Worm Moon 2019

[Aveya]

Do not smirk as a hearse goes by,

For you may be the next to die.

They wrap you up in a big white sheet

And throw you down six feet deep.

They put you in a big black box,

And cover you up with dirt and rocks.

All goes well for a week or two,

Then things start changing; all is new.

The worms crawl in, the worms crawl out,

The worms play pinochle on your snout.

A big green worm with rolling eyes,

Crawls in your stomach and out your eyes.

Til your blood turns mossy green

And oozes out like Devonshire cream.

 

Worm Moon marks the season of rains, when the worms scuttle forth, aerating the earth with their movements and enriching the soil by digesting waste in organic material, which creates organic fertilizer. Pink and wriggling globs of grapefruit syrup clotted with congealed moss-green blood, rotting coffin wood spattered with soil, rusting coffin nails, a shard of bone, decomposing organic matter, and a gruesome burst of overripe blackberries.

 

Sniff : Floral fruits - Strangely reminds me of my grandmother who passed last year, in the best way possible.

Skin: Grape candy? Not much happening on the wet-skin phase for me. Little tendrils of sweet fruity floral things. (10:19)

 

Drydown: So this one slowly unfurls on me. It starts out with a sweet-fruit base with a hinting-at-floral touch. Then I start to get wafts of deeper darker items. Sandalwood and moss; they start to add a beautiful backdrop against the sweet front. I still get STRONG nostalgia hits on this one.

 

So - This scent is combining Crawdad Dreams, Candy Phoenix, and my Grandmother into one little bottle.

 

When I first got Crawdad I was going through a shitty breakup, so my younger sister convinced me to go to Canada on a vacation with her and my grandparents. During it, I wore Crawdad a LOT. It became because of that vacation MY scent. Before then I wore things for my boyfriend,and my world was about him. That breakup gave me first steps towards being my own person, and with my sister and grandmother (two fiercely independent women) helped me build the framework for getting over everything.

 

Candy Phoenix was a gift from my younger Sister, and I can't help but think of her each time I wear it (and it's so strangely accurate for her personality). Crawdad was that summer in Canada, watching the waves of the great lakes and contemplating the universe, and then my Grandmother wore blends that had a floral/sandalwood/deep edge that was uniquely her.

 

To have these all wound up in one scent, a scent about humor with death and life and rebirth.. is like the weirdest coolest strangest thing.

 

So; my review is now biased and tainted by all the memory and feels this one gives me. I also have NO idea what it's making me recall those specific scents; the note lists aren't overlapping from what I see. But they sure as heck smell similar to my nose. When I had my husband sniff, he said it smelled like Cut grass, sneezed on me, then said he didn't like it. So, there's that.

 

Verdict: My sister and Grandmother, encapsulated in scent for all time.

Non-Emotional Verdict: Candy fruits, Floral-Musk Moss (a bit dusty/sneeze-inducing), dirty-spiced vanilla-sandalwood-esq backing. Slow ramp, long lasting, medium/average throw.

[Padparadscha]

In the bottle: I get mostly dirt and moss with the citrus tang of the pink grapefruit.

 

Wet/top notes: I'm still getting lots of dirt and moss, but it's softened a little bit on my skin. The grapefruit blends well with the dirt, but it's starting to go into the background. I didn't expect it to last long as a citrus note, though I wish it were stronger. After about two minutes, the blackberry emerges. Decent sillage--I'm getting occasional whiffs of a grapefruit wedge rolled in dirt whenever I move my arm.

 

Dry down/middle notes: Sillage is the same in strength. The moss and fruits are taking a back seat to dirt and sandalwood. If I inhale while nearly pressing my nose to my wrist, I get a hint of something metallic--rusty coffin nails?--but other than that, the metallic note is very faint and it's mostly adding depth to the dirt-moss-fruit combo. The blackberry starts showing up in a big way and these are definitely ripe and fallen-off-the-bush blackberries that are sitting in the dirt. But they are magical with that sandalwood and dirt combo, damn. I'm getting less moss on my skin, but it's definitely present in the sillage. Twenty minutes in, I'm getting something like a metallic-tinged powder around the edges and I'm guessing that's the congealed blood/decomposing organic matter combo because the Lab's blood note tends to go a little powdery on me. But in a nice way? I dunno, it reminds me of a metallic powder note I get in Blood Popsicle from OLLA, though on BP, this note is 1000x stronger than Worm Moon 2019. It also veers into talc territory in BP--not getting any talc here at all, but I am getting powder in the sillage here like I do in BP. Guessing that's a skin chemistry thing.

 

Dry/base notes: This is mostly sandalwood, blackberries, and dirt with a hint of something powdery and musky. The sillage is still considerably mossy over an hour after application, but otherwise, the moss is taking a backseat on my skin. This eventually becomes a powdery/musky sandalwood dominant scent, but the blackberries and dirt frequently pop back in and say hello. Sillage stays medium.

 

Verdict: I am digging this in a major way. I wish I got a little more grapefruit at the onset, but I didn't expect much because my skin gobbles up most citrus notes (except for lemon, orange, and bergamot--go figure). Over all, though, this is exactly what I hoped it would be. If you love dirt notes, sandalwood, or mossy/green scents (or chypres for that matter actually), this is for you. I wouldn't say it's particularly fruit dominant compared to the other notes for me--though they definitely add a sweetness the entire time. I found the blackberries to blend well, but fellow berry lovers, rejoice! This is a very unique berry that sticks around the entire time on my skin. It never dominates, but it's definitely there.

Edited April 30, 2019 by Padparadscha

[doomsday_disco]

In the vial, I get mossy grapefruit berry dirt.

 

On me, the pink grapefruit note takes the center stage, backed by the dirt and moss. Then the overripe blackberry note gains strength, and it really does smell like overripe berries coated with dirt. After a few hours, the moss is the star of the show, backed by the overripe blackberry and dirt.

I was afraid of the rotting coffin wood, rusting coffin nails, and decomposing organic matter in the description. But it is actually the overripe blackberry note in this that makes it not for me. If only it were blackberry free, because I actually liked the blast of grapefruit with the dirt in the beginning!

[zankoku_zen]

Dirt, moss, grapefruit and a squiggle of blood. This one smells like a fresh, mossy dirt scent. Good throw and wear length.

 

Less creepy than I thought.