The Host of the Air

[Invidiana]

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

I'm definitely getting the berries and greenery as the two prominent notes here, and how I love juniper berry I've never even touched, let alone smelled, a cloudberry but itmust be responsible for the delicious fruity backdrop. With time there is a sense of a springy floral background, but not a headache-inducing one; more like wildflowers in a cool breeze. Bluebell is enchanting on its own, and it definitely adds an enchanting touch to this.

[arsenicsauce]

Wet: Clover and grass in your face! This is so like Passionate Shepherd that I ran to get some for my other wrist to smell side by side. Verdict: extremely similar at first, but The Host of the Air is slightly less pungent and green when wet. It has some of the same nose-tingling bite of snapped stems, also seen in One to Tie Two To Win, but less so. Is it the berry or wine rounding it out? I don't know juniper berries as a note (in fact I hate both berries and wine usually) so I'm not sure. It's actually a little less sweet than passionate shepherd too, a little more unisex, which given those notes surprised me.

 

The sharp green grassy note is the first to fade back as it wears, it's still there but not taking over and having massive throw as it tends to on me. Clover continues to dominate, but everything else is well blended into a quieter floral underneath- I definitely get the heather there, and maybe the dandelion. It boarders on white-florals-soapy for a while but it never quite crosses over. This is a very green spring scent with floral undertones and of the three scents in its category that I've tried, I think I like it best when wet and early on but prefer Passionate Shepherd during the long-term drydown. They really are very similar, definitely the same family. Medium throw.

[Redillon]

This is a very nice clean, grassy, outdoors-y scent. Light in the bottle but strong on my skin. Reminds me of Irish Spring and some type of laundry detergent. It's nice though. I'm not one to wear "clean" scents but this one was given to me as a freebie so I thought I'd try it out. It's something that is more for day time wear and definitely a springy/summery scent.

[tajana]

Wet: Oh no, this is a bummer! I'm on a dandelion binge right now, and I was expecting to really enjoy this. Unfortunately, as soon as it hits my skin, it turns... sour. A high, sharp, sour note. Maybe it's one of the berries going wrong? At any rate, it's not really identifiable as anything green or meadow-like. It's just thin and sour. Not hideously offensive or potent, but it's not pleasant, either.

 

Dry: The sour note fades out, and I'm left with a clean green scent, definitely with its fair share of clover and just a bit of dandelion. It's only vaguely floral. It isn't really conjuring any images or emotions for me. It smells alright I suppose, but it's falling really flat with my skin chemistry. Plus, it's barely there despite my generous application.

 

Overall: Goes from bad to mediocre. Doesn't work for me, which is a pity, considering how lovely it sounded like it would be! I was hoping for bluebells, dandelions, and peat!

[loubric]

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.

I couldn't have said it any better.

 

It smells like freshly cut flowers on me... just a lovely mixture of beautiful flowers. Very grassy and clean.

 

The perfect Jump-into-Spring scent. LOVE.

[Reedsong]

Oh, Yeats, my favourite poet/playwright/magician/everything of all time. So, I saw the Bards of Ireland series and scrolled down the list reacting accordingly: "Huh, interesting, hmmm, okay, huhHOLY CRAP THEY MADE A YEATS SCENT EEEEEEEEEEEEEK MUST BUY NOW!!!" I'm not even sure I actually read the scent notes, for woe, I am a pitiful fangirl.

 

In the bottle, the juniper berry and grassiness of The Host of the Air are most prominent, with a slight berry sweetness softening the effect. Then, I applied it to my skin and got wet old-lady soap. Just as I was about to sob, though, I realised that the powdery soapiness was my old nemesis, dandelion, and after five minutes, the wretched weed retreated. The dry-down is sighingly exquisite: a sweet, warm radiance not unlike that of freshly-washed skin. I smell subtle notes of wet grass, soft flowers and pollen, and a tart berry or two, like a wind blowing through a beautiful natural place. I want to be wherever this scent is.

 

I am immensely pleased that I took a chance on this fragrance, and I agree with other reviewers that, if you've failed with other grassy/earthy/valley sort of scents (like Nowhere in Particular), you would do well to try The Host of the Air; I'd also especially recommend it to anyone who liked Val Sans Retour but found it too faint (as I did) or too sharply grassy.

