Arkham

[skepticism]

A shadowy, unapproachable forest of maple, birch, dogwood, cypress and pine softened by a garland of New England wildflowers: bergamot, columbine, rue anemone, blue violet, creeping phlox, bloodroot, toadflax, and pixie moss.

Vial: Clean, woody scents. Mostly cypress, pine, with a touch of moss

Wet: I get this subtle sweet floral smell that reminds me of jasmine and lily (maybe it's the bergamot). The floral accompanies the wood notes wonderfully.

Dry: A hint of sweetness and just a little bit of bleach. By this point most of the woody notes have disappeared.

I really like this scent in the vial and wish it remained the same to the drydown. I think I'd love it more if the woody/mossy notes had stayed prominent.

[mhickle]

In the imp, this is a very clean woodsy scent, with a floral touch that doesn't bother me as much as florals sometimes do. It's fresh and green and just the thing for my bleary-eyed sleepiness this morning. Unfortunately, it's gone in a flash on me. In the drydown it's still fresh and green and then...nothing at all.

[jade_starlight]

This is a very nice, clean, light floral with a sort of woody base. It's mostly green, and really quite lovely. If only it had a bit more throw and lasted a bit longer on me. *pouts*

[hkhm]

imp: sweet flowery pines.

 

wet: this is all violet and pine on me, i think i'll be getting a bottle.

 

dry: this softens to a soft, woodsy violet on my skin. far lovlier than i was expecting.

[grifyn_whiffs]

This scent is surprisingly wearable! It's also sweeter than I imagined it would be: the woods that open up are soft and pretty, and then I smell the violets and phlox. I was expecting something a bit more ominous!

 

It goes a bit powdery for a few moments (I'm not sure which note did the deed), but evens out on dry-down. Unfortunately, about 20 minutes after dry-down, all but the faintest, prettiest, warm floral whiffs are gone. But, it was definitely worth re-applying throughout the day.

Edited October 5, 2008 by Grifyn

[Iceblink]

Flowers and woods--this is so pretty and light and airy. It's a bit too floral for me though--after a while it's overwhelming. But it's nice and it's one of the less-weird Lovecraft oils.

[goblinshark]

I would swear there was lemon in here? Like spiced lemon peel or something? In the imp it smells lemony, herby and woodsy. On me it becomes a light, lemony, floral wodds - and then completely disappears. Within like twenty minutes. : (. It is SO pretty and I'm keeping the imp but I can't see buying a bottle of something that fades this fast.

[Schmoozy]

This is one of those scents that seems to encompass a wide variety of two scent families and just doesn't disappoint.

The combination of cypress, pine, dogwood and maple is just about too much to handle, and I mean that in an good way. I love the smell of woods. Cypress tends to go quite herbally, while pine & maple add sweetness. Birch is more of a true woodsy scent and dogwood screams florals. Together they meld beautifully and you feel like your experiencing the forest. Then there is the addtion of wildflowers spreading all over the forest floor and between wiffs of forest, you also get moss, bergamot, blue violet and phlox.

The beauty is that both forest and flora combine to create a gentle, clean, wet scent that is neither overpowering or nauseating.

Truly stunning Beth. One of my favorite blends.

Edited October 23, 2008 by Schmoozy

[toomuch]

This is a great example of why you should try each oil a few times before deciding. Arkham started out just "okay." After trying it again, I thought it was good. Now I think it's great. I hope to purchase a bottle in my next order. I get a hint of maple that's just delicious, like the sap dripping down the tree bark, not like syrupy. It's a smell of the woods with the sunshine warming the leaves and just touching on the flowers underneath. One of my favorite everyday scents now.

[stefrand]

ITI: Soft, woody, and floral. It smells good, with a hint of astringenty-perfumeyness.

 

Wet: The pine pops out right away, as does some kind of lemony scent. These florals smell familiar...what does this smell like? Aha! It smells like the flowers in my old copy of Pat the Bunny! That is weird.

