Hungry Ghost Moon 2011

[mineralgirl]

HUNGRY GHOST MOON
On the 14th day of the seventh month of the lunar calendar, the Gates of Hell burst open, and ghosts pour forth from the Nine Darknesses into the sunlit world. To placate the dead, Hell Money is burned, offerings are made, and paper boats and floating lanterns are set out to give comfort and direction to wayward spirits. Though many spirits simply seek out the comforts of their former homes and the company of their loved ones, rancorous spirits also roam the streets, seeking revenge on those who have wronged them before, and after, their deaths. Offerings of sweet rice, ginger candy, sugar cane, smoky vanilla and rice wine mingle with a ghost's perfume of white sandalwood, wisteria, ho wood, ti, white grapefruit, and crystalline musk. This scent is tempered by the presence of ten herbs, woods and resins used in the purification of the spirit. Through this scent, we can release ourselves from sorrow and discontentment, unbinding our souls from the chains that shackle us to our baser needs so we may truly understand and experience compassion, empathy, and joy.

The white grapefruit is at the forefront here for me. It's ruining it, actually. I get whiffs of sweetness and ginger and wisteria but it's almost all grapefruit on me.

[Cheri]

HGM is one of my favorite moons ever! It's soft and citrusy. Really pretty, but it's causing a little problem; I can't seem to stop sniffing it and it's hard to do much w=when your hand is stuck to your nose. Seriously, this is really good!

[Invidiana]

This is so much better than the original HGM. THe original smelled like ginger tea to my nose but this one is more of a lightly musky vanillaed citrus. I get a lot of the smoky vanilla, grapefruit and sugarcane melding nicely with everything else in the background, and it becomes muskier in a clean-musky type of way as it continues drying down. It's a perfect summer scent that's just sweet enough but not overpowering with a hint of smokiness for added mystery.

Edited June 24, 2011 by Invidiana

[stellamaris]

The scent of this oil is driving me nuts. I can't ascertain what it is, it smells like some kind of cookie or pastry I have smelled before, it is bringing up a very distinct scent memory. I want to say an Italian pastry that starts with an sf, sfoiatelle? Sp? I have to look this up it's really bugging me.

I get the citrus but it's almost orange to me, smoky, musky, very weird. Will let this one age for a minute.

 

Well, seeing as I have the patience of a four year old at Build a Bear, I retested this yesterday, and I have to say it's much less crazy, much less "there's a nice cookie" pat, pat, pat.

When I got it, it was like Jack Nicholson in "The Shining"..."Honey! I'm Home! And I'm going to kill you with an Italian pastry!", Now it's more like Jack in Chinatown, still crazy, but very stylish and cool. I paired it (or layered it if you will) with Lemon Sticky Bats, and they worked very nicely together.

 

OK this one is surely possessed. Today I woke up wanting to wear this. It's like the guy you didn't want to go out with and suddenly he's your boyfriend...

Edited July 4, 2011 by stellamaris

[minnalavender]

Let me preface this by saying that the original HGM is one of my favorite scents of all time, so my review will be biased by that. I thought that this version would be a replica of it so I was really excited to try it!

 

Boy, was I disappointed. This version smells nothing like the original, and worse, in the bottle the dominant notes seem to be graham crackers and pickle juice. I don't get any citrus at all! The original version is juicy and sweet, kind of the essence of summer and happiness in a bottle; this version is... not. Original lasts all day; new has almost disappeared in 10 min., which is kind of a relief. I really don't like it! I want to cry. I rarely buy anything unsniffed these days as money is very tight, and I really expected this to be similar, if not the same as the original, and Lunacies disappear fast. It was not designated as "resurrected," though, so it's my bad! I jumped the gun.

 

It's probably just me - I don't get along with some of the really popular LEs, so it will probably work well on other people. I'll be happy if I can swap or sell this version to someone who loves it, and hunt down another bottle of the original version.

Edited June 24, 2011 by Mattie

[Gwydion]

Note: I'm seeing the main difference in the ingredient list between this and the 2006 is sweet rice for aloe.

 

In bottle: In the bottle it's much sweeter than my aged bottle. I'm getting a ginger dominant blend with a strong sweet rice and sugar cane presence. I would put the woods and grapefruit a distant third. The other elements form a complex background for the dominant scents. I do see why this has a separate entry, as the emphasis and effect is still lovely, but quite different than the proportions in the older blend. Wet: More grapefruit than in the bottle, but still ginger dominant by a hair, with sweet rice and sugar cane a close third. The wisteria is more distinct, but well blended. The musk is more noticeable. The woods ground it. I'm really liking this, and not sorry I acquired some. Dry: It stays ginger dominant, but the other elements end up creating a lovely, complex support. It is delicate, but with decent throw.

