Berry Moon 2009

[topaz]

In August, the large masses of berries, which, when in flower, had attracted many wild bees, gradually assumed their bright velvety crimson hue, and by their weight again bent down and broke their tender limbs.
-- Henry David Thoreau

A golden summer musk with warm fig, orange blossom honey, sweet blueberries, and bright velvety crimson raspberries.

Aagh! First poster and I hope I do it justice.

In the bottle: Musky, figgy honey. (DS described it as "cat pee" but what does he know?)

Wet: Musk and blueberries...oh, I'm liking this one.

Dry: still there after two hours. Sun warmed berries, slightly tart with some figgy goodness in the background. I need to go nom my arm now.

:love!:

[anaethema_x]

Agreed! definitely a yummy honey noet...and im getting an almost fizzy candy feel from it, but not as strong as in Candy Phoenix. god this is some good blueberry.... honeyed musky blueberry decadence...its sweet, but not gag me sweet. Soft, relaxed, sitting in the summer sun with a pint of blueberries and a boyfriend.

 

yummy.

 

 

Aagh! First poster and I hope I do it justice.

 

In the bottle: Musky, figgy honey. (DS described it as "cat pee" but what does he know?)

 

Wet: Musk and blueberries...oh, I'm liking this one.

 

Dry: still there after two hours. Sun warmed berries, slightly tart with some figgy goodness in the background. I need to go nom my arm now.

 

:love!:

[stellans]

When I first took off the lid, I got a whiff that was a bit sour and off-putting but luckily that didn't translate to my skin. Instead, a sweetness bloomed, berries definitely, and with a hint of honey. Usually I amp honey like nobody's business, but in this blend it only serves to make the berry notes better. As it dries, the muskiness really comes to the forefront and makes this blend even more perfect to wear at night (my practice with Lunacies). The fig note seems to be underlying the other fruits, which is nice because it helps sweeten the raspberry a bit, IMO. It doesn't seem to have a lot of throw, but that's ok since I'm already in bed and not going anywhere, LOL! It also doesn't seem to last a terribly long time, but again, as long as I can smell it until I fall asleep, it's a win for me.

 

I really like this, and I'm happy I bought 2 bottles... 3 of 5 stars.

Edited May 26, 2011 by stellans

[caffinatedangel]

In the bottle - Pie filling. Or maybe just a pie in general. Must be fig plus fruit, it's got an almost battery feel, without being foody.

Wet on skin - Erm. This is really faint, wet. But it has a slight crisp vibe that Candy Phoenix has. But not in your face, the other poster said it well. It's got this underlying "fiz". I'm going to say it's the raspberry note, somehow.

Drydown - it sort of had no scent to me, at first. Like I was sniffing air. o_O It slowly, very slowly, unfurled on me. I think "summer musk" has a few unique elements. It glows. It warms the berries. I can always smell this faint hint of fruit, but then randomly, out of no where, I get these POPS of something juicy, then its gone. Very weird.

 

The overall vibe is a lot warmer than I thought it would be. Like resting in the shade on a sweltering day in August, fingers stained by berry picking. With popping an occasional one in your mouth P:

 

I am pleased that the blueberry scent, when it pops out of the honey, musk, and fig, is the same blueberry that was in crawdad. I fell in love with that berry, and so when I spotted berry moon I was all over it. But it just... isn't on the forefront. And being called Berry Moon, I thought it would be YAY berry. It's warm, mellow, sun-warmed... a touch of fruit. It's more a fig and musk scent, with little random fruit pops.

 

I have to say I'm a little disappointed now. As it dried... it just lost all fruit and gained more fig/musk. It's lovely, it's just not berry. Sigh. I'm not going to trade it ALL off right now though. Maybe aging will do something, who knows right? *hopes*

Edited July 24, 2009 by CaffinatedAngel

[mineralgirl]

I was looking forward to this as I love fruit. Mine arrived today and I swear that it's like I got a bottle of something other than the Berry Moon everyone else got!

 

This was complete and utter disappointment. This is straight up herb.. no berries anywhere. I can vaguely smell a fruity sweetness in the bottle but as soon as I try it on.. it's all green. I get no musk, no fig, no honey that I can smell... it just smells like herbs. I can't stomach it at all.. I'm sooooo sad.

 

 

[marared]

Berry Moon, it does not love me. *sad* The bottle is a blast of berry-sweet honey and I got all excited, because the lab's honey typically is very good with my skin chemistry and I was totally going to nom myself.

