Skadi

[nefta]

The Snow-Shoe Goddess, Giantess, the Norse embodiment of winter. Frost-rimed winter berries, crisp pine needle, and a slush of bright snowy notes.

My first full bottle Yules.

In bottle: Mint and pines (didnt like it much), some berries hiding but very faint

Dried down: Pine disappears to the background and the berries become much more prominent. After a while, I kept smelling something like vanilla-berries!

Staying power: I had to slather quite a lot, lasted about 4 hours or so. Definitely not as powerful as O or Snake Oil.

[OctoberGwen]

Oh, Skadi is lovely. Beth's distinctive and unmistakable snow note, plus a hint of berry. I'm not getting much pine needle - perhaps a touch, nothing more. The snow eases back in the drydown and the whole thing becomes soft, like a blanket. A truly beautiful scent for the Norse goddess.

 

This is something I would never wear, so I think my little half decant will be just fine. I am so happy to finally try this legendary Yule, though.

 

Of course, I may change my mind and get a bottle. Really, the drydown is so pretty, and I have nothing else like this in my collection...

 

ETA: I can't stop smelling my arm.

Edited January 3, 2014 by OctoberGwen

[Alethia]

Thoughts before testing: I've noticed lately that the snow notes (with the exception of the one that's in Snow White) turns to pure dryer sheets on my skin. My hopes are not high for the legendary Skadi

 

Wet: Ozone-y snow with a hint of mint and berries. This is hinting at beautiful things, but it's mostly dryer sheets.

 

Dry down: Dryer sheets covering holly berries. Damnations.

 

Dry: After about an hour, I'm left with nothing but faint dryer sheets. Double damnation.

 

Final thoughts: I think that I'm staying away from the snow notes from now one.

 

Verdict: Off to the sales!

[Aviatrix]

The initial impression is mint all the way! The mint in this one reminds me of the one in Nuclear Winter. It is sharp and cold.

 

After some time, there is more of the berries and some ozone coming out. The berries make it a bit more sweet, and I can certainly feel the wintry concept in this. It's cold, but surprisingly light and pretty. It would be great for a too hot summer day, I think.

 

I'm just not sure I need more of it than my decant, because I already have a bottle of Öndurdis, which is quite similar in feel to Skadi.

[Akurarei]

Skadi 2013

 

First and foremost: THANK YOU BPAL FOR OFFERING THIS ONE!!!!

 

In the Bottle:

Evergreens and Coldness

 

On my Skin, Wet:

Evergreens, Cold Rain, Snow and just a teeny tiny bit of fruit

 

On my Skin, Dry:

Evergreens, and Snow with a 'Windy' feel/impression

 

Verdict:

I am so excited to have this one - the legendary Skadi

It's winter, encapsulated.

[stellamaris]

My bottle of Onduris, much beloved, is almost gone, so I was glad to get this one to replace it. Indeed it is similar enough to supplant it, but it's not a mirror replacement. Still, snow, pine, it's all good.

[Deliciousness]

Let me preface this by saying that I think anything with "pine" will smell like I hung a Pine cone air freshener around my neck. I only realized this since trying the Yules a few days ago.

 

Anyway, I tested this two or three times since I received my decant a week or so ago, and can only say that I smell like BALSAM and PINE, with a touch of winter coolness. I love the "cold" I get when smelling this, but I cannot stand the overly fake piney scent my skin seems to make of this blend. I wish I got some berries in here, but they don't seem to want to come out, as the pine scared them away. They may be hiding because the big bad Evergreen forest is screaming at the top of it's lungs at everything else. It's chemically evil, and not in a good way (although I'm not too sure that could be construed as "good"). Anyway, I'm afraid my skin chemistry didn't like this blend. Glad I got to try it, sad it's not for me.

[zankoku_zen]

2013 version

 

White, piney, snow and a hint of berries. It's less piney than the original Skadi from 2004, and it veers closer to Ice Queen territory for me. Actually, very similar into Ice Queen 2004 for me except fresher, and with a distinctive pine note.

 

Lovely.

[tinyvulture]

I've always longed to try Skadi. When I first discovered BPAL years ago, I had just missed it being available. I'd consider Skadi the original ancestor of Snow Maiden, Talvikuu, Frau Holle, Mistletoe, all of those wintry blends full of slush and pine needles and berries. There's also a good amount of sweet mint, which calls up Snowblind. Cold and invigorating, yet sweet and nostalgic. Perfection. THANK YOU for bringing it back!!!

