Chrysanthemum Moon

[Emma2403]

Her scent is bewitching, almost intoxicating: a sensual incense of crushed mums, red ginger, and pulsing musk … and the air is thick with leaden brown opium smoke that hangs thickly over a seductive mixture of red musk, body-warmed perfume, and hypnotic Eastern flowers.

In the bottle: wow, that's strong. And quite complex. I recognize musk and well indeed heavy chrysanthemums.

On my skin: applied carefully, because I don't like it at all in the bottle. Wow, it gets all resinous. But seriously, this kind of sticky stinking resin you can find on unfriendly trees. Can you say I don't share the general "wowing" about this one?
There's ginger too.

After a couple of hours: it stays very heady, and it gets even more complex. There's opium, and musk is coming back. I still don't like it at all.

Verdict: no. It really makes me think of something dangerously poisonous in the forest Edited November 28, 2007 by Shollin

[steffanina]

Chrysanthemum Moon-

 

In Bottle: MMM. Delicious honey! And florals.

 

Wet: Honey and florals, in that order of bloom.

 

Dry: This is magnificent. The honey of this, mixed with just the most controlled amount of florals--wow. One of the loveliest feminine BPALs I've found yet.

 

Overall: I love.

[supremegoddessofall]

Very heady opium and honey. Light florals in the background, but not getting the musk. Rich and pretty.

[HoneyHoneyNY]

I love the chrysanthemums the flower, and the notes in this lunacy blend weren't ones that I was familiar with, but it sounded heady and interesting.

 

In the bottle, I got a strong whiff of mums. I love the musky, sharpness of them, but the scent was quickly complicated by some sticky resiny sweetness, which I guess is the opium. Not bad

 

Wet on my skin, the smell of chysanthemums which I like, rises up from my skin briefly, before being overtaken by the thick spicy undercurrent of this scent. It's pretty, but a bit too rich.

 

Later as it dries, it turns really perfumy and floral. I'm starting not to enjoy it. It's kind of battling out in my nose, and the red musk is coming forward, which I don't like at all. Red musk and I are most often enemies. My skin seems to intensify all the notes in this scent so that they just take turns shouting for attention on me.

 

Hours later, it's dry, but still lingering. Now it smells like stale flowers and funky ginger.

 

It was very pretty, but didn't work with my chemistry. It was far too rich for me, and the dry-down was far to floral.

 

I had to fix my spelling and grammar.

Edited November 5, 2006 by HoneyHoneyNY

[darkitysnark]

I gimp from my unbelievably generous Switch Witch Diana .

 

And like whoa. I applied this as I apply most of my BPAL... I might have even been a bit heavy handed as some of the Lunacies seem to go poof on me after a while.

 

That was a mistake.

 

Because this sucker has serious throw, waft, what-have-you. I was a blaring announcement of honey and resin and crushed flowers for most of the day.

 

It was just too much! But at the end of the day what was left was great. Sweet to the point of being a bit corrupted. I just need to have a much, much lighter hand when applying in future.

[Nisaba]

I keep trying to write up a proper review of Chrysanthemum Moon, but I give up. What I can say is, it's quite different from what I was expecting, but I love it. Initially she goes on quite creamy, which normally is a word that makes me run a mile from any scent that has it in its description, but yet I love chrys moon. It's not creamy in a foody sense, but in a soft warm fluffy sense. Then, lightly spiced smoke wafts up.

 

I love this subtle smoke. It sticks with me for hours, even surviving a shower! My scarf must have picked some off my neck over a week ago, and I still get wafts when I put it on. It's a comforting, subtly sexy scent, and one that I suspect will age well. I'm so glad I grabbed three bottles of it, because I just keep reaching for it!

[Em-]

First on, Mum Moon is exactly what I was hoping for - a deep rich floriental scent, with a heavy shot of spicy purple and red fruits. This is Mme. Moriarty with more juice, absoute sensuous and lusious.

