Grandmother of Ghosts

[Caitfish]

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.

In the Bottle:
Dominant notes: this is a tumultuous blend indeed! Many, many notes competing for attention here. Lily, definately. I'm afraid that I don't know what laurel or peony smell like, but the effect is of sweet florals. This is heavily spiked with mandarin, it raises the pitch of all of the other notes, and yes - a bit of pepper is apparent.
It is sweet, tart - and yes, high pitched. Like a banshee. But pretty!

Initial On:
Dominant notes: Mandarin overall, mellowed florals, a bit of a dry wood scent now - not cedar or cherry or rosewood or anything that would interfere with the other notes, just a dry, woody addition. The pepper has faded into the wood, I believe.
Impressions: Hmm, the screaming tumult of notes has mellowed a bit. I think that that must be the musk. It seems that whenever I wear musk, it serves as the "calming" element, just making everything softer and bringing it all together. The woodsy notes make this pretty dry. It's still mostly sweet and tart, with a bit of a dry bite.

After A While:
Persistent notes: Mandarin mostly, but it's not overpoweringly orangey. Just tart. The musk keeps it soft and the woods make it dry. A small bit of sweetness contributed by the flowers, which are no longer distinguishable on their own.
Notes that fade: That pepper didn't last long at all! Not what I expected!
Staying power: A pretty ghostly blend in this respect. It didn't last long.

Overall Impressions:
This isn't what I expected at all. I guess I expected something a bit more haunting, but this is truly maniacal - more like a banshee than an insubstantial phantom. Quite a few morphs, though always tart at the core. A very interesting blend... I think I must wear it a few more times before I reach a verdict on her.

[silverangel]

Why does this smell like myrrh on me? Maybe it's the peony or laurel? I don't know what they smell like either. The lily and the pepper try to fight to be heard, but to no avail. So sad, I do adore lily. I get a bit of wood, but mostly this smells like myrrh on me...something else did that to me too, don't quite remember what at the moment, I don't think it had myrrh in it either. hmm. Oh well... I really wanted to love this one, too.

[jj_j]

The woods and white pepper are what stand out for me when I first apply Grandmother of Ghosts. Very crisply wooden, in fact.

 

Oh, but the lily and peony come out before long. The woods fade back, but only a little, and the laurel gives a crisp green note to it all. Mandarin orange sweetens and lightens this a great deal, and with the lily and peony, Grandmother of Ghosts takes on a decidely feminine cast it didn't have in the beginning.

 

The sharpness of the pepper, already lessened because it's not black pepper, fades away quickly, leaving behind a discernable warmth. It takes some of the dryness out of the woods, as well, and lets the flowers soften the whole picture. I'm not sure how much the white musk has to do with the softening and the warmth that's emerging, but it's a note I'm becoming more fond of with every blend Beth uses it in; it has a flushed skin quality that's very becoming.

 

My decision to buy a bottle is still pending, although only because I want to be sure that Grandmother of Ghosts continues to warm up and soften the wood notes each time I wear it. I'll use all of the imp, certainly, and if I keep getting the depth of glowing skin and strength of not-so-dry wood, it will go on my purchase list.

[Rheliwen]

In the bottle this has a subtle earth/woodsy scent to it. It isn't sharp or biting, rather comforting actually.

 

Wet: The woodsy note is the most prominent, with a bit of incense in the background. I immediately thought, "this is like snake oil and anne bonny's love child!"

 

Dry: The white musk and pepper start to pop out, making the most wonderful blend with the woodsy notes. I can also detect some floraly notes in the background. It's kind of got that dual quality that Ulalume has, but more understated. It's starting to turn slightly head shoppy on me but I think the florals are tempering that for now.

 

30 mins: A lot of the wodsy notes have disappeared and left me with sweet orange musk. It reminds me of dryer sheets (in a good way).

 

Verdict: beautiful fragrance that isn't too sweet, has just the right amount of spice, incense and musk. What a beautiful fragrance! I was on the fence during the wet stage, but it has totally won me over in the dry stage.

Edited December 27, 2004 by Rheliwen

[Theravada]

I was really surprised by how sweet this blend is. In the bottle it was a dry floral with only a slight hint of sweetness, but my skin really latched on to the sweet notes and turned it into something totally unexpected and entirely not my style. I don't enjoy florals to begin with, particularly a cloyingly sweet blend like this. I wish I had gotten some of the earthy or woodsy notes that other people described, but to me this was only sweetness and dusty flowers.

