Harvest Moon 2010

[thekittenkat]

HARVEST MOON 2010
Harvest Moon is celebrated in almost every culture, and the bounty of the season is marked in a myriad of ways. Harvest Moon touches the Equinox, the festival of Janus, the culmination of Homowo, the "crying of the neck" in Cornwall, and the Women's Festival of the Moon. This is a day that celebrates abundance and beauty, fertility and progress, and the light of this full moon blesses new undertakings and reunites lost loves.

The Harvest Moon, by definition, is the Full Moon that falls closest to the Autumnal Equinox, and thus, it shares some of that Sabbat's characteristics. This Full Moon was thus named because it rises within half an hour of the sun's setting, in the Northern Hemisphere, and at this time farmers are able to work longer into the night by the light of this Moon. As the year draws to a close, the Full Moon rises an average of fifty minutes later each night, with the exception of a few nights surrounding the Harvest Moon, which only rises 10-30 minutes later. This moon is also, to the human eye, the fullest and largest of the year's Moons, hanging gloriously huge, yellow and low in the night sky, and many lunar illusions play tricks our eyes at this time.

The Harvest ushers in many celebrations, including the Equinox and the Festival of Janus, God of Doors. Janus is the Roman Lord of Gateways, beginnings and endings, and transitions. Thus, the Harvest Moon is a time for blessing new ventures, the onset of new and progressive phases in one's life, and rites of passage into adulthood. This time of year also marks one of the Festivals of Dionysus, Lord of Ecstasy and the Vine.

This Harvest lunacy combines the autumnal scents of dry leaves, mulling spices, balsam fir, cedar, juniper berry, clove, saffron, damson plum, sage, yarrow, and lily twined with Dionysus' sacred grapes and ivy, a bounty of apple and pumpkin, and the amaranth and lingum aloes of Janus, all touched by a gentle breath of festival woodsmoke and sweet wine.

This is a review of the proto at DSWC. I will edit this review when I have my bottle in hand. In the meantime, I am posting this brief review because the Lab is being so kind to leave Harvest Moon '10 up so that us WC folks can report back to you.

In the bottle, wet, and in the dry-down, for a large combination of notes, this is very well-blended. It does give a lovely impression of drying fields once the harvest is done. However, I'm not getting any of the fruit, esp. the apple or pumpkin; and I gather that this was a few other people's impression at WC as well. I will have to do a comparison of this with previous versions later on. I like this fine, but one bottle will do me just fine.

[LdyKnight]

In the bottle this is very sweet, I mostly get wine and some sort of fruit, and some lily. On, I immediately start to amp the balsam fir and cedar--I was so, so hoping for spices and fruit and leaves, but I knew it was a risk with the fir and cedar. After two minutes this is all nasty cheap car air freshener on me. So sad.

[xscpx]

At first application, it is overwhelming cedar and what I believe is balsam fir. It's so strong it makes my eyes water. After about 30 minutes, it cools down to a really pretty scent, but I can't really make any notes out. Then BAM it's totally gone without a trace. Strange.

 

I live in Florida where it is 98474524996 degrees out and it is fresh, so I'm going to give it a week or so to relax before I try it again.

[Wolfie79]

In the bottle, I smell mainly the apple and the plum notes, I think.

 

Once I apply the oil, I start to smell the apple + mulling spices (no heavy cinnamon, though, thankfully), and then the pumpkin. Not buttery or spicy pumpkin, just natural pumpkin. I'm not detecting the cedar or fir notes, but I do detect just a hint of something 'plant-like' in the background.

[sunlitgarden]

Harvest Moon 2010

 

In the bottle Harvest Moon 2010 is a mixture of many different organic smells. It smells sweet, but also planty/vegetable-like. Unfortunately, the scent mixture is kind of overwhelming to me and reminds me a bit of a compost heap -- it has that rotting, too-sweet edge.

 

Once applied, Harvest Moon is sweeter than I expected it to be. There are so many notes that it's hard to pick out individual ones, but it smells a little orange-peachy. Unfortunately, the slightly-too-sweet-rotting smell is still there.

