Flowering Chrysanthemums

[hkhm]

Chrysanthemum, marigold, golden sandalwood, vanilla, cinnamon, and amber incense.

bottle: i get light sandalwood and a sweet vanilla-y amber scent.

wet: this is very light on the chrysanthemum, the sandalwood and amber wake this a warm golden scent. and i normally have a terrible reaction to cinnamon but there is absolutely no burn here (whew!).

dry: this dries to a sweet and faintly spicy amber scent. very lovely.

[Dark Alice]

This is lovely. Incensy, light and golden. The cinnamon (for once hallelujah!!!) behaves itself remarkably and it wraps itself around the sandalwood like a golden halo. I am just thrown off a little by the mums and the incense....on the drydown they mix into some kind of funk that you would find in a men's lockeroom. So hopefully with age this will just get better.

 

Overall 3/5 and so glad I got a bottle!!!

[crebbsgirl]

This is a warm and golden scent. Wet, I get a lot of chrysanthemums but as it dries, the flowers blend wonderfully with the amber incense and vanilla. Further into the drydown the sandalwood comes out and adds some depth. This is a really beautiful second skin kind of scent. The cinnamon is not very present here, I'm usually quite sensitive to it and I don't see any tell-tale redness on my wrists. I can only very faintly detect any spice. And I don't get any locker-room funk here!

[blacklacestatic]

In the bottle: Sweet, sexy, creamy. Vanilla, amber and cinnamon are most prominent to me here, but there is definitely a fresh floral in the back there somewhere.

 

Wet on skin: Here is where I get a first sniff of the flowers. It starts out lovely, bright in a Gaoler's Daughter kind of way. There's still a strong amber base. At some point however, as it dries I get a strange hint of a peppery metallic as it's drying. That only lasts a very short while though, and I only get it if I smell my skin directly, otherwise I still smell the fresh floral all around me. I have no idea where it come from.

 

Drydown: Back to the creamy vanilla/amber I got from the bottle with more sandalwood. Yet it's kind of juicy and incensey at the same time. This is gorgeous!

 

Overall: I love it and am so happy to have ordered it. This will be getting a lot of use from me. It's perfect. Sexy, spicy, incensey and beautiful.

[Wwindy]

Gorgeous, but a heartbreaker!

 

Wet, the marigold seems a little more prominent than the chrysanthemum to me -- the floral aspect has a very bright golden-orange, late summer/early autumn feel. The flowers blend smoothly with swirls of sweet cinnamon and smoky incense. It's a lovely, lovely scent, but... gone so quickly! I slathered this morning, and within two hours there was barely any trace left on my clothes. Very sad...

[LunaLovegood]

This is just not for me.

In the bottle its kind of hard to pick out any scent, but its kind of flowery/earthy. Once on the skin, its a bit more flowery, I dont know if its the marygold or the chrysanthemum, I cant really distinguish them.

On the drydown, to me this is a very aquatic scent. I have no idea why though since none of the notes is aquatic. It is a bit ambery/flowery. Its a light scent, not a lot of throw, and my skin swallows it like it was never there.

I really wanted to like this one, and I thought it would be a winner for sure, alas I was mistaken.

[alicia_stardust]

This is a light, sweet, vanilla-amber-incense base with a warm halo of softly sweet, lush marigold and mums. It's gorgeous. So so gorgeous. It has good throw but lasts a little less than average. It's worth it, though. I think this is among my favorites of the Shunga II blends.

[jewelbug]

Bottle: A pale golden scent, very light in the bottle. Something brings the Illustrated woman to mind, though I don’t know what.

 

Wet: Sweet and golden, a straw-colored chrysanthemum, backed with a light vanillic sweetness and strong amber support. I can’t pick up on any spicy notes.

 

Drying: While drying, this grows in strength and throw, becoming simultaneously more “planty” and ambery…There are discernable stem-like notes, and a stronger more herbal note, presumably the marigold. These green/herbal florals blend very well with the strong amber. Actually, in this phase, I’m reminded of the floral/vanilla/amber/sandalwood of Inez, but lighter.

 

Dry: The whole blend goes back towards it more subtle beginnings, but without the herbal florals. It settles into a soft skin scent-- a pale wispy vanilla over a golden amber base.

