Grandmother of Ghosts

[gingiemay]

Mania, Roman Goddess of the Dead, Matron of Madness, Governess of the Ancestral Spirits, Bestower of Divine Frenzy. Her scent swirls with a high-pitched tumult of laurel, stargazer lily, splintered woods, peony, mandarin and white musk, and is spiked with pale pepper.

As is appropriate for a ghostly scent, this is incredibly faint in both the imp and on my skin. There is a hint of white musk, peony, stargazer lily and is a tiny bit sharp with the pepper. It disappears in about 45 minutes, leaving only a faintly floral musk tint.

[countessmouse]

Imp: lots of musk

 

Wet: Spicy florals pop, still too much musk

 

Dry: Out come the woods, mixing with the florals and toning down that musk

 

An earlier reviewer had it down pat: this is like finding grandma's shawl and wrapping up in it for comfort. I sort of smell like my very first piano teacher when I was seven, but not in a bad way. Ancestral spirits I get...mania not so much (which is a good thing because grandma could be a little crazy).

[voorishsign]

A frimp from the Lab! I don't expect much here because of the florals and mandarin, which rarely work for me, but the laurel, musk and pepper are intriguing.

 

In the imp - sweet woods and pepper.

 

On wet - No, here come the florals . . . not necessarily a frustrating amount of florals, but they're there. Pepper give them a bit of a punch. Lily is most prominent.

 

Drydown - Laurel and woods come out during drydown. Smells like a wild herb garden set with flowers now. Really nice, but not necessarily my kind of thing.

[SophieCedar]

Interesting. There's a rose-like dimension to this in imp and wet. Light, opalescent pale pink & green color impression. I get lily, mandarin, and laurel wet and lots of pepper and lily on drydown. Slight wood, but very faint. Interesting but not really me.

[animalcule]

I'm wondering if I should even be reviewing these types of scents - ones I didn't like in the imp and hated on myself. I'm really picky with scents and I think often it's not just my chemistry, it's just that I don't like, and never will like, certain notes! But I know all these reviews have been immensely helpful for me, negative and positive, so I'll go ahead.

 

imp: light florals, woods, pepper. I hate woods but I like pepper and most flower-smells, so...

 

wet: AIEEEE acrid woods! VERY strong on me. I was an unhappy girl when this was wet, it REEKED (I just put a dab on my hand).

 

dry: dries down to musty woody powder. Like being in grandmother's attic - and I think the roof has been leaking.

[isisonearth]

Imp: Sweet but astringent. Something reminds me of eucalyptus, laurel maybe.

 

Wet: I can smell the lilies but the laurels are drowning out anything else on me.

 

Dry: I get the sharp pepper on a long inhale and a minty tingle. Rather woody actually. Yep...woody, minty pepper.

 

Overall: It sounds brilliant but I don't think my skin chemisty allows it a good full expression of its notes.

[cupcakegernade]

For some reason this smells just like pine-sol when I open the imp. But once applied to my skin, it becomes a nice wood scent, backed by the pale pepper and white musk. I really like the laurel in this. The florals are not to noticeable in this, but they do add to the scent, softening up the other notes. As this dries, it becomes predominantly wood with musk and pepper, with almost a dusty pine pitch smell. The laurel fades away to almost nothing, and I can only catch slight whiffs of it here and there. I don't get any mandarin in this at all. This is nice, although I do wish the laurel would come back to play.

 

An hour later, this is all mandarin and lily.

Edited December 11, 2010 by scopoliacarniolica

[calivianya]

This is very floral to my nose throughout all stages. I think I amp floral scents in general because I'm not getting the white musk and woods scent that I was hoping for. This smells like a commercial lily-based perfume on me. Oh well.

[captainecchi]

I received this one as a frimp from the Lab last year.

 

Like most oils, this one is golden brown in color. In the vial, the first thing I get a whiff of is some sort of base note - the musk, I'm assuming. It isn't until I put it on my skin that something floral--the lily?--is evident, which is kind of odd, for a top note. Aren't they supposed to jump out of the vial at you? Isn't that why they're top notes? There's also some pepper there - I notice it when I first put it on my skin, and I can feel a bit of burning as a result, but it doesn't last longer

 

Everything is so, so faint and muted--I have to huff at my wrist to really smell anything, and it's gone by lunchtime. I can definitely see the comparison to Ulalume, although Ulalume has much more prominent lily note. Ulalume is also freshened by the green and aquatic notes.

 

Verdict: 2 out of 5. Not a keeper.

Edited January 21, 2011 by CaptainEcchi

[Vega]

Sniffed: Bright, luminous pale florals, coolly herbal.

 

On skin: A cool, pale herbal-floral scent that also has a bold presence. Bright and limpid but also full-bodied, sweet in a herbal-floral way. Too well-blended for me to pick out individual notes. It morphs a little -- now a bit more sharp, now shimmering from discreet mandarin (and/or possibly other notes that give it the slightest fruity tartness), now threatening to be a bit shriller -- but overall doesn't gets too unbalanced. This is an ephemeral, spectral, swirling blend, intense in an understated way (as most herbal-florals tend to be to my nose), but it never even approaches the frenzy of its namesake. Colour impression is a glowing pale light as seen through a fog.

