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Staged Moon Landing

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STAGED MOON LANDING
O, moon landing hoax.
Incontrovertible proof:
Fake rocks, fake footage.

Determined to win the space race at any cost, the US government staged moon landings in an empty hangar at Area 51 in the Nevada desert and presented the spurious footage to the world as fact.

Prop moon rocks: muguet, orris, white sandalwood, galbanum, cistus, and dusty vanilla.


The label has a picture of a space suit with the lunar landscape in the background. The faceplate of the space suit reflects a camera crew. :lol:

In the Bottle: Sweet! This reminds me of Silver Phoenix.

Wet on Skin: Wow. Very different than it smells in the bottle. Still reminiscent of Silver Phoenix, but not as sweet. There is an edge to this while it is wet - probably the galbanum and/or cistus, but it isn't too harsh, just enough to give this a hint of "metal framework under the fake moon rock set."

While Drying: An almost green note peeks out briefly (could this be the Lily of the Valley?). The vanilla and sandalwood lend a sweet and dusty aspect to the scent. I wonder if some of those rocks are made out of freeze-dried Astronaut ice cream?

After a Little While: I am surrounded by a cloud of lovely sweetness (I thought this was mallow when I smelled it in SP, but maybe it is the orris). If I sniff up close, I can detect a slightly bitter note in my elbows (luckily, I don't generally walk around with my arm held against my face - it looks silly and makes me run into things). Close to my wrists, the sweetness is tempered by something that I can only describe as chilled air (like one might find in a walk-in freezer or an air conditioned museum).

Later: Wear length seems to be about 4-5 hours. The scent is mostly gone from my wrists, but still lingering a bit in the elbows. Final dry down is similar to Silver Phoenix.

Final Thoughts: Overall, this strikes me as a less poofy, more grown-up version of Silver Phoenix. I am so glad I decided to get a bottle of Staged Moon Landing. It may well end up in my top 10. The throw is just what I like - enough that I catch whiffs of scent while I am doing other things, but it seems to stay inside my personal space.
Staged Moon Landing earns a 4.5/5 on my skin.

(ETA notes about throw and wear length) Edited by Shollin

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I definitely see the previous reviewer's comparison to silver phoenix. This is definitely a lighter moon rockier version of silver phoenix when wet . The muguet and orris with the vanilla really do smell like rocks. The vanilla in this keeps wafting in and out. I Really do like this and I think I will be reaching for this all summer long. I really do like it!!! :wub2:

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I'm right there with the other 2 lovely posters. If you're down with Silver Phoenix, this may be just the thing for you.

 

Starts out clean, almost metallic. I didn't care for it wet, but decided to stick it out. Wet, it just seemed too sharp. Like WD40 on metal.

 

Upon dry down/within 15 minutes: This really smoothed itself out! The dusty vanilla emerged to sand down the sharp edges, resulting in a lovely, soft, dry vanilla that reminds me of a spoon that was used for eating vanilla ice cream, that's been left out through the night. Cool spoon, dried vanilla ice cream. It's rockilicious. A nice, light scent. You could slather this, or dab it and for some reason this seems that either way, it's going to come out just right. This seems to dry down to a "your skin, but better" vanilla. Well done, Beth! Very, very nice.

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I'm gonna have to test this again, 'cause what I got, well ... stick your face over a glass of Dr Pepper and inhale. It's that -- Dr Pepper, but not so sweet, more like the carbon dioxide fizzing out of it. Weird.

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This is one morphing, complicated scent, although mostly I only smell dusty vanilla. It's almost like the vanilla from Antique Lace, but not as sweet. Kind of playdoughy at times, with a hint of licorice in the background. What's with my nose? I like it, but it's kind of stabbing me in the sinuses as it's drying. It has almost no throw unitl after it's totally dry. Still trying to figure out what it reminds me of and as I'm sniffing it, I think it's a creamier Liz minus the leather. Quite a nice scent.

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The dusty vanilla note in this scent is strongest on my skin, from wet to dry. I love that note. The next strongest note on me is the orris. Smells so wonderful on my skin. :wub:

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Staged Moon Landing - This smells exactly like I anticipated it would smell based on the ingredient list. I agree with the other reviewers that it's reminiscent of Silver Phoenix, but it's drier than Silver Phoenix and not quite as sweet. The orris, white sandalwood, and vanilla are the strongest notes and they work together to create a scent that's very dry, dusty, yet subtly sweet and very pretty. I do love this. I thought it would be my favorite of all the Black Helicopters, and it's not my favorite, but it's still in the Top Three. :)

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I am so glad someone else thinks it smells like Dr. Pepper, because I kept smelling this and going, what is it? It smells like something so familiar...oh it's Dr. Pepper!!!