 

Dry: Same as above. Very little throw.

 

Drydown: Meh. Generic floral perfume.

 

Final Thoughts: Nope! Swap/sell.

[Seismogenic]

Another Lab frimp! I admit to being very unfamiliar with Lovecraft, and to thinking of DC Comics' Arkham Asylum rather than of fictional New England university towns when I hear the name of this one, but I guess it works either way. I am, after all, a university student who's pretty much crazy!

 

In the imp: Sharply green and floral. Kind of reminds me of what the yard in Virginia smelled like immediately after mowing the lawn in April, except Arkham's not making me sneeze.

 

Wet on skin: The green becomes darker and deeper, and the flowers blend in more with the overall forest impression.

 

Drydown: Freshly dry is pretty much the same as wet - a shadowy flowering forest dripping with rain. By one hour in, it's still a dark forest with rampant wildflowers, but the rain or dew has pretty much dried up.

 

Five hours later: Almost gone already, as it's been since around the two hour mark. What is left is sort of dusty green; no more flowers.

 

End of the day: Entirely gone.

 

Overall: This is an extremely East Coast scent, to the point where it's making me nostalgic for the insanely overgrown and unkempt Virginia backyard that was my turf when I was little. This really smells like that yard on an April night after a good hard rain, with water and shadows clinging to every plant that is beyond the help of a lawnmower. I was going to remark that Arkham has the benefit over my parents' yard in that it does not have mosquitoes, but then I remembered that it does have Elder Gods, so yeah. Maybe not the best tradeoff. But yes, good scent! Me like! I just wish it lasted a little longer.

[Ajila]

In the bottle – Green leafy woods

 

Wet on me – A kind of murky green scent, with something almost acrid about it

 

Dry on me – Dry green and musky, with faint floral highlights

 

Overall – I’m sure some people love it, but it’s really not me

 

[CynicalPink]

In the bottle: I can't tell one wood note from another, so all I can say is "woodsy." No flowers to be found

 

Wet: For a brief second, downright manly. The wood notes are still the key players, but you can find some of the flowers now, though again I couldn't tell one from the other.

 

Dry: It takes its sweet time, but once you let it really set in, the field of wildflowers comes out. And it's not foofy pretty pretty floral. It's flowers as they grow in a forest, not a florist's. Nevertheless, the wood note jubilee is still dominant all the way to the end.

 

Overall: Very very sharp on the nose, especially at first. It took me ages to figure out if I liked Arkham or not and in the end I bought a bottle. It's floral without the fuss. The funny thing is, I can go ages without even looking at this bottle but then suddenly I'll have a day where only Arkham will do. I'm glad I have it since it smells like nothing else I've ever worn.

[milo]

This is probably something I would never buy, the notes are mostly deal breakers for me. However, I really do like this very much. I thought it was a lemony/musky blend, but perhaps it is the bergamot coming out. Whatever it is, I really like it, citrussy musky goodness. This is what I wanted Carnaval Diabolique to smell like. I honestly wouldn't have known there were florals in here if I hadn't read the description. This is a floral for those who florals don't usually work for. Very clean and fresh, and I'll probably enjoy this imp in the spring or summer.

[savage_rose]

It smells like wood with some weedy plants growing up nearby...like one of those signs on a nature walk that tell you how far you've gone, or what you're looking at. It smells okay, but is pretty unremarkable.

[Limelight]

I have an aged decant of this and I enjoy it quite a bit. Nothing sinister about it. I find it to be a lightly woodsy scent with a delicate floral finish that really pleases with the end note. I believe the dominant florals here are violet and phlox, maybe columbine. Couldn't tell you what pixie moss smells like, tho I'd love to!

[catatonic1242]

In the imp: Simple pine and lovely flowers.

 

On, wet: Geez, flowers. Girly masses of flowers everywhere.

