Berry Moon 2011

[Aleah]

BERRY MOON
In August, the large masses of berries, which, when in flower, had attracted many wild bees, gradually assumed their bright velvety crimson hue, and by their weight again bent down and broke their tender limbs.
-- Henry David Thoreau

A sensuous, deep berry bouquet: blackberries, raspberries, and blueberries with Morello cherries, apricots, and strawberries, swirled in heady red musk and brandy.

Yay!! I get to be first! I just got this in my mail and couldn't wait to try it!

I'm not very good at picking out notes but here goes . . .

Out of the bottle - I smell something sweet, that reminds me a little of vanilla, although there's no vanilla listed in the notes. Maybe it's the cherries?

On the skin - The musk is beautiful and is coming around nicely.

This is drying down beautifully, it doesn't seem to be too strong on my skin. The brandy is not strong at all, it almost reminds me more of a "wine like" scent. It is musky and a little bit sweet, and I think it's perfect! I think it's very well blended and is going to be a favorite of mine I'll come back later if the scent changes much over time.

[Dark Alice]

Wet in the bottle: Gorgeous soft berries

 

Dry: Berries and brandy with hints of red musk. It's a little bitter...in the wet stage...but the drydown is totally worth it. But I really will only need one bottle.

[mineralgirl]

This is lovely. It's very 'fall' to me... it's much less sweet and berry than I was expecting. The berries are there but so is the musk and the brandy. It's rich and warm. I get whiffs of the berries, cherry and apricot when it's wet but everything falls into line with the musk and brandy as it dries and then I can't smell any specific notes..... it just smells really yummy!

 

It's win for me

 

[Gin]

I think this is another Berry Moon miss for me. On my arm, it's a wine/grapey honey musk. On my hand, I smell more of the fruit, but it's still overshadowed by the overly sweet musky scent. I don't have a good track record with red musk, so this isn't entirely unexpected, but I'm still sad because it sounded so amazing. I think people who like/love/are indifferent to red musk will love this, but it's just a little too sticky-sweet musky for me.

[Chelse]

Kind of reminds me of shango...minus the grape pepper scent.

[kjirstiben]

On me, this is primarily musk, with a rounded sweetness that comes from the brandy and berries blending together... Like a glass of brandy that's had berries soaking in it.

 

I'd been afraid that it would turn into a tooth-piercingly sweet pile of berry jam (which it did on a friend of mine), but this is delicious and fruity and much more understated than I had expected, just warm and soft and well-blended.

[Iceblink]

The first version of Berry Moon had a rather sharp green opening note to it (that did mellow with age)...that's gone from this version, which is more of a rich berry liqueur blend. And I do mean BLEND, because none of the individual fruits are jumping out of this to stomp all over the others. They're in perfect harmony. The red musk is already very nice here too so with some age this should be even better! Glad I took the chance on this one.

[dawndie]

In bottle: vinegary berries

 

On skin: giant dark cherries and berries bopping around

 

Half-hour later: musk has warmed up in the background of the cherry-berry explosion

 

In conclusion: I had a blast of BPAL nostalgia, as this ends up similar to Perversion on me (my very first bottle, ordered way back in October '04 and still a top-10 favorite). Lots of sweet darkness, with musk swapped in for the tobacco & leather of Perv.

[Invidiana]

Luscious boozy berries. I am so, so tempted to lick my knee since I ran out of testing room on my arms...there is no one fruit that dominates here, it's just like a sticky melange of dark berries doused in booze and shot through with sexy red musk. This is not one of those artificially sweet berry scents that goes all cloying but really rich and true with just enough tartness to balance out the sweetness, plus the apricot adds a little something special to the background. It's definitely a cousin of Bordello with more of a fruity punch and without the almond note. This was a no-brainer for me since I knew it would be a win.

[angelicruin]

Lots of cherries and brandy in this one. So much better on me than the prior Berry Moon a couple years back. Red musk is not at all overpowering (can sometimes be on my skin type). Overall, I this lunacy scent.

[Akurarei]

Berry Moon 2011

 

In the Bottle:

as advertised; "a deep berry bouquet"

 

On my Skin, Wet:

A burst of alcoholic berries, red & deep plum in color

 

On my Skin, Dry:

I detect the brandy.

The berry bouquet is very seamless, I don't smell any individual fruits.

 

Verdict:

I have the previous version of Berry Moon & they don't smell remotely similar, which I was afraid of.

I like the 2011 version better, I think the brandy is a better choice for my chemistry than the musk from previous release.

[boxinghelena]

Berry Moon 2011 smells wonderful! I don't get any berry whatsoever. It's straight up boozy red musk on me. I love it! I'm so glad I bought backups.

~

Edited August 6, 2011 by boxinghelena

[Gateau]

In a triumph of hope over experience, i ordered the 2011 version, even though the 2009 smelled like raspberry vinaigrette on me.

 

Bottle-- very dark color. Took a sniff, same vinegary note.

 

Wet -- that's better. It's a blend of berries (can't distinguish one from another) and the sweet cherry note. Rich and fruity-sweet.

 

Dry-- Damn, the musk comes out again and it's the same too-sharp vinegary note.

 

I liked it in the wet phase, but while the journey is a little different, it ends up in the same place. Not a good one for me.

[Viridian]

This is SO much nicer than the previous Berry Moon on me!

