The Chilling Cellar

[gingersnapp]

Wine just turning to vinegar, crumbling mortar, red clay, and the coppery tang of old blood.

This is a dusty scent, just like you'd imagine an abandoned cellar would smell. There is definitely a coppery tang to it, as the description says. It smells vaguely of dirt / earth in the throw, which is likely the red clay note. And there is just the slightest hint of fruit, coming from the wine.

[Bangles]

Sweet and tangy (and infinitely more pleasant than my own cellar - maybe I should use this for a room scent in there!). I get the wine more than anything else, but it's mixed with something dusty - the clay or the mortar? It doesn't really morph at all, just fades gently.

[Keslynn]

In the bottle and wet on my skin, it's a tangy wine scent with that hint of vinegar from the description. When I first smelled it again, I wondered if this was the same scent I had loved from ECWC.

 

As it dries, I am reassured that this is the same gorgeous scent. For the first hour or so, it's almost a patchouli single note, and I do love me some patchouli (at least I'm pretty sure that's what it is). Then a wine note comes in at the top of the patchouli. The wine is still tangy, definitely a red, but it's not vinegary like in the bottle. The patchouli and red wine are really playing well together. It's definitely evoking the earthy, wine scent of a cellar. And I love the combination!

 

Verdict: Love it! A rich scent that's earthy without being dirty. If you hate patchouli, steer clear, but if you love earthy and winey, this is the Haunted House scent for you.

[jolarocknrolla]

Wet, i smell mostly sweet wine, sweet in the way that pommegranite sweetens up on me, and a hint of dust and maybe patchouli. There is a slight tang, as if of ozone. Once it starts to dry down though, the wine/tangy note almost completely dissappears and turns into something very much like Lurid Library (without the floral) - in that there is an inscence kind of note and the dry-dusty note comes forward a LOT. I still smell a timy bit of patchouli i think and there is still a hint of sweetness, but it's not fruity wine as it was at first, it's now almost completely dusty and inscence-y.

[Tramp]

I am convinced there is amber in here somewhere. I get a soft powdery tinge to it every now and then. The top notes are dry aged oak wine barrels. If you have ever been on a winery tour and remember the smell of the big, cold room where they have stacks and stacks of wine filled oak barrels you know what I am talking about. There is also a subtle earthyness. I really like it. If you are worried about the sour wine note it is barely there.

 

This is one of those scents that reminds me how much I love Beth and Bpal. It IS a chilling cellar, I just don't know how Beth does it - amazing.

[Delirium1009]

In bottle/imp: Dust and dry wine.

 

Immediately on skin: It’s very dry… I can definitely smell the wine, mixed with something earthy, but not dirt; the clay maybe? There’s also quite a bit of musk in this.

 

After a few minutes: This has settled down to an extremely dusty earth scent with a cool, chilling feel to it. It’s a bit powdery and there’s a very light touch of a wood scent. I don’t get any sort of vinegary note, but there is a very light dry red wine type of feel to it.

 

Overall Impressions: This is a very creepy, lonely scent. It truly does smell like a dry, old cellar filled with antique furniture and casks of nameless liquids. It’s dusty and quite dry, but it is a pleasant scent. Yet another unique creation from the lab!

[grrrlennyl]

at first: a slightly sweet, damp scent.

on: odd. i can really smell the red clay and something sweet.

2 hours later: still clay, with something metallic and sweet and something that smells like stone.

5.5 hours later: powdery and sweet, with a bit of heavy wine.

overall: i really like this a lot. it's sort of an odd scent, but it's still nice. i definitely chose the best haunted house blend for me.

[alicia_stardust]

THE CHILLING CELLAR

 

Wet: In the bottle it smells like dry wine that hasn't sufficiently aired, and coppery blood. There's a touch of earthy, dark sweetness and a touch of spice.

