Spirits of the Dead

[juniperus]

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

Bottle: dry wood and light floral
Wet: I'm catching the leaf, as well, now, and my old friend, orris.
Dry: oh, that linden blossom is lovely! the orris is present, but is still letting the other notes filter through...play nice...
Later: nope. orris wins by a neck. *sigh*

[Eunice]

Spirits of the Dead is a very crisp and dry scent. There is a definite tea and lemon scent but the lemon is so faint that it is difficult to pick out. The papyrus matches quite nicely with the tea. I am astonished at how clean this smells. My only wish is that this had more of a throw. Overall, this is a winner for me and surprisingly not a resiny/earthy scent which I usually go for.

[edenssixthday]

Spirits of the Dead - This is the first tea-blend I can actually say I like. This scent fades on me after about 15 minutes, but until that point, I get wafts of lovely black tea, and dry wisps of ethereal florals and woods. If this scent lasted on me longer than it does, I’d hunt down a whole lot more of it. It’s incredibly feminine, soft, wispy, and Victorian. I love it. I just wish it didn’t disappear on me.

[Spastik_Kitty]

In the bottle: Very green and slightly woody. I'm mostly getting green tea with some form of wood.

 

First on: This is slightly sweet, like green tea with sugar cane. Very fresh.

 

After a bit: The sweetness comes out more but not in a sticky way. Still mainly green tea.

 

A bit more: The floral is starting to show now, but it's still fresh and light and full of.. green tea.

 

I absolutely LOVE LOVE LOVE this.

[bifemmefatale]

Ooh, pure black tea, truest of BPAL teas so far, astringent, dry, not sugared. The tea notes in Dorian and White Rabbit are sweet and lovely but don't actually smell like tea to me--this does. Something throws it towards lemon even though there's no lemon listed--the linden? The orris comes thru later, a soft, soft floral. True to its concept, this has very faint throw, and is almost gone within minutes! Really lovely, but it doesn't stick around long enough to be worth keeping, alas.

Edited June 24, 2006 by bifemmefatale

[purrbox]

i really love this one. it smells like unsweetened tea with lemon. i don't get any papyrus or orris, but the lemony tea scent is wonderful. it is rather dry smelling, i suppose that it could constitute 'papery,' so maybe the papyrus is at work after all. in any case, i think it's very pretty and i adore it. unfortunately it has zero staying power on me. after about an hour it's almost totally gone, and i have to reapply often, so i figure my bottle of this is not long for this world.

 

by the way, it layers very nicely with enraged bunny musk, if you like a soft, powdery lemon scent.

[The Perfumed Ferret]

Soft, dry, pale woods, small yellow flowers, and lemon pledge. I so wanted this one to work for me!

[lookingglass]

This is clean and light and perfumey and is one of the closest BPAL's, I think, to "mainstream" perfume. That is to say, that it is complex, fresh, and sophisticated. It is lemony tea and then gets dusty (probably the orris), and yes, it is papery. The wood does not overpower at all. It is one of the few wood blends that do not smell like pencils. The tea is too sharp and sour for me, though.

 

Dosen't smell dead enough.

[BrightRedScream]

Someone on the first page described this blend perfectly...

It's powdered iced tea mix...

Sadly though - this is how it stays on me.

It doesn't change to anything except this powdered iced tea mix.

 

Selling it.

[sofiaviolet]

This smells very sweet. Kind of like milky tea with not one, not two, but three lumps of sugar. I really don't get any wood from this at all.

[theseagrows]

maybe i have weird skin chemistry, but this smells like a slightly aquatic, slightly sweet floral, with a touch of tea. it's a bit perfumy even. i think i like it though and that i will keep it. it's got a brightness to it, despite its name.

[supremegoddessofall]

Tried this at a meet and sniff. More than just spirits of the dead - apparently it's their rotting bodies, too. Ick. I get a citrus and almost a neroli-like scent out of this, and it's absolutely wretched. It really smells like something died on my skin.

