Smoky Moon 2012

[Alia Kaitan]

Light-winged Smoke, Icarian bird,
Melting thy pinions in thy upward flight,
Lark without song, and messenger of dawn
Circling above the hamlets as they nest;
Or else, departing dream, and shadowy form
Of midnight vision, gathering up thy skirts;
By night star-veiling, and by day
Darkening the light and blotting out the sun;
Go thou my incense upward from this hearth,
And ask the gods to pardon this clear flame.

Aged champaca, golden amber, guiac wood, dusky patchouli, twilit oudh, and feathery orris, with a touch of grapefruit, davana, and elemi to help lift it to the heavens.

Am I really first?

The grapefruit is definitely apparent in the bottle, but is the first note to subside when on my skin. It leaves just this slightly citrus feeling behind, while the patchouli and some other resiny? notes come to the surface. (I'm trying to do this without looking at the actual notes list, for moar accuracies. ) Yet both the patchouli and whatever dusky woodsy resiny bit is going here are gentle and very soft, smooth. I do really get the image of smoky feathers here - that's exactly the texture of this scent. Downy and smoky without saying 'incense' or 'campfire'. Champaca, is that you? It's a little like the smoke when you blow a candle out, but much lovelier.

The patchouli is like a softened version of the one in White Peacock, and is very well blended with the other notes... after about 10 minutes drydown it's not standing out on it's own but I can still smell the depth of it. The lighter notes come out to play later on in the drydown adding a slightly dusty (in a good way) sweetness on top of it all. The sweetness makes me think of raw bee pollen, if anyone has ever smelled that.

It's got medium throw on me, but definitely isn't an in-your-face kind of scent. Intimate and sensual, and yet not overtly sexual in any way, I can see wearing this day or night, for just about any occasion. It might even be gender neutral, though that's hard for me to say, as I often prefer more 'masculine' scents.

This is absolutely a comforting scent; I think I will slather it on and curl up in bed with it. Like being wrapped up in great downy wings.

Unique, and the most earthy ethereal scent I've ever sniffed. I am so, so glad I have a backup of this.

(edited for typos...)

[CLFilm]

Eeee, nerve wracking to be so early in the thread!

 

So I was skeeeered when I first put this on that it was doing a red musk type thing (red musk & I are enemies) but as it dried down that fear went away and this became everything I didn't know I wanted it to be. I often wish for a scent that is basically pure champaca/nag champa - this is not that, but it's still a light, incense-y type smoke on me. I actually wish I had it as an incense. It's somehow light and deep at the same time? Like, it reminds me of Fledgling Raptor Moon (which I also love) but deeper? darker? with more wood/resin instead of the carnation? Definitely has that 'feathery' thing in common though. The amber also doesn't go powdery on me which is a problem I have a lot. And the patchouli doesn't go dirty. This is a fantastically blended scent. I can get a little of the grapefruit if I really huff it. So far not that long lasting or with huge throw, but I did only put on a tiny bit for testing.

 

I would say overall this is on the spectrum about halfway between Fledgling Raptor Moon and Chrysanthemum (spelled it right on the second try!) Moon. LOVE.

[Monster]

This is a dry, wood and resin blend at first. On my skin I'm smelling something very similar to cedar against a background of amber and light patchouli. I'm not getting any grapefruit at all. Its strong at first but as it dries, it mellows out quite a bit and stays close to the skin leaving an almost dusty, faded incense scent. The poem really does a good job describing this perfume, incense rising upwards.

 

As a lover of incense scents, this one is a winner for sure <3

[Dark Alice]

This is a smoky, incensy blend. It's a bit tangy though. I think that's the grapefruit. I want to let this settle and try it again in the fall b/c right now it smells a wee bit too much like BBQ on my skin certain stages and in others it is gorgeous incense that doesn't make me sneeze. Overall I am really glad I bought this.

[plainjean]

The combination of the inspiration/artwork and the notes made this an automatic buy for me. Champaca, oudh, and orris? Yes, please. The first time I tried it, it was overwhelmingly patchouli-grapefruit. After letting it sit for a few weeks, though, it's much smoother. Now, I only smell the grapefruit when I get close to where I put it on my wrist. From a distance, it's a sweet (but not sugary or saccharine), smoky, slightly dusty incense that just sort of floats around. It's a soft scent (in feel, not in throw; throw is strong at first), and it works so well with the inspiration.

Edited June 19, 2012 by plainjean

[Zorra]

At first it smelled oddly incensy to me, like there was frankincense in it (which may still be the case although it isn't mentioned). I did not really smell grapefruit, but there was a certain sharpness in the very beginning that might have been grapefruit. The frankincense however was stronger.

