The Visionary

[The Poison Queen]

The Visionary
Silent is the house: all are laid asleep:
One alone looks out o'er the snow-wreaths deep,
Watching every cloud, dreading every breeze
That whirls the wildering drift, and bends the groaning trees.

Cheerful is the hearth, soft the matted floor;
Not one shivering gust creeps through pane or door;
The little lamp burns straight, its rays shoot strong and far:
I trim it well, to be the wanderer's guiding-star.

Frown, my haughty sire! chide, my angry dame!
Set your slaves to spy; threaten me with shame:
But neither sire nor dame nor prying serf shall know,
What angel nightly tracks that waste of frozen snow.

What I love shall come like visitant of air,
Safe in secret power from lurking human snare;
What loves me, no word of mine shall e'er betray,
Though for faith unstained my life must forfeit pay.

Burn, then, little lamp; glimmer straight and clear-
Hush! a rustling wing stirs, methinks, the air:
He for whom I wait, thus ever comes to me;
Strange Power! I trust thy might; trust thou my constancy.
- Emily Brontë

What I love shall come like a visitant of air. The wild freedom of the snow-gleaming heath thrusting through the dull safety of the hearth and the doldrums of the bleak, rolling moors. Lush, honeyed red musk twined with heart-thrilling white musk on passion-warmed skin against a backdrop of raw, iced peat, common heather, and hearth wood.

In the bottle: This reminds me very strongly of the scent of a good metaphysical shop, the musk is really very lovely and there's a bit of wood.

Wet: Heather and musk! What a gorgeous combination!

Dry: Still heather and musk with just a touch of iced peat, this is really very lovely. I want a backup!

[opheliatrey]

This is so lovely. It smells like a hoodoo shop I go to in the city. Herbs, flowers the wood of an old floor. An oddly comforting scent. Most similar to it in my mind is Third Charm.

[Atrous]

In the bottle: Cold and herbal. The faintest trace of musk.

 

Wet Stage: This one's a morpher. As soon as it hits my skin its all heather, peat, and light honey. The coolness of the iced peat starts amping up. Sort of smells like morning frost dusting a meadow. Pretty soon after that the musks are fighting to get noticed.

 

Dry Stage: I don't know if its that the Red Musk is Honeyed or if its the White/Red musk combo but the musks stay in the background. I love musk and I love the way it normally amps on me but I have been searching for a scent where the musk is present but stays in the background. There is something about this blend that prevents the musks from becoming the dominant notes. This scent is soooo wonderful. I smell wood, soil, herbs, heather with just a touch of distant muskiness. This scent is cool and moist. I only have a decant of this and now I'll have to buy a bottle.

[Midnight Eris]

This one is so interesting! In the bottle, it smells almost exactly like Bien Loin d'ici, one of my favorites.

On, wet, it smells again almost exactly like Bien Loin d'ici, but there's a darker, more earthy note that adds an almost "dirty" smell - like, literal dirt. I'm guessing this must be the iced peat. I really like this stage. Unfortunately, as it dries, the peat vanishes and it's back to the red musk and honey. I don't get any of the other notes at all, but I amp red musk and honey like crazy, so I'm not too surprised by that.

Overall I really like it, and I'll be interested to see how it ages. I'm hoping the peat scent gets a bit stronger, and that the other notes come out too.

[yakiguri]

To the reviewers wishing for more of the peat stage--you can have mine, as on my skin the soil/herbalness/peat strangles the rest of the notes all the way from application to drydown. Oddly enough I usually worry about red musk dominating a blend, but I guess I finally found a note that puts it in its place. A bit too well it seems...on my skin The Visionary is dirt with just the tiniest hint of musk and honey.

 

*sigh* I'll revisit in a few months and see what it's like then, but the current prognosis isn't good.

[Alaeidrel]

All delicious red musk! I wanted some of the peat, but sadly, it was not to be. This smells on my skin exactly like Helle's Belle, so I guess there's no point in getting a bottle. Maybe the decant will age nicely? It's very sweet already, though.

[Mountaingrrl00]

I get the iced peat note most of all, along with something like the green cognac of Summer Lace. There's a woody warmth waiting in the background and just a tinge of musk. It comes on strong but fades fairly quickly.

[Dark Alice]

Iced peat gives this the salty sea air feel I get from this scent...other than that...I smell like Sic Erit. Salty sea air, Sic Erit. It's okay...I just don't know if I need a full bottle!

[OctoberGwen]

OMFG.

 

I love this.

 

I was hoping against hope that this would actually embody the poem, and it does. In spades. If I close my eyes and sniff, I'm standing against a cold window, looking out over the snow-lit moors with the firelit cottage room at my back.

