Hamadryad

[funkmoppet]

Nature spirits and protectors of the world's groves and forests that appear as breathtakingly beautiful women. Hamadryads are born into a tree that serves as both a home and an anchor for the creature's soul. They are sometimes tricksters, sometimes seducers, sometimes helpful and benign, but they are always fierce and furious protectors of the natural world. Seven dry woods with mossy lichen and a gentle breeze of forest flowers.

 

Awww. Wanted to love this. Dryads! Always loved them!

Wet, it's like Irish Moss cough lozenges. Medicinal. And as it dries it pretty much keeps on with the medicinal. The description sounded SO me, I really wanted more woods and flowers in this and buried under the wintergreen they are there. But they're just drowned out. If I wear this out, everyone's going to be thinking I'm trying to beat the flu.

Well titsticks. No dryad love for me.

[laliloo]

awww. This is going to be another "I so wanted to love this from the description, but..." review I'm afraid.

 

All I can smell is Germolene. The old-style Germolene ointment that came in a round tin pot. It was thick and pink and medicinal looking and magically made every little tumble and scrape better when I was little. It's a comforting smell, but it's a bit too reminiscent of hospitals and dentists surgeries to wear as perfume! I can't smell any of the woodsy stuff that's mentioned in the description. What a shame.

[autumnbriars]

This is one of those scents where I sniff the oil and I read the reviews and I wear the oil and I read the reviews, and I almost convince myself that I must have something totally different than what everyone else has.

 

I don't get mint. I don't get cinnamon. I don't get any of the other ick smells that people have mentioned.

 

Hamadryad is a scent that reminds me that my nose isn't nearly as refined as I'd like it to be, since I have a very hard time picking out specific notes. Its a warm scent, to me, and earthy, but with a soft floral undertone. Not heady florals, like roses, but more like the scent you get when you walk past a flower shop in the summer...sort of the idea of flowers, rather than ZOMG FLOWERS! Somewhere under the flowers is the scent of wood and moss, and the whole thing reminds me of a forest glen.

 

It smells the same in the bottle as it does on my skin, its not a morpher, and at the end of the day, I can still catch traces of it if I try. Definately one of my favorites!

[Crystelle]

Bottle: Smells like a dark forest with cinnamon and something woodsy.

Wet: Um…altoids?

Dry: Seriously, I smell like a combination of wintergreen altoids with those Sweethearts you get on Valentine’s Day. Um…not really sure if I like it, but it’s kind of cool.

Later: Wood! There it is! I was wondering if it would show up again. Still got the mint candy scent, but now with an overlay of a dark forest.

Imagery: Candy! Minty, wintergreen, sugary, really, really strongly scented candy. But only at first. Once the candy calms down it’s a minty, strangely spicy forest.

Summary: Kind of neat, kind of odd. If the mint represents magic, then I smell like one magically-charged forest. The candy bit at the beginning is odd, but once I got used to it I kind of liked it. I probably won’t get a bottle, but it’s a fun scent nevertheless.

[enui]

This one is a real morpher on me.

 

It starts very woody, almost harsh medicinal, but after a few minutes it starts mellowing and it turns sweet but not overly, very pleasant.

Not something I would wear everyday, but I'm definitely keeping my imp.

[gravedigger]

In the vial and on my skin, Hamadryad smells like Pepto-Bismol. Not an unpleasant scent, necessarily, but not something I enjoy smelling. It disappears after a few minutes, leaving a pleasant but nondescript floral/woody/powder sort of smell.

[aquazoo]

Ew, serious wintergreen medicine. Hospital ward. Of the mints, wintergreen is my least favorite. It’s outta here!

[Shitow_Haruka]

first sniff: Wintergreen.

 

wet: Still wintergreen, but there's more going on under here...there's a faint blended floral note that I can't identify, and I believe the "mossy lichen" is oakmoss.

 

dry: It's still mostly wintergreen to my nose, with the oakmoss keeping it from being overpowering.

 

I bought this more for the imagery than the scent description. It's not something I find myself reaching for a great deal, but I'm keeping it around since it may provide a nice alternative to the overpowering potpourris I find myself facing over the Winter holidays at relatives' homes.