Then, after a while, there was a spicy smell that made me think of the Indonesian shops we have here, selling ingredients for Indonesian food. I wondered if there was galangal in the scent, which I use in my cooking as laos. Again it is not in the description, but it might well be there. Slowly the champaca began to come through. I decided to reapply, knowing that a second application after several hours helps me to distinguish more different notes.

The second time the champaca was obvious, but it was still a rather spicy champaca. Like I was still in the Indonesian shop, somewhere between the incense area and the spices. Another reason why I reapplied this scent twice today is that after about two hours it lost its lift to the heavens and stayed very close to my skin.

 

Al together this is a rather strange but very nice scent, different from anything else I have tried. It's a warm and indeed smoky kind of scent but not in the way of tobacco smoke or wood smoke. It is more like a spicy flowery incensy kind of smoke. It would feel at home in an Asian temple.

 

ETA: I have this scent for 10 days now and I have hardly worn anything else during those days. When I wrote this review it had just arrived and already the next day it was more a piece of music than a few different notes. It's still a champaca incense kind of scent, but in a much more beautiful composition than your average champaca incense (and I do like those too). The wood softens it, the amber sweetens it and it never gets too heavy, there is a lightness to it. It is very beautiful.

Edited June 29, 2012 by Zorra

[Andalei]

I have to agree with the previous reviewers about this being a smoky incense type of scent. It's much lighter than I thought it would be and thankfully nothing about this screams "grapefruit" since I was worried about that note. There's a bit of brightness to this that might be the grapefruit, which really does give the scent some "lift". Something about it reminds me of the drydown of Hellion, without the fruitiness. I love the smokiness of Hellion so I'm glad of the resemblance.

 

On me, this doesn't have a super strong throw and fades rather quickly, but it's an absolutely gorgeous scent and I'm glad I bought the bottle unsniffed.

[orata]

I really liked this for the first few minutes--a really rich, complex, dark, smoky Nag Champa and sandalwood incense scent. The grapefruit seemed to be in the mix only as a bare breath to lighten the scent a little. However, as it dries, it gets this weird, gross, sweaty, savory note like cumin (although cumin is not listed) that reminds me of Tanuki no Amiuchi, and I really start to hate it at that point--like nervous armpit sweat basted with headshop incense.

[zankoku_zen]

Smoky, incensey blend with a splash of citrus. It dries down to a dirty, smoky amber and sandalwood blend.

 

Dark, smoky, dirty.

[mistressfizz]

Sniff: Definitely get a charred vibe from this. Champaca is the strongest note, with dusty burnt woods in the background

 

Wet: Auuurrgh! On my skin, the oudh dominates, a sharp, sour smell like band aids and rotting dry wall. Underneath, I can detect smoke and some earthiness, but holy crap, my skin is amping the oudh and making a mess of this.

 

Dry: Whew, OK, the oudh burns off after about 30 minutes or so, and I'm left with soft champaca incense. It's not as dark or heavy as I expected. There's a gentle richness of earth & woods, and it doesn't smell like a headshop, more like an outdoor temple.

 

I don't know if the end result is worth the nasty middle phase. My skin chemistry definitely did wonky things here.

[killerklown]

Sad! All I get from this is powdery woods.

[boomtownrat]

For the first two or three weeks I had Smoky Moon, I always had to wash it off within 15 minutes of applying it due to migraine warning signs (slight nausea and a prickly-head sensation). Yesterday evening, I dabbed on just a little bit over some five-month-old Snake Oil that I'd put on earlier in the day, just to see how we got on. For the first time I dared to put some on my throat and I noticed that the scent is a little softer and more like a skin scent there. Something in Smoky Moon still gives me a slight queasy, head-prickly feeling if I smell it too closely, but there was an improvement. It's mellowing, but it needs more time.

 

This is well blended -- smoky and woody with a bitter tang. Half the notes are new to me, so I googled the unfamiliar notes and noticed that guiac wood and orris root were both compared to violets -- an insta-migraine death note for me in two scents I've already tried. I suspect one of those is what bothers me in Smoky Moon.

 

My colour impression is that it's deep brown, nearly black, with a yellow spiky overlay.

 

It's now the next morning and a resinous wood scent has clung to me as the last remnant of Smoky Moon more than 14 hours later... almost a skin scent. If it was more like this at the beginning, I could wear it more often. My hope is that Smoky Moon will continue to mellow out as it ages and allow me to wear it eventually. Usually I love wood and resin notes.

