Pumpkin IV (2008)

[arithmetock]

Pumpkin with white sage, cherry tobacco, honey, smoky vanilla, cedar, and pine.

In the bottle, this is so strong that when I took my first whiff, I had a minor coughing fit. I think it's the tobacco or the sage that's making it so overwhelming. Even when it's dry on my skin, I'm not getting any pumpkin, though the honey does start to come out. It's not as sweet as I thought it would be, but maybe my chemistry is just being weird. Overall, I'm kind of disappointed with it. But since I'm an optimist, I'll hang onto it and see how it ages. Edited October 10, 2008 by arithmetock

[indiumhalo]

I really wanted to like this. I really, really did. And I'm not entirely convinced that I dislike it all that much, but the fact that it makes my husband feel ill to smell me while wearing this... makes it an easy decision.

 

Both in the bottle and on my skin, the tobacco is what I smell first and strongest, definitely with a hint of cherry. It could just be that my nose is untrained (because it is), but to me, it's so strong that I can't detect the pumpkin. I don't smell nearly as much woodsy-green as I had hoped from the sage, pine, and cedar either.

 

This might have developed into something on me, but I could only manage to leave it on for an hour before I had to wash it off. Poor squeamish husband.

[bookandbroom]

This, so far, is the great shock of the '08 Halloweenies for me, for lo! It has honey, and yet does not smell of cat pee when applied to my skin! I was cautious with it, but it's a thing of beauty and grace, not too sweet nor too buttery, with the notes mostly in balance, the vanilla not going into a sugared-plastic haze, the cherry tobacco and sage providing an odd impression of coolness, somehow.

 

I'm absolutely delighted with this one; it's warm and comforting, but also subtle and grounded. It's like drinking a pumpkin latte from an organic gourmet coffee shop after only having had those sugared monstrosities (which I admit to a weakness for) from the Seattle Coffee Empire: all of a sudden you realize there are layers and possibilities beyond your taste buds' (or nose's) wildest dreams.

 

Now all that's left to do is cross my fingers that in a hour, the honey doesn't come out and wag her finger in my face, taunting me with I-told-you-so chants...

[ankhfangirl72]

Mmm, this is fantastic! At first I can mainly smell the smoky pumpkin but after a while I can seperate out the cherry tobacco and sage. It's very sweet and when it dries down it smells a lot like caramel, which goes really well with the smoky vanilla. I'm really glad I got a bottle

Edited October 14, 2008 by *Dani*

[alexandra]

The surprise winner of the weenies!

 

Wet: rich pumpkin, spices and, good lord, CAKE! Can this be right?

 

Dry: the pumpkin rolls back and I'm left with a vibrant form of gingerbread. Warming, comforting, uplifting: it is a richer Bezoar, an unburned Poppet, a cheerier Shub. If I place my nose to my wrist then I catch sage incense, a light spilling of tobacco and a waft of smoke.

 

In the locket: smokey pumpkin cake with vanilla icing.

 

Somehow, the conglomeration of cedar and pine and tobacco and honey and pumpkin and sage and 'nilla join forces into cakey deliciousnosity. I actually love it.

[anardana]

This is everything I hoped for! I'd describe it as a rather dry vanilla-tabacco.

[AmyAngel]

On me this is all sweet sage, with some almost-mint behind it. I'm guessing the sweetness is the honey, and maybe the almost mintiness is the cherry tobacco, pine and cedar? Some sniffs I definitely get the cedar, but not in an amping or bad way. I'm getting little to no pumpkin, but maybe that's what is making this scent sort of warm, and contributing to the sweetness. I'm always wary of sage (though I love the scent of the actual plant - I used to pick leaves off my grandmother's sage plant and walk around sniffing them), but I think the sweetness here helps it.

 

I cannot for the life of me decide if I like this or not. It's very interesting, and unlike anything else I have. I'm going to try the "wear all day" test to see if it's bottle worthy. I think the decant may be enough, though.

