Gunpowder

[nightbiscuit]

Carrot peelings, hay, chaff, molasses, maple oats, red apples, stable wood, and musk.

Uncooked maple flavor instant quaker oats. But in a good way! A very good way. The carrot-y note flits in and out of my awareness as I wear this. Foody, but also farmy. Sweet!

[gnl]

In the bottle: Cereal and molasses... smells like breakfast!

 

Wet: Mmmmmmmm oatmeal cookies. Very yummy. There's a liiiitle bit of apples and carrots underneath it, but mostly? Oatmeal cookies.

 

Dry: For a long while there was no difference from wet, in that it was still oatmeal cookies. Then suddenly POW! Hay! But then it calms itself and it's an interesting combination of oatmeal cookies and hay which, er, smells a lot better than it sounds! Like, er, cookies with an a kick to them?

 

Verdict: I love that it comes out as oatmeal cookies on me. The only problem is, after the first hour it's got, like, zero throw. I have to put my wrist right up to my nose to smell anything. Have to decide whether it's worth slathering it on before I get a bottle. Love the scent though!

 

4/5

[MeiLin]

In the imp: Carrot juice! And maple oats! It smells like a health food store!

 

Wet: Whew! Weird! Carrots and maple, bleh.

 

Dry: The carrots almost immediately fade, and the molasses and maple oats predominate. The drier it gets, the more the wood and musk come out. The oats are still there. Not getting much apple. I like it.

 

Verdict: Not bottle-worthy, but I'm keeping the imps for now.

[akiko]

I liked the idea of this scent, so I got a decant. I still like the idea of the scent, but not so much on my skin.

 

Imp: Smells like inside a barn, except without the icky horsey part.

 

Wet: Apples, sweet grains.

 

Dry: Apples fade out, sweetness comes to the fore. Turns plasticy, though.

 

Verdict: Keeping my decant for now.

[jenen]

1st whiff: Mmm. Millisecond of sharp herbal impression, then yummy sweet maple.

 

Applied: I guess that herbal sliver is the carrot, but wet, it’s mostly maple.

 

Few hours later: Scent has really faded quickly. Had to reapply about 30 minutes after the first appl. Maple turned into a mellow vanilla, not as sweet as snake oil on me. A faint play doh scent that could be the apples. Also a trace of wood smell.

 

Beast’s reaction: “Eh . . .uggh” with a crinkled brow. Another loser, according to him.

 

Verdict: I like this scent a lot. I like this more mellow vanilla than what I experienced with snake oil. That was too sweet. And maybe there isn’t even any vanilla in here, but once dry, it came across more as vanilla than as maple.

[LaurenO]

I wasn't particularly excited about this one, but it turned out to be very nice on me. Sadly I then spilled half my decant. It's sugary and oaty, and the carrot was very apparent to me. There is something about it that does remind me of going horseriding in the past. It's kind of like a carrot cake sitting on a haybale. Very comforting.

[Alchemy21599]

In the vial: sweet and herbal.

 

wet on skin: sweet feed.

 

dry: The musk and wood come out on the dry down. Interesting, but I was hoping for something a bit more horse-y.

[Argentwolf]

I get a LOT of maple and oats out of this, with little side-hints of carrot. The above comparisons to a mapley oatmeal breakfast are very apt. It's a delicious, pleasant, warm, comforting scent, but unfortunately the throw is minimal -- if there's musk, I really can't detect any -- and staying power is so-so. I will treasure what's left of my imp, but I don't feel that I need any more than that.

[ImperatrixMundi]

Yum. Not foody - it's feedy. Oats, molasses and hay are most prominent. On drydown the apple peeks outa bit but fortunately not too much. All the while this is surprisingly light and nice and natural smelling instead of becoming artificially sweet and cloying as I feared before.

The next morning I could smell the musk that is in there on the back of my hand.

[gchris]

in vial: sweet, nuts and caramel

 

wet: supper nutty. Smells like roasted nuts with caramel lurking close beind.

[savage_rose]

This is predominantly hay on me...hay and wood, with a hint of carrot and no apple. I think this is a very evocative scent, although not really me. I may try to layer it though, it's very earthy.

 

And I love what ImperatrixMundi said:

Yum. Not foody - it's feedy.

Yes, exactly!

[Schmoozy]

Grains, hay and carrots. There is a hint of sweetness with red apples and maple. This is slightly foody, but at the same time it feels wrong to be huffing my arm like I am hungry or something.

It really is beautiful, but as a skin scent...yah, not so much. I can see using my decant for room spray. I think it would translate better.

[AnArtfuldodger]

When I first apply it on my wrist, it's very warm, I think the molasses really comes through. As it dried down, after about five minutes the warmth faded into a bran/meal mash sort of smell -- very horsey indeed! At this point, having been wearing it an hour, I can still smell it, and it's basically smelling like granola.

 

I'm glad I got a bottle. I won't wear it all the time, but it's oddly comforting. I know other people have said it, but it's not foody so much as feedy.

 

I'm quite glad, as the hay/chaff note in Hay Moon did not work well on me at all, and I was so afraid that those notes would turn bad on me with Gunpowder as well, but such is not the case! :-D :-D :-D

 

It's a scent unlike any others I have -- I feel like this would be good for those days when you're not feeling up to much besides reading a book and having some oatmeal.

 

Comforting.

[Aldercy]

Fantastic! Very caramel/molasses/maple syrup, with a slightly harsh grainy/bran-like undertone. There's a nuttiness, perhaps like toasted almonds. I don't get the carrot or the apple, at least right now, but I wasn't expecting either to be hugely prominent. Gunpowder is a very rough, stirring, healthy scent.

