Misericordia

[yokaitenchi]

MISERICORDIA
The Misericordia, or Tristis, are vampires that are consumed with a longing to regain their lost humanity, some to the point of being driven mad by the desire to be human once more. The shock of their transition into vampirism and the rejection they faced from friends and loved ones was devastating, and it compromises their ability to find solace and comfort. Unlike the Transeo, Misericordia cannot merge into human society, but are relegated by their own grief to the position of outsiders. Their inherent melancholy and morose temperaments make it difficult for them to cultivate relationships with either humans or vampires. Most vampires treat the Misericordia with a fair amount of derision, and they are sometimes hunted by Interfectors who see the perspective of the Misericordia as an affront to their way of thinking.

Eons of grief and unending hunger: magnolia, black currant, castoreum accord, lavender, labdanum, amber, rose otto, and opoponax.

First is LAVENDER, then the currant and only a faint hint of the sweet powder that amber turns into when it hints my skin. This powder disappears pretty quickly and I'm left mostly with currant. Misericordia is quite strong...I didn't even dab a full drop on my wrist, and I can smell it from my hips (my hand hanging relaxed). It's not a PUNCH at that distance, but it's definitely noticeable at typing distance. Magnolia begins to develop at 15, 20 minutes. A tad too sweet for my taste.

[angelicruin]

A little powdery from the amber note. Black currant sweetens blend on my skin. Lavender and rose notes are quite subdued on me. Dries down to a sweet powdery floral incense. I like it, but not sure if I will keep an entire bottle of it.

[edenssixthday]

Misericordia - Oh look, three of my nemesis notes! Surprisingly enough, it doesn't smell as awful as I figured it would, considering the presence of cat pee I mean, uh, black currant, lavender, and magnolia. The lavender is definitely the dominant note when the blend is wet on my skin, but as it dries, I smell more of the labdanum, opoponax and amber, thankfully. I don't smell the magnolia or cat pee black currant at all during any stage of this scent's life on my skin. It's a very subtle scent on me and mostly a woody-resin type scent with the tiniest hint of rose otto and a nice, sweet musk that I've never smelled before and I'm assuming that's the castoreum accord (beaver musk? Really?) Overall, this is a nice scent, surprisingly so given my skin's particular chemistry, but I prefer darker, heavier, stronger scents, so it's ultimately not for me.

[Dark Alice]

Juicy rich currant. Lush Magnolia. Where have you been all my life! I need this. It reminds me of the magnolia from the tree that used to grow in front of my grandmother's home. Lush...heady...and delicious! I need this. Now!

[RhinestoneHousewife]

In the bottle: Slightly spicy and medicinal.

 

Wet on skin: Spicy with a powdery sweetness from the amber. I can smell the opoponax and I like it.

 

Dry on skin: It's settled down a bit but still has good throw. It's sweetened up and the spicy is wearing off a bit.

 

Verdict: I like it but I think the imp will be fine for me.

[TheIceMaiden]

This starts off with lavender and blackcurrant with a touch of magnolia and resins. Its like the love child of two of my favourite scents, Yvaine and Lush's Black Pearl. Yum! As it dries, I lose the currant and lavender, and castoreum mixes in with the magnolia and resins. The drydown is a flat, kind of bland resin and musk blend. I don't get rose at all (and I love rose).

I love the wet stage but am indifferent to the dry stages of this. I'll try it in a scent locket, and keep my imp to see how it ages.

[patina]

In the decant I smell something light and floral with darker elements beneath it. The lavender smells disturbingly medicinal and cool. It does evoke the image on the lable- miserable and wild. The lavender smells a lot like institutional cleaning-fluid for added realism.

 

On my arm it smells much better and the medicinal note goes away. The currant is thick, dark and sweet, the magnolia is lovely. Sadly that stage doesn't last forever and something turns bitter. Maybe it's the musk, maybe it's the currant. I'll have to retest.

Edited August 1, 2010 by patina

[whisperstilled]

Bottle: Whew! LAVENDER TOWN which is exactly what I was afraid of - glad I got a sniffie of this and not a full decant.

