Ulalume

[jj_j]

From the Bewitching Brews collection:
The skies they were ashen and sober;
The leaves they were crisped and sere -
The leaves they were withering and sere;
It was night in the lonesome October
Of my most immemorial year:
It was hard by the dim lake of Auber,
In the misty mid region of Weir -
It was down by the dank tarn of Auber,
In the ghoul-haunted woodland of Weir.

Starry white lilies lend an eerie brightness to the deep black wooded scents of cypress and oak, layered with a touch of crushed dried leaves and the faintest aquatic note.

Out of the vial, I thought this was going to be an earthen, brown scent. On, it's nothing of the sort. The lilies are absolute gems, sparkling and delicate, and they have that crisp, almost powdery fruity sweetness that lilies seem to give off before they're overblown. They're delicate, but distinct over the cypress (I couldn't tell you what oak smells like, so I can't tell you if it's in here) that's so beautifully woody. This wavers back and forth between the lilies and a bark note that's reminiscent of cinnamon - not red hots cinnamon, but the soft, faded, gorgeous red that's in Mercury and the Lion. Now that I think about it, this could indeed be the scent of from the middle of an autumnal leaf pile, raked into a mound and waiting to be bagged up.

Overall, Ulalume has solid staying power, and the unique sweetness of the lilies holds sway over the gentle wooden notes with delightful, ethereal beauty.
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[Shollin]

First sniff: Ulalume is really interesting – it reminds me of both camping and Christmas simultaneously, and there’s rain in there somewhere. Woodsiness and spice and the faintest breath of white flowers on the breeze.

 

Wearing: Oddly, the first drop on my skin is the same white-melon note as in Ingenue. That dies quickly and I’m left with Christmasy spices brushed over pale flowers growing in the shadow of the woods with a foxfire glow. Very pretty. It's faded by the end of the night, but I'm used to that from soft floral scents.

[paperdoll]

Initial Sniff: This smells like a healthy green forest in the spring when everything is alive. It is a sunny day, but the sun only reaches the forest floor in a few dappled spots.

 

Wearing: Very woodsy - it goes through a period where it is very dry smelling. Then the lillies come out to play, leaving the forest as mere backdrop. I didn't get any of the spiciness others mentioned.

 

Final Impressions: This is so pretty! It isn't my usual style, but I'm not ready to part with this imp just yet!

[Faerykin]

Swiped across wrists and along collarbone.

 

Initial Wet (8-8:30am): I am sent back to the days of my youth when my mother signed her children up for the early morning (8am) session of swim class. We arrive at the lake before anyone else can mingle the scent of nature with barbecue and sun block. This is the scent of the early morning on the lakeshore – the scent of the trees and the waves and the morning dew.

 

Initial Dry (8:30-10am): The lilies are really starting to shine through now. It is a very warm, sweet, spring, field-of-flowers scent. Like standing by a pond in the spring sunshine.

 

Throughout the Day (10am-2pm): A very faint, light, watery flower scent. It lingers in a way that I don’t smell it all the time, but catch faint whiffs every so often. Almost like a slight breeze over a pond in the middle of a field of spring flowers.

 

… slowly fading …

 

A very clean, calming, cathartic scent. This one is definitely a keeper.

Edited August 17, 2004 by Faerykin

[isyche]

On me this smells like a rainy forest - the aquatic and woody notes seem to be the most prominent. I don't detect any flowers in it, just the image of dark tree trunks rising up into the mist and leaves wet with rain.

I like it a lot - very evocative and different. Not for every day, but I'll save it.

[Astarte]

The wood notes come out most prominent on me with this one which is a pity as I cant deal with strong earthen oils. I can smell a citrus note in the background of the wood to give it a feeling of vitality behind the static trees. Its very gentle and lilting, this would be a winner if I liked eathern scents more.

[Northernminx]

Watery and clear with an undertone of something...strange.

I couldn't place that somewhat earthy tang when I first put this one on. It mellowed out after a minute and I couldn't smell that strange little hint of something.

Unfortunately I couldn't smell much of anything as this one completely washed out on my skin.

 

Sad sad, as I loved the clear watery floral I was getting while it lasted.

[Isis]

For some reason, this reminds me of Persephone and It’s because they both share the same ‘bite’ like what persephone does because it contain pomegrante.

