Nocnitsa

[wanderlustlover]

... Her scent is that of a lightless fir wood, nighttime air, wet forest mosses and upturned earth.

This started out quite sharp and heavy in the fir, almost acrid. It reminded me a lot of Christmas flavor and pine trees, but it was too strong for my usual daily wear. Given thirty minutes the fir scent vanished completely, making the scent very aquatic. Across the new few hours, the notes for the nighttime air and the upturned earth slip in gently, rarely but delightfully spicing up every now and then with a beautiful fir scent. This is a very light and airy scent which would help keep me calm and carefree in distressing times.

[Meg]

In the bottle: Earth and thick resinous fir.

 

Wet: Ooh wet earth and pine needles, yum! This is exactly the site description.

 

Drydown: A misty fir wood, with thick resinous sap, and very cold moist air. There's a lot of spice to this, from the fir resin and possibly the mosses. It goes quite sweet on me, so I have sweet resin, very subtle earth and night air on me, with a hint of blackberry, possibly.

 

Overall: A very intriguing, wonderful scent. I absolutely adore the earth note, as usual, though it's always the first one that disappears from my skin (but I can add some Graveyard Dirt, hmm). This reminds me of a more wintery and somber Hexennacht. I love this, so mysterious and warm, yum!

[sarahmarie]

I love Nocnitsa as a fall scent. To me, it's very autumnal - a chilly forest with the strong scent of fir trees and underlying wood and leafy ground. On my skin, it fades fairly quickly despite starting out strong, but in my hair it lasts all day. I really like this one a lot for this time of year, and will definitely enjoy the imp.

[Medox]

Absolute love. A deep and crisp pine glazed with something chilly, grounded perfectly by a backbone of earth.

[fordkl]

My first review although I wrote this on paper (yes, paper!) months ago.

 

This was my first ever sniff of BPAL....what a one to start with!!

I loved the description & 'real' outdoorsey scents are one of my favourites.

 

Initial thoughts - Pine & earth

 

Wet on skin - Pine and lime (lime??), where did the lime spring from? That's not a forest smell! Calm down, this is BPAL.

 

Drydown - There is a lovely sweetness developing, berry-like but more forest berries than foody berries.

After a couple of minutes the pine has calmed right down but still getting the occasional whiff of disinfectant

 

After an hour - Nice throw of woodland berries, very sweet on wrist. Earthy notes balance this well.

 

Incidently I find horses like this scent - go figure!!

[euterpe414]

Thank goodness the lab frimped this one to me, since I keep forgetting to actively look for an imp of it!

 

This is truly my dream forest scent- pine, moss and woods with a hint of berry sweetness. Now where is the berry coming from, I do not know, since it is not listed in the description. Odd. But I like it. This reminds me a lot of Jersey Devil- they are definitely cousins, at least.

 

The best part about this scent, to me, is that it sticks around on my skin, unlike most forest-y scents which are gone in literally minutes. I always have to use them as room scents, but not this one!

 

In short, I wish the lab still made 10mls, 'cause I'd be promptly ordering one of this.

 

[supremegoddessofall]

Very aquatic, with a touch of florals for me, despite the absence of florals as listed notes - maybe it's a sweet moss? Slight earthiness underneath, grounding it. It's interesting, but not me at all.

[Dark Sparkle]

I do not get fir or upturned earth, instead there was a berry explosion on my wrist

 

I may have to try Nocnitsa several times to see if the berries subside on my wonky skin

[Carmencita]

In the bottle: Sharp mint and pine, but the pine is dominant and something else in it reminds me of Nephilim.

 

On my wrist: The mint and pine are strong, but some mellow, almost sweet scent comes through. Other people mention berries, but it's not quite that. Maybe a sweet moss. There is a coolness to it, in the scent and seemingly temperature wise. Now on my skin it's sweetness and cool trees and pine and mint still. I really like this.

 

BOTTLE wish list!

Edited February 15, 2007 by Carmencita

[LadyKitsu]

I'm so glad I tried this one...finally

 

This is another one that smells exactly like the description.

 

Wet and durning drydown...it reminds me of sitting in the middle of a piney forest.

 

It would be a great home scent (especially around the holidays - but that's the fir). It would also be good for relaxation (it's the hole sitting in the middle of the forest I guess )

 

Anyway, I don't think I'll wear it alot, but I probably will use it up as a home scent

 

Edited to add....Holy carp...this stuff has some staying power. Just got finished with my 1 hour excercise and it's still there and pretty durn strong.

