Yemaya

[iriedanym]

YEMAYA

... Her ofrenda is a bounty of melons and grapes, strewn with the petals of the flowers of motherhood, draped with sea mosses.

 

Yemaya: holy melon Batman! This is fresh honeydew and cantaloupe! There is a slight aquatic note in the background, but all I can smell is the melons and it reminds me of a fruit juicy smoothie.

 

I subjected my boyfriend to a smell test and he loves it. Guess I'm going to have to get a bottle of this.

[LiberAmoris]

Yemaya is watermelon-y goodness! It's such a fun and lighthearted blend. I can't imagine being in a bad mood while wearing this one, it just doesn't seem possible.

 

I was also reminded of Titania. Yemaya seems like Titania's super-melon sister.

 

The melon is so crazy realistic here that it's actually making my mouth water.

[maewitch]

All sweet and juicy honeydew in the opening notes, that bounty recedes slightly to offer up the crisper and cooler aroma of grapes (which makes me think of apples, somehow). I'm loving this part.

 

Then this loses much of that fruity sweetness and becomes something even cooler, green and a little sharp. Ah...the mosses. This is my less favorite part.

 

Still it is an interesting and evocative scent, making me think of lazy summer snacking under the coolness of some slumberous, water-logged tree.

[Aredhel]

Rating (on skin): 5/5

Summarised in a word or two: Melon!

 

In the imp: Honeydew!

 

On skin, wet: Syrupy sweet melon and cantaloupe, with a bit of something watery, though not aquatic. Reminds me of the melon-y something I get from Tzad, but much sweeter. It's kind of... candyish.

 

On skin, dry: Sweet melon and cantaloupe. Which isn't to say this isn't wonderful — very much the contrary! As it dries, the candy-like quality dies off. It is sweet, but it's not a Jolly Rancher. No sign of grape (which I don't like) or mosses (which would likely spoil this for me).

 

Conclusion/Notes: Quite like Tzadikim Nistarim, sans herbs, and much sweeter (I'm not even sure there is melon in Tzad!). I love melon and cantaloupe notes in... well, everything (though, strangely, I'm not a big watermelon fan), so my insta-love with Yemaya is hardly surprising.

Edited May 10, 2006 by Aredhel

[eviltemptressdq]

Oops! I tested this weeks ago, and forgot to review it *duh*

 

Thanks to HennaFairy, I was able to test this lovely scent on my wrist. I LOVE this one!

 

In bottle, it was MELON. Yummy sweet melon! On my wrist? more melon I didn't really smell much else out of the description...

 

an hour later, I could still smell the melon on my wrist. Note to self: Get your own bottle of this!

[Celestyna]

Melon that actually STAYS on me! gaaaah, i really love this.

 

The orishas are blended so unusually yet beautifully at the same time. i love love.

[Elrianra]

In the bottle this smells EXACTLY like grape Bubbiliscious bubble gum, it's sweet and has just a very faint tang of snappy to it but overall, it's liquid candy. Once on me, the melon comes out a little more and I begin to think this smells a lot like watermelon bubblegum. What's going on here?! Once it's dried, the florals are a very faint note over the melon and grapes, the mosses add a slightly salty-green tone but all around, this is just candy-sweet. Very foody and while I normally don't mind a little foody, this is TOO foody for me.

[GemmaCat]

I was hoping this would smell like the TAL Yemaya but no such luck.

 

It's still very beautiful, though. Predominantly I can smell a bright, almost sparkling honeydew melon scent with a faint hint of something citrusy.

 

This is very light and airy with a delicate sweetness running through it. A perfect summer blend, for sure, but it lacks the really ripe and juicy melon scent I've come to love in such blends like Fee.

[Laurel the Woodfairy]

This one is for my Mom ("Queen of Mothers" and all that), but I'm reviewing it before passing it on. I get the pure, sweet, mouthwatering honeydew from Fee, but it's a little more gentle here, balanced with mild aquatics and faint white flowers. It's not Mom's usual sort of thing (she wears Veil the most), but I think for summer she'll find it fun. It's a more "grownup" melon than Fee, but still fresh and yummy.

[Spastik_Kitty]

In the bottle: Over ripe honey dew melon

 

First on: Now it smells more like cantelope with honey and cane sugar, very syrupy and sweet.

 

After a bit: I'm really not getting much more than juicy, sticky, sweet melon swimming in cane syrup and smothered in honey.

 

A bit more: The grape is showing a little, but it's still 98% overly sweet melon.

[QueenFae]

I bought a 5 ml of the TAL version of this blend on ebay for $78! Boo! This one smells exactly the same, and costs a lot less. It's a gorgeous fruity blend; it reminds me very much of watermelon Now and Laters candy. There's a beautiful blurring of different melon notes in the background; honeydew, cantaloupe and perhaps a hint of peaches. This is one of my favorites, and now at least I don't have to feel guilty about using up my $78 bottle!

[Neely]

I got this from my lovely imp pimp Mandragora!

