The Owens' Tomb

[Tramp]

"I'll do no such thing, with Owens and me having a lovely little tomb over by the daffodil patch. Plenty of room in there for a little one."

Marble and dust surrounded by burdock, knotweed, dandelions, daffodils, and long-dead calla lilies.

 

The Owens tomb is a very cold and wet flowers scent complete with green stems. Like a florists walk in cooler that is stocked only with crisp spring flowers. No heavy lush flowers, just white and muted scent ones. There is a woody stem note in there as well that comes out on drydown. I love how cold it feels without being snow/ozone/slushy

[sookster]

straight sniff from imp is dust and daffodils...

 

once applied the cold marble and dust dance together in perfect harmony with a squirt of greenery...

this is gorgeous!! a touch of bitterness and this becomes a true beauty...love it~~

[bookandbroom]

Dust and daffodils, indeed - the both of them amping each other's mistier, vaguer qualities until The Owens' Tomb smells mostly of greyness and coolness, sunbeams catching dustmotes and footprints in years' worth of settled dirt. There's a greenness underneath, but it's not sturdy; it's losing out to the grey and the cold. (The boyfriend, with his shorthand comments, says, "It's very ... gardeny.")

 

Out of curiosity, I looked up burdock and knotweed - thistles and invasive species! For some reason I find this funny. And I like it. The Owens' Tomb isn't exactly my kind of scent — it's wispy and delicate, despite all that stiff coolness - but it captures a scene and an atmosphere beautifully.

[Coldfire]

Decant: Green and daffodils! Spring!

Wet on Me: Totally green and daffodils. Spring tra la in the

middle of winter yet!

Drying Down: still green…still daffodils…but now add aquatic to it.

Why does this remind me of Embalming Fluid, which I love btw.

Dry: wow…am getting a cedar scent now. Cedar and green and

less daffodil. Very nice.

[voodoocatwoman]

Whoa- this IS dust and marble in the imp. I thought I was going to hate it.

 

WRONG. On my skin, the flowers pop and the fragrance turns sweet. How wonderful!!

 

[ffiferoo]

I got a decant of The Owens' Tomb on a whim thinking I probably wouldn't like it, but as soon as I put it on I was so glad I got it. The first thing I smelled was the daffodils - winter was the perfect time to get this because it just made me appreciate the nice spring scent even more. It was like walking outside my house on a great warm day in May

 

As it dried down the stone and the dust came through and eventually were all that was left. Perfect for the scent, but not necessarily something that I want to smell like for a whole day. I'll probably try half my decant mixed with some perfumer's alcohol and see if that doesn't stop it from morphing away from the daffodils.

[Little Bird]

Daffodil is one of my favorite smells in the world, and I've never found a perfume that really smells like them. I get no daffodil from Owens' Tomb. This is pretty much all dandelion on me at first. Dandelion and a cold, green bitterness, with a sickly-sweet, powdery floral in the background. Over time, the lily takes over the blend, and it's a nice, true lily on me. Cool and slightly powdery.

 

This is okay, but probably not something that I'll wear a lot. I don't care for the opening stages, and the lily is nice, but it gives me a headache... I have a hard time with floral scents giving me headaches

[Upstart Crow]

What a beautiful spring floral scent!

 

In the imp, I get strong daffodils, greens and what smells to me like orchid (probably the cala lily, which is in the orchid family). There's a certain sharpness to this that definitely has to be the dandelion, too.

 

On my skin, the daffodils really come out, and so does the lily. It reminds me of my grandma's garden in April, which is a very good thing.

 

This is definitely a good one for floral lovers, especially for those who like their florals medium strength. It seems to have a decent throw and lasts a good few hours.

[zankoku_zen]

On wet, it's a much greener scent. I definitely get the sharp airiness of the dandelions, and I smell the calla lilies. It's so pretty on wet. As it dries, I get more of the 'dust' and the vibe does go from green to gray with hints of green.

 

I really wish the florals had stuck around.

[AnArtfuldodger]

I get a very strong herbal scent from this. Not a flowery herbal though -- this is like chives, or rosemary. A very put-this-in-your-food herbal, not dried-lavender herbal, if that makes sense. I get a very distinct olfactory memory from this -- whatever herb it is, it's something my mom used to grow in her herb garden, because I remember my hands smelling sort of like this after weeding.

 

Putting my decant in the swap pile, I think. It just reminds me of chives, even though I don't think that's the herb in my memory for it. :/

 

It's very complex! I don't hate it, but I just can't think of where I'd actually wear this.

 

I'm honestly wondering if the decant was mis-labeled and this is really The Potters' Field....*that* has the herbs and such that I'm totally getting from this.

 

Hmm. I'm getting a decant of The Potters' Field in a day or so, so I guess I'll see if they match! Lol!

Edited February 24, 2009 by AnArtfuldodger

[Ravenclaw79]

Very dusty, with a slight hint of dandelion buried underneath. It's really evocative, but it's not something I'll wear.

[Aldercy]

In the beginning, The Owens' Tomb is very herbal, with the only specific note I recognize being dandelion. I adore the dandelion, and the overall feel is something like a duller, less sweet version of The Host of the Air. It's a very natural, low-key scent. On the drydown, however, this becomes a little cologney and also has an unusual "citronella candle" vibe going on, especially if I slather. I'm not sure if this will necessarily stick around or not.

 

I wore this to my uncle's funeral this week. I don't have any Ars Moriendi oils at all, so I thought this was the next best thing.

