Yog-Sothoth

[luxuria]

The perfume of eternity in vast, unknowable space. A glittering oil, ephemeral, iridescent, and horrifying in its immeasurable emptiness. This is the scent of air and darkness.

In the bottle: Scent of air and darkness indeed. I can't even describe this; the description is perfect. It's a light scent, but does smell limitless, and a little peppery for some reason.
On my skin: uh..bug spray, vaguely reminiscent of men's cologne. Drat! Damn you, skin!

[coulrophobe]

I'll echo those who thought this smelled like men's cologne/deodorant - this is a fresh, clean masculine blend to my nose. I personally kind of like it, but it is more manly than I usually wear, and a tad soapy.

 

Smelling it from the bottle, there's an odd "cool-air" sensation to my nose - like smelling fresh ozoney air at night, so the "air and darkness" description fits for me. On my skin, though, it warms and sweetens a bit, and while the ozone stays, the airy effect lessens. If I sniff my wrist very closely, I smell a watery, slightly sour note - it smells like how cucumber smells on my skin.

 

It's not a blend I see myself wearing often, but it's good for feeling clean, focused and organized.

[phoefromelsewhere]

I don't know how to describe this. In the bottle it was quite dryer-sheety with a vague otherworldly smell. I dislike the dryer sheet part but otherworldly had me written all over it so I put some on.

 

Air and darkness is bang on. This is walking around in the dark outside passing no scent pockets such as the sun warmed roses cooling down or the pungent night blooming scents. Nada. Just a vague clean smell.

 

During the drydown this is completely soapy on me. Which isn't unpleasant, it's just...soap.

 

This is odd. It's flipping back and forth between vast darkness and space and Ivory soap. Which if you were the philosophical type would be stg akin to everyday existence, really. Perfume wise...hrm, gonna have to try this one out a few more times as I can't seem to make up my mind (and neither can it!)

[Loligo]

It's a fascinating perfume... which does not necessarily mean "good". The very first sniff is like the air in a cave, and I got really excited about the possibility of a cold, wet stony smell. But my skin refuses to let anything stay cold or wet -- soon it turned into a hot, dry, dusty cave, and then I got notes of burning plastic and sweet, dry rot, and now it's settled down into a vaguely unsettling soap/shaving cream smell. If I were writing a horror story set on a space ship, this is exactly the smell I would want to set the mood. But I'm not sure I can see keeping this around for that eventuality!

[OriginalWacky]

Bottle (Imp): Hmm, kinda smells like dryer sheets. Soapy dryer cheets.

 

Just On: Yeah, soapy dryer sheets in the breeze.

 

An hour or two later: More like soap than anything now.

 

Around 6 hours: Some soap.

 

12 hours: A bit of soap.

 

Overall: It's okay, for a dryer sheet scent, but not my type. I wanted to like this one.

 

After reading other reviews: I would have loved to have gotten the sir and darkness, but alas, it wasn't meant to be.

[Janie]

Another review that isn't quite sure how to adequately describe this scent.

 

I'll start by saying it has little throw and stays close. It is sharp without being acrid, light without being ephemeral, fresh without being green.

 

I like it, but I can't see it getting a lot of wear in winter. To me it is a scent to cut through the warm fug of overpowering summer days.

[Blood onmy hands]

Yog-Sothoth was another SiA winner for me, I am happy to report . It's a rather dark scent... reminding me of crisp night air. I can imagine this being heavenly on a guy.

 

When first applied, I was very unimpressed. It smelled like dryer sheets and citrus. It was mostly the citrus sting that was bothering me. But that quickly faded away and Yog-Sothoth reminded me a bit of Brimstone.

 

It smelled like Brimstone did on me in that it smelled like just cooled ash from a forest fire that has been recently rained on. Pine ash and rain. But there's still that cool/clean dryer sheet sort of scent underneath it all. It's a dirty dryer sheet though.

 

Try to imagine this. A forest fire has just been put out by a cool spring rain and the sun is setting behind the trees. The night air and rain is cooling and simmering against the ash. Someone throws in a dryer sheet.

 

Odd. But beautiful. I wish that it lasted longer on me (only about an hour and a half of staying power).

[aidenraine]

Wow, this does smell like dryer sheets.

 

*blink blink*

 

Like those "powder fresh" dryer sheets I used to buy. Maybe Snuggle brand?

I actually coughed when I took a wiff of the Yog.

 

It's kind of soapy as well, like a chemical "fresh" scent. You know how air smells when you walk outside of a building past it's laundry room? That's this scent... laundry.