 

Except... there is some note that doesn't quite agree with me, and I'm not sure what it is. Maybe it's the summer musk - I amp musk a fair bit, although musk usually likes me as well. Whatever it is, it turns almost to a BO funk that holds down the berries - I can smell them under it all, trying to come out and play, but they can't get past the funk.

 

Owing to the fact that it's just past my ladytime, I'm going to give it another couple tests over the next few weeks, because even Penumbra went kinda rank on me earlier this week, and maybe my chemistry is just unusually out of whack this time. I hope so, because I LOVE HONEY AND RASPBERRY AND MUSK AND I WANT THIS TO WORK DAMMIT. *ahem*

[Ravenclaw79]

Darn you, honey. Darn you to heck.

 

This is Lady Una taking a brief walk past a blueberry bush -- for a moment, there's a hint of blueberry underneath, but other than that, it's pretty much straight honey.

 

I wonder if honey is a note that might weaken as it ages? This had so much potential to be awesome from the description, but the honey's crowding everything out.

[AnArtfuldodger]

It's official. Fig and I are not friends, and never the twain shall meet again. All the other notes would have been glorious on my skin, but alas, figs! In real life, I like figs! I don't mind the smell of figs! I am a friend to all figs, and never a fig foe.

 

But alas.

 

For figs clearly see me as only a foe. I want nice warm fig scents, they give me feet smells.

 

In the bottle: Figfigfigfigfigfigfigberries!honey!figfigfig

 

On my wrist: FE FI FO FIG.

 

On the drydown: I actually get a little bit of the raspberry tartness in the musky afterglow of the scent which is GLORIOUS and lovely. But the initial burst of scent I get when I sniff my wrist is that of feety feety figs.

 

 

I figured I'd give figs another fair fight. But I think this firms up the final decision.

 

Figs are fatal on my skin.

 

(Again, that afterglow of berry and honey that I get is LOVELY -- I really think this is just a case of my skin hating my guts, judging from other reviews here.)

[hkhm]

bottle: raspberry musk and it is strong, strong, strong.

 

wet: musk with berries. this is insanely strong. i knew i amp musk a bit but whoa! i would swear i've got some crumble baking...

 

dry: yum. as this dries i get more and more fig with just a touch of the honey until this is a warm fig/raspberry cobbler cooling in the afternoon sun.

[kelpsoda]

Um, I'm totally confused. In the bottle I smell berries - with a bit of pie filling. Yummy! On my skin it smells fresh and green. Where are the berries in my Berry Moon? or the orange blossom?

 

ETA: I will say that 15 min. later it smells like musk, with a fresh clean note. no berries.

Edited July 23, 2009 by kelp

[Gale]

Wet: Berries, honey and musk. Nice!

 

On and dry: Oh mama, this is gorgeous. a true berry scent that doesn't go all screaming sweet (thanks be to the fig and musk I'll bet). This is absolutely delightful. Warm, deep, and fruity.

 

[Wench457]

In the bottle, a pile of yummy berries. On my skin, sharp and green and just a bit too aggressive. Once into the drydown, the berries peek out a bit between the thorny brambles, though they're still just far enough out of reach that I'm not willing to stick my hand in to try to pluck one.

 

Initially, I'm a bit disappointed in this scent, but I'm pretty sure a bit of age will wear the thorns off this one. I'll update in a month or so if things change.

[dawndie]

In bottle: powdered fruit, like a drink mix poured into a pitcher before adding the water

 

On skin: sharp musk with a tinge of sugar

 

Half-hour later: fruit and musk duking it out. As you can imagine, the musk is winning

 

In conclusion: due to my selective reading, especially first thing in the morning when the Lunacy posts, I read Berry Moon as "FRUIT SALAD YAY" when actually the first ingredient listed is summer musk. The musk, while light and pleasant, is quite strong on me, but I do like the honey and fruit milling about on top. Reminds me of Anactoria, sweetened musk.

[Heavenlyrabbit]

What strikes me most about this Fruit blend is it's restrained sweetness and full bodied character. I think it might be the particular Honey note and just the right amount of Fig.

 

I personally don't get any sort of fizz or dessert vibe though. In fact, I held off reviewing this til today cause I wanted to try it again and see what was up with that. But there it is.... my reaction is a bit different than others.

 

This is a great addition to my collection. A lot of my BPAL Fruit bottles are either liquored up or real Gourmands/Foodie.

Edited July 24, 2009 by Heavenlyrabbit

[neuilly]

Well this blend clearly just didn't want to love me. It smelled great in the bottle though! I must just have some odd chemistry. It went on sharp and bitter and then dried to powdery dryer sheet. Bizarre.

