A Dusty Moth

[Bassmastadroog]

Beneath the copper mountains of Fablun, and England's coal mines, he flies, in the shape of a dusty moth, over the hymnbook that rests on the knees of the pious miner. On a lotus leaf he floats down the sacred waters of the Ganges, and the eye of the Hindoo maid gleams bright when she beholds him.

 

Grey musk and ambergris fluttering with orris, black tea leaf, and sooty tuberose.

Definitely a fluttery, dusty, purple scent! The orris is powdery candy, maybe also being lent from the 'sooty' tuberose...although I'm not extremely familiar with tuberose. The ambergris and black tea leaf definitely make it slightly fresh as well.

 

More when it's dry then fresh, the grey musk gives it a darker fuzziness, but overall I'd say this is powdery violet like, with a nice black tea note providing the spine of the scent, which is the strongest in the dry down. It's kind of cute. I'll have to try it a few more times before I decide if I need more.

[Lisa Ing]

This is the only scent where my husband has ever, completely unprompted, said "What is that? You smell good."

We both kind of flipped out over this scent, which really does smell like dust and moths in an oddly enchanting way.

It's the first really cold fall night in the Northeast, in a brick building a couple centuries old with steam heat and a boiler in the basement, when the radiator coils first start clanking to life because the landlord decided it was finally time to run central heating. There are pale gray moths outside the window, circling the light, and the radiator starts to heat the dust touching the metal. This is that smell: the detritus remaining of spring pollen, summer flowers and beach salt, fall earth and leaves, your own shed skin -- a whole year's worth of living all heated up together on the radiator and rising into your apartment. It's cool, faintly floral, faintly earthy dust and soot that gets warmer, dustier, and more comforting, and it lingers for days.

 

Radiator dust.

Edited April 12, 2017 by Xellessanova

[freyasfae]

Wet, this was a bit more pungent perfumey for me, but once it dried down - oh, boy - it's dusty and sooty florals, having afternoon black tea in a dusty room with a slowly dying fire in the fireplace. Not sure if I need a bottle, but I am leaning towards it right now.

[LizziesLuck]

I'm so terrified of the orris, it never works on me, but I just could not pass up the grey musk and ambergris!!

 

Wet: OMG wow, that's beautiful. The tea with the musk and ambergris....swoon. Hints of tuberose make this elegant and classic. So far orris hasn't appeared, but no doubt it will come along and stomp all over this, crushing all my grey musk and ambergris dreams.

 

 

Dry: Wow. THAT AMBERGRIS. It's amazing, and I never would have thought it could be so good with tea. The musk is amazing, the tuberose just a hint. AND I CAN'T SMELL THE ORRIS!!!. I am really stoked about this. I need to test it again, to make sure the orris doesn't appear. But I imagine I will be getting a bottle of this. I kind of want to order one this second, actually. This is SO GOOD. If I try it again in a few days once it's settled and it doesn't work, I might cry.

[Dark Alice]

Sadly this smells like, generic shampoo on me. I think with aging the ambergis will come out. I need to hunt down a partial to test this theory...but other than that...pass.

[roseus]

Had to try this because I love all the notes except orris.

 

In the imp: very soft tuberose, maybe made a little powdery from the orris? But I do not smell the orris distinctly. A vague warm sweetness underneath.

 

Wet: mostly black tea, soft tuberose, and ambergris. Really beautiful in this stage.

 

Dry: ambergris with orris making it flat and musty. I can catch a little tuberose trying to fix the situation, but to no avail.

 

Overall: I would still like to sniff this one someone who's skin won't turn the volume up on the orris because it should be so wonderful.

[zankoku_zen]

Grey musk, ambergris, and a touch of tuberose. This smells dusty and aquatic on me. Good throw and wear length.

[Dark Alice]

The imp has had a chance to settle so I am rereviewing it.

The tea leaf makes this scent ashy. There is an ashy, grey musk, orris note. It's unpleasant and I am ready to wash this off. I am sad, I had such high hopes for this one.

Edited December 29, 2016 by Dark Alice

[sunlitgarden]

I'm still getting over a cold and a little bit congested, but I think I can smell well enough to try/review this...

In the decant: Hmm. This is a tough one to describe. My first thought was some kind of fancy black tea blend, so I definitely smell that black tea note. It's like sniffing a bag or jar of loose-leaf tea and smelling the tea and whatever other bits are in there. In this case, the "bits" are sweet, a bit spiced (Like a tea that has pieces of orange and cloves, though I don't smell either of those notes in particular) and also the kind of "pleasantly musty" scent that I get from ambergris.

On my skin: This is really interesting. It's pleasant in a way that is, again, hard to describe, and not really like any other scents I have. I think it's mainly the tea and ambergris, which is not a combination I would have ever thought of. In some scents ambergris can be overly salty smelling on me but I don't smell any salt here. It's like a pleasant musty-musky tea. Weird but really appealing somehow.

I don't think I need more than a decant's worth of this, but I think I will definitely be hanging onto the decant. It's a completely unique scent in my collection.

[LiberAmoris]

A Dusty Moth is such an unusual perfume...I don't think I've ever smelled anything quite like this before. The tuberose, black tea leaf, and orris collide in a way that smells sweet and slightly bitter and rooty, and then it's like that's powder-coated with a sooty, grey, slightly aquatic dust from the grey musk and ambergris. It's slightly fuzzy, like a moth's wing.

 

At times this smells a bit aquatic (salty, tangy) because of the ambergris and at times it registers as a dusky floral because of the tuberose. As it dries down, I get more of the black tea leaf and then it smells more like a tea blend.

 

Fascinating swirl of notes and very evocative!

[Spaztic]

Oh my this one is sooo cool

it smells like a beautiful ghost

Someone (annemathematics I think) said it would complement dresses by a designer named Gibbous Fashions and I totally agree!

It's a dusty floral, I find it to be soft and close to the skin

Beautiful!

[Aviatrix]

Ambergris and orris on me, with a floral aspect verging on soapy

I wish I got this amazing dusty tea that everyone talks about, but sadly it appears this isn't working too well on my skin.

[lizabelle]

Huh. On me this smells like something I recognize, but I can't place it. Some mainstream perfume. "Dusty tuberose" is a perfect way to describe this, as is "fluttering," "dusty," and "sooty." Basically, the description is spot-on. If you like gray/purple florals you will like this. It has a similar somber quality to Hades. The tuberose is front and center, with orris close behind. Over time something almost licorice-y happens, which is odd but not unwelcome. If I think of the perfume this reminds me of I'll come back and add it in, but for now I'm quite pleased with this.

[Little Bird]

I love the sweetness and powdery softness of orris, and was hoping that it would be stronger here, but I can't really pick it out. I don't get the ambergris either. Dusty Moth is very tuberose dominant, and it's a sharp, white, slightly soapy tuberose. I also get the dusty, ashy quality that others have mentioned, and it reminds me of the scent of burning heater dust when you first turn on the heat for winter. In the drydown, I can smell some bitter, astringent black tea, but still mostly tuberose and that dry, dirty, dusty undertone.