Blood Moon 2005

[Macha]

In October, the crop harvest has past, and all hands turn to the Hunt: the third and final harvest before winter. Blood Moon shines over huntsmen as they ride over reaped grain in pursuit of their prey.

In Christian mythology, Blood Moon may have a darker significance:

"And I looked when He broke the sixth seal, and there was a great earthquake; and the sun became black as sackcloth made of hair, and the whole moon became like blood; and the stars of the sky fell to the earth, as a fig tree casts its unripe figs when shaken by a great wind." -- Revelation 6:12-13

The feral scent of the heat of the chase, deep woods, undulating musks, brushed by forest herbs, crushed grains, and touched by blood-dimmed lunar oils.

Some months ago, I attended a BPAL class on aphrodisiacs, and one of the ingredients that we were given and allowed to take home was chopped pieces of red sandalwood. That is the first thing that I really notice when this hits my skin: the strongly redolent odor of red sandalwood, although, on further contemplation, it is not alone: there are spices here too (close mayhaps? cinnamon?) As the oil sits on my skin, these spices really begin to shine through, and I also start to catch the first hint of musk and vanilla.

This becomes stronger as it dries: a wonderful, deep combination of musk, sandalwood, spices and vanilla/tonka. It is very sensual, very sexy, highly evocative. If there is dragon's blood in this, it's so well blended that with my chemistry its presence is negligible. It dries down to the loveliest soft, sexy vanilla musk with sandalwood occasionally popping up to say hello.

And I have to add: I shrieked when I saw the bottle, because the Lab used the artwork from the shirt! Not a huge deal perhaps, but I wasn't expecting it and they hadn't even HINTED they were doing it: I was grinning my silly little head off for about two hours afterwards.

[sarada]

I was optimistic about this blend, with the deep woods and forest herbs, but I wasn't sure if it would be a little too...feral? Well, the verdict is: OMG!

 

This is quite a departure from most of the other lunar oils, because it is so strong and musky, but I am loving it. There's an enveloping, comforting warmth to this blend...it just comes to life on my skin. A spicy musk would be my first impression. The spiciness recalls Hamadryad a bit -- it's not the dry, earthy wood that I am used to...but unlike Hamadryad, which developed a kind of generic "potpourri" scent on my skin, this is like a dark, simmering spice. As it warms on my skin it just gets more and more beautiful.

 

I had a friend sniff it on my wrist and they said that it reminded them of Christmas. It's a bit more of a wild Christmas to me though...one celebrated in the forest, bodies close together for warmth, woods and green boughs strewn on a fire that warms the air as you drink spiced wine. (there's no wine in this scent but it does recall that 'mulling spice' kind of smell...)

 

In case anyone is wondering if the "blood" has anything to do with dragon's blood, my guess would be no. That has a very distinctive smell and there is no trace of it in this scent. So I'm not sure what the blood-dimmed lunar oils are in this blend, but the end result is absolutely delicious.

 

Blood Moon may be for October but this will be a gorgeous scent throughout the cold months. Lunar oils do not generally work for me -- my skin tends to eat them up very quickly -- but this is quite a departure. I'd say this ties with Buck Moon as my favorite now.

 

ETA: After wearing it all day I have to amend this to say that this my new favorite Lunacy blend!

 

ETA again: I didn't wind up keeping Blood Moon because after awhile I thought it smelled a bit like cinnamon and soap. Still, I got another sniff of it the other day and I do miss it now. But I just can't get that "cinnamon soap" thought out of my head and it made it rather less appealing to me.

Edited July 6, 2006 by sarada

[shelldoo]

in the bottle: spicey, cinnamon i believe, but not red hots type cinnamon, more like a cinnamon stick. there is definitely a musk (red i believe)

 

wet: it is very very spicey, a bit strong, and a touch of metalic twang

 

as it dries it gets very deep, and sensual, sandalwood i would agree w/. man this is a sexy sexy scent. it is close to the skin, and hot! i love it! i do believe this could be my favorite lunar oil to date. eta after a while, this has become much softer, still very sexy, the tonka is becoming more apparent. it is much more delicious and not as in your face as it was in the beginning.

