The Carpathian Mountains

[maijasu]

Mountain air and the scent of crisp snow blanketing the mountain’s flora: Scottish fir, beech, cembra and mugho pine, rhododendron, currant, honeysuckle, raspberry leaf, dwarf juniper, sedge, meadow grass, snowdrop, rose bay, lily of the valley, starwort, lichen and mosses.

I did get an initial blast of wintergreen from this, but it faded rapidly into a really beautiful scent reminding me of fresh, cold mountain air and greenery. I really like it, but there are several snowy/outdoor scents that I like better and are in the GC, so I probably won't be getting a bottle.

Edited for spelling. Edited November 3, 2006 by maijasu

[Little Bird]

In the bottle... spearmint and juniper. Minty and reminding me of chewing gum. I'm not really fond of mint, so I'm hoping that this will morph on my skin.

 

On me... chewing gum. Or toothpaste. In that powdery, light green spearmint sort of way.

 

I was hoping that this would be more of a natural forest/mountain scent... but it's all fakely sweet mint in a way that reminds me of bathrooms (maybe that toothpaste association, but it also reminds me of some cleanser that I hate). Not what I'd want to smell like.

[UberAlice]

This came to me as a frimp from a very sweet forumer (Thanks Nursekins! ). In the imp and wet it is a cold, dry mint; definitely the slightly smoky smell of forests in the middle of winter. It soon picks up a sweet undertone and becomes more like a mint breath...errr, mint as it dries. When it's finally dried out on me it's almost a mint candy. It's a nice smell, but not for me. I smell like my toothpaste tastes.

[copyshopclerk]

I got a decant of this from a circle.

 

In the imp: Wintergreen and woods

 

Wet: I'm not personally crazy about wintergreen in a lot of scents - sometimes it works, but most often it doesn't. This is one of those times that it doesn't - it's too heavy and I think I like what I smell under it, but the wintergreen is too overpowering.

 

Dry: Drying the wintergreen shifts to more of a spicy birch beer scent. I suppose that makes sense, but this is one that's just not "me". Underneath the birch beer scent is a nice kind of fresh, almost grassy scent that I like, but not enough to keep the decant or buy a bottle. Oh well!

[theseagrows]

smells like fruity wintergreen pine trees

 

at first it's a burst of pure wintergreen, and i thought i would hate it. on the drydown though, it becomes more pleasant- mountain air with a sweetness..i guess it's all the fruits, but notes don't really stand out. this is an interesting scent but too sweet for my tastes.

[portalkat]

Strong wintergreen which backs off after a few minutes. what is left is reminiscent of the alpine meadow where I backpacked in the Mammoth Lakes area. It smells like fresh air, trees and meadow flowers. It isn't particularly masculine, but I can see this on a guy who doesn't want to wear a strong scent.

[birdiefu]

Wow, this wasn't what I was expecting- those are some minty mountains!! A ton of mint first on, but as it dries the mint mellows a bit. The mint is still the major note, but not overwhelming, and sweet berries are buried under the mint. There is a hint of pine in the background, and overall I do like this scent. It gives me the feeling of high, cold mountains in winter with red berries on a snow-covered tree.

[sarahmarie]

I thought I already reviewed this, but evidently I didn't!

 

This is a really unique, striking scent. It really does smell like wintery, mountain air. The *cold* scent is most evident, along with the woodsiness - emphasis on juniper, I think, at least on my skin. The florals don't assault at all, the way florals often do on my skin - they're quiet backdrops to the scent, creating a more complex, genuine aroma.

 

I like this one a lot in my scent locket, with a bit on my skin as well. Beautiful.

[TrailerTrashPrincess]

i don't get what i was hoping for, what i do get is something that smells like birch beer (which is sort-of wintergreeney - like sitting beside someone with a wintergreen mint) and cold air. i'm not sure how to describe the scent of cold air, but there it is.

