Tum

[ladymissspyder]

Hail unto Thee who art Tum in Thy setting, even unto Thee who art Tum in Thy joy, who travellest over the Heavens in Thy bark at the Down-going of the Sun.
Tahuti standeth in His splendour at the prow, and Ra-Hoor abideth at the helm.
Hail unto Thee from the Abodes of Day!

Hrm. I'm not getting the strong grape/fruity scents everyone else is getting here. I'm getting a honey/resin blend with the teensiest waft of a generic fruit and some spice.

It's nice! I'm thinking of using this instead of O when I'm in a honey mood. Edited December 23, 2005 by Shollin

[elonweis]

In the bottle: Rather then the grape that everyone else seems to get, I get cherries with a faint spike:

 

Wet: Sweet, slightly spicy. As it dried down, there was this faint kick that reminded me of cinnamon and nutmeg.

 

Dry: It's strange (and wonderful), this scent switches between that sweet cherries with the spiciness in the background to this sear, baked earth smell with the spiciness dominating. It keeps going back and forth.

 

I love this scent. I opened it and it instantly lifted my mood. I think I'm going to have to get a bottle.

[provocateur]

I'm not getting any of the grape/candy/cough syrup that a lot of people are getting from this one..

 

Wet: Sugared Honey. It smells like the honey I get fresh from the farmers in the summer. Thick and heavy. I'm starting to crave toast and honey...

 

Dry down: the honey gets woody, spicey, with some clove. Maybe some myrrh, but the honey is still strong.

 

During this process the honey gets really cloying and pratically overwhelming. (and not in a good way.) After 10 or so minutes it faded to a mostly woody/resin drop off, with the honey underlying it.

 

It stays at that honey/resin fight for the rest of the time before it fades.

Edited January 21, 2006 by provocateur

[angharad]

Just sniffing the imp, I didn't like this. I could barely pick out the spice (cinnamon?), and there was some note I couldn't identify that was just...harsh. The other night, though, I finally tried it on, and almost immediately that harsh note softened into something much more pleasant. The spice came out a bit more and blended. Admittedly I was influenced by the name, but I swear this ended up smelling like sunset. Something about that harsh note and the subtle spice coming up to meet it and blend together...I'm not sure exactly how to describe it any better. It was just beautiful.

 

Tum didn't have much throw, but it lasted for about 3 hours. If only real sunsets lasted that long, then I might be able to watch one instead of remembering them too late.

[Aredhel]

Rating (on skin): 2/5

Summarised in a word or two: Honey.

 

In the imp: Hmm. Grape-like, but not really grape. What it is, it makes me queasy.

 

On skin, wet: Fresh honey, cinnamon (and maybe clove?) and something fruity that still doesn't seem like grape.

 

On skin, dry: Spiced honey! Very nice, actually. Sweet and herbal. The honey, however, just keeps getting stronger until it's nothing but pure honey.

 

Conclusion: I loved it while wet and through most of the drydown, until it became very much like a honey single note. I'm just not a big enough fan of honey to want more of Tum, unless I could keep it the way it is while wet.

Edited February 3, 2006 by Aredhel

[septima_pica]

Huh. So this was another freebie that didn't work at all...

 

Smelled like puzzling exotic fruits in the imp, which was hopeful. However, directly I put it on it became fake grape. Lots and lots and lots of fake grape, with a surprising throw. If I steeled myself and put my face down to the skin to sniff, I could make out something spicy or woody going on down there, but it was all drowned in Dimetapp inside a couple of minutes. No honey, even.

 

Ah well, can't win 'em all. Off to the "mail away" pile. The utter awesomeness of Mantis more than makes up for all the ones that didn't work in this batch...

[mandragora]

In the vial: Smelled like fermenting grapes.

 

Wet on me: No not grape, prunes. It's almost like biting into a prune or taking grape-flavored cough syrup .

 

Drydown: It morphs into herbs and spices. The fruity sweetness just hovers in the background.

 

Verdict: Interesting, but not me. To the trade pile it goes.

Edited February 18, 2006 by mandragora

[Mountaingrrl00]

This is one of three BPAL oils that I've sniffed and wouldn't even try on. There is an overpowering vinegar note in the bottle. It's almost like ammonia! Not a reflection on the Stations of the Sun, as I'm quite fond of Ra - just can't do Tum at all.

[Neely]

Frimp luv from Mandragora, you are a Queen!

 

In the bottle: grassy citrus almost musty. I put my nose to close to the bottle when I first sniffed and this slapped me in the nose! It is quite strong.

 

Wet: musty ambery grass with a slight wood undertone.

 

Dry down: this turned into plastic citrus fruits. Or like a plastic toy with scent. I am so disappointed.

 

30 minutes: plastic toys made to smell citrusy. I had to wash this off.

