Samhain

[clephan]

Truly the scent of autumn itself -- damp woods, fir needle, and black patchouli with the gentlest touches of warm pumpkin, clove, nutmeg, allspice, sweet red apple and mullein.

 

I'm not sure if this is a particularly helpful review as this was a limited edition scent and no longer available, but I guess it might be useful if any turns up on Ebay or as a swap somewhere...

The first scent of this is heavily fruity: it smells like black cherries. When I put it on, this note lingers, but is deepened with a scent like tobacco flowers and cloves. It mellows into a rich musky scent with a little crushed greenery.

Conventially speaking, I'd say it's definitely an evening perfume: I guess most people would find it too heavy for during the day. Not that I pay any attention to such things

Overall, it's one of my favourites so far, totally different to anything I've smelt anywhere else, and for me now inexorably tied to memories of autumn.

[jj_j]

Aah. Just thinking about this one makes me sigh with pleasure. Somewhere between pumpkin pie and a caramel apple, but with enough autumn leaves and wood to keep it from being overwhelmingly foody.

 

Stayed rich and vibrant throughout the day, with the poor guy who sat behind me in my December cram-an-entire-semester-in-10-loooong-days-of-class History section talking at each break about how he just wanted to it to be fall again and didn't know why he couldn't stop thinking about it.

 

I doubt you'll see this one up for swap or on EBay, as it's one that will likely be hoarded.

Edited July 1, 2004 by jj_j

[viciousviolet]

I love this scent so much, I honestly want to start a petition to bring it back! This perfume is a simply the embodiment of a perfect autumn evening. This is one of my favorite perfumes.

[blackrayne]

Samhain...reminds me of the just-turning crisp chill in the air after a long hot summer. Falling leaves, fresh baked pumpkin pie. Kids running through the streets dressed as ghosts, vampires and princesses. Jack-o-lanterns glowing in the night sky.

 

This is the first time I have really thought about this scent, and it is making me really miss autumn.

[Koumori]

I could not be more thrilled with Samhain. It threatens to topple Thanatopsis as my favorite BPAL scent. Something about the way all of the notes blend together into one mysterious whole absolutely embodies autumn - wet leaves, cool crisp days, clear skies. A winner all around.

[Gothabillywench]

Another one the wonderful Redwitche sent me an imp of for my b'day.

 

It was inseasonably summery up until yesterday, where, in typical melbourne fashion it just went "Boom- AUTUMN" .

 

& This smell is Autumn in a bottle. Where Faustus is my rainy cold day smell, Samhain looks set to become my scent for those crisp, biting Autumn days where there's a definite chill in the air but the sun's still shining & all the leaves are rusty orange & collecting in big piles at the bottom of the near naked trees.

 

This smell is the promise of the winter ahead & all the great things it brings. It's the smell of the 1st day when it's cold enough to get the fireplace going again, the 1st really rainy night where staying indoors & tucking into decadent winter foods is the only option.

 

I'm not a fan of foody smells (Mum has "Jack" which is too foody for me) but in the case of this one I'll make an exception as the spice cuts through & stops it being too much like a bakery type smell. Great balance.

[FireInCairo]

Yummy Yummy Yummy!!! Please bring Samhain back in the fall. I ebayed my bottle of this, as I was deperate to get my hands on it! It sold very quickly. It smells like Halloween night should smell. It smells of an autumn night...but has a buttery tinge to it. It's like all-spice cookies...drifting through a crisp autumn breeze. It's a very warming scent. I got many compliments on this when I wore it last fall.

[TygherRayn]

Hmm. You know, this one wasn't nearly what I expected, adn I'm not entirely sure how I feel about it. In fact, I'm kind-of dissappointed.

 

In the Bottle: Crisp, adn rather bitter. A very sharp scent .. I had to sniff some coffee to clear my nose after just sniffing the bottle. I have high hopes for it still, and can't bear the thought that this may not work on me.

 

Wet: Wow. this is strong. Sharp, and still awfully bitter. I'm afraid this one is becoming almost sour on me now, and while I really want to be able to wear it, it's not what I expected. Looking at the ingredients, I should have known. With Allspice and nutmeg, it's not a spiciness that's going to be overly appealing.

 

Wearing: *frowns* This is almost making my eyes burn, it's so strong and sharp. And this makes me exceedingly sad, because I was really hoping this might be a good scent for me. Samhain being my favorite holiday and all. I suppose I need to stop following my heart, and realize that certain scents just aren't meant for me. On further observation, I -can- smell the apple in this, but blended with a pumpkin-y smell that just doesn't appeal to my nose. *cries*

[hypothermya]

Ever since I found this forum and read about Samhain, it has been my holy grail of BPAL perfumes. There is no better time of the year than just around Halloween, when the leaves begin to drop, and the air turns crisp and cool. It's not just the weather though, because I also love being able to start drinking my cold weather drinks (apple cider), and being able to spend hours digging out pumpkin guts. So....a scent that captured all of this? Yay! And someone on the forum generously swapped me for a itsy-bitsy amount of it, just so I could try it out and see if it really was all that it was cracked up to be.