 

this is also incredibly faint, less than 20 minutes and there's nothing left (and i spilled quite a bit on my fingers, but it isn't there anymore)

[supremegoddessofall]

Teaberry gum. I like teaberry gum, but I'm not sure about it as a perfume. I think the teaberry effect is a combination of the evergreens and the honeysuckle. Not really getting florals out of this.

[marzstar]

spearmint and piney and reminds me of cleaning product

 

mountain forest crisp air... yes... neat, conceptually, but nothing i'd want to wear

 

to the swap pile...

[PurringPulsar]

The Carpathian Mountains

 

In the imp: wintergreen, pine and juniper! This is an almost medicinal evergreen smell. Very cold.

Wet on skin: whoa, this is very, very wintergreen indeed!

Dry on skin: wintergreen. A very medicinal wintergreen scent, but it does give an impression of a dry, cold breeze from the mountains. It's nothing like the Skadi snow note though. Under this wintergreen I smell glimpses of currant, fir, pine, moss, juniper and grass, maybe some floral notes, and an odd olive like note as well, which I also got in Talvikuu, if I remember rightly. But mainly medicinal wintergreen and dry pale wood rubbed with wintergreen oil.

After a while: this doesn't change much-it's still that odd scent of antiseptic, pale woods and hints of grass and an 'oily' scent. I was expecting a lot more complexity and variety from here but it's flat and bitter on my skin. But it definitely has a cold and mountainous feel to it.

The wintergreen-antiseptic scent just doesn't budge at all. it's not even a nice menthol scent, and that bitter sickly green smell has also got worse.

Verdict: from the wonderfully varied and complex list of notes this scent has, I was expecting a fantastic and multifaceted forest scent with foliage, woods, flowers, fruits and moss, with a cold, snowy note over it all. but I didn't get this at all…I got mainly strong wintergreen. It smells very medicinal, almost antiseptic, and hardly any of the other notes mentioned in the description show up-there are hints of currant and evergreen trees, some wood and greenery, but it's mainly flat wintergreen with a nasty oily feel like bitter olives. However, the thinness this scent has could definitely be evocative of thin, cold mountain air with hints of greenness. But really, this was a real disappointment on my skin…I'm going to swap this off, it just doesn't work.

Emoticon rating:

Is it a keeper? No.

If you like this, try: Hamadryad, Talvikuu, Ulalume

[waffelo13]

Initially, I get a strong hit of juniper and wintergreen.

Then comes the morph - as yeahbutnobut noted, I also get a very strong medicinal, antiseptic, band-aid smell on top of the juniper.

There is a lot of morphing, but my final drydown shows potential. The medicinal smell is very faint at this point, and I smell the mosses and definitely raspberry leaf - to me, it is reminiscent of Jersey Devil with a blast of mint and cool air.

I'm going to age this for a while. If the antiseptic note vanishes, I'll keep this for an occasional wear when the mood strikes.

[PilotKitten]

On first whiff there's something minty in here.... I have no clue what that is but it smells a lot like that spearmint chewing tobacco. Hrm... it started out really strong and with the tobacco associationg really making me want to throw up, but after the drydown it's kinda growing on me. A bit of woods come peeking out (which, on me, it's really odd to have woods "peek"... normally they come running at me and beat me with a branch) Very intriguing scent I think... I shall have to try again to see if it's bottle-worthy but it's very nice

[pkthunder]

My first impression sniffing out of the bottle was "mouthwash", and indeed when I first put it on I felt like I was wearing Listerine. But the harsh mintiness comes off in about two minutes, and after about ten minutes it's the perfect cool mountain air and flora, one of the many reasons I moved to Colorado.

 

And even though the mint is quite minty, it's a very good rendition of the cold harsh air that enters your nose when you're standing at 12,000 ft.

[malabar]

Another vote for Ben-Gay, sadly - it's been on me for about an hour, and all I can think of is sports rub. Nothing else is coming through for me at all. I'm really disappointed - I so wanted to like this!

