Cathode

[proserpine]

A negatively charged scent. Ambergris, Spanish Moss, oakmoss and three electric mints.

I am slowly learning that mint disappears on my skin. There is brief chill and then turns metallic, like solder. Next an acid note, rusting metal, and dirty glass. I smell like a chemistry lab with lingering odors of past experiments. Even though it creates a strong scent memory, cathode is not for me.

[Argentwolf]

Kinda a creamy, aquatic mint. Hugs the skin, has decent staying power.

[milo]

Wet, this is a beautiful green 'wet', scent. Like a lush garden by the ocean. As it dries, the green disappears, and a salty aquatic comes out, with the fungus note of doom, as I like to call it. Some blends just 'turn' on me, and smell like fungus. I really loved this when wet and would sure like to know what this note of doom is.

[Truelove]

I was expecting big things out of this one. I can’t smell any mint at all. The scent is not bad, but just sort of there and blah.

[mxtine]

Green tea, aquatic, mossy, and a little minty. Interesting blend, but not my style.

[Gin]

Cathode is minty and ozoney, and the oakmoss stays in check for once! I like this but not as much as some of the other clean, ozoney blends.

[tkannon]

In the bottle: Medicinal and woody. I think the mint is giving me a weird vibe.

 

Wet: Soap and something bright

 

Dry: My dad's soap from when I was a kid.

 

This is a get it off me scent for me. It turned even before it dried. I think the oakmoss disagreed with me but it could have been the ambergris.

[arrow]

I received this as a frimp with my recent Sprinklecake order.

 

My initial reaction to this was, "I know this smell!"

 

Lyonesse. On me, this is Lyonesse without the warmth or vanilla. I've even put them on side by side just to double check. It must be the ambergris and mosses.

 

Essentially, I get a cool, cold ambergris. It's so hard to describe what ambergris smells like, exactly, but it smells very haunting and nostalgic to me. The mint adds a crispness, but isn't as prominent after the dry-down. It's almost like a more masculine version of Lyonesse!

 

Definitely keeping the imp to wear on days when I don't feel like smelling particularly girly or sexy. It's a nice, clean, inoffensive blend. I must just really like ambergis.

[KindKit]

This scent behaves quite strangely on me, I think. It takes a while to open up; at first I get mostly earthiness (a nice old-leaves-underfoot smell) from the moss and slight spicy powderiness from the ambergris, with just a gentle suggestion of mint. Then after about ten minutes the mint kicks in and really does become electric. For a little while--I adore Cathode for about an hour, but once it's fully dried down and settled, everything I like about it vanishes and I'm left with a powdery, lotion-y base note that somehow makes me think of hospitals. If I didn't dislike the finish so much, I'd be happy with the hour of greatness. But the finish just makes Cathode impossible for me.

[subtlesiren]

In the imp: Nature. Lots of nature, like stepping onto a forest floor darkened by tree boughs where only moss, ferns, and shade-loving flowers grow. Oh, and someone is washing with soap in a creak nearby.

 

Wet on my wrist: The forest notes are fading, while the soapiness becomes stronger.

 

Dry on my wrist: Soap.

[Ghost of a Rose]

In the imp: Oil is clear and a light bright yellow color. It's a beautiful rain scent, with just the faintest nuance of mint - not sharp at all.

 

On me, wet: A bit men's-cologney at first, but not aggressively so. Aquatic. Just a teeny bit of ozone. More minty than in the imp, but still not sharp or overpowering.

 

On me, just dried: As this dries, it loses the men's-cologne note and out comes the gorgeous rain scent that I noticed in the imp.

 

After 10 minutes: Very light, beautiful rain scent. The mint, men's cologne, and ozone are virtually gone, at least as discernible separate notes. (I can still get a faint minty/ozoney sharpness if I sniff my wrist really hard and really close.) This now reminds me of Love's Fresh Rain scent, which I loved as a teenager.

 

After 20 minutes: Same as above.

 

After 30 minutes: Extremely light and subtle rain scent. All of the mint and sharpness is gone now, although there is still the faintest whiff of ozone.

 

After 1 hour: Pretty much gone.

 

After 12 hours: This was so soft and light that I expected it to wear off quickly, and I thought it did. But as it turns out, I am surprised to realize that I can still smell it very faintly on my wrist. I would still reapply after 1 hour because it gets so weak, or wear it in a perfume locket. But it is interesting how long it actually lasted!

 

Verdict: I love, love, love this; but it is very subtle and the throw is short-lived. Wear some in a perfume locket as well as on the skin for more throw and longevity.

 

My rating: 5 stars

[rhubarb3point14]

This is really interesting stuff. Yes, it's minty and licheny and earthy. But it's also faintly rubbery, dusty, metallic, and even a tiny bit petroleum-y. I can tell you from firsthand experience that it smells very much like a garden shed with a rototiller parked in it. (This is not a bad thing!)

 

I like this all right on me, but it's a bit more masculine than I would normally wear. I think it would be phenomenal on the right guy. Who wouldn't want their man to smell like a garden shed?

[Floria]

This is an interesting scent. I'm not entirely sure it's something I want to smell like, but there's something intriguing about it. The mint is very bright and sharp, not a foody mint to my nose at all, and vaguely chemical in a not unpleasant way - it makes me think of SCIENCE. It's overlaying something a bit seawatery that reminds me a bit of Cthulhu, although I much prefer Cathode's sinus-clearing mint to Cthulhu's sinus-clearing men's grooming product aquatic.

 

Oddly enough, my mom's experience of the scent was much different. She got something she described as old-fashioned and a bit sandalwood-ish and didn't mention noticing any mint. Maybe that was the moss and ambergris working together?

