Grandmother of Ghosts

[mimulus]

Mania, Roman Goddess of the Dead, Matron of Madness, Governess of the Ancestral Spirits, Bestower of Divine Frenzy. Her scent swirls with a high-pitched tumult of laurel, stargazer lily, splintered woods, peony, mandarin and white musk, and is spiked with pale pepper.

Wow, what an interesting and layered fragrance! Kind of a spicy floral.

On: It's very delicate initially. Almost sweet, really. I can detect the dustiness, it's almost a little spooky actually. It seems kind of far-away.

Drying: Flowers are floating out of the ether, but they remain delicate. It remains a very soft, pretty, and ethereal perfume.

Verdict: Very interesting and pretty, but not for me, I'm a foodie girl . I might keep it around to wear once in awhile though.


edited to include description. Edited October 1, 2007 by Shollin

[Severuslovesme]

In the bottle I smelled lily, though when this was wet on my skin the pepper really jumped out at me. As it dried the white musk came out more; now I mostly smell musk and lily. It's a lovely scent, though I wish I smelled the woods and the mandarin!

[MaidenGenevive]

Grandmother of Ghosts

 

In vial: pepper and wood, very pleasant. Wet: slight sting on sky when first applied. More pepper and wood, fresh florals begin to rise. Mandarin adds a slightly sweet citric note which has an interesting interaction with the pepper. The wood seems to have faded. What's left is a peppery citrus with floral interactions. It is only after some wear that a light musk appears and warms everything up a bit.

 

[1 - Hate] .. [2 - Dislike] .. [3 - Like] .. [4 - Really Like] .. [5 - Love]

 

3 : Not bad. Definitely an interesting scent, but not exactly me. I loved the pepper and wood stage.

[steelxrose]

Grandmother of Ghosts:

 

In the bottle - all I get is florals with a faint hint of fruity. But very sweet as well.

 

Wet on skin - immediately turns boozy...with a mix of fruit in there somewhere.

 

Dry on skin - The best I can compare this one to is Fire Pig. It's fruity, faintly floral. And has a lot of staying power. Amazing. There is just the faintest hint of the pepper.

[starwild]

I...so do not get any floral from this scent. What I get is rich, dusty incense, which I suppose is the woods and perhaps the laurel? I really enjoy this blend and have been wearing it a lot as the weather has turned cooler. It's light enough not to cause problems at the office, but dark enough to suit my sensibilities. It reminds me of fallen leaves, even though I don't really have any particular reason to associate it with that.

 

I suppose fallen leaves are appropriate, considering they represent the dying of the year.

[forspecial_plate]

I wore this today and it kind of went into a scent blind spot or something. I could only smelled it if I sniffed right up close to my skin, and even then, I could hardly smell anything. What I did smell was slightly woody, slightly fruity, a little musk......not high-pitched at all, very mellow.

 

It's a nice enough scent, but I can't decide if I should try it again in a few days/weeks, or just let it go. I mean really......with all the imps that I have, I might have to start being a little more ruthless in my testing.

 

This scent reminded me a little bit of Kuang Shi, which makes sense since they share some notes. So I guess I'm picking up on the mandarin, even though it doesn't really smell of citrus to me.

[Ravenclaw79]

The first thing I noticed about this was a dryness to it, sort of a hollow, brittle smell that must be the pepper's influence. I thought from the description that this might end up flowery, but I think I'm getting the pepper, laurel and wood more than anything, with just a hint of sweetness laid over the top. Oddly enough, though, as it dries, it's taking on a new scent that I'm not sure is a great one to have wafting around me (total tmi) --

it smells kinda like my, um, down there, in a clean and somewhat spicy/musky way

. I might have to give this another wearing to decide whether it's pleasant and maybe a little seductive or just a little too weird on me.

[walkingundine]

In the imp: Complex whitish floral.

 

On my skin: I thought Grandmother of Ghosts would be amazing. Instead, I'm sorry BPAL, I just smelled like grandmother. One of the flowers in there just goes nasty on me. I had to scrub hard to wash it off; the staying power is impressive. If you like complex floral stuff, this may be for you. I'm swapping mine.

[SarahScent44]

In the imp, I get the wood, and the lily.

 

On my skin, there's the lily with pepper - but none of the mandarin that I was hoping for.

 

Once it's dry, it evens way out. It's soft and round with a peppery front, but it's pretty blah on me. I'll be passing it on.

