Hearth

[brownbear]

Thoroughly revisited. This year’s Hearth is warmer, sweeter, and more traditionally comforting. This is the scent of candied chestnuts, buttered, covered in brown sugar and honey, alongside the scent of cedar smoke and soft pine.

mmmm This is as good as I expected it to be. It is buttery, sugary goodness. There is a hint of cedar wood in here, but I'm not getting smoke. I'm also not getting any pine from this, which is fine with me. It reminds me a bit of this year's gingerbread poppet, but better. Edited December 19, 2005 by Shollin

[Diana]

In the bottle, it's sweet, slightly buttery. There's a note that smells vaguely of frankincense, but I think it's actually pine.

 

Wet: The pine note becomes more prominent. The sweet buttery note is very strong.

 

After a few moments--> drydown: The pine settles in. It remains very faint in the background, but it's not all that noticable. The buttery smell softens. It isn't as strong as it is in any of the GC catalog oils, and it's sweet, almost caramel like. Maybe a hint of vanilla.

 

I can actually still smell this the next morning. It is really nice & comforting. And I like it SO MUCH more than last year's version, which went all wonky, nauseating syrup on me.

 

If you like foody ones, grab this one up before it's gone.

[cuervosueno]

Very buttery. Very much like Midway in the bottle--that glorious golden buttery sweet scent I love in the bottle, but find I don't wear much.

 

I put it on, and what adds a nice edge is that early on I get the sharp green scent of trees as well--that adds an edge to this that might make it superior to Midway in my mind.

 

the pine notes don't last on me though--it reverts back to its buttery foody goodness. Its a bit more buttered rum in scent than anything in Midway, but the scents are similiar on me....perhaps when I'm home I'll try them together and edit this if anything changes. I'm thinking that I don't need both hearth 05 and Midway, so one will probably go, but I do enjoy this, and gourmand scent lovers will like it, I think.

[Julilla Regina]

 

Hearth 2005 hates me so much. I don't know why it's being such a big jerk, but it is. It smells yummy and good in the bottle. Like all the things everyone else has said, nutty, sugary, buttery with a hint of pine.

 

On me it has turned into the scent of roasted turkey skin rubbed with sage butter. Huh?! What is happening?! I really love Turkey Day, don't get me wrong. But I don't want to smell like a savory Butterball. So so sad about this. I want new chemistry! Why can't I be like everyone else?

 

::::runs away to cry:::::

[LiberAmoris]

Hearth 2005 is really so different from its 2004 counterpart. I feel like I can detect elements from a lot of other blends in this: the butteriness of Shill, the nutty note from Miskatonic University, the creamy sweetness of Jack, and a slight corn note from Trick or Treat. All in all, it's of course its own creature---very much like toffee or pralines (as others have noted) with that pine/cedar element.

 

Hearth would make a great room scent, but on my skin, the combination of the butter and the pine is a bit much to have so close to my person, in such a concentrated amount. I'm going to add this to my oil burner and use it there. I can't imagine a better scent to have in the air during the holidays!

[Babylon]

Wow, I love Hearth 05. This bottle is a definite keeper!

 

Right away it smells buttery and nutty. As I'm sniffing, the pine literally comes in out of nowhere, and makes me instantly think Christmas. After 5 minutes, I can smell a BUNCH of things at once: buttery sugary nuts, a Christmas tree, and cedar burning and crackling in the fireplace, complete with smoke. Hours later, it's mostly a sweet nuttiness. It all blends perfectly, and makes me smile and think of home. I just wish the pine, cedar, and smoke lasted longer on me!

 

I am in love. It's been hovering at around 10-20 degrees here when I'm out and about in the evening, and this scent makes me feel a little warmer and cozier.

Edited December 18, 2005 by Babylon

[Em-]

Hearth 2005, oh how I wanted to love thee.

 

One of only two Yule LE's I ordered right off the bat, the idea of honeyed nuts entwined with smoke and pine sounded absolutely divine.

 

Alas, while Hearth does indeed smell delightful in the bottle, exactly what I want a holiday fire and candied chestnuts to smell like, on my skin the chestnuts turn, well, unpleasant.

 

I've given this more than the share I typically give a scent because I want to like it so much, but alas, it is not to be...

[wickedgoddess]

2005 Version

 

Sometimes I read a description and fall in love with a scent, only to be disappointed with the real thing. Sometimes I am sure I will dislike a scent, only to be pleasantly surprised. And then, there are those times when I fall in love with a description and the scent is just as good, or maybe even better, than I imagined. That happened with this year's Harvest Moon, and it has happened again with Hearth.

Wet - "Chestnuts roastiing on an open fire.." Oh yes, warm, buttery chestnuts. I am loving this!