 

I love this. It is glorious, dusty Dr. Pepper. It is in the same family as Black Opal; there is something similar but they don't smell *alike* if you know what I mean. I also get a note from Smoky Moon, probably the orris. Yum yum is all I have to say.

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I got this one because I loved the orris in Silver Phoenix and wet in the bottle, they are indeed very similar. A little more metallic and sharper though, not as sweet.

 

Drydown - The dusty vanilla comes through, there's almost none of the soft orris left. It's more like what expected out of something called 'staged moon landing'. The undertone is a lot sharper, and that's where the sandalwood and galbanum become detectable.

 

Definitely for those days you want something a little spicy and not too sweet.

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Orris, sandalwood and vanilla, yum yum yum :D Agree that it's similar to Silver Phoenix and Black Opal. It doesn't have quite the throw/wear length that either of those have on me, but it is really lovely-- dry, warm, comfy, slightly girlie.. an easy scent to wear.

 

Will likely get a bottle or two :D

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This is a walk through a dusty diorama in a museum, eating candy. Exactly that. It takes me back, precisely, to the first time I visited the Natural History museum in DC. I'd just finished eating a very, very melty ice-cream bar on the mall and my hands were all sticky with sugar, but I was too excited to see everything to stop and wash my hands. This perfume is exactly that moment in time. :wub2:

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I got a decant of this from Glasspillars's decant circle (along with some pop rocks, how appropriate!). I ordered this one mostly for its name, as one of my earliest childhood memories was this event (the moon landing).

 

This is a very interesting blend. I definitely can appreciate the "inhaled Dr. Pepper" comparison! And the dusty museum and ice cream bar! What great analogies!

 

My first thoughts were that it reminded me a bit of Ultraviolet. My husband thought it smelled like baby powder. It's slightly sweet, and quite powdery and smooth on me.

 

I do like it, but am not sure I would wear it much, sadly, as it is giving me a slight headache. I will try again when it is a better time of the month.

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I am having some seriously good luck with the helicopters I ordered. This one is no exception. Definitely going to be a bottle purchase and I don't take bottle purchases lightly.

 

This is how I imagine Antique Lace to smell, though i've only read reviews.

 

To me, this goes on minty. Shiny, but not really metallic. I don't like mint, but there was something intriguing about it. Maybe because I got some vanilla in the background. Still, I kept sniffing.

 

Later, the mintiness I get dies down and it turns to dusty vanilla. This isn't the heavy handed dust in Miskatonic University, which turned me off to that scent despite liking the non-dust parts of it. This is a delicate dust, that makes this scent more mysterious.

 

I did not get muguet or sandalwood out of this -- which are the only notes that I really know well enough to comment on.

 

The end result continues to be the dusty vanilla.

 

Throw is average. Good enough for me to smell it without having to seek it out. Lasting power was also average. A few hours before needing to reapply (though I may have reapplied earlier than necessary just to smell it again).

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The muget, orris, and sandalwood were the dominant notes on me. For sure, no real stone rocks. Okay, but not really my thing. Muget and orris can be notes of doom on me, but they weren't this time.

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I think that Staged Moon Landing is my favorite of the Black Helicopters series. It's pretty much all vanilla and what smells like sweet violets on my skin. The vanilla smells just like the cold, sweet, slightly powdery vanilla in Black Opal, mixed with sugared violets. It reminds me of Possets' Silver Violets or LUSH's Bathos scent, actually. Very sweet and pretty. After an hour, I can also pick out a bit of the smooth white sandalwood, but it's still mostly a sweet vanilla and violet smell.

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This is sweet and, oddly, a bit plasticky and dusty--almost like there's some plaster of Paris in the blend. After a little while, the sweetness is identifiable as vanilla, though I'm not sure whether I can discern the other notes. This is really quite lovely and evocative, but the plastery bits prevent the blend from becoming quite wearable for me.

 

Two hours later, I caught a gorgeous whiff of violet-and-vanilla sort of scent, and discovered it was this! Neat! Based on this, I suspect it might be a bottle-worthy blend, but I'll definitely have to be patient.

