The Drunkard’s Dream

[zankoku_zen]

The drunk in the graveyard raised his bottle to his lips. One of the gravestones flipped over, revealing a grasping corpse; a headstone turned around, flowers replaced by a grinning skull. A wraith appeared on the right of the church, while on the left of the church something with a half-glimpsed, pointed, unsettlingly birdlike face, a pale, Boschian nightmare, glided smoothly from a headstone into the shadows and was gone. Then the church door opened, a priest came out, and the ghosts, haunts, and corpses vanished, and only the priest and the drunk were left alone in the graveyard. The priest looked down at the drunk disdainfully, and backed through the open door, which closed behind him, leaving the drunk on his own.

The clockwork story was deeply unsettling. Much more unsettling, thought Shadow, than clockwork has any right to be.

“You know why I show that to you?” asked Czernobog.

“No.”

“That is the world as it is. That is the real world. It is there, in that box.”

Red currant and labdanum with opoponax, vetiver, grave moss, white sandalwood, and khus.

Red currant, grave moss, sandalwood and a touch of khus. This smells tart, mossy, and with enough other elements to make it swirl. There is something that codes as mint/mist to my nose as well. So misty red currants, moss and sandalwood. Atmospheric, moody, but a touch of the beyond. Gender neutral. Good throw and wear length.

[bookandbroom]

This one feels like it's not registering properly to my nose. I'm mostly getting something like a well-rounded, inflated red currant with a drift of ozone and chill. I was expecting something heavier, a darkness from the vetiver, that's just not appearing on my skin. Weird! Almost soapy? Almost minty? Where are these things coming from? It's sort of ... Aveda-y. I would like it as a shampoo.

[Little Bird]

Sour, tart red currant with swampy moss that reminds me of the Spanish moss note, and a little bit of dry, powdery sandalwood. Another American Gods scent with heavy notes where I can't smell the heavier notes at all. No vetiver or opoponax for me.

[joopjoop]

This smells like really nice Christmas punch to me. It smells really good - good enough to drink! But I don't want to smell like punch! I was hoping for something a little different - bright fruit over a core of darkness. No luck.

 

Oh well. I'm saving the decant for the oil diffuser.

[sarandipitee]

Very mossy and soapy with just the slightest hint of red currant. Glad to have tried but I think this is a fail on my skin. Would be an excellent atmos spray, though.

[Lucchesa]

The Drunkard's Dream starts out as sour fruit and moss on me, and I agree with sarandipitee and bookandbroom that there is a soapy quality as well.  I'm not really getting vetiver, opoponax or labdanum.  Instead it's a really odd sensation of tart redcurrant doing battle with dripping moss and never resolves into anything I'd be excited about wearing.

[Madame Mew]

I really like this! I definitely thought it would be a darker vibe, but it is still otherworldly and pulls me to some strange place in my head. I think this would be great for summer, as it's not cloying and couldn't be. Could be a good one to layer, too? There's very tart berry, moss, and a fizzy quality that's actually reminding me of a really nice cocktail.