The Darkling Thrush

[zenvodunista]

I leant upon a coppice gate
When Frost was spectre-gray,
And Winter's dregs made desolate
The weakening eye of day.
The tangled bine-stems scored the sky
Like strings of broken lyres,
And all mankind that haunted nigh
Had sought their household fires.

The land's sharp features seemed to be
The Century's corpse outleant,
His crypt the cloudy canopy,
The wind his death-lament.
The ancient pulse of germ and birth
Was shrunken hard and dry,
And every spirit upon earth
Seemed fevourless as I.

At once a voice arose among
The bleak twigs overhead
In a full-hearted evensong
Of joy illimited;
An aged thrush, frail, gaunt, and small,
In blast-beruffled plume,
Had chosen thus to fling his soul
Upon the growing gloom.

So little cause for carolings
Of such ecstatic sound
Was written on terrestrial things
Afar or nigh around,
That I could think there trembled through
His happy good-night air
Some blessed Hope, whereof he knew
And I was unaware.

The hope of springtime penetrating winter darkness. Snow, darkness, and icy air illuminated by the thrush's song: warm amber, soft orris, and melancholy violet.

In the bottle, at first sniff, all those "slush/snow" notes that BPAL does. That almost-aquatic note that says "Yule at the Lab".

On: Vibrating just below this the orris, it *thrums* like the wings of a small bird. The amber is a faint bit of warmth behind the rest. Cold pine, just a wisp of it, lingers in the background.

This is a cold and dark forest. I barely can find the amber, though I can tell there is orris in it. Very melancholy.

Perhaps as I wear it, that little thrush will burn through the winter's cold.

n.

[UltraViolet]

 

In the bottle

At first it smells like Ice Queen, Skadi, Yule, that green aquatic scent.

On

...., than the violet comes out...peep. So pretty. It's fresh, and a shy fresh floral, shy but not weak. It gets prettier as it stays on, less green and more like a wafting of air carrying the scent of violets. The amber and the violet go SO well together. Thank goodness Beth put these two things together in a blend.

 

30 minutes

More floral.

 

Throw:

No

 

Scent category:

Resinous/ Floral

 

Summary

A light, fresh floral.

 

Purchase again?

Yes.

 

1-5 rating (5 being best)

4

[wichapi]

This is one my favorites among the new Yule releases, and while I had hopes for it from the description, I didn't think it would be this outstanding. It is resinous - that bit of winter pine - but deep and dark where the floral aspects are concerned. It is incredibly s o f t yet prominent.

 

Mysterious and beautiful.

[indicolite]

I fullly agree with the above reviews: very soft, very delicate, yet on me cold and snowy as well. If there was any scent of winter thrush song, this is it. Mysterious and beautiful is the word. I can smell the orris (a favourite of mine) blended perfectly with the icy note, while the amber adds a hint of warmth.

 

I think I may be in love.

[euterpe414]

I was so hopeful in trying this blend, as I love amber and orris and play well with violet most of the time. Alas, somehow this blend ended up being very soapy on my skin- soap, violet and orris with amber nowhere in sight! I am guessing that the soap smell is being generated by the slush and snow notes. It is too bad, really, because this was absolutely gorgeous in the vial- cold and mysterious, as others have said. I suppose I could use the rest of my decant as a room scent, it may be more loved that way.

 

So, if snow notes tend to turn to soap on you, there is a chance that this blend might not work, I am afraid!

[Blood onmy hands]

I wanted so much to like The Darkling Thrush, because I love the poem that accompanies it. In the vial, it smells like ice covered violets (dusky and slightly sweet) and a hint of powdery resin. Unfortunately, the notes all go horribly awry the second that they touch my skin.

 

So many of BPAL’s snow blends smell similar on me. Cold, slightly soapy aquatic. Only… with this one… the cold aquatic is accompanied by baby powder, as BPAL’s amber notes and the violet goes powdery on me as well.

 

Baby powder and icy, soapy aquatic. Not the frosty violets and warm, rich amber that I was hoping for.