[alchemilla]

In the bottle: Toothpaste. A nice-smelling toothpaste, like Tom's of Maine, but really strong. Not particularly medicinal or astringent to me.

 

On my skin, from wet to dry, it's consistently wintergreen. More like the actual wintergreen plant (which I've smelled) than toothpaste, in that there's a faint leafy/twiggy note. Very refreshing, but I'd rather chew it than wear it.

[KaliVerra]

Wintergreen and plantlife... it took me by surprise, but it was kind of fun! I don't have an aversion to wintergreen, so I went along for the full ride. The ride wasn't very long.

 

About 30 min. after app., wintergreen is totally gone and there is a tiny tidge of really powdery herbal greenery going on, but I can't lay a finger on what it might be - or if I even like it.... it's all really iffy.

 

Wouldn't buy, but it was an interesting voyage.

[Elilara]

Wow, this sounds amazing and perfect for me from the reviews.

 

Now I'm half thinking the imp that fell into my hands was incorrectly labeled, or that my nose has gone mad. All that I get from this is wintergreen. Specifically, Wint-O-Green Lifesavers. Out of the imp, after dry-down, it never changed. My friend that was with me at the time got the same from it too.

 

Oh the other hand, it seems many of the newer reviews mention wintergreen / toothpaste, but the older ones talk about cinnamon, wood, spice...odd.

 

Edit: pretty much disregard this- I found a review explaining the possible batch variation.

Edited October 1, 2007 by Elilara

[TereFaerie]

I guess my imp is of the wintergreen/liniment variety. Too bad, the description sounded wonderful.

 

It has been a lesson for me to read the latest eviews first, not the first page with the earliest reviews.

 

This was the first bpal scent I actually had to wash off, it smelled so bad.

[Dinerdulcinea]

AAAAAAAACCCCCCK!!!!!!

 

 

The wintergreen Velamints, they are chassssssinnnnng meeeeeeeeeeeeee!!!

 

*pthouy ptuh thhhppbbbvt*

[hkhm]

imp: this smells just like tiger balm to me.

 

wet: whoa! really spicy, really tangy tiger balm! this smells incredible!

 

dry: i will always think of this scent as tiger balm without the medicine. luckily, i love tiger balm and since i use it pretty often after kendo practice, it's the scent of happy exhaustion.

[ImperatrixMundi]

imp: this smells just like tiger balm to me.

 

Exactly my thoughts as well!

 

Some time ago I had a bottle of some strange red chinese oil that was meant to be good for aching muscles. I dont want to know what else was in there because it worked all too well but the smell was exactly the same, some sort of really dry and woody wintergreen.

 

That changes quickly, only a few minutes later a light and sweet floral note started to overlay the wintergreen and for a few minutes this was really interesting and nice.

 

After a few more minutes both notes started to morph into a nondescript sweet and plasticky scent. Which is a pity because the floral phase was really something different. Maybe there are a few people out there who have the right chemistry for this but this is not for me.

[LaLoba]

I don't know exactly what to make of this scent, but I am kinda sad it is being discontinued...

 

This scent didn't change much on me...it pretty much stayed the same from the bottle to my skin, even after a few hours. I wasn't expecting it to be so sweet and "perfumey", but I could smell the woods and the mossy lichen...very nice since I like earthy, woodsy smells.

 

I'm glad I got a 5 ml. so I can use it for awhile. I'm not sure I would re-order if it were available, but I'm also not sure I wouldn't. Definitely a scent I'm gonna have to play with, but it does have possibilities.

[megank4]

Another vote for Pepto-Bismol. In the imp and upon initial application all I could think was "Someone should really call the lab and notify them that someone mischievious is putting Pepto-Bismol into imps before sending them out."

After awhile it dried down to... Nothing. Argh. I could have put up with the Pepto-Bismol phase if it morphed into something great, but I just get nothing.

[snapeophilex]

This is a very surprising blend!

 

In the imp: all wood and moss. But nice, mellow woodsy smells. Not acrid at all.

 

Wet: OMG, the florals are coming out. Springy and lovely! Very harmonious with the woodsy smells.

 

Dry: Did I slop toothpaste on myself when I was brushing? OM, it's nearly indistinguishable from the toothpaste I use.