 

I’m guessing it’s the ‘eerie brightness’ to it which makes the smell stand out when once applied. It does take a long time for it to gradually tone down and now I can just detect the darker notes of oak and cyprus.

 

It also smells like moss. Infact it reminds me of a dark wood and just after it has rained, the plants and wood are damp and then you see the sun streaming in through the trees leaves and of the remaining raindrops about to evaporate. It has an odd sweetness to it aswell, but overall this is fragrance is quite boring so you can take it or leave it.

Edited July 16, 2004 by Isis

[any_old_actress]

FIRST SNIFF: evergreen trees...

 

WEARING IT: i definitely can smell the dried leaves and it IS a heavily wooded scent. there is a faint sweetness to it dancing in the background somewhere and i'm pretty sure it ISN'T the lilies, but i can't put my finger on it. i'm with shollin in that it reminds me of camping, or walking through the woods after the first fresh snow fall.

 

VERDICT: too woodsy for me i think, i'll give it a couple more tries though.

Edited August 6, 2004 by any_old_actress

[glampyre]

This is the last imp to be tried from my recent swap. Somehow, I found the name and the ingredients a bit intimidating. Waited, put it off...

 

But man, this is the GOODS.

 

I'm telling you. The woody notes are impeccable. And the lilly on top is fascinating. The combination of such a white-smelling floral and those slightly brown greens...is really intense.

 

I have to come out in the open and say that I'm a geologist and I hike and camp alot. And I love this. It captures so muh of the goodnes of the way outside can smell. Like waking up, crawilng out of the tent, it's autumn, there's dew on everything and someone already thought to start the fire and get some eggs and coffee going.

 

(You can't smell eggs and coffee in this, but it's that early morning camping, everything is so fresh and pure and awesome feeling.)

 

This is going on my "Must own big bottle of this" list.

[malanna]

This was so sharp and acridic, it gave me a headache. It's a sharp, brown scent, with a dash of Pine-Sol. On me, the lilies were nowhere to be found, until maybe, several long hours later, when it's a bit lighter and the brown bark scent (it's light enough where I can actually tell that it's bark) isn't so wham-bam-boom! I think it may be what lightens up the scent (several hours later). However, there still is that astringent Pine-Sol undercurrent, which is slight, but reminds me of the headache-inducing smell at the beginning and ruins any chance of me liking the scent. This review isn't very nice, but when I think of the headache I was getting wearing this....

[TygherRayn]

In the bottle: At first, all I smelled were the lilies. Crisp, white, florals. But on second, and third sniff I got something more earthy, more brown.

 

Wet: This is quite and acrid scent. Sharp, biting .. not the soft, gentle scent the name invokes for me. I still get a woody-earthy tone from it though .. somewhat like wood that's half soaked in a slowly rushing stram .. nover quite able to dry, and so it's green and brown and blue all at once.

 

Wearing: This is, despite the ingredients, a watery scent. This might well be my pirate scent .. though it'll take more wearing for that. It's almost salty though, and woody, and wet. And I like it, very much.

[allamanda]

Ulalume

 

I love the way this starts, not sure if it is the green cypress as I suspect, but it really is lovely, green and a bit astringent.

 

As this dries I start to smell the lilies and then dry leaves, at the moment, as sometimes happens on my skin, the lilies smell stale and unpleasant.

 

My skin is reacting to this oil; I have a red welt across my wrist and a red patch below my nose where my wrist must have touched my face when sniffing. I can’t smell cinnamon in this blend and it isn’t listed; I’d be grateful for any suggestions about what I’m reacting to. I tried the oil twice and had the same reaction both times.

 

As I was testing other oils at the same time I didn’t remove Ulalume and some hours later was rewarded with a lovely smell, sadly the early stages and especially the rash mean this one is not for me.

 

I’ve just seen jj_j has mentioned cinnamon and Mercury. I can’t detect cinnamon here (but then I can’t always smell it) however I reacted extremely badly to Mercury. I sometimes react to cinnamon, but not always, I guess I can’t win.

Edited September 13, 2004 by allamanda

[Vaniclion]

This smells bright, and crisp. Like light first thing in the morning, but not painful. Not a shock. It’s woodland sweet, with a distinct Christmas tone to it. Must be the evergreen. I originally smelled this one in a grand sniff party with Tygher and Salice, and made note that I liked it then and so picked it up in swaps sometime later. Just now getting a chance to review. LOVE.

