Day of the Skulls

[grrrlennyl]

White sandalwood, beeswax, and frankincense crowned by hydrangea, rose, and kantuta blossoms, dressed with tobacco, cocoa leaves and flowers from the sacred Cactus of the Four Winds.

On: Frankincense and flowers. Very pretty.
1 hour later: A bit sharp with some sweetness.
Overall: Eventually, this mellowed to a really pretty, soft, sweet scent, but nothing earth-shattering on me.

[filigree_shadow]

I think this smells looooooovely. Normally I really don't like frankincense -- it's something of a killer note for me -- but in this it's charming. The beeswax, tobacco, and sandalwood combine for a very smooth soft dry base, covered over with pretty floral notes and the sweet haze of the frankincense.

 

I don't have a lot of occasions when I'd want to wear a scent like this, so I don't think I need a whole bottle, but I'm definitely keeping my decant. It's pretty dreamy.

[Shollin]

First sniff: Oh, this is just amazing. Cool sweetness, fresh flowers, green fruit. It’s a complete mismatch from the note list, and I’m hoping the danger notes behave themselves on my skin, because in the bottle this is simply gorgeous.

 

Wearing: Wow! Rich fruit and warmth and flowing honey-sweetness. I’m thrilled that it stayed like this all day.

[biocarolyn]

Gorgeous. Tobacco, roses, beeswax, frankincense, and something watery-sweet (cactus?). Well blended and lovely, really an interesting scent.

[heartlilly]

I haven't done a review in a long time, but this deserves one. Normally roses take over all else on my skin, but here they are at least somewhat grounded by some of the other notes (mainly the beeswax and frankincense I think). It is still a strong rose, but kind of watery, a little spicy and really pretty. I think this is the one rose scent that I may actually be able to wear.

[Cactus]

In the bottle, first sniff on skin:

Oooohhhh! Beeswax! Smooth beeswax with the sandalwood and frankincense weaving through it. And cactus blossoms fading in and out! This is a incense and candles type blend but isn't overly smoky. And it's incense designed to evoke home, if home is a place with cactus blooms (which it is for me ). The tobacco and such are in the background subtly, but they are not the main notes. They just give the scent some complexity.

 

After a while the beeswax and sandalwood become more pronounced.

 

And then there is a brief stage where the cactus blossoms and rose and honey (from the beeswax) rise up and make this a warm, incensy *floral*.

 

Finally, this dries down to a white sandalwood scent, with beeswax a close second, and the other scents muted and subtle in the background.

 

This is kind of in the same vein as No. 93 Engine with flowers instead of herbs. Waxy and incense-y and golden.

 

(Edit: this is the 2013 version)

Edited December 23, 2013 by Cactus

[Magycmyste]

In the bottle: I'm getting a sickly sweet floral from the bottle, which makes me a little bit nervous. Hydrangea, maybe. It's like something sweet just got watered down. My nose is a tiny bit clogged, so maybe I'm not quite getting but... I hope this is better on. I had kind of high hopes from the notes in this one.

 

Wet on skin: There is a bit of a sour floral in the middle of the sweet.

 

Dried down: Ok, now it's sweetness with a hint of rose, which I do like. I'm surprised I'm not getting the sandalwood and frankincense out of this, though I think the beeswax is mingling with one of the sweeter florals (I'm still thinking hydrangea, though I don't know what kantuta blossoms smell like). I think I'm getting hints of the cocoa leaves and tobacco, but those are very mild hints among the flowers.

 

Throw: Strong throw.

 

Verdict: **** I really didn't like the sickly sweetness I got at first, but I may need to give it another chance. I'm starting to suspect this might work out a bit like Yvaine, where I thought it was ok at first and wondered what all the hype was about, but loved it more the longer it was on my skin. Honestly, I'm going to have a tough time picking out what bottles I want from the Weenies.

[shrink]

I am surprised that Day of the Skulls is not getting more love this year.

 

To me, this is beautiful. It is a morpher. At first it smells of sweet, creamy flowers but this phase lasts literally under a minute. There is a second wave dominated by the florals but you can already tell the other players are just getting ready in the background to enter the game. This stage has shares some floral notes that are also present in Dia De Los Muertos. Soon the florals fade into the background (but never leave)and there is some sharpness dominated by tobacco, and frankincense. Finally, beeswax and sandalwood are making their appearance balancing out the sweetness of the florals and sharpness of tobacco/frank. Now the festivities are over, the candles are burning down with melted beeswax dripping down. Everything else fades to the background as you stand there looking at the candle lights flicker on the flower adorned skulls.

 

Very evocative and I expect it to get only better with aging.

 

It is beautiful and I love it.

[milo]

At first, I'm getting a heady floral, kind of like jasmine, only not as strong, and coconut, oddly enough, maybe it's the cacao. Dry, softer floral, a bit of warmth from the cacao, though it kind of smells like buttery coconut. Nice to try, but not for me.

