Mari Lwyd

[sarandipitee]

Welsh cakes and ale with a smattering of dried lavender.

 

This is so nice. Fruity lavender, light ale and sweetened by the cake. Very comforting and even with the beer note, it's fine for every day wear.

It feels similar on me to Round Dance which is the only reason why I'm waffling on buying a bottle. It's so nice, I'll likely track down at least a partial.

[lizabelle]

Oh my, this is gorgeous. It's foodie but not an in-your-face foodie because of the lavender, which is very present all the way through to the drydown on me. The cake note is rich and borderline-gooey, and if there's any ale here it seems more like it's baked into the cake than anything. I think I smell some currants or something baked in there, too. Over time it dries down to cake crumbs and lavender buds--just the faintest hint of how it started. Love this! Will be getting a full bottle for sure.

[freyasfae]

I lurve that spicy, baked BPAL scent. It's very spicy and cakey at first, but once it settles in the lavender comes out - it's super cuddly. I could see this being a great bedtime scent!

[ramblingrambler]

I want to love this, I do. And, to be frank, off me, in the imp, it's perfect. But once I put it on me, my skin makes it turn into lavender beer with butter and cream. Those are likely the components that in the vial smell incredibly good together, but for whatever reason my body decides that it likes them in their own categories and wont let them play together. If you like lavender or pastry scents, this will absolutely wow you if your skin is unlike my own.

[Deceitfuldescender]

This is a pleasant scent, very understated baked good - mostly just adds a warm sweet background to a nice almost berry like lavender. It is a nice calming scent that is inoffensive and easy to wear.

[faerydusts]

This may be my new favorite -- it reminds me of one of my tea blends.  The Welsh cakes come across to me as biscotti, or fresh baked scones, and the lavender complements them perfectly. 

 

In the bottle: I'm getting Welsh cakes and lavender, not quite gourmand lavender but lovely.

 

Wet: Definitely getting a sweet, bakery lavender.  Reminds me of when my friend and I make Earl Grey tea with hazelnut syrup or powder.

 

Over time I get a glimpse of the ale in the background, just like a whisper of sourness, but it's never outright boozy.  Just lovely.

[feyofthefellwood]

Delicious sugary lavender and baked goods with a hint of smooth ale. It definitely isn't really boozy, just balanced by the ale note. It's also a more delicate than hearty scent. I'm not detecting fruit? but that could just be my nose. The cake here smells more like a honey cake or lavender scone, to me. I wish the staying power was a little better, but I'm still going to enjoy the heck out of my decant. I have so many sweet lavender bottles now that I'm trying to resist getting another one, but I'm certainly tempted.

[Casablanca]

2020

Dusty lavender, plain cakes sweetened with a little honey, and a grainy note I take to be the ale.

 

Definitely getting an image of a dusty drinking hall for this one. Somehow this smells like an older fragrance to me, even made fresh for this past Yule.

 

[Poenari]

Honey-sweetened biscotti with a hint of lavender. No beer or ale detected when wet or even after drydown, which makes me happy. Usually I amp that note, and I dislike the taste of beer. It doesn't put me off wearing scents with it, but I usually have to apply very lightly so I don't smell like someone spilled beer on me.  This is a nice scent for foodies.

[fairybites]

This review is for the 2020 Winter version.

 

Sweet lavender honey cakes!  I'm not getting much of an ale note, it resembles oatmeal or something to me. The cake note is stronger than the lavender, and this kind of goes a little waxy/plastic during drydown. I'm guess that could be some sort of frosting note, because I do smell a little bit of vanilla as well. 

 

I like it a lot, but I'm undecided yet if I'll bottle it. I was hoping for more of a booze note, but the oatmeal-ish scent I got instead is still pleasant.

[lilyluxe]

Wet, this is mostly a brown butter, honey, and lavender scent. When it starts to dry, the lavender fades way in to the background and the scent becomes mostly a wheaty, sweet brown bread scent. I wish the lavender stayed around for a while longer, as it is that nice herbal kind.

Very much a "cuddled up by the fire with a buttered biscuit" kind of scent, and it certainly invokes the mythology and tradition of Mari Lwyd, so I can't complain! 

 

It's very pretty and sweet, a hearty scent if ever there was one!

[splendidissima]

2020 Winter version!

I almost didn't get this, because I wasn't sure about the beer or the lavender - I don't do florals much! But my academic fields are medievalism and folklore, and I do like sweet and foodie scents, so I finally had to!

 

Everything seems so well blended: it's a sweet, rich, hearty cake, with hints of nuts and grains - baked grains, or oatmeal, like an oatmeal cake-style cookie. The lavender's sweet and fruity here, a sort of purple berry scent. It's a delicious cozy scent, and I think I'm starting to be won over to lavender!

[wordortwo]

2020 Winter version, decant purchased from a forumite in 2022.

 

Mari Lwyd is a pleasant, warm lightly foodie scent. The lavender is strong at first, until a scone-like note smooths it out. It grows softer, a little powdery (like flour, not baby powder). Something berry-like says hello after a few hours. This feels somewhat more woody and powdery than foodie, which is fine by me.