 

Of course, this is not how horses or stables actually smell (no dung, foamy horse sweat, or old flypaper in these stables!), but it's how they should smell-- how you remember them smelling when you have a pleasant memory of such things. I spent a lot of time in my childhood with horses and this oil suits that kind of atmosphere very well, and the faint muskiness does remind me of dusty, warm horsehair-- like the way your hands smelled after scratching their ears or neck. Gunpowder definitely evokes the idea of fresh air, distant cooking, and big, gentle beasts.

 

Really original blend.

[Ajila]

In the bottle – Cut hay, with possibly a hint of the molasses in the back ground

 

Wet on me – Dark musk, the oats and something a bit grimy

 

Dry on me – Ack! Stale cigarette smoke

 

Overall – I don’t know what did it to this blend, but I can’t wear it on my skin at all

 

[spoilsofwar]

In the bottle, this smells like a gorgeous little farm. Kind of light and fruity. Delightful actually. I was a bit surprised because I couldn't smell any hay at all.

 

When I put it on, though, all I could smell was molasses. And not just molasses, but BURNT molasses and it was NOT pleasant at all. An hour later, same thing. Two hours later, I had to wash it off. Definitely not for me.

[ShadowsDance]

Hmm.. carrot? Definitely something like grains. After about 15 minutes it gets really powdery on my skin though.. strange, none of these are usual danger notes.. ah well.

[Monster]

In the bottle this smells like fresh carrots and molasses! Truly unique!

 

On my skin this is warm, comforting maple and brown sugar oatmeal with carrots. There's a dry, woody note in there that I'm assuming is the hay.

I'm not getting much apple out of this. Gunpowder is predominantly carrots and molasses on me...I can't stop sniffing my hand.

 

Another fine example of Beths talent and creativity. What perfumer would think to use carrot...and make it WORK?! Only Beth.

This one is lovely. I will cherish my bottle

[quigza]

 

Gunpowder

Bottle: Before I shook it, it smells like sweetness & hay. After being shaken, the hay dies down to the background. Sweet oats & a whiff of either carrot or apple peel comes out.

 

Wet: Sweet oats, apple peel/carrot, sharp hay

 

Dry: The sharp hay note warms to dry hay. The sweet oats are still very prominent. They remind me of the grains in Horn of Amalthea, but those were creamy. These are not. The apple peel now smells of cider. Not spicy cider, but cider. I still can't get it out of my head that there's a little carrot to this. But, that's fading

 

Aftermath: The oats are faint, but there. The sweetness is gone, & the hay is just grassy now. It's all faint, but pleasant.

 

[roseaeron]

This is my favorite early fall scent! It's a sweater scent- warm and cozy. Smells like sweet feed and apple. This a barn scent after a long ride on a crisp Autumn morning. Horse people will know what I'm talking about. This is my serious comfort scent in fall.

[strahlend]

I Gunpowder.

 

It stays the same in the bottle and on my skin - fresh, mildly sweet and clean without being in any way floral, soapy, or foody.

 

I smell the warm oats, delicious sweetgrass, and maybe a little extra sweetness. I'm not getting the strong maple or apples that other people have mentioned, so perhaps this is one that mellows with time. This is a fantastic wear-it-all-the-time scent for me, I don't have to be in any particular mood or mind set for this one to work. It strikes the right balance between being present and being unobtrusive. I've been looking for an earthy smell that's not too heavy and a sweet smell that isn't too candy-like, Gunpowder fits the bill perfectly. I'm on a mission now to track down other oils with similar notes.

 

~edit to add~

After looking high and low for any scent that might be similar I've given up. If there's anything even remotely like Gunpowder it's hard to find. I'm delighted that a fellow forum member had a bottle for me to have as a backup. Yay!

Edited April 13, 2010 by strahlend

[Invidiana]

I love anything with molasses in it, to eat or smell. I was crossing my fingers for the molasses to amp on this one, and since my skin tends to amp sweet notes, it did Wet, it's a very dry and woody scent reminiscent of an actual stable, but quickly dries down to a delicious blend of the molasses, maple oats and apples with a cozy backdrop of hay, grain and wood. The musk warms it up more and further adds to the coziness; I didn't get carrot peelings but that's probably because carrot is pretty sweet and blended harmoniously with the other notes. Gunpowder is delicious!

[DifferentDances]

Bottle: Sweetgrass and hay with a hint of apple or carrot.

Wet: Caramelized wood and sweet grass. Juicy apple hanging on top. Molasses throw. Om nom nom nom.....

Drydown: More of the same.

Dry: Wet, smoky wood, like a fire with water dumped over it. How...strange!

 

Would I ever wear this? YES. In a locket, if my skin chemistry keeps turning this into burnt wet wood.

 

My rating: 4/5

[Verios]

In the bottle, I got mostly apples...and apple-scents usually do almost nothing on my skin (apple-based scents usually disappear within the hour, unfortunately)

 

Once this hits my skin, though, this is exactly what I find I was hoping for--this is hay and oats and musk, with the molasses sweetening it up just enough...I get no apple at all, which doesn't surprise me, unless it's so subtle that it's just adding a certain something to the scent overall. This is exactly what fond memories of a stable smell like--as another reviewer also mentioned, it's the stable without the more unpleasant smells a real stable usually has--it's idyllic, and makes me feel really nostalgic remembering the summer I worked at a stable (I loved that job, since I was absolutely horse-crazy at the time...)

 

I'm not sure this will be one I'd wear, but I'm amazed at Beth's ability to make a perfume that smells like this!

[Poenari]

This smells exactly like instant maple oatmeal- the kind with the dried apples in it. There's nothing "horsey" about this. It's a nice, sweet scent, and I love the idea, but a decant was enough.