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Showing results for tags 'Yule 2013'.
Found 85 results
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The perfected winter rose, dew covered and freshly cut. Red Rose. Limited edition. My favorite rose so far. This is the first rose scent I haven't melted off within an hour. (I was amazed the first time I wore it. Eight hours, and no need to reapply!) In the bottle, it smells like a rose from the florist - that cold hothouse smell. On, it warms up slightly, but not too much - it's got a slight bite, which is a nice change from most roses that fade to a powdery softness. I'll be very sad when I finish this one.
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Anything BUT jolly! Draped with chains and bells, wielding both whip and rod, this rag-clad, horned, red-skinned, soot-covered leering creature is both the companion and the antithesis of rosy-cheeked and ebullient Kris Kringle. He is called by many names, and, in a myriad of cultures, he is seen with different robes and faces, but he is nevertheless always a sinister and fearsome instrument of Santa's wrath: he wields a switch on all irredeemably naughty children before tossing them into his large black sack and whisking them away. Be good, or Krampus will toss you in a river! Sinister red musk, black leather, dusty rags, and wooden switches. straight sniff from bottle reminds me oh so much of my beloved anne bonny!!! patchouli and red musk...l-o-v-e it!!! OMG...ok, honestly...i was so afraid this would be in the same league as "rat king"...i did want to love rat king....really i did....but it was far too hot and peppery for me... this one is truly, truly nothing as is described...it is all sweet and thick and resinous in the most amazing way possible...after 30 minutes or so, something almost green & herbal...anyway, for those who know me, know my chemistry with leather can be nothing less than spectacular...meaning whatever the masses smell, i usually don't ... but i do know that krampus is amazing on me and i love it beyond belief....gah!!! :D ETA: in my haste and amazement of this gorgeous scent, i found a misspelled word or two.....
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A lighthearted winter scent: chilly vanilla rose snowballs! Dainty, soft, and certainly unfit for flinging! Pink Snowballs started out Snow White, with a hint of vanilla, and stayed that way for a while. After about two hours, I smelled it and snow white had wandered away, leaving the vanilla left with a single rose and a hint of her perfume. Rather soft, and pretty.
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For a very gothy Yule. Black licorice slurry with blackcurrant, black fig, and mulberries. In bottle: Mulberry and black current dominant, richly juicy. The fig grounds it and the licorice gives it a bit of bite. This is deliciously designed, if you are looking for a dark berry blend. Wet: The current and mulberry differentiate more one the skin, but still work together beautifully. The berries are flatter and less juicy though still lovely. The fig lends it a gentle warmth. The licorice fades into the background. Dry: Fast fading. Mostly mulberry kissed with currant.
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CHANUKKIYAH Baruch ata Ado-nai, Elo-heinu Melech ha'olam, Asher kid'shanu b'mitzvosav v'tzivanu l'hadlik ner shel Chanukah. Baruch ata Ado-nai, Elo-heinu Melech ha'olam, She'asah nisim la'avoseinu, bayamim ha'hem baz'man hazeh. Baruch ata Ado-nai, Elo-heinu Melech ha'olam, She'hecheyanu, vekiyemanu vehigi'anu laz'man hazeh. Olive oil, beeswax, glowing amber, sweet sufganiyot, pomegranate, and fig. Ha'Neiros halalu anachnu madlikin al hanisim ve'al hanifla'os, ve'al hat'shu'os ve'al hamilchamos, sh'asisa la'avoseinu bayamim hahem baz'man hazeh, al yedei kohaneicha hakedoshim. Vechol sh'monas yemei Chanukah, haneiros halalu kodesh hem. Ve'ein lanu reshus le'hishtamesh ba'hem, eh'la lir'osam bilvad, ke'dei le'hodos u'lehalel leshimcha hagadol al nisecha ve'al nifle'osecha ve'al yeshu'oshecha. Ma'oz tzur yeshu'asi Lecha na'eh leshabe'ach Tikone bais tefilasi Ve'sham todah nezabe'ach Le'es Tachin Mabe'ach Mitzar ham'nabe'ach Az egmor beshir mizmor Chanukas hamizbe'ach. In bottle/imp: Brown sugar and amber, with a sweet bakery/foody note thrown in. There’s a little spice as well. Immediately on skin: This is such a warm, yummy scent. I smell brown sugar and something buttery and foody, but not overly so. It might be the olive oil, but it’s