Chant D'Automne

[othelloperrello]

I
Soon we will sink in the frigid darkness
Good-bye, brightness of our too short summers!
I already hear the fall in distress
Of the wood falling in the paved courtyard.

Winter will invade my being: anger,
Hatred, chills, horror, hard and forced labor,
And, like the sun in its iced inferno,
My heart is but a red and frozen floe.

I hear with shudders each weak limb that falls.
The scaffold will have no louder echo.
My spirit is like a tower that yields
Under the tireless and heavy ram blow.

It seems, lulled by this monotonous sound,
Somewhere a coffin is hastily nailed,
For whom? Summer yesterday, autumn now!
This mysterious noise sounds like a farewell.

II
I love the greenish light of your long eyes,
Sweet beauty, but all is bitter today.
Nothing, not love, the boudoir or the hearth
Is dearer than the sunshine on the sea.

Still love me, tender heart! Be a mother
Even to the ingrate, to the wicked,
Lover, sister, ephemeral sweetness
Of fall's glory or of the setting sun.

Short-lived task! The tomb awaits, merciless.
Ah! Let me, my head resting on your knees,
Savor, regretting the white hot summer,
The autumn's last rays yellow and tender.

The scent of the year's fall and the setting sun, ominous and foreboding: dried leaves, charred wood, blood musk, amber, khus, and Nicotiana tabacum.

Dearest Mods: If a thread for chant d'automne exists, I apologize; I searched and did not find one under this heading. Thanks!


This scent is like a lighter version of Death in Autumn, and for that I love it so! The commonalities between the two oils are leaves (dried/dead), khus, galangal, and amber, so it does not surprise.
Not as heavily draped with florals or plants, not as strong a throw, but this to me embodies the feeling of Autumn. This is autumn for the lover of this season, the lengthening hours of twilight, dimmer light and stronger winds, the colors of brick and wood, lengthening shadows on a lonesome walk.

I can't give you much for actual non-metaphorical scents - this one just scoops me up into a world of feeling and nostalgia. For notes I would give sweet woodsmoke and light cologne. The scent does not change from initial application to drydown, and the throw is medium to strong.

Love xo!

[myth]

This is reeeally nice.

 

On application, the leaves and charred wood come right up. I can smell the tobacco and khus swirling underneath. These merge into a foresty impression as the blood musk announces its presence, first with an almost salty tang. It then settles into the scent overall and becomes... blood musk... I don't know how else to describe it. A skin musk with tinge of blood salt. Still surrounded by dry, crackling leaves and smoke. Add in the richness of the amber [which is not discernable as an individual note, but I can "feel" it in here] and this blend dries down with an amazing smokey-sex-red-musk depth that is from the family of scents including VQ, Hellion, and Snake Charmer. [No, it doesn't smell LIKE those blends, but it has a similar vibe and complexity, wearing a fall coat.] I think this is what I'd hoped for from Hexxenacht, which went horribly soapy on me.

 

Verdict: blood musk and amber sex up some smoky fall leaves for the win. I *might* need a backup of this one.

[porcelina]

the dried leaves note in chant reminds me of what i didn't like about october when i ordered it last year. and the vetiver (had i known it was a component, i wouldn't have ordered- but i misread 'khus' as 'kush') overpowers everything. i will keep this to see if the vetiver can calm down because underneath i can sense this lovely, musky scent, and if the vetiver was lighter it would add just a tang of smokey goodness to the mix.

[jehrichardson]

In the bottle: Sweet and rich - nicotiana, blood musk, and amber. Very pretty!

 

On the skin: Ooh.. goes a bit weird, amber comes forth and khus (which always seems to revert to bug spray on me) and a definite whiff of charred wood.

 

After a while: Bug spray, charred wood, leaves, and nicotiana. Curiously, this is a pretty accurate smell of camping! I just wish there wasn't the bug spray .

 

Verdict: Going to have to retest later - but it appears that I've got confirmation that khus = vetiver = bug spray on me. I like this in the bottle, so this may have to be a room scent.

[cam]

In the bottle, I get a nice scent of charred wood, leaves and tobacco. On wet, I get smoke, char, leaves, tobacco and something very heavy and flowery/powdery. This does not bode well. I waited for this to dry, but that heavy scent just doesn't go away, and it doesn't work for me. Bummer.

[scotchgrrl]

Oh my! On first sniff from the bottle, this has the exact smell of smoking chilies on a grill. Hello smoky goodness.

