Y'ha-nthlei

[rayvn1]

A great undersea metropolis located below Devil's Reef. A swirling, lightless, effervescent scent: the deepest marine notes with bergamot, eucalyptus and foamy ambergris.

I'm not sure why some aquatics work great on me (Captain Jack, Cthulhu, The Phoenix) and some just don't. This one is leaning towards the Not Work category It turns powdery and a little sneeze inducing. Although I do like the hints of greenery underneath that round this out a bit. I'll just have to hope that as it dries down those elements mix a little more.

[smokey188]

this was just a very light sweet smell on me barely noticable no throw and medium staying power. I'm sure this would be beautiful on someone else maybe on my boy but it just doesn't work on me.

[Suu4LC]

Oof-bpal aquatics usually turn to fail on me...sniffing this in the imp, I don't think this will be an exception. It's an odd aquatic, more basey than salty...

 

Yeah, on my skin...it's hard to describe how this smells, but definitely gets saltier...it's...just aquatic. Maybe a touch of bergamot. No discernable eucalyptus.

 

As I expected, this just dried down to weird stinky salty aquatics-if you are a fan of bpal aquatics like Calico Jack and whatnot, give this one a try, but if you've had bad luck with bpal aquatics, this prolly won't change your mind. At least it didn't smell like rotting seaweed!

[GeorgeJr]

I don't know , I like it . Got it as a frimp with a order , & it being Lovecraft based I had to try it . It is seriously aquatic . I'm not really getting the eucalyptus at all . Mostly the bergamot for me . Not that this is a bad thing , as far as I'm concerned . I will go along with the others before me & say if you enjoy other BPAL aquatics , then you'll more then likely enjoy this . It has quite the throw on me .

[Ravenclaw79]

This is the first aquatic that hasn't just smelled like men's shower gel on me.

 

It's still not the aquatic I'm looking for, 'cause what I really want is the smell of the beach, light and salty and summery. This one's the opposite, murky and dank, but it's still pretty nice.

[isis33]

It's a funny scent. At first I don't like it at all- I suspect that bergamot and eucalyptus is a combination my noce don't like. But after an hour or so I'm left with the ambergris, that I love, with a subtle salty undertone. Unfortunately it only has throw when it's in it first stage. I'll keep and use my imp, but I doubt that I will buy it again.

[Juushika]

In the vial: Very fresh—effervescent is a good word for it.

 

On me: I get Sprite, which (needless to say) is a bit odd. The boyfriend smells Irish Springs soap. After ten minutes, I also get the soap—soap topped by carbonated lemon-lime. After a bit longer some darker tones come out, and under their shadow I see how this scent can truly be lightless yet effervescent. The soap still lingers. After a bit longer, I get a touch of eucalyptus and the soap and aquatic die back (though they're faintly present).

 

Verdict: Despite its strange and ongoing evolution, this is a scent which suits its description: the effervescence of lemon-lime and the airiness of eucalyptus against the shadow of dark aquatics. But those aquatics are a touch soapy on my skin, and regardless this isn't my sort of blend. It's unusual and I'm glad to have tried it, but I'll pass along my imp.

[femmefatale]

I love aquatics, but unfortunately, most aquatics don't love me. I sniffed this in the imp and almost didn't try this. I just knew it would turn into bathroom soap or one of those "rain" colognes.

 

I was wrong.

 

Yes, this is very clean smelling so I guess it could be considered somewhat soapy, but not to me. There is also a wonderful sweetness to it, as well as just a hint of coolness. This is not a hot, humid aquatic, nor a cold one like Visiting the Temple... This one reminds me of the beach early in the morning when the coolness of the night still lingers but when the rising sun is just starting to warm the water.

 

I actually really like this. I am so happy I tried it.

[voodoocatwoman]

I have to agree with the reviews mentioning this being clean smelling. It is bright and fresh, like taking a big whiff of sea air in the morning. Very pretty.

[bookishbunny]

in bottle: This is a heavy aquatic. The full-bodiedness is unexpected for a "water" scent. Ambergris gives it an oily, but not overpowering, density while salt and eucalyptus add a tingling contrast.

 

wet: Very salty marine notes emerge. It's the scent of the deeper, dark blue layers of the ocean. A creamy, animalistic tone lurks below.

15 minutes: The oily weight of the ambergris has spread to a soft musk. The nose is tickled by a sharp oceanic note. As a whole, the scent rises and lightens at the same time it deepens. It's pretty intriguing in how it maintains that balance.

 

dry: All has blended into a musky, warm aquatic. Much of the "tingling" sensation is gone except for a hint of salty breeze. I get the image of large, dark, silent beasts gliding through deep, cold water.

[Inventrix]

This is so disappointing. I thought from the first sniff from the bottle that maybe, MAYBE this is a cool wet scent that'll work with my chemistry...!

