Yule Cat

[Schmoozy]

Malevolent musk, a drop of infernal civet, vetiver, club moss, birch, goosefoot, and rowan.

 

Woodsy, dusty and extremely sharp. Unfortunately the civet and vetiver overwhelm the moss and birch. They take over the whole blend, and the woodsy aspect all but disappears. Sadly not for me.

[Seismogenic]

I was totally off in my interpretation of what the name of this meant when I saw the prototype a few Will Calls ago (I took it to mean a bad kitten knocking over the Christmas tree or something), but giant evil baby-devouring Icelandic cats are also a scent worth testing, yes. And I think I would have had to test this regardless of its specific story or notes, since I have two cats. This will be my first experience with civet - let's see how it goes.

 

In the imp: Vetiver, something else sharp and acrid, over a base of very dark evergreen.

 

Wet on skin: Less of the vetiver and more of the other sharp acrid thing, which I'm assuming is the infamous civet. I get musk under there now, which seems to have a smoothing effect, but overall, there's less evergreen now than in the imp.

 

Drydown: Freshly dry, this is all about the vetiver and civet. There is musk back there, but it's more something that supports the bit of the other notes that are left than a big player in its own right. At one hour in, the whole thing has mellowed out quite a bit. The civet and vetiver now blend more with the musk, and while they're still dark and a bit acrid, they're not quite as sharp as before. At this point, I get very little of the greenery that was initially present.

 

Five hours later: Vetiver and musk with a bit of an edge of civet. Not getting any greenery anymore.

 

End of the day: A hint of dark musk.

 

Overall: Well, I may be one of those odd people who is neutral to civet. It's not foul on me by any stretch, but I don't find it to be anything special, either. The main thing I get with this all is vetiver, though, and while I like vetiver as a complementary note to other things, it's not something I necessarily want to be the only thing I smell. I would have liked more of the woodsy notes, to be sure. I think the decant is enough for me.

[fairnymph]

Woody, earthy, dark, sour. Lots and lots of VETIVER, which is very murky here, and then other indistinguishable dark herbs and woods and some sour musky civet. Sharp and masculine and a little scary.

 

Even MORE vetiver - this is Vetiver SN! Except there's a strong dark, dusty, bitter incense note here - a fuckton of myrrh, to be precise (I hate myrrh). I do get a bit of sweetness, very distantly, from the birch, and I get some rather medicinal mentholic herbal notes. Even more sour, and yes, the civet does smell a little cat-pee-ish, as well as intensely musky, but in a sort of bad BO musky way.

 

Wow, this just gets worse and worse. It's even more sour, and it's so acrid it makes my eyes water - the civet is that menacing! And the brutal, very gritty-dirty-rooty-harsh vetiver only adds to this blends unpleasantness on me (it reminds me greatly of the note in Brimstone). That myrrh has amped, too, and the herbs are familiar, bitter and dried and like medicine you dread swallowing. I don't get cat pee anymore, but now I get some black musk, whcih is heavy and sweet (thought not enough to combat the harsh and sour aspects of this blend), and that sweetness clashes sickeningly with everything else.

 

Not much morphing beyond initial drydown - this is VETIVER VETIVER VETIVER, gritty and harsh, followed by dark smoky dusty myrrh, cloying black musk and unpleasantly sour civet - other woods and herbs somewhere in the background but they're totally overwhelmed by the notes of DOOM. INTENSE throw and longevity. Absolutely masculine.

[RhinestoneHousewife]

I bought this just because of the name, I admit it.

 

In the bottle: Whoa! Evergreen and Cedar. And I forgot to do the wafting thing. Strong!

 

Wet on skin: It's changed into the stuff in the bottle that you buy to spray onto a fake Christmas tree to make it smell like a real one.

 

Dry down: Wow.....it's quite pleasant! It's settled to a green woodsy smell with some floral or musk. Exactly how I'd imagine a sexy woodsman or woodwoman would smell. And this stuff has some powerful throw to it. A little goes a long way.

 

Even better: I tested some Plunder right next to it and I love them together!

Edited March 7, 2010 by RhinestoneHousewife

[Blithgunde]

Yule Cat first overwhelmed me with a bright, sharp note that transmitted SEXY straight to my back brain. Must be the civet? Then my friend vetiver showed up and added a bass line while musk lurked in the background. Things mellow down after a while and some mossy piney notes join the mix.

 

This is a sexy, confident scent. I love wearing it in cold weather because it warms everything up.