 

Unfortunately, a few hours later and it is gone. Completely and utterly gone. Evidently this is going to have to be a roller bottle slathering scent for me, because I am not about to admit that it is absorbed into my skin on contact. It is so lovely...

[forspecial_plate]

I really wanted to love this, and I almost do. It's a very sweet, smokey, and sultry blend. Not sure what's giving me powder but something is on the border of too much powder for me. It might be ginger, or maybe the eastern flowers. I think I'm going to hold onto my imp and keep trying it...I might be in the right mood to wear it every once in a while. It's kind of a dusty sweet scent, but sexy and warm. Kind of appropriate for autumn.

[phedre]

This one's a changechild. Every time I sniff my wrist, I find something new. Initially it's a creamy spicy scent with very light florals in the background, maybe even a bit of candy sweetness. Then it changes completely, into this musky, almost body-odour type scent, kind of like when there's too much patchouli in something. At this stage, I really don't like it much. It's not offensive, just.. not right.

 

Thankfully, that changes. Once it's been on awhile it turns into a gorgeously soft complex sweet but not at all cloying floral with that original spicy cream scent teasing around the edges. I do so love this! It stays very close to the body so I have to really put my nose to my skin to smell it. Perfect!

[elka_knits]

I got this yesterday and dabbed some on my wrists and collarbone. Very pretty scent that stays close to the skin~ no throw to speak of on me. A soft pretty incensey floral~ very creamy. The dabs on my collarbone and between the breasts actually smelled funky compared to the wrist ones and faded much more quickly. It has been 13 hours and I still smell it on my wrist. I had to add this one to my wishlist because my eldest daughter wants some of her own. Will edit when I try it for a few more days but didn't want to miss saying ohhhhhh yeahhhhh baybeeeeee

 

I have now been wearing this scent for 5 years. Whenever I wear it I get compliments. I have hoarded several bottles since the reaction to it is so wunderbar but it is not the scent I reach for first or even think about. It really is more floral than I would normally pick. However when I do put it on I am confident in smelling great.

Edited November 17, 2011 by elka

[Ajila]

In the bottle - Gingerbread with a hint of honey

 

Wet on me - Slightly sweetened chrysanthemums.

 

Dry on me - Honeyed chrysanthemums which settle into a sweet incense scent.

 

Overall - I wasn't certain about this originally, but I love the dry down, this may well be a top ten blend for me.

[Voleuse]

Oooh! This is light on me, so it's difficult to pin down. Spice, smoky florals. Warm musk and hints of ginger. As it dries, the ginger blooms sharper, but I get notes of something sweet as well. Mmmm. I'm not sure what to think about this yet, but I'm definitely holding on to it.

[Lionesse]

Another reviewer above who didn't care for this scent wrote "Verdict: no. It really makes me think of something dangerously poisonous in the forest"

 

Which is exactly why I LOVE this =) To me it smells feral and dangerous, spicy, incensey, and just melts into my skin.

 

I plan on wearing this to work today because I feel a bit "rawr" =)

 

Lionesse

[grrrlennyl]

at first: heavy flowers. quite lovely and fresh.

on: this smells fresher on and not as heavy. very pretty.

2 hours later: tons of flowers and a bit of musk. pretty.

5 hours later: super sweet and heady. pretty.

7 hours later: this one really lasts. it's a powdery, sweet scent. very pretty.

overall: this is lovely stuff. it keeps wafting up to my nose randomly and it's a nice, pretty scent. it's mostly just sweet and a bit musky on me.

[Brianne]

In the vial:

An airy slightly sweet floral similar to peony

 

On me:

I've never smelled Chrysanthemums before (or, at least, I wouldn't recognize the smell as being that) so I can only assume that this is what I'm smelling. It is similar to lilac and peony to me in that it's a airy, slightly sweet and creamy floral. It's not heady or in-your-face like most florals. So right off the bat, I like it.

