The Death of Autumn

[Wildbriar]

Dark amber, dead leaves, khus, saffron, bitter clove, chrysanthemum, camellia, galangal, and a drop of oud.

Wow! Death of Autumn has been quite a morpher, in a great way.

In the bottle, and wet on my skin it is very warm, dry and distinctly smoky, with a slightly sour undernote (vetiver, I'm sure) that is evocative of fresh-cut firewood. When this dries completely I'm left with a soft, very dry herbal scent with a hint of sweetness that I adore, and warm spice.

Beth has managed, yet again, to perfectly capture a mood and scene in a bottle. For me this one is walking through a deciduous forest in the late autumn just as the first flakes of snow start to fall.

[spiralmissy]

I tried this on without reading many reviews, and my experience was similar to so many of them....

 

When I opened the bottle, all I could think of was "ummm, this is so NOT going to work." The first scent that I almost choked on when opening the bottle. Someone previously said it smelled like dirty flower water. Absolutely. The kind left over when the flowers have been dead a week, you have been on vacation and forgot to empty the vase before you left.

 

Wet on skin: Pure smoke and bitter dead leaves. More palatable, but still not something I want to smell like.

 

Drying: All the different scents and tones revolve in and out. It reminds me of the smell of trash burning at my grandmother's little house in the Poconos in the middle/end of fall. Smells come and go - bitter, savory, sweet then bitter again. How is it possible for something to change smells so often?

 

Dry: (after 5 minutes) beautiful. mulled cider with cloves. playing outside in the fall leaves while the grownups cook Thanksgiving dinner. much gentler a smell. subtle.

 

The only drawback to TDOA is that the end result is so gentle and soft, if you want others to enjoy, you would have to put a bunch on and go away for 5-10 minutes while it calmed down. I would be afraid to use so much because the wet/drying stage is so overwhelmingly pungent.

[jewelbug]

Imp: A very dark, damp, green scent. Lots of vetiver?

 

Wet: Damp leaves, a bit of peppery spice, something like....the garden aisle of home depot after it gets cold? Really, I can smell the damp compost, the bagged soil and the cool air. Very interesting. The spice in here is a medicinal clove (I had clove packing when my wisdom teeth were removed, so certain clove blends always remind of that time), and the scent tends towards masculine for me.

 

Dry: This really does smell like the autumn outdoors to me. I'm left with that "fresh steam from the composting leaf pile" sort of scent. Its woody, earthy, damp, dry, and really captures that moment. The medicinal spice has backed off, now there is a more subtle spice blend, like someone baking in the distance. Later into the dry the dark amber is more apparently, lending a slightly powdery resin to the dead leaves, woods and light spice scent.

 

Overall: This is a triumph. I really think it captures that autumn in the woods scent. That said, its rather masculine on me, and my hubby didn't love it, so I think I'll keep my imp for the artistry and pass on a bottle. Lasts 6-8 hrs.

Edited October 1, 2008 by jewelbug

[lamenteuse]

in the bottle: honestly, it smells pretty much like every other autumn scent. nothing too amazing

 

wet: oh! oh my! there are hints of smoke and dried leaves on a spicy background

 

dry: dried leaves and smoke! completely autumnal! love it!

 

verdict: 5 out of 5 this is the autumn scent. like taking a walk around the woods, with the leaves changing colors and crunching under your feet. There's a hint of a fireplace off in the distance, and you just feel so cozy.

 

edited to fix html

Edited November 7, 2007 by lamenteuse

[catwoman30]

I don't think I could say what hasn't already been said about this scent.I adore it-this is what I hoped 'October' would smell like.It is the absolute essence of Autumn in a bottle....like walking through the woods with leaves crunching under your feet(sound familiar?)-a beautiful warm, spicy, woody, and green smell all in one.How does Beth do it?

Edited November 10, 2007 by catwoman30

[strangemodegirl]

I wish I were a good writer, because I would write an epic poem about how much I truly adore this scent!

This has the perfect amount of spicy, smokiness to it. I swoon everytime I sniff my wrist.

It seemed to last fairly well. I wore it to work this morning and I was still catching whifs of it by the end of my shift, and I work in a kitchen!

I am DEFINITELY getting a second bottle of this. Heck, I wish I could afford to get like, 5 more bottles of this!

[slave1]

THE DEATH OF AUTUMN

 

In Bottle: Dry and powdery

 

On Skin: This is a dry, powdery scent that is quite bitter to me. I don’t like the smell of dried out leaves and that’s pretty much what this is on me. I like the amber in the background, but the spiciness and dryness just don’t suit me. Quite light and very much fitting the description. This scent is melancholy and dark. The khus is feral, adding to the outdoorsy feel of it. I get leaves mashed into the ground, dry and cold. The spiciness and resin keep it from being a strictly outdoorsy scent. Interesting, but not really me. Moderate throw and short to average wearlength on me.

