The Host of the Air

[Kimbernunk]

O'Driscoll drove with a song
The wild duck and the drake
From the tall and the tufted reeds
Of the drear Hart Lake.

And he saw how the reeds grew dark
At the coming of night-tide,
And dreamed of the long dim hair
Of Bridget his bride.

He heard while he sang and dreamed
A piper piping away,
And never was piping so sad,
And never was piping so gay.

And he saw young men and young girls
Who danced on a level place,
And Bridget his bride among them,
With a sad and a gay face.

The dancers crowded about him
And many a sweet thing said,
And a young man brought him red wine
And a young girl white bread.

But Bridget drew him by the sleeve
Away from the merry bands,
To old men playing at cards
With a twinkling of ancient hands.

The bread and the wine had a doom,
For these were the host of the air;
He sat and played in a dream
Of her long dim hair.

He played with the merry old men
And thought not of evil chance,
Until one bore Bridget his bride
Away from the merry dance.

He bore her away in his arms,
The handsomest young man there,
And his neck and his breast and his arms
Were drowned in her long dim hair.

O'Driscoll scattered the cards
And out of his dream awoke:
Old men and young men and young girls
Were gone like a drifting smoke;

But he heard high up in the air
A piper piping away,
And never was piping so sad,
And never was piping so gay.
- WILLIAM BUTLER YEATS

Peat and rolling grass-covered hills, with wine-dappled heather, white clover, cloudberry, juniper berry, bluebell, dandelion, and cross-leaved heath.

Wet: grass and dandelion stems. This is very green in a very plant-like, outdoors way.

Dry: Very outdoors, plant like, and with a touch of the heather and the bluebells making it ever-so-slightly floral. However, this isn't like FLORAL, it's like standing in the back room of a florist with lots of broken flower stems rather than standing in the middle of a bunch of blooms. Or even more precisely, this is like standing downwind of a greenhouse while on a sunny, grassy hill and a nice fresh breeze. It's extremely Springlike and conjures up beautiful mental pictures of sunlit meadows.

Overall: absolutely lovely - I can see myself reaching for this quite often! Edited March 28, 2009 by Shollin

[AnArtfuldodger]

In bottle: Very weirdly green. It's not sharp. It's not soft either though. Huh. Sort of a wet green, but not aquatic-wet at all. Spritzed-wet, like in a greenhouse.

 

Wet on wrist: This is interesting. It's spring-like, and grassy but not floral. The above poster got it right in saying it's more like flower stems rather than flowers. Freshly-cut stems.

 

On the drydown: I'm getting something almost pickled from this. It's not bad. It's like a berry, but not juicy or sweet -- a very tart berry that you'd find growing wild by a trail. Is that the cloudberry? Probably? Huh.

 

After 10-15 minutes: This turns to pretty much all dandelions on me! Huffing my wrist, it's all that fuzzy dandelion scent.

 

Final outcome: I think this will end up going in the swap pile. I love the concept of dandelion and wine and peat (I was really psyched for the peat, actually, but I'm not smelling any of it, I don't think) and everything else...but this is 100% fuzzy dandelion on my skin. Alas. The English major in me dies a little at not being able to keep this poetic scent.

[angelicruin]

Sniffing the bottle, it smells like grass.

 

Once applied to the skin, it turns into this wildly fresh, clean scent. It's quite an invigorating blend.

[twilighteyes]

Ok, *THIS* one is green.

 

I don't smell dandelions as much as heather, clover, and green grass. A very green and refreshing floral blend.

[topaz]

Yep. This is green. This isn't a sharp green that tickles your nose. Maybe dew covered grasses?

 

This goes back to childhood memories (back before I feared ticks and had seasonal allergies) when I could roll around in a grassy field with sundry wild plants and watch the clouds.

 

Beth- you captured Spring in a bottle!

[Bluestocking]

In the bottle: This is like springtime in a bottle! Bright green, sweet, fresh and clean, yet complex, too. I get sweet, fresh cut green grass with a little bit of dandelion, sharper peat, and a haze of soft clover and heather. There are hints of the other flowers, but they're subtle. I'm actually getting a little bit of spark from the juniper berry, too—faint, but it's there.

