Urd

[donnatron]

Muscadine, black and red patchouli, cereus and nag champa.

Imp: Grapey. Very, very grapey. In fact, it kind of reminds me of Midnight Kiss without the musk and the cocoa.

Wet: So very, very grapey. I can smell a hint of my beloved patchouli in the background.

Dry: Just sweet grapes. There's a hint of the nag champa and the patchouli, but otherwise? Grape. Is that the muscadine? I don't know. It's not unpleasant, but it doesn't have the oomph that I was expecting.

Throw: Moderate.

Overall: I don't know. I'll hang onto the imp because I have a sense that while this isn't my favourite, there's something weird about this that will have me wanting to smell like Urd every so often. Edited October 19, 2008 by Shollin

[Coldfire]

Imp: ooooo the patchouli

Wet on me: lovely earthy patchouli

Drying Down: The Nag Champa comes out to

play with the patchoulis

Dry: Lovely Nag Champa and Patchouli. Earthy,

warm and intoxicating. The love! Keeping!

[annerqm]

Got this as a frimp. Based on the description and notes, I doubt I’d have selected this on my own, but after reading the reviews I was intrigued. And I like fig so I thought I might like grape.

 

Imp: Ugh. I’m scared. Sometimes to my nose, wet patchouli has a tinge of dog sh!t, and I got a bit of that from Urd in the Imp – so unfortunate.

 

The grape smelled VERY sweet, more like a grape-flavored lollypop than fruit. The notes are very separate & individual – I would get a hit of the dirty patch, a hit of the grape candy, and…repeat. The notes were very distinct, taking turns in my nose.

 

I’m a bit worried now about trying Urd, but decide to trust the lab and the great reviews -- so I slathered it on!

 

Wet: Whew! Much better. The grape and patchouli are starting to blend, and the dirty/sh!tty note in the patch is fading fast. The grape is starting to mellow as well.

 

Drying: Nicer and nicer. The grape is getting that musty-concord type of vibe, instead of grape candy. The patch is lightening up it's all becoming a beautiful blended incense. It’s much more difficult to discern the individual notes. The grape is still distinct, but perfectly paired with the other notes.

 

Dry: Oh, my freaking God -- YUM. Mellow, mildly smoky, musty, a bit powdery, smooth, incense-y, and oh, those dark, dusky sweet grapes – all of this, but it’s still subtle and elegant. I smell like my favorite independent record stores circa 1990. I really, really love this – which is so interesting, considering my first impression.

 

This could be my first big bottle. Thank you, thank you, thank you for this frimp, BPAL!

[Delirium1009]

In bottle/imp: Patchouli and something a bit sweeter and lighter lingering above.

 

Immediately on skin: This smells like smoky and fruit with a little bit of flowers thrown in. The patchouli is odd in this; usually it’s very gritty and earthy on me, but here it smells like dry, woody smoke.

 

After a little while: The smokiness settles into more of a dry, earthy note as this dries on my skin. It’s a nice balance between the patchouli notes and muscadine. It’s sort of dry and earthy with the berry/grape scent underneath and a little bit of florals blending in.

 

Overall Impressions: This scent is oddly appealing to me. I think it’s that wonderful muscadine note which I’ve fallen in love with outside of bpal. However, I’m not a fan of patchouli, so the amount of it here is sort of turning me off. But at the same time the mix of gritty/sweet is attractive. I’ll keep the imp to see if I’ll wear it, but I don’t know if I will.

[Lethran]

In bottle: Sweet Nag champa over patchouli. Eau d’hippy. I’m not sure what cereus is meant to smell like, but the Muscadine is also vaguely grape bubble gum like. Wet: Mostly grape over the other elements. Dry: All grape.

[hlinspjalda]

In the vial: Sharp dark patchouli, mmmm.

 

Wet: A delicious floral over a thick slathering of patchouli, reading dark and delicious.

 

Half an hour: Patchouli but somehow deeper, spicier, as if cloves had been added. Atop that, a dark floral, sharp yet inexplicably sweet. Wow.

 

One hour: There's something about this that smells very south Asian, like an incense at an Indian food store maybe. I like it a lot -- dark, sharp, sweet, thick, heavy, almost soporific.

 

Two hours: Still delicious, strong, dark, sharp, sweet, all at once.

 

Three hours: Chewy. That's the word. This scent is chewy. Omm nomm nomm.

