Ü Mütter Museum

[cyanidenoir]

A mélange of balsams, leathers, and raw vanilla designed to evoke images of unearthed secrets and dusty, ancient libraries.

This scent is just stunning. That is the best word I can come up with to describe this.
There is a beautiful spicy note added to a leather backdrop with the sweetness of vanilla to soften it.
One of the best things about this blend is that both my husband and I can wear this and it smells as amazing on me as it does on him.

I just love it. It's mysterious and masculine and definitely my new BPAL favorite.

Neon needs a back-up bottle!

[Aldercy]

Interesting!

 

One does expect kind of a "brown" scent, but it really is a lot more green with the fresh, grassy, rather cold balsam note. Very "raw," as others have put it. Like paring away the bark of a plant and getting to the tender greenwood underneath. There is some dusty bookishness in there as well, but it's not exactly leather. Much more thin and papery. The vanilla is not very warm or distinct-- I think it's mostly just softening up the balsam and giving everything a rounder, deeper texture.

 

Wait, I know what this is making me think of! It's what Amortentia smells like to Hermione Granger! "Freshly mown grass and new parchment!" /geek

 

Anyway, I think it might benefit with a little age-- I would like the leather to perk up and the vanilla to do its thing a bit more, but it's still very neat. Unlike anything else I have.

 

 

[lamenteuse]

I picked up Ü at the Mütter Museum (I live in Philly...and go to the museum way more than the average person should) and was really impressed with it in the bottle.

On the skin, it does get a little too tree-ish for me. It's fine for a crisp, autumn day, but with warm days like the ones ahead, it's too green, too heavy for me. However, I think a layer of a strong vanilla will work really well with this scent. Need to pick up some Snake Oil and try that out.

 

EDIT: This needs no layering what so ever. Once the warmer days hit and I started wearing this, the heat of my skin cooked this scent to perfection. I adore this smell. Like a cigar box filled with Madagascar vanilla. One of my favorite scents of all time.

Edited August 31, 2010 by lamenteuse

[obsidienne]

Wait, I know what this is making me think of! It's what Amortentia smells like to Hermione Granger! "Freshly mown grass and new parchment!" /geek

 

THIS.

 

 

I can barely describe this unusual blend... lush vanilla, smoky, spicy leather, pretty grassy notes. It's odd... but it's also really good.

 

 

(edit: The only sad thing is that it fades pretty quickly.)

Edited May 31, 2010 by obsidienne

[myth]

I had really high hopes for this one based on the notes, but it went horribly awry on me, and it didn't wait to hit my skin to do it. Just sniffing from the vial makes my throat close up... there's something very harsh and dry in here. I think perhaps I'm not a fan of paper notes. This is sort of dusty/scratchy. I get a high wood/pine-ish note that would be the balsam, plus the vanilla, and the leather. They just don't combine very nicely. It's sort of high-pitched and almost chemical [the leather, maybe?]. Very off-putting, and not for me.

[starpixi81]

What? This is doing the Licwiglunga Jolly Ranger-thing on me. Like hard, slightly musky candies. Very sweet. What am I amping? Raptor Moon did this wet on me too...hmm..I can smell a teensy whiff of balsam, but it's overwhelmed by the odd sweetness.

[miaa]

In bottle: Balsam with leather, no vanilla

On skin: Yes! Vanilla... Then strong leather I seem to have gotten the leather everyone else wanted combined. It is way to leather filled for me.

[themerrybaker]

U Mutter (as opposed to U Mama) does a great job of evoking LIBRARY. The scent is cool. quiet, and still. On me this oil is predominantly resin without leather or vanilla taking over.

 

I don't know how the Lab gets its dust note (they probably don't shake their feather dusters into the mixing bottles) but that vibe is definitely in there.

 

"U" gotta love it.

[raisin]

A wonderfully generous forumite sent a tester to me, and this may need to become a bottle purchase.

Certainly getting dust, some kind of papery wood (not exactly paper, though) and some gentle, waxy vanilla that just makes me think of candlesticks. Not really getting much I'd identify as leather, but there is a certain warmth to the blend. It's definitely sweeter than I would have imagined. I haven't usually liked the vanilla scents, but here it's perfect, completely tempered by the slightly bitter woods and dust.

 

I love this a whole lot more than I would have thought. Definite future bottle purchase.

[Vega]

Sniffed: Wet and plantlike?

