Yule

[joseybird]

It is Yule, and the Holly King has slain the Oak: blood red holly berry, mistletoe, wild thyme, verbena, cinquefoil, hemp, winter rose, evergreen, frankincense, juniper, and myrrh.

Samhain was, along with Rose Red, the first BPAL I fell in love with. It was very atmospheric, and it captured the holiday beautifully.

Then I got Lughnasadh and Mabon. Those, like Samhain, were also gorgeous "tapestry" scents which painted scented "scenes" of their respective holidays.

But then came Beltane, and Litha, and Ostara, and I was dreadfully disappointed by each. Partly because I felt they lacked the rich complexity of their earlier Sabbat counterparts, partly because they turned to soap on me.

So I wasn't expecting much of Yule. But now that I try it...Ooo this is lovely!

I normally don't like evergreen scents (Snow Bunny, Skadi, Snow-Flakes, etc), but Yule is a bit different. It starts out evergreen and berries, but quickly dries down to something warm and golden--almost vanillic--with hints of lemon and herbs. Like a warm little nest of light and life buried in crisp snow.

[steelxrose]

Yule.. I love the mingling of the berries and wood, which is all I can detect and that's all I need. I might have to hoard this, because I can see it being an awesome room scent as well!

[zankoku_zen]

I don't know what it is but there is something in this blend that has an almost 'waxy' consistency. It makes me think of mistletoe/Christmas candles that you see sold during Christmas - that end up being a little berry, a little floral, a little pine, and a little bit of everything that you associate with Christmas. At the beginning, it had an almost peppery overlay and as it dried it made me think of spicy cinnamon... and now, there is something a little 'off' that makes me think that it could be the hemp.

 

No Go.

[kjirstiben]

I agree with the Christmas candle association... to me this starts out smelling almost exactly like red christmas candles... It's all tart holly berry and a backdrop of evergreen.

 

Though many people have commented on it, I get virtually no lemon out of this... it starts out being berry and evergreen, and softens down to a woodsy berry herbal freshness. A delightful and cool combination, and wearing it in August in the desert, it is a shocking juxtaposition to the season. (This would definitely be good to wear for the Advent season, as you're listening to Christmas carols.)

 

I have the scent impression of wintry woods, snow-covered, trudging through with a sled looking for a Christmas tree to bring back home... it's an outdoorsy, crisp expression of the holiday. I love it!

[galahad]

In The Bottle

Lemon verbena

 

On Application

Lemon verbena and fir/pine

 

Dry Down

Bright and cool lemon verbena and pine. Warms up as it dries down. Lemon and lemon verbena usually don't spin my wheels as a scents but this is nice and well rounded. Glad I got to try this.

 

Rating (0-5)

4

[ouch!]

Oh my this is such a dissapointment to me! I had REALLY high hopes... *pouts*.

While I was hoping that this blend would encapture the scent of xmas/winter time...

 

I get...

 

Verbena. Slightly sweet almost vanillary verbena at first. There's hardly any throw at all. I'm not sure if this is because my imp is old and it's aged a bit funny. I know certain things don't age well at all.

But after it dries slightly the verbena does what it usually does on my skin, smells like it's been soaked in pond water. I get this dirty lemon kind of smell...

I'm praying for a miracle...

 

When it's dry..the pond yukness subsides a bit and the Myrrh makes an appearance...so. What I'm getting now is a soft verbena with Myrhh. No berries..No greenery...no anything else.

 

The Myrrh fades further and the blend becomes much sweeter, a tiny bit of verbena is still there but it's now a very faint very sweet Myrrh. It's actually the nicest stage of the whole drydown.

 

It stays like this until the end...today I am mainly gonna be angry at my skin chemistry!

Edited June 8, 2009 by ouch!

[Coldfire]

Bottle: deep evergreen and juniper tempered with the verbena and frankincense

Wet on me: More evergreen now. Not total Christmas tree evergreen…but still a nice winter green smell

Drying Down: The wild thyme keeps this from being a total pine fest. The frankincense and myrrh soften it.

