Hungry Ghost Moon 2006

[Bagfish]

... Offerings of ginger candy, sugar cane, smoky vanilla and rice wine mingle with a ghost’s perfume of white sandalwood, ho wood, ti, white grapefruit, crystalline musk and aloe. This scent is tapered by the presence of seven herbs, woods and resins used in the purification of the spirit and the purging of earthly concerns from the soul.

Hungry Ghost Moon started well on me with a refreshing splash of bitter citrus . As it dried down, it became woody with sandalwood and other woods definitely present.

Unfortunately after about an hour HGM started to become sweet and candied and then just became sweeter and sweeter until I got a headache from the sweet cloyingness of the scent. I am gutted as this started out so nicely, I had really high hopes, but it turned into a perfume nightmare. It is also STRONG on me - I put it on at 8:30 am and at 3.30pm I had to wash it off and change my top which had got perfume on it from the swipe on my wrist.

This one will be off to swaps ASAP. What a shame, especially as DH approved of it so much.

Edited to add description Edited November 28, 2007 by Shollin

[dierne]

In the bottle - Fruit and sweet mecinial scent that reminds me of pink medicine when I was child.

 

Wet on skin - Still mostly the same though there is a sharpness that relieves it a litle. I wanted to like this one, grapefruit and ginger and wood and herbs called to me, unfortunately I'm not getting any of that

 

Dry on skin - OK, the sickly sweetness has gone and I'm getting grapefruit more strongly but it's still a little sweeter than I generally like.

 

Later - This may require a further testing. I'm just not sure about it at all - I don't think it's "Ick!" but I'm also not sure if I like it! *flails pathetically*

[QueenFae]

Oooh, fruitier than I had imagined! Yum! The top note on me is definitely the grapefruit, but it's really sweet and lovely, not sour at all. The grapefruit note is nicely complimented by the gorgeous crystalline musk note, which gives it an almost effervescent feel. There is a creamy backdrop for the whole scent, which I imagine is mostly due to the smoky vanilla note. This is a really great moon! Unique, yummy, and refreshing, I love it!!

[storme]

In the imp: mm! ginger and grapefruit are the strongest notes, but it's all light and airy and slightly spicy and sweet.

 

On me, wet: candylike citrus/vanilla/ginger and aloe and musk and light herbs. Very light and clear and airy.

 

On me, dry: this is so sweet, but the aloe and musk and citrus and so on make it light and fresh instead of cloying.

 

Verdict: Somehow I thought I wouldn't like this lunacy - guess I was wrong. Admittedly, I probably don't need more than the imp I have.

[nsomniak6]

This is beyond lovely! When I first smelled this I thought floral, but then it was grapefruit and herbs. After I put this on it was, grapefruit, herbs, sugared ginger and vanilla. Almost a masculine scent, but not quite. I truly love this one!

[ktesedale]

'Airy' is the perfect term for this one - combined with the name, I get the mental image of some ghostly visage wavering in the air.

 

This starts out sweet, but light - it's in no way overwhelming. It's also very well blended - I can't pull out many individual notes, aside from the hint of grapefruit. It's fruity - which surprised me - but it's not just fruit, either.

 

This one is so well blended it's just hard to describe. I like it, but I couldn't tell you why. It's great for a night out or meeting with friends for coffee, but it's not really a 'work' scent for me.

[bellis]

This is a lovely clean scent on me, with a LOT of depth. I LOVE the rice wine note, but it doesn't stick around. Wet, I get creamy sweet ginger, backed with smooth wood and a hint of herby fruit. The crystalline musk, whatever it is, is much nicer on me than white musk.

 

After about a half an hour, though, this dries down to candy sugar on me. It's still a lovely scent, but I miss the definition that the other notes had in the beginning. I much prefer this year's Harvest Moon, which somehow makes cane sugar behave on me, so I think I'll swap this one.

[Ajila]

In the bottle - Green bright and berry fruity, with an underlying current of tea.

 

Wet on me - Bitter citrus, presumably the grapefruit.

 

Dry on me - Sweet powdery and barely there.

 

Overall - I think this one may grow on me, but it's not an immediate love.

[minilux]

I can't believe my chemistry isn't amping the vanilla in this. Instead, it's amping something similar to what I believe to be a linen note. Eventually, it dries down to something sweet and sharp at the same time. In the end, it's a bit too perfumey for me and it's not even close to unseating Severin as my ultimate tasteful, clean and smooth citrus blend.

[porcelain72]

In the bottle: sweet and fruity, but a nonspecific kind of fruity. Gentle and pretty, softer than what I expected given the description.

 

Initial application: fruit-flavored bubble gum!

