Autumn Cider

[Wolfie79]

Fermented apple juice, brown sugar, cinnamon, nutmeg, allspice, clove, lemon zest, butterscotch liquor, and orange slices.

 

Cinnamon is almost ALWAYS a note-of-doom for me, so imagine my surprise when I was testing my sniffies and realized that I was enjoying an oil with cinnamon among the notes!

I don't really smell the butterscotch, unfortunately, and when I apply this it is a crisp, clean sort of apple scent with only a hint of that cinnamon spiciness that usually goes so wrong on me. Definitely NOT a 'craft store in autumn' scent as I worried it might be.

And the bottle art is SO precious that I would keep this one even if I couldn't stand to wear it.

[angelmecha]

Bottle: A delicious, butterscotchy cider. It reminds me of a super-spiced Caramel Apple Cider from Starbucks. As far as cider scents go (I was expecting Fearful Pleasure or Lambs-Wool) this is much sweeter; the orange slices and butterscotch lend a lot more to this than I expected!

Wet: It softens into almost pure apple *juice* with sugar/butterscotch and sour lemon. There's something strange in here; it's sour, but more than just the lemon: I think I'm picking up the fermentation like some other reviewers!! This isn't as warm or cider-y on as I wanted it to be; it's like a sharp, mulled wine liquid mix... A little bit of orange is peeking through which is nice. Also, the cinnamon in this burns like a mo!

Dry: Yep. Cinnamon, Orange Hawaiian Punch with some mulling spices. The cinnamon is still burning (which NEVER happens to me! Please stop, Autumn Cider!) and a lot of the original clear notes have kind of blended together.

Verdict: I adore cider scents and would keep this regardless, but it's *not* Fearful Pleasure or Lambs-Wool incarnate as I'd wanted. If only I could get my hands on a bottle of each of those, I'd have a MARVELOUSLY diverse cider collection! 3.5/5

[alyelle]

I was so looking forward to getting this and when I opened it up and took a sniff, I wasn't disappointed. EVERYTHING I'd hoped for - warm, thick sweet apple cider, with a hint of grain and candy.

 

Sadly, as much as I love it, I am one of the sensitive people whose skin reacts - after a minute of wearing it (in which the apple turned into a very sweet candied fragrance, similar to apple taffy candies I remember from when I was a child), I came out in massive itchy red welts. So off it went, and it took three packs of ice and an antihistamine to calm my skin back down again. Needless to say, I'm bitterly disappointed, because this easily trumps pretty much everything else in terms of how much I love the fragrance. I'll probably turn it into an atomizer instead. Or try it on my hair/clothes as one of the users above mentioned. It's too gorgeous to swap away.

 

ETA: Total winner on a few curls of my hair. I swiped over a very small amount, just in case it worked its way onto my scalp (I don't even want imagine the pain) and it's lovely. It stays more cider-spice as well, without the sticky sweet candied apple I got when I put it on my skin. Couldn't be happier. (It's also fairly delicious in a burner with my candied ginger oil.)

Edited December 27, 2011 by alyelle

[Sateki]

Wet: Very citrus-y cider. The citrus and apple seem to be battling for dominance.

 

Dry: The apple won. It's a very nice cider apple with a hint of citrus that keeps it fresh. Very realistic scent. A perfect scent for a cold, autumn day.

[Juushika]

In the vial: A light and airy apple cider.

 

On me: This is surprisingly light when it goes on, a faint fruitiness with a touch of boozy fermentation and some sweetness, mostly an impression of light cider but not the scent itself. Post-drydown it gets strongerthe apple becomes more distinct, and this is a mild, warm, golden, thin apple cider. I never get much of the spices, but there is a hint of butterscotch. I was curious about Autumn Cider's similarity to Fearful Pleasure, and on my skin it's Fearful Pleasure's lighter and slightly foodier cousinwhere FP is backed up by dark woods, this has a glowing golden cast. Despite the absence of spices, it's accurate to the description: autumn cider, indeed. Throw is moderate, and wear length is long.

 

Verdict: Autumn Cider is just what it says on the tin, but it's a little too light and simple for meI wish I got the spices. It and Fearful Pleasure are different scents, but there's a family resemblance and I prefer Fearful Pleasure's darkness, so I'll stick with that.

[DahliaHayashi]

I never actually drank apple cider since i am german and life in japan and in both countries you dont have it.

So what i smell is spiced applewine.

On my skin it sweetens up and smells quite a bit like harvest moon 2011 just without the smokey note. Fruity spiced alcohol that makes you think of snuggeling up in a blanket with a hot glas of gloegg.

Now i like the smokey note in harvest moon a lot so i like harvest moon a bit better than autum cider.