 

I wanted to try this just to try this, and I'm glad I did. It isn't the type of perfume I go for, but I will likely wear it to bed.

 

Edit Sept '22: This is all sweet, fruity scones on me now and I am here for it. Nothing like late summer to make Yule scents shine? Wears long and steady but not too strong.

 

Edit Nov '23: So, I bought a bottle of the 2022 version (in Jan. 2023). I wore it a few times during the winter, and I don't recall any surprises (but me not recalling things doesn't mean they didn't happen). I pulled it out a couple of weeks ago, and was a befuddled by the scent that emerged from the bottle. This smells like gooey vanilla cake with berry-flavored syrup, wafted with an incongruent breath of floral lavender. So, so, so sweet - much sweeter and much fruitier than what I described above in 9/22. The flour-dusted scone quality I enjoyed about my decant is gone, which I'm bummed about. The 2020 decant had been a sleep scent for me, and this 2022 cannot fill that niche anymore. Man, I'm being dramatic, lol.

Edited November 24, 2023 by wordortwo
update2

[LavenderCoffee]

First impressions of a Winter 2021 decant, recd yesterday. Will update!

 

When wet, there is a curious contrast between a bright, herbal lavender up front, and some comforting foodie smells hanging out in the background. The lavender does calm down as the oil dries, and I get more cakes than ale at that point, and I do suspect there is a berry or two in the cake.

 

Seems like this is very much in line with previous years.

[BoneBone24]

Wet: Yellow cake and a touch of lavender. Quite sweet.

 

Drydown: The cake note takes on a darker, deeper quality, more caramelized, honeyed, and buttery. This is quite a saccharin experience! The ale is definitely reading more boozey than hoppy. I would have guessed rum if the notes weren't listed. The lavender is barely there at this point, but there is a purple impression coming from a hint of gummy, dark fruit. Raisins perhaps.

 

Dry: Buttery, buttery, sweet, sweet, syrupy cake, but make it purple.

 

 

6.5 out of 10 bones

[starbrow]

2021 version:

 

The lavender comes out of the gate swinging. It's the punchy kind, dry and herbaceous, with a lot of kick to it. I can immediately tell this is the kind of scent that will need drying down to fully emerge. I have enough experience with lavender by now to ride out this beginning, which is not my favorite lavender opening, but even now, it's accompanied by something more mellow and grounded.

 

Once the lavender starts to burn off, the true beauty of Mari Lwyd blossoms. It is reminding me a lot of Hildegard's Cakes of Joy, with a lightly-honey-sweetened baked note along with something that reminds me a little bit of cornbread. It's that kind of cake for me, a cakey bread baked in muffin tins, rather than birthday cake. The amount of sweetness, minimal and natural from the drop of honey, is perfect. It leans more savory, with just a little hint of fermentation like an ale would have, with some gluten in it too. 

 

The really amazing thing to me about this scent is how it manages to be both light, with no heavy syrup or saccharine foodiness, and yet, it has this amazing soft throw to my nose for hours. I wouldn't say this has a big throw, because it stays in my own little bubble, but if you want to be able to smell the scent you're wearing yourself, this one may be perfect. It works wonders for my skin chemistry, which doesn't do well with big sweet caramel-y notes, but does wonders with lightly spiced savory/bready notes. By now, the herbalness of the lavender is just a ghost in this blend, but it's there and hauntingly beautiful.

 

Bottle upgrade? Bottle upgrade.

[MamaMoth]

this reminds me of eat me a bit, because i'm definitely getting cake and currants.   but this cake  is more buttery, less sweet.  i believe this has red currant, but no black, so it's lighter and fruiter than eat me, where the berries take on an almost chocolatey, boozey tone.

 

the ale note is a little hoppy, and ever so slightly sour.  there's nothing i like about the smell of beer, but the ale in this is quite pleasant. 

 

but what really elevates this blend is the dry, herbal lavender. it gives some lift and interest to what could be stodgy buttery cake and sour ale, and it keeps this from being completely foodie. 

 

i like this quite a bit. 

[forspecial_plate]

My bottle is from 2021.  We had a little discussion of this scent in the Yule thread and I wanted to wear it today! 

 

Some of my favorite Bpal scents are cake plus something non-foody, like Haloa and All Souls (I think the older All Souls was more cakey, out of the ones I've tried).  Mari Lwyd takes its place for me in that loose category, another good one!  

 

I can't really say that any one note stands out a lot here, but I can pick out lavender if I try.  It's more about just letting the scent come to me as I go about my day rather than trying to pick it apart.  It's warm and kind of sweet + savory, so I think I am getting some of the ale, as more of a balancing note with the cake.  

 

Anyway - it's just cozy and warm, and doesn't morph much for me over time.  It does smell great as a bedtime scent too.