Skadi

[wyldeflower]

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

I would say that Skadi is Snow Moon's first cousin. They smell almost identical, but Snow Moon has a slightly more sharp pine note and Skadi is just a bit sweeter to my nose. Skadi is on me a slightly sweeter version of the drydown of Snow Moon. I have 4 bottles of Snow Moon, but you can bet that if Skadi is ever revisited, I will snatch up multiples!

[dragonryder]

This is just not one for me. The pine was strong at first, then nothing but pine was left afterwhile. Guess I'm just not a pine girl. So this goes in the out box and trying another! Edited February 26, 2006 by dragonryder

[Neely]

In the bottle: berries, cream, and pine.

 

Wet: pine and aquatic berries.

 

Dry down: pine and aquatic berries. It smells very similar to Talvikuu to me, except this is sweeter. Talvikuu with berries. This also reminds me of Snow Bunny, but less sweet. No Jolly Ranchers hung from pine trees. Skadi is in between the two.

 

30 minutes: berries in snow under pine trees. Nice. I can see why this is a holy grail of BPAL.

 

Conclusion: it turned into a soft minty berry as it faded. Smells similar to Yultide at that point. I too am sad it is no longer available. This is a more fem version of Talvikuu. I like my Talvikuu on me better, but I am glad I got to try this.

 

Rating 1-5 on my skin, this is a 4.5.

[Alchemy21599]

I was so happy to get to try this scent!

 

In the vial: cranberry strings around a pine tree on a chilly winter morning.

 

Wet: the pine note fades and the berry note is dominant.

 

Dry: the perfect Yule scent!

[jarvenpa]

An imp of Skadi (and a bunch of other intriguing and delicious imps) arrived as a generous bestowal from MichelleM. ("surprise me" said I, and she did).

 

I had no idea what Skadi was (having not heard of it, hey, I'm newish). But the name intrigued me.

 

So on it went last night. First hit: something bright...sweet, oh--there's pine, I think. But fresh air, and starlight. I had the sensation of mountain air, actually, and flashed to an area east of where I live where there are pines and flowers and the air smells like heaven should.

 

Then there were spicy undertones. And it played back and forth in a complicated sort of dance.

 

I went to search for this unknown scent (because I want more, I do) and was chastened to find it is...not all that available.

 

It lasted a long time on me, had quite a nice throw. I wouldn't have picked up cranberry as a note (but I'm not good on the berries; and maybe I should have known because when my daughter, who adores things like Jester, smelled it, she was all "oooh, nice!!!"). I would never have thought of pine as a note I'd like much either.

 

But somehow this one is like a dance in the fresh mountain air. So, so, lovely.

[edenssixthday]

Skadi - I keep hearing about how wonderful this scent is and how it’s in such high demand, so even though I don’t like evergreen/pine type scents, I figured I should test this one out. It is really spectacular! It’s not something I would choose to wear as a perfume, but when it comes to duplicating the scent of a cold, wintery forest, it hits the nail on the head! It’s got a touch of brightness, as well, that reminds me a bit of Yuletide, only not so in-your-face. The tiniest drop of this will last for at least 4 hours on me, which is great staying power on my dry skin. It doesn’t have much throw, but when I am wearing it, I can’t stop sticking my wrist in my face because it smells so crisp and piney. I think people who love the pine/evergreen scents really would like this one. It’s an exquisite blend, even if it doesn’t match my particular taste in personal fragrance.

[the_cat_goddess]

Wow! Skadi is absolutely beautiful. It perfectly embodies the feeling of standing in a northern woods with snow everywhere, yet its warm and comfortable. It brings back images of childhood.

 

I received this from a very generous LJer who sent me sniffies of several rare blends. This is the one I was least hopeful for, and it's actually the greatest (the others were Red Moon, SN Georgia Peach, and a full imp of CT LIX). I MUST have more of this!!!

[sofiaviolet]

In the imp: I smell wintry trees.

 

On me, wet: It's pretty strong. There's a strange sweetness to the pine, maybe berries.

 

On me, dry: A Christmas tree. The berries are present and discordant.

 

Verdict: I like Talvikuu better for when I want to smell like a Christmas tree.

[fairy]

Skadi is lovely. A beautiful snowy morning. It reminded me a lot of Snow White but with a little pine kick

[kraken]

In the Imp: Very piney with a hint of something else, something sweet, but not the berries. I don't know what makes up "snowy" notes, but it must be that. It's not all pine.

