Cathode

[sarahj]

A negatively charged scent. Ambergris, Spanish Moss, oakmoss and three electric mints.

Cathode

in imp: MINT

wet: mint and moss

dry: mint disappears quickly...only the earthy, dusty moss is left

verdict: not for me

[fairy]

Well, I'm not sure how I feel about wearing something that is described as "negatively charged". But superstitions aside...

 

Here is another one that went on smelling aquatic to me (third one I pulled tonight, oddly enough). But then it turned into spearmint gum.

 

Because I'm superstitious I probably wont be keeping this one though

[Alchemy21599]

In the vial: aquatic mint.

 

Wet: aquatic mint and sweet faint earthiness.

 

Dry: Uh, oh. I just had a major scent memory of a BF who chewed Skoal.

[mermaidrage]

Cathode was one of those scents that immediately went on my "Okay, not trying that one" list. For the life of me, I can't figure out why.

 

I was frimped this in my last lab order and I was so pleasantly surprised.

 

In the imp: Dark mint, metallic ozone and very, very cold.

On: MINT! It's still dark, but it's smoothly dark, if that makes sense. It slips onto my skin like silk and settles in like it belongs there. There's something green, too dark to be grassy -- I'm guessing that's the moss and it holds the mint under control. It's not metallic anymore, but it's cold and crisp, very refreshing.

Drydown: Still mint and moss, but a bit warmer like it's warmed up to body temperature. I smell like my favourite moroccan mint tea. This was a very pleasant surprise!

 

Maybe a bottle, not sure yet.

[margravine]

This is a really interesting scent. It's initially very minty in a refreshing green kind of way. As it dries it gets warner and sweeter, but there's still the cool mint interjecting itself here and there. I'm feeling fairly sick right now and there's something really comforting about this combination of warmth and coolness. It's just fascinating.

[jesvet]

I'm not sure what I was expecting out of this one- metallic and cold, probably, but it didn't turn out that way on me at all.

 

In the imp: crisp, a little minty.

 

Wet: sweet (very unexpected!)- honeydew melon, 'green' scent, balanced by a bit of cool mint and ozone.

 

dry: minty, herbal (the moss coming through?). Nice and summery.

 

This was actually a lot more wearable than I was expecting. I'm still really new to BPAL but I can already appreciate what everyone is saying about Beth's impeccable ability to balance out these complex scents. I need a few more wears before I decide if it's bottle-worthy.

[fiddledragon]

MINT! Mintmintmint. Mint on me unfortunately turns entirely to sweet candy-cane regardless of whether there's anything else sweet in the blend. The moss and other notes make no headway on my skin under the vast cloud of MINT.

[aimeceleste]

I thought I wouldn't like this because of the green/woody notes of the moss. But, I thought it was bright and sweet, somewhat complex. Actually a very candy-ish pleasant cooling scent.

[bizarrogirl]

This was a frimp from the lab that I wasn't in any hurry to try. Then I got (and still have) a killer head cold, and most of the scents I tried while ill made me feel like I was smothering.

 

I figured mint would be a good antidote to congestion, so I tried it. Wow! I love this scent! The mint is strong, wet, but not in a sharp or acrid way. It's a mellow mint, like peppermint mixed with vanilla. Once it dries down, the mint is still there, but melded gently with the mosses and the ambergris to make a really unique, lush scent. I didn't think I would like this, but I really do.

 

If, when my sniffer returns to normal, my opinion changes, I'll come edit this post.

[shadith]

The first impression is minty and a little like vinegar-based cleanser Wow, I expected something completely different.

 

Despite the mint it is more soft and round than sharp or stingy. A bit like a well chewn mint chewing gum. The sourly smell gets lighter after a while, but it keeps floating around. I don't like this one, it keeps reminding me of cleansers. Too bad

[emerald_ibis]

I really, really wanted to like this. I'm looking for cooler, lighter scents (so much of what I have is warm and thick), and I was hoping that this would work.

