Undertow

[magikfanfic]

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.

In the bottle: Mint and something with more of an edge to it. I don't know if that's the lotus or the juniper. I think it's the lotus. It does bring to mind deep, dark blue waters rolling with underknown dangers.

Wet: Oh, well, this is interesting. It reminds me of a Halls throat drop in that the vapors hit me in the back of the throat again. Is that the lotus? This is stronger than I had antipicated. Also the mint is pretty strong peppermint it seems to me. This is a meaner, more concentrated version of Shattered to me.

Dry down: Still reminds me of a Halls drop. Hmmm. I can still envision that deep blue water, but I don't really want to smell like this. Plus, it's making me sneeze.

Dry: Uh oh, can't really do this well as this scent is making me congested for some reason. It's not a bad scent. It's just too strong on me. It hits the back of my throat with all the mint. I'll let the boy take it back.

Headache. Headache. This might have to leave both me and the boy.

[Pixie-elf]

In the bottle: Lotus and maybe the Juniper... but mostly Lotus.

 

Wet on my skin: Lotus, a tiny bit of mint, and even less Juniper...

 

Within 5 minutes: The Juniper is GONE, I'm left with just a TINY bit of mint and mostly Lotus....

 

After 30 minutes: The mint is still there, still mostly Lotus though...

 

After 1 Hour: Off and on the Mint will pop up, I think it and the Juniper are making the Lotus a tiny bit less sweet than other Lotus blend's I've tried.... I think it's balancing them out if that makes ANY sense...

 

After 2 Hours: The mint is gone, I'm just left with a scent of what I can only describe as Dangerous Waters, and Lotus... It smells WONDERFUL!

 

 

In the end: Undertow takes and grabs you, dragging you down into the deep and letting you experience something beautiful... It drags you down deeper, the Undertow pulling you down.... This scent is beautiful, sweet, but it has a tiny bit of danger lurking underneath! But to die by something this sweet? Ah it'd be a blessing...

 

I hope that made sense, in other words, I LOVE this!

 

--Mystina

[tsarina]

Undertow smells very much like deep water to me. The mint reminds me of ponds, and the longer it stays on my skin there's a whiff of something almost salty and marine to it.

[Sarah]

Undertow isn't what I expected to be. I'd imagine it'd grasp you and drag you in, deeper and deeper. Instead, this blend is quite comforting. It envelops me in its blanket. Not quite what I was expecting as I wore it on a rainy day. The mint is there, but it isn't prominent. Instead, a buttery note is there. I'd imagine it's the lotus, as that wears well with my skin chemistry, but I didn't know what notes were in Undertow when I wore it. The scent pretty much stayed the same on me all day. A nice, light, buttery mint. Strong but not overpowering. Not quite the dark element, but I do adore the scent and may buy a bottle of it.

[Falathwen]

This blend was a gift from the lab and I am grateful. I have been exploring the water scents. When wet, the mint and juniper come forward first. The lotus come out beneath them, close to the skin. Rather than deep and dangerous waters, for me it is the scent of a small early spring bloom that you have to crouch close to smell. It is blooming in the melting snow of an evergreen grove. The scent is cold and bright, with a gentle heart. It perfectly evokes the end of winter for me and cheered me when I was in a rather awful mood. It has very little throw, but lasted for hours. As it dried down the lotus was more prominent, with the mint and juniper lingering in the background.

[amrita]

Wet: Impressively balanced lotus, juniper, and mint, with a hint of eucalyptus.

The mint is velvety, not piercing. Somehow...this smells like those heavy,

suffocating fogs that pour down your throat and wet your lungs.

 

Drying: buttermints and dry juniper. A hint of amber or something golden.

The mint feels cool on the crooks of my arms.

 

After a couple hours, this dries down to a faint tart lotus/amber.

 

This does have some dark associations for me. It reminds me of a recurring

nightmare of clocks I had as a child, and of my step-grandmother's house. It's

intriguing; this is a "weird mood" scent for me. I'm sure I'll finish up the

imp.

[LupaWulf]

As wet undertow smells very minty and lotusish with the lightest touch of pine.

 

As I wear it, the mint melts away and lotus prevails. It's a very wet scent, powerful as well... Fortunatly unlike some of the other wet scents, Undertow stays strong and does not turn to soap upon my skin.

 

Throughout the day it stays true, lotus with the juniper behind. My mate identified it as "that sweet smell like that other time" and minty pine (aka Lotus and juniper) right off the bat. He liked it alot, as it was sweet but not TOO sweet.

 

Personally, I think Undertow is what happens when you mix Frost Moon and Blue Moon. Frost moon, but with toned down mint, and Blue Moon with added pine.