 

Overall: I think that this will be a popular one, especially in light of the similarity (at least in my opinion) to the well-loved-inez. It’s a beautiful amber blend, and I imagine that the amber will become lovelier with a bit of age on it. I'm not sure this is a keeper for me, though--its a bit on the light side for my tastes.

[FandF]

this is "chock full of chrysanthemums" - i thought it was pretty strong for a floral blend and it smells a lot like sunshine and yellows and golds. It's a sunny strong scent wet. As it dries it smells more like the real flower. Overall i'm not a big floral lover so i'm not sure i'd wear it but I can see how this might be a nice spring scent or remind people of a mum garden.

[greenranger]

Faint, faint, light golden scent. On me, I suspect all that is really showing up is the amber incense and a tiny bit of the vanilla.

 

It's nice, but, I can just barely smell it.

 

Many hours later, I have a sugared vanilla and sandalwood scent. It is very close to the skin, but, it is lasting and lasting.

Edited February 8, 2009 by Aerinha

[pinkstardust420]

Not for me. Wish I was getting the golden vanilla sweet scent everybody else was getting but this was too earthy & flowery for me.

 

ETA: All hope is not lost! After about 15-20 minutes, this turned into a sweet, golden amber scent, with the flowery notes in the backround. I think I may keep this after all!

Edited February 10, 2009 by pinkstardust420

[Delirium1009]

In bottle/imp: Very golden and glowing with hints of spice.

 

Immediately on skin: This is a muted spice scent. The floral notes are in the front, adding their tangy and slightly green scents. Lying over the whole scent are the amber incense and sandalwood, giving this a very golden feel. This is dry and warm.

 

After a little while: The sandalwood seems to become the dominating note here after just a few minutes. It’s very warm and dry, and the amber incense and flowers linger behind it. This isn’t especially creamy or spicy; it’s more just glowing, golden, and warm.

 

Overall Impressions: This is a quiet, golden scent. It clings close to the skin and wafts very gently. This isn’t something you’d wear if you wanted everyone to know you were wearing perfume, but it is something for close contact or if you were wearing it just for yourself. The cinnamon in this is very light, as is the vanilla. The sandalwood really takes center stage and the chrysanthemum and marigold give it a nice body. Overall, very pretty but not a “me” scent.

 

[Clover01]

I like it, but not sure if I will keep it. I go back and forth on it.

 

Wet, it almost smelled like spicy amber and pink bubblegum mix(yes, my nose is totally odd!) But that goes after like 10 minutes, and the incense and amber come forth more (though remain very light), and the spice becomes the note that holds it all together.......

 

I don't really like spicy/cinnamon notes, but it stays down pretty well as if it's being smoothed over with a light amber. But even with it behaving, it still is the predominant scent on my skin. Which I'm not sure if I love or not....

 

[FallDaze]

Imp-> This is a warm and golden scent. A slight hint of incense and an undertone of florals.

 

Wet-> The a warm bouquet of florals! Very nice. The incense is present as is the sandalwood, but surprisingly they aren't jumping to the forefront. This could be nice...

 

After a while-> For a while this smells like a rich bouquet on my arm. Very pretty. After about 3 hours however, the florals are but a soft whisper of what they once were and the sandalwood has decided that it wants to shine. I was so very pleased with the floral stage though....

[Ravenclaw79]

Sweet, light, lovely flowers. I can't think of a single bad thing to say ... but I don't think this is something I'd actually think to pick up and wear, so I'll swap it anyway. (Have to try to keep the herd managable, after all.)

[capnlizaveta]

I never really understood what people meant by "second skin" or "my skin but better." Like I vaguely got what they meant but never really GOT it. I totally get it now.

 

Most every other BPAL I've tried has smelled like something so much that I would never be fooled into thinking "hey that's me! I smell like a good smell!" It's always more like "that oil is rad. I am wearing it. I am rad."

 

This is a totally sneaky one, though, because it fools my brain into thinking that it's actually me that smells like this, like I conveniently forget that I had help smelling this good. It's not that it's light or subtle or anything like that, because it's not. There's just something about the mix of notes that smells naturally unnatural, or normally abnormal. Like it smells like skin, but skin after you just finished being completely awesome someplace exotic. I didn't just finish doing that, but now I sort of think I must have because I totally smell like I did.