Dry: Love the resins coming out and I get a woody scent as well with the evergreen and the thyme and verbena keeping it from getting overwhelmed by any one scent. This is not Christmas….THIS is Yule!

Edited October 7, 2008 by Coldfire

[mgrazulis]

In the bottle: evergreen, verbena, hemp, holly berry

Wet: fragrant juniper and delicate rose, the hemp becomes creamy and sweet with verbena

Dry: the woods and resins arrive. A vivid green and red scent reminiscent of Yew Trees with festive spices. Ceremonial and atmospheric--a wondrous winter blend!!

[ow1goddess]

I wish this didn't have the verbena in it. It gives me this weird plasticky-sweet smell when I put it on. Extra frustrating, because it also has this wonderful, evergreen smell like freshly cut holly and greenery, and I wish it didn't have to fight the lemony death note. It's probably because of my skin chemistry, so I guess I'm in the "all lemon" crowd on this one. The lemon does back off a little after about half an hour, though, and then I get the nice green smell more and a hint of something resinous and a bit smoky.

 

Also, something in this gives me a headache, like MB: Bloody Mary did. Sad times. I will try it in an oil burner and see if that helps, because I really want to save that happy Yule greenery smell.

[childoftime]

This started off so beautifully! Lemon, spices, smoke, and greenery.

 

But now that it's started to dry, it has turned into HEMP. LOTS OF HEMP.

 

HELLO, HEMP!

 

I can still catch hints of evergreen and smoke, but the hemp is a bully, and it's giving me a headache. Maybe as a room scent or in a scent locket, this one.

[Shollin]

First sniff: Pine needles, frozen earth, sun on snow. Fresh, green, cold, and just a little bit resiny-sweet.

 

Wearing: Evergreen and incense and subtle sweetness. And then the frankincense does the frankincense thing and becomes far too sharp-sweet for me to enjoy wearing it. Ah well.

[BuxomM]

It's smells green, peppery, and a bit smoky.

[DifferentDances]

Bottle: Initial whiff reminds me strongly of TAL's White Light; second whiff brings out more of the evergreen and either the berries or rose.

Wet: Holly and evergreen with the slightly itchy, spicy scent of thyme.

Drydown: Same holly, evergreen, and thyme with more woodiness. There's something allergy-tickling in the throw of this, though. BAH.

 

Not even going to finish testing this - I can feel my body reacting negatively to this.

[Schmoozy]

Lemon, resins and holly berry with a smattering of herbs over wood. It has a definite spicy lemon note throughout due to the verbena and juniper. Frankincense and myrrh add a Midnight Mass vibe. The woods are dry and cool, and the wild thyme adds a medicinal feel. However, this is mainly resin and woods with hints of spicy lemons.

[Incendiare]

2010: This one is almost a little overwhelming in the imp. Many herbs, evergreen, and resins bursting out all at once, I don't even know where to begin. The evergreen note is the most prominent and I can even feel a cooling sensation inside my nose when I sniff this. I picture myself wandering through an evergreen forest when I smell this in the imp.

 

Wet, it's still very similar. The juniper berry and holly berry are sitting in the background. I don't get any floral from this at all, and although I cannot pick out the resins, they seem to secretly ground this blend. Although I appreciate this blend and it's very realistic, it isn't something that I would wear. It's also quite potent. I just tried to wash it off and it won't budge.

[Katherynne]

This scent just SMELLS like the Sabbat, to me. I put it on with some trepidation, because it smelled like pinesol in the imp -- but wow, once it was on, it bloomed. I am in love with it. It is herbal and crisp but also resinous and sweet, and it blooms brightly on the skin. I will wear this on the Sabbat itself and enjoy it throughout the winter. I bet it's amazing in an oil burner, too!

[Mamma Badger]

I agree with all the people who say GREEN!

Mostly evergreen and herbs with a little something almost like eucalyptus giving it a cold tone.

[milo]

This starts out kind of astringent and piney. Kind of like a floor cleaner. After a couple of minutes, it is barely noticeable on me, (and I slathered) just a watery disinfectant smell. This is really bland, and blah.

