Singing Moon

[stellans]

SINGING MOON

Green, in the wizard arms
Of the foam-bearded Atlantic,
An isle of old enchantment,
A melancholy isle,
Enchanted and dreaming lies;
And there, by Shannon's flowing,
In the moonlight, spectre-thin,
The spectre Erin sits.

An aged desolation,
She sits by old Shannon's flowing,
A mother of many children,
Of children exiled and dead,
In her home, with bent head, homeless,
Clasping her knees she sits,
Keening, keening!

And at her keen the fairy-grass
Trembles on dun and barrow;
Around the foot of her ancient crosses
The grave-grass shakes and the nettle swings;
In haunted glens the meadow-sweet
Flings to the night wind
Her mystic mournful perfume;
The sad spearmint by holy wells
Breathes melancholy balm.
Sometimes she lifts her head,
With blue eyes tearless,
And gazes athwart the reek of night
Upon things long past,
Upon things to come.

And sometimes, when the moon
Brings tempest upon the deep,
The roused Atlantic thunders from his caverns in the west,
The wolfhound at her feet
Springs up with a mighty bay,
And chords of mystery sound from the wild harp at her side,
Strung from the hearts of poets;
And she flies on the wings of tempest
With grey hair streaming:
A meteor of evil omen,
The spectre of hope forlorn,
Keening, keening!

She keens, and the strings of her wild harp shiver
On the gusts of night:
O'er the four waters she keens-over Moyle she keens,
O'er the Sea of Milith, and the Strait of Strongbow,
And the Ocean of Columbus.

And the Fianna hear, and the ghosts of her cloudy hovering heroes;
And the swan, Fianoula, wails o'er the waters of Inisfail,
Chanting her song of destiny,
The rune of weaving Fates.
And the nations hear in the void and quaking time of night,
Sad unto dawning, dirges,
Solemn dirges,
And snatches of bardic song;
Their souls quake in the void and quaking time of night,
And they dream of the weird of kings,
And tyrannies moulting, sick,
In the dreadful wind of change.

Wail no more, lonely one, mother of exiles, wail no more,
Banshee of the world-no more!
The sorrows are the world's, though art no more alone;
Thy wrongs, the world's.

Moonlight over grave grass, meadowsweet, marsh hellebore, rock sea-lavender, Irish Lady's-tresses, melancholy thistle, and wood bitter-vetch, with the scent of autumn fires in the distance, sprayed by wind howling over the Atlantic.

Wow, I'm the first??? Oh, the pressure!

This is the most herbal-smelling Lunacy ever, IMO. I've managed to acquire at least sniffies of all the Lunacies (even those with mint notes ), and Singing Moon is all herbs, grasses, and a tinge of salty smoke -- no florals to my nose at all. However, that's not a bad thing, even as much as I admire florals, because September is not a time for many good-smelling flowers.

This Lunacy makes me feel very introspective, very meditative, and tonight I'm planning to wear it instead of my chosen Pink Moon, because I think this will make me dream of loved ones gone before -- it just has that sort of scent to it. I would almost expect this of an October Moon, rather than September, because it puts me in mind of Halloween, but the early meaning of the day, rather than the current one. This is a scent for ancestors' visiting, for honoring the loved dead.

I like it. A lot.

UPDATE:
I wore Singing Moon last night, and did indeed dream of my ancestors; of my dearly loved grandmother, to be precise, and while I'm not going into details here, it was a most informative and necessary dream. Beth has truly wrought a miracle with this Lunacy, and for me, it is one to always have around. I must begin scouting out additional bottles...

oh yes...the actual scent. My earlier test was only from the cap, and I honestly did not pick up much of an earthy scent. But last night, when applied in my normal night routine of wrists, temples and breast-bone, there was a nice earth-encrusted rock scent at first, but that faded into deep herbs and salty air, followed at long last by spicey and very faint floral. Lovely!

Edited December 28, 2010 by stellans

[minasena]

In the bottle: Hmm. Sweet herbs and a dash of salty... something. I can't quite tell, but it smells very lovely.

 

Wet: Very herbal, but in a pleasant way. Unfortunately, I can't pick out individual notes but I do think I'm catching the thistle and wood bitter-vetch.

