Midnight Mass

[slave1]

... This perfume is a traditional Roman Catholic sacramental incense, most often used during a Solemn Mass. Traditionally, five tears of this incense, each encased individually in wax that has been fashioned into the shape of a nail, are inserted into the paschal candle. This is, of course, represents the Five Wounds of Our Risen Savior. Symbolically, the burning of the incense signifies spiritual fervor, the fragrance itself inspires virtue, and the rising smoke carries our prayers to God.

 

In Bottle: Incense

On Skin: Incense for sure… but not too smoky… more of a resin note. There is a sweet woody note, maybe cedar or something. It smells like when you freshly cut wood and it has that warm beautiful scent. I think this is so pretty, and it does remind me of my Catholic school days and going to mass all the time. I wouldn’t wear it as a perfume, but maybe a room scent. It fades quite a bit which is actually nice since I prefer lighter incense blends.

[Finny]

Mmm, Cathedral, only better.

 

Warm, rich, resiny. Smells like church service when I was younger. The clear cold winter night, walking up to midnight mass with my Mom. Smelling the incense burning.

 

Beautiful.

[Fyre_in_Winter]

Midnight Mass smelled pleasantly resinous in the bottle, but on my skin it turned into a dry smell with a hint of body odor. Not good, and I had to go wash it off.

[blaqpearl]

I really liked this one. It reminded me of Al-Azif but with out the maple syrup note. Definitely a keeper. I love my incensy scesnt. Too bad I cant remember what my catholic church smelled like as a kid. Its been a long time since I visited such a place.

[romaprincess]

I was scared when I first smelled this in the bottle. It really did smell like church...and I was wondering if I wanted to smell like a church or not...but it is absolutely beautiful and incensy...perfect for bellydance performances This was my first BPAL scent, and now I'm completely hooked. Everyone that I have had smell it likes it too.

[lysithea]

Who would have thought church could smell so sexy?

 

Sweet incensy resins with just a subtle hint of wood twisting and turning like a tendril of smoke in the air. Until it settles down upon my skin, all snug, cozy and full of peace like a sinner stepping from the confessional.

 

I am so glad that I took a chance on this stellar Yule offering. If we are so lucky to see this again next year, I'll be first in line to buy a new bottle.

[Aharona]

In the bottle: Sharp pine and incense. I was expecting more smoke. There is also something sweet, maple-y. Maybe this is like a sweet burning wood?

 

 

Wet On Skin: Sweetness! I get a bit of smoke, but it is overwhelmingly sweet.

 

Dry: I am getting a fruity note. Almost like peaches, but it is very faint. I smell the resin too now. get the tiny plasticy scent too. It reminds me of Midway at this point, only with a smoky pine in the backround.

[darkling]

My perspective on Midnight Mass is heavily influenced by two factors. One is that I adore Cathedral; it is one of my top ten favorite scents year after year. The second is that there is one particular incense note the lab uses that smells horrible on my skin.

 

Overall, Midnight Mass is a sweeter, sharper version of Cathedral paired with that unpleasant incense note.

[Diana]

Let me start off by saying I was raised Catholic. I did 12 years of Catholic School. I'm familiar with the Swingin' Censor of Doom. Church never had it this good.

 

This is a warm, amazing resiny blend. This frankinsence (which I'm picking up as the main component here) is golden, almost sap-like. There's a nice sweetness to it, good throw, and all-day stamina.

 

This is nothing like the OMG I'M CHOKING DEAR JESUS HELP ME stuff they use at church. IT'S MUCH BETTER. Maybe if they used something closer to this, I'd still be Catholic!

[Heretic]

In the bottle: Glorious frankincense.

 

On my wrist, wet: Frankincense tempered with something sweet and soft, not quite floral but almost. I'm in love already.

 

After 20 minutes: A little softer than when wet, but other than that, much the same with an added subtle smoky element that comes and goes. I swear there's a tiny bit of rose in there, as well.

 

After an hour: I don't know what else to add. This is a gorgeous scent that I will wear frequently. Fortunately, I don't get the Christmas association at all. Midnight Mass is unique and very much the kind of fragrance I appreciate the moment I smell it. Amen.

[rachel_pi]

This is absolutely fantastic. Beth has, once again, captured exactly what I smell during Mass. I haven't been to midnight Mass yet, but my home parish gets out the incense for Easter and the cathedral I attend now has a high Mass every Sunday. This is the perfect encapsulation of that. It's smoky and powerful and just wonderful. I'm so glad I ordered this!

