Ectoplasm (Yule Prototype)

[Invidiana]

I really, really wanted to love this because--ectoplasm! Ghostbusters! Unfortunately my skin doesn't let me because it amps all lemon verbena, all the time. My best guess, taking my body chemistry aside, is that this is related to Embalming Fluid with that lemony, slightly green finish but much stronger. I think, that under all the lemon verbena being amped, there is white musk somewhere in here. I'm also wondering whether it's only lemon verbena I'm amping or also elemi, because there is a slightly bitter undertone here that I often get from elemi which strangely mimics real-life lemon peel, but doesn't show up on me that way from lemon peel notes in a blend. There is also something slightly sweet countering that--not vanilla, my best guess would be either some sort of sugar note or the sweetness of a resin. I appreciate how Beth tried to capture that eerie yellow-green color we often associate with ectoplasm in a bottle, but my skin just can't cooperate enough to pick out all the facets of the scent.

 

*This was part of a set of protos all titled "seance"-something out for testing at NYCC. Not sure what collection this belongs to--mods, please go ahead and add it if you know!

Edited October 18, 2012 by Invidiana

[zankoku_zen]

Also previewed here by bheansidhe, here by TTP, and here by Ina Garten Davita

 

Ectoplasm is lemon/lemongrass, something slightly gooey in nature, but overall it really reminds me to Lemon Scented Sticky Bat. There's no musk or fur, to it's more of a pure sense of lemon stickiness. I get a fair amount of sweetness from it actually and in general ends up as lemon candies on me. It's bright citrus, slight bite but nothing too bracing or crazy. Very tasty.

 

Sweet, lemon, candy.

[bheansidhe]

Hey - I found Invidiana's review of this blend from 2012! (Reported for merging, so the link may move)

http://www.bpal.org/topic/78895-seance-ectoplasm/?p=2223055

 

Early on I realized that as much as I like lemongrass and lemon verbena, BPAL blends with those notes make me faintly queasy. (Phobos broke my heart.) Because Ectoplasm has the same faintly queasy miasma on me (I wrote "evil lemongrass vapor" after testing at Will-Call), I assume those are components. Please take my review with a grain of salt!

 

Sniffed wet, I get lemongrass, a mouth-puckering type of lemon candy note, and vapor or ozone. Like Invidiana, I get that lime-ish chartreuse-ish yellow-green impression.

 

Applied, it adds on a slight mintiness and some ozone. I think there's also a light masculine musk at the base, because as it dries, it becomes less vapor-ish and develops the woodsy-spicy quality I associate with a fougere, still overlaid with that pith-like yellow citrus.

 

Scent families: Cathode, Phobos, Y'ha-nthlei (wet); Spider-ish (dry).

Edited November 20, 2014 by bheansidhe

[Ginspu]

For me, this kind of went the opposite way - first it was all cologne-y musk, in fact, I was strongly minded of generic men's cologne. And then the lemon notes came on after. My nose is not as adept at picking out notes, but once it dried, huffing my wrist is like sucking on a lemon drop, a sticky sweet lemon. My ectoplasm is all yellow, I guess!

[Blood onmy hands]

Bitter, sour, slightly herbal lemon and a slightly soapy men's cologne. Has a lemon scented dish soap impression on my skin.

[Casablanca]

Lemon dish suds? A little cologne? Hurrrh?

I get a burst of lemon dish soap at first, which quickly fades to a lemon-tinted and lightly soapy, pale ambery cologne, with a hint of ginger and herbs.