 

On, dry: Musk and woody patchouli. Surprisingly, it dries down to a fairly inoffensive smell (and not very obvious -- I have to put my wrist right up to my nose) on me, but it's also kind of nondescript.

[Sweetie666]

In the bottle this is a....blue scent. Not an aquatic, it just gives me blue color feeling. It's mossy and tangy..hmm.

Wet ~ Tangy. I smell sand, like beach sand.

Dry ~ Still sand...with a little bit of light floral. A lot of the tang has subsided.

 

Not sure how I feel about this one...it's kind of...hmmm meh.

[Gwydion]

In bottle: Very nice in an Appalachian garden sort of way. The woods scent mingles beautifully with the flower combination. The effect in nicely balanced. Wet: The bergamot and violet are dominant. Along with the cypress. It stays pretty well balanced, though the flowers are slightly stronger on my skin. Dry: Turns a little nasty on the skin. I’m not sure which element it is exactly that isn’t working with y skin chemistry, but it really isn’t working. It’s a shame as most of the survivors are the woods, which I like.

[angelicruin]

Very woodsy scent. I get mostly pine & cypress mixed with a bit of floral....and moss.

 

Unfortunately this kind of blend is never best on my skin.

[TheOneTheyCallLuna]

 

This is nice...kinda sorta Garden Path with Chickens-y, but more on the powdery florals side...Ummm, no, in the end the violets just eff this one up for me with their powdery doom. Sad.

Edited May 5, 2009 by OneTheyCallLuna

[pseedie]

~~~arkham~~~

 

In the Imp: This almost smelled aquatic to me...probably because the florals are so light and delicately balanced. It was difficult to pick out a particular note in the imp, which made me impatient to get it on my wrist!

 

Wet: The florals came bouncing forward like wee baby lambs....something was a bit bitter while this was wet, but I know I have a hypersensitivity to bitter fragrances/tastes....also something vaguely reminded me of a lemony "Scarecrow"...not sure why. I didn't get much woodsy fragrance from this at all. Or maybe the woodsy I got was dry and that's what reminded of Scarecrow.....all the same, i get flowers...

 

Dry: Light, well-balanced floral notes. There is a bit of moss, but again the woods have bypassed my arm and left a floral bouquet that when i smell it , lingers at the back of the roof of my mouth. Not unpleasant, in the least, but more floral than i usually like to smell.

 

Verdict: Not for me, but certainly an imp to pass on to a light floral lover.

[ladyhyacinthe]

I'm normally wary of blends with more than about seven notes, simply because my skin tends to make an unpleasant jumble of them. Arkham, however, makes me glad I went against that instinct and ordered an imp of it.

 

Wet, I smell a New England forest. No florals at all, yet. Having grown up in New England, this is a very familiar and pleasant scent to me.

 

As it dries, the florals peek out, but very lightly! I'm horrible at identifying individual flowers, so this all just smells to me like a field of wildflowers, all of them mixed together, with the steadying forest still there in the background to keep all the flowers from attacking me. No, really. Flowers usually get overpowering on me, and I'm hoping Arkham doesn't go there - Lovecraftian flowers could be devastating!

 

After drydown, the flowers are definitely out in full force, and the forest has retreated somewhat. It's a lot sweeter than I expected, but not sickeningly so. This may be a keeper.

[bubblefish]

I'm getting a lot more of the florals than the woodsy notes, which are kind of lingering there in the background, contributing but not dominating the scene. It's actually a really pretty scent, with a very light shadow cast over the flowers.

[childoftime]

I wanted so badly to like this scent, but sadly if you are someone who has trouble with florals going to soap on you (I definitely do), this isn't going to be any different.

 

Woodsy, clean, and green with some florals in the bottle, as soon as I put this on my skin it was pretty clear to me that one of those flowers hates me, and it started smelling of chemical cleaner. I tried to wait and see if it would mellow out, but it gave me a horrible headache, and I had to scrub it off. This one really makes me wish I could afford a scent locket!