Rose Moon 2023

[zankoku_zen]

A cluster of blood red rose petals dribbling with Amontillado, clove-scorched dragon’s blood resin, incense smoke, myrrh resin, and tabac.

[RoseThornAndOak]

Okay I'm pretty sure this will be popular. Fans of Blood Rose especially will love this. Although very different, Dried Cherry Incense & Spun Sugar fans might like this too for the red fruit + incense vibes.

 

The amontillado and dragon's blood are fruity, juicy, cherry red. If those notes go sour on you in Blood Rose, they most likely will here too (not in a locket, just on skin). The myrrh, incense, clove, and tabac gives it this vampy intrigue and depth. If I nuzzle in close, I reckon the myrrh shows up the most underneath the red haze but honestly everything is so seamlessly blended, even this fresh from the lab. It doesn't smell super tobaccoey, or smoky really, but there is that atmosphere, chewiness, and haze in the air. No bonfire smoke at all, but like incense, clove cigarettes, rose oil, pipe tobacco, black lipstick, and some good fruit liquors waz here, but people haven't started sweating in the club yet. 

 

Shoot this might sound weird, but Red Lantern fans might also want to pick this up. In how Red Lantern is hazy and fruity red in places, this palette is similar in color and atmosphere, just with different notes and no coconut, of course.

 

It's pretty Gothy McGotherson, and the label is fantastic in person and one of my favorite labels this year.  So happy I got this!

Edited August 30, 2023 by RoseThornAndOak

[patina]

I didn't find the resins here as stompy and headshoppy as those in Blood Rose. Also this one is more balanced during the drydown, while Blood Rose turns to soft rose powder. But the comparison between the two is pretty fair.

This is well blended to me, with the resins turning this into something sweet with my skin chemistry. This reminds me there's a violently pink summertime drink made of rose syrup. The scent also really reminds me of those old Rose Petal Place scented dolls from the 80's. I can't pick out clove.

[bygraveyardlight]

Less 'heavy' than the notes would suggest! I get a syrupy fruity winey dark red rose- really romantic actually!

[twilighteyes]

I should have read reviews first!

 

I was hoping for more clove and tobacco and resins and smoke, but I'm getting mostly the Amontillado (wine.)  I can barely detect a hint of rose on the exhale.  It's lovely but it isn't what I was expecting or hoping for. 

 

Off to the aging box for you, we'll see you again in six months or a year.  

[feyofthefellwood]

Lush, candied rose wine with hints of dark resins. The rose and wine notes are more prevalent to me than the resins or spices (though I definitely notice the dragon's blood, which I love). I saw someone on FB describe this like a rose-flavored jolly rancher and that description is quite apt to me. 

[doomsday_disco]

Rose and resins/incense isn't really in my wheelhouse, but my decanter kindly frimped me a tester of this, and I have to say... it's much better than I would have expected based off of the notes.

 

I get a really jammy red rose (it is probably jammed up from the wine) with lots of incense. I thought that the amontillado would be the same grape scent from Drops of Amontillado (an exclusive imp from a few years back), but there's no blast of grape here (woot). Dragon's blood can be problematic on me, but it's not going wonky here. Oddly enough, I'm not really getting much clove, tobacco, or myrrh, but that could be because it's a tester (I did have a good amount to apply, though).

 

It's still not something I need a bottle of, but I'm really glad I got a chance to try it. While it's not something I would gravitate towards wearing, I do think it's one of the nicest rose + incense blends I have tried.

[Little Bird]

Lots of wine and it's similar to the scent of red wine, but not as sweet, and I find myself missing that sweetness.  This has a dark, bitter quality to it instead of the indulgent sweetness.  Then the rose comes in and smells like someone picked up a freshly cut rose and smushed it in their hands and tossed the petals and greenery into the wine.  It's dewy with hints of greenery, but also has a powdery, sharply musky tone to it that I don't love, and unfortunately the powder and perfumey, sharp musk rose is what dominates the drydown on my skin.  I never smell anything like resins or incense or clove, not even a hint of them, which is what really talked me into buying this one.

[asoursweetsixteen]

ugh. wow. wow wow wow. beautiful and amazing. I adore rose. this is the scent I keep coming back to the most in my (small) collection. so happy I picked this up. I usually wait longer to write reviews for scents, but I've had this for a month now and it's still in stock so I have to try to convince rose lovers.

 

another side note, I adore the label art. I love all of the Moons art, and this one is no exception.

 

in the bottle, it is super sweet! cherryish mixed with rose. very lovely.

 

now on wet, it's much more floraly, majority rose with a hint of something dark/spicy in the background, probably the winer. kind of like a burning rose-scented candle. the dragon's blood is beautiful and really contributes to the wick-burning scent I'm getting. I can't specifically pick out the incense, myrhh, or tabac (mainly cause I don't completely know what those smell like) but I assume they contribute to the dark scent. it very quickly eases up and becomes less harsh, more candy-like and sweeter.

 

20ish mins later, it's just very much rose. rose all around. one of the few bpal florals that hasn't turned grandma perfume on me (thank god). the wine makes this scent a bit sexy and elegant. the end result isn't very overwhelming, smoky, or extremely dark, just rose with a hint of wine. a lot of the notes don't come through which is more than fine for me since the drydown is beautiful. I can't stop sniffing my hands! ahh! rose lovers get this now!

 

[theredkilt]

I get rose petals drenched in red wine. These are not particularly sweet rose petals. They have underlying resiny bite. The scent is quite bright which i didn't expect from the description. Later on it gets a bit dusty rosey and wine-ish.

[Lucchesa]

These are not my usual notes; in general the rose and resin combo goes sour on me. But Rose Moon is really quite lovely. It’s kind of like a rose version of Blood Kiss, with lots of port wine and the dragon’s blood standing in for the sweet fruit of the cherries. Rose, wine, DBR and myrrh are the notes I can pick out; nor getting much clove or tobacco. It stays pretty true as a sweet resiny rose and wine. I have no idea where I would wear this — midnight garden party? — as it’s not really my style, but it’s objectively pretty.