Verdant Decay

[urbantravels]

A claustrophobic thicket of yew, cypress, and drooping oak grown wild with dense mounds of bittersweet nightshade, gleaming white foxglove, creeping black ivy, clusters of marshy false morel and fly agaric, and a smear of crushed, overripe baneberries.

I appear to be the first reviewer - I wish I had a more profound review to contribute!
I generally tend to like the "green" and woodsy blends, and I'm enjoying this one, though I don't feel it's really dramatically different from similar BPALs, such as Bayou. (Though I don't own any Bayou and sniffed it just once a long time ago, so I'm not sure the comparison is valid.)

To me, the florals predominate somewhat, with the nightshade note reminding me a lot of the angel's trumpet from Rapunzel (angel's trumpet is a nightshade). But whereas Rapunzel has a more simple green backdrop, Verdant Decay brings in the cypress/yew evergreen resins, and the "mushroomy" note that, indeed, smells a lot like real mushrooms to me. The cypress/yew did not jump out at me at first but emerged more on dry-down. (Bear in mind, though, that I have a high threshold for resinous woods.)

I like this; not sure I need a bottle. I like most of the notes here but it's seeming like the mushrooms might be a little too far front in the long run. To me they're more "foody" mushrooms and not quite in harmony with the mood of the other notes. I'll ponder further.

[Gwydion]

In bottle: Ivy dominant, with the woods in strong support, with a complicated herbal underpinning. Wet: The woods really come out on the skin, with the Oak most prominent and the yew and ivy second strongest. The nightshade and baneberries pop beautifully as it warms. I really like this, but it’s odd enough that I suspect it will not be to everybody’s taste. Dry: Mostly ivy and wood.

[Haltija]

Very strong ivy and cypress when it's wet. When it begins to dry the nightshade comes out and makes the blend seem a little more floral. It's very nice and not a headache inducing scent but it's still really green. Not so much the herbal green. Just a little dark and earthy. Like you've been out at night digging through a flowerbed by a ivy tree. I will enjoy my decant.

Edited December 25, 2014 by Haltija

[zankoku_zen]

Ivy, cypress and notes of nightshade and foxglove. This smells green, and dark, and poisonous.

 

So congratulations. If you EVER EVER wanted to smell like a poisoner's garden or always wanted Rappacinni's Garden line together in one DARK GREEN blend, Verdant Decay is for you.

 

This smells like a dark enchanted forest that would like nothing better than to EAT YOU ALIVE.

 

ETA: I had to add this. I think Verdant Decay would probably smell well in some sort of witchy ritual where you are hexing/poisoning someone. It would be, actually, very apropos. Carry on now.

Edited January 2, 2015 by zankoku_zen

[sprout]

Preconceived notions: I expected this to smell like all of the Rapiccini's Garden of imps in a box, you know the disgusting cacophony of notes when a bunch of imps are together? The decay part has me nervous, I don't want to smell like a bog or swamp.

 

In vitro (imp): sharp ivy dominating a green herbal background (we used to have a wall covered with Boston ivy and I recognize the smell, just like the ivy used to smell in the summers--shady and cool, refreshing and comforting)

Wet: Various green, botanical notes which I suck at differentiating, and are well blended, nonspecific (but maybe my untrained nose just lacks the ability to distinguish)

Drying: a hint of herbal mint (very ephemeral), an evergreen note that is sharp and almost peppery, that reminds me of the Baneberry from the GC. It is sharp and aggressive and almost evergreenish, but thankfully is also short-lived. I had a headache that lasted a few minutes, before I could go and take a Tylenol, it was gone. The ivy remains, cool, lush, green.

Drydown: Smells like botanical skin creams, very nonspecific, but not floral, not evergreen, not sharp, not woody or herbal. Just a background of plants. Cypress note is a no show.

 

Final thoughts: I really liked the late dry down, the wet phase was almost too much and the headache inducing "baneberry" note was almost a deal breaker. I did not get anything like decaying plants, bog, swamp, or floral. If you like the smell of botanical without floral, this is your blend and the cacophony of notes I expected did not happen. I am hoping aging will bring out the Cypress, if so, this would be great. As it smells today, it is like, not love. If I get a bottle or partial, it would not be my priority, but this is because I have quite a few and have to limit my bottles at this point to blends I really love, not just like. Even without the problematic baneberry note, I have to concede that I like it a lot, but it isn't love. The ivy part was really nice and if I could find an ivy predominant blend, I would go for that! If the cypress came out and the ivy continues to predominate, I may change my mind.

Edited January 8, 2015 by sprout

[Magycmyste]

In the imp: Herbal green.

 

Wet on skin: Green and mushroomy. Hello, morels!

 

Dried down: Kind of an evil (but not rotten) smelling herbal.

 

Throw: Didn't get much throw off of this.

 

Verdict: ** I don't feel the need to wash it off, but this one really isn't for me.

[thekittenkat]

In the decant: Ivy growing on oak trees in the autumn, which are dry and dusty.

 

Wet: Suddenly it all seems more alive! This is the ivy in the height of summer. Also, there's a touch of poisonous sweetness from the baneberries.

 

The dry-down: Now we have turned to winter, when even the ivy doesn't grown that well. The cypress hints at its presence, and the oak remains dry and dusty. The baneberries seem to have disappeared. All the other plants have combined to give this that sense of verdant decay. An interesting scent, but I think that I'm done with ivy blends, as there's too much ivy at the bf's house that needs to be trimmed back all the time, else it will take over house, yard, and the oak trees.

[milo]

Green leaves and ivy at first. Quite harsh and biting, but dries to a soft, green herbal scent. I do not like the harsh phase, so this one isn't for me.

[Naomi Kelsey]

A deep dark green scent with a sharp herbal edge and a slight sweetness with a resin note. To me this reminds me of Smite all Thy Borders (a scent I relegated to hand washing linens in due to a sort of cat pee dry down note) but with a much more herbal tonic scent. I like this a lot, but it's not super-perfumey. As others have noticed, it has a feeling of expensive skin creams or the like. Very lovely for those that like non-perfume scents.

I will likely keep it for early summer when I want a green but not too light scent.

3 out of 5. Like it a lot, but am not over the moon about it.