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The juice of ripe, bursting, blood red holly berries


Frimp from Zenvodunista! Who kindly sent me this sans charge, just because. Feel the love Zen, you rock my world! :P

In the bottle: cinnamon with something sweet underneath.

Wet: cinnamon with berries, but not overly sweet berries. This isn't spicey cough syrup. This is very nice.

Dry down: cinnamon with berries, and this is drying down to a softer version of the wet phase. Unlike most scents with cinnamon, I am not amping it up to CINNAMON, like I usually do. I do smell like an expensive holiday candle. Not the cheap ones mind, with the lead in the wick. But a very nice candle. In fact, I smell like my soy Cranberry Spice candle that I bought and put out every year! :D

30 minutes: still lovely, still a holiday candle. I do like this on, despite said comparisson to a waxy pillar. It does get a ever so slight powder in the background. I know it would make a wonderful room scent. Slave 1 is right, you could keep switching them out for holiday fun all Yule round.

Conclusion: I do like this one very much. Wish I hadn't misunderstood and thought it was Midnight tonight the Yulies would be available. Oh well, maybe next year. :D

Rating 1-5 on my skin, this is a 4.5. Edited by Shollin

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This smell is absolutely Christmas in a bottle, dead on. Cinnamon is not overwhelming but adds to the festive mix of the scent. Holly berries? I have no idea what that smells like. *Sniffs arm* OK, right now Holly smells like Jacob's Ladder, but I'm a girl Holly not the berry. (Sorry, stupid pun... my darling mother swears she didn't name me Holly for being born on the 12th day of Christmas, but I just don't believe her :P )

 

That said, I don't want it ON me. It would be fabulous in a room diffuser, or maybe even in a bath oil so you could smell it but not smell LIKE it. Nice to have tried but an imp is the perfect amount. As I would have guessed from the description.

 

I'd give it a 3.5 out of 5, though 5 for execution of idea; I just prefer perfume oils I can wear on me.

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This smells like mulled cider with spices on me, and it's delicious. Beautiful and not overwhelming, not too sticky-sweet. Great!

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ultra spicy and clovey :D

this scent is nice but not a perfume i would want to wear........ :P

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In the imp: Christmas!

 

Wet: Cloves. No berries, no fir trees, no nada. Cloves.

 

Dry: CLOVESCLOVESCLOVESCLOVES!!!!! (and teeeeensy bit of waxy smell.) And strong. Did I mention strong?

 

Well. :P

 

Not exactly my idea of a personal fragrance. I think I shall swap this one.

Edited by harmonyfb

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This is wonderful. Crisp holly and fir, the way they smell in midwinter after a frost.

 

I had a massive headache and sick stomach from the fiasco I had with Rose Cross earlier in the day, so after a long shower and cup of peppermint tea, I searched my collection for a smell that would clear my head. This did it. It's refreshing and wonderful and smells absolutely clean and pure. I'd bought a bottle as a ritual scent--I work with the tree ogham and connect with holly in particular--and hadn't thought of actually wearing this, but I want to put it on cotton buds in my dresser drawers so that my clothes will smell like this.

 

I can't recommend this scent highly enough. It's the bottled version of seeing the Aurora Borealis while standing in the middle of a coniferous forest.

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In the bottle: Mmmm, sweet berries and a hint of sharp pine!

On my skin: Woah! Where did that delicious spice come from? This smells like really fruity mulled wine on my skin, with that gorgeous spice and pine undertone. It's delicious! This works beautifully as a winter perfume or room scent. Again, alas, my skin tends to gobble this up, but it's worth re-application.

 

I *thought* this was a keeper, but after wearing it for the day, it turned a little sour and sharp on me. Now, hours later, it's sweet berry goodness.

 

I really hate the sharp scent, but love the drydown, so I'm thinking I'll keep this as a room fragance and see what it's like then.

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In the imp: I didn't think I had any idea of what holly berries smelled like, but apparently I did, because my nose went 'oh that's holly alright'.

 

On me, wet: Very Christmassy, but I wouldn't say it's just holly berries. Spices and slightly hints of soap - and nutmeg, maybe?

 

On me, dry: Wow, but this fades fast. Faint spicy gingery nutmeggy clovey sweetness for a while, but then just a slightly plasticky aftersmell.

 

Verdict: I like this quite a lot, but it's similar enough to Laudanum on me(and fades much faster) that I don't think I need to keep it around.

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I got a decant of the 03 version of this scent in a Mystery Imp pack and I love it.

 

In the imp and while wet, I get some sharpness and some berry...I imagine that's a little bit of pine or something similar. But once it's on, all I get are berries -- not really tart or sugary, just sweet enough. I think it's something I will definitely put on.