[Eros]

In the bottle- Vetiver and something sweetly herbal.

 

On skin-The vetiver is subtle and there's a beautiful spicy wood that emerges almost immediately. There's a lovely, sweet smoke here, like walking through chill woods at night with the smell of sweet burning chimney smoke in the distance. And saffron, a hint, but definitely there. A good thing! I also get a very very light, dry cinnamon spice that flutters around here and there.

I suppose this could be considered more of a masculine blend, but barely, imo.

Very evocative and very beautiful!

[PurringPulsar]

The Death of Autumn

 

In the imp: vetiver, saffron, spiced autumn leaves and amber.

Wet on skin: hot saffron and possibly galangal, oud and and autumn leaves.

Dry on skin: mmm, this is really quite beautiful! I smell a much truer autumn leaf note than that of October, along with dry, hot saffron, a little bit of clove, dry woodsy notes of oud and galangal, a gorgeous amber note and just a hint of vetiver. This is a dry, spicy and haunting scent, which is dusty, almost sandy. Imagine autumn in a warmer, drier climate-this is the scent of autumn leaves dropping in the unexpected heat of an Indian summer, or leaves dried by desert winds. I smell nothing floral here-just woods, spices, incense and leaves.

After a while: is there sandalwood in here? I smell something very much like that here. The scent becomes drier and more arid, and also a little hotter as well. It's not as amber-y as before, now it's more woody and leafy and dusty, but also golden.

Then the scent becomes saffron and oud wood, that rich and complex wood that I remember smelling in the Heroine scent beginning with S (don't ask me to spell it). I also smell the galangal, which is spicy-woodsy, I can pick it out because there's a note here very much like the dusty woods note I got in Magical Omaha's Haunted Mill. The vetiver has also returned, occasionally popping up among the woods and arid spices. The vetiver is definitely there but it's a gentler version than most-it's more like the vetiver in Wulric, which was drier and a bit woodsy, not sticky and tarry and heavy.

Eventually the amber returns, and damn, I love amber. It glows like a sunset among the woods, leaves, dry vetiver and saffron, this brings to mind a caravan of spices and exotic woods and resins travelling across golden sand dunes.

The scent fluctuates between vetiver and amber, and sometimes the vetiver is a little too strong, but then the amber comes in and makes it gorgeous.

Verdict: this is, as I anticipated, an exotic, oriental take on the autumn scent theme, and it's lovely. The best way I can describe this is autumn in the desert. This isn't a damp autumn scent like that of Samhainophobia, or a foody one (Samhain), or a musky one (Hunter Moon) or a cool one (October), this is a warm autumn, a hot wind full of dry leaves. It's gorgeous and spicy and woodsy with a delightful amber base. I really like the khus note, it's a vetiver that works very well on me-not a light vetiver, but not one that lingers for an eternity either-this strikes a balance between the light and heavy vetivers. However, I swear my bottle smells different to my half-decant (the latter of which I based my review on), as my bottle has more of a scent of October's cologne notes to it, the decant has less. I hope it's a matter of aging and that maybe the bottle will smell as wonderful as my sample!

Emoticon rating:

Is it a keeper? yes!

If you like this, try: October, Three Gorgons, Hunter Moon 07, Cleopatra Testing Poisons, Mr Jacquel

[Kimbernunk]

Morpher, morpher, morpher.

 

At first, it was all khus and smoke. Then the smoke quieted a bit, and there was a hint of amber, which then immediately dissipated into absolute dead-on dry leaf. Now it's calming down into something nicely herbal, with a touch of smoke and a hint of something spicy sweet.

 

Overall, it was way strong to begin with but it's worth waiting through the loud phases to get farther into the drydown - then it's fantastic!!

Love.

[Ravenclaw79]

My first impression: Holy crap, this is NASTY! I sniffed the bottle, and it was an overwhelming bitterness that actually climbed into the back of my throat and made it hard to breathe for a moment.

 

Once I put it on, it continued to be overpoweringly bitter and harsh and just generally awful for almost two hours before it started to settle down. Now, it's finally calmed down and turned into something that yeah, it does kinda smell like old, wet leaves a bit, and there's even a hint of sweetness behind it. It's a lot better with wearing, but I don't know if it's worth putting up with that initial stench for two hours first.

[metaldog32]

So..this particular fragrance has me all a twitter. The amber, dead leaves, cloves…these seem so perfect together.

Initial sniff from bottle: Kind of reminds me of what I smelled in October; chilly…cold…leaves and clove…maybe the chrysanthemum.

