Hamadryad

[anowyn]

Nature spirits and protectors of the world's groves and forests that appear as breathtakingly beautiful women. Hamadryads are born into a tree that serves as both a home and an anchor for the creature's soul. They are sometimes tricksters, sometimes seducers, sometimes helpful and benign, but they are always fierce and furious protectors of the natural world. Seven dry woods with mossy lichen and a gentle breeze of forest flowers.

 

IN BOTTLE: It smells very minty. Almost like licorice, but mostly, deep wintergreen. It reminds me of the Tom's of Maine wintergreen mouthwash.

FIRST APPLIED: It's quickly drying down, but that minty smell isn't going away. It's a good smell, but it doesn't make me think of dryads or a forest. My boyfriend says it smells like this handmade ointment from Vietnam that was used to soothe muscles.

DRY-DOWN: It's drying down WAY too quick, and there's not much strength in this scent at all compared to some of the others I've tried today. It's a good scent - still minty, but it's drying into something a little more woody. Light woods, though. Maybe lichen smells like mint? Either way, it's nice. Crisp and clean.

EDIT: It didn't leave my skin even after trying to wash it off. My boyfriend likes it more than I do, so I'm going to give it to him. Fortunately, on me, it smelled very asexual, so I think it'd work on guys that are interested in trying woody scents, too.

[Poenari]

This was a frimp from the lab. At first, I thought I smelled rootbeer. But no, maybe it's wintergreen. No, it's rootbeer. OK, after 15 minutes it's still the strangest mixture of wintergreen and rootbeer. Not completely unpleasant, but not something I want to smell like. It reminds me of a cleaning product scent. Maybe it will work in the oil burner.

[alliekat13]

Unfortunately, I cannot praise this scent like everyone else. To me it smells like Ben-Gay, straight up in the bottle and on my skin. Just a wintergreeny medicinal scent all the way through.

[Gaidig]

Note: Mid cycle. Imp fresh from the Lab.

 

In the bottle: Faint and hard to capture. Sweet, mossy...

 

On me: Licorice! OMG LICORICE!

 

1 hour+ later: The licorice has gone away, and it is now a mild, vaguely spicy, unitentifiable second skin scent. I like it, but I'm afraid to put much on and have to wait out the initial stage.

[dronzeka]

Hmmm. Am I the only one who initially gets Necco Wafers from this?? Since I was expecting something wood-y/moss-y, this was very confusing! From all these reviews I see that the note must be cinnamon, but really, when this is wet I get a very strong candy smell, almost licorice-cinnamon - all I can think is Necco Wafers (I must be fixated on candy these days - Arcana's Espionage smells like sweettarts to me ). As it dries, some flowers start to appear and the cinnamon-y kind of smell backs down somewhat. It morphs into something more floral with wood and cinnamon in the background. So completely not what I was expecting from the description! It's quite lovely. I'm not sure it's really me, but I should probably try it out when I don't have three other scents going on the same arm.

[Analise]

In the bottle: Pep-o-mint lifesave. That's all I'm getting.

 

On my skin: still minty

 

After a few minutes: Still minty.

 

So really? That's a no, from me.

[spring heel]

For the first few minutes its just a huuuge blast of menthol getting all up in my nostrils. Then I tried to convince myself that woody and mossy notes were coming out, but it was just fading.

Edited February 2, 2007 by spring heel

[quarble]

all I can think is Necco Wafers

 

YES! That's just what I thought when I first put it on, and I thought "I must be crazy." The candy-ness is fading, and I'm starting to get the woods and....licorice? Man.

 

It's pretty, but I don't know if it's something I'd wear often. Of course, this has to be the Imp with the broken top, so my fingers (and desk, and sweater) are covered in the stuff. I had to re-bottle it in an empty jam jar

[icing]

Eau de Nursing Home: Old, pastel fabric-covered chairs retaining a vague, undefined, but ever-present spoiled but stale (almost waste-like) stench, blended with that distinct powdery elderly-skin smell, an odor-concealing 'wild flower' scented spray, and noticeable wafts of pocket-escaping wintergreen mint fragments beneath the cushions and the residue of a muscle-soothing or chest and sinus clearing menthol balm.

