Banana Peel in a Graveyard

[SueDonym]

"We can put the food here," said Silas. "It's cool, and the food will keep longer." He reached into the box, pulled out a banana.

"And what would that be when it was at home?" asked Mrs Owens, eyeing the yellow and brown object suspiciously.

"It's a banana. A fruit, from the tropics. I believe you peel off the outer covering," said Silas, "Like so."

The child – Nobody – wriggled in Mrs Owens arms, and she let it down to the flagstones. It toddled rapidly to Silas, grasped his trouser-leg and held on.

Silas passed it the banana.

Mrs Owens watched the boy eat. "Ba-na-na," she said, dubiously. "Never heard of them. Never. What's it taste like?"

"I've absolutely no idea," said Silas, who consumed only one food, and it was not bananas. "You could make up a bed in here for the boy, you know."

A banana peel discarded among tombstones and crypts.

Received as a frimp on Bat's Day 2008: thanks Lab!

Every now and then Beth pulls out one of her what I call "trick" perfumes. In my own terminology, this means a perfume that's *such* a dead ringer, so evocative, that it just makes me want to go full on squee with glee: the popcorn of Shill, the warm dry stone in the road (on me) of the Clod and the Pebble. It's genius.

When I first applied this, on *my* skin, this scent did a story-morph I would not have missed for the world. It was as if you were standing next to someone eating a banana, who then throws the peel to the ground. The peel begins to slowly decay, and in it's fade comes this dry dusty decay. Literally, a banana peel in a graveyard. Eventually the peel fades entirely and I was left with the graveyard alone. I would not have believed it if I didn't smell it myself.

It went from very strong bananas in the vial to an almost bananas foster note on the skin, to a faintly decaying banana...peel! Yes. A peel!...lying on the ground (dirt note). And then on to a dusty graveyard scent.

It's insane. I've repeated the experiment with slightly varying result: more creme in the banana initially, a longer fade, a shorter fade, and a lingering sweetness at the end. Yes, my skin chemistry is more than a bit wonky right now and I am a bit stuffy as well, but STILL!

It's delightful. It's skilled. I'm amazed. Maybe this isn't what it's supposed to be. I know other people who get bananas and patchouli and on whom bananas foster lingers or the patchouli deepens, and I'd be jealous really...except I get a story. I love the story. Thanks!

[GypsyRoseRed]

I'll qualify this review by saying I'm not a fan of dirt notes in perfume. I usually end up smelling like something that's rotting which isn't intriguing to me at all, plus I'm not a fan of banana scents. What I smell in the vial is pretty much what the name suggests - a banana peel in a graveyard, the ripe fruit plus the tang of rich, dark earth. I was wary of testing this on my skin, but thankfully it turned into a happy surprise. About ten minutes in, the banana has become surprisingly low-key and realistic while the 'graveyard' isn't dirt at all but patchouli, smooth, dark and mellow. The overall scent dried down is dark, mysterious and unique. Since I knew this wasn't my kind of scent going in, I was surprised by how wearable it turned out to be. Another fab piece of work by the Lab.

[angelicruin]

In the bottle, this smells exactly like a rotten banana, dirt, and grass.

 

Wet on skin, it smells much the same except the banana note seems to be fading.

 

Dry, the scent begins to soften a bit, thankfully. I'm still getting the same notes I have all along, but they've mellowed enough not to be so nauseating.

 

I'm going to let this bottle age a bit and see what happens...

[femmefatale]

I love love love this one! It starts out smelling like a very realistic banana dropped on the ground. Now that may sounds gross, but really, it's wonderful. At a point it reminded me of banana Runts and dirt. On my skin the banana immediently begins to fade and I get a bit of a dusty stone (headstone?) scent. Not long after that begins to recede and out comes a very earthy scent. It smells like a greener version of Graveyard Dirt, with a bit of sweetness in the background. Somewhat summery.