[obsidienne]

I was frimped this, and knowing the notes list, opened it, sniffed it, and threw it into the swaps pile. Today I skin tested it and... it's nothing like what I expected.

 

I'm not into it enough to take time to do a full review, but I can say that it dries down to a lightly musky woodsy smell. Hint of sweetness in the musk. Fairly nice, actually. The only drawback is one sour note in there, not sure where it's from but it's ruining the effect. It's probably the civet. But overall, this is really a surprise (in a good way).

[donnatron]

Imp: Lots and lots of pine and woodsy vetiver. It's... not unpleasant but not necessarily something I want to put on my body.

 

Wet: There is a sweet note that stands out during the wet phase. It might be some phantom myrrh? Maybe the musk? It's almost syrupy--definitely reminds me of myrrh.

 

Dry: This is the same vetiver from Queen. I actually don't like the vetiver in Queen very much but every time I wear Queen I get told I smell awesome (such is the power of Voodoo, apparently). It's not an awesome vetiver. Everyone I know is a liar. This dries down to pretty much a single note vetiver and it is not nice. It's grassy, woodsy and almost a little burnt smelling. Not a good time.

 

Throw: Miles.

 

Overall: I'm glad I tried it. It will be finding a new home shortly.

[TulaMontage]

Woaaa, talk about death in a bottle. I am tearing at the eyes and foaming at the mouth after sniffing this one. It's quite horrific! I am not brave enough to try this on my skin... I'm sorry Beth

 

It's just vetiver, vetiver, vetiver.... and a nuclear bomb in a tiny little bottle.

[Mountaingrrl00]

Thank goodness Baitu frimped me this, because I never would have thought to try it based on the scary description. (I'm sure I'm unusual here, but the birch scared me the most after my experience with it in Vinland.) I even hesitated to try it on, as the pine was so strong in the vial. But as soon as it goes on my skin, it smells lovely! The musky notes become soft and snuggly, the pine is recognizable but blends and mellows, and there's a nice herbal thing going on in the background. It stays pretty close to the skin and becomes faint pretty quickly, but the last faint phase lasts a long time. I'm very glad I came across this, and expect I'll be wearing it a lot this winter.

[Lucretia]

I was too afraid to order this based on the description alone (although I do like vetiver), but I swapped for it at a M&S because to my amazement I really like it!

 

First on it's a bit iffy. Lots of musk and I think civet. But after about 10 minutes it's absolutely gorgeous. It smells like a forest! I don't get anything sharp or unpleasant, just a perfectly well balanced scent of a dark pine forest. I think is my perfect forest scent because it smells just like forests I used to hike in in winter as a child. It's not my favorite all time scent ever, but for this category of scent I give it a 5/5.

[Alia Kaitan]

I... I actually really love this.

 

I think a bit of aging has done the bottle well, based on earlier reviews of 'OMG DEEAAATH'. I should note that I also seem to have very fortunate skin chemistry, as few things that I have tried have gone wonky on me.

 

Don't get me wrong: it is still INTENSE while it's wet, including in the bottle. Sharp and ferocious with a dark and animal blend of notes that my untrained nose only distinguishes as 'dark and animal'. There is a hint of something woodsy in there, but it's in the back.

 

Dry is when this impresses me. There is a sweetness that comes up and rounds it out without diluting it's impact. There is, indeed, something of a wintry forest about it. Not pine so much as just... forest. Wood and dry grasses and dormant undergrowth.

 

I agree with another reviewer that this is sexy. A prowling, solitary sexy. It's wild and feline, mysterious and dangerous.

 

Definitely keeping. Really glad I took a chance on a bottle.

 

Emoticon rating:

[catalyst]

I like this a lot. I didn't get any cat pee type of thing. This one is hard to pick the notes out of for me, maybe because I don't know them that well, but I know what I like. And I do like this a lot.

 

It seems like a light wood to me, not sweet like sandalwood, but about the same weight, if that makes any sense. There's a definite raw edge to it, like a broken wooden cedar or balsam board in a forest house. The musk and civet give it an animal feel, but something with pale fur, not a bear. If it was like a bear I'd say this must be what Beorn's house smells like in The Hobbit.

 

This is a fantastic blend. Unisex but on the masculine side. Going off to see if I can find a bottle of it.

Edited September 30, 2012 by catalyst

[opheliatrey]

Best holiday scent ever. This when wet is stong, scratching in your face. But after dry down it is a lovely, green, spiced up oil. Of the Xmas tree scented bpal this and the illustrated woman are my top two.

