Bijoux Y'ha-nthlei

[Kimbernunk]

BIJOUX Y'HA-NTHLEI
Innsmouth, MA
New England's most exclusive jewelers since 1778. The Darlings first opened their shop in 1772 under the name Lower Innsmouth Ritual Implement and Fancy Goods Emporium, constructing sturdy household wares and cultists tools in their workshop and importing strange and fanciful items from all over the globe and points beyond. In 1777, Prudence Marsh, matriarch of the venerable Marsh family, came to the Darling twins with a request. She had obtained a sizable quantity of a strange metal alloy that her brother had acquired from an extraterrestrial ocean trench by mysterious means. She asked Absalom and Zephania Darling, twin brothers, favored disciples of Dagon, and youngest of the Darling clan-who happened to dabble in metalwork-if they could fashion a set of diadems for ceremonial use in a very important high festival honoring Mother Hydra. The brothers complied, and found that they had found that they had unparalleled natural skill with jewelry crafting, particularly with rare and strange materials. Within a generation, their graceful, fantastic, odd, and provocative bangles, bracelets, pendants, and tiaras were prized the world over by the most illustrious and nefarious princes and priests.

To this day, Bijoux Y'ha-Nthlei is still family-owned and operated. Mathematically impossible, curiously irregular adornments fit to please the most discerning collector.

A strangely proportioned, opulent, lustrous scent: neroli, Hawaiian ginger, white musk, tarragon, beeswax, heliotrope, yellow rose, oud, coriander, amber, and lime peel.

So this was the scent from the Lupers update that I was absolutely and completely most excited for. I mean neroli, ginger, beeswax, what's not to like?

What I wasn't expecting was that it would be absolutely dead sexy. I figured it would be light and bright and cheerful. And it is all those things. But it's also ridiculously sexy. Sexy in a spaghetti-strap-falling-off-the-shoulder type sexy - sexy where the sexy comes through in a flirty smile or a lifted eyebrow and a wink. This is not in-your-face sexy; this is subtle and confident.

As far as the actual scent goes, it's slightly reminiscent of Vixen but without the patchouli, in that the neroli and ginger are both prominent. The beeswax is also noticeable in and of itself. The amber and musk give it a rich background. I do notice the rose, but it's not a loud rose (and I often amp rose) - the rose stays tucked in with the other florals. I don't really notice the coriander at all.

Anyway, it's AMAZING, I love it, and I'm really happy to have a bottle of it. This will get a lot of use.

5/5

[ellebelle]

I once said that I never met a beeswax scent that I didn't like.

 

I have now met one, and I am sad. Very, deeply, sad.

 

in the bottle: This smells of ginger and lime.

 

wet: like cat pee!!!!! :( Usually I only get that smell with orange blossoms, but in this case I think it is the interaction between the lime and the rose. Note to self: along with orange blossom, anything with citrus backed by a strong "traditional" floral will do this to me.

 

drydown: Thankfully, the cat pee smell fades and the last remaining scent is a musky amber rose. Oh, rose. I know you are a note of doom, but I thought I would risk this anyway. I was wrong, wrong wrong. I never get any beeswax or coriander from this, but it's probably in there.

 

verdict: Sell/swap.

Edited February 8, 2010 by Ellebelle

[MichelleB675]

In the bottle I can't determine the individual notes.

 

When I put it on I can mostly just smell ginger, neroli and tarragon.

 

As it dries the ginger gets stronger, and the other notes play in the background. A lovely spicy herby citrus floral dance going on here.

 

On my skin it isn’t too heavy or too light, it’s just right. It has pretty good staying power on me.

 

I'm really glad I bought it, it's a lovely blend.

[thekittenkat]

This is a morpher, indeed. Sniffing the bottle I get a mash-up of fruits and florals--there's so many, and it's so well blended that it is difficult to pick out individual notes. As soon as it hits my skin, it's all about the beeswax and ginger, both scents that I love, but I'm not sure how I feel about them together--not bad, though. The dry-down becomes powdery amber. It's interesting, but I think this is one that needs to age. It might be best as a springtime scent.

[angelicruin]

On my skin, ginger, florals and lime peel. This is very green on me and while I don't mind it much, it's just doesn't smell right on my skin. I think this may be up for swap or sale.

[fairnymph]

Totally different from what I suspected, this is a faint, dusty-powdery, lightly soapy, dry sort of scent in the bottle. None of the fresh ginger and lime I'd hoped for. Maybe a little white musk...and the yellow rose, oud, but most of all this is amber.

