Ceanothus Silkmoth

[absinthetics]

Blood orange, night-blooming jasmine, vanilla bean, bog wood, Spanish moss, benzoin, and oudh.

I am not a jasmine fan. And the second you open this bottle it goes "BOO! Jasmine! Wheee!" The orange is there in the background that makes me really want to skin test this, so I may later and add my comments. This is a deep, rich, green scent. I think the thing that makes it "rich" is the vanilla bean that does not come off as vanilla at all. I'm sure the wood and moss aspects make it darker.

[Dark Alice]

Jasminey-orange? That's all I get from this from wet to drydown. I am hoping that with a little aging the vanilla and moss and oudh will come out more. So I am going to keep this for now.

 

ETA: Now the orange has all but disappeared and I am left with this soft jasmine and vanilla bean scent. This is really quite lovely. I am definitely keeping this bottle.

Edited May 11, 2012 by Dark Alice

[Invidiana]

For all that grandiflorum jasmine ends up as cat piss on me, night-blooming jasmine works. The two most prominent notes here from the beginning are the blood orange and jasmine, but as it dries down I get some lovely vanilla and wood coming through, which together blend into a warm smoky vanilla, and that dark richness of the oude. Another uncommon win for my skin and jasmine!

[Aleah]

I get the blood orange mostly, I find this to be soft and really lovely. I may need to buy a back up bottle!!

[Lycanthrope]

Definitely starts off very strong and sweet with the blood orange, has a bit of a 'Bayou' feel, but without quite as much sharp jasmine floral + water. This is more soft vanilla cloth with a hint of orange rind and a rather subtle jasmine than the usual suspect of a grand, potent floral. It is nice, but I think I'll still reach for Bayou when I want my jasmine fix.

[orata]

I was totally sure I'd love this one, but actually kind of recoiled when I opened the bottle. The jasmine is really super stinky! This is not a tame or mild jasmine, but a feral, wild, strong one. It calms down a bit on the skin--you can smell some light tingly citrus from the blood orange and some dark greenery from the moss, but if you're a jasmine hater, stay far, far away from this one. I'm still trying to make up my mind. It gets lighter and prettier as it dries down--vanilla and orange with heady jasmine floating around above, making me think of hot summer nights--but the first heavy, thick whiff of jasmine when you first apply it is kind of alarming and offputting.

[yakiguri]

I'm going to be the outlier here, but I wish the jasmine were stronger in this blend. Night-blooming jasmine is one of my favorite notes, and initially the blood orange drowns the jasmine and the woods in its juice. A rather sour, gross juice at that--jasmine usually doesn't turn to funk on me like it does some people, and unfortunately the blood orange turns the jasmine funky on my skin. Ugh.

 

About an hour or so later the orange starts to recede, and I finally get some of the vanilla bean, moss, and woods. The oudh is very faint, but I'm thankful for that as too high a concentration of oudh can turn a blend to band aids on me. There's still enough of the orange to add an off-ness to this blend that's quickly convincing me that this blend is just not meant to be. Why does every BPAL with night-blooming jasmine have one or two notes that kill the blend for me?

[ModderRhu]

A lovely orange jasmine sausage! With wild plants. Not my fave.

[astarinel]

Orange-y jasmine.

 

This is a very pleasant jasmine note, sort of soft and powdery. It's a little sweet, with the orange, but not overpoweringly so. Definitely something soft and woody-resiny in the background, which becomes more prominent as it dries.

 

I'm generally not into jasmine at all, so I'd be unlikely to wear this scent, but it's actually surprisingly pretty, feminine, and floral.

[kawaiiferreto]

Wet there were hints of the other notes at least, but dry on me this was JASMINE!!!!!!!!! (Imagine jasmine doing this: ) I tend to amp jasmine so I should have known, but BOO. Will try this one more time but I don't have high hopes.

