The Isle of the Dead

[forspecial_plate]

The Isle of the Dead, Arnold Böcklin.
Cypress, labdanum, stargazer lily, juniper, yew, black rose, white sandalwood, benzoin and aquatic notes.

Isle of the Dead has a dark green feel, woodsy and aquatic, slightly floral. Lately I have changed my mind about hating juniper, and that applies here as well.....it's here and it's working for me. This reminds me of a less-sharp Jolasveinar without the pastries, and also the sandalwood is reminiscent of Scales of Deprivation....2 of my favorite scents. But this is a little softer than either of those and like the other Salons I've tried, masterfully blended. Another wonderful interperetation of visual art. This works really well on me and might be a big bottle purchase in the future.

PS....another comparison....Thanatos, big time. The rose, sandalwood, and benzoin are all reminiscent of that scent, but the juniper and woods add a delicious bite. Basically I could get a bottle of this and it would satisfy my love of all 3 of those other scents.

edit: I've worn this a few times and unfortunately, it turns to heavy powder after a few minutes. However, Wolf Moon has some of the qualities that I like about IOTD, without the powder, so I'll just wear Wolf Moon instead.

[jasmine]

Initially applied, this is a high-pitched, complex scent that is not overly shrill. The flowers are there, but they are not typically floral; instead, all elements layer together in a striking fashion. This is artful and precise.

 

Given a moment, this becomes a distinctly woody smell, yet the flowers still drift over it. Picking out elements is virtually impossible for me. When I compare the scent to the painting, it fits well enough; I can see how the one inspired the other. The scent is that of the brightnesses in the painting, the blocks of yellow and the solitary figure, rather than the scent of the darkness surrounding. The water is present, a flow of aquatic notes, but this isn't a gloomy scent. It inspires calm, yet not serenity -- it lacks the stasis of serenity. This is grace -- calm in motion.

 

I'm really starting to see why the Salon scents are worth consideration. This is the third Salon scent I've tried, and every one so far has had a complex grandeur that I haven't really experienced in the general catalogue. None of them have seemed particularly like "me", but they've all impressed me nonetheless.

[steffanina]

In Bottle: "Perfume"-y, but rich, and I can smell the sweetness of the benzoin.

Wet: A strong pine-like bloom.

Dry: The benzoin overpowers this one and it just doesn't work for me.

Overall: Not for me.

[Babylon]

I was eager to try this Salon scent. It starts off alright, but gets weirder and weirder as it progresses. Right away, it smells like potpourri that no longer smells like potpourri at all but instead smells like dusty old dried flowers. After that, it was kind enough to morph into a soft Vicks Vapo-Rub for me. When I got used to that, it turned into Off bug spray with a small hint of soap, before finally disappearing in a hazy cloud of sour mold.

 

Obviously it smells nothing like its creator intended it to, and my wrist has done a bang-up job of stepping onto an elaborate sand castle and jumping around for a bit.

Edited January 22, 2007 by Babylon

[emzebel]

Very very fresh - I am guessing from the aquatics and the cypress, but very very wearable. There is a sweet woody floral undertone in this one that is just lovely, and boy does it last on me.

[kraken]

In the Imp: Smells of deep, dark woods.

 

Initial Wet: Pine? No, maybe it's the cypress. It's overpoweringly sweet and downright fruity. I can vaguely pick out some cypress and juniper, but I can't make out any other notes.

 

Initial Dry: Now it smells like floral scented laundry detergent and overripe/rotting fruit.

 

Drier Dry: -

 

Ugh, I had to go wash this one off. I couldn't stand the rotten-fruit-like sweetness. I'm not familiar with all the notes, so don't know what caused that reaction. My initial guess would be the aquatic notes since we've never really gotten along. I didn't get any sandalwood or rose or lily or yew, which is what I was hoping for.

[Lit Chick]

An imp of this was a gift from my lovely Switch Witch.

 

Based on the name, I thought this would be a dark, earth-type scent. How suprised was I to find that it's a golden, warm, and has the swirl of aquatics that I adore. Totally taken aback by this. It's second-skin scent that absorbs pretty quickly into my skin - it leaves me smelling fresh and clean, in the fresh outdoor air way, not soapy. A bit sweet, a bit resiny, a bit aquatic.... it's excellent.

[phedre]

In vial: Juniper and labdanum. Sweet gin!

