My Mommy in a Boat

[OctoberGwen]

MY MOMMY IN A BOAT
Crayon on craft paper, 2012
This is my mommy in a boat. She loves to be in boats.
Sea salt and Devil's Reef seaweed with Himalayan cedar, lemon verbena, hay absolute, and a dribble of Snake Oil.

My Mommy in a Boat

Oh man, fresh out of the mailbox and this is already such an intriguing blend of smells!

I am not usually a fan of the hay note, and I definitely smell it here, but it is offset in a really interesting way by the other elements. I get a hint of salty wood, a whiff of lemon verbena, and playing a supporting role underneath is my beloved Snake Oil.

When immediately applied, it smells rich and almost foody. That quickly dissipates as it dries and the blend then develops a more perfumey quality.

This does not smell like any of the other seafaring/pirate ship blends I have tried. It smells like a giant log of driftwood in a seaside garden, where the salty breeze carries the smell of seaweed. It definitely takes on more of an aquatic feel as it sits on my skin.

I will be very interested to see how this settles and ages.


ETA on 6/12/13:
After a couple of initial tries, I put this up on my sales page because it was just too weird for me, LOL. Last night I decided to try it again and man! I'm glad I did. It has smoothed out considerably and, while still unusual, it really smells good to me now. And I love the fact that nothing else in my collection smells remotely like it.

I've removed it from my sales page. Edited June 12, 2013 by OctoberGwen

[Caper]

This one will be a bottle purchase for sure. I love cedar and verbena, and I got a decant because snake oil is instant baby powder on me and I had to be sure. No powder in sight, and the woodsiness is strong enough to counteract the sweetness of the snake oil.

 

I actually get a vague hint of motor oil, I have no idea why, but I have really find memories of mechanic's garages and oil smells. It also goes away if I try to sniff for it with that in mind. Weird.

 

The verbena isn't too strong. It is just enough to lighten up the cedar and stop it from being too dense and single note.

 

Either way, salt + verbena + cedar + snake oil is beautiful on me.

 

ETA- there is something vaguely Oak Moon about this one. The verbena lightens this one up, so maybe it is just the cedar? But Oak Moon doesn't smell like cedar at all. I'm confused, but they smell similar!

Edited March 5, 2014 by Caper

[heygraycatbird]

I was intrigued by this one because it seemed like a rather odd combination of notes.

 

While wet it is nice and salty. No joke, it almost smells like tortilla chips to me. Perhaps it's the combination of the sea salt and the seaweed, plus maybe the hay absolute (I'm not familiar with the note). As it dries it starts to turn into pencil shavings (cedar tends to do that on me). I don't get much lemon, besides maybe just a tiny hint. No trace of Snake Oil as far as I can tell.

 

Obviously this is pretty weird on me, but I keep sniffing it out of fascination. I actually like the seaweed tortilla phase. I'm less of a fan of the cedar pencil shavings though. I'm going to have to try it again later and see if I get something different. It would be nice if the Snake Oil would make an appearance. It's definitely a fun blend to try!

[JazzieCazzie]

Bought this as one of six imps in a decant circle from the April Fools series ...

 

IN THE IMP: Salty, soapy, clean, as in Dial Soap clean. It reminds me a little bit of how I remember Jolly Roger smelling, one of the very few "aquatic"-themed scents I've liked (though at the time I gave it to my daughter, then about 15, because she really loved it).

 

Applied to wrist and in crook of arm.

 

WET: Okay, this will sound weird, but maybe not that weird to HeyGrayCatbird ... There was a very strong odd note immediately and it took me a few moments to figure out what it was, because it wasn't something I thought of as a perfume note ... It smells like peanut butter. Wet on me, this is peanut butter-scented Dial Soap. Distinctly salty oil.

 

DRYDOWN: I assume the peanut butter scent comes from a combination of the salt from the sea salt and the Snake Oil. Behind the prevailing peanut butter scent, once it's long-dry I get something resembling driftwood, which I guess is combo of the seaweed and the cedar, but I definitely don't get the cedar note per se. It's not a bad drydown in the long run, but it's very very faint.

 

OVERALL: This was an interesting sensory experience because it was certainly unexpected and unusual. But it's not something I think I want to smell like.

 

On a scale of 1-5, a 2.5, giving the extra .5 because at least it wasn't a washoff.

[stellamaris]

Well, I did buy a bottle of this after trying my decant, but this is a strange one. I do like it and find it wearable though, I get the SO at the top, and then a really fresh aquatic. I have a feeling this one will grow on me.

[BoneBone24]

Wet: Foodie Snake Oil. It smells like cake sprinkled with salt.

 

Drydown: It starts out smelling like white chocolate-covered pretzels and then becomes saltier and lighter. A hint of verbena emerges from the sea salt and snake oil. There's just a touch of hay and seaweed coming out too. Salty vanilla with touches of driftwood and sand.

 

Dry: This is exactly what I expected Lyonesse to smell like. It’s woody vanilla at the core with distinctly oceanic notes hovering around the edges. Golds, greys, and pale greens. Salty, sun-bleached, and slightly spicy. It becomes cleaner and fresher throughout the day.

