The Battle of Vigridr

[Lycanthrope]

The blood of the gods cascading onto earth and into sea: salt and sinew, venom and flame, and bone shards scattered across the gore-soaked soil of Óskópnir.

Yup, whoa, yikes.

This thing scares me. It's definitely got a strong blood note, as well as that strange combination of dry, salt, white, and crusty that happens when Beth does bone, which is so scary. This does not smell like Gore-Shock, so no meat, no ham, but it has a very strong presence that screams "Battlefield." There's grit, and a touch of rich loam, so I'm getting a bit of that Graveyard Dirt base, and, dry, dry salt, smoke, white white bone, desolation, death. The color I see is white speckled with little silver flecks. I have no idea why.

Yet through this all, it's immensely wearable. The throw is more manageable as an ashy, high pitched vetiver, so I could actually probably get away with smelling like this.

Yiiiiiikes.

/runs

[Balame]

This was secretly the scent I was most excited to try from the Ragnarok scents. I don’t know, it just sounded so intense and violent. You don’t get that from perfumes much.

 

At first sniff it succeeds at its mission! I almost gagged, not even joking. It’s a very dry, gritty bone with some slightly salty blood warming things up in the background. As it dries I smell sweet smoke/ash. You know that’s actually what’s most disconcerting? I don’t mind the blood and bones and desolation, it’s just the unsettling sweetness that makes it seem so wrong.

 

Did some perverse, perfume-drenched sadist sneak onto the battlefield to take in the gory sights? Ick. Would I actually wear this? Uhm… no. This is definitely a scene-setting blend though. Very evocative, very BPAL.

[Atrous]

No. Just no.

I was looking forward to this one but there is something so wrong.

There is a note in this that reminds me of The Memory of Primal Secrets. I can't figure out what it is but it has that same stomach churning effect on me. So sad.

[annemathematics]

I also see (smell?) this as a cousin to memory of primal secrets.

 

wet, they are nearly identical. battle is a little saltier, a little bit of blood.

 

dry, memory morphs to a soft cologne but battle stays fairly true to how it was when was wet. salt, blood in the earth (subtle blood in a clean and subtle soil). something is evoking buttery le pere fouettard cookie crumbs far in the background. warmer in tone than many of the others in this release.

Edited March 18, 2014 by annemathematics

[MCS4096]

I'm sorry to say I think this smells like urine Urine and dirt and a hint of corn chips.

[Magycmyste]

In the imp: Erg. Sweet, used up corn cobs and dirt. This is pretty much what I usually get out of the lab's dirt note.

 

Wet on skin: Still dirt and sweet corn.

 

Dried down: The dirt is fading a bit, but the corn cobs are getting stronger.

 

Throw: Faint, there's something sweeter in the throw than up close to my skin. It would probably be pretty strong if I pu on my normal application.

 

Verdict: *** This isn't unwearable, but I don't think it's for me.

[Allumina]

Okay, so I'm over on the opposite end of the spectrum here- I am finding my decant to be really pleasant. The main note for me is what I suspect is the "bone", which is dry and slightly earthy. And I'm glad someone else mentioned the hint of le pere fouettard cookies, because I'm smelling that too in the background. After a bit, the cookie smell fades away and I get a bit of salt and a bit of soil mixed in with the bone note. And although "bones and dirt" sounds gross, I'm finding it to be pretty, clean, slightly warm and unisex.

 

It's a very interesting, different scent; if I had more time with my decant I could see myself maybe wanting a bottle in the future, but there's not enough time for that unfortunately.

[Gwydion]

In bottle: I love the way the soil, blood, and ocean scents commingle. There is a hint of something chalky I assume stands in for bone. There is a hint of something sharp, I’m going to call venom. There is something meaty and blood adjacent, that I’m assuming is gore and/or sinew. I was having a hard time imagining what this would smell like, but now that it is under my nose, I can’t imagine this smelling another way. It’s a perfect fit for its concept. Wet: I can’t remember which is death cap and which is Devil’s Claw at this remove. I’m thinking it’s Devil’s Claw this smells like, with a whole lot of smoke. I am thinking the bone turned into Devil’s Claw and the gore into smoke, but don’t quote me. I can still pick out the thing I’m calling venom, stronger now. About five minutes after application, the Devil’s Claw calms down and I can parse it as bone and blood, sort of. As the smoke fades I get soil. This is nothing like it was in the imp, though and my skin chemistry is turning sense into non-sense. I do like when it enters the smoky soil with some blood phase, but this doesn’t work on me for the majority of its phases. Dry: Sweaty sneakers and bandaids. I’m willing to bet that’s just me.

[thekittenkat]

In the decant: Salt, pinch of dirt (dried), something plant-like but strangely sweet? Blood, then.

 

Wet: Plant-like note now more herbal and bitter, less sweet, so less blood-like. This plant-like note is stomping all over the other notes.

 

The dry-down: Herbal dirt in the end. With an old dried-out bone buried in it.

Edited April 1, 2014 by thekittenkat

[Zii]

ITB: It's less gag worthy than when I did my bottle sniffs the day I got my decants, but YIKES. Dirt, blood and guts.

 

Wet: OH GOD. This perfume is exactly what bones with some meat on the smell like when they get left out. Sour, rancid and dirty.

 

Drying: Okay, this is moving towards something more wearable, though it's still a blood and guts sort of scent. It's becoming very metallic and salty, with something that almost smells like multi-vitamins. Someone mentioned urine in an earlier review and I get that, though other scents have been more like that.

 

Dry: Sweet corn? I give up on this scent. I do not want to smell even remotely like any of it's phases so far and it's making me gag. To the sink to wash it off.

[zankoku_zen]

Bone, smoke, ash, ocean.

 

Okay, let's break it down, shall we? On wet, its definitely more of the smoke/ash component and it smells like FIRE SMOKE. After it dries, you see that the fire has burnt out a little, and that's when the bone comes out. And you notice the salty ocean spray is making its way through the smoke.

 

WHY HELLO VIKING APOCALYPSE. YOU SMELL LIKE DEATH AND DISASTER.

 

So yes, this smells a little disturbing, in the same way that Clive Barker's The Day Burned White is. This isn't really a perfume as more of a scent experience. Or if you prefer, this is totally an RPG blend to wear if your character has decided it needs to wipe the slate clean and start with creation anew, you know like the Flood is happening. And by the Flood, I mean its raining SMOKE FIRE LAVA FROM THE SKY.

 

...

 

Wait, I think this is the blend that Loki would wear when he's trying to unleash evil forces upon the Earth. Slap a mental picture Tom Hiddleston as Loki laughing maniacally as fireballs descend upon earth (or as he calmly reads a book while the prisoners revolt and take over during Thor 2) and you get where this scent is coming from.

[milo]

Starts out strong and musky. I'm assuming that this is the blood note. Dries to a pleasant dirt and salty water note. I don't mind this, but it's not something I'd wear, though I am enjoying the aquatic note, and I do love me some dirt once in awhile. Very evocative of the description.

[blacksambuca]

This has become one of my favorite scents. I fell in love with a frimped decant and ended up buying a bottle. To me it smells like heavy vetiver with a salty aquatic, which softens and sweetens as it wears, ending up as a dirty, sexy cologne. It's definitely on the weird and unusual side but I don't care, I wear it often and huff my wrist happily all the livelong day.