House of Night

[Mixxi]

A sorrowful graveyard bouquet of somber blooms, funereal boughs, dismal green and laden with grief.

This is well blended so can't pick out any notes in particular actually. Maybe pine oil & lilies? Anyway this smells really, really green! It's floral but it's a woodsy, green floral. If you're a fan of green scents this is a must have! Sadly I'm not a fan so this imp will be finding a new home soon.

[FallDaze]

On first sniff, it's very green and sharp, and a little spicy.

 

When I put it on, I get a scent like spicy syrup. Pretty, but it gets me thinking about pancakes, and the syrup is a little bit heavier than I would like.

 

After a while, the spicy syrup scent stays the same, but with a greenish undertone. Pretty, but it gave me a little headache after a while.

[GoldenRubee]

This seems very herbal and anticeptic smelling on my skin with floral undertones. I kept hoping it was going to get better with spices or warm up to my skin chemistry, but it never did. It stayed the same for the next hour. I finally threw in the towel and washed it off.

[euterpe414]

I remember that I first tried this early on in my BPAL exploration and somehow passed over it... well, I'm certainly glad that I gave it a second try. This time, I get something very very similar to Samhain (although more the 06 version than this year's), minus the pumpkin and apple. It's very smoky and spicy, and I can just detect a hint of rose among all of it. I am sure there are other flowers in here, but I really can't detect them. It's definitely reminiscent of taking a walk in the crisp outdoors in autumn, perhaps with a bouquet of dried flowers in your hand. I do agree with the word 'somber' in the description- there is not much that is light hearted about this scent, although that doesn't mean it isn't gorgeous.

 

This is definitely a fall/winter scent in my book, and if I didn't have a few bottles of Samhain lying around I would definitely upgrade my imp of this

[synestheticheart]

In the imp and wet on my skin, the oil smelled like apples, cinnamon, and other spices. However, when it dried, it smelled flowery, with hints of apple and spices. It grew on me throughout the day. It's definitely a nice fall scent.

[CrazyPretzel]

OK, I'm the weird one - I didn't get any smokiness or spices from this! Actually I was surprised at how light and sweet it was. I had sweet florals (osmanthus?) with a very light touch of evergreen. I like it a lot and may get a bottle, though I'll have to investigate further to see if I can get any of this Samhain-vibe people are talking about.

[Dracoo9]

I got this as a free imp from the lab. I have kind of figured that anything that has to do with herbs and other plant life will become this dry, dirt scent. This is exactly what HofN became only slightly sweeter. Its definently more tolerable then what Nosferatu became on me but not something I would wear.

[forspecial_plate]

I seem to remember, when I first tried this, it reminded me of Samhain....especially in the dry-down stage. But I tried it again yesterday, and it was a very faint, sweet floral that reminded me faintly of marshmallows. The throw was next to nothing on my skin. It's a pretty scent but not one that I would wear with regularity.

[Christine Daae]

In the imp, yeah, that's pretty green all right. Sort of a dark, slithery green.

 

Wet on my skin, this is making me feel like I need to sneeze. Underneath the sneezy-ness, I get a dark, earthy-floral green smell, with tinges of smoke and spice. It's quite nice, if not really my 'thing' in perfume.

 

Hmm, as this warms up I do see where other people were getting fruit (apples? peaches?). There's a floral component to this, but it's not very strong on me (which is saying something, as my skin looooves florals).

 

Ahh, okay - as this dries the floral amps up and it's definitely some sort of white floral, because all of a sudden it takes over the blend. It's not the Gardenia of Doom (which would take over the blend as soon as it hit my skin), so I'm thinking it's either a different kind of gardenia or a different white floral. Magnolia, maybe? Actually, I think I'm leaning toward tuberose. In any case, that's where the fruity-syrupy-sweetness is probably coming from (on me).

 

This is actually quite pretty, especially in that it's not just White Floral Perfume #230483 on me (otherwise known as Rhapsody on Gardenia 230483). It wears nice and close to the body, it's softly spicy and smoky, with just enough earthy-greenness to keep this sweet floral from floating away.

