Scarecrow

[themerrybaker]

An agricultural gargoyle. Though he is the Guardian of the Crops and Keeper of the Fields, his visage is still the stuff of nightmares. The scent of a hot wind blowing through desolate, scorched, barren fields.

I was surprized by how sweet Scarecrow is, but this adds interest to the grassy undertone. Scarecrow is one I always wanted to try and am glad I did.

In summary, it is fresh and light ( a la Dorian & Whitechapel) and would be good as part of the summer rotation. Scarecrow would also be fantastic on a guy.

[Lari]

So what I'm mostly getting out of this is the scent of having spent a hot September afternoon playing at the town harvest festival, when somebody fell badly and broke something and everybody had to rush to the emergency room. So you're standing in the hospital, and you still smell like sun and grass and hay, but all around you are these smells of cleanser and disinfectant.

 

I'm not making this up. That's what I get from this scent.

 

Wet, there's grass, and there's… ozone? Something else. It's really got an industrial-cleaning-product smell to it, something kind of metallic and vaguely hospital-y, that grass keeps wafting through. But there's a really acrid scent lurking at the back that I think is going to take this one out of keeper country.

[theseagrows]

when first on my skin, this was very acrid and pungent. it smelled like burning bathroom cleaner. now that it's dried, there is a very familiar note, but i can't place it. it smells dry and grassy, but there is still a strange flammable type scent to it.

[kiio]

If scarecrow could just always smell like it does when wet on my skin, it'd be perfect. It's grassy and a bit of hay and lemons, but as soon as it starts to dry, everything goes wrong. It's as if my skin chemistry has a vendetta against the oil. Soured cream and day old cereal smell. I'm so very sad about this.

[filigree_shadow]

This doesn't smell as hot or scorched as I expected. In fact, it's kind of pretty. Definitely warm -- warmer than the usual meadowy scent. It smells like a dry, wispy field after everything has turned yellow. But nicer than that because I think there are some light florals in there too. It's sweet and smoky.

 

I think this would be a great late summer or fall scent.

 

I gave the imp to my husband to try, and we both agreed it smells better on him. So now he's the proud owner of an imp of Scarecrow.

[Ajila]

In the bottle - Fresh and grassy if a little bitter.

 

Wet on me - Sharp and slightly sour. It's deeply evocative of it's description.

 

Dry on me - Scorched barren earth.

 

Overall - On me this was an odd unsettling blend like the aftermath of a plague of locusts.

[monsteralice]

Wet: Pleasant, definitely an outdoorsy scent.

 

Dry: Sweet, grassy, and a little dusty.

 

Finish: No change.

 

Duration: Retreats to the wrist fairly quickly, but hangs on for a few hours.

[Jenesis]

Bottle: Strangely, it smells like superglue.

 

Wet: Still superglue.

 

Drydown: Still superglue. I'm trying to smell other things, honest

 

Dry: Nope, still strong, headachey glue. There's something in here which just doesn't like me. Sorry Beth

[kraken]

In the Imp: A field of grass in late summer--some green, but mostly burned by the sun.

 

Initial Wet: Ugh, it smells like old urine. Good thing it has no throw. *contemplates washing it off*

 

Initial Dry: It has a strange, sharp tang that I would almost describe as metallic. It doesn't smell so bathroomy now. I can begin to make out a sweeter scent under the sharpness.

 

Drier Dry: Amber waves of grain... I get a warm, slightly powdery, sweet scent, which is reminiscent of how amber behaves on my skin, along with the smell of grasses sun-dried until they're crisp and they rattle against each other. It's slightly spicy and dusty. Definitely a warm scent that develops a decent throw in its later stages.

 

Wow, what a morpher. I definitely enjoy the latter, drier scent, but I don't think I can stand getting to it each time. This might be a lovely room warmer instead of being on my skin.

[glass_cat]

Hmm... I'm really not sure what to think of this scent or what to say about it. I can tell you that when I first swiped a little on, all I could smell... and I do mean all... was nail polish remover, and I don't mean in that "hmmm... someone must be doing their nails at their desk" kind of way. I'm talking about feeling as if someone doused a rag in nail polish remover and was holding it over my face trying to smother me with it. That was probably the first time I'd tried on any BPAL blend and actually seriously thought about washing it off. It was that bad.

 

However, I let it linger a little while because it sounded like a morpher from the other reviews I read, and I figured it would eventually change into something else if given a proper chance. It did change after it had been on maybe ten or fifteen minutes and ultimately decided it wanted to be something fairly pleasant... a gentle bouquet of dry hay, grasses and light florals mostly. It does call up the mental image of a hayride or a day at the county fair, and those are extremely pleasant images for me.

 

The drydown of this is pleasant and comforting enough that I can see wearing it occasionally... probably often enough to eventually finish my imp... but I do wish that first ten minutes or so of wearing this wasn't so positively nauseating. This would be terrific on the right person I'm sure, but it just isn't "me" enough to make the bottle list. Scarecrow is nice for what it is though.

 

In it's favor I will also add that I was feeling extremely upset and agitated over some paperwork issues before and the drydown/developed phase of this is making me feel 100% better as we speak, so this is definitely a comfort scent. Scent is really a powerful thing.

Edited April 3, 2007 by glass_cat

[cranberry]

I’ve been trying to figure out what this smells like on me. There’s something….. oh – I know what it is, ylang ylang! There’s also something here that’s like smells a bit like nailpolish. It smells like there could be a bit of pepper here too, but it’s mainly ylang ylang.

[neuilly]

This comes off...very manly on me. And musky? The grassy note is fairly strong in the beginning but fades into the background. But mostly I just can't find a way to describe this!!

