Jólasveinar

[arabella]

... 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.

First Impression: Sharp, earthy, woody
Dries down to: There's no change, except it becomes woodier
Additional Comments: This is a very earthy forest scent - Hansel and Gretel in wintertime. I get no sweetness whatsoever. I've come to realize that woods really amp a lot on me and, unless they're a very miniscule proporation of the blend, they're going to "scream" on my skin.
Lasted: A few hours
Rating: 3 out of 5

[hologhost]

I smell mostly menthol here. with hints of dirt and that tiny smell of cake. Interesting, but not something I'd wear.

[Lethran]

In the bottle, shockingly medicinal, very pine, and vaguely minty. Wet very sharp and green. I'm really getting the moss. This does smell like Christmas. As it dries, the foody scent comes out more, shocking as whiffs of it suddenly break through the piney mossy scent. They carry with them a vague floral hint, but this is not primarily a floral. I thought I didn't like it at first, but as it dried, it grew on me a bit. Thoroughly dry there is a hint of fruit under cough medicine, moss, and tree, with a hint of butter pastry. So disappointing. I wanted to like it, really, i did, but it's too weird.

[steffanina]

Jolasveinar 2007-

 

(I really liked this one last year--yummy foresty pine!)

 

In Bottle: Light lovely pine-and-snow-and-fruit smell.

 

Wet: Pine, sharpness but not acrid--more like soap.

 

Dry: Smells like last year's version. A lovely yule blend, with pine the dominant note but with something grape-fruity with it. Not heavy at all!

 

Overall: I really like!

[cabinwench]

Strong pine at first, with some sweetness in the background. Notes I made before re-reading the description were "pine, sweet, toast? warm, floral?"

 

A cold scent in the nose, but then there's the warm toast--outside in wintertime, at the back kitchen door with Christmas baking going on?

 

After 15 minutes on skin, there's something dark and juicy: a pie of unidentified berries baking? Not that there is a blackberry or other particular berry note, just something baked and crusty, sweet with some tartness.

 

I get more of the dirt note, then something morphs into floral.

 

An interesting blend. I am not seeing the need for a bottle right now, but I'm glad I got an imp.

[ariosa]

I like this in the initial stage, because it's more dirt and moss with a hint of sweetness than anything else. But yay for my body chemistry, and it amping the pastries more than anything else. So disappointed, because it renders what should be a complex blend to just food.

 

Though! As time goes by, more of the orchid comes out, so maybe there is hope for this yet!

[shellyshells]

2007 version-

 

Wow, a snow scent I actually like! I can't really pick out the notes but I do get impressions of snow, mint (a tolerable amount), & white florals. Later it becomes slightly foody. Very surprised that I like this blend! Oooh and it has alot of throw

[bryghtrose]

This turned out to be all Christmas Pastries, all the time.

 

To be specific, chocolate mint cookie dough.

 

It's the least offensive food scent I've ever smelled. I actually almost like it. But it's still a food scent, and I was terribly disappointed that the moss and orchid notes were completely covered up by the cookie dough.

 

I guess I can't wear anything that remotely mentions food, or else I smell like a kitchen.

[Delirium1009]

07 version

 

In bottle/imp: Pine and a slight hint of baked goods.

 

Immediately on skin: There’s a foodie note in this that comes to the front of the blend and wafts quite a bit. But there’s also a cold feel to the blend… and quite a bit of pine. There are some flowers in there too. Boy, this scent is really complex and busy!

 

After a few minutes: This scent is… interesting. There’s just so much going on that it’s hard to really describe it, but I’ll do my best! There’s a brown sugar/maple syrup feel that I get first upon sniffing, then a bit of pine or moss, a touch of flowers, and a bit of cold ozone. It doesn’t all really mesh together on me to create one scent. I can smell each of those things individually on my skin.

 

Overall Impressions: This scent has a lot going on. It’s interesting, but I don’t think the notes all work together well. When I sniff it, it’s like I dotted three or four different scents on and I’m trying to smell them all together, but they just refuse to mesh.

[lainevierge]

I tired this on yesterday and there was a lingering background note of cold, fresh commercial perfume. Today I got the Christmas pastries right away (cinammon!) and the flowery notes came right out with the chilly background again. I like this and plan on wearing a lot in the next few weeks, but I think I'll just stick with my decanted imp since I don't see myself wearing it much after Christmas.

