Ulalume

[annanwater]

Starry white lilies lend an eerie brightness to the deep black wooded scents of cypress and oak, layered with a touch of crushed dried leaves and the faintest aquatic note.

I have a bit of a ritual with the frimps I get from the lab (if I don't recognize them right off). I try them out and try to guess what components are in the scent before I look them up. I put this on, and said aloud "It smells like trees!" Ulalume is beautiful and earthy. It smells like a forest, in the best possible way. I only get a little bit of lily--just enough to balance out the smell of trees and dirt and turn it into something I would wear as a perfume. Really lovely.

[ladyhyacinthe]

This started out beautifully earthy - all wet dirt and forest, dark and cool. Lovely...for the first half hour or so. Upon drydown, however, the lilies come out full force, and the forest retreats behind them. It's beautiful, if you like florals.

 

This may be a keeper yet, though - unlike most florals on me, the lilies don't go to powder. Seems like the wet earth and trees keeps them pretty well-rooted.

[donnatron]

Imp: Oh... this is not what I expected. It's... well, I think there's vetiver which I'm cool with but it's over a kind of... uh... biological scent. A slightly putrid biological scent.

 

Wet: I have one of those moments where I realize that BPAL has made me insane. I can't stand this scent, sniffing it in the imp is grossing me out, and yet here I am putting it on my skin hoping my chemistry will de-grossify it. It kind of does. I think the dried leaves note overlaps with the dirt note. This reminds me of other dirt blends.

 

Dry: Eh. Dirt, lilies and cypress. Maybe a bit of aquatic. This isn't doing wonders on my chemistry. It's okay but this is BPAL: okay is never enough!

 

Throw: Moderate.

 

Overall: It's okay. Definitely unique. Just too gross in the imp for me to ever reach for it, take a test sniff and be like, "I must wear this today!"

[BuxomM]

It's pure earth and masculine, wood and dirt.

[symphonyinsilence]

Being a huge fan of Edgar Allan Poe and earthy, forest-like scents, I ordered an imp of this hoping I'd find the perfect fragrance for me. I wasn't let down - it was beautiful and woody, smelling of dried shrubs & damp leaves (I felt unique to be walking around town in Singapore being the only one wearing something like this). As much as I loved it that evening, I wasn't compelled enough to purchase a bottle or another imp, so my search continues. This is a wonderful interpretation of the poem, though. Really fits!

[Leopard403]

This very masculine, though something about it also smells, well, dead. It's a rotting forest-type scent, combined with a salty aquatic that doesn't really smell like but definitely evokes fish.

 

I can't even tell there is lily in this.

[verbranden]

It smells wonderful, like a forest, in the vial. On my skin, it turns to soap and trees, but mostly soap.

[reynardine]

In imp: lilies, with something behind them

Wet: lilies, but now I’m getting a touch of the woods and dried leaves

Drydown: lilies in a pile of dried leaves

An hour later: Odd smell, almost like wet leaves. The lilies are hard to pick out now, but the woody/leafy scents are still there.

 

Very, very light. Interesting, but not me at all. Off to swaps with you!

 

[tajana]

Wet: Mostly lilies and cypress, with some other stuff hiding in the background. The lilies, as usual, are halfway between floral and green in nature. There's also a hint of something a bit sour.

 

Dry: The cypress backs off a little, which is good news... I've found that cypress tends to amp unreasonably on me. The oak acts as a deep wooden base, but what mostly comes through is a leafy scent with a high floral edge. It smells like fallen autumn leaves, crushed and then dampened by rain. It's realistic smelling, but perhaps a bit too true... I smell like I just rolled around in a pile of dead, wet leaves. The effect doesn't stay long, though. Within half an hour I have to press my nose up to my wrist to sense a light woody-green, faintly floral smell that wouldn't be out of place in you standard bar soap.

 

Overall: I was interested in this for ages, so I'm glad I finally got to try it and satisfy my curiosity. Ulalume is a pretty realistic take on the scent of a forest, and the lilies give this a feminine touch, but I prefer my vegetative smells to be alive rather than decaying.

[captainecchi]

In the imp: A dry, musty wood. Cypress, I'm guessing. It's very faint.

 

On my skin, wet: Almost as soon as it hits my skin, the florals really bloom. I would describe them as white, aquatic florals - my first thought was lily-of-the-valley, so I see I'm not far off.

