Zorya Polunochnaya

[Casablanca]

Her hair was pale and colorless in the moon's thin light. She wore a white cotton nightgown, with a high lace neck and a hem that swept the ground. Shadow sat up, entirely awake. "You are Zorya Polu . . . ," he hesitated. "The sister who was asleep."

"I am Zorya Polunochnaya, yes. And you are called Shadow, yes? That was what Zorya Vechernyaya told me, when I woke."

"Yes. What were you looking at, out there?"

She looked at him, then she beckoned him to join her by the window. She turned her back while he pulled on his jeans. He walked over to her. It seemed a long walk, for such a small room.

He could not tell her age. Her skin was unlined, her eyes were dark, her lashes were long, her hair was to her waist and white. The moonlight drained colors into ghosts of themselves. She was taller than either of her sisters.

She pointed up into the night sky. "I was looking at that," she said, pointing to the Big Dipper. "See?"

"Ursa Major," he said. "The Great Bear."

"That is one way of looking at it," she said. "But it is not the way from where I come from. I am going to sit on the roof. Would you like to come with me?"

Pale amber and ambergris, gossamer vanilla, moonflower, and white tobacco petals.

This one will get a lot of love.

 

Gossamer is the perfect word for Zorya P. I get mostly what I'm thinking of as a lunar vanilla. Moonflower, ethereal vanilla, evoking bluish-white colors for me. Everything else is too blended for me to pick anything out. I'm amazed at what seems to be the tobacco petals -- for anything tobacco-like, it's such a light touch. But there is a slight grounding influence it's giving. I keep getting a stronger floral impression than just moonflower, and I think it's that.

 

I'm relieved not to get saltiness from the ambergris; the note comes out more on my skin as this dries. I don't smell amber but there's a fullness to the blend that I associate with it.

 

This is gorgeous and smells to me like the signature blend of underworld's kindest ghost.

[whisperstilled]

This may be the earliest I've ever been on a review thread, woo! I'm glad, because I want to be an evangelist for Zorya Polunochnaya.

 

This is the vanilla scent of the gods. I put it on and it instantly shot into my top 3 favorite vanilla-focused BPAL scents. Light, floral, slightly sweet, but also somehow warm and comforting, this is the sophisticated vanilla I want to be when I grow up. Amber is a note I usually just cannot wear, but somehow it works here without turning into baby powder on me - I suspect it's the tobacco grounding everything, but the tobacco itself is extremely subtle. These notes add up to a white, soft, warm, waxy vanilla floral that is so close to a vanilla orchid scent that I would absolutely have believed it if someone had told me that was what I was smelling. I lean toward harsh scents that use vanilla to temper their sharpness (Liz is a favorite), and I think this is one of the first 'soft' vanilla scents I've tried that feels eminently wearable. This will layer incredibly with something green or sharp, no doubt. Run, do not walk, to go get yourself a bottle of Zorya Polunochnaya. I have no doubt this will turn into one of those incredible holy grail scents for some folks, and that it will age gorgeously.

Edited April 21, 2017 by Whisperstilled

[SophieCedar]

Gorgeous. This is totally worth a blind bottle purchase. Its veiled and light without disappearing; a perfect combination of resin, gourmand, and floral notes. A classy smooth perfume similar to Lyonesse. All notes are harmonious and nothing screams at the top or base. Truly emotes the character described, plus sticks around for HOURS. A winner and (I predict) a collector staple.

[Franny]

This is really beautiful, really true to the inspiration. It's delicate but has enough throw that I can put it on before bed and still smell it in the morning. I detect the vanilla most easily and then amber and ambergris and a touch of the florals but this is a scent where it all just becomes one thing. So happy with this one. I love wearing it before bed so far, but see myself wearing this a lot.

[SimplySyra]

This is a beautiful, subtle, elegant scent. At the forefront it is a wispy vanilla made light by a hint of ambergris. The moonflower is there as well as the lightest touch of the white tobacco petals. A delicate, blurred misty scent. Not over sweet. Slightly powdery and white. It is not the same as but in a similar vein to Edith for me. I would venture to say that Zorya is a touch sweeter, perhaps.

 

I wouldn't go so far as to say she's in my list of top favorite scents but she will definitely get a lot of wear. The type of scent you could effortlessly wear inoffensively to the office or on nights out when you want to give off a hint of ghostly allure.

Edited May 13, 2017 by SimplySyra

[zankoku_zen]

This is such a subtly lunar vanilla blend. Wispy vanilla, ambergris, moonflower and tobacco petals. It's delicate, blurry, and white. It's sweet, and sort of ethereal. Actually, it really reminds me to Luna Lovegood. This is pretty, but there's a dream-like quality that makes you wonder if what you're seeing is really there. Good throw and wear length.

[galahad]

In the Bottle:

Vanilla and pale musk

On the Skin:

Sweet vanilla and amber with a touch of powdery ambergris. Seems to be close to the skin when trying to catch the scent directly but actually has good throw. The florals play a supporting role rather than featuring.

