Shanghai Tunnel

[anjimama]

I was born in Portland, dang, nearly 42 years ago and lived there, all over, for most of my life. How does she do it? And why oh why didn't I call in some favors and get myself some bottles of this? Oh boy. This reminds me of Waterfront Park and wandering around Old Town in 1982 with my high school boyfriend after an all ages show and missing the bus. The smell of the city and the water and concrete. And time passed. I love it.

[kwsix]

Shanghai Tunnel isn't dark at all on me. It's woodsy but fresh, more like an actual forest that's damp and green instead of dark resinous trees. It's salty and aquatic on me, but it's definitely the most wearable aquatic I've ever encountered. It's light and airy on my skin, not reminiscent of aftershave in the least like most aquatics are. There's an ozone note here similar to the note in Neo-Tokyo that I love so much. And I do detect some very light, fresh florals in the background. Overall it's fresh, "earthy" without smelling like dirt, green, and uplifting. I really like this blend, but not enough to actively seek out more at the prices it will command. If it were a GC or even a less rare LE, I would definitely want more.

Edited June 15, 2007 by evilmistressoftoast

[halcyon_flight]

Dear lord, what a morpher!

 

First two seconds: pine? I have like fifty million pine scents I don't need a...

Next ten seconds: Where did the pine go? Wet stone? How in heck does something smell like wet stone...

Next minute or so: Suddenly this is all very creepy and dank green, a place where monsters come from.

Finally it settles on being: a green old forest sort of scent, no wood or dirt, just the beautiful green scent plus an uplifting shot of green tea, which is weird because I usually hate BPAL's green tea scents. Sort of floaty and calming. I don't get any ocean or aquatic at all.

[LadyCrow]

In the imp: Damp floral.

 

Wet: More floral-y dampness at first, with superb sillage. I can't stop sniffing. This is great, but where's all the wet stone?

 

Drydown: Bamboo and tea come forward strongly, then recede, leaving a spicy layer, mosses, and yes, flashes of that wet stone. That deep, magnificent teak note makes its appearance. Mmm, wet cement again close to my skin; the throw is still pungently tea/bamboo-like, a good 2-3" from my skin.

 

I don't get the sandalwood as a note, per se, but I suspect what it's doing here is giving some of the lighter notes greater amplitude and staying power.

 

Did I mention the unexpectedly massive throw? A little bit of this -- happily for those of us who only have partial decants! -- goes a long way. I put this on one of my wrist pulses on one wrist. One. There's an almost visible scent cloud around my whole hand, creeping up my forearm, now.

 

I'm also pretty sure that the deep woodiness others are experiencing as pine isn't pine, at least not in any major concentration; other combinations of notes can give that effect. I'm badly allergic to pine. Since I applied the scent, I've essentially been making my notes and then typing this one-handed, with the other wrist stuck to my nose in the characteristic gesture of Beta Phi Alpha Lambda members, and I'm reasonably sure I'd have noticed by now if I were putting significant amounts of pine vapors straight into my sinuses and eyes.

 

Amazing staying power, too, for how light and frail this scent could have been. My skin is fair and eats many lighter oils alive. This remains pungent and tangy on me -- I guess I'm getting the sweeter side of the blend.

 

A masterful performance in scent.

Edited June 15, 2007 by LadyCrow

[midnight_aeval]

Breathtaking. I did not expect to like this one, but it is the perfect blend of dampness, moss, old stone, and pine. It's so amazing how Beth can perfectly capture what "underground" smells like.

 

Shanghai Tunnel has much of the same characteristics as AntiSally's "Crypt" fragrance. That same moist, old, underground feel. This is definitely a move away from my love of foodie fragrances, but there's just something to adore about this fragrance! It's mesmerizing, and one of those that when I put just a dab on, can't help but smell it every 10 seconds.

 

Off to beg for a bottle

[themerrybaker]

I get the scent of dried immortelles, (maybe dried herbs?) from Shanghai Tunnel. It's definitely the Tunnel of Love.

[wichapi]

Earth, pine, brackish water, moss, eucalyptus (?), and a splash of sugared green tea. Makes me eyes water a bit until the menthol dies down. Good to wear when my nose is stuffy... after Lydia.

[forspecial_plate]

Brings to mind minerals and rock. To me it's not dank and dripping like I was expecting. It's more of a crackling scent and reminds me of Brimstone. There's a faint touch of pine and/or eucalyptus that peeks in and out. Later it smooths out and becomes rock with some cool condensation. Much later the pine becomes stronger, until it's nearly dominating the scent. It's a fascinating scent that seems 'elemental' to me.

