Dia de los Muertos

[moon_lemming]

... This is a Mexican paean to La Huesuda: dry, crackling leaves, the incense smoke of altars honoring Death and the Dead, funeral bouquets, the candies, chocolates, foods and tobacco of the ofrenda, amaranth, sweet cactus blossom and desert cereus.

There's something in this blend that doesn't agree with me. It's not bad, it's just . . . not something I like. It's a floral that I've smelled in a couple of the Funereal Oils. Kind of cloying. I honestly can't smell anything else in the blend because my skin is amping this one floral so much. Edited June 2, 2006 by karen

[juniperus]

Bottle: sweet florals.

Wet: some of the sweet is more clearly sugary, but the floral is also very sweet - a little sinus-gripping.

Dry: I can catch hints of the tobacco and chocolate, but one of the floral notes is giving me a headache.

Later: no later - headache city. gah!

[edenssixthday]

Dia De Los Muertos 2004 is deeper and darker than DDLM'05, which is much lighter and honey-sweet. It could be due to aging, but it's impossible to say, having never tried it when it was first released. It’s smoky and has just the slightest hint of chocolate in the background. It has a touch of sweetness from honey, but it’s not as powerful as it is in the following years’ blend. It has a modicum of throw, but really good staying power, as does DDLM'05. It's a really nice, warm blend full of depth.

 

Dia De Los Muertos 2005 This is a nice, subtle scent on me. When first applied, I smell tobacco and smoky incense. After dry-down, it takes on a sweet, honey-like scent that's grounded by the smokiness of the fragrance. I can't usually wear fragrances that contain chocolate, but the chocolate in this is very subtle and stays in the background adding depth to the other fragrances and is not a very distinguishable note of its own. Despite the connection with the Mexican celebration that's held outdoors, this is a fragrance I can see myself wearing to a business meeting as it's grown-up and subtle. Unfortunately, it's too subtle for my liking and stays too close to the skin for me to give it a higher rating. I only have an imp, and while I won't seek out a bottle of it, I'll probably try to get my hands on another imp.

[dragonryder]

Smoky sweet, not really overpowering of either tobacco or chocolate, just a bare hint of floral in the background. The floral and chocolate sort of blended after wear but still tones and enhances the tobacco.

[ViciousBleu]

Wow, this one's really indescribable on me. The flowers seem fainter on me and it's it more like sugared rose petals in a heavily scented building. It's smokey and sweet, a nice but sexy scent.

 

I may start to look for a bottle.

[midnight_aeval]

After I wore this for an hour or so I smelled like dried flowers and chocolate with some sort of smoke swirled about. It was very depressing. I think that this scent perfectly captures Dia de los Muertos... not that it's supposed to be depressing, but the notes that come together are perfect. It's a beautiful blend, just not for me!

[luna65]

Thanks to clover for the bottle.

 

Bottle: The florals are very strong, almost astringent, in the bottle. I can't really make out any other notes.

 

Skin: Again, very floral, but after a few minutes I can make out the suggestion of incense and burning leaves.

 

Drydown: This is an incredibly powerful scent, almost heady in its' throw, and I can see where the ambience is part of its' creation. That overwhelming sense of ritual and revelry. The fragrance evolves on me into a flowery dusty sweetness which is completely evocative of being in a sacrificial place - regardless of the deity being honored. I particularly like the smoky and chocolate notes that become apparent after a time. Yet another olfactory journey that is entirely enjoyable!

[Summerpixy]

Smoky, dark and floral all at the same time. This 05 version reminds me a lot of Samhain 04, without the strong apple notes. Yummy. I may order this if it comes around in 06.

[Inanna9]

'05 version

 

This is the blend that convinced me I love tobacco notes

 

DDLM 05 is sexy, sweet and smokey, with a powerful throw. Probably way too strong for summer, but it won't be dropping below 80 degrees until late October for me, so wearing this is my version of wishful thinking.

 

The sweet note is mostly just a hint of honey (and I mean a hint, or else I would probably gag) and the chocolate is more of a dark suggestion, which suits me just fine. In fact, combine it with the florals, incense and tobacco and I call this my nearly perfect blend. I'll be curious to see if there is an '06 version.

[Eros]

DDLM '05, which I mistakenly passed on last year :l

 

In the bottle: Dry and sweet.

 

On skin: It goes through a split second of very floral/perfumy then the various notes start to appear, none out-shining the other. The florals are the most subtle of all *whew*, and the rest just meld together, sweet, smoky incense that turns the skin into, "wanna eat me alive?" yumminess =) There's also something here that shares a similarity with the honey in Skuld(another of my favorites), not a sharp honey, but sticky and decadent. Also reminds me quite a bit of Samhain '05, but...juicier, if that makes any sense.

