The Carpathian Mountains

[azhure]

Mountain air and the scent of crisp snow blanketing the mountain’s flora: Scottish fir, beech, cembra and mugho pine, rhododendron, currant, honeysuckle, raspberry leaf, dwarf juniper, sedge, meadow grass, snowdrop, rose bay, lily of the valley, starwort, lichen and mosses.

In the vial: Chilly - I get the florals, mainly lily of the valley.

Wet: Something berry-like comes out (maybe the raspberry leaf?). It smells like flowers in winter, with some berries on the side.

Drydown: The berry scent mellows out, and I'm left with a cool floral.

[slave1]

THE CARPATHIAN MOUNTAINS

 

In Bottle: Strong menthol

 

On Skin: Wow! One breath of this cleared my sinuses right up! I get a major menthol with a waxy raspberry flavor that screams at me. I’ve got it: Vicks Vapor Rub meets cherry/strawberry/berry flavored chapstick. This smells very medicinal on me, I can’t imaging wearing this as a fragrance. So… I tried it in my oil burner. It smells much better as a room fragrance, not half as medicinal. It’s very minty and forest like with sweet fruity and floral undertones. It has a fairly strong throw and long wearlength.

[Melantha]

I enjoyed sniffing this, but as a perfume? Doesn't work for me. Strange, because I love Arkham Revisited so much, I thought I would love this one, too.

[edenssixthday]

The Carpathian Mountains - I can't wear fir, beech, pine, currant, juniper, grasses, or moss notes, so I knew this one was pretty much doomed from the time it was first updated onto the web site. Naturally, I still had to try it "just in case." It smells an awful lot like Hamadryad on me, but not as strong. It has a definite wintergreen note to it that is probably all the tree notes blending together. Beneath the wintergreen scent is the scent of wet, slippery moss. It's not until the full drydown that any of the "pretty" notes in this blend come forth on my skin, but at that point, the blend is much mellower and not nearly as sharp, and the sweet, rounded edges of some floral notes appear and the blend starts to smell significantly better. Sadly, the sillage is very strong and what I'd consider offensive even in small applications when the scent is first applied and still wet, but when it gets pretty upon drydown, the sillage decreases significantly. The staying power is pretty good, as it lasts for several hours on my skin.

[Druby]

This smelt, well grassy/earthy in the bottle, but when applied it was soooo sweet I was amazed at the difference, once the sweetness lessened it was a nice mix of smells, I couldn't pin point anything in particular as it all worked well together. Didn't wear long sadly.

[Rheliwen]

Carpathian Mountains is teetering on the gorgeous ledge. I didn't quite believe all the ben-gay stuff since many people associate weirds scents with things others don't. But it's totally there! If that one single note was gone this would be fantastic! It might actually be the raspberry leaf mixing with the juniper and moss. It's bitter.

 

Dry, that note is more subdued and the raspberry note itself comes to the front and now I have sweet berry and floral with a light green background. That note is still there but I can almost ognore it. LOVE ME Carpathian Mountains...LOVE ME!!!!

 

It loves me! The bitter note is gone and now it's all yummy raspberry florals, almost carnationy!

Edited March 5, 2007 by Rheliwen

[Em-]

Sweet pine...I found it hard to describe this one in my head as I tried it, but I really like it...it is green and verdant and herbal and just chilly enough to feel very fresh and clean. I really enjoyed smelling this on my wrists as I wore it...

[Miss Lynx]

Like many other people, my first impression of this one, both in the imp and on my skin, was one of wintergreen overkill. Of course, there's no wintergreen listed, so I'm assuming what I was picking up on was actually one of the woody notes -- I know birch smells very similar to wintergreen, so maybe beech does too? Not sure.

 

As it settles in more, though, that fades (thankfully -- I hate wintergreen!), and other notes come out. The currant is very much there now, and the slight honey-ish note of the honeysuckle and maybe a bit of the other flowers -- it's definitely picked up some sweetness, though not too much. It's definitely more of a naturalistic scent than a conventionally floral or fruity one, even though the flowers and fruit are noticeable. And I can definitely get the cool, clean mountain air feeling from this.

 

At first sniff I thought I was going to hate it, but really, it's not bad at all once it gets past the wintergreen phase. It's a really nice, light, cool forest/outdoorsy scent that never strays into the cliched Christmas-candle territory that so many forest scents do. May be a keeper after all...

 

Grade: Initially D, later B+

[portalkat]

Like so many others, the smell of wintergreen was what hit me first. After drydown, that note disappeared and what was left was a complete surprise. I found a fresh, crisp smell as if I was in a woodland meadow in the fall or in the spring. There is the small of conifers and meadow flowers, all very clean and soft. It was so pretty and so far from the initial wet stage that I could not stop sniffing my arm. This is absolutely lovely.