Edited June 25, 2011 by Gwydion

[tajana]

Wow, this is very different from HGM '06. Same name, some familiar elements, but totally different overall impression! It's like the '06 is the day version, and the '11 is the night version.

 

In the bottle, I got super smoky vanilla, an alcoholic whiff of sake, and a dry woodiness. Freshly applied onto the skin, a fair bit of the grapefruit and ginger come out, but they aren't the happy gummi candy versions like in the 2006 version. The sake, subtle grapefruit, and fresh grated ginger root, as well a sigh of wisteria, blend together atop a base of somber smoked vanilla and dry wood.

 

The scent cheers up a tiny bit with the addition of sugared sticky rice after a few minutes, but then I still get the ridiculous impression of forlornly eating sweet rice and ginger cookies, alone, with a bottle of rice wine, plucking the petals off a wilting flower, sitting on the wooden floor of a gloomy old temple late in the evening.

 

Eventually things settle down into a clean musky white sandalwood incense, flavored with a major doses of ginger and a distinct sweet rice note. Good lasting power and sillage.

 

Not what I was expecting, but after I got over my preconcieved notions, I realized that this stuff is an A+ in my book. There's something quite sophisticated and elegant about the balance of notes. It'll be nice at any time of year, but it seems especially suited to summer nights. I'm confident that this will age very well.

 

ETA: This already seems to have softened up a bit since it got out of the mail box, and gotten the teensiest bit more like its predecessor. My boyfriend told me I smell kind of like froot loops. At first I was like, hm, he's not *entirely* wrong. Now I can't shake that association and ALL I SMELL IS FROOT LOOPS. Ginger froot loop cereal, but still froot loops. Hahaha! I mean, I can smell the other notes quite distinctly if I huff it, but the waft floating around me? It's quite silly and cerealy. It's a morpher alright.

Edited July 6, 2011 by findaghost

[Gateau]

Imp--sweet and citrusy with a hayish sort of note.

 

Wet--Froot Loops! Citrus candy with something vegetal or cereal underneath.

 

Drydown--brighter citrus comes out, could be yuzu, could be grapefruit. Plus some sweet flowers with a clean whiteness, perhaps the ginger.

 

Dry--becomes a lovely blend of flowers, tangy fruits, and a warm base of soft woods, vanilla, and light musk. It's ethereal yet grounded and very lovely to wear in warm weather when I don't want heady sweet flowers. There is a lot going on in there, but it's so well blended that it's not really about individual notes.

 

Note: it even stayed on through a shower.

[coldandsleepy]

For the first two minutes this is on my skin, I get a delicious almost cakelike smell-- smoky vanilla, sugar, a little warm spice-- and I love it. Then, in a blink of an eye, it becomes nothing but light musk on me, with maybe a faint hint of sugar cane. Alas.

[countessmouse]

Hot buttered popcorn in the imp and wet on my skin. In fact, it took nearly 2 hours for any other scent to show up. At the moment, it's mostly wisteria and musk - which is fine with me because I really didn't want to smell like popcorn all day. The lack of citrus is disappointing. Ah well, maybe it will show up later since this scent seems to be a morpher.

[JLH]

In the bottle, this smells VERY sweet and fruity, almost like Fruit Loops! Needless to say, I was afraid that I had made (to quote Gob Bluth) "a huge mistake." But wet on my skin I mostly get a citrus-y floral and rice wine with foody sweetness behind it. It's not cloying like I expected and is quite fresh and summer-y. It doesn't have much throw, so this will definitely be one to slather on.

 

As it dries, it the sharpness of the grapefruit mellows out considerably and it turns into a lower-pitched sweet scent. It's a strange scent, but I think I like it. I might have to wear it a few more times to really get to know it.

 

ETA: And now that it's dry, it's all herbs, grapefruit, and ginger! This scent really does morph like crazy. I'm not sure I would have picked the dry scent as something even related to how this smelled wet or in the bottle. The way this changes really intrigues me.

Edited July 6, 2011 by JLH

[Mellifluous]

I loooove this scent! It is the perfect summer scent for me.

