Here We Come A-Wassailing

[zankoku_zen]

Warmth, safety, and succor: soft leather, clove, and smoked cardamom with vanilla bean, roasted apples, dried cranberries, winter rosemary, dried figs, and gingered rum.

[Nepthys]

Of my 4 Yules, this was the faintest when I expected it to be one of the heaviest. It smells like a sweet leathery fig with a bit of clove - nice, but it's such a whisper of a scent that I doubt I will wear it much.This will probably be more of an atmospheric room scent, good for a winter day inside.

[torischroeder9]

I just received this bottle today. Normally I don't review so soon, but I'm too excited to wait. Will revise and update as necessary. 

 

In the bottle: Apples and cranberries on first sniff, followed by rosemary. 

 

On my skin:

 

Wet, the scent initially separates into two layers -- a leathery streak and a cran-apple streak. As it dries, I get wafts of leather, apple, rosemary, and clove. Once it settles, it's predominantly leather and clove -- not unlike Fortuna Restitutrix, though the Yule is rounder and warmer, I'd guess from the fruits. 

 

The throw I get from this is on the shorter side of medium. 

[VictorianLass]

Oh yum!  

 

In the bottle: Apples and fresh greeneries of all sort, but not sharp!

On the skin: Soft clove, warm roasted apples, fig and greens.

Dry down: Soft clove and fig with a dash of leather.

 

Nice and unique. The scent in the bottle reminds me so much of the first room of our local nursery this time of year where all the live wreathes, garlands, etc. are blended together on tables. I just stand in there, sniff and smile.  Holidays are not holidays until I smell that! On my skin it takes a warmer, more fruity and clove scent, but very seasonal.  If I had to bottle up my favourite nursery at Christmastime, it would smell just like this!  

[starbrow]

I expected this one to smell like a sweet cider, so I held off on it until I could skin-test. TOTALLY surprised by what I got out of Wassailing: sharp greens to the point where I swore there was pine floating in the notes somewhere that I had missed. My scribbles from the evening: phantom pine  🌲 ...is that the rosemary? barky leather and herbs, that cardamom is extra green, oof. The blend was very in my face with a leather that was masquerading as a strong (like benching hundreds of pounds strong) pine. Yikes.

 

Missing in action is the vanilla, the mulling fruits, most of the clove, and the gingered rum. Strange, eh? I almost wondered if it was a mislabeled bottle because it was just SO different than what I was expecting. In that sense, I'm glad I got to try it beforehand, because this one ended up being way too strong and aggressively green, and I do like green scents. I had the opposite problem as previous reviews; it was all too much, and I couldn't see myself wearing something like this.

[Missanneshirleyofgg]

This smelled to me like poor little children wondering into a witches cottage for refuge.  This is a gorgeous herbal cider. The rosemary is prominent, and then I smelled a green (not smoked?) Cardamom and apples. It would be a great scent for someone who was looking for an interpretation of cider and yule beverages brewed by a cottage witch (I think she only consumes non GMO children). Very festive, and super interesting.  

[marared]

Fresh on my skin: extremely tart apple and something cool green that is not herbal or planty at all. The leather is waaay down under there if I inhale deeply. It's definitely seasonally appropriate There is a bit of sour playdoh that's similar to what I get from Snake Oil. Not sure what the culprit is, but I suspect it's either the clove or the rum.

 

After about ten minutes, it has definitely gone far too sour for me to enjoy, so it's off to the closet for a few months.

[Casablanca]

Oh, well, this is delicious.

 

I love herbs blended well into a whole, and I get that from the rosemary here. It's fresh and green and pronounced, but not dominant. Warm-cooked apples are the stronger note on my skin.

 

Warm apple mash, fresh rosemary, and cranberries on a soft backdrop of spices and figs. The most potent spice for me is clove.

 

I don't notice any leather, vanilla, or gingered rum.