 

For me it never changed over time. Ooooof. Naughty Yog.

Edited July 26, 2005 by aidenraine

[Penance]

Origin:

 

5mL from LunaSea.

 

First sniff:

 

Well, whaddya know..."the scent of air and darkness" smells like laundry detergent!

 

Horrifying isn't really the word that comes to mind when I smell this. Clean? Absolutely. Comforting? Possibly. Refreshing? Sure. But horrifying? Not unless you find the idea of doing a load of laundry particularly terrifying.

 

I'm not bad-mouthing this, by the way. I actually love the smell of laundry detergent (and the way Yog-Sothoth smells), I just find it amusing how this scent is so wholesome and comforting to me when the description is so intimidating.

 

Wet on skin:

 

Ooh, no more laundry detergent! Now this is a little more intimidating smelling. It's actually earthy on me strangely enough. I smell vetiver very clearly in this...for some reason I'm reminded of Capricorn, but lighter and more airy. This is really interesting: vetiver and something slightly soapy and laundry detergentish in the background. I'd say the best way to describe this would be as dark and earthy with an airy, clean background. Very unusual!

 

Dry down:

 

The "air" and "earth" smells are more blended now. Where before they were clearly distinct, now they seem almost like the same note...a sort of strange soapy air and dirt hybrid that really does smell rather like a forest at night. I really wasn't expecting this from the way Yog-Sothoth smelled in the bottle, but I'm as impressed as I am surprised. This is undoubtedly a strange combination of notes and one that's hard to describe accurately, but at the same time it's beautiful in a way that would be hard to understand without actually smelling it.

 

The bottom line:

 

Very unusual! The notes are a strange combination but they work. This manages to be both clean and dirty at the same time and I really like it!

[Brianne]

In the bottle:

A little like Dirty, only more masculine smelling

 

On me:

At first, this smells like a man's cologne. It's pretty strong, a little musky, and has some unindentified bite to it. It does make me think of Dirty, but also Cool Water. After a little while, it's still pretty cologne like me, I detect musk and it's coming off as a warm "empty" scent. There is something spicey in there too, but it's also sweet. Very strange.

This scent also has a lot of throw, I keep smelling it, even though it's only on one wrist, and my wrist is nowhere near my face.

This scent is so hard to describe. It's somewhat clean, somewhat airy, somewhat musky, somewhat spicey, somewhat empty and all together hard to pin down in words.

 

Final note:

Even in the later stages of this scent... I can't figure out how to describe it. It's very pleasant, it's actually rather comforting and I think it would smell fabulous on a guy. I plan on wearing this myself, but I also plan on making my fiance wear it lol.

[Muppetk]

This is interesting...

 

Wet: It reminds me of Ace of Swords... Light & airy, but at the same time of men's aftershave (juniper maybe?) with a hint of light spice, like carnation not cinnamon, and as it's drying a wee hint of .. pine? Something evergreen anyway is coming out.

 

Dry: Carnation spice is fading, leaving mostly aftershave. Still interesting but sooo not me.

[QueenFae]

Definitely the perfect embodiment of air and darkness, and just as difficult to describe. It's light and wispy, but more on the earthy or incensey side than anything else. I can smell perhaps vetiver and oakmoss? Who knows. It's a trapped in a dank cave with a sexy man type of smell, if that makes any sense at all.

[slugbait]

To me, this would go into the same category as Niflheim (strong! with icy floral) and Hurricane (medium with summer rain smell), with Yog Sothoth being the lightest of the three.

 

It is airy, but dark, and does smell somewhat like dryer sheets. Dryer sheets of doom! Heh. It has a subtle hint of vetivert with a fruity top note lurking about. This does portray emptiness very well. It gets a little soapy on me, but has a masculine/men's aftershave feel on the boy. The smell stays the same from the wet stage to the dry down to completely dry.

 

This is nice, but very similiar to some catalog scents I already love. It’s good to know that once this is gone, I have Niflheim and Hurricane as back ups. My fiancé happily claimed Yoggy.

Edited August 3, 2005 by slugbait

[Dark Seraphim]

Reminded me a lot of Azathoth, only not quite as sterile. It was more lemony and reminded me of clean sheets rather than a hospital. On skin, it was pretty much the same, but I will say that this scent was by far the longest lasting on me! WOW! It wasn't too strong on me, but it lasted for over fifteen hours, and that was just a little drop.

 

Excellent scent! Loved it.

 

ETA: It's perfect in the burner. Strongest scent I've ever burnt! Just wow!