 

The throw-smell is better, as not everything is hitting me at once like it does when I sniff my wrist. It smells sweet, and a bit spiced.

 

As it dries down more, the spices become more apparent, and the overall impression is less compost-like. But I'm not sure I can handle getting to this point.

Edited September 16, 2010 by sunlitgarden

[cuervosueno]

I just got mine out of my mailbox, so my impressions may change, but right now I like it. It is not like I expected: I expected to be able to smell the cedar and balsam, but I do not. I get a golden smell, like autumn light, and I do also get the orange/peach vibe sunlitgarden is talking about, but on me it is not to sweet or rotting.

 

There is something pungent but sweet under there...probably sweet wine and grapes. There is a wisp of woodsmoke, so far off I can barely detect it.

 

This evokes the harvest colors of gold and brown to me, but it is slightly perfumy as well. I think I like it.....will see how it wears!

 

eta: after a few minutes the spices do come out, and it is a bit more like mulled...cider I guess, though not quite cider. It becomes a bit more cinnamony than I like, but we'll see!

Edited September 16, 2010 by cuervosueno

[CynicalPink]

Fresh out the mailbox, so I'll probably need to revisit this review in a few days.

 

Bottle: Apple pumpkin wine smoke cedar...Wow.

 

Wet: Juniper, lily out of effing nowhere, some sour plum. Still very pleasant, but not at all what I was expecting

 

Drydown: 1) LILY. I'm sorry, there were other notes in this? I can't smell them over all the LILY

2) Lily and something spice-like. I don't want to call it spicy because that's not quite right. It smells a lot like my Dorain series Chaos Theory, only less subtle.

 

This is nothing at all like what I expected. I think it needs sometime to recover from its trip in the mail. For so many notes, this is pretty one sided...and it's on the side of LILY

[boxinghelena]

At first Harvest Moon 2010 went horribly wrong on my skin. I'm not sure if it was the cedar or lily note. Most wood scents do not work on me & I really love lily but if it's the lily in Black lily *shudders* don't even want to think about it.

 

It finally morphed into a really nice autumn blend. I had hoped pumpkin would be the dominant note in this blend but alas, I don't even detect it *boo* but the sweet wine note saved this scent for me.

 

It's a keeper.

[reynardine]

In the bottle, I’m getting lilies and dry leaves? Very odd, this is not anything like the previous two Harvest Moon blends I’ve tried at all. On the skin, I start to get a bit of the tree scents (either the fir or cedar?) and mulling spices. This one is such a morpher! Now I’m getting the wine (I amp booze notes like whoa) and yes, a touch of woodsmoke. Of the three Harvest Moons I’ve tried (2006, 2008, 2010), this one is by far my favorite.

 

(Note: I’m probably going to use it a lot this fall. Given how much it is morphing even now, no telling what ageing will do to it.)

[melange]

I'm a big fan of Harvest Moon from previous years, especially '05, so I had my fingers crossed for this one!

 

Fresh on my skin, and for the first while thereafter, I get the balsam fir, cedar, juniper and their ilk. Later, they sit back and the fruits and spices come out. I applied it last night and woke up this morning with a pleasant whiff of pumpkin pie... in a way that wasn't super foody. I also applied it today and six hours later have a blended sense of subtle spices and autumn without any one note jumping out at me. There's no rotting edge or LILY on my skin, so I think I lucked out. Though there isn't quite as much throw as I'd like, that probably makes it more wearable for everyday. I like it a lot!

[Dymphna]

In the bottle: Wow, this is not what I expected. It's a light, almost citrusy scent that reminds me a bit of orange blossom minus the acrid, nostril-burning smell I usually get from orange blossom. So...a light, not too sweet citrus. On second sniff, it does remind me of the original October (haven't tried this year's version), but not as overwhelmingly cologne-y as that one was to my nose. It's definitely the same or very similar light, citrusy "dry leaves" note as in October, as opposed to the smokier one (which I love) in Falling Leaf Moon. Right behind that is a creamy note--not buttery, but a sort of organic, vegetal creaminess like in a pumpkin, apple, or pear.

