The Unquiet Grave

[claudia6913]

One kiss of clay-cold lips: frozen white roses, frankincense, white gardenia, white sandalwood, and vanilla orchid.

Another beautiful blend from this update. The frozen roses are beautifully red, yet laced with ice crystals. Not overwhelmingly so, but noticeable. The gardenia is very prominent throughout the blend. The sandalwood and frankincense give it a nice grounding base. The vanilla orchid gives not only a touch of sweetness but a hint of that hot house feel I get from orchids.

Overall this is a soft sweet floral blend, with a hint of something ... darker. But only a hint.

[Atrous]

Chilly florals on a soft bed of sandalwood.

I'm not getting any frankincense which is unusual since i often amp this note. There's a bit of vanilla orchid just around the edges.

a delicate floral blend that stays close to the skin.

[stellamaris]

so pretty pretty pretty...chilly, floral, glorious. Love it.

[Hattress]

Well, I've got to preface this by saying that I bought this perfume purely because I love Penny Dreadful, and they featured the song, "The Unquiet Grave" a couple of times in the second season. I love the song, love the show, and decided I really needed to have the perfume to match.

 

This definitely delivers on the "cold" part. Wet, the white gardenia is strongest (which scared me; I don't love gardenia and I was hoping it wouldn't overwhelm the other notes), but I'm also getting the frozen white roses.

 

After a little while, the gardenia settles down and makes room for the other notes. It stays chilly floral, with the sandalwood just barely warming it up a little bit and keeping it grounded.

 

There's also some serious staying power with this scent. For the first few hours, it had pretty fair throw--I smelled it almost every time I moved. Eventually--after maybe five hours--the throw got a lot lighter, and I could only smell it if I brought my wrist a little closer to my nose. But I could smell it, at least a little bit, even when I woke up in the middle of the night. So that'd be...seventeen hours?

 

Overall, it's such a gorgeous blend. I got two decants of it, but it definitely might have to be a bottle.

[VetchVesper]

I wasn't a huge fan of this one. I was expecting a light and heady floral, but what I get is a big blast of mintiness. I guess that's the "frozen" part, but it really takes over on me. Reminds me of floral toothpaste. No thanks!

[zankoku_zen]

White roses, hint of mint and white sandalwood. Cool, white florals. Good throw, low wear length.

[Aviatrix]

This is snowy and minty florals! I can't really distinguish the different flowers, but I think they're all equally there, and the frankincense lights things up a bit. Not sure I'm getting the sandalwood, though.

It really does evoke a frozen bouquet in a still tomb. I really like it!

[Hystrixia]

"Cold blows the wind to my true love,
And gently falls the rain.
I never had but one true love,
And in the greenwood he lies slain."


In the Bottle: The scent of a freshly-cut rose in the frosted air. It's very refreshing and elegant. The rose note in this reminds me of the hybrid tea roses my mother grew when I was a kid.

Top Notes: Wet on the skin, the gardenia appears and mingles with the rose. An intense, biting chill of what I imagine to be white mint rustles by before settling onto the flowers.

Middle Notes: About an hour later the rose and gardenia are still the prominent notes with the now present sandalwood mingling close behind. The vanilla orchid hides in the background lending a tender sweetness to what has become a lovely chilled floral scent with a hint of wood.

Base Notes: Six hours later and the florals and ice have faded away into a soft mix of the sandalwood and frankincense. It's warm and sweet but very light.

Overall Impression: I like it quite a bit. The mint, aside from adding a cooling effect, really contributes to the florals by lending a nice green note. The result is the smell of freshly cut flowers in the damp winter air. I also enjoy the effect of the vanilla orchid, white sandalwood, and frankincense being added as they stopped the blend from being too cold. Colorwise, the scent comes off as a crisp white, a cool slate, and a soft taupe; a pale bouquet gently placed on a footstone slicked with morning frost, bareboned trees silently standing witness in the background.

On a seperate note, I tried layering a small amount Yorrick over The Unquiet Grave for extra emphasis on the "grave" aspect and was very pleased with the end result.

Final Verdict: I am very glad I took a chance when I made this blind purchase based only on the notes given. I love how refreshing it is while maintaining it's floral quality. I'll gladly be keeping my bottle.

