The Jersey Devil

[Penance]

The scent of the wild, hauntingly beautiful Pine Barrens of New Jersey! Pitch pine with blackberry leaf, cranberry, cedar wood and tomato leaf.

Origin:

5mL from the Lab.

Preconceived notions:

I had to get this one eventually. I'm fascinated by cryptozoology and while the Jersey devil may not be my favorite of the bunch, any scent named after a cryptid is off to a good start with me.

As far as notes go, pine and I have a love/hate relationship. I love some kinds of pine (and other evergreens), but not others. It all hinges on how astringent or juniper-like it is. I have learned that I love the Lab's pine pitch note, though, so I've got high hopes here. The only thing that really has me concerned is the cranberry. I love to eat cranberries and I love the smell of them as food, but I'm not a big fan of berry perfumes. All the other notes are good ones for me (although, as much as I may like the scent of tomato leaf, I'm having trouble picturing it with berries, cedar and pine).

First sniff:

Strong pine pitch. It's the same pine note from The Illustrated Woman and Troll, at least to my nose. It's rich and slightly sappy smelling. I can see why someone could read this as a winter/Christmas scent. It definitely has a wintery vibe to it with the pine, wood and berry.

Wet on skin:

Just like in The Illustrated Woman and Troll, the pine pitch tones down pretty quickly. Within a few minutes, there's a noticeable decrease in the intensity. After a few minutes had passed and The Jersey Devil had toned down into a softer pine scent with hints of berries and wood (no blackberry or tomato leaf yet and the cedar just smells woody, not particularly cedar-like), I kept thinking that it was reminding me of something, but couldn't place it. I knew it smelled like something else I already owned and liked, but what was it?

Dry down:

Elf! It smells like a stronger, slightly more masculine version of Elf! That's good news, because I love Elf, but it disappears on me in no time flat. The Jersey Devil isn't identical to Elf, but it's damn close on me. The end result is a warm, cozy scent with rich, slightly tart red berry, soft pine, a little bit of wood and something almost amber-like (I have no clue where that's coming from; it has to be a combination of notes doing it, but I've got no idea which ones).

The bottom line:

I'm really happy I bought a bottle of this unsniffed. It may replace Elf in my second-string favorites box or they might cohabitate since I feel terrible kicking Elf out of the box even though they're so similar. Either way, this is a real beauty. It's definitely a bit on the wintery side, but I've never been one to worry about whether my perfume is seasonally appropriate, so I'll wear it all year.

[Klolly]

In imp: Tart pine smell. Like if you tore some pine needles apart and sniffed them. There is a hazy warmth surrounding it from the blackberry.

 

On wet: Very medicinal. Lots of tart, sharp pine going on. The berry notes are hiding but present.

 

Dry: This is really nice. I'm not really in a woodsy mood right now and I still like it. For those who are into feminine tree smells, they would probably love this. It's a bit Christmasy but the blackberry note keeps it from being too much so. The berry gives off a lot of warmth. I don't know that I smell tomato leaf at all but it's likely I just don't recognize it since I'm not familiar with it. At times I get scent flashes of just pine and I'm not sure if I want to smell like that, but then I get a flash of berry and think I like it again. I wish the two notes merged a little better rather than tag teaming me but overall I think this is a really lovely forest scent.

[Lethran]

In bottle: Pine dominant. The blackberry, cedar, and leaves beautifully support and enrich the pine. The cranberry is soft and gives a gentle berry impression under all the sharp dark green woodiness. I’m really liking this. Wet: I didn’t think it was possible, but it’s even more interesting on the skin, as the woods and leaves each grow more distinct. The cranberry is very understated, but a clever addition as it rounds the fragrance without tipping it into foody. Dry: Not quite as brilliant on the dry down. I am having trouble figuring out what went wrong here. The cranberry is still pure. I’m still picking out cedar and a touch of pine, so my best guess is that one of the leaves when funny as it started to break down. It’s still wearable, but I’m a bit heartbroken that it’s not as brilliant as it seemed at first.

[Eliyetres]

In bottle: Pine. Dirt.

Dry: Ah, there is a bit of blackberry leaves! The pine scent stays really strong. And it stays there. I can feel some of the cranberries coming out, but only faint and only for a while

Then it turns back to dirt.

[Drae]

In the imp: Fresh pine. It "feels" spicy and warm although there isn't any spice detected

Wet on skin: Boom, berries! The berries are kind of fighting with the pine for center stage. No tomato leaf or cedar detected.

Drydown/Dry: This has become a blackberry Christmas potpourri, synthetic and oversweet and cloying If the cranberry was more tart and the blackberry absent, I think this would have worked for me. The pine hasn't been completely drowned in berries, but it doesn't temper them. I don't mind smelling like fruit from the peach/nectarine/apricot or citrus family, but berries just don't work on me, Swaps Ahoy!