 

Verdict: A fine specimen of a glowing, ghostly, cool herbal-floral that pleases my nose, but it doesn't quite stand out to me. Perhaps it's a bit too balanced... Like another reviewer said above: quite fitting for the grandmother of ghosts, but not so much for the goddess of madness.

[FathomBelow]

I've had this imp for a while but have put off reviewing it because white musk is listed as one of the notes, and that never turns out well on me. However, once I worked up the courage, I found peony and perhaps mandarin to dominate wet. On the drydown, the floral/fruity bits got mellower and a bit dustier, and an acrid note comes in, probably the pepper. I don't smell the laurel, woods, lily, or white musk at all, which is strange because lily and white musk at least tend to dominate any scent on my skin.

 

Unfortunately it's not really my style, but I'm glad I gave it a chance to show me that white musk doesn't wreck everything on my skin!

[angelamaria]

In imp: pink and sweet, with a faintly citrusy note from the mandarin blending well with the florals. Very promising! High-pitched is definitely the right term for its brightness, but it's not too "screeching" to be discordant; in the mix of all these different floral notes (I can almost tell them apart, almost, but not quite) it all still blends well together.

 

Wet on skin: hmm, this has gone on faint on my skin. The lily is topmost for me here, and it's a bright elegant floral, with a touch of the ethereal--not really as "high pitched" as the bottle scent. It's also more white now, than pink. I'm a little sad, but maybe it will make a comeback.

 

Dry: well, it did come back, of a sort! The bright fruity note is back--lightly pink-sweet, and the throw is also better. It's sweet and ethereal, and the scent changes every so often in terms of what's at the top: at various points I'd say it would be lily, or the musk, or the sweet mandarin, peony, etc. As it stays on my skin though, something goes powdery, until it's pretty much disappeared into powder.

 

Verdict: very pretty, in both a bright and soothing way, but alas, there is the powder again. I don't know what turned into powder--maybe the laurel?--but it was rather disappointing.

[invisible iris]

The imp hits me with tart and sharp mandarin, white musk, and pale pepper. The flowers (mostly lily) burst forth as soon as it touches my skin, but they’re soon outdone by splintered woods (can’t tell what kind of wood). An enduring sour herbal scent confuses me until I reread the notes and see laurel.

 

As it dries, the lily and woods make their amends and settle down next to each other, lily being dominant but the woods reining in any headiness. In the end, I get lilly with a small kick from white pepper, a bit of piney laurel, a verrrry slight hint of mandarin, and a bottom note of sharp wood. White musk, as usual, makes the whole blend opaque, slightly astringent, and fuzzy around the edges.

 

Verdict: The balance works for me here, but the notes aren’t my favorite. Lily almost always strikes me as antiquely old-fashioned and just not my style. The feel of the scent is definitely high-pitched though, each note contributing its own small screech to the overall vibe. So I think it successfully captures the concept.

[ajansuz]

In the imp very faint woody floral. Lily with something a little astringent.

 

Wet this is so faint I can barely smell it, even after a fairly liberal application.

 

There's no real drydown to speak of. My skin ate this completely in less than ten minutes.

[Ghost of a Rose]

In the imp: The woods overpower everything else. The oil is clear pale yellow.

 

On me, wet: Along with the woods, now I can also smell the flowers and the pepper. Nice!

 

On me, drydown: Already the scent is becoming rather faint. This would be a good candidate for a scent locket. I'm feeling a tiny bit of burning sensation on my wrist, but it isn't bad enough to cause discomfort and the skin isn't reddened, so I think I can safely wear it. This doesn't strike me as tumult, although I get where Elizabeth is coming from with that description: that the opposing scents interplay and contrast with each other. But to me it comes across more as a peaceful and beautiful balance of the different kinds of scents. The florals are the most noticeable, but I can also pick out all of the other notes except for the mandarin. Which is fine by me - I don't want to smell like fruit. This is a lovely, feminine, complex, and subtle scent.

 

After 30 minutes: The florals are still the main note, but now the woods are coming out more strongly.

 

After about 3 hours: Only the faintest hint of musk remains.

 

My rating: 4 stars

 

Later ETA: I tried this in a scent locket, and wow! Even after 24 hours in the locket, it is still the most heavenly blend of flowers. This gets 5 stars when worn in the scent locket.

Edited September 1, 2011 by Ghost of a Rose

[Honey]

Oh.. cannot even guess what this will smell like.

 

 

Imp: Tart, woodsy, herbal (laurel) and maybe a light green floral note.

 

Wet: Herbal wood and a white/green floral note. Light and earthy. Strong on the pepper, no mandarin.

 

Dry: Sweet, fragrant wood but too strong a pepper. Rather herbal than fruity. Nice but not my thing.

[Juushika]

In the vial: Thin, white, powdery—almost an absence of scent.

