Thirteen (13): February 2009

[PurringPulsar]

Considering the state of the economy and other worldwide woes, I think we all need a little extra dose of good luck. A sweet, comforting base of dark chocolate and brown sugar with thirteen herbs of good fortune, including nutmeg, Tonka, allspice, star anise, Jamaican and African gingers, devil’s shoestring, lucky hand root, and thyme.

13 (Feb 09)

In the imp: this smells just like gingersnaps! And I mean, dead on. I can smell ginger and brown sugar.
Wet on skin: gingersnaps, but now it smells more like stem ginger, crystallised with sugar.
Dry on skin: now I can smell the anise! And the nutmeg and allspice too, and the thyme. The ginger is still the main note here though, with the brown sugar coming a close second (this does seem to veer close to Sugar Skull style caramel, but the spices are stopping it from cloying). It’s a lote more complex than gingersnaps or even stem ginger now, not just because of the other spices…it smells more complex than just a foody smell now. I think I can smell something woody, or rooty-earthy, a little bit like Hellhound but less medicinal and overpowering. Must be those lucky roots. The chocolate is there but it is subtle. This is much more of a spice scent.
After a while: the anise is amping a bit-normally I don’t mind, but here it’s getting in the way of my gingersnaps scent. though I’m not sure it’s just the anise that’s bothering me…I think it’s the rooty base, the voodoo herbs in here, that are turning strange. They now remind me of the medicinal, slightly ashy smell I got in Hellhound-I’m one of the few who doesn’t like Hellhound. This reminds me of it but with caramel and chocolate instead of rich vanilla. The sweet notes are nice but I think the sugar in here is too rich for me.
Eventually this reverts back to ginger and sugar, but with an emphasis on the sugar. It’s now a very sticky sweet burnt sugar scent, like molasses. However I do get hints of the less gourmand sweetness of tonka breaking up the thick sticky brown sugar.
Verdict: I wish this smelt like chocolate gingersnaps on me, like it did in the vial…but this is a strange one. It’s best moments are when it smells like chocolate and crystallised stem ginger, boosted by other spices, sweetened with tonka. I love that smell-it’s the sort of thing I wanted to get from Possets’ Haute Love, but even better. But there are other aspects to this scent I’m unsure of-the ‘lucky roots’, which go strange and medicinal-sharp and even a little vetiver-like on me, reminding me of the base of Hellhound which I wasn’t keen on, and then there’s the sugar. The sugar is a heavy, sticky-molasses and burnt sweetness which clings and cloys, sadly. It goes well with the ginger, I must admit, but in the end I find it a little too much for me. I’m glad I tried it, but I’m also glad I didn’t get a bottle.
Emoticon rating:
Is it a keeper? probably not.
If you like this, try: Shub Niggurath, Flesh Eating Reindeer, Saw Scaled Viper, 13 (April 07), Hellhound on my Trail Edited April 12, 2009 by Shollin

[MCS4096]

Hmmm.. Mostly ginger unfortunately, I'm not a fan. I was hoping for something chocolatey and spicey, but it's almost single note sugared ginger

[milo]

Mmm, this is spice, spice, spice!! Ginger, cinnamon, and all the good stuff. There is a touch of herbal, but it very quickly fades on me, which was only slightly unpleasant while it was there. I was afraid of the brown sugar, as Sugar Skull was a big fail on me. The brown sugar just balances out the spice so it is not so overpowering and adds a sweet dimension. Wet, I got a bit of chocolate, but unfortuneately, it is gone dry. I think I'll layer this with a bit of Gelt to see how it is. Hopefully the chocolate will come out with a bit of age, but all and all, I am very impressed with my first 13, and I love it!!!

[WidgetAlley]

Let me preface this by saying, I am not a huge fan of chocolate scents, and it was the absence of a conspicuous chocolate note that made this appeal to me, so if there ain't a damn hint of cocoa, that's fine by me!

 

Bottle: NOM NOM NOM NOM. Brown sugar, both crystalline and caramelized (two different but still tasty smells), with dry ginger powder and pumpkin pie spice. If I had to guess at some of the other notes, I would say white pepper, allspice, anise, myrrh. There's a swirl of dusty green in there, too, like bundles of dry herbs hanging from the rafters of a witch's kitchen. Mmmmmm.... it's Gingerbread Poppet's grown-up sister; drier, more spice-and-herbal than dough.