 

I definitely smell peat and heather, over a lovely musky wood base. I know that my beautiful red musk is here, but it's blending and not dominating. I've never smelled anything like this, and I will most certainly keep my decant, and may get a bottle.

 

Gorgeous, haunting, so evocative, and unlike anything else I've ever smelled.

 

Bravo, Beth.

 

Edited January 4, 2014 by OctoberGwen

[theseagrows]

this is definitely a red musk dominant scent, as i can smell in the vial. on my skin, it's red musk with something that reminds me of soil or dirt in the background. maybe that's the peat? i can't really sense any white musk, heather or hearth wood. it just really smells like an earthy, slightly aquatic red musk on me. something in this is pierces through the musk but i am just not sure what note it is except that it seems to have a cooling quality to it. after about 15-20 minutes this becomes a pretty snowy scent with no red musk! a major morpher on me. it still has that cooling note, it blasts your sense of smell lightly, almost like smelling mint, but it doesn't seem like mint.

Edited January 6, 2014 by theseagrows

[Astarial]

This one does not do what it's supposed to do on me at all.

 

In the decant, it's all sweet, musky heather, while wet on my skin a spicy woody note starts to peek out momentarily... and then the whole thing just becomes strongly aquatic. It might be the ice in the iced peat that's doing it, in the same way that Black Ice and Nuclear Winter both seem very very melty and wet. And it stays primarily aquatic all through the day. It's a complex aquatic, to be sure... the musk and the wood and the heather are all dancing in the background, but they don't do much besides adding a bit of depth.

 

It's a fine smell, and I like aquatics fine... just not at all what I was expecting.

[RedAoife]

Let me echo the sentiments of those above me when I say that this scent is gorgeous.

 

Peat and ice and something like honeysuckle, with red musk for sure; this red musk isn't showing its teeth, though, but rather is blending it all together quite beautifully. I love the violent red musk, but this is something else entirely, and I love it, too. There's a very soft, sweet floral note in the background--I guess that's the heather--and I usually have trouble with florals, but this is working quite nicely. It smells like a mist-covered field after a thunderstorm, either just before dark or very early in the morning. The grass is still flattened and silvery-looking from the rain, and I'm definitely getting a sense of cool purple of grey-blue "mist." I thought I'd go more for the creepy-crawly Lovecraft yules, but this one just swept me away.

As a whole, incredibly evocative and lovely.

[zankoku_zen]

Heather, peat, musky wood and herbs. This smells warm, outside-y and magickally herby.

 

Typically red musk is a bully on me, but this one is quite soft and lovely.

[Quillifer]

Oh I love this. Not sure how much I'd wear it but I do love it. Yes, once I get to feel connected to it as well, I think I'd wear it.

 

In the imp and wet: herbal and slightly green - I thought of thyme and mint, but not the archetypal versions, and I think that's my uneducated guess at heather and peat. If you think of the kind of compost you shouldn't buy (ie peat bog) and Scotch, then you get peat!

 

After a couple of minutes the red musk comes out to play but as the lab says, it twines around. I can detect white musk which I don't like but it's not strong. It works to give a hint of snow.

 

Yes I think I'll want a bottle of this.

 

If you wanted an example of the Lab's skill at embodying a poem in a scent, this would be a good one. Wordy mare that I am, I want it for that alone, but I also love red musk and this is an unusual and subtle take on it.

 

If money grew on trees, I'd get 2 bottles of this.

 

ETA it gets better and better as it dries down. I get hints of things like cream and leather. I guess that's the passion-warmed skin

Edited January 11, 2014 by Quillifer

[KakashiMorph]

In the bottle: I am getting the impression of iced something so I am guessing it is the peat.

On my skin:Mmmusks! The red musk with the iced thing again make a wonderful combination. I don't know what heather smells like but I am not picking up any hearth wood yet. A few minutes later it hasn't changed much and I perceive it as a lovely fresh winter scent with the red musk giving it a cozy warmth. Half an hour later, I think it is the peat or the heather but I get a refreshing lemony scent.

Drydown: Fresh lemony scent.

[calivianya]

I got some red musk when I applied, but beyond that I am getting the most perfect clean skin smell. I smell like I just stepped out of the shower after using a very mild herbal-scented soap. I was not at all expecting this. With my skin chemistry, this is the lightest, most unobtrusive scent of all of the Yules I've tried. It is very gender-neutral and really does not smell like perfume at all. I'm going to retest, but I am considering purchasing a bottle for use at work, since I'm not supposed to wear perfumes at all to my job and no one in the world would ever think this is perfume on me. I am definitely surprised!