 

Wet: Lavender, yep, pretty much straight lavender. I'm searching desperately for some currant or magnolia, but not getting much.

 

Dry: Now the magnolia comes out, and it's quite nice when it does, I just have to get around the lavender giving me a headache first. I wish the scent had less lavender and more everything else, but the 'everything else' does come out a lot more as it dries. Still, nothing I will need to buy more of. It is, however, evocative of the concept - a purple sort of scent, dark enough and miserable enough to match the idea. Not horrible, but not my favorite. 2/5

[reconditarmonia]

In the imp (decant from glasspillars! <3) I can definitely smell the blackcurrant from Lurid.

 

On me, the currant recedes as I get a weird sort of dry, almost toast-y scent. (castoreum? labdanum? opoponax?)

 

It's very like Lurid in the drydown - the blackcurrant comes back - but not as nice, I don't think. Less sweet, more masculine, more of the notes mentioned above. I was hoping it would be blackcurrant-lavender-magnolia-rose, but I'm not getting much of the latter three.

 

Verdict: Finish imp, but no bottle for me.

[Little Bird]

I love Misericordia in the bottle, but the opoponax amps up and kills the other notes on my skin. In the bottle and on my skin at first, I get an herbal lavender, sweet & juicy black currant, and hints of resins. It's really pretty, and black currant is one of my favorite bpal notes ever (the red currant is sour and off on me, but the black currant smells dark, fruity, candy-sweet, juicy, and wonderful).

 

I could see this being unusual and gorgeous on someone who doesn't amp up the opoponax (which, on me, is like a syrupy, intensely sweet resin and hints of black pepper). I'm going to be putting this one in my scent locket, though.

[crebbsgirl]

This reminded me a little of a fruity but darker Yvaine. The magnolia/lavender combo is similar here, but the opoponax lends a darker edge, while the currant adds some fruity tartness. It's still sweet though, if that makes sense.

[rinster]

I had high hopes for this one, but the opoponax elbowed everybody out of the way. The magnolia and currant got pissed off and left the room. On drydown, the currant came back a bit, but the party was over and this ended up being very faint on me.

Edited August 14, 2010 by rinster

[lahdeedah]

Like the above poster, I had high hopes for this one, and it smelled SO interesting in the imp. I'm not sure what caused the olfactory train wreck on my skin--maybe it's opoponax, but it's been fine for me in other blends, so I'm not certain. Anyway, what I got was a mixture of heady magnolia and currant floating over an extremely sour/sharp/lavender-spiked cacophony underneath. Not for me.

[surlygurl]

In the vial there was almost no smell. Strangest thing. So I dabbed some on my wrist.

 

HELLO Lavender!!!! It's very dark, somewhat fruity. but Lavender. At this stage it's not so bad.

 

Drying down, I get something a bit powdery and a bit, um, vomity. Could be the castoreum. Wish I could get magnolia and labdanum, but, alas, all I get is fruity lavender vomit .

 

I'll keep the decant and hope for an aging miracle.

[galahad]

In The Bottle

Dark lavender

 

On Application

Lavnder, promarily, but I can detect magnolia and labdanum

 

Dry Down

Herby and a little green. And then just straight lavender with a tiny touch of amber's sweet powderiness.

 

Rating (0-5)

2

[countessmouse]

In the imp, it had sort of a faint ashy, incense smell. On my skin, it was all lavender and blackcurrent until the amber and magnolia came out to play about 10-15 minutes later. Now, 2 hours after application, I'm getting a hint of the musk. Pretty, but not a favorite enough to require a bottle.

[jewelbug]

In the imp, and first on the skin, this is very strong lavender, with a bit of currant watching from the sidelines. Its the sort of lavender that is very clean smelling--probably because I have a lavender castille liquid soap with this particular lav in it--its a sharp, sorta medicinal lavender, if that makes sense.

