Countess Dolingen of Gratz

[forspecial_plate]

COUNTESS DOLINGEN OF GRATZ
(Dracula's Guest, the omitted introduction to Bram Stoker's Dracula)
Now and again, through the black mass of drifting cloud, came a straggling ray of moonlight, which lit up the expanse, and showed me that I was at the edge of a dense mass of cypress and yew trees. As the snow had ceased to fall, I walked out from the shelter and began to investigate more closely. It appeared to me that, amongst so many old foundations as I had passed, there might be still standing a house in which, though in ruins, I could find some sort of shelter for a while. As I skirted the edge of the copse, I found that a low wall encircled it, and following this I presently found an opening. Here the cypresses formed an alley leading up to a square mass of some kind of building. Just as I caught sight of this, however, the drifting clouds obscured the moon, and I passed up the path in darkness. The wind must have grown colder, for I felt myself shiver as I walked; but there was hope of shelter, and I groped my way blindly on.

I stopped, for there was a sudden stillness. The storm had passed; and, perhaps in sympathy with nature's silence, my heart seemed to cease to beat. But this was only momentarily; for suddenly the moonlight broke through the clouds, showing me that I was in a graveyard, and that the square object before me was a great massive tomb of marble, as white as the snow that lay on and all around it. With the moonlight there came a fierce sigh of the storm, which appeared to resume its course with a long, low howl, as of many dogs or wolves. I was awed and shocked, and felt the cold perceptibly grow upon me till it seemed to grip me by the heart. Then while the flood of moonlight still fell on the marble tomb, the storm gave further evidence of renewing, as though it was returning on its track. Impelled by some sort of fascination, I approached the sepulchre to see what it was, and why such a thing stood alone in such a place. I walked around it, and read, over the Doric door, in German:

COUNTESS DOLINGEN OF GRATZ
IN STYRIA
SOUGHT AND FOUND DEATH
1801

On the top of the tomb, seemingly driven through the solid marble-for the structure was composed of a few vast blocks of stone-was a great iron spike or stake. On going to the back I saw, graven in great Russian letters:

'The dead travel fast.'

There was something so weird and uncanny about the whole thing that it gave me a turn and made me feel quite faint. I began to wish, for the first time, that I had taken Johann's advice. Here a thought struck me, which came under almost mysterious circumstances and with a terrible shock. This was Walpurgis Night!

Walpurgis Night, when, according to the belief of millions of people, the devil was abroad-when the graves were opened and the dead came forth and walked. When all evil things of earth and air and water held revel. This very place the driver had specially shunned. This was the depopulated village of centuries ago. This was where the suicide lay; and this was the place where I was alone-unmanned, shivering with cold in a shroud of snow with a wild storm gathering again upon me! It took all my philosophy, all the religion I had been taught, all my courage, not to collapse in a paroxysm of fright.

And now a perfect tornado burst upon me. The ground shook as though thousands of horses thundered across it; and this time the storm bore on its icy wings, not snow, but great hailstones which drove with such violence that they might have come from the thongs of Balearic slingers-hailstones that beat down leaf and branch and made the shelter of the cypresses of no more avail than though their stems were standing-corn. At the first I had rushed to the nearest tree; but I was soon fain to leave it and seek the only spot that seemed to afford refuge, the deep Doric doorway of the marble tomb. There, crouching against the massive bronze door, I gained a certain amount of protection from the beating of the hailstones, for now they only drove against me as they ricocheted from the ground and the side of the marble.

As I leaned against the door, it moved slightly and opened inwards. The shelter of even a tomb was welcome in that pitiless tempest, and I was about to enter it when there came a flash of forked-lightning that lit up the whole expanse of the heavens. In the instant, as I am a living man, I saw, as my eyes were turned into the darkness of the tomb, a beautiful woman, with rounded cheeks and red lips, seemingly sleeping on a bier. As the thunder broke overhead, I was grasped as by the hand of a giant and hurled out into the storm. The whole thing was so sudden that, before I could realise the shock, moral as well as physical, I found the hailstones beating me down. At the same time I had a strange, dominating feeling that I was not alone. I looked towards the tomb. Just then there came another blinding flash, which seemed to strike the iron stake that surmounted the tomb and to pour through to the earth, blasting and crumbling the marble, as in a burst of flame. The dead woman rose for a moment of agony, while she was lapped in the flame, and her bitter scream of pain was drowned in the thundercrash. The last thing I heard was this mingling of dreadful sound, as again I was seized in the giant-grasp and dragged away, while the hailstones beat on me, and the air around seemed reverberant with the howling of wolves. The last sight that I remembered was a vague, white, moving mass, as if all the graves around me had sent out the phantoms of their sheeted-dead, and that they were closing in on me through the white cloudiness of the driving hail.

