The Aurora Spaceship Takes a Dive

[Invidiana]

THE AURORA SPACESHIP TAKES A DIVE
Alas, poor spaceman!
We hardly knew you before
You smashed the windmill

On April 17, 1897, an alien spaceship appeared in the skies over Aurora, Texas. It came in too low, flying through the Aurora town square, and then hobbled north towards Judge Proctor's farm. There, it smashed into a windmill and exploded, destroying the judge's house and flower garden in a deluge of tons of debris and wreckage. The townspeople hurried to the scene, where they found the horribly burnt and disfigured corpse of the alien pilot. The kindly people of Aurora buried the unfortunate alien, keeping his gravesite a secret from curious onlookers.

Texas thistle, bluebell, red corn poppy, magnolia, sunflower, cedar sage, and smashed, flaming windmill.

I had a bit of hope for the magnolia, but unfortunately this really does end up as an herbal woody electrical fire on me. Wet, it's mostly an herbal floral for a couple of seconds, the thistle mostly responsible for the herbal part; not entirely unpleasant but not up my alley. As it dries down I really get hit hard with the cedar sage, cedar of which my skin notoriously amps like nobody's business and there's no exception here except the bit of herbal-medicinal undertone that comes from the sage. Then the whole flaming windmill note enters the scene and it isn't pretty. It takes over everything--even the cedar--with an overwhelming eau du electrical fire (and for the record I know all too well what electrical fires smell like); metal and wires and exploding sparks of electricity bursting into flame. There is something like an ozone or aquatic clashing with the fire note in this, which is what happened in Windy Moon and just did not bode well with my chemistry as it tends to turn that combination into singed tomato. I must say this brilliantly evokes a spaceship crash, but I just can't wear it.

[ralenth]

At first, I smell wildflowers, bright and sunny. During the drydown, it's predominantly sunflower, with whispers of magnolia and soft sage crushed under foot. I don't really get any fire here, though I do detect tinges of ozone. Definitely the standout of the Helicopters for me.

[angelicruin]

This is a slightly sweet, floral blend on my skin. I get magnolia more than any other note and cannot smell the sage on me.

[thekittenkat]

I got some lovely florals and lots of cedar sage (I love sage and cedar) and some sweetness, probably from the bluebells and magnolias. No smoke or flames or burnt wood. Might need a back-up.

[tailoredshirt]

In the imp and wet: Dishwashing soap, straight up.

 

Dry: As it dries, the strong soap smell fades a bit, but not much. This is a floral blend, although I can't really identify anything specific. After a while, I get two different scents - one is the heady, soapy floral, and the other is the cedar sage, which is sweet and herbal. It's gorgeous, and I wish I was getting that on its own, but the soapy floral is overpowering it.

 

Overall: I mostly get soap at first. Dries down with a sweet, herbal cedar sage, but the soapy floral overpowers it the entire time. Not for me.

[Molls]

I tried this last night, and it was a strong, sharp floral. I definitely got the "soapy" feel, it smelled like a cleaning solution for awhile, lol. I never got any smoke or fire smell. I may try it again, but it's probably headed towards swaps...

[Little Bird]

This mostly smells like fancy, expensive soap on me at first. I imagine a creamy looking bar of soap scented in perfumey, sharp, white florals and a drop of herbal sage. I smell this and think of bars of white soap sitting in clean hotel rooms. I normally don't like soapy scents or sharp florals, but something about this is oddly appealing to me. After about fifteen minutes, this smells much the same, except it's also starting to smell smoky, like someone lit a cigarette in the otherwise clean hotel room. Something about it also strikes me as being very strong and womanly (perhaps that strong, sharp, sure-of-itself floral perfume scent).

 

I should hate this scent, but I actually find it interesting and keep coming back to it... I don't know if I'd ever wear this, but I'll keep my decant and dab this on every once in a while. I like the images and feelings that this blend conjures up for me.

[fetish911]

Wet - florally... but a pretty floral, magnolias I am thinking.. I ususally don't like florals but this is actually pretty. As it dries down on my skin I am getting "soapy". While not dish deterg, a floral soapy- like those cute little flower shaped guest soaps my grams used to have in a pretty basket that I would play with as a child. I am thankfully not getting any burning smells or firey windmills here. I kinda like it! I don't think its bottle worthy, but I will enjoy my imp of it.

 

final rating- 3.5/5

[musichappens]

Wet, I got a heavy floral with a bit of an aquatic undertone. Not bad, just not what I was expecting. However, as it began to dry down the aquatic-ness that I was initially picking up on seemed to fade away and I was left with a bouquet of fresh magnolias and a single, subdued sunflower. There was no sage or smokiness to it whatsoever. This actually reminds me of a lighter Enchanted Wood Florist for some reason and since that's one of my favorite blends ever ... I think I'm going to need at least one bottle of this.