[curlofsmoke]

Yes woodsy, yes aquatic, but dominated by a powderyish perfumyness (to give a technical evaluation here). Later it becomes warmer and richer and quite nice actually, but like the kind of expensive somewhat masculine perfume my mother would wear. Not me.

[ariosa]

GypsyRoseRed sent me a little sniffie/tester of this C13 scent, which I never imagined I'd ever get to try!

 

I was a little nervous, reading the reviews, fearing that Shanghai Tunnel would be too much. And it is, for the most part, though I do love it when it's wet. I get mostly pine from that, and it smells like a nice damp, dank forest after it's just been rained on.

 

And then it starts to smell like BO :D The pine is there, but ugh, I just don't know what my skin chemistry is doing here, but I wanna smell good. I don't want to smell like an old man who hasn't bathed in weeks and weeks.

 

And I just can't get over that. So this little sniffie will be passed on to someone else who will appreciate it more

[supremegoddessofall]

Interesting combination. I mostly get florals and aquatics, but there's a touch of a food spice underneath. Not sure about this one...

[jenrandom]

In the imp and wet on my skin, this smells like being in the Lurray Caverns. Minerally, wet dripping rocks. I admit to a certain dubiousness. Then as it dried, it got sweeter. Sort of like finding a small

flower garden underground. I enjoyed this scent alot! It amped like anything on my skin.

 

A friend said it smelled like some sort of foody rock. Huh.

[PurringPulsar]

Shanghai Tunnel

 

In the imp: a murky, slightly salty, mossy and aquatic-perfumey scent like Roux Ga Roux.

Wet on skin: watery, salty, slightly masculine perfume.

Dry on skin: whoa, this is really unusual! It smells very salty, for starters, like brine with seaweed, slightly stagnant too (but not in a bad way-it doesn't smell like rotting seaweed) but I definitely smell the kelp note in here. And the Spanish moss…though this is the lovely SM from Roux Ga Roux, not the 'swamp monster of doom' moss. There's also an aquatic note, oddly sweet and a little perfumey, reminiscent of the scents with murky watery notes like Roux, Bayou and Mock Turtle's Lessons, maybe also Ulalume. And then there's a note of wet stone, which is really uncanny-it really does bring to mind a crypt-like tunnel underground, it is close to the sea so the floor is wet with salty water, and there is green damp scummy moss growing up the walls covered with salt crystals. There's something almost sweetly fruity-floral to it as well, like lily and maybe a citrus note? yet, despite this being a salty aquatic, this isn't soapy or washing powdery at all.

After a while: the intense salty-seaweed scent does tone down a little and there's a lovely fruity floral that pokes out now. I can't say what but it reminds me, strangely, of pomegranates or plums. There's also a white dewy flower which may be a lily note. Maybe waterlily? It reminds me of the lily note in Ulalume or Uruk, or, mainly because of the boggy scent, Dunwich. Maybe the sweetness may also be from the black musk. But there's still that aquatic and mossy scent to it, with a hint of teak at the base.

With time the scent warms up a lot and becomes a gentle aquatic-floral-mossy warmth which almost reminds me of bathing with one of those 'mineral spa' bath bombs/bubble baths, blue and seaweedy and floral and soothing.

After that stage, it becomes powdery and stony again, that floral-aquatic scent with a stronger mossy stone scent to it. The moss notes don't overwhelm though.

The end scent of this is a dry, dusty, mossy scent reminiscent of dusty stone in a dark catacomb. It's mainly oak moss at this point but it does also smell like stone with a hint of lichen.

Verdict: this is a fascinating fragrance. I had not heard of the Shanghai Tunnels until I read about this year's Convergence, but I must say this is very evocative of damp, drippy tunnels underground. Almost like crypts, very close to the sea so the seawater seeps in and makes the whole place smell of algae and brine, and the walls are grey and mossy. It's so genuine that I can almost hear the drip, drip, drip of water dripping off the moss on the ceiling. At the same time, there's a pleasant perfume-y aspect to the scent which moves between smelling quite masculine with moss and wood, to almost feminine with a clear, bright aquatic floral note and even a hint of sweet fruit. It changes from salty to seaweedy to perfumey to fruity to a dewy floral to a dry mossy stone, it's a really interesting morpher of a scent. not a favourite-the salty kelp scent I get at the beginning is impressive but a little too much for me, but I like this enough to keep the small amount I have, but not to shell out on Ebay for more. And it's also a marine aquatic and Spanish moss scent that works on my skin, which is quite a rarity.

