Forest & Woods Scents (with and without evergreens)

[starrykitten]

Yeah! The Caterpillar!

[Macha]

I don't know if this means anything, but any "rainforesty" scents anyone can recommend? like...green/aquatic with a *hint* of fruits?

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I personally found Machu Pichu to be very evocative of rainforest.

[theshapeshifter]

Most of the ones mentioned here are on my list of 'orders I'm waiting for', but I have tried Bewitched. It's lovely, but I wouldn't call it 'woodsy'. More berry/herbal, like blackberry tea.

[Miss Lynx]

Well, I have finally received my first small batch of BPAL, and one of the oils in it was Black Forest, which I had been looking forward to ever since my first visit to the Lab's site, but I ended up being disappointed in that one - it just didn't smell like a forest, at least not on me. You can read my full review of it here, but basically it was way too sweet on me, and the pine smelled kind of fake.

 

So now I'm looking for recommendations of other foresty scents. I've seen a number listed - Hamadryad, Nocnitsa, Yggdrasil, Skadi and others - but it's hard to know what would be best for me. I need something less sweet, and more earthy, than BF. So tell me: What smells most like a real forest to you?

[Macha]

Dublin

[heartbeast]

So tell me: What smells most like a real forest to you?

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If the forest has a bonfire in it, with naked, sweaty (yet clean) people dancing around it, it's Hexennacht. It might be hard to track down, but it's worth it.

[Diana]

Well, I have finally received my first small batch of BPAL, and one of the oils in it was Black Forest, which I had been looking forward to ever since my first visit to the Lab's site, but I ended up being disappointed in that one - it just didn't smell like a forest, at least not on me. You can read my full review of it here, but basically it was way too sweet on me, and the pine smelled kind of fake.

 

So now I'm looking for recommendations of other foresty scents. I've seen a number listed - Hamadryad, Nocnitsa, Yggdrasil, Skadi and others - but it's hard to know what would be best for me. I need something less sweet, and more earthy, than BF. So tell me: What smells most like a real forest to you?

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Skadi is piney. It does smell foresty, but in a cold winter evergreen way.

Yggdrasil is woody. It also smells like clean, sweet grasses & herbs & leaves.

Vinland is sort of similar to Yggdrasil. It's light and crisp.

If you can get your hands on either: Hexxennacht and Samhain are kind of incensey-woodsy-smokey smelling.

Noctnisa is in my pile of "to try" imps, so I can't comment on that just yet, and I haven't smelled Hamadryad yet, either.

 

Maybe you should look into the more dirt-type scents since you said "earthy." Look for oils with moss or earth notes? They might work out for you.

Along those lines, I'd give Burial a go; it's woodsy and dirt notes.

Maybe also Thanatopsis. I got some piney notes from it, and woody. If you're not into the evergreen, though, it might not work out for you.

[sarada]

If Black Forest came out too sweet for you then Nocnitsa would probably be out of the running -- I love it but I think that the pine can take a definite "candied" turn, and it actually came across as smelling like lime candy to me a little though ultimately it turns into a more foresty smell. But if BF was too sweet then Nocnitsa will almost definitely wind up being too sweet I think.

 

Hamadryad just smelled like cinnamon to me. But I need to retest that some time.

 

Actually Black Forest smells the most like a forest to me, so I'm struggling to think of something that doesn't have pine in it. Yggdrasil is more of a dry, airy woody smell. You might have some luck with some of the woody/resiny scents like Anne Bonny, actually, though it doesn't have a "green" aspect. Burial is wonderfully green but doesn't have the "woody" aspect. For something that smells like earth that's in the regular catalog, Zombi definitely smells like earth/moss but the rose can be overpowering.

 

Dublin is gorgeous but I'm not sure exactly what to say it smells like. It smells like mist and air in a forest without having any real earthiness to it, to me. And Skadi smells like Dublin, with a touch of pine, covered in frost.