 

Oh: 10/10

Edited September 6, 2005 by Dark Seraphim

[fallow deer]

Well, it's come to my last SiA review and it's the difficult review of the bunch. In other words, I don't like Yog-Sothoth at all.

 

Vetiver = freaked out claustrophobia for me, and Yog-Sothoth is pure vetiver to my nose. It's not the wet vetiver that I can sometimes tolerate, but the sinus-scrapingly dry sort.

 

It's dark, yes, but dark-in-a-tiny-dusty-cupboard-under-the-stairs kind of way that I really don't like.

 

Nothing glittering here, I'm afraid, and I'm getting the heebie-jeebies.

 

[hangingfire]

Woo! My first BPAL review. Thanks to ebayer phoenixrisingdolls, who is an expert packer of delicate things, and who threw in a delicious-smelling soap as well.

 

In the bottle: slightly fruity? A little of the "laundry detergent" others are reporting, although it reads more as a kind of White Shoulders floral to me.

 

On: Still getting the fruity; the detergenty aspect seems to be mellowing out. Slightly musky aspect coming through, ever so slightly.

 

Drying down: Swear to god, this smells almost like Chanel No. 5 on me. A little of that, a little of White Shoulders, and a little extra something fruity and "round", for lack of a better word. Tasty. A little old-fashioned, but not too much so. Very elegant and clean -- the olofactory equivalent of Art Deco design.

 

I am very happy with this.

Edited August 23, 2005 by hangingfire

[Firewaver]

This scent really surprised me. In the bottle, it's sparkling and dark, but light at the same time. It's kind of a tense smell, crackling with the energy of the unknown.

 

On my skin it was a lovely, clean scent. Not too soapy, and not sweet at all. Honestly, like the others, I'm having trouble describing the scent. It's very familiar but in a way that I can't put a finger on. It smells like.. the way I feel after stepping out of the shower; clean, refreshed and revitalized.

 

I really love it, I find that this scent relaxes me, I plan on wearing it to bed tonight.

 

All in all, not what i expected from Yog Sothoth, but in a very good way. This oil exceeded my expectations and has a high place in the pecking order among my bpal.

[dreadeddragon]

In the bottle: Like everyone has said, it's easier described as what it's not. Yet I think I can sniff out some vetiver in there, maybe some ozone, it really is like clean linen with vetiver sprinkled on top.

 

First on: It's a clean crisp scent with a slight earthiness to it, from what I think is still vetiver. It's like midnight in a swamp, but one that smells of laundry. If that makes sense.

 

Drydown: The vetiver is stronger, but only in that I can still smell it, and the whole scent in general is darker. It's lost the freshness scent to an extent as well. It makes me think of some plantation in Louisiana at night. I'll have to wear it on it's own one day to see if I want to keep it.

[malabar]

I got a bottle of this and a bottle of Nyarlathotep at the same time, and at the start, I couldn't tell the difference: both have that ozone-air quality on top with incense underneath. Yog-Sothoth is stronger on the incense, though. I thought I could smell myrrh and possibly olibanum. It seems fairly masculine to me. I put some on my husband and it made him smell fantastic!

[aedes]

I definitely understand where the "dryer sheet" reputation came from, but I still like it quite a bit, as does the boy. It's clean, elevated; a piercing white star with slightly yellow-tinged edges, against a purple-black sky. It has a lot of throw, which is saying a lot, since most BPAL scents stay right on the skin for me. It's distant, but faintly warm, and alien. I definitely smell the ozone, and maybe a small bit of a warm, dark, resinous scent. I think I might have to order a bottle of this! *sniff* it's just entrancing!!

 

addendum: And it gets warmer and warmer as time passes. I went to bed last night with a gorgeous, soft, snuggly scent on my wrists. Now I know why people recommended it to me as a comfort scent! It's still there the next morning, too. My bottle-buying cherry has been broken! Yog-Sothoth is the first. Wheee!

[Bard]

Is there a scent that accompanies cold, cruel, malice? If there is, I believe it must be bottled and labeled Yog-Sothoth. I would like to describe—not merely how this smells, for the reviews that came before mine have done an excellent job describing it's rather other-worldly nature—but how this felt as I wore it. I do this because I find the shift in mood rather alarming.

 

Application - Seemingly innocuous. The scent of bubble bath, or dryer sheets as others have put it. Filmy. It's barely noticeable to my nose. I slather on extra in order to do a proper review. I am exchanging messages with friends, trying to be supportive of one friend in particular.