 

Wet: There's the citrusy scent and the creamy note, and right behind that is a gorgeous, warm, glowing spice. It's not medicinal clove of doom, as I'd feared. It's really beautiful, just sweet, well-blended spices that compliment the creamy and citrus notes perfectly.

 

Dry: Just completely gorgeous. Imagine spicy, creamy pumpkin pie custard, but with a dose of bright orange to keep it from going too creamy. Not buttery at all to my nose--not that I mind buttery pumpkin notes, but I know some do. This reminds me a lot of a less feminine Pumpkin Queen, minus the more perfumey notes like the Egyptian amber and plus some darker notes that make it more gender neutral. The darker green and brown notes, the cedar and juniper and fir and ivy, are keeping this from turning foody. It's just perfectly autumnal, the kind of scent I can imagine wearing to go for a walk on a blustery autumn day. For those who like to use oils in a burner, this one will work wonderfully as a room scent, too.

 

I almost didn't order this one and I'm so glad that I decided to get it!

[edenssixthday]

Harvest Moon 2010 - This is my favorite of the Harvest Moons so far. When I first put it on, it smells very green and fruity, but as it warms up on my skin, the dry leaf scent really comes out and blends beautifully well with the wine and plum, which give a sweetness to the autumnal leaves. I smell apple and juniper berry, clove, and mulling spices around that, which gives the scent a lot of texture. The amaranth is quite identifiable, too, giving the scent a hint of dry graininess that blends wonderfully with the other notes. Overall, it's a perfect fall scent full of dry leaves, dark fruits, woods, spices, and grains. It's really wonderful for the first 30 minutes or so, but then something happens on my skin, and for the next several hours, all I smell is the amaranth. Stupid skin chemistry.

Edited September 19, 2010 by Edens Sixth Day

[bronwyn]

In the bottle, it smells oddly like a silkworm/silk moth sort of thing - that leafy green and something else. (Did anyone else do that little bio sort of thing in gradeschool?) It's an odd, earthy mulberry scent.

 

On, I smell rather like a cheap "autumn woods" sort of candle. The kind Glade won't even put their name on. There is no apple or spice, or woodsmoke, or grapes, or any other sweet-ish notes to cut through the leafy balsam note. Yuck!

 

Here's hoping this mellows with age and/or a LOT more drydown, but right now, I smell like cheap candles and stale Christmas stores.

 

0 for 2 on my Autumn purchases this year from the Lab. So depressing.

[biocarolyn]

This is beautiful on me. Wet, I smell something that I would think was orange peel, but that doesn't seem to be listed among the notes. Maybe plum and apple? Anyway, it is very strong when wet, almost a juicy, fruity smell. It is sweet-tart on me, not rotting at all.

 

As it dries, the mulling spices come out, along with a green scent that could be aloe or ivy. The "feel" is ivy- I'm not sure what the aloe note smells like, but this seems drier so I think it might be ivy. If I really try, I can find the fir, cedar, and woodsmoke.

 

The whole is warm and fall-like, and so far my favorite of the fall blends I've tried this year!

[fairestrocza]

Full moon tonight, on the Equinox!

 

In the Bottle: sweet, green, fruity, with the faintest touch of evergreen (the fir?), a touch of mulling spices, and something that reminds me of the sugar note in one of the Moths.

 

Wet on Skin: It is easier to say what this isn't than what this is… I don't smell dry leaves, cedar, clove, apple, pumpkin or smoke. What I do smell: plum, balsam fir, wine… some of the other notes might be present, but there are a few here with which I am unfamiliar. Major throw while wet.

 

While Drying: Inhaling, the first scent that catches my notice is an evergreen, probably the fir with just a touch of the juniper berry. However, the dominant scent is something else, and I'm finding it hard to pin down. There is a sweetness here, but I wouldn't classify it as foody, fruity or floral. I'm tempted to say I smell lily, but lily usually hates me, and this is a nice scent. There is something green and vegetative here. I catch the occasion scent of mulling spices, and just a touch of clove.