[savage_rose]

This blend defies its description on me...it smells like dancing, happy flowers (peony? lily?), with a vague fruitiness that is bubbly and light. There's something woodsy in there, but it's more dappled woodlands than dreary night forest. A very sweet floral.

[Suu4LC]

This is kind of an ashy herbal floral to me in the imp. Dismal does seem to be a good word to describe it.

 

House of Night becomes much more herbal on my skin with just a wee bit of sweet floral to round it out. I thought I would hate this, but it's actually quite nice. A very pleasant green herbal mixed with somber florals.

 

On full drydown though, this turns to some kind of wood on me...grr. Whenever anything has a woody note in there my skin sucks up all the other notes and leaves me with a generic woody scent. I hate that. To the swaps pile.

[VioletChaos]

in the imp: very green, very herbal-smelling.

 

wet on skin: this has a very 'aloe' scent to it, but the way hand lotion that contains aloe would smell- green, plant-like but also perfumy.

 

dry down: same.

 

in all: if you like the 'green' and 'herb' scents, you'll probably dig this one. for me, a fan of all things foodie and resinous, it's nothing special.

 

 

 

off to swap!

[fairnymph]

In the bottle: Sweet and woody, faint flowers. Evergreen plants, herbs, some dark incense, maybe frankincense. Spicy and smoky.

 

Wet: Less green and fresh, still sweet, spicier and smokier. Many notes complexly blended, making it difficult for me decipher. I guess it's most like sweet fir trees in a bonfire, right now.

 

Dry: Dries very slowly. It's definitely dark on me; the smoky and earthy notes do evoke a bit of decay, but overall I consider it more woodsy, like being in a forest. There is some sharp green note I really dislike - I think it's lime, but a horrid artificial rancid sickly sweet lime.

 

Later: Hmm, those faint florals a bit headier, also powdery and soapy. I'm guessing lily and maybe violet. There's some wetly herbal fresh greenery though mingling with the smoke and incense and piney note.

 

Summary: The flowers dry down powdery and the lime leaves an artificial candy sweet stain, but mostly this smoky-green herbs and evergreen, over some frankincense and spicy opium. It's heavy and gloomy. Moderate throw.

 

Yeah, other than the pleasant herbalness, I entirely dislike this and washed it off.

Edited May 20, 2008 by fairnymph

[Myrrha]

I've tried this one three times now. People describe it as a “floral” and one person even said a “feminine floral” but on me the scent is mostly green.

 

Wet -- Just green, dark boughs of not-quite-pine greenery.

 

As it dries -- a sweetish scent comes out. I guess these are the flowers, lilies? But very well blended with the greenery.

 

After 20 minutes it becomes something very interesting and lovely. There is a creamy soft tone to the scent that is just gorgeous although it is blended withe the greenery . It adds up to a scent that I like very much. It seems peaceful and cool, very elegant. It is less floral than my usual choices, deeper and darker. It makes me feel composed and serious. It does not seem to have much throw but people could smell it if they come close.

 

One Hour -- Now it smells much thinner, and lighter. it is fading already. Darn body chemistry! I may experiment with re-applying it every hour. It is gorgeous and I like it enough to bother doing that.

 

EDIT: April 2010 -- I still love this one. It is a comforting scent, possibly has cypress which is used in aromatherapy for calming. It is a bit somber to wear day after day though.

Edited April 18, 2010 by Myrrha

[galahad]

In The Bottle

Difficult to get much out of the imp. A soft green smell, slighly rank

 

On Application

Coniferous, probably cypress, as it is quite soft (unlike pine)

 

Dry Down

The florals emerge softly as the oil warms, but the flowers smell like they are past their prime, starting to fade, over-ripe and starting to decay. This really is very, very soft and faint - ghostly - but not cold. The overall feel is warm and comforting. I like this but it might be a bit soft for general wear.

 

Rating (0-5)

3.5

[Heeroluva]

In the bottle it's evergreen and spice with a hint of floral and smoke. Wet it's almost musky. When it dries there's a bit of spice left, a hint of mint, but the floral and smoke rule now. Unexpectedly pleasing, since on me floral normally turns to soap.