 

Conclusion: this started off nice enough, but turned nasty. I hope this is set will be like Ars Draconis, where I find at least one of the solars that work. *crosses fingers* This one just wasn't it.

 

Rating 1-5, on my skin this is a 1.

[sissa125]

Imp: Rancid, the same nose curling note that turned me off from Delphi. This perhaps confirms that wine notes are not for me. There is a sweet grape note that distinguishes this from Delphi.

Wet: I'm trying to be brave. I put a dot of Tum on my arm. It is still rancid grape.

Dry: The wine note is weaker but still barely tolerable. The grape is stronger, interesting, but I don't think it would be something I'd choose even without the wine note.

 

Off to swap. Away with thee, post-haste!

[Celestyna]

Strrange!

First few minutes: There is a very sour smell in the back of this like wine or fruit left out a bit too long. This scent seems like it has a purpose, because the smell is waaaay off for mere aesthetic purposes.

 

After 20 minutes: Grape bubbalicious bubble gum left to sort of spoil in the sun.

[themerrybaker]

I think this must be meant as an intentional scent, but I have no idea how to use it.

 

 

 

As a perfume, it did not really evoke an image of a sunset for me unless as a parody of Sunshine Superman: the Evening Sun is Setting like a Big Purple Grape.

 

 

 

Not destined to be a favorite.

[fiddledragon]

Scent in bottle: There's something fruity...peach? apricot?, with spice/incense notes, without being overly sweet and food-like. Yum. This was ordered pretty much blindly in a swap, just for the shiny description.

 

Scent on me:

Wet -- Wow...this is insanely well-blended, such that I have a very hard time picking out notes. There's still that fruit-scent, and some sort of resin (amber?). It's a warm, happy, sunlit smell.

 

Dry -- Frankincense, that's what it is! The resins come out more strongly, and the fruit fades back. I'm slightly sad that the fruit isn't stronger as it dries, but it's still a beautiful smell.

 

Conclusion: Oh, the happy! If these are that well-named, I should try swapping for the other three in the Stations of the Sun collection. I'm very glad I decided to get this one.

[slave1]

In Bottle: Metalic herbal

 

On Skin: This has a sour metallic herbal note that just turns my nose the second I smell it. Eek. I smell something slightly woody/resin… maybe an incense. I also smell a berry or fruit that gives a slight seeet note, maybe grape? After about 5 minutes, clove comes through, spicy and a bit off to me. I get a bit of a cough medicine feel from it with the medicinal herbal note that shines through. There might be honey in this as well, because I get an additional syrupy note in the background. Normally I love honey, but with the odd mixture here, it just doesn’t work for me. This scent makes me a little ill sadly. It reminds me of Honey Moon (the honey and herbs) mixed with Kali (grape/wine) and maybe Three Witches (clove/spiciness). Very odd…

[this machine]

This is one of maybe two bpal blends i've ever tried that have actually repulsed me. I definitely get the sickly sweet grape, like it's fermenting, and something else that has the most distinctive and, to me, icky smell...herbs maybe? Someone mentioned vinegar and i can definitely see that, as the smell is sharp and not pleasant to me (i hate vinegar). I can't even do it the courtesy of sniffing for longer and trying to make my untrained nose pick out some more notes...it's just blargh. Sorry tum!

[Ciircee]

In the imp: Star anise and something...sweet? flowery?

 

Wet: Star anise and something sweet and sort of citrusy. My first thought was oranges, or mock oranges. Maybe ylang ylang.

 

Dry 5 minutes: Sorry to say my skin goes 'star anise? STAR ANISE!!!' and jumps up and down hugging the star anise in a strangle-hold.

 

Which it continues to do (amping it to the point where I start to go 'is this civet? it's starting to go to civet, only without the barnyard bit yet') for the next hour+.

 

Dry 2 hours: The star anise has settled down and the ylang-ylang-citrus is back. With something sweet and slightly floral. Almost. I also really want some Chinese food right about now.

 

Dry 2 hours, 30 minutes: The anise has really settled in and is sharp and almost minty--reminds me of pennyroyal. Still with the ylang-ylang scent over laying it.

 

Dry 3 hours: Something green is peeking out. Herbal and...woody? Is that bamboo? I'm sniffing enough to give myself a headache (too much star anise will do that to me, however, as Kyoto proved) so I'm going to sum up what I've got in the...

 

Final notes: This continues to be mostly star anise on me...because my skin is just that way. I'll slap it on my twin sister later and check back in with her results (her skin does not act like star anise is its bestest best friend ever omg!11!)

 

BUT...once it gets past that star anise scent, I really like this. It's got a terrific throw on it and it's...complex. Spicy and strangely green-floral-herbal-sweet. It's exotic and deep and still familar.

 

ETA: Strong and still throwing after five+ hours. This is probably because of my skin's deep need to show off the star anise, however.