I get nearly the same scent through the drydown, and that is a bright white grapefruit candy and vanilla. This is very "crystalline", that is a perfect word to describe the whole scent imo. None of the herbs or wood particularly stand out, they are probly there, making sure this doesnt get too sugary, but its sticking with white grapefruit candies and vanilla.

Towards the last couple hours I get the musk, but it stays a light vanilla musk, which makes this even better!

[Little Bird]

I love the aged 06 version of Hungry Ghost Moon (which has gotten smoother and sweeter over time). I loved this 2011 version when it first arrived and smelled like creamy vanilla, soft, warm, cozy rose and hints of grapefruit and sweet incense. Unfortunately, the 2011 version did not age well at all and turned very sour, like the grapefruit went rancid. The 06 is still great, but this 2011 version seemed to go bad very quickly.

Edited June 22, 2013 by Little Bird

[o0SnowDrop0o]

To me, this instantly reminded me of Carnival Wax's Dreabilly. A smoky vanilla and dry wood in the background (almost incensey) with creamy rice and a subtle citrus in the front. Very warm and comforting. Wish I had gotten more.

[lunaticana]

a little to candy-ish for my taste

[Dormouse]

I had hoped for something more like the original, which is one of my favourites. Unfortunately it is very different and I'm not liking it at all.

 

On my skin I get very little of the grapefruit and vanilla and lots of sweet rice and a dry ginger note that reminds me of the powdered stuff you use in cooking. It makes my nose prickle in the same way too.

 

This actually reminds me a little of the dry down of Gunpowder, which I also can't wear. The sweet rice here is very similar to the oats in that and the apple always burned off fast leaving an odd, sweet, spicy smell which the vanilla and ginger is giving with HGM.

 

After a while of wear the wisteria comes out quite strongly but that is not one of my favourite flower scents and it's not helping here at all.

 

The original HGM was light, bright and sweet and made me think of those little chinese lychee candies, this is much heavier and quite cloying.

 

By the very final drydown the rice has gone, the ginger is just a hint of warmth in the background and the fruit, flowers, musk and sake have blended with the woody base and it's really quite nice. I won't want to be waiting for 3 hours to get to this point though.

 

I think if you like the foody, cereal based scents from Halloween and Christmas then you'll probably adore this. It is very much the summer version of those.

[milo]

At first, this smells like cake with lemon or something citrussy. Dry, it is more of a creamy ginger, though it gradually gets there with the lemon and cake slowly fading out. It also seems to strengthen with time, rather than fade away. Nice, but the cream note is really creamy on me. It kind of reminds me of Mother Ginger and that other popular GC with light ginger and cream. This really isn't me, but it was nice to try it out.

[Nia]

I detect three layers. First, there's a foody note that feels a bit burnt or nutty; many BPAL scents that include foody ingredients smell exactly the same on me. It's a note like buttered toast and hazelnuts. This is, I guess, the "smoky vanilla". It's a pity because I'm not a great fan of this note and it's one of the very few that my ashmatic and allergic partner can smell well - and he hates it.

 

Secondly, there's a complex mix of gentle sweet scents. I tested this without the description and I thought "kind of like honey but it's definitely not honey". This must be the sugar cane/rice wine/ vanilla/grapefruit/light musk. Nice, but spoiled in combination with the toasted note.

 

Finally, what saves this scent for me is the herbal layer. I have no idea what's in it, but it is discreetly there, very sober and not sweet at all.

 

On the drydown, the second layer is the most prominent and long-lasting one.

 

My plan was to use this for ritual purposes, and that's what I'll do, as it is a very pleasant smell but too sweet and foody for every day. I understand the people who say this is the summer version of a Christmas foody but the top layer makes it too heavy as perfume.

[crebbsgirl]

This turns into a vanilla, ginger and grapefruit scent on my skin. Sweet and light, and a little creamy. I actually quite like this, and I wasn't expecting to based on the wet stages.

[PurringPulsar]

Hungry Ghost Moon 2011

 

In the imp: a slightly dissonant blend of ginger, slightly sour cream, and a sharp perfumey scent shooting right through the scent.

Wet on skin: not too bad now, the perfumey scent is still there, the sourness has gone but the ginger has amplified.

Dry on skin: this is weird. There’s a very grainy scent to it, like porridge. Maybe it’s the rice note? It smells less sweet than the usual rice note, and before long it seems to turn from a slightly oaty or brown rice scent to a really realistic white rice scent, like the scent of steaming rice served on palm leaves. I’d say it’s somewhere between long grain and basmati. Other than the rice, there’s also a very strong ginger note. Not crystallised ginger, not fizzy ginger ale, not dry ginger, but the smell of freshly cut ginger or ginger juice. It’s tangy and fiery but with a greenish-yellow tinge. I swear I smell coconut milk, even though it’s not listed, as well as lemongrass and/or grapefruit. I get a feel of Thai food from this. The musk note does smell strident and almost perfumey, clean and bright. I don’t smell wisteria.