[angelicruin]

This is quite different from what I expected, but not in a bad way.

 

Sniffing the bottle, it's mainly fig and musk to my nose.

 

Wet on the skin, it's more of a green & honey scent than berry scent....a lightly sweet scent, but definitely green--maybe it's the orange blossom, but that note doesn't normally turn like that on my skin.

 

The more it dries, the greenery disappears and I am left with a sweet berry musk. I'm really not picking up specific blueberry or raspberry notes, just a general berry note.

 

It's a very smooth, delicate, and pleasant scent on my skin.

Edited July 24, 2009 by angelicruin

[Bluestocking]

In the bottle: Lots of golden musk, followed by warm honey. I don't get much orange blossom, but there's definite honey. The fruits are all dancing around on top of that musky honey, but it's actually difficult to identify them. I think I get mostly tart raspberry (this is not the sweeeet, syrupy raspberry of Lady Macbeth), but then there will be a whiff of blueberry now and then. I think the fig is blending so well with the musk and honey that it's tricky to pick it out. Smells summery, fruity and surprisingly sexy, with an unexpected hint of sharp green, as though this has both berries and berry leaves.

On, wet: Lighter and much more floral on my skin, with the blueberry and orange blossom taking center stage. The honey/musk/fig makes a nice, warm, sort of sensual/sweet base, but it's surprisingly light and subtle. The musk, in particular, adds a nice, clean (but not soapy) element here. I get the delicious tang of red raspberries in the throw, but not when I sniff close up. Beautiful and perfect for summer!

On, dry: Warmer, sweeter and richer as the honey and fig become stronger, but the golden musk still gives this a slightly clean, fresh edge that keeps it from being too heavy. The greenery is gone and it's getting slightly less floral now, while the raspberry is definitely pulling ahead of the blueberry. It still makes me think of tanned skin and sunshine and buckets of fresh summer fruit.

Later: Musky, luminous raspberries drizzled with figgy honey. The orange blossom has pretty much disappeared, and the blueberry has blended so well with the other fruit that it isn't distinct. Fruity, sweet-tart, sensual summer perfume.

Much later: Red raspberry and musky but light honey.

Overall: This has a slightly acidic quality on first sniff (in the bottle) that scared me a little bit, but I needn't have feared. It's beautiful on the skin, and it's must lighter and subtler than the combination of honey and berries might suggest. It's a nice combination of sweet, tart and clean, with more muskiness and fig when I huff and more of the berries in the throw. It's surprisingly sophisticated and restrained, but it has a slightly warm, sultry quality to it that makes me think of humid summer air and damp, glowing skin and berry picking. It's a berry scent that works for me in a way that others haven't, so this gets the seal of approval.

 

 

[Kimbernunk]

Oh wow.

 

Okay. So in the bottle this was very sweet, syrupy berries. I have to agree with the 'pie filling' sentiment.

 

When I put it on, there were a few minutes of woahmuskyhoney. Then it settled down to a really glorious blueberry/raspberry/honey combo with a really strong golden musk base to anchor it down. This phase is excellent and mouthwatering yummy. It's a *little* foody, but not too sweet or sticky.

 

After a couple hours, the berries faded and it spent a few more hours in musky/honey/fig combo, which was okay but nowhere near as nice as the first few hours. I think when I wear it I'll keep the bottle near me so I can reapply when it hits this phase.

 

Overall, I like it, which makes me happy because I had my doubts about the honey raging out of control.

 

Also, this reminds me very strongly of Bewitched, but whereas Berry Moon is golden and honeyed, Bewitched is more green and herbal and planty. The berry/musk combo in both of them is quite similar, however, which I think is why my brain went to Bewitched.

[Redsnoopy1977]

In the bottle all I can smell is musk, when I dab some on my wrists some berries start to bloom but not very sweet berries and I cannot pick out any single berry notes. After it dried further and after about 15 minutes the musk steps down a little and the berry comes forward well cautiously but I could not smell any orange blossom honey I REALLY wanted to love this one so badly but sadly its not for me - sometimes i really hate my skin chemistry.

[Xanon]

I should have known it was too good to be true! I really wanted to love this scent, I'm a big berry person, but the honey and fig musk did a tag team of squiffy-nes that left me sad.

 

In the Bottle: astringent blueberries and fig. A little intense for me.

Initial Wet: Yum, I smell the berries! Wait, wait - honey, oh why do you smell powdery and weird on me?

After about 15 minutes: Honey and fig musk decided to amp themselves over the wonderful blueberries creating, as someone above mentioned, a berry scented dryer sheet on my skin.

