The Ship of Hel

[Lycanthrope]

Black oak and sprucewood with opoponax, myrrh, black ambergris, and the silent ice of Niflheimr.

Wet, this smells like... powdered sweet tarts?

That doesn't last long, though, as this goes firmly into winter/Yule style pine, environmental greenery, and a delicious, sweet ice note. This has a similar feel to Skadi/Ice Queen/Almond Blossom from this past year's (and prior) yules, and the spruce is much more subdued than I would expect. This does not smell like a pine tree! The oak lends a slightly different base and veers this away from going Yulestyle. The ambergris is noticed mostly as a slightly salty ocean tang, and though I can't smell the myrrh distinctly, the opoponax does its weird grungy twang thing, which in this case makes the Ship of Hel creaky and splintery.

This pretty much smells like the frozen, collapsing ships at the end of Disney's Frozen. Ooooo.

I think I must obtain a bottle. This right up this wolf's alley.

[Balame]

Weird, this really is Sweet Tarts at first sniff! And slushy grape snowballs?

 

It calms down into a soft, sweet pine and cool ice. It retains some of the grape for me but it’s not as dark or dramatic as I imagined. I’m not into frosty pine enough to want a bottle of this, but I imagine Yule lovers will adore it. A pretty and regal blend.

[annemathematics]

this is my favorite ragnarok scent. maybe because I love the yules so much? I think every time I tried a evergreen-heavy yule, I was hoping for what I find in hel. better on me than skadi (no berries, but happily no weird detergent wafts). until hel, I loved my little talvikuu partial. hel is so much more complex. everything good about talvikuu on me times twenty. between this and eldritch drunken constellations, I'm beginning to think I will enjoy wearing everything with ambergris.

 

bright spicy icy sweet and delicious. good throw and wear length.

 

edited to say that this smells as though some of the wood for hel's ship was chopped down from the Black Forest, another bpal smell I love wearing.

Edited March 18, 2014 by annemathematics

[Magycmyste]

In the imp: So I'm getting something between sweet tarts and wine. Red wine with some sweet tarts tossed into the bottom? Or darkened sweet tarts. Quite pretty, actually.

 

Wet on skin: Still a little grapey, but with more pine and floral.

 

Dried down: As it dries down, it becomes more woodsy than fruity, and the aquatic note starts shining through. I'm enjoying this a lot.

 

Throw: This wears really close to my skin. I need my nose to be almost touching it to smell it.

 

Verdict: **** I REALLY like this. I want a bottle, but I think I'm willing to wait and see if a secondhand bottle pops up for this one.

[thekittenkat]

In the decant: Sprucewood, myrrh, and ambergris, with ice over all.

 

Wet: The oak appears amidst the other notes, and the sprucewood and ambergris back away.

 

The dry-down: The woods are now dried out, as in late autumn, when have been no rains for a while. I could also say that this scent not unlike the scent of the inside of a cedar chest. I like it best from the cold sniff.

[JazzieCazzie]

Purchased two imps in a decant circle.

 

IN THE IMP: Oddly fizzily fruity. I totally get the Sweet Tarts references above and wish I didn't. I never would have bought this had I thought it would be fruity and to the best of my knowledge there are no fruity notes listed.

 

Dabbed in crook of my arm.

 

WET: This is hellafruity. I actually am getting apple, not grape, but YMMV. I hate fruity blends so right away this is a blerg on me. Apples and ozone. And air freshener. I am getting ZERO oppoponax, myrrh, or even ambergris.

 

DRYDOWN: This is clean, that's the best thing I can say about it, but it's clean in a soapy industrial bathroom cleanser way, one that's fruit scented. There is not a single note I like in here. It's not horrible but it's so completely not me.

 

OVERALL: Honestly, I feel sort of like I got bait-and-switched on this one. All these notes that are just nasty to me, and none that are the notes that made me choose to try it. I have no issues when I am kindly frimped by the Lab or swappers or sellers with scents that are new-to-me, or even when I take a chance and get something that may have a note or two I am not crazy about. But in this case, it seemed very safe based on the notes listed and yet I am not getting ANY of those notes, but instead some fruity concoction. And I'm not going crazy because everyone else is also mentioning the fizzy fruits.

 

It's not a horrible scent. I am sure there are people who will like this. But it sure doesn't seem to be what I thought I purchased.

 

On a scale of 1-5, a 2.

[patina]

Spruce does the weirdly fruity, fizzy thing it usually does. It almost smells a little like pineapple at first! However, it soon calms down and the resins and oak come out, making it smell a like cold, murky root beer.

