Bony Moon

[Little Bird]

White sandalwood, dry cedar, and radiant, crisp lunar herbs.

In the bottle, this smells sorta incensey, cool and smooth, like Midnight Mass. I wish that it smelled that nice on my skin, but it doesn't.

Some versions of cedar don't smell very nice on me, and this is one of those cedars. It smells like sweaty man with horrible BO. Thankfully, there's just a hint of that cedar. Unfortunately, the sandalwood goes unbearably dry and powdery on me, and whatever else is in this is cloying & awful. Something in this smells like cloying floral sweet tarts, if that makes any sense. Too much sweet, dry powder, with that dirty cedar in the background.

I keep buying the lunacies, but I've only found six out of the 80+ that I've tried that I'll actually wear. Bony Moon isn't going to be one that I'll wear... Edited April 21, 2009 by Little Bird

[fairnymph]

Sniffed in imp: Light yellow oil. Cedar, sandalwood, and sweet herbs. Very dry. Quite mild, luminous, almost aquatic.

 

Wet: Crisper, sweeter. Almost citrusy. Definitely some light florals - this is a lot more feminine on my skin. The sandalwood is very clean and fresh.

 

Dry: Sweeter and sweeter, though it's not sugary. More like a floral sweetness. The cedar in this is extremely well behaved and does not amp. There is a creaminess here is that same coconut from Black Pearl. Not too sweet or foody.

 

Later: Also reminded a bit of Brown Jenkins. There's a soft powdery aspect that really makes me think iris or violet in this. There's definitely a soft floral. And I think I get a teensy bit of verbena.

 

Summary: Clean, creamy, slightly powdery and dry woody-floral with strong sandalwood in the drydown. Unisex. Very white and elegant/refined in feel. Dismal throw.

Edited April 13, 2009 by fairnymph

[rayvn1]

This is absolutely bizare, but I'm getting creamy, sweet, white coconut I can't explain this at all...a bit of cedar there too. Cedar and coconut, very pleasing, but not a keeper for me I guess.

[zankoku_zen]

Dry dry dry! This one is a very dry cedar blend, kinda sharp... and very much like pencil shavings on me.

 

Bleh.

[angelicruin]

Sniffing the bottle, this is very herbal.

 

Once applied to my skin, it goes to nearly all cedar. I also get a bit of coconut as others have reported. The more it dries, the more I can smell the sandalwood.

 

Very pleasant scent on my skin.

[PurringPulsar]

Bony Moon

 

In the imp: really gorgeous warm sandalwood!

Wet on skin: sandalwood and a little bit of cedar and something green.

Dry: this is a really lovely white sandalwood scent! The sandalwood is the dominant note here, and it’s gorgeous-warm, slightly sweet, even a little spicy, but with that pale and dusty dryness which fits with the bony theme. The cedar is there too, a deeper and harder wood note under the sandalwood. The herbs are subtle, but I can smell hints of fresh greenery here too.

After a while: this becomes very faint after some time, and turns to pretty much single note sandalwood. But that’s no bad thing, as I do love white sandalwood, and this scent really shows it off. That warm dry wood, now a bit sweeter than before, with that bony white dusty scent to it which almost reminds me of orris, but not as powdery. It is very faint though, the sandalwood isn’t as strong as it could be, and it’s a whisper of woody scent. I do love how sweet it is now, a gentle sweet warm wood which actually becomes a little resinous at times.

Verdict: this is fantastic sandalwood. A warm, dry, rich sandalwood with hints of spice, a little depth from the cedar, but mainly sandalwood. Makes me realise I love this note a lot. However, this scent does fade fast, which is a shame, because it goes through some nice resinous stages before it does. Though I do love sandalwood, I was hoping the herbs would show up a little to add another dimension to this woody scent, make it a little more interesting? It reminds me of the White Sandalwood SN (which I have a bit of, and I love), so I don’t feel like I need this one.

Emoticon rating:

Is it a keeper? It’s nice but I’m not sure I feel it’s a keeper.

If you like this, try: Mole, Dragon’s Bone, Isaac, Dragon’s Claw, Magus

[Lamia]

This is a very polite sandalwood. Fresh, it's got a bit of furriness to it, which I believe to be the cedar.

[catattack]

Imp: Light sandalwood

Wet: Sandalwood, tangy herbs. Begins to smooth out after a minute.

Drydown: A slightly creamy note in the background. This is turning into a creamy sandalwood. Not sweet. Just creamy. Further drydown, it turns into a sharp floral. WTF! What happened to the creamy sandalwood?!

