Sunyashniki

[Seajewel]

The sunflower is the national flower of Ukraine, a symbol of the life-affirming power of the sun that has, in recent days, become a fierce symbol of determination and resistance. This is a scent as bright as the vibrant petals of the sunflower, and as warm and joyous as the sun: flaxen amber, golden musk, neroli, lemon leaf and rind, frankincense, and sweet cedar.

[zipegs]

This scent isn't quite what I was expecting, but I'm enjoying it nevertheless! It's a nice fresh floral to my nose—the amber is a nice brightening touch but pretty subtle to my nose. Definitely reminds me of sticking my nose in a sunflower! It does fade pretty quickly on my skin, though—like a brief flash of sunshine.

[theshapeshifter]

A clean, sunshiny floral that's not punch-you-in-the-face FLOWERS, since there are so many elements working together here. It was quite subdued on my skin and (as zipegs noted above) it didn't have a ton of staying power - but I really like it!

[Andalei]

This is more floral, slightly soapy than I was expecting, but I like it! There's a vague spicy floral note to it and less amber (or maybe a different amber than I'm used to) than I was hoping for. Unlike the two reviewers above, I've actually gotten over 8 hours of staying power from it. It has faded, but is still quite noticeable.

[hlinspjalda]

At first sniff it's a well-blended solar scent, no outstanding notes, just the idea of sun on non-sweet florals with a metallic overtone.

 

Wet on my skin it goes to bitter citrus (not in a bad way, kind of like geranium) with a bit of cedar and metal.

 

I was interrupted during the testing and was not able to detect the scent early in drydown, but it matured to white (presumably that's what "flaxen" means here) amber with some cedar and light dry citrus.  Very little sillage, and not as warm and sweet as I'd hoped, but white amber is a note of love so I'm good with it.

 

After a few hours it goes soft and dry-grassy.  It lasts about as long as a white amber scent usually does on me.

[splendidissima]

It's a nice bright sunny floral! I don't do a lot of florals, but this was a good cause, and it didn't have any of my Death Notes, so I wanted to try.

 

It really does smell golden - warm and bright and well-blended. I can't pick out many of the individual notes, but, again, I also don't do a lot of florals! It's very pretty, though. Like being outside in a springtime flower meadow. Very low throw so far, though - after about an hour - I can still smell it if I put my nose right next to my arm.

 

eta: my mom (who loves BPAL scents and all the charity work the Lab does, but is still kind of a BPAL newbie - she's been trying all of mine!) loves this one. (She likes big happy florals and especially tropical notes, so far.) This was her fav of all the Ukraine scents - I actually gave her my bottle to take home and then ordered a new one for me!

Edited August 3, 2022 by splendidissima
adding my mom's comments!

[Shadowdawn]

After a BPAL break that went on for too long I got this one more on principal than actually for the notes. Since I normally totally avoid blends with a lot of the listed notes (looking at you Neroli) this is not something I really knew what to expect of because I don't smell these combos a lot. 

So wow, um, yeah. Wild! To me anyway. It is floral but far, far from a single note predominantly floral thing, and not a pure "white floral" by any means. It is a little heavy. Honestly it does smell like expensive department store perfume, especially on the drydown. Like perfume that smells like ~perfume~, if that makes sense. It's quite elegant and somewhere between an older classic and newer brightness/freshness. 

To be completely honest I think this is making me think that Chanel (the OG eau de parfum) was lightened up a tad with a summery, golden vibe that does evoke sunflowers actually. It does carry the whole "old timey perfume" heaviness that makes me think of the 20s and 30s (and for some reason Chanel No5), but then it also really makes me think of summertime breezes in an almost topical kind of way. It is a floral bouquet way too complex and well balanced to pick out any one flower. I was concerned about the addition of leaves as well but there is no hint of greenness to me, thank heavens.

It's a citrus floral in the sense that it feels like "Yeah, this is a perfume", and less like there is a bowl of lemons somewhere with flower petals strewn over it. I'm thinking it's all the musk and amber coming through. That is probably where the old school vibe is coming from as well. There is also something in the combination of sweetness and cedar that smells familiar to me, both from BPAL and other scents, specifically cologne. 

Sticks very close to my skin, for some reason I eat this one up although a heady, strong, old timey floral would usually follow me relentlessly for days. By contrast my skin amps Nightingale like crazy and wearing them together had muted Sunyashniki. I don't know about joy necessarily, but there is a clean element after the drydown. I fear the neroli might be manifesting in its full power, but there is still somehow a tropical note going on. Or maybe summertime in the Mediterranean? I'm settling in on "Chanel, the summer vacation edition" with this one. 