 

I like root beer, so this is awesome. The scent is fresh, dark, cold and perfect for summer. It reminds me of a less light and muddy Kumari Kandam.

[Zii]

ITB: Very much getting the sweet tarts vibe other people have noticed, but there is something about this that just made me itch to try it.

 

Wet: There is still someting very berry like about it, though it is much less artificial. I am getting the opoponax for sure, along with the slightly sickly mint ice note. The ambergris is quick to cut through as this warms though, and it is morphing into a stange and amazing aquatic.

 

Drying: Holy cow, this is stunning on me right now. The scent is getting drier and more woody, like the carcass of a ship getting sun bleached on the shore. There is a lingering sweetness, but it's not distinct, and blends really well with the salty notes as the woods warm and brighten on my skin. This is exactly what I was hoping Skadi would be, sweet and feminine, but still hard and cold at the same time.

 

Dry: The fruitiness has died way back now, leaving a kick of wood and a lot of that icy cold note Beth is so good at. Sometimes the mint snow note can go medicinal, but not in this. The one downside is that my hand is slightly itchy. I've never had issues with these notes, so it's probably nothing serious.

 

This is just a yummy and amazing winter scent for me, and is still feminine without being out of my style.

[Gwydion]

In bottle: Teeth gratingly minty snow with rich opoponax support. The oak and spruce form a woody faction that goes well with the snow. The myrrh and ambergris dance with the opoponax. The snow is too intense for me in the bottle, but the blend is intriguing.

[Aviatrix]

This is sweet and fresh snow on me - much like the snow note in Skadi. There is an undercurrent of woods and saltiness as well. It isn't a very complex blend, and really mainly snowy and cold.

I'm glad I got to try this, as it's quite pretty, but in the end I don't need another snow blend.

[zankoku_zen]

Grape, woods, pine and snow. This one is sweeter than I expected (I think its the slushy snow note) combined with the woods and pine makes it reminiscent to the Yule blends, but its a much warmer blend and I think that's the amber pulling through.

 

It's rich, dark, and woody. With enough of a hint of the North to let you know that its come from a frozen North.

 

I find this oddly compelling, and so far, the best Ragnarok of all.

[Atrous]

This smells a whole lot like my favorite scented candle by Witch City Wicks called (ironically) Viking.

When I smell the candle I've often thought that I would love a complimentary perfume oil so I could smell that way too.

Now I can with Ship of Hel!

 

I have to agree with the comparisons to both Black Forest and reminding me of a Yule scent.

It's like a pine forest in deep freeze. There's a sweetness overlaying the whole but it's not a fruity or candy sweetness. More like an herbal, green sweetness (if that makes sense). These notes float on top of an aquatic note that smells like cold, frigid waters. This is the sort of aquatic that works for me...in the background.

 

I think anyone who loves Black Forest should give Ship of Hel a try. It's lovely. Cold and refreshing.

[milo]

Kind of smells like oak to me, but must be the sprucewood. I'm getting the woods with salty water. Very fitting for the title.

[Laurel the Woodfairy]

A sniffie of the Ship of Hel sailed my way with a decant circle! I will admit that the notes scare me, but with BPAL you just never know. In the imp, it smells like Christmas trees and men's cologne. On me, it's still definitely evergreen, but the aquatic note that read as "men's cologne" when wet has settled into a softer base that keeps the wood notes from being too sharp. It's not really my taste as perfume but would make a really cool winter home scent.

[doomsday_disco]

I wonder why I skipped this one when it was available. Perhaps because of the oak note, which can be sharp on me at times? But I enjoy Norse mythology, and I enjoy snowy forest scents and ambergris, so I am glad that I ended up getting to try this one.

 

The Ship of Hel starts off with berry-strewn slushy snow and spruce. I agree that this is Skadi-esque. After a while, some ambergris and a bit of myrrh peek out. I was worried about this possibly containing grape, since that is a note I avoid, but it's not grape-y on me whatsoever. I could see why some would think wine, though. I get more myrrh after several hours, and the oak has also peeked out, making the scent warmer and not as ice-y, although I can still smell the berries, snow, and spruce. The ambergris is also stronger by the end of the day, adding a nice aquatic muskiness to the scent that is a reminder that this is the ship of Hel, and not just the surrounding icy forest.

 

While this is more berry-centric than I tend to gravitate towards, I love the inspiration and the fact that there is ambergris mingling with the snowy forest notes. I think I will hang on to this bottle.  

Edited May 4, 2020 by doomsday_disco