 

It smells like a litter box and air freshener. Only from 6+ inches away, though. Up close it's the typical uninteresting floral soapy scent I get from aquatics. But.... hurgh!

 

I'm going to leave it on for a while in the hopes the cat waste scent goes away... I'll edit this if so. I have little hope at this point.

Edited April 7, 2009 by Inventrix

[catattack]

Wet: Raw, cut florals with the stems. This is a really strong scent. Very green.

Drydown: This is a raw green scent, like freshly cut greenery.

Overall: This is too green for me. If you enjoy raw plant scents, this is it. Unfortunately, it isn't for me.

[fairnymph]

Sniffed: Light yellow oil. Salty, herbal, musky, slightly waxy aquatic. Refreshing, clean, but not soapy. I get lots of ambergris, and a tiny bit of eucalyptus...not any bergamot, though.

 

Wet: Very 'planty', like new green leaves with rain drops - dewy. Cucumber, and a little mildly sweet mint. Slightly mentholic, but just in a cool way - not medicinal at all. Still no bergamot. Super green in feel.

 

Dry: Going more floral, and a little bit sharp, but not too much. This reminds me VERY much of a salty version of The Macabray. This might be a little more green, I'm even getting some grass.

 

Later: The ambergris is SO strong after a bit - the strongest ambergris scent I've tested - and pretty damn musky. I love how the salty-aquatic note stays really strong, too. This reminds me of The Sea Foam's Milk, too, I get the same slightly-sharp green musk note.

 

Summary: Salty, musky ambergris on drydown. It's really yummy, but slightly harsh and masculine. I'm not sure that I would wear this having other aquatics that are more 'me', but this would be delicious on a man! Great throw and longevity.

 

Keeping my imp!

Edited April 18, 2009 by fairnymph

[Zeljana]

I really wanted this one to work, but its lasting power is very poor on skin. However, as a room scent this is absolutely divine. Beautiful aquatic notes with powdery ambergris. Bergamot is barely there, but it gives the scent some edge.

 

I wish it was a little bit stronger so I could wear it on my skin, though.

[Aldercy]

A good aquatic does grace me with its presence once in awhile-- I was worried this would be bland ozone/dryer sheets on me, but the chemistry seems to mesh this time. A certain aura of soapiness disappears within a minute or so, and the whole blend really richens up.

 

I've been curious about ambergris for awhile, but my only other encounter with it was in Antony (where it is unfortunately smothered under half a dozen other-- perfectly good-- notes). Verdict: I quite enjoy it in Y'ha-nthlei. It's definitely somewhat animalistic and alien (with a kelpy, deep muddy something that is nevertheless striking and bizarrely fresh)... I've got my fingers crossed it will remain pleasant and musky and not mutate into anything weirder. And the bergamot is a clever addition; it makes everything a little more buoyant.

 

The connotations of this scent are very... amphibian... to me (but in a good way). It's a streamlined, murky turquoise, stormy sort of scent. Androgynous, sophisticated and a little dangerous. Not like anything else, and very nice.

Edited May 29, 2009 by Aldercy

[Balame]

In the Imp: I’m getting everything as a whole right now rather than a specific, dominant scent. It’s light and breezy, but almost seems to have a floral background.

 

Wet: There’s ozone, a splash of sea spray, and the bergamot gives it a wonderfully refreshing feel. I agree with some of the other posters in that I don’t feel this is a “deep” scent. I’m assuming the sweetness emanating around is ambergris (never had the pleasure before) - it’s really nice. This is bringing up images of a beach in Hawaii, where you’re relaxing in the sun dappled sands and wearing a white flowered lei one of the locals gave you. Not to say it’s without some Lovecraftian charm. Maybe a selkie pops out of the ocean and gives you an eyeful before disappearing a second later and you’re left wondering if it was all in your mind.

 

Dry: Still lovely, though the citrus has faded out so the edge isn’t as prominent and it's more sweet overall. This becomes a rather soft scent as times goes by, but I’ll be all too happy to reapply. I keep feeling it has a very dreamy quality. Like you’re one of the people blissfully ignorant of unusual happenings taking place, but every now and then you keep catching strange sights…

 

Verdict: I’m in love. Initially I thought it might be too delicate, but at this point I really don’t care. The more I smelled this the more entranced I became. The only thing that’s a bit frustrating is that the salty feel dies down after about two hours.

 

Rating: 4/5

Edited July 27, 2009 by Balame

[Monster]

In the imp: Soapy clean.

 

Wet: Balmy aquatic...not a cool aquatic but a warm one. This is very clean and soapy smelling. It almost reminds me of doing car washes as a kid in the summertime. A big bucket of suds, cool water underneath the hot hot sun.

 

Dry: This dries into a sudsy, soapy residue. A nice clean, almost herbal dry down.