 

On skin: menthol. How very strange. It's gotten very aquatic all of a sudden, though the juniper's still there.

 

Drydown: Resins are appearing, as is the sandalwood and black rose. Suddenly this has transformed into something pretty with a creamy quality, very sweet.

[zankoku_zen]

In the imp: floral and wood

 

On Skin: Green shoots and something that smells almost like varnish

 

On Drydown: Woody varnish

 

Verdict: There is something in this blend that my skin doesn't like. Big time. Sad, because I had the notion that this would be nice and woody on my skin.

[Shollin]

First sniff: Deep resiny-fruity. Soft round purple fruit, dark resins and a wispy aquatic overtone.

 

Wearing: There’s more wood in it now, soft evergreen backed by resinous warmth, and the aquatics seem to have disappeared immediately. It’s really interesting and different. And I love the painting – the scent is the same golden-brown of the rocks in the foreground.

[hipslike___cinderella]

Ah, another complex Salon blend that took some extra time to consider.

 

Before hitting my skin, this imp smells just so slightly sour, like tangy aquatics; somewhat akin to that tang of rotting wood in Hurricane. There's also the promise of sweet woods. Still, everything is seamless so far and the only notes I can begin to name specifically are the labdanum and the "aquatic notes". I don't detect rose or even any juniper yet.

Well, this changes fast on my skin. Mmmm. Soft, no longer really tangy, but resinous now. Resins, and juniper... just a hint of sandalwood, maybe? Yeesh. This is so hard to describe. It's mostly a "blue-green" scent to me, almost giving a swampy feeling. After a while, the black rose warms through more prominently, and stays on as a woody, resinous, dark and damp rose. Ooooh...

 

Another testing compelled me to add that for some reason, I want to think of this as Rose Moon's evil, swampy step-sister. Rose is the ending note in this blend for me, probably because my skin amps rose always. I don't know, there's just something "lunar oil" to me in The Isle of the Dead. Very pretty and unique.

[hellomoonglow]

Hot dogs. Hot dogs left to bake in the sun of a deserted isle. Nope....that's the dead humans baking in the sun! I don't like this. It's not for me. But i did read lots of nice reviews on it. In theory, it sounds good, and the name is catchy. But ooooohhhh, I don't want to smell like an Oscar Myer weiner!

[hkhm]

imp: sweet pine (probably the best possible mix of cupress and juniper) with a definite aquatic feel. a very bright green scent.

 

wet: the aquatic is much stronger once applied though this scent has a very subdued feel. still quite green but not as bright.

 

dry: this has a sweet finish, like a very sweet, soft pine floral. it's lovely once it's dried down and the notes have blended. still green too.

[maribouquet]

This smells like dandelions on me! Wet dandelions. It's a very nostalgia-filled scent, but I'm not loving it on me as a perfume.

[greenranger]

I'm praying the rose behaves in this.

 

 

In the imp, lilies.

 

On me, sweet sweet lilies. Cypress? There's the aquatic note and the sandalwood. I think I can maybe detect the rose...and since it usually amps on me that's fine, if it stays there in the background. There are the resins.

 

If this is a semi aquatic and a scent with rose that actually works on me, then a miracle has occurred.

[inurbanus]

Labdanum, heavy and sweet, underscored by a light aquatic. I thought the notes in this were a little intimidating, but I was pleasantly surprised by the way they combined. This is a little too masculine for my taste, but I would encourage those who are on the fence about this one to try it, especially if you like Sheol or some of the other heavy Ars Moriendi blends.

 

3/5

[aquazoo]

I seem to like the dead & embalming scents. Does that make me a dead head? Anyway, it's spicy with a very light overtone of citrus. Seems like bay leaves and maybe a few other things that one might throw into a recipe. It mellows down into a soft warmth.

[rayvn1]

I was frimped this (I think by zankoku-zen) a little while ago and finally got through enough smellies to have this one pop up for the day. It's a warm, sweet amber on me with very prominent flowers - the lily more so than the rose. Warm, but fresh. I like this and will probably hold onto the imp!

 

Not to mention that I've been obsessed with Boeklin for several years

[Miss Lynx]

I wasn't at all sure if this one would work on me or not, since it has some notes I love (labdanum, sandalwood, benzoin), some I'm a little wary of (rose, stargazer lily, aquatics), and some that can be hit or miss depending on the company they're keeping (cybress, juniper, yew). In about equal measure.