 

I get a lot of the cherry, a syrupy cherry reminiscent of the cherry I like in Bloody Mary. Maybe that's strawberry, too, since Bloody Mary is supposed to be "red berries"? Whatever it is, it smells red to me, while the prior Berry Moon smelled of too much powdery musk.

 

I do get a honeyed musk scent out of this at the very end of it, but it's nice. Exactly what I was hoping for out of this scent.

[Little Bird]

In the bottle, this is red musky... sort of fruity, warm, sweet and almost wine-like, a bit perfumey... but like red musk mixed with a sharper musk.

 

On my skin, I can't pick out any particular fruit note. It smells like red musk + perfumey drugstore musk and a hint of baby powder. Oddly, I don't know if I'd even say that this smells particularly fruity on my skin as it dries down :/

 

Even though the listed notes are so different, this actually still smells similar to Berry Moon 09 on me. They come off with a similar sharp muskiness (like chemical-y hairspray) on my skin and not much in the way of actual berries.

 

My husband said that this smells like 'medicine and hairspray.' Boo.

[rainbow1907]

This is absolutely lovely! I get lots of berries, a little bit of sweetness from the musk and something green like fresh leaves. Almost no brandy for me but I don't mind that. Berry Moon is exactly what I wanted it to be!

[porcelina]

so there's a lot of fruit here, but the booze and musk keep it firmly out of "fresh fruit body spray" or even "juicy dessert" territory. this is more red musk and fruit liqueur- cherry brandy and i don't know what else. the red musk is not overwhelmingly (i love it, but it's often all i can smell) but hangs in the background, sort of beautifully tying all of the fruits together. gorgeous, and better than the previous incarnation, in my humble opinion.

[Kamanjah]

A deep gold color. Smells like blackberries and blueberries in the decant. Smells like blackberries and blueberries wet on my skin. As it dries, the red musk comes around. On me this is musky mixed berries with no boozy smell at all. Throw - about 8 inches. Three hours later, I have a faint berry scent on my arms.

[moosue]

Strangely enough, on my skin wet this smelled almost exactly like O except with some deeper "red" notes. I can't believe there isn't honey in this.

So yes. Dry, there is berry at the forefront, no particular berry is standing out except I will say that the scent smells very "red". It's a dry berry scent, not juicy like the Luaus at all. I'm quite certain that the base is brandy. I get little to no red musk from this, which is nice because it tends to overtake a lot of blends that its in.

Overall, this is a deep brandy base with a bunch of dry red berries at the front. Still smells a little powdery and honeyed like O when its dry.

Not a summery scent at all, I see this more as a cool weather scent. It's very pretty but a decant is enough, especially considering that I have (and love) bottles of O and Womb Furie. This is very similar in tone to those two.

[Schmoozy]

I kinda have to agree with moosue here. Upon initial application the first thing I smell is a an O based scent ripened with sweet, lush berries. However the O base disappears as fast it appeared. Once dry, this Berry Moon is musky, sweet and very red. The brandy seems to warm the blend on my skin, and overall just deepens the richness of it. I'm happy to report that the cherries behave on my skin, as cherries & I don't get along all that well!

[coldandsleepy]

For the first 15 minutes this is on my skin, I adore this. It's an amazing, juicy punch of strawberry, cherry, apricot, and just a little brandy. Ah, if only this stage lasted. But then the red musk just swarms over everything and more or less obliterates it. It's a nice musk, I like it, but it really overwhelms the rest of the scent on me.

[zankoku_zen]

I get mostly cherries (the same cherry note as in Gothabilly), a hint of blackberry and red musk. These are sweet, seductive berries! It sort of reminds me because of the cherries to Gothabilly, and the cherry/red musk combo is like a better version of Hollywood Babylon.

 

Mmmm. Tasty.

[milo]

Wet, lots of fruit here, I'm getting mainly blackberries I think soaked in a bit of brandy. Dry, not sure what is happening, but a dusty note is coming out with something really weird, like hotdog juice or something that was sitting at the bottom of your fridge. The weird note fades in an out, among the boozy berry goodness. I make different vodka infusions, raspberry, huckleberry and sour cherry. The smell reminds me of perhaps what a mixture of these would be, only maybe instead of the huckleberry, it would be blackberry. I've kind of grown out of overly fruity scents though, but I'll keep the imp for when I miss summer.

[evanesce]

(OMG I'm reviewing something!)

 

Berry Moon 2011

 

In the Bottle -- A big bowl of berries macerated in liquor

 

On, wet -- Berries, hard core. Just absolutely dripping with berries. The scent is red, sweet and heavy

 

On, dry -- The musk finally comes out, but it's still berry explosion on me (I like berries, so I guess my skin knows it!). The thing is, it's such a heavy scent it's not very summery, it's much more suited to fall and cooler months on me. I couldn't wear this on a hot day. And it is slowly but surely morphing into a very strong and "mature" scent on me. Perhaps a bit too mature.

[sunshinedaisybliss]

At first, slightly sour berries (for me, blackberry=sour).. a hint of booziness, musky redness. On full drydown, the darker berries have taken a back seat to the sweeter ones (strawberry, blueberry), the booziness has gone completely, and the cherry is the star of the show. Where's the apricot? Dunno.. it never showed up.

 

In the end, I have musky cherry with a hint of blueberry. Which isn't a bad thing at all, really.. but the middle stage with the lovely sweet rich berries was nicer