 

Figuring it would tone down a bit once it dried, I let it go for a while, and now I'm getting a very pleasant, light citrus scent, edged with...something, perhaps the vanilla or the sandalwood, I'm not sure, that keeps it from being sharp or sour. The throw is very light, but, like a lot of the scents I've been trying, it seems to work, suggesting the scent of the different offerings as they're carried by a gentle breeze. It takes you a moment or two to notice, but it's there.

 

Very nice, very nice.

 

ETA: upon second application, this is really growing on me. The citrus, vanilla and sandalwood really complement each other nicely, it's neither too tart or too sweet.

Edited August 31, 2006 by porcelain72

[Tallulah]

This is going to be a review as to its effect as well as the scent itself. I find HGM to be fruity sugariness with a diaphinous veil of musk and incense. It is glorious, not at all what i was expecting, in a very good way.

 

As to it's effect, my Gay Husband Gordon got a smell of this and promptly said that if it was possible to molest a perfume, he would HGM!

[grrrlennyl]

at first: sweet and smooth, with a hint of biting citrus.

on: lovely. sweet, citrussy, and bright, but smooth, too. very lovely.

2.5 hours later: very, very sweet and smooth. sugary.

4 hours later: a little woodsy, but still sweet, too.

overall: i just don't seem to be having luck with the asian-themed lunacies.

[Phaedra]

Wet this is sweet and fruity melon- honeydew maybe mixed with florals. When first on it's a very faint and sweet blend, fruity with maybe a hint of wood or dry reeds in the background. After a few minutes it gets fuller and rounder and more floral. After three hours it's very soft and faint. After wearing this a few times I've concluded that I need to put a lot on for it to last. Although it is a soft blend on me, I really do like it a lot and find it to be quite lovely.

[iriedanym]

Wow. I got this as an imp, since I didn't have the funds to buy a bottle when it was released. The first notes I could pick out were the sandlewood and grapefruit. The grapefruit adds that extra tang. The aloe and musk mix wonderfully for a clean scent that I associate with Dirty. There is also a woody scent that has been in this year's branch of Lunacies, as well as the sharpness of ginger.

 

I'm liking it so far.

[gypsybaby1]

candy sweet in the bottle; wet it's sweet floral, almost fumey and heady; dries to a soft sweet fragrance of flower mixed with something powdery. Very nice, definitely a keeper.

[Meg]

In the bottle: Sickly sweet, aftershavey grapefruit and vanilla, I think. It has a bit of a similar vibe to CK One.

 

Wet: All white musk, and then the grapefruit comes back out again, very sweet and cloying.

 

Drydown: The grapefruit calms down and lets through sweet vanilla notes and a hint of booziness. Citrus comes back over the mix, softer than before. I don't really identify it that much with grapefruit, it's closer to orange. There's a thick warmth to the blend, which makes me think of rice - possibly from the wood and the vanilla.

 

Overall: Is white musk and citrus the formula to aftershaves? You'd certainly think so, because on me this is pure cheap men's cologne. It's also rather foody to me, and I find that vanilla mixed with citrus really doesn't suit me at all, it's a very nausea-inducing. I'm broken up over this, it's my first lunacy, and it really hates me.

[Miss Lynx]

This is a very interesting scent, which goes through quite a few changes over time. Initially, the wine and ginger jumped out the most -- it was like sweet boozy ginger, and I quite liked that.

 

Then, as it settled in a bit, the florals came up a little more, and I found it very reminiscent of Glitter, but with a touch of spice. Kettu picked up the grapefruit strongly in it at this stage, but I didn't so much. For me it was a bit more floral, but the florals never came out strongly enough to be overwhelming -- there was a light but decidedly un-sweet base to it that balanced them nicely.

 

And finally, after some time, it settled into a very soft, creamy, gentle, warm scent, a bit like the late stage of Embalming Fluid once the citrussy edge fades, a bit like Antique Lace before it turns to Play-Doh on me. The musk, vanilla and sandalwood are, I think, the longest-lasting ingredients here. There are still very faint hints of fruit and flowers, too, but only traces.

 

All in all, I think I like it, even though it does appear to be several scents in one and I like some of the more than others.

 

Grade: B+

[kraken]

In the Bottle: It smells like a fruity herbal tea of the lemon-berry variety.

 

Initial Wet: I can definitely smell the aloe, which is strange because I've never associated aloe with a perfume scent, yet here it is. As it begins to dry, the grapefruit bursts through very strongly.

 

Initial Dry: It remains very citrusy and reminds me of limoncello, an Italian lemon liqueur. It begins to have a vague herbal throw, but I can't identify the herbs--I want to say rosemary is one of them, but that may also be the mix of resins.