 

I really LOVE this one. It's so gorgeous, and since I'm wild about mint just works on me.

[tempete]

Initially, Undertow is a creamy, cool scent on me with a transparency that does remind me of water. The mint is strongest during the initial wet phase, but goes away as Undertow dries down, allowing a darkness to permeate the scent. At this point, it evokes images of murky water which makes you think twice about swimming through because you're unsure what lies beneath.

 

I think that I prefer a scent with a bit more going on in the background, but nevertheless, I'm so glad that I got to try out Undertow because it evoked such strong imagery for me.

Edited January 28, 2005 by tempete

[Julilla Regina]

Wispy juniper at first, and then it turned to powder. I'm so sad. The mint never came out for me. In the bottle this smells divine, an almost mossy aquatic.

[shelldoo]

I am not one to really enjoy watery notes for sure. but my dd wanted to try it so i ordered teh imp.

 

in the vial: minty

 

on: mainly minty, i get the juniper too, this actually smells cold, makes my nose chilly, it really is not bad at all of an aquatic (and for me that says alot ) if you anjoy aquatics, and minty freshness, this one is surely for you.

[Cedar]

I wanted to love this scent, because I'm a sucker for anything with mint in it, but I gave up on Undertow. It goes on clean and dark and minty, and thirty seconds later it's entirely what I *think* is lotus, but I'm not sure. Whatever it is, it smells like plastic on me and gives me a headache. I ended up washing it off and I'm going to swap my 5mL bottle. Sad. I think I might turn the imp I have into a room spray, though, because the mint is lovely and my husband and I both really like the scent.

[inkstone]

In the imp: Mint and lotuses. Mmmm....

 

Wet: It's very medicinal in this stage. Mint and eucalyptus. It gives me that soothing sensation like when you pop a cough drop when you have an aching throat.

 

Drydown: Oh wow. It dries down to this gorgeous lotus scent. The mint is definitely still there, but it has a smooth, buttery quality to it that's nothing like the medicinal feel we got from the wet stage.

 

Final thoughts: I wore this while I was doing my yoga practice and even time I was in downward facing dog, I got a whiff of my wrists and felt soothed. I really, really like this!

[leapylees]

In the vial: Juicy Fruit chewing gum. I have a bad feeling as I do not like fruity...

 

On wet, and initially dry: Apple and mint. Mmmm, I like.

 

After a few hours: The mint has gone, it just smells appley now. I really wish mint would last on my skin but no.

 

Overall: I like it, but I wish the mint last longer *evil skin chemistry.*

[northern]

Really minty, some very slight floral softness, and something else that makes my throat close up and makes me want to cry. Interesting effect! It seems to have pretty okay staying power - no real change over an hour.

[EvilKitten]

I never knew how much I really adored mint until smelling undertow. It's not just mint though. It's fresh, green mint, with the juniper adding just the right .. I don't know, freshness to it.

 

It was a wonderful way to start my day today.

[Rheliwen]

EvilKitten has my description right on the money.

 

When the description said "hint of mint" I was expecting just that. But, mint seems to amplify x11 on my skin. So Undertow, for me, is prominently mint, with an undercurrent of fresh juniper. Underneath that is the lotus. It's very faint and really only provides an aquatic feel to this blend.

 

After I've worn it a while, I get sweet powdered mint, with a backdrop of very, very faint pine notes. It smells nice and fresh. It's not my favorite BPAL mint scent, but it is still lovely. Lotus and I have an odd relationship, but it worked in Undertow...so don't let the lotus stop you from trying this one.

[bodegaselkie]

Undertow is nothing like what I expected from the name, and I love it to bits but I don't think the scent matches that well with the concept/name. For me, this one is very creamy and minty, and just a bit sweet (the lotus is very prominent on me, as it is in many blends, and I like it on my skin a lot). For this to be the scent of the dangerous sea depths, I would like a sharper edge from the juniper, actually, and the briny smell that is in the background in Tears.

 

As I said, though, I like this one very much... though I wish it would last longer! Of all my BPAL scents, this one fades the quickest, usually within 2-4 hours after I apply it. I wonder if anyone's found a way to increase its staying power!

[UltraViolet]

In the bottle

Icey minty watery

 

Wet

Oh man. This is really nice!

It's peppermint, the less sweet one and the more minty one I think it's peppermint and not spearmint.

It's totally a water scent but oddly enough the first bpal watery scent that doesn't have that familiar lime-y tang of watery ozone.

It's a good thing.

 

10 Minutes

Believe this or not...My lungs and stomach are burning. Not bad painful something is wrong burning...but just brushed my teeth, just had a glass of bordeaux, just ate red chile burning. The good burning. It's in my nose, throat and lungs. It makes it easier to breath.

