Death of the Grave Digger

[funkmoppet]

Snow, soil, opoponax and myrrh.

Hmm.

I'm not getting the snow/slush note on my skin in this one. It's very resinous evergreen. I'm expecting the myrrh to eventually fight with my skin and win, but for now it's behaving. Evergreen tends to amp on me, so perhaps it's keeping the myrrh under control.

I can see where this is similar to Skadi, but on me, this is thick, heavy, resinous pine. No snow. I love pine, but for some reason, this blend isn't doing it for me. It's just that bit TOO thick. I like to get a sense of air in my pine blends, and here, it's like being underground. Which is very apt, but as a blend I'm not really keen on it.

So alas, this isn't a GC Skadi-substitute for me.

Edited to include Lab description. Edited February 19, 2011 by Shollin

[The_Merf]

On me this was a very straightforward blend and smelled the same on me as it did in the bottle. Of course, I have a nose for picking out dirt and myrrh scents as they are very strong on my skin. This is basically a dirt and myrrh blend, but the snow note gives it a silver chill--it is the cool season/color sibling of Dance of Death, which has the same basic dirt/myrrh combination, but has that taken in the direction of sweetness and freshness with the orris instead of the snow note. I prefer orris to the snow note, and I prefer Dance of Death to this blend, although I must say that I believe this blend is one of the best Salons in terms of representing its object of art that I have tried. Kudos to Beth!

[Jenesis]

Edit: At first this smelt odd, then I realised I was developing a cold. Oops! So on to the real review:

 

Wet: This is a sharp, clean, cold scent.

 

Drydown: Still sharp, cold and clean, exactly like a frosty winter morning.

 

Dry: Oh. My. God. This is love in a bottle. The sharp snow and earthy soil sweetened by myrrh and my favourite note ever, opopanax. A triumph, especially as it captures the artwork it is based on. Need a bottle of this now kplzthnxbai!

 

PS: How on earth does Beth recreate the smell of snow so realistically?

Edited November 7, 2007 by Jenesis

[hipslike___cinderella]

Death of the Grave Digger is really a unique little work of oil.

 

From the imp alone, I immediately think, "WOW. That is straight-in-the-woods realism". It's hard to stress that. It literally smells like (1) snow (2) dirt (3) forest. Straight-forward. I can't help but daydream about my apartment wafting of this.

 

Moving on... on my skin, something new blossoms. It's sweet myrrh and opoponax, coloring the blend together. It's nearly a berry-like, herbaceous/resin sweetness. Very graceful, and very... festive? Yes, festive. The longer I spend sniffing, my mind wanders to Christmastime in downtown Kansas City, taking a sleigh ride with holly dangling around. That's the single image I can't earse- holly.

 

Time only cements this image. Why does this remind me of boughs of holly so much?! It's a little distracting. Well, nonetheless, this is a very pretty and regal blend. I came off first very excited, but ended up quietly wishing it sort of stayed like it was in the very beginning, before the whole, y'know, " HO HO HO boughs of holly" part. This is the only reason I wouldn't splurge for a whole bottle... but if I ever make that stride to burning oils for atmosphere, I will keep this one in mind.

[JenM]

In the imp: cypress and resin and something sweet.

 

On the wrist: there’s a delicate note that teases and floats just out of reach. A hollowness sort of protects it from my questing nose. I’m guessing this is the snow note. There’s a sweetness there, too, that I can’t account for.

 

An hour: smells like spring sap; a very gentle scent. Morphs into flowers in spring snow, under a graveyard tree.

 

Two hours: still there, but faint. I may swap this, if presented with something I’m really looking for. But I may not.

[ClareN]

The dominant note in Death of the Grave-Digger is BPAL's snow accord. I can see how it is evocative of snow, but it doesn't smell like snow; it's a sweet pine/evergreen scent with a hint of citrus. I don't like this note terribly much; there's that unfortunate association with pine-scented cleaning fluid.

 

So I'm not really destined to like Death of the Grave-Digger. There's a hint of some tart berry that comes out from time to time, which is nice. I waited for the opoponax and myrrh to make a grand entrance, but they never showed up on my skin, except just the tiniest hint of something resinous in the drydown.