 

The often-overlooked Omen might be another option actually. It smells a lot like Burial with the green/mossiness but it's slightly woodier. When I first sniffed it, it definitely screamed FOREST! to me.

 

I am all about smelling like a forest too so I sympathize. I'd say from the regular catalog, Yggdrasil and Omen might be good bets, but if you just want to try some deep dark brown woods/resins take a sniff of Anne Bonny too. If you can get some Graveyard Dirt and layer that with one of the green/tree smelling scents that might work!

 

If your chemistry doesn't seem to work with the pine scent in Black Forest I'd probably not recommend Nocnitsa though, or the other pine scents (Loup Garou, etc). The pine in those is very very strong.

[joseybird]

If the forest has a bonfire in it, with naked, sweaty (yet clean) people dancing around it, it's Hexennacht.  It might be hard to track down, but it's worth it. 

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I totally 2nd this! Hexennacht is a warm, summer night in the dark forests

[Miss Lynx]

Lots of good recommendations there - thank you! I've added a few things to my wishlist, and bumped up the ranking of some of the ones that were already there.

 

Hexennacht sounds amazing - I wish it were still in the catalog! Well, maybe I'll find some on eBay or something.

 

I do usually like evergreen scents - one oil that I wore for a really long time was a blend I made myself with oakmoss, amber and balsam fir. But I kept the balsam fir down to a minimum so it wouldn't overpower everything, so maybe it's just a question of quantity. Oakmoss is one of my favourite notes and I notice it's in a number of the ones people have recommended, so that bodes well.

 

I don't mind rose - it's one of the few florals that usually works fairly well on me, at least as long as it's balanced with something not so sweet, so Zombi and Burial are definite possibilities. Actually, Burial is getting pretty close to the top of my wish list right now. Omen sounds really good too - hadn't noticed that one before.

 

Aaaah! So many possibilities. Must make more money!

[mmcfa2]

hands down thanatopsis. not sweet, nothing distracting you from anything but a deep beautiful forest. All the others i have tried had something extra, musk or fruit, etc. I have luop garou on order and have not tried in yet though

[Orodemniades]

Tintagel, Thanatopsis, maybe the Highwayman?? Or am I just going mad on that one?

 

Oro

[sookster]

The most "foresty" scent I have encountered and absolutely love is Hemlock....I wrote a review on this a few days ago.....you might wanna give this one a whirl

[Sara]

Belladonna was actually kind of foresty to me. It reminded me of a "gutted pine tree", even though it may not have actually been pine..hmm...

 

I haven't tried it (mostly because I can't find a "foresty" scent that works on me, for different reasons), but maybe you could layer it with something "dirty"? Like Graveyard Dirt. I haven't tried Burial yet, but if it's dirt too, then it's worth a shot.

 

Skadi reminds me of "Christmas" it's exactly what I imagined the holiday to officially smell like, kind of woody, kind of snowy, just...well..Christmas damnit. Which could explain why the imp is sitting around waiting for it to get cold again.

Edited July 13, 2005 by Sara

[HappyLoveJoy]

Nocnitsa would be worth trying. It goes on very pine-y at first and then dries down very quickly to a sweet and fruity pine. It becomes a much softer pine but it's still quite nice. Skadi would definitely be wonderful too.

[sheepzeit]

I have found Graveyard Dirt and King of Clubs to be the ultimate "Forest" scent for me. I enjoy Nocnitsa and Samhain as some of the other woodsy scents, but GD and KoC smells like walking in the woods with my eyes closed.

 

Hexennacht is also woodsy but on me it's mostly sweat. The said, chemistry is a strange thing, so I've spent my months with BPAL hunting down every forest scent I could find and seeing how they work on me. My reactions have been so different from the norm sometimes, it makes me want to cry.

