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BPAL Madness!
RaeiNarcissus

Autumn Moon of the Mirror Stand

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Honey, quince, vanilla, white cognac, Spanish mandarin, and golden tobacco.

Urg. I'd been wanting to try this scent for a while now & recently got my hands on a 1/4 bottle. Tried it this morning & unfortunately... it's not loving me. All I'm really smelling is a greasy sort of tobacco; I have liked tobacco in other blends but this one just sin't sitting well on me.

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This starts out on such a good foot with the quince and honey, but it ends up a boozy, powdery mush when the cognac spoils the party :( To the swaps!

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Hmmm. Well, there was a chance this might smell good to me, but I've tried it 2 or 3 times and I just can't get myself to like it. I had a couple of excited minutes today when I thought it smelled like fruity incense, something I would like, but then it sort of smoothed out and just smelled like fruity plastic erasers or something from grade school. It turned cloying but not in the usual way that honey does, so I really don't know what is disagreeing with me here, but it's just not working out. I ended up washing it off, unfortunately. : (

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It seems like everyone is getting very different impressions of Autumn Moon depending on their skin chemistry, and I am no exception. From application to complete drydown, what I get from this blend is amber and... peach. Where the peach note comes from I have no idea, but there it is, and quite true at that.

 

After drydown, the honey finally comes out to play. It is reminiscent of the honey note in O, but much, much tamer and softer. Only after several hours do I get the merest hint of cognac and tobacco - surprising, as these are usually very assertive notes.

 

Autumn Moon is a warm, bright and golden scent, layered but not overly complicated. If I had to pick a single word to describe it, I'd say comfortable, although this does not do justice to the fact that it is also quite beautiful.

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I don't see a lot of quince around so it's nice to have a bottle of this. It's a tart-citrusy honey/vanilla with a shot of booziness. It's not gross boozy though. The quince is delicious, and it smells exactly like the membrillo paste in my fridge. Someone mentioned Li Hing Mui powder covered plums, and I have to agree. Not so much the plum, but the tangy powder.

 

This is beautiful and unique.

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Wet: this phase is not favorable for me.. a quick blast of skin musk then very tart quince mandarin and cognac. The combination smells like acidic b.o. I can see the association with salty sweet dried plums

 

drydown: About 5 minutes into it, the b.o. smell passes and it's lovely. The honey and vanilla are dominant now with light juicy quince pear, warm golden tobacco, and wafts of beguiling cognac. It stays this way for quite a while! Whew..because I bought a bottle blindly.

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Sticky sweet honey drizzled liberally over quince and mandarin. And then the cognac shows up and keeps it from being overly foody. I always love BPAL’s cognac note. This oil is sweet and fruity, yet rich and sexy. I thought there was rose in it, too. I’m getting something light and floral in the background.

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when first applied, there's something in here that smells like almond. as it dries, the honey starts to remind me quite strongly of O, a personal favorite. the tobacco & honey are lovely, but i don't get any quince or mandarin. unfortunately, cognac is a bad note on me and i end up with a sort of stale plastic scent underneath it all. this dries down to a very blah scent.

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This smelled like liquored-up raisin bran in the imp and when I first put it on my skin, which is probably because I used to think unlit cigarettes smelled like raisin bran. Soon it bloomed into tobacco dipped in cognac. Gradually the honey emerged. After about four or five hours it started to smell mostly of tobacco and honey.

 

After about six hours it was almost gone, so I dabbed on a bit more to make it last through the rest of my work day; big mistake. The smell was intensified, especially the boozy-woozy part, and I noticed a syrupy fruit smell (quince, I guess, but I've never smelled that). I began to get the familiar migraine-ish lightheaded sensation with occasional twinges in my head. Now, another six or seven hours later, it smells only of honey and tobacco and I'm no longer feeling like I might be getting a migraine.

 

Although I liked it when I put it on this morning, I hope that syrupy fruit smell won't be there when I wear it again because that's what made my head feel light and start hurting. Hopefully that was just because I had on too much of it.

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ITI: Oh, this is nice. I get mandarin, a little vanilla, and just a pinch of sharpness from the cognac. No quince or honey around (yet).

 

Wet: It's more musky on my skin, but the mandarin and cognac are still clear. I'm getting a hint of Robitussin for some reason as well.

 

Dry: It smells like paper, cognac, quince, and honey. Hmm, I'm not liking it as much while dry.

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This is GORGEOUS!

In the bottle it's gorgeous fruit and vanilla and a touch of slice and smokiness from the tobacco-- moth watering.

 

I'm a huge sucker for orange scents, and this is particularly juiced and delicious. The vanilla with the mandarin is like extra orange neroli--yum!! It's tart and has this sense of umami... It's an incredibly balanced blend. Sweet, creamy, smoky, woody, hazy, boozy-- yum!