 

After a Little While: This has just enough throw that I don't really smell it when I'm not paying attention, but when I bring my hands near my face, I get a pleasant burst of scent. If I stop trying to pick apart the scent, and just let it roll over me, I'd describe it simply as 'sweet growing things.' It is a very unusual scent, but I think I like it. Of the other people who smelled it on me, one noticed primarily bright evergreens, another described it as 'clean and fresh,' and The Boy said it could clear his sinuses from 3 feet.

 

Later: The dominant smell from the early stages is still present, but significantly toned down. After about 4 hours, the throw decreases significantly, and some of the brighter notes give way to warmer, softer tones.

 

Final Thoughts: Harvest Moon seems to be very skin and nose dependent. Of the three of us who tried this, nobody smelled the same, and nobody agreed on what notes or even what scent category any of us were exhibiting.

Harvest Moon 2010 earns a 3.5/5... maybe a 4/5 on my skin.

[Ashenrook]

Just got this from the most recent Brick and Mortar!

 

In the Bottle

I pick out the smell of the sweet wine, mulling spices, and pumpkin. There's also some apple in there too! Yummy.

 

On Skin: Wet

...Oh no. It seems that this doesn't work as nicely as I thought it did when I tested it at the Lunacy. I guess too many scents mixed/conflicted with it, perhaps.

 

It's very sweet...and very fake smelling. Like cheap autumn punch. All I get is sweet wine, mulling spices, pumpkin, and...something else. Grapes, I think.

 

On Skin: Dry

There's no ivy or flowers here... Not even woodsmoke. Only spices and cheap punch.

 

Afternotes

Spices. While it's not strong, thankfully, it's just nothing but.

 

 

Verdict

On an American scholastic grading scale, I'd give this a C.

 

It's unfortunate, really. This one seemed to have so much potential! But I am afraid I'm not a fan.

[claudia6913]

In the bottle: I'm not sure how to describe this as I can't pick out individual notes very well, but this is a sweet scent rounded out with fruits - but not fresh fruits, they've been mulled a little or cooked giving it a slightly alcoholic scent.

 

Wet on skin: It doesn't morph upon touching my skin. Still a sort of fermented multi-fruit wine scent with a hint of cool breezes and a touch of smoke.

 

Drydown: Still not morphing, and I'm not amping the balsam fir like I feared. It's such a complex scent and if I knew what all the notes smelled like individually, I'm sure I could pick them out.

 

Dry: Warm, comforting, sweet, slightly smoky. It's like sitting in front of a small fire on a cool night complete with roasted fruits and sweet wine.

 

Overall: I like this much more than I thought I would. I'm glad I splurged and got a half bottle. The throw is pretty good.

[Monster]

Wow...very complex. In the bottle this smells like fresh, sharp herbs and mulling spices.

On my skin this is a lot of juniper and mulled apple cider. As it dries it turns to a friendly potpourri scent. I smell like a craft store.

 

I think this would work well in an oil burner just not on my skin. And since I feel guilty using BPAL oils in burners this one is off to swaps where someone else might enjoy it. This isn't bad at all, it's very pleasant just not my thing.

[SophieCedar]

I try to stay optimistic in my reviews, but this was.. sigh.

 

In the bottle: apple, plum, dry leaves and a touch of smoke. nice!

Wet: I hate to say it but must be honest.. On my skin, smells like a rancid compost pile, peed upon, then lit on fire. Sorry for the mental picture but Oh boy.. this one does not work on me, unfortunately. I've never had such a bad experience with a bpal scent... that's saying a lot after about 500 scents! The juniper and ivy combine forces with smoke, wine, spices, & dry leaves then amps to this loud impenetrable wall of gross.

Drydown: I hung in there (lest we forget Encroaching Madness..? I'm hopeful.) It doesn't turn right on me at any point.

Edited September 25, 2010 by SophieCedar

[forspecial_plate]

This is an odd scent. It is complex and I'm smelling things that aren't even there. I could make a whole checklist of notes I smell and notes I don't smell, but I won't. When I first put it on I smell tomato, and I'm not sure where that comes from. Basically I smell some deep fruits and spices, but as a whole there is a 'deep' quality here and I can tell there are a lot of 'supporting' notes. After some time passed I smelled a more floral and herbal aspect.