 

Midnight Mass is a lot like Cathedral, I think, but it smells a bit sweeter on me. Not like All Saints (which is my mom's favorite, even though she hates incense) or Rose Cross (my favorite GC incense scent), but definitely a bit sweeter. It has good throw and does smell lovely wafting up when I'm walking around outside.

 

I can't stop sniffing my wrist! This may even warrant finding a second bottle somewhere...

[Imptress]

I was raised Catholic so I was looking forward to my bottle of this to see how close it came to my memories of church incense. It definitely has the frankincense and myrrh that are so recognizable to those of us who've been close to that "Swingin' Censer of Doom" at Mass ( great one Diana-- I can't wait to share that one with my sister!). It lacks, however, something I can only describe as a dry, biting smokey quality of the real thing (almost choking, actually) and boy, am I glad it does. Instead, it has a deep, golden sweetness that develops on drydown. I'm not sure what it is (maybe copal? Amber?), but it makes this *so* wearable. I was afraid to try this when I first got it because I didn't necessarily want to go to work smelling like church which is why I waited until a weekend to try it. At any rate, I love this and I can't wait to let my mom sniff it. She's always loved church incense and I want to see what she thinks of this lovely version. Then again, she may want her own bottle and all I have is the one... maybe she'd be willing to spring for decanting supplies if she likes it enough!

[Stumbeline]

This is the BPAL incense scent I've been looking for. It is so gorgeous. Since touring the grand cathedrals of France I've been longing for the smell of the incense that was burned when I visited. All the other beautiful incense blends (ie Cathedral, Aureus, etc) didn't quite capture the sweetness and tended to be almost all woods on me. Midnight Mass is true resin and wood, just sweet enough to ring true with my best memories.

 

I think this is my runaway favorite of the Yules.

[Bagfish]

Boo. This just does not work on me. I get the same sharp note in Midnight Mass that darkling mentions above. I also get it from Aureus, Cathedral and Anne Bonny. All of these oils sounded perfect as I love commercial incense blends.

 

To start with I was gutted that I hadn't ordered Midnight Mass, but when I got a decant, it just did not work on me. Wet, it was slightly incensey, but the drydown just bcame sweeter and sweeter. I couldn't smell frankincense or any other resins, I actually got a fruity scent which really disagreed with me. I am really quite upset about this as I really had my hopes up for Midnight Mass

[Thaleia]

Picked this up because of the thread that discussed the hits of Yule '05, and this came up a lot. I have All Saints, which I love - MM has the same incensey note that I really liked in AS, but isn't rosey at all. Basically, it's All Saints without the rose, at least in the bottle.

 

This is beautiful! On my skin, the incense blooms to this gorgeous woody/resiny sweetness, mingling with a hint of evergreen that evokes Christmas church decorations. It's not at all like the crap incense they use at my church - really sharp, astringent stuff that smells more like a burning house than High Mass, and makes me want to choke.

 

Midnight Mass doesn't really change much on the drydown - still the same resiny incense, but there's a momentary added winey booziness - Communion? Wow, I can have an entire High Mass waiting for the drydown on this. Completely dry, it leaves me with a soft, burnt incense smell, like the post-Christmas Mass smell in the church when people are leaving and the smoke is wafting toward the ceiling.

 

I'm glad I picked this up before it went away. If my church used incense at Christmas that smelled like this, I'd be a much happier member of the choir. 8.5/10.

[parrot_suspect]

Midnight Mass wasn't quite what I expected. I was hoping for something somber and smoky, like CdG Avignon. There's incense in Midnight Mass, sure, but it seems buried under a pine forest (or is it cedar? some type of boreal forest) note. I really get more pine/cedar from this than I do incense. It's a nice scent but not really "incensey" enough for this lapsed Catholic.

[sideviewhotel]

This doesn't have very strong throw for me (though I only applied a bit for testing purposes, so that might have something to do with it), but when it's dry? Smoky incense galore. At first, I didn't think I was going to like Midnight Mass, though I love incense notes, and quickly put it up for swaps. Yeah, it's coming down now. I really like it.

