Thanatopsis

[tinyvulture]

A meditation upon death. Inspired by William Cullen Bryant’s poem. A deep, solemn earthen scent containing pine, juniper and musk.

Crisp pine, the sweaty smell of musk, and the scent of wet earth. As pine scents go, I prefer Black Forest because the amber makes it so warm and comforting. But really, they are both great. This is just a lot darker. I think it more genuinely smells like a forest. After half an hour it smells slightly minty and still has that undercurrent of musk. A keeper.

[quikslvr]

Very earthy/piny. Musk pops first, and is rather animal in nature. Pine and musk compete for awhile, then pine wins. Awful on me by the end: the worst of new age shops and dirt.

[joseybird]

oooo!

 

I'm usually not a pine fan (Skadi and Dublin were not for me), but this...

 

This is a FOREST. Not the neon-green, wet forest of Dublin or Skadi...This is the slightly sweet pine needles, bark, and sticky sap. I can smell the undercurrent of dark musk--silky, like fur, and slightly animalistic.

 

WOW.

[JazzieCazzie]

Strong medicinal pine, clear and sharp and grounding. There is something simple and yet complex about it, as if there are many layers of one-note scent. A beautiful spicy pine, this is definitely a keeper ...

 

ON a scale of 1-5, a high 4.

[mmcfa2]

beautiful! This is a walk in deep winter woods of the evergreen variety with snow and crisp branches snapping under foot to collect your thoughts or wood for a waiting fire. Brilliant scent, clearing and deep and thought provoking. I love how the musk underscores the heady menthol-like juniper and pine. This makes me think of jabberwockey all grown up!

 

I would swear there is a tiny drop of civet here, not any more, just a tiny drop as it does not go sour cat pee on me. It only seems a warm furry creature lurks here.

[Finny]

Damp pine forests, this is gorgeous. It conjures up a feeling of deep quiet. Very useful when I am feeling overwhelmed.

 

As it dries down it becomes a bit sweeter in tone, and the musk brings a second skin scent out for me. The juniper adds a softness.

 

Absolutely lovely.

[LiberAmoris]

Thanatopsis was a freebie from the Lab, thanks Labbies!

 

Ok, I know this is a Funereal Oil blend, but it's just so...damn...relaxing and peaceful! Ah, life after death, perhaps. To me this smells like Sin with pine and juniper. It's incredibly 'down to earth' and grounding. This is one to put on after I get home from work when I need to 'tabula rasa' my mind. Very clearing!

[Brianne]

In the bottle:

Gack! Pine! Very strong, Pine-sol smelling pine.

 

On me:

It goes on wet, pretty much exactly how it smells in the bottle. Very strong, cologne like pine. I was turned off by this at first, since I'm so NOT a fan of pine. This was a freebie from the lab, so I was extra determined to give this a shot though. After about 10 minutes though, maybe even 15, this dries into a warm, spicey musk. It's really lovely. Thanks to BPAL I've discovered I'm a big fan of musk, and I think anyone else who enjoys musk, will surely love this.

 

Final note:

It seems very masculine until it dries for a while and then I think it's a perfectly gender neutral scent. Could be sexy on a man OR a woman. I like this a lot, I'm not sure there is a bottle in my future, but I will keep the imp for now and see how often I end up reaching for this

[OriginalWacky]

Bottle (Imp): Quite a bite to this one.

 

Just On: Bite, and a touch of antiseptic.

 

An hour or two later: Settles down to a smoother scent.

 

Around 6 hours: I'm going to guess some soft musk.

 

12 hours: Yeah, a nice soft bit of musk.

 

Overall: This one starts out with some real bite, and mellows down to a wonderful soft musk scent.

 

After reading other reviews: I didn't really think this was masculine. It's tough to wait out the bite, but it is nice once it dries down muchly.

[arabella]

First Impression: Pine room freshener.

 

Dries down to: A fresh evergreen scent with something dark lurking in the shadows. Then, it settles down within 10 minutes and becomes much mellower - more musk and juniper, less pine - but is now barely perceptible.

 

Additional Comments: This is definitely pine and I can pick out the juniper if I really concentrate. This one, initially, just strikes me as medicinal. I'd only use this if I had a cold and wanted to clear my sinuses - it works just like one of those nasal inhalers. I like the dry down much better but it's too faint for me.

 

Lasted: Less than an hour.

 

Rating: 2 out of 5

[Lycanthrope]

In the Bottle or Imp:

Pine, cypress, and other forest woods mixed with a pungent musk.

Wet, on Skin:

Pine, pine... a hint of brighter green, but not much. Eucalyptus?

Drying/Drydown:

The musk comes out to play with the pine. An interesting combination, like an evil forest glen.

Over Time/Longterm:

Deep, slightly woodsy musk...

Final Verdict?

I like it, but there are lots of other much more complex BPAL blends that I prefer. This is very remniscent of Dracul to me, without the extra sweet and complicated top notes.

[Laurel the Woodfairy]

Thank you for the frimp, Labbies!

