Midnight

[JenM]

An ethereal bouquet of night-blooming flowers. Evening primrose, ruellia, flowering nicotiana, wild petunia, panani-o-kai, night phlox, night gladiolus, moonflower and the elusive scent of Nottingham Catchfly.

In the imp: dark flowers and pine

On the wrist (well, back of hand): I don’t know what it is that smells coniferous. On drydown: I don’t like it. It’s a sour smoke, rotting flowers. And it burns. I probably shouldn’t have tried anything with nicotiana in it. OH, well.

Time to wash.

[CrazyPretzel]

What a crazy morpher - in the imp, this really does smell quite a lot like Elmer's school glue to me. On my skin, it settles quickly into a soft floral, a bit on the grassy side, with just a touch of honey-like sweetness. There's a certain bitterness underneath it which seems appropriate to me; we wouldn't want an Ars Moriendi blend to be too soft and cuddly now, would we? On the whole I quite like this one and will be adding it to my ever-expanding bottle list.

[Victory]

I think I must amp moonflower- or I have a sensitive nose to it- because this is a moonflower blend, the same way Blue Moon '07 and Nuit are. The first time I wore the oil it was MOONFLOWER _{and friends}, today moonflower is just tying all of the notes together. Fortunately for me, I like moonflower. The other scents I'm unfamiliar with, although there's something that I seem to know that pops up here and again. When I inhale, I smell the other flowers, then the moonflower, then the other flowers. The others are really herby, not quite bitter but very wild smelling. This makes me think of being a ghost and flying across the world, smelling overgrown, wild gardens in crumbling estates. Sometimes you land to smell a particularly interesting flower, and then you sail away again in the night.

[Iceblink]

Wow--almost all of the notes in this are new to me. Moonflower's overpowering everything, though. It's gone from a sour floral to almost straight moonflower. I fear the dreaded powder stage that happens with every "night" flower on me is coming, so I'm bracing myself.

[Northernskygal]

I'm not gonna lie.. in the bottle, this one scared me. It smells sour.. sick. I put it on anyway. On first application, it retains it's sour quality for a brief moment. It does sweeten up quickly. It turns really lovely and floral for all of about... 15 minutes. Then I am left with.. sugared baby powder light. I have to really, really sniff to get anything off of this one. What I am left with smells nice enough, it is just too light, and not florally at all.. like.. cream and baby powder, but at a strength as if I have had it on all day, not just applied it an hour ago.

[Ravenclaw79]

In the imp: ..... Uhhh... a little soap, and a little bit of flowers, and a tiny splash of vomit? This one's really got my nose stumped.

 

Wet: Soapy flowers. I can't really distinguish any of them, and I can't even say it smells like a bouquet, 'cause it doesn't, not to me. The closest I can come is one of those air-freshening sprays, one called "spring flowers" or "fresh meadow" or something. No particular flower is standing out for me.

 

Drying: It's flowery, and it's very, very faint, a very light scent. Not for me.

[filigree_shadow]

When I first started wearing BPAL I thought I wasn't interested in floral scents, and this was one of the first ones that changed my mind. It's not what I think of as "floral." It doesn't smell like flowers I'm familiar with.

 

This one, for some reason, becomes a bit powdery on me, and it's not really the kind of floral scent that I like. I can't really do a proper review of it because to be honest I have no idea what most of those notes smell like. But I'm definitely glad I tried it. It made me realize that I like moonflower.

[Schnax]

Yup, this is floral. A dark, brooding floral. I can make out the moonflower in there, but I don't know what any of the other notes smell like. It's possibly one of the most traditional-smelling BPALs I've tried, and I could see wearing it with an evening dress to a fancy-schmancy dinner party or the like. Very elegant and lovely.

[vampkat]

in bottle: very complex kinda dark floral

Wet: eh! Something woody came out and bit my nose. I have no idea what it is.

Dry: Whew. That woody part faded a bit, and the floral is coming through again. This will probably be a PERFECT red musk week scent. It's very dark and mysterious. I think I really like it, because it's different.