 

It doesn't hurt that the notes blend together really well. It smells sort of like incense and dried flowers and a little bit of not at all unpleasant sweat. Like an older lady spy whipping ass in some bazaar or market while extras fling themselves into fruit stands, knocking over all sorts of spices and dried flower bits and incense. There's not really any fruit (because it rolled away when the stands got knocked over, I guess) but there's a sort of musty smell like old, untouched things had just been upended. And it smells mature in the best way possible, hence the lady spy being older rather than younger.

 

I dig it! It makes me feel like I have just finished doing exciting things and now I want to take a nap. (Lady spies need naps, too)

[Ahania]

This is kind of harsh and medicinal on me. I don't smell any cinnamon, which is usually the note of death on me, so I guess I can be tickled about that. It doesn't really change with the drydown, either, just stays vaguely unpleasant as it fades.

[tinyvulture]

spicy florals with some oomph! after sampling the light, wispy florals of Tissue and Voyeurs…, i briefly wondered if all the Shunga blends were going to be as delicate. i was quickly shown to be wrong when i applied a few drops of this! i love the bold chrysanthemum note, combined with hot cinnamon and creamy vanilla. it’s very sweet and becomes sort of foody, but not entirely so. the funny thing is, i’m not picking up any amber, which usually amps like crazy on me. oh well, i have enough amber scents.

 

it takes a few minutes for the marigold to appear, but then it has a definite presence. it’s strongly floral at this point, but the vanilla and cinnamon are still there in the background. hooray for spicy mums!

[Brianne]

Chrysanthemum Moon is one of my favorite lunacy scents so I had high hopes for this one, which sounded like it might be similar. Indeed it is, in that it's smokey florals backed by incense. It's simply beautiful - a very grown up floral I think - it's an equal balance of flowers and incense, so that people like me (who don't really enjoy a straight up floral scent) can really appreciate it also.

[savage_rose]

I adored Chrysanthemum Moon, so I was so excited to try this. And I'm so disappointed! It smells like bitter, crushed herbs on me, and a touch of bad patchouli. And something plasticky in the background. So, so sad.

[Schmoozy]

Wow. I can't believe how much I love this. It is soft, gentle, sweet and woodsy.

Sandalwood and amber incense, make this blend extremely golden and give it a woody vibe. vanilla and cinnamon sweeten it, while also making it creamy, warm and spicy. Just when you think this blend can't get any better, the mums and chrysanthemum join the party and offer a delicate floral lift.

All in all Flowering Chrysanthemums is stunning, and I will definitely be purchasing a bottle of this.

[femmefatale]

Sweet, ambery floral with just the barest touch of spice. The florals here are different than most others I have tried. A little odd, but pretty.

Reminds me just a little of an air freshener I think my mil used to use years ago. It's pretty, but not really me. I'll keep my decant (it's in the pretty bottle LOL), but I don't think I will be buying a full one.

[angelicruin]

Sniffing the imp, this is a lovely cinnamon, vanilla, and amber scent

 

Wet on skin, it's still cinnamon, vanilla, and amber mostly. Not really getting any floral here, which may be a good thing.

 

On dry down I can smell more incense. Cinnamon is still strong and vanilla blends with floral notes to add a creamy quality.

 

Surprisingly, I may be buying a bottle of this.

[magikalbrownies]

CAN YOU SAY NEW FAVORITE? too bad it'll be gone soon!

 

in the imp: lots of chrysanthemums and amber.

 

applied: i smell so much marigold in this though but its chrysanthemums with amber just mix in so well. its a beautiful smell. im addicted. LIKE SERIOUSLY addicted.

 

overall: BUYING IT. the end.

 

 

[sixthsentinel]

Whoa, I either didn't know this had marigold in it or I had completely forgotten! Either way, that explains why I kept thinking 'marigold' while wearing it. I wasn't completely sold on it at first, but throughout the day I kept getting whiffs of it & oh it was delightful! It's like being surrounded by a golden aura & being able to smell it. Puts me in the mind of Kubla Khan and Morocco. Still, it's different enough that I feel justified in keeping the bottle. Lovely!