 

Dry - I thought this couldn't get any better. I was wrong. Chestnuts covered in brown sugar, sweet and just the tiniest bit spicy. A little smoke. The ultimate foody scent. This is a holiday classic!

 

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

[elphaba]

This is divine. I keep thinking I'm catching whiffs of our Christmas tree amidst the buttery, brown-sugary, nuttiness of my perfume, but it's not the tree. It's all me. I love the way the pine weaves its way into the foody smells in just the right subtle amount. I could really be next to the fireplace roasting chestnuts with a fresh-cut tree waiting to be decorated in the corner.

 

It does seem really light, however. I've been refreshing constantly. Still, I think this will be my Christmas Eve scent. I can't think of anything more perfect.

[Lit Chick]

Whoa, nutbutter.

 

Exactly as everyone else describes. Sweet foodie nuts with a gentle whiff of pine in the drydown (so gentle - I can't do pine, but this was OK).

On me it was VERY strong and nutty, very very foodie. A bit too much. But a tiny drop of this plus a tiny drop of Sugar Cookie was pretty nice.

[Imbrium]

Hearth 2005 and I, we're not quite the best of friends.

 

Initially, I really like this - warm, buttery, nutty, with a hint of sugar.

Dry, this smells - wierd. Indescribable. Slightly bitter, with a hint of amonia. I don't know why. I can't explain it, and I'm heartbroken, because I really, really thought I'd love this - and I did, for 15 minutes of so. I suppose one of these days I'll be breaking down and buying a diffuser, because I don't really want to let go of this one, damn it.

[faifai]

Whoa, toffee-buttered nuts-pine-butter-woods, settle down there. That was my first impression upon opening the bottle. This is STRONG.

 

On, it smelled almost the same. The crazy foodiness did indeed settle down a little, and the pine [which I normally hate in anything] helped it not be the perfume equivalent of sticking your head into a vat of boiling toffee.

 

However, I don't know if I can manage a scent so strong and so rich. It's a bit...overwhelming. Maybe in a scent locket/oil burner/car scent thingamabob. But not on me. It's not cold enough here to be able to wear such heady scents [hurrah for Arizona and it being 80º on Christmas!]

[PurringPulsar]

Hearth 05

 

In the imp: oh dear, butter! A bit like Jack, but I get a brown sugar and nut scent underneath.

Wet on skin: now the green fresh scent of pine comes out, the butter retreats, the sugary chestnut scent remains.

Dry on skin: oh, this is lovely. I get the cool freshness of pine, a green Christmas tree like scent, with the scent of caramel-coated chestnuts by the fireside. A very comforting scent, very evocative of cosy Christmas scenes, but I'm also surprised that the pine note is a lot stronger than expected-it prevents the foody scent from getting cloying or too rich on me. I'm glad the butter note has taken a back seat as well. This is a very pleasant festive fragrance.

After a while: The pine note settles down a bit, and I'm getting a slight whiff of smoke-that may be the cedar smoke. Still the sugared chestnuts remain, though not as strong as before. Now the scent has balanced out nicely, all the notes are nice and even, so the scent is a combination of foody, woody and smoky.

Verdict: this is much nicer than last year's Hearth-it's also much more wearable. At first I though the butter note would go all Jack on me, but it pretty much faded as soon as it hit my skin, soon replaced by pine. This pine note threatened to overtake the scent but never did…it also prevented the scent from being too overwhelmingly sugary and nauseating, the sugared chestnut note in this is lovely. The drydown is even nicer-an even mix of smoke, sugar, nuts and pine. Very comforting, warm, and festive, I'm keeping my decant, though I'm unsure if I'll get a bottle yet…

[zenvodunista]

i didn't think i'd like this. butter is usually bad. in fact, Jack is ALL butter on me, until i kind of feel a bit slimy from it.

 

and at first, it's BUTTER in the vial. but on my skin it suddenly blossoms into Sugar Skull! but really, it's Sugar Skulls made from chestnuts (my favorite!) and doing a little jig with some spruces that have been decorating a mantle.

 

because the Sugar Skull association is so strong, and yet it's so CHristmassy with it's pine and chestnuts and open fire, it's kind of like if one were wearing a Nightmare Before Christmas perfume

 

i really like it a lot. the only question is it too much to have a bottle of this *and* two bottles of Sugar Skull?

 

probably not

 

*goes off to haunt the swaps page*

 

n.

[Lilitu]

Scents like this are utterly amazing. When I first put it on, it was very buttery on me, like I was walking through the house and started in the kitchen were various goodies were being baked. Then there was a faint hint of brown sugar and nuts, and smoke, as if I'd crossed over into the livingroom and passed the hearth where chestnuts were being roasted. Then the scent of pine (cedar pine, no less), passing the Christmas tree on my way to the den.