 

Dry: The herbs have calmed down somewhat and I can smell the rock sea-lavender mingling with what seems to me is wood and smoke.

 

Conclusion: I really like this. It's not at all strong or overwhelming. When I demanded my dad smell, he said he could smell spices and that it was pleasant. There's also something comforting about the scent, which makes me like it even more. Not sure about lasting power since I've only had it on about 20 minutes, but hopefully it lasts!

[mandragora]

Singing Moon smells very green and watery herbal surrounded by a strong dirt note. Reminds me strongly of The Premature Burial from the Maelstrom series with a green aquatic twist. Very pretty, but not for me.

[clover]

Sniffing from the bottle the first thing I notice is the scent of dirt. This makes me happy, because I was sort of afraid I would get aquatics. I was a little bit afraid of the verb "sprayed" in the description. But yay! There's nothing even remotely aquatic in Singing Moon - to my nose anyway.

 

The scent of dirt lingers when I put it on my skin, but not in a way I am used to. It's incredibly soft (dirt is usually the only thing I can smell when it's a component in a perfume), and takes a back seat to all of the other notes in the blend. Which, to be honest, I'm going to have trouble describing. Not quite floral, not quite fruity. Maybe like wildflowers? I'll say this - it's BEAUTIFUL. Gorgeous. I love it. I'm actually considering scribbling Clover + Singing Moon = True Love Forever with a big heart around it on my forearm where I slathered the perfume. It's that good.

[alicia_stardust]

In the bottle I get a strong, sweet smell that I am sure is meadowsweet. Lurking behind that I get the smell of murky, damp earth.

 

On my skin, this very briefly reminds me of Crow Moon, and then that aspect goes away. As the scent dries, there is such a sharp bite of fresh-turned earth and soil that I can almost taste it.

 

Behind this earth scent I can detect small amounts of water-drowned flowers, a touch of bitter herb, and then a lovely zest of seaspray (very subtle) and autumn fires.

 

I can't quite describe what this scent does to me. It's very uncharacteristic of my usual favorites, yet I really like it. For some reason the scent of it puts me into a sort of holding state where I'm on the verge of melancholy, longing for expression of some sort, feeling a loss of something I can't grasp. Meditative. Quiet. Knowing.

[Rheliwen]

Wow, putting this on was a bit mossy-herbal, even for me. But this phase only lasted about a minute. I am very much reminded of one of my first bpal loves, Ulalume. That moss and watery floral aspect is definitely there, but this is more upright, cheery, and sophisticated.

 

I was a little worried about the aquatic and air references in the description as neither of those things work for me. I am happy to note that the scent manages to be really airy without emitting harsh ozone notes. It smells like perfume blowing in the wind. The burning fire aspect is subtle, more like a memory carried over the wind and is not harsh at all.

 

This is green, creamy, mossy, and sweet...delightful.

 

I wanted to mention after reading the dirt comments that it definitely has the same dirt note the Queen of Clubs has and does remind me of it in feel, sans the berry quality.

Edited August 7, 2007 by Rheliwen

[Brianne]

In the bottle:

Sweet/grassy/herbal?

 

On me:

I immediately do not know how to describe this. It's kind of mossy, but in a sweet, fruity/floral setting. It definitely has an herbal vibe to it. It has a sort of odd grassy note to it that is a little... spicy, for lack of a better word. Like vetiver only - it's not vetiver and doesn't smell like vetiver (if that makes sense at all). Then a sort of aquatic/salty note creeps in. Doesn't take over, just sort of gives you an herbal/grassy/water vibe.

 

Final note:

Despite the fact that I cannot describe this, I do really like it. It's not a love, but it's an unsual scent that actually makes me think of Autumn a bit (a season I adore). Definitely keeping it around.

[Heavenlyrabbit]

This is Herbal to the extreme. With dirt. And air.

 

An interesting companion to Virgo.

[sarada]

This might very well be my new favorite lunacy, and not just because of the amazing imagery and inspiration behind it.