 

Initial Wet: Still very piney. No sweetness or hint of any snowy scents. It reminds me of a Winnie The Pooh scratch-n-sniff book I had when I was a kid. The 100 Acre Woods was my favorite thing to sniff and this smells just like it.

 

Initial Dry: The pine has mellowed just a bit and is like a crisp winter forest. It's rather pleasant, but I'm not sure it's something I want to smell like.

 

Drier Dry: The berries come through and waffle between sweet and going sour on me. It unfortunately smells like a holiday pine candle now.

 

I wanted to love this by the description, but it just doesn't work out on me. I love evergreen and woodsy scents, but this is just too much. The throw is huuuge and is just not me.

[steffanina]

Skadi-

 

In Bottle: Pine and berries, just like it says!

 

Wet: Pine and berries on my skin too, very nice!

 

Dry: This is a lovely scent. Pine and berries and it really feels like a wintry scent!

 

Overall: I really like!

[supremegoddessofall]

In bottle: Strongly pine and cold.

 

On me: Pure pine needle. Not just pine - this is actually pine needle. It's very crisp, but not quite as cold as in the bottle - it's a bit warmer, here. Still not getting any berries. It's a little too sharp for me.

[filigree_shadow]

I've had a decant of this forever, and I never wear it because whenever I look at it I think, "It's just going to smell COLD on me, like all the snowy blends do." My skin is notoriously bad with the snowy/cold blends, and they all pretty much smell the same on me.

 

I finally decided to give up my decant of Skadi, so I thought I'd write a review of it before putting it up for swap. Imagine my intense surprise when I discovered that it DOESN'T smell like every other cold/snowy blend!! Holy crap! I actually smell something other than cold in this!

 

It smells like sweet berries, a hint of dry pine, and a very light undercurrent of a crisp chilly breeze blowing through. It's lovely!

 

I won't be giving up this decant after all, and I'm thrilled to death that I've finally found a snowy blend that isn't entirely snowy on me! Of course, getting more of it at this point is probably not going to happen, but I will treasure my decant.

[ghosttown]

I just received Skadi through a lovely swap and I was so excited because I've been wanting this forever! This blend is the perfect mixture of cold notes and warm, fruity sweetness. It's very chilly and piney, but not a masculine scent. It reminds me of a more feminine version of Mistletoe. On me, Mistletoe is all pine and fir, pure tree if you will. Skadi comes from that family, but has a touch of sugar and berries to make it a more complex scent. I will be keeping this with me and wearing it often, praying she comes back someday before my bottle is gone.

[funkmoppet]

Oh, I knew I'd love this. I adore pine, adore the colder season blends - and I'm thrilled to get the chance to try this.

 

Wet, this is a sweet, delicious blast of pine. Utterly GLORIOUS pine - this is sweet and real and unlike any of the pine notes in other blends I've tried (which I also love, but this..).

 

I'm not familiar enough with the snow/slush notes to be able to pick any out, but what does happen when it dries is the berries. They're tart and they just warm the whole blend up, taking on a spicier edge the longer it's on the skin. It goes so gracefully from cold outdoor pine to warmed indoor berries and spice, the pine always lingering.

 

So much love for this. It pretty much does everything I LOVE about the colder season blends. Completely comforting.

 

I'll be treasuring this half imp.

[LadyBug]

ooooh yummy! I like this! It reminds me of some of the other winter scents but this is sharp and cold. I like the slight berry scent too! Everything about this is wonderful! I must have a whole bottle!!

[alicia_stardust]

The thing I love most about Skadi is that the berries and pine cut right to the heart of the slushy snow note. I love the presence of the snow, no doubt about it, but I find that the berries and pine create a nice counterbalance to the aquatic qualities of the snow. This has a perfect duality and a perfect frosty winter goddess feel to it. I will cherish every last drop.

[DangerInRed]

In the vial, this smells like it will be a nice frosty berry scent.

 

When it goes on my skin, however, the pine really comes out. It is sweetened a bit by the berries, but I do not like the pine.

 

If you are a big fan of cold pine scents though, this would be the perfect scent for you!

[cranberry]

I’ve put off testing this as I just have a tiny drop. I got Old Moon today, along with the Snow Storm, so I figured it was time to do a comparison.

 

This is a gorgeous scent. Once applied it smells of snow, ice, and pine, but with sweetness. There’s something vaguely spicy here, maybe a drop of cinnamon or clove along with the berry. This is absolutely gorgeous. To me, this is becoming more of a snow-spice scent than a snow-berry scent. It’s almost like the cinnamon in the old-school Hamadryad. This is really interesting, the spices are still pretty strong, but there’s something fruity there – maybe it’s the berry reappearing, but it almost smells like apple cider, or the mulling spices used to make apple cider. The pine and snow are pretty much gone now, but if you concentrate you can still smell them faintly in the background.

