Spirits of the Dead

[k00kaburra]

A shuddering white scent, of ghostly breath and stony silence: dry tea leaf, linden blossom, papyrus, orris and coffin wood.

In bottle: Dry. An almost-lemon note tickles my nose, like Pine-Sol that's been used to polish dark, gothic wooden furniture. The tea note that I so adore in Dorian is strong in this bottle.

On me: 'Coffin wood' and 'papyrus' (in my mind, papyrus = ancient paper, which could be a rather moldy note) made me a bit nervous, but on the skin this is a stunning and shuddering white scent, just as Beth said it would be. A very lemon-like floral mingles with the tea and is grounded by a slight wooden note. It isn't at all what I was expecting for the blend, but that isn't a complaint - this is gorgeous and I love it! It's a very clean, fresh tea fragrance.

[greywind]

Oh, I am so smitten with this! Of course the one BPAL absolutely love so far (out of around 60 scents sampled) would *have* to be an L.E. I wonder if pitiful pleading would prompt it's inclusion in the general catalogue?

 

 

This is bright, fresh citrus -- without being too sharp or sweet -- on me, and fades into a lovely tang of green touched citrus and linen and soft wood. It also has decent staying power for such a light scent. Embalming fluid is somewhat too sharp a lemon on me, while Kumiho is a little too sweet, and Shanghai is too acrid. The Spirits of the Dead gets it just right. I'm certainly going to have to order an extra bottle or two before the spirits fade away!

[Wench457]

ITB: I was expecting this to smell like The Unicorn, because of the linden, but it doesn't. It's much less sweet, and it's reminding me of something, but I can't remember what. Then I figure it out, it's like like Sudha Segara's drydown on me: Tea and lemon, but without the sweetness that Sudha has on me.

 

On: Tea and lemon still, but now I can smell the woodiness as well. That's really cool. Like opening up a wooden chest which has been shut for a while and getting a waft of that wood smell.

 

Dry: The florals come out more, though only very close to my skin. The throw is all tea and lemon. Very fresh and light. I do like it, but I was hoping for more of a floral. I'll have to try it again on a day that isn't quite so cold, and hope the flowers bloom more.

Edited November 18, 2005 by Wench457

[harmonyfb]

This is brilliant. Wet, it smells just like a hot toddy (a bit too lemony for me!), but dries to a beautiful, soft fragrance of tea and some mild blossom (the linden?). I adore it. Now, how do I come up with the cash for a 5ml between now and the end of next month?

[SoapyRN]

Yes, as with everyone, this is tea with lemon. I was looking forward to the dry notes, the linden and coffin woods. but really this is just such a nice and light blend made more so as I applied it straight from the bottle. It had been sitting on my porch and was cold from the Minnesota air. Chilly lemon tea.

 

Love it, and thanks to Northernminx I am able to enjoy this blend.

[UltraViolet]

 

In the bottle

Smells like grapefruit.

 

On

Smells so clean and fresh with a subtle citrus bite and the scent of water.

 

30 minutes

The fresh herbal grapefruit scent doesn't change, it's still as it was when wet. I like this alot, it's very crisp.

 

Throw:

average

 

Scent category:

Aqua/Citrus

 

Summary

This has such a clean crisp smell, it's also refreshing like crisp clear water.

It's got a subtley herbal citrus scent also that reminds me of "Sea of Glass", "Dublin" or "Amsterdam" but greener, lemony and crisper even.

 

Purchase again?

Yes.

 

1-5 rating (5 being best)

3.5

Edited November 19, 2005 by UltraViolet

[zenvodunista]

scents like this, white, light scents, usually have no throw on me, and are absorbed into my skin within the first 5 minutes. That isn't happening here, and I'm so glad!

 

This is lovely and cheering. I would wear this to work, I would wear this to a funeral, i could wear this to wedding. this is an excellent all around scent. i could see this becoming a signature for someone.... i'm glad to finally have a white scent i can wear

 

what does it smell like? fresh tea, linden, and a soft blonde wood. this scent is barely sweet, and has a lot more body than either it's site description, or my description, makes you think it would.