 

Unfortunately, I got a few moments of mintiness before the entire thing turned to ... laundry detergent.

[PilotKitten]

In the vial, I get a strong whiff of divine spearmint. On my skin though, it's not so strong. A very interesting scent. It gives a coolness in my nostrils when I sniff it in, just like a chill winter breeze. After drydown, I still smell the spearmint and a peppermint starts to peek forth. Mmmm yummy. I'm not in the "must have bottle" stage yet, but this imp will be a keeper for awhile longer.

[habuchan]

So this one wasn't on my "must have" list by any stretch of the imagination (although...I can't quite say why as it's got mint in it...which I adore).

 

Anyway. Got this as a frimp in my package and it demanded to be worn.

 

In the bottle: Mint. Green, fresh, wet mint. Like mint picked from the front lawn and crushed beneath my fingers. That kind of mint.

 

On: Still minty goodness. There's something there that just begs to be noticed...something green and earthy. The note keeps flitting in and out for the first 10 minutes. The mint is still b*tchslapping it into place, though.

 

Later: The mint mellows out, letting the other two mosses mingle with the ambergris and have the forefront. It's a very earthy, green scent, tinged with electric mint.

 

I'm loving the scent, if only for the clean, zingy, electric feeling I get everytime I inhale. I thought it would be super strong, but it's mellowed out into a soft ozone type smell that makes me wonder where I've smelled this before.

 

Now I get it. Laying in the grass in my grandparents' backyard, watching the dark clouds gather overhead as a major rainstorm moved in...and feeling those first few drops on my face before getting up to run inside. That's what Cathode reminds me of.

Edited October 23, 2006 by habuchan

[Elemcee]

Cathode starts out very fresh and minty, but then, after a while, turns quite soft and musky.

 

It's odd that this is a 'negative' scent, because it actually relaxes me and makes me feel positive. I felt quite tense and a bit annoyed , but, now, I'm starting to feel calm. It's a nice scent before bed, because if I'm calm, I think of nice things.

 

It's like Dragon's Milk in this respect. Very much a relaxing/bed-time scent.

 

Of course, I am listening to Sigur Ros, which also helps.

Edited October 25, 2006 by Elemcee

[khaoticbliss]

So I've skimmed through almost all the reviews on this scent so far, and I can honestly say that I'm glad I tried it before I read about it. Because... wow. Based on your descriptions, I would have been desperate to try it. Spearmint? Ozone? Clean fresh green scent? I would have loved that. I would have been bouncing up and down excited about it.

 

As it is, Cathode, on me, is flea powder. No really. I put it on, and five seconds later I was like "....oh my god. I smell like a vet's office." I will commend it for its staying power, its throw, and its uniformity -- I smelled very strongly, very distinctly, and very consistently of flea powder for as long as I had it on me, but... yeah. Definitely flea powder. So sad.

 

I'm glad that it worked so well for so many people, though. Surely mine can find a better home.

[sh1mm3r]

I have been wanting mint scents for when it gets really hot outside, so I snatched up a frimp of this at the Atlanta Meet n' Sniff.

 

In the bottle, I smell minty moss.

 

This goes through a really strange drying phase on me - its really musky and ozoney, I suppose this is the ambergis.

 

As it dries, the minty moss comes back but I'm not sure I really like the moss being in there - it adds a definite masculine feeling to it.

 

I'm going to keep it around until next summer though, so I can grab it on a hot humid day.

[lanablade]

First off, NONE of the notes in this are things I wear with frequency, or even like. That said, I expected to dislike this immensely, but I was frimped it in my last order and I always try everything I get, lest the elves and goblins at the Lab mark me as a Bad Bunny.

 

...and... I... I... I like this one. First off, might I say that I honestly smell zero mint. I smell something earthy, maybe the mosses, and something vaguely spicy and 'perfume' smelling (not in a bad way, I just have no idea how else to describe it.) which I assume is the ambergis.