 

Overall: For an aquatic, I like this one a lot. It's not something I will wear but more of something I can appreciate. I never get any eucalyptus from this wet but the herbal smell I'm detecting from the dry down just may be that. Very nice

[angelicruin]

Inside the imp, aquatic herbal notes.

 

On the skin, soapy aquatic. Not really getting the strong eucalyptus throw I usually get on my skin.

 

This scent is not offensive to my nose, but it's not my kind of scent either.

[CynicalPink]

I will not give up on aquatics!

 

Imp: Sweet herbal aquatic. So far so good.

 

Wet: Yay! It's staying sweet and bright and not going full Davidoff Cool Water

 

Drydown: Creamy aquatic floral

 

Overall: So close! At the moment, it's just a *little* to close to a dryer sheet for me to want to hang on to. But this was close to what I'm looking for. My perfect aquatic is out there somewhere!

[superpopkid]

I never think of myself as an aquatics person, but that might have to change. Y'ha-nthlei is one of the most delicious things I've ever smelled. From the moment I opened the imp, there was some extremely compelling, unfamiliar note, which must be the ambergris.

 

Wet on my skin, the ambergris, if that's what it is, smells sweet, rich, clean and somehow edible in a really hard to describe way. Ok, I'm going to give it a shot. Baby bananas, (the bunches of mini bananas that you can find in Asian grocers,) sauteed with a little lemon and butter.* The smell is nothing like the candy-banana smell I get from Tzadikim Nistarim; this is a rich, buttery, mellow fruit. So that's the ambergris. (I think.) It's sweetened up and brightened by the bergamot and borne up on the foam of a huge ocean wave. Other posters described this as sun-warmed water, and that's perfect. I get images of coral swaying in sunlit turquoise waters.

 

I got fairly good throw from this for about an hour and a half, and then it quickly went down to a skin scent. I got a few lovely whiffs here and there for the next four hours or so. To me it feels feminine, but not in a traditional way. It's fresh and clean without smelling like dryer sheets.

 

Overall, this blend makes me understand how dogs feel when they catch a scent that they just have to follow- it's not just that it's pleasant. There's just something irresistible about it to my nose; I just want to keep wrist-huffing until I can taste it. I suspect that this may be a personal thing, since not everyone may have the violent crush on ambergris that I seem to have developed, and many people may find it just another soapy aquatic. Does it ruin an otherwise glowing review to say it reminds me slightly of a hand soap I used years ago? Because I wished at the time that I could smell like that soap all the time, and now I can! But better!

 

*(OT: sauteed mini bananas are the best French toast topping ever.)

 

ETA: I did not get any eucalyptus from this, or I just fooled my nose into not smelling it, since it's not a favorite note.

Edited November 2, 2009 by VitaminA

[hazakaza]

I tried this without the notes, so I'm kind of winging it here.

 

In the imp--melon?

 

Wet--still melon, some green notes creeping up the back.

 

Drying--oh no, are those marine notes? WHY DO YOU ALWAYS TRICK ME, THINGS WITH MARINE NOTES.

 

Thankfully, this doesn't do what most marine notes do (turn to awful metallic salt that gives me a horrible headache) and stays light. It does, however, turn very salty on me, which does not give me a headache, but isn't fun either.

 

I'm surprised to see the bergamot in there, i didn't think that note would do well on me. But I do agree with others, this is kind of a synthetic perfumey air-freshener scent. Which is sad, because the melon is so lovely and gentle for the first minute or so.

Edited November 5, 2009 by hazakaza

[voorishsign]

What a brilliant, brilliant aquatic. Possibly the most pleasant acquatic I've ever smelled. Much to my despair, however, my imp is leaky, so I decided to pour it onto my oil burner to get the most of it.

 

On me, it's light, watery, like shallow sea with light filtering through. Warm, pale water, with a bit of ambergris and light eucalyptus. Beautiful, beautiful, beautiful.

 

In the burner, it's even more complex. I can smell the bergamot and it's all coming together brilliantly. A nice, fresh scent for my room after the festivities of Yule and New Year's, even though I'm heartbroken I couldn't keep it for myself.

Edited January 2, 2010 by voorishsign

[loubric]

Almost the same as The Sea Foams Milk only less creamy more aquatic. I love TSFM and I love this one!!!

[ami226]

Very effervescent with the medicinal scent of eucalyptus. I get small whiffs, but if I sniff close to the skin, I can't smell anything. Not for me.

[MonkeysInk]

This scent reminds me very much of diving in the Blue Hole. The lovely light marine scent occasionally throws a bit of something darker, in much the same way that sharks suddenly materialize from the darkness below before disappearing back into the deep.

 

Something in it reminds me of the cologne my dad wore when I was a little girl, yet I would consider this to be a unisex scent. On me, this has very limited throw, and I like it that way - I think it adds to the mysteriousness.