 

A bit stronger on my skin, but that mostly means just more amber - the extremely powdery, nappies/diaper/talcum sort that's a bit plastic - it reminds a lot of the amber in O, a scent I abhor. I get a little sour, slighty soapy rose and a bit of also sour, off-putting tarragon (it's almost vaguely minty). No heliotrope, no ginger, no lime, no beeswax - ie not a single one of the notes I got this for. Fuck. At least the neroli is also absent, or mostly - I don't get its chemical sharpness here.

 

Yeah this is diaper cream and baby powder with dry dust. It's completely the sort of thing I hate and while unpleasant in the bottle, it's foul on my skin. Even white musk, usually a heavy-hitter, has been utterly smothered by the Evil Amber of Doom. Fortunately it has only moderate throw and I didn't slather it. People mention greenery and florals. WHAT? Did they get the same blend? That seems iMPOSSIBLE to me. This is literally 99% amber with 1% spicy woody dust. And I'm off to the sink.

 

[kelpsoda]

NOTE: my nose is stuffed up - having a hard time detecting all the notes

 

Wet: a hint of citrus, neroli and lime

dry: my skin must amp rose, because all I get is rose Rose ROSE . . . with some spice?

I actually don't mind the rose, but I wish I got more out of this. will retest.

[reynardine]

In decant: sharp scent

 

Wet: Getting the wax and herbs. Not so much the fruits I was hoping for.

 

Drydown: Smelling like a really fancy candle. It’s nice. Not my thing, but nice.

 

Later: Went to nothing within an hour.

 

[theandorran]

 

I was so sure that this was going to be a big hit for me. Ginger, white musk, citrus, amber, and spices. All good. But something in it is just... no. Possibly the oud? I can't think what else it would be, or perhaps it's just blending oddly with the yellow rose and the amber, because when Bijoux Y'ha-Nthiel hits my skin, it smells like cheap metal jewellery. I'm pretty sure that's not what Beth was going for, or what other people are getting, so something about this just doesn't jive with my skin. Some people who like metallic scents might like it, I don't know, but to me it's a big disappointment.

[Venneh]

Not sure what to think of this in the imp. I think I'm getting the musk aspects or citrus, maybe the ginger? It's really faint. On my skin, I'm getting light citrus and ginger. We'll see how this goes. Faint on my skin and fades quick.

Edited February 23, 2010 by Venneh

[lady_pandora]

So, one of my all-time favorite BPALs is Haunted Palace. I didn't discover it until long after it had already stopped being sold, and all I had of it was a decanted imp. That decanted imp is now down to about one or two drops left in the bottle, and I had been stubbornly hoarding it. Against the possibility of apocalypse, maybe.

 

Fast forward to this year. I knew, when I saw the Miskatonic Valentine's update, that I needed to try something from it. I'm currently starting to get very serious with someone who just might be that ever-elusive The One, and we have a whole series of inside jokes about the Cthulhu mythos, and this was our first V-day together, and you get the idea.

 

So I decided Bijoux Y. was the most likely one to smell good on me, and ordered it. Got it today, and I just have three words:

 

Haunted. Palace. Resurrected.

 

With the caveat, of course, that this won't necessarily be the case for everybody. I can amp the living daylights out of even the slightest amber note, and so this is very heavily amber on me, with a hint of musk, and the neroli filling in for Palace's blood orange quite nicely. It's lovely and soft and sexy, but not in your face, more candlelight than debauchery. I love it.

 

And I don't have to keep hoarding those last few drops of HP.

 

Also a close cousin to Brisingamen, due to my amber-amping skillz.

[edenssixthday]

Bijoux Y'Ha-nthlei - This is a deep, warm, tropical scent. It's that ginger, neroli, and lime that's giving it the tropical feel, and the beeswax and amber that deepen the scent. I didn't think this was going to work on me, and while the neroli definitely made its best attempt at sucking on my skin, it still turned out to be very pretty. It lasted several hours on my skin and while the brighter notes wore off more quickly than the heavier notes, it remained pretty until it disappeared.

[Little Bird]

In the bottle, this is like a whiff of salty lime margaritas and tropical flowers on an ocean breeze.

 

On my skin, the scent instantly goes sharp and something smells really smoky (like burning paper). It's mostly smoke with a hint of lime and a stab of sharp floral. I usually enjoy most of the notes in this, so I'm not sure what is going smoky :/. It smells like I waved my arm too close to a campfire where I applied this. After a half hour, this is really light and just smells like a hint of soapy floral and smoke. I expected this scent to have better staying power than it does

 

All in all, this is not-so-good on me, and I don't think I'll keep my decant...