 

It's not a scent that really jumps out at me at all. It just has this comforting 'really expensive perfume with a name you can't pronounce, but found in a shop in Europe the last time you flew there in your private jet' PERFUME smell. Not at all commercial or generic, but very instinctively recognizable.

 

I probably won't buy a bottle, but it's definately been well worth the try. Thank you Lab Elves.

[tempestteapot]

This scent has too much moss or something. I'm reminded of the fuzzy character in Labaranth. 'smeellls baaaad'

 

It's like rotten vegatation. I was hoping/expecting something with lots of bright and ozone.

[phedre]

In vial: mint, mint, and more mint.

 

On my skin: something spicy comes out. The ambergris I assume, and a touch of the moss. I keep getting whiffs of cold, but when I go to smell my hand again, it disappears. How very odd. It's fleeting, like a cold breeze in a warm room.

 

Drydown: Hrmm.. this goes very aquatic. I smell something almost salty here, aftershave-esque. Not for me, so off to the swaps it goes!

[supremegoddessofall]

Wacky combination of notes that ends of being lightly herbal mints on me. Not really getting the ambergris here. A very clean scent.

[Ahania]

I'm not a mint fan at all, so this was definitely on my don't-buy list. Well, I should know by now not to have something like that. The lab in their wisdom sent me *two frimps* of this (I got 14 frimps in my last order! ) I got a bit of mintiness, but that faded quickly and left a clean, clear scent. It's not on my favorites because I go for richer smells, but I was very pleasantly surprised. There are definitely times when this would be just the thing, so even though I'm not getting a bottle I'll probably keep one of my imps for those just-so moments.

[sizigia]

Frimp from the Lab, I like mint but don´t want to smell like this.

 

From vial: Mint, sweet and fresh mint.

 

On me: Wet is all mint, when dries mint dissapears and change to something sweet, warm and green.

 

I like it but I find it a bit masculine and passed it to the bf.

[Lunaratu]

ok, in the imp and on me this was all mint--like wintergreen gum or breath freshener mint. and it kept lasting and lasting. it was definitely a bitingly cold wind type of mint. made me not want to go near it on my arm. definitely not my thing. hopefully it will work on someone else.

 

Rating: 3/5

Edited October 7, 2007 by Lunaratu

[filigree_shadow]

In the imp: Minty, but not boldly minty.

 

Wet: Only slightly minty. It smells more like an aquatic floral on me. Weird. That's not what I was expecting. Not really getting a whole lot of moss out of it.

 

Mostly Dry: OK, now the mintiness is back, and now I can smell the moss. This, um, kind of smells like my dog after she's been eating a minty dog treat. That kind of dirty scent with some mint. I can't imagine an occasion for which I'd like to smell like this.

 

Dry: Not nearly as bad as how it smelled when it was going through that weird dog treat stage, now it's kind of a kind of cold-smelling lightly mossy scent. It reminds me of that dry mossy stuff you put in plant pots to cover up the dirt. I sort of like that scent, to be honest, but not really as a perfume.

 

This is not going to work for me, but moss hardly ever works on me, and mint is even more rarely good.

[pickman's model]

I went on a quest for this one to accompany my Borg costume for this past Halloween. I knew mint never, ever lasts on me, but I was intrigued to try the rest of the notes. I know oakmoss is always good to me.

 

Wet: Minty, aquatic. This was really refreshing, and made me think "mermaid" more than "Borg". Though I'm not at all an aquatic kind of person, this was pretty. Green enough that I didn't just run away going "Eek! Watery!"

 

Dry: This smells like the idealized version of the sea on me. It's what I always imagine the ocean should smell like. Watery, clean, cool, with a bit of driftwoodiness.

 

Verdict: I may be afraid of deep water in real life, but this aquatic was delightful. (Not to mention my very Piscean girlfriend's very positive reaction. )