Dia de los Muertos

[fufu_berry]

... 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.

 

I got a frimp decant of unknown vintage with a forum purchase from the lovely alterosen. At first, I smelled some florals that were kind of green and spicy - not soapy and high-pitched like most florals go on me. I also smelled a strange chemically sort of scent - after a couple minutes, it smoothed out into candle wax. I got just a touch of incense. Overall, I really liked this scent -- I don't usually go for anything remotely floral, but it really does evoke a DDLM altar scent, which is what I was hoping to get out of it. I have a decant of 2012 on the way, so I'm curious to see how this older one will compare.

[boomtownrat]

This is the 2012 version.

 

Fresh from the mailbox and tested on the back of my hand, this is a purple floral when wet. As it dries I start to smell soft grapes and maybe a touch of incense. By the time it's dry, it reminds me of how I remember Poison smelled back in high school - the perfume, not the band or the Bell Biv Devoe song. It's festive and I might consider buying a bottle, which I didn't expect. First I'll have to give it another test after it's settled from shipping when I'm not also testing other decants.

Edited October 12, 2012 by boomtownrat

[flyby]

2012 vintage

 

Wet, I get distant resins with a hint of dry leaves.

Wet on skin, the resins open up and deepen with the leaves underneath, and a faint sense of something floral in the top. As it dries, hints of foodiness come out to play.

Dry, this is still a resin-y blend on me, but with hints of smoke and leaves and wine-y foodiness rounding it out. A keeper, but probably not bottle-worthy on me.

[fairestrocza]

Sweet, bordering on cloying. Something sharp is present, but I don't smell it so much as feel it at the back of my throat. Too floral for me. It smells like Grandma went to the altar, but forgot to bring half the items she'd intended.

[milo]

Sweet, sweet heady floral. This does smell like an elderly ladies perfume. Not for me.

[AngryRabbit]

This smells almost exactly like Christian Dior's Poison on me. It's very, very pretty but extremely sweet. I will use my tester in very small amounts, but I don't think I'll be buying a bottle.

[Foodie]

2012

 

This perfume smells beautiful. I don't know if it's the power of suggestion or what but I can smell each scent listed in the description and I LOVE IT. It's my favorite Halloweenie.

Edited February 14, 2013 by Foodie

[PumpkinGuts]

2012:

 

Ooh, I love this. Once it gets past its initial stage of sweet, white florals, I can smell incense smoke and sweetbread. It's warm, dry, and a little dusty. Something about it reminds me of Halloween: Las Vegas, one of my favorite scents. I'm so relieved I didn't get stinky funeral flowers out of this, like some other reviewers had.

I think I need a bottle...

[thekittenkat]

In the decant: A cool incense mostly, with hints of dry leaves, and something sweet.

 

Wet: Now the florals appear, backed by the incense.

 

The dry-down: It's switched back to mostly incense, but it's now warm and compelling, with hints of all the other notes. This, like Samhain, is a perfume oil that I like to try every year, as I always detect some subtle difference. Also, I like incense blends more often than not.

Edited November 24, 2012 by thekittenkat

[whitsunweddings]

In the imp: Kind of like orris, actually. Some floral. And incense.

Wet: Yeah. Sweet florals and incense.

Dry: It's just a white floral on me. Not terribl exciting.

An hour and a half later: Dried into something quite sweet and smoky. Nice enough.

[JazzieCazzie]

REVIEWING THE 2012 VERSION

 

Received as generous lagniappe in a purchase from a lovely forumite.

 

I know I tried an earlier incarnation of this way back when but did not review it so not sure which year. Pretty sure it would have been part of a decant circle since it wasn't in a big bottle and it wasn't something I would normally order. And, obviously, it wasn't something I kept (I do remember liking All Souls from whatever that series was, though).

 

IN THE IMP: Sweet sweet sweet and a little smoke.

 

Dabbed tentatively on one wrist.

 

WET: Sweet, still, and sugary but immediately a strong floral perfumey smell rises like department store perfume for old ladies. There is a hint of fall behind it but whatever floral it is (or more likely florals) are definitely a dealbreaker for me. But I'll try to patient it out for a few minutes for the sake of review science.

 

DRYDOWN: No likey. To me, it is both too busy trying to be all things to all people and yet also too generic.

 

It's a washoff. On to the next.

 

On a scale of 1-5, a 1. Swap box for you, little Dia.

[ObliqueRed]

Complex and interesting. Sweet, smoky, foody and floral at once, with the different notes floating to the top in turn.

[Erinofhere]

Decant imp from off site. I have no idea what year this is from. I got a "lot" of LE imps

 

Wet: The liquid is very yellow.

 

Ohhhh I love this!! It smells floral but not a traditional floral. This is very sweet. It almost seems like I am picking up grape. I smell maybe a foodie hint laying in the back ground. I am also picking out some resins and some smoke.

 

Dry: It is sort of turning into a lilac smell on me. So now I have a grape-ish, lilac-ish, bakery thing going on. It's odd to say the least. I am picking up on chocolate too. What a unique little scent.

It is also sort of giving me a headache. It's very strong and the staying power is pretty good with excellent throw.

 

Only thing is my husband hates it. He says that it smells just like a cleaned truck stop bathroom. He is right..I can sort of see that.

 

I don't guess a big bottle is in my future. Besides the headache and the truck stop bathroom similarity...this was pretty. I mean yeah I can see the truck stop thing but Dia de los Muertos is so much prettier than that. It really is.

 

Swap pile

[doomsday_disco]

This review is for the 2013 version.

 

In the decant: Sweet florals.