 

this series, for me, is quickly becoming the series of scetns that i usually can't wear, but can for a change of pace!

 

n.

[Rheliwen]

This starts off really lemony. But if you take a deeper breath, close to the skin, there's a definite papery, gauzey scent...very much how I would expect papyrus to smell like. Beneath that is a layer of really dry, white wood with a teak-ish scent to it.

 

I love everything about this expect the lemon part. Fortunately, it does mellow out after about 20-30 mins of wear and I'm left with a tea scent with whiffs of dry wood and even a little musky oomph.

[Medici]

In the bottle: Go suck a lemon!

 

It makes my nose tingle.

 

Ok. So I’ve seen BPAL’s Lemon!Janus, now. June Gloom was a happy lemon. This is a psychotic “I am going to make you suck your cheeks so hard you’re going to beg me to pull out the sugar” type lemon. It’s the real deal.

 

Blammo!

 

Wet: Happy lemon herbal. My nose is still tingling. It’s no longer lemon juice, but lemon rind. There’s a good bit of zing over some herby, grassy greens directly underneath. How refreshing!

 

Drydown: Same deal. It’s overall very airy and enticing (I am salivating, in fact.) I am not a citrus fan, really. Not usually, but Spirits of the Dead might just convert me. I can’t wait to break this out on a particularly nasty, hot day in the summer. I expect it’ll help me go glacial in no time.

 

4.5/5

[LushNatty]

In the bottle: Like wet greenery in a garden.

Applied: The inside of an unripe apricot. I know this smell really well because my grandmother had an apricot tree in her backyard when I was growing up and I spent a lot of time back there poking around under the tree, and I’ve smelled a lot of those unripe fruits. It’s actually a great scent—very green and live. It’s so fresh you can almost smell the dew on the ground. This would be incredible for spring, and I’d also like to test it in a burner.

The fruit ripens a little bit as it develops on the skin. I really, really like this one. Like Al-Araaf, I know I’ll be getting at least one bottle of it.

On a scale of 1 to 5: 5!

[sophia_helix]

I liked this at first -- it was fresh and interesting and pleasant -- but then it started turning into lemon-tea, then into an almost exact dupe of Embalming Fluid. And I don't like Embalming Fluid. However, if you do -- this is the scent for you.

Edited December 1, 2005 by sophia_helix

[zillah37]

I really want a good tea scent because I'm a huge lover of tea. I've struck out so far sadly, but I keep on trying!

 

Spirits of the Dead smells like tea in the bottle. Tea with a bit of lemon and wood. Whee!

 

However, when it hits my skin it turns lemon on me. And lemons do not mix with my skin. I get the old Lemon Pledge effect. And Spirits of the Dead turns into Lemon Pledge.

 

I put this one on right as I was leaving for work so I didn't get a chance to change it out for something else. It never becomes a tea scent on me, but it definitely loses the harsh lemon pledge effect. It becomes very dry and faint, just woods and dry lemons. It's not a really ideal scent on me at all, but I think I'll hold onto my bottle for awhile.

[feline.by.design]

You know, when I had applied Spirits of the Dead, I could have sworn up and down that there was grapefruit in this. It's probably the linden blossoms.

 

From The Herbal Collective :

 

The linden blossom (tilia vulgaris or tilia europeacea) plant is from a lime tree, but not the kind of citrus limes that we normally think of. These tall, graceful trees can grow up to 30 metres high with beautiful green, heart-shaped leaves. The majority of the essential oil comes from France and England, although it is also native to Europe in general. For example, "unter den Linden" (Under the Linden Trees) is one of the main thoroughfares in downtown Berlin. Definitely highly regarded. But why is this oil so mellow? Well, on the European continent it is very common to drink linden in the form of a tea (known as "tilleul") made from the dried leaves.