 

I would say this is much less of a floral scent than I was expecting and it actually makes me think of tea. Somehow, the ginger and red musk come together to make a sweet tea kind of smell so it's like chrysanthemum tea or something. It's creamy, smooth, slightly sweet and airy. There is a tiny little bite behind it which must be the ginger. Just delightful

 

Final note:

Not what I was expecting at all! I really like this one, way more than I was expecting to. It's slightly sweet tea like musk quality is so appealing to me, a really beautiful scent.

[copyshopclerk]

In the bottle: Very flowery, but I can pick out the ginger

 

Wet: STRONG floral, a light musk, and some ginger. Too bad that gingery part all but disappeared once it hit my skin!

 

Dry: Throw is very strong on this, but it's all floral (well yeah, Chrysanthemum and all!) Florals don't tend to work on me - I don't want to say "old lady" because I don't think that's an accurate description, but more that florals are either too dressy or too serious for how I generally conduct myself My birthday is in November and since mums are the November flower I was hoping this one would work for me. Glad I tried it, but passed it along to someone who was a better match for it!

[Meg]

In the bottle: A very strong, perfumy, slightly honeylike floral.

 

Wet: Same as in the bottle, it's a strange mixture of warm honey and fresh cold florals from the Chrysanthemum.

 

Drydown: I get chysanthemum and spicy ginger, a generally incensy scent. There's something aftershavey in here that I can't place, a freshness of cologne, somehow. There's still this honey-like scent that's everywhere, it reminds me of the honey note in Delphi.

 

Overall: I have huge trouble describing this blend with its components. It's dry, spicy deep honey, but also warm braziers over which incense is burning. There's a floral freshness to it, which stays in the background and wafts back occasionally. It's a haunting scent, subtle but always present - unfortunately it's one of those distracting scents that doesn't quit bothering you. I'm not a fan of the hot/cold effect between the musk and the chrysanthemum, either.

[GlowJob]

I'll start by saying that this is the longest lasting BPAL blend I've tried so far,which is great.

 

In the bottle,it's alittle too floral for my taste but I gave it a try before I dismissed it.Once dry on my skin,it's a warm,only slighty floral incense.Definately does bring to mind an opium den.Very comforting!

[outofrhyme]

In the bottle:

There's something foody in there... I think it's the ginger? It's different from the other BPAL ginger that I've smelled - probably because it's red ginger. It's a chewy ginger that reminds me of ginger salad dressing. The ginger sits underneath a layer of smooth, sweet, light florals.

 

Wet:

Some floral, some musk, some opium?, and something that's almost fruity... it's also a little dusty.

 

Dry down:

This is very, very well blended and subtle. Floral-dusty musk-gentle smoke-??? The florals are very fresh, the musk is very damp skin and a little dust, there's just that hint of creamy ginger spice, and all of it is ethereal like smoke. The ginger absolutely makes this scent work, adding a whole new sweet-spicy dimension.

 

Final thoughts:

Gorgeous. I really, really like it, especially the ginger-floral combo. Subtle, grown up, a little exotic. I wish it had just a little more throw (it's moderate throw, so I'd only want a little more).

[stellans]

Last night's lunacy was a lovely experience. Chrysanthemum Moon came to me by way of an eBay purchase, and I'm so glad I bought without a prior sniff-test, as it was definitely a good buy.

 

In the imp: florals, with a smoky tinge. Funny, I'm really not smelling the ginger others have referenced, though maybe that's because I'm more used to smelling ginger in cooking rather than wearable art (perfume).

Wet on skin: Again, florals with more of an incense/smoke tinge to them. Lovely!

Dry: Since I use Lunacies at night, it's not often I'm awake for the drydown, but tonight I was. Still the floral/incense scent, but there's a smooth side to it dry, like a touch of amber was added. It makes the drydown very enjoyable, and it lasted for quite a while as well.

