Odin

[alsatia]

... His scent is dry elm bark, amaranth, warrior’s musk, and Odin’s Nine Herbs of Power.

Expectations: Ew, please let this be better than it sounds. Musks usually hate me, and I can't see how bark and herbs is going to improve upon it any.

In vial: Musky commercial perfume spilled on a pile of weeds.

On skin, wet: Decongestant. Reminds me slightly of pine and eucalyptus.

On skin, dry: Dry leaves and bark.

After time: 20 minutes and that pine/eucalyptus scent has returned. I guess it must be one of those mystery herbs. Or several of them. It's strong up close, but hasn't got much throw. 35 minutes and the scent has faded dramatically. It's an indistinct herbal mix.

Conclusion: Not offensive to the nose once it dries, but I wouldn't care to wear it. Edited March 5, 2008 by Alsatia

[Asatruarmadur]

I work in an automotive repair center. Odin is the only center other than Yggdrasil that can survive the competing and dominant odors of brake dust, oil fumes, mineral rinse, old tire rubber, and brake cleaner smell.

 

Applied it smells like centuries-old mead, mulled 400 years ago with the faint counter-aroma of lightning-struck amber - i.e. smoky and burnt. I love it!

 

After a while the odor transforms into a pungent cloud-like blast of winter air on wet shamrocks with buttercups growing in clusters.

[Arcy]

Imp : Herbs and musk, almost a limey scent.

Skin, Wet : Wood, musk, and herbal. Kind of sweet.

Skin, Drydown : Sweet and peppery, musky.

Skin, Dry : Very much peppery and musky. I like it, but it smells kind of tree-ish. Might be better on a guy.

[Beatrice33]

I think my nose must be crazy, especially considering the powerful inspiration for this scent, but on me I'd swear I was smelling a version of Chanel No. 5 on the drydown--soft and powdery in the best way. I'm definitely considering a bottle.

[enderfem]

Imp: An interesting combination of sweet-dirty-musky.

 

Wet: Musky and dirty, less of the sweet. Quite masculine, but pleasantly so.

 

Drydown: Dark and musky. Not unpleasant, but not something I'm particularly excited about. May have the boy try it.

[goth_huntress]

When it was wet I wanted to roll around in it and smear it on ever man I know (so I could roll around on them). Now that it's dry sadly it just smells kind of like baby powder.

[fairnymph]

Sniffed in imp: Dry, woody, a bit sweetly incensey - frankincense. Towards the masculine side, but not definitively so.

 

Wet: Much more pleasant on my skin. Less sweet.

 

Dry: Virtually all sweetness gone. Less incensey but still a bit heavy in that regard, more dry and woody and herbal. The herbs are light and blended indistinguishably. Muskier, now.

 

Later: Dry wood dominates now, with incense just behind. Still a touch sweet, and even muskier. The wood is dry-warm, and falls somewhere between sandalwood and cedar.

 

Summary: A bit of sweetly nutty and very pleasant amaranth emerges, softening the dryness of the elm, though this is still quite woody and the incense holds. Sexy musk, barely detecable herbs. Masculine. Low throw, fades fairly fast.

 

Once the amaranth comes out and the wood ceases to be quite so DRY and musk amps, this becomes a rather pleasant blend that I think I would like on a man (though never on myself) - except for that darn incensey frankincense note, which just persists and spoils the blend for me. Also, where are the herbs? You'd think 9 herbs would make this herbal, but nooooooo. Herbal is not a term that comes remotely to mind in describing this oil.

Edited July 17, 2008 by fairnymph

[Iceblink]

Whoa musky--this is really an unusual oil...it's almost sweet at the start and the musk and herbs blend so nicely. This isn't what you'd think something called Odin would smell like! Really different. The drydown is baby powder but in a good way. It's cozy. I'm glad I got to try this one.

[voodoocatwoman]

Definitely musky and a lovely scent for a man. Not for me.

[LadyLuckDoubt]

In the Imp

A fresh, woodsey sort of smell-- the elm bark being dominant, but with a darkly musky undertone.

 

On Me

Dunno why, but this went straight to smokey vetiver on me. It's like a cleaner, less offensive version of Saturnalia on my skin. I suspect this'll work better on someone with different skin chemistry who likes woody, masculine scents. It's strong and has great throw initially, and then within an hour or so, it's completely disappeared on me. :/

[galahad]

In The Bottle

Slightly musky with aromatic herbs. Quite cool smelling in the imp

 

On Application

Sweet musk and herbs. Nice and not too strong at this stage

 

Dry Down

Becomes dry as it dries down. I get a pine/cypress like scent from this along with fairly subtle musk. The herbiness fades to the background. This is really great. Almost certainly could be considerd gender neuttral or even masculine.

 

Rating (0-5)

4.5

[medvssa]

Wet, it is wood and bark and dry herbs. A little dirty, dark, quite masculine.

 

But dry, when it is completely dry a few hours afterwards... it is just glorious. It changes so much on my skin, it almost seems a different perfume. It becomes golden and radiant, soft, deep with a low throw, velvety and a little sweet, a little spicy, almost like resin but not quite. I does smell ancient, in a way. I don't know what it is, but it makes me think of amber and clove, although... not quite. As you see I cannot really describe it, other than that I absolutely love it.

[innocent]

I got this one as a frimp from the lab (yay!) and didn't have high hopes for it - I haven't had much luck with woody or herbal scents. But Odin was much softer than I expected, more musky than woody, with an underlying hint of spices. It ended up going a touch powdery on me, but not in an unpleasant way.