Edited December 4, 2006 by LadyKitsu

[fiddledragon]

This is a great sweet fir scent. My skin seems to be shifting away from the turn-evergreens-to-air-freshener habit, which makes me very glad. Nocnitsa is fir, but isn't a nighttime scent on my skin, but rather a warm Christmas-tree kind of fir. I catch a hint of rich earth, and it dries to something like frankincense. Be warned, however, that *everything* ends up smelling like frankincense on me eventually! Anyway, it's a great fall/winter scent, sure to please lovers of scents like Burial or Black Forest.

[monsteralice]

Wet: Very piney with an earthy note. Definitely a cold feeling, even though I usually associate pines with warm weather. The earthy note is almost like oak leaves, with that sort of astringency.

 

Dry: Pine blended with something warm and sweet. I can't pick out individual scents but the effect is slightly spicy. The throw is good - I don't need to have my nose against my wrist to smell it.

 

Duration: It didn't last as long as some other BPAL scents. A reapplication at about the 6-hour mark would have been nice, but I didn't bring the imp to work.

 

This is really nice, even with a (relatively) short duration. Definitely a keeper.

[Lunaratu]

wet: this is definitely that pine note--but it smells almost evergreen type of wood more so than the pine. hmm..

 

dry: ok, to me this seemed to sweeten up a bit and smelled like ruby red grapefruit added in. however my friend insisted that i still smelled like i had rubbed my arm on a christmas tree.

 

this lasted quite a bit and was both weirdly acidicly sweet and smelled like a christmas tree at the same time. either way = not really something i want to smell like so i think i'll pass.

 

Rating: 2/5

Edited October 9, 2007 by Lunaratu

[filigree_shadow]

In the imp: The oil is orange, which is usually an indication that it's a scent I'll like. I sniffed the oil in the imp and thought it smelled kind of like a sweet woods scent.

 

Wet: Uh-oh. Cleaning products. Very pine-intensive, with kind of a sharp astringent scent to it. A nostril-tingling quality as well. Some sort of mint? Not at all the sort of thing I usually go for.

 

Dry: Hmmm. This I did not expect. That sharp nose-crinkling smell has gone away, and it has been replaced by a very light and somewhat sweet earthy scent. Like a thin layer of dirt with some evergreen needles in it. This is actually quite pleasant, and I don't usually go for the dirt scents at all.

 

Unfortunately, the scent that I like doesn't stick around. After about 20 minutes the scent is gone entirely. I tried it twice and got the same result both times. I guess this isn't going to work on me... but I would love to try this in an oil burner. I think this would be a lovely room scent, especially in the wintertime.

 

 

An interesting aside: I accidentally put one of my tests of this oil directly over the spot where I applied Chaste Moon a few hours ago. Surprisingly, I think the Nocnitsa test with a little bit of a creamy scent behind it smells better than the regular Nocnitsa.

[forspecial_plate]

Without reading, I wouldn't have guessed this had pine *or* earth notes, at first. For me it's sharp, green and herbal, with some eucalyptus or other herb, something almost ammonia-like which fades within a few minutes. There is a sweetness that I can't identify, and also something citrus-like. Then, around the 30 minute mark, the pine comes out. Wow! NOW I smell pine. The sweet and citrus are still there, too. Now it smells like how I imagine Yule to smell.

 

This smells good. It wasn't what I was expecting, but that's not unusual. I was expecting something more like Zombi, I think. But I like this. Not sure that I would wear it often, but it might be nice to keep around to wear every once in a while.

[Deiicide]

I can't shake from my nose that this smells like fruity upturned earth. And I was intriqued because fruit + anything seems to smell good enough to me so I hurriedly put it on. From wet to dry it was a bit too green for my tastes, dirt notes don't do too well upon me.

[sh1mm3r]

Growing up in the woods, I spent summers building forts and making trails. My best friend and I even had our own Teribithia, with a creek, a rope swing, and huge imaginations.

 

Nocnitsa is that to me. Trees. Rich dirt. Ferns. Pine needles and wild blackcaps.

[The_Merf]

In the imp: Pine wood and fresh pine needles, in their sticky state.

 

Wet: This remains pretty constant. It's warmer than something like Black Forest. There a connection to earth and nature here, though I don't get the dirt note as much as other people.

 

Drydown and wear: The pine/fir stickiness is predominant as the oil dries; the resinous quality dries down. I finally start to sense some of the earth that people are talking about, but this is basically the essence of fresh pine needles.

[Shitow_Haruka]

first sniff: fir and earth with a bit of sharpness in the air (ozone)

 

wet: FIR and earth. This is dark, friable earth, teased with that crisp night air into giving up its scent.