[Emma2403]

In the bottle: I totally get the vicks vapo rub mentioned by previous reviewers. Although I might be coming down with a cold, I don't want to smell like vicks vapo rub.

 

On my skin: evergreen trees and moss. Well, it's not unpleasant, but I'm not wowing either.

 

After a couple of hours: it gets very medicinal (like initially in the bottle). I don't mind this kind of smell but I don't particularly *want* to smell this way either.

 

Verdict: off to swap

[LiberAmoris]

I really wish I was getting more notes from The Carpathian Mountains---on my skin it’s primarily spearmint and the raspberry leaf, a note I recognize from Alecto. It makes for an almost smoky spearmint, a leafy, almost bitter mint.

 

It’s not a bad combination, but I think this might be better in my oil burner where I can appreciate the scent around me rather than on my skin. It does absolutely conjure up wind gusting down mountains, picking up the smell of trees and greenery on the way down. It’s a very fresh smell, and I think this would be great to burn when I need to concentrate.

[ChupaChup]

The wintery mint in The Carpathian Mountains isn't too bad on me but the bay in this is way too strong. After the top notes burn off in about an hour, this scent is rather pretty but it isn't worth that yucky first hour. Swapped.

[Alchemy21599]

I acquired an imp of this from a decant circle.

 

In the vial: fir, moss and mountain flowers.

 

Wet: the moss is getting stronger.

 

Dry: now a berry note is coming out to play. I like this scent, but not enough to purchase a big bottle. I suspect that this will be a lovely scent in the oil burner.

[juniperus]

Bottle: sharp, green...this is what I imagine 'fresh' smelling like when I read it in an ad...

Wet: piney and minty...oddly like a wintergreen altoids (complete with that sinus-opening feeling)

Dry: I can catch hints of the florals, now, but the wintergreen-ness hasn't faded away completely. this is very foresty, but not really a pine forest, there is pine, but this reminds me of primarily beech and birch stands I've walked through.

Later: interesting...I'm not sure it's me, I will have to wear it again...but it's very evocative. I get a scent memory from this...somewhere in northern Michigan.

[Caltha]

Carpathian Mountains

When I started with BPAL I thought I was looking for the perfect green and natural scent. I gave that up a long time ago. I really don't like the way most "green" scents smell, that sort of cool and watery and sometimes almost sour or musty quality. Carpathian Mountains is pretty much everything I don't like about "green" scents: herbal, plasticky, minty, with pear or apple schampoo vibes... It's also stale. A stale quality I recognize from several other scents although I can't recall any names. Almost play-doh, almost rubber, definitely stale.

[moon_lemming]

Whoooa. Wintergreen Lifesavers. In the bottle and on my skin, that's all I get for about five minutes. As the drydown progresses, I can make out a little bit of greenery, mostly fir. There's a tiny drop of a good, sweet floral in there, too. That's all, though.

 

It's not a BAD scent -- especially since I have a cold and it's making me feel a little more clear-headed -- it's just not something I'd wear.

[sophia_helix]

Spearmint gum, straight up. I think it's the juniper. Over time, it seems like some flowers or other greens might want to peek in and play, but it never happens -- spearmint all the way to the bitter end. It reminds me a lot of the TAL Temple: Druidic, actually, so if you like this you'll like that.

[cranberry]

In the imp, the best description for this is subdued.

 

But, Wow, once applied I get a hint of moss and then wham, wintergreen. It reminds me of Ben Gay sports rub and chewing gum. I was expecting something really complex; with elements of flowers, moss, the forest floor, evergreen and that wonderful BPAL snow/ice note. As it dried, the Ben Gay note backs off a bit (but it’s still strongly there), and there’s a touch of sweetness and raspberry leaf. The florals are coming out, but they are icy and frozen. Now this is turning really pretty and more of what I was expecting. For some reason it smells a bit edible to me. I just don’t know that I can get over the initial blast.

 

It’s a faint scent and not long lasting.

 

(edited for spelling)

Edited November 25, 2006 by cranberry