Nothing Gold Can Stay

[Lethran]

NOTHING GOLD CAN STAY
Nature's first green is gold,
Her hardest hue to hold.
Her early leaf's a flower;
But only so an hour.
Then leaf subsides to leaf.
So Eden sank to grief,
So dawn goes down to day.
Nothing gold can stay.

Dewy green leaves colored by Moroccan amber, ginseng, and rooibos.

In bottle: This is a tangy, enticing, green leaf sort of scent. It should smell like high end shampoo, but it doesn’t. The ginseng it to feisty, the leaves are too fierce. The tea and amber are lovely in this, warm and friendly. It makes one thing of sitting on the porch watching rain fall through trees while sipping tea. It’s more than the sum of it’s parts. Wet: It smoothes out on the skin, but keeps the characteristic tang and the fierceness of the leaves. I can think of no other scent quite like it. It is unexpected and riveting. Dry: Softer, less complex. Leaf dominant, with a ginseng kick and some soft amber in the background. It’s nice, but less stunning than it was new.

[countessmouse]

I've finally had to admit that a tea note just turns ashy on me. While the amber in this is warm and wonderful, the rooibos adds an ashy-sweet note that makes me want to sneeze. Meh.

[edenssixthday]

Nothing Gold Can Stay - From the scent description, I expected green leaves and tea, two notes that rarely work for me. Instead, I don't smell greenery at all. I smell the most gorgeous amber I may have ever encountered with a little tang from the ginseng. I can barely detect the roibos, but it is in there, far beneath the other notes, giving the scent the slightest touch of tea-like scent. This doesn't remind me at all of dewy green leaves but rather the scent of warm air blowing through early-autumn trees. It's not the scent of the trees, but the scent of the wind and everything it carries with it. It's really pretty, but sadly on my stupid skin (which eats up so many fragrances), it has little staying power.

[Dark Alice]

This smells like yellow/green grass. With hints of sweat and something sour on my skin. It's okay...it's just not my thing. By far it does not smell yellow or foul...just grassy and sweaty.

[Aldercy]

Nothing Gold Can Stay (saaad name, by the way) reminds me very much of A Blade of Grass from Halloween two years ago, even though grass isn't a listed note. That leaf scent is the same-- just on the cusp between sappy green and crispy yellow-- wet and dry at the same time. This scent is sweeter though, with a cold aquatic floral note on top. I'm not sure where that comes from-- it's not unpleasant, but I kind of wish it weren't there. I don't get anything tea-like.

 

It's a very spindly, delicate, pretty scent with at least a couple of layers to it. A little perfumey, but still unique with that realistic leaf note.

[topaz]

My daughter sums up Nothing Gold Can Stay very well- "That smells like a big leaf pile!" This is like the Fall version of Host of the Air- leafy and a dewy grass smell. Lovely with some decent throw and my skin doesn't suck it up like it does Host.

[Ethaisa]

Sweet, wet grass and leaves at first, very green and almost springlike. Then it mellows and the green fades away leaving me sipping cooling tea from a amber cup. Dry down is a light indeterminate floral, pretty, with a hint of yellowy ash. It reminds me of walking through yellow leaves after a rain on a cool day, you know when fallen leaves plaster themselves to the sidewalk and you have to be careful not to slip on them? Generally I'm not big on anything aquatic, but I quite like this.

[strahlend]

I love the idea of the scent of leaves but it seems like the scents don't usually evoke that feeling for me. This one kind of reminds me of pears, honeysuckle and hairspray.

[MCS4096]

Ok.. do you love the smell of leaves? ALL kinds of leaves? Well I have successfully experienced the smell of green leaves and mildewed black leaves thanks to BPAL.. but this is the first time I've smelled those crisp, crunchy, golden, just fallen leaves! THIS IS PERFECT! pick up a yellow fallen maple leaf before it's had a chance to be rained on. Is it crunchy between your fingers? Crunch it up and smell it. THAT is this smell! Thank you Beth My instant favorite from this year's Weenies

[talula_fairie]

A little disappointed with this one. It's a green floral and that's about it. It's almost sour on my skin. It actually is a dead ringer for Biolage Shampoo.

[bloody sore]

When I was a kid, it took me an embarrassingly long time to learn when bananas were ripe and good to eat. I blame this partly on my father, who loves them fairly green. Anyways, we always had very green bananas in the house. This scent smells like peeling a very green banana. Like when they are so green that they crunch if you bite into them.

I really love this. It stays green and crisp and banana-y from application to dry down on me.

I put this on Lace without telling her, as this is her favorite poem, and she loves it to. Well, only on me, as she makes it all floral-y.

I definitely need a bottle of this.

