Joulumuori

[goblinshark]

Old Lady Christmas, the sweet, smiling wife of Finland's Joulupukki. Her scent invokes the comforts of Christmastime and the warmth of love and cheerful companionship: a glowing hearth, luumukiisseli, riisipuuro, and sima.

I was hoping this would turn out to be my favorite Yule, but no such luck; it just smells like straight maple syrup on me. In the bottle it is complex and lovely, but it's just not working with my skin chemistry.

[Prism]

Translation from a friend of a friend who apparently is Finnish.

Luumukiisseli is like a sweet fruit soup.

Riisipuuro is rice pudding, sweet with cinnamon and sugar.

Sima is mead.

 

in the bottle - definitely the scent of fire/smoke here. very sweet but i can pick out the rice, and mead and fruit notes as well they blend together really closely. Sugar yes, not really picking up the cinnamon.

 

wet - cinnamon, sugar, honey, rice pudding. O.o Foodie. Good foodie at least wet.

 

dry - cinnamon, a boozy honey, and the fruit in here is odd. I have no idea what. But it's...interesting. It's not fig. But it makes me think kinda like it is. I like the wet stage better as well as the in bottle stage but this isn't bad. I think i'd like to see beth do a honey, rice pudding, cinnamon, sugar blend. just on it's own.

 

rating - 6/10 (waffling on 7/10 here)

[Iceblink]

Spiced prunes! I'm surprised at how fruity this is. The rice pudding gives this a thick, heavy (but not cloying) feel--it does smell like something you'd eat in cold weather. The mead isn't making this too boozy; it's just sweet and rich. Wish I was having this for breakfast, actually...it's delicious!

[edenssixthday]

Joulumuori - This smells awful on me. The scent is heavy, thick, slightly spicy, and syrupy. It's cloyingly sweet and has a weird bitterness about it, almost as if it's gone off and started to ferment.

[Schmoozy]

 

Hmmm. Interesting. Joulumuori is thick, golden sryup drizzled over some sort of rice pudding. It is filled with all those spices found in Christmas baking - nutmeg, cinnamon, clove, and barely sweetened with sugar. Within a few moments there is a boozy undertone, that is neither cloying or overpowerful. It just blends so beautifully with the smoky spiceness. This is not overtly foody at all.

[zankoku_zen]

This one is a very strongly foodie/honey perfume kind of blend. I get honey, porridge and cinnamon. As it dries, I get more of the cinnamon/clove, and a slight boozy undertone.

 

Perhaps too sweet for me.

[DeltaCat]

Straight up lemon breadish Vicks vapo-rub. Good for sinus colds..bad for regular perfume wearing. Boo.

[etienne]

Given the name and description is in my native language, Finnish, I couldn't resist getting a bottle of this. I had high hopes for it but sadly I don't think I can wear this without feeling nauseous.

 

The spices are really powerful and the smokyness adds a bitter feel that I really dislike. I was hoping the rice pudding (riisipuuro) would add a creamy feel to it but I get none of that in Joulumuori. If anything, the rice pudding in this has been left on the hob too long and got slightly burnt...

[dawndie]

In bottle: sweetened oatmeal

 

On skin: slightly spiced fruits

 

Half-hour later: creamy sweet, like a Yule nog with pureed plums

 

In conclusion: this is a luscious blend, sweet but not too foody. Reminds me of To Autumn for some reason, even though the ingredients aren't similar. Nice blend for a cool day.

[kerikeri]

On me this is a warm, complex blend of spices, citrus and smoky wood, sweetened with honey and a hint of creamy pudding. It's not a straight-up sweet foody blend, thanks to the edge provided by the citrus and smoke-- it smells fairly unisex to my nose, and definitely reminiscent of enjoying tasty treats by a roaring fire. This might become a favorite from this year's Yules!

 

Edit: Oh yeah. I wore this all day, and it's leapt straight to the top of my list of all-time loves. Over time it becomes even warmer and creamier-- I can really smell the rice pudding and a hint of cooked plum, layered beautifully over sweet hearth smoke and warm spiced citrus mead.

