Red Moon 2013

[lexila27]

August is a month of reflection. It is the month of rest before the harvest, and it holds for us a time between toils, a brief period of relaxation before we take up the burden of our work again. It is the Time of the Phoenix, a season of celebrating health, vitality, warmth and joy, but it is also the time at which the Corn God dies for the sake of the land, his blood soaking the earth to ensure a bountiful harvest in the fall.

The Full Red Moon of August was named thus by some Native American tribes because as the moon rises, it dons a reddish veil, visible through the hot, sweltering summer evening haze. Our blend for this Moon mixes traditional lunar oils with the warmth of amber, tolu balsam, and heliotrope, the russet haze of dragon's blood resin, bittersweet red currant, and crushed orange peel, and a swirl of summertime herbs: chamomile, cilantro, rue, elder flower, yellow yarrow, and marigold.

I hope this post is helpful. I am so new to BPAL that I was unsure if I should even do a review, but what I lack in experience I make up for in enthusiasm (hopefully)!

In the bottle: slightly medicinal but, to me, bottle scent means nothing and gives you no insight to what the actual smell will be once on your skin.

Initially upon application, I smell straight up Dragons’ Blood Incense.

Within a few minutes, a bit of orange comes peeking through. Just a few minutes after that, the orange leaves and the scent turns again, becoming more floral. What kind of flower, I don’t know, but it’s definitely a warm flower. I have no idea what heliotrope smells like, but I do know that heliotropic flowers follow the motion of the sun across the sky, and this makes sense to me because it is a warm floral, almost honeysuckle-sweet (though only slightly) with the incense moving to the background.

A few minutes later it becomes more clean, almost a dryer sheet smell (but in a good way) with a very slight herbal sweetness (cilantro and chamomile?) swirling around.
The boy describes it as “clean” and acknowledges a bit of incense in the background.

At arm’s length it’s warmth and a nice powdery floral (natural, well-blended floral, not in-your-face floral) with oh-so-slight taming, citrusy herbs. Closer to my nose it’s more dryer sheet clean. And this is where it seems to sit with soft amber peeking through a bit more, especially at arm’s length.

I like it a lot. My birthday is at the end of the month and I was hoping for something that suited me. I definitely got it. The throw seems pretty good but not overpowering and I didn’t need to apply a lot. I like August because, despite the heat, you can feel that the hot/sweet/sticky days are drawing to a close and fall (my favorite season) is near, especially on the nights that are cool and breezy. This scent feels like the end of summer – warm and sticky initially but quickly making way for a slightly lighter scent. It continues to be warm but more of a glow and less of a haze.

*And the pissiest cat of the bunch just jumped in front of the keyboard and licked at the Red Moon*

For such a logical, precise person this scent has got me feeling awfully ethereal.

Addendum: I get a lot of headaches in the summer. Going from AC to heat and back again kills me. It is worst in August, which seems to be the hottest. Not unlike my summer issues, after about 2 hours of wearing Red Moon, as the scent was in full swing, a dull headache set in. And then, just as fall comes in to rescue me, the scent faded a bit and the headache subsided. I like it but I have to use a light hand. I wonder, as I become more versed in bpal, how my feelings on scents will change.... Edited September 12, 2013 by lexila27

[violetblue]

The first 2 secs applied and still wet (and also when I smell it in the bottle) it's Red Moon 2004 and I wanted to shriek in delight - but it quickly morphs to floral/ozone/lunar on me and fades fast. I love the initial blast of what Red Moon 2004 smelled like, but sadly it's not the same, even though I knew it wouldn't be with the changes in components. I still got a backup bottle just 'cause.

Edited August 18, 2013 by violetblue

[Xue_Bai]

Something about this blend called to me, so it became my first Lunacy.

 

First Test:

Bottle: It's a medicinal mix of heliotrope and herbs.

 

Wet: That went sweet fast! It's a mix of florals (definitely heliotrope), dragon's blood, and the current, which is not bitter on me at all. There's a nice un-describable mix of scents below, I'm only able to pick out the amber. It's very warm and hazy.

 

Dry: Still warm and hazy, but much less sticky. The heliotrope has also backed off a bit, and I can for sure pick out chamomile and marigold, along with a green bite I believe to be the cilantro and a nice citrus throughout. Drying further, I get some vanilla in there as well (from the tolu balsam?). It's sweet, hazy, warm floral and green scent, without being overbearing. I like it, but I think I'd like it more if it was a tad less sweet. It has a decent throw, but it's only really the sweet that gets far...the subtle herbs are lost further away. But I have a feeling my skin chemistry is off today, so retesting on a later date before giving a final verdict.

 

Second Test: It's slightly less sweet now, and the amber and herbs come out to play more. It's the haze of a hot, late summer evening, the peak before the world tumbles into fall. Glad to have bought a bottle.

[milo]

I've tried Red Moon 07, kept it awhile and a decided it was just too red musk heavy for me. This seems quite different from RM 07. I'm getting something minty with a hint of red musk. This a fresher less heavy version, suitable for a hot summer day for its cooling and light feeling about it. I quite like this, it's a lovely take on the Red Moon theme. I'll probably use the imp in the warmer months.

[zankoku_zen]

Chamomile, yarrow, hint of amber, heliotrope and currant. So this one is an herbally, red floral. The redness comes from aspects like the amber, dragon's blood resin and heliotrope, which lends to it a big depth of warmness to this.

 

All of the other floral elements are definitely more toward the herby/soothing side.

 

Red, hazy, soothing.

[Caper]

This is SO weird! I have a decant that I received with an order, it is very heavy on the amber, and smells almost like the tobacco sn. I finally swapped for a bottle and it is all florals, with a nod to amber on the drydown.

 

I'm not sure if I should try to layer it with something more tobacco heavy (since that is what my awesome decant reads to me as- le lethe is close), or try to find a different bottle?

[LexieBlom]

Red Moon 2013 imp

 

Wet/Bottle - Amber, balsam and orange. Very warm, light. A little resiny, a little spicy.

 

Wet/Skin (5 minutes) - Amber, balsam and dragons blood! Slightly floral, not much spice to it.

 

Dry/Skin (30 minutes) - Very much the same as the drydown.

 

I like it, I really do. But I can't see myself reaching for this over anything else in my collection, so off to the swap pile it goes.