[MeiLin]

Cherry vanilla tobacco, drying down to the familiar caramel pumpkin smell at the very, very end. I like it and may get another imp, but I don't think I'll get a bottle. I have more compelling caramels, and more compelling tobaccos (Illustrated Woman ).

[kjirstiben]

When I encountered this year's Pumpkin Patch, I controlled myself. Many of them sounded wonderful... and of all scents, pumpkin spice is my favorite environmental/candle scent. But... when I tried Jack I was unhappily surprised. So I would only try one of the Pumpkin Patch oils, and Pumpkin IV it was to be. All those non-foody wood and tobacco notes must mellow down the foody pumpkin, right?

 

Wrong.

 

This smells like nothing so much as gingerbread or spice cake... Both things I enjoy eating, but having the scent hanging on me all day made me feel slightly sick. Unfortunately, not only does it not sit well with me, but it also doesn't wash off.

 

So, while I may experiment with this as a room or car scent, I don't think I'll be wearing it again. I am saddened, but glad to learn a little more about my own scent preferences and skin chemistry!

[stillalive]

By far the most buttery, sweet, foody pumpkin so far this year. It first goes on really WARM, like pulling a butter-soaked pumpkin pie out of the oven, then fades down to a lovely smokey honey, like cherry vanilla tea with just enough honey to be sweet, but not sickeningly sweet, and cinnamon pumpkin bread covered in sweet butter.

 

Definitely a keeper. This one might just convert my mom to BPAL...

[Jilara]

Wet, this is pretty much straight up pumpkin with a slight sweetness.

 

Drying, it amps sage more and more and more. The pumpkin is still there, but wow, during drydown, the sage is really in-your-face, and almost overwhelms it. As it dries more, it simmers down and gets a better balance, and I pick up a spice note. The cedar comes into play after a while.

 

I don't get any of the other notes in the final dry phase. Pine? Cherry tobacco? Vanilla, smokey or otherwise? Nope. It's Sage/Cedar/Pumpkin. Notice that the pumpkin has retreated to a supporting role. It rounds out the sage and cedar, but I really don't get anything else but those three notes.

[Little Bird]

I like foodie, sweet blends, but this Pumpkin goes way over the top on my skin. I love the sage and sweetgrass pumpkin from 07; and the original Pumpkin 5 blend with woods, ivy, and galangal might be my favorite fall scent. I had hoped that this would be along those same lines, with the pine, cedar, and sage.

 

This blend is so syrupy sweet and cloying on my skin. I get buttery pumpkin, waxy vanilla candle, and a heavy zap of syrupy sweetness that I guess is the honey and cherry tobacco. It's very rich and overwhelming on me. I don't smell any pine, woods, or sage. This is crazy-sweet and buttery on my skin. I washed it off after a half hour...

[jencallisto]

In the imp: Creamy and super-sweet spiced pumpkin.

Fresh on the skin: Sweet spiced pumpkin with a woodsy after scent. Mmm, the cedar-pine edge is subtle, but very nice.

5 minutes later: Oh. Hmm. I'm getting a some of the wood in Miskatonic University, which unfortunately makes me think of mildew. That's... unfortunate. Maybe I'm just not mean for woodsy scents. Also, this is reaching sugar overload level of creamy-sweet. Like, just the smell is kind of making my teeth hurt.

10 minutes later: And yet, the waft is really nice. Sweet and warm and buttery-creamy-rich.

20 minute later: Yeah, I'm definitely having a problem with this similar to the one I had with Miskatonic University. I think it's something about having an incredibly rich foody scent mixed with something so very very not foody and yet related in the woods. It's like my brain is translating the "no, don't eat that even though it teasingly smells partially like food," into "ew." Sad.

1 hours later: The smell of this is almost disturbing to me, somehow.

2 hours later: At best it smells a bit like pumpkin spice potpourri or something, a little artificial. Or like pumpkin pie baked on a strongly scented cedar plank.

3 hours later: Huh. This has become almost entirely spices and pumpkiny maple syrup spread on top of scorched wood. I like this calmer stage more.

