The Chained Phantoms

[Ravenclaw79]

THE CHAINED PHANTOMS
The air was filled with phantoms, wandering hither and thither in restless haste, and moaning as they went. Every one of them wore chains like Marley’s Ghost; some few (they might be guilty governments) were linked together; none were free. Many had been personally known to Scrooge in their lives. He had been quite familiar with one old ghost, in a white waistcoat, with a monstrous iron safe attached to its ankle, who cried piteously at being unable to assist a wretched woman with an infant, whom it saw below, upon a doorstep. The misery with them all was, clearly, that they sought to interfere, for good, in human matters, and had lost the power for ever.

Purgatorial wretchedness and despair: ice-limned white wine grape, balsam of peru, and chamomile.

When wet, this is somewhat similar to Shivering Boy, but not cold (not minty at all, not to my nose) and more sweet.

Dried down, it goes a bit less sweet and more... perfumey, if that makes sense. I was hoping for the smell of a wild grape arbor, and this is.... well, it's close, but I'm not sure if it's close enough. I'll probably need another try of this in the spring, when I think more of that grape arbor.

[Dark Alice]

Wet: Ice, white grape wine and cat pee...(which I suspect is the chamomile)

 

Drydown: This smells just like ice wine from Carrabas. (actually it's a white wine cocktail and it is amazing! ) This is nice and soft and a bit chilly. I like it...but not enough to purchase a whole bottle. May try and find a partial though...

[cfrancesca]

I really like this, it's a very refreshing scent! It smells like a chilled white wine spritzer, but it also has a bubbly/effervescent edge. I was worried about the chamomile but I think it works really well in here. I like that the scent is not too sweet either. Hm..I don't know why I'm getting hints of pear as it dries. I think this will work well as a New Year's Eve scent!

[Incendiare]

A pleasant surprise in my decant! Cold white wine grapes. The balsam must be adding an extra cooling effect when I sniff this. Wet, the chamomile starts to come through. The chamomile smells so bright and fresh. Never would have thought that wine and chamomile would go well together. I really like this and will definitely use up my decant but I am not entirely sure if it is bottle-worthy.

[zankoku_zen]

Grapes and balsam with a touch of chamomile. It's a very warm scent actually. The grapes remind me more of mellow red wine and the chamomile adds a tinge of herbalness.

[Schmoozy]

Wow, these are some crisp cold white grapes. However, even though I love chamomile and balsam of peru, this does not translate very well on my skin. It's ends smelling way too boozy and thus cancels out the balsam and chamomile. Sad.

[angelicruin]

This is a perfect ice wine scent on my skin. Very nice and I may keep the decant for myself, but I don't think I need a full bottle of it.

[grrrlennyl]

The Chained Phantoms

 

On: So pretty. White grape and balsam. Sweet, but fresh.

Half an hour in: Lovely. I can smell the chamomiles along with the sweetness of the white grape and the fresh balsam.

3 hours in: This is mostly powdery and smells a bit like wood.

4.5 hours in: Wood.

Overall: Blah. My skin is dumb sometimes.

[mistressfizz]

Sniff: clear and chilly, frosty grape with a slight herbal tinge

 

Wet: grape dominates!

 

Dry: this also becomes boozy on me, with cough syrup undertones. alas

[surlygurl]

Ice wine like wow! Pretty and only a bit boozy. Something in the throw is a little sour (hello wine!). The sour eventually fades (in maybe 5 minutes) and I *think* the chamomile comes forward. There's less alcohol now. Definitely the frosty white grapes of The Shivering Boy. I don't know what Balsam of Peru smells like, but something is gently grounding this scent. I really like it. Now for the big question: Does the alcohol smell really go away, or did I just get used to smelling like booze?

[Altaira]

Smells rotten in the imp. The grapes come out when it hits my skin, but there is something off-putting and old-ladyish about it, like weird moth balls. Ick.

[Little Bird]

In the bottle and on my skin for the first couple minutes, this really does smell like chilled white grapes. I'm not getting any booze or wine; it's more like a glass of white grape juice. It's delicate, frosty, and so pretty. Unfortunately, as it settles, the scent starts to smell oddly of a clean jasmine and then like a dusty, cheap, spice potpourri :/. I don't smell the chamomile or balsam, or even anything fruity as it dries down. And after a half hour, there's just a hint of something perfumey-powdery and blah left on my skin. The Chained Phantoms has pretty much no throw or staying power at all on me. I think I'll try this one out in a scent locket...

