Thirteen (13): June 2008

[quigza]

In our paean to all the mysteries surrounding this enigmatic number, there are thirteen lucky and unlucky components, including white chocolate, dark chocolate, apple blossom, honeysuckle, frankincense, allspice, nutmeg, black tea, tonka, and sandalwood.

in the bottle: chocolate!!! Sweet chocolate.

wet: sweet, sweet, syrupy godiva liquor over apple pie

drydown: same as above, but the apple warms & there's something... I guess the sweet is honeysuckle? It reminds me of chocolate syrup over spiced apple blossoms... strange. But, good.

aftermath: This keeps morphing on me. chocolate, sweet honeyed flowers, a little spice. All keeps switching levels. There's also a whiff of what seems like mint to me, but probably isn't.. is that what tonka smells like? It's very nice for breaking it up.

[Usagi]

I received a decant of this in a mystery pack a while back. This scent was super morph-tastic on me. The only constant was some kind of chocolate. Lots of fun to sniff.

 

In the Imp: Chocolate, probably dark or bittersweet--powdery and dry, but sweeter than just cacao, and the possibility of mint

On wet: chocolate bubblegum

Dry: chocolate, slightly salty caramel, and an elusive mint in there somewhere.

[Sweetie666]

In the bottle ~ Chocolate, raspberries, and butter. Yummy!

 

....when I put it on it turns to a strange mildly unpleasant earthy, dirt chocolate. Like I dropped my candy bar in a mud hole. Too bad, now I have to swap it.

[ShadowsDance]

In the bottle it's all chocolate.

On my skin it's creamy chocolate and vanilla, sometimes with a hint of spice, sometimes with a little sweet floral.. mostly just chocolate, however.

[tragedy]

I got this in the mail today, I;m not sure exactly who its from... I have an idea but while waiting on confirmation on who to thank, I'm going to review it!

 

Oh oh ohhhh this is nice, it has me, whats the word... I've always said "chuffing" but I know that isn't it... when animals inhale rapidly to taste the air? This scent almost has a taste to it, to me its like a chocolate liquor. Its strong, chocolate, but not a sweet chocolate.

I like it lots!

[kerikeri]

This is the second 13 I've tried (the other was April 2007). I'm surprised at how different they are-- this is also an herbal/spice/chocolate blend, but they really don't smell similar at all. I'm not familiar with most of the notes so I can't pick them out, but this has a warm, dry feel to it, like a dessert tea. The herbs are not as sharp as in the other 13 I've tried, and the drydown is soft, sweet and slightly woody (probably sandalwood). I think I like this one better.

[LunaClaire]

Wow - I thought I would have done a review for this scent as I really love it! Probably my favorite 13 scent. I'm sitting here waiting for this month's 13 update, and was going to add my thoughts on the June 2008. But low and behold, I had none.

 

I love the 13 scents, and the mythology behind them. 13 is a particularly holy number in the Gnostic tradition as Pistis Sophia's home is the 13th Aeon. Which is where Christ ascended to help her cross the bridge. Lovely symbolism.

 

This one is a spicy dark chocolate with fruits and resin. The apple, fig and frankincense & nutmeg merge beautifully with the cocoa. Yummy & sinful. Love it!!

 

And I'm wearing this for tomorrow's Friday the 13th.

 

 

[Venneh]

Got a decant of this in a recent swap; in the decant, it smells like chocolate, with fruits/florals/spices lurking underneath. Interested to see what this does. On my skin, this smells like Lambs-Wool with chocolate added; spicy apples and chocolate drizzled over it. It later turns into chocolate and spices, but regardless, this is one of the best 13s on me to date. Definite bottle upgrade.

Edited December 23, 2009 by Venneh

[Amoraexcena]

Hmm my review is quite different from everyone else....I don't know if it's skin chemistry, ageing, or batch variation but...

 

Bottle: tootsie rolls, nutmeg, allspice, and a touch of sandalwood. Strong.

Wet on skin: the spices take over, with a slightly herbaceous background and just a hint of cacao and honeysuckle. Kind of cloying....

Drydown: Allspice and tootsie rolls. I’ll pass.

[lensflaaare]

This scent is a dead ringer for chocolate covered cranberry granola bars. I LOVE IT!

