Faunalia

[Dormouse]

Held on December 5th, this is the festival of the Horned God of the Forest, one of the di indigetes of Rome, god of cattle, fertility, wild, untamed nature, and prophecy through dreams. The scent of a thick, starlit, unspoiled forest, with a burst of wild musk, opobalsamum, black bryony, mandragora, and hemlock.

 

When I opened the box from BPAL I could smell a wonderful scent. After opening all the bottles and sniffing, it turned out to be Faunalia. It had leaked the tiniest amount and just that little bit scented the whole package.

 

It is by far my favourite of the Yule blends. Soft evergreen (but not pine air freshener/cleaner), fuzzy musk and something bright and effervescent. It smells exactly the same on my skin from first application to final fading. Lasts a long time too.

To my nose it's like a cross between Dublin and Ivanushka. Perfection!

[Sawasdee]

This is like standing on the outskirts of a snow covered forest. Not a coniferous forest, but a nice woodsy smell with this bright iciness to it, and then when the musk comes out to warm things up, this gets even more wonderful. Think this would smell great on a guy too, definitely perfect for cold days.

[jade_starlight]

This one is lovely. It's a sweet, foresty scent without being overpoweringly piney. It really is like taking a leisurely stroll through a snowy forest.

[MamaMoth]

When the reviews for Faunalia started rolling in, comparing it to Coca-Cola, I couldn't WAIT to get my decant, because that's usually a sure sign of something I'll like.

 

It starts off a little sharp, like ozoney snow and evergreens and a touch of fuzzy musk. It dries down a little softer and sweeter. I can't smell the coca-cola, but the more I smell this the more I dig it. The sharpness of snow on green leaves, a furry bite of animal musk, and a drizzle of a sweet golden resin.

 

It keeps a touch more of its sharpness than I'd like after it dries down, but I'm thinking a little age will really mellow this out. I, for one, plan on getting a bottle to test this theory.

 

ETA: I came back to this after a couple of weeks, and the "sharpness" seems to have dulled a bit. Not sure if it was just my nose, or the scent actually settled. But anyway. I'm definitely getting the effervescent quality that some people have mentioned. This is like a musky outdoorsy cream soda kind of smell. Anyway, I adore it. I had almost talked myself out of a bottle, but I had to grab one for sure.

Edited February 9, 2010 by MamaMoth

[surlygurl]

This was a last minute "oh, I may as well get a decant". Glad I did.

 

Fresh on, it's POW! FIZZzzz... and baby powder. Mostly the labs fizzy cola note. I'm constantly sniffing my wrists trying to pick up the notes other reviewers have mentioned. There's a teeny tiny bit of forest, but no Ivanushka musk that I can tell. So I let it dry & sniff again. Hmmm... The baby powder is now slightly musky. Overall, it's really pretty but I don't need a bottle. I'll try it again, tho, just to be sure!

Edited January 5, 2010 by surlygurl

[fairestrocza]

In the Decant Vial: a bit cloying, a bit of evergreen trying to poke through

 

Wet on Skin: The Boy thought he smelled amber; I get a bit of cinnamon, a hint of hemlock, no musk, maybe a berry of some sort (the bryony?)

 

While Drying: strong throw; smells Christmasy, but more in the Walking-in-the-Christmas-Isle-at-the-Store way, rather than the Home-with-Happy-Memories way.

 

After a Little While: Comments received: "christmas incense," "seashell soaps," "like two poorly layered scents." To me, it smells like a scented candle - and I rarely like scented candles. I love woodsy scents, and unfortunately, all traces of trees disappeared by the time this dried.

 

Later: much, much later this tames down to something wearable, but by this time, it is almost gone

 

Final Thoughts: My experience with this scent is so much at odds with all the other reviews, that I almost wonder if I ended up with a mislabeled vial, though I don't know what else this would be. My skin must hate one of the components. I was hoping for a more outdoor scent - something evoking animals frolicking in the deep woods. Instead, this ended up being a very unnatural, manufactured scent on me.

Faunalia earns a 2... maybe 2.5/5 on my skin.

[krissstephens]

it doesn't smell like coke to me at all..it's definitely my favorite of the Yule 09 scents.

 

On me it dries to a resinie awesomeness with a hint of darkness.. and it has amazing staying power. I can still smell this one on my wrists the day after, after a bath.

[tajana]

Wet: Suprisingly faint at first. Has an effervescent, cocoa cola type feeling with a hint of chill forest greenery. Some musky smells just kind of melt into and "disappear" into my natural skin scent, so I was worried for a few minutes that this would happen...