 

From memory, Death of the Grave-Digger smells a lot like the GC Black Forest, which I tested about a week ago, which was evergreen and sweet in a similar way. In both cases, a nice enough scent I wouldn't wear as a perfume.

Edited September 3, 2007 by ClareN

[hkhm]

imp: dirt and myrrh. this is incredibly lovely.

 

wet: the dirt note is lighter here than in, say, zombi. the piney scent mixed with the dirt and myrrh makes this wonderful.

 

dry: light pine and dirt with a nice undercurrent of myrrh. excellent interpretation of the painting.

[septima_pica]

(Octopod)

Well, I've been coveting this one for ages, ever since it went up, and now I've tried it. I was hoping for more dirt, honestly, but this is still absolutely lovely. To begin with, it's the dirt -- the dusty dirt, like in Death Cap -- and pine which must be what passes for "snow", not that I'm complaining because it's good stuff. This sharpess gradually fades into the background as the myrrh shows up from underneath and sweetens it up, and several hours in it's a very subdued, floaty, white scent, a little bit watery, almost ethereal. Really nice. It only lasts a little while, but I don't mind reapplying.

 

But I still don't know what opoponax smells like, and I was hoping to find out. Oh well.

[maribouquet]

This is gorgeous at first, but my skin is doing something funky and pushes the soil note waaay up - I'm just getting sour dust, now.

[theseagrows]

got this as a frimp from a wonderful swapper. i'd been wanting to try this for awhile now. the snow note reminds me of talvikuu...i always mention talvikuu, because it's one of the few snow-blends i've tried. this scent is a combination of cold and warm, the warmth coming from the opoponax and myrrh, which add a warm, soft background. i don't get the soil much at all. this is one of the better snowier blends i've tried (which usually aren't my thing.) it's quite nice and i will keep my imp.

[zankoku_zen]

This one starts as a snowy, chilly pine. And dries, to an almost warm resin. This is what digging a grave in winter must be. It's cold outside, but once you get to digging, you're sweating under the exertion. But outside, it's still cold.

 

Keep digging.

[Gwydion]

In bottle: They are not kidding about the soil. The oponax sharpens it. With the myrrh there is a definite sense of incense covering decay. This is sharp and wet and viciously earthy. Wet: fascinating in it’s invocation of winter slush and forest stillness. I’m really liking this more because of its abrasiveness than in spite of it. I love this, I really do, though it’s clearly not for everyone. It is bizarre to be testing this in summer when it smells so strongly of Winter. Plenty of throw, BTW. Dry: Sweeter on the dry down, but just as interesting.

[contrary_wise]

I was letting a friend try some of my new decants today and Death of the Grave Digger sloshed all over as he opened the vial. He shared the excess oil with my wrists and I'm glad he did. I haven't been into BPAL long enough to experience most of the snowy scents that people have referenced in other reviews of DotGD.

 

Death of a Grave Digger is chilly, in a snowy ozone kind of way. I don't get much evergreen or dirt at all. Pretty quickly it becomes a sweet resinous slushy snow scent. I've been on kind of a myrrh kick lately so maybe that's why it seems so prominent in this blend. The myrrh gives weight to the snow, helps it stick around. I would say it smells like dirt, exactly, but it's not a clean scent either, despite the ozone notes. It's an unusual blend, and one that I'm definitely going to come back to.

[inurbanus]

I must have a terrible nose, because this smelled just like Cloister Graveyard did on me. I guess I must amp the snow note? I didn't really get any soil out of this. Shame.

 

2.5/5

[greenranger]

I haven't tried many snow or dirt scents yet.

 

This one was minty evergreen trees, and cold smelling to start.

 

It still smells cold, and there's a minty scent with a slight evergreen tang, and I do smell dirt. It's interesting...and fairly strong on me as well.

 

I really don't know...I haven't been a fan of the evergreen scents yet, but, the dirt is interesting..and myrrh!

 

Did I say this was strong? This is STRONG!

On my skin, at least, this is strong and a little overwhelming, right now. Definitely stronger than any scent I have tried for days...

 

~edit~ My husband actually backed away from me while I was wearing this, it was that strong on me. SWAP!