[hersphinxness]

Chocolate cake. I can smell some of the spices, none of the frankincense, honeysuckle or apples. I am also getting a distinct tootsie roll note. Weird. It's nice, and I can certainly see how people would like this but... I don't even like chocolate cake!

[whisperstilled]

In imp: Chocolate and apple! Not much else as far as I can tell.

 

Wet: Now I'm getting some of the other notes. Not much wood, maybe a tiny touch of tonka, floral, and incense. Still heavily cocoa and apple, with a little of that plastic weirdness that is white chocolate.

 

Dry: Still chocolate apples. Not a bad scent, but nothing that blows my mind. 2/5

[Schmoozy]

Upon first sniff this is a blend of dark and white chocolate mingled with baking spices, frankincense and sandalwood. It's heavy, dark, very spicy and woodsy. Once it has a chance to dry down I can smell the apple blossom and a light floral, which must be the honeysuckle. Both of them help to lighten the blend, but it is a rich, spicy chocolate.

[Angelbaby]

This is delicious and to me, it is exactly the scent of a chocolate milkshake. There is a waft of stronger cocoa at first and a gentle warm vanilla-y scent underneath. Sorry I’m not great at describing notes but this is gorgeous chocolatey goodness.

 

N.B. It was also the first LE bottle I bought - early in my Bpal "career" I resigned myself to GC scents, thinking "What's the point of ordering something I can't always get? What if I fall in love with something and then I can never get it again?" The description of this 13 was enough to change my mind. So glad I did....

[karykeion]

Decanted by bpalscentsual, thank you!

 

In the imp: I think I like the 13 blends a lot, they're just so spicy-delicious and interesting! Kind of a chocolatey-fruity scent. Oh, hello there, honeysuckle, I missed you!

 

On me, wet: Aww, this is so pretty! Apple, chocolate, honeysuckle, and nutmeg are the things popping out at me, and they make a really gorgeous light combination. There's a kind of dusty, smoky note that starts to come out as it dries more, and...oh wow, I can smell the black tea! And the white chocolate is coming out and adding to the apple to make it sweeter and counter whatever that dusty herbal note is, and it's doing a splendid job.

 

On me, dry: ...This is the exact scent of one of those huge buttered pretzels covered in salt. It's a little sweeter, but that's what my mind is reading it as! It's so cute, I love it! Not sure I'll wear it much, but I enjoy it. I love those pretzels.

Edited March 12, 2012 by karykeion

[MadameGorgon]

THIS. THIS is the 13 of my dreams! And I am rarely a fan of apple spice blends.

 

The chocolate is quite prominent and as someone else mentioned, syrupy. The apple is much more a dried apple. Not juicy at all. The honeysuckle ups the sweetness and softens some of the harsh edges of the spices. And the spices.... Oh god... The spices. I had all but given up on spices. They never have quite worked on my skin. And sometimes, they just plain burn! But these are warm and yummy and not at all overpowering. The frankincense melds with the spices in the most delightful way. It -just- pulls the blend out of foodie territory, adds a bit of a balsamic high note, and keeps the blend from sliding into Yankee Candle territory. It's what Yankee Candle wants to be when it grows up!

 

I find it hard to believe that this was a June blend. It screams AUTUMN to me because of the apple spice combo.

 

I am so surprised at how much I love this one! And once again, the actual fragrance is so different from what I expected. I thought I might get something like Candy Butcher. Chocolatey, but light with a sweet floral finish. Instead, its dark, syrupy,chewy sticky lusciousness.

 

Thank you, Usagi,for sending all these great new things to try! It made my day!

[Magycmyste]

In the bottle: Chocolate! Deep, dark, chocolate....

 

Wet on skin: It takes a few seconds but the apple and honeysuckle blossoms out from beneath the chocolate. I don't tink I'm getting much of anything else.

 

Dried down: Softer apple apple and chocolate, now. I'm getting the barest hint of the spices, but I think that's more because I want to smell them, to find those notes, more than I'm actually getting them.

 

Throw: This seems to have a decent throw. The scent of f mostly chocolate and a hint of apple kind of hovers around my face without my having to lift my wrists.

 

Verdict: ***** I really, really like this one. It's primarily a chocolate scent to me, and it drowns out a lot of the other notes, but I'm certainly not going to complain about more chocolate!