Berry Moon 2009

[wldhrsjen3]

A golden summer musk with warm fig, orange blossom honey, sweet blueberries, and bright velvety crimson raspberries.

In the bottle: the fragrance changes as I swirl the bottle - first golden honey musk, then dusky berry, then a sharp perfume scent. I was a bit worried about how it would smell on my skin. Wet: it's rich and musky with a slightly bitter note that rapidly turns powdery. It smells almost soapy. As it dries: thank goodness the baby powder effect fades, leaving a rich golden musk. There's a faint layer of ripe blueberry, but it's overwhelmed by musk and honey. Later the berries take their turn, growing ripe and sweet. It smells of sun-warmed blueberries, bruised raspberries and honey, with a musky, earthy base to ground it. It's strong - a small drop goes a long way, for me, and lasts for hours. This is the perfect perfume for a warm summer night - a sweet, ripe scent that is both decadent and playful.

[Monster]

This one was such a disappointment for me!

 

In the bottle this is mostly blueberry. Smells good so far!

 

...and then I put it on my skin... dun dun duuunnnnn!

 

 

The berries quickly fade to the background leaving a mild honey musk scent.

 

The final dry down smells like sour berries and light musk.

 

I wonder what will happen to the berry notes over time. I'm gonna keep this around to see what happens as it ages. I was REALLY looking forward to this scent and it's just not working out on my skin.

 

ETA: After a while the orange blossom comes out to play. That's the most pleasant thing about this. I get a faint whiff of the same type of orange blossom used in Lady Lilith. I wish there was more of this in Berry Moon! Oh well.

Edited August 6, 2009 by Monster

[Galatea]

I've heard a lot of other people have issues with this blend. So going in I was wary.

 

But, it was for naught!

 

This is a nice later summer smell, that's for sure. Warm, musky, green, sweetish, honey-soaked.

 

On me the blend goes a bit too greenish at first. It's not strong, but a more herbal than I usually go for. But, about four hours in and it's all sweet fig, and honey, and berries, and musk.

 

Glad this one worked out on me!

[Lamia]

The day this arrived in my hands, it was extremely hot out, and the postman had actually forgotten it in his vehicle and had to run back out and in to hand it to me. I opened the envelope immediately (duh!) and the bottle was almost hot to the touch. Oh crap, I thought to myself, My Berry Moon is cooked! I opened the bottle anyway and sniffed, and immediately IMed the woman who'd sold me her bottle "Having baked in a hot USPS van for a few hours, this smells like .. like ... berries and tortillas!?"

 

I gave it almost 2 weeks to calm down, and for my chemistry and backlog to ease up.

 

Fresh, it's berries, but not berries in a pie, or jam, or from the freezer. This is a fully-laden bush in the hot sun, the ground is dry and dusty, and there is a strong scent of warm green leaves and branches weaving in and out of these berries. Drydown, this gets fuller and juicier. It does dry back to wilting branches, but oh my those berries, and the honey, and the fig ...!

[PiraticalFrogg]

First impression: Blueberries! With a moderately perfume-y undertone (maybe the musk?)

 

Wearing: All of the notes blend together to keep this from smelling food-y or too heavy. It's a great summer scent with no morphing. I find I have to apply more oil than I usually do in order for the scent to last more than a couple of hours, so my bottle might not be too full for too long.

 

Overall: The berry scents come out but stay nice and light, making this one an instant mood lifter.

[naeelah]

This smells like berries and sunshine. I love it. It's another blend that's quite similar to Lady Una minus vanilla.

 

Wet and in the early stages, it's a load of ripe, slightly tart berries (a single berry variety doesn't stand out to me -- combined they smell like the lab's blackberry note) with an equal amount of sparkling golden musk. The honey is definitely there, but the sweetness blends, and the orange blossom adds some contrast to the thick, ripe scents.