subtle and blends well. The beeswax is in here, but it interacts nicely with the other notes. The amber is tame, and very warm. The fig is adding a nice, soft earthy fruit scent and almost a warm spiciness, but I can’t seem to smell the pomegranate at all. After a few minutes: Even though I seem to have listed all the individual notes above, I have to stress that this scent is very well blended. This has become a little sharper, with the pomegranate peeking in to add a sharp but light fruit note. The sufganiyot (donut, I believe) is definitely present in this blend; I can smell some sort of baked, warm cake and it’s certainly yummy. The beeswax adds something to the blend that tames the foodiness quite nicely. There’s almost a nutty feel to it which is probably from the olive oil blending with the beeswax. This blend has gotten extremely sweet though, with an almost maple syrup quality coming from the sugary notes. (added a couple hours after wearing) A while later, there's also a smokiness that smells just like a burning beeswax candle mixed in with the other notes. It's amazing! Overall Impressions: If you love warm, sweet blends, then this one is for you; it’s not just straight-up foody in my opinion, but the sweet notes come out very strongly. The beeswax is a nice addition, and it’s evident in the blend amongst the other notes. This scent is on the verge of becoming almost maple-syrupy on me, so if you tend to have a problem with that, you may find it happening here. Everything is beautifully blended, however, and creates a beautiful scent. Overall, it’s a nice warm, comforting, sweet scent that is just wonderful and perfect for the name Chanukkiyah!
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I'm three-quarters gone! Gingerbread fougere, with hints of lilac, lime, and citrus musk. Well, DAMN. This one is a manly cologne, sophisticated with the spicy gingerbread in complete balance with the lime/citrus which give it a sophisticated lightness, but at the base there's a smouldering spicyness. This actually smells like a commercial man's cologne (the name of which escapes me at the moment, but I sort of want to point the finger at Dior's Pour Homme, whichever the superspicy version is). This is the manly, spicy cologne version of gingerbread. AND IT SMELLS EPICALLY DELICIOUS, AND SEXY. It's DROOLWORTHY. In fact, the tagline should read "ALL GONE", because... well, you really just want to swallow this gingerbread man whole. (and yes, all the innuendo there is FOR A REASON LADIES). [here's to fingers crossed that this smells as good on mr. zee_zee as it does on me]
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Every holiday season should be full of lewd suggestions and filthy double entendres, right? This is a new take on past Lick Its - a peppermint candy cane with an extra jolt of sugar, coated in more sugar, with sugar on that sugar. I'm a fan of the Lick It series. Lick It Now continues the minty goodness tradition, although this one is a bit softer than the last couple of years. It's still very minty, just not slap-your-face minty. A winner!
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On December 5th, the eve of St. Nicholas day, a veritable storm of Krampi swarm the streets of Bavaria. Wielding sticks and chains, they inspire the hearts of naughty children with terror. Smoke, fur, and rusty chains with apple schnapps, malted chocolate bonbons, and Bavarian mints. Krampuslaufen smells wonderfully of Christmas to me. My grandmother used to bake a truly massive amount of cookies when I was younger. Traditional Polish ones, American ones, Italian ones the recipes of which she got from her sister's Italian mother in law, even Baklava from a recipe she got from an old Greek neighbor. She would give us all of these pack haphazardly in a huge disposable roasting pan. This smells a lot like pulling the foil off of that - not really cookie but all the bits and bobs that went into them. It should be discordant but some how it's not. It doesn't really smell of apple, or smoke, or chains. It smells nothing like what I expected it to. There seems to actually be something like red musk (?) underneath it all tying it together. I don't usually like red musk, but this is reminding me a little of the red musk in Midnight Kiss which I really love. Maybe it's just the way the apple schnapps note is coming across, but I don't smell apple. All in all it's really well blended and kind of hard for my nose to parse the notes, but I like it and I like smelling like it.