Hailstone-pounded cypress boughs, olibanum, and an ozone blast of lightning.

First of all, as you can tell from the description, this does indeed have a big shot of ozone! I've never had a problem with ozone, but if you do, you probably already know this scent isn't for you.

Okay.....with that out of the way, this scent will be very familiar if you like the Lab's aquatic and wintery scents, especially Archangel Winter*, but the olibanum does set this apart. I guess olibanum is frankincense, and it brings a little more richness to this scent. And then as the scent dries, the cypress starts to come out, just adding a slight woody element. It's very ozone and icy, fierce winds blowing hail through the tree-tops, and sweet in that slightly fruity way that the fresh-water aquatics can be.

So.....no real surprises for me here, but definitely something I can wear, since I love this kind of scent. My only problem with aquatics is that they can be hard to tell apart, but that just makes it more fun to try them all! This one is somewhere between Archangel Winter and Eanach Duin, maybe with a touch of Death Of The Gravedigger.

*Edit: After some comparison/testing, this definitely does not smell like Archangel Winter and I'm sorry if I misled anyone. Maybe it was the Snow Storm that I'm thinking of, I tend to get them confused. The Countess has a lot more wood than Archangel Winter (which has no wood at all that I can smell).

[ami226]

Whoa! Aquatic overload! I don't normally like aquatics, so bear this in mind...

 

On the skin: At first there is just too much aquaticness. When it starts drying, I get more of the wintery notes that I was hoping for. Underneath the aquatic note that I still smell, there is a lovely blend of what I guess is cypress and cold snow.

 

In the end, this one just doesn't entirely work on me...

[topazphoenix]

This is mainly a very fresh ozone on my skin (I'm not too great at differentiating the subtleties of ozone, ). It reminds me a lot of the Stormhold.

[edenssixthday]

Countess Dolingen of Gratz - On me, this is a fresh, wintery blast of ozone. Even an hour after it dries down, the ozone is still what I smell wafting around me, but when I sniff my skin up close, I can detect a slight hint of woods. It's actually a really nice ozone scent and I do like it.

[greenranger]

I got a little bit of the cypress at first, but, mostly this was not-quite-water and ozone. I didn't get olibanum, unless that was the note that was causing it to last and last and last...

 

I like the smell of real rain, why didn't I like this?

[angelicruin]

Aquatic ozone is my initial impressions after applying to my skin. As the oil begins to dry, I pick up the Cypress note as well.

 

It does remind me of a heavy storm, but not really for me.

[Lethran]

In bottle: Mostly ozone. Think cypress grove in a lightening storm on a cliff overlooking a dark angry ocean. Wet: It’s richer on the skin. It’s feminine, in a wild, wind and rain swept way. I can’t decide if I like the olibanum. I go back and forth on it being either interesting or too much. Dry: Ozone, mostly.

[Upstart Crow]

Yes, this is a surprisingly wintery scent for a Halloween line, as the first reviewer said. Then again, given that the character in "Dracula's Guest" does encounter snow and hail, this is a great representation of the story.

 

In the imp I definitely smell the ozone and something bitter and sharp, which I suspect is the olibanum. On me, the scent starts out as the lab's winter snow note with a hint of wood that comes out stronger and stronger as it dries. It also has a hint of something vegetably that I can't quite place; perhaps it is the interaction of the olibanum and wood? This is definitely something you'll like if you enjoyed The Christmas Rose, Archangel Winter and woodier blends. It's also a beautiful rendition of the moment in "Dracula's Guest" that served as its inspiration.

 

Overall, I will treasure the imp but I don't think I need a bottle, since the Lab's winter blends aren't my favorite.

[Blood onmy hands]

Ozone (and most aquatics) smell like soapy dryer sheets on me. This seems to have a ton of ozone in it, because I get a ton of dryer sheet freshness. It smells a bit chilly and slushy to me as well, so there might be some snow note in here somewhere. After an hour, it's less chilly and smells like dryer sheets and a hint of wood. This is just too soapy for me, but I expected that with my skin chemistry...

[thekittenkat]

In the imp: Ozone! I love it!

 

Wet: Sweet, but not foody, so it's difficult to explain. There's a fresh water note and some cypress.

 

The dry-down: Just a hint of frankincense from the olibanum. Mostly this is light, airy, wet, faint, fleeting like a storm, a little sweet from the olibanum. Just wonderful. More a wintry than an autumn blend, to my mind. Do note that I adore all the notes in this, and I usually have no trouble with aquatics or snow notes. Really, I have loved all these notes that I have encountered so far in the various winter blends from the Lab. To my mind, this is bottle-worthy, and I'll probably need a back-up.