 

30 minutes - The scent is stronger. I'm begining to feel like emptiness as others have put it. Vastness. There's a certain amount of delicious power to it. A friend is soliciting me for an art critique. I withold it from her teasingly. She asks if I am going to make her beg. I tell her I like it when she begs, but all the same, I don't make her beg. I'm still trying to be supportive of my one friend.

 

1 hour - Pure air and darkness, the scent is even stronger now. I'm picking up traces of deeper smells but I can't place them. There is a hollowness growing inside me. A conversation has shifted to relationships. I'm starting to feel rather cynical about relationships in general. "People using one another for their own gains. An equitable trade of need. Isn't that what relationships are all about?"

 

1 hour 30 minutes - There is an acrid curl of smoke in the vastness of space. It's like a disease, a taint, fouling the emptiness. Still focused on relationships, I am thinking: "what relationship isn't by nature bourne of pure selfish or totally dysfunctional?" I am feeling total contempt for my fellow human beings. A cat tries to jump on the bed only it misses and falls on the floor. Stupid cat.

 

2 hours 30 minutes - I can smell something like vetivert in this now. I'm not sure it is vetivert, but it's gone beyond darkness or air now into a cloying resiny smoke that fills my senses. Something is scraping at my insides with a dull knife. I am beginning to think, quite literally that it might be an interesting experiment to peel the skin off someone like an apple. Except for the bleeding and possibly the screaming, which would be troublesome.

 

At which point something in my brain shouted, "for the love of God, wash it off." Which I did, and applied something else.

 

I confess, I most assuredly have a dark imagination, but I'm not the sort of person who idly contemplates torturing others. Something in Yog-Sothoth brings it out in a steady, remorseless torrent. I'm quite startled by the way I felt while wearing this, and yet intrigued. It might merely be coincidence, but it might be something deeper.

 

 

Yog-Sothoth Haiku,

What pity could stir

The uncaring mind of space

Vast, bloodless, and cold?

[cranberry]

When I first smelled Yog-Sothoth, all I could think was that the description fit it perfectly. What an airy, empty, smooth scent. Glitering and cool. I liked it but I just wasn't sure. I couldn't get past the description and wasn't sure where to go with a review. Later, it reminded me of Comme des Garcons 2 - but not inky. They have very similar qualities - like a strange, wacked out floral.

 

I've let it sit and since have gotten bottles of Buck Moon and today Numb. When I first tried Numb I though - this must be Yog-Sothoth. So just now I'm trying them arm by arm.

 

Both Buck Moon and Numb are relatives - close relatives. Yog has Buck Moon's musky sweetness and Numb's cool violet. Yog somehow melds it all together and captures air and darkness, coldness and warmth. Amazing.

 

It's going to be fabulous for hot weather and I like how it has aged. Bravo!

 

edited to add: hangingfire, now that you mention it, I also get hints of Chanel No. 5 - must be aldehydes and florals - interesting!

Edited September 17, 2005 by cranberry

[maewitch]

This scent is a complete mystery to me. I can honestly say that I've never smelled anything like it.

 

At first sniff it seems almost overwhelmingly masculine...it smells like man, and lightnening, and rain and metal. Yet despite this quality, it's not at all off-putting, but actually comforting. I noramlly run from ozone-type scents, as they go overly masculine and sharp on me. But strangely, this is so much more blatantly manly, yet completely wearable.

 

It does have that balance point between faint sweetness and very clean briskness that I found in Dirty, but much more complex and mutable.

 

This may sound weird, but I think this is something I might wear to bed if I was sleeping alone and feeling a little vulnerable in the house. It's just so evocative of protective and powerful male, that it reaches into some primal part of my brain and soothes the lingering fears.

 

EDIT: And now the fabric softener powdery sweetness. Too bad...off to swap with you!

Edited September 18, 2005 by maewitch

[AliBabble]

i got an imp of this recently as part of a trade (thanks latzoni!) - because i love h.p. lovecraft so very much...and i wanted to add to my SIA collection (which only consists of Mi Go and Miskatonic, both of which i love..) but alas: when i wear yog sothoth, it is just so "men's cologne"-y. damn. it is sharp, metallic and unfortunately not very pleasant. i guess it will remain some sort of lovecraftian relic, 'cause i doubt i'll wear it much....

[brownbear]

This one really does fit the description. It's very airy, clean, cool, fresh, clear, powerful, it's nice. I don't think of this as being a man's cologne, but I bet it would smell good on a man. I'm getting a tiny bit of a bitter citrus in here and a lot of clean laundry. Not sure how much I'm going to wear it though.