Edited November 18, 2011 by Drae

[rhubarb3point14]

Ah, this isn't going as well as I had hoped.

 

Straight out of the imp, this was STRONG pine. Very pure, Christmas-y pine. I liked it, but it was awfully single-note. No sign of the tomato leaf.

 

Over time, I got tantalizing whiffs of a really beautiful cranberry note. But every time I started to love it, I would be knocked down by a strong blast of cedar wood. Basically, I smell like a hamster cage.

[curlsandpearls]

Bottle: Blackberries and cranberries. Usually pine comes out in full swing, dressed as Pine Sol or Vap-o-Rub to knock me down flat, but just berries... hmm... will have to try this.

 

Wet: Ooh, those berries are pungent. I’m not getting anything woodsy yet. Am really intrigued by this. It’s so not me, and I was nervous about the pine, but I’m not getting any pine, just lots of winter-fresh berries. Swap pile, but it’s interesting that the pine didn’t come out.

 

Dry: I didn't get any woodsy notes, just berries. So strange! Still swap pile.

[KakashiMorph]

In the bottle: Cedar, pine and strange as it sounds an overall feeling of mango ( I blame the general woodsy-ness). I love mangoes though (along with woods) so all is well.

On my skin: Lovely, lovely cedar wood! I can smell some berry behind it but I am not sure whether it is the cranberry or the blackberry leaf.It only takes a couple of minutes before the berry note becomes more permanent and I am thinking that it is blackberry, while the cedar takes a step back.

Drydown: Sadly, it only takes about 10 minutes or so before I am only left with the scent of berries. My skin must really have something for berries, since this is the 4th scent that does this to me this year (Ondurdis, Yule 2011 and Oak Moon are the other three). I am not sure whether I will keep putting it on as it is, or try for a scent locket. Probably a locket.

[whitsunweddings]

Yuss, cryprozoology. And also that awful xfiles episode. Anyway:

I: Pine, definitely some cranberry and tomato leaf.

Wet: Mostly cranberry and tomato leaf, actually.

Dry: Berries with pine and tomato leaf floating around in the background. A very tangy scent, and pretty. Could possibly work quite well on a dude.

[BoneBone24]

Wet: Blackberries with something that smells powdery and pink

 

Drydown: The pink something magically transforms into a powdery pine and the berries take on a candy-like quality. Half sweet candy, half soft, powdery woods.

 

Dry: Juice Barrels (yes, definitively Juice Barrels) with a touch of soft pine-scented powder.

 

 

 

 

Long story short, I amp berries like Whoa. No cedar for me :*(

 

3 out of 10 bones

Edited June 21, 2013 by BoneBone24

[WidgetAlley]

Imp: PINE PINE PINE! I love pine, and this is the wet, sticky, sweet kind from Slobbering Pine. Under that is a bracing, fresh tartness that I assume is the cranberry, and just a hint of hot musky vegetation-- tomato leaf. Unf. I want to roll in it!

 

Wet: Tomato leaf, tomato leaf, how I love you. And bright iced pine needles. And... craftstore candles? Uh-oh. Don't let that be you, cranberry. No blackberry leaf yet, but some dry cedarwood emerges and it's surprisingly well-behaved (cedar can turn to pencil shavings very quickly.)

 

Dry: Cedar and cranberries push this into holiday-store territory, but the pine and tomato leaf are still so lovely and bright. This isn't as much of an outdoors scent as I was expecting, but it is very lovely and festive and reminds me (oddly) of Lovers in a Carp Streamer in terms of holiday cheer. I'll probably keep my imp, but I don't anticipate a bottle.

[themeaningofV]

At first, it is completely PINE on me, like Coniferous Forest: Single Note.

 

Ten minutes later, there was SOMEWHAT of a transition phase where the cranberry came through... then the cedar came to the forefront. Five minutes later, it's become wax-like, and I am a Christmas candle in a holiday store.

 

Not for me.

[heyjjudette]

Because I grew up in south jersey and still live here, I needed to try this.

 

IT SMELLS EXACTLY LIKE THE PINE BARRENS! It's a beautiful pine too! Whenever I smell a pine scent, it always seems artificial to me, but this is just, wow. I never thought I would like to wear pine on me! I smell a bit of the fruit on my skin, but not much. The pine is dominating. But hey it is the jersey devil, he does live in the pine barrens, so it makes sense.

 

On the dry down I get the cedar and it is lovely. This is a great woody scent.

I want to go hiking. Or go on a jersey devil hunt... (They do exist).

[brilliantcat]

Whooooah, that's some strong pine! It's nose-clearing in the imp and on me, it's even stronger if that's possible Under all that pine I think I get a hint of some sweetness. Blergh. Pine-Sol.