[sofaking6]

Argh, soapy on me, too.

 

Any chance the soapy will age out of this? It's the first snowy blend I've tried.

 

And it's SO gorgeous in the bottle. Very icy and sweet.

[Alchemy21599]

Amber and violets are two of my favorite notes, so I had very high hopes for this scent.

 

In the bottle: cold and icy, but not sharp.

 

Wet: soft mint

 

Dry: still softly minty. The violet and amber never did come out to play.

[biernaise]

The Darkling Thrush

 

Initially I get ozone(((POW!)))

 

Then the pine boughs ring through, shaking the snow off.

 

The amber is there, shaking hands with a soft soft musk. And violet appears around the fringes about 30 minutes after I apply.

 

A wonderful, ambitious blend Beth. Thank you

[maddies mom]

Wet: Strong and icy

Dry on skin: still very chilly, kind of minty, kind of floral...I too detect a hint of cucumber and it is perfect!

 

Very true to the poeme. Beautiful. Smells just like florals peeking out from the icy snowy ground. I don't really smell the warmth of the amber. The scent stays close to my skin. I have never tried the yule blends before, but Beth certainly captures the winter air! It is a perfect, lovely winter scent! I may need another bottle!

[Lunaratu]

my first review! I hope this is ok

 

Wet: It’s almost too department store-like at the moment. Strong, very floral on me—smells a lot like the perfumes they’ll add to expensive cosmetics and lotions at the moment. It’s almost stringent in its urgency but I’m sticking through this stage since most things start out too strong on me (plus my throat has been dry all morning so most scents are hitting me a little hard at the moment).

 

Dry: Ah, it’s settling. It still smells very floral but there’s a hint of warmth sneaking back into the scent. The Darkling Thrush is softening out into this scent that reminds me of this very expensive French soap one of my friends gave me as a gift a few years back. Very pretty. Not my usual type of scent (I’m more of an incense, creamy, spicy scent kind of person) but pretty all the same.

 

15 minutes: mm, it’s settling even more so and the florals are almost getting a slight spiciness to them. It could just be my nose but it feels like a light dusting of something with a kick bordering the petals of the flowers. I’m getting a very visual response to this like I can see a beautiful deep violet flower, bluish-purple in color, with an almost coppery dust glinting off the edges of the flower in the shadows. Definitely reminiscent of the poem.

 

Final Analysis: It’s very pretty but not my usual type of scent. It’s dominant notes are definitely the violet and the orris on me but the amber does provide a good warm back-up to the floral scents. However, I was wishing the florals were even just a tad bit softer (I think it’s the violet and orris on my skin) and that there was more of the amber to create a soft hazy light or aura to this blend. The Darkling Thrush is certainly that—a song in the dark. It starts out strong in contrast to the cold of winter and then it mellows into something almost powdery, warm, and floral. It’s definitely very female and reminds me of the type of scent a woman like Elizabeth Taylor or an old Hollywood glamour star would wear—something uber-feminine with a warmer heart lurking behind like a little wink.

 

Throw: Low. I have to be within about six inches of where I put it on my wrist to smell it at all but I don’t have to have my nose pressed against my skin to pick it up.

 

Rating: 3.5/5 (meaning: very pretty, just not for me)

Edited October 7, 2007 by Lunaratu

[shelldoo]

in the bottle: slushy, cold, and airy

 

wet: fresh and clean, somewhat soapy

 

wheeeew that is some slushy ozone/aquatic. fresh, frigid air. really that is it.almost like frozen sea spray, have you ever been on a boat in the winter....the mist kicking up turns to little shards of ice almost immediatly. that is this scent

Edited November 19, 2006 by shelldoo

[tartchef]

Longtime lurker, first time poster...

 

I have to chime in here because my experience with the Darkling Thrush is so different from what I'd expected. By all rights, this should have gone toilet bowl cleaner & dishsoap on me, like just about every other floral under the sun...