 

I'd like to get some more, but I'm not sure if any of the following Yuletide blends were the same.

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This is definitely a deliciously CHRISTMAS scent. Weird to be sniffing it in May, but it made me happy nonetheless. It smelled similar to a Christmas Tree scented candle I had once… sort of spicy? But there is something a little sweet in the background, too.

 

I LOVED this, but not for May. Will wear all December long!

 

4 out of 5 :P

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Ooooh!

 

I LOVE this! It has a bit of the pine note from my beloved Snow Moon with a bit of sweet spice added.

 

I really hope Beth makes this again this winter because I NEED a bottle of this.

 

I'm going to pack my imp away (it's not really a June scent), but I can see myself wearing this all the time once the weather gets colder.

 

A+++++

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Yuletide surprised me. I fully expected the “juice of ripe, bursting, blood red holly berries” per the Lab’s description, which is why I bought it. When I opened the bottle, all I smelled was holly greens. The sharp, pointy, thick green leaves of holly. Greenery like this and I don’t hardly ever get along. I thought for sure I’d be swapping the bottle. But I decided to try it, and the scent of holly leaves was definitely very strong, but I didn’t find it offensive in the least. At the point of full dry-down, the juicy scent of holly berries started to shine through, and at this point, I couldn’t stop sniffing my wrists. The whole scent is very unlike anything I would normally wear, and unlike anything I would normally like, but I am oddly attracted to it. It’s not something I’ll wear often, and I don’t believe I’ll ever use the whole bottle up, but it’s a scent I’ll enjoy wearing on occasion, especially around the holidays. I’m still a little confused as to why I like it, but the fact is, I do.

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bottle:

evergreen & berries

 

wet:

green green green with a hint of sugar and berries!

 

dry:

same! Wonderful scent for winter

 

overall: like it!

 

rating: 7/10

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Mmm, berries! I am thinking cranberries; this smells a bit like my cranberry pills, but much more pleasant. I may try layering this with Talvikuu for the winter.

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2004 version:

 

In bottle: This is really hard to describe. It's sharp and chemical and berry all at the same time.

 

On me: Spicy! Closer to dragon's blood, but more cinnamon-y. Quite good. (Later) Still delicious, and tons of throw. I have no idea where the berries went, but they ain't in here...

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While I do get the spicy reference others have mentioned, I don't get cinnamon at all... more like the spicyness of pine or fir. This does smell exactly like a fresh wreath with holly berries. Unfortunately, I personally do not want to smell like a wreath... This is a fun scent to try, and I'll likely use it as a room scent for the holidays.

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Bright juicy spicy berries! This is the scent of holiday fruits - delightful, but something that is definitely tied to the season to me. I want to try it as a room scent but have not gotten around to it yet... :P

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Mmm. Yuletide.

 

There is Yule and there is Tide and fortunately this scent evokes the former.

 

My 2005 bottle is remiscent of balsa wood, cinnamon (briefly), and candlewax. This is a delicious winter scent that will be in heavy rotation this season.

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In bottle: Pine, sharp, green.

 

First on: Sharp, definitely a green piney smell. Wondering if this may be a room scent for me...

Drydown:Begins to warm up...now it's getting spicier...I think some of that cider-y smell is poking through.

Now I can smell the berries, and it's still very spicy and rich, with a bit of woodsy pine lurking in the background. Very intriguing.

 

Dry: I really like the spicy smell-almost cinnamon, but with some other stuff thrown in...wilder and woodsier. And definitely a berry smell, but not bright berries like summer. Definitely a winter berry. There's something it reminds me of that I can't put my finger on. Maybe it's mulling spices.

 

Yum.

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Ripe berries and fir, crisp and lush at the same time. Ever so slightly spicy....and I mean just a *hint* of spicy on me, not any particular spice either. Frosty and chilly, too. Very, very pretty scent that I really like. To me, yeah...I get the candle resemblance....but I think it's better than 'just' a candle. I will definitely wear Yuletide this winter.

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I have a bottle of 2004, don't remember how I got it though.

 

I pulled it out today because I was looking for a nice winter scent. This smells like the cinnamon scented pine cones you find in stores this time of year. Berry? What berry? This is nothing but SPICE SPICE SPICE.

 

I almost wonder if there's something wrong with the bottle, or is it me? :P

 

Whatever it is, it turns waxy and lasts all of half an hour, so I think this might have to go.

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2005, well-aged obviously: Clove and cinnamon are duking it out in my cleavage.

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2005

 

Wow.... this really does smell like Christmas! It's got that spicy berry/holly/spiced wine thing going on. And yes, smells like Christmas.

 

I'm not sure I want to smell like Xmas all the time... but when it's not December, it's got a nice nostalgic Xmas vibe to it. :D

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