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On the night of the Epiphany, a joyful, broomstick-riding hag clad in a tattered shawl drops into chimneys all over Italy, bestowing gifts to good children, and dropping coal into the stockings of naughty kiddies. La Befana vien di notte Con le scarpe tutte rotte Col vestito alla Romana Viva, Viva La Befana! As the Three Wise Men searched for the house of the Christ child, they found themselves lost. Eventually, they stopped at a small house and knocked on the door. A small, wizened woman opened the door, holding a broom in her hand. The Astrologers asked the woman if she knew the location of the child, but, unfortunately, she did not know who these men were looking for, and could not aid them in their search. It was deep into the night, and the air was chilly, so the kindly woman offered the three men her hospitality. They spent the night in her warm, comfortable home, and shared bread and stories with one another. The Astrologers explained to the woman why they were looking for this blessed infant, and invited her to join them in their search come morning. Though she was touched by their tale, she declined, as she had a great deal of housework to do. At daybreak, the Astrologers awoke. They thanked the woman for her generosity, gathered their things, and prepared to leave. Before they departed, they, again, asked the old woman if she would like to join them on their journey. Again, she declined, and sent them on their way. After they had left, she regretted her decision, and she set off to find the Three Wise Men. After many long and frustrating hours of searching, she still could not find them. Saddened, yet still filled with hope, she stopped to give a gift to every good child she passed. La Befana comes by night With her shoes old and broken She comes dressed in the Roman way Long life to the Befana! Candy charcoal, winter lilies, parma violet, a sprig of cypress, a poof of chimney dust, and holiday sweets. straight sniff from bottle is purely sweet and gooey....absolutely nothing else ... holy moly...once applied the violet is astonishing and the dust and candy charcoal....ZomG... if you are a violet lover of bpal blends this is for you!! words cannot even describe the beauty and depth of this one...it is heartbreakingly beautiful i love it to death
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BLACK ICE Lovely, dangerous, slick, and bitterly cold: chilly white sleet-like notes with a hint of vetiver, a breath of smoky asphalt, and winter wind. In the bottle: Vetiver for sure. This scent is unique in the Yule category, in my opinion. It is cold, but by being a cold 'perfumey' scent. It's interesting how I can pick up the 'winter wind' aspect. This scent is hard to pin down, it is light and airy in some way. Wet: There are things in here I could not tell from smelling the bottle. There is something dirty and almost acidic. I suppose this is where the asphalt comes in. It's a little plasticy and man-made at first. But I can already tell it's disappearing upon dry down. Drydown: The Vetiver is calming, and I once again can percieve that chilly, air feeling to it. The airy feeling though has finally become 'cold' somehow. The perfumey is becoming a bit more ethereal and less 'in your face'. I have to be honest, I didn't think I would buy another bottle of this until it was completely dry. I really enjoy it at this point, it's calm, and cool and delicate, yet a vibrant 'perfumey' blend. This would be great on a boy, too. It starts to remind me of being outside on a brutally cold night. This scent is definitely a wrist-sniffing scent.
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BUTTER RUM COOKIE A boozy addition to the devil's bake sale! Rum-soaked butter cookies, crusted with sugar, soaked in almond and garnished with orange rind. Butter RUM? You betcha... with these cookies around, the Devil would be too wasted for malice. The Rum, Almond and Orange Zest all combine together and make this a wearable gourmand for men (and women). The Cookie and Butter part are pretty tame compared to some other BPAL's like Sugar Cookie. Yes, the aromatics here definitely place this in Cologne territory. But in a foodie kind of way, if you can imagine. Note- Almond can be almost unbearably bad on me, it is fine here.
