Juniper Berry

[jj_j]

I don't know that juniper berry is what I thought it was. I really thought it was that not-fruity berry in things like Bewitched, but this is sharp, almost biting, and definitely sap-like. It smells like berries off hedges on campus or in a park.

 

Mind you, this is still good. It's forest trail, without a question. Crisp, a tiny bit green, although mostly bright red berries.

 

I'm going to have to re-visit some of my reviews and figure out what the note is that I thought was juniper berry.

[Penance]

Origin:

 

I got an imp of this from the lovely Malanna.

 

My impressions:

 

This is dead on. It's not the watered-down juniper you get at BBW and the like, this is the strong, bracing, almost harsh juniper I've come to know and love in Burial and several other BPAL scents. A tiny bit of this goes a long way and it has great staying power.

 

I don't know that I would wear this on its own even though I love juniper because it's a little harsh for wearing alone, but I can definitely see myself layering this with my other BPAL and getting a lot of wear out of it.

 

I'm constantly surprised and thrilled by the quality of BPAL's single notes and Juniper Berry is no exception.

[shelldoo]

i love juniper berry, it is right on, smells just like when we trim our juniper bushes, i can smell the woody branches and the evergreen bite. i love blends w/ this note and the single note is not too shabby

[sarada]

I've tried the Juniper Berry that they have in the essential oil display at the healthfood store and Whole Foods (Aurocacia, I think?) and it's very similar to this, but the lab's is much more of a...realistic scent, I think. It doesn't have that extremely sharp, piercing quality that other companies' juniper berries sometimes do. It's sharp and evergreen, slightly woody, but it doesn't develop that kind of "nail polish remover" scent that I thought it might given those sharp and pungent qualities. I love the blends I've tried that have this as an ingredient and I love it on its own -- thanks to shelldoo for the little sniff she shared of it with me!

 

If I had bottles of this and the moss single notes I could have a lot of fun layering them -- but I also love the blends the lab still sells that have all of these wonderful green scents as components.

[Little Bird]

Juniper Berry is very green and sharp at first, like trimming hedges and getting bitter sap all over your hands. It's that cool and refreshing too. It's not sharp in a bad way at all, I really like it. As I wear it, Juniper Berry gets rather sweet though. I'm actually thinking of hard red berries or cherry Kool-Aid.

 

After an hour the fragrance has settled into a sharp green sap and sweet red berry scent. It doesn't seem right on me, though I'm loving it. I bet it would make an amazing room scent.

[UltraViolet]

BPAl blends which use Juniper Berry as one of it's ingredients: Allegory, Arkham, Black Forest, Blue Moon, Burial, Cerberus, Golden Priapus, Himerus, Ligeia, Loup Garou, Oberon, Omen, Puck, Rome, Sepulcher, Thanatopsis, Tintagel, Undertow, Whippoorwill, Wildfire, Wings of Azrael.

 

In the bottle

This is a pale green/gold colored liquid.

Juniper berries are used in the distillation of gin.

Surprisingly, it smells beautiful, it's sweeter than I thought it would be. Almost minty.

On

OMG I love this. And yes, I do recognize this scent in Blue Moon.

It's smells like fresh outdoors, fir trees and a bit of sweetness. This is another blend that I can feel when I breathe, it's vapors go into my body and it's a nice warm feeling.

30 minutes

Doesn't morph at all. It stays exactly the same when dry as it smells when wet.

Throw:

A bit

Scent category:

Green

Summary

I used to get looks from my Grandma alot when I was young for picking these from my Grandma's juniper bush and squishing them between my fingers (what a mess) because I liked the smell.

These smells exactly like that memory but a bit sweeter, more something I would actually wear alone than I remember. Reminds me of Lush's "Jingle Spells" ballistic as it has juniper in it also.

Purchase again?

Yes.

1-5 rating (5 being best)

4 or 4.5

Edited December 17, 2005 by UltraViolet

[eatingthesea]

mmm...when i first put this on, i immediately thought "snow bunny?" i still think that a little though this scent is a lot more "red berry" than SB. i agree with the reviewer who said this is very much "forest trail." however, i feel and smell no sharpness from this one...i think some other(s) here may've found that. very breezy, bright, yet warm somehow. i think these single notes have the ability to transport than blends because they remind us of some singular, natural thing from memory or youth. i can see why they're so coveted.