 

Dry the honey really comes out and amps up everything, however the honey smell is right there strong on the skin while everything else throws its self around you.

 

If you like honey, you'll like honey scents. For a few minutes I was afraid the honey was going to overtake everything bug it backed off. Be warned if you don't like honey notes this is not for you.

 

Lovely, sweet sticky, orange tart yum!

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I am surprised I haven't gushed about this one. But on reflection it might be because it defies description.

 

First off let me say I do not know what the heck quince is... what it tastes like, what it looks like, what it smells like. I have had quince chutney a friend made for me but that was heavily spiced being a chutney and was eaten with Indian food so any quince-iness was lost in flavor explosions.

 

I like all the notes in this blend and they all like me back. {except for the aforementioned mysterious quince which I have no idea of our mutual like status}

 

The tobacco-- I am so confused by all the licked an ashtray gross reviews. Seriously this is the caramel french tobacco sn tobacco not some weirdo ashtray thing

 

the honey is rich and sticky

 

the cognac adds that sweetness you find in the laces. I do not get booze per se.

 

Overall this scent is an impression. I say apricot jam often but since there is no apricot in it I guess that makes me sound stupid. It is a rich orange golden color. Like a stained glass with light pouring through it. Or marmalade dripping down the side of a piece of toast--slightly warm sticky sweetness. It is very rich without being outright foody regardless of all my jam/marmalade/caramel efforts to describe it.

 

It vibrates with warmth

 

It is slightly sexy without being in your face about it. Sexy in a down to earth lush sort of way... you just want to sink into it. Like rich velvets and silks and darkened corners which doesn't sound very earthy but I did start of saying it defies description.

 

I have worn it daily for the past month or so with only a few breaks. For those that know me this is not typical. It definitely is the perfect autumnal scent.

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Cognac in the bottle. Goes on as cognac with a fruit note (maybe the quince?), which develops some more. The quince becomes mandarin, which edges into vanilla briefly. There's a little spice, possibly, and just when I start wondering about the tobacco it debuts, and that's where it stays. It's the lighter tobacco from Sherlock, so that's awesome for me.

There's almost no throw to this; I have to put my wrist right up to my face to smell it. I really like it and it's sort of killing me that I can't get any of it! This is the first Luper I've really been able to enjoy because almost every single one has one of my no-no notes (musk, sandalwood, incense, patchouli, dragon's blood).

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In the decant: I'm getting the honey, quince, and vanilla, with some cognac and tobacco.

 

Wet: A light honey, quince, some cognac, and golden tobacco, with a bit of mandarin. This is really light.

 

Dry: Lots of honey, quince, and vanilla. The honey in this is light and just pairs beautifully with the vanilla and quince.

 

Verdict: I'm glad I got to try this one! I don't think I need to hunt down more of it, but I do enjoy it.

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Wet: Mmmm. The honey fruit, and hints of gorgeous tobacco are stunning. I love this tobacco note. It's sweet and almost spicy. Gorgeous.

 

 

 

Dry: SO GOOD. Sweet, spicy, bright tobacco with fruit and honey. This is such a "me" scent. Really happy I finally got off the fence and bought a bottle.

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I was recently frimped a tester of this in a swap -- it had been on my wishlist for a while, and I was delighted to get to try it. Wet on my skin, the honey, vanilla and fruit were the first to show up. If I had been testing blind I would never have identified the quince (in fact, I think this may be the first quince blend I've tried), but it's quite nice. I never make out any mandarin. Gradually the tobacco and cognac came out, both soft and very lovely. The scent is gentle and wears close to the skin.

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Note: I'm testing a bit of oil in the bottom of a decant. This may limit my ability to give a complete or thorough review. 

 

In the decant: I can make out the vanilla and something vaguely fruity. 

 

On my skin:

 

Wet, I get the fruit and the honey initially. Within a moment, the vanilla resurfaces and what I think is the cognac starts to play. (There's a moment where the base of this perfume smells akin to what I've gathered is the honey-cognac mix in Sed Non Satiata.) 

 

On me, this morphs quite a lot as it's drying. I get plays of mandarin, another fruity note, some honey, some tobacco, some cognac, and some spice. The vanilla disappears on me, but that is often the case with my skin chemistry. 

 

Once it settles, however, it stays put pretty well -- and it's also pretty well balanced. The main note I get is closest to spiced pears (I'm guessing that's the quince). It's made richer by the honey and deeper by the cognac. I cannot pick out the tobacco individually; however, as someone who's historically amped tobacco into a near single note, I cannot say as I mind it being well-behaved here. 

 

The throw is quite low on me, but that could be attributable to the amount tested. 

 

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Oooh I'm really enjoying this. Soft, colourful, sexy vanilla covered in a blanket of gentle tobacco and cognac. The sharp reflection of moonlight on a silver mirror on an autumn night.

Edited by Cali

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