 

Wet: A very distinct brown sugar scent, and just a touch of cocoa, combined with herbs and spice and resin and something that might be a very faint, pleasant wood in the background. Delicious! It goes a little salty at first, a sure sign that myrrh is present, but it's not at all offputting. The throw is very light, but if I put my nose to my wrist I get the most wonderful, comforting smell of strange baking and witch's brew. I love to smell like this: intriguing but familiar, mysterious but not threatening. I think this is going to become one of my every-time, every-mood BPALs.

 

Dry: I am wrapped in a soft cloud of earthy, spicy, incensey, herbal, magical goodness. To me this smells like a kitchen witch should. The drydown is much the same as the wet phase but everything settles and melds. I am so glad I sprung for a bottle of this-- I love it now, but I agree with everyone else that aging is going to make this simply phenomenal. I couldn't be more pleased!

 

[Edit] Because it's "allspice" not "allspcie".

Edited March 18, 2009 by WidgetAlley

[sookster]

straight sniff from bottle is honey and biscuits.....

 

once applied hayooooooooooge honey and dark brown sugar.....snappy!!

 

this is incredible stuff folks...it morphs and changes so much it is very

difficult to pick out any particular notes but lordy...they are gorgeousness in the making...

 

this is far beyond what the other 13 blends were IMHO...don't get me wrong, i love 'em

all but this is a masterpiece.....with enormous throw....i am in l-o-v-e

[ravenfeathers]

this is a really weird blend!

 

in the bottle the faintest breath of cocoa and... rootbeer. yes, it is. it's rootbeer.

wet on skin more cocoa then poof! no cocoa ever again. herbal, a little ginger-y and a dash of cinnamon. with a side of plastic band-aid.

dry on skin it's this bizarre layering of flesh-eating reindeer (more butch than gingerbread poppet), schwarzer mond (flat rootbeeriness), and wintergreen??? what's even weirder is that i really like it. it's very sweet, oddly invigorating, and keeps giving me whiffs of the completely unexpected. i have a sneaking suspicion that this will age nicely.

later: everything fades except for a tiny bit of the herbal note and a whole lot of the brown sugar. it's a lot like sugar skull in this phase, only darker.

Edited March 23, 2009 by ravenfeathers

[wl552]

In bottle: spice, Spice, SPICE!! Not the nice, calm, sweet kind either. This is bite your face off, mean spice!

 

Wet: I did mention spice, right? lol Instead of me wanting to nom nom nom my arm. The spices are nom nom noming my arm off while assaulting my nose with their angry chewing.

 

Dry down: Aha!!! My arm is winning this battle! Spiciness has calmed down, but still maintains its bravado of no sweetness here!! Chocolate? Oh yeah, that guy... we ate him during shipping.

 

Later: Oooooooooo! Lovely, sweet Feb. 13. I've tamed you at last! Now the big baddie spices are settled and What's this?? A soft creaminess is timidly peeking out around the sleeping spice. So very lovely of you to join us, chocolate.

 

Overall: I like it! At first, I wasn't too sure of such hot spice with no sweetness; I wasn't too fond. But I've grown to really enjoy this scent. And since I don't really care for chocolate scents too much anyway, it's actually quite perfect. I think when it starts to age it will be absolutely gorgeous. Definitely a keeper.

[Little Bird]

I really love this Thirteen. I've purchased three bottles of it on the forum while waiting for my lab package to arrive. Customs basically murdered my first package, so I'm waiting on the generous replacement bottle from the lab. But I loved the smell of the oil-stained bubblewrap so much that I went crazy & bought several bottles on the forum before the replacement has even arrived, lol.

 

I’m very picky about spices. I easily find them to be overwhelming or too sharp. I love the spices in this, though. They’re dark, sexy spices, sweetened with brown sugar, with a background of dry, earthy herbs. I can definitely pick out a very dark ginger note that's just gorgeous. The herbal/earthy qualities of this remind me very much of Hellhound on my Trail.

 

Where Hellhound is white, vanilla sweetness and dry, earthy herbs, this is darker, brown sugar sweetness and dry, earthy herbs, plus sexy spices. They’re similar for the dry herbs paired with exotic sweetness, but I actually like this Thirteen even more than I like Hellhound. This is a darker, deeper, sexier scent.

