An Open Grave Underneath the Heavy Leaves

[zankoku_zen]

Sweet hay, dry grasses, and wild herbs

[niffler]

The notes speak for themselves here. Hay, grasses, and herbs are all present and accounted for. This starts off very sharp, like the dry grasses and weeds that scratch at your ankles if you don't wear jeans and boots when you walk through a wild field. I have no idea which specific wild herbs are in this blend, only that there's about a fifty fifty chance of them having sneaky thistles. Everything sweetens up with hay in the drydown... way more than I expected, actually. This stays pretty close to the skin for me after the initial gust of herbs. 

I adore how fresh and crisp this is. Trees and leaves get a lot of love in the fall, but this celebrates the tall grasses that swish in the wind and the clear blue sky overhead.

[HerbGirl]

Blue Tansy. No hay, no grasses. Blue Tansy is an herb so, there's that. 

[roseus]

I get grassy, herbal greenness in the bottle and freshly applied, with a bit of what smells like a sage note and reminds me of a softer, less zingy Songs of Autumn I. As it dries I get a mix of soft, dry hay and a some greener grassiness. If I sniff deeply I think I can identify some of the herbs (I want to say there's a bit of mint and basil, but I can't be sure). Like laying in a field in late September. 

[groovyrooby]

Not at all what I expected! Tested from a decant that's been sitting for a few days.

 

This starts very green-smelling to me. Wet like bamboo or soy. Makes me think the leaves are so heavy because they're damp, but not a petrichor rainy wet. Floral and almost fruity, like a melon. Almost got a ripe lily for a second there. As it warms up a bit, the green tamps down and it's just a light, sweet, wildflower floral to my nose. Kind of like Wer Opfer Heut Zu Bringen Scheut, which I love, but not as dry grassy. This is a little sunnier. Very pleasant.

Edited December 15, 2020 by groovyrooby

[VetchVesper]

This is beautiful.  The "dead leaf" notes BPAL typically uses, while they do smell autumnal and pleasant to me, don't actually remind me of dead leaf smell.  (Well, maybe occasionally the extra dry crunchy ones)  THIS does.  It opens right up with the smell of freshly fallen leaves still crimson, vermillion, and brilliant gold.  For me, this one is uncannily accurate.  it's a smell that's a bit floral, a bit green, and a bit tannic, and yes, as @groovyrooby said, a bit damp.  I would buy a full bottle of this in heartbeat, but unfortunately, it all but disappears on me within an hour.  Still, I'll be hanging on to my partial, and hoping a bit of age will give it some longevity.   

Edited December 30, 2020 by VetchVesper

[Casablanca]

Open Grave is surprisingly sweet when first applied on me, but that starts to settle quickly. Still, I get something floral amongst its herby green grasses, something that reminds me of the cool, blue-green pool vibe of one of the Blue Moons. Clean, a bit like lettuce or cucumber, like melon, like water, like blue flowers.

 

I can see many of the comparisons made in earlier reviews. My brain keeps going to Blue Moon, but I finished the bottle a while ago, so I can't line them up.

 

The grasses are soft, and the hay is barely there for me. For the herbs, I think this might have a little white sage. Maybe mugwort? I don't know, but it's all well-blended, gentle, and clean.

 

[puellacaerulea]

For some reason I expected a version of the dead leaves with this. This is not that, but it's pretty great. It's bright and grassy, but it's not exactly a "freshly mown grass" sort of a grass note -- maybe that's the herbs alongside it? The hay is pretty subtle, but it's adding a sort of dry sweetness to the scent. Overall, bright, herbaceous, slightly dry grassiness. Like walking in a field in early autumn. I could see going for this one in warm weather, too.

[Lucchesa]

I have to admit that I was hoping that the grave soil and heavy leaves of the title would find their way into this scent despite not being listed in the components.  No such luck.  Instead, this strikes me as a lovely late summer scent.  Fresh-mown hay and grasses and herbs in flower -- more of a green scent than a gold or brown one, and with more of a floral component than I expected.  No throw (normal on me) and not much staying power, though that might improve with some aging. 

[doomsday_disco]

This is much brighter than I expected, thanks to the wild herbs and the grass being greener than I thought it would be. It does get drier over time, and warmer, thanks to the hay, but it never loses the lemony quality that I'm getting from the herbs.

 

This wasn't originally on my radar, but it was frimped to me, and I'm glad I got to try it. But I prefer Smug Yale Alchemy Lab for dry grasses, and for a nice hay note, Eastern Comma and Hay Moon 2020 are more up my alley.

Edited December 29, 2020 by doomsday_disco

[Poenari]

Sweet grassy herbs. A hint of spearmint. Fresh and lovely. Unexpected from the name. I would wear this in the Spring.