Beautiful!

[steffanina]

Dia de los Muertos-

 

In Bottle: Oh, oh, oh, what IS that? There's something elusive here--strawberry pop-tart? Is that it? And a little bit of floral?

 

Wet: More floral than fruity on my skin.

 

Dry: An interesting, pretty scent; more floral and lightly fruity than anything candyish.

 

Overall: I like!

[Brianne]

I noticed no one added that it was rereleased this year in the subtitle! This is the 2006 version I am reviewing!

 

In bottle:

Chocolate and some kind of airy floral

 

On me:

Above, Karen mentioned that the floral makes her think of a floral she has smelled in several of the Funeral Oils. I have to agree, this floral makes me think of that particular line and it's sort of a cloying white floral that I have smelled in several of those blends (particularly thinking of Jazz Funeral here, which smelled heavily of this particular floral). I remember smelling this in Hell's Belle also I believe, so I think this must be magnolia.

 

The magnolia (or whatever floral this is, but I'm fairly convinced it's magnolia at this point) is sort of taking over the scent, but behind it I do smell a soft whiff of tobacco - warm, slightly sweet. I think the chocolate sweetens this up a little too, but this is FAR from a foody scent in my opinion.

 

It's sort of exotic and unusual and though on one hand I think this smells like a floral scent, on the other hand, it's got so much else going on in it that I wearing this, I don't feel like I smell like a floral blend.

 

Final note:

The longer I wear this, the more it's growing on me. I do really have to slather this one on to get some throw. The floral is melding nicely with the other notes, so in the long run you get a slightly sweet, slightly floral, warm exotic blend. I like this enough to keep it, though it wasn't neccessarily what I was expecting from this particular blend.

[Dinerdulcinea]

imp:super-sweet headachy-floral...(probably the desert cereus)

 

wet: musky/sweaty sweet flowers. Also a chlorophyll smell that reminds me of the smell of cactus leaf sliced and gooey, and a very sweet flower.

 

dry: no more sweaty smell or greeney chlorophyll smell. Now there are heavy florals (cactus possibly, but more likely cereus) with a faint cocoa base waaaaaaaaaaaaay down at the bottom.

It stays a little bit too strong on the cereus note for me. I'll have to ponder if I am ever in the mood for this one.

[eleventhousand]

2005 version!

 

Brown sugar and sweet chocolate-y tobacco and lily-like florals.

Crowded and complex and dusty and beautiful.

Reminds me of Hexennacht!

Very strong.

 

So good!

Edited October 3, 2006 by eleventhousand

[Precis]

Dia de los Muertos 2006

 

the bottle: I can't identify anything but it smells like autumn night. It's a little sweet and I think I can smell the "dry, crackling leaf" note which is really cool and something smells like a weird candy.

 

On, wet: It goes on a little sharp but after a few minutes, something smoky/musky is coming out (I am guessing the tobacco). The sweetness (which was sort of bothering me in this particular blend although I am usually a fan of all things sugary) has become very muted, which is wonderful because the florals here are just gorgeous. Sometimes I think I catch a whiff of cocoa but it works here.

 

On, dry: The tobacco/incense/crackling leaves are at the forefront now. There's also the soft and slightlly morose desert florals and just the memory of the sweet foody notes left.

 

The scent progression from application to drydown makes me think of time elapsing, starting at twilight and proceeding on as it grows colder and quieter and later. There's a lot of stuff going on here so I'll probably need to reapply a few times to solidify my opinion, but DDLM is a unique and lovely scent. I could see this being a nice alternative for Santa Muerte if you didn't like what the vetiver did in that blend.

Edited October 5, 2006 by Precis

[spring heel]

2006 - Ooooh, very smokey. I get mostly tobacco smoke and the dry crackling leaves from this. Some cocoa too, but the dry cocoa that hardly even smells like chocolate at all... I don't know if anyone but me understands that. But like the raw expensive powdery kind you can get in gourmet shops. The florals are definatley there but they aren't as stand outish as I thought they would be, they're very warm but not spicy. I guess if 2004 was the sweeter blend and 2005 was the more floral, this is definatley the smokier year. Maybe its just me. ETA: This was also very shortlived on me, it only lasted up to about an hour and half, it was strong during that hour and a half but then it just completley vanished from my skin.