 

Five hours: More patchouli than anything else now, but still with that south Asian fillip.

 

I may need more of this!

[rayvn1]

Sweet, light floral-ish scent. When fully dry there's a fruitiness to it also. Pretty, but it's going to a better home than mine.

[crebbsgirl]

WTF Grape Kool-aid? As it dries, the grape sugary smell calms down and there's a smoky goodness to this but unfortunately it doesn't last. Midway through the drydown, there is a musty stage that seems to stick around. The patchouli and nag champa can't save this one for me.

[voodoocatwoman]

Oddly interesting... or is it interestingly odd?

 

This starts out smelling like mouth watering grapes, tangy, sweet and cool. It quickly turns to grape candy and takes on a weird synthetic smell that has a very sharp edge.

[zankoku_zen]

Urd started as a smoky floral, and now has just debased herself to a floral patchouli.

 

...

 

It makes me sad, it does.

[moggie23x]

This scent put me off at first. When i opened the imp, the thought that came to my mind was that it smelled like manure and jelly beans. This struck me as a bit bizzare, but i decided to try it as i know scents change once they are on.

 

On, the manure tinged earthiness disappeared for me, and i was left with a sweet, yet dry scent that i rather love. I look forward to seeing how this scent is going to morph through out the day.

[Avery]

 

I just love Urd. I went through the imp I ordered in just a few days (and I´m one who can usually stretch an imp for MONTHS), so I knew I needed a bottle. I wear her all the time now. Somebody upthread wrote that this scent is "chewy" and I can get behind that descriptor. I never liked patchouli until I met BPAL´s patch, and now I just love it-- I don´t know the difference or why but I *never* get the dirty hippy smell that I previously associated with it. This scent has a bit of a hippie vibe, but it´s more like earth goddess than woodstock. The scent is a bit harsh on first application--strident mixing of the "grape" (muscadine?) patchouli and nag champa, but it quickly settles into itself and as it dries (and dry) becomes one of the most mouth-watering delectable scents I´ve ever had the pleasure to wear. The nag champa and muscadine do give a musty (in a good way) grape-y incense vibe, harnessed with the earthy chewy patchouli that makes it just feel warm and cozy. I don´t know why, but between the grape incense and the earth goodness (I don´t know how else to put it... it doesn´t smell like earth or dirt) I get a very strong mental image of coconut husks. It feels, at least on my skin, like there´s coconut tying all of this together. Which I LOVE, especially since the straight-up coconut scents have not worked out on my skin (they sing too, too sweet). I have a 5ml now, and see another in my future. I´m wearing her today and can´t stop sniffing myself. I also already got one strong compliment from someone who asked what my perfume was called and said that they LOVED it. I know I do.

 

YUM!

[catattack]

Imp: Sweet, earthy, sticky

Wet: Medicinal and earthy. Very antiseptic on my skin. I'm not getting grapes at all. Somehow, this combo of scents is not playing nicely on my skin. It's beginning to smell like PVC. Huh? Vinyl-blow-up innertubes at the local pool?

Drydown: PVC and sticky resin.

Overall: I know I like the notes, they just didn't blend well on my skin. It smells horrible on me.

[tajana]

Oh dear. I expected incensey goodness, but instead got nauseatingly sweet grape candy and a high, sour, sharp, floral powder. As it starts to dry down it gets even mustier and stays rather grapey. I really like patchouli but it's just not blending well with anything else in this particular blend. Not for me. On the bright side, it faded down fast so I didn't wash it off, and after an hour I noticed that it smelled much nicer: rich, earthy, glorious patchouli with a sweet touch of purpley grape. If I could skip the opening stage, I would definitely keep this.

Edited June 15, 2009 by tajana

[MamaMoth]

Dear sweet Urd, where have you been all my life? *waggles eyebrows*

 

I have a committed love of patchouli, and I was really in a tizzy to smell Urd.... and surprise of surprises, it not only lived up to my expectations, but it exceeded them.

 

Muscadine really is an inspired choice to combine with patchouli, as it is kind of like the grape's bohemian cousin. It has a very earthy taste and smell. I live in the Southern US, where muscadines are very prevalent. In many cases people go out and pick them from wild vines and make homemade preserves or wine from them. I have some very fond memories of my dad's muscadine wine, so Urd vaulted itself straight into my heart.

 

The nag champa just added to the incensey feel of the patchouli. I'm not familiar with cereus.

