The Gambols of Ghosts

[MCS4096]

Illustration for Robert Blairs The Grave

Rivulets of beeswax and amber flame illuminating a pale blue midnight, eddying with phantom violets, olive blossom, and moss.

I'm surprised no one has reviewed this yet, it's just lovely! If you're a beeswax fan, definitely check this out.

Upon application this is sooo much sweet beeswax. The olive blossom is the next most prominent note, it has a somewhat green sweetness that blends so beautifully with the beeswax, making this so bright and alive smelling. The violet is light, adding a hint of powder. I get no moss really, although I love it and was hoping for it, it's often present as a binding type note.. As time goes by the amber begins to show itself more, adding a delightful hint of spice. The brightness fades and this is a sweet, soft powdered scent with the nuances of violet and amber.

I think this will appeal to fans of beeswax for sure, and also those who enjoy "baby sweetness" type blends-- soft creamy florals, body-powder like scents, skin musk, soft, snuggly, comfy blends.

[VelvetSky]

This is a beautifully strong and lasting blend, with the beeswax note predominant throughout. This wonderful beeswax accord is both sweet and animalic, with wafts of hay and amber mixed with the honey. The olive blossom comes through for me about halfway through the drydown. Olive blossom is a great note for people who arent really into florals, as it's relatively muted, in the same way magnolia is, for example.

 

I pick up the moss and violet as green notes mingled with the powdery musk base.

 

This perfume lasted a long time on my skin, with great sillage. If you love Beth's beeswax blends, in particular, I think you'll really like this one.

[Little Bird]

Lots of sweet, waxy, warm, honeyed beeswax with baby powdery amber and hints of green. Reminds me of Burt's Bees products.

[VetchVesper]

Gambols of Ghosts really does give me a candle light vibe. There's a sort of coolness to the scent at first with the barest hint of warmth that seems very appropriate to the luminous specters seen in the painting. There's a bit of powdery, green/floral sweetness while this is wet that must be the violet, but I wouldn't recognize it if it wasn't listed. Then this becomes mostly beeswax, which always smells vanillic to me, with some amber in the background adding a hint of spicy depth. I could also swear I smell some myrrh in here - something a touch dark and sweet at the edges. This is nice, but it is a bit baby powderish in dry down. I have a sneaky suspicion though this might get a little richer/darker with age, so I'm gonna hang on to my bottle.

 

A light, powdery amber and beeswax scent with hint of darkness and a nice, subtle silage.

Edited October 31, 2016 by VetchVesper

[Jenjin]

Very sweet violet comes out just after application of this pink oil. I'm getting a sweet candle wax very much like The Light of Men's Lives mixed with Fleurette's Purple Snails. Any green notes are very fleeting, and after dry down, this goes completely vanilla, violet powdery on me. It has a ton of throw and lasts for hours but sadly, not my jam and reminds me of toiletry products.

[patina]

Amber and moss. I'm strongly reminded of Lyonesse, except Gambols has a floral element and no sandalwood. It's warmer than that scent, golden, and a bit like scented tissues, which must be the olive blossom.

[Elspethdixon]

Wet/in imp - perfume-y beeswax

Freshly applied - yup, sweet, perfume-y beeswax. It smells almost like a LUSH product, like one of their bath melts.

Thirty minutes later, it's still a LUSH bath melt. For the first five minutes or so it kept threatening to become cloying, but never quite did. Gambols of Ghosts is soft/sweet perfume-y beeswax with hints of something floral, very gentle and inoffensive. (Which means it's not FBW for me, because I like my honey and beeswax more raw/sticky/slightly animalistic)

[Aviatrix]

This is mostly beewswax on me, with a bit of amber and olive blossom. HUGELY beeswax. The violet is peeking out in the back as well, but not by a lot.

If you're into that sort of thing, give this a try!

 

AS with many beeswax scents, the throw is really strong as well.

[MischiefofRats]

Okay so I really like this. It's beautiful and soft and chock full of beeswax--however, that said, maybe I'm just having an off skin chemistry day, but there is a stage between wet on skin and dry where this turns GROSS. Like I almost washed it off gross. It's like a cross between musty flowers and dust and BO, cloying and deeply insidious. And this stage lasts for like fifteen minutes. It's unpleasant. Buuuuuuut when it dries, it's back to being beautiful. It's a soft, warm, sweet beeswax that just barely toys with florals--nothing aggressive. Wear length isn't great but the throw is nice. I ordered a bottle based on my first experience with my decant, and as long as it doesn't keep doing the gross wet thing, I'll happily keep it.

[zankoku_zen]

Strong beeswax note, hints of violet and moss. But mostly all beeswax. Great throw and wear length.

[Minh Scent]

As a BPAL wax note fan, I am in heaven!! Heavy, long lasting waxy goodness with hints of violets and much lighter hints of osmanthus (olive flowers) and moss. Stellar fume!!

[Bamels]

Smelling it in the bottle it reminds me of a less creamy dragon's milk. Something about this isn't sitting right with me. I'm guessing it's the amber. The oil is red, and red oils never seem to work on me. It smells a tiny bit like earwax

[DiZZysTARdust]

Gorgeous scent. This is another scent wheee the amber and beeswax combine to strongly remind me of cave of treasures. Except in this scent, instead of turning up at the end and becoming a light, white floral, feminine perfume, this sort of turns down and becomes instead a sort of darker scent, definitely appropriate for midnight gambols a la the description. Almost a bit woody from the olive blossom in fact. I wouldn't classify this as a masculine scent though, just not overly floral. Definitely unisex at the very least. The violet leaf takes a few minutes to come out, and when the powderiness finally comes out there's something almost metallic about it. Not in a cool or sharp way. Literally as if this amber is like the gold coin variety, rather than the warm molten gold, toothsome caramel variety. It kind of lightens everything up and brings it more in the cologne direction without making this a cologne. Still very much a spicy amber blend. Good throw on me.