[sunlitgarden]

I found a decant of this in my "to be reviewed/tested" box. I don't think I actually ordered this decant so I presumably received it as a freebie in a swap/sale package. I don't remember from whom, but thank you, whoever you are! The decant isn't labeled by year, but I'm pretty sure this is the 2008 version of Day of the Skulls, as I haven't been actively buying/swapping since before the 2013 Weenie season.

In the decant, I mostly smell incense with a bit of florals.

On my skin... it's fairly faint but I mostly smell rose with a little smokiness in the background.

Perhaps it is just too aged, but I prefer Rose Cross for a rose and incense blend.

Edited October 2, 2015 by sunlitgarden

[Casablanca]

Wet on my skin, Day of the Skulls is honeyed beeswax, cactus blossom, and light touches of cocoa, sandalwood, and frankincense. I like the way the rustic-leaning cactus flower plays with the frankincense. Gentle, well-blended, and smooth.

Once dried, Skulls is a low-throw skin scent with about the same notes as when wet. I smell perhaps a little more cocoa in the mix, but it's very, very light in both stages. I don't really distinguish sandalwood and frank anymore.

I like this a lot, though it doesn't live more than two hours on my skin.

[MischiefofRats]

I just purchased this one from a forum member recently, sniffed it once in the bottle, then threw it on on a whim this morning on my way out the door.

 

In the bottle it's a bit confusing to my nose, mostly harsh floral. Wet though, the incense and florals amp like crazy, and there's a somewhat plasticky note (from the beeswax, I think, though I'm still learning my way around the lab's notes). These are not fresh flowers--they make me think of the bowls of dried roses my mom kept after she received bouquets. Dry, crumbly petals, faintly dusty, which might also be the frankincense coming to play with the flowers. I have to admit, I almost washed this off at this stage. I'm not huge on florals and it was all I could smell, to an almost sickly degree. On the drydown though, the sandalwood is much more apparent and the beeswax mellows out and loses most of the plastic note. I have to admit, I cannot smell chocolate in this at all, and the tobacco is overtaken by the frankincense.

 

Several hours later, this is all frankincense, sandalwood, and beeswax. The florals are very faint. Huge throw--I've gotten several comments asking who's burning incense, from several feet away. One compliment, though--asking what I was wearing.

 

Overall, it's actually a lovely scent for the frankincense and beeswax lover, but I'm not sure it's for me. This may go into swaps, but I'll give it another shot first.

 

Edit to add: this is the 2013 version.

 

As the day has gone on, it's turned into mostly beeswax on me, which I'm okay with.

Edited October 6, 2016 by MischiefofRats

[Casablanca]

2008

 

Day of the Skulls is a grainy-textured beeswax floral. The textured smells of frankincense and sandalwood blend wonderfully with the sort of arid, textured smell that cactus flower notes seem to have -- I love this one, it works.

There's something smoke-like here, but without the smoke particles. It seems to come from the tobacco-cocoa hints, which really are just hints. I don't smell this and think of tobacco or cocoa at any point, but I get a dark, blended impression that reminds me a little of those, and a little more of smoke. I don't smell specific flowers beyond the dry texture of cactus blooms; there's just a floral impression.

On me, Day of the Skulls dries more into the waxy quality of the beeswax, though still colored by the frank and dry flowers. In two and a half hours, it's just a hint of beeswax, and no more. But I like it.

[Lucchesa]

I retested this today because I recalled it being awful on me and wanted to know why. Roses, sandalwood, frankincense, all good notes. But I was correct -- this goes dramatically wrong on me. Somehow, when the blend hit my skin, it went sour, and then during drydown there was a definitely urine smell. I didn't actually wash it off my elbow -- I was in the car smelling the crook of my arm, trying to figure out what note was so awful, I was busy -- and right now, 11 hours later, it's kind of pretty; the cocoa has stuck around, and a breath of flowers and tobacco. But no way am I going through the urine stage again to get here. I know some people get cat pee from jasmine, but a. there's no jasmine and b. jasmine is usually fine on me. I blame the kantuta blossoms -- maybe the cactus flowers, but Dia de los Muertos is great on me.

 

ETA: 2013 version

Edited August 3, 2017 by Lucchesa

[VetchVesper]

This is the 2013 version.

 

On me, this starts off as very floral.  It gets dustier and more incensey as it wears, but remains floral overall.  Cactus flower is a note I'm discovering I don't really care for, and that's what I get most prominently at first, made dusty by the frankincense.  Later on, the rose becomes distinctive, and I catch hints of an understated tobacco adding a faint caramel undertone to the whole thing.  

Not my jam, but I'm glad I got to try it.  Those that like the discontinued Santa Muerte or the Ars Morendi florals bouquets would probably enjoy this.    
 

[forspecial_plate]

I have a partial bottle from 2008.  Not much to add to the other reviews.  Seems like it depends a lot on the individual's skin chemistry, what you smell from this.  

 

I definitely get rose, with a softly glowing incensey backdrop.  Rose doesn't always work for me, it can turn sour, or sometimes white rose comes off as 'papery' on me, not in a good way.  This rose is lovely and I think the other notes are really supporting it in a way that works for me.  Other than rose and beeswax, everything is just blended together and nothing stands out.  I've always liked this scent.