Now I absolutely love the smell of bananas and had originally hoped the banana would stick around longer, but I am so happy with the way it turned out, I wouldn't change a thing.

[livingdead71]

I was immediately intrigued by the description of this, and ordered a bottle unsniffed. I'm not at all disappointed. It smells so realistically like it's name in the bottle, I kept making other people smell it. The banana note is particularly nice. I'm not the biggest fan of patchouli, but it is very smooth and pleasing in this blend. It works on the skin for me too, which is what really matters. I love this! It's unlike any other scent I own. If you like interesting foody or fruity scents, you should definitely give this a try!

[sookster]

straight sniff from imp is banana and patchouli...

 

once applied this is a sweet, ripe banana peel with lots of loamy goodness...

 

you gotta smell this to believe it!!

 

after awhile the banana fades and i am left with sharp patchouli and earth....

[windbourne]

Unbelievably accurate. I can't wear either banana or death-related scents with any degree of success, but I had to try it, just because. It was pretty amazing, but so not something I'll be keeping. Other people deserve to test out the awesome for themselves.

[Mimosatique]

Banana Peel in Graveyard

 

Wet: Split seconds of banana flesh. Dirt, Grass, Something dusty, Weeds

 

Dry: Bitter earth and grass and stones. A very faint of banana is lurking underneath.

 

Verdict: This is no way a gourmand or fruity scent at all. Very "mossy" earthy with short lived banana.

[motdakasha]

In the bottle:

Rating: 5

Notes: muddy earth, unidentifiable fruit

Comment: Not easy for me to smell the banana in the bottle.

Wet on skin:

Rating: 5

Notes: musky banana, earth

Comment: The banana is definitely not forefront in the notes. As if someone had squashed an overripe banana in fresh earth, which is more muddy and wet than dust.

Dry on skin:

Rating: 4

Notes: dirt, dust, banana

Scent Intensity: 5

Comment: Dirty, dusky, banana. Very strong cologne-ish scent. Graveyard notes very pronounced, banana not noticeable when smelling skin directly; however, as the perfume wafts, it smells like Runts mixed with drier dirt and dust.

Misc:

Duration: +4 Hrs.

Keyword(s): masculine

Color: N/A

Smells like: Runts rolled in muddy cologne.

Edited December 29, 2008 by Akasha Tsang

[zankoku_zen]

Wow, this one is really a banana! It smells like sweet bananas and dirt! Over time, I get bananas, dirt and a hint of something that smells like raisins.

 

...

 

What an olfactory experience. It is surprisingly more wearable than I imagined. If you're looking for a banana scent, this is totally it! Move over Manila!

[VioletChaos]

i seem to be having some sort of love/hate relationship with this oil.

in the bottle, the banana was strong, but very natural-like sniffing a real, over-ripe fruit. once on the skin, the banana takes a back seat to the overwhelming patchouli. now, i love patchouli, and have wonderful associations with it. but something about this blend became so off-putting that after a few minutes i had to run to the sink to scrub it off. even after using black soap (which usually takes all traces of BPAL away), the scent is still present, but is at least in a bearable amount.

 

mind you, i only put a *drop* on my hand to test.

 

in all, i like both main components, i'm just not sure if they work in this blend. i'm going to age it for a month and try again. hopefully it'll mellow on it's own. otherwise, it's off to swap!

[lefthandmade]

Holy crap, this one is almost scary. It's definitely banana and definitely earth or graveyard dirt even.

Can I wear it? Probably not.

 

But is it what it says it is? Oh yeah.

Is it art? Most definitely.

 

[FallDaze]

I don't think I've tried anything witht he Lab's banana note. I'm quite interested to give this one a try.

 

imp-> Exactly like it sounds. A light hint of banana surrounded by a heaping dose of wet soil. It's a sharp, wet, grassy kind of soil. There's something a little sinister about this to me...

