Gnome

[Lilithlefay]

Strength :: Endurance :: The Physical Body
Fertility :: Prosperity :: Money :: Solidity
Commitment :: Responsibility :: Practicality
Wisdom :: Patience :: Perserverance
Greed :: Materialism

In the bottle: eucalyptus, I'm pretty sure of it. It has almost a menthol scent, but at least I am very awake now. It is very invigorating.
Wet on the skin, it is still pretty eucalyptus, this really wakes you up and gets yourt attention
drydown there is something in the background that I cannot put my finger on, some really light floral, there almost seems to be a bit of citrus too, but that could be how the eucalyptus works on my skin.
After a little while the eucalyptus fades down a but and a nice earthy scent mixes with it, very pretty. A little floral comes out to, did not expect this, it smells lovely.

This blend seems pretty energetic to me, also it seems to really bring me awareness and grounds me so my head is not up in the clouds.

[wickedgoddess]

From Encyclopedia Mythica: A race of small, misshapen, dwarf-like creatures that dwell in the earth. The name 'gnome' was given to them by the medieval scholar Paracelcus, in an attempt to describe the most important of the earth spirits. Gnomes live under the earth, where they guard treasures. According to Paracelcus, they move as easily through the earth as humans walk upon the ground. They cannot stand the light of the sun, for even one ray would turn them to stone. Some sources claim they spend the hours during daylight as a toad. They are in some way related to goblins and dwarfs.

 

Wet - Now this is more like it! Earth and pine. Gnome is my friend.

 

Dry - as this dries it gets more loamy. There's something green in here, eucalyptus and pine and possibly moss too. This is a dark smell, as if you were in a forest and came to patch where light has never fallen.

 

I like this the best of the Elementals, but I am not sure whether it's a keeper or not. I will need to test it again to see if it's a keeper.

 

On the wickedgoddess scale of 1 to 5, with 5 being best, this rates a 3.

[OriginalWacky]

Bottle (Imp): This smells like incensy earth.

 

Just On: It's quite deep, I'm wondering if there is eucalyptus in this?

 

An hour or two later: Incensy, maybe just earthy dirt.

 

Around 6 hours: More dirt than anything else.

 

12 hours: Barely there incense.

 

Overall: Quite an interesting blend. I get an earthy dirt type of scent, but it isn't quite dirt either.

 

After reading other reviews: I'm guessing I was right on the eucalyptus. It's nice.

Edited August 5, 2005 by OriginalWacky

[UltraViolet]

3.5

In the bottle

unusual but nice perfumey and slightly foody.

 

On

Patchouli and omg, my mom used to buy Avon Skins-So-Soft for her bath and there's a note in here that smells just like it, like that smell but underneath some dirt or earth smell but it works surprisingly well.

 

30 minutes

It hasn't changed much, it's still a vageuly sweet, earthy, slightly incensey patchouli-ish blend with a slight perfume in the background.

 

Throw:

a bit more than average

 

Scent category:

earthy/spicy/incense/floral

 

Summary

Again, I may not like all the new elemental blends but I am impressed at the more complex scents they seem to be.

 

Purchase again?

Possibly.

 

1-5 rating (5 being best)

3.5

Edited November 28, 2005 by UltraViolet

[Penance]

Preconceived notions:

 

I've been lusting after Gnome since I first heard about it. I'm very much an earthy girl and even though I don't know exactly what's in here, I've got high hopes for this one.

 

First sniff:

 

Smells similar to Burial...like a combination of Burial and Loup Garou or possibly Thanatopsis. Earthy, but with a pungent briskness to it that strikes me as being juniper, but which could possibly be eucalyptus (it's hard to pin down). This isn't overwhelmingly dirty the way Graveyard Dirt is - it's lighter and more brisk smelling, although the earthiness is obvious. Where Graveyard Dirt is dirt, Gnome appears to be more like black patchouli.

 

Wet on skin:

 

Much "dirtier" now. Whereas Burial is heavy on the juniper on me, Gnome turns very earthy on my skin with a very slight sweet/powdery undertone that strikes me as being white musk for some reason. I get the impression of something along the lines of Graveyard Dirt mixed with Oisin now.

