Midnight Bell

[strahlend]

MIDNIGHT BELL
Diabolical monastic incense and crumbling stone.

This is a fascinating scent. More pungent than I had anticipated, very effectively evocative of stone walls, an old library or a deep cellar. At first the sharp resins are the most noticable, and after a little while it softens up and feels a bit more woodsy. This is perhaps the most unique scent I've come across - and I LOVE it. The feeling of this blend is dark, heavy and cool.

[IridiumFlash]

This is an interesting one. In the bottle and when wet, I got almost straight incense. In fact, it rather reminded me of being in a pagan/wiccan bookstore.

 

On me, this blend faded very quickly. Within thirty minutes, there was almost nothing left of it. If I got my nose up really close to where I'd applied it, I noticed that it had developed a distinct smoky tinge over the incense. It now smelled like smoldering, aromatic wood rather than straight incense.

 

ETA: The drydown phase of smoky, smoldering aromatic wood actually lasted quite well, but remained faint.

 

 

Edited June 4, 2010 by IridiumFlash

[Invidiana]

Wow. This is actually what I was hoping for Gilman House Hotel to smell like, but I find that when I'm hoping for one thing to smell a certain way, somewhere down the road another scent comes along that smells exactly like what I was imagining. This is very true to the ancient wood and stone and ominous incense it is meant to evoke. I really feel it is more of a dark smoky wood than a stone note, but that may just be the way the resins react with that note on my skin. The dark resins call to mind unknown ancient rituals that might have been performed in places like Stonehenge. It's a haunting and even terrifying scent that is somehow completely wearable. I absolutely love it.

[Venneh]

Smells very similar to Inganok Jewellers to me, stone, and a sweeter sort of incense. On my skin, it's very much stone and incense.

Edited June 4, 2010 by Venneh

[fairnymph]

Stale incense smoke, and DUSTY stone. Totally agree with Inganok comparisons.

[angelicruin]

Reminds me of a library and the smell of old books & parchment. The incense note is quite strong in this blend. Very gothic.

Edited June 4, 2010 by angelicruin

[edenssixthday]

Midnight Bell - The incense is really beautiful -- sort of reminds me of Midnight Mass in how regal and sophisticated it smells. However, the stone note in this blend is the same one used in Inganok Jewelers, and it's a note that makes me faintly nauseated (it's not as strong in this blend as in Inganok, thankfully), which renders this scent unwearable for me. If you like Inganok and if you like Midnight Mass, you should try this blend.

[MCS4096]

Yep, Inganok Jeweler's stone note (fine by me, love it!) mixed with a very spicy incense. It's not quite the incense of Midnight Mass (the '08 version is the only one I have experience with).. it's spicier and not quite as deep. What it evokes to me is fire-- flames licking wood.. sap and resins popping. You definitely smell the incense on top, with the stone lingering underneath. I love blends like this so I'll probably get a bottle

[Little Bird]

In the bottle, this really does smell like dusty, cold stone and air thick with dark, sweet incense. It makes me think of an old, stone church with wooden rafters. On my skin, it's more incense and dry wood. After about fifteen minutes, the hint of dry wood suddenly morphs into woodsmoke and it's like someone set the old church on fire. The incense also goes verrry sweet and cloying on me.

 

I usually like incense blends, but Midnight Bell is better & more interesting in the bottle than it is on my skin... I doubt that I'd reach for this over some of the similar blends that I own, like Cathedral.

[ralenth]

Source: Lab bottle.

 

Wet: Dark stone, slight damp with deep resinous notes. Midnight Bell is ominous and foreboding and just a wee bit sexy.

 

Drydown: MB takes on a smoldering twigs aspect over the stone note.

 

Dry: Smoky-sweet woods - MB has completely morphed out of the original aspect on my skin.

 

Overall: If it had remained like it did in the wet stage, I would have been all over this one.

[boxinghelena]

Oh my, Midnight Bell smells amazing on me. It's the incense, sweet & sensual. I'm not getting any of the crumbling stone, not that I can tell really.

 

I'm so glad I ordered a bottle of this.

~

[Gwydion]

In bottle: Complex temple incense. Is that nag champa, and cool stonework as promised. Wet: Not quite as lovely on the skin, but still interesting as the warmth brings out the stone. As it warms out, it settles into a good balance, similar to Inganok Jewler. Dry: it’s gentler than Inganok and has less throw at all stages. It ends with a softer version of the temple incense with the stone mostly faded out. It’s good, but not great.

[countessmouse]

Stone. How did they figure out how to do "stone"?