[hkhm]

bottle: pastries and moss. an unusual but interesting scent.

 

wet: sweet, piney moss. i can catch a faint sweetness but this is really all pine and moss and plants. very nice on me.

 

dry: this fades a bit quickly but i love what's left: sweet, soft pines, mosses and florals.

 

(this is for the 2007 version)

[BlueStarGirl]

PINE! Pine, pine, pine, generic spice.

 

Earlier in this thread someone described this scent as "the flagship Yankee Candle store". It doesn't have that waxy-candle scent I sometimes get from BPAL, but yes!

 

I must say though, the pine reminds me a lot of Twenty-One, so if that's something that works well for you, you might give this a try. I'd have to wait so long for it to age to wearability that I think I'll toss my imp into my swap/sell pile.

[suileach]

Oh, yum. This is foody and foresty - my two favorite things! - at the same time. There's a warm spicy bread, a touch of something minty and crisp, and dry woods. There's also something that I can only classify as purple running through it. Is it a floral? A fruit? Who knows!

 

At any rate this smells like the quintessential winter scent to me. It's absolutely perfect.

 

Has decent throw, too. I had to put it above my elbow because I was running out of scent-free skin on my lower arms and hands, but I can still smell it wafting through my sweater.

 

After drydown, it's still lovely and warm, and smells a bit of cloves.

Edited December 14, 2007 by suileach

[taramarie]

On me, Jólasveinar 2007 is pastries and moss. An odd combination, but not a bad one. It just isn't me so I'll pass this along.

[CrazyPretzel]

I don't get any tiny forest flowers or pilfered Christmas pastries from this. On me it's pure snowy, mossy, earthy, damp, dark pine forest.

 

Which I love.

[slave1]

JOLASVEINAR 07

 

In Bottle: Dirt and cake

 

On Skin: Odd combination right? The cake note is strongest on me at first, and then the mosses and dirt take over. I don’t really smell pine in this years version, like I did in last years. No, I’m wrong… here comes a bit of pine, not as strong as last years, but in there for sure. I think it’s the snow note… The florals are light and I wouldn’t really call this a floral blend. It is sweet and dark, and very outdoorsy… with a random splatter of cakey goodness. An outdoor foody blend… comforting in feel. Not one I’d wear as a perfume, but would like to use as a room scent. Fairly decent throw and long wearlength.

[joseybird]

Slushy, icy evergreen and spicy cakes...the two scents sound clashy, but they meld together perfectly. A perfect scent for a snowy day!

[nightchild80]

In the Imp (wet): The first whiff was a blast of crispness, and freshly turned dirt. Not quite ozone and has an earthiness that gets more appealing as I sniff it further.

 

On facial cotton (dry): Crisp and florals, especially the orchid are the forefront runners, but there's a hint of ginger and Christmas spices I seem to detect. Very subtle, but keeps me interested.

 

On me: There is something haunting about this scent: almost as if it possesses an old soul. The Christmas pastries are sticky sweet and buttery, like sweet date pudding and gingerbread. As the scent dries down, the sweetness becomes more predominant, but the dab I applied doesn't seem to last very long. I hope a heavier application might help, cuz I can see myself wearing this on nights out.

[Brianne]

I don't know that I can properly describe this, but it definitely doesn't smell floral to me. It's very golden and a bit husky with an overall incense vibe to it. I love that this is very blended and does not smell like one note over the other, just an overall warm scent with a tinge of sweetness!

[yeahbutnobut]

Jolasveinar 07

 

In the imp: buttery mince pie crusts (mmm!) over flowers and cold pine.

Wet on skin: chestnuts roasting, pie crusts, sweet pine and sugary snow.

Dry on skin: mmm, this is lovely! I think I like this better than the 06 version. it smells very similar, but I think this one is heavier on the snow note, which is a sweet chilly citrus-pine scent here, and the pastry note is a bit stronger too, but it doesn't have the heavy buttery smokiness from last year (yet). I also smell the moss and the floral orchid, and a bit of dirt. I also smell a chestnut-flower mix reminiscent of Judith Victorious.