[TereFaerie]

I almost feel guilty that others don't smell the same scent I do when I put on GoG. It is my mainstay, my first "signature" scent from bpal and I get more compliments on it than any other blend including Snake Oil.

 

On me the woodiness gets a bit sweet, but the pepper tempers that sweetness. The mandarin comes out to play very shortly after applying and sticks around for hours. I just adore the dry-down, it is so earthy but not "hippy". it's rich and incensy, fruity, and, to a lesser extent, floral, all at the same time. This is so well blended, but I can smell individual notes if I try, but I'm not sure what laurel smells like unless it is similar to bay leaves.

Aziraphael reminds me of it, but without the pepper and mandarin and floral, just the dusty incense.

 

This is definitely bottle-worthy, and I'd have to get about 5 if it were being dc'd.

[ouch!]

This is yet another blend for me where I'm toying with...do I like it? Is it quite special? or is it not?

 

Whatever it is, it's nice.

 

When it's wet the most predominant notes are the woods and the mandarin for me. At no point can I detect white musk in this. I think white musk would have spoiled this blend for me if it was more obvious. It is musky, but not that crisp white musk. It's more of a sensual musk. It's very bright even though it's woodsy. I'm not too sure what stargazer lily smells like so...I'm not sure but it's definately a mix between woodsy/floral/fruity.

 

This blend turns so much more fun when it's dry, the peony sweetens it up a hell of alot and the woods have dissapeared, in fact the woods were only there for about a minute or two.

So when it's dry it's much more of a sweet fruity floral.

 

It's very pleasant and bright. It doesn't have the craziest amount of throw but, it's definately there!!!

 

Overall it's not a KNOCKOUT omg I have to have a bottle scent. But I'm glad I got to try it.

 

ETA: I think I'd really like to smell this on someone else, only because I feel like I might be missing something special about it and sometimes it's hard to smell things properly on yourself! *goes to grab unsuspecting friend*

 

Ouch!

Edited February 28, 2008 by ouch!

[galleywest]

Wet, in the imp: A spicy, floral, woody scent. It smells almost peppery, with a cedar backdrop.

 

Wet, on my skin: Very woodsy now. It definitely smells of cedar, with just a little lily peeking out. The spiciness and pepper have almost vanished entirely. That's strange!

 

Dry, on my skin: I was all prepared to not like this as cedar/pine scents can be very harsh on my skin, but there's a very nice, soft, floral tone to this I like. The woods are still there, but the florals and even the spicy pepper rounds them out. Yes, the spice is back, but very gentle.

 

I like it and I'm glad I have the imp--it's a comforting scent and one that is good for a rainy day, I think. It feels somehow....protective, like being in a sheltering forest. I probably won't get a 5 mL, but I will use up the imp. I like it because the wood adds a nice "something else" to what would otherwise be a fairly mundane floral scent. This is well blended for a scent with that kind of piney smell. It works on me, which is really saying quite something. Usually when I put these on I smell like a Christmas tree salesperson.

 

GoG is a win for me.

[Honeygirl]

Bottle: Floral?

 

Wet: This is very bitter and not at all appealing to me, I don't know if my nose is broken or what.

 

Drydown: I'd really hoped to get the pink pepper, as I'd loved it in hermia, but I don't. Just bitter flowers.

2.0 outta 5

[voodoocatwoman]

In the imp: The florals are the primary note to my nose in this one

 

Wet: Interestingly, now I am picking up wood. I imagine a dark forest, the breeze whispering in the tree branches.

 

Dry: Boo, hiss... powdery. It's just gone to dusting powder, the kind my grandmother used.

 

Oh well.

[fairnymph]

In the bottle: Bright very green/herbal but not very woodsy, lightly floral. Androgynous. The musk is very light. Hint of sharpness. No mandarin.

 

Wet: Much more floral and less green on skin, peony and lily coming through more. Very faintest hint of pepper if I sniff closely. Slightly feminine and a bit sweet, but not at all cloying. I can smell the musk more too, but it's still nice and light.

 

Dry: Green pretty much gone, musk stronger, floral still there as strongly but has gone a teensy bit powdery - but not in such a way that I find bothersome. Definitely feminine and holds pretty well.

 

Summary: I like this one, but I'm not sure that's it distinctive or complex enough for me to buy a bottle. I wish it kept more of the green/herbal scents. At no point did I ever smell any mandarin.

 

I still can't decide if this one is bottleworthy.

[savage_rose]

I'm just getting musk with a hint of pepper and mandarin...no flowers at all. It's not bad, it's just kind of neutral on my skin. It loses its complexity.