Emoticon rating:

Is it a keeper? I think so! This is surprisingly good and a marine scent which doesn't soap out on me.

[sookster]

sniff only....resinous and pine...absolutely gorgeous!

i am your pine kinda gal so this is fabby....

i rubbed the dipstick from the imp on my skin and got the teensiest bit o' perfume...

wow....if i could just get my hands on a bottle of this i would surely give up my

underpants or the schwarz...

thanks be to the generous seller for the sniffie...xoxoxo

[moon_lemming]

Shanghai Tunnel would be my absolute favoritest of the C13 blends if, once on my skin, it smelled like it does in the imp. Unfortunately it is a little aquatic, and when they're visiting my wrist, aquatics bring their own soap with them -- very polite, since I like my soap too much too share -- but I am not a fan of Irish Spring. At least not on my own skin.

 

But before that happened, I got to smell it in the imp, and I thought for sure it would be the top of the four. In the imp, it's all atmospheric damp tunnel, and I LOVE it. Srsly. So good. Unfortunately, once on my skin that aquatic thing happens. It lasts way too long for me -- about ten minutes or so -- before morphing into a weird coconut scent with a new-carpet undertone.

 

A shame, because I really thought this would be my favorite. It is a freakin' work of art in the imp, though.

[mooncityminx]

It's amazing just how well Beth can capture "dank" in such a positive light using only plant oils.

 

The first impression is wet rocks, cold wet stone in the dark. That has to be spearmint, smells exactly like my grandma's yard. She had rows of mint all around her house. But it's the smell of the bruised greenery of the plant itself and not as a chewing gum flavor.

 

As it dries it becomes a light sweet musk. It's heavenly. Even my husband likes this, and that is really saying something.

[cuervosueno]

This is a very interesting scent that I really wanted to try, and was lucky enough to swap for. I wasn't sure I'd like it, but I did want to try it. the big surprise was that I actually like it quite a lot, though it is not a scent I thought I'd enjoy as much as I do.

 

As an earlier reviewer noted, this is a fascinating scent and I also keep smelling my wrist obessively, trying to figure out what exactly is so interesting about it. I also find it morphs dramatically.

 

In the bottle, Shangai Tunnel is green and slightly earthy and slight aquatic. It does smell like the moist green of the pacific northwest, though it most reminds me of the broken stems of plants (and I feel like I should know which plant but I just can't quite figure it out). And at some point there is a scent that I think might be one of the mosses that manages to smell like wet, mossy stone, which is quite nice. There is also something a bit sharp in it early on, and I can see why an earlier reviewer identified it as eucalyptus, though I don't think that's what it is. It is not quite that sharp and overwhelming. I tested it next to some essential oils: juniper, eucalyptus, myrtle and sage, and thought that it was closest to one of the last two, though it was hard for me to tell, especially sicne it is blended with other things, of course. In any case, at this early stage, it really does evoke a tunnel in a place of lush greenery. I also see why some reviewers thought it could be bamboo and/or green tea--there is something that hints of all those Asian moon scents.

 

I get no pine at all, btw.

 

What I love, though, is how that green scent contains a hint of sweetness that I keep sniffing and sniffing at. And after quite awhile--say a couple of hours--that green is completely gone and what I'm left with is a sweet core that is almost but not quite foody. It is the sweetness that has been there all along--the heart of the scent--that couldn't be reached until the green faded. It is quite lovely, and quite unexpected.

 

Overall, I really like this. The mix of mossy green and the final hint of sweet (which is likely a combo of sandalwood and musk) is just wonderful.

Edited August 2, 2007 by cuervosueno

[Laurel the Woodfairy]

(Tested at the home of lovely Portlander Darkitysnark)

 

Aquatic and…rocks. Seriously, wet rocks. I don't know what that mineral note is, but it's a bit like Tobacon Springs at Fantasy Bath, if anyone's tried that bath bomb. A cool, refreshing, gender neutral scent that evokes damp underground stone passages perfectly.

[crazyredhead17]

In the Imp: I don't know what I'm smelling.. it smells like somewhere I've been before (I've never visited Portland, OR) but I can't place where.

