Jólasveinar

[sionnac]

... Their scent is a mishmash of snow, dirt, Icelandic moss, marsh felwort, and the smushed petals of buttercups and moorland spotted orchids, with the barest hint of the scent of pilfered Christmas pastries.

On me it is foresty at first, and then the wonderful pastry foodie bit comes on in equal measure. Love both scents together. A stranger told me I smelled wonderful and asked what it was....

[wolfie13]

First sniff: Yes as others have said, it's the cold, snowy, forest scent with a gentle waft of baked goods in the background

 

Wearing: The same initially, but then the baked goods retreat never to return on me. Then it strangely smells a bit burnt. It's burnt pine at this point.

Next this gets very loud and floral and sweet (the sweetness reading almost as pineapple on me for some reason.)

 

Overall: Yikes. Not good. (But keep in mind it's likely my wacko chemistry. Most of the snow/cold/forest scents go floral and/or sweet on me. There is a note or combination of notes that does me in nearly every time.)

 

However, this might be nice in an oil burner if it gave off the in-the-bottle scent.

Edited December 13, 2006 by wolfie13

[theseagrows]

i am getting a foody/fruity scent from this. maybe it's the pastries? i get a sort of burnt-fruit smell, and it's one of the fruits that turns into a scented doll on me...perhaps grape or plum? i smell something else underneath but can't place it, dirt is the closest thing i can think of as the notes listed, but it doesn't smell like typical bpal dirt to me. i dont get any pine or snow or anything like that, and i dont like this scent on me either.

[flyingpizza]

Wet, cool, damp, snowy forest. I think that those of you who miss Whippoorwill would love this one. I have to think on this one a bit before I decide if it's a good "me" scent, but oh my, the description is right on.

[dawna]

In the vial: Pine and a slight hint of something sweet.

 

On the skin: Oh wow I do adore this one. This is like, Christmas tree with cookies for santa under it. The cookies are very faint and they round out the OMG TREE scent.

 

On drydown: The florals come out, but they aren't offputting. There is a spicy warmness infused into the cold slushy pine. It is Yuletide in a vial for me. I do love this and am so glad that I had decided to get a full imp of this one.

[The_Witching_Hour]

In the bottle: slushy, pines with a whisper of sweetness.

 

On my skin: slush green and some bakery sweets I can't put my finger on.

 

Drydown: another morphing scent! The Icelandic moss and florals break out in the end and mix with the bakery spices making such a round scent! I may even try this one in the oil burner tonight. How UPLIFTING!!

[Miss Lynx]

Hmmm, not sure about this one. It seems to be more floral than not, though not in a conventionally perfumey way at all, and with some kind of vaguely unsavoury undertone - maybe the dirt note? And there definitely is a faint hint of something foody, presumably the pastry note.

 

The flowers and accompanying herbal notes do smell very fresh, and not at all synthetic or perfumey -- it's very much like actual wildflowers of some sort. But it does have a touch of that fake-snow note which finds its way into so many of the Yule scents, but doesn't really smell like snow, at least not to me. There's something in the combination that reminds me a bit of Vinland.

 

It's not unpleasant, at least not entirely, but on me at least, this scent doesn't really come together. It smells sort of... accidental. Like a bunch of different notes that just sort of happened to fall in together by chance. Which I suppose is appropriate to the chaotic nature of the creatures it's named for...

 

Grade: C+

[LiberAmoris]

Jólasveinar's been on my most-anticipated Yule blends list, because I love all things Icelandic and the combination of notes are so unusual, pulling together so much of what I enjoy about the holiday season. Well, it's a good thing that I have Jólasveinar, because there's been no snow or slush in NYC so far this year!

 

Wearing it, I smell that snow/slush chord that I love, plus marshy, mossy notes like oakmoss---and then a peal of little bells that must be the buttercups and orchids. At the bottom is that caramelized sugar pastry note that is so yummy. It's all so balanced and harmonized and layered that I keep catching different facets of it. Very nice.

[juniperus]

Bottle: buttery pastry

Wet: pastry, served in the middle of a forest

Dry: something here is getting pushy, whether it's the moss or felwort I don't know. the snow and dirt are having their way with my sinuses

Later: well it's not amping and morphing like its nasty cousin Spanish moss, but the moss (or is it the felwort?) isn't liking me, methinks. and the dirt. I can't wear dirt, it seems, can't wear it.

[grrrlennyl]

at first: a very sweet scent, with a lot of dirt and green to it. there's a nice smattering of orchids, too.

on: very, very floral and a bit soapy. really different from in the bottle.

2 hours later: a soapy, wet scent with a hint of flowers.

4 hours later: sweet, but with an odd soapiness in the background.

6 hours later: sweet and soapy.

overall: i'm not sure if it's the buttercup, but something goes soapy on me in this one.

[gwynhwyfar]

I had so much luck with last year's Yule scents ... clearly, I'm cursed this year. Or else my oils that I love are just jealous and want to keep the competition away.