 

 

In the Bottle

 

It smells just like mulled cider, hot out of the pot. There's the smell of pumpkins next, but they aren't the sweet pumpkin pie sort of pumpkins -- they're the ones that have been carved out, wax dripping down their teeth like oddly albino blood, while the tea candles inside of them are about to sputter out. There's another scent in here that's acting like a base for all of this, and it's reminding me of Voodoo a bit... Oh, the patchouli! That's it. It smells really good, and evokes the campfire feel of voodoo, as though there were a camp fire next to all of these pumpkin/cider festivities. It's just murky enough to call to mind the smell of decomposing leaves, and the smell of the crisp autumn air is there too.

 

Wearing It

 

The patchouli and clove pick up suddenly, making it a very heavy spicey fragrance at first. The pumpkin starts to add in it's powerful scent, and it starts to feel very gritty and earthy, like carving pumpkins with no drop cloth -- instead it's outside where the thick, black dirt can mingle with the insides of the pumpkin. I wonder if that strong, bitter smell that's beginning to come out is the mullein? Or, no, that's allspice. I recognize that from making gingerbread. I think the bitter comes from the mix of the allspice, pumpkin, and patchouli. The apple cider is really taking a while to come out in all of this.

 

But really, who cares? This scent is great! Oh, and the apple is coming back, about 10 minutes after application, bringing a really sweet smell with it. The sweetness in this scent really belongs to the apple. Any whiff of pumpkin smells raw, and if this is the raw pumpkin scent that everyone associates with Jack, I can't wait to get my hands on my imp of it.

 

This really is the holy grail of all perfumes. I wish I could bathe in this, and make my house smell this way. I probably could, if I brought home enough patchouli, and pumpkin, and started making mulled cider on the stovetop each evening. But that's an autumn sort of activity -- this is the ability to bring back that feeling, without once having to reach for the mulling spices or pumpkin knives. I've been feeling irritable all week long thanks to the opressingly hot summer days, and this makes me feel warm and refreshed all at once, and gives me the feeling of wanting to curl up with some cider and stare out the window at the approaching rain clouds. (if only there were approaching rain clouds!)

 

I think I'm going to cherish this sweet little bit of liquid as if there were none left on the planet, and if Beth ever brings this scent back, I'll be racing to be the first to buy at least a 10ml bottle, if not more. (And even for my favorite scents, I'm only buying 5mls right now.) And now, I'm going to spend the next...well...as long as possible deeply inhaling the odor around my wrists.

 

ETA: Well, it looks like Beth has smiled down upon us and given us a chance to get more Samhain. And the *instant* I found this out, I bought some. So...there ya go. A couple of months have passed since I first tried/reviewed this, and I still love it tons.

Edited September 24, 2004 by hypothermya

[Shollin]

First sniff: Russet-golden apples, overripe and just about to drop from the trees… the rustle and crunch of brightly colored leaves while walking through the woods… that blessedly welcome chill in the air that comes when summer finally gives up her fight and the night is so clear you can count every star… Samhain could not possibly be any more perfect.

 

Wearing: Apples and woodsmoke, immediately – as if I were sitting by a campfire in the middle of an orchard. Mulling spices dance across the top of the scent and it reminds me of the amazing hot spiced cider they make at the Irish Rover in Louisville when there’s a chill in the air. It’s ever so slightly tipsy, spicy-sweet and just really damn gorgeous. When thoroughly settled it was hinting toward caramel, but never actually turned foody, and it’s still haunting my wrist after a full worknight. I am IN LOVE.

 

ETA quite a while later: I wore this for Samhain this year and cannot WAIT to get my big bottle. All day long I was catching little whiffs of myself or sniffing my wrist and groaning "GOD, I smell good." Zaiem (smelling deeeeelicious in Golden Priapus... pine is fan-bloody-tastic on that boy) was highly amused - and agreed with me wholeheartedly.

Edited November 5, 2004 by Shollin

[Astarte]

At long last I've been able to test the fabled Samhain! Everything you've heard about how wonderful this scent is, is true!

 

Initially I can smell the deepest reddest apples you could possibly imagine, being gently cooked with delicious spices but it doesn't smell as contrived, sweet and "foody" as you might wonder. This is quite possibly perfect.

 

After a little while the smokiness deepens to give it a 3d edge as the time goes by. This is positively divine.