 

The longer it’s on, the more the stale funk and powdery smell strengthen, and a bit of chalkiness joins the mix.

 

Poor Hamadryad, despite its peaceful looking description on the site, my chemistry transformed it into a bit of a depressing and nauseating smell.

 

Edited February 22, 2007 by icing

[waternight]

In the imp: Smells like mint.

Wet/Drydown: Minty minty mint! Hoooo boy, this is mint. It’s a very sweet mint though, not herbal. There’s cinnamon too, but it just kinda holds up the mint, it doesn’t really compete with it. My wrist smells like gum. Now the intense mint has settled down; now it’s a sunlit glade, very nature-y and gentle and benevolent.

Dry: The original minty-cinnamon of this blend has done a complete 180 – it’s a very soft, gentle, sweet skin scent now. Close to the skin and innocent – I feel like a nature spirit wandering through a sun-dappled forest, causing herbs and flowers to spring up in my footprints.

 

Yay! I love Hamadryad, and will wear it often. May require a big bottle.

 

Edit: I tested this twice, once on my wrist and once in the elbow pits of both arms. On my wrist it was fine, but on my arms, it burned and the skin turned a bit red. I stuck it through, though, because I remembered it being ok on my wrist. The redness and burning DID go away after the drydown, but it is something to watch out for if you're sensitive to cinnamon oil - which I apparently am.

Edited February 23, 2007 by waternight

[The_Merf]

In the imp: mint, with 'eau de amoxil' hanging around at the edges.

 

Wet: Min-tee! This reminds me of LifeSavers mints, mint gum (spearmint) and other sugared minty candy things.

 

Drydown and wear: Stays pretty much the same. There is a sort of pink haze floating around this scent, which I guess comes from the blooms.

[GoldenRubee]

Strangely, when I first smelled this, the only thing I could detect was licorice. I don't know know why-I put this aside and came back to it another day. I was positive that it had it have anise in it. I tried it again and had the same results only this time on my skin! I hadn't read the reviews yet so was surprised to read that it was suppose to be cinnamon and foresty scents. Cinnamon spicy scents are my all time favorites so I am terribly upset by these strange findings. After about an hour or so I did get a little bit of some sort of spice but this is not really something that screams "buy me" so loudly that I can't resist it. I guess in a knock down, drag out fight, my body chemistry unfortunately won. I so wanted to love this one too.

[luckybuzz]

I had great expectations for this scent, and now I'm just sad that other people get woods, and lichen, and flowers, and cinnamon, and all I get from this is Wintergreen Lifesavers.

 

I like wintergreen lifesavers....I just don't want to smell like them.

[CrazyPretzel]

Wet: Spearmint! Really strong spearmint and possibly a hint of woodsy cinnamon lurking underneath.

 

Drydown: Ummm....still smells like spearmint. Boyfriend gets upset about this because it reminds him of antiseptic After half an hour the spearmint fades quite a lot and many other notes come into play: strangely I'm getting predominantly floral notes with some woodsy stuff underneath: cinnamon, pine, oak...

 

At the end of the day: Sort of a strong, 'masculine' floral scent -- but women can wear this no problem. The scent feels very 'safe' and protective.

 

This isn't at all what I expected -- it's a great floral, but not sure if that half hour of mental spearmint at the beginning is worth going through again.

[isabella]

woody, lightly spicy and light florals. i usually hate floral of any sort but in this it seems to enhance the scent rather than take away from it. its pretty.

[naeelah]

I think this is the first BPAL I've tried that I really don't like. This one definitely isn't for me.