 

As it starts to dry, the lavender backs off and this goes very sweet. The blackcurrant gets stronger, but not in the least overpowering. I don't know what notes are responsible for this part, but there is definitely a melancholy sweetness to this--there's something "off" about the sweetness that I think helps w/ the impression of sadness, though I have no idea what note (magnolia?), or combo thereof, it is. There's also a pseudo creamy-butteriness to it (not the foody type, but I don't know how else to describe it).

 

Overall: fascinating scent. Its sweet, calming, melancholy and beautiful. I'm going to keep the imp around at least for a little while to contemplate it and decide what to do! I think Beth did a fantastic job capturing this one!

[obsidienne]

Starts off with musk and lavender in the decant. Not surprisingly, the beaver musk is a little bit weird. But let it develop on the skin, and the perfume becomes a whole other being. This scent is like a dark purple black to me, with flashes of deep red. It's lightly fruity and resinous, with floral elements, but not registering as a floral. It reminds me a lot of Sugar Moon, that sweet purple & red feeling is very similar. YUM. It has strong incense qualities from the labdanum, amber and opoponax, but all within the floral-fruit overtones. The rose note isn't registering strongly as ROSE, it's more like... deep, dark, mysterious rose that hides in the blend and peeks out occasionally. The black currant is rich and fruity, no sharp corners. This is beautifully blended and my chemistry isn't amping any one thing above the others. The castoreum gives it a hint of the wild, but isn't really standing out as a weird note anymore.

 

I really really like this, and yet it was the one I was worried I would like the least! Bottle worthy.

[zankoku_zen]

Dark lavender and black currant jam. Its slightly spicy, slightly resinous.

 

Dark, somber, sober.

[Leopard403]

Ye gods I hate lavender. It just eats everything else, filling up my nose and brain and leaving room for nothing else. Bah.

 

Misericordia is 99% lavender on me, and it's the hard, medicinal kind, not the gentle kind that will put you to sleep. If I sniff long and hard enough, I can smell the sweet and slighly soapy scent of black currant blended with magnolia, and that part of the scent is *gorgeous* and makes me hate that lavender even more. There's also a hint of resin there for warmth. But mostly, it's like a cheap sachet.

[Vega]

Sniffed: Black, burnt, stifling, pungent, a bit dirty, definitely entropic and destroyed.

 

On skin: I've never smelled anything like this, it actually feels "burnt" and wrecked. I'm not familiar with most of the notes, but I'm guessing the castoreum is mostly responsible for the heavy, pungent, musky base note. Misericordia is initially intensely musky-dirty, but gradually tames over time. A full-bodied blend, smooth, syrupy and rich, with something juicy and berry-like wafting in and out. Although it becomes gentler with time, it retains a bleak, black, maddened feel.

 

Verdict: I'm impressed by how the Vampire blends really evoke their respective vampires. Misericordia fits its description to a tee: it really does feel depressed, destroyed, crazed, and hopeless. This expressiveness is partly why I don't like this blend. I'm glad I got to smell Beth's artistry, but Misericordia won't be staying.

[LadyMedb]

Lavender and HEAPS of incense. Very dark, and a bit too sharp for my taste, but, as noted above, unique and interesting!

[ami226]

On the skin: This one smells quite herbally to me. I think it is the rose otto and lavender that is rampaging on my skin. A very weird, crazy scent.

[milo]

In the imp, this is fruity lavender. It kind of reminds me of Moon of the Terrible, but with black currant instead of the fruit that was in MoftheT. I think it was some kind of asian fruit in that one. It dries to a pleasant, somewhat powdery lavender with a touch of tart berry. I like this, but I do get a bit of the dreaded fungus note, but that is just me and my weird skin chemistry. Quite nice, but I dont think I need a full bottle.

[Schmoozy]

Dark resin-laden lavender with touches of black currant. This is definitely a lavender heavy blend which I adore, and it's medicinal and everything that I love about lavender is present. The resins, amber and black currant meld together to soften the lavender somewhat. They add a smokiness and darkness to an already somber perfume.