 

Beautiful, I’m so glad that I got to try it.

[coldandsleepy]

This is another scent from the lovely package dpoulsen21 sent me for co-winning the Tell Me Something Amazing contest.

 

In the vial: heeey, I'm in a pine forest. With cinnamon?

 

On me, wet: ... a creamy, fruit filled forest.

 

On me, dry: the forest and its fruits persist. Mmmm. Persistence.

 

Throw and duration: moderate throw, good duration. I applied about six hours ago, and it's still as strong as when I first put it on. Nice!

 

Overall: Skadi is in the same family as a lot of other wintery pine scents. On first sniff, it really reminded me a lot of Old Moon. But the big difference with Skadi is the fruit... I don't get berries from this. I get some sort of bright red extremely juicy fruit... a fruit punch sort of fruit. That with the creamy tone really make Skadi something special and delicious for me.

 

And, okay, I just like pine scents a lot anyway, so it's not surprising that this is a win for me.

[Andrea912]

Disappointed. This does not smell like snow; it smells like a Christmas pine tree, which might make me think of snow, but that's about it. The pine note is overpowering!

[VioletChaos]

in the imp: bright, sweet pine needles

 

wet on skin: same.

 

dry down: the pine fades back a bit and a beautiful deep amber emerges.

 

in all: this is certainly a scent of the winter forest- all resinous and full of pine. if you long for that first cold snap of a long winter, this is the scent for you.

 

 

[Schmoozy]

Wow.

This is the ultimate winter scent. The snow note is so crisp and cold and you can feel it cut right through you. It sends shivers right up my spine, as it is so cold.

There is a hint of frost rimmed berries, but they hover so carefully in the background, giving dimenson to the snow. I adore pine, so when it leaps out of the bottle when first applied is welcoming and familiar. It doesn't last long though as the cold crisp scent of snow bears down and overpowers all.

This is simply beautiful.

[Seismogenic]

I was initially hesitant when given the option to try this at a MnS, because I knew full well that it was OMGRARE and that I'd probably never sniff it again. I gave in to the fact that it smelled awesome in the bottle, though. And fast forwarding a few months, Persephone76, who suggested I try in the first place, brought a decant to Will Call! Thank you so much! It was unexpected awesome on her part, and I hope I can enact that kind of awesome back, or on someone else, at some point.

 

In the imp: Cold snowy woods with the lightest touch of something fruit-sweet.

 

Wet on skin: The evergreen smell is amazingly fresh, almost like the snow and ice notes are preserving the needles from drying out. The sweet note has faded a little, or maybe blended into the ice and tree.

 

Drydown: Freshly dry is much the same as wet. The throw seems pretty good so far. At one hour in, the specific evergreen scent is melding a little more into the snow notes, and it's getting a little sweeter again.

 

Five hours later: Still going strong! It's as if the snow keeps falling on those trees, because the evergreens are still in there, but the snow's presence is dominant over them now. The sweet note is still there, but subtle. I want to say that the kind of sweet is the berry specifically, but it's subtle enough that it's hard to tell.

 

End of the day: There's still a little sweet snow lingering on my wrists.

 

Overall: This is a beautiful scent, and I totally understand why it's so popular and so coveted. This is winter at its snowiest, but also most peaceful, rather like a fairy-tale-perfect night before Christmas with snow and pine and stars. The snow in this smells so real that I believe in the cold, even though it's definitely not cold out where I live, but the other notes keep the cold from being overwhelming or threatening. Like others in this thread have said, this is the comforting part of winter. If anything, it's a way I can get all the best parts of winter here in Riverside without actually having to be cold. I'm extremely glad to have this decant, and extremely grateful to Persephone76 for sending it. Thank you again!

[TheOneTheyCallLuna]

This is the one scent I have been dying to try since I started sniffing around here a few years ago. This blend has had a lot of hype to live up to, but it manages not to disappoint. I'm getting a lot less snow here than I thought that I would. In fact, I'd have to say that I'm not getting any snow or slush notes at all. Just fresh pine and spicy berries...which makes me think that I now need to go try Hollyberry and Mistletoe to see how it matches up. This definitely reminds me of winter, though, and it smells gorgeous. I hope it gets resurrected someday!