Never the less it smells very nice and autumy and i will use up my decant for sure. I am just not going for a bottle because i have a full bottle of harvest Moon 2011

 

4 out of 5 for those who like to smell like hot alcoholic beverage like I do ;P

Edited November 24, 2011 by DahliaHayashi

[kelpsoda]

Wet: I get apples, and liquor. No non-alcoholic apple cider here!

 

Dry: sweet, sharp apples with booze and a hint of spice. Reminds me of a craft store, with all the potpourri.

[ami226]

On the skin: Tropical fruit and cinnamon? This one is veeeeery sweet! Smells like candy. Not sure what kind, but I would definitely love to eat it right about now! The fruits die down a bit, but this one smells very fruity/cinnamony to me. Not getting as much apple as I'd expect.

[tinyvulture]

Yum! After an initial, confusing, “Fruit punch?” moment, I get mouthwatering apple cider, heavy on the cinnamon. I like how the sweetness of the apple is tempered by the tartness of lemon and orange. Wish I could smell the butterscotch liquor more – or at all. I love the apples and cinnamon, just not sure if I need a whole bottle.

[white_jenna63]

So, I had high hopes for this blend, despite not keeping Lambs-wool or Fearful Pleasure. I love BPAL's apple scents, like The Hesperides, Poisoned Apple, and Candy Corn Coated Candy Apple. They can do *real* apple, which always runs the risk of turning into Yankee candle or potpourri.

 

Unfortunately, that's what happened here. It started out as apple juice, definitely liquid as opposed to the fruit itself. Maybe a *little* bit of the citrus. Lots of throw, could smell it on my wrists while driving. After about a half hour, the spices started coming out, and that's when it went candle-y. Got a little bit of the sweetness at that point, but never really got the butterscotch.

[lohengrin]

In the bottle: Orangey and a bit boozy, with just a touch of spice.

 

On skin, wet: Similar to the bottle scent, but with perhaps a touch more spice.

 

On skin, dry: Fresh orange, and something... almost minty? Actually, that might be cinnamon.

 

After an hour: *facepalm* It was cinnamon, and it has run roughshod over everything else. There's a hint of orange left, but mostly this is cinnamon. Will have to deathmatch it against Uranus.

[bpalscentsual]

So realistic of an autumn mulled cider scent that my mouth has been watering ever since I put it on. Why did I only discover this after the deadline for Weenies? This is what I was hoping Pomona would be -- the perfect warm mug of cider.

 

This is amazing and fantastic and I'm glad I have another decant coming my way because I want to slather this all over myself.

[detritius]

This is exactly what I wanted it to be, a perfectly crisp, sweet, spiced apple cider. Cider is my very favorite thing about autumn, and it's fantastic to have a little bit of that scent year-round.

[sabrebabe]

This made me sad, because I love going appling in the fall and stomping around in the leaves and climbing the apple trees for the best apples. Sadly, because it's a fruity scent, it didn't do well on me. I could have at least used it in my melty scented wax "burner", but it just wasn't...right.

 

 

In the Bottle: Fake apple candy and orange candy smell! Very, very strong! Yuck! Am hesitant to put it on my skin.

Wet: same smell, but I can smell some of the lemon now, too. Still yuk.

Dry: apple cider candle. Nutmeg, cinnamon and cloves are finally coming through. Stronger spice scent, less candy fruit smell. Still not liking it much. Tried to wash it off, now I smell like an apple-cinnamon candle! Trade pile

[Gin]

Yeah, I read the description and the early reviews before ordering, but even so, I expected less punch and more apple--like Lambs-Wool, really. Autumn Cider smells more like Minute Maid Fruit Punch to me. It dries down to something more like a spicy apple cider, but it's like an artificially-flavored, artificially-sweetened cider drink than an actual fruit cider. I don't know if I've ever found a BPAL that was too foody-sweet for me, but this may be it.

[porcelina]

oh man, autumn cider. you could have been perfect. warm apple cider, a bit of sweet butterscotch, sugar and spice and everything nice. BUT NO. orange comes along and turns the whole thing into a fruit bowl. the orange takes it from a warm mug of cider drizzled with butterscotch syrup to cloying, drippy canned fruit.

 

but wait… as it dries, the orange settles down. the fruit becomes secondary, tertiary even, the lemon zest adding just a hint of citrus to brighten the blend. it still might be a LITTLE too cloying, a little too sticky. it's not perfect, but this is the closest to a true spiced cider blend i have come across. it makes me wish i could drink it.

Edited August 9, 2012 by porcelina

[milo]

Wet, juicy fruit gum. I get this quite often with apple scents, though. Dry, more like authentic apple cider with spices. This is very late summer/early fall type scent, and I'd be all over it if I liked these kind of apple/foody blends. Very evocative, though and nice to try!