[sprout]

Yule Cat (source--frimped decant)

In vitro: smoky, grassy, VETIVER

Wet: Vetiver to the 9th power, "I am Vetiver, hear me ROAR" (think burnt, dry grass that is still smoldering) or a cat rolling in the ashes of a fireplace...

Drying: Wafts of Krampus-esque musk, (red and black variety would be my guess) that is strongly dominated by the roaring Vetiver Kitty of Doom. If I try, I get a little moss in there. And a hint of furry musk, like the one in "animalistic blends"

Late drydown: Mostly krampus musk with that vetiver note smoking it up--Where's my civet? No cat pee here (I am a wierdo that likes the smell of both civet and eau de skunk--at a distance mind you). The christmas tree (evergreen notes that others smelled) was conspicuously absent on wrist huff but if I let it waft, I get a hint. There is a sweet, almost powdery bit on the drydown also that hints at nonfoody vanilla but isn't quite. If you made me guess, I would wonder if there isn't a smidge of amber in here, but it is probably a resin or my nose interpreting the kitty musk. It is nice, if the vetiver would just allow it some nose space.

 

Final squee: Thankfully, I don't need to hunt down a bottle of this, but if I found one at a reasonable price, I might get grabby for it. For one thing, gotta love the theme: Christmas Kitty <3

I enjoy both black and red musk so this is no exception. I enjoy civet and most "furry" or animalistic musks but they just don't make in as much of a presence as I'd like or I would be obsessing about this. Vetiver amps on me like an evil smoke of doom, but I like the odor, hey, I am one of the few I guess, and so I am comfortable with that but if I wanted single note vetiver, it isn't hard to track down. There is a hint of sweet floral in here as well, not sure if that is the birch or rowan, but I like it as do I like the late hint of powder/amber? whatever resin (orris?, benzoin?)on the drydown. This is well aged, so I cannot expect the vetiver to tame itself much more, but I am still wondering if I should track down some decants of the evil kitty oil. I have a preponderance of sexy, musky, red and black musk type scents so I probably won't drive myself too crazy trying to hunt this down. Or will I? There is still that kute kitty factor. Even though it is an evil kitty.

[bellumed]

MUSK! Wood! And civet/vetiver, oh my! Deeply animalic and leaning masculine. I predict frimping this to my brother.

 

Wet, this is strong, musky, and vetiver-licious. The drydown softens up a bit, and this is more woodsy than anything. It's pretty cozy now! Still, I dig more femmey stuff, so my bro will get a gift after all.

[lookingglass]

Ruddy Christmas treeeeeee!!!! BAM! with the evergreen! BAM! with the civit! I'm awake and alive with the muthafuckin Christmas spirit! Wet, it's fresh everygreens with hot animalic notes, no joke. Drying down blend softens onto a cozy bed of moss...so earthy...still evergreen and wild. I LOVE it!

[VetchVesper]

WOW.  That is some musty, musky pine and cat.  O_O 

Ok.... it's kinda starting to settle down now.  Pretty quickly too.  I'm getting a hint of vetiver and the pine is become more complex and woody.  Not QUITE pine.  And now the vetiver and musk are melding into this lovely warmth.  AHAHAHAHA.  This smells to me like Aperotos Eros, which I kinda love, but it smells a little funky.  But this has got that same sort of pseudo cat pee thing up front, and then that sort of feral, sexy, warm body thing going on with the dark forest notes.  It's more comforting here though and less incensey.  I like it, and I LOVE the label art.  I don't need a bottle, but I'm glad to get a little Yule Cat this year. 

[annemathematics]

2018 version

 

when the lab released the yule lads a few years ago, I felt a tiny greedy pang that their yule cat didn't join them. so i was thrilled when the scent was included in this year's lineup. 

 

first try was with about ten other decants, straight out of the mail...and i got nothing! no scent! none at all!... besides something a little bit sour and oily. oh well. can't win them all. no throw. not a winner.

 

went back about a week later and did a second round of testing with a smaller group of scents...and this magical aroma kept wafting to my nose and pulling it to the wrist where this was slathered.  turns out, kitty just needed time to adjust and declare me worthy of wearing it. prob one of my favorites from this year's scents, it's a feral, magical, musky, piney and yes a little bit sour. this is a blend that just smells like "classic bpal" to me.  youthful gothypunk spirit in effect.  my real life kitties ADORE this blend. their eyes kinda bug out and they start purring and burrowing to get to my wrists.  like my real life kitties, this is a total love that i'm happy to have in my life. 