 

On skin: Odd! Ü smells very organic, a bit 'green'. Quite familiar, but I can't place my finger on it, and can't link it to another BPAL blend. Wet, old leaves? Green stems? Damp leather? I wonder if the mystery balsams and the raw vanilla are responsible for this, since I can't distinguish any familiar leather or vanilla notes. (After reading some reviews, it turns out that I'm right in my guesses. Glad I'm not alone in smelling the raw greenness!) Ü warms and deepens over time, becomes more grounded, but the scent remains the same: wet, damp, organic matter.

 

Verdict: Weird. This is not what I expected it to be. But I guess I was expecting certain leather and vanilla notes, and they clearly aren't present. Ü isn't too unpleasant, but definitely not something I'd reach for.

[MaritzaCardona]

Wait, I know what this is making me think of! It's what Amortentia smells like to Hermione Granger! "Freshly mown grass and new parchment!" /geek

 

After reading this geek reference I think I love you, lol!

 

I totally agree. It's just like Hermione Granger's Amortentia smell. When I opened my decant all I could think about was the color green. It smells like freshly wet cut grass. I love it. I feel like dad is cutting the grass in our front-yard. It also smells sweet. I get the balsam and a hint of the vanilla. I keep smelling the test area and it now reminds me of somthing dusty and old, in a good way. It smells like the corner of a big library that's not frequently visited. In the back of my mind I think I can also smell candles. Maybe it's just my imagination. I think my skin eats this scent or it has a light throw but I don't care. I'm loving it. I need a bottle ASAP! I think I'm going to age it though, to see if it smells a bit more like vanilla and leather on me. A must buy!

[claudia6913]

In the bottle: Leather and balsams. The balsams are screaming out of the bottle.

 

Wet on skin: Balsams. Very light, barely there balsams.

 

Drydown: Um ... I know there's something there on my skin - but I can barely smell it.

 

Dry: Balsams and a weird leather scent. Not a pleasant leather.

 

Overall: This reminds me of the Haunted Cave I went to last year for some reason. It's a slightly musty and moldy smell. I kind of wish I'd gotten the "dusty" part and not the "unearthed" part.

[hkath]

When I first opened the bottle, I smelled paper - sweet and sort of bready paper, a bit reminiscent of communion wafers. Peripheral to that, a bit of leather and dust.

 

Wet on me, it gets even sweeter. The balsams come out to play, and as it dries, the play of balsam and leather is occasionally really pretty, but it switches back and forth between that and a sweet scent that is familiar and not that pleasant.

 

I figured out yesterday what that familiar scent is: paper jams. It smells almost exactly like hot paper and printer toner to me: the gluey scent of slightly toasted paper, the dusty sweetness of loose toner... Yeah, that's exactly it. Maybe the next time I try U, I won't be so put off now that I've identified what it reminds me of. Or maybe the reason I didn't find it pleasant in the first place is that paper jams are a rather unpleasant thing. We shall see.

[plainjean]

I smell sap. Very reminiscent of October (the scent). After a while, it turns into dusty, vanilla-y wood. It's really nice, but very close to Tombstone. And Tombstone's more accessible, so I think I'll just stick with that, especially because it doesn't have the weird sap phase. Edited October 3, 2010 by plainjean

[alioth]

I really, really wanted to love Ü. And I loved 2/3 of it. The wet stage was incredibly promising, all dry old leather and sweetish, beeswaxy vanilla on sturdy bookshelves. Alas, that whole 'melange of balsams' thing turned Ü from old books and candles to The Man Your Man Could Smell Like: Lumberjack Version once it had been on my skin for about half an hour. It took me three tests to admit it, but Ü and I just aren't meant to be.

[yamiko]

This scent smells of an ancient library: leather-bound books, old paper, and candles. It's very nice. It sweetens up a bit on me when it dries, and for some reason, I sometimes get a whiff of strawberries. Maybe the candles are strawberry-scented.

 

With a few scents, I can immediately get a scene in my head of where I would smell this scent. This is one of them. I can totally close my eyes and picture exactly what a kind of a place would smell like this.

[lookingglass]

This. Smells. Just. Like. The. Mutter! I opened the bottle in the gift shop and was totally creeped out and amazed. On the opening it is a bit "green", balsamy, yes, but it smells like old, polished wood, like Bezoar. It starts to dry out and get really leathery, dusty incensey, and waxy/sweet, like the remains, wax casts, and antiqued paper that line the cabinets upstairs and down. However, it gets a "Mmmm, you smell gooooood" from the man, so don't be too afraid...

