The Urchins

[zankoku_zen]

You hear a tittering of laughter: high-pitched and discordant, like bent, cracked silver bells clattering onto sheets of rusted metal. In the gloom of a dilapidated tent, the glow of small red eyes reflects on shining steel blades.

Dust and dead, dry flowers, ice-cold skin, the swish of a metal blade, and a memory of honey.

On wet, this smells like clean kids shampoo and then dries down to metal, a light floral musk, and a touch of medicinal honey.

The Urchins smell like proper Victorian children. You know the type, the kind that enunciate correctly, and then make the governess break down in tears and attempt to end her life through overdosing in laudanum because her charges are horrible. But not in the acting out way, but in the way that someone with great elocution is able to question your qualifications and make you doubt yourself into a crisis. While telling you that the appropriate temperature for tea is piping hot, and nothing less than that for their exacting presence. Good throw and wear length.

[Blood onmy hands]

Like taking an ice cold shower with generic white bar soap (Irish Spring?). Very cold and very soapy. The metal smells like silver shower handles chilled by that water, and gives off a feeling of metallic men's cologne. The honey adds a touch of sweetness at first, but isn't really noticeable in the drydown. I like that this smells so cold and clean without really being minty or mentholic.

Ice cold shower with a lot of soap and the room is full of musky, metallic, crisp men's cologne. I like this in the same way I recently enjoyed The Forgettable God, but The God is softer and less cold.

[Haltija]

Yep, floral musk with a heavy powderiness and a smack dab of honey.

 

This scent is so eerie and unsettling in the cutest of ways to me. It does smell like child-like but in the way that you see a group of nice cheery kids that seem to be all proper and lovely, but you know the minute you let that guard down they are the most terrible and vicious children you could ever imagine. Exactly what The Urchins shows us in their photograph.......... Fake smiles and laughter to hide terror.

 

Unexpected and I like it.

[LizziesLuck]

Wet: Metal, but not the same metal note that I have had such trouble with in the past. This one is lighter, softer, and blends well with the florals to create a really haunting, chilled scent. Surprisingly, I like it so far. I am cautious though. I like Kataniya the first time I tried her too, and every time after she was horrid.

 

Dry: Yeah, still not awful! I don't love it or anything - metal notes will always have a commercial cologne vibe to me that I just don't enjoy. But it is nice to know that there are metal notes out there that I don't amp to high heaven. I can smell the honey faintly, and the floral note smells a bit like tuberose (which adds to the high pitched cologney vibe of this). It's a really interesting scent, and one I am glad I tried, though it's not one I want to wear.

[megank4]

Surprise like. I really just got the decant to complete my collection. I don't think I'll get a bottle, but it's not bad. Slight lavender? and metal?

[dementia_divine]

In the decant: I get a pale honey drizzled over dry flowers, and behind that, I get a metallic note. I hope the metallic note cooperates on my skin.

 

Wet: This is a cold, honeyed floral scent, but the metallic note adds a cologne-like quality to it. The honey is definitely a pale variety, and the flowers are dry… they remind me of something, but I cannot pinpoint what they remind me of at this time.

 

Dry: Alas, this has gone into powder territory on me. It’s slightly honeyed, floral powder. I am guessing that my skin has decided to make this mostly about the dust and dead flowers.

 

After a while, it’s a cool, musky floral scent with a really light honey.

 

Verdict: I was interested in this one because of the honeyed floral aspect of the scent, but alas, it ended up being really powdery on me at one point, so it’s not something I’d reach for. On a positive note, the metallic note in this is kinder than those notes usually are on me.