Death Embraces a Young Maiden

[Ah Xia]

DEATH EMBRACES A YOUNG MAIDEN
Death Embraces a Young Maiden, Nicholas Manuel Deutsch.
Three dry white sandalwoods with gurjum balsam, guiac wood, ambergris accord, and tea rose.

 

Intriguingly sweet and creamy sandalwood which is softened and rounded out by the rose without being an overtly floral blend. It reminds me of Dorian with a tiny rosy edge, sweet, refined and elegant.

[countessmouse]

Slightly ashy at first until the sandalwood warmed. This is a slow morpher - mostly sandalwood at first until the florals decided to make an appearance. The scent is a beautiful blend of warm woods and creamy florals.

[Ghost of a Rose]

My imp is a decant from schackjj, The Goddess of Decanters (to borrow a quote from another participant in our decant circle.)

 

In the imp: Oil is clear and copper-colored. It smells like a classic perfume, with notes of rose, sandalwood, and something else I can't identify. It could be the gurjum balsam or the ambergris - I don't know what those smell like.

 

On me, wet: On me it is much woodier, sharper, and not perfumey. I don't specifically smell the rose.

 

On me, just dried: As it dries, it gets more perfumey and more like the scent in the imp.

 

After 10 minutes: It is fairly subtle, the scent of a classic, expensive, perfume. Formal and elegant. A bit soapy, as such perfumes do tend to be. Like most designer perfumes, it doesn't smell like any particular note, but I can detect a hint of rose if I try hard enough.

 

After 20 minutes: Oh, my. I was thinking that this was enough of a generic perfume scent that I wouldn't need a bottle. But now a gorgeous velvety rose fragrance has blossomed. If it lasts, I'll have to get a bottle after all.

 

After 30 minutes: Yep, it's lasting. The beautiful rose note combined with an elegant perfume: what could be more perfect for a formal occasion? I definitely see a bottle in my future.

 

After 1 hour: Still the same gorgeous scent, but now rather faint.

 

After 2 hours: It has gotten a little powdery, but that seems characteristic of both rose and sandalwood oils in late drydown. I don't consider it a problem. In fact, I often wonder if it isn't just us interpreting it that way - so many powders are scented with these notes (and also musk) that we associate the dry fragrance of them with powder. Our noses have been trained to think "powder" when we smell them.

 

After 3 hours: Only a trace of sandalwood is left.

 

Verdict: Beautiful, elegant, feminine, understated. I might want to wear it it a scent locket to add sillage and longevity. But I'd still wear it on my skin at the same time, in order to get the notes that only develop more there, especially the rose.

 

My rating: 5 stars

[Little Bird]

I like ambergris, but I can't pick it out of most of the bpal blends, and I don't smell it at all in this one either . Rose amps up on me and the sandalwood goes baby powdery, so this is pretty much a rose powder on my skin. It's like a warmer and more powdery Shadowless Like Silence.

[lilyliza]

I had a body wash that was rose and sandalwood-scented once that I liked a lot, so I got a decant of this in the hopes that it would smell similar. I wasn't disappointed- in fact, I like this a lot more since it's a little more complex.

 

In the imp: I smell the familiar combo of rose and sandalwood, but where my old body wash had a very dry scent, the other notes are smoothing out things to make the overall scent more rounded out and almost creamy. Even though there are three sandalwoods here, it's not taking over by any means.

 

Wet: The smoother notes are actually what hit me first, then bam! sandalwood, then just as quickly, tea rose makes an appearance and tells it to simmer down. It's a slightly creamy scent with a nice, not too strong floral base, spiked by sandalwood. The creamy floral is the maiden, the sandalwood is definitely death.

 

Drydown: This scent stays close to the skin. Sandalwood pops up and tries to assert itself now and then, but the other notes always quickly calm it down. I was wondering where the guiac wood was, but it pops up eventually.

 

Dry, several hours later: A warm floral, spicy at first from the sandalwood, then just mostly tea rose as the other notes fade quietly into the background. Sigh.

 

This is beautiful, and I'm seriously considering a bottle, but I'm waffling because it stays so close to the skin, which isn't really my thing when it comes to perfume. It's a very nice scent though.

[zankoku_zen]

Sandalwood, ambergris and some red rose.

 

This is a nice, muted, warm blend.