[theseagrows]

this smells like soapy incense on me-what a strange combination! i think it's tarragon, ginger, coriander and oud that i am mostly getting here, perhaps. i can't sense amber, lime or white musk...3 notes i really love. oh well. it's kind of like a white floral gone slightly sour mixed with a head shop...not really what i was hoping for. to my skin chemistry.

 

[milo]

Wet, this is straight up hotel soap. I hate to say that about any blends, and I can't pick out the notes, just that this is very generic soap. As it dries, I get some rose, but it's just rose hotel soap now. Boo.

eta: It does fade into almost nothing after 45 minutes, thankfully.

Edited March 4, 2010 by milo

[saralaughs]

Plastic. Roses, limes, and plastic.

[megank4]

Not my thing. This is mostly just a confused mess of vaguely floral scents. If I had to pick one note out, I would say rose, but that's not even listed.

[zankoku_zen]

This makes me think of a more limey Nivea Cream. Lime, white florals, in particularly white musk and roses.

 

Feminine, light and pretty.

[Deiicide]

I smell the waxy note of the beeswax with the soft florals backing it up with the sharp bite of the citrus. There is a soft sparkle akin to the nercoli and the ginger. This is reminding me of a more complex Candles moon and a more complex Pele. The beeswax is the winner of this giving it such depth and creaminess without milk and creme. Amber normally goes all powdery on me but I gave it a chance on this since it was within the deeper edges of the bottle. Thankfully it's behaving itself with the herbs and the florals. It's soft and airy with a gentle powder near the end. I'll hang onto the bottle a bit more to age it out, but so far it was promising and ending up on powder ville.

Edited March 11, 2010 by Deiicide

[bheansidhe]

I desperately want to find the volume knob on this scent and turn it up to FULL BLAST.

 

But it's a lovely whisper behind a door, and I can barely hear it. I've got my nose plastered to my arm, horking like a truffle pig to track it down.

 

This is delicate shoulders in a yellow sundress, and the nape of a swan neck, with a glimmer of gold necklace and white crystal earrings. The topnotes when wet are ginger, neroli and lime - a bright citrus without astringency. There's rose, but she's standing way in the back not bothering anyone.

 

Bijoux stretches and settles down on the skin. The tarragon and coriander green it, the oud and amber deepen it, the neroli and lime brighten it, the white musk and floral notes adorn it, and the beeswax seals it. It's feminine and light, but not girlish in the least. It's indeed opulent, but restrained.

 

TOO restrained. After thirty minutes, I can't smell it at all.

 

I'm going to gently blot my tears with Bijoux's soft lace-edged hanky, if you don't mind, and pass her along with trembling lips to a better home with more cooperative chemistry.

 

 

[tajana]

Wet: A bright mix of zesty white ginger, lime, and subdued neroli, with a greenish, peevish nip of coriander and a sweetly perfumey backdrop.

 

Dry: The tarragon pops up, and combined with the coriander, add a really unexpectedly herbal tone. The oud, weird old oud, is definitely in here as well, and the only thing it really goes with is the rose. Overall, this is a sweet, unconventional floral scent. After twenty minutes, I mostly get the honeyed beeswax, amber, vanilla, and musk: just a warm, perfumey swirl held aloft by a few scattered rose petals and the pervasive weirdness of tarragon and oud. I recognize little wafts of sweet heliotrope now and again. Very little throw, and it fades fast. Within 40 minutes, it's pretty much gone. Poof.

 

Overall: Complex and interesting, but ultimately ends up unimpressive on me. The fast fading doesn't win it any bonus points. It doesn't remind me of jewelry, but it does succeed in smelling golden.

[voodoocatwoman]

This smells like face cream. I can detect a little ginger but... yeah, my grandmother's Pond's Beauty Cream.

[gwynethr]

I don't know for certain which of the notes is not working on me, but this is definitely a beeswax scent that doesn't work -- which surprises me. I was most excited about this one, but there seems to be something in the "tropical" kind of florals that never works for me, and I wonder if it isn't neroli. Rats. This is the only VDiMV I got!

[musichappens]

Wow, this blend is simply breath taking!

 

When I first applied it, I mostly picked up on the neroli and white musk. As it began to dry down, the beeswax and amber seemed to emerge just a tiny bit. Once finally dry, I get a very small hint of citrus along with all the other notes I previously mentioned. I absolutely can not get over how gorgeous this blend is ... I keep huffing my wrists! It makes me feel feminine and sexy; I think I'm definitely going to need two bottles of this one.

[Iceblink]

Ginger-herbal-floral mishmash; oddly light on my skin. Not working for me at all.