 

Dry down:

 

I'm still getting the impression of white musk for reasons unknown (I'm not sure it's in here, but I smell it all the same). Dry, Gnome is earthy and slightly sharp (like juniper or eucalyptus) with an undertone of powdery muskiness. This really is similar (on me) to a combination of Oisin and a moderate dose of Graveyard Dirt on the drydown.

 

The bottom line:

 

Complex and unusual. I'm not so sure about the powderiness, but while I prefer Graveyard Dirt for my "earth" cravings, I really like this. Not an everyday scent to be sure, but interesting and lovely in its own right.

[coulrophobe]

Preconceived notions: Let's see, "earthy," and the imp shows a brownish oil... my bet is that this one has patchouli. Smelling the imp, I get eucalyptus and patchouli.

 

Wet: Patchouli, eucalyptus (or juniper? they're very similar to my nose), maybe a bit of pine? These aren't notes I think of as being very "me," but I'll try anything once.

 

I'm getting an odd, almost sour pungent note in the background; almost vinegary. How odd. I smell like a mystical underground... pickle. Um, that's funky.

 

Drydown: OK, the momentary sense of pickle-ness has gone away, and it's all greenery and patchouli. Later on, this is a lightly spicy baby powder on me - but that's typical of what patchouli does with my chemistry.

 

While this isn't really me, a nice one for earthy/green/patchouli lovers.

[grrrlennyl]

at first: strong, dark woods.

on: there's something lighter surrounding this, but it's mostly dark, earthy notes.

1 hour later: light and fresher than at first.

overall: earthy and i don't usually get along, but this is ok on me. it definitely reflects earth very well.

[aidenraine]

I am an Earth-scent girl so I was expecting to like this the most of the elementals!

(I hear people have theorized that it has something to do with our signs, and I am a Scorpio-water sign through-and-through.)

 

Anyway this is dark and musky, a dark green scent I'd say. It's woodsy and mossy and spicy. I like it, I do. It's a great scent for the "woody-scent" lovers in general. I can't pick out any of the notes, per se, just how it feels to me.

 

There must be some kind of patchouli in here (which would explain my love).

 

It seems to dry down into a sweeter-earthy. Not sweet like sugar, the sweetness that leaves can have.

 

It's still nice.

[Barb25]

Hmm, 2 Scorpios in a row...

 

Anyhoo.

 

In the bottle - eucalyptus, pine, and earth.

 

On me - at first, it was mostly green - eucalyptus, pine, maybe oakmoss. Then the earthiness came out, so it was mostly and earth scent, and the greens just dancing around in the background. Smells a bit like Lush's discontinued soap Middle Earth Turns To Rock, IMO.

 

I like it quite a bit. I don't think it's quite bottle-worthy, but I'll enjoy the imp a generous soul decanted for me.

[sihaya09]

Elementals: Gnome [earth]::

(Origin: TAL circular swap.) Pine, predominantly. I smell soil as well, and perhaps fir and fern. This smells like a Christmas forest without being specifically seasonal or craft-store fake. It's surprising that this blend did not vibrate as strongly with me as Sylph did, considering my primary element is Earth. However, for those who prefer the raw scent of the outdoors, this is an exquisite example of what Beth can do.

[dreadeddragon]

In the bottle: Eucalyptus and a damp earth scent. It's not ehat I would have expected from an earth elemental blend.

 

First on: Almost a smokey earth, damp and wet. The eucalyptus is there, but barely.

 

Drydown: It's the same, but there's one more thing to it. Almost a touch of musk or (gag) civet. It's not strong, but if I stick my nose to my skin, I can almost smell it. It's mostly a patchouli scent now, with a soapy overtone.

 

It won't be a main scent for me, but I'll use it when I need to ground myself.

Edited October 19, 2005 by dreadeddragon

[sarada]

This is the Elemental blend I've been most excited about and the only one I'm likely to want a bottle of. I'm still not sure if I'll get one when they become available but now I know what to expect!