[Geminirubyshoes]

I have not done a review in quite some time but I wore this a couple of days ago and decided to weigh in...

 

I really like Autumn Cider now that it has some age on it. When it first came out I got one because I was hoping for something similar to Fearful Pleasure (my all time favorite Halloween Bpal) but I wore it once and it was WAY too fruity and I didn't get much of the spices. So I have been letting it sit for months and just broke it out recently to discover that it has mellowed into a warm, spicy, still fruity yet- not -so -much- so -that -I -can't -wear -it oil. I love the rich butterscotch note and the cinnamon and nutmeg...I think I am going to use this in the oil burner as well in my house to achieve maximum "It smells like Fall!" comments so if any of you find that it doesn't agree on your skin, try it as a house scent!

[megank4]

This is very sweet when first applied, almost cloying. It settles down to occasional whiffs of apple, but no brown sugar, helas. Very good for early fall.

 

Forgot to say- I think there must be some apple-scented ACID in this because applied to neck or inside of elbow it BURNS. Had to wash it off due to pure agony, and had red skin afterwards. Use with caution.

Edited September 28, 2014 by Megank4

[theredshoes]

Just got this as an extremely generous sniffie (enough for at least a couple of trials in here!) from a forumite, and WOW. I love BPAL's apple note, and this is gorgeous. It really does smell exactly like wonderful apple cider. If I had a full bottle I might be tempted to do like Alice and drink it! (joke, joke) I'm not sure I'd wear it a lot, since I'm not that into food/drink smells, but I think it'd be a perfect room scent for a fall/winter holiday party.

 

 

ETA because board code ≠ HTML code, sigh. Also, I think maybe this scent benefits a lot from aging. My 2011 bottle has a beautiful ripeness to it.

Edited October 27, 2012 by theredshoes

[tdgnika]

In the imp, it smells like sweet apple juice, and I was a little worried it would be too sweet and foodie.

 

Wet on the skin, smells like wonderful apple cider with clove. It smells like the Amish stores in Ohio at Christmastime that I remember as a kid.

 

On dry down, it smells like spiced cider with more variety of spices than just the clove. Doesn't last more than a couple hours, but it's definitely worth keeping.

[Ajila]

In the bottle - Apples, almonds and a dry fizziness like gin and tonic

 

Wet on me - Pulpy stewed apple, ground almonds, cinnamon, nutmeg and yes that odd G & T side that I've got to guess is the alcohol content as it were, but its odd

 

Dry on me - Warm spiced apples and brown sugar

 

Overall - The scent was yummy, but unfortunately my skin had a bad reaction to the cinnamon, maybe one for the scent locket

[MonkeysInk]

A truly lovely autumn scent! It smells just like juice-box apple juice in the imp and when first applied to the skin, then dries down into a lovely blend of spices. I smell nutmeg and cinnamon and orange and allspice jumping to the top, almost what the kitchen smells like when you're cooking mulling spices slowly on the stove.

 

I am embarrassed to admit that I bought this in the fall of 2011 and have never opened it until today. I will search the B/S/T forums for a 5mL, that's how much I like it!

[elinox]

First Sniff: Mott’s apple juice and some crushed allspice I think.

 

Initial Wet Application: Now it’s bam-in-your-face and reminding me of the fruit punch you used to get as a kid in those annoying paper containers at school functions. I can detect some faint orange hiding in the background as well as some dusty clove.

 

Dry Down (first 15 minutes): This didn’t really change from initial sniff to complete dry down which is disappointing as I’m still getting fruit punch. Once this dried completely, I was still getting fruit punch, but now spicy cinnamon is trying to get in on the act.

 

My Reaction: I had hoped to really like this warm, autumn, foody scent, but alas! The fruit punch and cinnamon were just not pleasant and even reminded me of throat lozenges or cherry chapstick. I think the nutmeg wanted to place nice, with warming things out, but so far I’ve not gotten even a tiny taste of apple anything!

 

Rating: 1

[Astarial]

Review for the 2014 version:

 

In the bottle, this smells like homemade apple booze that a friend of mine makes, combined with fresh orange slices. Delicious! I think I might want to mix some up for real.

 

Once applied, cinnamon leaps out to join the apple and orange. I get booziness, but not really any butterscotch. It's delicious and drinkable, but for the next couple hours the cinnamon really takes over, with the apple fading into the background. That does eventually settle down, though, resulting in a warm, spicy apple cider.

 

I like this a lot! I would love it a lot more if the cinnamon didn't completely take over for a while, though - I'm hoping with a bit of aging that will calm down. It's a really good fall scent, along the lines of Fearful Pleasure and Lambs-Wool.