 

In the bottle, this is beautiful. Rich and a little sweet, in a kind of dark way. Very lovely and differently. Florals with a candy-cake-sweetness, and a fairly heavy and dark greenery -- not like herbs, and not like pine, but more like some interesting combination of the two. Almost musty, but in a way that works well with the other notes.

 

On my skin ... it disappears. Completely. Within an hour, I can't smell it even if I press my nose into my wrist. I can smell my skin (which is admittedly a nice scent and all that) but no more pretty perfume. It's the strangest thing, ever. This vanishes so completey that ... well, I don't have the right comparison. It just disappears.

[indicolite]

Oh Jolasveinar, I had such hopes for you after Noumenon's fairly, um, dramatic endorsement.

 

But whatever marsh felwort is, or the other components of this, they are not working on me - not even in the locket, so I cannot blame my skin. I am getting whiffs of the pastries (and I HATE smelling foody), the pine - but also something medicinal and something incensey that is giving me a headache. After the stunning success of Winter of Our Discontent and Sol Invictus, I was thinking I need to get all the Yule scents - but this one is definitely not working for me. There are at least three notes here that I dislike, so aging does not show promise.

 

I will go and weep, and put this up for swap, asking to trade it for more Winter of Our Discontent.

[mooncityminx]

In the Imp: Pine and fruit?

 

Wet: More pine, amber (which goes a little funky on me) and some kind of rich almondy smell. Reminds me of being in a forest and stepping in some fresh droppings. (because of the amber going funky on me) Very much a nature smell.

 

Dry: Starts to smell a little soapy. I just do not have any luck with this one. I could see how it would be very nice on someone who has the right chemistry.

[VorpalBunny]

I put Jólasveinar on and asked my Icelandar, "So, do I smell like a Yule Lad?" He took a sniff and said "Yep." Well, it's not maybe how you would REALLY imagine the Yule Lads to smell, I imagine it would be more like soured milk (Stekkjastaur) or sausages (Bjúgnakrækir) or smoked lamb (Ketkrókur) or candles (Kertasníkir), although I don't think I would really want to wear any of those scents. But it really smells like Christmas.

 

I really do personally find this one to be a good replacement for Skadi. It has the same slight pine scent while being somewhat sweet at the same time. Jólasveinar is a bit spicier and a little more foody, but not overly foody as I was originally slightly afraid of. I look forward to saving this for the next Christmas season.

[sarahmarie]

Wet, this is a woody, spicy pine. As it warms on my skin, it blooms into a beautiful scent that makes me think of Hansel and Gretel - the forest, with a warm, sweet, spicey hit of baking. It blends into this amazing crescendo on my skin - it's truly delicious. And then the baking bit fades, leaving a scent that's mostly woodsy.

 

I really love the dramatic stage of this, where everything comes out to play. I like it on the drydown, but I wish it stayed the way it does when it's warmed up but still wet. I may want a bottle of this anyway, though...we'll see.

[QueenFae]

Wow, this is a tough one to describe! I think the top notes are mainly the orchids and the sugared note of the pastries. When I first sniffed it, I thought "sugary" immediately, but as I continue to wear it, it turns a little bit more into a wintery floral with foody notes as the backdrop. There is definitely a "chilly" feeling to this scent, although the orchids lighten it up a bit and make it a little feminine. I think my skin is really pulling the florals out of this one. Jolasveinar is quite unique, and very lovely.

[filigree_shadow]

Woohoo! A snowy blend that doesn't smell ENTIRELY of that cold snowy note on me. All the snowy ones smells almost exactly the same to me because that note just screams on my skin. They all wind up smelling like snow and pine. But in this one I can smell something else pretty strongly too: moss! The only problem is that I don't like moss. Except... no, hang on. It's dry now, and I can't smell any moss any more. Darn. I think I might be catching a tiny wisp of something floral and sweet but it's fleeting.

 

I think I'm just going to give up on these snowy ones.

[hecate_jones]

Weird, I'm not getting much of anything sweet from this. No cakes for me!

This seems to be a very masculine scent, to me. I get an undertone from it that's very reminiscent of old-fashioned spicy bay rum colognes.

 

The "snow" smell is definitely there. It's something very cold and chill under the

bay and evergreen scent. The mental image this wants to call to mind for me is

an old-fashioned gentleman in a snowy forest clearing. Not what I expected, and

not for me, but my hubbie's happy to have it

[cuervosueno]

So I read the notes on this and saw some cuervo's scents of doom: dirt , moss, florals.

 

And I didn't get it.

 

but time has passed and someone offered some in a swap, and I forgot why I hadn't bought the bottle, and swapped for an imp.

 

and when I opened it, I thought, damn, look what I would have missed. Because in the bottle this is glorious--the snow and pine notes I love in Skadi, Snow Moon, Snow Bunny, et. al, that note that Yeahbutno describes well as pine/juniper/citrus. I really like that, so I put some on.

 

and yeah, y'all are right. This is one morphing mofo.

