This Wan White Humming Hive

[Kat Conover-Karpuk]

And where should the living feel alive
But here in this wan white humming hive,
As the moon wastes down, and the dawn turns cold,
And one by one they creep back to the fold?
And where should a man hold his mate and say:
"One more, one more, ere we go their way"?
For the year's on the turn, and it's All Souls' night,
When the living can learn by the churchyard light.

White patchouli leaf, beeswax, ambergris, and pale incense.

The first thing I get off this is honey! Eeeevil honey. The patchouli leaf is super light, barely noticeable. I'm not too familiar with ambergris, but the beeswax is nice and prominent. The incense is there too, slightly smoky without being smoky and just a little sweet. I accidentally ordered two bottles and while waiting for my order I was mad at myself, but this is clearly a blend I want a backup bottle of.

I highly recommend this to people that love honey or incense. It really is something special. Can't wait to try the rest of my Weenie hoard!

[missnix]

I'm not really sure why I ordered this; patchouli, incense and honey are always iffy for me. However - this works and is beautiful!

 

First of all, I don't really get honey at all - it's definitely, as advertised, a slightly sweet beeswax. It doesn't turn powdery or "off" like honey sometimes does.

 

The incense is pale and beautiful, lending a suggestion of smoke and perfume that makes this blend really cozy to my nose.

 

I don't get much patchouli, and am fairly unfamiliar with ambergris, but I assume they are playing supporting parts. All in all, this is a sophisticated and well-blended scent; slightly sweet, dry, cozy, and warm!

[milo]

This is a gorgeous blend, very pale but not in strength, it just has the impression of being light and pale. I'm getting the beeswax and incense mostly, but maybe the other notes will come out later. It's like nothing I own, which is quite a feat in itself. I like this, but it's not a love at this point. I'm going to age this and see if it becomes more blended. I'd like a little less incense and a bit more sweetness and patch to come out. Still a beautiful scent, and I'm glad I went straight to bottle.

[Foodie]

When I applied The Wan White Humming Hive, the first thing that popped out was a strong, beautiful honey/beeswax note. I can't tell the difference between honey and beeswax. All I know is I like it!

But... for the next hour, all I could smell was "old lady". I have no idea what it was. I could still smell the honey but there was something behind it that just screamed old lady. Sorry I can't be more specific than that!

After the first hour, the incense started to send out its slow burning smell and I must say that it was lovely. Good bye old lady, hello gorgeous honey and incense! Like the other reviewers have said, this is a "white" or light incense. Not the incense I'm used to but definitely incense.

To me it's worth getting through the first hour to get to the wonderfulness of The Wan White Humming Hive. It lasted all day and I still could smell traces of it in the morning. Glad I have a bottle!

[Blood onmy hands]

Humming Hive smells like a really dusty nag champa incense to me. I don't really smell beeswax or patchouli, which was what I was looking forward to. Only lasts about 45 minutes on me and doesn't have much throw

Second full wear, this still smells very dusty and reminds me of burning nag champa incense, but it also has a perfumey, metallic sharpness that reminds me of hair spray and dries down with a sharp, soapy quality.
I sold off my bottle already. Not good on me at all.

Edited November 1, 2016 by Little Bird

[lookingglass]

I was most looking forward to this scent of all the Weenies. While I didn't get it at Will Call, I may end up buying it now that I read reviews saying that other people are getting more incense notes. I lamented because it smells so much like The Lights of Men's Lives, which I have and love and wear all the time. I smell almost entirely beeswax. It's the most glorious, sweet, slightly floral, creamy beeswax note, but I got little else.

[Casablanca]

In the bottle I smell only a faint beeswax, but on my skin this is at first more of the crunchy-sweet honey from O, but with a nutty, slightly creamy-musky tone from the ambergris. The initial honey rush calms quickly, though, and allows the beeswax and white incense through. After the first 30 seconds, beeswax dominates, followed by ambergris and white incense. I don't pick out patchouli at this stage.

The vanilla tone in the beeswax grows after drydown, becoming about as strong as the waxy smell. I still don't smell patchouli, but the incense note has grown, pale but champaca-like.

I like it, but it's mostly gone in 40 minutes.

Edited November 1, 2016 by Casablanca

[LizziesLuck]

Wet: Hmmm. More honey than beeswax? Or both? And something fruity that is really unexpected. Incense, which gives a "purple" impression, and is different than I expected. Hmm, this is hard to pin down. Almost...grapey? Very faint on my skin. This may need some aging. It's glorious in the bottle, so this could also be a skin chem fail...

 

Dry: Totally disappeared. I think I may let this one age a bit and test again. I love beeswax too much to just give up on it!

[Bassmastadroog]

In first wear I got Parmesan cheese? I couldn't shake that association. Anyway, aside from that, I mostly got light patchouli, light incense, and a dusty beeswax. It wasn't as deep as I had hoped for.

[Kay Torres]

This is gorgeous on me. Creamy beeswax, light incense that reads more as spice to me, musky sweet ambergris and a "brightness" that I think is the patchouli leaf. Instant full bottle. Light and dreamy, creamy, spicy and sweet.

Edited November 8, 2016 by SunsetKay

[roseus]

Sweet, creamy beeswax incense. Absolutely stunning. At first it's strongly honey-beeswax, and then fades over the incense. I get a little of that salty-sweet-musky ambergris. Gorgeous!

[freyasfae]

I loooove this. I tend to like "white" scents in general and this has that quality, though it's on a scale of white to pale gold. On me, it's more beeswax than honey, less sweet and more complex. Yet another, I may have to get a bottle of.