 

It is the definition of a cozy, comforting scent, with just enough bite to be intriguing, and completely unique-- I've never smelled anything like it before, but now I want to smell like this all the time. I NEED a bottle. Maybe two, and I never stock up.

Edited December 28, 2009 by kerikeri

[starfish327]

Yankee candle used to have a scent that I am really reminded of by this blend, and I honestly mean that in a good way. I do actually quite enjoy this blend, but I have the same reaction to it as I did fearful pleasure- it's a wonderful spicy warm blend that I like better around me than on me. It would be an excellent home fragrance for me- it does really remind me of the way that Yule 'should' smell, just not on me. It honestly doesn't remind me of the food notes that inspired it at all, especially mead (I was hoping to see what mead would turn out to smell like but I'm not getting any of the honey at all).

[VorpalBunny]

I don't know how she did this, but Beth managed to capture the smell of Christmas. This scent says CHRISTMAS to me. It has a lovely slightly sweet, spiced plum scent. It's foodie, but not too foodie or overpowering to wear as a fragrance. It would also make an awesome home-scenting scent.

 

Yankee candle used to have a scent that I am really reminded of by this blend, and I honestly mean that in a good way.

 

I feel exactly the same way; I had the same thought. It reminds me of going to the Yankee Candle flagship store (in South Deerfield MA) at Christmastime. I am not a big fan of a lot of their scents, but this one reminds me of the best ones.

 

[Xanon]

I read the notes and thought that it would either be foody, or smokey. Come on, hearth reads smoky warm woods to me. This was a little bit of both but not really in a good way. This does not smell bad, mind you, just indecisive. I feel like if this had either been more foody or more smokey it would have been more successful.

 

Hanging on to it for another week to make sure, but more then likely going into the swap/sales pile.

[Lyrical]

In imp: the glowing hearth is smoking and sooty! Underneath is something sweet and edible.

 

Wet on skin: I had no idea this would be so smoky and gritty! It makes me think of Mr Nancy, which must be because it's smoky, sweet and boozy.

 

Dry on skin: definitely related to Mr Nancy, and really rather yummy. I don't get stewed prunes or Scandinavian rice pudding, but it's a mix of smoke, sugar and sticky lemonade. Too smoky for me to wear outside the house, I think, but I like it a lot. Yes - if you love Mr Nancy, you must try this! Personally, I would like something exactly like this but with a lot less smoke and ash.

[Venneh]

In the decant, I'm getting a sweet, spicy, smoky sort of smell. Not really sure what to think of it. On my skin, I'm getting a cinnamony sort of spice, with a definite booze and smoke note... and a bit of a cologne note. Bwa? Ends up being boozy and smoky, a very masculine scent. Definitely not what I was expecting from this. oO

Edited January 4, 2010 by Venneh

[Suusje]

Wet: a bit spicy, sweet and (I don't know where this comes from) slightly fizzy.

Dry: it's a bit creamier but still slightly fizzy, spicy and sweet.

Very dry: wth...meat?? This is so very wrong on me.

Edited January 5, 2010 by Suusje

[PeshaRocha]

I bought this expecting foody with a touch of wood smoke, but sadly that's not what it smells like on me.

 

In the bottle and wet on me, it smells a bit like evergreen woods (including a bit like turpentine), a bit earthy, a bit sharp (sort of like citrus but not quite). So I thought I'd end up with something woodsy, which would be okay though not what I expected.

 

On dry down, I got some smoke coming out, still some evergreen, some odd sharp scent I don't recognize, and... soap! I hate when stuff turns soapy on me!!

 

After awhile, I couldn't stand the soap anymore and washed off the oil as best as I could. And only after that did I smell any food! Now it does smell like plums/prunes and rice pudding. Unfortunately I still get a bit of soap, too. So not one I can actually wear. *sigh*

[fairnymph]

Sweet, definitely foody and a little fruity, spiced in a mulled/autumnal foody sort of way, and some definite honey-ish mead though it's not boozy. Something a little savoury-foody as well, almost like meat or meat broth.