 

Because I get that slushy pine scent mostly. But it is sharper than usual, almost slightly metallic. And then after a bit I smell spice, but not cooking spice so much as sharp herbal/plant spice. And I thought I smelled a floral, but just when I began to get wary of that, it was gone, and I was back to sharp pine sap and spice. Sometimes I can smell the moss--which smells just slightly like oak moss to me, a note that adds all I can describe as a "masculine" note to scents. And sometimes I get the slightest whiff of baked goods, but only just slightly.

 

I don't, thankfully, get any dirt, and it does appear to be getting more foody. I can see the baked goods under the tree analogy. Or like something baking while a fresh cut tree is being brought in the house. Or all those smells mixed on someone's hands...

 

Its much more complex and interesting than I expected, and while I won't try and get a bottle, I'm glad I got to try it.

[Jilara]

Wow! This has got to be one of the most complex BPAL scents I've tried.

 

It makes me feel mean. Nasty, laughing, long-fanged mean. Like I'm going to take your firstborn and laugh all the way. Oh yes, this is the one I want to wear if I'm going into a boardroom full of hostile audience, or drive through rush hour traffic on the Hollywood Freeway. <gnashes iron teeth>

Um, where was I?

 

Oh yes, complex.

Wet, it's bitter herbs and dirt with a minty background.

Drying down, it's dirt and moss and slushy minty winter notes, with a note of fallen fir boughs, and that odd bitter bite in the background.

Dry, it's a little easier to take. Something astringent, but still slushy mint, but sweet and cookies(??!) behind the fir boughs and moss. Like the ogre children are gnoshing those stolen pastries off in the hedge. And making snarky little noises as they slap each other.

 

I have a very love/hate relationship with this scent, sort of like how I feel about a couple Jethro Tull albums. Hmm, come to think of it, I think I'll love this scent in the same mood when I love certain Tull albums, and have ...mixed feelings about both at the same time, too. That's it, I'll think of this as my Ian Anderson scent... (I'm sure that makes no sense, but music and BPAL can be so subjective...)

[mspixieears]

I smell a cold, crisp mint mixed with spiced pastries – not at all to my taste but indeed suited to winter which is when I tried this particular fragrance. I was hoping to smell more of the buttercups but sadly I don’t get any of that at all. Hopefully the spices will calm down a bit. I do also detect some dirt which adds to it being a ‘chilly’ scent. I wish I got the orchid note but I have a feeling my body chemistry doesn’t much like this. About 5-10 minutes later it does become slightly more foody and floral – therefore more agreeable to the body chemistry. I think in order for this to smell nice on me it has to be applied sparingly. It has grown into something nicer so will retest before deciding whether or not to get rid of it.

[Neely]

In the bottle: lovely floral with sweet buttery cakes in the background.

 

Wet: sweet lovely fruity floral goodness, with slight butteriness.

 

Dry down: sweet almost bubblegum with some cake. Oh my! I hope this doesn't last.

 

30 minutes: candy, with a smokey foody but not undertone. Hmmm....

 

Conclusion: I took a chance on this one. If you have ever read my other reviews, florals and I rarely get along. I was hoping the cake would save me from smelling like candy, old lady, or baby ass. I wound up smelling like bubblegum. It is really fun when a floral make me smell like an old lady holding a baby who is sucking on a lollie. At least that didn't happen with this one.

 

Rating 1-5: inconclusive, pending further testing.

[LittleGreyKitten]

This is such an unusual, completely unique scent. I get the icy slush notes, a faint, faint whisper of pine, and just the barest hint of buttery pie crust beneath it all. Wow! How does Beth do it? I don't wear this much, but nevertheless I appreciate how evocative it is. It is very faint on me, that's the biggest drawback. The icy note on this edges into ozone a bit, but not overwhelmingly so. I'm glad I have the bottle, but it isn't one I wear much at all.

 

5 out of 5, though I don't love it, it is so perfectly unusual and well crafted.

[funkmoppet]

Mmm. All the great things about Beth's winter blends: Snow, slush, pine. And the wonderful warmth underneath it all.

 

I also detect a slight berry note. It's got a wonderful little hint of baked goods just underneath.

 

Delish!

[MissLily]

In the bottle: I smell a pine forest - the whole forest, not just the trees - by the ocean. This must be how a Californian interprets "snow." I didn't even know snow had a smell. No cakes. Those goblins must have eaten them all up.

 

Wet: Still no cakes. Darn goblins. I smell the crushed flowers now along with the cold coastal forest, and they smell wonderful - like I trampled them on the trail, and am now enjoying the endorphin rush of having finished a hard hike up a hill to the lookout point.

 

Drydown: Maybe someone has cakes at the bottom of the hill. But maybe I'm imagining things. The eucalyptus is very strong.

 

Despite the Icelandic intention, this is very evocative of Northern California in December for me. I don't smell goblins at all; I smell cold hippies who've scrubbed in Dr. Bronner's.

 

This would be an unusual scent to wear, although perhaps less so for a man, but it's fascinating and I am buying a bottle from another forumite. I will probably use it a lot this Christmas.