Edited October 7, 2006 by spring heel

[saralaughs]

2006-

 

Well, a lovely blend. Sugar, smoke, a light white floral and something else making a sort of powdery note. The floral is stronger (on me) than anything else, with the smoke backing it up with a little bit of the sugar in the mix. I like it quite a bit. Too bad my skin ate most of it within an hour. Afterward, I'm left with floral. Not bad, but not what I was looking for.

 

I think this may be off to swapland.

[Bagfish]

2006 version

 

To begin, a beautiful floral, touched with sweetness although I can't smell the chocolate note. As DDLM dries down, the floral still wafts above, it is a VERY distinctive floral which reminds me of a note from New West perfume that I used to wear. This must be the cereus/desert florals. Close up, upon huffing my wrist, the smoke and incense are really obvious.

 

This is a winner for me, and I love the way the scent splits into wafty florals and close-up smoke. Definitely the best of the Halloweenies I've tried so far.

[portalkat]

06 version - The first and strongest note is the floral. It's rather sweet and cloying and sticks around for about 45 minutes before I smell anything else. Finally I begin to smell the candies and they smell like caramelized sugar. The florals waft in and out and it is another 20 minutes until I smell the tobacco and smoke. It's an interesting scent because it tends to shift around quite a bit. This year's version is quite complex and at some point, I will edit this post to include reviews for the 04 and 05 versions.

[savage_rose]

In the bottle: Non-descript floral

 

Wet: Floral layered with dept. store perfume.

 

Dry: It dries very interestingly...the floral is still present, but there's a light foodiness (the chocolate?) balanced by an earthy note (the tobacco?). I had my doubts about this, but it smells really good on the drydown...a little sweet, but it's a good balance of floral-sweet and foody-sweet. And the tobacco supports the sweet quite nicely.

[supremegoddessofall]

Kind of a floral foody scent. Hard to describe. A bit of chocolate, a bit of amaranth. Interesting.

[Meg]

2005 version here.

 

In the bottle: Tobacco, dry leaves, honey, florals...

 

Wet: I get a bittersweet greenish floral, possibly cereus as I recognise it from Medea, and the smell of dried leaves, tobacco, and yet more beautiful sweet and fresh florals wafting around, ooh.

 

Drydown: It dries down to tobacco, leaves, smoke and soft sweet florals. It's quite a dry scent in general, with green overtones, and just hints of honey coming in to remind that there's food as part of the ofrenda. It develops into something luscious: beautiful florals come out again and just waft everywhere. Extreme drydown is mostly dry leaves and smoke, with hints of florals.

 

Overall: A beautiful blend. I had this bottle for a while and didn't try it on, and now I think I've found a perfect autumn signature scent. The leaves are lovely, and the florals make it exetremely special and pretty. It's not at all foody, which I really don't mind, and has all kinds of wistful, a bit sad, a bit solemn scents to it.

[Nepthys]

The '04 DDLM was one of my top 3 all-time BPAL blends - '05 didn't work on me at all and I was hoping that this one, '06, would be more like '04. And miracle of miracles, it is! This is dead-on what I recall of my long-ago bottle: sweet honey and chocolate and the solemnity of autumn winds and dry leaves and smoke. Good Goddess I love this blend so much. I am so thrilled to have it back that I am ordering a back-up bottle. Definitely worth the wait!!!

[beachbabealways]

In the bottle: Floral

Wet on skin: smoky floral

Dry: still smoky floral but getting sweeter

30 min later: Heavens to murkatroid ... chocolate covered cherries!! Yummmmmmy!

 

At first I did not like this one too much ... goes to show ya, you have to try this on your skin and let it morph through the stages. Also has a lot to do with body chemistry.

 

 

ETA -06 Version

Edited October 23, 2006 by beachbabealways

[jessiesquash]

In the bottle: Yum! The first thing that hits me is the tobacco and something sweet. A bit like rotten fruit but not in a bad way....if that makes any sense.

 

Wet on: Ooh this is a lot like Red Lantern but not as decadent and I can definitely pick up the crackling of dry leaves and I'm even getting a bit of the incense.

 

Dry down: Nooooooo! Please tell me this isn't morphing into cheap perfume from hell on me. It seriously is reminding me of something I wore when I was little and not very choosy. Dammit! Evil skin chemistry. Okay, I'm going to give this another go simply because it was so gorgeous to begin with. And tobacco is always so fantastic on me. *sniff*

 

If it doesn't work, I'll just have to find myself another Halloweenie scent for the Fall season.....oh darn!

Edited October 24, 2006 by Jessie