 

i believe it is feral, and i agree it doesn't "appear" to have dragon's blood.

Edited November 7, 2005 by shelldoo

[Aredhel]

Rating (on skin): 5/5

Summarised in one word: Spicy, bloody musk (okay, three words!).

 

In the bottle: A rich blend of musk, blood (dragon's, I think), and cinnamon. Like shelldoo, I don't smell a red-hots kind of cinnamon, but more of a cinnamon stick.

 

On skin, wet: A very lovely blend of blood, spices and something woody, or herbal. It's warm, rich, and deep.

 

On skin, dry: This dries down into a spicy, blood-tinged musk. It's got wonderful staying power so far, and a decent throw. I really, really like this. I don't know how else to rave about it.

 

Conclusion: I'm so ticked off that I didn't give in to temptation and order the three bottles I originally wanted. I think I'll go raise the "Don't like Blood Moon? Sell it to me!" flag.

 

Note: This was the first Moon I ordered from the Lab directly, so I'm amused that it's a definite keeper.

Edited November 8, 2005 by Aredhel

[Undine]

This is one of the more fascinating scents I've tried. First of all, it has two of my nemeseseseses, dragon's blood and cinnamon, yet both are pleasant and not overwhelming. And its throw is very, very different from how it smells close to the wrist.

 

Yes, I am going to go out on a limb here and politely disagree with a couple of the above reviewers: I do think this has dragon's blood, but very little, and perhaps a different type than BPAL normally uses?

 

Similarly, the cinnamon is very low-key. It often goes all potpourri on me--like Sarada I have that experience with Hamadryad--but here she is completely right, it simmers away without going crazy.

 

Sandalwood, I can see, but am unable to distinguish it for sure. Vanilla (or one of its scent cousins) I believe I can pick out if I think about it, and while I don't normally like vanilla much (I know, I know) I think it might do a great job of mitigating the dragon's blood and cinnamon here, and contribute to the throw.

 

Up close, Blood Moon smells like an herbal Big Red with a hint of dragon's blood. The interesting thing is that it has very good throw and its throw, to me, is quite sophisticated, warm, sexy, and musky, with the cinnamon greatly toned down. I had a hard time believing at first that this was the same scent I put on: I thought I might have gotten an imp on my fingers when I was quickly going through and smelling them all! But, no.

 

My first thought was, "Do I like this or not?" I don't know about you, but occasionally I get these scents where I'm honestly not sure if I really like it, or don't much at all. Then, as the scent developed and the gentle throw grew, I decided I do like it. I'm not sure yet if I'm going to keep just one bottle or more, but it's entirely possible that I'll decide I love this.

 

On my scale, at least a 4 out of 5, and that might go up.

 

In my opinion, Beth is really on a roll with the lunar oils! The last few have been excellent.

[Eros]

This is a hard one to describe...

 

In the bottle it's slightly sweet, herbal, woodsy...with a touch of incense...

 

On skin, cinnamon. But as others have stated, not a sweet candy-like cinnamon but a dry one...It then becomes a bit of *head shop meets holiday potpourri* but much nicer and that stage doesn't last but about 5 minutes. The longer it's on, the more beautiful it becomes.

There's also something almost aquatic about it but then, it seems more sulfuric, like blood. There are hints of Hexennacht here but obvious differences, as well. The dragon's blood, which I got none of at first, peeks through for a bit then fades into the background. A good thing because I've discovered, sadly, that while I've always LOVED dragon's blood, BPAL DB tends to go all icky sweet gardenia/jasmine powdery on me. Not this time =)

And again, the longer this is on my skin the lovelier it gets. There's a "wild"(feral) something about it, as well...

Bah, I give up. Like I stated previously, hard one to describe.