 

Super-dark in the vial, a murky deep brown. Smells of spicy pine, like a Christmas tree! And I can see how the musk could be called "furry"--this is a Christmas tree that's still in the woods with a critter living in it. This would be a room scent rather than one I (or DH) would wear. But I already have Yuletide for my winter room scenting purposes, so I'll swap this to someone who needs it.

[Miss Lynx]

This was lovely in the vial, and divinely gorgeous when it first went on. A beautifully wild, foresty scent with a strong undertone of animalistic musk. It's like Loup Garou and Fenris Wolf mated and had puppies. So I thought at first "At last! I have found the perfect foresty scent!"

 

Unfortunately, this thought was followed not long after by "Wait! Wait! Where are you going? Come back!" Yes, it faded really, really fast. The trees went first, leaving only the musk, and then even that died down a fair bit. It's now been about an hour, and I smell virtually nothing on my wrists, and just a soft musk with the very, very faintest piney note in the crooks of my arms. And that, only if I press my nose right into the skin.

 

*sigh*

 

If I can figure out a way to make the foresty goodness last, this will probably become a top favourite. Maybe I should try some of the tips people have posted for that, putting it in my hair or on my clothes or in a lotion or something. Because otherwise, the disappearing act reduced it from being the perfect wild forest scent to just a maddening tease.

 

Grade: A for initial scent, D for longevity. I guess that balances out to a B or so.

[Nachtwulf]

In the bottle - I know there isn't any honeysuckle in this (or at least it's not listed) but that's mostly what it smells like to me. I expected it to be earthy, and it isn't... it's sweet, a little incensy, and floral in the bottle, and to -me-, anyway, smells pointedly of either honeysuckle or night-blooming jasmine, neither of which is in the ingredient list. Any evergreen notes are kind of lost. I can pick up the musk, though, which is nice.

 

Wet - Okay, now I can pick up a touch of pinishness, but it's mostly drowned by the musk. The honeysuckle note has vanished. It actually reminds me faintly of Halloween, of squashed greenery (since I'm usually hiding in or behind a bush) and a whiff of something weirdly sweet (that I've just determined is "fog juice") . This is a fairly happy smell for me, but other people might not have such fond associations for the smell of fog juice.

 

Dry - Erm. Again, it doesn't omgsuck, but I just don't quite think it's what I want to smell like. As it dries, almost everything but the musk fades, leaving a weird, thick, cloying sort of scent behind that's sweetish, but not incensy, and reminds me of nothing more than the smell of warm latex and fog juice. I don't object to it, precisely, but... as a personal perfume?

 

Final evaluation - I think this is another one for the swap stack. It's pleasant enough, I guess, but it's not as nice as some other ones I have, and the weird musky-fog-juice smell bothers me a bit when I catch an absent whiff of it. Maybe because it's sweet...but not actually /sweet/, it's more like some abstraction of almost-sweetness that doesn't quite manage to make itself enjoyable. It also has a LOT of throw, and the sicky-sweetish play-doh/fog juice scent just -isn't- doing it for me.

[Little Bird]

Of all of the funereal oils that I've tried, Thanatopsis is the only one that I really like. The musk really helps to soften the sharp juniper and pine. I thought that this blend had amber in it, but it is probably just the musk giving it that golden warm smell.

 

The pine and juniper are so sharp at times that I get almost a menthol smell from them. Still, this smells very much like walking through a pine forest and breathing in the smell of sharp needles and resinous pine sap.

 

Another lovely BPAL pine blend.

[Northernminx]

Deep dark pine and a touch of musk. This is dark, earthen pine woods on a cool night, refreshing and clean and soothingly cool. Definitly not something that's very me but great fun to try just for the sheer depth of the pine.

[kettu]

In bottle: Pine-Sol meets Lemon Pledge! But in a healthy, natural sort of way.

 

On skin: piney with a bit of citrus. Woodier undertones are coming to the fore. Niiice.

 

After 10 minutes: mmm, it's all dark and foresty, deep green and shadowed brown.

 

After 30 minutes: pine is gone. all that's left is something vaguely sweetish powdery incense. Meh. Colour me unimpressed.

 

I give it a C. It starts out all edgy pine, but it fades too quickly and turns into something not so good.

Edited October 4, 2005 by kettu keiju

[QueenFae]

Definitely a dark, evil, masculine blend. The pine is on top, and the juniper and musk are creeping up from underneath. I'm beginning to like these dark, earthy blends more and more. This one has the same quality for me as Fenris Wolf and Czernobog. I think I'll keep my imp for clubbing and dark bars, but I better not let the boy smell it or he will surely steal it!

[Undine]

This was a frimp from the Lab--thanks, guys!

 

When I put it on, Thanatopsis smelled VERY medicinal, but it was strange how quickly the pine came out and the medicinal scent went away.

 

Hmm, it is much like Black Forest in some ways. But Black Forest is sweeter, and I think it uses balsam fir instead of pine. In Thanatopsis the juniper and musk add to the dryness, versus the amberness of Black Forest.