 

That sounds nice, doesn't it? Spirits of the Dead really suited me, as it bore a little resemblence to Baobhan Sith, although that could just be my opinion. Spirits did have a similar crispness, though it was absent in the apple tones in Baobhan Sith. What Spirits did have, however, was a gorgeous, refreshing herbal/citrus/clean fragrance I really appreciated and enjoyed.

 

And yes, I love Embalming Fluid.

 

Spirits of the Dead doesn't have much throw, at least I didn't think it did, as I reapplied the oil about three times during the course of my eight-hour work-day; however with a scent this good, I just want to *bathe* in it, so it might have just been my perception. Citrusy fragrances, or scents that bear a resemblence such as this one, don't seem to last very long, but they're enjoyable, especially when getting over a cold (aaah!).

 

I think this would be a lovely fragrance for the spring and summer months. Since I'm a big fan of citrus scents, and a huge fan of tea scents as well, I'm quite satisfied in having the Spirits of the Dead among my collection.

 

-doreen

[Em-]

This smells completely of citrus and a light wood to me, so much that after initially testing it last night, I pared it with an orange lotion this morning. Whatever the notes, it is an absolutely entrancing scent, completely and fabulously evocative of whispy ghostly spirits floating on the breeze.

 

I am amazingly impressed with this entire series, which, I confess, did not excite me overmuch when it debuted in the excitement of the Samhain rereleases. But trying decants of them now, I am realizing just wnat remarkablr interpretations they are. And I think that Spirits of the Dead just may be my favorite. But I still have four to try...

[LiberAmoris]

Yep, fresh dry tea leaves and cut lemons! Spirits of the Dead is really refreshing and I love the tartness of it. It changes very little on my skin from the in-bottle scent. Maiden and The Dormouse were kind of uneven on me, so I'm excited to find a tea blend that works with my chemistry.

 

This is another bottle I'm happy to set aside until the spring and summer when it will be perfect.

[Little Bird]

Spirits of the Dead is definitely my favorite of the 'A Demon in My View' scents (next to The Evening Star, of course). BPAL does such beautiful things with tea scents, and this is a very smooth green tea fragrance. There is a burst of tart lemon after a few minutes, like slicing into a fresh lemon, but it fades within the first half hour on me. Then for an hour after the lemon fades, it is wet green tea and what smells like creamy white musk. Nothing about this really smells dry or woodsy on me at all, just chilly and green.

 

This one has completely faded on me within two hours, but it is a wonderful green tea scent while it lasts. I'll use up my bottle (it's one that I'll really have to slather on) and rely on Shanghai or Embalming Fluid for a similar scent.

Edited December 19, 2005 by Blood onmy hands

[voodoobaby]

In the bottle, I get a lot of tea and linden, plus a little bit of wood, and some kind of herbal scent. But, alas, Spirits of the Dead is a tea scent, and with all tea scents, the note severely takes over, and all I can smell is the tea leaf. I should have known. It's smells good, but considering I have a few regular catalog scents that are very similar to it, this is getting swapped off.

[darkling]

The first stage of this blend lasts for about an hour on my skin: almost pure lemon with a hint of tea to soften it a bit.

 

After an hour this scent starts to morph into something dry and sweet and papery. I imagine that this is the papyrus and the linden blossoms but I could be mistaken. I adore the scent at this phase as it is gentle and enticing although it fades quickly.

[maewitch]

There are some surface similarities between this and Embalming Fluid - namely the tea note and the citrus. But comparing them side by side, the differences pop out.

 

This is a much more brittle and dry scent. Rather than deep lemony-sugared-tea, this is the contents of a memory box. The dried florals of a blushing boy's sincere offerings, still suggestive of lime and powdery sweetness, but oh so faint. A sachet of tea leaves, perhaps for some Victorian tea-reading parlor game. Letters written carefully on lovely paper, once scented with perfume, never sent. The box itself, a dainty construction of pale wood to capture a young woman's last whimsies before adulthood.

 

Subtle and utterly lovely.