 

Edited 11/2012: Months after my original post, Smoky Moon has mellowed considerably. I don't wear it often, but of all things, I like it layered under Bordello. It seems I mostly want to pair it with sweet scents to darken them.

 

Edited 4/2014: I never wear this, as I find it overpowering. That mellowing that I mentioned in my previous edit was apparently a fluke, because it's never been that way since then. Now I'm trying to sell or swap it.

Edited April 16, 2014 by boomtownrat

[Ghost of a Rose]

In the vial: This is odd, but it reminds of of some kind of thick black medicinal syrup. And/or black molasses with overtones of grapefruit. But the overall impression is incensey rather than citrus. A very dark scent, and almost sickeningly sweet.

 

On me, wet: Same as in the vial. So far, I don't like this one. I don't care for the pairing of incense/wood with super-sweet notes.

 

On me, after 10 minutes: It has lost the cloying sweetness, but still doesn't appeal to me. It's incense, wood, and yes, smoky. And there's a spiciness, almost like clove - maybe the elemi or just the way everything blends together? In any case, more of a guy thing.

 

After 20 minutes: Much better now. To me it smells like clove and smoke with a bit of amber. Still not really "me," but at least now it is pleasant.

 

After 30 minutes: The incense notes have come back into play and are now equal to the clove-like note as it fades.

 

After 1 hour: Softer and nicer. Still clove and incense, with the smokiness no longer so aggressive.

 

After 2 hours: Subtle and warm now. Champaca and amber, with that mysterious hint of clove.

 

After 3 hours: Very faint. It might still be noticeable by someone else (who hasn't been sitting in a cloud of it for the past few hours), but to me it is more or less gone.

 

More than 12 hours later, I noticed that the clothes I had been wearing when I put this scent on my wrist still carried the scent - at its best. I really like that. It might convince me to keep this.

 

 

Verdict: it is pleasant enough after the first 20 minutes, but not my thing. A man might like it, or a woman who prefers incense-and-wood scents.

My rating: 3.5 stars, round to 3

[Blood onmy hands]

I was so excited when I first smelled this in the bottle, as the patchouli & amber/resins really remind me of Schwarzer Mond. It sort of smells like a more mellow, slightly less sweet Schwarzer Mond. I was so sure that this would be the rare lunacy blend that actually works on me.

On my skin, unfortunately, all of the notes seem to go suddenly wrong. Bpal's amber does its usual thing and turns to baby powder, the wood smells charred, and something smells strangely of tortilla chips on my skin.

Powdery woods and something strange and unpleasant... so disappointing

[Monday]

On my skin wet: Incense with a hint of grapefruit. It's a soft scent, it feels a bit smoky but it isn't if that makes sense. When it's drying down the guiac woods comes forward.

On my skin dry: Dark woodsy incense. The orris is giving the blend a hint of purpleness.

Hm I'm not really enjoying this one, maybe incense blends just aren't my thing. Off to the swaps with this bottle.

[Wwindy]

On my skin, this is almost entirely light, clove-y incense smoke with gentle floral overtones from the champaca. It reminds me a little of Zenobia -- I know they share the orris, but I don't know where I'm getting the clove from in this blend! It's a nice spicy presence, though, not too heavy. The patchouli and grapefruit (along with the davana and elemi) are *very* subtle here; I'm not really directly picking up either element after drydown -- the predominant impression is champaca and amber.

 

Overall: a warm, gentle incense blend, a bit on the headshoppy side but still elegant.

[mymymai]

ITI: I get patchouli, oudh, wood, and something that smells a little like dried fig that I can't place.

 

Wet: I get lemony herbs, which must be the elemi, along with grapefruit, hints of amber (that in combination with grapefruit give me fig for some reason) and something that smells a little like wet tea leaves (guiac wood I think). It is a rather soothing scent.

 

Dry: It's much sweeter when dry, which is due to the amber. I get a little patchouli as well as oudh. Very comforting.

[milo]

Very soft, slightly fruity sweet, not offensive in the least. This is what I'd call 'whispy', and airy, it's got that slight bit of smoke, less than the previous incarnation. I haven't tried Hippie Ghost yet, but this is what I'd imagine it to smell like, there's a bit of patch here too. I like this, though I generally stay away from smoke, this is quite lovely. It would be a great work scent.

[yeahbutnobut]

Smoky Moon 2012

 

In the imp: incense, like an incense stick but more sophisticated than your average joss stick. It reminds me of one of the Egyptian scents, maybe Great Cry in Egypt, but smokier and more patchouli-ed.

Wet on skin: spicier and woodier now, with elements of saffron, opium and sandalwood (I know, not listed notes) and a bit of grapefruit and elemi.

