Samhain

[skyturtles]

2021 Version

I suppose this isn't exactly what I was expecting. The spicy apple cider is very prominent. There are damp woods, and off in the distance something sweet is cooking. It took my awhile to put my finger on the menthol, like Tiger Balm. Can't unsmell it now. As it dries, the sweetness from the apples comes out a bit more. I don't hate it, but I don't love it either. It makes my nose tickle a little bit. I may pass it on.

[starbrow]

2012 bottle (notes: damp woods, fir needle, and black patchouli with the gentlest touches of warm pumpkin, clove, nutmeg, allspice, sweet red apple and mullein😞

 

This one is all about the sweet-spiced apple and damp woods. This smells like cider a witch would brew to drink at midnight in the woods near Samhain. There are scratchy elements, but they are wrapped in fruity sweetness and dancing spices. I get a good hit of cinnamon and clove, as well as well-aged resins. This must have been one of the fruitier years of Samhain. Loving it!

 

I would wear this while: going to a haunted pumpkin patch

 

 

2020 bottle (notes: damp woods, fir needle, and black patchouli with the gentlest touches of warm pumpkin, clove, nutmeg, allspice, green cardamom, sweet red apple and mullein)

 

This year is special because it adds green cardamom to the blend. Indeed, Samhain 2020 is a dramatically different beast than the others. Here, I don't get cider at all! A woodsy,  mossy, forest-decay-and-dirt atmosphere comes out instead, heavily spiked by witch's herbs. A bit like Verdandi, so I guess the apples are contributing in some subtle way, but this is way more green and dirty and earthy of a scent than my 2012 bottle. There is little sweetness here to my nose. Even the spices are more subdued. It's still spicy, just not fruity at all. 

 

There's a smokiness to 2020 that I don't get from other years. This is reminding me a lot of Hexentanz without the broom flower. I'm actually really stoked about that! I always loved the witchy vibe of Hexentanz but it went too floral on my skin, so Samhain 2020 is scratching that itch. With some aging, it reminds me a bit of my favorite foresty smell (damp earth/stone/decayed wood) and of something dark too, like a midnight bonfire.

 

This  year is worth tracking down if you're not typically an apple/pumpkin/cider kind of lover, because it really leans into those first three notes plus the green cardamom and mullein.

 

I would wear this while: performing a midnight forest ritual

[elissamay]

2022 fresh from the mail: I'm getting the fir needle right up front vs. 2021 (my only other version). "Medicinal" came to mind up front, and as it sits on the skin, the apple comes out, and the rest of everything we love about this classic. I especially love the mullein, which is what I reveled in when I got my very first bottle last year. It arrives in 2022 once it's warmed up on the skin.

 

I love how there's a little twist from version to version, making me want to pick up a few others.

Edited October 17, 2022 by elissamay

[frizzlechicken]

2022: this year‘s blend is the usual beautiful Samhain we all know and love, but somehow a little mellower? I don’t know how to describe it, but I have many different Samhains and this one goes on slightly less sharp than many of them do. (And that’s not a read; I love Samhain in any form.) There is also a decidedly soft cacao note laying in the dry down - even my coworker asked if I was wearing something that was “fall spices and chocolate”. This is the first time I’ve noticed that note in a Samhain blend and it’s a lovely addition. 
 

If you already love Samhain, obviously you gotta get this year’s. If you have never tried it, this might be a great way to introduce yourself to its beauty.

[Lecter]

This is the first samhain I’ve smelt and it’s lovely. I think there is almost an ozone scent in the after smell of the bottle cap? Sweeter than I had imagined 

[DisguisedSuperhero]

(2023 version) This is earthy apple spice, it’s warm and packed with roasted spices. There is a crisp sweetness from the apple. It’s like drinking hot spiced cider in the woods on a cool fall day. I could instantly see why this is a yearly reoccurring fan favorite. It’s truly the essence of fall in a bottle. Throw was high, and lasted 12+ hours off one application. I could smell it clearly on my sweater the next day 24+ hours after applying. 

[doomsday_disco]

2023 version.

 

I can't differentiate this from other Samhain vintages or even the atmo I've tried in the past. Full disclosure, I am not a Samhain fan, but if you are a fan of the stuff, you will be pleased to know that this is the Samhain you know and love.

 

On me, it's just too mulchy. I really get a lot of damp woods from Samhain, accompanied by the red apple, spices, and patchouli. The red apple doesn't smell like a fresh apple, but something of a mix of apple peel and apple cider vinegar (but not as acidic). Those are the dominant notes throughout wear on me (please note: I'm not familiar with the scent of mullein and cannot speak to that). The pumpkin in this is very subtle on my skin. 

 

I do think this is very evocative of autumn. It's just not up my alley.

[yasaijelly]

(2024 version)

This is the first Samhain I've smelled as well as the first review I've written.

In the bottle the fir needle is very strong, quite bitter and stings my nose a bit. (Made me sneeze multiple times ><)

On my skin it calms down and gets sweeter and warmer and more spicy. After a few hours it’s pleasantly mild and doesn’t make my nose itch anymore.

It's very different from what I would usually wear or buy, but I guess it’s quite a classic so I wanted to try it out! Definitely very autumn-y as promised.

[The Magician's Apprentice]

Simply put: I’m obsessed with this scent. OBSESSED. This year’s Samhain is my very first one (but surely not the last), and I bought it on a complete whim: I happened to re-sniff this frimp of Bengal that I previously had not cared for but now went completely mad for (seasonal tastes, anyone?), and the idea of something similarly spicy and autumnal, although less sugary, possessed every fiber of my perfume-loving being. Thus inspired by my Bengal-induced craze, I was expecting something comforting, very warm, a little foody, and ultimately perhaps something a little too sweet for my all-things-dirty-loving self. However, I was willing to take a chance on it to fulfil my now inescapable dreams of smelling like autumn embodied. 

 

I should’ve trusted the reviews that either adulated or berated, depending on the tastes of the reviewer, the pungency of Samhain, because oh! my! god! Immediately as I opened the bottle, this beautiful, beautiful acrid quality hit me directly in the olfactory senses - it was a very green and sharp fir, almost puncturingly so, with a heavy undertone of dirt. There’s definitely something almost medicinal about the initial sniff, a quality which did tamper a little my enthusiasm ignited by the sheer unpleasantness that always wins me over with perfumes, but I was nevertheless intrigued.

 

On skin, however, the green, medicinal quality mellowed out to this absolute gorgeous scent of apple (cider? I’m not American, so my apple cider is strictly an alcoholic, carbonated beverage enjoyed cold under normal circumstances), spiced, that I’m surprisingly enamoured by. Although the scent notes specify ‘sweet red apple’, Samhain is far, far from an apple pie - the apple is far too earthy and acidic for that. As a scent, Samhain is more comparable to sneaking out for a late night rendezvous in the forest, during which you keep the wet and the cold at bay by mugfuls of something warm and apple-flavoured. Definitely autumnal, definitely warm, but not without a damp, dark edge of patchouli, fir and the woods. 

 

Those saying this is androgynous are, in my opinion, quite right - neither overtly masculine or feminine, Samhain simply smells of autumn, the scent of which I’m apparently now pronouncing to be beyond the gender binary. As someone who generally prefers scents falling either squarely outside of gender categorisation or onto the more traditionally masculine side of things, this really is just the perfect thing. 

Edited November 4 by The Magician's Apprentice