 

In particular, I was afraid it would be way overly sweet and perfumey on me - but when first applied, it was very, very unlike what I had expected. The initial impression was a strong waft of woodsy evergreen, with a warm amber-like undertone (labdanum and benzoin are both a bit amber-like in their scent). Very nice at this stage.

 

Once it settled in a bit more, the aquatic edge began to come out a bit, but not to too severe an extent. It basically lightened the scent, but without making it too "perfumey" (aquatics have a tendency on me to smell very chemically and synthetic, like commercial alcohol-based perfumes). And the florals were barely there at all, even on my floral-amping skin, which is quite impressive. I actually hadn't feared the stargazer lily as much as the rose, because lilies for some reason don't seem to amp up nearly as much on my skin as rose, jasmine and most other florals do. But here, both the florals seemed to be behaving nicely.

 

Eventually, after an hour or two, the evergreen notes died away almost completely, and the resins and sandalwood faded to a fairy subtle level, and the florals became a lot more discernible. It was basically a soft watery floral at that stage, but again, not nearly as overwhelming as predominantly floral scents usually are one -- it was almost more of a skin-scent, undetectable unless you sniffed it from fairly close up. And finally, after many hours, the last remaining trace of the scent is a very, very soft trace of the resins.

 

On a second try, it didn't seem to hit the watery floral stage quite so distinctly, instead heading into a stage where all the notes seemed nicely balanced together. So it seems a little different even from one try to the next.

 

All in all, a nicely complex morpher, and one that accomplishes the fairly unusal feat of evolving the reverse direction from what you would expect. Usually, florals show up fairly quickly, and base notes like woods and resins show up after they fade, not the reverse! Not sure how they managed that.

 

On the whole, mostly quite nice, and certainly very interesting. I don't think it merits a bottle purchase necessarily, but I'm definitely going to hang onto my little decant for further experimentation.

 

Grade: B+

[taramarie]

All I seem to get from The Isle of the Dead is yew, black rose, and the aquatic notes. It's interesting, but I think it needs to age a bit.

[Dark Alice]

This smells like fresh rain in a pine forest....with a windy breeze blowing through....

 

If this is the isle of the dead...then everyone smells very piney and fresh.

[Eucatastrophe]

When wet this smells like a sour aquatic. Like a creamy aquatic with a dash of vinegar. After a while the aquatic starts to win over the aquatic and some green notes come out to play, but the sourness remains.

[SophieCedar]

I preface this review with the fact that I usually hate watery elements. However, I really like this!

 

In Imp: Wood for sure, watery notes check, stargazer lily. hmm ok? not getting any rose

 

Wet: the cypress and water musk jump right in my face. the water musk passes quickly (whew) and the cypress is BEAUTIFUL with the stargazer. I smell a resin that must be the mix of the benzoin and sandalwood.

 

Drydown: bit of a letdown at first because the florals subsided on me, leaving me alone staring cypress in the face. It basically farted in the elevator and everyone else got off quickly. Then SURPRISE! the florals are back.

 

Happy endings. I love them.

Edited January 10, 2010 by SophieCedar

[surf-tormented]

This is a very good scent. It doesn't last long on me though. Like other reviews have said the cypress and lily mix well. I do get a slight bite of labdanum in the background.

 

It reminds me of flowers by a lake. Woody, floral, a little aquatic and earthy though it is very light.

 

I'd get a bottle of this if it wasn't gone in a 1/2 hour. It's pretty.

[KittyHawk]

Right out of the bottle, this is sweet, woody, aquatic incense. What is this, and why does it remind me of the Maelstrom ride at Epcot? This is so strange, but I love it! I'm surprised that this doesn't get more love - it has a bit of something for everyone. It's not really a floral, nor a woods blend, nor an aquatic, but contains the best of each category. I can discern every note listed, but they're so well-blended that no single note overtakes the others. Words are really failing me here; it's just... creepy and intoxicating.

 

I was frimped this in a recent forum sale, and I just wanted to try as many Salons as I could before they disappear; I never thought this would be something I would want to keep, let alone upgrade. This is only the third GC Salon I've tried, and it's my third love of the series. Amazing, and it totally fits the painting - brooding, dark, and exotic. In a word, brilliant!

 

ETA: The next morning (~15 hours after application) I can still catch a bit of deep cypress. So gorgeous; I wish the cypress was stronger earlier on, but I have no complaints!

Edited July 10, 2012 by KittyHawk