Tags
a little lunacy, a little lunacy 2009, BPAL, cyclamen, elemi, Musk, nicotiana, orris, pale musk, sandalwood, stephanotis
I found some older Lunacy scents, scents, so I’ll clear those out while I wait for my Duets to arrive.
Scent Name: Smokey Moon 2009: Tristesses de la Lune
Manufacturer: Black Phoenix Alchemy Lab – A Little Lunacy 2009
Scent Description and Notes: “The Smoke-Veiled Moon of July brought a poem of Baudelaire’s to my mind:
Ce soir, la lune rêve avec plus de paresse;
Ainsi qu’une beauté, sur de nombreux coussins,
Qui d’une main distraite et légère caresse
Avant de s’endormir le contour de ses seins,
Sur le dos satiné des molles avalanches,
Mourante, elle se livre aux longues pâmoisons,
Et promène ses yeux sur les visions blanches
Qui montent dans l’azur comme des floraisons.
Quand parfois sur ce globe, en sa langueur oisive,
Elle laisse filer une larme furtive,
Un poète pieux, ennemi du sommeil,
Dans le creux de sa main prend cette larme pâle,
Aux reflets irisés comme un fragment d’opale,
Et la met dans son coeur loin des yeux du soleil.
– – –
Tonight the moon dreams with more indolence,
Like a lovely woman on a bed of cushions
Who fondles with a light and listless hand
The contour of her breasts before falling asleep;
On the satiny back of the billowing clouds,
Languishing, she lets herself fall into long swoons
And casts her eyes over the white phantoms
That rise in the azure like blossoming flowers.
When, in her lazy listlessness,
She sometimes sheds a furtive tear upon this globe,
A pious poet, enemy of sleep,
In the hollow of his hand catches this pale tear,
With the iridescent reflections of opal,
And hides it in his heart afar from the sun’s eyes.
(English translation by William Aggeler, 1954)
Soft sandalwood, nicotiana, and velvety orris drifting over lustrous pale musks, stephanotis, elemi, and cyclamen.“ -BPAL.org
Cyclamen seems to not have much of a strong, identifiable scent other than a very faint clean floral that skews lighter and sweeter than lily of the valley.
Nicotiana, also known as Flowering Tobacco, emits a sweet, strong floral scent that can smack of jasmine.
Stephanotis is an intensely powerful, sweet-smelling floral.
Oil Color: Colorless on my skin.
Bottle Design and Artwork: This is a 5ml standard brown apothecary bottle. The label extends just under halfway around the bottom. The label features the name of the company in a small light blue block font just below the name of the scent, which is in creamy white font that is a bit larger than the company’s name, both of which are in a warm grey text field. The image art looks like a stylized ink drawing of a woman with a bouffant hair style, adorned with some kind of ornament, partially obscured by implied smoke.
Scent:
- ITB: Gentle, watery, almost cucumber-like floral swathed in clean elemi, gentle, gossamer musks and a soft coil of sandalwood essence. It’s rather reflective and almost grey-cast, like looking in a gazing pool just as twilight falls.
- Wet: Wow, the elemi just about sings on my skin next to the nicotiana, orris, and musks. I’m getting something that reminds me briefly of ambergris without the heady animal tones, soothed and softened by the threads of sandalwood, stephanotis, and lightly sweet cyclamen.
- Dry: After 10 hours, it still maintains some of that gauzy, gentle quality due to the staying power of the orris, pale musks, and sandalwood. There’s a subtle faded floral under it all, but not distinct enough to tease out anything individually. Beautiful.
Other Impressions: “It smells like those tiny rose or shell hand soaps, the ones you were never allowed to use.” -Tony