On, wet: More green, less flowers. I get all the complex, green, earthy smells: green grass, peat, and something with a touch of bark that must be the "cross-leaved heath." I can still smell the flowers, but they're a very light, airy sweetness in the background.

On, dry: Flowers, fresh air and greenery. I get a big, soft, light-as-air bouquet of all the flowers here, clover and heather and dandelions and bluebell, supported by the deeper green scents, particularly the peat. There's also something here that's round and sweet-tart and sort of fruity, which I suppose might be the cloudberry. It's extremely clean and breezy and refreshing.

Later: Soft flowers and fresh air, with just a hint of moss.

Overall: This is SO lovely. My hopes were high for this one after looking at the note list, but it's even better than I expected. It's lush, refreshing and green, but not at all sharp—more of the naturally sweet, dewy green scent that comes with springtime, accented by the soft smell of a clean breeze and all the flowers. It brings back memories of sunny spring days in the backyard in my mother's flower garden. It's not at all a heavy scent, but it has surprisingly good throw and longevity. I suspect it's more floral for me than it has been for other people, but my skin looooves flowers, so my experience might not be typical. In any case, think I'll be reaching for this one a lot during the springtime, especially on casual days when I just want to smell good but not necessarily perfumey.

 

 

[tativa]

mmm... it really is spring in a bottle. Not sure if I need to upgrade to a bottle tho, because on my skin its just like a lighter version of dog days of summer (without the smoke note).

 

i'm mostly just getting grass and dandelion. Wait, where did the dandelion go? Oh, I think I am starting to get a whift of cloud berry on the dry down. Now its greenery with a tart sweetness. Now tart sweetness and a really light earth note

 

I'm going to have to give it a full day test run when I am not covered in stuff... but I think I will be happy with my decant (my wallet cries tears of joy), but it sure is a morpher... will update on what it turns into next.

 

Update after a full days (about an hour) test:

Mmm... this time there are alot more notes. I can smell the wine, dandelion (for longer) and the cloud berry, tho the scent is predominately green edging on being a bit soapy. It has a decent amount of throw... but within an hour and a half I couldn't smell even a trace of it. It was worth reapplying tho for the first day of spring. Going to wear it a few more times and see if it grows on me. I like it a lot, but not sure if its different egnough from bottles I already have.

Edited March 20, 2009 by tativa

[tartchef]

I'm one week away from our trip to England, and this is a perfect distraction from all I have to get done before then...

 

Greengreengreen, beautiful & fresh & a bit bittersweet... Imagine The Schoolhouse, minus the birch - lots of grass & clover leaf, and a healthy smack of dandelion greens. Allowed to dry for a bit, the wildflowers start peeking out through the greenery - lots of white clover blossoms, and a very petal-y bluebell. The juniper's chiming in, too, a nice astringent note in the background. If I really concentrate, I can get just a bit of peat & the glossy green-black leaves of the Ericas.

 

No wine (yay!), no cloudberries (alas), just a perfect, sunny, wind-swept day up on the moors, lolling about in the grass with a book...

 

If Blade of Grass, The Passionate Shepherd, Nowhere In Particular & The Schoolhouse were near-misses for you, definitely give Host of the Air a whirl...

[binkin]

I've tried this twice now, and both times it fades on me within half an hour or so. At first it's a burst of fresh greenery with dew and almost a clean/aquatic feeling, then as it dries something more floral comes up, and then... nothing. It's gone. I really like it while it's around, but my skin seems to eat it. I'm going to try again soon, with more slathering.

[Ravenclaw79]

Initially, this is clover, fresh and green but not grassy, clover-y. As it dried, there was a moment of "ooh, what's that?" sweetness in the background, and then it all went directly to soap -- a nice soap, though, at least, a pleasant, fresh scent. Dried down later on, I detect a hint of dandelion, but it's still very much "fresh spring breeze," clean. I don't dislike it, but I'm hoping it'll improve with a little age on it (it just came in the mail today).

[CynicalPink]

Bottle: Grass, clover, and dandelions. Fun!

 

Wet: A bright green meadow under a bright blue sky. It's sweet and green, but not like grass clippings. I think the florals will come out in time

 

Drydown: Round 1 - When you were little, did you ever just start running up a hill in a park for no good reason but it was the best thing ever at the time? The way that felt? How fun it was? That's how this smells.