[Tilby]

A woodsy, faint floral. There is something dry, earthy and dusty in this one, very much like I imagine a ghostly grandmother to smell like. I love this one, the blend is quite beautiful.

[Ajila]

In the bottle – Pencil shavings

 

Wet on me – Again with the pencil shavings, but a little softened by the florals

 

Dry on me –A little soap and then it disappeared

 

Overall – Never really made an impact

[hlinspjalda]

In the vial: Peony and wood, with something pungent beneath.

 

Wet: The pungent note ramped immediately. I think it's laurel, because it's very green. There's a nose-twitchy undertone that's probably pepper. No hint of any soft or sweet fragrance. The base is almost soapy, probably woodsy.

 

One hour: At first I hated this, but I don't feel quite so negative about it now. It's way off my beaten track, being all dry and herby-woodsy, but there's an underlying softness to it I think must be a combination of the musk and lily. I guess I won't wash it off, after all.

 

Things got away from me and I stopped observing this one, but I was surprised at how little I disliked it. It definitely has a woody, soapy sensibility, though, a little like men's soap (maybe Irish Spring?) but not in a bad way. Still, as the day went on it got softer and a little more fragrant. Never did recapture the peony note, though, and the citrus never showed up even once.

[sprocket21]

On me, this is a light, musky floral, especially the lily. Definitely an ethereal quality to it, but it's not really me.

[brsis]

Initial thoughts: I like the sound of this - it was something I initially dismissed because of the mandarin and florals, but now I've learnt that these actually work quite well on my skin I'm quite keen. I do hope that this is going to be a happy jumbled scent instead of a disconcerting one.

 

In the imp: Woods, PEPPER, sweet bubbly florals... this is bright and light and tingly, without being overly sharp. It smells like my kind of thing, actually.

 

On the wrist, wet: PEPPER! I can also smell the woods and what I think is the peony and lily - certainly there's a silky wonderfulness underneath the wood and the tingly pepper. This is deliciously unisex, joyful and invigorating and just a teensy bit MAD.

 

Twenty minutes later: This reminds me of The Dodo a little - not from what it actually smells like, just the combination of the sweetness, the woods and something loud and tingly. This is lighter, silkier, more feminine - flowers rather than fruit - but grounded by the woods and brightened by the pepper all at the same time. This is really rather lovely.

 

Verdict: Bottle!

 

Tl;Dr: The Dodo's feminine counterpart - silky petalled florals grounded by woods and scattered by tingly pale pepper.

[Iceblink]

Musk and mandarin and soft flowers. I wasn't expecting the mandarin to be so dominant in this but it's very fruity on me. I don't think I've tried many blends with pepper in them, so I'm lousy at picking that note out, but there is something vaguely spicy going on here. This doesn't have much throw, but close to the skin it's pretty nice--nothing spectacular, just *nice*.

[Delirium1009]

In bottle/imp: Wood and floral notes with a light spiciness.

 

Immediately on skin: This is a bitter mix of blonde wood and lots of different floral notes and a touch of fruitiness. It’s lightly sweet but also dry and sharp. I would definitely classify it as a “high-pitched” scent. The pepper adds a very distinct spiciness.

 

After a little while: The other notes really fade to the background and mostly I now get light wood notes. It’s dry and a little bitter and spiced with soft flowers in the background.

 

Overall Impressions: This isn’t fabulous on me… it has a little complexity to it, but it’s mostly dry wood and light flowers with a hint of pepper. It’s rather sharp at first, then fades to a point that it’s hardly detectable.

[djsiberia]

wet/in imp: this reminds me of fenris wolf and mandrake. it has the dusty scent of mandrake. i believe it would be the woods i'm smelling right out of the gate.

 

dry: the florals are starting to kick in and it's now floral woodsy scent. i don't pick up any of the mandarin or musk.

 

i think this is something i might wear once just for a change of pace.

Edited August 31, 2008 by djsiberia

[nightbiscuit]

A rosy tinted, tawny oil.

When applied, without looking at the notes, I thought, "this is an elegant and delicate patchouli and lily blend".... I guess I was picking up the wood notes, as they do dominate Grandmother of Ghosts. Yet, this is as light and airy as a ghost itself. The mandarin note balances nicely with the white pepper...don't be afraid, pepper-haters! This scent is mild, loving, doting, like the best grandmother.

 

Also, somehow, it totally reminds me of the Cure's album The Top. I know it's so weird, I've never had a scent remind me of an album before.

Edited September 9, 2008 by nightbiscuit