 

Basically, this smells more like an atmosphere scent than a perfume to me, and this is coming from someone who likes to walk around smelling like a craft store or candle store. I might be able to wear this but I think it just needs to be put away in a box for a while, like maybe a few months. It could be one of those scents that totally wows me after it has had time to mature just a little bit. It could be that I'm just not 'getting' it right now so I will try again later.

[het4377]

Wow, this is NOTHING like the previous iterations of Harvest Moon I've tried ('08 and '05).

 

In the Bottle: I'm immediately stuck by both the simplicity of the notes that I get upon initial sniffing, and the complexity that acts as the underlying foundation. I can clearly detect the combined fruity effect of plum, apple, grapes and wine with a predominantly citrus-y feel to the blend. Dry grasses, leaves and saffron are also detectable.

 

Wet: Grapes and wine, with a curtain of earthy greenness hanging in behind. Getting a increasingly semi-powdery citrus coming to the forefront with a hint of freshly cut flowers kept past their prime. Sensing that is blend isn't going to like my skin chemistry I place a dot of the oil on a cotton square to see how it develops without the treachery of my body.

 

Drydown: On me, this has become mostly powdery citrus (like Smarties orange flavor is you know what I mean) with a smidge of tart grape and freshly cut greenery lurking close to the skin. Meanwhile, on the cotton pad this is retaining its crisp feel, with the strongest note being tart grape/wine, with not much else.

 

Dry: Unfortunately, the sickeningly-sweet powdery citrus stage seems to be here to stay. If anything, the longer I wear this, the more powdery it becomes, until it starts to fade about 5 hours in. The cotton pad is a totally different scent though! It's this delightfully warm grape/apple/wine blend with a hint of green woodiness at the base.

 

Final Verdict: It's my skin chemistry that has betrayed me on this one, I am sure of it. I absolutely love this on the cotton swatch though! At least it's a salvageable bottle

 

Score: 3.5/5

edited for spelling fail.

Edited October 2, 2010 by haley

[Little Bird]

My favorite Harvest Moon is the 05 version, which is sweet & spicy, foodie, and lovely. I also liked 06, which smelled like an exotic fall harvest, not as spicy as 05, but still pleasant and slightly foodie.

I didn't really care for 04 (smoky-floral) or 08 (sharp, perfumey, fruity).

I was hoping that this would be moving back to the spicy 05 version, but 2010 is my least favorite Harvest Moon so far.

 

Harvest Moon 2010 is so odd and unpleasant. It smells strongly of sour moss (like bpal's spanish moss note), rotten leaves, and perfumey fruit. The overall feel is intensely sour and rotten smelling on me. It's not often that one of bpal's scents makes me feel sick to my stomach (I even liked Gore-Shock), but this is just awful.

 

I love fir, cedar, clove, ivy, apple, and wine notes, and I usually enjoy mulling spices and pumpkin in complex blends like this should have been. I can't pick out any of those notes, though. It's like intensely sour spanish moss, rotten leaves, and sour, rotten cherries on my skin, with an edge of something dark, earthy, and... sweaty? about it. Blech.

 

I'm really hoping that this gets better with age, because it's unwearable for me right now.

[countessmouse]

This is one roller-coaster of a scent for me. Very sweet and smoky/woody in the imp and fresh on my skin and then immediately I get this really odd note of unwashed hair. In fact, I really had to resist the urge to wash it off for the first 5-10 minutes and was glad I did because it morphed pretty quickly after that. I get a whiff of pumpkin now and then, sometimes something sour but not unpleasantly so, sometimes something earthy, and sometimes sweet fruit.

 

Not a favorite, but it has been interesting to see what pops up next.

[angelicruin]

Definitely reminds me of Fall. This is very woodsy on me. I can really smell the leaves on my skin. I do get pumpkin, but it's natural pumpkin and dry soil. I'm really undecided with this. It's a nice smell, but not really the type of perfume I use, so it may be off the swap/sale pile with it.

[zankoku_zen]

Apple, plum, lily and drying fields. I'm apparently amping up the floral and lily component of this blend. It makes me think of fall blend potpourris.

 

Epic. Fail.