Round 2 - It's got a floral element, but it's not screaming in your face floral. It's there to hang out and be friends while you lay in the clover.

Round 3 - This is going to get a ton of summer wear

 

Overall: A more than suitable stand in for my imp of The Passionate Shepherd. I love how green this is without making me sneezy. It's so happy!

[fairnymph]

In the bottle: Sweet greenery and some JUICY wild berry. Very green, grassy. Clover and heather and dandelion. Slightly piney juniper. Lovely floral bluebell. I can pick out every single note in this, other than peat which I am not familiar with.

 

Wet: More foresty, with amped juniper. Also more juicy. Intensely grassy green and dewy wet - loads of clover, slightly soapy-clean heather. Dandelion adds a bitter garden-y edge. Only faintly floral. This is very much SPRING!

 

Dry: This is my first experience with cloudberry, and I'd describe it vaguely as a rosy, rosehip-y blackberry - with that brambly sort of wild note - but much softer/lighter and less sweet, and tarter. Very juicy and bright. It's coming out more now, as is the dandelion and heather.

 

Later: More bitter as time goes on. Not unbearably, but it's a bit more of an edge than I would prefer. Bluebell has amped a bit. On the whole, this is quite strong. And it's gone a bit salty.

 

Summary: Final dry down is slightly bitter-spicy dandelion, a strongly salty aquatic note, a bit of slightly soapy clean heather, and clover galore. Very green and very unisex. Fresh and outdoorsy. Great throw & good longevity.

 

Very glad I got a bottle! I was right to order unsniffed. The best new LE scent I've tried in 2009.

[greenranger]

Fresh green hillside...the sort you used to roll down for fun as a kid before you grew up enough to start worrying about bees or prickles. I can sort of smell other greenery and maybe something sweeter in the far far background.

[hkhm]

bottle: wet, new grass.

 

wet: moist grass and weeds, misty morning air... this is lovely. more than lovely, invigorating and happy.

 

dry: bluebells. that's what this has bloomed into. this is strong bluebells with a grass background.

[zankoku_zen]

A generous soul frimped me 1/2 decant of this. Thanks babe!!!

 

Oh Host of Air, I think I love you.

 

You're Spring. Fresh flowers, spring, clean breeze. If at times you're a little too much like Bounce or other clothes softeners, I forgive you, because most of the time you smell like grass and fresh flowers.

 

Now to find me some more.

 

ETA: So aged, I def. get more of the bluebell and clover. My husband says it smells like lilies, which I don't agree with (but then again, his nose hasn't been trained as well. (Also lilies tend to go to soap on me, and this one remains fresh and breezy).

Edited October 30, 2009 by zankoku_zen

[msbcozad]

The Host of the Air

 

Ooh, this is pretty. It's clover and dandelion in perfume form. So happy and full of springtime. Mmm... and juniper berry. Lovely. Absolutely lovely.

[Seismogenic]

The mental image of a wild green landscape sprinkled with flowers was so clear to me just from reading the notes on The Host of the Air that I knew I had to actually try it. I'm not a big fan of cultivated flowers, but wildflowers appeal to me, and they're in this one. The peat note was also a big pull for me, since it's a special kind of dirt and I'm a sucker for anything remotely geological.

 

In the imp: Fresh leafy green, something a little more like bark, and a sharp dirt note that I assume is peat.

 

Wet on skin: Peat and greenery, with a little breath of wildflowers.

 

Drydown: Freshly dry, the wildflowers - particularly clover and dandelion - have substantially sweetened the mix, but it's still not overtly floral. The peat and leafy greenery have melded into something more homogeneously freshly earthy. At the one hour mark, the flowers have calmed down as well, lending a slight sweetness to the fresh earthiness from before.

 

Five hours later: It's quite faint now, but still evident as something softly earthy and something barky green. Still pretty fresh, even while being faint.

 

End of the day: Still some faint sharp greenness, barely detectable.

