Season of the Inundation

[terrenity]

Sweet, black silt mingled with holy myrrh, melilot, hyssop, spikenard, balsam, cedar, and a hint of melting snow from the Abyssinian hills.

In the imp: Silt and what I assume is myrrh, since it smells like the cola-ish element in The Magi and No. 93 Engine, backed by a touch of Beth's amazing snow note.

On: The cedar gave this blend so much potential to go completely wrong on me, but instead it is completely wonderful! I love the Lab's dirt/earth notes, but feel a little weird walking around smelling like I just had a romp in the potting soil. However, the myrrh is a perfect slightly-sweet complement that makes this really wearable. I agree with Mezzo - this is the first "dirt" blend that I would actually wear as a perfume.

This blend feels very bright to me, despite the resins and earth.. almost like it's up at a very high altitude where the sun is close and the air is clear. My family goes four-wheeling in the mountains sometimes, and we usually stop to eat lunch right up at the peak, where it's very bright and you can see all the green valleys below you, but you're sitting next to a patch of snow. That's what this smells like to me.

Overall: I got a decant of this on impulse, but it's by far my favorite out of all the Nile scents! It's really gorgeous and unique; among my top twenty for sure. Guess I'll be needing a bottle of this gem.

Similar scents: Graveyard Dirt, Zombi, Down the Rabbit Hole Spray, The Magi, and maaaybe Sundew?

[Delirium1009]

In bottle/imp: Dirt with a lot of spiced resin in the background and some rather woody and herbal notes.

 

Immediately on skin: This scent is very unisex smelling with a lot of different things going on. It’s rather deep and very resinous, but then it has a herbal, woody high note and some salty, cologney aquatic finishing it off. It’s very thick smelling, and quite complex. It’s a little bitter, herbal, and woody as well and has a rich sweetness from the myrrh.

 

After a little while: This has become rather warm and resinous. It just heats up in my nose as I smell it. It’s very smooth, though, and not gritty with a light bit of herbal spiciness. The base of this is rather dry and woody.

 

Overall Impressions: This scent is very complex, warm, dry, rich, and resinous. It’s a bit on the unisex side, as well. This is sweet but not overly so, and has a wonderful dark quality to it. It’s not my type of scent, but it’s an interesting one to smell.

 

[Lethran]

In bottle: So rich and wet and spicy. This is really striking. I love the wet plants and cedar. Wet: Wetness and rich mud with a soft, woody and herbal overlay. It’s subtle, but not lost on my skin. Dry: Not as startling, but still excellent. It retains the same balance as individual elements devolve.

[rayvn1]

Very interesting! This is an odd, odd scent on me. I was hoping for dirt and hyssop, but I'm getting something really herbal. It smells like a golden field of hay and herbs rotting/drying in the sun and being blown by a breeze into my window at twilight. Seriously. All that in a scent! I can't really pin it down, but it's very reminiscent of a summer scent on my family farm. Strange, but sexy in a fertile land kind of way. I'll keep it for further teting.

[zankoku_zen]

This one is definitely a masculine blend on me. Definitely a dirt/resin blend, with an overlay of 'aquatic/ozone' bit on it. Actually, it kinda made me think of the Axe line of cologne for men. But better.

 

Hmmm. I might have to dab this on the hubby.

[meaganola]

Interesting. I snagged a decant of this just out of curiosity and because I wanted to get a decant of each of the Egyptian oils for my library, and it turns out that I *love* it. I was expecting to have Issues with the myrrh, but that's not happening at all. The past few times I've worn this, it's been in a scent locket, and I've gotten this wonderful snow-and-candied-soil (not dirt! Which is a good thing because I'm not too wild about dirt, but I *love* the smell of soil. I don't know where the candied part comes from, but that's how my nose is interpreting it) combination.