On the Drydown:

Tobacco flower has a rich almost lily-like scent and I believe it is, along with the moonflower, just giving this scent it's luminous quality. It is smooth light vanilla and amber but also not heavy. Very nice

[elnajay]

Oh, this is absolutely beautiful and etherial. On me, it's mostly a sweet resin-y amber and ambergris, with a wisp of floral. I'm someone who generally does not like floral notes, but this blends very subtly in.

 

On initial application, I thought it was a very close-to-the-skin scent, but as it dries down the throw is wafting further around me.

 

Very glad I eventually went for a blind bottle of Zorya P.! I love BPAL's ambergris note...I'll definitely have to try pairing this with Hag Gray hair gloss (which, now that I look up the notes again, has both the ambergris and a white tobacco). So if you liked Hag Gray, I think you likely will also enjoy Zorya P.

[thegadaboutgirl]

I started to hear some hype around this bottle when it was first released, and now that it's in my hands I can say it is well earned.

 

Ethereal is the word that comes to mind when I wear it. It's blended very well so I have trouble picking out distinct threads of different notes, but the final result is gentle, feminine, and almost haunting. Perfectly befitting the youngest sister for which she's based off of, I can imagine she will age wonderfully too.

 

As a tobacco disliker I found this one extremely pleasant (are the tobacco petals of the same vein as the much beloved Pediophobia? To my nose they are similar)... I can see this one having a bit of a cult following.

 

If you're into feeling like a serene nighttime goddess who still is sophisticated enough to command a room by walking into it, this could be for you!

[PrinceofcatS]

At some point I plan on comparing this side by side with Edith Cushing, and will edit my review to reflect that. But, as of now, this is exactly like a soft, lilac-blue version of Edith: a white, fluffy vanilla with a delicate floral feel to it, gently haloed with a very soft ambergris.

 

Edith is not very nice to me because of the patchouli note in it; to be generous, I would call it earthy, and to be less generous, a little funky. I also find its vanilla note leans a tad buttery; sometimes Edith reminds me of a thickly cut slice of yellow cake, with a thick patchouli in the background. Zorya P, however, is genuinely ethereal. Its vanilla-and-floral combo doesn't really remind me of flowers (contrasting Antique Lace, which is thick vanilla with linen and clear background flowers, or Victoria, which is a similarly "clean" and elegant musky vanilla but has very distinct rose and lily notes, or any of the Lupers I've gotten that were a vanilla-and-flowers scent) so much as it reminds me a little of the lab's vanilla orchid note - a vanilla that smells like flowers. Which i guess is a complicated way of saying it's very well-blended, this one. Moonflower is a little soapy but the vanilla note tends to cancel out soapy sharpness on me; I would say the result is like, a clean clothes kind of feel, without actually smelling like linen.

 

This has low throw but I keep getting a bit of it and going "wow, is that my perfume?"; this is my favorite kind of throw, so I'm double pleased. I first wore it last night and it has an outstanding wear time. I could swear I still had a very pretty sweetened musk or something on when I got ready this morning and even though I didn't reapply it, some vanilla note wore off on the collar of my coat.

 

Scents this reminds me of:

Edith - Sweeter, "whiter" vanilla, no patchouli (or oudh) or general earthiness.

Lyonesse - Lyonesse and Edith are basically the same scent on me, an earthy vanilla, but Lyonesse has an aquatic vibe and no funk. So of course it's similar to this.

A Specific Aberration - That one has a heavier white floral and additional frankincense but they have similar vibes. That one is foreboding, this is wistful.

Victoria - These are definitely in the same scent 'family' to me. Victoria is a daytime scent with sun-dappled grass and Zorya P is distinctly moonlit.

The Haunted Beach - These both have a similar ghostly, ethereal ambergris-and-musk vibe, but Haunted Beach genuinely smells like salt air and sea to me; this has no salt or aquatic vibes.

Antique Lace - The recent AL that the lab sold is similar to Victoria to me, but with more, almost cake-y vanilla, and actual linen, as opposed to smelling really clean. I think of all the scents I can compare it to, AL, plus the hazy ambergris of Haunted Beach, would be the closest comparison. So if you were bummed out to not purchase the lab's recent Antique Lace, I would recommend this as a substitute!

[LizziesLuck]

I have put off testing this for a bit, because I'm worried that, although it sounds perfect, it'll somehow not work on me. I know, weird.

 

 

Wet: Wet, this is very similar to the vanilla of Antique Lace, to me. I think I actually like this better....so pretty. It's a light, floral vanilla that hovers just on the edge of gourmand. So so pretty.

 

 

Dry: So beautiful. It reminds me a lot of The Moon Reflected HG, which I adore. It has that soft, powdery (in a good way) vanilla thing going on. It's so lovely, and hoard worthy and I want another bottle so I can slather.