Overall: The end is all bad. What a disappointment. Stupid skin!

[Invidiana]

I don't know how Beth did it, but she really managed to bottle hunger this time. The woody dryness of this scent is beautiful but still manages not to be your generic kitchen cabinet showroom, which I was afraid of. It's tempered just enough by the florals and spices to still stay dry and warm but not completely parched. Even my mother, who can't stand 95% of my bottles, actually liked this one and would consider wearing it. A word of warning: don't put this stuff on if you're hungry, because I made that mistake and it made me even hungrier

[FelicityTwitchell]

I haven't put this on me yet, but I put some on the fiancé:

 

In the Bottle: sharp, strong, wood & herbs

 

Wet: spicy musk?, and citrusy

 

then musky soap

 

Dry: first an ivory type soap, then settled as a fancy sweet and spicy lavender-ish soap

 

Definitely not what I want my man smelling like. Given what it came out like on him, I'm very curious what it will be on my skin.

[filigree_shadow]

I don't get this scent. It's supposed to smell like sandalwood and cedar? Well, I don't really smell any cedar, that's for sure, and I didn't think this is what sandalwood smells like. It does smell "white," though, so there's that. But mainly because it's a bit powdery on me. I like it, but I find it confusing. I keep thinking it should smell like something else and being surprised when I sniff it.

[edenssixthday]

Bony Moon - This goes on with a hefty dose of white sandalwood and something very perfumey. As it dries down, it settles down, and while white sandalwood is still the dominant note, I can also smell the pretty herbs, but what's really grabbing me is the amount of fuzzy, animalic musk in this scent. I think that's what was so perfumey upon first application. This is definitely an animalic musk as with Faunalia, Buck Moon, Ivanushka, etc. It's a really lovely scent, although a tad on the perfumey side for me.

[het4377]

Bony Moon 2011 Version

 

Okay, the bottle has had 2 full days to settle, so I'm ready to review this puppy! Unfortunately I do not have a have the '09 version of the blend, so I can't make any comparisons between the two.

 

Wet on skin: Crisp white sandalwood with an undertone of ceder and a vague herbal basenote. More white sandalwood than anything else at this point.

 

After a while: Still lovely white sandalwood with a base of cedar. Not morphing one bit.

 

Final Verdict: Though the sandalwood is less in the forefront as this continues to dry, it does stay present, while the ceder stays at about the same level of strength and gives this a definite wood-shavings kind of feel. It's crisp and dry and definitely unisex! I really like this, which is unsurprising given I love white sandalwood and that's the most prevalent note in Bony Moon 2011.

 

Rating: 4/5

 

If you like this, try: Ronin, Dragon's Bone, Lines Written Among the Euganean Hills, Illium Inter Spinas, Veil, Dance of the Mirlitons, Smokey Moon '09 (Tristesses de la Lune), Quicksilver Phoenix

 

Using a slightly altered yeahbutnobut review formatting, because it is the epitome of awesome and helpful.

Edited February 5, 2011 by haley

[Drarra]

Bony Moon 2011

 

In the bottle: I smell lots of sandalwood. I smell the cedar just beneath it, combined with some green herbs.

 

Wet on skin: The cedar is blooming. At this point, I'm smelling more cedar than sandalwood. This is very a delicate-smelling, pale, luminous wood. Almost an old, weathered white wood shining in the moonlight. The herbs are blending with the woods, lending an herbal, nearly floral feel to it.

 

Just dry on the skin: The herbs are moving to the front of the perfume. The sandalwood is setting as a base, the cedar just a hint in the background. Still a rather cold, woody blend. Is it weird that this is making me hungry?

 

Later: This has warmed up; it's no longer cold. The herbs are slightly sweeter, and I get LOTS of cedar as a base. In my case, this is a good thing; my skin loves cedar.

 

When it first dried, I wasn't sure I was going to like it. I was having a definite moment of hesitation. The longer this dries, the more beautiful it's becoming on my skin. The herbs are becoming less green and more spicy. I love it. If you enjoy woody blends, this may be an excellent selection for you. I can't stop sniffing my test!

 

4.5/5

Edited February 11, 2011 by Drarra

[calivianya]

2011 Version

 

Bony Moon is a winner. It went on sharply woodsy with a hint of herbs, but after about ten minutes the woods have tamed and I'm getting a nice mix of herbs and cedar. I'm not picking up the sandalwood too strongly here. These herbs smell similar to the herbs in Nefertiti to me, and Nefertiti is a favorite. Where Nefertiti is very bright green herbs, this is dusty, woodsy herbs. I like it very much.