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Annihilation. The ice, desolation and barrenness of nuclear devastation shot through by a beam of radioactive mints. Rating (on skin): 5/5 Summarised in one word: Peaceful. In the bottle: Interesting! A definite 'cold' scent; frosty and very minty. While there may be peppermint here, the most prominent mint seems (to me) to be wintermint -- a good thing in my book, because I love wintermint. On skin, wet: Crisp and clean, and very cold. There's a distinct ice-like quality, like frozen earth. This is what I had wanted Numb to be (by the time I received it, and had changed my mind about mints). On skin, dry: Beneath the ice, there's something grassy here. Slush, mint and grass. An unexpected turn, but a lovely one! Unfortunately, after about an hour, it starts to give me that "I feel like I'm going to sneeze, but don't" feeling, which hangs around until the scent dies off. Conclusion: It's hard to explain this one. It's like a devastated, grassy open field in the middle of winter, when the ground is completely frozen. An odd description, I know. As Macha said somewhere, this is a much more 'peaceful' scent than I would have expected. But then, that makes sense -- wouldn't things be peaceful after a 'nuclear devastation'? All told, I'm growing very fond of this scent.
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I've run away from a little old woman, A little old man, A barn full of threshers, A field full of mowers, A cow and a pig, And I can run away from you, I can! Gingerbread with red musk, brown musk, civet and ambergris accord, Ceylon cinnamon, black cedar, black moss, and pine tar. Who knew that musk could work so well with gingerbread? I didn't, until today. I get heavy, spicy musk that really comes out to play on the drydown. I also get the civet and luckily for me I can carry that well. There is a earthiness to this also that grounds it and makes it very masculine. I absolutely must try this on my husband when he gets home from work tonight because I know he is going to absolutely rock this. Sweet, musky sweetness and dominant spice along with earth and a tiny lick of pine tar. God, this is fabulous. Left to rest and settle on my skin for a good 10-15 minutes, this becomes spicier on me and definitely more masculine. Though my husband is going to be slathered in this, I know I will be wearing it too. Only a tiny bit is needed because the throw and power of the blend is totally dramatic. Wonderful. Really, really delicious.
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I'm all gone! Gingerbread with dried roses, rose leaf, Spanish moss, oakmoss and deep brown earth. This arrived frozen, under a foot of snow on my porch, and this was the first bottle I tried. In the bottle, I get dense moist gingerbread. I think the earth element really intensifies that aspect of chewy depth. Wet, a blast of foody ginger and faint rose, more like a wisp of rosehip, with the dried vitamin c tang that I love. The moss and dirt make me want to eat my arm. I AM SO IN LOVE. Dry, the ginger sticks around for hours on me, with the tang of rose getting softer and the earth elements taking the foreground. I wore this to bed and it stuck around till morning. The throw is pretty subtle, which I like. It is like a ginger rose cloud,sating my garden itch when the snow is piling on. This blend is an instant top ten for me. I love Shub best of the entire general catalog, so if you like that, do not miss this.
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It was the Yuletide, that men call Christmas though they know in their hearts it is older than Bethlehem and Babylon, older than Memphis and mankind. It was the Yuletide, and I had come at last to the ancient sea town where my people had dwelt and kept festival in the elder time when festival was forbidden; where also they had commanded their sons to keep festival once every century, that the memory of primal secrets might not be forgotten. Corrupt incense twinging through the huddled roofs of Kingsport on winter solstice night. To my nose, this has a salty, almost cold aquatic note to it, with ominous incense running through it. While it does turn a bit soap-like on my skin, it is not an unpleasant scent. Instead, it is strangely reminiscent of a perfume I used to wear a long time ago, but it has a darker edge to it. This perfume almost seems to have up a forlorn, secretive energy to it: it has not forgotten the rituals from elder times.
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Oh dear! I'm a quarter gone! Gingerbread and exotic Indonesian oils sugared with vanilla. Yay! The Yules of 2013 have begun!! I will start with my most anticipated one!! From the bottle: spicy warm gingerbread, yummy!! First applied on skin: I smell like gingerbread and warm cinnamon. A comforting, baked cinnamon, not the scary overly strong cinnamon that my skin can amp badly like Saw Scaled Viper. But no Snake Oil yet... After about 20 minutes: OMG I think I am in love.... Snake Oil is coming through and mixed with gingerbread it is simply AMAZING!!! I need to buy more bottles of this... like right now!! Verdict: When this scent was announced I was so excited! I even had mentioned in the Yule Stalking thread that I was hoping for a 'Snakes in the Gingerbread House' type scent! This scent combines two of my favorites into one and I am in heaven.... I never knew one could smell like a sexy gingerbread house, but it is possible!! If you like Gingerbread, if you Love Snake Oil, all I can say is HORDE THIS!! You'll be wanting more than one bottle, I swear!!