 

I've just sent away Ra, so it's hard to compare, but something about the herbal quality reminds me of the herbs in Ra--perhaps the juniper--but much less creepy (although I think I am one of the very few that found Ra creepy; but I digress...). This is a warm, dry pine forest in summer, as opposed to the dark sweet fir woods of Black Forest. Overall I prefer Black Forest, plus I don't like the death associations of Thanatopsis, but this is really quite nice--complex, well-balanced, green. Oddly, it would smell nice walking out in the fields, I think.

 

On my scale, a 4 out of 5.

 

ETA: I tried this again a couple weeks later. My first impression was similar, except not medicinal and more piney and herby and green, but as it dries down I find Thanatopsis so dry that it reminds me not only of Ra but of Kathmandu and its cedar. No toothpaste, thank goodness. It goes way past green to power at some point, and it smells like dragon's blood. I don't know if it is, but now that I look at the color of the oil, it certainly could be. Dragon's blood, a nemesis! I just don't like that sweet-powdery-dry scent and it really "pops" whenever I wear a blend that contains it.

 

I still get the original scent if I sniff my wrist, but the throw I get from it is very dragons-bloody and non-green or herbal.

 

But I fear I have to reassess: it is more a 2.5 out of 5 now.

Edited October 27, 2005 by Undine

[space girl lost]

received as a freebie. never even noticed it on the site before.

 

omg! on first smell it reminds me of the gonesh incense i burned as a teenager. i loved that stuff! while it doesn't last all day like samhain does on me, it definately is still there for a good while. it tends to die down and mellow out on me after an hour which is too bad b/c i'm mad about the fresh resiny/woodsy scent i get straight from the bottle.

 

i'm quite happy with this one! i think i'll be ordering some in the future. though it isn't high priority.

Edited November 1, 2005 by space girl lost

[perfumediva]

cinnamony spicy pine perfect for snowy x-mas and the cold.

 

good for head clearing, almost a floral pine grounded by musk..

 

 

very soothing--turns very sweet on me..like sugary pine..resin...sap..

 

 

love it!

 

brings images of beautiful huge forests and elves..

 

ethereal..

[Fefferbella]

Sweet musk and piney sap. This is a very comforting scent.

Deffinately not something I would have tried on my own! Pine notes have a tendency to go soapy and pine-solish on my skin.

 

However, this is a clean, woody pine scent. Very pretty with the musk undertones to sweeten it.

[harmonyfb]

In the bottle: Sharp and resiny, but actually quite pleasant-smelling.

 

Wet: Wow. I smell...cedar. Like one of those little hinged storage boxes I had when I was a kid.

 

Dry: It's a pleasant woody smell, cedar and juniper. Very nice.

 

Dry, 20 minutes later: Rats. It smells like...sandalwood and baby powder.

 

Dry, 1 hr later: Powder.

 

Verdict: Nice, but no staying power.

[ajcj213499]

This was in a group of imps I got from ebay, and something I would have never chosen- pine and musk...

 

The first time I tried it I was trying a flowery scent on the other arm and in contrast to that this smelled very piney and masculine. I kept my imp, but put it aside for another day.

 

Well, I tried it again today and am so glad I did! At first it smelled very pine (like a pine forest on a crisp fall day).

 

After time passed the pine became much more mellow and it rounded itslef out with the musk. Usually I stay away from musk, but this is a very nice and different blend. I may get a bottle of it just because it is so different from anything else.

 

It's about 2 1/2 hours after I put it on and it has faded, but it still smells faintly wonderful on my wrist.

[sarada]

I first tried Thanatopsis about a year ago during my search for all things piney. I tried it and passed on it because it was too musky, but I recently tried it again, now with a full year of constant sniffing under my belt!

 

The musk is the only variable in this blend that I sometimes have trouble with. When I first sniffed it, the musk was kind of overwhelming and a little too sharp. A little too...civety? Ahh, but that pine and juniper underneath is gorgeous, it's like Black Forest but much deeper and without that golden shimmer of amber.

 

When I actually put it on, my first experience was that the musk was coming across a little like mothballs and I didn't think we were going to get along. But two weeks later, I tried it again and WOW, it worked marvellously. I rarely have chemistry changes through the month, so maybe this is just a very temperamental musk?

 

At any rate, I was wearing this yesterday and the musk just absolutely LOVED me. It came alive, and swept the pine and juniper around me in a dark green cloud. It feels....wolf-like, dark green and feral. The bright green pine stull comes through though, just as clear and brilliant as it does in Black Forest. The musk also helped it to last all day. Musk is becoming my friend.

 

I suggest skin-testing this rather than just sniffing before forming an opinion, as this is one changeable musk (to me, at least). Unfortunately I was in a fairly crappy mood yesterday and bad luck seemed to be following me around. I hope that I have a better day the next time I wear it, as I think I need a bottle! Black Forest for the day, and Thanatopsis for the night!