House of Night

[brilliantcat]

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

Florals and greenery, it smells like a bouquet of flowers mixed with ivy or some other green filler plant. There's a faint powdery tinge that's not off-putting. Despite my usual ambivalence toward floral blends, I like this one at this stage. On drydown, it has some vanillic tones I really like. Surprise! A floral I like! I may have to grab a bottle before this is dc'd.

[LizziesLuck]

Wet: Full on cedar.

 

Dry: Very masculine to me. I do like it, but I don't love it. Since it's DC'd I feel I should pass it on to someone who may love it, so it'll join the swap pile.

[doomsday_disco]

In the imp: This is one of those scents that reminds me of something, and it took me a while (and much sniffing) to pinpoint exactly what it was making me think of: it makes me think of picking raspberries when I was a child.

 

Wet: On my skin, it does not make me think of prying raspberries from their bushes. It's decidedly more green and floral, with the juicy raspberries in the background. After a few minutes, the raspberries do get their wish for a bigger role, and I'm also starting to smell some woods in the background.

 

Dry: Berries drifting over the scent of greenery and flowers. There is some spiciness to this, which I think is likely due to a carnation note. I can't help wondering if there is chrysanthemum in this, too. The berry note now reminds me more of blackberries than raspberries, although it was very distinctly a red berry earlier – I wonder if there's violet in this that's combining with the berry and making me think that, or if I'm just getting another berry note during this stage of the scent.

 

After a while, I still get the berries, but now they're accompanied by soft flowers, and something light and sweet in the background.

 

Verdict: I thought this would be a very floral scent, but oddly enough, it was very much a berry scent on me. After sifting through the reviews, wondering if I had gotten a mislabeled imp, it appears that I'm the only one to get raspberries from this, but at least some others have mentioned fruits of some kind. Although I generally dislike smelling like berries, I appreciate this scent. But I doubt I'd end up reaching for this.

Edited March 5, 2018 by dementia_divine

[Lucchesa]

My House of Night is obviously a well-aged imp.  It goes on very green, like the dewy stem note you sometimes see in scent descriptions.  The bouquet is definitely present; the boughs are in the background.  But damp foliage (rather nicer than I'm making it sound) was my initial impression.  It's a lighter weight scent (I had something dark and heavy on the other wrist), yet it lasted quite a long time, though I didn't get any throw.  After a couple of hours, the spiciness that other reviewers have mentioned emerged for me, and a sweetness as well.  Nothing soapy or powdery.  I ended up liking it better than I expected.  House of Night felt very BPAL to me -- I can't think of another scent it's quite like, maybe Burial without the dirt, but it definitely has Beth's signature on it. 

[Greensleeves]

In the bottle: Floral and peppery green. Similar to Saint-Germain.

 

Wet: Fresh, green, a bit of mint, a bit of thyme, a hint of eucalyptus.

 

Dry: Fresh, tangy, resinous green with a hint of floral that is just right instead of excessive.

 

After a few minutes: A little bit pine-y, still tangy, and I'm getting more of the still fairly well-behaved floral.

 

Now it's starting to go fruity, which is interesting, kind of a hint of berry.

 

After first hour: Fresh green with a hint of floral and possibly aloe and mint.

 

Smells a bit like Phantasm or Cordelia.

 

After two and a half hours: Soft powdery green with a hint of floral.

 

After 5 hours: A faint wisp of green.

 

Final verdict: I want a bottle of this, but I don't need any more bottles, really I don't.