 

Today, I decided to try it directly on my skin, and I've got an intriguing black tea thing going on. I also get a tiny bit of the Old Spice thing, but in wafts, in between the candied soil, snow, and tea. I also get a bit of burn, although I'm not sure whether that's because I've got a touch of heat rash going on in the cleavage that is being aggravated by the oil. I'm very glad I gave this one a shot. Love it. I've even upgraded to a bottle, and I'm really trying to hold back on bottles nowadays because I just don't wear as much oil as I have, but I have a feeling it will be just as amazing in an oil burner. The drawback is that this screams "LATE SPRING! EARLY SUMMER!", so chances are the next time I dig it out, we will be finding out how nicely it ages.

[moon_lemming]

I was hoping for a scent similar to Graveyard Dirt when I picked up Season of the Inundation, because I loooove the Lab's dirt notes. The silt in here is similar but more... silt-y, not loamy. It smells like grittier, wet soil, but even though it's "wet," it's not an aquatic blend, at least not to my nose.

 

In the bottle, the silt is tinged with something almost spicy. I don't know what half the listed notes smell like so I'm not sure what the spice is. It's not straight-up myrrh or cedar. Maybe the spikenard, which I looked up and is said to have a "sweet/spicy/musky" scent. It's not the melilot, that smells like hay and I'm not getting that at all. Perhaps it's the spikenard combining with the myrrh. I don't know. At any rate, it smells good: just on the verge of being spicy without the spice overpowering the silt scent.

 

On me, it pretty much stays the same, except the myrrh gets a little stronger (BUT it doesn't take over like it usually does in Lab blends). As it dries, the spice and silt blend perfectly and oh my god I am so glad I have a bottle of this. The throw is spicy but dry and the silt sticks around, but holds closer to my skin so I don't smell like potting soil to everyone who walks by. I love it.

Edited August 11, 2009 by karen

[aquazoo]

Dry and peaceful. It's a late summer kind of scent, all manner of exotic things.

 

[skylarkza]

In the bottle: Earth. Rich, wet, dark soil. Like if you go gardening after rain.

 

Wet: Now it smells like flowers and mud and rain. But not mud in the bad sense - mud as in great big stonking puddles in that soil from earlier.

 

Dry: Wow! This is breathe takingly exotic and slightly spicy and wet. The spices and myrhh have temporarily hidden the mud, which is now just providing grounding and depth.

 

After a while: It still smells watery - but more like a puddle in a dirt path. Its a comforting and earthy kind of wet. But not too "muddy". Intriguing. But awesome.

[Seismogenic]

Floodplain! Oh man, I was so excited when this one came out, because it is so overtly geological. It had particularly wonderful timing considering I'd just led some discussion sections on floods that week. I was initially certain I'd buy it, but then Convergence blends happened, and I talked myself out of Inundation because I got all of those. Septima_pica was kind enough to give me a decant, though, so I still get to properly test and enjoy my own personal floodplain.

 

In the imp: Soft dirt, sweet resin, and something with slightly more of an edge that I can't identify. I also get a hint of cold, which must be the melting snow.

 

Wet on skin: Very soft dirt, gently sweet resin, and now perhaps the slightest hint of wood. The edge from before has mellowed out, and it's not particularly cold anymore.

 

Drydown: Freshly dry, it's still mostly soft silt with a gentle resin base that is now becoming more identifiable as myrrh. The sharper herbal note is back, and I'm guessing it's spikenard, since it smells a little bit like lavender? I don't know. I'm also thinking the hint of wood I got easlier was cedar, and it has melded into the fine-particledness of the silt. At one hour in, it seems to have settled at a combination of fine black dirt - ie, silt! - and myrrh, with perhaps a little bit of cedar.

 

Five hours later: Softer overall, but largely the same balance as at the one hour mark. The softness almost is as if the silt has already been deposited by the river and left to dry. So yes, silt, maybe cedar, and a soft base of myrrh.

 

End of the day: Very very slightly mineral-dusty sweet.

 

Overall: Gorgeous. This is a fairly delicate dirt scent, clearly fine-grained to the point of softness. The slight sweetness implies, to my mind, that this is a good and fertile soil, freshly renewed. I don't really smell the river associated with this floodplain, but its sediments are wonderful even in its olfactory absence. I also think this is a gentle enough soil, particularly with the accompanying wood and resin, that it could be appealing even to someone without a hardcore geologist nose for dirt. I'm now really really wishing I'd sprung for a bottle of this when I had the chance.