[Monday]

Yep that's jasmine but there's also orange, they make a good combination. This isn't the jasmine I got from Bayou (blech) but more like the jasmine from Love Me. Keeping my fingers crossed that the jasmine isn't going to amp hugely when it dries down. I'm really liking the orange scent in this.

It goes on all heady jasmine and fresh orange. The 'bog wood' is appearing on dry-down if that is the woodsy note I'm smelling. The vanilla also comes out when Ceanothus has dried down. This might be a good one for aging. Good throw.

Well what do you know a jasmine scent that I doesn't make me want to scrub my skin off.

[Laurel the Woodfairy]

I'm wary of jasmine, but the other notes sound so good that I'm risking it with a decant! Wet, the orange and vanilla are dominant on me--I smell like a Creamsickle! Drying, the vanilla fades and the moss comes out, but the orange remains clear. I really like that the other notes keep the jasmine from getting cloying as it can do. This works well on me.

[OctoberGwen]

Mmmmmm...I can't believe I like this so much, what with the Spanish moss and the jasmine. I detect the orange and some well-behaved jasmine; a bit of woodiness, and a subtle mossy quality.

 

It's very nice and I will definitely use up my decant.

Edited June 4, 2012 by OctoberGwen

[angelamaria]

In decant: jasmine, moss, orange, and benzoin. This is a predominantly orange/jasmine scent, a pretty light orange color impression.

 

Wet on skin: orange, hints of jasmine, moss, and benzoin. I do tend to amp citruses, so the orange is more prominent on my skin than the jasmine. It's a nice summery scent, youthful and vibrant but not too "out there".

 

Dry: orange, jasmine, with a creamy base of moss and benzoin. The moss and benzoin definitely developed as it dried, giving this scent more depth and "taming" it a little, though the lovely fruitiness with a dash of jasmine would still be a beautiful summer scent.

 

Verdict: if this was more vanilla-ey, it might be a go, but I can't really grasp much of the vanilla here, making this too fruity for my wearing. Very nice though!

[Zorra]

I envy Angelamaria, because I didn't get even a hint of orange. It was all night-blooming jasmine from the first moment. I hoped it would leave some space for the other notes once it dried, but no such luck. I have to press my wrist to my nose to smell a hint of benzoin, at arm length all that reaches my nose is night-blooming jasmine. Am I amping this, or is it really pushing down all the rest of the notes? I had expected a more 'brown' scent (there are enough notes suggesting brown, oudh and benzoin seemed promising) with only some 'stripes' of the white Queen of the Night. That's another name for the night-blooming jasmine. And she certainly is the queen of this scent, leaving hardly any space for anything else.

 

edit: typo.

 

ETA It's 10 weeks later now and the night-blooming jasmine isn't quite as dominant any more. She is still obviously there, but so are the oudh and the bog wood (if it's bog wood I smell) and they mix well. It's a much more interesting scent now, I am even considering a bottle.

Edited August 17, 2012 by Zorra

[becca_s]

Even though I generally dislike citrus notes, I wanted to try this because I like everything else in it.

 

From start to finish this is mostly jasmine on me, I get a hint of orange in the background. It works well with the jasmine though because it adds freshness. I find the jasmine in this to be quite delicate and soft. Overall, this is really well blended. I wish that some of the other notes came through in this blend for me like the vanilla, but the jasmine definitely dominates the other notes. This reminds me of hot, summer nights. I really like it

Edited June 11, 2012 by becca_s

[stellamaris]

This is so very good, delicious juicy orangey goodness, it starts off with a mouth watering burst, and drys down to lush flower and fruit. Win.

[Alia Kaitan]

This is a perfect, raw silk scarf. She drapes lightly over your shoulders, keeping the sun off all the while fluttering pleasantly against your skin. A constant yet gentle, skin-tingling, sensuous pleasantry that makes me wonder... how did I ever enjoy summers without this? How could I have ever worn polyester when silk exists in the world? How can I get more of this in my life?

