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The scent of warm, glowing jack o’lanterns on a warm autumn night: true Halloween pumpkin, spiced with nutmeg, glowing peach and murky clove.


Jack is another one I could've sworn I reviewed but apparently didn't, even though I've had both the old and new formulations. In a nutshell, the old Jack was smokier and the new is more buttery, but they are both super-pumpkin and make me smile with their perfect Halloweeniness. I don't wear Jack on myself, but it's a must in the oil burner in autumn.

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I'm on a mission to try imps of all Beth's blends except LE's - I was leery of Jack because I don't like the taste of pumpkin pie, or pumpkin anything. Also not a big fan of nutmeg and clove usually doesn't like my skin chemistry. Still, Beth can do magic with blending, so . . .

 

I have a big problem with Jack, but it's not what I thought. I smell no pumpkin or nutmeg - on me, Jack smells like buttery burning plastic with a hint of pepper, which is probably the clove. What's worse, I'm itching badly everywhere I applied it. Must go scrub it off!

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Oh, I am SOOoooo disappointed! I had wanted this, and wanted it, and wanted it, and finally found an imp, and....

 

... IT HATES ME! :P

 

Wet: Overwhelmingly, sharply rancid, with something animal and decomposing mixed in. Dead dog rotting under the porch in a vat of rancid butter. Utterly rank.

:D

 

Oh, where are the peach and clove? Where is the pumpkin? Where is the crisp, sweet and spicy Jack of my imagination?

:D

 

Dry: Thank goodness! The stench has gone, leaving me with a slightly burned pumpkin smell. No cloves. No peach. Plain ol' singed pumpkin.

 

This is remarkable, actually. It is the perfect scent of a jack-o-lantern - fresh pumpkin slightly burned by the candle inside. Even if I could bypass the initial olfactory assault, this is probably not something I would wear, although I am greatly impressed by its artistry.

 

AND IT WON'T WASH OFF! This one really hates me! AAaararrrrgggghhhhhhhhhh.....

 

I sure could use a little bit of something with pumpkin with cloves and peaches... Mmmm... [daydreaming]

 

Oh well, ya win some, ya lose some. I simply must go and bathe in something smellier-than-thou right now...

Edited by celtimor

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On my skin: A heavy, cloying, overbuttered mess that sinks straight to the bottom of my lungs and sits there like a stone.

 

In the oil burner: A warm, slightly spicy pumpkin. A little more spice, and it would smell exactly like baking pumpkin bread. Cozy, welcoming, utterly yummy.

 

Verdict: A fantastic room scent--just keep it off my skin!

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In the vial: nutmeg and clove, spicy pumpkin pie!

 

On the skin: Pretty much the same. It's a warm foody scent that reminds me of that whole period of time between Hallowe'en and Thanksgiving. A bit over powering at first, but it's quite tasty to keep smelling.

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jack.jpg

This is a scent that is quintessential autumn.

 

It is very pumpkin-y. Like the scent of jack-o-lanterns that have sat outside all night, their orange flesh warmed by candles. When we were little, I'd always sprinkle the lid with cinnamon, and stick cloves into the underside so it would all warm up and have a nice spiced scent. This reminds me of that so much, but even richer. This scent has a definite "buttery" aspect to it. And unfortunately, my skin eats clove, so it's not exactly the same. But this is definitely like a jack-o-lantern in a bottle to me.

 

 

edit: grammar

Edited by Diana

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In the imp: Gingerbread! Actually, it's more precisely the scent of Ginger Nut biscuits. Man, now I'm hungry.

 

On me, wet: when applying this I couldn't shake the feeling that I was smearing some sort of biscuit batter on my wrist. After a few moments, the peach started cutting through and adding a juiciness to the scent.

 

On me, dry: oh god this is making me so hungry for gingery biscuits. Up close, the peach isn't particularly nice, but further away this is all tasty foody goodness.

 

Later: wargh, that peach note is getting stronger and more unpleasant. Man, this'd be so good if the peach would go away and stop being mildly rotten behind it.