[voodoocatwoman]

Uh, no. I do not want to smell like dirt.

[tajana]

Wet: Black silt for sure, damp and realistic, with a strong, vivid herbal element. Seriously, it smells like sprouts, wild weeds, herbs, and hay by a river. Fascinating.

 

Dry: The cedar and myrrh come out more, but the curious character of the silt and foliage scent remains strong. This is earthy and slightly sweet, and strikes a curious balance between incensey dryness and damp, authentic silty soil. Later on, it's slightly spicy cedar mingling with myrrh, balsam, and grasses. The throw is a slightly spicy, earthy-woody, yet very soft scent. It smells organic and alive, and really evokes the concept well.

 

Overall: A really interesting scent experience. It's very nuanced and the individual notes come across as very realistic and authentic, but they're balanced in such a way that it still smells like it's really meant to be a perfume. It doesn't smell like "me" but I'm really glad I got a chance to try this out. I can't think of any other BPAL I can really compare this to. The "silt" note is distinct from the other soil/dirt/loam scents I've tried.

 

ETA: Stealth favorite. Long after my decant was gone in the world, I developed a craving for a dirt scent and it just had to be this one. Perhaps its thanks to aging, but now its ten times better than ever before, especially, ahem, during shark week, for some reason. The vaguely minty snow is a beautifully unexpected fresh touch over the loveliest cedar-myrrh dirt smell ever. Refreshing, yet warm and earthy, almost spicy at the same time. Bonus, this smells absolutely fantastic on my boyfriend, and he actually likes it too. With his chemistry, it smells similar to the way it does on me, but not as sweet and a bit more cedary.

Edited August 29, 2010 by findaghost

[starfish327]

Admittedly I think I'm coming down with a head cold so this may not be the best time to review this...

 

I'm not getting any of the notes that other people are getting for this one. In the imp I get something minty, green and sharp. I'm not getting dirt at all.

 

It's pretty much the same wet as in the imp-- it reminds of whatever note reminds me of tea tree oil in wolfsbane.

 

Dried down there is something faintly sweet, overlaid with something that reminds me of a sharp white floral. It fades down to a powdery white floral as opposed to a sharp one. It's still very green. I normally amp spice and resins but I'm not getting them at all. Admittedly, I have slightly odd skin chemistry.

 

It does remind me of spring, but more in a blossoming fertility kind of way than anything that reminds me of silt or flooding. It's not a bad floral, but most florals go powdery on me. It's not on my must swap list, but I'm not sure that this is going to get a lot of wear.

[gingiemay]

In the imp this is a sweet aquatic with warm resins, spices and a sweetish dirt smell. Very pleasant, not like Beth's other dirt notes. On my skin, however, it goes very powdery. I think this is the myrrh. Darn, it was so nice in the imp!

[inkaddict]

I can't believe I forgot to review this one, considering that it's in my top ten o_0

I got an imp of this as an aftertought, mostly because I was curious to sniff the lab's dirt note, and I had no idea what to expect.

 

In the bottle: sweet, wet soil, really perfect, like gardening after the rain: there's something green and that spicy smell i get from wet earth.

 

Wet: It blooms on the skin and becomes more herbal, but the wet earth grounds and sweetens it. It makes me want to go to Egypt just to check if it really smells like this after the flood. I don't pick up the different notes unless I really look for them, to me it's just glorious, rich, spicy earth.

 

Dry: It's...well, a bit drier, but it really doesn't morph much.

 

I did't think such a strong scent would work well for the summer but it gives its best on the hottest days. I remember wearing this last August and feeling all sexy and exotic and just...it took me to a better place than Turin in the high of summer.

Plus, this is the scent that completely enabled my mother

I remeber visiting at the hospital where she was assisting my grandmother, we were talking quietly when suddently she started sniffing the air and wondering what smelled so good. I left her my imp and she said it made her feel like being outside again (she loves to garden) after spending days of being locked outside looking after my grandma.