 

As it wears, the berry fades, and it smells primarily of golden musk with a little orange blossom honey and tart traces of berries. From a distance, something in this keeps reminding me of black amber -- I think it's the combination of the sweet honey and the slight oily undertone to musk.

 

So if you get this expecting mega berry, you may be disappointed. It certainly has berries, but to me it feels like more of a golden summer blend with berries in it than a berry scent, per se. This is more to my tastes, so I love it. It's a great summer alternative to Lady Una because without the vanilla it lacks some of the heaviness that can be nauseating in extreme heat and humidity.

[moon_lemming]

Berry Moon is the saddest morpher ever for me. It goes from blueberries and honey in the bottle to blueberries and honey and a little light musk (which does not turn to powder, at least!) on my skin. Those are the good parts. The bad: as it dries, it starts smelling exactly like a Lipsmacker. A blue or purple one, maybe a "blue raspberry" flavor.

 

I'm not sure what's making it waxy because I usually have good luck with honey scents, but this moon just isn't working, sniff.

Edited August 11, 2009 by karen

[zankoku_zen]

This starts with a giant blast of blueberries, but as it dries, it smells a little plasticky and the berries disappear and I get a basically honey musk scent. It also kinda makes me think of the Oblation, but this would be a way lighter version.

[furygrrl]

In the bottle: Figgy, blueberry musk!

 

On wet: Light honey, something herbal - kinda perfumey, but very pretty.

 

Drydown: It's taken a little while, but musky berries have finally become the order of the day! Still a bit perfumey, still quite honey-sweet, but definitely a nose-to-skin scent. The blueberries are the dominant component, right up there with the figged-out musk. Honey is keeping things sugared up nicely. The poor raspberries are indistinct for most of the time, but there *is* the tiniest swirl of something red hugging the scent's edge - I imagine that's them.

 

Overall: A really lovely blend! The honey-musk-fig-berry combo works extremely well, and each note (with the exception of the elusive raspberry) is quite pronounced. I expect this will age fabulously, with the berries becoming even more obvious - just like Crawdad Dream did, much to my delight! - so I will definitely be hanging on to my bottle. 3.5/5

[msbcozad]

Berry Moon

 

Oh, how I love berries! Oh, how I loathe honey!

 

I handwaved my honey anxiety, sure that the berries and fig would overpower the cat pee that honey turns into on my skin. The first few moments of Berry Moon were divine and everything I'd hoped for. But then the musk crawled out and made me wrinkle my nose. Oh please, berries. Please come back and stomp that musk into submission. They tried valiantly but the honey finally showed up and went and then .

 

I hate you, honey. I hate you so very much.

[LunaClaire]

Berry Moon

 

Quite nice; a combinations tart berries musk and honey. I don't differentiate the berries - just tart berriness. The dry down is really lovely: honey-musk and berries. Nice scent for the late summer!

 

Edited 9/29/09 to add:

Wow - this bloomed after being stored for a month or so! The berries really stand out - and yes - Blueberry! The resins are even more resinous, and the honey more beautiful. I liked it before; I LOVE it now. Many compliments!

 

Edited September 30, 2009 by LunaClaire

[obsidienne]

I received my Berry Moon order yesterday, then failed to bring it home with me and had to wait to try it out. So I came into work and then put on some Berry Moon.

 

The first words that came to mind when I put this on and then walked off to get on with my day were, "Sweet f*ck! What is that awesome smell?"

 

The fig in this is so lush -- so gorgeous and rich and full. The entire blend permeates your immediate area with this luscious soft cloud of YUM. Nom nom nom.

 

On the skin, I can really smell the ripe sweet blueberries, honey, golden (like molten sunlight) musk, and orange blossom. The raspberries are in there, I think, but in a way that is not very obvious; they add a hint of crimson brightness. Which is a bit of a relief since I was rather afraid that this would end up a tart, "fake fruits" blend (it didn't). Berry Moon is also very well-blended; no one note stands out at the expense of the others.

