A Dreary Night of November

[Ah Xia]

It was on a dreary night of November that I beheld the accomplishment of my toils. With an anxiety that almost amounted to agony, I collected the instruments of life around me, that I might infuse a spark of being into the lifeless thing that lay at my feet. It was already one in the morning; the rain pattered dismally against the panes, and my candle was nearly burnt out, when, by the glimmer of the half-extinguished light, I saw the dull yellow eye of the creature open; it breathed hard, and a convulsive motion agitated its limbs.

How can I describe my emotions at this catastrophe, or how delineate the wretch whom with such infinite pains and care I had endeavoured to form? His limbs were in proportion, and I had selected his features as beautiful. Beautiful!–Great God! His yellow skin scarcely covered the work of muscles and arteries beneath; his hair was of a lustrous black, and flowing; his teeth of a pearly whiteness; but these luxuriances only formed a more horrid contrast with his watery eyes, that seemed almost of the same colour as the dun white sockets in which they were set, his shrivelled complexion and straight black lips.

A dreary night of November: bone-white sandalwood, ink-black vetiver, Spanish moss, bitter clove, beeswax, and lotus root.

This is really lovely--wet, it is almost all beeswax with the darkness from the vetiver and a sweetness from the lotus. If you are familiar with Arcana's Holy Terror, it is quite similar without being as incensey and harsh. It is well-balanced and perfectly evocative of a dreary autumn evening!

[strahlend]

I think I expected this to be a dark scent because of the vetiver, moss, and clove. In fact I find this to be a soft and powdery scent. More like the blanket you curl up with in November rather than a dark and dreary representation of the month of November.

 

I'm smelling mostly the white sandalwood with a touch of moss rounding it out. The other notes are lost to me, even the vetiver. I keep thinking I can smell cedar and maybe fig in here and it's reminding me a bit of Intrigue.

 

Summary: warm, soft, lightly woody, powdery, pleasant.

[patina]

I found this a somewhat dark scent with a light side too (if that makes any sense: the sandalwood and orris both seem light.) It's powdery and dry in a way that reminds me of old books. Plus the beeswax is a major note. To my nose it's much stronger than the vetiver. The clove I can only pick up as a faint sense of dark wood spice.

 

I picture someone studying in a dim room with candles for light. This is nice and I get an emotionally balanced feeling from it, but it dries down to a flat woody scent. I have other sandalwood or beeswax scents I like much better.

Edited December 29, 2011 by patina

[Kamanjah]

In the decant, the oil is a very pale yellow color. Wet on my skin, the sandalwood and beeswax (and possibly the lotus root too) make it go on very sweet. I don't smell any vetiver or moss or clove while this is wet. It's a sweet heavy floral that lightens the mood, not dreary at all!

 

Five minutes in, now I smell the lotus root and a teensy bit of vetiver. It's still very sweet. 35 min in, it's still sweet, but well blended and sits very nicely on my skin. With bitter clove and vetiver, I wasn't expecting the sweeter notes to stand out so much, but I can't quit sniffing my arm.

 

One hour in – the scent is softening, still no base notes unless I really huff, they are very much in the background. Reapplied to see if layering increases lasting power. There's still plenty of scent there though. Wow, the vetiver is noticeable right away after reapplying and adds so much to the fragrance! 40 minutes after reapplying, this faded away. What?!! Then, after fading out, it came back to life and lasted till the next day.

 

Bottle please!

[CiaoBonefish]

In the decant: This smells very sweet like a combination of the beeswax and lotus. Behind the honey beeswax type sweetness is something deeper and almost nutty, vetiver but not the really harsh kind. This one is softened a bit and is more like the vetiver in Wulric, the Wolfman which I find to be much softer and very wearable.

Wet on skin: This morphs instantly and becomes less sweet; the beeswax really takes over and the vetiver comes out more on my skin. I'm also getting some round warm mosses contributing to this scent, giving it depth. I am getting no sign of clove or lotus at all.