 

Tarter, with more fruit - the prune asserts itself.I definitely get the creamy, slightly nutty/grainy rice pudding. Also, the hearth - this is a very warm, cozy sort of scent and something smoky comes through clearly. Still that odd savoury note. Overall this a very subtle scent that sticks close to the skin - no big player notes that jump out.

 

The prune note holds really well but I think there is something else fruity, maybe some orange peel, that's a bit tarter and brighter, and it holds really well. Almost a sparkling quality from the fruit. The mead is very smooth and light and well-behaved, and I amp honey type notes - so honey haters should not be afraid. The spice is maybe faint clove and cassia? Very light.

 

This reminds me of Pomona, Lambs-Wool, and Fearful Pleasure, though it's less spicy than most of those. It's the same sort of fruity, warm, mildly foody cool-weather, cozy scent (aka Not My Thing). The smoked meaty/savoury note and the firewood note don't work for me, and the slight nuttiness of the rice is also off-putting. Low throw but decent longevity.

[captainecchi]

As someone else on the thread pointed out, the Finnish-named ingredients in this translate to prune soup, rice pudding, and mead. Sounds yummy, which is why I decided to try it.

 

In the imp: reminds me of Athens, or Cairo. Definitely getting a honey note, something like dried fruit or wine, and something spicy - cinnamon or nutmeg.

 

On wet: A whole bunch of other notes leap out to distinguish this from the two scents I mentioned above. Wafting up from The Girls, there's a straight-up boozy note; sniffing my wrists, I get vanilla and church incense. The latter must be the "glowing hearth" portion of the scent.

 

On drydown: As this dries, only incense and honey are left. Not unpleasant, but not terribly unique.

 

So far, I like this one. Maybe not enough to track down a bottle, but enough to keep the decant.

Edited January 19, 2010 by CaptainEcchi

[AlarmAgent]

In Bottle - Smells like raisins and cologne at first, which doesn't dissuade me at all from putting this on. Suddenly, raisins and cologne sounds like a perfect combination.

Wet on Skin, First Applied - It reminds me of a specific men's cologne, but I can't remember which one--one that doesn't smell very much like your general 'men's cologne' fragrance...Not musky, just sort of fresh. The raisin/prune note is really wonderful, and I'm thinking it must've been the base of whatever other fragrance I'm thinking of. Hm, but I do love it!

 

Dry, on Skin - As it dries, it smells more and more warm and foody--but never enough that someone might think it was actually food cooking somewhere, which is my preferred level of foody, haha. I'm really loving this particular fruit note, it must be the prunes or raisins? Sort of a smokey maple oatmeal, topped with raisins. A couple of other reviewers mention a Yankee candle scent, and after reading that, I'm totally thinking that is where I've smelled this before, because it just seems so familiar! The throw is moderate, and it's lasted substantially on my skin for about 4 hours, then begins to fade in a slow manner, to lingering. I hope it makes a return in next year's Yules.

[voodoocatwoman]

OK, who's the wiseguy who poured prune juice all over me? I am not 90 years old and don't particularly want to smell like I am.

[Argentwolf]

When I first tried this, I got a spiced plum smell mixed with something like oats...like a warm fruit/oat bread. It wasn't bad, but wasn't great, either. And now, I'm getting boozy spiced prune wine. And wish I could drink it.

 

I don't recall it having much throw or staying power, though, so it's probably for the best that I didn't get more than this decant.

[aquazoo]

The glowing and baking is there, spicy cookies in the oven, and a little woody.

 

[BuxomM]

At first I get pine sap, then after a bit it gets sweeter. Then it turns buttery.

[Ajila]

In the bottle – Hot cinnamon

 

Wet on me – The warmth changes to that of the hearth almost like that of glowing coals with the spice of the cinnamon overlaying it

 

Dry on me – A warm, slightly sweet, slightly smoky mineral scent

 

Overall – Very unusual, but warm and inviting, I think quite unisex as well