 

This scent has oomph-silage and wearlength are strong and long, just how I like it.

Edited November 28, 2010 by lookingglass

[calivianya]

This is a very interesting scent! As other reviewers have said, this is not a sweet vanilla. I don't think I would pick it out as vanilla at all if I wasn't aware of the notes. It is a very green smell, very dusty, and I can smell the leather quite clearly. It smells like old books sitting on grass to me.

 

After about 30 minutes, the green smell becomes much weaker and the leather takes center stage. At this point, I really like this scent, but I think it may be too masculine for my tastes. It is very unique, but I'm not sure it's for me.

[miaa]

In the bottle: I admit the raw vanilla drove me to this scent. When I opened it, I almost cried: No vanilla in my nose... The bottle smelled of dust and earth.

On me: A library! Leather with swet, I smelled like I had not showered in days. I was crushed. I had so huge vanilla-expectations.

[rayvn1]

It's not listed in the ingredients, but i could have sworn there was lavender in here. It's a gentle, dusty leather and lavender scent on me. After about an hour it starts to fade and ends up smelling as I hoped Famine would on me, but gets a faint sour tinge to it at the very end so it's not meant to be

[bloody sore]

Ugh. I don't know what's going on with this scent and me, but we do NOT get along.

In the bottle it smells like weed whacking. I mean, it smells like when you go out and weed eat. You've got the pollen, the dry grass, a little bit of wet grass, and sweat. And heat and more dust.

Ugh.

My nose is very picky about leather, I generally do not care for it, and it often smells fake to me. But this is exceptionally bad. If this is really what this place smells like, I do not want to go there. No.

Once it's dry it takes on a sickly sweet smell that makes me really want to wash it off, and reminds me of some exceptionally stale rooibos macadamia tea I once had. No sir.

[cuervosueno]

I got a decant of this quite awhile ago and had no idea what was in it, but found it pleasant: it's a sweet green on me, something like cut grass, or maybe, more likely, newly mown hay, as it isn't quite grassy, but more like hay. It is, in fact, what I wanted Hay Moon to be (and was not, at least on me). As I said, I had no idea what was in it, but I kept thinking....hmmm....soft leather too?

 

Then I finally looked it up! I love balsam, and these balsams are really nice, and grassy, with a bit of soft leather in the background, and while I would not have thought "vanilla" there is a soft sweetness to this too. It reminds me just a bit of Coyote, but the leather is softer in this.

 

I like "green" scents in the spring, and this one is a good spring scent for me. I swapped for a bottle and am happy about that!

[filigree_shadow]

Only the vaguest hint of leather-bound books in this -- mostly it smells like kind of a mossy basalm on me. Just a wee bit peppery, too. Honestly, it reminds me of a softer version of R M Renfield. I enjoyed the scent of that one a lot, but I felt like it was just a little too bold for me to wear much. This one is more wearable.

[Circaea]

Ah... this is so fecking good, it hurts.

 

Second test for me today. Tried it this morning on the back of my hand, and was loving the wet stage, but it dried and all but disappeared. Trying this afternoon on my wrist, which isn't as dry, and the scent is holding up better.

 

So, why do I love U? At first, probably the balsam (and now I have to stop myself from hunting down everything with balsam in it) comes out strong, green, wild, and almost oily like sap. This smell gives me a nosegasm, and I want it to last forever. It smells a bit like Banshee Beat's wilder, greener, more primitive cousin. I need to stop myself from reapplying it every fifteen minutes to keep the wild green smell going, which makes me feel like I'm running through the shaded, twisted roots of a rainforest, crushing leaves and tearing up vines. And then it's gone. I've come to a clearing and an old wooden house stands baking in the sun. A very old, leather bound book sits on an unvarnished table outside, its parchment pages ruffling in the breeze. I sit down, lay my drowsy head on the table, smelling the leather book, and the salt of my skin, and the memory of the forest roots, crushed under my bare heels, rising up as I sleep, and dream of trees...

 

I revise my first impression of this one... I do need more.

[kirsten]

This smells so WEIRD to me. Not bad, just strange. I was expecting a golden scent (probably because I had no idea what balsam was supposed to smell like) and got a pale green one instead. I think I'm digging it, though. At the very least, I can't stop smelling my wrist. The balsam is just so different from anything I've ever smelled!

 

ETA Now that it's dried down a bit, it smells like spicy black tea, almost. This scent is bizarrely awesome.

Edited September 15, 2011 by kirsten