Edited May 9, 2010 by musichappens

[fairnymph]

Fresh, grassy, bright and outdoorsy greenery and wildflowers hit me first; clean, unisex, evocative with a hint of soap. This aspect reminds me of The Little Bird, quite a bit, and this feels more like greenery than florals despite the notes at first sniff. Searching more, I get a touch of something spicy, the dryness of the sunflower and sage (though I can't pick out the notes themselves), and a very subdued magnolia note that has a green edge - it's like magnolia buds. I get a smashed wooden note - it reminds me of the wood in 51 - and a hint of slightly stale smoke that I suspect is due to vetiver.

 

Much more floral instantly on my skin, as is typical of my chemistry, and edging a little more towards soapiness. The bluebell pops out, bright and fresh and a little sweet, the thistle is more distinctly grassy, and the magnolia has opened up a little, adding slightly heady richness and a white creaminess - very reminiscent of the note in Yvaine. I can pick out the sunflower fairly strongly now, and if I strain, the sage (which doesn't smell cedar-y to me) very faintly. The woody note is much the same, light and clean, a bit like freshly sawn wood, but without any dustiness - it really IS that smashed woods note from 51. I no longer get any smokiness at all. And I get something a little citrusy - almost like the green citrus peel - again, I'm reminded of 51, and this has a similar feel but is a much softer, fainter and more unisex scent, less sweet and more soapy, too.

 

Oh, I am really like how this is evolving! The lovely magnolia note is amping as is the bluebell, and this becoming more creamy while remaining fresh and palely green in feel, like milky grassiness. The slight kick of the poppy reminds me of the hint of leafy spiciness that I get from the Host of the Air, which generally the greenery as well reminds me of now - much more than the Little Bird as this scent initially resembled. The sunflower has faded, or been subdued by the other floral notes, so this is now only very faintly dry, and the sunflower note seems to blends with the smashed wood note, which grounds this scent and keeps it light at the same time - without the wood, bluebell, and thistle, the magnolia would be too heavy. The thistle note, in addition to adding the grassy greenness, adds a dewy tone that reminds me a lot of heather - or possibly heather is present here, too. And maybe the thistle is a little spicy, too? This scent has turned into something really gorgeous that's only marred by a tinge of Irish Spring-like soap.

 

This just goes too soapy for me; it's gradual, perhaps insidious...because it creeps up on me, it almost seems tolerable, but then I think of other scents in this niche - floral/green/fresh - and how much more I like so many others in comparison. I'm somewhat sad, because I don't really have a scent that blends grassy greenery and wildflowers with gentle, creamy magnolia, and I really LOVE the smashed wood note here, whatever it is, it's sort of sweet and musky, maybe a type of white sandalwood? And I like how this is mostly unisex, but leans a little towards the feminine side - that's right my alley. But the soapiness is too much, and furthermore - right after I put this on, I got really ITCHY *everywhere*, all over my body, and I'm pretty sure this is making my rosacea flare - so it's not a scent I really COULD wear, anyway. Faint throw, but decent longevity.

 

So far, I am really just extremely underwhelmed by this line; all the scents seem generic and are so faint in throw. Sadness, but honestly, the blend ended up pleasing me more than I expected after seeing the notes, so I'm not disappointed.

 

[milo]

At first, this is a mish mash of florals, kind of like a field of wildflowers. It reminds me of e pluribus unum at this point. Drydown is powdery, sour rose-like floral. I don't see rose listed, but something here is liking me very much and behaving like rose does on me. Not a fan. You gotta love sniffie circles.

[reynardine]

The bluebells, poppies and magnolia sounded interesting to me, which is why I got a decant to try, but it ends up too high-pitched floral upon application (and I LIKE florals!!!) and then with the drydown, other elements (I’m looking at you, sage) give it an unfortunate twist. Another example of a “storytelling” scent that is interesting in itself, but certainly not something I would wear.

[izile]

I had really wanted this to work. Even though I'm not entirely familiar with all of the notes as scents on their own.

 

In the bottle it did smell kind of omni-floral, though I got no hints of flaming windmills or anything like that. Just light (not at all magnolia) mixed wildflower bouquette.

 

On me. . dishwashing soap. Full power, that's all she wrote. I've never gotten the dishwashing soap reaction to a skintest before, so I wonder what caused it. But yup, hours later, it smells like I'm doing dishes. Disappointed.