Applied wet on skin: Wow..it’s the dark amber all right..with the clove ramping up a bit. Interesting….I think I smell something akin to vetiver…which lends to the dark/gritty/slightly bitter vibe.

Couple of minutes on skin:Hmmm…it’s basically all khus/vetiver on me..and although this doesn’t make me jump for joy it doesn’t have me weeping either. It seems to have softened a bit..so that the khus/vetiver although very much in the forefront seems to be a bit lighter on the throw. Am kind of hoping that amber and clove and saffron show up soon.

Ten minutes later:Finally…amber and clove have peeked through the khus..this smells a bit more warmer. The khus/vetiver note..although strong does play nicely on me..and I am beginning to really respect it. I never ever thought I could wear or want to wear vetiver but with Beth at the helm I have learned I can wear it in certain fragrances…Blood Kiss, Death Adder..and now…possibly Death Of Autumn.

The throw on this is actually pretty soft on me at this point. Overall though..this scent really does give me another side of autumn..and yes..it’s of the latter stages..when it’s winding down…getting ready for the winter hibernation.

Twenty minutes later:This has settled close to my skin..and softened..and you know what??? I like it..I really do. Khus and clove and amber..in this blend the amber is a bit muted on me…and that’s fine..it lends a dark softness which rounds out the fragrance..eventually.

Drydown: Barely there dry leaves, traces of clove and khus…

Lasting power clocked in at about 4+hours

Bottom Line: Death of Autumn proves to be yet again another successful snapshot of autumn..I agree..this does encapsulate for me late fall. Bravo Beth…indeed a keeper.

[Jenesis]

I had high hopes for this.

 

Sadly, from the initial sniff of the Imp to an hour after application, this just smells like... rot. Sickly, horrible, rotting, damp leaves.

 

Blech. Off to the swap pile with thee!

[blu°]

I'm torn about this one... It might be a skin chemistry issue with the dead leaves note. I had it with October, too. It's causing an unpleasant tickling in my nose and is making me sneeze. I also think that it's maybe the leaves hiding behind this sharp thin slightly sour note that I don't like all that much.

 

The dark amber that I was mainly worried about before testing The Death of Autumn, though, is behaving in here. I can hardly smell it. However, I suppose that the perfume might enfold much more nicely on somebody who wears dark ambers well. On me it stays kind of two-dimensional.

 

I still don't dislike the Death of Autumn completely. It has such a nice smoky, burnt incense, burnt wood vibe to it. I really like the vetiver in here. It's not motor-oily and thick but rather dry, smooth and smoky. I also love the clove. And of all the fall blends on the woody/leafy side this is by far my favourite.

 

Whatever, with my nose stuck because of having a cold, I'll re-test this for sure later on before deciding. If I can't wear it, it might still make for a gorgeous room fragrance.

[theseagrows]

this is one of beth's most interesting scents. when i first sniffed the bottle i was a bit apprehensive because it smelled very herbal and slightly sour. it's strong on my skin at first, but once it settles it smells really lovely. very dry, it definitely conjures up imagery of dead leaves. i can smell the clove, saffron and amber the most. this is a pleasant surprise, i'm glad i got a bottle of this.

 

eta: a few minutes later the chrysanthemum comes through (one of my favorite notes) adding a more feminine edge to the scent and now i really love it

Edited November 27, 2007 by theseagrows

[QueenFae]

It's no surprise to me that this one doesn't work for me, it was bought as a stocking stuffer for my husband, who will love it.

 

This smells exactly like an ashtray full of sweet cigar butts on me. There is a strong but sweet tobacco - like aspect to this blend that reminds me of walking in a smoke shop. Sooo totally not my thing, but for people who like this type of blend: you''ll love this one! It's very, very strong and extraordinarily long lasting.

 

Neat, but nicer on the boy.

[Akurarei]

The Death of Autumn 2007

 

In the Bottle:

Less intense than October but very very similar to my nose - could it be the 'dead leaves' note, I wonder?

 

On my Skin, Wet:

A sweeter version of October. On me, October was very masculine and quite pungent too... TDoA is not as strong, sweeter, and more feminine.

This really could be a cute little set, TDoA for the gal & October for the guy

I can't break down TDoA by notes - it's too well blended for me to pick up on any single note.

 

On my Skin, Dry:

Sweet, smoky, and resin-y. Not very strong either - just wiffs of it when I move my arm near my face.

this is a very fall oriented scent - it would be difficult to wear during the spring or summer I think.

 

Verdict:

8 of 10 Ranking.

very lovely & evocative!

 

ETA: I can smell the chrysanthemum! and hints of the clove too- but mostly this scent is dead leaves and amber on me - but SO well blended that I had to wear it a couple of days to catch the subtleties of it! Very beautiful!