It's still her favourite, followed by Morgause and Scherezade

[forspecial_plate]

I'm another one who can't always wear the earth/soil scents, but when they go right on me, I really enjoy them. This is a good one! I love how the sweet resins and plant mingle with the soil. The dirt is a little sharp for the first few minutes, but it fades as the scent dries, and the slightly powdery resins emerge. I looked up melilot and apparently it's sweet clover. I get where people are smelling Old Spice in this, but to me it's not screaming dude-fume like some other blends I've tried.

 

My favorite soil scents so far are Premature Burial, Potter's Field, Earth Phoenix, and now this (Season Of The Inundation). I'll have to try them together because I want to get a larger amount of one of them, but I have to decide which one I like best. I have a feeling it will be this or Potter's Field.

[edenssixthday]

Season of the Inundation - I didn't buy this because I don't like earth/soil scents, but someone gifted me a sniffy of it, and of course I had to try it even though it smelled like earth. I am kicking myself now for not getting any! It goes on with a strong earth scent, but once it warms up on my skin, it still retains some of the earthiness, but the balsam, cedar, and especially the delicious, spicy myrrh warm it right up and make this scent absolutely to die for. It is positively stunning, and I'm going to keep my eyes peeled for a bottle or partial bottle of this because my skin absolutely loves it.

[Diva Urd]

In the vial: loamy, sweet dirt. It reminds me of Crossroads and Destroying Angel. If those two had a baby, this would be it, at least in the vial.

 

On: Lots of dirt and woods. Right now, it smells kind of dusty and a bit medicinal - like ointment of some sort.

 

Later: Dirt & balsam and some floral sweetness. Lovers of true loamy dirt scents are probably ga-ga over this. I personally find it interesting, but overall, I'm not sure I want to smell like this. I believe I'll pass my tester on, though I'm glad I got to try it.

MUCH LATER, once the dirt calms down, it's actually rather nice, but that's a bit late for me.

[KindKit]

This is a challenging scent at first, because initially there's a very prominent "after the flood" scent of wet earth and crushed, just-starting-to-rot greenery, with the resinous and slightly sweet myrrh note underneath--it's like floodwaters in a temple. But somehow it's not unpleasant, and on me the really strong dirt note backs off a bit after a few minutes to a beautiful earthiness the underlies the myrrh and herbs. After a few hours it's mostly myrrh (a surprisingly sweet myrrh) but that's fine with me as myrrh is one of my favorite notes.

 

This is a complex and really interesting scent, almost like a story in olfactory form, which makes it fascinating to wear.

[OctoberGwen]

I love the concept of this scent.

 

When wet, I get a lot of the snow note, and snow notes do not work on my skin at all.

 

After a short time, though, it backs down and I begin to smell something that is most definitely fecund and earthy, sweetened beautifully by the myrrh. The balsam and cedar lend a nice dry quality to what remains just a faintly damp, very fertile scent. This saves it for me, as I much prefer dry scents to wet ones. There is just enough moisture here to convey the theme, but not so much that it's ruinous on my skin. It's rich and loamy, yet sweet and slightly spicy at the same time.

 

The far drydown is a stunningly soft, spicy, myrrh-sweet scent.

 

Unique, very complex, conveys the idea magnificently, and is lovely and wearable. Giant. Win.

Edited January 16, 2013 by OctoberGwen

[Marla Moreau]

SQUEEE!

 

I'm sooo happy with this.

 

In the bottle: rich sandy soil, like being at the beach... dirt and aquatic and sand.

 

Wet on skin: same as above

 

Dry down: same as above, the beachy impression fades and changes to wet soil, like putting your hands into the ground after it rains, then myrrh comes out and sweetens it up a bit, giving it an incense feel, but the soil never goes away (yes!), it just gets "drier". I might get a brief distant whiff of florals, but they are not prominent and go away fast (yes! not a floral fan). It keeps evolving and becoming more complex, dry soil, sand, and complex herbs and resins/incense. I definitely feel "ancient Egypt" from this, and the name fits the impression so so well. I was lucky to find a full bottle, gonna have to attempt to make it last. I think I'll be wearing this one a *lot*. 5/5