[Celogrl]

No wintergreen on me (am I the only one?! ), but this is beautiful, snowy and wintry. I get a lot of mixed evergreens from this, and although birch was not mentioned, strangely, that's what my nose picks up the most! And the berry...oh, the berry. This stuff is awesome and I am glad I swapped for a bottle. It's drying now to a powdery, foresty goodness.

[sionnac]

Got the medicinal mintiness and then after about a half hour the high mountain meadow. It is a refreshing scent. I like Talvikuu better through.

[ariansdreams]

The Carpathian Mountains

 

First Sniff: Sharp Wintergreen.

 

Wet on Skin: Evergreen mixed with wintergreen. Minty! Reminds me of Listerine. As it stays on my skin longer, I am getting a sweet floral undertone.

 

Dry: Foresty and fruity and minty. This is a really weird scent. I don’t dislike it, but as far as my “I am fresh!” scent goes, I definitely like The Apothecary much, much better. The drydown of this scent (i.e. wintergreen) is just a little too heady for my taste as well. While I didn’t smell bad, I smelled like I had doused myself in Listerine. Which is just…odd.

[jessu]

There is a mentholy note here that sets the cold, outdoorsy mood- I'm guessing the juniper. Don't get the wintergreen really, just cold juniper. It went on earthy-cold, and morphed into something very chilly, a little flowery, a little green, and a little earthy. Just when I thought I was going to get something really good- *poof!* It's gone.

i can't put my finger on it, but something here reminds me of gum. Teaberry gum, I think.

 

I like this, but I have no idea when I would want to smell like it. I'll hang on to it- maybe it will appeal to me on hot summer days.

[Naamah_Darling]

This is just so odd. It smells like wintergreen, but there's also pine mixing with the florals and the icy ozone-ish note to make a sweet, cold pine note that's not unlike mint, itself. In the bottle it's cold and faint.

 

On my skin it's not much stronger. This is a very subtle scent. For all that, it's not a low, earthy scent; usually perfumes this high-pitched are also very loud, but this isn't loud at all, it's just a whisper. This is clean and cool and brisk. I'm getting a strong sweetgrass note from this somewhere in the middle, under the minty fir smell and the snow smell. A hint of understated florals.

 

I don't like wintergreen scents, but this is very nice. I think the herbal, grassy tinge and the sweetness of the florals are enough to offset the medicinal wintergreen smell. This is clean, light, and feminine. Definitely one to try if you like clean or minty smells.

[Koumori]

Y HALO THAR WINTERGREEN.

 

Like a number of other blends I've picked up lately, this bottle smells much more complex in the bottle than it does on me. I was really hoping for a sort of winter version of Arkham Revisited's wildflower woods, and in the bottle that's what I got - cool pine and aquatic over multilayered florals. But as soon as I put it on... well, see above.

 

1/5.

[QueenFae]

Whoa, spearmint!! Very, very strong spearmint. Like inhaling the air from a candy tin that has housed hundreds of sticks of Wrigley's and Extra gum. There is a peculiar earthiness that just barely shows itself underneath the spearmint; this must be the lichens and mountain air. Definitely a frozen winter blend. Very strong, with strong throw and strong staying power. I'm glad I tried an imp of this first, because this is definitely not my thing.

[n1k1ta]

I will first say that I wanted to love Order of the Dragon: The Carpathian Mountains. I really, truly did. In the bottle, it's lush fir, greenery and berries. It's wonderful just to smell.

 

I got it on my skin and all I got was the juniper and pine. I was digging that. I was hoping that it would stick around and maybe deepen with the honeysuckle. No dice.

 

Within an hour, The Carpathian Mountains was practically gone. I barely even smell it five hours later. I'm so very disappointed. I moisturized and everything. I made damn sure that I put enough on.

 

I think for an LE, this is a major disappointment.

[hecate_jones]

Very interesting scent, not sure it's for me to wear, but I like to *smell* it.

It's just a nice smell...

 

In the bottle: very evergreen- fir, junipery everygreen, not pine and *snow* I still don't

know how you get snow in a bottle, but this smells like snow!

 

On: The snow scent's there still, which is weird, because the entire scent 'warms'

up considerably, it's a sort of warm-cool dichotomy. Minty liquorice! Oh, and raspberry leaf, I can definitely smell the raspberry leaf.

 

After a while, something almost like tobacco seems to come out.

 

It's a lovely scent! Not for me to wear, but I do like smelling it.

[lapillus]

In bottle: yellow liquid, bright and sharp

 

Wet: mentholly-minty-herbal – very sinus clearing (a good thing today) Not getting any pine (which is good -evergreens often do in my sinuses rather than clear them).