Edited December 5, 2007 by Akurarei

[emshort]

I was a little worried when I won auctions for both this and Devil's Night that I was going to be maxing out the same general category of autumnal odor.

 

I shouldn't have been concerned. Devil's Night is sweet, warm, and boozy. Death of Autumn is completely the opposite, a thin, cold, bitter scent that evokes snow and dying leaves really strongly.

 

Then gradually you become acclimatized and the initial bitterness mellows out.

 

Eventually -- as in, after several hours -- it dries down to something that smells more like a person and less like a manifestation of some particularly unfriendly nature goddess: a spicy, still-bitter blend of amber, khus, and clove.

 

Dry, it continues to be detectable for a long time, sending up little waves of rich amber-clove smell.

 

I really like this -- it's got so many stages that it almost feels like a little story in perfume form. In fact, it makes me think of being out in the woods for a walk, getting really cold and a bit numb, and then coming indoors to a comforting evening with friends.

Edited December 5, 2007 by chthonia

[hopeinfreefall]

I absolutely adore Death of Autumn. I thought it would be hard to top MamaJi as my favorite - and then DoA came along! I wear this one fairly frequently because it works as both a nummy scent and a mood-lifting scent for me. (So much so that when I left a few things at Darkblade's house on my last visit, she dried them with a plastic pipette that she had decanted more DoA with!)

 

In the bottle, the scent is a LOT stronger and a bit intimidating. However, once I have it on, it mellows out and you get hints of the smoke and the earthiness of the dead leaves and hints of the spices. I'm still trying to get a better idea at how to describe the oils both in the bottle and as they dry down, but this one is fairly easy because I'm never quite sure which aspect of it will be dominant. At one point I will smell the smoky bits and at another, I notice the earthy bits and still others, the spicy bits.

 

I also seem to have better luck with this one lingering than most. I typically do not end up having to reapply it and have even had small bits of it lingering the next day. I absolutely adore this blend!

[leapylees]

Oh dear. I had high hopes for the spices in this, but it's all burnt rubber and soap on me. Really don't like this, and it's giving me a headache. Shower for me and swaps pile for Death of Autumn.

[Neely]

In the bottle: smokey vetiver. I happen to love smoke and vetiver so this isn't a bad thing, but it is strong whoo boy!

 

Wet: smokey vetiver.

 

Dry down: smokey vetiver with an underlying smoothness, there is a creaminess that is mellowing out the smoke and vetiver.

 

30 minutes: smokey vetiver and a soft, sweet, creaminess that I think is khus. Eros mentioned saffron, and I agree, there is just a hint. I don't get spices at all, but it is one of Beth's blends and we know how well the notes can work together so you can't tell them apart.

 

Conclusion: This is the scent of my favorite time of year. Funnily, October is too. It is just like the changing moods of Autumn. Death of Autumn is a cloudy day in October, and October is a sunny day where the light is like golden Chamagne. I love all the scents Beth has created for this lovely season.

 

Rating 1-5: 5!

[VioletChaos]

in the bottle: vetiver, plus something smoky.

 

wet on skin: more vetiver but with a very subtle fruit afternote- perhaps orange, or tangerine.

 

dry down: the smoke comes to the front, tempering the vetiver and removing it's bitter edge.

 

in all: not my cup of tea for fragrances, but for those who have a love of smoky things, like the tea Lapsang Souchon, you will probably be in total love with this.

[othelloperrello]

At last! Having tried October and November which didn't work at all on my skin, I was despairing. Then Death of Autumn came.

Wet:

An overtone of cologne, which made me nervous since the above autumnal scents turned to cheap perfume before my nose. But definitely some woodsmoke in there, and something dark, so my hopes are high.

 

Dry on skin:

Yes, this is what I was looking for. It is, on me, exactly what the ingredients foretell: deep clove and vetiver, darkest amber glinting with the lightness of chrysanthemum. Rarely do all of the components of a scent come out on me, but here I can detect each individual note. They all play together well, too.

 

Altogether, as I'd hoped, this really does have the feeling of its title: woodsmoke, distances, dry and decayed leaves, hard wind and thinning light. Thank you Beth!

[gchris]

I am not very familiar with the notes in this one so I will do the best I can.

 

In Vial: bitter,masculine

 

Wet: more of the same but toned down. Though still pungent and harsh. Makes my nose burn.

In this I can really see a cold, cloudy day. Dead leaves on the ground all around. Its almost a sad scent.

 

Drydown:Not as harsh, kind of smoky.

 

Color: Medium to dark brown with traces of black

[MaeKitty]

In the Bottle: Leaves, clove and some floral

On Me: This is a favourite. I may need a 5ml of this. The clove and amber bring such a warmth. The leaves are subtle, but lovely, with the florals in the far back, keeping it alive. LOVE it