[brilliantcat]

Red musk and heather when wet. I like the red musk in this quite a bit, it's quite subtle. After a bit, the peat starts to peek out. I find this blend super interesting both for the subtlety of the red musk and the addition of the peat, however I'm not a huge fan of dirt notes so this is a pass for me.

[Monday]

On my skin wet: A very well-behaved nice red musk and a hint of peat. The two notes combine surprisingly well. Ice turns up next along with the heather. This is a true ice note, the labs snow note tends to turn into bathroom cleaner on my skin but this is icy ice.

On my skin dry: Icy air, heather and warmth from the hearth and red musk. Very evocative. The Visionary works well with my skin chemistry it has a lot of throw but doesn't overwhelm. Unique marriage between ice, heather and red musk blends, magical and airy.

Well color me impressed.

[thekittenkat]

In the decant: Musky heather growing near the hard wood forest.

 

Wet: An earthy note, which must be the peat.

 

The dry-down: And now, the two musks embracing and then fading away. I'm just stunned by this result. I'll do a re-test, but to have it just go away after half-an-hour is just not my traditional result w/ musks of any kind.

 

Eta: grammar fail.

Edited January 29, 2014 by thekittenkat

[Ajila]

In the bottle - Musk with a smokiness that I think must be the peat behind it

 

Wet on me - A musty mossy soil that I imagine is the peat

 

Dry on me - The dark loam of the peat and soft green blur of the heather

 

Overall - The one note I wanted to not get from this was the peat and that was pretty much all I got

[schneagl]

In the bottle: Light musk, not unlike "airy musk" from some of the Lunacies, plus herbal notes and a bit of heather-green.

 

Wet on my skin: The peat, moss, and herbal scent is much stronger than the musks so far. There's a tang of sharpness that I'd say smells like the base of a men's cologne - but just that piece of it, the scent is in no way cologne-y.

Drydown: Heather and greeny-herbal elements are the major notes now. The musk is there as a base, but I have to go looking for it to notice. There are some lighter notes in play too, maybe the honey - comes across as just a bit sweet/floral.

 

I was very wary of this one since some musks can be overpowering to me, and the description made it sound it would slant much more towards that, but instead it's a beautiful heather mix. It doesn't have a lot of throw for me and didn't stay very strong, which surprised me - it had mostly burned off within an hour or 2 after medium-level slathering. It'll be interesting to see how this ages.

[Gwydion]

In Bottle: This is a whole lot of scent. I’m calling it peat dominant with strong musk support and a kiss of minty ice. The wood grounds it and the more delicate heather wreaths the peat. Except for the heather, everything here is strong and distinct. This is well designed, but overwhelming to me. Wet: The Mint and Wood really sing. I’m calling the Mint dominant. The musk is second, and the wood third, but again, everything is so strong it overwhelms both me and the peat. It’s simply tpoo much with all the amping, t6hough it would likely work on someone with gentler skin chemistry and different sensitivities who really likes minty ice accord. Dry: Mostly Peatand musk with a touch of ice. I like it best on the dry down.

[MCS4096]

A nondescript herbal red musk. Was hoping to smell a few more nuances, but I don't really. I actually had a Chaos Theory (Eris' Tilt a Whirl) that was basically this.. and it was just a tad too plain.

[JazzieCazzie]

Bought an imp in a decant circle.

 

IN THE IMP: I had misread this as "musk, honey, peat and leather." So I was pleasantly surprised to sniff the imp and be transported to a field of HEATHER instead.

 

Dabbed in crook of my arm.

 

WET: This is delicious. Divine. Fresh outdoors heather with that bit of peat and the sensuousness of the musk (I get zero honey from this). It's fabulous wet. It makes me want to run around barefoot outdoors, which I would do were it not snowing out.

 

DRYDOWN: Sadly, as it dries down, it goes a little too perfumey for it to be a long-term new love. And I think that's pretty common for me ... it's just really rare for one of those "wet outdoors scents" to stay as true to the outdoors as they are when they dry down. That doesn't keep this from being a brilliant blend.

 

OVERALL: Not a keeper but a wonderful experience to smell for the first 10 minutes or so. And not that it's bad after that. Just not something I'd wear.

 

On a scale of 1-5, a 4.

[milo]

I was kind of expecting a blend like The Infernal Lover, I guess, but I'm not getting any red musk here at all. I'm getting a sharpness, which kind of smells like vetiver, but it's most likely the wood note. Mostly musk, though not necessarily red, with wood and a touch of sourness. Not what I was expecting, was looking forward to red musk, I'm on a kick right now. No need to upgrade.