 

My first impression is that this is an exact combination of Burial and Ace of Pentacles. It has the sharp green loamy quality of Burial -- smells like there is some eucalyptus in there but also some pine and other green earthy scents. I think that I might detect my much-loved vetiver lightly in the background but that could also just be a dark patchouli. It is a little more earthy and sweet than Burial though, which is almost too sharp and mossy.

 

It reminds of the thick, sweet underlying notes in Ace of Pentacles but without the almond. Instead there's something vaguely cologney in this on the drydown, and something soapy.

 

This would almost be perfect but that cologney/soapy note does kind of make my nose tickle. It makes it just a bit too medicinal and reminds me of aftershave -- I wonder if I'd do better just layering Burial and Ace of Pentacles. Still, I might get a bottle when they come around if I can afford it, because it might change with age.

 

My favorite choice for the masculine sweet earthy/green/forest scent is still King of Clubs.

Edited November 2, 2005 by sarada

[k00kaburra]

In bottle: Forest dirt. Dried dead leaves, dirt, and wood - probably pine. Patchouli's here, for sure.

 

On me: Warm, heavily incensed dirt. On my skin it morphs into a duplicate of one of my grandmother's forty-plus years old perfume bottles, covered in a thick layer of dust with notes that have all gone a bit off. I don't mean to imply that it's nasty or smells that it has gone off - it just has such a heavily agedf scent to it, and 'dirty' fragrances always seem off to me. The drydown is surprisingly sweet.

[cupide430]

Warm, deep, wet and earthy. This has a strong deep note to it but once applied to the skin it warms up and gets sweeter. Not a sugary sweet, but a gentle earthy sweet.

[Little Bird]

I keep thinking of the underpants gnomes in South Park. Anyhow. This is a scent that you'd expect to find deep in the forest, underground. Dirt, pine tree roots, dead leaves, moss... There's a quick cold bite of eucalyptus when I first apply this, but that note disappears within a few minutes and I'm left with a damp soil and moss sort of scent. Walking through the forest on the brink of winter, after all of the leaves have fallen, and it is miserably cold and damp.

 

Over the first away this goes a bit sweeter and more powdery on me, but it stays pretty true to my first impressions.

 

I don't love this... it isn't something that I feel I could get away with wearing (I'm more fond of warm/spicy scents). I'm glad to have tried it though.

[binkyboots]

I was so excited to get a chance to try this, I'm a taurean and quite typical of the sign I think

 

at any rate...

 

first sniff, I get, turmeric? definately curry, how odd.

 

on trying it the curry faded (thankfully) and it turned deeper, like mossy loam, wet and maybe a little rotten (but not in a bad way!)

 

I like the dirty smell I'm getting, it's strong too.

 

no eucalyptus here, but that's ok, like a previous poster said it warms up to a sweet earthy scent, nice for layering with lush's rasoul mud (previously middle earth)

[SeaMonkey]

Eucalyptus and earth. It reminds me a little of Burial, but with less juniper and more patchouli

[Inanna9]

Just sniffing this gave me the strongest visual, a scent memory of when I used to go walking in the forest behind my house as a kid. The only note per se that I'm pulling out of this is patchouli and maybe eucalyptus or something cool like menthol, but beneath it all is something very deep and organic. It's such a masterful blend, and just feels charged with earth power--I'm in awe.

 

To me, this smells exactly of the damp, mossy earth that lies beneath the old stumps and logs I often overtuned on those walks I took as a child. Leaves and fungi and black earth under crumbling, decomposing wood. Exactly.

 

I'm not wearing this, so I can't say what the drydown is; my intention was to dress candles and use it for ritual work. This is strong stuff. Makes me a little wary of trying Salamander

Edited January 22, 2006 by Inanna9

[crescentwench]

Earthy and wonderful, except i'm allergic to about half the ingredients. one sniff and my nose started screaming at me. There is a note underneath that like, after braving a second sniff...insensce? and dirt? i'm still afriad to wear it though.

le sigh. Can there be an earth blend w/o pine or eucalyptus? off to the swaps...