Edited December 8, 2015 by Hystrixia

[LizziesLuck]

Wet, this is really aquatic on me (guessing that's the "cold" note?) Not really my thing.

 

As it dries though, it becomes a lovely floral. I can for sure smell the white rose, which is my favourite type of rose.

 

Unfortunately, it fades really fast on me. While it lasted, it was a gentle sweet floral. Very nice, but it didn't wow me. I can't smell the frankincense at all, and I usually amp that. Pretty much gone inside half an hour.

[Haltija]

Chilly and gorgeous red roses first off and I can only detect the smallest bit of gardenia. No vanilla orchid in sight and I really wanted to smell it on me. I don't even get sandalwood or frankincense at all either.

 

Fully dry it turns to minty gardenia soap and the roses have faded completely. Not a winner, sadly.

[Argentwolf]

Like LizziesLuck, I didn't get 'cold' or 'frozen' so much as 'wet' from this, but then I don't usually go for 'cold' blends so that may just be my inexperience. It really just kind of reads 'pretty, white floral' to me, and while it does evoke the thought of a lovely bouquet, there will probably be other floral-type scents that are able to grab my interest much better. It has a very minor through, and was gone by mid-evening (I applied it right before I went out to some friends' for the night).

[milo]

Sandalwood seems rein supreme here at first. The gardenia comes out after a bit, and gradually takes over. The wood keeps this from being too sweet, and the effect is kind of ethereal. Strong, then becomes powdery. I like this, but not enough for an upgrade.

[theredkilt]

from the start, i get the "chilly" accord, which reads like a faint snow note to my nose. Then gradually it opens up and i can discern the vanilla orchid and frankincense emerge. It reminds me of Venus Caelestis from Lupers 2015 minus the snow/chilly note. Would seem like a great scent during the spring/ summer time.

[Cali]

It does kinda smell like walking around on a graveyard in late autumn. It is chilly and damp and I'm pretty sure that's the white roses and sandalwood. The florals are reaally pretty in there and it's slightly earthy and powdery. It's hard to describe but it's a well-mixed blend. It's got a nice throw on me as well and it's got the same type of darkness/spookyness that samhain has!

[MonkeysInk]

Reached my hand into my imp jar today and pulled this one out!

 

As I put it on, I thought "oh, pretty florals!" I got a whiff of frankincense, and was glad it passed - I use the essential oil in my face cream at night, so my association with it is vaguely medicinal and less like a scent I want to wear in perfume.

 

Dry, I get prominent sandalwood with light florals in the background. It's 100+ degrees here today, so I love that it's very mild throw with a very cool feeing scent profile. This is strangely perfect for a summer day, even though it's a Halloween fragrance.

[Blood onmy hands]

The sandalwood and mintiness smell like spearmint chewing gum on my skin, mixed with a creamy, soapy rose and gardenia scent. Clean, cool, powdery floral.

[mollison]

This is a really nice, cold floral. I smelled the rose and frankincense right away, and as it dries down, a dry (but not harsh) sandalwood and some other floral (maybe the orchid? maybe gardenia?) comes out more, and I can't really smell the rose much anymore. But I still smell the frankincense!

 

I'm not normally into straight floral perfumes, but I very much like this. It's not overwhelming like florals can get on me. Dry, it has faded to a very creamy, light, cool floral.

Edited October 15, 2016 by mollison

[PrinceofcatS]

This goes on strong "frozen" note, which is weird for me because I've never smelled that without pine before, but it's the same as I find in my ice blends - just no pine. It does have a cold, chilly feel to it - I get more mint as it dries - and some creamy gardenia starts to come out too.

 

The initial ten minutes of this were really pleasant, all cold florals and the vanilla orchid rearing its head - I love BPAL's vanilla orchid, but it's not in much stuff. Then it started to be soapy. It took me a moment to pinpoint what the only unpleasant smell was - but then it became clear it was soap.

 

I'm torn about keeping this, because the soapy stage didn't last the entire rest of the wear time, and unlike other soapy blends i've worn (Somewhere or Other comes to mind), I did get other notes in this one, especially if I wasn't trying to sniff my wrist. And all the rest of the notes are really lovely, and the sandalwood barely showed up (I tend to amp BPAL's sandalwood, so that was a fear). I also think the frankincense might get stronger with age (I didn't get much of it this time) and abate the soapiness even more.