 

Now that I’ve linked the scent to Christmas that’s all I can get. I’ll tell you the exact memory too. I was at Salice and Tygher’s house, before the one they’re in now. The Christmas tree was up, bright shining in the corner with blue and silver ornaments. Santa figurines were EVERYWHERE. Tygher sat in the kitchen, cooking and playing on the laptop while Salice and I sat in the adjoining living room watching Margaret Cho’s ‘I’m The One That I Want’ and laughing so hard we thought we’d choke, pee or both. I’m not sure if this is the smell I got then, or if I’m connecting the memory and scent for some other reason… but there it is, and that’s all I have to say about that.

[Laurel the Woodfairy]

Oooo! Right out of the vial there was a quick flash of resins that reminded me of Cathedral (woods and resins always do that to me--Cathedral was one of my first imps, so I tend to compare things to it). It immediately softened into the lovely lilies and soft earthen notes--I didn't get "trees" per se, just earthiness. This is very soft on me, softer than on some other reviewers (my skin likes to eat BPAL-- )

 

I am left with a strong impression of being outside a cathedral--a hint of incense wafts through the windows to where I'm standing in an old churchyard. Not funereal--no new graves here--just a sense of mellowed flowers and earth in a sacred spot.

 

This is very, very lovely.

[Effluvia]

in the vial: What the fuck? Dirty apples and tree bark?

 

on my skin: My nose is confused. Pale, amost white blue pale floral water and earthy woods. There's a weird fuity note in there, too. I'm picturing Tori's "Spark" video in my head. This is a cross between Autumn and Spring. It's the woods and it's spring flowers and rain.

 

I'm gonna treat this the same way I treat Danube; I'm utterly impressed by its beauty, so I keep it around, but it doesn't fit my personality all that much. This will be one of my "wear at home" oils. I might wear this to sleep and see how it effects my dreams.

 

ETA: This has grown on me, I really like this a lot now. I wasn't getting much of the mossiness before for some reason. This reminds me of Neil Gaimen books. That's the best description I can give you. It also makes a PHENOMENAL room scent.

Edited November 9, 2004 by Effluvia

[Rheliwen]

The first time I sniffed Ulalume from the bottle I wasn't terribly impressed. It smelled like dead leaves to me.

 

After initially putting it on, I smelled the woody ingredients the most. As it dried it just got better and better as the individual scents combined together. It's one of the most complicated scents I've tried from BPAL in that it evokes so many contradictory feelings for me.

 

After reading the other reviews I do realize now that it is kind of a watery scent. But more a green mossy pond in the middle of the forest than a large body of water. Isis has a really great description of it in her post. I love the way the wood notes linger in the background while the lilies take center stage. They are a great combo and remind of beautiful dried flowers.

 

This is a sorrowful scent to me. It's floral yes, but it has a depth that doesn't make it a cheery girly scent. I am not terribly into girly floral scents, I like depth and wickedness to my perfumes, so I was initially surprised when I decided to love this floral scent. But Ulalume is no innocent perfume, I guess that's why I like it. And I like it more and more everytime I wear it. I think I'll get a bigger bottle of this one.

[darklorelei]

This one is kind of strange, but has the potential to be absolutely magical if you have the proper chemistry.

 

It's really interesting, because Ulalume so clearly has two levels. There's a sweet fruity-floral flavor on the top, which must be the lilies, but the bottom level is very herbal.

 

For me, the two layers never really merge, and the aquatic note really doesn't do it for me. However, I think this is an absolutely fascinating scent.

 

The aquatic note just always turns into Dial handsoap for me.

Edited October 10, 2004 by darklorelei

[Camilla T]

This smells exactly like a deep forrest just after it rained and the sun has come out again!!! Quite beautiful and soothing in a way. I'm not usually a big fan of earthy scents, but because the lillies are there as well, this is so well-balanced and I really like it.

 

I really like how the initial smell is just when the rain is stopping - and how it then turns into a ray of sunshine in a wet forrest. Beautiful!

[surf-tormented]

Very nice!

 

Smells very mossy on me when it is first put on. The scent of woods, new mown hay, crypt grass, dead leaves and moss. It is stronger than a lot of the other oils I have tried.

 

After awhile I feared it was going to go sour on me. I can only say it was starting to smell like Love's Baby Soft. (If people are my age on here.) Then it smelled a bit like Goth Rosary's Crypt scent, only more cryptic.

