think it will be perfect for fall and wintertime.

[Deadly Nightshade]

Wow, this is truly beautiful! It really reminds me of Christmas, like those little gingerbread men ornaments or decorating the Christmas tree. Kinda weird since it's called Mourning Lace, lol. I don't get too much of the tobacco everyone else did. On me it went all clove, frankincense and myrr, very spicy but warm. Definitely a winter scent, and it has tons of throw as well. It's early November and this scent fits the mood I'm in perfectly.

[zeldaZ4]

Just got this one today, along with a bottle of Autumn Lace. I am getting mostly clove, softly wrapped in sweet vanilla. Clove is one of my favorite flavors, and this is just lovely. I never thought of it as a mournful scent, but the color I get is dark purple, so yeah, it IS evocative of sadness and melancholy.

[vanillabean]

In the bottle: Sweet clove, and nothing else. *grabby hands*

 

Wet on skin: Sweet clove.

 

Dry on skin: The cognac starts to come out and brighten up the clove even more. The vanilla is sweetening down the clove. But clove is still the most present note, which is entirely fine with me.

 

This.... might be my holy grail of BPAL so far. It is sweet and spicy and just... DIVINE. It is everything I love. WANT MORE.

[Wren12]

Just got this in a swap from the lovely ZeldaZ4! Thanks Z!

 

In the bottle: Hmm...that's odd, is that cassia?

 

On wet...spicy, very spicy, assertively spicy. At first I was all, woah, cinnamon, but after a tiny bit of dry down the clove blooms out wonderfully. There is a warm vanilla base which gives some foundation to the high notes of the clove. On wet I don't get much booze, but that's ok, it's very nice!

 

On dry...the clove backs off a bit, becoming much less sharp and the vanilla continues its soothing warmth at the base. Now the wood becomes more apparent, with touches of incense rising up from the frankincense and myrrh. Oddly enough it smells a bit like a clove cigarette in the pack (ah, that brings back memories.) There is a small bit of sharpness from the cognac, just enough to cut the warmth of the vanilla and the spice of the clove.

 

Overall, very amazing. I wasn't a huge fan of the wet stage, but on the dry down it becomes a whole different beast. One which I'm going to take home and hug and kiss and feed and name George.... Way to go Beth, this is a-maze-ing.

 

ETA: I think that this is going to age into something that's even more sublime than it currently is, as vanilla seems to age very well, cannot wait!!

Edited February 8, 2013 by Wren12

[sarandipitee]

oooh, I like this. This could be my new favourite Lace after Black. It's a rich, deep clove a little sweetened but kinda creepy and dark at the same time. I'll definitely keep my decant and my source out a bottle.

[mymymai]

ITB: It's rather spicy, actually. It smells almost like sweet cinnamon, but I know it's clove mixed with cognac, vanilla blossom, and myrrh.

 

Wet: Dusty clove is still the top note, followed by frankincense. I really can't smell much else right now.

 

Dry: It's beautifully and sweetly resinous once dried - myrrh and frankincense followed by oak and vanilla blossom...and faint clove.

[Monster]

Mourning Lace is the perfect clove scent This is a warm, creamy, vanilla clove with a swirl of smoke. Back-ups are needed.

[BoneBone24]

Wet: Softly sweet with sort of a nutty spice.

 

Drydown/Dry: Very pretty and well-behaved. There’s a creaminess that reads more floral than foody, and a warm cloud of smoky clove. Each note blends beautifully with the next, melting together almost. Soft and gentle, but with a grown-up depth. Fades as it dries.

 

7.5 out of 10 bones

[SimplySyra]

On me this is spicy clove backed by peppery wood. There is a definitely dry bitterness to it at first (perhaps where "Mourning" comes from) but over time I'm getting a gentle vanilla peeking out from under the rest of the scent. On dry-down it contents itself to be a soft almost powdery spicy vanilla.

 

Definitely strikes me as an autumnal and winter scent. It's pretty enough, but I think I will wear it better as the leaves turn and the days turn cold and dark.

[paperdollsandbpal]

First I just wanna point out that I LOVE the artwork for Mourning lace and I'm glad it got sent to me as a frottle!!!

 

I just dabbed a tiny bit on my arm (since there is only a tiny partial amount that I wanna keep for as long as I can) and *bam* djarums!

 

I used to chain smoke djarums, so I know that yummy clove scent well. The only thing about mourning lace is that there is def. something bitter/metallicy/bloody going on that I'm not sure how I feel about.

 

I'm gonna let it settle in the dark for a while and then see what happens.

[kakiphony]

Finally tried the decant I have had languishing in a "to be tried pile for forever" and am sort of shocked at the results. I expected something pretty mild and close to the skin -- vanillas with resins tend to dry close to me and be very nice, only smellable if you hug me, work appropriate sort of scents. I applied a tiny bit of this to my left wrist and then rubbed it with my right wrist. That's all.

 

I am amping something in this wildly. This is NOT a close to my skin scent -- this is wafting all over the place to the extent that I kind of think I should go wash it off before my officemate gets here. However, it is smells GOOD to me, not bad. So I am torn.

 

This is very heavy on the clove, which is riding on a wafting, very floral and powdery vanilla. I'm not getting much depth from the resins, this is all powder and clove. If I had to give this lace a color, I'd say it's yellowed, old fashioned, thick lace -- the kind that you'd find in doilies or large collars of victorian dresses, but OLD and having been stored in an attic with scent balls for ages and ages.

[LizziesLuck]

Wet: Mmmm! Clove. Oak. Gorgeous, sweet and creamy. I am loving this. I did not expect it to be so sweet. Mmmm.

 

Dry: This is beautiful. Spicy, a hint of that beautiful oak note, and then sweet creaminess from the cognac and vanilla blossom. The Frank and Myrrh haven't stomped all over the other notes as I feared they would, in fact I barely detect them, if anything they just add depth. This is a gorgeous, warm, glowing scent, and it rivals Lamia v3 for my favourite clove scent.

[nolifeking]

This is perhaps my least favourite of the lace serie. Oh its still a pretty scent, mind you but because of my skin chemistry, the clove can amp so much that sometime, I smelll like a cigarette ashtray. On the good days,I get sweet oak, resin and a tiny bit of vanilla over the spiciness of the clove. Very gorgeous ♡

I'm glad I got a bottle but I won't need a second one

[Lucchesa]

Oh, this is a beauty and I'm so glad I was frimped a tester! On me it is predominantly a clove scent, backed up by vanilla and oak. I get the hint of cognac -- same note as in A Spirit, Katie, right? -- adding warmth and depth. Not getting any perceptible frank at all, just a little myrrh, but it's all very beautiful. It has faded rather quickly, but my skin seems to be eating things up this morning -- I think it's just me.