 

Whatever the hell, I adore it!!

 

ETA: Definitely picking up a gorgeous, non-foody vanilla now. Very similar to the smoky, spicy vanilla in Snake Oil. This stuff just gets better and better.

BTW, Macha...as always, beautiful work!!

 

ETA: Interesting thing...Put some of this on this morning, just plastered nose to wrist...it's still hanging in there but this time, it's very much like O, not a bad thing at all.

Edited January 7, 2006 by Eros

[Tramp]

This is a hard scent to describe - I don't have a lot that I can compare it to - a really unique scent.

 

The first thing I smell in the bottle is the metallic tang of blood, a "real" blood scent - not dragons blood.

 

On it has a dry papery cinnamon note that predominates - it isn't sweet/sugary at all. Definitely a musk in there and something that reminds me of dry woods - like when it is so cold and dry that the trees smell almost petrified. A hint of smoke - but that could just be the cinnamon to my nose.

 

Wow.

[lovelyza]

Wow, my first review!

 

I was unsure when I first sniffed the bottle and even when it hit my skin, but after a little while, I'm transported into a dark forest where I'm lost and a little confused on a cold, clear night. I smell dark herbs and musk and wood and something that might be wolves on the hunt in the distance. I can see my breath in the moonlight and sense a deep red that my eyes don't know is there. There is something dark and powerful in the air, it hangs heavy and tangible and i know that somewhere, blood is being spilled.

 

Ok, that wasn't much of a review, but I'm in an imagery sort of mood and this oil definately evokes some powerful pictures in my mind.

[wolfie13]

I do believe we have a winner! My very first "keeper" lunar blend.

 

In the bottle: Very woody (the "deep woods"?) - with a sharp herbal (the lunar oils?) and slightly musky undertone.

 

Wearing: The slight herbally aspect fades away and the rest remains with the addition of Whoa - cinnamon! And red musk! (these two notes I am dead sure about.) And a bit of vanilla or something vanillic. And yes - I do seem to get some dragon's blood in this.

 

Of course I could be wrong, but my skin tends to amp the crap out of dragon's blood and it smells like it usually does, which is sometimes a bad thing on me (heady floral) but it's tame enough here where it doesn't go that route.

 

My second thought on the dragon's blood impression is that this blend smells A LOT like Bloodlust on me. (Notes in that: "Dragon’s blood essence, heavy red musk, Indonesian patchouli and swarthy vetiver with a drop of cinnamon")

But it has more of the cinnamon element of that blend and less of the dragon's blood - and the addition of a bit of dark vanilla sweetness (a Snake Oil touch, for another reference point).

 

This has a lot of throw and staying power on me - a little goes a long way, and this isn't the kind of scent I would wear every day, so I think I'm good with my one bottle. But so happy to finally have a "moon" of my own!

Edited November 7, 2005 by wolfie13

[lorajc]

I wasn't sure about this one at all. When sniffed from the bottle, I thought I smelled vetiver and I can't wear vetiver, as it amplifies on me. After spilling a bottle while inserting a reducer cap (klutz I am), I tested it again and when it dried down, it began to get softer and prettier. There is a topnote that is offputting to my nose, but it seems to be growing on me and is becoming more pleasant. I'm still not sure about this one. This is my birth moon and I want to love it, but I'll have to wear it more. I don't know if I can really smell cinnamon in here. If it is in here, it is very slight and as those above stated, it is cinnamon bark or stick not sweet cinnamon. This is deep and feral but softens up as it wears. I can't pull out dragon's blood if it is in there, but I can't wear DB, so if it is in here, it must be minimal. I'll update this after I get to know it a bit more. I don't really get the vanilla others got either. It is slightly herbal on me, spicy, warm and very unique. The lunar oils do seem to be very slight in this blend, thus the "dimmed" lunar oils. They are more prominent in other lunar blends. You might be able to wear this lunar oil if you normally shy away from the lunars.