[Mountaingrrl00]

This is like what I'd hoped The Dormouse would be. The tea and linden notes are most prominent. It does smell a little like iced tea with lemon, but there's more going on. Everything else is so well-blended that I can't distinguish other notes, though I'm sure they're all contributing to the fresh, cool, slightly floral-herbal, slightly aquatic vibe of this scent.

 

Spirits of the Dead is subtle and light. It doesn't have a lot of throw and fades rather fast. I don't see myself wearing this in the winter, but perhaps I'll edit this review in the spring, if I haven't swapped the imp off by then.

[themerrybaker]

How could I have forgotten to review Spirits of the Dead? This is the only scent I have purchased two bottle of from the Lab!

 

Spirits is my perfect tea scent (with Satan being a close second): I find Spririts to be only subtly sweet with true fresh herbal undertones. It doesn't have all that much throw, but it makes my skin smell as if I have been rolling in a foliage garden.

[Alchemy21599]

I received an imp of this scent in a swap with a lovely Forumite

 

In the vial: ah, tea!

 

Wet: tea and dry wood.

 

Dry: I love this scent! A true tea scent. Who knew that the Spirits of the Dead smelled fabulous? I just wish this wasn't discontinued.

[alliekat13]

In the bottle and on skin: citrus, overwhelming lime or orange...reminds me of phantasm a lot. Dry: tea with lemon. It's ok, but a little sharp. It just smells too similar to GC scents, like embalming fluid, phantasm; etc.

[metaldog32]

My sister had bought me this 5ml outright because she knows I like wood and stony notes. This seemed as good of a time to give it a whirl.

 

Initial sniff from bottle: I get the citrus…but to my nose it smells less lemon-like and more lime. I like lime. Lemon is nice too..but sometimes I get the dreaded “Lemon Pledge” vibe..so I am hoping this doesn’t transform into that. My luck with citrus-type blends is spotty; grapefruit seems to be the only note that translates on my skin well consistently. By the way, this doesn’t club me over the head; it’s not bracing…it just kind of presents itself..quietly in the bottle.

 

Applied wet on skin: Cool citrus-like note..this must be the tea leaf…and there is a very faint wisp of sweetness…smells really nice…I guess this might be the linden blossom??? If I take deep whiffs of this, I get on the tail end the touch of the coffin wood..which is great. Wow..what an interesting scent..I just wish it had a bit more presence.

 

Couple of minutes on skin-Hmmm..tea..has kind of moved a bit to the back with the orris/papery notes putting in a bit more presence..but they all blend very nicely..again the wood note rounds up the back…the whole thing is extremely wispy-like. I do enjoy this blend very much…but I get the feeling it isn’t going to last long on my skin.

 

Very ethereal like.

 

Fifteen minutes later: The tea is now in the back..with the dry touch of orris and papyrus in front..but really very understated..the wood rounding it up and something still giving me a bare wisp of sweetness..could it still be the linden blossom?

 

I do enjoy this immensely..but I wish it would stick around longer..ahh..guess this is the nature of the ethereal spirits..hehehehehe.

 

Some people find this similar to The Dormouse; I agree..but where this differs is that where I registered tea, sweet grass and peony in Dormouse, here in SOTD it’s the papery/dry/wood notes with a touch of sweetness. Doromouse came off on me as sweet and clean and airy…SOTD is more on me like a wispy /dry/clean ethereal.

 

Drydown: Basically on me it’s a skin scent…with a trace the wood and tea.

 

Lasting power on me came in between 2-3 hours with throw barely there. I would like to see how this does in a scent locket though.

 

Bottom Line: Spirits Of The Dead is actually a very ephemeral fragrance..I find it quite wearable. It is actually a wonderful scent for hot and sticky days..I just wish I could get it to stick around a bit longer. However..the wispy-ness of it is appropriate..and I might try layering it to see if I can get it to anchor a bit more on me. Whereas The Star emanates a white heat along with the lime and some coconut, SOTD floats in its dry and wispy way with its linden and traces of papery orris and wood. I am glad it’s in my collection and I will re-visit it later in the summer.

[DifferentDances]

Bottle: Whoa, fermented wood pulp!

