Thrice Toss These Oaken Ashes

[The Poison Queen]

Apple peel and oak ash, briar thorns and pine ash, and cypress gathered at a dead man's grave.

In the Bottle: Camphor and dirt, oh dear, very much like the camphor that ruined "Like Brooms of Steel" for me.

Wet: the Camphor is still very strong with hints of wood and cypress and a bit of the sweetness of the apple peel. Much better than I thought.

Dry: The sweetness of the apple peel is much stronger now, I am glad I skintested it but I am still unsure about it because my nose can't get past that camphor. I am hoping a bit of aging will do it good. There's definitely none of that lovely burning smell that scents like Halloween in Los Angeles and Burning Book have, and I so wanted there to be some.

[Gwydion]

In bottle: This is incredibly hard to describe. It does not help that I am not familiar with some of these component variations. The impression is of sharp apple peel over damp earth and ash with a mix of woods ringing it round. This is dark and wild and very thorny indeed. The briar and oak go beautifully together, supporting each other. The cypress sings with apple and earth. The pine is an accent, humming in the background. This suits it’s poem well. It is not an easy scent, nor a kind one. Wet: I like apples, normally, but the peel with the ashes may simply be too much for me. Normally I love the lab’s earth note, but with the apple and ash, they seem to amplify the shriller aspects of all three. I think I am in love with the way the briar dances with the dirt though, and given time to warm, the woods and soil take over and the more chemical and shrill elements burn off, the apple peel becoming a hint of sweet in what is otherwise unforgiving. Ten minutes in, I really like it even though it disturbs me. Unfortunately, it was at this point I began to itch and the rash started rising. Sometimes those we love hurt us, and this is uniquely suited to the concept of this blend, now I think on it. Dry: Cypress with a bit of dirt and briar.

[tziporra]

In the decant this is WHOA APPLE PEEL. Very fresh, bitter and realistic, not a sweet candy-ish apple at all. More of a Granny Smith to my nose. I was surprised, because I expected more woods and smoke.

 

On the skin it blasts off at first as a strong and powerful woody apple, which I love. Then it seems to disappear, which shocked me because these seem like the kind of notes that can go wrong, but not just vanish.

 

It bounces back some, but still reads as a subtle woody apple. I'm really surprised I'm not getting more smoke or dirt.

 

I'm going to have to retest before I make any bottle decisions. Right now it reads as too light for me, but maybe I've just tested too many scents today.

 

Tzi

 

ETA: retested on skin alone in the morning, and while this scent is just beautiful, it hardly shows up on my skin. Smells like apples in an oaken barrel, very far away.

Edited March 5, 2014 by tziporra

[Caper]

It is very astringent in the decant, and I can't tell which note is causing that, maybe the cypress? I do get a hint of sweet apple and oak, but it quickly fades into dirt. I was hoping for more woodsy/apple with a hint of brightness from the cypress, but I'm getting more soil and woods with a touch of apples. Cypress completely fades, leaving the soil and greenness behind. Not exactly what I was expecting, and not bad, but not bottle-worthy either.

Edited March 21, 2014 by Caper

[Aviatrix]

The apple is the dominant note for me, with a woodsy background, although I can't identify whether it's the cypress or the pine. Probably both. After a while the blend overall becomes more "ashen", but the apple remains a central note. It is not altogether so different from for example All Hallow's Apple.

It is probably not the kind of scent I would be wearing regularly, but I really like it for the images it evokes and I love the concept. It's a different take on a spring perfume, although to me it still seems more fitting for autumn than spring. I'm glad I got to try it, but I won't be getting a bottle.

[Jangzonrice]

Decant from ladymeag. Wet: Apple with a bit of woodsy ash. Dry: just Apple...just like All Hallows' Apple, but I prefer All Hallows' Apple more so no bottle for me. However, I amp Apple to the max, so....someone else might get more woods than me.

 

Edit: sniffed again, an above reviewer is right. This is more of a green apple scent as opposed to All Hallows' Apple, which is more of a red shiny apple scent.

Edited March 13, 2014 by Jangzonrice

[Dark Alice]

I has a sad. I was hoping this would be more like my beloved All Hallow's Eve...but it's not. The gorgeous green apple and ash mix beautifully while wet, but dry it turns into an screeching, hateful banshee of sour apple, apple blossom, and ash on my skin. INSTANT HEADACHE.

[zankoku_zen]

Okay, not like All Hallow's Eve at all. AHE had a playful, candy apple note to it.

 

This one is darker. It's tart apple, hints of apple blossom and ash. It has a more cooked apple vibe to it.

[tinyvulture]

Super sweet apple peel - think of a Honeycrisp - with oak and dirt. Reminiscent of All Hallow's Apple but much sweeter. While AHA was like picking fresh apples out at the orchard, Thrice Toss is more like cooking apples in your kitchen with the window open, the scent of trees and earth wafting in from outside. It's more sweet and homey. Also similar to Hesperides. Can't pinpoint the cypress and briar notes. Over time, the dirt note fades, and the remaining apples and woods make it a cozy, autumn-appropriate blend.

[MCS4096]

This was a surprise hit for me. I thought it would be an "experience" type scent, and since I missed Brooms Of Steel I thought I'd give it a shot. Surprise surprise I love it and find it very wearable! When it goes on its a fascinating blend of apple and either menthol or eucalyptus, and it's bracing and fresh and a great alternative to mint if you dont really like mint but you want something bracing and fresh As it dries down that cold blast disappears though and you're left with a realistic apple, peel, hint of bough and ground kind of scent. Even a touch of musk to warm it up a bit. It's not too fruity, or too woody, or too dirty.. it's just a great blend of all three.

 

I do find it interesting that not all reviewers note the menthol note... it's pretty obvious and strong upon application.. I'm hoping there isnt a batch variation that might be causing some of us to get more of that note than others because I hope to have a bottle that smells just like my decant.

[thekittenkat]

In the imp: Sharp yet bittersweet: apple peel, woods, ash.

 

Wet: Like others have said, somewhat like AHE, but w/ a tart green apple.

 

The dry-down: My skin just drinks this in! I like the woods and green apple, but I have to slather! Not sure of a bottle. Best in the dry-down, though.

[milo]

Weird smoky ashes and greenery at first. Dries to a bright apple scent. This is the first bpal I've tried that did such a turn around. Talk about morphing into two totally different scents, though may be just a touch of ash in the apple. Interesting, but not me.

[Lucchesa]

Thrice Toss These Oaken Ashes was a big morpher on me.  It didn't help that I didn't look at the notes until late, late drydown so I wasn't always sure what I was smelling.  It started out brighter than I expected, green and woody; I was thinking acorn might be a note.  About an hour in, woods and ashes were the most prominent -- not strong smoke like Rumpelstilzchen or Smokestack, something mellower, maybe with a little dirt note as well.  Then to my surprise (not having read the notes) it turned fruity on me.  Out came the apple, and this phase lasted quite a long time.  Late drydown, after 8 hours or so, was faint ashy apple.  Super interesting!