 

Verdict: I think I'm going to have to wait for a SO verdict on this, since I can just about tolerate the peach and he might like it. ...and he likes it a lot, peach included. Weird boy, but I guess it's a keeper.

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Quick sniffy impressions:

 

Rum cake! Pumpkin pie! Fruit cake (the good kind, not the store-bought everlasting undead version)! I need to eat! Every scent is making my mouth water! I want to nibble on the label.

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In the imp: peach and oatmeal?

 

Wet: I'm still getting peach and a warm slightly spiced oatmeal scent - reminds me of that brown sugar oatmeal I like. No clue what's causing me to think of oatmeal.

 

Dry: I'm not exactly sure what the scent is. Peach is definitely the top note. Then a creamy slightly buttery scent. Next, a wiff of pumpkin and nutmeg - but just a whiff. Getting no clove at all. It all melds together into this lovely lovely scent. It's... um... more candle-like than a foody-I'm-up-to-my-eyebrows-in-pumpkin-bread type of scent. Later on, the nutmeg tends to come out just a bit more - I guess it got over it's shyness.

 

Overall: 9 out of 10. There's something about Jack I just can't put into words, but I want more of it. Not as much pumpkin or as foody as I thought it would be. I'm going to have to be beating people off with sticks to keep them from sniffing my arms.

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Wet, heavy, heady butter and pumpkin. When I wear this scent it's all around me- it smells as if I've been cooking. There's somthing that smells almost like green vegetables in the background of this (not a bad thing for me- I love tomato and celery notes). The first whiff I sniff smells like spicy pumpkin bread (good!) the second is like green vegetables. I almost think it's the peach that my nose is mistaking for vegetables.

 

I really like what this dries into- a warm, pumpkin, cooking scent, but I like it more as a room scent than as a perfume.

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Smells a little like pumpkin bread and has a slight Play-Doh undertone. This is a less complex pumpkin blend than found in the Pumpkin Patch, and reminds me most of PP5.

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I wanted to like this. I really did. I liked all the the Pumpkin Patch scents. But this smelt too rich. Too much butter, too little pumpkin. This was overpoweringly cloying. The peach was there, but it was hiding.

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This smelled like caramel popcorn in the bottle! As it dried, the sweetness mellowed quite a bit. It is like halloween as a child: the spicy smell of candles burning in carved pumpkins, a bag of sweets, and a warm home filled with the smells of baking. Yummm!

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Yummy pumpkin pie-sort of goodness. It smells a lot of sweetened condensed milk and a little cinnamon, maybe. But it's delicious.

 

When our little group were sniffing Jack, we all loved it! And then one of our friends, Jack, called and we all told him how much we love him and want to wear him! *laugh*

 

It's another one of these powerful sweet, foody types that I love on me.

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In the vial I was kind of taken aback by how strong this one smells...

Spices, with a hint of pumpkin pie goodness..

 

When I put this on my skin, it smelled like butter...buttered pumpkin bread.

It also tingled a little - probably from the cinnamon.

 

I wanted to like this one so much, but as it dried down - it started to smell like...carmel corn almost on me, and I just couldn't deal with wearing it.

 

*sighs*

 

Bye bye Jack.

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Imp sniff: Nutmeg and cloves, and husky pumpkin. The peach glistens moistly in the background, but it is definitely there and bold.

 

First on skin: Jack is quite pretty when it goes on - a nice balance between spice, pumpkin smell, and peach.

 

Later: The longer Jack is warmed, the more it seems to go through an odd maturation process… it becomes more spicey and more juicy-peach, but there is an odd muskiness (possibly the pumpkin) which tends to catch in thr throat. It is pleasant enough at a gentle whiff, but a little too much for constant contact.

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In the bottle: buttery pumpkin.

 

On skin, wet: Synthy pumpkin, like pumpkin-candle scent, with something a bit plastic in the background. Over time, though, it fades and mellows. It's still a bit too sweet and synthetic, though, and so Jack is probably not a keeper for me. I'm glad I got to try it, though.