 

ETA: I'm wearing this today and my nose still dislikes the topnote, but it goes away very quickly. This is not a strong blend and actually wears quite soft. In the drydown, I can understand a bit where the vanilla comes in. It does have a creamy feel to it on the dry down which I'm thinking are the grains. This is one of those oils that may put you off at first, as it's really different, but it is sure growing on me. I can smell the cinnamon in it just a bit more today.

Edited November 8, 2005 by lorajc

[melange]

Bottle: woods/herbs/musk, unsurprisingly. The not yet three-year-old wandering by stops to demand a sniff, then announces, "Good... tha's good, Mommy! Tha's spicy!"

 

Wet: I can detect the grains now.

 

Drydown: now I get some spiciness, and some distance that makes "feral" indeed seem right. There's a fore-scent that reminds me of almond in its bitterness, along with the musk. When I first wave my wrists around I think there's not much throw on me, as I can only really smell it at 1-1/2" to 2" or closer, but then I turn my head and catch a good whiff in the air.

 

Worn: it smells a little peppery on me; to the extent that it's cinnamon, it's a dry, dessicated cinnamon. Over time, there develops more throw, and the vanilla-resembling softness comes out as a halo that entices one just a little closer... before the fangs come out. I get the sense that this one plays with its prey.

 

In the end: this is not a scent to relax with. It's interesting. I'm going to mess with it some more.

[lemurcatta85]

This smells like how my brain thinks Bengal should be. It burns my nose if I sniff too close, but further back it's lovely! I'm just hoping it's not cinnamon enough to burn my skin...or else, no matter lovely, it'll have to be sold.

[vyvyan]

Mmmm! I had such hopes for this one, as it's my birth moon -- when the description went up, my gut said "you will love this," and my gut was right!

 

On me, this is a lovely musk (maybe red musk?), with a bit of cinnamon but not much and not foody at *all*, and grains. Spicy, strong, and warm. It went through a period where it smelled rather like Fenris Wolf on me (and that's a good thing), but the grains and the spice have come out more prominently. It hangs pretty close to the skin, but it's strong there.

 

This is *the* scent for cold autumn evenings, walking in woods with the moon above you shrouded in clouds, crunching dead leaves underfoot, a shiver up your back and a dangerous smile. It doesn't *smell* like those woods, but it smells perfect *for* them.

 

They're going to have to pry Blood Moon out of my cold, dead hands.

[sheepzeit]

I have to say that this reminds me a lot of Blood Kiss, with the softly spicy, musky sensual scent. It is a very warm, close-to-the-skin type scent as well as one that is... sweet in a vanilla-y kind of way (which I suppose are the grains). I like it but am not sure I will end up wearing this very much, though maybe when the weather starts getting colder!

[empi girl]

Yep, I think this might be my first keeper Moon too! I've tried a few and had just about given up hope...and here comes Blood Moon, that I almost didn't get!

 

Just like most everybody else, I get cinnamon (stick, not red-hots), with grains lurking in the background (similar to those in Dana O'Shee, but without the sweetness-more of an oat-y smell I guess), and something slightly bitter just on the horizon. It is actually the wierd sharp tinge I associate with white musk on my skin, so my vote is for a lighter musk, not red musk (a note I love, and don't detect at all here).

 

It does get sweeter as time goes on, the cinnamon becomes softer, and a vanilla-like sweetness pokes through. I still get traces of the grains. The bitter note is still present just a bit, and the only thing that I don't like as much about this scent-thankfully it is in the background!

 

I think it is vey much a skin scent, and very good for cool weather.

 

My husband and I both tried it, and it works great on either of us. I think I actually prefer it on him, but he says it is too much cinnamon for him. *sigh* It is a mighty sexy scent...

[Nachtwulf]

Only got one bottle of this, since I figured it had dragon's blood in it... and DB is either a hit or a horrible, horrible miss, and I never know what to make of it until it hits my hide.