 

What a strange scent trip--from the deep, silent woods to a spring meadow bursting with flowers and life to a tube of toothpaste. Not for me, but the trial was pretty cool.

[mhickle]

Whooooa BenGay!

 

In the imp, I got spicey and sweet, but the very second it hit my skin, it was all BenGay. And what a throw in those first 20 minutes or so! I was in a cloud of BenGay!

 

In the drydown, this scent calms considerably, but also fades quite a lot. It's only been 3 and a half hours and it's pretty much gone. Which is a shame, because once the woods come out, it's really nice! If it lasted longer, I would definitely buy a bottle before it's gone in a couple of days!

Edited February 14, 2008 by ViolaVanWilde

[MaidMirawyn]

When I got my order, I decided I had to try Hamadryad first. I opened the imp, took a few sniffs, and tried it on.

 

Then I checked the scent description, and my brain went, "Huh?" But after searching the topic for "mint," I was reassured that I was NOT losing my mind.

 

Okay, maybe I am, but at least it's totally unrelated to the perfume...

 

In the imp: Minty! Specifically, wintergreen. I know the scent I'm getting is wintergreen, because when I was an art student we did wintergreen transfers, and ever since then I randomly crave wintergreen. (I SWEAR the stuff must have leeched into my bloodstream, but that's a separate issue...)

 

Wet: Mainly wintergreen. There's something peeking out, but it's still pretty faint so I can't identify it.

 

Dry: It's a complex, blended fragrance now. I do get whiffs of wintergreen, but they're faint and someone who doesn't have my weird wintergreen thing going on may not even notice it. It's woodsy, though I can't single out any one wood, with a touch of floral sweetness. I don't really smell the cinnamon or nutmeg; I think they've been absorbed into the woods scent and are giving it more depth.

 

My husband doesn't particularly care for the wintergreen stage; he says it's too sharp. So I'm glad it morphs into something else on me. I wouldn't have minded more cinnamon (I'm addicted to Chimera, so yay cinnamon), but I love the result. I'm sure there are plenty of other spicy-yummy fragrances; this one is nicely unique.

 

AND I can still have my wintergreen fix when it's wet or in the imp.

[MaeKitty]

Wet: A lovely combination of the mosses and flowers

On Me: I love this one. The scent is very familiar, but I can't place it. The woods in this are very dry and slightly bitter, but they are counteracted by the lichen and flowers. It seems to me that this is a mysterious scent, like being in the middle of a forest, not sure what's out there, with only the smallest bit of sunlight getting through the leaves. I'm very sad that this one is being discontinued.

[Delirium1009]

In bottle/imp: Soft wood, light moss, and an herbal undertone.

 

Immediately on skin: This seems very soothing at first, but there’s a dark, burned wood undertone to it. It’s aquatic florals plus refreshing moss. There’s something almost creamy about it, or vapor-like. But the wood underneath these pleasant notes is distracting; it smells bitter and burnt.

 

After a few minutes: This starts to have a very fresh, clean scent upon drydown. There’s a clean mossy feel to it, and some light floral notes. It reminds me of a scent of shampoo though; just very clean and refreshing. That annoying wood note vanished pretty quickly, which is very good.

 

Overall Impressions: This is a mossy, refreshing scent. I don’t get spearmint like others do, but I definitely understand why the notes combined would give that impression. It’s mossy and slightly floral, but really well blended. The blackened wood note I get from this at first lingers in the background, but fades nicely.

[fairnymph]

This is a review of the 'original', older blend.

 

In the bottle: Sparkling fruits. Like eisswein.

 

Wet: Still sweet and sparkling, with hints of berries and grapes. Maybe a hint of something floral.

 

Dry: It's sort of sweet and spicy now? Still not really getting any woods or flowers. This is nothing like I expected. It's also fading very quickly.

 

Summary: Very faint sweet spice, with maybe a tiny hint of woods. Dismal wearlength.

[lisawoj]

Very light, mossy, floral and breezy. I don't detect the wood notes at all.

[tehriaz]

yeah, wintergreen. with a touch of oakmoss on drydown. I hate oakmoss. this one has no redeeming qualities.