 

Drier Dry: The vanilla peeks out just a tad, then mixes with the herbals in the throw. Nose to wrist, the citrus is still the most prominent note followed by the vanilla and then a softly spicy scent, which could be the musk or the resins. Underneath it all is a very vague sour note, which may be my skin rejecting the wine.

 

I was hoping for a sandalwood-vanilla-ginger scent like others had gotten, but the sandalwood and ginger didn't come out on me at all. I like the herbal vanilla, but I don't think grapefruit is really my thing. I might try this at a later time and see if the grapefruit and that sour note calms down with some aging. I really want this one to work, it almost does, and I just love the description of it.

[saralaughs]

I got a frimp (decant) in a swap recently and I'm glad that I tried it. It starts out as a sweet, tart citrus (I guess that would be the grapefruit everyone is talking about) and then morphs into a nice dry woody scent. Although, as I said it is nice, it's not me. This stage lasts about 2 hours on me until settling into a smoky, tart vanilla. I love it but it takes hours to get there. I'm not sure as I have the patience to go through the wood to get to the vanilla.

[foxroses]

i haven't properly reviewed this yet, but generally i'm smelling what you guys are smelling - ginger candy, sandalwood, grapefruit, nice and clean. my boyfriend apparently smells canned peaches.

[steffanina]

Hungry Ghost Moon-

 

In Bottle: A lovely soft smell like lemon, tea, and white musk.

 

Wet: The lemon comes out more strongly.

 

Dry: This is such a lovely scent! Ever so soft and clean. Not overpowering; delicious.

 

Overall: I really like!

[birdiefu]

This is gorgeous! My first impression for some reason was fruit salad, though this isn't foody (I was just looking for ambrosia recipes before I tried it, so it could be that, too ). I think that must be the citrus that makes me think that. It's so hard to really pick out the notes, but this is a very white, refreshing, and delicate scent. Very oriental feeling, and I smell something tea-like and what must be the 'seven herbs' that give it the oriental flavor. There is a sweetness to it, but I can't tell if it's just the sugar cane, vanilla, or mixture of both. I don't get woods or smoke, but I really really enjoy this scent all the same!

 

ADDED 10/7/08:

 

This is a very delightful scent, and barely morphs at all.

 

When I first put it on, it has a fuzzy sweet note, along with a green, reedy smell. It is very fresh, yet sweet at the same time. After a minute, I get some green tea (but I don't see that in the notes) and a tinge of woodiness. From this point on, the scent doesn't morph anymore, and lasts quite a while. Yummy almost-foody sweetness over fresh green tea and plants, and a touch of warm wood. It manages to be soft and ethereal without being nonexistent on my skin. Very nice!

[theseagrows]

i can't seem to pick out many notes in this, but it smells like a bright fruity-floral to me. it definitely has an asian feel, and i really cant seem to get much musk or vanilla from this, maybe very faintly. perhaps i am getting mostly the grapefruit and rice wine? i dont really know what bpal's grapefruit smells like. it's a very pretty clear, bright, sweet scent. it reminds me of shampoo, and it's a little too sweet for my personal tastes.

Edited October 6, 2006 by theseagrows

[girl_android]

I got an imp of HGM in one of my first few ebay purchases, my first sniffie left my keyboard at work smelling of HGM, which, in itself isn't a bad thing!

 

In the imp: It's very soft, something citrussy, something musk. There's something bright in there, nothing I can pick out definitively as ginger, maybe something that makes me think aloe ... because it reminds me of an aloe drink we can get at the asian groceries around here.

 

Wet on skin: ooh ... ginger, and citrus ... not lemon, kind of like a lime + grapefruit thing ... oddly enough, there's something that reminds me of the coconut you get out of suntan lotions.

 

Dry (15 minutes): yum! Soft, and subtle but it wafts about. I wore this yesterday at work (wrists, small swipe on neck, and what passes for cleavage (!)), and I could detect it as I moved about. I get something floral also, but not overpowering. It's still clean, and soft, and bright, and makes me calm (: It's sweet, but not cloyingly so, I can't say I can tell there's vanilla in there, and for all the foodish notes, this isn't foody at all. There's nothing tea-like on me, but there is definitely something there that makes me think aloe.

 

Overall, I really like this! Enough to adopt me a bottle!

 

ETA: And I *did* adopt a bottle, eeeee! it's so cute!

Edited October 10, 2006 by Girl Android

[Emma2403]

In the bottle: fruity candies. Mostly graprefruit.

 

On my skin: at first, it's still fruity candies but it gets soapy very soon.

 

After a couple of hours: burnt plastic with some nice graprefuit underneath :/.

 

Verdict: very few fruit smells work on me and saddly this one is not one of the winners. Off to the swap-pile.