 

Completely unique, it combines some of my favorite qualities: mossy, green, damp, mineralistic, stormy, herbal. My initial impression when I sniff this is: wet rocks, steaming with mist, damp with greenery and moss. There's something cavernous about it, like a glittering submerged cave. There is also something faintly menthol in the background, like the scent of rain steaming off of hot rocks in Jezirat al Tennyn, but instead of having a humid, tropical jungle in the background, this is a remote Celtic cliff.

 

Moss and dirt, like the fragrant sweet greenery of The Premature Burial grounded in cold soil, blend in with the damp stones. I imagine clear water running over slick stones.

 

As it dries, a sweet faintly smoky scent like the wisps coming off of Devil's Night emerges.

 

Few scents have such a rich array of imagery and depth to them. This is a masterpiece, and I am at a loss for words.

 

eta: I agree with cranberry's review below as well that the first thing I thought of when I smelled this was Shanghai Tunnel!

Edited August 7, 2007 by sarada

[cranberry]

When first applied this smells mossy, damp, like stones and shadows. It reminded me Shangahi Tunnel so strongly that I dug out my bottle and I applied some to my other wrist.

 

To my nose, they are remarkable similar. Shanghai Tunnel may be just the tiniest bit sweeter and a bit more juicy, but they are so similar they could be sisters. Almost twins really. This is a very green scent, but it’s a darker, more muted green; it’s not the bright green of spring buds. There is a dirt note here that is more pronounced when wet.

 

Going back to my comparison with Shanghai Tunnel, it’s like Singing Moon is the masculine (yet effeminate) counterpart to Shanghai Tunnel. They are no longer sisters. Shanghai is drying to a much sweeter scent, while Singing Moon is mossier and drier. Singing Moon also seems to be a bit muskier, though I’m not sure that it has any musk.

 

Now going back to Singing Moon, I recognize what I thought was musk a second ago. It’s the fires and smoke from the Halloween scents such as Samhain, Devil’s Night, DDM 05. Wow, it’s totally getting that distinctive scent that linked (just about) all of the 2005 Hallowe’ens. It’s like cider and smoke.

 

It’s the perfect prelude to fall and I’m amazed at how this scent has changed.

 

In summary, this is a wonderful scent. Similar enough to Shanghai Tunnel so that if you love it and are looking for a similar scent, it will meet that need, yet different enough so that it is its own scent and worth having bottles of each. Truly amazing.

[LadyBug]

So I received my bottle today! This was actually the first purchase I have ever made (from the lab) and I was very please!<<Quick rave...I got a LOT of samples!!!

 

So when I smelled Singing Moon it was very subtle and light. I think the reason for this though was because I had already smelled 10 other scents!

 

Smelling it now and reading the discription at the same time it is very herbal with a slight floral undertone. I really really like it and I LOVE the lable! The scent is not overpowering at all which is good for me....but the scent does stand out!

 

I will try to use this bottle slowly!

[n3m3sis42]

In the bottle:

I feel bad about this (apparently, my nose isn't good at picking out scents by sniffing a bottle), but... oranges and aftershave?

 

Wet:

I am definitely smelling a grass note, and some spicy herbals. Wet, this is very different from anything else I've tried so far from the Lab. There's still something that makes me think of oranges, but I don't know what it is. Overall, I'm pretty sure that a good word for what this smells like wet would be "earthy".

 

Dry:

A mixture of sweet grass and herbs. I have a feeling that this will smell different after it ages, but hopefully not too different since I LOVE IT!

[Lit Chick]

Mmmm. MMM. At first sniff, I figured this would be a winner. Sweet floral herbs, but not sugary (bleh). Lots of watery notes, but none of the ozone tang that so many also have. This is not a clean aquatic.

First thing this AM, it was very very herbal. So much so that it gave me pause, and I thought it might even go a bit masculine. As it starts to dry, there is a bit of aftershave quality. I suspect that's the lavender, which usually gets aggressive on me for a few moments before calming down into something lovely. It's grassy too, but the florals really balance that out. It's very meadow-y. There's a little saltiness in there too, just barely. I get no smoke at all.

As it dries in full it gets very gentle.