 

In the bottle: Hawaiian Punch, you know the kind I am talking about.

 

Wet: creamy tropical fruit smoothie.

 

Dry down: creamy tropical fruit smoothie. Alas, the mosses didn't ground this enough on my skin. If I pull of fruit or floral scents, it is only because something else keeps them grounded. Unfortunately I am just a big fruit smoothie.

 

30 minutes: same.

 

Conclusion: tropical fruit smoothie. Which would be a nice summer scent, but I don't like smelling like a drink, cotton candy or cake, sure, drink no. This does not daunt me from trying the other Ofrendas though. Yemaya is lovely. Maybe as a room scent?

 

Rating 1-5, on my skin this is a 2.5.

[sophia_helix]

At first, I had high hopes that this would be similar to the honeydew and cantaloupe of Fee, but it seems to be lacking that sweet/oily basenote of vanilla sunflower that I like so much. It's more straight-up, watery melon, and now I know what that dominant note in Fruit Moon is on me.

 

It's nice, but so similar to Fruit Moon that I think I will pass it along.

[cybra111]

Yemaya

 

In the bottle: Sweet, juicy melon! Yum!

 

On me: At first I thought, Fee! Maybe I can get my Fee fix from this. I wore it on one wrist and Fee on the other just to compare. And even though it reminds me of my precious Fee, it lacks the spiciness. However, I still love, love this!! This is definitely melon. It lasts and lasts on me.

[Thorne]

Like everyone else says, this is some melon. Melon, melon, melon! Melon with a side of melon. Unfortunately, it also has this kind of high, searing chemically smell to it on my skin, so strong that I had to go wash it off.

[sofiaviolet]

Wet, Yemaya smells like artificial watermelon. I don't really like watermelons, but this smell is growing on me. Dry, it turns kind of sour. I had bought this to use on candles and in my oil burner, so I'm not too sad that it doesn't work on my skin.

[Thursdae]

Yemaya equals melon. I love Titania, which has a melon component, and I think I'll stick with that over Yemaya.

[grrrlennyl]

at first: holy crap! honeydew!

on: this is like freshly-cut honeydew. sweet and almost-sticky.

2.5 hours later: the moss is coming out more, and the honeydew is gone and has been replaces with a nice, grapey note.

6.5 hours later: lighter and mostly grapey.

overall: this is nice, but not really me.

[AliBabble]

this was a frimp from the lovely and generous lab. i had smelled it once before at the black broom. it is very watermelon-y, and not much else. like watermelon juice, that's what it reminds me of. it's a fun, vibrant scent. not sure i'll wear it very often - it would be nice to wear to the beach though, near the ocean, for yemaya...

[maijasu]

This is a lovely melon scent, mostly honeydew to my nose. It fades rather quickly to a sweet skin scent. It's really nice for summer, and I'll keep my imp and wear it again to see if it's bottle-worthy.

[angharad]

Melon, sweet, juicy melon! If I imagine really hard, I smell the grapes, too. I don't get any aquatics (other than the juiciness of the melon), florals, or mosses. It's just sweeeeeeeeeeet melon. Unfortunately, it doesn't last long on me, and melon's not really my ideal scent, anyway. Yemaya is lovely, just not for me.

[abejita]

I had ordered a bottle of this, unsniffed, to use ritually (and because I liked the notes, I confess). All the sudden, I seemed to be getting frimps of Yemaya left and right, before the bottle came. I have since used them to merrily enable.

 

Anyway, on first sniff, in the vial, I was a little worried. There was an intense, almost hairspray-like sharpness that sort of blasted through my sinuses. Happily, that sharpness completely dissipated when the oil touched my skin. The honeydew and watermelon bursts forth, then the grape. And, boy, do they smell WET. I get a great sense of bounty and abundance. This isn't my typical scent (I go mostly for darker, richer things), but I love it just the same. I'll be using it as I try to get my natural fertility and hormone balance under control, since the power it's attuned to seems appropriate for that.

[Eros]

In the imp this is all honeydew melon. When first applied, Jolly Rancher's watermelon stix and I'm thinking, eh....no thanks. Within 3-5 minutes, lo and behold, sweet, creamy incense. The melon remains but it's so subtle it's almost hard to detect. Another 20 minutes or so and I get a weird, almost bandage-type smell. Can't quite place it but it's something I've smelled in hospitals...Maybe that sweet, antibacterial soap??

Strange.

[Kittyflop]

Em, what everyone else has said. Pure sweet juicy honeydew melon.

 

AS it dries down it becomes a bit more complex - what would guess is grape and some kind of light sweet floral note play into the mix.

 

Not my style as a perfume, but I might blend the imp into a shower gel or something like that - this would be lovely in the bath!

[Reedsong]

Smelled the imp. Watermelon.

 

Applied it to my skin. Watermelon.

 

Dry-down. Watermelon.

 

Dammit. I smell like a pre-teen girl's lip gloss. It's a pretty safe bet that sweet fruit blends will hate me, and this one's no exception, I'm afraid.