8 out of 10

[melrose]

I'm in love. It makes no sense, but I get a soft, sweet leather from this. Bottle-worthy.

[homunculus]

Intensely floral. At first there is a faint spiciness and then the flowers take over. There is one flower coming to the fore but I can't identify it, although it makes me think of creamy blossoms suitable for the black and white hues of a midnight garden. The slight sweetness that makes the flower sing like a real bloom quickly turns on me and becomes almost salty. That's a shame. This doesn't happen when the scent is on my clothes so I wonder if it's just my skin. Oh, well ...

 

Edited to add: I put this on at night and in the morning it had mellowed to a sweet, honeyed faintness on my skin which I really like. Will have to put it on the day before I need it!

Edited March 12, 2008 by homunculus

[soonyi]

wet, there is an unpleasant vinegar (is that the catchfly?) coupled with soft white flowers. the sourness is sorta like cereus but more tangy and painful.

 

dry, the tangy goes away but the vinegar aftersmell lingers. the soft flowers are much like the evening star but are ruined by the vinegar. this is definitly a night flower scent, not bright and sunny at all. luckily there is not much of a throw to this one. so disappointed...

[maribouquet]

Acidic, sappy smell, and I get a whiff of Elmer's glue as mentioned above. I keep waiting for it to change but it doesn't seem to want to.

[savage_rose]

It starts out like glue and flowers, morphs into crazy old lady's hat flowers, and then goes back to the first. Not a great one for me.

[fairnymph]

In the bottle: Pale honey coloured oil. Slightly sweet and herbal flowers. A little sour. Woodsy.

 

Wet: Similar, but less sweet, cleaner - a touch soapy, ahh moonflower. I'm pretty sure I can smell the phlox and gladiolus, but there are a bunch of florals I can't identify. I love the herbal-planty undercurrent in this.

 

Dry: Dries quickly, revealing the nicotiana, which is heady and exotic and adds depth and a luxurious feel to the blend. Okay, I lied about the sweetness. It's all super sweet again. And sort of a little spicy.

 

Summary: Heady, sweet and spicy mixed floral, with nicotiana in the fore. A bit herbal-woodsy with some soapy-clean moonflower, but not enough to make this bearable. Very strong throw, won't wash off.

[Diva Urd]

In the vial: A very intense flowery smell with a very sour tang to it that seems rather unpleasant

 

On me: On drydown, after maybe two minutes, the unpleasant sourness vanishes and I am left with a huge, fat bouquet of white flowers I can't identify. They're sweet, yet... tangy, if you can describe a scent with that word, and very very powerful!

 

This one lasts intensely long on me and has extreme throw, so I have to be very careful about how much I use... but it feels like a scent that would cool me down some in summer, and it will also withstand any unpleasant sweatiness with ease. Yep, great summer blend for me!

 

Do I like it enough to get a bottle? I'm not sure at the moment... will use up the imp and decide then.

[voodoocatwoman]

This started out incredibly sour and turned grassy/floral pretty quickly. Incredibly long lasting. I can still (16 hours later) smell a soft powdery floral.

[galahad]

In The Bottle

Soft floral

 

On Application

A floral vinegar!

 

Dry Down

Luckily the vinegar note I initially got is gone. Really, really soft and gentle. The stems and leaves of the flowers are included in this blend to give a green liveness but it is sombre as well, or maybe reflective. I thinks it's great but not a wearer for me.

 

Rating (0-5)

3

[charshark]

In the imp: Pleasant florals.

 

Wet: I can't really pick out the individual floral notes except the moonflower and the evening primrose. There's a little bit of tang to it.

 

Dry: The tang mostly goes away and it smells very floral, almost powdery. It's a little overwhelming.

 

Overall: Not for me, sorry.

[goblinshark]

in the bottle this smelled like straight apple cider vinegar. blech!!!

 

once on it turns into something rather nice somehow, sort of watery and soothing, and...hey, I know this smell. It smells EXACTLY like Nivea lotion!