Verdict: A definite keeper, in my regular Lunacy nightly rotation.

 

UPDATE

 

Well, I had to trade this away. I guess my body chemistry was off that first night, because for 3 other occasions since that first time I couldn't keep this blend on, had to wash it off each time. It was the ginger, I think. It's happened with other ginger blends (not BPAL), and I'd hoped this was different. Oh well...

Edited June 5, 2010 by stellans

[Jilara]

Sigh, another one I had to scrub off...

 

I love chrysanthemum incense, so I thought this would be wonderful.

 

In the imp, I smell sharp chrysanthemum and something gingery, with a hinting of something vaguely like dragonsblood.

 

On my skin, these notes stick around, but get knocked on their ass by the MUSK. And as it starts to dry down, the musk goes all funky and disgusting on me. It was nice wet, but the minute the drydown started, it got nasty. I could still smell the lovely spicy chrysanthemum in the back, but there was a very unpleasant nasty, smokey (opium smoke?) funky musk overpowering everything. If only I could have convinced it to leave and let me keep the other notes... I'll find another home for this imp, I guess.

[Eemia]

This is fantastic! I thought it would be purely floral and maybe on the fresh side, but this is deep and sexy. Lasts forever too! I could still smell it after eight hours. I've nevr had a fragrance with chrysanthemums in it but it is one of my absolute favorite flowers of all time, ever.

 

Starts out as heavy chrysanthemum and smokey honey? I wasn't sure at the time if there was honey in it but there was a slight sweetness. Smething vaguely dry too....like paper.

 

More muskiness is appearing after a while, with that beautiful smokey note deepening. The chrysanthemum is still present but more faint. This is very powerful, a complete notice-me type of scent. The ginger is a great addition here....it isn't going berserk on me as it does once in awhile. It's spicy but in a subdued way. I would call it more smokey and musky at this point in time, rather than spicy and sharp. I'm not sure if I can pick out the opium not exactly, but if that's what's giving off that heady, slighly pungent and boozy note, well then I'm all in.

 

Love the lasting power, and the strong throw. Perfect sultry evening scent. I do like these heavier fragrances for daytime too, and the entire time I wore it I never had the urge to reapply.

[citharadraconis]

I don't think I've reviewed this scent before, but it's been one of my favorite BPALs for almost as long as I've been enabled. The chrysanthemum is dominant in the bottle, but on me it turns into a gorgeous, creamy-sweet-spicy-smoky blend that's heady, rich, sexy and subtle at the same time, with just enough throw to tantalize the nose and make you want to lean close to breathe it in. If it were a color, it'd be a deep, glowing autumnal red-orange with flecks of gold, a perfect fall scent. Not at all the sort of thing I'd imagine myself loving or wearing, but I do! (It really sticks around, too; I've worn it all day and woken up the next morning to a lingering hint of smokiness where I applied it.)

Edited April 20, 2007 by citharadraconis

[Shollin]

First sniff: Endlessly deep, dark-fruity with a little bit of a spicy kick.

 

Wearing: In the first few minutes on my skin, it goes from deep and dark to light and bouncey? There’s still quite a bit of presence here, but it seems playfully mysterious now, rather than wisely mysterious. But then when it dries, the depth returns and it develops a lovely fruity smokiness.

[eatingthesea]

i feel so lucky to have gotten this from the loverly diana. i'm one of those types who buys books because of the beautiful illustrations/covers - i'm not ashamed! - and similarly, i wanted this lunar blend because of the label! but beyond its good looks, this is a gorgeous scent. i want to eat it. i get honey all the way through, but it's tempered by the mums, which i am thankful shine through...but they are almost crumbly, as if they were aged, dried or drying out. a beautiful "antique" sort of scent. it feels very...sleepy, too, which i suppose could be suggestive of the barest whiffs of opium smoke. i don't get as much spice as other reviewers do, but it certainly is a creamy scent. i lerv this!