 

I don't have anything else quite like this, though I'd probably put it next to Lambs-Wool in the box. Festive holiday blend.

[zankoku_zen]

Apple cider, rum, clove, hints of vanilla and something else. This one smells like a mulled apple cider blend. Good throw and wear length.

[doomsday_disco]

Despite the long note list, Here We Come A-Wassailing is mostly about the apple and fig on me. The fig is pretty prominent at first, with the roasted apple not far behind, but eventually, the apple wins out. It reminds me of the apple note from Lambs' Wool (which I adore), but without the spices from that scent. I think it's nice, but I wish my skin had brought out some more complexity from this one! Maybe it just needs more than few days to settle? I'll update if I end up doing a retest with different results.

[Lucchesa]

I wanted Here We Come to be a spiced leather scent with hints of roasted apple, rosemary and fig; without the leather as first listed note, it wouldn't have earned a slot among my Yule decants.  But of course it's a fruit scent; on me the leather was barely apparent, and it was primarily baked apple and fig (I haven't tried Lamb's Wool but the apple note reminded me of Huntress from the Liliths a couple years back).  It lasted quite well on my skin.  This would be delicious as a spiked hot apple cider beverage on a nippy day, and I'm going to add a little rosemary the next time I make an apple crisp, but it's not my kind of perfume. 

[artisjok]

Here We Come A-Wassailing is a morpher, a mutable spirit spreading holiday cheer, even in March amidst a viral crisis. 
I first get a figgy leather (yes! I scream through my satisfied nostrils). Here comes the clove, packing a punch. Then, imperceptibly, the apple is becomes present, “When did you get here?” I can now smell the rum, and the rum outlasts the whole lot of them, except for a bleary-eyed apple and fig, who woke up from a nap in the other room and decided to come back and hang out. 
 

It’s a great holiday scent, if you like apple cider-type scents, and some mighty morphing power (at least from my experience). If it had stayed leather-heavy supported by primarily fig, even just those, with some complexity from the others, I would be clamoring for a bottle. As it is, I’ll likely keep the decant and wear it in the Autumn. 
 

Now, I’m going to dream about a Brown Leather, Fig, & Spiced Rum ménage à trois.... *coughplease*

Leather Fig Sandalwood

Leather Fig Honey

Leather Fig Ambergris

Leather Fig Carnation

Leather Fig Olive Leaf

Edited March 27, 2020 by artisjok

[deadlyves]

This is my perfect Yule scent. Its a surprisingly dry smell, cozy like when you've come in from the cold and finally feel dry and warm again.

 

I actually thought there was pine or fir in this, but the green must be coming from the rosemary. Mostly get that fresh dry green smell, spiced apples, and either the vanilla or leather or both lending a soft warmth. Really I think you can pick out a little bit of everything, but still nicely blended. I love this one!

[fairybites]

I really wanted to love this. I love apples, cranberries, rum, and I like most of the other notes. But this faded so fast, like within 10 minutes! It started off like a delicious boozy cranberry, but then it started to morph into a potpourri like blend when the apple and fig got stronger. I didn't really pick up the leather at all, this was completely foodie on me. The booze note also didn't stick around long.

 

This would have been great, maybe I'll retest this in the future and hopefully it'll behave better. But for now I'm a little bummed.

[tinyvulture]

Pow! Apples and rosemary! In your face! A bold holiday blend that lacks the unpleasant sourness the lab’s apple cider blends sadly take on for me. Instead, these roasted apples have a slightly cinnamony, concentrated apple scent that’s just lovely. The rosemary cuts the sweetness with its soft herbal presence. I’m not picking up any other other notes -- no leather, figs, rum...maybe a touch of cranberries because there is a tartness that doesn’t seem to come from the apples. Vibrant and cheerful, I will wear this all holiday season.

[Cali]

Was wiiishing this would be strong, spice, and everything holiday-y nice, but this is mostly a very quiet apple and fig on me. Excuse me while i go cry.