Dry on skin: This rounds out beautifully! The beeswax and vetiver begin to melt into each other and the sandalwood peaks its head out at this point. The scent also becomes just a tad powdery. Overall it smells like a gorgeous slightly nutty, woodsy, deep scent just drenched with the perfect sweet creamy beeswax! This really reminds me of the way beeswax works in Hand of Glory while being an overall smoother scent. It is very comforting and I can't help smelling it! The vetiver in this is absolutely beautiful, and I normally don't like vetiver!

Overall: I love this! I don't think I need a full bottle because I have beeswax scents like Hand of Glory I enjoy more so this wouldn't get enough use to warrant a bottle purchase, but I will definitely hold on to my decant and perhaps try to swap for another! Winner!

[milo]

Some vetiver and a touch of vinegar at first, and gradually dries to a powdery woods. Quite pleasant, but the sour stage bothers me a bit.

[Gwydion]

In bottle: Fascinating. It really does give the impression of bone, vaguely floral bone. The sandalwood is dominant, forming a coalition with beeswax and lotus root. The moss is second strongest, sharp and hinting of graveyards. The clove is lovely here, soft, but pervasive. The vetiver is understated, loaning a hint of corruption to the whole. No skin test, vetiver.

[zankoku_zen]

Dry, powdery sandalwood, vetiver and clove with a hint of beeswax, to sweeten it. Dark, powdery, masculine.

[crebbsgirl]

Sandalwood and something floral? This is a little dry and dusty. The clove is very soft here. The beeswax adds a hint of creamy sweetness. I'm not getting much lotus root.

[Roogna]

I get lots of white sandalwood, keep sniffing, and there's vetiver and a bit of clove

it's really nice and smooth; one of the smoothest, softest vetiver scents I've tried

I can't pick out the other notes separately, except maybe some beeswax off and on (the clove has disappeared into thebackground), but it's a gorgeous mix that's not too overwhelming

it's both light and dark

[Little Bird]

I got a partial decant of this in a recent swap. It's not as dark and spicy/earthy as I was expecting it to be, as it's mostly white sandalwood and a hint of sweet beeswax. The white sandalwood always turns baby powdery, so this is like a powdery, dry, honeyed wood scent. Surprisingly light and faint on me.

[Incendiare]

Wow, pleasant surprise. Normally anything with vetiver screams that stuff to my nose, but upon opening the vial, I am hit with the warm glow of beeswax followed by the drier white sandalwood, which isn't my favourite sandalwood, but is behaving well in this case. On me, the sandalwood starts to overpower the soft beeswax and the moss swoops in and takes away that sweetness too. White sandalwood goes ridiculously, generically dry woodsy on me so it's no surprised that I am met with that overly dryness within a few minutes of applying this to my skin. The clove is sort of there but I really have to concentrate in order to detect it. There is a pinch of dry clove but it is masked by the sandalwood and is gone just as fast as it appears.

[thekittenkat]

In the decant: Clove, vetiver, and sandalwood, with a hint of the moss.

 

Wet: Mostly vetiver, and a touch of the bubblegum sweet note from the lotus. Not pleasant.

 

The dry-down: Mostly vetiver from beginning to end. It even takes out the evil bubblegum note from the lotus root, a first for me. If you like vetiver-heavy blends (Yule Cat comes to mind), this is worth a try, esp. if you want something like SN vetiver.

[WidgetAlley]

Bottle: A soft, waxy, fuzzy sort of scent, full of grassy vetiver (the kind I can wear! Hooray!), beeswax, and the same feathery sandalwood from Fledgling Raptor Moon.

 

Wet: Heavy green vetiver and thick almost salty moss at first, then coming up behind it a sweet creamy beeswax and beautiful pale sandalwood. Lots of clove as well, which here smells very much like the clove in Gacela of the Dark Death-- dry, splintered, spicy wood. The throw on this is enormous!

 

Dry: The drydown on this is exactly the same on me as Fledgling Raptor Moon-- a soft, almost cuddly, mossy beeswax and clove with hints of wood and spice. It's lovely, but I will have to deathmatch the two to see which wins! I can't believe this doesn't get more attention: don't let the vetiver scare you, this one is all bark and no bite.