This is a very perfumey blend, falling into a nearly department-store type of scent. For the first 30 min of the dry-down, I am on the fence about it. But there's still something about it that I really love, and the full dry is soft and gorgeous.

This would also be fantastic in a locket, as the wet stage is delicious.

[Delirium1009]

In bottle: This smells very herbal and almost minty.

 

immediately on skin: It starts out as a very crisp and strong scent. It is aquatic and almost minty with some herbs and a chilly sweetness.

 

After a few minutes: A strong sweet note comes out now… and a smokiness. It’s a very purplish-blue scent and almost incense-like. The herbs and chill fall away to the background and keep this blend from turning overly sweet.

 

Later on: This blend smells the same as it did after drying, but just lighter now. Unfortunately this scent lasts only 2-3 hours on me before I have to reapply, but I love it so much that I don’t mind. It’s very mysterious and light and absolutely gorgeous!

 

Edited to add later: I've worn this a few times and it's one of my favorites... but I definitely get an apple or cider note out of it! It's not really sour, but it's crisp and apple-like and very pretty.

Edited August 24, 2007 by Delirium1009

[QueenFae]

First impression: green, floral, marshy, watery, herbal

 

This smells like evil, swampy flowers on me; like a Sping time bouquet left out in the marsh. There is a very herbally quality in there as well. The longer this sits on my skin, the more sharp and herbal it becomes.

 

This is very stong on my skin; perhaps one of the strongest lunacy blends on me ever. It lasts for quite awhile as well.

 

This is not my type of thing, unfortunately; oh how I wanted to love The Singing Moon!

[The_Merf]

In the bottle: As others have said--lots of herbs. However, I get an edge of floral. I don't know enough about the flowers used to be more specific, but there's a not sharp white/grey/light colored floral edge to this blend.

 

Wet: This blend actually goes rather minty on me--very cool. The notes are a muddle. It's also very light.

 

Drydown and wear: This remains very minty on me--when I can smell it. This practically vanished on my skin; it's been awhile since a blend went away so quickly. However, I tend to have worse luck with herbal scents than others (Glasgow tragically disappeared on me--in fact, Singing Moon calls to my mind a more complex version of Glasgow). Alas, I think this one's going off to swaps.

[neuilly]

Right off the bat it's wet moss but the moss fades to the back pretty quickly and the earth note takes over instead. Wet, Airy, Earthy. And a breath of flowers over everything.

[bibliophile]

My skin chemistry does bad, bad things to Singing Moon, which makes my Irish self sad indeed! For the first hour or so, I get dirt - which is not unpleasant, but not a note that generally works well on me - and a strong menthol-like note that reminds me of Chloraseptic, which is not pleasant at all. About 30 minutes into the drydown, the menthol note goes away and is replaced by a very faint sweetness, which is nice, but the first 30 minutes make this one a deal-breaker for me, I think. My North Atlantic seaspray needs will have to be met by Selkie instead.

[summer]

This is so, so lovely.

 

It smells like autumn. Just the first hint of it after a lush summer. Like the crisp air over a lake.

 

It's perfume. A little sweet, and very feminine, but in a grown-up, somber sense. This isn't girly, but it isn't haughty. It's just the quiet reflection as the seasons start to get darker, colder, and more harvest-centered. It reminds me of the perfume and leaves and herbs of Harvest Moon, but without the pumpkin/spice/fruit/food.

 

Beautiful. My favorite Lunacy in a long time.

[Lyzz13]

In the bottle: The hell did I buy? Very herbal and bitter... I'm more of a sweet floral girl. And there's also a tinge of the dreaded licorice in there. Very, very skeptical about this one.

 

Wet: It gets even more bitter. But the smoke is coming out, with a bit of, how odd, wet rocks... I will stick with this through drydown, and see how it plays out.

 

Dry: I grew up on the Pacific coast, somewhere in between San Francisco and San Jose. One of my grandmothers lived on the ocean in Half Moon Bay. We visited her often, and I always loved to walk on the beach. I even found a sea cave. That is what this scent reminds me of. The wet stone, the salt, the wildflower crown I was usually wearing... Nostalgia! I now live about 5 hours from the ocean, so it's no longer an afternoon visit, or a short drive over the hill. I miss the ocean like nothing else.