I never would have guessed an icey mintiness for inferring an undertow or the element of water but boy does this work well with the watery background. The lotus is the one thing that sort of grounds this and feels solid. The rest is pure cleansing and refreshing movement.

This is wild.

 

20 minutes

The mint has lessened now but it's still supporting things. It's not icey now but it is still working it's magic in the background.

It's like "Pain" without the lavender but the slight gentle sweetness is there. For you Lush fans this is like Ice Hotel without the lavender.

 

Throw:[/u]

light/medium

 

Scent category:

Aqua/Green-Herby/Floral

 

Summary

I'm all but having a spiritual experience.

There is nothing offensive that I can think of in this blend to "warn of" imho.

It isn't a strong blend. It's not a weird blend. Not too anything. Just subtley sweet icey mint with some nice rounded powdery middle notes.

It's a comforting blend.

 

Purchase again?

Hell Yes. A 5ml at least.

 

1-5 rating, 5 being best.

4.5

Edited March 16, 2005 by UltraViolet

[diabolique]

chupachup gifted me with an imp of this, and WOW. i am really surprised by it. it totally caught me off-guard. juniper, lotus, and mint. i hate mint, i don't like smelling like a tree, and lotus and i have never had that good of a relationship.

 

sweet and minty in the vial, it smells good enough to drink. it's sparkling and fresh, and mmmm, i dig it. the mint overpowers everything else on my skin for the first ten minutes, which i don't really like. i smelled the part of my hand i put it on and it totally reminds me of christmas shopping at the dallas mall when i was younger, with the elaborate christmas tree displays and the smell of soft candycanes permeating the walkways.

 

a couple of minutes later, it all but disappears. that's really disappointing, but ah well. i enjoy the first couple of minutes.

[tinyvulture]

i had a weird reaction with this one. in the bottle it smelled minty and aquatic. but when i applied it, no joke, it smelled like cherry kool-aid. then as it dried, it started to smell like a pina colada. it made me feel slightly ill so i washed it off. way too fruity and sweet on my skin.

[imfighting]

In the bottle - minty like halls....with something a little sweet in there too - not unlike cherry halls. My first instinct is not to put this on me - in fact I just want to close the bottle.

 

On/wet: less minty...more fruity...is that what juniper smells like? I'm not sure I like it. Now it's making the inside of my elbow tingly...that's weird.

 

On/dry: the two sides of this (minty/cherry-sweet) both mellow and mingle more evenly. I don't think this is something I would wear often, but I can imagine it would be nice on a hot day....if it ever gets hot here in Seattle. Maybe I'll use it when I fly back to Delaware this summer.

[wolfie13]

So sad.

 

I loved this in the bottle and upon first application - a beautiful strong, yet not too sharp, aquatic mint. I thought I had FINALLY found my perfect mint fragrance.

 

But then.....attack of the lotus. I really do NOT get along with lotus at all. It has ruined other blends for me that I know for sure have it, and still others (frost moon, wolf moon, snow white) that i suspect have it.

 

I am one of those unfortunates who get a very strong and weird sweet/plastic-y smell from lotus that no other ingredient seems to be able to tame.

 

Sigh.

Edited March 18, 2005 by wolfie13

[kmasden]

Undertow is a perfect example of my mind connection with scents.

 

First off, I am loving the aquatic scents and Beth's mint blends. Both are absolutely divine - she is getting the balance sooo well.

 

The first minutes that I wore it, it was quite lovely, very fresh and aquatic and nicely balanced with the mint....

 

Within about 5 minutes I couldn't get a visual out of my head of a dead guy in the water - minty fresh. I know that sounds creepy and bizarre, but I almost revolted against the scent because the visual was so strong.

 

On the positive side, that does mean that it smells truly oceanic with a crisp almost biting breeze of mint.

 

On the other end of the spectrum - i need to be careful about the feelings some of the oils evoke....very powerful stuff in my opinion.

[slave1]

In Bottle: Sweet and piney.

 

On Skin: The pine must be the juniper. The lotus does sweeten it but the mint keeps it fresh and outdoorsy. It does smell very watery... like a lake in a forest. Very masculine... I can't imagine this scent on a woman. The mint and juniper really clear the sinuses.

[joseybird]

Minty, icey...and something sweet and florally...on my skin it very much smells like a Hall's cough drop, as has been pointed out. This gives me the impression of very very cold water--not murky depths, but the sort of water that's so deadly because you're more in danger of freezing to death in it than drowning. An interesting oil, but not one I'd want to wear, especially with the medicinal smell.