Carlin

[Heavenlyrabbit]

The Spirit of the Eve of Samhain, an aspect of Cailleach, the Divine Hag, in her Destroyer aspect.

While Brìghde rules the time between Beltane and Sahmain, Cailleach rules the Dark of the Year. On the night of Samhain, she transforms into Carlin, harbingering the death of the land and the onset of the snows. On Beltane, the Great Crone is slain by Brìghde so springtime can reinvigorate the land.

Black sage, ivy-twined rowan, thistle, snapdragon, heather, gorse, fumitory, and anise.

This has the fresh green one associates with evergreen without seeming like Christmas. There is a slight floral overtone from the Snapdragon with the Anise adding a subtle interest.

VERY Green/Brown and lovely. It is much less heavy-handed than many other "Green" scents from BPAL.

It exceeded my expectations which I purposely kept low on seeing "Black Sage" listed.

[Halloqueen2]

This is a lovely scent. It's hard for me to pick out specific notes, because it's very smooth. It has an "organic" feel to it, without having any obvious floral or herbal notes. It's not sweet like a floral...it almost smells like it has a light musk, but not really. I was pleasantly suprised with it...was the sleeper hit of my order, along with Pumpkin 1. The only problem I have with it is that it's not a heavy scent, and it seems to fade quickly, but it is slather worthy, so I may need another bottle. For those wary of anise, I didn't get any, and I love anise. Overall, the feeling is "warm". Will be awesome when the temp drops.

[greenranger]

Do I have the same scent?

 

In the imp I smelled greenery.

 

On me? I smelled bitter herbs...for hours.

 

All bitter herbs.

 

7 hours later, if I sniff very very closely I can detect a slight hint of floral.

 

 

[topazphoenix]

Very very dark green, without being sweet...but there's still a floral aspect...reminds me of the dandelion aspect I get from Tiger Lily and Roadhouse and Fairy Wine. For those of you that like truly green scents, I predict this will be a winner.

[annaham]

In bottle: VERY green, a bit overpowering at first. I can definitely smell the heather and the anise.

 

On skin: Smells a lot like Dog Days of Summer, which is sort of odd.

 

I am happy to report that it dries to a nice, sage-y scent with a hint of anise! I am pleased.

[FallDaze]

In the imp, it's very sharp and lush and green. I can pick out what I think is the ivy and rowan, the sage, thistle and possibly the heather. They all swirl together vying for top note position.

 

Wet it's still very sharp but almost immediately starts to calm down and soften up. It's still a bit sharp but no where near as in your face about it. Still very green. In the locket it's more of an almost dried, herbal green than the sharp wet green in the imp.

 

As it dries on my skin it's turning into a very soft but soapy green herbal scent. A pleasant bar of soap if you will.

 

Unfortunately it seems to stay in this soapy stage for the rest of the day

[LunarAwe]

Heather, gorse, and fumitory seem to be the main notes that I pick up out of this one but sadly over time it dwindles down on my skin to a single, sharp, brittle green note like something pungent that has withered in the sun. And the scent just lasts and lasts and lasts.

 

Sigh. Another 'Weenie given away to a loved one. I think my skin may not really like BPAL at end of summer / start of autumn. The sadness of it all!

[Tracelina]

Heather, gorse, and fumitory seem to be the main notes that I pick up out of this one but sadly over time it dwindles down on my skin to a single, sharp, brittle green note like something pungent that has withered in the sun. And the scent just lasts and lasts and lasts.

 

Sigh. Another 'Weenie given away to a loved one. I think my skin may not really like BPAL at end of summer / start of autumn. The sadness of it all!

 

I was the happy recipient of LunarAwe's bottle of Carlin. I'm still deciding whether I love it on myself, though. Because, hoo boy, do I smell like MAN. In the bottle and in its first wet stages, I smelled whatever note is prominent in Host of the Air for me--maybe heather? Then as it mellowed and dried it had a lovely warm green period where I was huffing constantly. Then it went to sharpish, green, man cologne. Now, mind you, if I could test this on someone with the right skin chemistry, I think I'd never get more than a foot away so I could keep coming back to sniff. But as it is, I've been worried that the entire world can smell me coming from a mile away. I may hold off on wearing this again until it's slightly cooler outside (thus less skin exposed to the air and giving off scent), and will try blending it with things that could balance out the sharpness a tad.

