Yule

[cuervosueno]

... It is Yule, and the Holly King has slain the Oak: blood red holly berry, mistletoe, wild thyme, verbena, cinquefoil, hemp, winter rose, evergreen, frankincense, juniper, and myrrh.

Yeah, I agree with Heretic. Lemon Verbena. In fact, let's just say read the that review and then you have mine.

Lemon verbena polish on some nice pine wood. that's what I get.

So sad. I thought at least might want it for Yule, but I don't. I simply want to polish my table with it, but that seems a bit pricey, so I guess I'll try and swap it instead.

Luckily I'm crazy about Knecht Ruprecht, so that will be my Yule scent intstead.

[maijasu]

This is definitely strong on the lemon verbena, but I'm not getting a Pledge vibe from it. It actually smells kind of warm and resinous, with a hint of something green and herbal. Definitely a unique blend.

 

I'm pretty sure I won't use a whole bottle, but I'm glad to have this anyway and may imp half of it out to share the love.

[jasmine]

Cool minty spicy evergreen! I’ve got juniper, pine, and frankincense here, but I won’t claim for an instant to be able to pick out any of the rest of this. It’s a complex, snowy, dark green scent, and I like it.

 

After a few minutes, unfortunately, the complex dark green of this scent fades away into a fuzzy, pale mint. The evergreen was dark enough that I’m completely surprised to have it yield to the frankincense. It’s fading very fast -- the smell is getting weaker and weaker by the moment. After only ten minutes or so, it has no throw at all. That’s quite unexpected, and not in a good way.

 

The smell hasn’t gone all the way to pastel, but it’s gone very pale. I’m disappointed -- I was so happy with it at first. Plainly, it isn’t going to recover. Ah, well -- win some, lose some.

[outofrhyme]

In the bottle:

Pine, thyme, and juniper are most pronounced. It smells very deep. It's not a bright superficial green, it just smells very old and deep. I think I could also pick out the holly/mistletoe, but I'm not sure.

 

Wet:

Whoa verbana. Where did that come from? Please don't go all lemon pledge on me - you smelled so good in the bottle!

Dry down:

Okay, lemon pledge is backing down into a subtle sugary lemon. I can smell some of the green again, thankfully. The verbana is assisting the greens, very complementary. Some berry is starting to come out now, I think, and maybe the hemp? I have no idea what cinquefoil smells like. I also feel like I'm smelling some woods. It's now much more similar to how it was in the bottle, except that the berry comes out more and more the longer I wear it.

 

Final thoughts:

It's nice. Definitely very seasonal. I'm not sure how much it screams "YULE," aside from the connotation I automatically attribute due to its name, but it does strike me as very wintery, like a deep dark green against white snow, dotted with red berries. I'm glad I have an imp, but I probably won't spring for a bottle. Though, I have about 1.5 months to change my mind...

[emzebel]

Rich and spicy - definitely a winter forest scent, but so much more - Yule is not static, it is dark and mysterious and changing...a deep dark green scent, with spikes of rich spice and tart fruit...this is a beautiful scent, the essense of winter.

[Miss Lynx]

At first sniff, all I get is verbena - that note tends to be very, very strong on me, and any scent containing it always comes off, at least initially, as super-sweet lemon drop candy. But as with a lot of aggressive top notes, it does tend to fade quickly, and then more complexity begins to emerge.

 

A lot of different herbal notes start coming through at that point, with an incensey undercurrent. There's definitely some pine and juniper in there, but thankfully they don't dominate it, so it doesn't smell like every other Yule/Christmas scent out there.

 

There also seems to be a sort of honey/beeswax note in there (though it's not in the list of notes in the description) that along with the lemon verbena makes it reminiscent of Litha, which I suppose is oddly appropriate in a way -- that the two solstices should mirror each other a little bit. It has a sunniness to it, but it's definitely a winter sun, not the warm sun of summer. The effect is more that of a bright winter day.

 

It doesn't last terribly long on me, but it's fairly pleasant while it's there, once the initial verbena blast dies down. I wore it to the Yule ritual I attended tonight, and it did seem to help me get into the right state of mind. Overall I mostly like it, though not enough to wear it as a regular perfume. But enough to keep it for seasonal/ritual use.

 

Grade: B

[medvssa]

I love this one! It is like a more vibrant Ygdrassil, with berries and golden resin. I cannot detect the rose. It opens with verbena, which I also like, but it fades as it dries down to become a very nice blend of wood, leaves, herbs, resin and some unsweet berries, and like a current of cold wind. Everything togheter smells, well, very alive! I find it very comforting, but then I am a green lover!

[stardroptea]

My mother said it smelled like peppermint, which I thought was odd because I don't smell that at all.

 

It's a sharp cold scent, but spicy and really sophisticated. It's lovely. Evergreen and lemon verbena.

[flyingpizza]

I was expecting much more of a fresh pine and berry scent from this, but on me, it's overwhelmingly spicy in a potpourri kind of way. Not horrible, just meh. I think that my body just does not like these Yule scents for wearing, so perhaps I should try them in the oil burner and see how I like them.

[dawna]

In the vial: woooooow woodsy lemon with a slight hint of green

 

On the skin: I can smell the slightest tinge of the incense amping up, the lemon verbena still in the forefront.