 

Wet-A lot of smoke still and the blood musk and amber start to move a little smoke out of the way. It really is very much like the scents of camping. I don't get the bug spray mentioned earlier, but the mustiness of the canvas tent, the smoke that follows you ever where no matter where you move, the dried leaves...all of it...

 

On dry down it still has a lot of smoke to it. Actually the smell reminds me of the taste of a good, peaty single malt scotchgrrl.

 

 

I'm not 100% sure about this one yet. I'll try it again later in the deep winter.

[Brianne]

It is strikingly similar to Death of Autumn but it is WAY more vetivery. In fact, this is nearly all vetiver on me - very bitter and sharp with a slight smokey edge.

 

In the drydown, it smells just like Death of Autumn's drydown on me! If you really love Death of Autumn, you may want to pick up Chant D'Automne as a back up for it

[galahad]

In The Bottle

Smokey woods

On Application

As above

 

Dry Down

This is the quintessential autumn scent. Smells like dried leaves and pine needles and the waft of open fires just starting up for the cooler weather. This is a very, very beautiful scent.

 

Rating (0-5)

5

[inurbanus]

I know that vetiver is a tricky note for some people. I don't really mind it the way I do, say, jasmine, but I was a little taken aback by how vetivery Chant D'Automne is. There's something about it that sets my teeth on edge. Luckily, after the first fifteen minutes, whatever was bothering me disappeared, so I could appreciate the beautiful dry leaves smell that Chant turned into. This one moves in stages -- for a while I could smell some tobacco, but now all I'm left with is the smell of sweet amber. Overall, I like this because it's very different than any other BPAL scent I've tried. I never smelled The Death of Autumn, so I can't compare them, but in a strange way this reminded me just a little bit of Anactoria, only way more sinister.

 

3.5/5

[sookster]

straight sniff from imp is loads of vetiver....

once applied veeeeeeeeeeeeeery smokey....

quite simply put this is a deep, dark perfume

[iiinterstate]

wet: WHOA vetiver. Hi. How are you. Confident? You don't say.

 

after a few minutes: much the same. The vetiver is drowning out everything else, it seems.

 

fifteen minutes later: Now I get the leaves and charred wood. This is the ultimate in smoky scents. I want to like it more than I do, but for now it's just too much vetiver. I'll hold on to the decant for awhile to see how things settle down.

[olive]

Very 'autumn-y' smelling. It reminds me of a mixture of Death in Autumn's vetiver/smokiness mixed with October's crisp chill. I actually don't find the vetiver all that loud, though as Chant wears on the vetiver comes more to the foreground as basenotes tend to do. I'm not big on vetiver at all but it works really well in this scent.

[kikithepirate]

Woooaaah. Down, boy.

 

This is definitely a "sharp" smell. Lots of gritty smoke and loads of vetiver. Sort of smells less like a nice autumn fire, and more like a house that just burned down. Extremely overpowering - a little of this will go a long way.

[surlygurl]

What a difference skin chemistry makes!

 

Fresh on me, it smells like smoky fruit. I don't know where the fruit comes from - maybe tobacco? The vertiver isn't nearly as powerful as it is in some other blends. It does throw a blanket over the other scents (except the smoke).

 

Drying down it smells less smoky and more.... warm and sexy. Tobacco, dry leaves, vertiver and something sweet. As time goes on I realize the sweet is dragon's blood. Normally db is loud on me, but in this blend it just tells the vetiver "Hey! Lighten up already!!", which it does.

 

Overall, this is a very different halloween scent. Sexy red autumn, the color of red fall leaves at sundown.

 

eta: HA! I didn't even see the "setting sun" part of the lab's description! How does Beth do it?

Edited September 17, 2008 by surlygurl

[rayvn1]

I've been looking for a BPAL blend with Nicotiana in it since it's a summer evening smell I associate with my folks' garden. This is very hot smelling and I'm guessing that's the amber and khus. Also floral, but not sweet. The lab really made it match up to the idea that these are flowers being snuffed out for the year. They smell old and tired (in a character way, not a rotting flower way) missing the fresh springiness of the other florals I've tried. I wish I'd gotten smokiness, as that's what I love so much about October, but this is strong, dark, and delightfully depressing. Can't wait to try it as a room scent also.

[greenranger]

I almost weakened and bought a bottle of this unsniffed, but didn't. This is a decant.

