I was frimped an 1/8 imp of this by the lovely SueDonym. I've actually never posted a review (or actually anything at all) on here (LOL, lurker no more!), but I happened to see on her LJ that she had some extra that she was frimping out in small quantities in order to generate some more reviews, so...here I am! It's the least I could do in appreciation of her generosity.
So when I first tried out Toad Hall, I had mixed it up with Toad (and maybe something else as well) in my head and was expecting dapper, cheap cologne. In other words, I was expecting to go, "Meh" and move on.
What a nice surprise! I don't think this is something I would wear too often, because it's rather masculine, but it's quite nice! It's bright, fresh (probably from aquatic overtones) and slightly smoky. The smokiness isn't in a scorched sort of way, though, but rather faded and slightly leathery. It reminds me of the leather jacket of this guy I hung around with for a bit in college (not a boyfriend or anything, but I must admit I did have a bit of an unrequited crush -- he was gay, alas!). He smoked expensive cigarettes (Dunhills and Davidoffs, as well as cloves), and while I'm no fan of cigarette smoke, it somehow manages to leave a nice aroma on a leather jacket. Maybe it was because he smoked outside a lot, so an ashy smell never set into his clothes. Anyway, I loved the scent of his jacket, and part of that was from the light aura of expensive, faded cigarette smoke on it. And that's what I'm getting from Toad Hall.
After a bit of drydown, a hint of bright citrus is coming out as well, and there's a hint of fresh air in the overall aquaticness of the scent. The aquatic part is zesty and somewhat soapy, not at all salty or waterlogged or dryer sheety.
I'd probably enjoy this scent on my husband, but he often doesn't listen to my pleas to wear BPAL...which is probably a good thing, since I have just 1/8 imp of this stuff! I just might have to wear it myself more often than I thought! The drydown is really nice and much less masculine than the wet phase. At the very least, if I ever want to inspire my writing by using memories of parts of that year in college, I will use Toad Hall to invoke them!