 

I think I'll let this one rest a bit from it's trip north from the lab and see if it gets any better for me. But, if it's anything like O, it will probably only get worse. Boo.

[CynicalPink]

I love every single note in this bottle. Yes, even the fig. It would take a disaster for this not to be a winner

 

Bottle: Less musky, more berry-ish Lady Una (a favorite)

 

Wet: Muskier than i thought it would be. Still really appealing. Lots of lush dark berries

 

Drydown: I usually use "powdery" as a negative, but this is a really sweet sunshiney powder that's hiding in the background. I'm guessing it's the "summer musk." It's fun! Fig is adding a bit of greenery but not taking over. And yes, honey and berries.

 

Overall: It's a winner. It's sweet and summertime-y and, of course, smells great. I just wish it had a bit more throw so other people could enjoy this scent as much as i do!

 

Nearly a year later: The musk has backed off a little bit and there's a new green note that just wasn't there a year ago. The fig is crisper and more noticeable than it was when it first got here. Still smells very sunny and berry-ish, but with a welcome green-ness from the fig now.

Edited July 5, 2010 by CynicalPink

[violetblue]

In the bottle it smells sweet and foody, but on, I am amping the musk, which isn't a bad thing - but it's a sweet musk, not dry or stale at all - don't smell the fruit notes at all. A tinge powdery on drydown, but a winner for me. Really nice.

 

ETA: Drying down even more, I am getting fruity-sweet-cake! I am really enjoying this one!

Edited July 25, 2009 by violetblue

[fairnymph]

Sniffed: Sweet fruits and ambery musk! The honey and orange blossom are there but light, the blueberries are pretty realistic, and the raspberries are juicy and tart. I do get a little ripe/intense fig, as in Carnal.

 

Wet: Huh, I see how people say this is much more green and herbal on the skin - it's oddly sharp, with almost none of the berries or honey. It's all about the orange blossom and I get some neroli too; sharp, green, a little piercing and masculine. It's overall a bit acrid. I am sad.

 

Dry: Orange blossom going a little soapy, but I am getting wisps of the honey and raspberry now and the amber (which is amber, not musk, I've decided. I have yet to detect any musk in this blend.) The blueberries are just gone. Fig amping as it does on my skin, but it's still behaving.

 

Later: Much tarter, much more raspberry - it's really amping on me, actually, and it's much nicer than BPAL's raspberry note typically is. Less cloying, more realistic. The neroli/orange blossom is still a bit harsh, but bearable at this point. The amber has gone powder and is indeed very warm and golden, light enough to not bother me. Fig's still being very figgy.

 

Summary: Now I'm getting a load of musk - maybe the coconutty one from Buck Moon, not quite that, but similar to BM's musk. It's very strong in the final drydown, even dominating. Fig is in second place, and it's a strong presence though still not too bossy. The amber is powdery but lightly so; it's more of a golden warmth, although I don't like its perfumey edge. Blueberry's a bit plastic, but raspberry is still deliciously tart. Strong throw & longevity.

 

Ehh. It's not bad, but it's not quite working for me.

[strangemodegirl]

Huh.

I am also one of those who is getting almost no berry from my Berry Moon.

Heavy on the honey and musk, then fig and a wee bit of raspberry. No blueberry to speak of.

 

Funny thing is...I absolutely love it!

 

Before I quit smoking last year I could never wear anything with honey because it turned to a sour cat pee like smell on me. Well, that no longer happens! Apparently honey is wonderful on me now! First I discovered that Lady Una worked beautiful on me, and now this!

 

I am quite pleased that I got two bottles.

[ltrittipoe]

Thanks to a lovely forum-ite, this was passed on to me.... (Sorry it didn't work on you, Hayley - )

 

In bottle: musky berries! Very sharp.

 

Wet: Still sharp, but more berries than musk. No honey yet, more like a bitter berry. I'm a little worried - after a couple of minutes, the musk seems to be amping to almost NO berry, just musk and green leaves.

 

Dry: Soft, lovely berries. Sweet but not too - I think I must be getting the sweetness and gold of the honey without smelling so much "honey". Thank goodnes the musk recedes and let the berries shine! And not a specific berry, just all kinds swirled together.

 

Once this dries down on me, it is a beautiful golden berry swirl. Fun and summery! I just have to get through that bitter musky leaf stage. Not one of my absolute favorites, but nice for a hot summer day.

 

ETA: I put a drop of Beaver'versary on top of this, and Sweetens it up just enough!

 

Edited July 25, 2009 by ltrittipoe