 

I don't think I'll wear this one much, but the various layers are compelling enough that I'll probably hold onto the imp.

[jehrichardson]

In the Imp: Sharp dusty woods with warm musky goodness. Masculine and lovely! Almost a touch of patchouli in there.

 

On the Skin: Sweet dry and musky. Mm I like.

 

*wachoo* Sneezed. Don't know if it's related.

 

After a While: Musty musky and low profile and sweet. This is gorgeous!

 

Verdict: I really like this - I don't know if it's big bottle worthy, but I'm definitely going to keep track of the imp

[skepticism]

Vial: Reminds me of Wolf's Heart, but not as sweet/potpourri-ish.

 

Wet: Woody scent (elm). Not so bad, until we get to...

 

Drydown: Powdery, almost Play-do scent. Ick.

 

I'm sorry Odin, but we weren't meant to be. However, I'm curious as to how well you'd get along with one of my male friends...

[anardana]

I wish this was woody-herbal on me- but all I smell is musk! Reminds me a lot of Coyote - on my skin both are all warm manly musk. Nice, but not for me.

[Ohmaude]

Sweet musk, sandalwood, wood (but the dry kind, not the sap kind), and herbs, plus a little bit of vetiver that was strong when first applied but now hovers in the background. Odin is warm and dry and very comforting. It smells incredibly good.

 

This is very light on me and has very little throw. This is definitely one of those keep a secret, lean-in-closer BPALs, which are perfect for the occasions where you don't want to amp all over the place. This is masculine, but it is still very much something I would wear. However, it would be wonderfully yummy to lean in to my boyfriend and then catch of whiff of this. uh-huh.

[zankoku_zen]

This one is woody herbally --- an almost dry wood and the herbs are almost bitter.

 

Pass.

[LaughingFox]

Oh, Odin, I wanted to love it...

 

In the imp, this smells like a strong lurking forest and is exactly what I'd expect from a scent of this name.

 

However, within 2 minutes of application, my skin turns it to a dead ringer for baby powder.

 

After a couple of hours, it starts to smell like especially dark and brooding baby powder, before finally wearing out to the end of the day as a pleasant yet subtle scent of amber, cedar and heat.

 

That's not a bad smell at all. But the baby power part? Oi.

 

 

[mazikeen]

I can't believe I haven't reviewed this yet. I've used up an imp and am now working my way steadily through my bottle. This is easily in my Top 10 Favorites. I see it as a cousin to Yggdrasil-- while they don't smell alike, they share enough commonalities that if you like one, I'd recommend trying the other.

 

Herbal and almost mentholated. Cool, crisp and green. It feels both comforting and strong.

 

Good throw and wearlength.

 

My husband wears Odin a lot too. We both love it. I haven't tried burning it yet, but I bet it'd make a great room scent as well.

[PersephonesChild]

I got this frimped to me months ago, and have just been sort of scared to try it. Well, I finally dove in and guess what? It's nicer than I thought it would be. I mostly get a smoky kind of bark smell, which reminds me of Polyhymnia and Tiki King. In fact, I'd pretty much describe it as the half that those two blends have in common-- Polyhymnia minus the lemon, Tiki King minus the coconut.

[Reaver]

VERY sweet woods with a dark musk overtone. The herbs just make the wood more fragrant. This is a very earthy and grounded scent on me and it's not unpleasant. Quite simple and fairly constant from wet to dry - woods and musk but with no bitterness or brightness from the herbs.

 

5/10 - I'll be keeping the imp to see if it grows on me as it's something that think might. It's a little similar to 'Haunted' though, which I also have an imp of and rarely use.

 

ETA: One of the mystery herbs is SAGE, I'm SURE of it. I think.

Little research = Mugwort, waybroad (plaintain) open from the east, lamb's cress, attorlathe, maythe, nettle, crabapple, chervil and fennel

So I was wrong. Still smells like sage though.

Edited February 1, 2009 by Reaver

[GeorgeJr]

Odin came as a frimp in one of my first orders . I have been remiss in not reviewing , so here goes . Not really a favorite of mine , but not offensive either . I can & do wear it from time to time , when I want something totally different . When the labs description mentions dry wood / bark , believe it . This is easily one of the " driest " scents I've tried yet . The main things I get from this one are the wood & the herbs . Not much else really . And it smells like nothing else I've tried , period . And it's rather hard to describe . It's a fairly lite kind of scent , not really heavy in any way . But it is strong . Slightly sweet & medicinal as well . I suppose there is a touch of a menthol in there . So , I do like it , but wouldn't wear it very often . Wouldn't mind keeping a imp handy , as having Odin's blessings wouldn't be a bad thing at times .

[savage_rose]

This is a bit salty, and a bit menthol-ish...it works in the imp. And then on the menthol-ish note fades, and it smells kind of powdery. And bit pine-ish. This smells like light bathroom deodorant on me now...sigh .

[ImperatrixMundi]

On me: faintly sweet, maybe slightly herbal, smells almost like nothing at all. Would have gone to swaps but since it is Odin it had to go to the boyfriend.

 

On him: I guess he gets rewarded for years of claiming to be an Odinist (seriously!). He wore it yesterday and I said hey, you smell really nice! What is it? I did not even recognize the scent until he told me it was Odin! On him the musk really comes out and has a wonderful sweetness, not really the typical musk scent, it smells more like amber. There is something herbal about it too, but not sharp or unpleasant but rather comforting and woodsy. The difference is incredible, this one must be made testosterone-heavy male chemistry!