[mrsrevshamwow]

I recently discovered white patchouli when I got a frimp sniffie of Yucca Giant Skipper. I love its light dirtiness, and it's paired perfectly with the beeswax in Humming Hive.

 

In the imp/wet, I get a slight sweetness from the beeswax. But that quickly dries into what I can only describe as a sticky, dirty, creamy, salty scent. It's the scent equivalent of dragging my finger through cold, fresh-ground peanut butter.

 

It's so comforting to me, and I'm trying to pinpoint why - I think it may remind me of my mother's sewing room. The beeswax that she uses to untangle her hand-sewing threads, the salt from the popcorn that she always has and a little bit of sweat because her client is going to pick up the item any minute now, the dirt and dust accumulated on the machines, a little bit of incense wafting in from my sister trying to mask whatever she was doing, ... It's just so good.

Edited November 15, 2016 by mrsrevshamwow

[patina]

The beeswax is a lot more like honey than other beeswax scents in the Halloweenies this year. It is white without smelling like a white floral. On the drydown, I think the incense is a light Nag Champa? I may be wrong. It smells a little less white when dried. But still lovely.

[zankoku_zen]

Beeswax, incense, and a touch of ambergris. This is really a beeswax/incense blend. I got alot more of beeswax on wet, and as it dries the incense comes out. The ambergris sort of keeps some of the sweetness of the beeswax in place. Medium throw and wear length.

[InThePines]

Zanoku_zen pretty much summed up my experience perfectly. Initially this was a sweet honey that got less sweet as it dried. I can detect a tiny bt of ambergris but it really just compliments the beeswax/honey so well.

 

 

Truthfully, I had no idea if I would like this blend or not--I tend to like honey but most blends that are primarily honey/beeswax (Lights of Mens Lives, Alma Venus) tend to be "too much" for me. Ambergris and incense are also notes that I tend to shy away from. However, This Wan White Humming Hive is really perfect--not too sweet/heavy, just the right amount of honey/beeswax. The salty ambergris is the perfect subtle compliment to temper that honey, and I can realy only detect it when huffing my wrist where I applied the oil. After about 40 minutes, I can maybe detect the incense but this blend is in no way "smoky" on my skin. This is really delightful!

[Spaztic]

BPAL's honey note almost always goes this unpleasant "sweatiness" on me. I thought that maybe Beeswax would work though...nope still get the sweaty honey unfortunately. If I can endure that phase the smell turns fantastic but that phase can last 1 hour or so

I guess Beeswax and honey scents just weren't really made for me

[SmilesSunshine]

Smells sweet and warm in the bottle.

On my skin, beeswax and incense. Warm, creamy. I notice the ambergris faintly and it's beautiful.

Drydown it's incense, some honey, kinda beeswax warmth.

Very long wear & mellow throw.

 

The weirdest thing is this amps very similar aura as young snake oil on me.

 

I ordered a half bottle from decanter. I don't think I'll be needing more as it really does not standout for me.

[Minh Scent]

A beautiful incense and wax perfume! The ambergris is subtle, and I am not detecting patch at all. Mmmm, bpal wax!!!!

[puddingirl]

This smells like sharp alcoholic cream in the bottle. This is a wonderful smell, a honeyed incense. I can't quite work out when I would wear it though, as I tend to get headaches from incense nowadays (I bought this for the beeswax note). The smell is slightly reminiscent of when I layer Samhain with Honeyed Apple, so I think this is off to the swaps.

[theredkilt]

I have never smelled anything remotely quite like this before. I get the waxiness and sweetness of the beeswax, some incense, maybe resins and sedated ambergris.

 

All in all, it's such a nice oriental blend. Not for everyday wearing.

[thekittenkat]

In the bottle: All four notes, not quite melding, but a lovely and delicate scent, nonetheless

 

Wet: Sharp at first, like a mint leaf, but that's the white patch leaf, I'll bet. Then the lovely sweet beeswax wafts out, with the ambergris as a base. Soon afterward, there's a delicate incense note. Btw, the beeswax is more like a honey note at first, but then settles into the yummy beeswax.

 

The drydown: After around 4 hrs, this reminds me of the cold sniff, except that there's more of a blending. I see this as a rather elegant set of notes that have a somewhat oriental feel, but light not heavy. This could have worked as a Shunga, and I will use it as a spring scent, although it would do for year-round.

Edited January 26, 2017 by thekittenkat

[Moth Dust]

Pretty straightforward on my skin: somewhat sweet, incense-y beeswax, which is exactly what I was hoping for. It does have an almost crisp and cool quality to it, but it's very subtle. Much lighter and with less throw than I was expecting, but the softness of it turns out to be what I like most about it. A very pleasant and gentle scent, I'm glad I decided to get a bottle.

[CitrusFiend]

Herbal honey when wet, dusty honey with light incense when dry. Nice, but not my thing.

Edited February 8, 2017 by CitrusFiend

[lizabelle]

This is the honey scent for me. It's definitely dark and rich thanks to the patch and incense, but it's also almost fruity. I think the patch/ambergris combo is making it richer than honey would normally be on its own. This is not a sweet honey scent, and could easily be unisex. It's well-blended and none of the notes really stick out unless you know what you're sniffing for--it just comes across as deep and smoky/herbal, almost resinous, and gorgeous.

 

I was lucky enough to get an empty of this when ordering a decant, so I'll be dumping whatever I can get into that until I can secure extra bottles. I'm definitely hoarding this one, because it's just that good.

Edited February 22, 2017 by lizabelle