 

My boy really likes this scent as well. He told me, "Wow. That smells really good. It’s a little masculine, so even I could wear it." I guess that’s a hint that he’s going to be stealing one of my bottles, lol.

 

All in all, I love this blend. It may not top my all-time favorite 13 version (October 06 orange label <3), but it’s a close second.

[mhickle]

This rainy, dreary day seemed like a good one for 13! And I turned out to be right. Like some of the others here, I don't smell the dark chocolate at the forefront, but as more of a soft background against with the brown sugar and herbs play. The ginger sharpens things up and the herbs ground the blend, so it's never too foody-sweet. It's a rich, deep blend that has me burying my nose in my wrist every chance I get.

[Lamia]

Brown sugar, baby! Nom nom nom It smells like crystallizing brown sugar or maple syrup as it melts in a pot. The husband sniffed and curled his lip, saying it smelled "burnt" to him, and when pressed, said "Yes, it smells like brown sugar when it spills out of the baking pan and gets onto the bottom of the oven and then burns". I pointed out that he'd just had a cigarette and therefore all of his aromatic statements were suspect so NYAH.

 

The dark chocolate, tonka, and star anise all combine to make this a smoky scent, so yeah, ok, I can sort of agree with him, but it's a GOOD smoky scent, like brown sugar & raisin cookies a few minutes before the timer goes off.

 

OMG now I want brown sugar raisin chocolate chip oatmeal cookies...

 

(Edited for failgrammar)

Edited March 27, 2009 by Lamia

[zankoku_zen]

Guh! This is so good in my mind. I love the spice/cinnamon intersection which seems to dominate the blend, on top of the ginger and maybe a hint of cocoa. The other 13 I love, which is the purple one, smells like chai tea. This one smells like a spice store.

 

Part of the spice mix makes me think of Red Rose, which is fairly masculine to me, but it's got the same heavy fragrant spice/cinnamon vibe to it.

 

I'm totally keeping my decant.

[riflmom]

My first 13!

With the brown sugar I was afraid this was going to be sweet foody chocolate, but I hardly sense the sugar at all - it's a great spicy blend, more like Mexican Chocolate. The spices come through over the chocolate and just make warm love on my skin. I can't stop snuffling my wrist.

[TheOneTheyCallLuna]

Oh, wow! I just got this a few hours ago and it is already one of my favorite BPALs of all time! It's like...Gingerbread Poppet + cookies + incense. I just instituted a "no backups" policy, but I might have to break it for this one and get a backup bottle! I am head over heels in love with this blend! It dries down a bit sugary for my tastes, but it's a really minor flaw in an otherwise otherworldly spectacular blend!

 

:love!:

[LunaLovegood]

This one was like Lunar Eclipse resurected on me. Something metallic to it.

Not for me.

[alterosen]

I'm not crazy about this one.

The herbs, roots & spices combine to form something like a light fruity red musk with a background of brown sugar. A bit of chocolate comes out thinly on the drydown.

 

I was so hoping for major chocolate-covered ginger but instead it's brown sugar & jam with a dusting of cocoa powder & bitter ginseng.

Edited April 13, 2009 by alterosen

[spoilsofwar]

In the Bottle: When I first got this, it was ALL SPICE, and not a pleasant mixture of it. Hardcore OMGWHATAMESS spices. I set it aside to let it settle a little, let it age a little. The next time I smelled it, I could definitely smell the chocolate where I couldn't before, but it was buried way down. The spices had mellowed quite a bit, which was nice to smell.

 

Wet: Whoa. Hello warm spices. Lots of them. All I could think of was TOFFEE. Like I'd left a toffee in one of my pockets on a hot day and it melted into my clothing. For an hour or so, that's all I smelled. I didn't think I'd wear this very often, to be honest. It was just TOO much toffee, and I like toffee.

 

Dry-down: A couple hours later, the toffee smell is still prevalent, but it's much more subdued. And thank goodness, I might have had to never eat toffee again if it didn't. This isn't a particularly bad scent, not at all, but I don't know if it's that much of a keeper for me personally.

[Lyrical]

 

In vial: sugar and spice and all things nice - but very dark! Lots of brown sugar, a little chocolate and assorted spices and herbs.