 

Urd is like.... patchouli, all jazzed up. Patchouli in a deep maroon dress, split up to the thigh, drinking homemade wine. It's Rich and sweet and earthy and just... yum. I get a panicky feeling when I think of ever being without it.

Edited September 14, 2009 by MamaMoth

[Xanon]

This scent did weird things on me.

Wet was all patchouli and grapes. Sweet grapes.

Dry down started to amp the nag champa above all the other notes. A little upsetting as I think that nag champa smells like hippies.

After an hour I was still amping the nag champa, but close to my skin it was all fruity grapes and patchouli. It was interesting to have a near dual scent on my skin, but not something I would want all the time.

 

Overall it's not a favorite. The throw was good. Had it actually thrown the whole scent this would probably be rated higher from me. Had some serious lasting power, about 5 hours.

[symphonyinsilence]

I had to wear this twice to fully appreciate it. I love incense scents so I got lured by the nag champa note. Never tried patchouli before so I can't comment. I love wine, but don't really like grapes or the smell of them so I was disappointed that for the first couple of hours, it smells fruity. Just when I was starting to give up, it reminded me of my old primary school, haha. Well, okay walking to the school. I was there very recently and it still has the same smell. Flowers. Frangipani, maybe? I'm probably a weirdo, but I like frangipani for this reason. It's the nag champa, isn't it? Very nostalgic and a little gothic. If only the grapes didn't amp on me. In the end, I decided to give this to my mother who absolutely loves it (she told me it smells like a temple, which it does). It smells better on her than it does on me.

Edited September 18, 2009 by symphonyinsilence

[Dominique]

Gack! I don’t much like patchouli, so I didn’t have high hopes for Urd (it was a frimp), but on me it smells like cheap incense with a light spray of nail polish remover. There’s patchouli, with . . . something else, but seeing as I cannot stand Urd, I’ll be scrubbing it off before I have a chance to smell more.

Edited August 2, 2011 by Dominique

[arsenicsauce]

Urgh, there's a weird sour animal tang to this when it goes on, like cat pee. Something fruity and earthy under it, and that really doesn't help. I'm not familiar with any of the notes except patchouli so I can't pick them out individually, but it has a lot of kick in the wrong way. The cat pee fades but does not go away, and the grapes (?) start amping as time goes on, my least favorite of bpal fruits, and I really don't like any of them much at all. Smelling it was giving me a stomach ache and I washed it off after about half an hour.

[Altaira]

Ripening concord grapes on the vine are one of my favorites smells ever. I was *so* looking forward to this one, it was the first I tried from my imp order. Alas, like arsenicsauce, I am mostly getting a weird sour top note.

 

It smells vaguely floral to me, maybe it's the cereus?

 

I can smell a bit of the other notes underneath the sour smell, but they are not enough to break through. Washed it of after about 10 minutes, it was making me feel queasy.

[Siberia]

This is awesome. At first, I get a strong whiff of Muscadine, which smells like the exquisite perfume of a perfect organic apple or muscat grapes. To me, this is a beautiful, natural scent that doesn't smell like grape candy or jolly ranchers - just the natural perfume of some fruits.

The muscadine dries off quickly, and what I'm left with is all nag champa with a bit of patchouli. The patchouli is definitely there, but it's very subtle. The bonus is that my perfume-hating husband actually likes this one - he's a fan of nag champa. Instant Top 10!

Edited October 21, 2009 by Siberia

[hlemonds]

I really, really enjoy this scent! I'm not always in the mood to smell like incense, but when i am, Urd will most definitely fit the bill. The strongest note on me is the muscadine (this reminds me very much of the grape-y aspect of Midnight Kiss), warmed by the patchouli, and given the smokey incense quality by the Nag Champa. I think the cereus serves to soften the overall effect, making the grape less foody, adding femininity. Definitely bottle worthy, as i particularly enjoy warm incense scents when the weather is cold.

[angelicruin]

This is grape and heavy patchouli on my skin. Not a good combination for me. This one goes back to the swap pile.

[Caerphilly]

Patchouli. I knew it before reading the notes. When i opened the imp there was something that I liked in this, something sweet and fruity. But I don't like patchouli and this is HEAVY patchouli. Definite resin, have to wash this off.

[Tanya]

If you knocked down the wall between a candy shop and a head shop and the aromas of both combined, you would get urd. It's surprizingly nice. It smells too sweet on my skin, but I'll try it as a room scent.