Death-Fires Dancing Over the Tombs

[Trickster]


There was an open space around the church; partly a churchyard with spectral shafts, and partly a half-paved square swept nearly bare of snow by the wind, and lined with unwholesomely archaic houses having peaked roofs and overhanging gables. Death-fires danced over the tombs, revealing gruesome vistas, though queerly failing to cast any shadows. Past the churchyard, where there were no houses, I could see over the hill's summit and watch the glimmer of stars on the harbour, though the town was invisible in the dark. Only once in a while a lanthorn bobbed horribly through serpentine alleys on its way to overtake the throng that was now slipping speechlessly into the church. I waited till the crowd had oozed into the black doorway, and till all the stragglers had followed. The old man was pulling at my sleeve, but I was determined to be the last. Then I finally went, the sinister man and the old spinning woman before me. Crossing the threshold into that swarming temple of unknown darkness, I turned once to look at the outside world as the churchyard phosphorescence cast a sickly glow on the hill-top pavement. And as I did so I shuddered. For though the wind had not left much snow, a few patches did remain on the path near the door; and in that fleeting backward look it seemed to my troubled eyes that they bore no mark of passing feet, not even mine.


Icicles and stone illuminated by unholy fire.

In the bottle: Snow and ice, as portrayed by camphor and mint.

Wet: Minty camphor and a bit of something dusty and stale, like crumbling gravestones.

Dry: Light, pale mint, with still just that hint of dustiness. I didn't get any fire at all.

[Lycanthrope]

I get a huge hit of camphorous, eucalyptoid mint, rapidly decaying into a sharp lavender, with a very bizarre, slightly sweet 'round' drydown. It's pretty bracing and fresh. Herbal, and actually, if you like lavender, you'll probably enjoy this.

 

I get... um, as a color association, a speckled gray-black.

 

It does bring to mind labradorite, for some reason. Hrm. I like.

[Lethran]

In bottle: This is almost entirely the ozoney snow note that I prefer among the lab snow scents. There may be too much mint in this one for me, what with the cold stone being so delicate and there being so little it mitigate it. There is a sharpness I suspect represents “unholy fire,” though it’s also delicate and mostly lost in the snow to the point I’m not sure if it’s just part of the snow accord. Wet: Way more complex on the skin. There is now a strong evergreen note of some kind which is likely part of the snow accord. (Pine isn’t right. It’s one of the others in that family, I’m guessing). The mint in the icicle accord blends better here now that the evergreen balances it. The stone stays soft, but is more noticeable. There is some extra body to the scent now, an eleme3nt I can’t quite identify which might be the u8nholy part of the fire, so my in bottle guess might be wrong. Either way, this is pretty much the snow note from Death of a Gravedigger with some hints of other things. Dry: Snow Accord.

[annaham]

In decant: Camphor and dirt, along with a chilly mint note that might be the "icicle" component.

 

On skin: DIRT, DIRT, DIRT!

 

Drydown: More dirt. Ten minutes later, bleach. My skin DOES NOT like this one bit, unfortunately.

 

Alas, not what I was expecting, even if the idea is really interesting!

[RedAoife]

Yeek, never posted a review before, but my decants just arrived and this one really struck me.

I actually don't get fire at all, unless you count fire that's so white-hot it comes full circle and turns cold again, which is an image I can see with this oil. On my skin, it's herbal and sharp.

 

In the bottle, though, at first sniff, it immediately hit me as being a dead ringer for something that I couldn't quite pin. It drove me crazy for a few minutes, until I realized that the smell it perfectly mimicked (to me, at least) was the smell of tomato leaves and stems. It's a very distinctive scent, and gardeners will know what I'm talking about--sharp and not unlike watermint, but herbal and sharp like a blast of wind, and not at all sweet.

 

I like it. It makes me think of summer, digging around in the herb garden and rubbing tomato leaves between my fingers.

[zankoku_zen]

Ozoney snow, hint of lavender and dirt.

 

Huh. I actually enjoy this more than I thought I would. It's minty, snowy, and the lavender gives it a pleasant airiness.

 

Do I need more of this?

[Caper]

Minty, snowy, and sweet? I really kind of love this one. I kind if expected something red or orange for the flame, but I think it is something light instead. It might be a white musk making it sweet and slightly mellowed, but I'm not sure. There is something holding it together after the mint burns off and I like it.

 

It sort of reminds me of A Torrent of Light.

Edited January 12, 2014 by Caper

[thekittenkat]

In the decant: Lots of that powerful ozone mint combo. Maybe a hint of moth balls?

 

Wet: Much as on cold sniff.

 

The dry-down: Perhaps a crunch of stone -- a wall w/ icicles hanging from its sides. This reminds of Moon of Ice, and like that elegant ozone and mint scent, this lovely doesn't hang around long, either. I'll keep the decant, but MoI covers this niche very well, already. If you like MoI and your bottle is used up, or you always wanted to try it, give this a whirl. Still not sure what the fire note was.

 

ETA: abt 1/2 hr after the early dry-down, the crook of my elbow where I was testing this became very red and sensitive, so I had to wash it off. I do wish that I knew exactly what notes were in this, so I could avoid it in the future.

Edited January 31, 2014 by thekittenkat

[milo]

This a STRONG version of the lab's ice note with just a touch of vetiver, although I probably wouldn't have know it was there if I didn't have a look at the description. Not my thing.

[KakashiMorph]

In the bottle: Stone and ice! The ice is minty.

On my skin: A very sharp, refreshing scent. The minty iciness is very well done and I can feel a bit of stone underneath in a note that resembles dirt, but not quite. I like the freshness of it, though I am not getting any unholy fires yet. There is an amazing heavier/spicier scent underneath that comes out after a few minutes, but I can't for the life of me describe it or what it smells like. I can only say it reminds me of some specific mini soaps a friend of mine had in her house when I was little.

Drydown: This scent that I can't describe, but in all its mellowed glory. It doesn't smell like an unholy fire to me at all, but the result is lovely.

[theseagrows]

this is like slightly minty-aquatic ice water, like taking a deep breath on a cold winter's day. there also seems to be something slightly smoky, which i guess is the stone and fire. it's bringing to mind a roaring fire, outside on a cold, damp night, however the coolness seems to dominate. this strikes me as a more traditionally fresh masculine scent.

[aquazoo]

Chilly! Cold and sharp, citrus.