 

This story that inspired this is probably my fave of all the vampire stories that Beth used in this set. There's something just so spine-tingling and chilling and creepy about the whole setting. It could be very cinematographic.

Edited October 7, 2009 by thekittenkat

[medvssa]

At first I do smell the cypress (I love it), and water and ozone. No olibanum unfortunately. In fact I couldn't have said it better:

I got a little bit of the cypress at first, but, mostly this was not-quite-water and ozone. I didn't get olibanum, unless that was the note that was causing it to last and last and last...

 

I like the smell of real rain, why didn't I like this?

 

But I do quite like it. In fact, to me it smells quite similar to Selkie... go figure!

 

I didn't think I would like it, I expected to be sharp and gritty and grey, but on dry down it is very fresh and quite green, a bit like freshly cut grass...

 

Another bottle to consider.

 

[Schmoozy]

 

Yah! Another ozone vamp. Wet cypress and olibanum mingel with ozone. Besides wet, it is also cold and as it is the last weenie I have to review, I am so happy to have chosen this one. It will make the leap to yules very fitting.

This is definitely bottle worthy. I just adore the cypress inside.

[rayvn1]

Ozone! This is indeed a surprisingly wintry blend as another forumite mentioned. There's a wild sweetness to this one that makes it smell of clean, fresh winter air rather than the "gack, that's sharp!" I sometimes get from other ozone blends. Woodsy and wild. Keeper!

[zankoku_zen]

Whoo. This is a softer version of Tempest. Which means, I get a decent dollop of ozone, and soft white floral, which I am assuming is the olibanum.

 

Pretty, in a clean, fresh sort of way.

[Invidiana]

Essence of a violent winter strom striking the depths of a pine forest? It's in the bag. As a huge fan of raging storms, anything that can capture one in a bottle has my vote entirely. I definitely get the cypress, in both the sense of being frozen by hail and subzero temperatures and singed by lightining. There is a wildly alluring play of heat on cold in this--the frozen hail, ozone and deep cypress vs. the warm olibanum and the electric shock of lighting. Yes!!!

[Coldfire]

 

 

 

Decant: Ozone and cypress

Wet on Me: Cyrpress and Ozone Love.

Drying Down: More and more the Cypress comes to the front and balances the ozone.

Dry: this gets faint and pretty fairly quickly. That said, tree/evergreen scents and ozone are some of my favorite notes and they play so nicely in this blend.

[skylarkza]

In the bottle: I am a little wary. I loved my first few ozones, but the last few have turned into masculine cologne type scents. In the bottle though, this smells green. Like leaves and freshly cut grass. There is wetness to them.

 

Wet: Ozone and greenery. It smells like a lightning storm near trees.

 

Dry: Thicj greenery and buckets of rain just after a storm. A hint of flowers. Beautiful.

 

A while later: Wow, this scent is amazing! Cool and crisp, it has that magical, crystalline aquatic quality that I love in Festival of Anuket. But here it is tempered with floral and green so it smells more like fresh rain than a fresh river. AMAZING.

[symphonyinsilence]

I ordered a bottle of this hoping it would be similar to Sarah, which I only have an imp of, but it's nothing like it. Sarah is a menacing thunderstorm mixed with incense, while this one is more like a rainy day minus the thunder or lightning. Not convinced, I tried a drop on my wrist. I was disappointed since it didn't change how I felt initially.

 

Wait a minute...

 

Goosebumps! Not only because it's raining and freezing cold here and I should've tried this blend on a warmer day, but because this blend reminds me of a smell. It takes me back to the 90s ('cos they had fresh scents similar to this back then? I'm not sure). I was listening to Lou Reed's "Perfect Day" from the Trainspotting soundtrack and caught a whiff of this scent on my arm and it literally took me back to 1997. It was insane. Since I'm not familiar with aquatic/fresh scents, I can't identify the notes in this one. I don't think it smells anything like the story of this vampire or anything scary for that matter. *lol* In the similar vein of scents, I have Danube, which has a slight floral quality to it. This however, is more ethereal - like it's raining in some fantasy place that you remember day-dreaming about in your childhood. I'm a sucker for all things nostalgic, so I'm definitely keeping this one!

Edited January 7, 2010 by symphonyinsilence

[impolight]

:::COUNTESS DOLINGEN OF GRATZ:::

 

Blissed out and unencumbered by gravity... That's a modest start for the fragrance that is Countess Dolingen of Gratz. This scent is a marvelous vessel for representing The Literary Vampire. The mind reels with drear, inadequately lit, archaic horrors that twist in the gut like a refrigerated nightcrawler, but somehow manages to reverbate with a singular, starlit moment that you wish could be cocooned in an eternity...