Edited April 28, 2007 by neuilly

[cassandrakfreaq]

On me this smelled like hay of and on which I loved. It would go greeny smelling and then back to hay. A very nice scent.

On my Hubby this wasn't anything like hay, It was fabulous and clean. He smelled Great so even though I like it on myself I love it on him more.

[The_Merf]

In the imp: A grassy note with something else that I can't quite mark out.

 

Wet: This is very cologney (some sort of herb at work here). From a distance I am also getting the "bathroom cleaner" effect, though it is not too sharp.

 

Drydown and wear: This remains very chemically cologney, and I don't get any of the natural grass note or the hay note that others have gotten. A shame, as I love those smells. I can see where this would take that more natural turn on others, as it is really almost there on my skin, but something about my skin chemistry keeps this very chemical smelling.

[thunder]

In the Imp scarecrow smells like grass with a somewhat sweetish note to it.

Freshly applied the sweetness turns bitter. When dried out the bitter tone goes away to make place for a weird sweet soap scent ...

 

This is not what I expected but I like it anyway!

 

I just sniffed again and noted that my wrist smells like scorched grass, I´m impressed cause this tone comes in after a few hours passed...

[porcelina]

i get a scent sort of seedy- like the stalks of grass we get in our yard that have gone to seed. there is also a vague scent of something sweet being burned. i think i would like this layered with something else.

[LadyCrow]

Wet: Grass and cut hay.

 

Drying down: This smells exactly like a drought in farm country -- the dangerous kind where a cigarette butt carelessly tossed, or a grill not quite thoroughly put out, can cause a devastating fire. Hot, grassy, maybe even a little curled and crisp as if there's already smoke in the wind. Oddly, this reminds me more of sunflowers than Sunflower does! This is a "place" scent for me, very much like Coyote; it recalls the plains and farmland where I grew up, and where summer heat could turn into dangerous aridity over the course of a single day.

 

As a crow, I'm not scared -- just pleasantly unnerved.

[Miseraya]

In the imp: Yikes, nail polish remover! What the hell?

 

 

On the wrist: Heavy nail polish remover scent, not like acetone, but like the fragrance they put in the nail polish remover to make it smell nice. Not cool.

 

Drydown: After a while this turns into a nice sun warmed field sort of smell, I get sweetgrass in this. It's actually really nice, but that nail polish remover phase is too much to go through for this. Off to the swaps.

[WidgetAlley]

Swapped with the lovely Christy.

 

In the Imp: Will I be kicked out of the club if I say I don't get heat from this? To me it smells cool and grassy, with a slightly musky and sharply bitter undertone. I can't place any notes off the top of my head, except maybe vetiver and some kind of floral?

 

Wet: Sweet and grassy, with a bit of a sticky undertone. It smells a lot like high summer, but I'm not getting any of the burned scent others are reporting. In fact, it's almost fruity.... cucumbers? And a tiny touch of powder. This is pretty!

 

Dry: I know this is crazy talk, but Scarecrow reminds me a bit of Morrocco without the vanilla. It's got a very perfumey edge to it, in addition to the same sort of sophisticated powder, but with grass instead of florals, and a pleasant, ever so slightly bitter musk. This is quite nice but I'm not sure it's terribly me. I'll probably end up swapping it away.

[Iceblink]

In the imp and on first application=sweet grassy hay. Interesting! I was almost liking it until it turned into cheap men's deodorant on me and stayed that way for about an hour. It's faded a bit and I'm getting the grasses and sweetness again, but that middle stage is just not happening again. Nice idea for a blend though.

[minervaish]

There's a really authentic hay-field smell to Scarecrow that I love! Unfortunately, it battles on me with a harsh chemically smell. Oddly, through the first hour, they both get equally stronger, continuing to fight between being really really good and pretty awful. After about an hour, they both start fading, turning into something that I would mind smelling on a guy, but nothing that particularly catches my interest.

[jolarocknrolla]

it smells very much like hay actualyy - not "green" per se, but it has an amber sweetness added to a dry grass scent. this is one of the milder "dry warm" scents on me. Not too complex and really quite nice for fall when you don't want to wear something too spicy.

[tartchef]

I can absolutely see where folks are getting nail polish remover at first - straight out of the imp, Scarecrow has a harsh, solvent-like smell to it. Once on, it's waffling back & forth between sweet crushed hay & SuperGrimeOff. I keep getting faint whiffs of what I hoped this would be - alfalfa & timothy fields at dusk, with a bitter, dry hint of charred earth. Up close, though, it's all commercial cleaning solution. And oddly ManlyMan... there's a sweet aquatic note in here that's reminding me of some over-cologned guy I knew in college. I'll have to try this on the other half & see how it does with his chemistry.... hopefully he gets more romp-in-the-hayfields and less Junior Executive...

 

ETA: Ah, that's better - hours later, all traces of chemical ick are gone, and I'm left with a lovely green grass note...

Edited September 12, 2007 by tartchef

[daiconharuko]

Okay! So I'm not the only person who thought it smelled vaguely of nail polish remover! I can smell the grass to it, and I imagine that's what it smells like to be in a tall grass field.

 

The chemical smell is a bit much for me tho.

[Pottersville]

I finally got around to trying a frimp of this. It's a very evocative scent .... at first vaguely uncomfortable, scorched, dry. During drydown, the more pleasant aspects of the hay came out and I was convinced this was a keeper (maybe not a 5 ml, but at least an imp). Unfortunately, it ended up with a very cologney smell, and not in a good way. I found myself wrinkling my nose throughout the day thinking, "WHO is wearing that cheap cologne? D'OH, it's ME!!"