 

I even tested this twice on different days hoping that I just had a wierd skin chemistry day, but it did the same thing both times. Thanks to the Lab for letting me sample this one, but Grandma's getting tossed in the swap pile.

[Astarte]

D'oh my curse with scents containing wood'y' scents has struck again.

 

Try as I might, I have problems smelling anything other than the woods in the blend, even after letting the blend settle for a while. In the swap pile this one goes.

[harlequin]

wow. um. to me, this smells nothing like the description in the imp and when it's wet. All I get from it then is a pretty strong patchouli scent.. (it's not woody, though)

 

Once it begins to dry, it turns into a vaguely spicy floral mix, and then gets a creamy (with a hint of floral) smell.. the last stage is actually kind of cool, but what it has to go through to get there isn't really my cup of tea.

 

Probably not the most helpful review, but other than saying "maybe that floral mix is peony", it smells very little like the description. *shrug* I definitely don't pick up any mandarin or white musk, either.

[Penance]

Preconceived notions:

 

I had to try this one if only for the name even though floral blends generally end up being disasters for me, plus it has pepper in it, which I'm learnign that I really like.

 

First sniff:

 

Oh, this is much more promising than I'd imagined it would be. I don't get any florals right out of the imp, just dry, dusty wood, pepper and a bit of musk with a faint touch of mandarin to sweeten it slightly. If this stays like this, I'm going to love Grandmother of Ghosts.

 

Wet on skin:

 

Still no florals (hurrah!), just soft wood notes, pepper and a hint of mandarin. I really like this one. It's spicy and dry and very slightly fruity all at the same time and it really appeals to me. It's definitely unisex an it's perfect for a girl like me who prefers gender neutral or masculine scents, but at the same time it's definitely feminine enough for a girlier girl.

 

Dry down:

 

I'm definitely getting a bottle of this, no question about it. I never dreamed I'd like this enough to even finish the imp, but it's turned out that I love it. The main note on me now that it's dry is pepper with some wood and musk and a tiny hint of mandarin.

 

The bottom line:

 

The main question now is whether a 5mL will last me or whether I should get a 10mL. I love Grandmother of Ghosts. It's absolutely perfect for me!

[allidavie]

I feel bad that I can't come up with the beautiful reviews everyone else does. Mine for grandmother of ghosts goes something like this:

 

In vial - smells good, soft wood.

 

On me at first - yum, smells great, woody and vaguely floral.

 

Two minutes later - arggh, too floral, too floral, get it off me.

 

Three minutes later - hmm, I wonder what's on nick at nite? I am too lazy to get out of bed to wash this stuff off, but it sure is STRONG.

 

The problem is, I tried three other perfume on (all different body parts) at the same time last night and pretty much had different degrees of the same reaction to all of them. I think I'm reaching my BPAL saturation point - if something doesn't smell totally amazing to me right away, I'm kind of writing it off in my head the second it morphs into something I don't adore. Because I have 50 more that I already adore waiting for me...

[Summerpixy]

Grandmother of Ghosts -

 

Soft peppery woods, it's a unique and lovely scent. What more can I say about this that hasn't already been said? The first couple times that I wore this one of my male co-workers began hovering and complimenting me on my job, randomly. He's not interested in women, but he was certainly drawn by the scent.

 

This may be upgraded to a 5ml fairly soon, it's very pretty and beautifully neutral.

[Shollin]

First sniff: Grandmother of Ghosts is a lot lighter than I expected – it’s floaty and a bit dreamy, but still somehow menacing. Dry woodiness is the main thing I smell, and a little bit of pepper – the flowers and fruits are hiding.

 

Wearing: For several hours, definitely dry woods, and I’d dismissed it as “interesting but not me” – but by the end of the evening it developed a very intriguing fruitiness. I’m not immediately in love, but it’s persuaded me to give it another chance.

[Ina Garten Davita]

This scent had made the wishlist as soon as I read "white musk", but it got passed over for ordering several times. Ivyandpeony had an imp with her on a visit and I tried it on and was instantly in love. I ordered a 5ml shortly after.

