The She-Goat

[le-champignon]

Wild juniper, dry grasses, California sagebrush, Monterey cypress, and California lilacs.

I received this today. I had to order, despite my fear of florals, because I'm collecting all goat-related scents.

Initial impressions: This is extremely soft. Like, I dabbed it on my arm three times before I could really smell it.
This is very much the scent of dried (and drying) vegetal matter in the sun, sweetened by the lilacs.
I've had it on for over an hour and so far, thankfully, the lilacs do not jump out and hammer me on the head with blossoms.

Update: doing some research: "California lilac" is in the genus Ceanothus, not the main lilac genus Syringa.

The leaves of some Ceanothus species have been used as a substitute for black tea. The Ceanothus Wikipedia article linked above says: "A few species are reported to be intensely fragrant almost to the point of being nauseating, and are said to resemble the odor of "boiling honey in an enclosed area"."

That may explain why I don't hate this. I love honey scents, and it is striking me as much more of a sweetness than an floral.

[hammy]

In the bottle - This smells kind of like Amicitia with a little coastal flavor. I LOVE Amicitia (seriously -- I have 6 bottles) so this feels like a new spin on an old favorite.

 

Wet - I'm getting sage for sure, along with a whirl of other things I recognize from my time in California but can't quite place. Herbal, slightly floral, green-brown smell.

 

Drydown - It stayed pretty true to my first impression: a breeze full of local summer vegetation. The floral component has disappeared, though I suspect that's just my skin chemistry at work.

 

Verdict - Sage is the main player in this blend. It's not as sweet as Amicitia, not as resinous as Chinigchinix, and not as dusty as Djed. It's just the dry sagebrush aspect of those. Think Halloween: Los Angeles without the fire/smoke notes. Man, this has some serious layering possibilities. I think it'll bring scents "home" for me, since it smells so much like the area where I grew up.

[Antoinette]

I was born and raised in California and this smells like home. It's beautiful and gives me an overall sense of joy and peace when I inhale deeply.

It's like a little piece of home I can visit anytime I like. Love it!

Edited September 17, 2018 by Antoinette

[galahad]

In the Bottle:

Sagebrush, juniper and the strange but lovely California lilac.

On the Skin:

Initially, sweet and round but then becomes almost a rich caramel with dry grass and sagebrush herbalness. The California lilac lends it's almost floral note to the blend. Lovely, with the impression of heat and aridity.

On the Drydown:

Has a fairly linear drydown and ends as a sweetish herbal sage and dry grass which stays close to the skin. Would be delightful to cuddle up to on a late summers evening

[zankoku_zen]

Sage, juniper, and cypress. This smells sunny, and like the outside. Medium throw and wear length.

[Casablanca]

I tried a bunch of decants from a friend this weekend. I can resist bottling them all, even the ones I liked, but I can't resist this.

It was just enchanting, the sort of naturalistic scent I've been loving lately. It also took me back to some of my kid years living in the Southern Cal valley.

"Kid." Goats. Hehe.

California lilacs wafted over woodsy sage, grasses, and other summery vegetation, all well-blended and sun-warmed. I agree with earlier comments on the lilac; it seemed to add some floral tone without going super floral at any stage. It felt like a floral with maybe some herbal/grassy tone, if that makes sense, and that tone merged into the other notes. It also seemed a bit like honey.

All notes felt like they could be growing together on the same arid slope in the backyard, a treat for California bees. The blend lasted longer than most do on my skin.

Edited September 25, 2018 by Casablanca

[kscha2017]

This smells like a very specific spot in my area (far from CA) where pine, cedar, birch and oak trees give way to juniper and grasses, then sun-warmed sand dunes leading down to the cool lake. We used to visit this spot on field trips in grade school and it takes me right back to those memories. Love it.

[Lucchesa]

Count me in on the She-Goat lovefest here, from another native Californian. The evergreen notes (juniper and cypress) are most prominent when wet, along with the sagebrush. As always, they soften as it dries, and then I get a warm, dry, sunny outdoor scent that evokes the California foothills in summer, with bees bumbling all around, maybe some dragonflies buzzing, and it doesn't morph much from here. Though I think I can smell the California lilac, this is not a floral on me by any means. I get a little throw from this (more than is usual for me) and good wear length. The She-Goat is a beauty!

[SophieCedar]

Is there a spot of patchouli hiding in here? When wet, I can smell it strongly. Huh.

 

Otherwise, yes, sage cypress and some alien glowy green smell I take might be the mysteriously strange california lilac? I don't know for sure because I haven't been to cali but maybe one of you can put me up and I can smell for myself

[doomsday_disco]

This wasn’t originally on my radar, but the reviews for this one have been so good that I decided to pick up a leftover decant.

 

In the decant: This is a very dry forest. I get lots of juniper, cypress, sage, and dry grass. It’s much drier (and stronger on the sage) than Rocky Mountain Goats HG.

 

Wet: The juniper, cypress, and sage are the first notes that leap out at me, and then I get the dry grasses. I am not familiar with California lilac, which I see is not related to actual lilacs, but I am not really getting any floral vibe from this at the moment. The sage is increasing in strength as this sits on my skin.

 

Dry: The sage is now in the lead, but I am still getting lots of juniper and cypress as well. It smells much drier than before thanks to the prominence of the sage. The dry grass gains strength after a while, too! And now I do smell the California lilac in the background!

 

Verdict: The sage in this is a little too strong for me, but it is a realistic, summer-y, dry outdoors scent, and I think fans of sage would really enjoy this one!

[Lunasariel]

In the imp: Clean and spicy, dry and vegetal/herbal. This is a very distinctively SoCal scent - I'm a NorCal girl, but both sides of my family live in the L.A. area, so I'm very familiar with the scent of sun-baked sagebrush and grasses, almost sticky-resinous while still being a distinctly dry scent.

 

Wet: An initial blast of juniper quickly settles down, allowing the other notes to come out and play. This is the scent of running around the sunbaked scrubland behind my grandparents' house, of hiking Malibu Creek before the sun gets *too* hot. I'm mostly familiar with L.A. in the summer, so a dry, aromatic scent like this is just perfect. Settles down to a skin-level scent remarkably quickly.

 

Dry: Still sage and grasses sunbaked to the point of caramelization; softly aromatic. And I do mean softly - I've only had it on for 4 hours or so and I really have to huff to get anything. I've really been loving aromatic, herbal, sage-centric blends lately, and this one is a doozy! The low throw and softly herbal notes make it office-appropriate, but there's still something outdoorsy and a bit wild about it. Love this!

[Juliamon]

Picked up a decant of this because the name, photo, and notes reminded me of the nice couple who bought our barn-camp in Vermont and keep a pair of guard-goats (it's rural enough that they do a good enough job). We didn't get to visit them this year so I figured this would help ease the heartache.

 

Something in here is amping violently on me, either the sage or the juniper (possibly both). It's a real shame because otherwise this a wonderfully herbal, grassy scent that's almost nostalgic. Like, it's the exact scent of overgrown grasses drying out and cooking against the underside of a car that just spent a couple hours on the road. It has fantastic longevity, smells best after whatever's amping has had a few hours to burn off and settle down, and I can still pick up traces of dry sweet warmth on my skin a full 24 hours after applying. It temps me to upgrade to a full bottle despite the almost-medicinal blast of the first couple hours. It tempts me to scent a scarf or flannel shirt with it for extra coziness. But it is too cold and snowy here for me to want to wear it right now, it's very much an early spring/late summer scent and doesn't feel right to be smelling right now.

 

I can see this one becoming quite sought-after in the future!