Marley's Ghost

[edenssixthday]

MARLEY'S GHOST
The same face: the very same. Marley in his pigtail, usual waistcoat, tights and boots; the tassels on the latter bristling, like his pigtail, and his coat-skirts, and the hair upon his head. The chain he drew was clasped about his middle. It was long, and wound about him like a tail; and it was made (for Scrooge observed it closely) of cash-boxes, keys, padlocks, ledgers, deeds, and heavy purses wrought in steel. His body was transparent; so that Scrooge, observing him, and looking through his waistcoat, could see the two buttons on his coat behind.

Scrooge had often heard it said that Marley had no bowels, but he had never believed it until now.

No, nor did he believe it even now. Though he looked the phantom through and through, and saw it standing before him; though he felt the chilling influence of its death-cold eyes; and marked the very texture of the folded kerchief bound about its head and chin, which wrapper he had not observed before; he was still incredulous, and fought against his senses.

“How now!” said Scrooge, caustic and cold as ever. “What do you want with me?”

“Much!”—Marley’s voice, no doubt about it.

“Who are you?”

“Ask me who I was.”

“Who were you then?” said Scrooge, raising his voice. “You’re particular, for a shade.” He was going to say “to a shade,” but substituted this, as more appropriate.

“In life I was your partner, Jacob Marley.”

“Can you—can you sit down?” asked Scrooge, looking doubtfully at him.

“I can.”

“Do it, then.”

Scrooge asked the question, because he didn’t know whether a ghost so transparent might find himself in a condition to take a chair; and felt that in the event of its being impossible, it might involve the necessity of an embarrassing explanation. But the ghost sat down on the opposite side of the fireplace, as if he were quite used to it.

“You don’t believe in me,” observed the Ghost.

“I don’t,” said Scrooge.

“What evidence would you have of my reality beyond that of your senses?”

“I don’t know,” said Scrooge.

“Why do you doubt your senses?”

“Because,” said Scrooge, “a little thing affects them. A slight disorder of the stomach makes them cheats. You may be an undigested bit of beef, a blot of mustard, a crumb of cheese, a fragment of an underdone potato. There’s more of gravy than of grave about you, whatever you are!”

Scrooge was not much in the habit of cracking jokes, nor did he feel, in his heart, by any means waggish then. The truth is, that he tried to be smart, as a means of distracting his own attention, and keeping down his terror; for the spectre’s voice disturbed the very marrow in his bones.

To sit, staring at those fixed glazed eyes, in silence for a moment, would play, Scrooge felt, the very deuce with him. There was something very awful, too, in the spectre’s being provided with an infernal atmosphere of its own. Scrooge could not feel it himself, but this was clearly the case; for though the Ghost sat perfectly motionless, its hair, and skirts, and tassels, were still agitated as by the hot vapour from an oven.

“You see this toothpick?” said Scrooge, returning quickly to the charge, for the reason just assigned; and wishing, though it were only for a second, to divert the vision’s stony gaze from himself.

“I do,” replied the Ghost.

“You are not looking at it,” said Scrooge.

“But I see it,” said the Ghost, “notwithstanding.”

“Well!” returned Scrooge, “I have but to swallow this, and be for the rest of my days persecuted by a legion of goblins, all of my own creation. Humbug, I tell you! humbug!”

At this the spirit raised a frightful cry, and shook its chain with such a dismal and appalling noise, that Scrooge held on tight to his chair, to save himself from falling in a swoon. But how much greater was his horror, when the phantom taking off the bandage round its head, as if it were too warm to wear in-doors, its lower jaw dropped down upon its breast!

Scrooge fell upon his knees, and clasped his hands before his face.

“Mercy!” he said. “Dreadful apparition, why do you trouble me?”

“Man of the worldly mind!” replied the Ghost, “do you believe in me or not?”

“I do,” said Scrooge. “I must. But why do spirits walk the earth, and why do they come to me?”

Chains of avarice binding an unquiet spirit: grave-cold phantasmal iron links.

Marley's Ghost - This isn't the scent of dark, heavy, rusty chains. Rather, it's bright, crisp, and clean metal that has something about it that reminds me of ozone, although I don't think there's ozone actually in it. It also reminds me of a fine, high-quality men's cologne, although it's not a masculine scent, but more gender-neutral. It's a very nice fragrance, but doesn't really grab me since my scent preferences tend to run in a different direction.

[cfrancesca]

This is all metals, it reminds me of last year's Old Man Ackerman's Instructional Toys. I get a little ozone and fresh, fizzy citrus (on me this smells like lemon dishwashing liquid).

[bheansidhe]

I'm testing this on the principle of "test everything that falls into your hands" which has served me so well in the past and unearthed favorites I never would have tested from the descriptions. This isn't my kind of blend, but I was pleasantly surprised by it anyway.

 

The initial blast out of the vial reminds me a lot of Inganok Jewelers: high metals and an acidic citrus overlay - but there's something under here that's very masculine. Right on top I get hard ozone and crisp yuzu or petitgrain, as with a high-end men's cologne, and a really familiar musky resin that I can't place. I suspect a touch of white sage or vetiver (but just a touch!) near the finish; there's an earthy wild herbal smell, like creosote or chaparral, that I remember from the Arizona desert. The overall effect is very much like bare moors and dark trees overlaid with bright links of chain.