[patina]

Damp melony, cucumbery grass. This is very different from my Easter Egg Hunt Grass Stain SN. Far less sharp and more gentle. I want to say there's a floral here but I have no idea which one it would be. Maybe there's sage? Probably spearmint.

 

I get no dead leaves.

 

Green scents often don't work on me but this one does. It's lovely.

[trinitysite]

The grass is a lot greener than I expected - maybe even more of a spring scent than an autumnal one. (I was expecting the dead leaves, too.) It's sweet and a little spicy. I would prefer if it had more throw, and it seems like it fades fairly quickly. If it stuck around longer I'd be interested in buying a bottle, but I'm just going to enjoy my imp while it lasts.

 

I want to compare this to Hay Moon, which I think is heavier on herbs and overall spicier.

[deadlyves]

Grasses, hay, and herbs all come through. The grasses seem only partially dried, there is still a fresh greenness there. Somewhat sweet, more than I expected.

 

This is fresh and pleasant. I kind of expected something darker to be hidden in there, but this is earlier fall or a sunny day or something. It's giving me a similar vibe of the tomato leaf menage but later in the year (not to say they smell similar, just a similar feel).

[SophieCedar]

This starts out just as powerful as hoped; all dry grass hay and herbs but my skin consumed it in 5 min until it just smelled like the inside of a new box of shoes. Me sad.

[Argentwolf]

This definitely has a sweet, grassy aroma to it, and it's pretty steadfast -- what you smell in the bottle is pretty much how it will smell on the skin. It makes me think of a flower crown made of herbs and wildflowers twined around long blades of grass that is nearing the end of its life cycle, but still has more green than brown to it. This is a 'freshly harvested' sort of scent with life in it. It's quite pretty, but even with slathering it on, it has all but faded by the end of the day. 

[zankoku_zen]

Sweet grass, hay and herbs. This one smells sunny and grassy, and I sort of love it. Good throw and wear length.

[fairybites]

Sweet hay and herbs, I couldn't really pick out the grass note in this but that's fine since I prefer hay anyway. I really enjoy this, I just wish the throw and wear wasn't so low, three hours after application and it's already gone :(. It's a beautiful sweet earthy scent, doesn't smell dirty at all to me.

 

I might try and get a bottle just for the scent association I have with this. Reminds me of being on a hayride in late autumn as a kid on the family farm, very nostalgic. 

 

[starbrow]

This one is pretty! In spite of the name, there is nothing dead leafy (ick, Dead Leaves the scent note is just awful for me!) or heavy-spooky about An Open Grave. It's much lighter and fresher than I thought it would be, kind of sweetly dusty in that newly dried herbs way rather than fiercely green and oakmossy, so that's a huge plus. I think this is perfectly appropriate for both Spring and Fall, a very nice complement through the seasons.

 

My complaints are as follows: there is something in here going a little floral for me (broom flower) and I'm not about that floral life. With only three notes listed, it comes up lacking when compared to my favorite Hay (Hay Moon), Grasses (Fool's Dog), and Dried Herbs (Verdandi). And, frankly, it's a little...dull. I just wanted MORE. I think there may be something broken in my nose. I just don't get much from this.

 

I kind of wonder what some aging will do to it, but I'm probably not going to hang on my bottle to find out. I have other scents that float my boat for each of the three notes, and I think An Open Grave deserves a more appreciative home than the one I would give it.

[alyelle]

In the imp: Hay, sweet grass, basil, and thyme.

 

Wet: Identical, but somehow sunnier.

 

Dry: This is one of those amazing "does what it says on the tin" scents; there's almost no morph at any stage. The final notes are a sweet and slightly herbal hay, with a lovely overlay of sunny florals. Delicate and bright, medium throw, long wear time.

 

Stars: ★★★★½

[ghoulnextdoor]

-Dry leaves on sun-warmed ground on a cloudless day, no decomposing plant matter or off-gassing leaves, here
-Light and clean, just this side of sharp, dry, and cool. Almost lemony, but…a cool weather, frost-tolerant lemon?
-Conjures the scent of air so pure and clear that you can smell winter from a month away

[Greensleeves]

Hmm, I never reviewed this, but I pulled it out to wear after people were talking about Weenies.

 

Initially I was given a decant and I liked it enough to buy a bottle later, but now... I'm actually not really sure I like it anymore. It's way too sweet and sugary, which is something I wouldn't have imagined given the notes.

 

It smells very, very fruity and a bit like the Lilith A Vigilant Eye At Heaven's Center, but the latter does it better.

 

I don't even think I would want to reapply/refresh it at all, which is definitely not the case with something I enjoy.

 

Stay tuned for the compelling conclusion when I shall decide if this is going into my sales/swaps or not.

 

Edit 8/21/2024 : Off to the sales and swapses!

Edited August 21 by Greensleeves