The Wild Swans At Coole

[Dark Alice]

THE WILD SWANS AT COOLE
The trees are in their autumn beauty,
The woodland paths are dry,
Under the October twilight the water
Mirrors a still sky;
Upon the brimming water among the stones
Are nine-and-fifty swans.

The nineteenth autumn has come upon me
Since I first made my count;
I saw, before I had well finished,
All suddenly mount
And scatter wheeling in great broken rings
Upon their clamorous wings.

I have looked upon those brilliant creatures,
And now my heart is sore.
All's changed since I, hearing at twilight,
The first time on this shore,
The bell-beat of their wings above my head,
Trod with a lighter tread.

Unwearied still, lover by lover,
They paddle in the cold Companionable streams or climb the air;
Their hearts have not grown old;
Passion or conquest, wander where they will,
Attend upon them still.

But now they drift on the still water,
Mysterious, beautiful;
Among what rushes will they build,
By what lake's edge or pool
Delight men's eyes when I awake some day
To find they have flown away?

October twilight. Falling leaves breaking the stillness of cool water, with sweet autumn clematis, feather-soft orris root, luminous white chypre, and muguet.

Sweet cool water. Then melon? And then the florals come! Argh! I know what this smells like. Bath and Body Works cool cucumber without the nasty chemical cucumber note. I don't know if this will be staying....I am going to give it a couple of days to settle and test it again!

[shalottian]

I was a little nervous about this one because aquatics are hit or miss on me (I usually go for spicy scents)— I bought it mainly because Yeats owns my heart forever. I'm pretty new to bpal, so I'm still learning notes, but I get sweet water and a nice, leafy scent (falling leaves, not green ones) with a hint of soft floral. It really does evoke early autumn to me. I like it.

[countessmouse]

It is all green aquatics in the bottle and on my skin for the first hour. A very pleasant scent, but a little disappointing given some of the other notes floating around in there that seem to be overpowered by the aquatics. Then, about an hour or so in, the florals begin to appear and this very pleasant scent gets even nicer.

[edenssixthday]

The Wild Swans At Coole - This scent is a fresh, sweet-water aquatic that's fairly masculine due to the chypre, but there is a touch of pretty, feminine florals, although to my nose at least, they come off as slightly high-pitched. It's very clean, fresh, and airy, and reminds me of my annual autumn trips that I took in my 20s to the Boundary Waters region in northern Minnesota, where you find crystal clear lakes that haven't been touched by motorcraft, amidst hundreds of miles of pure, fresh air and millions of trees that are beginning to turn to brilliant colors in the cool temperatures at night. It's an incredibly evocative scent. It has good throw and the staying power is about average.

[claudia6913]

In the bottle: This reminds me strongly of Cthulhu. A sort of dark aquatic.

 

Wet on skin: This definitely smells like a pond on a cool autumn afternoon with the wind blowing. I'm unfamiliar with most of the notes, so I can't quite pick out which is which.

 

Drydown: The aquatic scent is still the most prominent, but as this starts to dry, it gets deeper and now I can smell more than just the pond and the cool breeze starts blowing the scent of the woods surrounding it.

 

Dry: There almost seems to be a bit of a smoke scent to this, like someone is burning leaves and brush in the distance and the wind is blowing it over the water.

 

Overall: I'm not sure if I like it or not. I prefer Cthulhu as my go-to aquatic scent, but I'm curious how Wild Swans will age. I can sort of smell the potential in this blend. After letting this sit a day, it's gotten a lot rounder and much better. It's like sitting at a fishing pond with the cool autumn air, a small campfire with wood you found burning behind you, the wind blowing over the pond, and just a comfortable soft aquatic scent. I think I like this much more than I did before.

Edited September 8, 2010 by claudia6913

[Laurel the Woodfairy]

I had to have this because the poem is one of my absolute favorites. It's a beautiful scent, but I see I am completely wrong about the notes! I was going to say it is the perfect ivy scent with linden on drydown. Neither of those notes is listed. I guess the aquatics plus leaves = ivy to my nose, and the various flowers "read" as linden. All I know is, it's a beautifully cool green/aquatic while wet, and a delicate white floral on drydown. If you love Beth's ivy note as much as I do, you should love this even if it's technically not ivy at all!

[MCS4096]

This smelled down right horrible on my boyfriend-- straight up BO

 

However, on my skin it was definitely better, although I'm still waffling on it. I tend to shy away from aquatic blends because they strike me as generic and cold. When this first went on my skin it was kinda that way- a tad sweet, a tad cold, a tad bitter.. blah.. with time it definitely came into its own; the orris root softens it and the other florals finally peak out behind the cool water note, I even get a hint of the leaves. I'm on the fence about this blend more than any other weenie this year. I see it as a challenge to unravel.

[angelicruin]

Darkly aquatic & Dry leaves. Definitely reminds me of late Fall right before winter sets in.

[Blood onmy hands]

In the bottle, this has an earthy vetiver type of note to it that conjures up images of wet, rotting leaves. There's a bit of sweet aquatic as well.

 

On my skin, the sweet aquatic takes over. It's slightly soapy (but not as bad as most of bpal's aquatics) with a perfumey, clean quality to it and hints of sweet earthiness that turns slightly smoky, like someone is burning piles of leaves off in the distance.

 

Sweet, clean aquatic, a smooth & white perfume (like creamy, white petals and white musk), and sweet, smoky leaves. It has a soft & sweet quality to it that smells very feminine to me. I doubt that I'll reach for this much, because I'm not too into clean scents, but I do find this to be wearable, pretty, and unique.