 

EDIT: Moved this post from Unreleased Scents into the existing Tum review thread. --Shollin

Edited June 13, 2006 by Shollin

[ancilla_morte]

GRAPES. Smells just like grape bubblegum, which is not a bad thing but it also means it smells artificial. Myrrh or frankincense, patchouli? musk of some sort. hard to detect what is beyond that. It is very calming even though the scent is strong. I could totally see how it can describe the setting sun.

The grape remindsme of this weird air freshener my grandmother has. I'm not sure whether I like this or not.

[indicolite]

What is wrong? My sunsets do NOT smell of sweet fruit!

 

Yes, on drydown, definitely grape and lots of. And other reviewers described honey; that must be what is ruining the whole thing for me. My tastes do not run to the simple and sweet when it comes to BPAL: honey + me = get me out of here!

 

Now it is drying down to a rather resiny smell. Quite, um, interesting. I will let it settle overnight (I swear, this is the last of the twenty-two reviews I am writing today) and see whether the Setting Sun is any better in the morning, when I will review his comrades in the Stations of the Sun.

 

Be nice, Tumses. But not TOO sweet nice.

 

ETA: No, dear Tum has made no redeeming features, as his resinyness is just not what I want to smell like. And I still have a bottle of him. Maybe he ages well, but the imp has not made me happy.

Edited June 28, 2006 by indicolite

[karengypsy]

In the vial: Something sharp and sickly.

 

On me: This is absolutely disgusting. I had to wash it off before I threw up.

 

Verdict: Get this away from me. NOW!

 

Rating: -10000000 / 5

[juniperus]

Bottle: fruity sweetness with a floral behind. Grapes - fresh grapes.

Wet: there is a resinous undertone, but I'm not getting more than a hint.

Dry: the sharp woody/green remains, I can't find the floral I barely detected earlier at this point. It's a resinous wood, the image I get is the earliest stages of winemaking when the grapes are newly crushed and fragrant, and burning bush, and bending olive tree.

Later: The wine aspect seems to be doing it's usual - going sour on me. Drat - this was very complex and interesting before this point, multilayered and multicolored.

[sofiaviolet]

This smells like Plum Street Snowballs. I'm not even kidding. It smells like a snowball stand.

 

The sweetness dies as soon as the oil touches my skin. It's really musky, but not a musk that works with my chemistry. It's very masculine. Decent throw, for me.

[Nekomata]

This is very bright and spicy. I really can ID anything in it, but it's spicy sweet and herbal. The sweetness dies a bit through wear and the herbsget stronger. The throw is pretty good.

[edenssixthday]

Tum is the most puzzling BPAL scent I've smelled yet. By puzzling, I mean it confuses my olfactory senses, and sniffed wet in the vial, I can't make heads nor tails of it. I can't decide if it's sweet or dark, if it's sharp or smooth, or if it's fruity or herbal, or if I like it or not. After sniffing it in the vial about 20 times over the past couple of months and always closing the vial feeling very puzzled about my reaction to this scent, I finally decided to give it a test run. Once it touches my skin, it's obvious: it's sweet, sharp and fruity. I think it's fizzy white grape juice. However, it reminds me of the cheap grape juice that’s served to pre-schoolers at snack time. In fact, this entire blend whisks me back 30+ years to my pre-school days. It distinctly reminds me of the smell of snack time –- sweet grape juice and graham crackers with the slight odor of old urine in the rug from where one of the kids had an accident. It’s overly sweet and the memories it brings back are so strange that I don’t think I can wear this blend. It does have a nice level of throw and fairly good staying power.

[feline.by.design]

I received this as a free imp from the Lab, and I'll be buggered if I can find it anywhere, so I guess it's something that's unreleased. Because it's a three-letter word, I was unable to do a search on the forum's search engine. I looked through about half of the likely candidates of the categories that might have something called Tum, and, well, no luck.

 

Hence, with some trepidation, I bring you... Tum.

 

Tum goes through seemingly eight or nine different scent notes before settling on some sort of "burnt wood" smell. I sniff again, and the intense smokiness has lightened up significantly. I smell woods and sap interwoven together to create a crisp autumn majesty. The scent is getting sweeter, almost honeyed, and this is all happening within the course of a mere couple of minutes. Do I smell fruit? Oranges? I'm not so sure. The hint goes away when I try to pin it down.

 

Then I get the scent of an extinguished candle. It's faintly, faintly sweet, like sugar water, and a touch smokey. I think there was a little bit of a berry fragrance in the mix as well. Maybe raspberries?

 

It smells like a fantastic autumn fragrance that I would likely wear at any and every time.

 

-doreen

[TrailerTrashPrincess]

Sunmaid Golden Raisins soaked in dark, rich, fresh honey (not Sue-Bee "Clover" honey from the grocer's)... yummy and like liquid sunshine. there's a little bit of something that's almost incense-y in there, and the end effect is basically what i think summer ought to smell like. [=