 

First Impression: Laurel, warm, sweet woods, a pinch of pepper and a bit of juiciness underneath.

 

Second Impression: The florals and white musk come out in full after a bit of drying down, though the laurel, pepper and woods stay firmly in the forefront. One word description of GofG is "balanced". This is perhaps the most perfectly balanced of any scent I've tried. I love this scent, it has good throw and staying power and smells fantastic on my skin.

 

Final Analysis: Can't wait to get my bottle!

[mmcfa2]

Wet I almost cried becuase this went all woods on me, but it was not long at all before the florals began to creep forward. Not Blast forward, but softly creep in around the edges. It gets warmer and gentler and the final drydown is WONDERFUL and lasts for hours, even through a hasty shower!

 

If you are a patchouli and sandalwood lover or a lover of cathedral , this one is a new one to try. It has no patchouli that I know of, but it very much reminds me of patchouli and I'm pretty certain that the sandalwood is in there. I also get whiffs of cedar at intervals but they are all warmed a bit by the mandarin. The florals never really thrust themselves into view, so there is no need to be scared of them. This would likely age beautifully too I'm gonna give if a few more sniffs and may just have to order this in a bigger bottle

[shelldoo]

this is almost too well blended to decipher, i am not getting any lily at all thank goodness since they go weirdly wonky one me. the pepper is very obvious, and the laurel, peony is very very faintly detectable, this is really not a florally blend on me it is woodsy, deep, spicey gorgeousness very very nice and a definite 5 ml order

[feline.by.design]

Grandmother of Ghosts was a freebie imp, aka "frimp," from the Lab. I'm very glad they included this in my most recently received oil.

 

Grandmother of Ghosts is quite a surprise. I'm first of all surprised that there isn't any patchouli in this, or at least according to the Lab's description, because GoG is a very deep, dusky fragrance. At first when wet, I wasn't certain if Granny and I would be on good terms, but she eventually settled on my skin smelling like rich wood, with a little dust. The laurel and the wood fragrances are definitely prominent notes. I am actually amazed that the florals didn't show through Grandmother of Ghosts on my skin. Perhaps my chemistry amped up the "mysterious woods" smell and ate the rest.

 

In any case, I really like Grandmother of Ghosts, as its quite curious and a little melancholy. I will certainly keep the imp around, and once I cycle through some of my oils, I should be in the market to buy or trade for a bottle.

 

-doreen

[mmcfa2]

This one is perfect! But not perfect for the notes listed. Somehow it does NOT as a whole smell like what it is made of. GoG has a much greater body that just being a sum of it's parts. It is the ultimate incense but not too much, wood but not too dry and floral but not too bright scent!! If you liked cathedral but wanted it more feminine, here is your gal! If you liked caterpillar but it was too mossy, again, here she is! Warm comforting woody spiced and floral, lovely, just lovely!!

 

By the way i tried this first when i was ovulating and all I got was wood. So beware of your moon phase in testing these scents!

 

Note, I loved this one so much I just realized I reviewed it again silly me, seriously get some, it's awesome!!

Edited March 21, 2005 by mmcfa2

[anmorata]

Grandmother of Ghosts:

 

Wet: Patchouli?

Drydown: Hello? where did this scent go? After about 15 minutes, the lily peeks through, and sneaks down the hallway like a whisper.

Longterm wear: I like this scent better than I did when I first put it on. Possible big bottle, here.

[helarctos]

The "splintered woods" are at the forefront. Floral wafts play a sweet counterpoint to the bite of pepper.

 

That having been said, the drydown of Grandmother of Ghosts smells a bit more like dusty furniture on me than I'd prefer.

[kmasden]

This is really interesting and nice. Woods seem to amplify on me, which I don't love, but I like them here. They are sweetened with just a touch of mandarin and the lily and peony really give it a nice buttery base to lay on. I'm not sure I'm getting the laurel and I don't really detect the pepper standing out but am mostly familiar with black pepper not white, so that could be why (and my fairly newbie nose of course). This is one of the best I've tried as far as a scent that has wood notes.

[magikfanfic]

In the bottle: This is the scariest color. It's a very dark, reddish brown that kinda looks like tobacco juice. The only thing that jumps out from the imp are the woods and the laurel, two of my problem notes. I was hoping the white musk and the mandarin would be prevalent. Oh well. Let's test, shall we?