 

Wet: I'm not sure what the florals in this blend are, but I know that I have smelled something in this in another blend. The floral notes dominate this blend. This is very strong. I put a small dab on my arm, and it has a lot of throw. It seems to be getting sweeter over time.

 

Dry: The notes in this seem to be so well blended that it's difficult to pick individual notes. It is still a very sweet floral blend... not sugary, just sweet. I don't really get any incense from this.

 

Verdict: I don't dislike this, but I am not wowed by it either. I don't think that I will keep the decant because it is so strong that I think it has the potential to be headache inducing. I'm glad that I was able to try it, though!

[tharsei-thanate]

2013

 

This is almost all florals on me. Very strong florals. Very strong florals that are really really familiar in a I-think-this-is-a-smell-from-my-childhood way, but I can't place what they're reminding me of. I want to say my Babcia's old house. Maybe that's where I smelled this before?

 

As it dries, I can slightly catch the chocolate and tobacco, but it's still floral dominant.

 

Hmm. It's nice, but I don't need a bottle. I will certainly keep the imp, though. Maybe if I sniff this often enough I can uncover a few precious childhood memories.

[theredkilt]

2012: So beautiful and evocative. The jasmine is not shrieking and is tamed by the other components. A very well done jasmine scent (floral) where it's behaving nicely.

[HerbGirl]

I just retested my 2012 decant - I LOVE this. This is what I wanted Samhain to be - even though the notes are wildly different - and I truly hope this comes back with the update this year. Leaves, smoke, a hint of sweets...this is really something.

[LizziesLuck]

2009

 

Wet - Gross. Utterly. I can't pick out any of the listed notes. It smells vaguely of garbage and Jasmine. And Jasmine and I are not friends.

 

 

 

Dry - Gorgeous. I don't get it. There's a faint apple scent. Some smoky incense, and just a hint of floral. Huh.

[agirlnamedfury]

This is quite floral on me, though I can't identify particular flowers. There may be some rose, though? I'm not really getting any of the foodie notes or much smokiness. Bummer.

[quickdrawkiddo]

2015: this one morphed a lot over its long drydown. It went on as a soft, slightly powdery floral incense, a bit like Veil (which I've been wearing a lot lately in an effort to decide if I like it). I think there's some lily and gardenia in here, possibly violet as well. As it dries it becomes more smoky with just a whiff of cocoa, but it never reads as foody. I like the dry version more than I thought I would based on how it went on wet, but I still don't think this is a bottle purchase for me.

[Argentwolf]

2015 version:

 

Very light, almost wet floral -- the cactus blossom probably gives it that green sort of dewy scent to my nose. Then it gets a creamy edge to it. How very interesting -- as time goes on, it gets a warm sort of aura to it, like the glow of candles -- so I don't get any smoke out of it, per se, but there is still the impression of many offertory candles burning among bouquets. I have to huff very, very deeply to get a hint of chalky sort of sweetness that says 'chocolate' to me; otherwise I don't get any sugariness or foodiness from this -- it's predominantly floral. Pleasant and long-lasting.

[Casablanca]

2006 version

 

On my skin, this smells like a hot and overcrowded street festival. Right off the bat I smell smoking incense, something that reminds me of hot street dust (but is nothing like the musty note in Quintessence of Dust), sugared candies, a scarce hint of tobacco, and cactus flower. What I'm registering as street dust is probably the dried leaves, actually. Behind all this is a vague sense of other flowers. I don't smell chocolate.

The tobacco hint, already barely there, quickly vanishes. Once dry, the incense is strongest on me, but the flowers are close behind, followed by sugar candies.

This is street-funky and makes me smile.

[gloame]

This is actually a review of the 2012 blend, so it's aged a bit. But it's a beautiful aging. It's resin-y and incense-y. A bit of chocolate underneath. Like spiced cakes. One of my faves. ETA 7/14/17: It's starting to break down and lose the chocolate and cakes. It's still a lovely blend, but it's mostly spice and woods now. I think I'll need a fresh bottle if they make it again this Halloween. (Please make it again, Lab!)

 

Where I'd wear it: An evening party, autumn, with great friends who don't judge your candy habit

Edited July 14, 2017 by gloame

[Cali]

Yay, finally got my hands on an imp!

From the imp, deliciously sugared florals with a soft tobacco.

As it's on my skin, It's still as strong, though the florals fade only by a hair, and I can really smell the dead leaves now. Couple of seconds later, the cocoa emerges. Reminds me a lot of the new version of the candy butcher, the chocolate note in there.

Another couple of minutes later, the florals calm their petals down and while they're still definately there, it's more subtle now.

I'm definately getting hard candies (sweet 'n sour) and I'm not exactly sure what sweet cactus blossom is supposed to smell like but I think I'm smelling it. (pineapple-ish-y).

 

This is very festive, hyper, joyous and surprisingly autumn-y.

[mishi-bear]

2018 version.

 

Something fruity floral is strongest in the throw. I'm assuming it's the cactus blossoms that are giving the fruity floral. It also has a touch of a clean and refreshing quality.

 

There's also some sweeter more typical florals from the funeral bouquet. Not sure what exactly though, and they are much more mild than the fruity florals.

 

I get a bit of the incense, it's sweet. A touch smokey.

 

There is a hint of something chocolatey but it's extremely mild. More on wrist sniff than in the throw. It's sweet and smooth.

 

I do get a little bit of something like fruity candy... Distinct from the fruity florals. But really only on the wrist sniff.

 

The tobacco lends a little bit of warmth in the background but is mild, thankfully.

 

Overall this is mostly just a clean and refreshing fruity floral. Lots of the cactus flowers. There are hints of the other notes but they really just can't overtake the strength of the cactus blossoms.