[veronicafranco]

aw, don't'cha just hate it when something you never would have tried turns out great? i mean, what a can of worms. (little graveyard humor there. rimshot.) those note-less descriptions are particularly sneaky that way. if you'd said amber and myrrh, i might have overcome my nerdy optimistic mommy churchgirly aversion to the whole ars moriendi category just to try it.

 

on opening this, frimped to me by the lovely dpoulsen21, it started out cypressish, for want of a more sure everygreen name. as soon as i put it on, though, i laughed quietly to myself because it just smells good. there's definitely amber and myrrh, the dark green creepy stuff that's in poison apple (hemlock? opium? right?) and a faint cool floral that i reckon is tuberose. as others have said, it's not strong, so one to slather... and i think i might.

Edited August 10, 2008 by veronicafranco

[Argentwolf]

At first sniff, it's very green and a bit herbal; I definitely get the funeral boughs, as well as the dried stems of leftover, long-dead bouquets.

 

As it warms up, it does get a little bit sweeter, and more floral, in a very subtle way.

 

It has very little throw, and average staying power. If you enjoy piney scents, I'd say to give this a try.

[Salsa Shark]

I get no green from this at all. To start with it's mostly a white floral scent, though nothing really stands out as a specific note and it's fairly pleasant, which rules out iris. There's also a dark, spicy smoke scent wafting around which was initially strong enough for me to think was patchouli, though it loses that expected earthiness and smells more like myrrh as it dries down. The floral and the dark elements meld beautifully together and although it's faint, it's very pretty.

 

After about an hour though, I just get honey.

[Khodgins]

Hmm.. Well, unfortunately I don't get any green, or herbal notes. Too bad, that is precisely what I was looking for.

 

However, what I do get from the begining is a sort of a musty and faintly sweet scent. Not really somthing I would wear normally but I thought I would give it a go. It seemed to morph into a type of incense note that really didn't agree with me and then became more violent as time went on....

 

House of Night-----> <------poor me

 

Whoa, what the heck is in this?

 

 

I think Salsa Shark may be right, that there is some patchoulli in this. Ive stayed away from patchoulli for so long (because of the violent headaches) that I have forgotten what it smelled like.

 

Darn, Im gonna have to be more careful.

Edited January 11, 2009 by Katial8r

[isisonearth]

Ewww...this is so mildewy green. I can't even sniff again to get a better review. Must wash off asap.

 

It was off putting in the imp and I hesitated to put it on my skin. Should have gone with my instincts on this one.

[taramarie]

On me, House of Night is just a really light floral. I think there might be lily and violet in here somewhere. Maybe age will strengthen it.

[voodoocatwoman]

Violets. The candy. That's what I get from this. Nothing more.

[tinyvulture]

I got this as a freebie in a lab order. To me, it smells like a department store perfume, but not any one scent in particular. Like when you buy a Vogue magazine and it just smells like perfume because of all the different sample strips inside. It’s totally floral, with undertones of green leaves and powdery sweetness. It is very well blended – I can’t pick out any recognizable notes. It’s smooth and pretty and not too strong. Actually, it fades rather quickly. I’m not much for floral bouquets, so it’s off to swaps.

[Saya]

In the Imp

This smells like a hodge podge of commercial perfume blends. One of the previous reviews hit it on the head when she wrote that it smells like a magazine with all the different inserts of perfume samples.

 

On My Skin

It still smells like commercial perfume (in a good way) but now I’m able to detect some spice mixed in with greenery and a hint of wood. So far I really like this blend.

 

After a Bit

This has turned into a light floral blend with hints of green. It’s a nice, clean scent.

 

Rating 1-5 (5 being the best)

Scent - 3.8 Throw - 3 Longevity – 3

Overall (not an average) – 3.5

 

Final thoughts

I like this blend quite a bit. It has average throw and wear length. I think I’ll keep my imp around, give it a full wear and then decide if I need to pick up a bottle. So far it’s a winner.