[anaengel]

Mine starts off on pine mostly. Plus, I get the blackberry mixing with the cranberry to give a bite to it. As it dries down, it goes to pine and cedar in this very cool, walking by the woods scent. It lasts about four hours on me, which is pretty much an average length. I like it, but just seem to feel as though I have a few others of the similar vibe that I will wear more often. So, this will stick to my many imps.

[ResinManiac]

Piney and not much else gets though, just not for me, sorry.

[Malaena]

Drying it has a plastic phase and then it's pine + cedar sweetened by cranberry. In less than an hour it has turned into something powdery and plasticky.

[dementia_divine]

In the imp: Pine, cedar, and tomato leaf are the first notes to jump out to my nose. I get a slight hint of a berry scent if I inhale really deeply, and I think it might be the cranberry, but I'm not sure.

 

Wet: A blast of pine, followed by the tomato leaf note. The pine note is comprised mostly of pine needles (as opposed to pine tree), just like in Black Forest. Once again, I can detect a hint of fruit, but I don't know if it's the cranberry note or the blackberry leaf that I'm smelling. The cedar note begins to emerge as the scent dries down.

 

Dry: Pine and cedar, with less tomato leaf than the wet phase of the scent, and what I believe is a hint of cranberry. It's more woody now (thanks to the cedar) and less pine needle-y.

 

Verdict: I was initially scared of this one thanks to the tomato leaf, but the scent was more pleasant than I thought it would be. That said, Ranger and Elf are my go-to forest scents, and I don't like this forest scent nearly as much as those two, so I'm going to pass my imp on to a friend.

[Soupy Twist]

Pitch pine in the bottle, which goes on as Pine-Sol. This develops a "green" edge, I guess the blackberry leaf, then the cedar comes in. It's quite interesting. It continues into the berry note of cranberry, and finishes as a cranberry cedar.

I have to say this is one of the most perfect executions of a great concept I've smelled. It absolutely envisions everything that might represent that area and captures them beautifully.

[LizziesLuck]

I really don't wear woody scents (though I do like them as room scents), but this was a frimp so I'm testing it anyway.

 

 

Wet: Pine tree. Really strong, very true. It never ceases to amaze me how accurate some of the Lab's notes are.

 

The pine does actually calm down fairly quickly, and I get some sweetness. Still very woody though. There's something a bit dark and bitter underneath.

 

Dry: Still too woody for me, but I imagine if you liked woody scent this one would be gorgeous. It's a bit smoky on final drydown, to my nose at least.

[roseus]

I got this as a frimp and boy am I glad! This feels wintry with out being too in your face about it.

 

In the imp, pitch pine and cold wind.

 

On wet there's still a lot of pitch pine, and the cedar warms it a touch while the tomato leaf lightens everything.

 

Dry, the cranberry comes in and sweetens the deal.

 

Overall a beautiful festive scent, that I find wonderfully unisex. This could also work fabulously as a room scent.

[freyasfae]

This really is a beautiful Christmas scent, but the pitch pine is just too intense for my personal tastes. This is something I would like as a candle, but not on my skin.

[DiesMali]

In the imp: Pure, gooey pine pitch.

 

Wet on my skin: Gooey pine pitch and a hint of herbaceous leaves.

 

Dry: This doesn't change a whole lot as it dries, except some spicy cedar wood joins the pine pitch and herbal green leaves. There's almost no sweetness from the cranberry, and I think it actually adds much more to the tart sharpness of the scent. It's very foresty and piney, and maybe a little too much so for my skin, which is a real feat since I love foresty evergreen scents. I have a feeling that aging will do nice things to this, however, so I'm going to stick it in my dark box and leave it. If nothing else, it'll be amazing for scenting my mom's Christmas tree next year!

[Minh Scent]

This is a beautiful pine scent. I do get cranberry, cedar and black berry leaf interplay. The cranberry actually smells more like blackberry to my nose. Sadly no tomato leaf. As it dries down, the interplay of notes is more and more pronounced, but pine remains center stage. Very natural to me, no pinsol as others mentioned. I love this and it is a full bottle candidate.

[Casablanca]

Bottle: Dry, sunlit pine, bleached sand and a little tomato. I live near (and have lived in) the Pine Barrens and this really smells like the area!

Wet: First off, the pine: more wood now and less sun. Tomato's juicy red water is there next. (How strange to get that from the leaf?) There's a faint dark berry almost completely hidden in the tomato at first, but it starts to come out more with time.

Dry: Dried, this turns into a darker and simpler Elf. I like the way the dark berry blends with the pine. I guess tomato is a top note like citrus, because I don't smell it at all once dry. I get more cedar at this point.

I'd been curious about this and passed by it because of the tomato. I received it as a freebie and, actually, at first it evokes the Barrens to an almost scary degree. And then it becomes an easily wearable dark berry, pine and cedar forest, albeit one with a short life on me. I think I like Elf better for my berry forest purposes, but I'm glad I tried this!