 

dry: The moss in this blend is tempering the sharpness of the fir. After seven hours I can still smell fir and faint earth and moss blended together.

 

This reminds me of my favorite retreat from studies in college: a stone bench hidden in the hollow of a group of tall firs, whose lowest branches rested on the ground and hid you from sight.

 

For me, this is a scent of quietude and contemplation under dark firs.

 

 

[Jilara]

In the imp: pine and herbs

 

Wet: Clairol Herbalescence shampoo, very soapy. I was so scared this was going to go to soap!

 

Drydown: Herbs but not so soapy, now. It's developing a warmish throw of earth.

 

Dry: Herbs, including something that reminds me of Thai holy basil. Warm earthy smells and something sweet and vaguely floral in the background. A very good throw for the first couple hours. Something sweetly herbal lingers even 6 hours later.

[theseagrows]

hmm, i really like this at the outset. it smells like moss, dirt and foliage with herbs. once it's dry, however, i get a warm-fruity-wine scent, which is quite nice, just not my style, really. so off to swaps with this one.

[whitemyrrh]

This was a selection in my first imp pack last February. And it was a run-and-scrub, the first time I tried it.

 

The sharp sniff i got from the bottle inspired cautious placement--I figured the insole of my right foot would a safe distance. I'd just showered so it'd be a clean pallet. Even from three feet back, that evergreen note shot up at me like smelling salts and my sinuses started to throb.

 

See, years ago I had something akin to a redefining moment in the Black Hills and there was a particular fragrance, that day, that I've been wanting to find even a solid emulation of; I've been dying to find something that would make me smell like old-growth pine forest.

 

For a couple seconds, there, I worried I was going to die because of something that could make me smell like old growth forest.

 

I put it in the drawer and let it mellow for a couple months. It wasn't, um, an intentional mellowing period. I was just that scared, keepin' my axe right at the foot of my bed and sleepin' with one eye open. I mean, dude, on my foot.

 

Now, where would I be without masochism? I was wearing green in early May and decided I needed a resonant fragrance. I swiped some Nocnitsa in the nook of my elbow (masochism!) and took off for the day. and... I liked it. As the day wore on, I liked it more and more. The headache from that first time would only hint if I buried my nose into my elbow (well, I mean, you'd actually be surprised how many BPAL days are spent with my nose in my elbow. Or, you wouldn't. Look who I'm talking to...)

 

Eventually the pine slides into amber and i'm left with this barely pine, barely amber marriage that makes me feel... well... warm and green. I go back and forth on it, it may be a 5ml investment eventually, but it's on the b-list, yet. I'm suspecting it's best for me in summer or late spring; I can't help feeling my winter chemistry is what made that top note lethal.

[Browneyes]

Imp: Predominantly pine/fir wood

Wet: Wow wow wow. Okay helpful review... Dark green but fresh. This is like taking a handful of leaves in your hand and crushing them until the sap runs out...

Dry: I love this the mosses (I guess) make this a sweeter forest blend, the earth, wood and air notes combine smoothly, and the general impression of this is just... NATURE - I love it!

 

eta: after a while this does indeed take on a fruity quality. Still gorgeous though and (to me) even better than the Jersey Devil

Edited April 17, 2007 by Browneyes

[eatingthesea]

nocnitsa is one of the first bpal scents that screamed "buy me!" through its description; i was fascinated by both the namesake and the elements of the oil itself. now that i finally have it and have tested it a couple times, i realized i must've overlooked one potential problem before succombing to paypal: that lightless wood? it's fir-ry! at christmas time, neat. otherwise, as of yet, it has no place on my skin. so the fir wood, combined with the ozone factor, outshines the moss and earth (the two things i most wanted) and i get astringent to the maximum. admittedly it does calm down after awhile, but thus far, i find nocnitsa appropriate only for home-scenting. i do not want to smell like a christmas tree lot. i couldn't pick up one minute hunk o' dirt or moss with her

[GoldenRubee]

My first thought upon sniffing Nocnitsa was "fruity". I read the description and it doesn't list fruits but that is what I smell even after several hours. I lived on 40 acres as a kid and of course, there were trees. This isn't so much the fir sap, but rather the woody bark. It is more like when all the deer have come and stripped off all the good stuff and the trees are down to nubs, you get the new wood, tree smell. I can smell the sweet moss and the freshly turned earth, but I also detect some sort of spice there too. Maybe it's the resin from the bark? Overall, I like this scent not only because it does well with my body chemistry, but because it reminds me of home.