 

 

[Casablanca]

2018

First thought: I'm scared of the civet.

 

What I get, freshly applied: Dark pines, wild juniper, and weirdness. Reminds me of Cabras without its dominant ivy. Is there also a touch of yew berries? Something...

 

As it dries: The weirdness amps. It's musty and a bit sour.

 

Dried: Vetiver peeks out and is surrounded by musty, musky weirdness.

 

Eh.

[hazakaza]

I got this because people who say they dislike Satyr attribute that dislike to the civet musk they find in that blend. Putting this on, I have to say I can sense a bit of resemblance. Where Satyr has some coca-cola sweetness to it, Yule Cat is dry and full of sharp woods. This smells like a tanned fur that has recently been worn by someone who traipsed through a forest full of birch and and rowan and dry grass--that's the vetiver, offering up some smokiness too. I'm not getting pine, but lots of wood that seems pine-adjacent, and there's a bit of pleasant astringency to the wood that pulls in an almost camphor direction in a pleasant way that keeps things from getting too sweet or too warm, though it does sweeten on my skin quite a bit. On my skin as it dries down, the musk is warm and fuzzy, reminiscent of Creature Feature. Absolutely love.

[Lucchesa]

Meowwwrr!  I used to be afraid of civet, but then I tried debauchery.  I mean, Debauchery.  And Yule Cat sounded edgy but wonderful, which is just about right.  Wet, it seems very evergreeny, though I think all the listed notes are deciduous trees.  Actually, who the hell knows what goosefoot is?  Dark, sexy branches, mossy vetiver.  Yeah, it may skew a little masculine, but I have no problem with that.  A tiny bit of sweetness appears in drydown, which is snugglicious without losing its edge of wildness.  Low throw, but that's normal for me.  Such a keeper!

[artisjok]

Yule Cat starts out strong as abrasive green trees. I totally think pine, yet it’s gotta be the birch and rowan. There’s a soft fluffy musk backing the sharp woods. I actually like the camphor effect with the cozy musk. The moss adds an almost powdery effect, as I’ve noticed happens to me in other blends.
After the first hour, the woods meld into the musk and become much more subtle. Luckily, this is where the vetiver shows up, I really love the grassy sparkle it gives scents. This is no exception to its magical effect, and it saves the musk from becoming too one dimensional or dissolving into powder. 
I really like Yule Cat a lot! I swapped for it out of curiosity, yet was a bit apprehensive about it working. So glad I took the chance. I already pared it with Rocky Mountain Goats hg. Perfect to add to my winter scents~ 

[doomsday_disco]

2018 version.

 

Yule Cat is much better than I expected! The clubmoss in here is the same as the one in The Forest of the Empress (note: clubmoss is not actually moss). It gives the scent an evergreen vibe, so that it is like evergreen on a bed of sweet, dark musk. There is a brief phase where the civet threatens to funk the scent up, but it ends up being kept in check by the other notes. The vetiver here isn't the BBQ variety, either.

 

The scent definitely befits the a musky forest cat on the prowl, looking for some people to eat.  I am not sure if I would reach for it over other forest-y scents in my collection, but Yule Cat was a pleasant surprise!  

 

 

[marared]

2020:

 

Evergreen, woods, and fur! Hardly any musk, but the vetiver is smoky/scorched rather than vegetal. I love vetiver and vetiver loves me, and it goes well with the woods. No civet stank that I can detect, even on a deep inhale. The evergreen aspect fades after about ten minutes and the scent is bone-dry, woody vetiver-rubbed fur.

 

I had to go dab Two Sheep and Two Goats to compare, and I would call them sister scents - TSTG is more cozy and just slightly sweeter, but if you like that one, give YC a try.

[wordortwo]

2020 version.

 

This opens crisp, bright green, like winter underbrush crushed underfoot in New England woods. A musky sweetness joins in, and the scent is striated for a while -- the the green layer hovering above the white, fuzzy layer below. The vetiver must be of the grassy variety. After a few hours, it dries down to juniper, musk, and something sweet (most perfume dries quite sweet on me). That phase lasts a long time -- I reapplied at 6:30 pm yesterday and woke up smelling like Yule Cat.

 

This is both warm and cool, soft and crisp. My partner, who didn't know the name or the notes, described it as "peppery." I don't find this animalic, which was initially a disappointment for me, but I love this scent just the way it is. A unique fragrance.