Undertow

[dorothy humbird]

The Dark Side of Water: clean and purifying, yet menacing -- lotus and juniper with a hint of mint. A scent dragged up from the depths to the Stygian shore.

This was quite a sinister scent when I tested it out today. Very, VERY minty and with something akin to a grassy smell underneath. I didn't get much of a sense of water out of it, oddly - mint and water don't seem too closely related to me, and it was mostly mint. Spearmint, too--sharp, overpowering. And a dark core that I can't identify.

It's like a wicked child ripping up handfuls of grass and mint in a garden patch, and smashing them all together into my arm. Blech.

[monsteralice]

Wet: Mostly mint.

 

Dry: Lotus with a little mint - I never got the juniper.

 

Finish: Lotus

 

Duration/throw: I got some wafting at the 6 hour point, after scampering a block or two.

 

Conclusion: It is okay, but not really me. Someone else will love it, I'm sure. Swap.

[DEMONDAHLIA]

Undertow in the bottle is a herbal mint .. on the skin a jolt of juniper .. crisp and wet .. this is a very comforting scent . Very green and aquatic. Yet sharp , I find this scent very calming .. this is my under the weather scent when Im ill this is the first scent i go for ...

[theseagrows]

this is such a strange scent. it's aquatic but musty smelling to me, if that makes any sense. i think i smell the juniper mixed with a shampoo-ish scent, which becomes a bit powdery. it reminds me of industrial soap they have in public bathrooms, and doesnt work on me at all!

[lapillus]

In bottle: sharp spicy dark green

 

Wet: the same on my wrist

 

Dry: unifies and dries out – more sea spray and forested shore than underwater. It reminds me a lot of the area around my folk's cabin in Maine.

 

Later: sour and sweet and salt, green both wet and airy. Less sweet than Maenad

Lasta about five hours

 

Summary: Very interesting. This is one I really want to wear when I can pay close attention to it. I think it would also make a really inspiring room scent for when I’m writing.

[Amoeba]

I thought I'd like this one, but I didn't want to risk anything so I just got the imp. Used it once, loved it, forgot about it...and then put it on again today.

 

LOVE.

 

Think cold. Minty cold. Think of how your mom would put VapoRub on your chest when you were little. Think running through tall, wet grass on a frosty night. It's all these things. Mint plus ice plus freshly cut grass sweetness.

 

And it lasts. I'm lucky if I can get an hour out of most of the other imps I bought, but this one just keeps going with very little change. Whenever my bank account recovers from Spring Break splurging, I'm picking up a bottle of this.

[isabella]

aquatic minty bubblegum astringent...?

[Jia_Mekare]

Wet: Hey, I just fell into the juniper bush outside my house! But...crayola-y, somehow. It smells waxy for the first few minutes.

 

Dry: Very sweet-powder-y...I like.

 

Not a bad choice for an impulsive full-size purchase. The only downside is it fades WAY too fast on me. I need to douse myself in it for it to last longer than the walk out the door.

 

Update: The crayola note no longer shows up! Now it's just sweetened Juniper to that nice powdery scent...This is AWESOME! I heart my body chemistry!

Edited June 22, 2007 by Jia_Mekare

[Roses Ablaze]

Salty mint which turns to dirty socks + mint + seaweed on my skin. Salt and minty is an interesting combination, I'll admit, but I'm not too big on the dirty socks thing. I think I'll pass.

[eatingthesea]

this is not normally my kind of scent, because it is so icy, but its complexity and refreshing attitude draws me to it. it is very much a juniper-based scent on me when it's wet, yet it is "feminized" by the lotus. now, i will say that undertow has a house cleaner quality to it, but surprisingly, this doesn't disqualify it as being an amazing oil. i would clean my house way more often if undertow were in a spray bottle! yet i have no problem slathering it on me, too. it's almost sparkly...very much a scent for energizing. i shall reserve undertow for therapy purposes

[wolfwynd]

Mint and eucalyptus (even though it's not in it... I don't think) it almost smells like a slightly stronger Jabberwocky except with mint instead of eucalyptus. Smells clean instead of the dark and murky I was expecting, it smells like mint imperials

 

I don't know if I like it enough for a big bottle but it's nice and I will enjoy my imp of it.

[waternight]

In the imp: Juicy and slightly minty. If I sniff really deeply, there’s an apple-y note.

Wet/Drydown: Minty apples. It’s nice and cool and refreshing.

Dry: Unfortunately, this turns into blue-raspberry candy on me. Way too sweet and kinda plasticky.

[sedona]

In the imp - Mint with a note I can't identify.

 

Wet - The mint seems like spearmint now and there is a woody base with a hint of citrus.

 

Drydown - Here comes the juniper to drown out the mint and the woody note is lotus. This has an Asian feel similar to Aizen-Myoo with an underlying spice. As it dried I detected wafts of what can only be decribed as Crayola wax...I see I'm not the only one!

 

Not for me so off to swaps.

[prettybird]

I got this from a very generous friend who was making room in her imp collection.

 

Undertow is such an odd scent, and everyone I've let try it seems to smell something different in it. I get nothing but old fashioned cinnamon ribbon candy in the vial. I can't identify the base note that comes out on my skin, but it smells sort of cosmetic, if that makes any sense. It has a lot of throw, which isn't a bad thing, but which I'm not entirely crazy about.

 

I just can't make up my mind about it. I've had it for maybe six months or more, and I never have been able to. It's nice enough for occasional wear, but I think this imp's enough for me.