 

Final: Not something I'd wear regularly, but definitely something for those days where I miss crashing waves.

[SeaLady]

In the bottle: Mostly herbal, with a hint of the lunacy-type oils, and similar florals to Selkie, though I am certainly not a connoisseur of florals.

 

Apparently, Singing Moon and my skin are lovers. I don't know how this changes to something so musky and sweet and warm from what it was in the bottle, but it's delicious! A hint of flowers are still there, but it's much deeper than I was expecting from my sniff out of the bottle. The warmth and the smoke almost hints at pipe tobacco, but not quite.

 

I'm so glad I love this. And I do! This much:

[chrisann]

For my two cents:

 

The beauty of Singing Moon is comes through after 30 minutes. The dirt note starts to receed (thankfully) and the smokier, autumnal, earthiness of this scent really blossoms. It reminds me of Hexennacht a bit. A "mutt" version of Hexennacht, Graveyard dirt and Shanghi Tunnel, with something else that is softer more delicate in the drydown.

 

I'm glad I gave this scent a road test. I was about to "pooh pooh" it from the way it smelled in the bottle. This kind of scent usually is not "me" but, in this case I'm making an exception. I can't believe I like it! It's not one that I can see going into heavy rotation, but it is so different than anything else that I have.. we'll see! All in all happy to have a bottle of Singing Moon!

Edited August 9, 2007 by growwild

[jenett]

On me, this starts more green and herbal, and then goes through a series of rapid changes as it dries, bringing out different notes as it does so - I like what I think must be the rock sea-lavender particularly, and there's also some nice thistle. I get almost none of the scent of autumn fires, but I do get a good dose of sea-salt aquatics as a base, but faint, like mist rising up from the actual water.

 

Then, it disappears entirely for a little while (20 minutes? 30?) and then slowly comes back to a faint herbal-floral, very much (and not surprisingly) like standing in a fall meadow on a cliff over the sea. There's a sweetness in there (and I'm not sure exactly where it comes from: a higher floral note, but mixed with greenery and grass.) It settles very close to the skin, too.

 

Other reviews have described a 'dirt' scent - and I don't get that at all. delicate_fangs has a horrible reaction to it (it goes to mint and mildew on her, which is so not a good perfume combo), which means the bottle is mine!

Edited August 9, 2007 by jenett

[delicate_fangs]

It does indeed do unfortunate things on me, which is sad, because I very much wanted to like Singing Moon.

 

On first application I get Spanish moss and a sort of moldy-mildewy scent. There might be some floral in the background, but the moss/mildew is too strong to distinguish it. After about ten minutes some mint starts coming out rather strongly. (I get a sort of Chloraseptic note like bibliophile did; I wonder if we're skin chemistry cousins or something.) The mildew then accelerates, giving a strong mint and mildew blast which is what sealed Singing Moon's fate, much to jenett's pleasure.

 

Way, way later there is a faint drydown of flowers and seaspray, but by then it was just too late. Alas. Oh, well. I am lucky to have a friend who is my scent-and-chemistry opposite, because it means I can foist off all the high florals, moss, lots of herbals, and especially the violets, on her. Mwa-ha-ha!

[Jilara]

In the bottle, it's mossy with a strange hinting of ... cherry? Both I and my housemate both smelled this vague hinting of cherry... Huh. Odd.

 

Wet: aquatic notes, with something mossy and dirtlike in the background. No cherry, now.

Dry: early on, it's a dreamy floral, full of aquatic notes, not so much as seaspray but a storm off the sea, a squall hitting moorlands. Thinking more, I can identify the non-aquatics: it's like you'd get coming in toward land, from the ocean, when you start to smell land and vegetation, if that makes sense. Still mossy notes, something peatmoss and dirtlike in the background. No fires or woodsmoke on me.

In the later dry stage (6 hours later) I'm still getting misty florals and aquatics, but the dirt has dropped out and been replaced by something faintly minty-herbal. There's almost a creaminess in the background that I recognize from the background of how Cancer smells on me, in its late phases, but more delicate.

 

I think this one's a winner, another for my "wear fairly often" list.