6 hours later: I get mostly warm sweetness, with a side of soap.

9 hours later: Spiced pumpkin creme brulee on a wooden plank, quite faint. I rather like this stage, actually.

10 hours later: Spiced caramel wood, faint, but not as faint as all that considering I applied this 10 hours ago!

 

Verdict: Despite the promising notes and a reasonably nice last few hours, this doesn't really work for me. I might try it again, but I'm starting to think wood is not so much for me, at least when paired with foody things.

 

One phrase: splintery pumpkin.

[ForeverLastcXs]

This is amazing. It smells like what I hoped The Illustrated Woman would be, with the addition of a sneaky little pumpkin in there.

[tinyvulture]

last year’s Pumpkin IV also paired the orange gourd with sage, but this year’s concoction seems more complex, with a wider variety of notes which appear at various stages. the herbal sweetness of sage is immediately noticeable, followed by the spicy and somewhat medicinal cherry tobacco. i think i smell fiery cinnamon, too, although it’s not listed in the scent description. the pine and cedar add to the overall effect but aren’t bold enough to be noticed on their own. the honey and vanilla add a top coat of creamy, smooth sweetness that brings everything together. this blend is foody without reminding you of any one dish in particular. it’s also pretty strong and long-lasting. i don’t crave a bottle but it is quite nice.

[porcelina]

in the bottle: smokey, buttery, a bit of woodsy sweetness

 

on skin, wet: kind of bitter... it almost starts to smell like vetiver, which is a huuuuge no-no for me. it actually kind of smells like burning leaves and wood, which is really nice, but there's something medicinal (the cherry?) and unpleasant lurking beneath. there is no real pumpkin to speak of.

 

dry: smokey but with an unpleasant artificial edge. theoretically, i should really like this, but i don't.

[VioletChaos]

in the bottle: pumpkin, cedar, pine and vanilla. it's reminding me somewhat of Hearth from 2005, that mix of "christmas" smells and sweet food smells.

 

wet on skin: blissfully, the cedar has left the building, as it generally becomes pure hamster cage on me. now the scent has become a yummy but very mellow pumpkin spice. like a scratch n sniff of pumpkin pie!

 

dry down: super. delicious. pumpkin. pie.

 

in all: flakey crust included, this is the Pumpkin scent every BPAL foodie has been waiting for. get it while you can- this is a total keeper!

 

 

 

 

[Lyrical]

In imp: mmmmm - pumpkin, honey and vanilla.

 

Wet on skin: lovely buttery pumpkin with honey. The vanilla really is smoky, or perhaps that's the tobacco? I think the sage, cedar and pine are just hovering dryly in the background to make it less foody than Pumpkin II at this stage, but still predominantly pumpkin.

 

Dry on skin: BPAL pumpkin always seems to smell like pie crust on me (we don't eat pumpkin in my part of the world, so I don't know what the real thing smells like). This is a crispy, golden pie crust with a dark, smoky back note. A little fresher and dryer than Pumpkin II, although quite similar. Then honey comes out - a rich dark honey that never takes over or becomes cloying, as honey is wont to do on my skin - and it's simply wonderful!

 

Later: I think my decant had separated a little, because while the first two applications were all yummy pumpkin, the rest of the imp was very smoky! And my bottle from the lab is much more wood, sage and tobacco than pumpkin, although still very nice! I liked the pumpkin better, though!

[AEris]

This starts out with a light, fresh, green note, which I think is my nose interpreting the white sage and pine.

 

After a minute, the honey blasts forward and the pumpkin comes out. It's wonderful!

 

I can smell cherry tobacco if I really concentrate, but it's blending in and it's not that noticeable. I wish there was more of it, I would love that note!

 

This blend is interesting because it has so many notes that are heavy and creamy and warm, but those are balanced with some intangible coolness that keeps it from becoming foody or deep.

 

I'm intrigued.