 

Incense and cool stone, much like a dusty library in a stone fortress. Interesting scent that's getting a little sweet on me after nearly two hours.

[yokaitenchi]

Incense--the stone stays close to the skin (as the scent does in general)

[zankoku_zen]

Midnight Bell does remind me alot to Midnight Mass. In fact, among all the resins there has to be some amber, because I definitely got amber from this blend. Incense, amber and the same 'stone' note that I got from Night's Bridge. Slightly masculine, very golden.

[voodoobaby]

This is a sharp, almost scary resin. I'm pretty sure I smell cedar and frankincense. I don't really get the impression of stone, but I do know that this is a really nice incense/wood blend. It's masculine, but it doesn't drip testosterone or sleaze. This is a very sophisticated, intelligent, sexy man with a mind for the esoteric, and he's sitting calmly by the fireside staring at the flames.

 

Well, I have the perfume now, so where can I find the guy? But seriously, this is a really nice, cozy, smoky blend, and I will definitely be keeping it.

[ravenscanary]

Source: Untouched decant

 

In the decant: Spicy, strong incense with an almost sweet, fruity touch

 

Wet: Spicy, strong incense. The sweetness disappears on my skin, and it's all ass-kicking incense.

 

Dry: Sharp, resinous and almost sour. I don't care for this, I prefer my incense blends a little lighter, and this ain't, to my nose.

[crebbsgirl]

Yes, on my skin this is reminiscent to Iganok Jewellers. Stone and incense, and very, very dry. This does get sharp on my skin, and it's not really meshing well with my chemistry.

[fufu_berry]

This was the most traumatic BPAL experience I've ever had. This smelled on me like the following: printer paper, jasmine, mildew, rancid cooking oil. It was truly revolting on my skin, and set off an hour-long sneezing/runny-eyed allergy attack. Yikes! This is definitely going to have to go far, far away from me.

[Zii]

Wet: In your face vetiver and incense deepened with just a hint of musky dry stone. Sinister and seductive and totally my style.

 

Drying: The stone is coming out now with a kick of something mossy not unlike graveyard dirt and something dry and a little sweet. It's also getting a bit peppery.

 

Dry: Wow, this one packs quite a punch. I utterly adore the dark, sinister vibe of it. It's a scent that has power and mystery behind it, like a ruined monastery where some heady black magics went down. It's very true to the wet stage, though slightly sweeter overall. Not sure this will be a regular use scent, but I sure love it.

[LizziesLuck]

Wet: Sweet Myrrh and other resiny incensey smells. I do get faint hints of cool minerals. It's a really neat scent so far. I don't always love incense, especially when it's "head shoppy" but this is nice. Sweet and rich.

 

 

Dry: For an incense scent, this doesn't last long on me. It fades away to a faint, sweet, skin scent. Long incense long burned out.

[doomsday_disco]

This started off as a dragon's blood swirled with some other resin-y notes. Over time, the dragon's blood calms down, the more resinous incense (I also think there is myrrh in this) increases in strength, and the stone note emerges. But it is still far more incense than stone on me, and I was here for the stone. I'm glad I'm at least getting the stone note, but I wish I were getting more of it!

[Klaatu]

I agree with doomsday_disco. This definitely has dragon's blood (and lots of it). I normally hate dragons blood and avoid scents with it but this one is a definite winner for me. Wet it's mostly dragon's blood and incense. As it dries the dragon's blood gets less strong, the incense amps up and the stone note becomes more noticeable.

 

I believe this uses the same stone note as Tis Strange. The scents definitely share something in common. This is like Tis Strange but with slightly more incense and dragon's blood instead of leather. 

 

Glad a got a bottle. 

[Llanval]

I got the chance to test this in a very generously full imp and I really really enjoyed this scent! A lot!  This opens up as sweet, beguilingly dark incense with the suggestion of stone haunting its lower reaches. I find this straightforward from beginning to end, wet to dry: ecclesiastical incense over the lightest, most ghostly stone accord. The reviewer above mentioned that this is similar to Tis Strange and I agree - very similar, but there's a more obvious strength and throw to Midnight Bell's incense and stone that Tis Strange lacks.  I prefer the Midnight Bell, and would choose a bottle of this over Tis Strange. If there's dragon's blood in here, it isn't strong enough for me to notice, or I haven't smelled enough DB to pick it out immediately.

 

Midnight Bell brings to mind a cloak of deepest, most ancient tyrian purple, edged in thick gold thread. I do wish the stone and vetiver came out stronger as I love those bpal notes to death. Will re-test the imp when shark week is over.