Dry on skin: smoky and shadowy but also golden and shimmering. The amber, elemi and grapefruit (which is very subtle) are probably the reason for the sparkling accents in the smoke, but I swear I smell saffron even though it’s not listed. The champaca is the same one from Panther Moon, the type that smells like really good quality nag champa, except this isn’t as dark and musky as PM. The patchouli is very incense-y, almost like opium smoke, and quite different to the earthy patchouli I’m used to in BPAL. The orris makes this a much lighter patchouli/incense scent than usual, and the woods add a dry feel to it all. The only downside is that it’s quite faint, like the scent that lingers after incense has been burned rather than the actual burning of incense.

After a while: fizzy incense! It’s a combination of ashes (enhanced by orris’s powdery grey scent) and smoke with an effervescent undertone that is probably grapefruit, maybe combined with davana. It’s still a surprisingly light patchouli-nag champa-wood-spice incense blend, mysterious and haunting, but I was expecting it to be a tad stronger. The smokiness is really intriguing though, it bears a resemblance to light tobacco and opium but is very different too, it’s more like gently smouldering fragrant woods, or like very good quality incense sticks. The amber is surprisingly absent now, I was hoping for it to add a bit of sweetness.

Verdict: the best way I can describe this is ‘glittering smoke’. It’s like a waft of spicy patchouli-dominated incense smoke with something golden and sparkly about it. It’s different to the last Smoky Moon which was silvery, more floral, and with a tobacco note which overwhelmed everything, but the smoke here is not overpowering, it’s like thin streams of smoke from incense sticks in a temple gently scenting the space, along with the smell of the ashes of that incense. It’s a meditative scent, and one of the brighter incense blends. It is different to the usual resin-heavy incenses I gravitate towards, this is much drier, almost dusty, spicy and woody, more about the smoke itself than what produces the smoke. I like it but I’m not sure whether to keep the bottle, I tend to prefer the richer, headier resin incenses with a lot of throw, and this one is very much a ‘close to the skin’ scent.

Is it a keeper? not sure whether to keep the decant-I think the champaca is getting a bit too strong for my tastes as it ages.

If you like this, try: Paramatan, Hippie Ghost, Epomophorus Monstrosus, Kathmandu, Tushamatay, Panther Moon, Evil, Romanti Goth, Thousands of Lights

[stellamaris]

I agree with Little Bird in that this does remind me of Schwarzer Mond, I love this. I find it delicious and heady and not so smokey that I smell like Bar B Que (looking at you Bonfire Night...)

I wear this all the time, I class it with my Dark Scents, like German Expressionist Horror, Gothic Horror and Phoenix at Midnight.

[claudia6913]

I can't believe I never reviewed this. It's one of the few lunacies that work on me. It's a nice smoky, ameber-like blend. All I can associate it with is sitting out around a campfire or something with friends, the smell of the smoke, dried leaves, friends, laughter, and fun.

[heleng]

Smoke,citrus incense I don't get the champaca or patchouli, the only problem I have with this blend is the subtlety, I love the wafts of incense -just wish they were a little headier with more throw.

[JazzieCazzie]

Received as a lovely gift from my wish list from a wonderful forumite.

 

IN THE IMP: Fruity headshop.

 

Dabbed on one wrist and in crook of arm.

 

WET: Interesting. Fruity fresh but not TOO fruity. Resiny but not quite resiny enough. Sweet but not TOO sweet. I can't tell if this is going to go fruity floor cleaner on me yet.

 

DRYDOWN: Sadly, it did. Fruity often goes industrial cleanser on me, with citrus scents USUALLY being the main culprit. I'd hoped that grapefruit would be an exception here since it's been, in the past, the main fruit note (other than fig) that worked on me. But alas, in the end, this was more like something I'd use on a hardwood floor.

 

OVERALL: Oddly, I got NO smoky from this at all. I'm starting to think my body is playing games with me.

 

On a scale of 1-5, a 3.

[tinyvulture]

A soft scent, like wispy dark feathers. I mostly notice the woodsy resinous notes, oudh and guiac. The patchouli is also present, but it's understated. I'm not getting any grapefruit or davana. Not a "smoky" blend, but representative of the ephemeral, fragile qualities of smoke.

[filigree_shadow]

This smells like mostly incensey resin to me. People who like resin blends will probably like this -- it's similar to others that are also good. Not as dark as Schwarzer Mond or Minotaur. Definitely smokier. I have trouble with BPAL's ambers turning to powder on me sometimes, but this one isn't bad at all.