 

Not too bad, but not really my style, either; this freebie imp is going in my swap pile.

[rayvn1]

This one was a soft floral with a largely alcohol tinge to it. Not as nice as Witching Hour or other night-time florals on me.

[jencallisto]

In the imp: A sharp floral, quite soapy.

Fresh on the skin: Very soapy indeed, with the florals still fairly sharp. Like kitchen cleanser and baby powder, not a particularly enjoyable combination.

5 minutes later: It's picked up a little sweetness, but it's still eye-wateringly astringent to me. I kind of hate this.

10 minutes later: I keep hoping this will calm down, but I think it's just getting worse. It had a damp, wet intensity to it, like you're being smothered and drowned in a pungent bath of too many flowers. Er. Can you tell I'm not so much a floral person?

20 minutes later: Yeah, I'm afraid this is turning into rather horribly strong floral soap on me, heavy and damp and piercingly oppressive, like endless, insistent sorrow. The clean kind.

40 minutes later: Okay, this has calmed down some and become a bit more sweet and powdery. I still wouldn't say that I like it, and it's threatening to give me a headache, but I no longer actually hate it.

1 hour later: It's possible that this is growing on me. There's a sweet creaminess at the very base of it that's starting to balance out the astringency, though I do think there's still a bit of salty aquatic.

2 hours later: Fragrant in a way I just don't like very much, I'm afraid. I don't hate it, but.

3 hours later: It briefly became more bitter, but I think it's powdered down to something relatively sweet and innocuous, but still not really me at all.

4 hours later: It's powdered down even more now, but I will say that this stage is actually reasonably pleasant, though with a lingering bittersweet laundry-ness about it.

5 hours later: This has gone completely laundry, rather strong. Could be worse.

6 hours later: Laundry, laundry, laundry.

8 hours later: Laundry, still strong, and not especially pleasant.

11 hours later: Just the gentlest whiff of warm, sweet laundry on my wrist. It's a pleasant smell compared to the Nanshe on my other wrist, anyway.

 

Verdict: Yeah, not so much. I guess I don't hate it, but nor did I actually like it. I might try it again at a different time of the month, but I don't expect too much. Even if I did like it, it's so very not me that it may be a moot point. But we'll see. It's too bad, because I really liked the idea of it, and so when it showed up as a frimp I was excited to try it. Ah well.

 

One phrase: oppressively damp floral soap.

[tinyvulture]

This scent smells downright bizarre on my skin. I know it’s a floral bouquet, but on me it mostly smells… sour. Like Elmer’s glue. I got this as a freebie direct from the lab, so I doubt there’s anything wrong with it. I think it’s just my weird chemisty. Sourness with some faint floral notes that I can’t even begin to identify because the glue-ness is overwhelming. I gotta go wash my wrist now.

[MCS4096]

In the Imp: Definitely smells like Elmer's glue.. I'm not well versed in notes enough to know which that is.. I think it's at least partly the nicotiana (a nicotiana note is also present in Chant D'Automne.. and that one is super bitter)

 

Wet: Like others have said, that sourness goes away and this slowly becomes a beautiful floral.

 

Drydown: Pretty slow.. for awhile that sourness is very slight, lending a greeness.. it's like you've stomped around a damp English garden in the middle of the night.. perfect There's almost a lavender quality here. Then it goes lighter and more powdery (and primarily moonflower if I'm not mistaken), as if you've come inside and warmed yourself by the fire.

 

I love this one and am definitely considering a bottle for when I desire a strong, beautiful floral (with a lovely mental image)

Edited December 5, 2008 by MCS4096

[Gwydion]

In bottle: Gentle, unusual floral with a faint medicinal edge. The rose is very understated. Wet: A rich medium green scent with a delicate floral overtone. I can’t really smell the rose as a separate scent, though it certainly contributes as the blend warms. Dry: surprisingly pleasant and delicate floral. It’s a touch powdery, but in a dried flowers way.