 

But no. I get sweet, clean nectar, like the droplets we used to suck out of the honeysuckle flowers when I was wee. It's barely floral, but I can tell it's violets, fresh & green with a bit of rain or frost. Once on, it fades quickly to a soft, delicate amber, much quieter than any of Beth's other ambers. It's a very private scent, as it clings close to my skin...

 

This is gorgeous. Very sweet & delicate, but not overly girly - just clean. It's not an everyday bottle for me, but perfect for those days when I'm feeling a bit out of sorts & in need of some time alone with a book & some tea...

[gaai]

I smell the chilly mintyness I get from all the blends that have snow/ice in the description. Luckily I love that note!

This blend has that mint with violets and if I sniff real hard I can detect a little warmth from the amber.

A gorgeous scent this is and I may need to get a full bottle before the Yule's go away.....

[Inanna9]

This is so pretty. Cool and slushy, with an ozone note that meshes perfectly with this delicate, minty floral. Upon drydown, I get the sweet hint of amber others have mentioned, and the "cool air" feeling remains. Really feminine and lovely, and I'm so glad there's an ozone/aquatic blend that loves me as much as I love it!

[PilotKitten]

Hrm... this one smells vaguely (spear)minty on me... odd. Anyhow, I'm not sure I agree with the site description in that it's "warm"... it actually feels quite chilly to me. Not *cold*... but not what I would epitomize as warm either. Slightly green and snowy, this isn't as golden/wam as I expected it to be with the amber. At least the violets don't turn to powder on me like they usually do. It dries down to a very green floral on me. Not what I expected.

[supremegoddessofall]

I didn't order a bottle of this one as violet usually turns to shite on me. It's actually prettier than I thought it would be - the amber and the orris are doing a good job of keeping the violet in check. There's also a bit of something minty in here that I wasn't expecting. This still isn't a scent I would have bought a bottle of, but it's not bad.

[maijasu]

This scent manages to be both chilly and warm at the same time, just as its description suggests. I smell mint, something aquatic, and something ozoney, but it's all balanced by the warmth of the amber. I was worried that the orris and violet would turn this too powdery on my skin, but instead, they just soften the mint and make it less harsh. This is so incredibly beautiful! My only complaint is that it doesn't last more than an hour or two, but that just means I'll need another bottle.

[jewelbug]

Imp: Creamy sweet evergreen notes. There is a citrus quality to this (makes me think of grapefruit).

 

Wet: The grapefruit-like smell is really strong when this hits my skin, and this smells like cold sugared grapefruits with soft ruddy orris underneath. This is really gentle and delicate.

 

Dry: The grapefruit is gone. Now it’s a mix of unidentifiable slushy notes (not minty or eucalyptus to my nose), with some sharper ozone/bitter violet, and some warm orris. It is delicate, sweet and cool. Like a chilly ozone aquatic that still manages to be warm. Later into the dry down, the slushy/ozone/aquatics lessen (seems the ice is melting), and the orris comes out more. By 7 hours, it’s an orris/amber blend, very sweet, and almost vanillic at times (actually, this late it brought to mind a skin scent of Dorian).

 

Overall: I’m quite amazed at what good throw this had for a light delicate blend. It was a skin scent by the end, but until then I was getting gorgeous wafts of it. And this lasts well over 8 hrs, which is amazing for a light scent on my skin.

I’ve tried most of the cold Yule scents this year (except Yule and Knecht Ruprecht, and I’ll be trying KR soon). Of the ones I have tried, this and SnowFlakes are my faves. SnowFlakes I like because it is minty Snow White, but this has something special, unique, and it’s just so beautiful. I don’t even like violet, but I’m quite taken with this.

 

ETA: Its more than 12 hrs later and I can still smell this. So, yes, its a delicate scent, but its certainly got some staying power. And I know I'd said that the ice had melted, but its ba---aaack....

Edited November 28, 2006 by jewelbug

[moonarcana]

Everyone's reviews for this scent are so different...so I'll chime in with my opinion just to stir the pot!

 

This was the one Yule scent that topped my list after reading through the update and I held off getting a sample to try from a couple of decant circles that I got into because I knew that I wanted a bottle of this.