 

 

 

I was pretty worried about the Snake Oil, especially since it was so dominant when sniffing it wet in the decant. But, my goodness! This dried into something oh-so beautiful!

 

 

 

8 out of 10 bones

Edited June 21, 2013 by BoneBone24

[zankoku_zen]

Sea salt + caramel popcorn. The Snake Oil in this just brings out the foodie-ness to a very piratical, aquatic blend. I end up with salty, caramel popcorn + woods. It then dries to a sea salt + wood soap.

 

And then after two hours turns down to a Snake Oil + wood base blend.

 

WTF. It's like an adventure.

 

Salty, Snake Oil, woods.

[Quillifer]

This is my new favourite BPAL

 

Wet, it's creamy caramel and aquatic salt.

 

As it dries the cedar and hay come through.

 

What I love is that it feels warm, comforting but ever so slightly peculiar all at once. Lovely AND interesting.

[milo]

This blend really does smell sunny! I'm getting a baked good smell along with bright incensey florals. The floral part reminds me of Sunflowers, I think it's Elizabeth Arden, but I'm not positive. The baked goods fades somewhat after a bit, and it's mostly the bright sunny flowers and what I"m guessing is champaca. Very strong blend, not a fast fader like the other Pickmans. This is nice, but not the usual kind of blend I wear. I'll probably use up the decant for warm summer days.

 

eta: I originally reviewed this and thought it was My Mom With The Sun in Her Hands. It's now corrected. I like this one more.

[Alethia]

Thoughts before testing: Thank goodness for my mother (who is more addicted to BPAL than I am) and her nearly opposite scent tastes to mine. I never would have picked out this to try, but she waved it in front of my face and insisted I try it. I adore Snake Oil, but was hesitant to try this.

 

Wet: Hay and salt and just a hint of Snake Oil. This smells surprisingly awesome. I got a fleeting hint of the tortilla chips mentioned above, but it went fast.

 

Dry down: This morphed into something sweet and salty and incredible. It smells exactly like the sea and boats and the sunshine and it's so evocative for me that it's almost painful to smell. Beautiful. I can't even pick out what I'm smelling, just that it's great.

 

Dry: After several hours, it's not as sweet, but still amazing. I'm maybe getting more of the cedar and Snake Oil and it's lovely. I didn't expect to like this one, but I do.

 

Final thoughts: This is a weird one, but I love it. It lasted an insanely long time and through several hand washings. When I smell it, I couldn't identify the notes listed if you paid me, but it's just fabulous.

 

Verdict: Definite bottle purchase.

[Little Bird]

I wish that I got the sea salt caramel + Snake Oil that other reviews have mentioned. I tend to love the foodier Snake Oil/red musk pairings. But this is pretty much Snake Oil + dry wood notes on me, with the cedar and hay notes amping up. The Snake Oil has an incense-y sweetness to it, but it doesn't smell foodie to me at all.

[bellumed]

Very nice and actually quite subtle. The cedar and hay have a “crunchy” vibe that, along with the salt, makes this foodie in a savory way. (Before looking at the thread, I thought I was being weird by calling it foodie but apparently almost everyone thinks that!) The seaweed and lemon verbena add a bit of sunny beach feeling, but not a lot. This one is odd, for sure, but I think I like it.

Edited June 12, 2013 by bellumed

[Invidiana]

I think I would love this as an atmo. It's a very unique, very evocative scent that brings saltwater-soaked wood (with the tiniest hint of Snake Oil) to life. I'm surprised that this is one of the few blends with lemon verbena that didn't come out as the Tentacled Verbena of Doom on me. Even though I do amp the Snake Oil a bit more as it dries down, it's a little on the masculine side on my skin, as cedar tends to do, but I'm keeping my decant just for the scent experience.

[thekittenkat]

In the decant: Yet another well-blended scent. The hay note is the most obvious.

 

Wet: Still lot of hay, but all the other notes floating underneath in a blended mix.

 

The dry-down: Very surprised by this, as I expected the lemon verbena to do its' usual stomp-all-over-the-other-notes thing, but strangely it did not. Nor did the cedar amp. I suspect that the seaweed, salt, and SO are keeping the two bad notes in check, a pleasant surprise. I have Hay Moon for my hay note needs; however, this would be good to get if I did not.

[quickdrawkiddo]

Super stoked to try this decant since I chickened out of getting a full bottle! Wet, this is all hay with a sweet underpinning that has to be the Snake Oil. Before I reread the notes, it came across as almost wheaty -- combined with the Snake Oil, it reminded me a bit of breakfast cereal, of all things. On the drydown, the salty aquatic notes start to come out and I'm starting to rethink my decision not to get a bottle. Now that I've read the notes and I know cedar is in there, I'm getting a tiny whiff of it, but it's mostly hay and seaweed. *swoon* This is such a sunny, mellow blend, perfect for a lazy summer Sunday. So glad I got to try it!

Edited June 22, 2013 by quickdrawkiddo

[rayvn1]

Woah. This is one strong aquatic on me. Almost headache-inducing, it's so strong! There really is a dribble of Snake Oil, but it's a salty, salty aquatic primarily on me. Refreshing and very bracing, but I'm not getting the complexity others are out of this. (Dang, I really wanted hay.)