 

I'd say this is a good unisex summer scent for mad scientists and steampunk gadgeteers if nothing in the Steamworks section suits you.

[sunlitgarden]

Cathode:

 

In the imp: ...salty mint? I recognize the ambergris note from Lyonesse, but this is kind of weird...

 

On my skin, the Spanish moss and oakmoss notes are giving this a bit of an earthy feel, but it still smells salty to me because of the ambergris. After about 10 minutes, I still mostly smell SALT!, and it's kind of making me ill. x.x

[stellamaris]

Oh wow. This was exactly what I wanted to wear today.

This is so fresh, minty, and ozoney.

Strangely I smell something lemony too. I love this.

[ShadesOfFree]

Just got this as a frimp from The Lab, and tested it before I knew what was in it (because I like throwing myself under the bus with scents I don't know, sometimes) - and oddly my first impression was a garden. Not a flower garden, obviously, but an herb / green-plants garden. I guess that's the oakmoss + mint combo.

 

The longer I wear it, the more I like it - it sort of reminds me of power (which, I suppose, makes sense with the name?), but a calm power. Like something that could turn you to dust, but instead is just sitting and watching, patiently.

 

I was surprised I liked it so much, when I looked at the notes, because it's not something I'd ever have picked out for myself. I usually go for spices/resins, maybe some rose - but, yeah, no, this is glorious. Apparently the rumors about the Labfolk's psychic ability to pick appropriate freebies are true. This is definitely a keeper, possibly jumping up into my top five favorites.

[sunstone]

"A negatively charged scent. Ambergris, Spanish Moss, oakmoss and three electric mints."

 

In imp: Pleasantly cool, earthy, and minty. With less mint, it would smell like an early autumn day.

 

Wet/Drydown: The mint disappears immediately on my skin. Now it smells like stereotypical perfume. Perhaps it's the ambergris...?

 

Several minutes later: The mosses came back. Good. The scent is balanced again, though the mint has all but disappeared.

 

Conclusion? Not bad, but not great on my skin, either. I think this one is destined for the swap box, unfortunately. Unless I try it another day and like it better.

[neuilly]

Interesting. Mint always fades quickly on me but the first few moments are a really lovely combo of the mints - and even reminded me of my beloved Utrennyaya. But then the scent fades into a mossy aquatic? It is a tad masculine and not a type I usually go for but there's something really soothing about it. I don't see myself wearing this often, but I'm going to keep the imp!

[Winter_Wanderer]

-

Edited October 7, 2016 by Winter_Wanderer

[Wren12]

In the imp: sweet and powdery, where's the mint??

 

On wet: strangely smells barely there. Maybe some minty notes showing themselves but nothing prominent...

 

On dry: the mint becomes somewhat apparent. There are some aquatic notes here, with a soft, powdery cologne. Very very light.

 

All in all not enough mint for me, too much powder, I think my skin may not like ambergis all that much.

[BoneBone24]

Wet: A cool aquatic with a touch of something juicy and pale green like cucumber or honeydew.

 

Drydown: A sparkling mossy aquatic. Ambergris joins in adding a spicy, resinous vibe. Fresh yet deep and warm. The color impression is deep blue with speckles of bronze and shimmering moss green.

 

Dry: Clean and comforting, like cozying up to a sexy man whose body temperature runs much hotter than mine. He’s the outdoorsy yet well-groomed type and looks best sporting a five o'clock shadow and very little else.

 

 

 

 

8 out of 10 bones

Edited June 21, 2013 by BoneBone24

[Shealynne]

I'm glad I was frimped this, because it is not in the first hundred BPAL scents I would be interested in, but it is very nice.

It starts out rather minty. After a few minutes, the mint basically disappears on my skin, and I think I amp oakmoss all the time if I remember correctly.

Cathode smells like the personality a very chill, moss-covered hippie tree cartoon that has a fondness for mint tea.

It just smells good and earthy, not rah! in your face. It's very gender-neutral. It smells clean without appearing to be trying to smell clean. It makes me feel like someone wearing it would be fresh and clean in an easygoing way, rather than a Clorox wipes on the kitchen table kind of way like me. If I had a boyfriend right now he would probably find himself slathered in this.

[Evilynn]

In the imp this smelled aquatic and a bit minty to me, but that impression only lasted for the first 5 minutes or so on my skin. After an hour or so it's predominantly oakmoss, which I amp like crazy, and it's a little too masculine to really work on me, but after another half hour or so the ambergris shows up and it turns into this warm, mossy ambergris scent which is really lovely, although not exactly what I expected. Very comforting, and I'm holding on to my imp.

[ringmaster-red]

In the bottle: sharply minty, almost medicinal

 

Wet: Very green and herbal. A little powdery. No mint yet. After a few minutes, it becomes slightly aquatic. After a few more minutes, there’s something a little bit floral and powdery again. It’s cool. I might smell the mint a little, but it’s very faint. Mostly it’s just cool powdery herbal.

 

Dry: When I sniff my wrist, it’s just herbals, but there are wafts of mint from farther away. It’s a cool, clean, green scent. After an hour or so, it smells like rain and asphalt.

 

Not terrible but not for me.

[tailoredshirt]

This is an old imp, at least 3 years old. I know mint and ambergris have a short shelf life, so I'm not surprised that this is mostly Spanish moss and oakmoss. It's a damp, earthy scent with salty ambergris and a hint of mint.

 

I'd really like to try this fresh to see if I could get more mint.

Edited August 19, 2014 by tailoredshirt