 

eta: OK, so give it a half an hour, and the blend does strengthen. Weird, bpal usually starts out strong and then fades. It still is the mentholated/eucapalytus-like blend to me, so I still don't really like it.

 

2011 Version: Incense and christmas greenery. Better than last year, but I have Midnight Mass to fill the incense greenery for Christmas.

Edited January 9, 2012 by milo

[greenranger]

This starts off as evergreen sap, fresh and sticky. As it dries it gets more herby.

 

Mostly leaves, with maybe some resins in the far far background. Slightly prickly.

[NaiadOreiad]

I am digging this. i got a decant from shackjj and I may just get a bottle.

 

Its very much a an outside winter scent. Alot of the other ones I ordered were all spicy and rich but this is fantastic. It's spice is an herbal one. Definitely has a Yule vibe. It makes me feel like I am walking through the woods towards an old cabin. the cabin has pomanders made of old lemons hanging in the windows. The evergreen is there, the same evergreen i fell in love with in jabberwocky. Its fading now to a crisp herbal. its been morphing for a little while. i swear I smelled a whisper of the mistletoe which (true to its elusive nature in the woods) just hides and then peeks out unexpectedly. I smell the hemp too, like stalks that have been curing waiting to be used for a craft at home, while the snow outside falls in fresh powdery mounds.

 

All in all, I LOVE IT! 5/5 very evocative of specifically YULE feelings.

[countessmouse]

At first, it's lemony fir needles with...cornbread dressing? Nah, must be the thyme. As it dries, it just blends out into this wonderful wintery goodness of fir, spices and berries. I feel all Christmasy when I wear it!

 

Looks like I'll be adding another bottle to the list...

[starfish327]

in the imp: pine and thyme. thyme has a habit of ruining scents for me,i can't really wear herbs.

 

wet: pine and thyme. it's a fairly assertive blend. it's very woody but oddly it's not very green on me.

 

dry: the pine is still there, but it's definitely playing second fiddle to the thyme. way underneath there's a hint of lemon. i really don't like it when it's first on, but it seems to be mellowing out the longer that it's on. it's still very assertive, and while i'm not sure that it reads masculine on me, it's not really feminine or gender neutral either. it's hard to pin down.

 

i may have to let this one age a little to see what the thyme does before i let it go, because the throw is much better than the close-up scent and i like it as long as the thyme isn't punching me in the nose.

[Drarra]

In the bottle: I smell evergreen. A pine forest in a bottle.

 

Wet on skin: More evergreen, and I smell like a holiday wreath. This isn't a bad thing, since greens are one of my favorite holiday scents, but it's a little odd emanating from my skin rather than from a tree.

 

Dry: The resins really ground the greens. I can't really smells them for themselves, but I can smell how they are tempering the greens. With their help, the berries are coming out to play. I feel like my own walking Yule festival in this scent.

 

I will need to play with this scent more. I don't get the herbals that other reviewers are mentioning. I'm not sure if that's my skin amping the evergreen and mistletoe notes or if my nose is not catching them. Overall, this is such a great holiday scent for me. I can also see myself loving it in a warmer...

[thekittenkat]

This is for the 2010 version:

 

In the bottle: My nose tells me of all the notes, in a glorious fashion. It's a winter woods, but in a greenhouse with a winter garden.

 

Wet: A beautifully crafted scent; perhaps the evergreen note is dominating, just a bit.

 

The dry-down: Just wonderful: all the lovely scents are present, but so well blended that it is difficult to tell off the note, but I do detect the berry, thyme, the rose, the evergreens, the frank, and the myrrh for certain. Delighted once again to have this scent again for the Yule-tide. I don't want to stop huffing my wrist.

[Altaira]

(2010 version)

Of the 25(!) Yules I have tried this year, this is surprisingly the first I am seriously considering a bottle of. I was expecting it to just be OK, but it it really, really awesome.

 

Yule has a berry sweetness mixed with dark greenery. I can really smell the thyme and the myrrh, with the rose just adding a bit of sweetness. The evergreen adds an almost minty top note, but there is a darker, deep woods feel to the blend. It is joyful and sweet yet somber dark at the same time. I really it!