 

Dry: huh, most of the minty herbal is gone replaced with a sweet-tart floral-fruit and very unified scent.

 

Later: sweet floral/berries have now turned light and airy - I like this phase a lot, and it's stuck around for over eight hours, much to my surprise.

 

Summary: I’m really liking this one – it leaves me feeling very open and very centered simultaneously. I may have to hunt for a big bottle. (I knew there was a reason I’d been avoiding LE’s...)

[naeelah]

I just received a decant of this, so I suppose by now mine is reasonably well aged.

 

In the bottle it's very medicinal and not so pleasant, Wet, at first it smells completely unlike what I expected. Not like evergreen or "wintergreen" or anything like that, but exotic and a bit fruity. The bright, strong fruity note fades and reveals a scent smells like stone and a forest. Very fresh, like so many flowers and plants on a strong breeze, and a strong, bright, austere note, which makes me think of stone. I don't know what the actual note is, but perhaps it's the lichen (guessing from Hamadryad, which I was trying at the same time on the other arm). Evertything in this is very well blended, so I don't think I could really pick out single notes, even if I knew what to look for.

 

It remains light and, yes, mountainy for another hour or so. Once it has settled in, the exotic fruity note returns, although not nearly as strong as it was initially. I kept sniffing it because it seemed familiar but I couldn't put a finger on it. Seeing the notes, it must be the currant, but at the time I thought perhaps it was juniper berry. It's a little sweet and a little tart.

 

The final effect is a dense and lush forest in the mountains, somehow familiar but also otherworldly. Definitely a fine interpretation of Dracula's homeland! I was afraid this would be piney and fresh (not an effect I usually go for), but this is very much unlike any other evergreen forest scent and not at all what you might expect. It's still not the type of thing I usually wear, but I like it. It's definitely unique.

 

It has light throw, but this lasted very well on me. After about 4 hours it smelled almost as strong as it was when I put it on, and morphed little after the final drydown. The following morning I could still smells a lingering trace of evergreen on my skin.

[Phaedra]

Wet this is spearmint or wintergreen (like toothpaste) mixed with wet, mossy notes. When first on this is cool, breezy and sweet with maybe a hint of citrus. This is very light overall. After a couple of mintues some floral notes develop. This becomes a light and sweet floral blend. There's a hint of grapes too. This is a very light scent- faintly sweet and cool. It's pretty but after trying it a couple of times I don't think I'll keep it.

[harmonyfb]

In the bottle, and wet on my skin - ew, wintergreen.

 

::sniff:: Except...it's not really wintergreen. It appears to be the juxtaposition of some different notes that causes the rather unpleasant wintergreen/menthol thing.

 

After a moment, I can tell that the smell has to do with a tree resin, because I can almost taste the sap in my mouth. (Bleeeccch, for the record.) I'm determined to wait it out, because it's fading, but it is a bit overwhelming.

 

Now that five or ten minutes have gone past, the pine is starting to peek out - now I can detect snowy notes, crisp air, and the faintest breath of flowers, but it's very, very faint.

 

If it weren't for those five or ten minutes of resiny wintergreen hell, I'd love this scent. (ETA: No, I wouldn't. It's giving me a HUGE headache.) Also, it now smells of gin, which I suppose must be the juniper.

Edited July 24, 2007 by harmonyfb

[DifferentDances]

Bottle: Medicinal vapo-rub.

Wet: Medicinal vapo-rub with the slightest hint of something sweet.

Drydown: The medicinal jumble is starting to separate. There's some fir, sweet floral, but still the medicine smell lingers underneath it all.

Dry: Very, very faint. Warm trees and vague, sweet flower.

 

My rating: 3/5. It's not that I don't like this. It's just that I have other scents that smell SO much better.

[WidgetAlley]

Imp: Fir! To the face! And a woody scent like birch that must be... beech, I guess? And that's all. Not very keen on it so far.

 

Wet: Next on Widget's Skin: When Woods Attack. For the first minute, it's 120% wood... fir and beech and pine and wood, wood, wood. Then a bit of powdery floral and berry comes up and fights down the wood enough to be smelled... but just barely.

 

Dry: Like Yggdrasil and Vinland, this one is already fading into hints of woody sweet powder. It's a nice outdoorsy sort of smell, it really is, but it's also not my thing. Swaps.

[alicia_stardust]

This is a cool pine, with deep juniper and snow and cool sharp mountain air that bites at your lungs. It almost has a menthol quality to it, but not so much that it becomes medicinal.

 

I like to wear this during the fall, but I really like wearing it during those dark November nights when winter is approaching and the weather has turned cold.