 

On me: The lily is predominant when first applied, but then some warmth comes up behind it—a powdery sort of warmth, white musk and white pepper and maybe just a touch of mandarin, with woods providing a little body. It's a thin scent, a barely sweet, clean floral sprinkled with white powder; there are occasional spikes, the pale spiciness and phantom heat of white pepper, which keep it from tending towards baby powder. As it wears, pepper becomes predominant, atop lily, touched with white musk. All in all a pale floral, but without the airiness or fleshiness that I usually associate with that scent family. Scent-color is opaque white. Throw is moderately low.

 

Verdict: Grandmother of Ghosts is much better than I expected—I'm not a fan of most florals, but the other notes keep the lily dry rather than oppressive, and the scent's pale whiteness is elusive but gently intriguing. Nonetheless, this is far from my style and I find the scent's overall inaccessability (a more more than subtle, a little too ghostly) somewhat offputting. I'll trade this away.

[Maleficium]

IMP: pepper and musk

 

Wet on Skin: Lily and floral and lighter on my skin than in the bottle. Smells both tart and sweet. About a minute in I can definitely smell the mandarin.

 

Dry down: More lily and not a lot else. Unfortunately I don't think the lily works well on me, as it seems to turn into a smell that I can only associate with laundry detergent. About ten minutes in it's all soap. The pepper pokes out a little bit too.

 

Verdict: pretty, but not for me.

Edited September 8, 2011 by Maleficium

[Lethran]

In bottle: A quite striking and complex lily dominant floral. The mandarin blends well with the flowers and gives a lovely tang. The pepper gives it an edge, the musk is soft and blends well with the florals It is a pale green and white sort of scent, very well designed. I very much like it, but my skin does terrible things to citrus, so I’m skipping the skin test.

[holborne]

When I first put this on, the dominant notes are woody and peppery. As it dries down, it gets far more floral; I don't care much for very heavy floral notes like gardenia or tuberose, but I do love a lot of the lily scents and this one has a gentle, dry lily note that doesn't overpower. As it dries down, the peppery note falls away and all that remains is the lily; it reminds me, I kid you not, of Bounce dryer sheets. I realize that observation wouldn't constitute a ringing endorsement for most people, but I happen to love the smell of laundry, so I love this one.

 

Although I see that a lot of people say this one doesn't last on them and is very faint even soon after application, I have quite a different experience; on me, it has a medium-strong throw and it lasts for hours. I put it on hours ago and I keep catching a whiff of it and going, "Ooh, what is that heavenly smell? Oh, it's me!"

 

This is one of my early BPAL loves; I have a 10 ml bottle. But I'm just now getting around to reviewing it.

[WidgetAlley]

Imp: A brighty, zingy floral. Lilies and pepper and light woods, along with something a bit citrussy.

 

Wet: A juicy, sweet floral-- definitely peony and lily-- accompanied by a nice, green, herbal background full of woods, and a bit of citrus. There's a lovely clean white musk in there too. This is complex but unified and quite feminine.

 

Dry: Strangely, the combination of the dry woods + pepper + florals ends up smelling like melons and clean laundry on me! It's pretty, and I may save the imp for springtime.

[milo]

This is kind of citrussy at first, then dries to a slightly cologney soft woods. I'm not getting any florals here, which is a good thing for me, it's basically a feminine wood blend on me, not too sweet. Nice!

 

This is kind of citrussy at first, then dries to a slightly cologney soft woods. I'm not getting any florals here, which is a good thing for me, it's basically a feminine wood blend on me, not too sweet. Nice!

[Dani87]

Imp: faint, but sharp

Wet: still very faint lily, pepper, and musk

Dry: this smells dusty, very very light, it's almost gone after just a few minutes.

Overall: this is pretty, but I can barely smell it. It doesn't last long at all on me. My nose is a little stuffy so I will try it again, but if it stays the same it will go to the swap pile. I really wanted to love this

 

eta: either this ages really well, or I amp it like crazy while pregnant. It is really gorgeous now.

Wet: mostly lily, and peony, with mandarin in the background.

Drydown: the woods and white musk are starting to come out.

Dry:lots of woods, and musk with the florals and mandarin in the background.

Overall: it's got a nice dry dusty smell to it, and the notes all work really well together on me now. I love it!

Edited January 31, 2014 by Dani87

[brilliantcat]

In the imp, I get florals, a pinch of musk, and the faintest hint of pepper. On me, it's truly a ghostly scent, faint and ephemeral. I get whiffs of light florals, then a touch of dusty musk, and now and then some of the pepper. It's so light but I like it! Maybe I like it because it is so very light and I only catch faint traces of it when I least expect it.

[Circaea]

First sniff - ack, horrible, wet, mouldy wood. But after a few minutes Grandmother of Ghosts mellows to a woodsy floral, softened and supported by a pleasant musk. I had to change my "HATE" rating to a Like. It's not bad. Not sure when I would wear it though. It's not bracing and cheerful, like my favorite citruses, or sweet and yummy like my foodies, or comforting and grounded like my wood blends. It doesn't seem to have a mood attached to it, or any associations, and as I sniff it, I don't get my usual impression-pictures. Strange.