The Sunlight and the Moonlight Fall from Thee

[CiCi]

Blood red lilies, white frankincense, black pepper, and tuberose.

In the bottle: creamy lilies and a bit of pepper with an afterthought of the tuberose.

On my skin the first scent is the light resiny goodness of the frankincense and the subdued red lilies mixed with the tuberose. These two flowers are paired well with each other. They are both, on their own, a strong scent but brought together they meld well. This is not a strong overpowering scent but a lingering scent that seems to waft on the breeze. The black pepper adds only a touch of needed spice to round out what would be a too floral scent without it. I expected it to be strong and bold but it is a neither a very light scent not cloying scent. It is more a scent that leaves someone asking for another whiff of you.

[Lycanthrope]

What an interesting scent. High resins and deep sparkly pepper are in the forefront. Drying, it goes both ways - the sweetness of the tuberose but the sharp downturn and lushness of lily petal. Black pepper continues to provide a bit of a dry, scruffy base at the bottom of the whole fragrance. Melds together into something that reads to me as 'gold-orange.' The petals remain fairly strong so drydown leads me towards spicy stargazer lily. Very interesting. Keeping my bottle.

[LiberAmoris]

The Sunlight and the Moonlight Fall from Thee is for lily-lovers. This one strays pretty true from wet to dry on me—heaps of those red lilies, rounded with tuberose and given depth with frankincense. The pepper provides a textural foil to the velvety florals—the spicy, elegant grit that it adds makes the lily even more lush somehow, while also cutting the headiness of the florals in a really lovely way.

[Magycmyste]

In the imp: Ugh. There is something incredibly astringent here. From You I have been absent in the spring did the same thing, so I wonder if it's the combination of the frankincense and black pepper. Or the lilies. All three notes are in that one, too (although different versions).

 

Wet on skin: No, no, no, no, no. The tuberose is starting to come through, but not enough to get rid of that astringency.

 

Dried down: A little better, but not by much. This makes me want to cough when I sniff it.

 

Throw: Not much. I'm good with that.

 

Verdict: * Not for me. I need to figure out which note (or exact combination) is producing that astringency so I can avoid it in the future. Frankincense works well for me on its own. I know I've tried lily blends before, but I can't remember it going like this on me. I really hope it's not the black pepper, and that it's some sort of combination. I really love the idea of wearing a scent with that pepper kick, but if it's going to turn them into this, I'll be disappointed.

[zankoku_zen]

This one is a bit of a surprise in that black pepper doesn't doom this blend into a horrible failure of a mess. On wet, I definitely get the peppery overlay over everything, but then I get a GIANT liy + frankincense bloom that sort of makes the pepper disappear.

 

So yes, heaps of lilies, with a touch of frankincense to ground and deepen it all. On the drydown, I get a slight overlay of tuberose which unfortunately for me always smells like hairspray.

 

Still, WAY better than I would have predicted in a blend with both black pepper and tuberose as notes for me.

[theseagrows]

i took a chance on this one, but i love tuberose. in the vial all i smell is pepper with something sharp floral in the background. once it hits my skin, it's mostly lilies and pepper with a hint of tuberose. it's kind of a dry, clean floral with a hint of sweetness. there is something SO familiar about this. i keep thinking "80s perfume" but i can't place what it is reminding me of. it keeps morphing back and forth on me, from a kind of sour-peppery floral scent to a sweeter one. in any case, it's not really working with my skin chemistry, sadly.

 

eta: got it, it reminds me of that quintessential 80s scent, giorgio beverly hills!

Edited March 25, 2014 by theseagrows

[Astarial]

In the imp, I get Lilies, and maybe a touch of white frankincense.

 

Wet, he pepper comes out for a few minutes, then disappears, turning this gentle and floral from the lilies and tuberose. It stays this way for a while on me. The white frankincense starts to come out again as this dries down, pushing the lilies into the background and playing solo for a while. A few hours later, it finishes its monologue and wanders off-stage again, leaving the lilies to hum along alone for a bit.

 

Nice, but doesn't wow me.

[tinyvulture]

What a unique, evocative blend. Sweet, pretty florals are the base and then the black pepper is the star. The result is hippie/boho/witchy, herbal and spicy. I love the interplay of the pepper and floral notes. Makes me think of being out in a forest at night even though there's nothing woodsy about it! Just that spooky/mysterious/beautiful feeling.

[cinnamonster]

This is spicy in the bottle, but on skin, strongly lily-frankincense. It amps up on the lily for a while but settles into soft frankincense later. I'm not really getting the other notes.

[OctoberGwen]

Mmmm, I love this, and tinyvulture's description above is exactly how it strikes me as well. The florals are simple and gorgeous and the frank and pepper balance them perfectly, adding just a touch of resiny, spicy kick. Really beautiful.

[milo]

Tuberose tends to amp in a yucky way on me, and this is no exception. This is a little sweeter than other tuberose blends, but it's still there, with it's nasty department store cologne vibe. Funny, while I'm typing, it seems to be receding and behaving itself. Still, the beginning stages are not worth the wait. Not for me.