[milo]

This is so lovely, never tried it prior to these Yules, but ordered a bottle straight off. Overall, this is pretty much like The Ice Queen to me, though this one probably has more evergreen. I love both, but don't know if I need both:), plus with Ded Moroz, (which I also find quite similar) I think I'm set for delicious ice/snow notes. I will do a side by side tomorrow and report back. This really is quite amazing though, and fans of DM or IQ should give this a try:)

[TheFrenchWaffle]

I absolutely adored Öndurdis and am kicking myself for not buying a bottle. I had heard so much about Skadi that I had to try this one out.

In the bottle: BERRIES! big red berries, cranberries? But mixed with an evergreen scent. Smells like a candle or potpourri, in a good way.

Wet: Still a very berry sort of scent (I'm not a huge berry perfume fan). Then a big rush of something that can only be described as "cold". I get the pine/evergreen, but this is something more. This is what I loved about Öndurdis.

Dry: the berry has retreated to the background, allowing for the colder notes to dominate.

Final thoughts: I am going to be honest, I really prefer Öndurdis. While Skadi is a beautiful scent, it gives me the impression of melting snows and slushy berries, which is very lovely I might add, but, Öndurdis is the smell of waking up first thing in the morning to a fresh snowfall. I will be holding on to Skadi, but will be looking forward to the lab hopefully bringing Öndurdis back for a future yule.

[lucycat]

In the imp: Pine and snow—really very sharp pine, and tingly mint.

 

Wet: The berries appear.

 

Dry: The pine softens but is still present, and the berries sweeten it. There’s a sparkling note I can’t identify: that tingling mint is part of it, but there’s more than that. It’s delicious without being exactly foody.

 

On my hand this goes softly aquatic—the snow note, I’m guessing—but on my arm it stays pine with mint and berries.

 

This is the perfect winter scent.

 

I feel as if to do Skadi full justice I should be wearing one of those long Scandinavian-style brightly embroidered coats, or an elaborately patterned snowflake sweater with a tall fuzzy hat.

 

In the final drydown, after many hours, this turns aquatic. It’s a pretty aquatic, but has a very different feel to the way it smells at first.

[Thimbleviolet]

2013 Version

 

The first thing I get is mint, which I'm guessing is the minty snow everyone's talked about but which I've never picked up on in a snow scent before. Then I get pine; clean, woodsy pine - not cleaning product at all. The mint gradually fades and I get more pine and woodsiness. This is like standing in a pine forest, taking big deep breaths of slightly damp forest air. I don't get any berries unfortunately, and no snow aside from the initial mint.

 

I like this, but I have other 'forest' scents already, and this is a tad too masculine for my tastes. Definitely glad I got a decant though.

[thekittenkat]

This for the 2013 version.

 

In the bottle: Pines in the snow.

 

Wet: It's the minty snow note, lingering in the pine trees.

 

The dry-down: Skadi dries to a soft pine note, w/ hints of the snow, and just a little sweetness from the berries, which I wish I got more of. I've hoarded my old partial like forever, so will do a death-match at some point.

 

I must admit that I never dreamt that this would return!

[Zii]

The nice thing about having been forced to wait 5 weeks for any testing due to travel is that my bottle is nicely aged right out of the gate as far as testing.

 

In bottle: Almost medicinally sharp minty pine. Off putting and VERY cold. I actually shivered.

 

Wet: This must the the minty snow note I've never encountered before. This initially smells like mint pine-sol... But pretty quickly something pretty awesome starts to happen. The pine combined with what must be the berries starts to come out much more sharply. It's a very fresh scent, and cold for sure. However, it's not very me. It doesn't have the cold ozone note I like and the mint is off-putting.

 

Drying: The more the mint fades, the more I like it. This is the first perfume I've had a really physical response to and every huff makes me shiver. It doesn't have much noticeable throw on me though, and what it does have seems to be the mint note.

 

Dry: This is a very strange scent on me. It's not morphing much, but it really seems to just be sweet mint and not piney at all. For someone who tends to both love and amp woods, I'm pretty disappointed.

 

Overall, this isn't a bad scent per say, but it isn't me and is certainly not a) what I expected or anything I'll wear much. I'll probably throw it in the back of the collection and let it continue to age to see if more of the wood comes out.

 

--edit--

It's all berry now. Nothing else. Berry and a faint hint of sickly mint...

Edited February 1, 2014 by Zii

[Nemi]

This is my dark gloomy Norwegian winter oh yes!

 

The snowy darkness (I have not seen the sun for weeks now), the pine forest, the hint of berries...

 

I think it isn't me as a perfume, I'd love to smell it on someone else, but I'll keep it because of the feeling it gives me. I think it is very special and beautiful.

[Lani]

So excited to finally be giving this a try! My bottle arrived yesterday, and this morning I sat down to begin testing.