 

Bottle: Yeah, it's got dragons blood, but there's so much else in there! It's faintly smoky, and there's....SOMETHING... I can't identify, whether it be musk or ambergris, or ....maybe even a black vanilla, but there's something that's warm and -just- shy of sweet lying in wait under the other things.

 

Wet: This rapidly gets so blurred together I can't hardly identify any of the notes, individually. There is still dragon's blood, but it proves to be a warm, almost feral kind of scent, very much 'gender neutral'.

 

Dry: The feral qualities seem to settle down, leaving what amounts to dragonsblood and a dark vanilla, from what I can tell. It's still got some 'manly edge' to it, from whatever the musk or ambergris I was picking up is, and it's not the least bit foody, but it's a rich, warm sort of smell that I find quite sexy.

 

Edit: It could be that I'm misreading the 'red sandalwood' as dragonsblood... but I dunno. Tough call either way!

 

I don't suppose I need a second bottle, but I'm definitely glad I have the one.

Edited November 8, 2005 by Nachtwulf

[Thorne]

In the bottle, and wet on my skin, this is straight up cinnamon on me. It's a true spice cinnamon and not a candy cinnamon, but nothing more. After about an hour of drydown, the musk came out strongly on me, and I was afraid that was that. But then it morphed into a sweet, warm haze, vanilla, but not overwhelmingly so, with the barest whiff of cinnamon floating in it. Really beautiful, a soft, close-up skin scent.

 

I got no dragon's blood at all from it, and usually my skin makes DBR scents into nothing but dragon's blood, so I'm very relieved that it didn't appear for me.

[cuervosueno]

cinnamon in a creamy lunacy blend. What I mean is, almost all the lunar blends share a creamy slightly green scent that I interpret as the lunar herbs....

And I get this in here, too, with a mild dose of cinnamon. I love cinnamon, but this IS, as other say, a close to the skin scent, and I'm a big scent girl, so its a bit too mild and subtle for me. Nice, but not me.

While I wouldn't be surprised if there was dragons' blood in here, I don't get it strongly--though come to think of it, maybe what I'm interpreting as mild cinnamon is DB? Usually I recognize BPAL cinnamon more strongly.....Well, be that as it may, this is simply not strong enough in scent for me.

I WISH it had ambergris in it--one of my favorite notes--but I don't get that at all.

Overall, nice, but too mild.

eta: I went back over the lab description and was so sad that it didn't turn out like that on my skin. I wanted something that would be animalistic on me, I guess--even a dose of that odd civet, but certainly a heavy dose of musk would have worked for me. but it really didn't work that way on my skin.....its like it was creamy lunar oil-dimmed instead of blood-dimmed! Oh well, I know someone else will appreciate it.

And the bottle design rocks!

Edited November 8, 2005 by cuervosueno

[Diana]

In the bottle, this has a very strong spice note. It is probably cinnamon, but it could be the super-sharp cardamom that is also omnipresent in Alone.

 

Applying it, it sends wafts of spicy cinnacardamom out around me. There is a emergence of a musk note... it reminds me of the note in Blood Pearl momentarily, but then changes to a reddish-musk, which is amplified by the red sandalwood note that starts to come into the foreground after an hour or so.

 

Now that I've had this on for quite a few hours, it's mostly a red sandalwood with a vague presence of spice.

 

And now for the Diana Oddity™, this reminds me very greatly of Frost Moon. Except warm instead of cool mints.

 

This is really lovely. One of the top 5 Lunar Oils for me.

[Lycanthrope]

This is a truly rich, red, bloody, sanguinous oil. In the bottle, it smells magical, but sort of threatening - I can detect the lighter floral lunar oils trying to sing out above the rest of the blend, but it's a tumultuous combination of deep resins, menacing spices and rolling anger.