[doodlehum]

Why does this smell like celery tobacco on me? Tobacco, pumpkin, vanilla, sage, honey, pine, and cedar usually smell as they shouldon me. I've never gotten celery out of a BPAL before. Maybe it's the cherry tobacco. I feel like a food and not in a good way.

[Nimthiriel]

Initial impression:

Wow, this is a really thick and foody vanilla pumpkin!

 

First on:

There is definately some honey and sage in there, and something vaguely like cherry.

 

Dry:

After about 10 mins, I get a very cherry feel to the vanilla pumpkin. There's a vague hint of sage, too.

 

It remains a nice vanilla pumpkin with a cherry touch. Lovely!

 

Finally:

I liked it, but I will probably frimp it.

[PurringPulsar]

Pumpkin IV 2008

 

In the imp: mint? I smell mint here, or caramel and buttermints.

Wet on skin: I still smell mint but it seems to be morphing into pine, now I also smell pumpkin.

Dry on skin: this is what happens when the Illustrated Woman meets Pumpkin V from last year. This has the same mix of pine and tobacco and honey as IW, but with the rich golden pumpkin and creamy vanilla as Pumpkin V 07. The cherry tobacco, a note that usually goes crazy on my skin, is subdued here-it’s like the tobacco in A Bold Bluff. The honey is actually sweeter than IW, a fluffy and milky honey almost like that of Dana O’Shee, and I love that kind of honey. I get very little cedar or sage.

After a while: this gets really nice. There’s something about this reminiscent of the pumpkin-beeswax scent of Pumpkin Smash, meets the vanilla of Pumpkin V 07, with added tobacco. The tobacco in here is lovely, it smells more like a dry cigar tobacco than a cherry one. It gives the scent a lovely smoky aspect. I also love the ‘milk and honey’ scent this has. At times the tobacco and vanilla come out more and this reminds me of pumpkin-y Pinched, and at other times the honey goes all beeswax-like and it reminds me very slightly of Hand of Glory.

Verdict: this is my favourite pumpkin in this year’s patch. I love most of the notes here but was wary of the pipe tobacco, which has been known to turn incredibly cloying on me. but not in here! Here I smell more of the honey and vanilla, and they are gorgeous. Sweet but not overwhelming, they dominate the scent but make everything gently creamy. Intriguing woodsy/sappy notes come in, from the pine and cedar, but they don’t take over. The tobacco is so subtle, more like a gentle leafy tobacco, smoky and dry. Even the pumpkin stays quiet. I wasn’t expecting to love this but I do, and I’m glad I got a bottle.

Emoticon rating:

Is it a keeper? Yup, I have a bottle.

If you like this, try: Illustrated Woman, Pumpkin V 2007, Dana O’Shee, Piper at the Gates of Dawn

[nellieburger]

VERY DECADENT in the imp! Vanilla, Honey, and Cherry clearly noted. On me: Smells better in the imp than on me… White Sage, Cedar, Pine, and Pumpkin all present on the dry-down.

[MisterShrapnel]

My skin might not have agreed with this one, but I already found through another Pumpkin that I'm not crazy about pumpkin to begin with.

It was very nice at first, I was enjoying the honey, but it morphed into a startlingly accurate "greeting-card-store pumpkin candle" and it was making me a bit sick. I think it was the cherries that did it? Don't really know what happened, I don't care to test it again to clarify.

Even so, I can understand its popularity! It's a great set of notes.

 

[Aredhel]

Rating (on skin): 5/5

Summarised in one word: Perfect spiced pumpkin!

 

In the decant: Spiced pumpkin and cedar. Love!

 

On skin, wet: A mixed bag of tobacco, pumpkin, vanilla, and cedar. One would think this would be much sharper than it is.

 

On skin, dry: Very creamy, spicy pumpkin and cedar.

 

Conclusion: Absolutely gorgeous! I can single out each of the listed notes save pine and white sage, but they blend together beautifully. I second the comparison to Illustrated Woman, but I think I like this just a tad more, if possible. I'm so glad I tracked down two bottles of this, but I still fear they won't be enough.