After a while: this is one of the most changeable perfumes ever! It’s morphing constantly. The steamy rice and Thai food scent then turns to a weird gingery sour milk scent, halfway between White Rabbit and Sudha Segara. Then it turns into an odd dusty hay-floral scent with ginger. And then it turns into sharp cologne. There’s even a fleeting moment when this smells like the original HGM. But the drydown after a few hours is all about the sandalwood and musk, and far from being crystalline and ethereal, this is a musk that is dark and deep but warm. It smells very much like the musk in Oblivion or Morocco (because of the sandalwood), but it doesn’t have the sweetness of Morocco-in fact, where is the vanilla in here, or the candy notes? and I do think there’s some myrrh here too.

Verdict: very, very different to the 2006 version. I love the original and the way all the complex notes interact to create a seamless blend of citrus, musk, resin, candied ginger and woods, very coherent, balanced, fresh and bright but also very stable-it doesn’t change too much. This, on the other hand, is the mother of all morphers. There’s an emphasis on gourmand notes, with creamy ginger and fragrant rice, it seems the ghosts in this scent are hungrier. Then there’s a jumble of musks, resins and citrus, and the scent seems to change every few minutes-from ginger to musk to grapefruit to resin. It’s quite an olfactory rollercoaster ride, but a bit too much for me, it’s like the scent can’t make up its mind on what it wants to be. I prefer the coherence, stability and fruitier scent of the original.

Is it a keeper? no.

If you like this, try: Hungry Ghost Moon 06, Sudha Segara, White Rabbit, Shub Niggurath, Mother Ginger, Maison en Pain D’Epices

Edited February 19, 2012 by yeahbutnobut

[awesomeoverlord]

I should have known better than to put my faith into something with grapefruit in it, no matter how many of my favorite notes it has. In the bottle and fresh on, this is quite lovely. There is a definite sense of warm sweet sticky rice, balanced with a complex blend of light woods, a bit of floral, and something fresh and fruity, which I'm assuming is the well-behaved version of the grapefruit combined with the sweet ginger. This goes through phases of smelling kind of like Tamamo-no-mae on me, likely because of the candied ginger element and this left me optimistic if not enthused by the novelty of the blend. Still, it was not meant to be. After a couple of minutes, the grapefruit goes insane on my skin and turns into a sour, bitter screech-monster of death. This is the only perfume I've come across that smells smoother if I just bury my nose in my wrist, probably because it somehow allows me to escape the crazy grapefruit top notes.

[zankoku_zen]

HGM 2011 is nothing like the original Hungry Ghost Moon. The original to me was very candylike ginger sweetness. This one has more of a bitter grapefruit pith overlay, the ginger is more like gingerbread with hints of wisteria.

 

It's like a ghost tookover a gingerbread house left over from Christmas. A ghost that smells like wisteria. Thereby, I rename thee: Haunted Wisteria Lane Gingerbread House. It doesn't smell like murder, but what do I know about ghosts and Wisteria Lanes?

[plainjean]

To me, this smells like a mixture of sugared grapefruit and Loosening of the Obi (the two share a lot of notes, but I think I'm mostly amping the vanilla and the rice wine). At times I pick up a sort of cookie scent, which I'm thinking may be the ginger candy. Overall, it's a soft scent that somehow manages to be both cool and warm at the same time. I really like it, and think it'll definitely join my rotation of spring and summer scents.

Edited April 6, 2012 by plainjean

[Jangzonrice]

Bought a bottle from another forum member. I thought I would love this, but it is heavy on the wisteria wet and dry on me. I don't like it until it is extremely dry, then a tiny bit of ginger and vanilla comes out. I want the crazy strong ginger and grapefruit....booooo!!!! This is relegated to layering and adding to deep conditioner.

[porcelina]

hmmm. the rice note here is weird but i like it. it tempers the grapefruit note but also kind of takes the whole scent into a weirdly kind of savory foodie territory. i was expecting more sweetness, i guess. the grapefruit/ginger combo is actually a really good one, despite my usual aversion to citrus, but i am just not sure... i dunno, though. the more i smell it, the more i think i like it!