[Aevie]

First off, I have to say I'm a total Frost fan. Some of his stuff may be a little cliche now, but that doesn't stop me from loving them (and things based on them). I got a book of his poetry when I was in first grade, and would memorize his poems for fun, and to this day can recite about a dozen...including this one. I've done lots of artwork based on his poems, so imagine how excited I was to see a scent based on his poetry!

 

And I'm even more excited that it doesn't disappoint. It smells a little like pear on me, but I can still smell a leafy, golden smell that evokes the poem well. It's warm, and inviting. I just hope this gold stays on my skin for a while! If it does, I'm definitely getting a bottle.

[ami226]

On the skin: Such a crisp autumn scent! The smell of the outdoors right after a nice rain! Definitely smelling beautiful green leaves with a hint of something slightly fruity. As bloody sore says, it does smell a bit like a green banana.

[MiasmaResonance]

This actually very much reminds me of Strawberry Moon '09. This blend, however, is the green part of SM'09 amped up, and the strawberry very faint with grassy notes taking over.

[Schmoozy]

So beautiful. This is leaves that have fallen from the tree, damp with frost and are slightly crispy. Rooibos and ginseng add an earthy, vibrant tang. Such a simple scent, yet refreshing and invigorating.

[hlinspjalda]

In the vial: Vivid, roundly spicy green, with a sweet tang.

 

Wet: Unusual. There's a tang of something almost like tomato paste, a rich sweet bitter-pointed organic scent. Stimulating. I like this very much.

 

Half an hour: Not so pointed now, but still with that bittersweet foodish impression. It also smells rather like golden grass.

 

Hour and a half: More foodlike now, with a definite rooty/herby scent, yet not the typical roots or herbs. I'm guessing this is probably rooibos, mostly.

[moon_lemming]

I can't pick anything out of Nothing Gold Can Stay -- it's just a golden-green sweet herbal blend. Pretty enough, but not something I'd wear.

[tealeaves]

This smells very sharp and fresh on me - not in an unpleasant way, but it's much tangier than I was expecting. I was hoping that the amber and the rooibos would mellow out the damp leaves, but those two notes hardly show up on my skin at all. Instead, I get something sharp and wet and spring-like - like dandelions or freshly-mown grass, not really autumnal at all. It's a good, clean fresh scent with a zing of ginseng, but not at all what I was expecting, and probably better for spring.

[Blood onmy hands]

I really wasn't expecting to love this, as I don't tend to wear bpal's green scents or amber scents (bpal's amber usually turns to straightup baby powder on my skin). This is really unique and gorgeous, though. I don't get a green grass smell from this; it really does smell like green leaves and not grass to me. I can remember climbing trees when I was younger and plucking their green leaves, and this has that green, sweet, cool, sappy smell exactly. As it dries down, it's like green leaves and golden-yellow fall leaves (with that hint of warm, spicy smell that dead leaves get) all mixed together in a pile.

 

Nothing Gold Can Stay makes me smell just like I've spent hours rolling around in leaf piles. I love it.

[milo]

This really smelled like a win in the imp for me, but on, well, I guess I just dont like the smell of green leaves. This really is fresh and definitely green, a combination that Im starting to enjoy, but something here Im not liking, and the fungus note of doom is fading in and out of the picture. Its not bad per se on me, but not something Im ever going to wear again.

[reynardine]

I wasn't that impressed with the scent I got from the decant (vague greeness) but on my skin it turned into a lovely pile of leaves, both fresh and dry. I may have to get a bottle of this!

[Edeniade]

I decided to delve deep and go for a bottle of this, and I did not miscalculate! It's so crisp, like a fall morning with a little bite yet warm. I really do smell dewy leaves. Once it's settled on my arm I get the nice, warm ginger and the amber behind. I can't pick out the rooibos very well because that leaf scent is on top and quite strong but I love this! It's the scented embodiment of my favourite fall day!

[GardenCat]

VERY grassy to me in the imp. Turns dewy & leafy on on skin. Can really smell the rooibos now. Not really my scent, but nice.

[lavender84]

This is a very green scent, with occasional golden-dry leaves vibe peeking out, maybe the ginseng and rooibos. Interesting scent but not quite a "bottle-up" for me.

[Xanon]

As was mentioned before, I am reminded of A Blade of Grass (which is one of my top ten BPALs). For me though, this is not the grass aspect of that blend, but the leaves portion. Its like Beth took that leaf note and blended it with the feeling I get from Nostrum Remedium. Ginseng and rooibos evoke the feeling that the wasabi and honey give me from that blend. I do not smell amber at all in this one, but that is fine by me. I am really happy with this blend... more so that I thought I would be.