 

But, after an hour, it came back as mossy as ever. I put it on about 4pm and still can smell the remnants, so that is a good run for an oil. Works good behind the ears and in the curve of the bosom.

 

Next to Djnn, this is my next favorite as I go. I am keeping a list for a big order in the future.

[etherealchild]

In The Bottle Berries, cold greens, mint, the night woods.

 

Wet The fragrence is unfolding on my skin. There is a cold bite to it. Smells like a midnight winter wind. Riding over all of this, at the end of my breathe, is a full bosommed berry, dripping with warmth. It is slightly clean and soapy. It would make a lovely bath oil.

 

Drydown It has softened, and has become a wistful, airy scent. The characteristics I picked out before have blended and blurred. The bite has softened to the slightest prick. It seems the whole scent has become blanketed by tea. A floral tea. As if before it was an icicle that has warmed and melted in a cup of tea. this floral tea has become a note that blankets the entire scent, pulling the individual notes together and rounding it out into something warmer and more beautiful. It has become such a lovely feminine scent.

 

Two Hours Later Somehow it has blossomed into an alluring floral. it is gorgeous. it reminds me slightly of Curious by B.S. But this is a richer, more complex, more ethereal version. I adore this one.

 

Verdict This is utterly feminine and subtle. Delicate and alluring. I am soooooo going to order a bigger bottle.

[Ishtar]

Once again, BPAL taught me not to judge a book by its cover, or a scent by its description, for that matter.

Ulalume was sent to me as a freebie, for which I am grateful. I would never have tried it anymore, as it was on my "No, never, are you kidding?" list. I am usually not a fan of aquatic notes and cypress dowright hates me. However, I'll try any BPAL once, so I decided to be brave and to apply it.

 

For the first few minutes, I smelled like a pond. A mossy one. Verrry mossy.

I was already sighing and wondering why I even bother with aquatic notes, when all of a sudden, the lilies decided to speak up and turn Ulalume into something wearable for me. Thank you lilies! They did an excellent job of shooing the moss, taming the cypress and turning the blend into a soft aquatic floral that was quite enjoyable.

This is subtle, soft and elegant. Very nice

[ViolentKitten]

This one instantly and utterly entranced me, even though I don't think it's one I could wear. More than Edgar Allan Poe's poem (which I didn't previously know), I'm reminded of one of my favourite paintings: John William Waterhouse’s ‘Hylas and the Nymphs’. But the dark side of them. The dark woods closing in around Hylas, the crush of dried leaves on wet soil beneath his bare feet, as he walks, almost hypnotised, towards the cool, black water and the beckoning nymphs. He takes his last breath of the woods, the water around him and the scent of the nymphs, which is all of it and white lillies...

 

I can really smell all those things...when I first put Ulalume on, I was hit with that faint aquatic note, but it was instantly covered over in fresh dirt, wet soil and crackling leaves. And then, a moment later, the watery note surfaced again! It is so much like being in deep, dark, dank woods, that it's almost frightening. And yet...it becomes prettier and softer the longer it's on, with a soft floral drifting out. I didn't get the cinnamon at first, but upon further sniffing, there is a touch of spiced cinnamon wood which fades as the florals come out. This is an incredibly inspiring scent for me. It even got me writing poetry...which I haven't done for a long time.

Edited December 30, 2004 by ViolentKitten

[FireInCairo]

This blend is VERY earthy. It is in the same vein as "Nosferatu" in my opinion. Very grainy..earthy... interesting...

[Witch's Dagger]

Ulalume

 

I think this was a freebie, but I’ve been wrong before. At one point I had several outstanding orders (around 8), and at the same time, I was away from the forum. When they arrived, I couldn’t remember what I had actually ordered and what I had just considered ordering.

 

Preconceived Notions: From the reviews I thought it would be ethereal, and either dark and foresty or sunny.

 

In the vial: Lovely - this is definitely an almost-too-sweet, “come closer so I can lure you into fairy enchantment” kind of scent. Probably not something I’d wear every day, since it is so sweet, but it plays at the edges of mystery, and it does have something dark and seductive about it.

 

On me: Sadly, it is gone in less than a minute.

 

Overall: I’m not going to use it as perfume, but I’ll keep it around. I think it would be great for visionary uses, particularly in a bath.

 

(this was supposed to be a short review...)