Dead Leaves, Black Plum, Bitter Clove, and Oudh

[Larinessa]

[No additional description provided.]

Disclaimer: The bottle was *very* cold sitting out in the chilly 40's of Minnesota.

 

In the bottle: 'Juicy' clove. Not straight up identifiable fruit, but a chewy undertone. Interesting.

 

On me: Whoah clove! This is a strong warm spicy clove, with a slightly smokey touch (the ouhd and leaves is my guess). The fruitiness is gone.

 

I'm a bit disappointed as I really wanted a plum heavy blend. But I'm going to let this warm up and settle for a few days, as I've had blends change after a couple of days. But I am going to try layering this with some plum heavy blends like Bordello and The Soul of La Travata.

 

Verdict:While this (at this point) isn't the spicy plum of my dreams, this is surprisingly nostalgic inducing for me. I was a teenager in the 90's, and this is bringing me back to days of dancing at clubs and raves, when smoking indoors was legal, and my friends and I all smoked clove cigarettes. I can smell them. Hear the R&B by R. Kelly, rap by Snoop Dogg and Warren G, and grunge rock by Stone Temple Pilots and Bush. Makes me want to buy some Djarums, open a wine cooler, pop the earphones in and listen to the soundtrack for Baz Luhrmanns Romeo and Juliet.

 

Keeper.

[The Forest Floor]

I like most of the Dead Leaves scents, and this one was the one I was most curious about this year. It starts out with a strong animalistic smell (I get something similar from The Thales Eclipse, which I thought was the castoreum, but now I'm thinking maybe the oudh?) which is sort of stinky but I kinda like it... ha! That animalistic funk blends well with leaves, and, on me, both of those notes fade over the first hour or so. The plum is dark and bold and pretty sweet, the clove is more subtle but adds a nice layer of interest. The throw is mostly plum throughout. The dry down is really glorious mysterious Autumn plum. I am always looking for nice plum scents, and this one is nice and earthy and dark.

[puddingirl]

I am slightly nervous about this, it could be great, or it could be awful. In the bottle I smell leaves and what I'm assuming is oudh. When on the plum smell comes out. It is smelling a bit like church incense when drying. I really hope that passes. I have tried 3 out of 5 bottles so far, and none are keepers as yet There was a faint urine note there for a while and I am very glad it has passed! I can smell the bitter clove now. I was hoping the plum would be more prominent in this, but it looks like my skin amps incense over fruits. I'm not sure when I will have a use for this, but I may try to mix it with some sweeter scents to see what happens.

[zankoku_zen]

This one is a more dead-leaf plum oudh. It's mainly a plummy oudh, with just a smidge of dead leaves and clove. Very fall-like. Very plummy. If you like either, give this a whirl. Medium throw and wear length.

[bheansidhe]

This is an opulent, bitter purple-black blast of the back room at a Goth dance bar. It comes off my skin primarily as incense and dark plum, and less as dead leaves and clove, with a background vibe that reminds me of the commercial Opium perfume. It squirms around a bit to become spicy plum, then plummy oudh, then clove-tinged incense, but never strays far from its basic spike-heeled leather boots and purple velvet dance moves.

[Upstart Crow]

I wanted this to work so badly because I love plum and clove and it smelled so delicious in the sample, but the oudh made it smell like plum feces on me. I wish I was kidding.

 

Hard no from me.

[LizziesLuck]

Wet: Oudh!!!!! Why must you smell like poo on me?!?! This smells like clove, and plum, and dead leaves, and POO. I thought there would be enough other notes in this that the oudh would be buried - I was WRONG.

 

 

Dry: It gets a bit better is it dries - man that clove is killer with the dead leaves note, LOVE that combo. BUT I still get whiffs of poo, and nobody wants to smell like that. Skin chem fail!!

[lwhitesel]

This is super astringent as it goes on, then turns into something dry/woody with the leaves and oudh. No plum at all, and doesn't stick around for long either. This is not for me. My partner says he might like it, so I'm passing it on to him.

 

Edited to add: my partner did try it, and it smelled delightful on him. Sort of a juicy clove, very masculine (or at least my interpretation of masculine.)

Edited January 2, 2018 by trinitysite

[mandragora369]

Wet: On my skin the plum is very dominant with a dark undertone.

 

As it dries the plum gets less strong and a beautiful oudh scent emerges within the next hours. Stays on my skin until the next day. Very strong wear length. This DL I liked from the beginning, the others needed some time to rest.

 

I can only guess the clove, cannot detect it on its own. But I really like it!!

Edited March 2, 2018 by mandragora369