13 (Thirteen October 2023)

[zankoku_zen]

A gift from the goblins – thirteen autumnal notes deepened by bitter cacao: red sandalwood, Himalayan cedar, pine needle, green cardamom, saffron, nutmeg, pumpkin rind, black fig, myrrh, tobacco absolute, guiac, cognac, and oakmoss.

[doomsday_disco]

This got to settle for a day before I tested it.

 

If you're looking for a 13 that is more about the other notes than the cacao, this is for you. It's the least chocolate-y 13 that I've tried (keep in mind that I've tried lots of 13s since 2013, but not any of the ones prior to that).

 

In the bottle, the cacao, sandalwood, and tobacco stood out to me the most.

 

On my skin, it's immediately a sandalwood party, and even though it's red sandalwood and the sandalwood in Kit's description says Mysore, it is giving me Kit (OLLA) vibes. (I also get Morocco vibes, which makes sense since it features a red sandalwood note.) I smell some cardamom and pumpkin along with it, and then some cedar and a bit of pine, all swirled with a light cacao, but when the tobacco and fig emerge, they are a force to be reckoned with.... and then the blend becomes sharper on me as the cognac and oakmoss join those two notes. The sandalwood is still there, but it's behind those notes. And this particular tobacco is too sharp for me.

 

I'm going to let this settle for a few weeks and come back to it, but I think it won't be for me because I wanted more CACAO with woods and pine. The sandalwood in this is really nice, though. I just hope the tobacco calms down!

[Little Bird]

This 13 starts off smelling like a sexy lumberjack with scents of the woods clinging to his clothes and hair (dry woods and oakmoss, green pine in the opening, and earthy tobacco), wearing a bay rum cologne (the spices and strong cognac), eating a gingerbread cookie (the sweeter spices and pumpkin).  The chocolate is barely there in the beginning and, in the drydown, the sweetness is from a smoldering, warm, sweet myrrh rather than being gourmand or cocoa-y. 
It reads as mostly spicy and masculine to me with woodsy and resinous tones and then has more of a witchy feel to it as it dries down with the resinous myrrh, strong cognac, and spices reminding me of making my own bay rum 'waters' and mixing things scavenged from the woods with sweet resins, all beginning to burn and smoke (the tobacco and myrrh turning slightly smoky, I think).  

[roseus]

Cocoa-dusted wood in the bottle but gets richer and more chocolate-y on the skin. Spice, wood, and tobacco back up the cacao. The pine peeks through as it wears. It is a bit rugged and a bit foody at the same time. 

[Tiobe]

To me, this has that sexy, buttery pumpkin flesh (NOT spice, just the gourd guts) from Pumpkinville, mixed with something….(amber? fig?) that reads both “smoky” and “sophisticated” ala that same note in Nasty Woman, & then the whole thing is dusted with dark cocoa. to me it actually leans femme (but hetero gender norms are a construct, do with that whatchya will), smoky gourmand, warm, addictive (I’ll just be the freak who can’t tear her nostrils away from her wrist, it’s FINE lol). Much like last year’s 13 (the best date sugar to ever sugar), I’m wishing I bought like 3 backup bottles. This is what I wanted Beaver Moon 2021 to smell like, pumpkin and cocoa and DELICIOUS.

[amoray]

The green cardamom, nutmeg, saffron and pine all meld together in the beginning. Then I smell the wood. It starts to smell a bit like warm cottage in the woods where something is brewing. Warm and inviting. Nothing scary happens here. The cocoa bitterness at the bottom. Maybe it's an open can of baking cocoa next to the stove in the cottage. This makes me want to drink hot cocoa and watch the snow fall.  

[artisjok]

This Thirteen has been one I’ve reached for many nights since I’ve gotten it, both because it’s such a comfort vibe, aaand it’s tantalizing trying to parse apart which notes I’m smelling.

Here’s what I’m smelling this night~

You walk from a brisk forest scene straight into a dimly lit reading room. Removing your boots, a waft of pine resin lingers on the soles and makes its farewell. The reading room is full of heavy wooden furniture, gleaming in muted lamplight from years of polishing. Someone has left half of a pumpkin empanada on a desk, and pop it into your mouth. Can’t let a delectable treat like that go unappreciated. The rich pumpkin filling captures your full attention for a moment, and you miss the soft sound of footsteps come up behind you.. Warm callused hands cup around your eyes, smelling faintly of sandalwood oil and rolling tobacco. You smile and turn and fall into the warmth of an embrace, allowing yourself to be pulled into the next room. A mug of chai awaits, and more.

[dancingchair]

I agree with the previous reviews, this is reminiscent of a cozy witch's cottage in October. The spices are the most prominent to me. Saffron can amp for me, but here it's pretty tame and is balanced well with the cardamom and nutmeg. The spices blend well with the incense notes, giving this the witchy vibe instead of just freshly baked pumpkin bread. The woods are probably the second most prominent. I can pick out the sandalwood the most, but the other wood notes add a deeper base to the higher-pitched sandalwood. The tobacco and pumpkin round everything out, adding a sweet and chewy base for everything. The cacao is very present, too, but it works so well with every other note.

 

I really like how well all the notes mesh in this 13. It's a fun olfactory puzzle trying to pick out every note, too. Glad I got to try this one!