Thirteen (13): September 2019

[zankoku_zen]

This version of 13 is a departure from our usual theme for this ongoing project. So many of us are going through so much right now; it seems right to make an oil that contains 13 herbs, flowers, and resins of peace, tranquility, and grounding: lavender, litsea cubeba, sandalwood, ylang ylang,  king mandarin, patchouli, blue tansy, Roman chamomile, bergamot, Oman frankincense, angelica, hops, and borage.

[puellacaerulea]

In the bottle, this comes across as lavender-dominant with other herbal notes, with the resins giving it depth. Upon application, my skin really amps the resins, but the lavender doesn't completely go away. After drydown, the heavy resins soften a bit. Despite the strong resins, this is relatively low throw, and it takes an effort to detect it on my skin after about four hours. Lavender and frankincense are the notes that stand out most to me, both in the bottle and while it's morphing on my skin. If you're not a fan of frankincense (or generally resinous scents), you might want to skip this one, but otherwise this scent definitely captures the grounding, peaceful vibe mentioned in the description.

[zankoku_zen]

Uhhh, Florida Water is that you? This 13 smells heavily of Florida Water to me. I get lavender, sandalwood, ylang ylang, mandarin, chamomile, bergamot and a whiff of hops and borage. There's some resins in the background, but its this floral lavender with herbs and other things. Good throw and wear length.

 

Very calming and soothing.

[doomsday_disco]

I wish I got as much lavender from this as the other reviewers! On me, it was ylang ylang dominant, followed by the citrus-y litsea cubeba and king mandarin, but over time, the citrus calmed down and it mostly ended up being a strongly floral, herbal scent. The lavender was not distinct on me because the ylang ylang was SO LOUD on my skin.

I'm glad I got to try it, but I don't think I would reach for this 13.

[alyelle]

Actually 13 for September 2019 this time. (Original review moved to the previous release of 13 where it belongs.)

 

Imp: lemony litsea, chamomile, ylang-ylang and patchouli. There's a whole lot happening in this 13 too.

 

Wet: a warm, snuggle base of chamomile and lavender, touched with tansy and sandalwood, with an airy citrus at the top.

 

Dry: a sweet and smoky blend of frankincense, sandalwood, and chamomile that reminds me of midnight mass (the event, not the fragrance); rich and comforting with citrus-floral overtones.

 

This one is not made for summer days in Australia; it's better under overcast, grey skies, worn with an angora sweater. It's sweet but not cloying, thick but not sticky, and it lasts for ages. Very calming, and (most thankfully for my sake) the ylang-ylang stays real quiet amongst the other notes - the dominant players are the resins and herbs.

 

Stars: ★★★★

Edited March 28, 2020 by alyelle

[Lucchesa]

14 hours ago, alyelle said:

In the imp: musk, wood smoke, candle wax, coffee and almond

 

Wet: I'm worried about the pimento and what it may do to my skin. Smoke everywhere - that is one smokey cacao - along with nutmeg and tea, carnation and cardamom. There's so much going on, it's actually hard to form any real impression of this.

 

Dry: Smooths out nicely, to a rich smokey chocolate with floral overtones.

 

I'm not 100% sure what possessed me to buy a half bottle of this from my regular decanter and only a 1ml of Harvest Moon, and I'm pretty convinced I messed up there. However, I don't hate this, and if I don't decide to keep it, I have a wonderful friend who adores carnation. Pretty long-lived (10-12 hrs) and with a medium throw.

 

Stars: ★★★★

This sounds really nice but it doesn’t sound like this particular 13😁

[alyelle]

On 11/23/2019 at 12:57 PM, Lucchesa said:

This sounds really nice but it doesn’t sound like this particular 13😁

 

Given that I reviewed this jetlagged, I am actually VERY willing to believe I messed up my 13's Removing that original review until I can retest to avoid confusion.

[Teamama]

On me, this is a sunshiney citrus party.  The mandarin, litsea cubeba, & bergamot take center stage, with lavender & company in the background. It's full of positive energy, for sure.  I like it a lot, but I'm not sure how much I'll wear it.  When I do, I'll plan to wear it in a locket to avoid getting photosensitized because bergamot does that to me. 

[Lucchesa]

Not what I expected:  the first hour or so of 13 September 2019 on me was right on the verge of Lemon Pledge.  I hadn't looked at the components, but I would have guessed lemon, lemon verbena, lemongrass, maybe green tea... all the lemony stuff.  Now that I'm looking, I guess that's the litsea and mandarin and bergamot, but it definitely combined to make lemon on me.  Later drydown is very herbal, chamomile and hops, and I never got a lot of ylang ylang for which I'm grateful.  Still, this feels much more like a TAL to me than like something I would wear as perfume.  

[biggnerd]

This is was very lemony on me.  The litsea cubeba was very loud for the first several hours, then it turned into a very cologney scent.  I thought it was my husband because he had just taken a shower, but it was me.  It wasn't calming on me, but I could see this being a good scent for the atmosphere.