 

Wet, it smells like the "winter mint" gum that my friend chews obsessively. I don't like the flavor, and I definitely don't like the scent. This persists for a good while. Once dry, the woods come out with the faintest touch of flowers, and a persisting wintergreen note in the background. It's an extremely light scent with no throw, so it seems to fade quickly. The next morning I can smell faint traces of woods on my skin.

 

The wood notes are nice, but I have to say I hate the touch of wintergreen. This is definitely not one I'll be keeping. If you want a a scent that will be all wood or woods and flowers, I suggest looking elsewhere.

[Carmencita]

In the vial: Spearmint, wintergreen, mmm.

 

On me: Wintergreen, oh please don't go claylike, mmm!

 

Fading. Changing.

 

DAMN. I get Icing's 'eau de nursing home' with this on the drydown. No wintergreen on anymore. Just musty old lady home.

 

Maybe in a scent locket it will stay wintergreen? Because I lurve the initial scent. I will test.

[juniperus]

Bottle: wintergreen

Wet: yup, wintergreen.

Dry: wintergreen and...wood! I can just barely discern the florals, they are soft, not heady. it's...like I was sucking on a wintergreen lifesaver while walking through the forest. ok, that was an odd image...

Later: the wintergreen has subsided, we are in the forest and it's a gentle, quiet place.

[koleypunch]

Icy-Hot. This what this smells like, through and through. Icy-Hot

 

Edit: After some time on my arm, this scent completely morphed. Smells a lot like laundry detergent.

Edited April 17, 2007 by koleypunch

[Elemcee]

Hamadryad, when wet, is rather medicinal. Unfortunately, it never changes on me, and eventually just fades away. It's not something I mind smelling, but it is something I mind smelling like.

 

 

Oh well...

[porcelina]

when i first sniffed this i thought- wtf? was there a mixup? it didn't smell woody or floral- just pure mint gum. then i realized other reviewers had a similar reaction. it's just too damn minty. as it dries there is something deep and woody underneath, but i mostly smell pure wintergreen.

[JennyGardener]

At first, when I opened the bottle, I thought it smelled like some sort of pink lozenge. I hated it, and was sad because I loved the woodsy description of the perfume on the site. I did like the smell beyond the sharp lozenge scent, but on me that painful scent reigns. It gave me a headache.

 

But. My daughter, Faerygirl, 8, tried it on. She's become my BPAL buddy. And it smelled - wonderful! On her, it is the scent of woodland fae. She herself is a nature girl, very fierce in defense of the environment and passionate about all Mother Earth's children. On her, Hamadryad fit without too much sharpness. She put it on at bedtime and I snuggled her, enjoying the scent of it in her hair all night. My little woodsy faery girl, who is just too close to growing up!

 

Thanks, BPAL, for the perfect scent that captures the spirit of my daughter at 8 year old going on 9!

 

ADDED June 22:

 

(This is Faerygirl's review)

 

Smells like a forest after the rain. The Hamadryad and rain fairies are out playing. I Hamadryad!

[Ajila]

In the bottle – Deep Heat, weird

 

Wet on me – Yep, definitely Deep Heat, is this wintergreen?

 

Dry on me – Soft green herbal blend, with a hint of saltiness – I would describe this blend as a sea breeze over sand dunes

 

Overall – The dry down is quite pretty, but the initial stages frighten me

[ladybird]

There's a soft drink that you can get here in the northeastern US called birch beer. It's like root beer, only lighter and milder, and it's usually clear. It smells like the inside of green birch twigs, light and sweet and birchy.

 

And that is exactly what Hamadryad smells like on me. It's not a bad smell. It just makes me thirsty

[Nia]

Eeekkkk. The hated bitter, medicinal, compostheap-y note of Kathmandu and Sri Lanka is here again. I think it is the cedar. New rule: if a blend contains woods but doesn't say which one, my body will turn it into a mix of rot and Vicks Vaporub.

 

This time, after a few minutes the rot goes away, and after five minutes more, the whole scent has left too.

 

I love the idea of a perfume named after such lovely creatures. It's a shame they don't love me back.