Savage Forever

[LizziesLuck]

And Thridi said: Just as cold arose out of Niflheim, and all terrible things, so also all that looked toward Múspellheim became hot and glowing; but Ginnungagap was as mild as windless air, and when the breath of heat met the rime, so that it melted and dripped, life was quickened from the yeast-drops, by the power of that which sent the heat, and became a mans form. And that man is named Ymir, but the Rime-Giants call him Aurgelimir

But concerning this says Vafthrúdnir the giant:

Out of the Ice-waves | issued venom-drops,
Waxing until | a giant was;
Thence are our kindred | come all together,
So it is | they are savage forever.

A giant born of the force of elemental savagery, given form by venom and ice: frozen ambergris and dark, primal musk, molten amber, black cypress, and frost-limned opoponax.

Wet: This is a dark scent. I am getting lots of cypress, which reads as very cold. Black musk. It was really strong at first, but is fading fast. It's fresh out of the mailbox today, I likely should have given it more time to settle, but this was the scent I was most torn about - couldn't decide if I thought I would love it or hate it. Still can't decide. This is dark and cold and brooding. I'm actually picking up hints of mint - the frost, I imagine. This smells of winter, but whereas the other winter scents I own are happy or nostalgic winter scents, this is the scent of a forest on a frigid, moonless winter night. The menthol gets stronger and stronger, and really mimics the feeling of breathing in cold night air. This scent is much more atmospheric than I expected, and I do find I am enjoying it.


Dry: SO. Having a hard time deciding how I feel about this. No, that's not it. Having a hard time accepting how I feel about this. I don't like mint for anything other than bedtime in the summer. I mean, I like the smell of mint, I just don't typically want to smell like it. But this....this scent has essentially dried down to dark, sweet musk and mint. Hints of opoponax if I really huff, hints of woods also. But mostly mint and musk. And I really enjoy it. Beth will never cease to amaze me. This scent is beautiful. I can't wait to hear how it smells on other people's skin - whether or not I am a weird skin-chem anomaly.

[theseagrows]

this starts off with musk and a hint of cypress. soon after i'm getting hints of the frost-limmed opoponax, which adds a cool, minty aspect. i think there's some ambergris but it's subtle at this point. the mintiness calms down after about 15-20 minutes, but it's still faintly there. i think in the end i'm mostly getting opoponax, ambergris and subtle hints of musk and amber with a hint of cypress/mint. i kind of like the juxtaposition of warm and cool in this scent, it's interesting! i'm not sure how much i would wear this though i keep wanting to sniff my wrist...

 

after the drydown it's quite nice- just amber, ambergris and opoponax. yum.

Edited February 3, 2017 by theseagrows

[Follow My Nose]

This sounded like such an interesting combination - icy/frosty notes with ambergris? - that I had to try a decant. It was instant love.

In imp and wet on skin: icy notes with the animalic scents, pine & a hint of mint

Drydown: I keep getting a whiff of something lovely and shoving my nose into my arm where I tested this; this is turning into something gorgeous!

Dry: This ends up as a minty, slightly sweet snow note over a warm blend of ambergris, musk, cypress, and amber.

A great translation of concept into scent, smells wild and powerful, sexy and slightly masculine. I would love to smell this on a sexy guy, right before I get him into bed.

I still can't stop huffing my arm!

[Dark Alice]

THis smells like Rigley's spearmint gum on me. How weird.

[zankoku_zen]

Black musk, amber, ambergris and a swirl of frosty mint. This one smells dark and masculine on me. Medium throw and wear length.

[lizabelle]

Minty! Very, very minty. I got this because of the ambergris and opoponax, but I only smell the ambergris as a faint whiff right after application that disappears fast. I think the cypress is turning into mint on my skin, possibly with some of the musk. After the cypress fades there's not much left, and I'm thinking this is one of those weird ambers that makes things disappear on my skin. A shame, because the notes sounded fantastic.

[Anne Taylor]

Mint, mint, mint! Mint and a slight pine, forest-y scent. Nothing about this appeals to me at all besides the name which reminds me of one of my all-time favourite books, Lord of the Flies. It does have a quite "savage" smell to it, so when I'm mourning Simon I'll be sure to keep my decant close.

[Blood onmy hands]

Minty evergreen with an edge of powdery black musk and resinous opoponax. It reminds me of a darker Ded Moroz.

[DiesMali]

In the bottle: Harsh, cold, minty cypress.

 

Wet on my skin: Harsh, cold, minty-snowy cypress and a whiff of a dark, cold musk.

 

Dry: ...I kind of love this. It was a last-minute impulse bottle, because I wanted to step out of my comfort zone and get something totally unusual that I might not have otherwise tried. As Little Bird said, it's reminiscent of a darker Ded Moroz, without as much sweet warmth underneath the chilly forest. This is a dark, icy evergreen with cold, black musk, a whiff of sweetish-salty animalic ambergris, and just a hint of resinous warmth from amber and opoponax. It's actually more like what I'd hoped a couple of my snowy forest Yule scents would be, which is very nice and very welcome. So glad I sprung for this on a whim!