[warriorprincess87]

Everything everyone has said above me is true. The fragrance beautifully captures the essence of fall.

 

When I first smelled Samhain in the bottle, the first note I noticed was apples but on it smelled more like delicious spices and pumpkin and fall leaves blowing in the wind. It's really hard to describe but it is a great scent.

[grrrlennyl]

at first: very nice. definitely very autumnal. spicy, with something warm underneath.

on: i'm smelling the same warm spicyness, but the smell of trees (pine, evergreen) comes through, too. i really like this. it's very interesting.

half an hour later: this has changed into a seemingly singular smell. it's as if all of the notes have just combined to make one smell: the smell of autumn. this is wonderful.

1.5 hours later: still autumn. this is going to be fabulous when i'm in a jack kind of a mood, but want something less sweet. i want to douse myself in it, but am resisting, since i only have an imp.

4 hours later: i am in love with this. i keep getting whiffs of it, and it is just such a comfortable scent. it makes me feel all cozy.

7 hours later: still going strong. it hasn't changed much on me, which is great. i really like this.

overall: even as i fell asleep, i could still smell this on me. it reminds me of the first time you need the wear a big sweater in order to go outside, that combination of crispness and coziness. i love it.

[lavinia]

2004 Version:

 

First of all, I want to say I never have smelled the 2003 version so I can't speak for comparing or contrasting the two. I just am giving my impressions of this one coming to it fresh

 

In the bottle:

 

I smell a fresh and sweet woodsy elixir with a touch of piney bitterness underneath.

Really nice and outdoorsy

 

On Me:

 

This is really heady straight out of the bottle...very green and almost acrid on me. There is a sharp mustiness which I am trying to detect...hmm...could be the pumpkin or maybe resin.

 

About 30 minutes in:

 

This has settled down and now it is really agreeing with me. The sweet and gentle notes have come out to play and a friend has commented that I don't smell like I am wearing a nice perfume but rather I smell nice

This makes me think of the month of October and November when excitement is in the air and things become special and memorable. I know this sounds odd but this oil is full of "mood" and is atmospheric rather than drawing attention to itself in a showy way.

It makes me feel cozy and protected like sitting near to the campfire after walking through the dark woods.

Mmm- I didn't get a chance to try the last version but this one is beautiful...not foody, not overly sweet...just the exact smell of the season which also happens to be this scorpio's favorite time of the year!

 

Thanks Beth!

[Aurelius]

Samhain 2004

I went to Black Broom this weekend.

I haven't smelled last year's Samhain, so I can't compare the two versions. I can, however, say that Samhain 2004 smells gorgeous.

In the bottle I smell acrid flowers and a buttery scent. As soon as it hits my skin the butter remains and the flowers jump out. They threaten to be a bit overwhelming but then I smell another scent. It's metallic, like it's about to rain. It isn't unpleasant, and it isn't overwhelming; I like that smell. Then the apples come out to play. Lots and lots of crisp, ripe apples, sweet and tangy. Actually, it smells like apple cider. The metallic smell goes away, the flowers calm down, and the apple and butter remain, along with something kind of honeyed. It smells almost musk-y and sensual.

Samhain has staying power. It's potent and it remains that way on my skin. I LOVE it. It really seems to fit the season!

Edited February 5, 2005 by Aurelius

[fairywingmaker]

Why didn't I buy 2 or 3 bottles of this ? This is one of Beths most glorious creations ever!

 

In the bottle a somewhat buttery, warm spicey smell.

 

On my skin...mulled cider, and carved jack o lanterns with the candles inside. You know that warm pumpkin smell. Spicey, warm, comforting. I'm so in love with this scent.

[EvilKitten]

oh god, I was worried about liking this (I really really dislike patchouli) - but it's amazing. truly.

 

In the bottle: I smell warm, buttery pumpkin cookies. This has potential.

 

On me, wet: It's got some woodsy scents that come out that weren't there on first sniff in the bottle.. it mingles perfectly with the autumnal foody scents. It's amazing.. totally... smells like every good memory of the autumn holiday.

 

30 minutes later: Still giving me those wonderful scent-associated memories. I love it! I'm almost kicking myself for not buying more.

 

ETA: The 2nd and 3rd times I put this on, it turned to total patchouli on me. I felt like sobbing. I will probably try it one more time, in a week or so, just to be totally sure.

Edited November 8, 2004 by EvilKitten

[Hallows_Eve]

Samhain 2004

 

In the bottle- This is Jack (Jack I for comparison here) to the second power ( and I LOVE Jack I), creamy, buttery pumpkiny bliss. If I could, my house, my clothes, my shampoo, my cats- they would all smell like Samhain year round. Its already decorated that way.