 

Wet on skin: very dark sugar and spice, with something medicinal/herbal in the background. Syrupy. No more than the faintest hint of dark chocolate. This is the Thirteen for people who like sweet, dark, resinous scents! It's not foody at all. Something here reminds me of Hellhound on my Trail.

 

Dry on skin: this is a very interesting scent - in a good way! I'm not sure it's for me, but I won't be parting with my bottle immediately - I think it's worth waiting around to see how it ages. It's reminiscent of dark, home-made, slightly burnt gingerbread with lots of molasses, but I still wouldn't call it foody. I think it's the darkest scent I've ever worn (not including the nasty vetivery ones, which I never wear)! It's got great throw!

 

By the next day I was itching all over, though, which sometime happens with spicy scents.

[MisterShrapnel]

I'll admit that I jumped on this because the slew of witchy herbs made me think immediately of Hellhound on My Trail (which I enjoy), and this Thirteen does indeed carry a glorious and strange "dried herb" quality. Both voodoo-y (to my novice nose) and cookie-ish. With maybe some function thrown in, hopefully. And I love that. I love the dark label on this one, and I love the inspiration behind this particular addition (especially that "Devil's Shoestring" and "Lucky Hand Root"! How awesome!). The irony is that the very first two notes, of which some reviewers were left wanting MORE, kind of overpower the herbs and I can't decide whether I really like this scent for wear, or whether I just want to like it. It's so perfect, really, and if my tastes remained as they were four months ago this would have been my new obsession, but the brown sugar and smoky hint of dark chocolate are... almost too much for me. Herbal, spicy, dark, and brown-sugar sweet--fascinating, but perhaps not for me.

 

EDIT:

Okay, I lied. Or I take back what I said. I tried it on again after letting it sit for a couple weeks, and it's absolutely delicious now--deep, rich, herbal, sweet but not cloying, and the chocolate has dropped that initial "burn-y" quality that I disliked. The brown sugar stays far back enough for me to enjoy the other notes, too.

This, I will be keeping, 'cause it wins. It wins hard.

Edited April 22, 2009 by MisterShrapnel

[Gin]

Thirteen (13): February 2009

 

I bought this solely for the brown sugar note. On my skin, I get the impression of brown sugar, but it's mostly just spices. Spicy, evil gingersnap spices.

[djsiberia]

this is interesting - i don't smell any chocolate and it's taking on a more spicey soda scent.

 

[Coldfire]

 

 

 

Decant: more brown sugar than dark chocolate

Wet on Me: mostly dark brown sugar, I get the ginger, and allspice now too

Drying down: A spice cabinet galore in my nose. Almost like a GingerSnap scent.

Dry: don’t get much chocolate at all. Mostly all the spices in a ginger snap scent.

 

[aquazoo]

There was a little dust at first, but now it's a big group of spices about to throw into the curry pot. It puts me in a mood to cook!

[Venneh]

In the decant, I'm getting chocolate and some spices that are reminiscent of Oya. And given that Oya didn't work that well on me, I'm kind of ehh. On me, this 13 is a ginger Oya, thus far. Not really sure what to think. It's turning into this amazingly nommy spicy scent, now, as it dries, which is a combo of the chocolate and dark sugar, I'm thinking, so another DISO it is.

Edited November 13, 2009 by Venneh

[arsenicsauce]

Long version: When I was in high school, we had a decent sized pool that my school was very proud of and swimming classes were mandatory. But we weren't allowed to bring our own swimsuits- we had uniform suits that had to be rented and returned every day, horrible blocky one-pieces with absolutely no elastic that were impossible to squeeze into dry but inevitably ballooned when wet so they were nearly falling off as you swum. Every night a truck would come by to collect these wet suits and the matching tiny, tiny uniform towels, and they would arrive back in the morning, sterilized and smelling almost but not quite like burnt maple syrup.

 

This is that exact smell. It's objectively kind of pleasant, but I will never, ever be able to wear it.

Short version: Burnt molasses with some faint, dusty herbs that make me think of soap.

[sprocket21]

Wet, this is a big blast of herbs and spices. I can't really pick out individual notes, but trust me when I say that it's spicy.

 

Dry...where did it go? No, seriously. I get a little whiff of something herby, but for the most part...nothing. Wasn't even nice enough to leave me some chocolate!