 

The young boy had never been so frightened. From his hiding place in the tree, he watched her, his heart desperately trying to escape his chest.

How beautiful she was! Imbued with life, she would have been an impossibility, as of now she was a nightmare; an angel of destruction astride a heartbreak.Were it not tossed about by the wind, her hair would have been that of a drowned girl. Her eyes were shining globules that spilled onto waxed paper from the inkwell. Hers were perfect, pouting, baby-doll lips, the EXACT color of powdered sugar.

A slight scowl marred her otherwise perfect brow; her head cocked this way and that, frustrated that she could not detect him.His fingers burned with the cold of the charging storm. Everywhere seemed tormented by needles of frost. Hailstones stung ear and cheek. Winds tore at his coat and trespassed wherever it might. He became increasingly wet and cold, the damp bark gnawing at his spine, but he dared not court her gaze.

The boy knew better than to play in the cemetary, especially so near dark, and in such inclement weather. His mother scolded him fiercely and admonished him to show some respect for the dead.It was only here, however, that he could sit without diversion for hours. On summer evenings, he would listen raptly to the chorus of frogs.His mother's distressed call startled him from his reverie."Misha! Misha! Come you in from the storm this instant!"

The girl's face snapped toward the sound of his mother's voice, her little black tongue, lightning quick as she, tasted the air. Oh, how terribly she moved! Like a spider questing over pebbles in pursuit of a fat, black, wayward cricket...Her limbs seemed impossibly long, and though the boy could see down into her gown, her white flesh held no excitement for him.

"Misha, where are you?" his mother cried, but her words were snatched into the wind.The girl scuttled in a blur toward the sound of his mother's voice and, before he could stop himself, he called out, "No!"

The girl's head whipped back like a flower violently broken on it's stalk; her liquid black eyes, wide and her lips a perfect O in an expression of complete, almost comic surprise.Then she smiled a horrible smile; the smile of a black-tongued wolf slowly advancing on a lamb with a broken foreleg. Her mouth fell open to reveal row upon row of sharp teeth sprouting like thorns from her rotting gums. Her eyes locked with his, and Misha felt forever falling, and his whole world became starless space...

 

Countess Dolingen of Gratz is an effortlessly classic, larger than life fragrance. The Cypress, Olibanum and Ozone meld perfectly and create an ambience more at home in a written masterpiece than the synthetic confines of the hustle and bustle of the day.Countess Dolingen of Gratz is immaculately unisex; a steely androgen of idealism that's confidently cool on Him, and bewitchingly bracing on Her.This offhandedly deserves a spot near the top of the list. Refreshingly different varietal of Ozone for anyone with misgivings about it in other scents. Worth your while.5/5!

[voodoocatwoman]

Sneeze City, USA. It's right here. In my decant.

[jizatt]

I love my ozone and ice and snows, so this was a dead ringer for me. I love the sharp ozone, the wet green with it, and the menacing quality that this has whie still being the sweet ozone that I love. I have one lonely decant, but I might need to hunt up a bottle. Looking over the number of reviews, that might be a difficult hunt, as there dont seem to be many of us who love the zone

[Jupita]

Imp - smells very sweet, don't smell any cypress nor ozone...

 

Wet - OMG, this smells like the kitchen bin, when you've forgotten to take the trash out for a day or two and it starts to rot... rotten food, ugh, disgusting... want to wash it off, but will keep it to see how it turns...

 

 

10 minutes into it... still rotten stuff...ugh, I can't take it... I have to wash it off...

[mymymai]

In the Imp (ITI): I get olibanum and ozone with a delicate floral, but for some reason, I get tones of acetone.

 

Wet: The ozone is really strong here, but I can detect the cypress and some of the olibanum as secondary notes. It ends up reading a little aquatic, though.

 

Dry: It's much more floral when dried. While I still get cypress and olibanum clearly, the ozone has mellowed out and lent a floral aspect to the scent.

[Zii]

Wet: Almost medicinally sharp and cold. They are NOT kidding about the blast of ozone. It's pretty much all I'm getting.

 

Drying: I am getting some broken sappy wood now and this is just amazing! There's the sharp ozone, the warm wood, and something else that must be olibanum. (Google tells me olibanum is just another word for frankinsence, which might explain the smokey base notes)

 

Dry: if you don't like ozone, steer clear. I love ozone, and the other notes keep it from doing the screamy thing that kept me from loving lightning.