 

Longterm dry down: 

Upon another, completely isolated, day-long wear I have to say.... it both morphs completely, and beautifully, after a full drydown. From first application until the end of the day Sunyashniki stays very light on me, close to the skin, and barely noticeable. I do have to huff my arm to pick it up after twelve hours, but, what lingers is absolutely gorgeous. It goes sweeter, and creamy, on me. All potentially soapy notes, strong florals, old lady spice, etc. completely vanish (possibly due to the lack of a heavily resinous base to fall back on), leaving behind mainly a gorgeous, perfect blend of soft, sweet golden amber and light white musk with the barest breath of petals.  

Edited April 18, 2022 by Shadowdawn

[HerbGirl]

Oh, how lovely. This went on really light and has just been amping itself up over the past 20 minutes, wow. I decided to wait to test this on a Sunday 🙂

This really smells like a super amped up version of Summer's Last Will and Testament and shares similarities with Red Moon '07 (to my nose), both of which I love. Very interesting - it does smell like sunflowers (or marigolds or mums). Very potent, very well blended, very sunny - like hope in a bottle. Love it.

 

And...my throat is reacting to something here, which is interesting. I'm having the same reaction as when I'm in a room of mums or another related flower 😕 Stealth note???

Edited April 17, 2022 by HerbGirl
Mild allergic reaction...

[Beary Strange]

Smells just like sunflowers to me, like when you take a stray petal and rub it between your fingers. All these individual ingredients and I don’t think I can pick apart the notes at this point because my brain had already decided on “sunflowers”. It’s bright, summery, and hopeful. I absolutely love it.

[MamaMoth]

me, a known buffoon, sniffing a perfume that is both named after and inspired by a flower:

 

"wtf??  this smells like a flower??!" 

 

to my credit, those notes suggested it might go a different direction, and i thought it might surprise me like citrine did.  but nope, it's exactly what it says on the tin.  a bright golden flower encapsulated in a vial, petals to stem.  it's actually pretty marvelous, if that's your thing.

[Casablanca]

This reminds me of a sunflower scent I picked up for soap-making, but more complex.

 

Golden, musky amber with tones of oranges and lemons over a base that's a little rustic from cedar and a bit grainy from frankincense. I want to say a golden frankincense--but the whole blend is so suffused with gold, it's hard to separate the individual warm contributors.

 

I also get a little sense of fibrous greenery.

 

Essentially, this is summer in a vial.

[tinyvulture]

A “sunny” blend, with strong notes of musk, cedar, and lemon, all draped in sweet amber. And it does remind me of sunflowers. I think this will be my Summer 2022 scent!

[Lucchesa]

I blind bottled Sunyashniki, which doesn't always go well for me, mainly because I wanted one of the Ukraine scents and this seemed the most "Ukrainey" and the one I had the best chance of wearing often.  It was surprisingly successful.  It's more floral than I expected or usually wear -- definitely a sunny warm yellow in tone.  All the notes here that could be sharp are instead mellow and cooperative: lemon, neroli, frank, cedar.  In fact it's challenging to pick out individual notes, they meld together so seamlessly.  I'm not getting much in the way of musk, and I hope that note develops a little more, but even if it doesn't, this is a wonderfully optimistic sundress blend, and it's going to get a lot of wear this summer.

[biggnerd]

Predominantly powdery musky amber, a little citrus apostrophe from the lemon and neroli, with frank and cedar hanging out way in the background keeping the disparate parts from going awry.

[theredkilt]

This starts off sparkly and aldehydic. As it evolves, i get the citrus notes soaking in the resiny woody base. The blend feels light and shimmering. Imho, it's related to Evil from the RPG line,  but it's more airy, transparent and cheerful. I get a almost sheer light yellow chromatic vibe from wearing this oil.

[puellacaerulea]

For a scent that only has neroli listed as a floral note, this scent feels surprisingly floral, in a bright, sunny way. The combination of the amber, neroli, and citrus notes evokes cheerful and sunny florals. The cedar and frankincense start to peek out more as the scent wears on my skin, adding some more backbone to the scent without losing its golden and light quality. Definitely evocative of the idea of sunflowers.

[zankoku_zen]

Bright orange blossoms and musk. This smells happy and optimistic. Medium throw and wear length.