October

[DifferentDances]

Dry, cold autumn wind. A rustle of red leaves, a touch of smoke and sap in the air.

Bottle: Airy aquatic, perfumed leaves.
Wet: Aquatic shot through with crisp air. And the scent of a freshly snapped branch.
Drydown: Wonderfully subtle aquatic. Not too masculine or cologne-y.
Dry: The subtle aquatic vanishes off my skin.

Would I reach for this in my perfume box? No.

My rating: 2/5

[HerbGirl]

It's nice to see so many people here that love Autumn. October is my favorite month: our season is so short these days... I was very excited to get my hands on a bottle of this from 2007, and I do love how it smells on me. I was ranting and raving around the house and my boyfriend finally stopped me and said, "OK. Give me your wrist." He said, "It smells like CK One, with smoke...and leaves...and something else..." and I had to laugh. Lots of perfume oils do crazy things on me, and this one is definitely a keeper...MUCH better than CK One.

 

So...after wearing October 2010 I have to edit: no more CK One-ness...only sappy, cool, rustling leave-ness...amazing. With a bit of dirt.

Edited September 30, 2010 by Herb Girl

[StevenBoatman]

This review is for October 2010.

 

So, after my rather disastrous encounter with this year's Samhain, I was a bit worried about this scent. Here's what I got:

 

In the bottle: Dirt and celery. Not a nice combo. I was very much tempted to recap the bottle and put it away, but I decided to give it a fair chance.

 

Wet: Less of the dirty celery note, October now is more a drenched pile of leaves at night. Surprisingly, it doesn't smell as bad as that sounds.

 

Dry: Something spicy, with a dirt undertone. Not sure exactly what it is I'm picking up. All I know is that, after drying down, October becomes a wonderfully mysterious spice, in a forest at night. Just exactly what a Halloween scent ought to be!

[starpixi81]

October 2010

 

In the bottle: Smells very similar to A Blade of Grass, lots of fresh cut grass and leaves.

 

Wet on skin: Again conjuring up memories of A Blade of Grass but with a lot more complexity. It smells like dry leaves blowing in the wind on a fall night, with a full moon (maybe it doesn't smell like a full moon, but it could!).

 

Dry on skin:There is a slight smokiness that comes and the leaves smell quite dry and scattered along a trail in the woods. This is not masculine to me, although it is pretty gender neutral, but it has a dark quality that I can't quite put my finger on.

 

Really beautiful, not sure how often this will get used, but it is really nice and the bottle art is really cute!

[claudia6913]

In the bottle: This has almost a potpourri scent, kind of like one with leaves and odd dry flowers.

 

Wet on skin: The sap comes out and I'm kind of afraid because it's a pine sap, and not like maple or some other deciduous tree. I amp conifers (and apparently their sap) to high heaven - so much so it takes over the blend. Hopefully this doesn't happen.

 

Drydown: It's pine sap single note on my skin. There's a little bit of leaves, I think, it's hard to smell around the sap.

 

Dry: A little of the smoke comes out, but it's still mostly pine sap.

 

Overall: I'm going to let this sit and see if the sap calms down a bit. If it doesn't, I might have to part with this blend as even aged pine-like scents overwhelm me.

Edited January 9, 2011 by Shollin
Removed Lab description

[tg1123]

This scent did not work for me...in the bottle it's pine sap and green aquatic men's cologne....then once on turns to just the men's cologne. A guy might smell god waering this....but does not smell like leaves at all to me.

[CynicalPink]

Imp: Leaf

 

Wet: Leaf and soap

 

Drydown: Leaf, soap, and nasal discomfort. It's almost shrill in how cologne like it is.

 

Overall: It's just not doing it for me. It's too strong and too cologne like.

[Lorelai1945]

2010 Version

 

This does smell a lot like men's cologne. It does have a leafy, slightly smoky feel, but there's also something kind of shaving soap about it- it's also a bit dry smelling. It's very strong at first, but once it's dry it does mellow a bit, and sweetens a tad. I neither love nor hate it, but I suspect it would be incredible on a man. I think I'll keep my decant around, but I don't think a bottle will be necessary.

[Laurel the Woodfairy]

I'm not sure why I didn't try October '07, but the description appealed to me this time around. Wet, I get woods with a bit of what might be musk--something softening the woods so they are less sharp than Cathedral, but still in the same family. I think I'm getting moss and aquatics on the drydown. Not a lot of throw; it stays close to the skin. October is definitely a gender-neutral scent, but I'm going to give it to my husband. Dr. Taurus loves earthy scents, but I prefer spicy for fall and will stick to Samhain.

[DraloreShimare]

October 2010

 

In the vial - Sharp, green pines.

On the skin - A blast of sap.

Dry - Smoky sap, which smells a lot like men's cologne.

 

This is way too green for me. I was hoping for a lot more smoke, and a lot more dry, and got neither one.

[starfish327]

*2007 blend

 

in the imp: aquatic and greens. not my favorite combination of notes

 

wet: this starts out as a very green aquatic. it smells more like the middle of july than august. i do hope this morphs, because while most aquatics amp painfully on me and this one doesn't, i swapped for this one hoping that i would get something like dry leaves.