 

Basically, this is a very green scent, but not in a way that makes me think of flowers or plants. If you're looking for a gender-neutral-to-guy-friendly 'Weenie scent, this may be a good bet for you.

 

[Brianne]

With notes like gorse (evergreen) and fumitory and sage and ivy.... it's little wonder that the first impression I get from this is GREEN. Potently green, like fresh cut grass and wreaths of winter greenery. After only a few minutes though it takes a turn from a sharply green scent to a green but deeper, masculine and tad musky scent. The end result is pleasant, but definitely on the manly side and certainly green.

[edenssixthday]

Carlin - This is a very dark, heavy, green scent. It's not as heavy as winter holly and mistletoe type scents, but it's not as bright as summertime grass and dandelion scents. It's got a dark, deep, and almost murky feel to it. It's actually one of the nicer "green" scents I've encountered, but it's still too green for me.

[mgrazulis]

Wet on the skin sweet heather, snapdragon, sage and anise. The floral and herbal aspect very much like The Host of The Air. I get a bit of a coconutty floral in there, maybe from the gorse flower. As it dries down the deep, rich green rowan and ivy settle over the florals and herbs. The oil itself is warm on the skin. I didn't slather it on...so it stayed close. I fully expected to like this one and I was not disappointed. If you love green herbally florals, this one will please you.

 

 

[totheo]

Getting a lot of green. Grass, mostly. But it's more complex than that - I can sense some spice in the background. Like a very very very low burning heat, the memory of a flame. Green, green grassy top note, with something warmer hiding underneath. A cool flame, though. Just a touch spicier than grass.

 

[Little Bird]

In the bottle, this doesn't smell very good to me. It sort of smells like dandelion, but sharper and more menthol-y. Sharp, frozen, medicinal green.

 

On my skin, oh I hate this. It smells like going through someone's bathroom drawer and finding Vicks Vaporub, medicated powders, a hint of hairspray, and herbal soaps that are well past their prime. Expired bath products and dust. I don't think that I've ever tried a fragrance that made me want to throwup as much as this one.

 

I had to scrub this one off, as it was making me sick. It smells sharp and green, I suppose, but mostly it just smells cheap, medicinal, and wrong on my skin...

[EmpressPixie]

I have to premise this review by saying I have evergreen allergies. Too much evergreen gives me a headache. That said, I had to try this because it sounded lovely and I do like evergreen, I just occasionally don't get along with it.

 

In bottle: Very heavy evergreen. Is there anything else even in here?

 

Wet: A greener, sappy evergreen. It's really lovely. Reminds me of Christmas. No headache yet.

 

Dry: The longer it dries, the greener it gets -- more like freshly cut green things than evergreen, but clearly some of both. It's also getting florally sweet as it dries, but just a touch. The heather is coming out nicely and the sage is making a brief appearance.

 

Not an every day for me, but definitely a keep-the-imp.

[superpopkid]

This my first ever 'weenie!

 

Wet, this was a green smell with a slightly chemical edge, a bit like rubbing alcohol. This is the second time a new scent has done that to me, but fortunately the edge wore off quickly. Dry, it's a pleasant sweet green smell. I don't know enough to recognize the individual notes, but it smelled more like wet herbal-y plant greenery than trees. There's a lot of sweetness in it that strikes my untrained nose as floral, too. I didn't get the darkness or heaviness that other reviewers did at all. Instead, Carlin gave me the impression of a damp green garden with pink flowers. (why pink? I don't know.) To me, this feels much more like a spring scent than a fall one. It didn't seem to change much throughout the day. Throw seems very good. It's been 10 hours since I put it on and I'm still getting mild wafts of sweet green. Overall: it doesn't seem to have a lot of depth, but it's a soft, lovely scent.

Edited September 24, 2009 by VitaminA

[patina]

I had a bizarre scent memory from this one. There's some kind of unusual cleaning fluid that smells like something in this. Maybe the heather.

Also it made me think of pizza. I'm not kidding. It must be the sage meeting spicy anise that turns into oregono.

 

And of course, it's green and herbally.

 

EDIT: Trying this a second time, in sleightly cooler weather, this is more pleasant and the elements blend together well. It's a soothing, relaxing smell, but I still don't think I'll get a bottle.

 

EDIT: Great in cold weather. It smells so crisp, like something that should be worn with a button-down shirt. Deep, lovely herbs.