 

Dry: Faunalia took a few minutes to bloom on me. It turned into a soft musky scent wrapped in cola-like resin (opobalsamum?) and a brush of dark, sappy evergreen. It's pleasant, and has just a bit of slightly nose-tingly piney-herbal foresty throw, but is mostly a warm, wintry skin scent. It's the kind of thing I'd only really want to wear on a very cold day. I could take a whiff of it and get the illusion of warmth, like that of thick, clean fur... but it doesn't really smell "animalistic" to me, per se. It's just an assertive musk scent with a bit of curious resin and a foresty touch. It's got pretty good throw and excellent staying power.

 

Overall: Dark, but oddly comforting. It's a shadowy but snuggly musk that's hard to describe in any more specific terms. It's not something I'd necessarily want to slather on so everyone around me can catch a whiff... but I think I like it.

[Coldfire]

Decant: nighttime evergreen woods and something I can't put my nose on
Wet on Me: nighttime Evergreen woods in the snow with faint whispers of musk
Drying Down: Almost an aquatic evergreen now
Dry: The forest at night by water. not a river water scent. not quite a swamp aquatic note. But soft and lovely for me.

[Wwindy]

Wet, this comes on strong with the musk! It's an Ivanushka-like sort of musk, but a little more masculine than Ivanushka was for me. As it dries down, it picks up an almost incense-like aspect in combination with the heavy musk. The greenery isn't as prominent as I was expecting; what's here are hints of an ancient forest, cool and almost austere. I agree with a previous poster that there's a note lurking somewhere in this that reminds me a little of Dublin.

 

Nice, but verges perilously close to "too butch" on me.

[Lethran]

 

In bottle: Very herbal with a strong wild smelling musk. I’m not entirely convinced it’ll work. The hemlock is interesting here, but not playing nice with the musk and the heavier herbs. Wet: Ah, there’s the wood. It’s weirdly reminiscent of champagne and cigars, having that same bubbly quality. The musk is tamped way down under the herbs. I’m not entirely convinced it will work, but it’s certainly interesting. Dry: It retains that weird effervescence. Underneath is a nuanced herbal combination, but I know I won’t weir this because of the way I respond to the accidental champagne effect. Strangely, we seem to have found the only musk my skin doesn’t amp.

 

[LadyLuckDoubt]

In the Bottle

Oh, YUM. This was one of the ones I was a bit iffy about buying, but I went for it anyway,and I don't regret it at all. It aroused the thought of "Please don't let this go to shit on my skin or I'll CRY."

 

Dark musks and woods with a spike of pine and something thick and sweet without being sickly; probably a lovely unisex/masculine blend. Sexy as all hell.

 

On Me

Just like in the bottle, only I seem to amp the floral notes and the musk. There's an almost leathery note in there which I seem to kill, unfortunately-- but it still manages to smell gorgeous-- just a different kind of gorgeous to how it is in the bottle. It has reasonable throw, and lasts for some time.

 

It's beautiful and intense, but not overly "nice," if that makes sense and it brings to mind Czernobog, which is a definite favourite of mine-- only it's a lot softer and there's no incense in it.

 

I love it to bits, and am curious to see what ageing will do with it.

[fairnymph]

Light yellow oil. VERY sweet pine and evergreen notes (the musk smells like black musk to me, heavy and sweet), the lab's piney-hairspray snow note, and some light dirty rootiness from the mandragora.

 

Colder, softer, and much less sickly sweet, though I still find this almost candied. A little smoky. Definitely very dark in feel, and still quite heavy, too. The musk is insanely strong, instantly amping - definitely black musk, and I think maybe a touch of red musk? It really does smell like cola, as others have noted, and I get that from red musk too. This is drier and more cedary, with the hemlock now apparent. Sweet incensey piney woods/resins/musk. Unisex.

 

Nicer - less sweet still, to the point that it's not longer too sweet for me. The piney and resiny notes have amped up to overpower the musk, though it's still a very musk blend. The rootiness has almost completely disappeared. This no longer smells warm, but more dry-woodsy, although I can still tell there's a bit of harsh snow note, so this reminds me strongly of winter blends by association. It's a lot smokier and more incensey/resiny.

 

Very cedar-ish drydown from the hemlock; dry, warm, sauna-esque, with softened musk (not nearly as strong as earlier, and it loses most f its intense sweetness) and a tiny hint of piney woods. Quite a morpher. Less incensey/resiny after a few hours, but still very warm, woody, and dry. Masculine. Low throw and fades quite a lot.

[MCS4096]

In the bottle it's very effervescent with a base of, yay!, Ivanushka!

 

On my skin the focus is on the musk, with only a slight hint of forest and ozone. It's very sweet. MMmmmm.. I LOVE this. And it smells fantastic on the boy as well.. he amps the forest a bit more, on me it's almost all fizzy musk. Sooo.. I order two more bottles, one for me plus a back up for moi

[Seismogenic]

This one didn't initially make my cut as a thing to get a decant of, but then I tested it at Will Call and it was immediately freaking awesome on me. Awesome enough for me to go straight for the bottle, pretty much. Beth was so right when she said she knew I'd like this one!