 

Wet: Woods and laurel. Very strong. Very, very woody. It makes my eyes start to tear up to smell it and, yes, it is burning the skin of my wrist, which is always a bad sign. This is not sweet on me. None of the fruit or floral notes seem to want to come out and play. It's just wood/laurel.

 

Dry down: Still the woods. The laurel has even faded down. Thankfully, the burning has stopped. I can say that unless it changes to something very lovely I won't be wearing this again. The boy will probably adore it, though. The throw lets me catch whiffs of the other scents but never dominant enough to make up for the heavy wood scent of this.

 

Dry: This wasn't as bad as I had feared, but it ends up smelling like woods and BO on my wrist. That and the burning makes this a doomed blend for me. I'll give it to the boy. He drools over the wood blends.

[SoapyRN]

This came with my Chaste Moon order. I thought the description was lovely so I gave it a try.

 

A very murky color. Ghostly really.

In the imp, Patchouli. Straight away, at least to my nose.

 

I set it back in the imp house for a possible swap.

 

Later, after reading more of the reviews and having experienced that morphing that some of the oils do beautifully, I gave it another try.

 

On wet it was woody, must be that laurel, not familiar with the note. Right along side that comes the musk and pepper. I am getting more comforable with the blend.

 

As it dries the florals, very quietly I will add, make an apperance. Then the blend is great!!

 

A very soft musk/floral/spice/wood harmony on the wrist.

 

As an added kick, I later layered Silk Road over this.

 

I will get another imp of this one as I think my Mom would like it too.

[blaqpearl]

In the vial it smelled very earthy with a hint of something sweet and floral. I put it on and the woodiness jumped out. I liked it then.

 

While wet it continued to smell nice...but then it changed and it sort of smelled like laundry detergent. I didnt like it much at that point.

 

Now that it has dried down somewhat..it smells better, but I wish the woodiness was stronger.

 

I agree this one morphs way too much for me. Off to swap to the swap pile.

[theshapeshifter]

Hmm. This went on smelling very earthy, almost patchouli, but quickly morphed into a simple, soft wood scent. I didn't get any of the florals or anything else, just dry wood... and my skin ate it up quite quickly.

 

Alas, not destined to become a favourite.

[wickedgoddess]

Origin - imp received in a swap.

 

Wet - I can't really pick anything out here. Floral with a tang…must be the pale pepper.

 

Dry - The pepper is rising to the top now. It remind me of toilet water my grandmother used to wear, but with a pinch of pepper. I can't see myself wearing this one, as it smells kind of old ladyish, but it's not bad.

 

On the wickedgoddess scale of 1 to 5, with 5 being best, this rates a 2.

[sarada]

This is one of the only ones on my desperate-to-try list that I haven't tried yet...and now I have tried it!

 

In the vial I really can't get a handle on what direction this is going to go in -- it's dry, slightly perfume/cologney, a little bit spicy, a little bitter. There's a phantom of an orangey smell but that might just be because I'm looking for it.

 

As it dries the massive swirling of scents calms down and it settles into something decidedly like a perfume or cologne, very masculine but also a little reminiscent of my grandmother's perfume drawer that I remember from childhood. Still, it's not overwhelmingly floral, it's just...busy. I keep thinking, based on the name, that this is a Japanese blend because I can easily imagine a Japanese fairy tale involving a mysterious ghostly grandmother figure that unleashes a fury of spirits upon the unsuspecting, when her place of rest is disturbed. The components even make me think of Japan -- the peony, mandarin and pepper all seem decidedly Asian to me (maybe more Chinese than Japanese).

 

I guess I should read up on the actual inspiration of this scent, but I do enjoy my version too! Okay, back to the scent, though --

 

It dries into a very nice wood scent, with a slight peppery orangey kick. I like the wood drydown a lot. I wish the sandalwood was stronger, of course, but I can never seem to find a sandalwood strong enough for me. It actually makes me think of driftwood in this stage, or of grey wooden sunbleached houses along the shore. There's a slightly salty-peppery tang to it, and an almost sandy quality. I can see using the imp but I don't think I'd go for a bottle -- it's a lovely blend though and well worth experiencing!