Edited July 4, 2009 by Aldercy

[Iceblink]

Stone, a slight rotting-vegetation smell, and then flowersflowersflowers. Mostly lily and daffodil. The drier this gets the more man-cologne it's getting, but it's pleasant. Tons of throw. Nice if you like lilies!

[Seismogenic]

I confess, this wound up on my wishlist before I ever read The Graveyard Book, and the reason for this is the mention of marble and dust as the first two notes. I'm so predictable! But then I actually read the book and adored it, and then I knew that the Owens family in question were awesome ghost-people, and that made me want to test this for more than just the rocks. I got frimped this in a decant circle after I read the book, and I'm definitely glad to get to try it.

 

In the imp: Smooth cold stone, dandelions, and daffodil.

 

Wet on skin: The plant notes are now more the greens than the florals, though it still reminds me of the same types of plants after all. The stone note is less prominent, but still smooth and cold.

 

Drydown: Freshly dry, the whole thing is much fainter, and also much less planty. The plants are still there, but only within a heaping dose of dust, next to stone that is still distinctly smooth, though perhaps less cold than before. At one hour in, any trace of plant life has vanished, leaving behind smooth stone and dust that somehow smell as if they're pale in hue.

 

Five hours later: Ozone, and it has been this way since about two and a half hours in.

 

End of the day: Still a bit of ozone.

 

Overall: I am extremely impressed by the marble note. I know this is a kind of phrase I often type in reviews, but seriously, Beth can differentiate between the scents of different types of rocks using combinations of essential oils from plants, and I am totally in awe. Needless to say, I like that aspect! Unfortunately in the case of The Owens' Tomb in particular, the non-rocky notes vanished within an hour, and the rocks themselves transitioned to ozone very quickly into the drydown as well. The balance in the early stages of drydown was fantastic, but it didn't last, which is sad. For that reason, I probably won't be upgrading my decant. Still glad I got to try it, though!

Edited October 1, 2009 by Seismogenic

[lunchboxmonkey]

I love the graveyard book, and well, pretty much all of neil gaiman's work, so i absolutely had to try this and i really, really wanted to love it...

so maybe i'm a bit predisposed to like it, but this scent is fascinating!

i am absolutely amazed that this actually smells like stone! it smells like running your hands across dusty, ivy-covered marble, and on me there is only a faint hint of florals in the background, which i love

its uncanny how this scent evokes its description - i am so glad i only get a hint of the florals, i cant stop sniffing myself

its like leaning against an old, forgotten tomb in an abandoned, overgrown graveyard on a grey, misty morning.

another keeper!

[aquazoo]

First the dusty dirt. Wow, I really can smell the marble! I'm not getting any of the flowers at all.

 

[Flightless]

This scent surprised me- nothing at all like I imagined it to be: It was amazing to me how well the dirt and must and old came through in this oil.

In the bottle: Fresh flowers, maybe lilies, just laid on the grave. I couldn't find the dandelions at first, but realized upon a later sniff that they're actually very prevalent... you just kinda have to know what you're looking for.

Wet on skin: Still very floral, but hints of stone and dirt begin to peek through here. It began to remind me of a wool wash I use on some of my hand-knits called Kookaburra, which is odd because the wash is eucalyptus scented.

 

Dry on skin: I can still find musty eucalyptus, but it's not at all a menthol scent, just very earthy and kind of cold. The flowers seem to take the back seat here, as they begin to wilt and die, joining the cobwebs, dust and ghosts in the grave yard.

 

I can imagine Bod falling to sleep with this scent wafting through the air... such a comforting smell.

[brineydeep]

Oh goodness me, this one is marvelous.

 

Wet on the skin, it's daffodils and dandelions (can't tell which) surrounded in a bright field of green and grounded by a lovely dry dustiness.

 

After dry down, it a green dustiness with just a hint of weedy flowers.

 

I really like that this one is not too green. There's a nice balance between the greens and the dust that makes this completely wearable to me. It hints at spring in a very muted way. Just lovely.

[LizziesLuck]

Wet: Very masculine on me, but fantastic. Like the most intriguing, haunting, unique cologne I have ever smelled. I can't pick out notes at all. Wow, such a cool scent!

 

 

Dry: This gets much more feminine as it dries, then unfortunately turns really soapy. It's quite a beautiful, nostalgic soap scent, and I actually do really like it, but I don't think I would wear it. I am sure it would be beautiful on the right person.

[doomsday_disco]

I have been wanting a bottle of this since I tested it at Drag Con, but I knew I likely wouldn't wear it very often, so when I had the opportunity to buy a partial of it on Facebook, I leapt for it.

When I tried this at Drag Con, I feel like I got more of the daffodil before it turned into a dusty sandalwood and marble scent. It's the same daffodil note found in Lakeside Atmo, which I really enjoy.

I am not sure how old this bottle is, but from the beginning, the dusty sandalwood is the dominant note, and it remains that way throughout wear. I get more of the dandelion, daffodil, and lily notes during the wet phase of the scent than when it is dry. After a while, it's all mostly about the dusty sandalwood, backed by some marble and the memory of flowers.

I have been wanting at least one bottle from all of the Neil Gaiman collections, and I am happy to have The Owens' Tomb as my Graveyard Book scent. I do wish that the daffodil and dandelions had stuck around longer, though!

Edited November 28, 2018 by doomsday_disco