Dawn: Cernunnos

[izile]

Terebinth pine, basil, green sandalwood, fig leaf, armoise, lemon balm, cypress, myrrh, black cedar, and juniper.

I will note that I did not test this on myself, I tested it on the friend who is a boy.

In the bottle, it smelled very strong, and definitely not something I thought I'd like. The pine was very strong, along with the other woods. Kind of like a slightly herby (lemony?) touched old growth forest. However, it's a more masculine scent so I tried in on the nearby male.

Wet: Already, it's morphing on him into something less sharp and pointy and mellowing out. I couldn't really identify each individual type of tree/wood, but it was definitely an over-arcing feel of evergreens. There was a lingering bit of lemon.

Dry: I feel I should give a disclaimer here, as his skin chemistry seems to morph things in odd, but normally pleasant ways. It didn't have a very strong throw, I never smelled it on him after the skin test, even though he never washed it off. I checked it a couple of times, and had to huff his hand. As it dried, it gained an almost spiced vanilla edge to it, which I knew made no sense, but that's just his skin chemistry doing its thing. So, in the end, on him, it was super woody, lil lemon, hints of spice and a trailing vanilla-ish edge.

Not enough for a bottle, but I'll need to find a decant for him at some point.

[edenssixthday]

Dawn: Cernunnos - This is really, really, REALLY gorgeous. I mean, it is truly awesome in every meaning of the word. This scent is so full of "win" notes (except for fig, ick), and it's amazing on my skin. Thankfully the fig doesn't ruin it! It's very woody - all sorts of delicious, warm wood notes, but mostly sandalwood (the most awesome sandalwood!) -- and very herbal. But it's a million times better than what I'd ever think if I heard the generic term "woods and herbs." The fig (!) and myrrh both give it a bit of sweetness that warms the whole thing up and keeps the woods from being too dry. OMG, I really, REALLY love this!!!

 

I think that may be the first time I've given a BPAL scent THREE "wub" icons. that's how good it is.

Edited September 26, 2010 by Edens Sixth Day

[zankoku_zen]

Cedar, pine, hint of fig and a touch of gin. Woodsy, male cologne.

 

My skin EATS this like there's no tomorrow.

[Dark Alice]

Something in this made me gag. I have no idea what it is...but I for dang sure couldn't put it on. Not a fan!

[greenranger]

I had to have this. I was right to get it. I will probably like it better in the long run than any of the other Dawn scents.

 

I adore Myrrh, and it adores me back. The myrrh portion of a scent is usually the strongest and longest lasting part, but, I'm fine with that. It can stabilise other scents that don't tend to last as long on me...like all the greenery in this one.

 

This is a loverly, spicy, green, resinous scent on me. I've had it on a couple hours now, and it is very well blended, still strong, and gorgeous. I've never smelled a forest that smelled like this, but, if I did, I think I'd go feral and live there in the woods.

[forspecial_plate]

I have mixed feelings! I nearly bought a bottle of this unsniffed because the list of notes sounded just about perfect, and there was no way it could go wrong. Well, I'm glad I tried a decant first, because it does sort of go wrong. I can smell the potential beauty (I pretty much have to try most things with pine), but a large component of this scent turns soapy for me. It's undeniable. It goes a little powdery, too, for which I'm blaming the sandalwood because it does that to me sometimes. I have no idea what's soapy, though, maybe armoise? It's wormwood or angelica and it's the only thing I can think of that might turn soapy like that, especially since there aren't any florals? I dunno, just the combination of notes, I guess.

 

Anyway.....this stuff is strong, lasts a long time, and is tantalizing me with its potential for greatness. Even though it kind of went hyper-soap on me, I am still tempted to get a bottle. I guess I just don't want to accept that this isn't going to work? And I do want to say that if I actually found soap that smelled like this, I would want a lifetime supply.

[aquazoo]

Herby green and piney. It smells both clean and warm. Piney woods in the morning. It would be great for a guy scent.

[Little Bird]

Dawn: Maiden and Mother both turn to rose soap on me and this turns to manly, piney, herbal soap on my skin. The juniper and pine and strongest in the vial and on my skin at first. It's a cool evergreen scent that dries down with more of an herbal, dry green feel that starts to go soapy. I can imagine a masculine evergreen scented soap studded with dried green herbs. I expected this to be heavier, but it's rather light, green, and clean smelling on me. It only lasts about an hour. I prefer Golden Priapus for a manly pine with some more depth and sweetness...

Edited September 27, 2016 by Little Bird

[angelicruin]

This is strong pine and juniper on me....with a little myrrh in the background.

[sqwook]

I can't believe no one has compared this to Hamadryad yet. Cinnamony, warm, and wonderful.

[starfish327]

this is amazing. that is all.

 

it's a very green, masculine scent but it doesn't overpower me. it verges on the soapy but it pulls back enoguh to make it wearable (and it may just still be travel shocked). it is very indictive of 'forests', and it reminds me of late summer. i find this one very wearable, and i normally can't do herbs or woods, especially not herbs and woods together. there's a slightly spiced edge to it, though i'm not sure where it's coming from.

 

i'm also normally allergic to basil but this works well on me. i'm not getting any reaction from this.

[stellamaris]

Love love love this. It is a bit "masculine" as it is a wonderful almost totally green deep blend, so very well blended and rich. It doesn't scream one note, it's a melange of gorgeous.

[Kamanjah]

In the decant I received, this smells like men's cologne.

 

On my skin, I can barely pick out the notes, but it smells familiar to me. I can pick out hints of pine, myrrh and lemon balm. I didn't know what armoise was so looked it up - it's mugwort. No wonder it smells familiar - I'm always harvesting lemon balm and mugwort, usually at the same time, in an area where cedar and pine trees grow.

 

My skin eats this really quickly and in 15 minutes I'm left with a soft skin scent with bare hints of sandalwood, pine and myrrh.

 

Drat, wish it lasted longer on my skin as I really do love the way it smells.

[mymymai]

ITI: Oh, that's nice. It's green, slightly spicy, and austere. I can most clearly pick out the green sandalwood and lemon balm just under the juniper and fig leaf.

 

Wet: Wow, the fig here really elevates the cedar, basil and lemon balm with the sandalwood, juniper and myrrh suffuse everything with a delightful Christmas-y impression.

 

Dry: It dries down rather beautifully to a subtle combination of fig leaf, sandalwood, light myrrh, and a touch of cedar - gorgeous!

[Sarah Morehouse]

This made me happy. I don't just mean that I like it and that's a happy feeling. I mean that this literally boosted my mood and the scent evoked some memory of joy that stuck with me for quite a while.

 

This is a hybrid of an evergreen forest and animal musk smell with a sharp hooves kicking up lemon verbena and wild thyme smell. It stays very balanced as it dries and warms to my skin, even a few hours later.

 

The ceder is just barely there enough that it demotes it to "glad I have a bottle, but I won't buy a backup." But that is only because cedar makes my nose hurt.

 

[rhinestone tempest]

Somewhat impulse-bought this simply because I love the Lab's basil note, and I was very happy with my decision!

 

This reminds me a lot of Antony, the GC basil scent, but it's more complex and has a lot more spice in the mix. This has a ton of my favorite notes, so I'm glad they all play well together. Antony can be a little simple at times, and this avoids that.