 

Absolutely stunning.

 

Edit: I should note that the fig steps back and the honeyed sweetness seems to get stronger as this dries down. I love honey, so no problem, but that initial first application experience is unforgettable.

 

Lasting power: medium. Throw: good before the fade.

Edited August 14, 2009 by obsidienne

[Ajila]

In the bottle - Light, sweet, creamy berries with a touch of musk

 

Wet on me - Weird, slightlt fruity, creamy and with a hint of green

 

Dry on me - An oddly green, sappy sort of scent that given a few hours takes on a sweet candy floss type texture

 

Overall - I like the dry down, but the blend very faint on me

[Gin]

Oh, boo. I bought way too much Berry Moon. It does not agree with my skin chemistry at all. It's gone between musky berries to berry beer and back again. Had I paid attention to the description beyond "Berry" I might have been expecting musky berries, but I didn't, and expected more "BERRIES! and some musk." So, my fault, I'm disappointed, and off to swaps it goes.

[sunshinedaisybliss]

 

 

This is not quite like any other berry-based BPALs that I've tried, yet at the same time quite similar to other berry-based BPALs that I've tried. Like that makes any sense?!?

 

So it starts off very BRIGHT, almost tart, raspberries mostly. Then when it starts to dry down, the musk and fig comes out and blunts the sharp sweetness of the berries, adding a nice depth. After about a half-hour on my skin, I've got a nice musky and base with sweet berries on top. After a couple of hours, it hasn't really changed much.. the berries have gone softer but the musk/fig base is still nice and warm and I think the honey's there now (finally).

 

Berry Moon is very pretty, and definitely one for berry lovers.

 

 

[Brianne]

I can safely say that this is not really what I was expecting with this scent. The fig is far more prominent than any other note in this blend, and the blueberries only make a brief appearance on my skin when I initially apply and are quickly gone after that. Even the fig is pretty subtle in this though, backed by an almost astringent herb note (reminds me of the herbal backing to Strawberry Moon actually) and a sugary musk. This isn't particular sweet OR fruity, and the drydown is sort of a subtle figgy musk.

[Prism]

Well, initial description was yay

bottle sniff - i was kinda horrified. There is some bpal note that I know is NOT vinegar, that my nose interprets AS vinegar. I've wondered if i've gotten off perfume a few times for it and come to the conclusion that it is in fact, me. (that and I used to live with another BPAL fanatic who didnt have this problem and could verify this for me.) It's something else bright and tart that I just interpret that way

wet - it's not so good. It's really really not. the vinegar smell is there along with some berry scent. And that's...it. It's odd. but i can also tell it hasn't settled.

 

5 min later - it's okay. It's not a winner for me but it's not a looser either. I get musky honey now, with *tart* berry in the background. It's just...it's not my thing?

 

1/2 hour later - hey, this is kinda nice. honey, with a little musk. and sweeter berry in the background. this actually smells pretty good. If it keeps getting better like this i'll knock that rating up.

 

In conclusion- 5/10 on the prism scale, but I'm going to give it some time to age and frankly my own body chemistry I know has been whacked lately. So, we'll give it another go around later.

Edited August 19, 2009 by Prism

[pinkstardust420]

First I get a herbal musky figgy scent...uh oh! But that QUICKLY goes away...as time goes on, it warms softly and sweetly on my skin...definitely getting the orange blossom honey mingled with raspberries with a peek of blueberries. Very pretty!!