 

Wet I get dried leaves, blood, and smoke.

 

Drying, it blends and whooooah....Mmmmm.

 

I do like it....I'm not certain how often I will want to smell like this, though, if that makes sense.

 

This is grass and leaves, after the leaves have been raked into a high pile and set on fire. Not the beginning of autumn, but the smell of clearing everything away to prepare for winter.

[sirsaber]

The leaves and wood come right to the forefront followed by tobacco. I smell something fresh struggling to make its way up front but the dark scents keep it in back. This is a very nice fall scent. I can't wait until the temperature gets in the 40's again so I can enjoy walks in the woods. That is what this reminds me of. Walks in the woods during autumn.

[tartchef]

Mmm, yeah, khus! That same glorious spicy dead leaf feel as Death of Autumn, but with a rounder, slightly sweeter feel from the blood musk & amber. If I didn't have DoA, this would be a winner, but I find myself searching for the chrysanthemum & tea & clove... The charred wood is really good here, not overwhelming at all, just a wisp of smoke. After an hour or so, the blood musk starts getting just a bit too flowery for me... If Death of Autumn was almost but not quite right for you, give Chant d'Automne a whirl. If you already have & love Death of Autumn, I really don't feel the two are different enough to warrant owning both.

[Leopard403]

Cigarette smoke.

[Wwindy]

Smoky dead leaves, with a very strong vetiver edge. The musk smells red to my nose; it starts out way in the background, but gets significantly more prominent as the blend dries. The vetiver calms down at about the same rate as the musk comes out, with some added warmth from the mild amber.

 

The initial vetiver-y blast is indeed intense -- but if you can stick it out through that, Chant d'Automne does mellow out nicely.

[starwild]

The blood musk, amber, and Nicotiana attracted me to this scent, let's see if it bears out.

 

Seems very dark and bitter going on, I get the Nicotiana most strongly.

 

Yet as it dries, it becomes very golden-amber-brown in texture, surprisingly soft. It reminds me a bit of The Lion, must be the same amber note. But where The Lion is all Serengeti heat and grassland, this is late afternoon sunshine and warm wood. It's a very different scent post-drydown, oddly enough I'm finding a lot of this year's 'weenies are. Beautiful and perfect for autumn afternoons. It reminds me of jumping into leaves while wearing warm sweaters. I don't get much blood musk at all.

[Hawke]

Smells like leaves and something vaguely smoky in the imp.

 

It's an oddly green scent, wet on the skin, for all that's supposed to be about autumn. That's clearly the leaf scent, leaves that have changed color but are not yet dry and crackling. As it dries, it becomes more perfumey, sweetening up and picking up floral notes that I can't identify. Sadly, though I'm not a fan of pure leaf scent as a perfume, I liked it better than then perfumey phase.

 

Something spicy comes out to play as the process goes on and balances out the perfume so it actually does turn into something prettier than I expected, but it's still nothing that I'd reach for. I also agree that it has a similarity to October, and that wasn't really to my taste either.

[Saya]

In the Bottle

Wow, this is a powerful little imp! Right away I can smell the nicotiana tabacum, charred wood and leaves. There’s also another note that I’m having a hard time identifying that is sharp and bitter.

 

On My Skin

It’s calmed down a bit and the notes have blended together a bit more. It’s still heavy on the nicotiana tabacum. It smells like cigarettes and perfume, but not in a good way.

After a Bit

About an hour later and it hasn’t really changed much. I’m not enjoying this scent very much, I think it’s time to wash it off.

Rating 1-5

Scent - 1 Throw - 3 Longevity – ?

Overall (not an average) – 1

 

Final thoughts

This blend reminds me of how it smells in the ladies room at a bar. Smokey with heavy perfume and cigarettes in the background. I need to find this imp a home where somebody will love it more than I do.

[ankhfangirl72]

I definitely get the tobacco in this one, and dried out leaves. It smells an awful lot like The Death of Autumn, which must be the khus I suppose. It's quite "perfume-y" but in a really good way.

[Little Bird]

I tend to really dislike smoky scents, and this is insanely smoky on me. I have a hard time pulling off certain types of tobacco notes or anything with smoke listed. Chant D'Automne is the worst smoky scent I've ever tried on my skin. My skin seems to amp this into a suffocating, cigarette smoke type of smell. It's sharp and suffocating to me, with a gritty, dirty feel that I find very unappealing. This is my least favorite of the Halloween blends.