[hlinspjalda]

Yeats lover that I am, this was the first 'weenie I skin tested. I expected something a lot like Swan Maiden.

 

In the vial: Wet dirt and florals in the moonlight. Exceptional.

 

Wet: More sweetly floral now, but still silvery like moonlight. There is dark green at the heart of this, but mostly it's the silvery white florals and aquatic.

 

Half an hour: Sweeter and softer now, but still silvery. I may have fallen for this one.

 

Hour and a half: Gentle aquatic with florals and ozone. Still subtle, silvery. This reminds me of the way Long Night Moon began on my skin, with that extraordinarily evocative silver-white moonlight impression. But Long Night Moon turned headachey, while this retains its impression without turning all aquatic like Swan Maiden either. It is so beautiful!

 

Normally I don't do well with aquatics, orris, or muguet. I'm so thrilled with this one, I hardly know what to do with myself!

[moon_lemming]

Wild Swans gives off that "almost-vegetable" vibe that most of BPAL's "leaf"-heavy blends seem to have. There's an aquatic kick and I can pick out the orris root. Not my kind of thing.

Edited September 24, 2010 by karen

[obsidienne]

A soft, luminous aquatic floral. Cool, with a hint of sweetness. When I sniff this, I picture a silver & violet twilit lake with weeping willows trailing their branches in the water. White swans, glowing softly in the fading sunlight, drift calmly in the waters. Lightly sweet, the muguet is restrained enough to not become soap (although yes, the hints of soap are there). The orris, too, is subtle and not as overpowering as I often find it. Soft and feathery, just like the notes describe. The leaf notes provide a contrasting warmth to the rest of the blend's cool feel. Lovely. Very romantic.

[Voleuse]

Aquatics, sharp and green and vivid. This is a very cool, very outdoorsy sort of scent, like standing at the edge of a lake. Over time, the greenery gets a bit swampy on me, which is a bit overwhelming. I agree with those who compared this to Cthulhu: this is dark and swampily cool. It has more moldering leaves, to my nose, but it's nice and almost wind-kissed.

[reynardine]

From a decant. This started off as a nice aquatic with a bit of floral peeking out, but then went to pure soap on my skin. Nice smelling soap, but soap nonetheless.

[zankoku_zen]

Okay so on wet started as cool sweet water, dried to absolutely a premier version of Irish Spring, and after about four hours it smells like a nice cool aquatic floral.

 

Unfortunately, I'm not the kind to wait four hours of soapiness out to get what I want.

[ACVail24]

The Wild Swans at Coole

 

this is a lovely soft aquatic.

I get the autumn leaves imagery when I apply, then the water note becomes prominant and lasts and lasts.

 

very serene.

beautiful blend Beth!

[lunaticana]

very still and quiet aquatic indeed

it's soft and cold, it really reminds me of th lakes in winter time here in Rotterdam, The Netherlands

when it freezes outside everything has that icy smell and feeling, just like this blend

[Schmoozy]

What...another airy aquatic. How will I ever decide between the two. Orris combines with ozone and water followed with soft florals. It's wispy, and light, rather cool and kinda ethereal.

[tg1123]

Light green aquatic with cucumber and florals on me. I get no fall or dried leaves at all. This scent seems better suited to Springtime than Fall. Sadly this will be going to frimp pile.

[milo]

I'm not an aquatic loving person per se, but this is probably one of the best I've ever tried. This is so lush and pretty, with a bit of a kick of something like sandalwood. Whatever it is, if it stays like this for the duration of a testing, I may just spring for a bottle. I'm getting a bit of a soap vibe off and on, but generally, this is very pretty. I can picture swans on a dusky evening, with a purple sunset. Very nice!

[filigree_shadow]

I wasn't sure about this one but I wanted to try it because it sounded very pretty.

It is pretty -- it's an aquatic floral that has a nice, clear, crisp overtone -- but WHOA is it ever strong on me.

I'm testing four different BPAL oils on my arms right now and this one overpowers all the others. After about 30 minutes of it, I was kinda tired of smelling it.

 

It's nice, but I don't think it's for me.

[SophieCedar]

Wet: the storm last night was INSANE..worst I've ever experienced.. I didn't get to sleep for more than 1 hour at a time. Howling screeching wind and heavy rain, the cat wailing, ice cold water splattering my head from the windowsill, and the sound of that wind invading my dreams. It was frightening. Anyways.. I was drawn to this one this morning, even though I dislike aquatics. After putting it on, my mind and body completely relaxed and released the anxiety that storm caused. It was PERFECT for pulling my nose away from my shattered nerves. Soft blue green aquatic notes with chypre mix and orris and a touch of leaves. Warming, cooling, and clarifying.

 

Drydown: same but softer. This is my new mental break scent.

[Invidiana]

This is a cool autumn day captured in a bottle. The falling leaves aspect is not as strong as October but is still adrift in there giving it a distinctly autumnal feel. It's not a screeching floral at all; the orris gives it a "downy" feel because it does go slightly powdery on me (but in a good way) and the other flowers are not overbearing but delicate and crystalline. Thankfully I don't get any intense greenness or manliness from the chypre but it is a white chypre after all. Overall this is oddly comforting and eerily beautiful.

[crebbsgirl]

Well, I'm not getting the usual soapy vibe I usually associate with aquatic-type scents. This is softly aquatic, with a hint of powder. Sweet, and light. A hint of flowers and chypre. The orris doesn't go dusty as it can sometimes do on my skin. I like this, but it's not very me.

Edited November 8, 2010 by crebbsgirl

[lunaticana]

too bad, I really did have very high hopes for these Swans but it's far to sharp for me

I can not smell any orris or muguet on my skin at all.. ohw well!