 

This is a beautiful homage to Ireland's brilliant poet laureate!

 

(Edit because I do not grammar good.)

Edited April 15, 2010 by Reedsong

[Michi]

This is such a delicious scent in the bottle! It smells like dew-covered grass on an early Spring morning. It quickly morphs on skin to a sweet grass with a hint of florals. Once dry, The Host of the Air reminds me of hugging a child who's been playing in a grassy field; I get an even mix of sun-warmed grass with wildflowers, and maybe just a hint of cotton.

 

Very pretty and lovely for Spring and Summer, but goes a little more floral on my skin than I'd like. If you're a grass and/or floral lover, though, this is definitely one to try!

[biocarolyn]

Very pretty, airy for sure! I get grasses and clover, primarily, but no dandelion note actually, just clover. Soft floral that is young and fresh, maybe the bluebell? I can't smell any juniper. Really springtime, very light and airy. You can't be depressed while wearing this scent...bottled sunshine and optimism . So pretty!

[bellumed]

Entirely what you’d expect: a field of clover, with sort of a “dewy” or “waterlogged” effect. Quite pretty without being girly. Nice!

[JazzieCazzie]

Received this imp as an added on item in a swap while we worked on evening things out ... I had it on my wishlist based on the reviews here, which made me wonder if it might be like my beloved Strength (which, to me, is the epitome of the florist's shop with stems cut on the floor).

 

IN THE IMP: VERY strong on the dandelions and clover side. Green, fresh, kind of like Glasgow without the berries for me.

 

Dabbed what I thought was conservatively on my wrist and in the crook of my arm.

 

WET: VERY dandelion. What I thought/hoped the Wild Dandelion single note would be but wasn't. Outdoorsy, green, dandelion stems and clover.

 

DRYDOWN: I confess I never really got there. While I really, truly like the scent A LOT it was WAAYYYYYY too strong on me. I didn't think I applied that much but the throw was so powerful it was distracting and I admit I washed it off.

 

OVERALL: I think this would make a fantastic body wash or shampoo scent but for me it was just TOO much as a perfume. I test-drove Virgo 2007 yesterday and it was very similar but lighter and not as powerful. A little goes a long way, at least indoors.

 

On a scale of 1-5, I give it a 3.7 or so but will remember to apply VERY sparingly in the future. And maybe only, like, on the backs of my knees or something.

[Zii]

Wet: This is very similar to the scent I got from my aged Wild Dandelion SN, sharp, sweet and green. In fact, it's pretty much a dupe for that right now.

 

Drying: THERE are some of the other notes. I am getting the heather and a bit of the sharpness of the juniper cutting through the sweetness of the floral greenness.

 

Dry: At first I was worried that this would suffer the same fate as the WD SN and go too sweet and cloying, but the greenness I like so much is rooted in a woody spiciness that makes this scent more complicated and ultimately better on my skin. This is what I hoped the SN would have been.

[Kay Torres]

Thanks to a very generous forumite, I was able to snag a bottle of this. I tried it on right out of the mail because I just couldn't wait. In the bottle, this smells like clover and dandelion. It's just pure spring. It's just beautiful.

 

Wet: Oh, so much dandelion goodness! I have a thing for dandelions, in case you couldn't tell from my profile picture. A strong grass note, the clover is still hanging tough. This smells for all the world EXACTLY like a late morning walk in a meadow at the edge of the woods, while the grass is still slightly dewy and the flowers are just opening up in the sun. It's just happy, but in a quiet sort of way.

 

Dry: I've had it on for about an hour now, and it just gets better. It's just so very green! For someone like, me that doesn't like to be indoors during growing season, it's a huge mood booster. It does get a little soapy, but only a very little bit, and not in an unpleasant way.

[MonkeysInk]

This smells like green and white florals (is there green floral? If so, this is definitely it.) and clean, outdoor air. This didn't have much throw or last very long, although it was lovely for the short time it lingered. This is one I think would smel especially lovely spritzed onto my hair, to have the fresh, clean smell follow me around.