Edited by Voleuse

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This started out smelling like a medicinal mint. Probably the muguet and white sandalwood making a weird combination.

At the 5 minute mark this is perfect! A dusty vanilla with Silver Phoenix... I really like this!

5 minutes after that... what happened? Oh it's YOU orris! You make pretty things turn sickly powdery on my skin.

 

Lame Sauce, I really loved it there for a minute.

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I have an impression of purple flowers and mint. I smell the vanilla really well in the imp but it seems to fade in and out of existence on my skin. It does remind me of Silver Phoenix in a way. It's very pretty but I have a feeling that my decant is enough for me.

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This one smells like chalky candy on me. I'm normally a fan of sweet scents, but this one isn't doing it for me, it smells too dusty/powdery. It's like a candy in the Necco/Smarties (the American ones)/Fun Dip family. Artificial sweet flavoring and dust. It's kind of cool, and smells a lot like what I imagined based on the name, but I don't think it's for me.

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Such a soft unassuming scent. It's dusty with dry sandalwood and orris, slightly sweetened by vanilla. I find it sticks really close to the skin, and has this gentle violet scent lurking in the background. Beautiful.

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Sweet and musty with a metallic twinge to it. ME LIKEY! Like other reviewers, this reminds me a lot of Silver Phoenix; however, this is much more sweeter on my skin. I see a bottle or two in my future. ;)

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Powdery, a little sharp (maybe the citrusy cistus), shockingly resinous/deep, with lots of powdery, heady white florals - the muguet and orris are rooty and intense. I get an almost cedary, dry, very dusty sort of sandalwood note, and barely any vanilla. I am underwhelmed to say the least.

 

The muguet and orris instantly amp on my skin into the heady floral mess I expected from the bottle smell, with a ton of baby powder that has an almost plastic edge. Also, I swear to god this must have the dry, dry dusty sort of cedar note because I am getting it very strongly, pencil shavings galore. I am getting the vanilla though, too - unfortunately it seems to be the fake plastic vanilla candle type of vanilla. The cistus's sharpness has faded (or been overwhelmed), but I get a sticky resin base nonetheless. Not a simplistic scent by any means.

 

Recently, I've tried some orris blends that have made me think orris can be pretty nice. This orris note, however, is the type that made me think orris is demonic. I'm being SMOTHERED by powder, huge swathes of sickly sweet powdery, clogging my throat, making the bile rise. The muguet is sweetening and strengthening it, as is the fake vanilla note (it's that same horrid note from O) and the sweet resins. In light of the orris-muguet-vanilla takeover, the cedary pencil shavings have faded a bit, and now I do think I can get a little white sandalwood, and yes, some types can be that dry and dusty I now believe, bc I've tested white sandalwood blends before that smelled like this and I swore there was cedar then, too.

 

This reminds me of a feminine version of Smoky Moon and Sitting Up With a Sick Friend, were they to breed a daughter. But it's more powdery than either, perhaps the most powdery scent I've tried, and much more floral and 'traditional perfumey' with the fake vanilla. You might think that the resinous base would somehow smooth out or balance or otherwise mitigate the sweet, floral powder, but no - it just makes the whole mess more sickly sweet, more heavy and overwhelming. Enough of this - off to the sink.

 

:ack:

 

WHY is this entire line so mediocre to atrocious on me? GAH!

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This is an interesting scent.

 

Dried down I can definitely smell the vanilla and the resin, both beautifully mixed together - I love this scent.

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Starts with hair spray. That tones down quickly to a pleasant vanilla sandalwood with candy floral overtones. Almost a candied violet.

 

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This starts off gorgeously dusty vanilla and orris. Reminds me of Silver Phoenix but better (without the awkward herbal note). Dear goodness that is so delicious! Lightly sweet and orris esque giving it a violet feel with dusty vanilla making it nearly creamy but very dry. Yum.

 

On my skin someting goes horribly wrong... someting is amping. Oh dear what IS that now I smell just like Faith! Faith was overbearingly sweet and sticky and syrupy sugared candied violets. Like a candied violet pudding sprinkled with heaps of sugar on top. That is what this is smelling on me now.

 

Needless to say I will not be keeping this. Because of whatever I amped though it's got really strong throw and lasts a really long time. I kept catching wafts of it and just had to wash if off.

 

Sigh... foiled by my ridiculous skin chemistry!

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