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The Snow-Shoe Goddess, Giantess, the Norse embodiment of winter. Frost-rimed winter berries, crisp pine needle, and a slush of bright snowy notes. This is one of the most beautiful things that I have ever had the pleasure to smell. Truly, they have encapsulated winter in this one fragrance. I don't know what the snowy notes are, but they are sparking and glittering throughout this icy-white/pale blue fragrance. It actually smells like SNOW. Pine is in the forefront, of course -- an evergreen forest, branches heavy with snow. There are hints of other evergreens that I cannot quite name -- spruce perhaps? The berries may account for the slight hint of warmth I get as an afterthought...bittersweet, frozen berries. Perhaps bayberry? This is absolutely an outdoor winter fragrance -- you can practically see the swirl of snowflakes escape from the bottle when you open it. One of my absolute favorite fragrances ever, and I only just opened it today! Pine/wood scents never change on my skin, but it has been going strong for a couple of hours now and just getting more and more beautiful, like a candle has been burning and it just strengthens as it warms. I hope I can get more when I run out!!
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Braving the Ice White mint cookies with a drizzle of pomegranate cream, dusted with confectioner's sugar. oh, my- the first review feels like more pressure somehow! And I want to do this one justice, since it's sooooooooooo delicious. I will also add a disclaimer that my skin turns most things into incense and powder/woods, so most sweet scents get toned down a lot on me. I got a bottle of this for a friend and because I'm a stinker like that, I tested a little on my wrist with a q-tip. I immediately ordered myself a bottle. It is taking all of my reserves to walk to the post office and mail it to her! HOLYEFFING*&*!! this is good... In the bottle it smells syrupy sweet, so I was a little skeptical. I was also a little nervous about mint notes as I tend to like soft, warm perfumes. Not to fear! The mint, on me is tame at best, mostly it disappears into the background to add a crispy freshness. The pomegranate cream note blends smoothly with the yummy, buttery shortbread cookie scent and creates a cloud of deliciousness. OMNOMNOMNOM. I don't know if it's my skin or the cream note but there is a musky softness to this that makes it a bit sexy as well, like a skin scent. But, in the end this is all about the confectioner's sugar. I smell like a pretty cloud of vanilla sugar, and it somehow isn't overly sweet but has enough throw to notice. It's all lovely- vanilla-cloudy-softness. My boyfriend LOVES it. And I can totally see this working with an Otto and Victoria theme! Yay! I edited this to say that it reminds me a little of Demeter's Angel Food, which I really like. For days I want to feel feminine and happy.
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Iced blackberries, blackcurrant honey, frozen white peach, and sweet vanilla cream. Oh my god, you guys. You guys, oh my god. Oh my god. Ice Princess smells so very good. For reference, I use the bath oils in the bath; I'm sure this will be a bit different on individual people's skin if you're a slatherer. Ice Princess is funny, because in so many ways, she's the opposite of what I'd envision from her name (or, I suppose, from the colloquial use it takes on). Rather than being cold or harsh, she's warm and comforting. The cream and (I suspect) the blackcurrant honey take on a sweet edge, in the water, that reminds me a bit of the sort of warm fuzzy-feeling I get from white musk, with a definite fruity edge--mostly it's too well blended for me to pick out a particular fruit, but sometimes I got hints of the peach sort of popping up above all the others, just for a moment. I also smell a bit of something floral, though it's not listed in the notes, and I can't think what I would be smelling--it reminds me of just the lightest touch of rose. Perhaps my brain is tricking me, there, because Ice Princess feels a lot, to me, like Winter Maiden? I can't say, but whatever the reason, I really love Ice Princess.
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Whether you’re flipping through poisoned apple recipes on Pinterest, researching dilapidated towers to house irritating princesses, or simply interested in a sporting match of croquet, dab a little of our perfume behind each ear, and you’ll be ready to destroy all those who stand in your way. Velvet red roses, mimosa blossom, heady magnolia, oudh, and black patchouli draped across a regal purple musk. In the bottle: A mysterious scent, really, the mimosa blossom is the strongest note. Wet: Musk and mimosa blossom. A little strange, unsure if I like this! Dry: Mimosa blossom and magnolia, I definitely like this better dry! Very interested to see how it ages.