 

The strengths of this scent for me are that none of its notes bullies the others, even though sometimes gardenia and sandalwood do that; there's a ghostly hint of mintiness, a creamy touch of gardenia, and a flawless resinous base that's just gentle and grounding for the other notes. The vanilla orchid is unique as a note so you can detect it easily, but it doesn't dominate either. I think it's possible that the rose note in this might be what went soapy on me, just because Somewhere or Other did, unless one of the cold notes (used as a mist in that?) did it, but I've never had problems with rose notes from any perfume by those two.

 

I recommend this, especially to orchid fans, but people who have trouble with soapiness in any of these notes or florals in general may want to give it a pass.

[Bassmastadroog]

Instant blast of cool soap. Sweet for a millisecond. Then back to a veeerry heady bar of soap. My wrist immediately became a picture of an after shower lather. This stage lasts a good ten minutes or more. Sneeze inducing. Like a dog whistle, but for my sinuses.

 

After, I can almost pick out, during the dry down, the scent of dead-ish and crispy flowers of some kind. When it truly starts to dry there is a slight sweetness to it that peeks out from the searing soap. Just barely though. Still a bar of Dove for the most part. I think the sweetness is the gardenia? I had a gardenia perfume once called, 'The Pinup,' and it was really sweet, so I'm attributing what I think was that to this.

 

After the soap has its major histrionic freak out, I can somewhat dig the scent on my wrists. It becomes a cold and dead white bouquet...covered in soap suds. If it didn't have the soapy flower, whatever that is that is giving it that vibe...I might be able to jive with it. I was so hoping for vanilla from the orchid to soften it up...that would have been beautiful. I have a full bottle I blind bought, and since I've tried it three times with the same results...I think I might swap it away...

[TiniestSpider]

This is an incredibly lovely scent. The strongest notes for me are definitely the gardenia, rose, and orchid. They sit beautifully on the skin and settle nicely with my natural body chemistry.

 

Though the have different notes, The Unquiet Grave strongly reminds me of The Last Unicorn. I suspect that it stems from the fact that they are both highly wearable florals that manage to be neither powdery nor dowdy. If someone enjoys one of the scents, they will likely enjoy the other. It certainly is entering into rotation as one of my "signature" scents.

[roseus]

This smells crystalline, but not minty. I get a mix of these florals, white and clean but also frozen in time. It's almost sweet and aquatic. Very interesting scent!

[freyasfae]

Oh, this is very aquatic on me. I was hoping for more white florals, the aquatic is just overwhelming. Alas.

[Kay Torres]

I should have known better than to allow gardenia to touch my skin. I guess I was just hoping that it would be like the rare few blends with this note that miraculously work on me. It wasn't. The gardenia overwhelmed from beginning to end and sent an ice pick straight to my sinuses. I have no idea what else was in this because I never smelled anything else. If you have issues with gardenia, avoid this one at all costs.

[joopjoop]

A beautiful chilly white floral. Ultra feminine, but like a cold porcelain figurine on a high shelf. On me, the white rose is dominant. I do get the aquatic but it doesn't take over. It's lovely and a little old-fashioned - nostalgically ladylike I would say.

 

When I was younger I would have loved this to death, but I'm not sure it is really 'me' anymore. I feel like this is the scent that the devastatingly elegant and slightly diva-isa retired ballet-dancer turned celebrity art-historian me in an alternate universe would wear, but I'm not sure that the very different 'me' in this timestream can quite pull it off. Still, I will enjoy my decant!

 

Edit 1/5: I've found myself reaching for this one more and more. And now I'm planning on ordering a bottle. So I guess it is 'me' after all.

Edited January 5, 2017 by joopjoop

[bunnyechoes]

In the bottle: A cold, chilly scent of flowers laying on a cold grave.

Wet on skin: The floral notes show a sharp facet. I suppose that’s the frankincense or sandalwood peeking through but they don’t make the scent warm at all. The white roses do leave the impression of being frozen, and this image is only strengthened by the white gardenia note, which doesn’t go soapy. The frankincense and roses remind me a bit of mint but it’s not overpowering.

Dry on skin: As the blend dries down, it seems as if the bouquet itself dried out and the petals fell on cold marble. Much later on, I only detect vanilla orchid and perhaps some sandalwood or frankincense.

It's very lovely and I'm happy I bought it.