 

Dry on Skin: I get the wine, clay, and copper tang of dried blood right off the bat. After that my nose starts to sort through the scent a little closer. I detect something that reminds me of blood musk, bitter cocoa (ever so slight), and possibly allspice. The musk and spice give off just enough of a sweet, inviting warmth. The dry wine is ever-present and then slowly fades off. The blood musk (or is it red musk?) seems to be the strongest note on my skin, and it is the last to fade after all the others have disappeared. I really love how "red" and creepy this scent is.

 

A final note: there's something about The Chilling Cellar that is sinister in a tantalizing way. The only other scent in my history of BPAL that has had the same effect on me was The Tell-Tale Heart from the Maelstrom series. The scent literally brought the story to life. The Tell-Tale Heart and The Chilling Cellar seem to have something in common, scent-wise, and as far as I'm concerned, The Chilling Cellar is a perfect addition to this Haunted House.

[edenssixthday]

The Chilling Cellar - This smells nothing at all like I thought it would. It has a touch of "wet stone" scent to it, but mostly, it smells like metallic powder. I get none of the wine/vinegar notes. The "wet stone" note reminds me a touch of Shanghai Tunnel and otherwise, it's just really sharp and powdery. Believe it or not, I like it. A lot. However, I have to be careful not to put more than the teeniest tiniest drop on my skin or everyone around me is enveloped in the scent of sweet, wet-stone powder. Very pretty and feminine, oddly enough, and kind of commercial. It's not one I'll wear a lot, but one that's likely to be worn when I dress up.

[Finny]

The Chilling Cellar, a hint of dragon's blood, sweetness, and a chilly, dusty base note. The dragon's blood does not get the floral note that most of the dragon blends have on me. Definitely a keeper.

[requieminblack]

At first this is musty old wine. Like a bottle you forgot to cork and left out for a long time. Then I get that tang of blood like the 'blood musk' note used in some other blends. I do get the wet clay/musty damp earth wafting through along with the blood musk. As it fades is becomes all baby powder on me with a hint of wine.

[grifyn_whiffs]

The description for this one scared me, too. Vinegar? Get thee hence!

 

BUT, I am so stunned: This is the blend I WANTED Centzon Totochtin to be. CT went "off" on me (something about that rum note, I think), but started out so beautiful, and so does The Chilling Cellar! The blood musk is so unbelievably gorgeous on me! Admittedly, I don't get anything Eeeevil from this blend, but maybe evil is in the nostrils of the beholder?

 

This is perfect, perfect, perfect! It's right up there with the Perilous Parlor for Haunted House blends that will require a bottle buy!

[LadyCrow]

It's funny that Grifyn should mention Centzon Totochtin, because this behaves on me kind of like Centzon's LE twin -- or, to compare another LE, a much dryer Montresor.

 

I'm afraid, therefore, that this is simply going to be one of those "ILU, Beth" reviews... because I get a marvelous throw, with the sweetness of the wine tempered by the coppery blood. The dusty, powdery notes (and I think another previous reviewer is right in suspecting the help of amber in this) live closer to my skin. I get cocoa, too, and much like the effect when I wear Centzon, it's really difficult to stop sniffing myself.

 

I can also smell the "cellar" note -- the damp undergroundness in Shanghai Tunnel. What really dominates on me, though, is sweet, dry cocoa-and-wine... and I love that.

 

This might have to be a 5ml. It's that good.

[CrazyPretzel]

In the decant: slightly sour red wine and a deep clay note that's like cocoa (dude, I dunno).

 

Wet on me: The sourness fades pronto and it's smooth and velvety and chocolatey and just a little wine-like. This is like a less musky, more foody Hunter Moon.

 

After a few minutes: Smooth and somehow earthy without a strong 'dirt' note. This is very beautiful and extremely wearable, IMO.

 

Drydown: A hint of amber (boyfriend's nose reads this as 'Soap. Nice soap.') with a smooth clay scent (quite distinct from other blends with an earth/dirt component) and nothing at all sour or vinegary. It's rich and soft and much more Bewitching Bedroom than Chilling Cellar on me.

