Mrs. Bunce

[Invidiana]

The house No. 99 is presided over by Mrs. Bunce. It contains twelve lady boarders. The house is well furnished, very pleasant, and is well stocked with beautiful girls. It is the most quiet and orderly house in Mercer street, and frequented by men of taste.

Tobacco leaf, amber, sweet golden musk, blonde sandalwood, and hay sugar.

I had such high hopes for this, from the tobacco leaf to the golden musk to the hay sugar and amber. I wanted it to be like an autumn sunset in a bottle. As an atmo it probably would be an autumn sunset in a bottle. The only thing I was leery of was (skin chemistry strikes again) the sandalwood. Sandalwoods that are blonde to white tend to screech on my skin, and unfortunately, this one gladly gobbled up all the gold gloriousness I could smell in the background. In an effort to get past the sandalwood takeover I tried picking out the other notes. The combination of those is like the last honeyed rays of sunlight falling upon the hay bales of a harvested field. Sigh.

 

 

[Balame]

I really wanted this one to work, but I think the ladies of NYCC are just too musky for me.

The tobacco is rich and beautiful, with wafts of the gorgeous "hay sugar" trailing behind it, which smells exactly like you'd expect: warm, golden, a bit husky.

Unlike Invidiana I didn't get any sandalwood, which was a bummer because I personally love it, but Bunce was nice.

 

Things quickly changed for the worse, though. I kept sniffing my wrists wondering why the blend smelled so heavy and “wet.”

None of the notes tend to be overwhelming on me, and although tobacco can be intense, it doesn’t tend to drag things down like I was experiencing.

Then it hit me – the “sweet golden musk.”

 

It pushed this into aggressive territory. What could have been soft and glowing, became extremely sugary and heady.

Feels like I’m drowning in a vat of sweet, foggy perfume. Fine if you’re a fan of heavily sweet blends, but subtle this is not.

 

[LizziesLuck]

This is really fresh out of the mail, and I should be letting it settled...BUT I CAN'T.

 

 

Wet: Mmm. Syrupy tobacco. It's almost musky. Oh wait, cuz there's musk, duh. Gosh that's good. I sooo love tobacco. Hoping the other notes shine through at some point, but if they don't I'm still not mad at it. This is NICE. Mmm, the amber is coming out. Tobacco and amber AND musk, that's like heaven. Hints of sandalwood coming through now...maybe a bit of hay, or I'm imagining it, but either way, I love this.

 

 

Dry: Hmm, this is different than I anticipated. I like it a lot. Musky-tobacco-amber goodness, just a hint of hay. Can't pick up the sandalwood. I do think I also need to let it settle for a bit to see what it's "really" like. I have found that especially with tobacco scents, a few weeks can make all the difference. I have high hopes for this though.

[zankoku_zen]

Musky chewy tobacco, amber and a just a touch of hay sugar. Honestly, this is what I wished Miss Fanny Phippany would have been like. I feel like they have the same vibe.

 

Mr. zee_zee likened it to a high end tobacco shop.

 

I like it, but very on the fence on how much I like it.

[Ina Garten Davita]

Just when I thought I didn't need yet another tobacco scent, Mrs. Bunce strolls into my life. She is a STUNNER!

 

My favorite sort of tobacco~ rich, chewy, almost creamy and sweet. I love the sweet musk and amber in the background. It gets sweeter and more golden the longer it wears, which much be the blonde woods and hay sugar peeking out.

 

This has good throw and good wear. Sexy as hell, I just love it.

[raspberryswirlgirl]

I'm wildly in love with Ms. Bunce! To me, she is a witchy lady who wears Black Lace (the scent) and burns the loveliest incense in her parlor! She's just breathtakingly beautiful! Love her, if you get a chance!

[Little Bird]

The amber, golden musk and sandalwood do their usual thing on me and turn into a baby powdery, musky, warm scent. The tobacco is lovely, like a sweet chewing tobacco and caramelized leaves, but the musk and powdery qualities make this unpleasant to me. I'm not sure what hay sugar smells like, but there's a sweet, honeyed quality here. Mostly the musk and powder just amp up way too much on my skin.

[bulletslc]

All notes that love me: amber-check, tobacco leaf - check, sandalwood - check, sweet musk - check. The only unknown was hay sugar and it seems to fit right in the group. The only negative is that her throw is low on me. Otherwise, she is a glowing, warm, musky tobacco scent that makes me feel warm and snuggly.

[celestia]

♔ Mrs. Bunce

 

In the Bottle: Dry, and slightly sweet, golden tobacco musk

 

Wet: This is a rich, chewy, somewhat woodsy tobacco with a sweetened amber musk. It’s not sugary sweet, or creamy sweet- it’s a dry kind of sweet. I’ve recently found out- I do not like the strong smell of tobacco and this is *heavy* with the stuff. If I did, this would be a glorious scent to have in my arsenal. The amber in this is creamy and takes on a bit of the woodsy note. There’s a lot of musk in here, it’s super rich and syrupy thick to my nose. I’d say the sandalwood smells more like a golden sandalwood- or a polished sandalwood- the woodsy notes are a lot more prominent than what I find in lighter sandalwoods (like white sandalwood)… it almost makes me think that blonde sandalwood is trying to allude to some type of sawdust.

 

Drydown: The hay sugar comes and it’s dry, straw-like, and complementary to the other notes. A little brightness to break up all the rich, dark woodsy tobacco amber I’m getting. Though, I feel like if this tobacco had been an incense or lighter, warm dry spices, I’d be all over this.

 

TL;DR: Sweet golden tobacco musk infused woodsy amber

Edited April 27, 2017 by celestia

[torikitty]

I usually love all the tobacco scents, but this too musky for me. Wet, it makes me think of castoreum. Yuck! A sweetness and the sandalwood eventually come out, but not enough for me to get over the musk.