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Dusted with mineral-rich salts dredged from the foetid depths of the Nameless Sea! In The Bottle: Wow. Straight outta the bottle I'm indeed getting: cookies. caramel. sea salt. Wet On Skin: The same. It's like the 2012 Sugar Cookie plus salted caramel. Dry Down: In the dry down, a touch of the 'depths of the Nameless Sea' have emerged- usually aqua and water notes go all Mr Clean on me and it's a bad scene, but the foodie elements of this scent seem to be keeping it this side of just briny, which is going pretty well, actually. In All: Low to medium throw, I didn't put a ton on this time and I might continue to be cautious until I see how that briny note plays out over the course of an entire day. It seems to mellow pretty quickly, so there may be no issue. but if you tend to be on the fence with water notes, I'll proceed- but with caution.
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Pointing to a chair, table, and pile of books, the old man now left the room; and when I sat down to read I saw that the books were hoary and mouldy, and that they included old Morryster's wild Marvells of Science, the terrible Saducismus Triumphatus of Joseph Glanvill, published in 1681, the shocking Daemonolatreia of Remigius, printed in 1595 at Lyons, and worst of all, the unmentionable Necronomicon of the mad Arab Abdul Alhazred, in Olaus Wormius' forbidden Latin translation; a book which I had never seen, but of which I had heard monstrous things whispered. Yellowed fragments of vellum and parchment scrawled with unnamable horrors invoking ghastly abominations: decaying papers and moldering leather with sickly-sweet tonka, inky musk, black sandalwood, black fig, sugandh kokila, and pimento leaf. In the bottle: Uhhh. Sushi. Not fishy but cucumber rolls, with a hint of wasabi. That is VERY interesting. I really smell cucumber. Wet: dusty cucumber, paper and leather, with a touch of sandalwood. Much better on, and I think aging will erase that cucumber smell, but boy it made me want sushi. Dry: Musk and mouldering papers with a bit of sandalwood and leather. Definitely worth keeping to age, I would love to see how this develops.
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Almond Blossom Even iron can put forth, Even iron. This is the iron age, But let us take heart Seeing iron break and bud, Seeing rusty iron puff with clouds of blossom. The almond-tree, December's bare iron hooks sticking out of earth. The almond-tree, That knows the deadliest poison, like a snake In supreme bitterness. Upon the iron, and upon the steel, Odd flakes as if of snow, odd bits of snow, Odd crumbs of melting snow. But you mistake, it is not from the sky; From out the iron, and from out the steel, Flying not down from heaven, but storming up, Strange storming up from the dense under-earth Along the iron, to the living steel In rose-hot tips, and flakes of rose-pale snow Setting supreme annunciation to the world. Nay, what a heart of delicate super-faith, Iron-breaking, The rusty swords of almond-trees. Trees suffer, like races, down the long ages. They wander and are exiled, they live in exile through long ages Like drawn blades never sheathed, hacked and gone black, The alien trees in alien lands: and yet The heart of blossom, The unquenchable heart of blossom! Look at the many-cicatrised frail vine, none more scarred and frail, Yet see him fling himself abroad in fresh abandon From the small wound-stump. Even the wilful, obstinate, gummy fig-tree Can be kept down, but he'll burst like a polyp into prolixity. And the almond-tree, in exile, in the iron age! This is the ancient southern earth whence the vases were baked, amphoras, craters, cantharus, oenochoe, and open-hearted cylix, Bristling now with the iron of almond-trees Iron, but unforgotten, Iron, dawn-hearted, Ever-beating dawn-heart, enveloped in iron against the exile, against the ages. See it come forth in blossom From the snow-remembering heart In long-nighted January, In the long dark nights of the evening star, and Sirius, and the Etna snow-wind through the long night. Sweating his drops of blood through the long-nighted Gethsemane Into blossom, into pride, into honey-triumph, into most exquisite splendour. Oh, give me the tree of life in blossom And the Cross sprouting its superb and fearless flowers! Something must be reassuring to the almond, in the evening star, and the snow-wind, and the long, long, nights, Some memory of