[Caltha]

Are there any forest smells without the pine among BPALs stock? Or without coniferous trees in general? Dublin was supposed to be a misty forest but on me it went all sunny, hot, dry and sweet pine forest, an amber-coloured smell rather than a green one. I like it a lot but now I'm looking for a different forest smell, night rather than day, cool rather than heat, moist rather than dry, leaves rather than needles... Any suggestions? I'm a little scared of ANY flowers or fruits since the rose in Dublin turned to sweet berries and the apple in The Hesperides to pumpkin pie without any hint of forest on me, so it might as well be an entirely green smell. An autumnal forest in decay with rotting leaves would be nice as well. Based on reviews I'm thinking of buying Burial, Hamadryad, Dance Macabre, Black Annis, Omen, Shroud and Tintagel.

[fallow deer]

If you can find King of Clubs, it was very much a deciduous forest floor to me.

Also Ace of Pentacles is also like a forest floor, but with a lot of patchouli.

 

Of your suggestions:

 

Burial is gorgeous, very wet, but with the piney quality you're avoiding, I think.

Hamadryad is pretty, but very much of the dry variety of woody scents.

Shroud also is very dry.

I couldn't get past the anise note in Black Annis I'm afraid so didn't get round to distinguishing different notes.

Dance Macabre, again, is more coniferous than otherwise.

 

Tintagel to me was more of a wine/dragons blood scent than wood.

 

I don't want to put you off these scents, though, I think the piney ones are lovely and you may find a combination of coniferous woody notes that you enjoy.

[Macha]

Of course, part of the problem is that, quite honestly, what smells like one thing for you may not smell that way for me, and vice a versa. To me, Dublin is everything you say you want. I get no rose from it at all, and it doesn't smell like pine, just lovely wet, misty deciduous forest. So I'm at a loss to make suggestions, because right from the start you've established that we don't interepret scents in anything like the same fashion.

 

As for the rest of your desires, I advise keeping your eyes open for the Autumn-themed LEs that will (hopefully) be released by the Lab in the next month. I'd be very surprised if there wasn't a scent amongst them that is all autumn leaves and decay.

[Caltha]

Of course, part of the problem is that, quite honestly, what smells like one thing for you may not smell that way for me, and vice a versa. To me, Dublin is everything you say you want. I get no rose from it at all, and it doesn't smell like pine, just lovely wet, misty deciduous forest. So I'm at a loss to make suggestions, because right from the start you've established that we don't interepret scents in anything like the same fashion.

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Yes, either I just interpret it differently or my skin actually turn it into a different smell. But that's just why I wanted to share my experience with Dublin - to see if there was perhaps someone with a similar reaction to Dublin (and/or The Hesperides) who had still managed to find another forest smell that's wetter and darker and cooler. Thanks anyway!

[jewelbug]

I don't know the exact notes (not listed on BPAL), but I really liked Yggdrasil for a woodsy scent. It was light, fresh and green, sorta like a deciduous forest after a rainfall. A few others seem to smell pine/cedar/juniper, so I guess it depends on skin chemistry, like all others. In my opinion, though, it was lovely, so it might be worth a try!

[zenvodunista]

i would say try Yggadrasil -- it doesn't work with my chemistry, but it's woods and nooooo pine. also, i'd attempt Vineland as well. yes, it has a bit of berry, but it's also got maple and birch -- and i don't mean maple syrup or birch beer

 

good luck.

 

n.

[zenvodunista]

BTW -- i just read in a parallel thread about "autumn" scents, someone posted this:

 

Ace of Pentacles is pretty earthy and dead leafy, with a sort of musky undertone that's very pleasant. It reminds me a bit of the smell of raking leaves; the underneath part of them where the leaf pile interfaces with the dirt.

 

maybe that will do you?

 

n.

[tart]

I am not a person who likes to wear green/woodsy scents at all, but my suggestions would be for Eden and Intrigue. They both remind me of lush, shady forests with a very nice blend of notes in the background of each.

[Diana]

Vinland and Yggdrasil.