Edited August 5, 2008 by Aerinha

[poisondove]

In the imp: Dirt and pine trees. And they are very cold. In that way Shivering Boy and Snow Moon (& that Yule one that starts with a K) feel cold.

 

Skin: I think I am seeing fog in my breath, as the room take a tumble in temperature. So odd, how a perfume can smell cold...amazing!

Soil is sharp around me, and the pine trees are looming nearby. This really is the scent to be buried in.

 

Overall: Not really something I'd wear for an occasion, but still a masterpiece of interpreting a painting. Really, art in itself

[crebbsgirl]

I'm really starting to get into the lab's snow note. I don't do aquatics very well but this isn't aquatic per se, it more hints at an aquatic vibe. The soil note is wonderful here.. not dank like I've experienced in other blends. The opoponax and myrrh and a sweet resiny depth. It is quite a cold blend, but truly beautiful. I should add that I'm not getting any mint here.

[iamblackbird]

This is totally what I wanted. Needed. I've been looking for something that could remind me of Talvikuu, since it's one of my absolute favorites. I found it!

 

In the bottle, it's snow, soil, and something resiny.

Once on me, it actually remains true to the first whiff. How strange is that? My skin morphs everything!

Once it dries, it settles into something deeper, perhaps the myrrh. No mint, per se, more pine.

[Monster]

Out of the imp, this is exactly as I imagined it to smell, cool, fresh snow, mashed together with fresh soil. This is earthy, herbal and aquatic all at once.

On my skin I can actually feel the snow cooling my arm, the myrrh sweetens the dirt note up a bit and as it dries they all settle down, side-by-side together like a little work of art on my arm. I'm in love with this blend. This is one of those scents that evokes a lot of really intresting images....it makes me want to just sit here, sniff my arm and daydream.

[ifinena]

I've had this imp like forever and never even knew that it was a bpal scent. So I tried it today and I'm glad I did.

The first (and only) scent with "dirt" that I didn't run away of.

 

It's in the same genre as the other snowy bpal blends (Skadi, Snow Moon, Snow Bunny) but it's more piney and I don't get any florals or sweet fruits. As it dries the snowy/piney vibe mellows down and the soil note is more prominent. I get a bit of opoponax but no myrrh.

I prefer my Skadi (and Snow Bunny/Snow Moon) for my snowy fix, because I like the sweetness in the drydown. Death of the Grave Digger will be perfect for those who do well with "dirt" notes and love bpal's "snow". Minimal throw.

Edited March 21, 2009 by ifinena

[rayvn1]

Slightly sharp and resinous. This was the first blend where I thought "Ooh myrrh, maybe you're my friend after all..." Good throw, kind of a ballsy oil. One of my favorite Salons at this point. Slightly harsh in a good way.

[stellans]

When I tried my imp of this Salon blend, it was pure love: I got a fresh cold balsam-like scent (the opoponax?), backed by myrrh, and a hint of frosty earth. This morning from my bottle? Pine-Sol! I couldn't believe the change, so I am chalking this one up to skin chemistry playing tricks on me, and hoping for a better result on a later date. If not, then this will appear on my sales page at some point, I guess.

Edited September 4, 2010 by stellans

[SophieCedar]

This was the scent I was anticipating the most out of the whole Salon I pack.

 

This scent does not fail. Being that I live in the Maine wilderness, I obviously know what snow and dirt mixed with crisp air smells like (ahhaa). This really does smell exactly like snow and fresh dirt.

 

The oppoponax is a very interesting addition and the myrrh a lovely but subtle base. This really stays true from bottle to drydown. I was really surprised that the oppoponax worked so well and stayed around. This feels ethereal and cold. WOW.

[cfrancesca]

I get lots of pine, snow (the slushy type), just a smidge of dirt and greenery, and I'm also getting something mildly sweet. One of the best snow scents I've tried and wonderfully evocative!

 

I just love this and though I have tons of snow scents, I will definitely need to find least a partial bottle to add to my collection. Fantastic throw and longevity too!

[reynardine]

Only sniffed. There is a very cold note to this, harsh with myrrh, but the dirt note is very strong and rather ruins the whole thing for me. (I dislike dirt notes immensely.) Did want to try it because this painting is one of my favorites.