far, sun-gentler lands, So that the faith in his heart smiles again And his blood ripples with that untenable delight of once-more-vindicated faith, And the Gethsemane blood at the iron pores unfolds, unfolds, Pearls itself into tenderness of bud And in a great and sacred forthcoming steps forth, steps out in one stride A naked tree of blossom, like a bridegroom bathing in dew, divested of cover, Frail-naked, utterly uncovered To the green night-baying of the dog-star, Etna's snow-edged wind And January's loud-seeming sun. Think of it, from the iron fastness Suddenly to dare to come out naked, in perfection of blossom, beyond the sword-rust. Think, to stand there in full-unfolded nudity, smiling, With all the snow-wind, and the sun-glare, and the dog-star baying epithalamion. Oh, honey-bodied beautiful one, Come forth from iron, Red your heart is. Fragile-tender, fragile-tender life-body, More fearless than iron all the time, And so much prouder, so disdainful of reluctances. In the distance like hoar-frost, like silvery ghosts communing on a green hill, Hoar-frost-like and mysterious. In the garden raying out With a body like spray, dawn-tender, and looking about With such insuperable, subtly-smiling assurance, Sword-blade-born. Unpromised, No bounds being set. Flaked out and come unpromised, The tree being life-divine, Fearing nothing, life-blissful at the core Within iron and earth. Knots of pink, fish-silvery In heaven, in blue, blue heaven, Soundless, bliss-full, wide-rayed, honey-bodied, Red at the core, Red at the core, Knotted in heaven upon the fine light. Open, Open, Five times wide open, Six times wide open, And given, and perfect; And red at the core with the last sore-heartedness, Sore-hearted-looking. - DH Lawrence Something must be reassuring to the almond, in the evening star, and the snow-wind, and the long, long, nights: almond blossom, hoar-frost, and snow-wind. When I first read the description for this scent I thought it would be full on almond, as in the nut, not the blossom! So when I first caught the scent when I opened the bottle I was taken aback! It had a very light flower scent, with no hint of the nutty goodness I was expecting. However the floral scent from the almond blossom was very light and pleasant so I applied a dab to my skin. The floral amped up immediately and I became a little nervous, floral and I do not get along much. But once my skin had a chance to work with the oils it blossomed into a floral I could actually wear! It is very light, and slightly warmed with the briefest touch of almond, and I think I could actually smell the cold snow-wind! The scent is almost alive, as if you would catch it on a breeze while walking through a forest in March, when some buds opened in anticipation of longer days and warm sun, only to be pushed back into winter with a surprise dusting of snow.... I don't know how she does it, but Bravo, Beth!!
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Ghastly secrets and terror-numb revelations: white mint, black amber, tallow, antediluvian woods, and sickly resins. (For reference, I tested this as a linen spray) This is mostly mint. Definitely the famous BPAL "white mint" note, with a strong background of very sweet amber. There is just a hint of something earthy, almost a mineral note that I think is from the resins. It reminds me a bit of the long DC'ed Black Opal. On the drydown, the woods give this a slightly masculine edge, and it smells a bit like a very expensive aftershave or cologne. Classy! I wouldn't mind my house smelling like this. No sign of the tallow. The throw is somewhat weak, but it find that common in mint blends. It is however, very long lasting. If you enjoy other sweet BPAL mint blends like Tokyo Stomp, Snowblind, and Lick It, but long for something a little more sophisticated and less candy-like, this will be right up your alley. It is also great for people who miss Lantern Ghost of Oiwa.
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Because I am very, very crass this year. Slushy white mint, vanilla cream, lemon drops, grapefruit, and yuzu! I was hoping this would be more bright mint and citrus with a bit of creamy vanilla, but it is very much a "snow" scent with blend of citrus notes. I'm not sure I like it since I'm really not a fan of snow & ice blends. Those who like scents like Pink Snowballs, but would prefer a non-floral and fresher version, you should try this. The throw is good and lasts for hours. The label is also cute.