 

On my clothes (note: I cant put this directly on my skin due to pregnancy, so I'm currently wearing this on the knees of my jeans.) But damn, a little goes a long way, and for a long time. And I am hungry for pumpkin pie. And I want to light candles. I love food spices and mulling spices. And I want to eat it all in the fall woods that I smell. How am I going to make this last a year?

[Scylla]

In the bottle: Buttery baked pumpkin!

 

Wet, on my skin: Something piney/woodsy jumps to the forefront for a few minutes, then I smell spiced apple cider. Where did the pumpkin go?

 

On drydown: the woodsy/piney notes fade into the background and the spiced apple cider notes come to the forefront, but then I can smell the patchouli. They are all there, but nicely balanced.

 

This is a really wonderful blend, and it does bring back fond memories of autumn. After only 1/2 a day of wearing, it has displaced Jack as my holy grail of Autumn fragrances! I will definitely be wearing this through the holidays (or at least until I receive my Snow White! )

[Electra]

This smelled absolutely nothing like what I expected.

 

First, I thought it would be a much heavier scent. It's very light. Second, I guess that my conception of fall scents is deeper, spicier, richer...and given the notes, I thought that that's what this would smell like.

 

What I smell is beeswax. It took me a while to identify the scent - I kept getting whiffs of honey (not the honey that's in O - a much cleaner, gentler, waxier version) when I was typing, but I didn't smell it when I pulled my wrist up to my nose. But that's what it is - a beeswax candle with an undercurrent of dried leaves and soil. This is early fall in a world before electricity.

Edited March 20, 2007 by Electra

[ebonykawai]

I won't add anything here to the previous reviews, which are all great. What I want to say is, since I have last year's Samhain and now Samhain 2004, I can honestly smell no real difference between them. Samhain 2003 smells a bit deeper in the bottle and Samhain 2004 smells a bit more piney in the bottle, but on the skin I can't tell the difference.

 

Awesome scent, I'm so glad it was revisited!!

[Penance]

Wow, this one was a real shocker! Not at all what I had expected, but in a good way.

 

First sniff:

 

Buttery pumpkin, allspice, clove and something that smells vaguely like a bonfire. This a really autumnal smelling scent. I really like this so far!

 

Wet on skin:

 

Dry leaves at first and something that smells somewhat like a bonfire then it threatens to turn into cleaning solution for some reason, but, thankfully, it's shortlived. I can already smell it beginning to change again on me.

 

Dry down:

 

It smells like pipe tobacco! I couldn't put my finger on it at first, but it smells exactly like the inside of a pipe to me, not smoky, but sweet and rich like the tobacco itself. There's also something that smells vaguely like dry leaves and buttery pumpkin, but they're so faint that they're almost unnoticeable. This is a real surprise!

 

The bottom line:

 

Not at all what I expected, but gorgeous! I really love this one.

[sarahmarie]

At first:

Samhain reminds me of candy corn at first, with a little bit of spice and apple behind it. It's very sweet and almost buttery. As it dries down on my skin, the apple comes out more. It's almost a candy apple, very sweet and very red. I smell a teeny bit of the pumpkin, and the spices warm up but stay very close to the skin.

 

Later:

Samhain didn't work out for me - I loved it in the bottle, and at first on my skin. But after a while on me, my skin turned it too sweet. It became very unbalanced - everything but the sweetness just dropped out. I never got any of the woods or fir needle. It's my chemistry's fault, it just didn't agree with me. That's not to say I don't like it, because I do - it just didn't turn out to be very "me". But I am really glad I got the chance to experience it, and I bet it's great on other people's skin.

[Summerpixy]

Samhain 2004

 

This was the first one I tried out of the order I just recieved.

 

In the bottle: waxy smell, reminds me of that waxy edge of Harvest Moon. A bit of the fir on top of that.

 

On my skin, wet: still waxy, no wait it's changing

 

drydown: sweet spiced apple cider, aw.. it faded. Notes keep popping in and out of this, very very sweet, and a lot of throw behind it. I'm not sure if I like it. I may give it to my sister as a random sibling-present, if it ends up not liking my skin, perhaps it'll enjoy hers.

 

edit: be careful, a little goes a looong way.

Edited November 5, 2004 by Summerpixy

[amaltheagray]

the smells like mulled wine. specifically, like the mulled wine a friend and i made at a party i threw on friday night. white zin and apple cider and applejack brandy and cinnamon and ginger and lemons and red zinger tea and allspice. it's madness, really.

 

it also smells like wood and crisp air and wind. other people have given better reviews, but i just wanted to drop a little note.

 

also - the first whiff i had of this almost made me cry.

Edited November 5, 2004 by amaltheagray