 

Awesome!

[Ohmaude]

I didn't expect to like this, but I'm ordering a bottle stat.

 

In the imp I'm getting wine, amber and a high pretty dust note.

 

On my wrist, this is beautiful. Very dry, Amber and lots of powder, a bit of wine, a bit of spice, a bit of earth. This is the hardest scent I have ever had to describe. I just can't call the notes, but I love it. This is almost three gorgons, with out the citrus note. It's very earthy. I never knew I liked wine, but this is the second scent I have tried with it as a note, and I think I love it. I knew I was a lush, I didn't realize I like to smell like one. I agree with whoever said this smells like a winery's oak barrels, it totally does.

 

I'm in love with the Chilling Cellar, but the BPAL enthusiasist who sniffed my wrist said, "cabbage." Chemistry is strange, no?

 

Maybe it's being from a damp part of the world, where cellars are regularly flooded and smell like mold: this doesn't smell like a cellar to me. This smells fantastic.

[Little Bird]

I was interested in the red clay note in this, but really nothing else in its description appealed to me. I have a hard time wearing wine and blood notes, and vinegar isn't something I've ever aspired to smell like. I agree that this smells similar to Centzon Totochtin and The Tell-Tale Heart, which are both blends that didn't work on me. I wonder if this has the same blood musk that Tell-Tale Heart does? This starts off smelling of sharp, rotten fruit (oh yay, wine) and a really perfumey, warm, dry musk on my skin. Then this blend quickly morphs into an incredibly dry baby powder and dust scent on me with an oddly metallic undertone. Sometimes I think I catch hints of a fruity something that actually isn't too bad, but this is way too dry and powdery overall for my tastes.

[euterpe414]

I was definitely not excpecting this one to smell the way it does based on the description. On my skin I get a sweet wine, very similar to the wine in Madrid, with some herbal/stone type notes- I'm guessing this is the clay... The Chilling Cellar has lots of throw, and despite having the word "chilling" in its name I find this to be a very warm and vibrant scent. It is what I wanted the wine scents in the Maelstrom series to smell like (unfortunately those were like cough syrup on me!)- deep, rich wine with a hint of dustiness and earthiness. I really love this one and am definitely ordering a bottle- yay (!) for a new wine scent that works well with my chemistry

[sookster]

straight sniff from bottle is an over ripe fruit...

 

once applied, the fruitiness takes forefront and then mellows very seductively...

 

amazingly enuff, this practically disappears from my skin within 15 minutes...

 

no rhyme, no reason

 

ADDED Oct. 10:

 

straight sniff from bottle is sweet and dusty...

once applied i get a sense of something very earthy; has to be the clay...

this scent has great throw!

the wine really comes forefront after 10 to 15 minutes and plays perfectly with

the earthiness...

 

this scent is stunning and i will cherish my bottle

[filigree_shadow]

After reading the description for this one, I thought there'd be no chance I'd like this. But I was wrong.

 

The wine part isn't overwhelming at all, and it really does smell like clay with a metallic tang. It's basically impossible to describe because it doesn't smell like anything I could name. Doesn't smell like a particular wood or flower or anything like that. It has a subtle "perfumey" haze that I usually get from metallic blends, but it doesn't smell like perfume, exactly. It's sweet but not it's not a fruity sweet or a floral sweet.

 

To me, it's a very comforting scent. It smells familiar to me. Reassuring, somehow. I like it.

[Medici]

In the imp: Tea kettle and licorice. Weird. Slightly astringent, a little green (copper going green, anyone?) and just a bit metallic-licorice-whip-like.

 

Wet: A hint of grape in a copper tea pot with a licorice-whip spoon.

 

Drydown: Lordy, this is a strange one. It’s definitely unique, that much I can give you. The booze note is a barely there reminder of souring wine, but on me, that metallic undertone is slowly going the way of powder and turning it to old lady’s perfume.