 

wet-> The sharp, wet soil note has died and now it's banana vs. regular dirt for the status of...TOP NOTE! It smells like someone picked up a dirty banana.

 

after a while-> The banana note has died down. It's still there, but very very faint. It's mostly dirt. I still find this one rather disconcerting. It keeps the whole dirty banana scent for as long as it lasts on me. A very interesting blend. I probably won't be getting a bottle, but damn am I glad I got to try this one!

[lainevierge]

As other reviewers have said, this banana peel is dead on in this blend.

 

However, after wearing it for a while, all I smell is mushy bananas, and a mix of men's cologne and car air freshener. Weird. I had to get a decant because I had to sniff it, but I don't think I'll be keeping this one.

[rayvn1]

This worried me at first (I'm not a big fan of banana). It went on pretty icky - sweet husband thought the title was appropriate because it smelled "like something had died, alright" Someday he'll come around to the BPAL... After it dried though, there was some quick morphage into the scent others have been describing. It really is spot on for a hint of banana drifting over cold marble and stone at night. Very cool

[beachbabealways]

Received frimp from a lovely forum member.

 

I had posted a ISO for this and so glad I got the frimp before buying. The banana lasted like 40 seconds before it went *poof*

All that's left is graveyard. I'll just stick with my Graveyard Dirt.

[PurringPulsar]

Banana Peel in a Graveyard

 

In the imp: yes, it smells like banana. And graveyard dirt.

Wet on skin: bananas in the dirt. The banana note is sweet, but authentic.

Dry: an odd but strangely appealing mix of sweet, soft banana (I smell a lot of the fruit as well as the peel) with earthy and mossy notes. the banana doesn’t smell fake at all, but it does smell a little overripe, like it is decomposing, but that seems to be fitting. It reminds me a bit of Manila, it’s got a humid, warm smell to it. The earthy, dirty notes here do remind me of other graveyard/Ars Moriendi type scents, but I find this dirt note to be different to Graveyard Dirt-to me it’s mossier, a little more decomposed/decayed. I think I smell some valerian in here, something a bit pungent, a little musky, a bit like mushy dead leaves. There may even be some kind of mushroom note here? It’s a bit more pungent as a dirt note than the usual wet soil. It’s more like compost, especially with the banana.

After a while: once the banana fades, this now actually smells very much like Luperci! There’s none of the incense and honey notes, but the moss and dirt-and now a strong patchouli note-reminds me of Luperci. And Greed too. but with a hint of banana. The scent then becomes a patchouli-moss scent, the dirty darkness of the patch with the light green mossy powder on top.

Verdict: this smells exactly like what it says it should. Bananas and graveyards. The banana note is a realistic one, both like the fruit and the peel, with a fitting feel of decay to it. the graveyard note is dirty, earthy, a tad stone-ish, but this is not as light and damp-soil as Graveyard Dirt, but a heavier and deeper note with a lot of decomposition to it, and a lot of Luperci-esque moss and patchouli as well. It works brilliantly as a conceptual scent and it’s very unique and original-how many other perfume companies have something that smells of dirt and bananas? It’s not something I’d wear as perfume though, but I’m glad I got to try it.

Emoticon rating:

Is it a keeper? Not really.

If you like this, try: Graveyard Dirt, Manila, Luperci, Greed, Zombi, Deep in Earth, Burial

[Little Bird]

In the vial, this smells like powdery, fake-y banana candies and something dirty/earthy.

 

On my skin, this smells like banana candies, warm, musky perfume, and dry hay. In the drydown, it's dry, dusty hay and something sour and pukey. Not good.

 

I had to wash this one off.

[Skirt]

I loooove this! In the vial, it's definitely all bananas.. and then it becomes a cold, mysterious, decaying banana. I'm a huge fan of banana scents + this is the only perfume that's ever not turned into plastic banana on me. Serious hearts for this one.