[theseagrows]

hmm, my skin chemistry is disappointing me with this one :/ it's mostly wood and sandalwood on me, and woods can be iffy for me. it's very powdery and i really don't seem to get much tea rose at all, except a very subtle hint in the background. it's mostly powdery with a hint of sharpness from the wood. oh well. i get excited over tea rose scents, but should remember to stay away from them with this much wood!

[edenssixthday]

Death Embraces a Young Maiden - This is just loaded with lovely, warm, sweet ambergris. It's almost an ambergris single note on me, but there's a hint of dry sandalwood and dusty tea rose that keep the ambergris from being too sweet. They compliment it perfectly. It is really, really lovely. I had no idea it would be this pretty! I think it's a fairly gender-neutral scent, too.

[V294]

I don't know what to make of this. I think it must be ambergis since I'm not familiar with it. It's pretty and sweet.....but, odd. Not exactly a soapy quality to it, but something underneath the sweet that's a tad sharp that I can't figure out....

 

I am intrigued. Will be keeping the decant to experiment.

[thekittenkat]

In the bottle: Cool rose's sweetness mingled with sandalwood.

 

Wet: Much as when sniffed.

 

The dry-down: A lovely scent that does not morph and is well-blended. The wood and ambergris appear during the dry-down. I'm madly in with this gentle scent. I can see wearing it all year-round, and during the winter holidays layered with a frankincense note.

 

The tea rose note may be the same or similar to The Rose and Pink Snowballs '09.

[angelmecha]

In Imp: Dark, woodsy baby powder.

Wet: Baby powder baby powder wah. Apparently I only do *awesome* with *certain* sandalwoods.... it's always a toss up with them whether they'll be yummy and spicy-ish or .... baby powder, wah!! There still is some woodsy-ness. Like, freshly changed tree diapers. Wah.

Drydown: I can smell a little tea rose, but.... burnt hair? Where'd that come from?

Verdict: I don't know WHAT was in this that made my skin chemistry react SO much differently from everyone else, but the only "warm" thing about this scent was the salon-grade perm smell. Yikes. 0/5.

[milo]

Wet, to dry, the rose dominates on me with a bit of sandalwood poking through. I do tend to amp rose, so no surprise there. This is definitely not for me, too strong and rose perfumey for my tastes.

[ami226]

On the skin: Kind of a dry, dusty, floral scent. I think I can mostly smell rose, but this doesn't seem like a normal rose exactly. Not headachey at all. Pretty!

 

Not for me.

[Vega]

Sniffed: Just sandalwood.

 

On skin: Sharp, dry sandalwood is still dominant, but thankfully other notes emerge with the drydown. I don't smell them clearly, but I can tell how the balsam and guiac wood are tempering and giving body and nuance to what would otherwise be dessicated white sandalwood. There is the lightest breath of rose. Overall, this is a light-woody blend which loses its edge over time and softens into something gentle and sorrowful. Colour impression is pale brown and cream bark of trees... with a hint of pink rose amidst all that woodiness.

 

Verdict: Indeed, Death has fully embraced this Maiden: she is quite overwhelmed and all but departed from this world. This is much too woody a blend for me, but I appreciate how it evokes the Salon image so well.

[tinyvulture]

A woodsy/floral blend. The sandalwood is very dry and sharp, in contrast to the soft, faded roses. A well-blended, classic women’s perfume, unfortunately it’s a bit too “old lady” on me, not a favorite.

[mermaidsdream]

In the imp, I get the sandalwoods, with something a tiny bit sweeter.

 

Applied, all I get is floral, floral, and oh God, what is th...gah! Some combination of soap & diaper wipes, that reminds me vaguely of old ladies. Get it off! Get it off!!

 

I'm thinking it's either the ambergris or the tea rose (my prime candidate is the tea rose), but one of the 2 is (one of) my death note(s). :\

[SophieCedar]

This translates as warm and musky sandalwood to me. I initially thought there was brown musk in it but surprised to see the only slightly relevant note is ambergris. Overall, warm, creamy, woody, musky awesomeness. Well-rounded and calming. Its a hit...it only took a couple years for me to realize it.

[stubbornfire]

Someday someone may ask me-Stubbs, don't you have enough rose+_____ perfumes? And I will laugh and buy another.

 

It's a soft but strong rose, with wood! And soft but present sandalwood. Theres a bright pretty something in the background I believe is the ambergris.

 

The more it sits the more all the components blend! Although I can pretty much pick them all out still if I look. Its pretty and perfect and I want like ten bottles.

Edited November 27, 2015 by stubbornfire