 

I mostly get evergreen and berries out of this, and they are both soft and subtle. There's a coolness to the entire perfume, but for me it's not a sharp, icy cold like some others have described. What I get is a softly sweet, softly piney, cool, ethereal scent, and it's truly gorgeous. After half an hour or so, I get a teensy hint of vanilla in the background too, which emphasizes the sweetness without being overpowering. Skadi is as lovely as I hoped it would be; I'm really sad I didn't order a second bottle!!

[sunshinedaisybliss]

2013 version - via a tester generously gifted to me by the lovely OctoberGwen!

 

So this is pretty much the same as the original Skadi, but just fresher and more vibrant. The only slight difference I can tell is that the pine in here is much more subtle than it is in my decant of the original.

 

I find that BPAL's 'snow' notes vary greatly - some are nasty soapy ozone on me, some are minty-cool, and others are sweet and bright. This one is the latter - fresh, sweet, wet snow. The berries here are a major player, but they're not really 'fruity' as such - like raspberries or similar - more like forest berries... green, woodsy, dry rather than sweet. Overall I find Skadi translates as green - like forest green... so it smells exactly like walking through a lush pine forest that's blanketed in snow.

 

As with the original Skadi, I find that this is a lovely scent experience but not something I would wear as a perfume. But I'm very happy that this one made a return, since it's so loved by so many

[Ella LaRose]

Ok, I hate winter scents! I hate pine and I am not a fan of berries. So why is it that I am so IN LOVE with this scent??

I can't stop sniffing my arm!!

Before I knew there were berries in this my nose kept telling me it was a lush, but soft rose, bayberry, some every green and sweet mints.

I still smell that but I can tell the rose my brain keeps saying is there is really the lush berry scent, blended so smooth with evergreens and cool sweetened snowy mint.

This is stunning! Perfect for when you're not feeling well, a tummy soother, a super soft sweater hug, a pregnant must have!!

This is exotically romantic, like what Elsa would smell like from frozen<3

[Pyewacket]

For some reason, the scents I love most tend to grow on me slowly (except for butterflies attending etc which was love at first sniff).

I was only so-so on skadi at first but now I love it. It probably helps that it is so hot here atm. I get sweet minty snow and berries. Worn in winter it would be cosy, like a ridiculously softly knitted jumper covered with embroidered snowflakes. But in summer it's lovely and cooling.

 

I think skadi would work well as a candle and room spray.

 

Ps I also got the frozen association, Elsa would love this.

[Soupy Twist]

The 2013 verison. Pine in the bottle which goes on with a sweet note. There are lovely berry overtones, and this dries to a soft sweet snowy pine. Delightful. Like a sweeter version of Arcana's Winter Wolves. Now I have to find a bottle of this or pray it comes back for this year.

[whoahorsey]

I have to be honest, I bought this for the name. I'm reading Bernard Cornwell's Saxon Tales, and there's a bad Norse lady named Skade (alternative spelling of Skadi) in it, and so when I saw the name, I had to hunt down a bottle. :-)

 

Wet, it's all mint. Like, Double-mint gum mint. Luckily the mint calms its ass down in a few moments and the pine and berries come out to play, as well as the gorgeous snow. I live in Texas where it snows once a year, if that, so I can't speak as to this perfume's resemblance to a snowy forest, but I do know that it is delicious and I will wear it all winter, even if it is 80 degrees here today.

 

I agree with a reviewer above who said that the mint in this reminds them in some ways of Nuclear Winter. That comparison came to my mind as well, but the berries give it a sweetness to temper the biting cold of the mint.

[freyasfae]

Now, this is the winter scent I have been looking for. I tried the more snowy scents, but they often ended up being too sweet, then I tried the evergreens, and they were too pungent on me, and the mints too ozony, but Skadi, she is minty (more foodie minty), the coconutty BPAL snow, and a touch of pine.

[feyofthefellwood]

I feel incredibly fortunate to have been able to try both the 2004 and 2013 versions of Skadi. My interest in Skadi stemmed from my love of Elf, which Skadi has been compared to. Anyway, there is a big difference between Skadi 2004 and 2013, though both are lovely scents. The 2004 version does not have the strong minty snow note of 2013; the fir and berries are at the forefront, and it's quite sweet. The 2013 version is much mintier, with the fir and berries hiding beneath the snow. I find Skadi 2004 closer in overall smell to Elf than to Skadi 2013 because of the sweet evergreen smell combined with the berries (which is my jam). Of course, the aging process could be a factor as well.

[Threemoons]

Dug deep into my boxes to try this one again; so glad I did.  SUCH a nice one--in the bottle it's aged down to an amazing strong pine and citrus thing, but in a good way not a disinfectant way. On, wet: The "snow" notes start to come out, and I'm getting the tiniest hint of bayberry wax. Dries down to a blend of winter resins with a hint of the "snow" blend left. Love it; glad I reached for it today.