 

When I'm not wearing perfume, I find that I'm missing my Ceanothus. I think that I catch wafts of her on the breeze, and I am immediately overcome with the urge to go slather her on. No other perfume has done this to me. Something has happened to my brain here. I might only be cured once I have a lifetime supply of this.

 

[Blood onmy hands]

Jasmine is an iffy note for me. It almost always turns strangely sour and unpleasant on my skin, but sometimes it surprises me and smells like a sweet, sunny floral that reminds me of honeysuckle. The jasmine here is that pleasant, sweet variety (or else the vanilla and other notes are working wonders for me).

Silkmoth reminds me of blends like Follow Me Boy and Yellow Jessamine Honey, but more complex (and with a bit of the humid, slightly sour moss that also reminds me of Bayou).

I can actually smell almost all of the listed notes for this one. It's mostly a perfumey/musky-ish, sweet jasmine and vanilla, but it has a background of bright orange, warm and incensey smelling benzoin & oudh, and the swampy moss that make it more interesting. It's a warm, rich, complex, incensey floral on me. I'm happy to have a partial bottle of this one <3.

[milo]

Lots of night blooming jasmine at first, which is OK, as I like the night blooming variety. After a bit the orange comes out, and it's basically an orangey jasmine. Something is dusty here, I'm guessing it's the blood orange. This is also much to intense of an orange for me, and I don't like the particular combination, much too heady after the drydown.

[Antoinette]

I love jasmine, so I was excited to try this one. It goes on as a slightly citrusy jasmine and dries down to all jasmine on me. It's a softer jasmine than other blends I have, so it's nice for when I want a lighter scent. Very pretty!

[zankoku_zen]

Jasmine + swampy moss. On wet, there's a hint of orange but then it becomes a GIANT jasmine monster, which seems to grab you and drag your skin through a swamp to get to its EVIL jasmine lair.

 

Fortunately, after a few hours, the monster calms down, and its almost tolerable (if you can forget/forgive the entire skin hijacking experience. If you do, you have a more forgiving heart than I do).

 

Verdict: Southern Belle with a perchance for jasmine perfume dragged through the Bayou in need of rescue.

 

I'll take a pass on it.

[ami226]

On the skin: Orange, jasmine and a hint of vanilla. The orange/jasmine combo is actually really nice. This jasmine isn't overpowering and thankfully it isn't turning weird on me. The orange is actually stronger here than the jasmine.

 

Pleasant, but it isn't really me.

[zeldaZ4]

My first review!!! And as I scan through the others before me, I get a sense of the joy and mystery that is BPAL. Some find the Jasmine too strong, some the Orange. Some find this scent to be complex, some find it boring. I'm beginning to understand the need to know my own desires, my own skin, what works and what doesn't.

 

Sadly, I don't think Jasmine works...

 

From my experience with Lush, I didn't think Jasmine would work. But I am trying decants of all the current Metamorphosis scents before they are discontinued. Tonight, it was time for the Silkmoth to fly.

 

My First-Whiff-in-the-Bottle got me so excited! This was heady and rich. I was surprised at how badly I wanted to swipe it on my wrists. The Jasmine was strong, but so was the Orange. Their dance in the air was a sultry, perfumed tango. Both giving, both taking. Wow!

 

On my skin, their partnership was less enthusiastic. Their steps faltered, then the Orange left the room altogether. It wasn't long before the Jasmine seemed lost and alone. Pretty enough, but not exciting. Although she wasn't the loud, obnoxious Jasmine of my expectations, she was nothing special.

 

On to try more of these butterflies!

 

ETA: Tried this again, just to be fair.

 

Eeek! Jasmine. Yuck. Okay, I've learned my lesson. Poor little Silkmoth...

Edited September 2, 2012 by zeldaZ4

[thekittenkat]

In the decant: very well-blended perfume oil.

 

Wet: Woah! There's the citrus!

 

The dry-down: The blood orange is being over-ridden by the wood and moss, but not quite. The sharpness of the citrus is still rather a loud note.