Wet: There's that bamboo note I love. Wait, there's no bamboo in this, and it's a bit dryer than bamboo...papyrus, then? A hint of something akin to lemon verbena floating along the edges --I assume this is the linden blossom.

Drydown: The lemon edge is getting bolder, and I think I smell a hint of the tea peaking through as well. The woodiness is fading.

Dry: Crystalline lemon tea with a big fat wedge of lemon; very light indeed.

 

My rating: 4/5. I kind of wish it stayed in that first wet stage, but it becomes such a --I believe people have used the word ethereal, and I agree-- scent.

[hellomoonglow]

In Imp: Strong perfume.

Wet: Powdery. I smell the linden blossom, which is very unique.

½ hr. Dry Down: Not a lot of staying power. I like this a lot, but it doesn’t hang in there for the long haul.

[jewelbug]

I'm passing this on to a more loving home, but thought I'd review it first!

 

Bottle: citrus with maybe a hint of powdery amber, and tea?

 

Wet: a very fresh, sweet, green tea and citrus scent a hint watery.

 

Drying:Ah, its orris, not amber, and its getting that earthy powder scent that orris tends to give me. Very pretty. Orris, tea and a light citrusy scent (linden, maybe?).

 

Dry: By 2 hrs in, it’s a faint powdery orris, and rapidly fading.

 

Overall: It’s a lovely scent, though not quite my genre. That compounded with its lack of staying power on my skin means it doesn't get enough love in my home. Its being adopted!

Edited October 1, 2008 by jewelbug

[filigree_shadow]

For some reason that I can't figure out, in my head I confuse Spirits of the Dead with the Evening Star. For at least a year I've had a mental note that I didn't like Spirits of the Dead because it was too floral. Apparently I'm a big dummy. Evening Star is the one that's too floral. I like Spirits of the Dead just fine.

 

This is a pretty soft tea scent. Not tea with some sort of fruit (I tend not to like those scents as well), but sweet, clean, tea. I recognize the linden blossom from The Unicorn, and I like it here just as much as I like it in that one.

 

The scent isn't as dry as I was expecting it to be -- not dry at all, in fact -- it just smells lovely, like springtime.

 

I like this one a lot.

[mystery213]

This one stirkes me as a very crisp, clean type of smell that makes me think of sunshine on clean sheets and iced tea on a summer day. It is so wispy feeling, with just a tiny bit of the wood note in the background anchoring it down. I really pick up a citrusy smell that is not quite lemony mingling with a sweet, aquatic smelling floral. I would not have ever picked this up on my own looking at the notes, but I am glad this was a random purchase, as it is really quite nice...

[waternight]

In the bottle: Strange and chemical-y.

Wet: First on, very much tea. After a few seconds, the tea softens (but doesn't leave), and I get the woods and the dry orris.

Dry: Pretty similar to the wet phase, but much softer. I like this, but it doesn't grab me.

[fountaingrl]

SoTD is one of my top 10 oils of all time! This scent is slightly floral and dusty when wet, and then once it heats up on my skin it gets nuanced and takes on that tea note that everyone always talks about. FINALLY an LE that behaves on me! This is even better for tea than Dorian, which on me is a happy scent but too sweet and loud. SoTD is a gentle, quiet but persistent oil, lasts much of the day on me but is never overpowering. I keep getting whiffs of it as I move around during the day and again and again I am surprised how good it smells!

[Tulliver]

This is truly glorious. There's a rounded warmth to the scent in the bottle that disappears as soon as it goes onto my skin. Once there, whatever was rounding it off disappears and lets the linden come through VERY sharply. It's absolutely wonderful.

 

On drydown, the linden is still unmistakably there, but the tea comes through, too. It is very reminiscent of my much adored Embalming Fluid but has a VERY slight background bitterness to it.

 

This is special. I'm fond of the entire Demon range - I think it's a wonderful series - but this is truly lovely and possibly stands out. At least it does until I try one or two of the others.

 

I simply can't recommend this one highly enough. I hope to be able to get a good bit more of it since I know it's going to be used a lot. Top 10 without a shadow of a doubt.