[zankoku_zen]

Review for the 2011 version.

 

I find the 2011 version to be a softer variation on the original Bony Moon 2011. Meaning to say that the cedar is there, but not as strong and I get more herbal and sandalwood whiffs. It's still a dry scent, but much more wearable and definitely toward the masculine edge.

 

The stronger presence of the sandalwood in this incarnation has an almost clean, lemon edge to it.

[JazzieCazzie]

Acquired a bottle of Bony Moon 2009 (I had to look VERRRRRRRRY carefully to read the label because, you know, it sucks to get old) in a purchase from a lovely, lovely forumite.

 

IN THE BOTTLE: While I naturally got the lovely lilt of the sandalwood, my first thought/image was slightly sweet and a bit fruity, which surprised me because I had not double-checked the description but thought it unlikely I would have bought something with fruit (way too risky for my body chemistry).

 

Dabbed pretty generously on one wrist/crook (dual-testing with Anthelion on the other).

 

WET: I realized almost immediately that what I thought was fruity in the bottle was actually the sweet green cedar once it was applied, the one wood that interacts so uniquely with my body. Not bad unique, but unique. The sandalwood amps up immediately (yay sandalwood!) and I smell glorious -- light and lovely but also spicy and golden.

 

DRYDOWN: This is a scent that stays very true to me on drydown from its wet scent (I guess there's no myrrh, LOL). And that's a good thing. The herbs add that degree of ineffable, maybe unplaceable scents but they're all good ones.

 

OVERALL: This is an unusual and slightly unplaceable but very awesome scent which takes a very very honored spot in my box of big bottles, and from which I have already decanted a single imp to take with me when I travel, etc.

 

On a scale of 1-5: Very close to a 5.

[Mergekat]

I got this 2011 version bottle and tried it out. On first application I got a wet, but definitely crisp mix of sandalwood and cedar. It seemed to have a medium throw and moderate staying power throughout the day. It morphed and became drier over time, and near the end and became kind of a smoky woods scent (which had also happened with RPG: Ranger tested on me too). I like it as woodsy themes work well for me, but I wish it had a stronger throw. I give it a 4 out of 5 stars.

Edited July 19, 2013 by Mergekat

[cherrycherry]

2009 version.

 

A confession : I bought this purely because the label is adorable. I love skeletons and the little guy on this bottle is just the cutest!

 

As for the scent - dry, yet creamy woods with a very subtle herbal undertone. Lovely.

[lizabelle]

2009 version

 

This is simple but very pretty and I can see myself wearing it a lot. The woods are incredibly creamy, to the point that I'm surprised there's no milk or coconut note in here. It reminds me of Yggdrasil a bit, but cooler and creamier. There's a restful quality to the herbs in here and it truly does feel moonlit. It's perfectly unisex and seems like it would be wearable at any time of year. A definite keeper.

Edited January 29, 2017 by lizabelle

[Cali]

2009 Version. Kinda goes Fuck you, said the raven on me but in the wrong way. Dirty, gravelly. White florals? Sweet woods? Salty? Mostly sandalwood. Oh man this does not work on my skin.

Edited September 20, 2017 by Cali

[starbrow]

2011 bottle:

 

I acquired this because I heard it was a bookish scent! And indeed, when I was testing it out again today, the first sniff of it reminded me so much of Scholar's Tower, I had to go compare. The cedar is very much the same, lovely and sweet! Bony Moon's sandalwood, the pale bonelike variety, brings an amazingly papery twist to the "old cedar bookshelves" atmosphere. It's fairly quiet and powdery, but has a nice intimate throw for the wearer's pleasure.

 

What are the radiant crisp lunar herbs? No idea! Maybe a bit of rosemary and time? But very dry and very old, like they've lost most of their crackle by now and are mostly dust. And almost assuredly clary sage at the opening? I wish that stuck around longer! Over time, this becomes a mostly sandalwood scent that nevertheless has that wood-pulp smell of fresh paperbacks, with the dusty smell of OLD paperbacks.

 

If you like sandalwood and are looking for a book scent that does NOT have leather in it, Bony Moon could be one to try! I think ultimately while I enjoy it, the sandalwood component - and its similarity to my favorite, Scholar's Tower - means that I just won't wear my bottle as often as I could. I think it will find a new home.

 

I would wear this while: rearranging the books on my bookshelves and dreaming of the days of Scholastic book fairs and Pizza Hut