 

Like a picture book for my nose, I swear.

 

Anyway, Marley's Ghost = good on a guy.

Edited December 17, 2010 by bheansidhe

[Schmoozy]

Lemons. ozone and metals. It's rather sweet, is really fresh and crisp, but not one of my favorites.

[Little Bird]

I usually have decent luck with metallic blends, but Marley's Ghost morphs straight into lemon dish soap on my skin. It's slightly sweet and pleasantly clean, but I can't really see myself wearing this much at all. It lasts for about three hours on me and has decent throw.

[ofthegood]

In the vial, I immediately picked up a fruity smell but couldn't quite place it. The minute it hit my skin, it was definitely lemons. It's a powdery, soapy lemon scent, though, and not the crisp, tart, realistic lemon that I favor. I definitely see the soap references, because this scent is very clean!

 

In the drydown, it's basically a clean, soft, feminine scent with powdery, soapy lemon and a bit of ozone. It really turned into commercial ladies clean perfume on me - not really evoking the grave-cold iron links of a chained ghost! Well, maybe if that ghost was a businesswoman...

[surf-tormented]

I only got a sniffie of this in a swap, so I put the few drops of it on my skin.

 

I get iron, the clear scent of the metal. I usually amp up any BPAL lemon note and I don't get lemon here at all. I get iron with an almost fresh note. It reminds one a lot of clean machinery...well, at least me. Like clear gears turning. Yet the metal is grey, worn from years of service, just like Marley!

 

It does conjure up a Victorian Christmas Past, in a dangerous 1880's industrial London sort of way! All metal and soot yet ethereal. The soot being the vetiver smoke that plays nice at the end and etherial from the blooms of ozone to clean off the worn metal grime.

 

I like this. I am unsure if I need a bottle, but it is nice and it a metal/ozone scent that doesn't go weirdly lemon dish soap on me.

 

As I finished the vial off, I realized it reminds me of Smokestack. The two perfumes are really close.

Edited January 19, 2011 by Madame Nyx

[SophieCedar]

Oooh! I like this. Fresh, crisp, metallic, touches of sweetness, and a bit foggy and refined too. This will be nice for summertime.

[fairestrocza]

In the Bottle: Ozone

 

Wet on Skin: Ozone, slightly sweet

 

While Drying: clean ozone (but The Boy says herbal and earthy… odd, that)

 

After a Little While: ozone tending toward soapy rather than citrusy; the metalic aspect actually seems to keep the soapy aspect in check a bit

 

Later: a slightly sweet, slightly soapy ozone

 

Final Thoughts: Not my style, but could be nice on someone who likes this scent category.

Marley's Ghost earns a 2.5/5 on my skin.

[Upstart Crow]

I love A Christmas Carol, and Scrooge and Marley are two very dear characters for me, so I snapped up a half bottle of this untested. While Marley's Ghost isn't my favorite scent in the line (that distinction goes to Christmas Eve on the Moor and Chained Phantoms), it's certainly nice. I don't get metal at all, sadly, but what I do get is a much softer take on Christmas Rose, which I loved when it came out in 2007. If Christmas Rose was too strong for you but you liked the general idea, pick this one up.

[milo]

Very fresh, metallic, ozoney with a nice burst of lemon. Dry, more ozoney, masculine, kind of shrill in a way. I enjoy the freshness of the lemon here, but icy ozone metallic rarely works on me.

[zankoku_zen]

Clean, ozone metal. It has distinct lime and ice notes. More gender neutral than masculine, and oddly appealing.

 

If you like metal and you like lime, give this a whirl.

[thekittenkat]

In the decant: Just what I was afraid of: metallic lemon.

 

Wet: The metallic sharp note is fading away somewhat into a light pleasant lemon scent.

 

The dry-down: In the end, this reminds me a little of what you might get if you layered Iron Phoenix with Numb. It's pleasnt enough, but citrus scents just aren't that much of interest to me. I was hoping for ice-cold metals, I guess.

[melange]

It really does smell metallic and cold on my skin. (Yes for ozone, no for lemon.) Unfortunately, it also gives me a headache.

[RhinestoneHousewife]

It smells like a commercial aquatic perfume on me. Not for me.

[filigree_shadow]

This is supposed to smell like "grave-cold phantasmal iron links"? Hunh. Okay, well, it does smell chilly, but I'm not getting a ton of metal out of it. It smells more aquatic than metal to me. There's something else in there that smells like one of the sour citrus notes -- more likely lime than yuzu. Smells rather fresh and clean to me, and not horrifying and oppressive at all.

[VetchVesper]

Enjoying a sniffie from a past decant circle. I get a chilly white musk with a hint of ozone, which comes across as the lab's shiny metal or chrome note. It's fairly unisex, maybe leaning a bit masculine. It's nice, but not really me, and does teeter on the brink of being soapy.  It never quite falls over the line though. 

 

More than metal though, it makes me think of a ghostly blue-white Marley.