 

On drydown: Here somes the evergreen and rose. Oh wow this blends beautifully on my skin. Its really light though which kind of makes me sad. It is a truly beautiful work of art though. I want a full imp of this one.

[Laurel the Woodfairy]

I finally slathered on some Yule today, reasoning that it doesn't get more festive than this! It opened with strong, fresh evergreen notes, then became citrus--I was thinking orange, but it must be the verbena. Incense drydown. More of a ceremonial scent than one I would usually wear, but perfect for the occasion!

Edited December 25, 2006 by Laurel the Woodfairy

[LiberAmoris]

Upon first applying Yule, I also get a heady blast of the verbena, and it's citrussy and bright for a few minutes before the other notes come forward. Then I can smell the evergreen, mistletoe, and juniper---and those are followed by the holly berry, the rose, and the resins.

 

After about ten minutes, it's a very complex and seasonally delightful blend, one that I might not wear often through the season as a personal fragrance, but would love to use in my oil burner to perk things up and keep the inside of the apartment festive. It's really a wonderful bouquet of winter holiday smells, and it makes me feel cozy.

[azhure]

In the vial: Juicy holly berries.

Wet: Berries! The other scents play about in the background a little, but it's still mainly the holly berries.

Drydown: Faded berries and some greenery.

[hepkitten]

Very green...I can definitely smell the living trees here. I also get the warm, juicy berry scents.

 

This perfectly nails the concept; I can't picture wearing it as a fragrance, but it would be lovely in an oil burner.

[grrrlennyl]

at first: spicy with lots of pine.

on: lots of pine and spice. perfect for the holidays.

3.5 hours later: a woody scent.

8 hours later: a bit of fruity sweetness with some wood and a bit of pine.

overall: not something for me.

[juniperus]

Bottle: fir boughs and berries

Wet: the same. and really the same - rarely does this happen on me.

Dry: fading quickly, like a breath of wintery air through the evergreens. no hint of the resins at all.

Later: gone, gone, gone. how sad...

[QueenFae]

When first applied, this smells very piney fresh on me. A clean, bright, holiday sweet pine with a fruity undertone. The longer I wear this, the more the verbena note comes out; I always seem to pull the verbena out of everything. This now smells like a lemony/citrus blend with a piney green undertone.

 

This surely smells like Christmas; I feel like I'm standing next to the tree under the mistletoe. This is a beautiful blend for the holiday season.

[Shitow_Haruka]

first sniff: I'm in a great hall, surrounded by evergreens and the smell of spices simmering.

 

wet: Spicy and evergreen still, with the spiky sharpness of myrrh and faint herbal notes below.

 

dry: Unbelievably good smells from this! The Christmas tree is in the next room (the evergreen isn't too overpowering). It ends with some of the Magi's gifts - frankincense and myrrh.

 

This had great longevity and throw on me. I love, love, love this!

 

[filigree_shadow]

This does seem wintery to me, probably because it reminds me of a Christmas candle scent. It's awfully light -- after 10 minutes on my skin it's barely there. I'm not a huge fan of this kind of scent anyway, so I'm not horribly distressed by this outcome.

[bulletslc]

Oh YAY!!!! Finally a pine scent I can wear!! (I love Wolf Moon, but the combo of pine/musk just doesn't work on my skin).

 

In the bottle it smells like pine trees and limes.

 

On I'm getting a more woody 'green' scent (I'm not much of a fan of dry wood scents)...the citrus fades out and the pine/woods/thyme come more into play. It definitly reminds me of a winter forest. Oh hooray! I'm loving it! I really, really smell the thyme more and more as it dries down, but it combines well with the woody/evergreen notes.

 

Huzzah!

[Babylon]

This scent actually doesn't scream "Winter!" to me as much as the other Yuletime blends. It's very bright and lemony for most of its existence, but does get a touch of pine at the end. For some reason, my skin eats Yule up and it doesn't last very long.

[alicia_stardust]

Yule was initially a let-down, but now I feel like I was so wrong to make that judgement. The touch of lemon and thyme initially drove me off but now I feel it is part of the symbolic battle between light and dark, Oak and Holly. Yule has a very wild menagerie of notes in it that reminds me of the chaos of the forest and the battle between the two kings. I think this is a perfect sabbat blend and while I don't tend to wear it often, I keep it around for use as a room scent surrounding the holiday.

[arabella]

First Impression: Citrus-sy wood

Dries down to: A wood note - evergree - really amps up.

Additional Comments: Now, I think it's the juniper that's amping up on me. This one is quite herby and woody - an outdoors scent. It's not bad as a room scent but I wouldn't wear it.

Lasted: Several hours

Rating: 2.5 out of 5

[Honeygirl]

Bottle: Berries and holly

 

Wet: Mmm, lemon! I love citrus! I also get wood and berries, some holly and pine!

 

Drydown: Ooh, this is lovely, I'm sorry I missed out on this! It's very outdoorsy, but not masculine at all! Very citrussy!

3.5 outta 5

[suki]

in the imp: strong evergreen, some holly.

 

wet on skin: reminds me of the scratch n sniffs of childhood- the christmas one with the tree!

 

dry down: more of the same, with a little sweetness thrown in.

 

in all: if you like forest/evergreen/pine blends, you will DIE for this. i'm personally not a fan, so off to swap it goes!