 

On my skin, dry: This is really intensely LILY. There's my skin, amping florals again! Close to my skin, it's a little sour and unpleasant, but wafting it's fine. There's a little something spicy there, too.

 

Verdict: I'm pleasantly surprised. This is both one of the better aquatics and florals I've tried. (I'm not a huge fan of the families, overall). It's refreshing, like stepping into a green house. As I've said in other threads, I'm looking for more summer scents to wear, so this is potentially a candidate; we'll see how often I reach for it.

[SophieCedar]

First words out of my mouth: Ooooh-lalume!

 

The woods are thick in imp and wet. You may get a medicinal dark menthol waft. Hang in there!

Wet: the oppressiveness of the cypress and woods starts to burst then soften. Reminicent of nosferatu's dirt smell?

Drydown: the lilies come out and it gets greener. Not my favorite but perfect representation of early spring in my Maine woods!

[sirensea]

I did not expect to love this scent, but I received it as a frimp from a lovely seller and I'm so glad she included it.

 

While wet, it has the distinct smell of damp trees and greenery, like a freshly mowed lawn after the morning dew. Once it dries, the florals come out and soften it, giving it a more feminine edge. It reminds me a lot of summers as a child growing up on our farm, so I think I'll wear this during the thick of the summer season, when it's terribly hot and I'd like to at least pretend there's a little shade around.

[KesHiro]

Frimp in one of my orders.

 

I wanted so much to like this! It sounded like something that I would wear during the spring!

 

In the imp, I get soft, sweet tangy florals. Wet, I get the same sweet florals, but with the addition of wood and something earthy (probably the dried leaves). At the drydown, the aquatic note emerges and stays the same once dry.

 

This is so pretty but something in the oil triggered a near asthma attack. During the wet stage, I suddenly experienced shortness in breath and had some of the breathing exercises my allergist taught me not worked, I would have had to go grab the inhaler. I think it might be the "dried leaves" note, as this is the first time I've come across it. I'm so disappointed because I like this scent! It's floral, but the leaves, wood, and water notes keep it grounded and it smells more like a forest in bloom rather than a flower garden. Aaaaargh!!!

Edited March 15, 2010 by Kejiaron

[Finch]

I'm very thankful the lily is so subtle in this. Lately everything I try with lily has been too sharp and intense, but this is nice. It's very springtime in the woods; just the kind of wet green and earthy scent I love.

[milo]

Sorry for the bad review, but this is really some nasty shit on me. The dirt note gets me nauseous every time, and it loves me, so I get little else. Yucky, moldy dirt.

[acbombshell]

This to me smelled like freshly turned grass and dirt. I don't care for it at all, but I've noticed that aquatic notes rarely work me. I don't smell flowers at all, but I don't like lilies either, so perhaps that isn't a bad thing. Honestly, it reminds me of walking in the woods by a cemetery at the end of fall, when all the plants and trees are dead and dry.

[mryan66]

 

 

Here goes my very first review! It's taken a few days to get this one right because I'm experiencing scent overload. I have probably 30 of these things now, but just want to review the most remarkable ones[iMO]

I was sort of expecting to be disappointed by Ulalume, after all how could anyone re-create this spectacular poem as a scent. But this scent, I am overjoyed to report, just nails it, at least with my chemistry, which is really fickle.

The first inhalation after opening the bottle was completely disarming, NOT what I expected at all. I got dark fermented autumn fruits and berries-not berries in a green plastic basket either but more like those last potent blackberries left in the middle of the evil thorn forests in late September.

Wet, on the skin it retains this mournful fruitiness for about five minutes, then it changes to crushed roots and vines, and sort of a faint, dank greenish watery thing, with undertones of cypress and, I think, pine cones and acorns.

The weirdest thing about this smell is how, as it dries on your skin, it actually turns into a dry scent. If your chemistry is just right, it will actually take you through the journey of Ulalame; the cypress in it seems to be the last 'living' thing, for after this is black earth, just turning dry and hard.. this is an awesome feral earth smell, meaning, it seems to evoke the ghosts of all the critters who have just gone into hibernation. Next, dried leaves, SO dry!, yes definitely "Crisped and sere" and dried flowers[roses I think]. Then the whole thing reaches a bizarre crescendo of mildewed rock, marble dust, and dried moss[The door of a legended tomb?]