 

dry: this does in fact morph, and the longer it dries the more it becomes a slightly spicy dry leaf note.

 

i was thinking of swapping away this decant but i found that the longer i wore it the more i liked it. the only real downside i have with it is that it was a very close scent; i'm not sure that i got any real throw off of it. i would like to see how it layers under a blend like yorick, something with a fairly heavy dirt/loam note.

[talula_fairie]

This reminds me so much of The Death of Autumn I *almost* can't tell it's a different scent. But I agree that this one is a bit colder and drier. It's less green and more masculine. I love them both, anyway.

[Iceblink]

Aquatic and masculine. The drydown of October is much more pleasant than the wet stage, though, with a dry leafiness coming forward. But it's still way too manly on my skin.

[angelicruin]

2010: Herby, aquatic with a dry spice note. Very Fall-like.

[Kimbernunk]

I got October (2010 version) hoping it would be really dry ozone and crisp leaves. It isn't that. What it is is pretty much what I was hoping last year's Falling Leaf Moon would be: soft woods, leaves, and a strong aquatic note. Falling Leaf Moon had a spicy note that October doesn't have, so that October smells fully and only of outdoors things whereas Falling Leaf Moon smells of outdoors things tread through while carrying a cup of chai. I love both for different reasons and purposes.

 

To focus more solely on October, I think my NOSE reads the wind note as being aquatic - something in the combination of that plus the leaves seems to lean aquatic for me (and apparently for a lot of others), but it isn't something that my SKIN treats as aquatic, because the way my skin reacts to the aquatic-seeming note here is different than how it usually treats aquatics. The upshot is that for the first time ever, whatever is going on in this perfume smells EXACTLY like REAL RAIN, as in it's raining outside right now and the leaves are starting to turn and the smell outdoors and the scent wafting off my wrists are absolutely identical.

 

October is a unisex-to-masculine scent. I'm really happy wearing it, but I like a lot of woodsy/masculine scents - I could see where someone who goes for really feminine scents might not be happy with this. But for me it works beautifully, and I'm thrilled to finally have a bottle.

[obsidienne]

I cannot believe how perfectly real this smells. Just like late autumn! I can smell the wind, the leaves, the bit of sap and smoke. It's very -- and I stress very -- soft and light, kind of like if you were actually outside and not wearing this as a perfume; more like you just took a deep breath and the ambient scent of fall just struck your nose. I have to be honest, I don't think I'd wear this as a perfume. But I would throw this in a scent burner! Wow. This is like a very soft A Blade of Grass (minus the grass, anyway). Actually, this is like what A Blade of Grass smells like one month later when fall is transitioning into winter.

[moon_lemming]

I haven't tested any other October, so I don't know how this compares, but I get just-turned leaves and ozone at first. It turns a little greener and the ozone fades as it dries, and when it's completely dry it smells like the inside of a flower stem. It's almost a vegetable but not quite. Too green for me.

[thelaurenator]

Hm. This one was not what I was expecting, although after reading the reviews, it's pretty much how everyone else described it. Aquatic, cologne-y, very, very green. It smells like freshly cut grass covered in dew, with maybe some bonfire smoke wafting in some several blocks away. But the smoke note is FAINT. If this were just ever-so-slightly more smoky, and maybe with something a touch more feminine (amber, maybe?) this would be lovely. But, just on its own, it wasn't what I was looking for.

[reynardine]

2010 version: Almost aquatic? The sap is foremost on this scent. Masculine.

[milo]

At first, this has a strong pungent 'weed' note, kind of like if you cut a thistle in half. Gradually this fades and we're left with a watery, woody, orris-like blend with a bit of powder to round things up. Nice to try, but I don't think that this one is me.

[plainjean]

October 2007

 

On me, this was all fresh sap and leaves—some dead, some new and green—with a hint of an aquatic note, like rain. It's a familiar smell, and it's pleasant enough, but it is much too masculine for me.

[cherrycherry]

This blend does smell like a cologne to me and that's just fine I get leaves and aquatics and a soaring darkness that reminds me perfectly of October nights. It's a complex one. I've never smelt this one aged, but I can imagine it will be very lovely indeed.

[Coldfire]

Decant: smokey aquatic

Wet on me: The aquatic turns to ...leaves. leaves still a touch green. not fully green but a touch green and the smoke. less smokey now tho.

Drying Down: okay more wood now and less leaves, less smoke, a touch of sap.

Dry: a slightly sappy, spicy wood vibe. definitely a crisp fall, wear a sweater and kick some leaves type of scent. LOVE!

[lefthandmade]

Wet and in the bottle I'm thinking HARVEST MOON but on my skin it has an extra something i'm not sure how to describe. It's good though. Very october, very autumn and no kidding with the leaves.

Edited October 17, 2010 by lefthandmade

[edenssixthday]

October 2010 - This smells exactly like the 2007 version, only for some reason I like it more -- probably because while I tend to not wear dry, leafy scents, this smells exactly like the air outside right now, which is full of the scent of fallen-but-not-completely-dried-out leaves, and a chill in the air portending the winter to come, and the first scents of woodsmoke from chimneys being used for the first time since early spring. It's perfect for this time of year. Absolutely perfect.