[impolight]

:::THE AURORA SPACESHIP TAKES A DIVE:::

 

 

The Black Helicopter Series kicks so much bum! Just when it seems like there's a dark at the end of the tunnel, another of these blends is given a try and the fascination begins afresh.

There isn't too much familiarity with the notes listed in this one (the most recent encounter with a Flaming Windmill {hey, didn't Don Quixote think that was a Dragon? Windmill? Flaming?} being infuriatingly vague), but that did little to prevent The Aurora Spaceship Takes a Dive from leaving a big impression!

The nanosecond that this bottle was espied at Bat's Day Black Market, it just had to be fiddled with!

Poppy, in any incarnation, has proven to be a sure-fire hit every time!

Who doesn't want to know what a BlueBell smells like?

Texas Thistle?

Cedar Sage?

Sunflowers? Magnolia?

Startled Jackalope?

 

(just kidding about the Jackalope)

 

The Aurora Spaceship Takes a Dive just reeks of a very good time for you and everyone trying not to make eye-contact!

(Batteries not included!)

From the Bottle: VERY bright and clean! Something much more rough-and-ready had been imagined for this one.

Yeah, the floral notes were there all along but...

Crash!

Flaming Windmill!

Cedar!

Sage!

Texas!

Parts of the description for this fragrance made it seem like a sequence for an action movie.

Well, to be fair, at this phase, it does seem manly in a soapy kind of way.

A very chunky, uncontoured, geometrically concise, no-frills-blue bar of soap.

At most, there is an anchor carved onto it's surface.

Said bar of soap was likely transported home in the back of a work truck; alongside concrete-encrusted tools, exposed to direct sunlight and other generalised abuses.

Said bar of soap is intended for those in dire need of de-spackling.

The color Blue keeps making an impression.

In this sense, The Aurora Spaceship Takes a Dive is very remniscent of the feeling you get after getting a big nosefull of Wilde... Without the "posh", though...

A very BOY fragrance, to be sure at this stage.

So far, there has been no sighting (smelling) of any sort of Windmill, aflame or no...

Skinterstellar biochemical transmission report: Well, the soapy blueness has gone somewhat on the wane, while the note that wins the blue ribbon for ampage is... Magnolia!

This smells exactly like a stroll through the Redlands Historical District late in the summer evening/early mornings.

Right around 3 a.m., the Magnolias seem to slip right from their collage of waxy green leaves and float around your head in an undulating halo like so many jellyfish around a diving bell.

Also magnificent is this Red Corn Poppy. Skepticism was efficiently blotted out once this note was recognised; it is very much the Poppy characteristic fragrance with an almost dusty undertone of unpopped popcorn! Cool!

Bluebell is in there somewhere, but hard to discern.

The Thistle and Cedar Sage pretty much hide the entire time. Woe...

The Aurora Spaceaship Takes a Dive is an excellent addition to the Black Helicopter Series.

This is definitely unisex.

On Him, this fragrance has an almost nautical and ghostly feel to it.

On Her, The Aurora Spaceship Takes a Dive would feel fresh, ethereal and adrift atop a roiling tide of stampeding thunderheads...

This is a wild-eyed, wonderful scent!

A glaring 5 out of 5!

[ami226]

On the skin: cedar and the greenness of plants. Not getting any flaming windmill as far as I know.

 

Too green for me.

[zankoku_zen]

I definitely get the bluebells on wet, and yes, sort of reminds me to Host of Air minus the lilies. As it dries, I get other florals sort of peaking out - but they are warmer. If HoA is a cool Spring morning, ASTaD is more of a warm, summer 10 AM sort of blend. There's scorching heat, dust, and the hint of smoke (is that a windmill burning in the distance?)

 

On drydown I get more of the clary sage and sunflower.

 

I don't find this unpleasant, I actually kinda like it... but there is almost a soapy edge to me that is unpleasing. The throw is also very low, so this would be a scent I'd have to slather on. And I am not a slatherer.

[crebbsgirl]

Unfortunately this went mostly soapy on my skin, as most herbal/flowery blends tend to do. Very green and fresh.

[Gwydion]

In bottle: The sage and thistle blend very well with thie unusual florals. As I’m unfamiliar with two of the florals, I’m not going to be alble to discuss this in as educated way as I normally would. Suffice to say the floral blend is bright and complex, but simultaneously gentle. Wet: on my skin, the sunflower really stands out. The sage and thistles are nearly lost. It’s still quite interesting, but the effect is rather different. Dry: Fast fading to a soft, bright floral.

[PurringPulsar]

The Aurora Spaceship Takes a Dive

 

In the imp: bluebells and magnolias, and a bit of hay.

Wet on skin: soapy bluebell and white flowers. This smells like Host of the Air.