The final dry-down is a soft sweet combination of night air, lilies, and a thing I can't readily identify, like phlox or something. This is indeed a mournful, dark, tricky scent. I wish everyone could get what I got out of it. My only gripe is that it only lasts an hour or so. This is definitely an October scent, and reminds me very much of the forests of the southeastern United States, especially the Carolinas. I went ghost hunting once in Wilmington NC and this is the smell I remember from that evening.

[starfish327]

in the imp: wow, this is the first imp in a long time that i actively disliked in the imp. there's been a couple that i've been sort of scared by, but this one i actually don't like.

 

wet: medicinal. herbal. smells like something i'd apply for pain relief. alternately, it smells like old stale incense.

 

dry: still very astringent, medicinal herbal. there's something that i'm interpreting as detergent as well, but i think that may be the lily. it does sort of remind me of dirt, but not so strong that i knew it off the bat- i recognized dirt in jazz funeral immediately, but this was only after reading other reviews. it becomes tolerable after awhile, but i don't see myself wanting to wear this one.

 

i know what i smell like: i smell like an attic.

Edited March 26, 2010 by starfish327

[Greenwoodtree]

Testing a floral is a lot like not passing judgment on someone you know is going to screw you over eventually.

 

Ulalume, the notes sound interesting, yes, but the burst of menthol/wintergreen-ishness really took me to an institutional setting where elders wear their old florals in between massaging tiger balm on their extremities.

 

It drys down to a soft powdery version of that.

'Nother one bites the dust.

[Gold Dust Kitten]

I got this as a freebie and initially I didn't like the smell in the imp. I came here to read the description and notes and decided it wasn't something I'd like at all.

 

I tried it again a few days later and found a strange attraction to it. It smelled woody with a hint of something mossy but altogether it was feminine and sparkly.

 

It's a very comforting scent. I decided I liked to wear this after showering when I've had a emotionally/mentally tough day. I'm waiting for a big bottle of it as I type, but I will be saving it for the colder months.

[Vega]

In imp: Aquatic with a tangy, sharp, not-too-pleasant odour.

 

On skin: Tangy and sharp; very wet, like a stagnant pool full of water plants. In fact, it smells quite like flowers -- or something -- rotting/decaying in water. Maybe the cypress and oak are contributing too; I can't pick out anything but for the decaying smell. I've a feeling the "dry leaves" note just doesn't agree with me.

 

Verdict: Yike, this is completely unwearable. Don't like it at all! Off to swaps!

[tailoredshirt]

The notes sounded like they might be interesting, but this didn't really do anything unique on me. It started off heavy with the lilies, and I got the crushed leaves and some woods. At first I was thinking that it's actually a very pretty blend, but then it started smelling like laundry detergent. *sigh* Oh, well. Can't win them all.

[countessmouse]

Rotting, mouldering wood. Ugh! I could not get this off of me fast enough!

 

Off to the swap pile it goes.

[angelamaria]

In imp: smells light and airy, almost citrusy--it made me think of summer and beautiful hot days in the shade with the sun shining down. Very interesting scent.

 

Wet on skin: wow, very woody! This is my first try of a wood smell, and it smelled almost like varnish to me, the kind that you smell on newly made wooden tables and whatnot. Smells very tart, almost sharp. I was a little apprehensive right after, and wondering if I would need to wash it off before I left, but as it did smell interesting enough--there is that floral scent amidst the woody notes--I wanted to stick with it.

 

Dry: Oh wow, dried down it transforms into an airy-sweet floral smell, not cloying at all--the description says it well, "starry white lilies". Very airy, ethereal, starry, but still well-rounded and full. Good staying power--four hours later and I can still smell it on my wrist, and I can't stop sniffing it, it's such a pretty, pretty smell. I feel like I would like to bathe in this!

 

Verdict: definitely a keeper for me, very bottle-worthy!

[Suu4LC]

In the imp, to me, this is a sweet green leafy scent. I really mostly get the leaves-not even much wood-just a sweet green leaf scent. Oh yeah, on me this is SUCH a green leafy scent. Its nuts-barely any wood (which I usually amp) or lily. Just LEAVES! They actually don't smell dried to me-they smell green and wet. As it dries I get a touch more of the lily, though still no wood.

 

Now on drydown I get the wood, particularly the cypress-it goes really...odd on me-sort of like armpit and pencil shavings. What an odd morph from how it started! Ended up drying fully to slightly sweet powder with a touch of woods--just BARELY there. This actually faded pretty fast. It was an interesting scent, and I imagine this could be the type that smells very different from person to person.