Walking the Prime Meridian

[IronMollyBlack]

Walking the Prime Meridian

 

This is the scent of the Royal Observatory at Greenwich on a cold, stormy day in March: ancient oaks and deep green mosses dampened by rain and sea salt.

I was not sure if this scent would work on me at all, but I took a chance and ordered it blind. It's fantastic! Very evocative of the description. It smells like a cold rainy day outdoors. To me it's gender neutral, the throw is medium. It's fresh and clean without being sharp, if that makes any sense. If these types of scents are your thing, I would give it a try!

[ReallyZeb]

Freshly on, it's all perfect sea salt air on a cold day in Greenwich. Wind coming from the cleaner part of the Thames, a touch of spray in the air and the old trees covered in new leaves. It stays true to this on me after drydown and I love it.

[kscha2017]

This was a last minute addition to my decant order. Am I thankful to have added it. This is a fresh, clean, cool scent that I think would smell amazing on a man but is in no way "masculine" such that it would be pegged as a man's cologne on a woman. Wet and dry on me smelled the same : sea water spray coming over grey stone walls on a cold overcast day. I think the oak and green moss give it a lively, bright tweek that prevents it from being "gloomy". Will be ordering a bottle for sure.

Edited October 22, 2015 by kscha2017

[Haltija]

One of the more beautiful aquatics I own.

 

It does smell a little like paint or paint thinner when it's completely dry, I don't mind really cause the wet stages are so lovely. It's damp greens with a huge blast of oak and only the faintest mist of sea spray and salt. The salt isn't nowhere near as strong as it is in blends like Octopus and things of that nature. It is perfectly atmospheric and everything is in balance.

 

I don't need a bottle but I will love my decant.

[SimplySyra]

Damp sweet greenery, ozone, and oak. The ozone does dip its toes into a bit of soapy territory, but not far enough in to make it unwearable. It's fresh but not sharp as many other aquatics sometimes tend to be.

 

Unisex but sweet enough to easily bypass falling into a strictly masculine category.

 

Not blowing off the doors, but I'll be keeping and wearing the bottle on rainy days when I need to feel rainy, too.

[zombiewench]

I haven't skin tested this yet, but wet I kind of love it. It's rainy and oceany and green with just a hint of wood. It's like Jolly Roger and Caliban had a booze-free baby. It's really lovely!

[zankoku_zen]

Green, rainy, hint of wood. However, there's a faint note of dryer sheets to it. This is a very different aquatic to that of A Vast Similitude Interlocks All. It's soapier and greener for one.

[milo]

Soapy aquatic right off the bat. There's another fresh note here, not sure what it is. *checks*, ah, the mosses. Despite being soapy, I like clean, aquatics as a candle or room spray in the spring, but not to wear, generally. It is nice smelling this one after a night of Halloween celebrating though;)

[Gwydion]

In bottle: This one is really interesting. It's green and sharp and subtly floral. The mosses in this do not smell standard. They dance around the central wood note that grounds the scent, attracting all the attention. It's like a West coast, Wintery May pole, if the mosses are the dancers. Wet: It is stormier and muddier on the skin. The sharpness of the ozone enhances the qualities of the moss, while the kiss of salt lends a piquant. The oak is not showy, but an ubiquitous underpining to moss and sea and sky. This really does beautifully capture its concept. It really is a scent poem about a stormy day on the coast in that sort of forest in Winter. My skin can be difficult with sea and ozones, and this still just manages to work. Dry: Delightful woods and sea spray.

[Alaeidrel]

Perfumy aquatics. Gorgeous and deep, but also too artificial in a way for me - that might be the ozone. I think I wnated this to smell more like a wet Zombi. Pretty, but headache inducing for me.

[Nicnivin]

Absolutely perfect. Up until now, my favourite BPAL perfume has been The Memory of Primal Secrets, which was a limited edition Yule scent from a couple of years ago... so I was absolutely blown away (and slightly shriek-ish) when I discovered that Walking the Prime Meridian has almost the exact same notes.

It's a stunningly beautiful blend of oceanic and woodsy, balanced by light mist and greenery. For me, it evokes the memory of walking near Cardiff Bay in late October, with the sea air melding its salt and brine with damp oak leaves and moss underfoot.

Just. Stunning.

Edited December 22, 2015 by Nicnivin

[Little Bird]

Walking the Prime Meridian turns intensely soapy and dry smelling on my skin. Sort of like salt and floral scented dryer sheets.

[mistressfizz]

Sniff: Crisp, fresh, light

 

Wet: A very soft aquatic, with hints of wet stone. It's not sharp or soapy on me at all. It's very misty and clean, without that detergent or pine scent that "clean" sometimes describes.

 

Dry: Soft, a tad dusty. It dries kind of like an incense blend, but lighter.

 

Not my usual taste in scents, but very evocative and unexpectedly pleasant.

[lizabelle]

Clean, rainy, and pretty. I love fresh grass notes so I had to try it, but this is more a rain scent than anything. It is aquatic, and it's hovering right on the edge of soap on me, but I think it's not going to go off. This is a very fresh and wearable scent, and really comforting.

[puellacaerulea]

In the decant, this is an amazing, atmospheric chilly salt air and rain scent. When I apply it, the mossy green notes amp up a lot, with just a little not-unpleasant soapiness. The green notes remind me a lot of Liadain and Curithir, but this scent has more of a distinct salt-air note to it. I like it a little more in the decant than I do on my skin (more of that salt air note plz), but still might need to track down a full bottle.

[doomsday_disco]

At first, I get oak, vetiver, and rain from this. I'm not sure if there's secretly a grassy vetiver among these notes, or if the oak and moss are combining in such a way that reminds me of it, but there you go. It's accompanied by some strong sea salt and rain, and the oak, possible vetiver, and salt make this a little too rough for me at first, but the vetiver aspect ends up going away, and the oak and salt end up calming down over time, so that it ends up becoming rain mixed with salty sea air on a bed of moss with a smoother oak. I liked this stage of the scent, and it was comforting enough to fall asleep to, and that's why I'm hanging onto the decant -- although as far as rain scents go, I do not enjoy this nearly as much as Waiting 2016. And I did not get any asphalt from this like some other reviewers, sadly (I was so hoping for that note!). But I do think this ends up being a nice rain scent if you can get past the somewhat harsh opening.

Edited January 23, 2022 by doomsday_disco

[crystaltongue]

Unfortunately, this smells EXACTLY like sugar snap peas to me. I don't dislike sugar snap peas, but I don't think I want to smell like them. I wish I could give a more nuanced and complex review, but it is just all peas all the time to me.