[swilde]

Wow. A mint (wintergreen) was all I could smell at first. Where I applied it my arm is actually cold! Almost painfully so. Even when the juniper peeped its head out in the drydown, Undertow stayed minty fresh. It is staying close to my skin, thankfully. The lotus is extremely subtle- its as if I bit into a candy cane and walked my a lotus garden.

 

I don't know how often I'll wear this. Maybe I'll save it for the winter holidays...

 

EDIT: 10 minutes later the mint kindly stepped out of the way to make room for big, lovely bubblegum-y lotus blossoms, spiked with juniper. What a morph... incredible.

Edited July 4, 2007 by swilde

[laliloo]

Mint! Sweet minty mint. It smells like a paper bag of Mint Imperials that Nan used to buy for us on a Saturday morning. The juniper certainly isn't jumping out on me on this one. It definitely clears my head - probably a good scent for if I'm feeling a bit cold-ridden or even nauseous. I'll keep the imp, but won't be getting a 5ml.

[zankoku_zen]

This is one of the scents that I haven't been interested in trying but since I was frimped, I figured what not.

 

Bias: Lotus turns sickly sweet on me and smells like bubblegum.

 

In the imp: Minty

 

On Skin: Bubblegum mint!

 

On Drydown: Less bubblegum, less mint, more gin (from the juniper)

 

Verdict: SO not me. This doesn't work with my skin chemistry at all. But it does confirm that lotus is not my friend.

[underline2]

When I first put this on I get a really sweet mint. I get the same feeling as when I chew mint gum, the cooling rush and all that. If I smell my wrist very shallowly I can smell a bit of the juniper.

 

After a bit, I still get the cool scent of the mint, but the lotus has made a stand of its own. It's very cool, fresh and if it had a color, it would be a very cheery blue-green. (It's also one of those scents that amplifies hunger. I should probably go have breakfast now. )

 

Overall, it's very nice but it's a bit too minty for everyday wear. I'll probably swap this one.

[DifferentDances]

Wet: Piney mintiness. Smells like powerful cleaner --not even Pinesol, because Pinesol is scented in an attempt to make it smell better!

Drydown: Mint over pee. I swear to god, this reminds me of a bathroom. Toothpaste gargle --you know, the foam you spit from your mouth. On the one hand, I'm impressed to find a BPAL mint that stays put. On the other hand, it's not a very nice mint. There's an edge of generic masculine cologne to it.

Dry: Hello, where did the flowers come from? And that edge of furniture polish? And...okay, that's it, I'm done. There's a hint of skunk in here now. O_o

 

My rating: 3/5. It's an interesting scent, to say the least. Interesting experience as the notes decide what they want to do.

[Ajila]

In the bottle – Juniper

 

Wet on me – Deep lushious juniper berries

 

Dry on me – The juniper stays true, the dark earth fruits slightly sweetened by the lotus

 

Overall – I like juniper as a note and it works on me, but this was a little one dimensional

[dragonrain]

Undertow is extremely sweet with some underlying mint. It's a very green scent. It makes me think "dark and murky," but not necessarily aquatic. I don't believe I'll be wearing this again, unfortunately, as it's given me a headache. I had high expectations but, sadly, it's just not for me.

[crazyredhead17]

I love minty scents, so when I got this as a freebie with an ebay purchase I was thrilled.

 

Until I put it on.

 

In the imp, it's a very clean scent.

 

Wet: Hello wet Lotus. I see you decided to come and smash every other scent into oblivion. And damn, aren't you aggravating my sinuses.

 

As it's drying, the mint is peeking out and the spot on my wrist is getting the cool, minty feeling. Sadly, that fades and it's more lotus! (complete with more sinus pain)

 

I could catch whiffs of juniper, no fruit tho.

 

As it continues to dry, it's like a mint vs lotus war. Like any war, it's not exactly pleasant. Silly skin.

 

Although my husband really likes it.. so I guess it smells good on me even though I don't care for florals. - I'll have to try this again.

Edited August 1, 2007 by crazyredhead17

[Rovylern]

I love the way that this starts off. It's a burst of mint when wet, and when it dries it settles into a light, bouncy mint that's grounded by a dash of gin-y juniper. I couldn't smell any florals at all, which is odd because lotus usually gets very sweet on me. Sadly, this was gone in about an hour and left me with a pounding headache. I felt like I'd been drinking gin instead of sniffing it. I may give this another try at a different time of the month, but right now it's just not working for me.

[ceiswyn]

In the bottle: An oddly lemony sweetness that must be the lotus, underlaid with the fresh menthol of juniper and mint. My nose feels cold after sniffing this. Not noticeably menacing, though

 

On the wrist: There is an odd darkness to this on the wrist; I think that's because the juniper has come through more. The juniper and mint inextricably intermingled, cut strongly through the fruity sweetness of the lotus, like, yes, an undertow lurking beneath the sea's serene and inviting surface.

 

One hour later: Apparently my skin amps lotus. Because, other than menthol coldness in my nose after sniffing my wrist, and a slight leavening of the overblown fruity sweetness of the lotus, the juniper and mint have vanished utterly. This is a great pity.

[Ilex]

Wet this was foul. Like chemicals spilled on hot asphalt with melting bubblegum over the top. My cat fled the smell.

 

I was headed to wash it off when it improved, the mint finally jumped in to mediate between the juniper/lotus. It became a light, well blended sweet scent.

 

Which eventually wound its way down to a minty play dough/bubblegum.

 

Lotus and I evidently don't get along too well. This scent clinches that idea for me.