Dry on skin: interesting. This smells uncannily like wild grasses and weeds and wildflowers, but it’s also a bit soapy and the magnolia has a high-pitched white floral scent that seems to take over. I smell thistle, a dry, husky and almost hay or dry grass like note. I also smell what could be sage, but it’s a fresh green sage as opposed to a dry herbal type. I smell bluebells, but they seem to turn soapy on me, which saddens me because I love the smell of real bluebells. No burning windmill smell, nothing smoky or scorched here, but a lot of golden grass and hay and heady sultry flowers.

After a while: bluebells, magnolia and dry grasses. It smells a bit flat and soapy now. The magnolia has a kind of tinny cologne floral scent to it now, not keen on that. The bluebell has turned really odd (but thankfully it smells faint now) and now smells greener, and quite bitter. I smell hints of hay and thistle, and at this point I smell some smoke. Again, not bonfire, but more like hazy, gently smouldering wood and a hint of tobacco. The scent does have moments when it smells like a summer’s afternoon in a dried up prairie, and I can almost hear the crickets singing…but sadly the florals make this too soapy.

Verdict: very evocative of its setting, I smell this and I see golden plains shimmering in the heat haze, dotted with colourful wildflowers, a hint of magnolia wafting from a nearby garden. I’m looking for the smouldering remains of a windmill or even a fallen spaceship but it seems the, erm, authorities, got there first and covered it up because I can’t really smell any smoke or ruins here, just a hint but not enough. And the flowers here turn bad on my skin. The bluebell turns soapy, the magnolia overwhelms and smells like a generic floral perfumey scent. Not my thing.

Emoticon rating:

Is it a keeper? no.

If you like this, try: Host of the Air, Poisson D’Avril, Little Bird

[MonkeysInk]

In the imp, this smells rather generically floral.

 

On the skin, it continues to smell like a warm floral with a little bit of electric fire in the background, but the fire is faint, and mostly I get floral. And hay...now there's some hay. Then magnolia...and the fire moves further forward. Hot and dry.

 

Not sure if I'll order a full size, as I'm not keen on smelling like electrical fire, but I love the florals in this one and am going to seek out some other scents with the same floral notes.

[Coldfire]

 

 

 

Decant: a bright and sunny floral. like a field of wildflowers

Wet on Me: still a bright and sunny floral with an almost aquatic undertone

Drying Down: Lovely wildflower field with a slight herbal-y and aquatic undertone

Dry: This is the perfect light wildflower scent. divine.

[sarielswish]

In the vial, I'm getting *lots* of wildflowers... I think mostly sage, poppy, and sunflower. Unfortunately, it has a distinct soapiness to it, even in the imp. Color, powder blue.

 

Wet on my skin, it's magnolia, sage, sunflower, and bluebell. In other words, laundry detergent. Meh. It's really not far from Dirty, to my nose.

 

10-15 minute drydown - Eh. Just smells like dryer sheets or laundry detergent to me, really. Not that that's a bad smell, I'd just rather my *clothes* smell like it - not me.

[edenssixthday]

The Aurora Spaceship Takes a Dive - I don't smell much in the way of wildflowers -- a bit, but they're far, far in the background. To me, this smells predominantly like a ton of hay and woods. It's got a fairly masculine cologne scent, in an oddly semi-aquatic way, and I say "oddly" because it doesn't quite fit with the hay and woods. This is definitely not my type of scent. Sorry.

[pandorasmuse]

"On April 17, 1897, an alien spaceship appeared in the skies over Aurora, Texas." April 17 is my birthday. I REALLY hope this will work, pretty much for just that reason.

 

In the decant: Sweet wildflowers as the sun is setting and a bit of charred wood.

 

Wet: And we’re off with a soapy nose. But it’s not overwhelming or unpleasant. It’s nice soap, not motel freebie soap.

 

Drydown: More soap.

 

Later: Nope. All soap. I am so disappointed—this was supposed to be my birthday scent!

[tajana]

It's clean, though I'd hesitate to go so far as to call it "soapy". It goes on as a mélange of airy wildflowers, just barely grounded by the cedar sage. No one flower comes through loudest, and the magnolia is really subdued on my skin, there's nothing heady about this scent. The image I get is of a wide open field dotted with hardy little thistles, tiny red poppies, and sunflowers under a cloudless blue sky... it takes a while to notice the distant, wispy pillar of smoke rising up on the horizon. After it dries down, the tiny hint of smoky wood peeks out, but its very dry, crisp, and delicate, and the clean dry grass and weedy wildflower scent stays dominant. The thing is, though, this scent is so very light. Even if I slather, it vanishes before an hour is up.

Edited December 5, 2010 by findaghost