 

EDIT: The drydown is COMPLETELY different. SotD is all faint papery floral goodness, while EF is it's usual lemon-musk yumminess.

Edited December 23, 2005 by maewitch

[sarada]

Spirits of the Dead has my favorite bottle label of the series, first of all! And based on the tea and woods notes I thought this would probably be a favorite. And I do like it -- though not for the reasons I thought I would!

 

The lemony/citrus scent is the strongest in the bottle of course. I love The Unicorn so I know that linden must agree with me, but this smells far more citrusy to me than the Unicorn.

 

Really, what it does is remind me (of course) is Embalming Fluid (as has been said before), but with a pale green impression rather than a pale yellow one. This is probably useless information to anyone but me, but if linden is a lime-like scent then it does make sense. It's a slightly sweet, even slightly smooth lemony tea but with a hint of lime. I really don't get the parchment or wood notes at all. On the drydown I don't either, but since there is still a dry, faint whiff of the lemony-lime after it dries, that suggests that there's a woody base....since woods stick to my skin.

 

This is really not something that I would normally wear as a scent. As much as I love tea, tea scents like Dormouse and Shanghai have always been great in the bottle but vanish too quickly on my skin. But I'd really love to try some of this in an unscented shampoo or shower gel, I can see it being really stimulating, eye-opening and good for clearing the mind.

 

Please make me keep this, because I really want to have at least one citrusy tea fragrance (in addition to my beloved Cheshire Cat and Kumiho that is) in my collection, for aromatherapy even if I can't wear it as a perfume without having to refresh it every 10 minutes.

[Voleuse]

This is all tea and wood on me, on first application, herbal and a little dry. After a little bit, it becomes sharper, a little greener, with just a hint of something citrus. The wood really gets amped on my skin, though, so it's almost as if someone spilled a cup of tea outside a dusty woodshop.

 

Because of the strong wood notes, this is more of an atmospheric scent than a perfume, to me. Beautifully done, however--it doesn't become pencil shavings, as I experienced with The Red Queen. I really like it, but it's not something I would wear.

[Penance]

Preconceived notions:

 

I really want to love this because I adore the name. I don't see anything in here that should really be a warning flag, so here's to hoping.

 

First sniff:

 

This reminds me of a combination of The Apothecary (which I like) and Embalming Fluid (which I don't). It's a very sharp, intense green with a lemony edge to it. Unfortunately, I hate lemon.

 

Wet on skin:

 

Less lemony, but still very, very green. It's a sharp, almost nose-stinging green that has to be the green tea. This isn't a white scent to my nose; it's definitely a bright green one. think:

 

Dry down:

 

Less sharp and lemony and more dry and slightly floral. This is more what I was expecting, but it's still not quite me, unfortunately.

 

The bottom line:

 

Unfortunately Spirits of The Dead isn't for me even though I want to love it.

[gingersnapp]

Whoa, this is very soapy. I thought there must be some ylang ylang in the blend before I read the list of components because this is what that turns into on my skin.

 

If I had to take a stab in the dark at what the dominant note it, I'd say it's probably the dry tea leaf. There is a slight tea smell to the soapiness. But other than that, I can't pick out any of the other notes. I know what orris smells like, but I can't find it anywhere in this blend.

 

Sweet and soapy. Not really my thing.

[Shollin]

First sniff: Tea. Beautiful soft tea and gentle floral. There’s a tinytiny hint of soapiness way off in the background; I’m hoping it stays there.

 

Wearing: Spirits is quite different from any of the catalog tea scents, though it reminds me most of Kumiho. It’s decisively clean. A keeper.

[Sheila]

Oh, I love this! There's a note here in common with both 13 and Bewitched. The tea leaf, I guess--it's a dry, woodsy smell.

 

Is it the linden that smells lemony? Whatever it is, it's wonderful. This is light, dry, slightly citrus, and very clean. It's definitely a fresh, soft scent. I wish it were stronger, but other than that it's perfect. I need another bottle!