 

In the bottle: Musk, evergreens, and something else planty and kind of sharp.

 

Wet on skin: Thick soft musk and evergreens, mostly. The other plant notes aren't sharp anymore; they're sort of dusty/herby, if not a bit spicy.

 

Drydown: Freshly dry is much like wet, though a bit less intense. Thick soft fuzzy musk, very present but not at all overbearing, mixed with greenery that seems to now have components of both evergreen and deciduous forests, and a bit of dryness that is gently sweet and spicy at once. One hour later, the balance is still pretty settled at where it was when this was freshly dry. If anything, though, it has become a bit more rich. Still soft, fuzzy, and warmly spicy, and still very nice.

 

Five hours later: Predominantly soft fuzzy musk. There are still some herby spices, buy they're less prominent compared to the musk than earlier on. The whole scent is, unsurprisingly, fainter, but it's still clearly there.

 

End of the day: Slightly musky and dry.

 

Overall: Oh man. Wins. This is definitely in the Coyote and Ivanushka family, in that it has a soft and fuzzy aspect to it, but as others have pointed out, Faunalia has a bit of a harder and wilder edge. I wouldn't call it outright harsh, but it's stronger and more like a tangled crazy forest than a soft plain or a fairytale meadow. It is also definitely wintry, but in a warm way - that is, in the sense of the fuzzy part being good defense against the cold of the forest. And for all of this, I think it's super-awesome, and I'm definitely glad I sprung for this bottle.

[rayvn1]

Oh my I love my musk blends and this is no exception! It is really distinctive and so true to the description! Even before I read it, the oil made me think of a wild nightime forest adventure with a fantastic contrast between the rich, aggresive musk and the cold wind and night sky.

[zankoku_zen]

This was a warm, musky masculine blend. It had what I'd call a certain dark effervescence, and it smelled as a whole, like manly root beer with a touch of all spice. It dried to a slightly woody, manly musk.

[ami226]

On the skin: soft green woods with some musk! I think this would smell excellent on the right man!

 

After a bit on me it kinda starts to smell..... Like flat lemon lime soda? With a bit of green mixed in? Very strange.

 

This one definitely doesn't play well on my skin, but it could be amazing on the right person!

[sarandipitee]

Someone before mentioned Canada Dry Gingerale and that's it EXACTLY on my skin. Bubbly, tickly the back of your throat gingerale mixed with woods and greens and this amazing soft musk. GUH. This is even better than I what I was hoping it would be. Eventually the pine/forest smell leaves my skin and all that's left is this soft, fuzzy musk. I am soooo glad I bought a bottle and I may have to start tracking down a second one.

[starfish327]

this is really light and bright, and while i didn't think it was all that fizzy i can see the comparison to soda/ginger ale. it's slightly sweet. it reminds me a lot of the blend that i use to calm myself down.

 

unfortunately though while i like this blend i was hoping for something a lot darker and animalistic. this is really preppy and clean cut on me and i wanted something lighter around the edges. i think i'll be satisfied with my decant.

[aquazoo]

A mix of herbs with a pine forest all around. The woodiness really comes up. Nice!

 

[voodoocatwoman]

This scent is magnificence in a bottle. It is the smell of a deep evergreen forest on a cold night. I smell pine and musk.

 

Lovely.

[voorishsign]

A freebie from a forum member

 

In the imp - oh wow! Musky, deep goodness!

 

On wet - musk and a sweet foresty scent, like a deeper Robin Goodfellow.

 

This lightens as it dries. Quite masculine, and with a note of root beer others have mentioned. Smells an awful lot better wet than it does now. I'll just stick to Puck.

[bloody sore]

In the bottle this smells like urine to me. Specifically, the way it would smell changing sheets on a bet at 3 in the morning when I worked at the old folks home. So it took me a few hours to build up the courage to put this on my skin.

On my skin it smells strongly of pine . . . ish. It's a tree smell that I know but can't quite place, and neither could my wife. It's strong and rather floral. Drydown is about the same, but some 12 hours later, I can still smell it, and the screeching top note is gone, not it is earthy and green and something I like, but the first 12 hours definitely aren't worth it.

[sarielswish]

In the vial, it's very musky and resinous, even sharp. Color, maple syrup brown.

 

Wet on my skin, that'll clear your sinuses! Smells more like Vicks Vaporub than perfume. Maybe a few minutes to calm down will work.

 

10-15 minute drydown - Mmmm... It's that resinous smell that you get from a real christmas tree when it's been up for a few days... green, but not too sharp. Reminds me of rosemary. I could happily curl up in this one. It's an 'all by myself' scent, though.

 

Note - I think I like Temple of Dreams better, though.