Edited January 31, 2010 by patina

[Iceblink]

Green, green, GREEN and herbal--I was hoping for a little more anise from this but I'm getting all greenery and sage. Very strong, this one--awesome if you like really green blends but a little headache-inducing if you don't!

[moon_lemming]

This is a sappy green scent, like the inside of a pine branch. For some reason it reminds me of ginger when it's wet. I can't really find the anise that's supposed to be in Carlin, which makes me sad because I loooove anise. There's something bitter and dark that grows as the scent dries. It's sort of got an evil aftershave vibe.

 

This is way too dark for me, too green, too masculine. Not my kind of scent at all.

[GhillieDhu]

This is the more naturalistic Autumn to Passionate Shepherd's stylized Spring. (Looking at the notes, no surprise there... must be the ivy and heather.) A dark murky ivy green, a touch metallic from the sage, with bits of fresh-cut grass and snapped branches, and something dark and just a bit acrid. I can't quite place it... could be smoldering peat or wet leather. Can't pick out the anise, which is a relief. It smells like Scotland. Or at least how I imagine the Scottish Highlands would smell, anyway, on a misty still morning getting on toward winter. This is surprisingly wearable! I love "planty" scents, but often they don't love my skin...whatever the dark note is, it's grounding the fragrance just enough to keep it from going soapy. It should be nice in the oil burner as well, though.

[crebbsgirl]

I should have known. Green = soapy on me. And that's pretty much exactly what I got. A sweet soapy smell. A little headache inducing for me unfortunately.

[Upstart Crow]

This is the more naturalistic Autumn to Passionate Shepherd's stylized Spring. (Looking at the notes, no surprise there... must be the ivy and heather.) A dark murky ivy green, a touch metallic from the sage, with bits of fresh-cut grass and snapped branches, and something dark and just a bit acrid. I can't quite place it... could be smoldering peat or wet leather. Can't pick out the anise, which is a relief. It smells like Scotland. Or at least how I imagine the Scottish Highlands would smell, anyway, on a misty still morning getting on toward winter. This is surprisingly wearable! I love "planty" scents, but often they don't love my skin...whatever the dark note is, it's grounding the fragrance just enough to keep it from going soapy. It should be nice in the oil burner as well, though.

 

GhillieDhu is right on the mark! I, too, thought that Carlin was an autumnal companion to The Passionate Shepherd to His Love, and I agree that it is the ivy and the heather. I've had some mixed results with heather as it ages, however, so I hope that this will age as well as Passionate Shepherd has. In the bottle I can smell the gorse, anise and sage the strongest. On me the heather and ivy come out the strongest, with the anise and what I think is the fumitory or thistle as a pleasant backdrop. I can't pick out the snapdragon.

It's quite a lovely scent, and one that I'll probably use a half bottle of, but not a full.

[Jammies]

Yes, yes, yes! This is definitely a deeper, darker green scent--I'm getting dandelion even though that isn't listed, and lots of brooding dark leaves. Bottle-worthy.

[megank4]

This makes me think of Host of the Air- a dark herbal scent that my husband calls "toilet cleaner".

Nice but would like a little more black sage.

[thekittenkat]

In the imp: Very herbal, but also the black sage and the anise are strong.

 

Wet: Peppery and sweet. Sort of a darker ascent of Glasgow.

 

The dry-down: More sweet in a fresh green sense than peppery. In other words, the rowan, thistle, snapdragon, heather and gorse are trumping the black sage and anise. I like it, but it makes me think of cold rain in the late summer/early fall during the night-time dripping off the dark leaves. No, no aquatic notes present, that's just my visual take on it. I think I'll try this on the bf, as it seems a bit unisex.

Edited October 1, 2009 by thekittenkat

[Kimbernunk]

Skin chemistry is weird.

 

This isn't a dark green or any sort of foreboding scent on me. It's a fairly medium-to-light green, and very airy. It reminds me very strongly of Host of the Air, but not so heavy on the flower stems as Host is. This is, on me, like sitting in a grassy field in May. That is to say this stuff is GORGEOUS, but not what I was expecting. My skin seems to be eating the sage (which is weird, because while I don't amp sage I certainly don't usually demolish it, either), and that gets rid of the menacing feel.

 

So to sum up, this is gorgeous, I love it, I think it's an excellent addition to my library of green scents, but it doesn't feel like Autumn to me (at least on my skin).