After a while: huh? Now it smells all masculine, a little ozone-like, a weird mix of aftershave with smoke from baking. It's very perfumey now, reminds me of the dark green cologne scent of Bad Luck Woman Blues, but with soft ethereal florals (very reminiscent of magnolia) and roasted chestnuts. It does remind me of the 06 version, but a little more perfumey and aftershave-like. like there's a manly woodsy note in here…maybe it's the moss?

Verdict: this is very similar to the 06 version, actually. It has that same unusual but pleasant mix of foody buttery pastry notes (though not caramelised sugar) with snowy, mossy notes and pale floral notes. The difference with this version, to me anyway, is that there’s more of a woodsy-green-pine scent to it, not as floral, and with a hint more spice to the foody notes. However, one note turns this into a really manly scent, reminiscent of aftershave. It’s odd, because a few of the recent foodies have had this odd aftershave reaction (Chanukkiah and Sugar Skull in particular, and also Bad Luck Woman Blues) and I think the pine/snow notes in here seem to amplify that a bit more. I also find the foody chestnut smoke note a little too cloying on me. A fun scent, but not my thing. I think it would smell scrumptious on a man though!

Emoticon rating:

Is it a keeper? No.

If you like this, try: Bad Luck Woman Blues, Judith Victorious, Old Moon, Snow Storm, Channukiah

[Ishtar]

In the imp, Jolasveinar smelled very promising: cold, a little dark, complex. A good example of a BPAL winter blend, evocative of deep forests and snowy landscapes.

I had high hopes for it, as orchid and gourmand notes usually get along very well with my skin chemistry.

 

Unfortunately, as soon as it started to dry on my skin, it morphed into a sharp evergreen scent with an underlying mustiness- probably the dirt and moss notes misbehaving. This is not working for me at all, sadly.

 

I passed on my decant to a local forumite, hopefully she will have much better luck with it than I did.

[twilighteyes]

(2006 version)

 

In the bottle:

Mossy top note, earthy, a little pine? Sweet bottom note.

 

Wet on skin:

Sweet almost spicy cookies. Cold snowy green in the background.

 

Dry on skin:

I can feel the cold on my skin now. This is a wonderful scent, very wintry. Sweet pastries are there, snow is there, snow covered woods are there. WIN.

[Shollin]

(2006) First sniff: Piney sweetness, chilly and green and bright with the promise of a sugary dessert somewhere far off in the distance.

 

Wearing: Someone’s set up a Krispy Kreme in the middle of the woods, and there are indeed Hot Doughnuts Now… the only problem is, you have to tramp through miles of snow to get to them.

[edenssixthday]

Jolasveinar 2007 – Last year’s version smelled like butter pastries and algae on me. It wasn’t a good combo. The 2007 version rocks my socks! It’s predominantly butter pastries with a strong, sleety snow scent, with the hint of soft florals behind it. In my experience, it’s really different from last year. I like the 2007 blend a lot and am thrilled that there’s another “bakery” scent that smells good on me since most don’t work with my skin chemistry. The throw is quite strong and the staying power is well above average.

[fairnymph]

In the bottle: Dark yellow oil. Piney, fresh, watery, a little bit of soil. I smell clean greenery, a little mentholic wintergreen, and that hairsprayish snow. A bit sweet, but more from pine than pastries.

 

Wet: Lighter, fresher - really like a freshwater aquatic, like melting snow over mossy rocks. A really lovely moss note, and I guess maybe the felwort? The pine is less, the sweetness is less, and that hint of wintergreen is gone. Still a tad piney/harshly snow-y, but bearably.

 

Dry: I get the wintergreen again, but it's okay. It's a little greener in that way I know is buttercup - nice! I get that heady feel of the orchid but not too strongly. Actually, this reminds me quite a bit of Blue Moon 07. The cool, aquatic feel of the greenery and florals is very similar. But this has a bit of that unpleasant piney-snow, and a vague, faint sugary sweetness (though I wouldn't identify it as pastries).

 

Summary: Faint greenery, cool water, the lab's chemically unpleasant snow note and...celery. Strange final drydown. Lower throw and poor longevity.

Edited August 11, 2009 by fairnymph