 

Overall: I'll join the crowd that's declaring The Host of the Air to be springtime in a bottle! This is not delicate and dewy springtime creeping in after a long hard winter, though. This is outspokenly, proudly, joyously fresh and green, like an explosion of foliage and wildflowers. A yard that smelled like this would probably make someone doing yardwork scream, but it's the perfect image of a wild field of flowers and leaves sprouting from soft dirt. And speaking of dirt, the peat note is an interesting one, and I definitely like it. It's different from other dirt notes I've sniffed so far, and that appeals to me in and of itself, since different places have different soils. I'll also say that, having seen Ireland out the window of an airplane (though I've never actually been there), I can totally see how this scent matches that image of rolling green hills. So yes, definitely a wonderful one! I'm considering a bottle; the reason it's not a certain purchase is my own financial situation, not anything to do with the merit of the scent.

[dreadpiraterustypants2]

expectations-

Well, I had wanted a peaty whisky grassy magic, but reviews point to just grassy magic- That'l do!

I'll see what I can pick out~

also excited about tart cloudberries-

imp-

clover! and a bit of wine-y heather~ lovely and fresh, I can see the irish spring reference too, but it's not over the top here.

wet-

rolling grass covered hills, bluebells, dandelion flower, a touch of juniper- wow it's all there~

no smoke-y peat, so it goes. Perhaps that's why it's peat AND rolling grass, yes? Almost apple-y, it it's lush greeness.

verdict-

It's all clover blossom love for me, with supporting roles. don't need more than my half imp, she's potent stuff! Just starting to understand the difference between "throw" and gluing my nose to my wrist,

this one seems to have a lovely clover up close, and a more "greener field" scent from afar ~

[TheOneTheyCallLuna]

I got all of my Bards and Chaos theories decants today, plus a few other packages of decants from forumites in the mail, and of all the options before me I knew this was the blend I wanted to try on first. I gave it prime real estate on my left wrist, and it has not disappointed me yet! There is the freshness of cut grass with clover and the tang of ozone...it really reminds me of the rolling hills of Ireland. It is fresh without being cologne-y or soapy. The soft bitterness of the dandelion and clover and other herbal elements ground this blend and make it smell so real!

 

I really love this one, and think that I am going to need a bottle! Lovely!

[sookster]

straight sniff from bottle is lovely fresh green grass.....

similar to sweetgrass SN...

 

me likey

[megank4]

Oh, very nice. I am glad I bought a bottle. This is the only one of the Bards of Ireland that appealed to me. I'm not usually a fresh/green/herbal type, but this is very nice.

[ealasaid86]

I don't think I can really add anything new to a review, but I'll give it a go.

 

Wet: Dandelions. It smells identical to School-House.

 

Dry: Still dandelions primarily but with a tiny whiff of florals.

 

Verdict: I already have a fresh-cut green scent in School House. I was hoping this would be a bit more floral, but no such luck

[faerywolfe]

Oh my *sniff sniff* This is really lovely. It's spring in a bottle, lol. I'm having trouble picking out individual notes, so this may or may not be helpful, but I am getting mainly sweet dewy grass, white clover, and dandelion adding just a bit of bitterness. The rest of the notes are really there more as a subtle accent, not so much main features, to my nose at least.

 

This smells for all the world like standing in the backyard with your bare feet deep in clover, the sun is helping to warm the strong cheering breeze as you take your freshly dried sheets off of the line, listening to the little honey bees buzz from one patch of tiny spring wildflowers to another as you go. This oil manages to blend the perfect early-spring late-morning day, and also throws in the sensation of lying down for a nap cuddled up in those same fresh, softly scented sheets and blankets you just brought in.

 

The longer it sits, the better it gets. The scent seems to warm just slightly, loses a bit of that bitterness. It's all about fresh, but a true natural fresh. There's nothing at all here that isn't exactly as you would find in your own backyard. It does take on just the teeniest soapiness as it dries, but not at all in an off-putting way.

 

Beautiful, and a keeper. This is really more of what I had hoped for with Blade of Grass, I think.

[GalaxyLei]

Faint berries and wet grass...mostly green wetness with a juiciness (berries!) in the background that makes me want to go looking around for a berry bush to pick them off of. Lovely and perfect spring scent.

[Lamia]

I don't get the blissful green springtime from this that everyone else seems to.

 

Nice enough and pleasantly light, but in a soapy masculine way. Trade bag.

 

Or mebbe I'll send it along to MelanieSuzanne