[Ajila]

In the bottle – Banana flavouring and dry moss

 

Wet on me – Banana flavouring, with a dirty undertone that smells a little like mould

 

Dry on me – Among the wafts of grave moss the sweetness of the banana stands out

 

Overall – I like this and it appeals to my sense of humour, but the occasional tendency towards the smell of mould disturbs me slightly

 

[poisondove]

Imp: Banana in the dark oil somewhere, and a hint of mossy-ness.

 

Wet: AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH no! Dirt! Bring the earthworms b/c I am dirt-tastic. Tho there is banana in the air, like a wee ghostie.

 

Dry: Dirt. Loam. Soil. I know I amp it but this is silly!! Though there is a sweet undercurrent, as if someone buried the banana peel. Its a bit reminiscent of being a kid, digging for earthworms, having had the inevitably sticky hands after polishing off some sweetie.

 

Summary: Amazing how they can make such a scent --so tangible and real-- but sad that if there is a hint of dirt, I shall become the dirt smelling girl

[Gwydion]

In bottle: whoa! Banana and dirt. Wet: Goes richer on the skin. The bana is slightly less realistic, but the dirt expands to add stone, moss, and oak. Here may be a little ivy to. As it warms on the skin, the banana backs down a little, becomning a lovely sweet note in what is otherwise a fascinating outdoors scent. I love the blending of the dirt, leaves, and wood. It’s vaguely spicy, though in a cedar kind of way. The banana grows more lovely and subtle as it wears. If one is worried about te banana note, it is gorgeous after the initial application. Dry: goes from dry ground, to vaguely wet ground. I love this like I love worm moon and I’m moving it onto the shoping list. This is the best non-Le dirt scent I’ve encountered.

[surf-tormented]

In the bottle: It's an odd oil. It comes out of the bottle acid green. At least my bottle does. Smells garbagesque.

 

When applied: It reminds me of something when I put it on...banana bubble gum chewed in a grassy field? It has a fresh grass note, then an earthy tone not unlike Graveyard dirt and then the banana, which is sweet, but not too much so, comes in.

 

It does have a starter garbage and loam scent...I wondered if I would like this at all...

 

Drydown: Dries to a nice strong fruity earth scent. Very unique, not too sweet and the garbage scent morphs quickly into something utterly wearable. Gothic banana smoothie thrown in the moss of a crypt..just the empty plastic cup amongst the graves.

 

You would think this combo wouldn't work, but it does on my skin. The earth note plays with the banana one. It's haunting familiar to something I once ate or at least smelled...maybe I will report back on that. I think it is bringing something back from my childhood. It reminds me of the country and the outdoors, very clean and herbal-grassy.

 

I did get a copy of The Graveyard Book for Christmas and I haven't read it yet, but I'll wear this when I get around to it. It's yummy and dirty.

Edited April 7, 2009 by Madame Nyx

[lucyintheSkywithDemons]

This one is amazing.

 

When it showed up in the GC I was fascinated and had to order a bottle -

and I am not disappointed!

 

Strange thing - first opened, it smelled strongly of sweet banana ( me loves me the smell of banananana ...*nom* )

I closed the bottle again and handed it over to my boy - and all we could smell this time was

Graveyard Dirt - PURE GD, nothing else.

 

We tried this several times - and everytime the same thing.. either GD or banana.

 

On : this must be the longest lasting oil EVER.

I put it on yesterday at noon, just to give it a skin test .. and I can still smell it now,

after a shower and 12 hours of sleep.. its amazing.

 

Kind of a dusty-sweet fruity dirt , not quite patchouli-like, as I don´t get any patchouli out of this.

Its a gentle " memento mori" scent, if that makes sense... ( propably not, but that just came to mind..)

 

I´m glad I got a bottle.

I don´t think I will wear this often, but it is a real scent-sation, so to speak...

 

Rating 5/5

[ShadowsDance]

It's sweet banana and a deep earthy soil. I like both of these things separately.. but.. not so much together.