[edenssixthday]

Berry Moon - This opens up with the scent of juicy raspberries, with their duplicity of both sweetness and tartness. Right behind the raspberry is the scent of warm musk that doesn't actually seem to blend well with the raspberry, but rather kind of awkwardly bumps it's way along against the raspberry, creating an odd juxtaposition of notes. After a while, I start to smell the blueberry, but it doesn't smell like real blueberry as much as a fake Bonnie Bell type blueberry. The honey really comes out at this point, and sadly, it's not the honey I like, but it's the one that turns to cat pee on me. After a while, it turns to waxy cat pee and dust with a bit of raspberry sweetness blended in. All that's to say, on my skin, it's a complete FAIL. However, I accidentally spilled a couple of imp's worth on a (thankfully clean) washcloth, which I then threw in the dryer with some of my clothes that night. All of my clothes came out of the dryer smelling quite lovely -- nothing like it smelled on my skin. My clothes smelled like sun-baked berries with the slightest hint of sweet musk and a drizzle of honey -- proof that the utter fail I experienced is purely due to my skin chemistry rather than the nature of this blend, which is, after all, quite lovely. Edited August 20, 2009 by edenssixthday

[AmandaArcana]

Ok, I've let this one sit for about a month to settle before I tried it. I was very sold on it from the description but when I got it I wondered if they left something out when they made my bottle...like the honey, the fig, the berries...what I got is musk. When I put it on all I get is musk. Perhaps I need to let this age a while before I try it again...like next summer. Maybe then the other notes will show up.

[gingiemay]

Wet in bottle: Blackberry, blueberry, honey and a light musk, but not of the sharp, white variety, more like a pink or green.

 

Wet on skin - blueberries, blackberries and raspberries, similar to Crawdad Dream, with that greeny musky undertone. This is a little fresher smelling than Crawdad.

 

Dry on skin - There is the faintest sour scent that appears and then disappears after about 30 minutes. There is a faint honey-musk-berries but it disappears so fast. I'll have to hold this for a month or so and retest it.

[Little Bird]

In the bottle... this smells like a hint of blueberry drowning in a sea of sharp, clean, perfumey musk. This seems like it's going to be way too musky for me. It's not a good sort of musky either. It's harsh and chemical smelling.

 

On my skin... umm... berries? Hello?

 

There are no berries anywhere to be found.

 

I get nothing but bad musk from this, from start to finish. I normally amp up honey, berries, and fig notes, but the musk has apparently killed them off in this blend.

 

Yup. This is nothing but a sharp, clean, gross musk on me. It's a little bit like hairspray on my skin. Blech.

 

I'm really sorry that I bought two bottles of this, because it's pretty awful. It smells nothing like any of the listed notes.

[rayvn1]

So beautiful I knew I had to try this one and would regret not getting a bottle. This is a lovely warm burst of fig and musk primarily. Golden and luscious with juicy berries and the lovely blue berry note from Irrelevant and Surreally Disturbing Crawdad Dream. I'm so glad I have an imp and this puppy isn't going anywhere! (except on me)

[megank4]

oh no. The dreaded honey. I was hoping it would be more fig and blackberries, but no.

I will keep the bottle, hoping that it morphs and because I am collecting all the Lunacies of this year, but I don't think it will be as well loved as Strawberry or Smoky Moon.

 

ETA: I take it back. Apparently, if I slather it, it smells really good, though I am radiating "berry" throughout my office. It seems if I put a lot on, the honey is less.

Edited September 17, 2009 by Megank4

[Lyrical]

In vial: a very sweet and gentle berry scent, with no harshness or sharpness at all.

 

Wet on skin: golden sweet berries, honey and musk. Lovely! It immediately starts to go a little sour close to the skin (as honey does on me), but the throw is all mild and sweet summer berries and musk. Like a dish of freshly picked berries warmed by the sun!

 

Dry on skin: close to the skin this is nasty - the way BPAL honey often goes on my skin. The notes are very well blended, though, and the throw is still pretty berries and musk. The fig stays close to the skin, where the honey smothers it! Overall, though, I like this.

 

It fades far too quickly, leaving behind a gorgeous whisper of golden musk, fig and honey. In general, this is quite similar to Tomoe Gozen, but I like it better.

 

The far drydown is even better, as the honey has faded away almost entirely, leaving a soft, figgy musk! I wonder if this bodes well for aging?