 

I love how it's not pure incense, but it has a distinct smoky quality to it. aslghd;l

[malanna]

I visited several cathedrals when I was in Europe (that is the thing to do, when you're a tourist in Europe, after all), and Midnight Mass really does make me think of the vastness, holiness, and smoothed woods of the cathedrals. Now, I'm not so sure if this is the power of suggestion (once I read a description, whatever was describes gets associated with the scent), but regardless, Midnight Mass is a nice scent. I'm not very familiar with what frankincense and myrrh smell like, so I'll just say that this smells like sweet incense. In the beginning, it smelled like incense with a hint of sour berries, but the berries faded away over the hours to leave sweet incense. I was pleasantly surprised by this. I had been expecting to dislike it, but the sweetness has me on the fence.

[astridclaire]

Holy sweet resins!

 

I'm so kicking myself for not buying more than one bottle of this stuff.

 

Midnight Mass is thick, sweet resins with a cedar aftertaste. Absolutely fantastic!

 

I hope Beth brings this back next Yule :bowdown:

[Astburygrrl]

Note: This was worn for the first time today and I actually attended a baptism @ our city's very old Catholic church, St. Vincents. It was quite the experience!

 

In the Bottle: Mmmm..sweet light resins, w/ a smoky touch

 

On the skin: This is fantastic and SO accurate..in fact as I walked into the church i felt like i was melding w/ the essense of the church itself. I took a deep breath and then i snarfed my arm (which some ppl thought strange i realize!) and there was hardly any difference between the two..the smoky resins was the same but I have to say the cedar woodsy blend was more prominent in Beth's blend..and I loves it!

 

Afterhours: I feel very holy today..which is not the norm for me at all This has dried down a very nice sweet, woodsy musk..that smokey note is still there! WOOT!

 

Why didnt i order 847 bottles of this stuff?! Arghh.

Edited February 12, 2006 by Astburygrrl

[enigmae]

Midnight Mass is freaking gorgeous and I can't believe I only have one bottle. It's woody (woodsy?) but soft. There is almost a fruitiness that comes out too that really sweetens it up. Maybe pine? The more I smell it the more I love it. It's meditational. Might be a top 10. I really hope this comes back next year.

[romaprincess]

Midnight Mass is my first bpal love (I am relatively new to bpal) It brings back memories of church incense. It's a peaceful scent and one that I hope they bring back next year. It's funny...a lot of Catholic people will comment that they love the perfume I'm wearing when I wear this. Coincidence? I think not.

[Miss Lynx]

Others have commented that this one is similar to Penitence and Cathedral, and while I haven't tried Penitence, I'd agree where Cathedral is concerned. In fact, I had to put one on each wrist to get a better idea of the differences between them. (I should add that unlike most of the reviewers of these, I wasn't raised Catholic and have absolutely no experience of actual masses, midnight or otherwise, though I've used Catholic church incense in pagan rituals.)

 

At first sniff, Cathedral is heavier and darker, and Midnight Mass (ironically for the name) seems a bit lighter and smoother. It smells like it's got more of a woody element to it in addition to the resins, and more of a touch of sweetness. In the early stages, I actually found myself liking it a bit better than Cathedral, as it seems like a more complex scent.

 

But as they dry down, Cathedral seems to blossom on my skin and develop this really lovely, warm, aromatic nature (which I've raved about elsewhere in my review of it, so I won't go into further detail here), while Midnight Mass seems to go a bit... funky. I think it's that woody element -- wood notes are not always good on me. Sometimes they work and sometimes they go all weird.

 

Eventually it does get past that phase and become nice again, and actually seems to pick up a bit more sweetness in its later stages (though maybe that's contamination from other oils that have fragranced the wrist-rest area of my laptop over the months!), so overall I'd say it's not bad. But I think Cathedral still wins for me, especially in terms of its continuing availability as a catalog scent. Overall I think Aureus is still the incensey scent for me, but it's nice to have options.

 

Grade: B

[darkitysnark]

A generous gimp from SevenSins!

 

Love the resins, love the incense. This is the pious older brother to Danse Macabre for me. More ethereal, cooler somehow, but they both have the same hours-later effect.

 

Wonderful.

[quinkel]

I am not catholic but this scent might turn me into one, HOLY SWEET!

 

I live in a very catholic country now so next Sunday I might go and attend a Mass. I love wandering around Churches and Cathedrals, it so calming.

The scents is soft, embracing and sweet, woody and almost licoricy