 

I like Herr Drosselmeyer a bit more, but this is definitely a close second.

Edited December 27, 2005 by Lilitu

[darkling]

I bought Hearth because I love the scent of roasted chestnuts. Sadly, my body chemistry hypes up the pine and the pipe smoke to the point where anything foody is invisible.

 

Once it dries, the pine and pipe smoke dissipate and the scent of something faint and sweet remains. This phase reminds me stongly of Trick or Treat's drydown.

[Victory]

In the bottle and on my skin, Hearth 2005 is a sharp scent. I think there's some weird pine permutation, but that's about all I can isolate. Maybe my roasted chestnuts were burned to a crisp, so I don't have smoke so much as char, I don't know. I also got an imp of Gluttony, which is all nutty goodness on me, and is close to what I had been looking for.

[Voleuse]

On first application this is butter and honey, sprinkled with chestnuts and sugar. Almost tooth-achingly sweet. Weirdly, though, it recedes almost immediately, and pine comes to the forefront. It's tempered by the underlying sweetness, but it's definitely evergreen on me.

 

This blend is really schizophrenic on me, as it shifts between evergreen and foody with each sniff, and there's never a happy medium. They're both really nice notes, but it never settles.

 

It doesn't really change as it dries, but I get used to it, and now I really, really like it. It's comforting and sweet, with a breath of frost. It doesn't quite merit a bottle, but I think I'll hold onto the bit that I have.

Edited July 29, 2006 by Voleuse

[judas_kiss]

Hubby got this from e-bay and I'm glad he did.

 

In the bottle: Brown sugar, butter and roasted chestnuts...mmmmm.

 

On: Delish! This smells EXACTLY like candied roasted chestnuts. This is so yummy on, really! I can't smell anything but those two delicious notes wet.

 

Dry: The pine/cedar smoke pokes its head out and comes to the forefront for a millisecond and then recedes behind the buttery-sweet-chestnut-smell. THis honestly smells like a fireplace where someone is roasting chestnuts. IT's amazing and very comforting!!

 

Overall: I'm very happy DH got this off e-bay. It's wonderful. So delish, yet enough of a non-foody note to keep it from getting headachingly sweet.

[Northernminx]

This is far less cherry-tobacco and far more warm buttery goodness than last year's version and I like it for a totally different reason as a result. I found this more comforting and less "pipe tobacco" than last year's hearth and infinitly more gender neutral as a result. Lovely.

[jewelbug]

Bottle: Dark, sweet and nutty.

 

Wet: Very buttery as soon as it hits my skin. Not bad buttery, though. Its buttery and also mega nutty. And darkly sweet-like carmelized sugar. Hubby says that this smells like the bottom gooey part of pecan pie. I'm inclined to agree.

 

Dry: This stays true to the butter/nutty/sweetness. There is a tinge of non-foody to it, but I certainly wouldn't classify it as pine OR cedar. I think I'm actually getting a hint of the smoke, rather than the woods themselves. I'm kinda happy about this (as i feared pine sol), but kinda sad (since I love cedar). Regardless, the scents I AM getting are wonderful!

 

Overall: A very warm, round, dark and cuddly scent. I quite like this. The smoke stops it from taking off to crazy buttery foodness (like gluttony and jack went on my skin). I would wear this from fall thru winter, since I think it actually captures both seasons quite well.

Edited January 1, 2006 by jewelbug

[Fefferbella]

'05 Version--

 

Buttery pine trees?!? I get heavy brown sugar, butter, pine and roasted chestnut notes in this.

 

I love it. Great Yule scent. Makes me wish I had a fireplace so I could roast some chestnuts!

[foxroses]

i had such high hopes, but alas, i smell like butter. eugh.

[aidenraine]

Wow, this really is like sitting in a rocking chair smelling the sweet scent of baking mingled with a warm fire and the Christmas tree. All of the notes are independent instead of mingling. I definitely don't smell some sort of combination of the perfumes, they really do just sort of sit next to each other.

 

The first smell is definitely the sweet buttery-rum aroma. The smoke and the pine layer nicely in the background.

 

 

It's not overly sweet thanks to the smoke and pine, which I like.

[Koumori]

Alas, BPAL scents with smoke in them don't tend to work out well for me, and this is not an exception. It goes on warm and rich, a little booze and a little pine, but quickly develops an overpowering smell of wood smoke. This seems to be a chemistry problem for me, and it's a shame, but Hearth isn't going to be a keeper. I'll try it as a room scent first, though.