[iriedanym]

Being an earth sign, I had my heart set on buying an imp of Gnome and trying it out. Imagine my disappointment when I opened up the imp, took one whiff, and started sneezing. It has the lovely loam/dirt scent that I like in Graveyard Dirt, but I'm sensing patchouli. Oh, how my skin hates patchouli (except in Red Phoenix for some reason).

 

Another imp up for the trade pile.

[Northernminx]

Patchouli, maybe some vetiver, and eucalyptus with an undertone of metallic dirt. This was really strong on me and not too pleasant. I felt sort of grungy wearing it. Earthy scents aren't me. off it goes!

[Mary Mayhem]

I was lucky enough to get one of these bottles after it went down from a fellow LJer. I knew from the description I wanted it. I'm a dirt girl. I love earthy smells.

 

In the bottle, cypress and something slightly rotten, like leaves that have been sitting under leaves for a very long time. Upturned just after a rain.

 

On Wet: wet on my skin it disappears. I'm having this issue with a lot of scents lately though. Very faint sniffs of cypress come through. Basically this smells a lot of turned mulch.

 

Drying: Mm, you know, I swear I smell rose in this. If not, I bet it would make a good base for a rose layering. It's kind of warm on me now rather than dirty. (: Actually, it's more like a scent for a man. A little bit like Polo?

 

Anyway, I'm trying not to wear too much of it as I want to use it for works. But it's a boost I like the way it smells. And thankfully, my cramps have died down some too.

 

Very happy.

Edited January 27, 2006 by Mary Mayhem

[Shollin]

First sniff: Dark green, deep brown. Pine and earth. So very evocative.

 

Wearing: This is what I wish Burial had smelled like on me – dark, brooding pine and earth.

[knudbrox]

In the bottle, Gnome smells like trees, eucalyptus or pine or cedar or something; there's a spicy layer and at the bottom, a streak of dirt. On me, it goes entirely to spicy grass -- green grass and vetiver, perhaps, with something else distinctly. There's got to be a bit of black patchouli in there too.

 

Unfortunately, whatever the 'something else' is, it warps and mutates the deliciously-earthy green grass and dirt and spice to something not so good. And it doesn't fade away. Maybe it's gnome body odor or the stench of their tiny horses -- I dunno. But it entirely spoils the good earthy thing that Gnome had going on.

 

Why, Gnome? Why?

Edited February 10, 2006 by Knudbrox

[PurringPulsar]

Gnome

 

In the imp: patchouli! And possibly also some vetiver-this is very earthy indeed.

Wet on skin: now I smell a real earth note coming through, like wet soil, and something that might be eucalyptus.

Dry: mmm, earthy! This scent is an excellent representation of the element of earth-this smells like wet, fresh soil, patchouli, tobacco, vetiver, eucalyptus, possibly some pine/juniper/fir and moss. The scent is dirty (as in, mud and soil) and with hints of fresh green in the brown and a hint of something piercing and almost medicinal. It makes me think of getting your fingers dirty when gardening, or playing in the mud! I also think this scent will be very grounding in its effects.

After a while: I now get a scent of wet wood in this scent, like damp, decomposing wood and autumn leaves-yeah, this really does have an autumnal feel to it, a hint of earthy decay with the promise of rebirth/renewal. I’m also sure that I smell tobacco in here, because the scent has a slight ashy feel to it. The scent is more introspective at this point, with even a light hint of incense to it.

Over time, the scent becomes more ‘muddy’ in scent (that’s not a bad thing) and also more mossy. I can really smell the oak moss now.

Verdict: this oil evokes the element of earth excellently. There’s a definite scent of earth to this scent-of soil and mud, and also of woods, leaves and mosses, forest floors, and even a hint of incense. The notes I recognise are patchouli, oak moss, possibly some eucalyptus or juniper, a wood note that may be cedar, and tobacco, as well as the soil and wet autumn leaf scent I get from this. The scent is wonderfully dirty (in the earthy sense-like digging in the garden or playing in the mud) and yet very grounding and meditative in feel. Not something I’d wear as perfume, but I might give it a whirl as a ritual scent, I think this will be amazing when used in that way.