 

On skin, it starts off with an almost nutty tone, akin to Tezcatlipoca's opening note without the deep cocoa. I think this definitely contains red sandalwood, but also a potent punch (a musk?) of something heady and smooth. There's then a streak of cinnamon that crescendos... and then I'm getting hints of a less sweet, much more earthy Snake Oil! Underneath this all, the oil has definite depth, and a little smoke and dirt.

 

Over time, unfortunately, the cinnamon grows and grows, so it kinda goes Hamadryadish, although I can definitely still detect the woodsy vanilla below. About twenty to thirty minutes later, the cinnamon has backed off a bit and I smell kind of like a gourmet cinnamon bun... that's hunting. Uh, yeah. With the frosting like war paint.

 

Like all the lunacies, super-long-time after, I get a breath of the cool, damp, wet florals that I've grown to appreciate. It's quite a transformation.

 

But yes, red. Crimson. Fiery. Burgundy, crushed velvet and deep blood silk draped over a chaise. There's some faint incense smoke in the background and you can feel the predatory air... uh... where am I?

[violetblue]

I smell the cinnamon right away, then it morphs instantly into a sophisticated crushed burgandy velvet vibed scent. It's sweet, then turns more musky on me as it dries, with wafts of incense swirling about it. The final change is a perfume I could see Elvira wearing. Gorgeous, but a bit too heavy for me.

[lysithea]

This smells so familar to me. I'm picking up vibes that are reminiscent of both Sin and the late drydown of Snake Charmer with some woody goodness thrown in.

 

First, I'm hot with a wonderful cinnamon-spice (I also agree a wee bit Bengal-esque). This lends itself into a more creamy spiciness as the blend begins to settle on my skin. A unique vanilla tinged musk, think Black Opal and Buck Moon, comes to the forefront after a couple of hours.

 

If I sniff close, I can faintly pick up the grains beneath the musk. They are solidly in the background lending even more creaminess to the blend.

 

A little goes a long way, but I can't help thinking that I should have worn more today. It's a lovely, power scent and I would have liked to surround myself with the aura.

[Little Bird]

First off, I am completely swooning over the label. I think that Blood Moon has the best label ever

 

In the bottle this smells like clove and cinnamon, but with a softer, creamier edge. On my skin, creamy cinnamon. It smells like fresh cinnamon though, not overly sharp or candied. After a few minutes, the blend starts to smell a bit like cola. Holiday spiced cola.

 

In the drydown this smells like swirling incense, vanilla, cinnamon, and cola. I am also catching whiffs of clove every once in a while. It's amazing. It has a very dark vibe to it, definitely makes me think of the night. On me it's the most intriguing mix of incense and foodie scents. I'm really loving this.

 

I'm so glad that this isn't musky and that it doesn't have any dragon's blood in it.

 

This might very well be my favorite lunar blend to date.

Edited November 9, 2005 by Blood onmy hands

[Loligo]

This is a *very* subdued scent on me. It starts out smelling like sawdust and a light, warm musk. The sawdust quickly mellows out to a faintly spicy note and the musk sinks into my skin. If I use my imagination I can pick out the cinnamon and vanilla that other people are talking about, but this is mostly a "second skin" scent on me, and I tend to prefer things a bit more dramatic. I'll probably keep some, and use some to swap for the many, many Yule LEs that I want and can't afford!

 

ETA: 24 hours later, my appreciation for this blend has increased. Most BPAL blends stop developing after two, at most three, hours on me -- from there on out, it's all fading, either quickly or slowly. But this, four or five hours later was still getting spicier and sweeter, and it's still perceptible the next morning. Impressive!

Edited November 10, 2005 by Loligo

[delicate_fangs]

I wish I had words to describe this, but somehow this scent goes right past the sentence-making part of my brain and straight into the pleasure centers. It's spicy and warm and sweet-but-not-cloying. There's something like cinnamon, but not quite, and like amber, but spicier... oh, I can't tell what it all is, but it's hard to keep from just sitting here all day snorting my wrists and sighing happily. Yum. Yum in a big way. So glad I got a bottle of this!