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This was the first BPAL oil I ever tried- I was surprised to see I had never reviewed it...

 

Jack was almost all butter on me (my skin really amps butter notes) and made it so rich that I almost felt ill...but behind the butter I could smell a lovely pumpkin spice, so if you don't amp buttery scents you'll no doubt love Jack.

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In the bottle: sweet, buttery fruit pudding. Very foody--definitely a 'pudding' smell, very rich and heavy. It reminds me of the puddings served in Hall at my old university.

 

Wet: The butter really comes to the front. I can detect a hint of spice, which I like. It's not overpowering. I think I like it, but I'm not sure.

 

Dry: Ack! I'm wearing bread and butter pudding! The sweetness and the butter has really amped up, completely overpowering the fruit notes and shoving the spices right to the back. It's too sweet for me--every time I bring my wrist too near my face I feel slightly sick.

 

Later: It's got a good staying power. I can still smell it several hours later. My skin has continued to amp up the butter and sweetness, unfortunately. There's no way I'm going to be able to wear this.

 

I might save this until autumn and see how it works as a room fragrance. I quite liked it in the bottle, but sadly my chemistry doesn't agree with it.

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I love pumpkin anything, and I've really liked most of the BPALs I've tried, so I had high hopes for Jack...but with my chemistry this evolved from a BUTTER-laden beginning, through a strong PEACH candle wet stage, then to a burnt PLASTIC drydown. Weird, and so disappointing that I can't even detect any of the pumpkin or spices others are getting.

 

I have now transferred those high hopes to the wish for another GC pumpkin blend. Or maybe the Pumpkin Patch will return in the fall!

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I received Jack as a frimp in a swap, and I was rather jazzed to try it. I smelled it in the imp and whoa, I loved the whiff -- a very nutty, buttery, spicy pumpkin. I put it on my skin and it's a beautiful warm, foody, autumnal scent. For about an hour after I first applied it, I was ready to run off and order a bottle of Jack right away. But it is good that I got busy and spaced it off, because after an hour, it turned pure clove on my skin. And clove in its very un-sweet purity. I think my skin amps clove mightily -- this happened to me with Al-Shairan, also. :P And thus, it takes over all of the wonderfully warm and buttery elements of Jack. Dang. For anyone who doesn't have this problem and loves a truly comforting autumn scent, I think Jack would be a dream.

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Oh I love Jack, and he Loves me back!

 

In the vial and when I first apply it smells like buttery pumpkin bread. After a while the buttery note goes to the background and the sweetness of the spices and what seems to be a carmel scent (but not a BURNT carmel scent!) comes through. On me, this is such a perfect scent I may end up buying multiple bottles!

 

This is one of those Autumn scents that I would wear all year long. I'm glad I found you Jack!

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In the bottle: Oh man....So...fruity but spicey and....ugh makes my stomach turn. I think that's the peach. On the skin you go....

 

Wet: UGH the peach is there more! ::.stompstompstomp.:: Go away peach! GO AWAY! If the peach wasn't there I think this scent would've been better...

 

Dry: This has to come off. I can't stand it anymore. The peach kicked the crap out of everything.

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Jack - On my skin, Jack smells like someone mixed a bit of pumpkin butter in with a big bin of buttered popcorn. It's rich and nauseating. Unfortunately, it also lasts a really long time on my skin. It's one of the few BPALs that I couldn't wear until it wore off, and had to wash off after 30 minutes or so. It's not quite in the category of "truly vile," but it's not something I ever want to touch again.

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At first, I had a hard time smelling the pumpkin in this. It just smelled like buttery peach cobbler. Now that I've gotten used to the BPAL pumpkin note, I can definitely smell it in here.

 

I can smell pumpkin (buttery, with just a touch of spice), strong peaches and tiny hint of something warm. Honey? Amber? Odd, but somehow still appealing.

 

Very comforting...this will be great in the fall. The peach note can be a little strong and overly cloying, so I'm going to try and find a pumpkin scent to layer this one with. I wish the peach wasn't in here. For that reason, I probably wouldn't buy a full bottle.

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