 

I love it when I'm right!

 

The Darkling Thrush is beautiful. It is rich and deep and dark without being heavy or overbearing. I can see how people would pick out 'minty' or 'creamy' to describe it, but for me those terms are a bit misleading. There's a sharp icy quality to the violets in this fragrance which gives it the same edge as a mint, but I get absolutely no mint scent. And to provide a complimentary contradiction to that cold icy side, the amber gives it a wonderful and steady warmth. I couldn't really tell you what orris smells like on it's own, but I'm guessing that it's what bridges the sharp, dark violets to the mellow warm amber.

 

It doesn't morph at all - what it smells like in the bottle, smells exactly like when I put it on my skin and that scent stays pretty constant and strong for at least 2-3 hours and fades almost completely after about 4 hours - but today I wore it in my scent locket and it's been wafting around me all day long and 8 hours later is still going strong.

 

This would be a good scent for both men and women - I wore it on Thanksgiving day and had several people ask me about my perfume, so I finally got the bottle out of my purse and passed it around...everyone loved it! (and yes, I wrote down the Lab's website so they could buy a bottle of their own)

 

This is definitely worthy of a second bottle before it flies away.

 

I rate it a 5/5

[hbrogan]

Wow, there are a lot of different experiences with Darkling Thrush. Here's mine:

 

In the imp: very watery and almost like some sort of cleaner.

 

Wet on my skin: Ah, there's the florals. I definitely get the snow/slushy smell with just a hint of floral, but I can't really say it's violet.

 

Dry: Hrm...it's gone a bit soapy.

 

After a few hours: Well, the soapy is gone, replaced with a spicy "department store perfume" scent. It's not bad, just not what I was hoping for. Somehow, though, the dab I put in my cleavage is holding up better scentwise than the wrists/neck. I'll give it another try, maybe next week, and see if it's just my body chemistry at the moment.

Edited November 28, 2006 by aislyn

[juniperus]

Bottle: orris with a hint of chilled violets

Wet: a sharp, cold aquatic note, and the orris is shifting a little. ruh roh raggy.

Dry: the violets are standing out on their own, more, and that sharp twinge when I first caught the aquatic note isn't developing further. no amber, yet.

Later: The orris has shifted and amped a bit, but not into anything unpleasant, and the violet is tentative but lovely. The chill snow has quieted to the same uneasy, but not unfrieldly, aquatic Amsterdam goes on me..and saved bv the warmth of amber, it's a winner.

[edenssixthday]

The Darkling Thrush - I can hardly begin to describe how beautiful this scent is. It's very much a winter scent along the lines of Ice Queen, Skadi, Nuclear Winter and Talvikuu. However, it's so much prettier and more feminine than the others I named. It's the scent of the earth coming alive, melting snow dripping off evergreen boughs, and spring flowers tenaciously pushing their way up through the snow. We had a huge blast of snow a couple days ago, and I found that wearing this scent fit the winter theme of the day, but also kept me from feeling depressed by the heaviness of winter, because while I was surrounded by wintertime weather, I smelled like the hope that early spring brings. I love this blend and I am very, very happy with it.

[Heavenlyrabbit]

Seldom do I feel drawn to a BPAL scent because of the name... but my name is Robin and so wanted Darkling Thrush to work on me.

 

Violet is a very tricky scent and few perfumers every really do it justice.

 

Darkling Thrush is exquisite in its understated, quiet beauty.

 

This is a counterpoint to some of the more complex Yule/Winter blends from this and last year. It's got the gorgeous snow/air quality, the loveliest violet and the amber is there in the background with its deep warmth.

 

It must be the amber that keeps this from being too cold and distant,which was my concern upon first reading the notes on the update.

Edited December 2, 2006 by Heavenlyrabbit

[maribouquet]

imp: snowy pine with something sweetish

wet: aha, amber! icy violet amber.

dry: flowers pushing up through hoarfrost

 

Such an interesting mix of warm and cold and so pretty, but something in here is making my head hurt maybe the violet?

 

Very glad I got to try this - I can see why people love it so.