Introduction to my Evening Eclipse Halloween Melt Review:

With a jet black background, blood red print and ghoulishly spooky photos, the Evening Eclipse website is sure to creep you out. But you'll be back... oh yes ... yooou'll be baaaack. It's got every spook and scare there is... from zombies to vampires... bats to big bad wolves. Are you brave enough to read on? Evening Eclipse takes you for a walk through nightmares and desolate forests... past voodoo dust and even a gingerbread lair. One might expect ghastly, or silly novelty scents from all of this, but Evening Eclipse is more about creating hauntingly romantic - even beautiful fragrances.

Evening Eclipse offers melts, votives, pillars, travel tins, and tealights. Each scent is custom blended by hand. (in a cauldron, I wonder?) Melts and votives are available by the dozen or can be purchased in an assortment pack that allows you to pick your own 12 eerie scent choices to sample. I love this! Sample packs rule!... or in this case... haunt! Rock on!! They offer many payment options too, including check, credit card or Paypal.

I'm no shadowy stranger to Evening Eclipse... I've ordered before. I was happy with the products and service, but I had ordered in March... March! I wasn't thinking about zombies and bats in March... I was up to my armpits in bunnies and jelly beans and the spooky spell was quickly broken. So, my order sat for a long while untouched... until this past month, with summer fading and the leaves beginning to crunch under my shoes... my nose was just itching for something sinister.

"This masculine scent encompasses the hypnotizing power of the primordial Dracula who masks his blood lust with nobility and eloquence. The intoxicating aroma represents all that is romantic and sexy about the vampire; a blend of merlot, musk, and leather conjures thoughts of a powerfully dressed gentleman gazing hungrily in your direction."

My melt was as black as Dracula's cape. I found Vlad to be brooding and smoldering. It's what I would expect the slick movie vampires to smell like - the young "Lost Boys" vampires or the more recent "Interview with a Vampire" type... dangerous and sexy, but not particularly scary. This vampire fragrance is much more Tom Cruise than Bela Lugosi if you catch my drift. I can imagine this scent on a cool evening... in a dark castle... with the window opened and a soft breeze blowing the gauzy lace curtain. Are you with me? This one is goooooood!

When I read the scent description and let my imagination drift away, it was positively swoon worthy. It's no wonder Vlad could satisfy his blood lust. If he came to each chamber smelling like this scent, every maiden in the hamlet would surely ask him in.

Bathory ^TM

Here is how Bathory is described:

"Designed after the Lady herself, the Bathory scent lives up to its name. A mix of luxurious patchouli, raspberry, and red currant combine to create a sumptuously regal bouquet. This alluring fragrance is also relaxing and is sure to make a marvelous companion to your next warm bath."

Now... see there? This one is not too scary... unless, of course, you've heard the legend of how "The Blood Countess" Lady Bathory bathed in the blood of virgins to retain her youth? It's a bit more macabre if you believe the old tales.

My melt was appropriately blood red and looked delightfully gory sparkling in my glass tealight tart melter. The scent was fruitier and sweeter than I expected and I was relieved that the patchouli was light and not overpowering. I've decided that patchouli and berries just belong together like trick & treat. Out of the scents I tried, this is the one that I thought could work as well mid-day as it does after dark.

Nightmare ^TM

Here is the website's description:

"Re-live your darkest dreams with this chilling aroma. Scream in terror as you toss and turn in a fusion of burning wood, dead leaves and chilling eucalyptus!"

This seems aptly named. No? The cold smell was right there too... burning tires came to mind... and it was colored "Goodyear" black too which wasn't helping my visual. But, I was already well into the dark center of my box of melts and I couldn't turn back now. I melted it and left the room, thinking I didn't want to be eased into this scent. I wanted to jump in and smell it in full... um... bloom. If it was as bad as I feared, I could easily jump back out for some fresh air...or garlic.

Like most fears, it was the unknown that was truly scary. This scent, when melted, was much tamer than the title implied. When heated, it's a warm campfire scent with some branches tossed on that were still a little bit green. The eucalyptus adds a tree sap quality that would seem to pop and crackle and has kind of a sweet smell. I don't usually go for eucalyptus... I'm convinced that is what gave it the initial rubber smell, but it was a surprisingly nice addition to the basic campfire. It had a pleasantly strong throw and I ended up bringing Nightmare out into the living room and keeping it going through three tealights until it gave up it's last puff of wood smoke.