 

Verdict: Not really my thing.

[olympia301]

Somehow I don't think that the description of this one from the website is a good description. This is a beautiful perfume with great throw and lasting power. It is sweet and, well , very perfumy! Not a floral more like a powder. Very likable.

[crimescenecleanup]

This is the Halloween blend I was most afraid of trying, and it's turned out to be the one I love the most out of the bunch.

 

Right off the bat I get brandy with mulling spices, and my beloved oak.

 

I'm not usually one for spicy scents, (cinnamon and clove are somewhat anathema to me when it comes to BPAL) but gods, this is gorgeous. Spicy without being foody or incensy, at all. A red clay scent creeps out that smells just like the red terracotta clay we used to use in ceramics class. Underneath it all is something creamy, waxy, and fruity that I recognize as dragon's blood. The blood note softens it.

 

Several hours later the boozy notes have faded considerably, but the dragon's blood, spice, and clay linger gently.

 

This is very boozy, a deep orange-red scent, and so perfectly blended.

 

It would be dreamy on a guy and would work equally well on a woman. A true unisex fragrance.

 

And although I adore this earthy, creamy, daring alcoholic blend on myself, I'd looooooove to smell it on my partner. Seriously. This was just meant to be worn by someone sexy while you sit with him or her on a leather couch cuddling in front of a fireplace on a cold, spooky autumn night sipping nightcaps

 

Just a quick note, I really didn't like the "blood" scents - blood, blood kiss, blood amber - the combination of spice and dragon's blood was quite overpowering and ended up smelling like cinnamon red hots on me. This seems to have similar elements to the "blood" blends, but none of the overpowering cinnamon candy note. And it's so smoothly blend that no one note overpowers another. I'd highly recommend it to anyone who had trouble with the blood scents but wanted to like them anyway.

Edited October 15, 2007 by crimescenecleanup

[Eemia]

Straight away this smelled like vinegar. I love vinegar, and this is dead on. That extremely sour tang and sharpness I smell mimics the scent of really expensive vinegar exactly. Even down to the vague fruitiness. I'm amazed every time I smell it at how accurate it is. But I don't know if I want to smell like vinegar, as much as I love vinegar as a food product....

 

It's somewhat green too, but not a fresh, flowering green. It feels more like a damp, old green. It's musty and murky too, like stagnant earth. I think there's a bit of wood in here too but it's so fleeting that I can't be certain. As it dries it becomes all musk and dusty air.

 

I do like this one, but I don't think I will wear it much. Overall it's just too sharp on me. It is a beautiful atmospheric scent though, and I will probably use it as a room fragrance.

[sedona]

Well, this is my second great surprise of this year's Weenies! and another frimp from the lovely evilmistressoftoast

 

The vinegar note put me off straight away but it is absolutely nowhere to be seen

 

The CC smells sweet and pretty in the imp, and when first applied there's a minute or so of a citrusy high note. This rapidly disappears to leave a soft wine, almost dusty floral note with a yummy musk very like the musk in Hunter Moon 07

 

This isn't like any cellar I've ever been in but if I had one I'd want it to smell like this!

[melange]

Another atmospheric scent from the Haunted House, on my skin the initial flow of wine/vinegar disappears almost instantly into just a hint of sweetness, as though the mortar were soaking it up. I'm also impressed by how the red clay softens the scent. As The Chilling Cellar dries further, it smells less stony and more floral (with possibly a hint of resin, which makes me think of DBR, although some might be amber too), and then a little more resin. I quite like it, but as perfumes of that type go, it's more muffled than I would wear "just because." My decant should do me for the atmosphere fix.

 

ETA: I tried reapplying with a couple swipes this time, and that made the notes less muffled, though still somewhat blended. About twenty minutes later, my spouse-creature got a whiff, and he liked it quite a lot... so the decant might not be enough after all. Funny how that works!

Edited October 23, 2007 by melange