[forspecial_plate]

When I put this on I had it confused with Marley's Ghost, but it didn't take long to realize my mistake! This scent is odd and just doesn't sit well on me, it goes on smelling like grape scratch 'n sniff stickers, or maybe one of those smelly markers for kids. Later something turns very soapy, and I am blaming the balsam of peru but I could be wrong. The soapy note seems to spiral up and up until it's impossible to ignore and I had to actually wash this off, and even then that soapy note stuck around persistently. Not a pleasant experience and I will stick with The Shivering Boy for my frozen grape fix. : )

[thekittenkat]

In the bottle: That's a strong grape!

 

Wet: The chamomile is present now, and the balsam of peru is adding a touch of sweetness. The grape has calmed down.

 

The dry-down: The iced grape is more sweet, but the chamomile keeps it from being too sweet with a sort of drying quality. This is in the same family as The Shivering Boy, but only distantly related, as the latter is more cold and icy and with a strong grape note, whereas The Chained Phantoms is less grapey, less chilled, and more sweet and herbal in feeling. I'll have to do a side-by-side comparison at some point. It also might be interesting to layer them.

[astarinel]

I got a decant of this because the note list sounded so unique, I wanted to try at least a couple Yules that I wouldn't be constantly comparing to other perfumes!

 

The primary note in this is the grape, which smells definitely cold and chilly, like a frosty glass of white wine. The chamomile and balsam of peru add a resinous, herbal bouquet. It's a very clean, pale, crisp sort of scent, but a bit too much like I poured a nice glass of white wine on myself for me to want to wear as perfume. It is definitely not a sweet scent, the other notes keep it more fresh and herbal than sweet, and the grape note is lovely and not at all artificial-grape smelling.

[melange]

I liked The Shivering Boy very much, but this decant doesn't agree at all with my skin. Maybe it's the balsam + chamomile? It just smells off, somewhat sour, especially on the right-hand side. No cold winey grapes for me!

[milo]

This is heavy perfumey metal on me. No icy wine note to speak of. If it were anything, it would be a frozen iron pipe in an industrial area. Sour and metallic.

[a_llb]

In vial: Grapey, chilly.

Wet: A burst of herbaceousness, green and stark.

Dry: Delicate lace-wrought ozone. Smells either frosty or foamy, I can't decide.

 

Verdict: Interesting, much prettier than expected.

[starfish327]

In the imp: wine. White wine, actually. A sweet white wine. I guess I'm getting just the grapes.

 

Wet: this is a very bright, sweet blend. I was thinking white musk, the one white musk I can wear, and the florals in Vampire Tears. In fact, wet, this is Vampire Tears without the citrus notes.

 

Dry: The woods and herbs pulls this down from boozy into a light green blend. The Vampire Tears parallel is a lot lessened, which is good-because I want to keep this one but I don't want a box full of twin blends. This is on the strong side in regards to throw on me right now, and I'm not certain this is a 'winter' blend, but I can see liking this one a lot when it warms up and gets humid.

[blu°]

This scent is driving me crazy, because it reminds me of something or someone, and I can't figure out what/who. :/

 

That said, I really like it. Maybe because of the memory, since I usually can't stand chamomile, and only rarely am comfortable with snow/slush/ice notes and aquatics in general. Somehow, though, the chamomile, ice and grapes combine to something completely different and new in here. I can still detect the single notes, but the combination results in this very smooth, slightly strange clean-cold yet edgy and grounded thing. Maybe it's the perfume of some toy from my childhood? Or somebody I knew? It is strangely refreshing and fits in very well with the weather starting to be colder. I love it intermingling with the cold November air outside.

 

The icy grape is perfect here, balancing the smooth, dense chamomile. If the grape were a tad stronger, I might find it too fruity and tangy, but it's really just perfect.

 

I noticed that if I apply a bit more of the scent, it kind of doubles over and results in an illusion of licorice.

 

I can't think of any BPAL scent that I could compare this to. It really is quite unique, IMO.