 

Wet, there's a something.. my brain wants to say pine but I've smelled a lot of pines and this is like no pine I've smelled. There's salty sea spray and something sorta metallic.. maybe sea spray on rocks.

 

I've pinpointed the place to Portland, Maine - I was there for a 5 day conference just after Christmas when I was college, and we were close enough to the water that a lot of the days we could smell the sea spray.

 

Anywho, as this has dried the "pine" note has kinda soured - soured might be the wrong word - spent too much time in salt water? morphed into the actual plant-like thing it's supposed to be? No clue. It's also getting a bit powdery and a bit like a dryer sheet on me - maybe there's some juniper in there since that's gone powdery on me before.

 

It it had never morphed out of the wet phase, I'd have needed to track down more. My budget rejoices.

[dixiehellcat]

In the imp, a little floral, a little more woodsy. Lovely blending.

 

On me, SANDALWOOD. Very pleasant, but not nearly as much so as my dear GC gurrlfriend Anne Bonny. I won't be selling off first edition Stephen Kings to buy this. If you get a chance to smell it though, I do recoomend you do, as it really is nice.

[funkmoppet]

Wow. Just...wow.

 

Shanghai Tunnel is all aquatic, dark, murky moss. Beth's done a magnificent job at getting that wet, dank stone feeling into this blend. It's earthy, mossy, aquatic, and slightly woody without any one note dominating. This barely morphs at all, except for a drifting sweetness that keeps coming back.

 

Dry, its smooth and creamy without losing it's dank-tunnel feel. This is just glorious! I'm so thrilled to have been able to try it - and I'll add my voice to begging Beth for more wet-stone blends like this!

[Keslynn]

I was not expecting to like this scent, as woodsy/stony isn't really my thing. But... it's really nice!

 

In the bottle and initially on my skin, Shanghai Tunnel is a woodsy green smell with a hint of wet stone thrown in. I am surprised because it smelled like there might be an evergreen in there, and those usually amp and kill anything else in the blend. Whatever this evergreenish note is, it's behaving itself. As it dries, there's also a sweet note coming out beside the woodsy smells. The sweetness is very light and adds nice harmonics to the woods. Uh oh... I can smell the blend starting to tip a little toward BO (what the hell note does that on my skin? I wish I knew.) But wait! Relief! It doesn't venture into BO land and retains the sweet woodsy smell. In fact, the sweetness is starting to take over. It smells like a honey note to me. It's quite nice with the greenery.

 

Verdict: A surprise love! Shanghai Tunnel is not normally a scent I would think of wearing, but it's fabulous. I love how BPAL keeps drawing me out of my floral/fruity comfort zone.

[ralenth]

Wet: Wet and woodsy. Intriguing.

 

Drydown: The woody smell becomes distinctly piney. There's a hollow aquatic scent that I cannot quite place. This is delightful.

 

Dry: This reminds me of a rainy city day. There's a depth to ST that seems earthy, though the pine still dominates.

 

Overall: This is quite lovely. I could see myself owning this one if she wasn't such a rarity.

[KaliVerra]

I am in LOVE with the wet phase of Shanghai Tunnel... it smells of rock-y, mineral-y, salt-y TRUE water in a dank, dark, musty, cool underground environment! It's at about the 5 minute mark where it starts to get masculine and cologne-like on me. I'm wearing mine in a scent locket now to max out the wet potential and it's working a charm, but I reaaaally wish I could BATHE in it Soooooooo goooooood!

[CrazyPretzel]

From the lovely Ahania's int'l C13 sniffing circle - if you had Shanghai Tunnel, Crumpet Rebellion, Lydia, Voodoo Queen, Unheavenly City, Ah'Duno and Storyville all demanding your attention, which one would you reach for first? I know. My head exploded too. I picked at random and got Shanghai Tunnel to start with.

 

In the imp: very reminiscent of Singing Moon! Cool earth and dampness. A sweetness like small flowers.

 

Wet on me: The earth smell gets stronger - this is a very moist scent, aquatic but I like it more than other aquatics I've tried.

 

After a few minutes: Now suddenly it's become less earthy and more woody - the scent of damp wood. I think I can detect cedar.

 

Drydown: Water-logged pile of cedar wood on damp earth next to a stone cottage on a misty grey day. The wood note in here is really quite strong - a bit too strong for my tastes. Still, a lovely and evocative fragrance!