Jarnsaxa

[Lycanthrope]

There was one born, in times of old,
with wondrous might endowed, of origin divine:
nine Jötun maids gave birth, to the gracious god,
at the world’s margin.
Giâlp gave him birth, Greip gave him birth,
Eistla gave him birth, and Angeia;
Ulfrûn gave him birth, and Eyrgiafa,
Imd and Atla, and Jârnsaxa.
The boy was nourished with the strength of the earth,
with the ice-cold sea, and with Sôn’s blood.

“The One With the Iron Knife”, she is one of the nine sisters who gave birth to the god Heimdallr and, by some accounts, the mother of Magni. Her scent is that of ice floes and frozen mountainsides, white juniper crushed under the bare feet of a jötunn.

I'm questing a lot in Stormheim in World of Warcraft... so this scent spoke to me as a Valarjar / Questing type of scent!

Wet, this is a very cool, ozonic scent. Kind of murky deep cobalt blue, not very 'snow/slush' as I would expect initially.

On me, I get an immediate lift of eucalyptus and spearmint together, all kind of sitting on a bunch of fir and dark spruce. I think there's a tiny touch of rock in this, because it's got a bit of grit. I can get the juniper as well, that's probably what I'm interpreting as a melange of coniferous scents. As it dries it definitely veers quickly into the conifer territory, mostly a mixed northern forest with a hint of cool from the breeze of mint and ice. It has very low throw on me, but I can get whiffs as I type.

Get this if you love Beth's interpretation of forests, this is definitely a chilly, borean one.

[zankoku_zen]

I get mint, juniper, cold rock, and some sort of sandalwood and oudh. There's a minty ozonic coolness, but underneath the sandalwood and oudh, there is almost an oily/motor oil feel to it, which immediately pulls this into the masculine territory for me. In short, cold rock. If you wanted that distilled into an "oil of cold rock", this is what this is. Decent throw and wear length.

[Soupy Twist]

Took a chance on a blind bottle because it was a Lunacy (and I am so into Norse mythology right now, particularly Loki and jötnar) and it paid off for once.

Mint in the bottle, which goes on as catmint with a breath of menthol. It's definitely not juniper — juniper has a harder, more sour edge, and this is sweeter to neutral and softer. It's mint leaf. I don't get the actual fuzziness of catmint, but that's the one it is (and we know that Beth can do fuzzy if she likes, so this is purposefully not fuzzy).

This fades as it dries and the minty snow note develops (the one from Unmanageable Snowdrift, not the Snow White one). There's a tiny bit of sweet spearmint overlaying the snow, which makes it even better. This is fantastic. A sister of Öndurdis, if you liked that.

I can't have too many bottles of the Lab's snow note, so that totally works out for me!

Edited April 10, 2018 by Soupy Twist

[doomsday_disco]

In the decant: The minty, ozonic ice followed by the crushed juniper.

 

Wet: I get a blast of juniper, but the minty, ozonic is note is quite strong as well. For a moment, I thought the coniferous vibe was going to take over, but the eucalyptus and spearmint-y ice won out. Beneath the ice, I smell the Lab's rock note.

 

Dry: The ozonic part of the ice note and the stone are the strongest notes on my skin, with just a bit of juniper and mint in the background.

 

Verdict: I'm glad I got to try it, but this one ended up being a bit too masculine on me in the end.