[Blood onmy hands]

This is in the same family as scents like Pediophobia, Antique Lace, Lyonesse, and The Girl. Sweet, vanilla, powder fluff of a fragrance. It's a little too dry, powdery and warm for me, with lots of powdery amber and sweet (slightly Play-Doh-y) vanilla, and that same hint of pink candy fluffiness that I get from Pediophobia (what is that? the white tobacco for some reason? I have no idea).

 

If you get along well with bpal's amber notes, this is a pretty straightforward vanilla-amber on me. I don't get any moonflower or ambergris. Bpal's ambers just turn too powdery for my tastes. This one is also really strong and long lasting on me; it lasted 8+ hours on me before it started to fade.

[theseagrows]

this scent is very pale and ethereal, and it makes me think of the cover of the cocteau twins' treasure album. it starts off with white tobacco and ambergris on me. i don't seem to get the vanilla right off like other people do. there is maybe a hint of moonflower. it's a sort of dry and pale scent. i get a tiny hint of vanilla but this is primarily tobacco on me, maybe my skin is really amping that note up. after about 20 minutes on the skin it's primarily a tobacco-vanilla with hints of moonflower. so pretty!

[lady_pandora]

I've tested Zorya P twice now, and gotten basically the same result. It starts out a super sweet vanilla on me, kind of oscillating between a "waxy" candle-type scent and a "foody" scent that reminds me of white chocolate, or maybe it's just a waxy white chocolate! From about the one-hour point on, I can sniff out a delicate floral amid the vanilla, if I'm looking for it--I think this is moonflower, based on my experience with Long Night Moon, but I wouldn't swear to it. It doesn't fade super fast on me, but has little throw.

 

This is a sweet scent, and a snuggly comfort scent, though so far it's not as transcendent on me as what others have described. I felt like I wanted some kind of contrasting dark note, like a wood or incense note, to balance out the sweetness, though conceptually I get why there isn't such a note here. I bet it'll age beautifully, though!

 

ETA, 1/27/18: I really love the way this is aging. There's something kind of smoky about it now, giving it a bit of a noir feeling and that edge I was wishing for when it was fresh.

Edited January 27, 2018 by lady_pandora

[happygoth]

This smells like vanilla dryer sheets on me, which is a bad way of describing it, but is the closest thing I can think of.

 

That said, I think this is lovely, and what I wanted Antique Lace to smell like (my skin gobbles AL right up and I can't smell anything at all). It's deep and light all at the same time, with this clean floral, and a warm vanilla undertone, and a nice long wear length. Like with my other post about Zorya V, the Zoryas have a similar undertone, and you can tell they're all related, but this one is the lightest, most youthful one of the three. I like it very much.

(So if the Zoryas were all compared, you have Zorya V, the most mature, Zorya U, the warm, motherly scent, and Zorya P, the young, dreamy one. But they're all Zoryas.)

[joopjoop]

Zorya P smells like the world's most exquisite delicate vanilla sugar cookie. Like a sugar cookie made by a gossmar-winged fairy in the light of the moon to be presented to a princess who doesn't yet know she's a princess (but of course her quiet dignity, sunny personality and natural grace impress all around her and hint at her noble lineage).

 

In other words, it smells amazing. But it is sooo not me. I'll leave it to what is sure to be its many many fans.

[roseus]

This is ambergris upfront for me made light and buoyant by sheer vanilla and light florals. I think the flowers give it a cool, clean vibe. But there is also a light skin-warmth from the ambergris and amber. Utterly divine and just what I hoped for!

[Jenjin]

Oh, dazzling Zorya moon, how illuminating you are.
Full of lunar rays, glowing in the neverending darkness with your chilled, silver light.
When I wear this, I wake up the whole world with me!
It truly shines too bright and euphoric, but what a glorious, wild shine.
It is slightly metallic, like the scent of crystals, glass shards and tilted frozen moonflowers under the thin, spring ice.
A very celestial scent indeed.

Edited December 23, 2017 by Jenjin

[RedAoife]

I love the Zoryas, as a concept. Gaiman's American Gods is so magical for how it delved into the stories of different communities of immigrants. I am not Slavic myself, but I studied Russian in college and I hope to move to Moscow next year, so it's always exciting to run into these sorts of semi-relevant things. It's neither quite my place nor my heritage, but I felt drawn to these sisters for this reason. Also I have no moneys. So this was the scent I chose, as it seemed most promising to me, and Zorya P was at least my favorite "time" represented of the three.

 

Zorya Polunochnaya is the embodiment of Midnight (полуночь = midnight; with полу (Polu) = "middle [of]" and ночь (Noch) = "night").

 

It's a beautiful composition. The vanilla blends smoothly with the amber (which NEVER EVER works on me at any stage, and yet here, it does, somehow) as well as what I can only assume is the ambergris. I don't know what tobacco flowers smell like. If I concentrate, I do get a whiff of elegant and woodsy florals, but that might just be my imagination. It is a gorgeous scent. It reminds me a lot of one of my all-time favorites, Black Swallowtail--I feel like there must be a licorice note somewhere in here, but maybe that's just my weird skin chemistry.

 

It's lovely. Someone said before, I think, that "midnight" might be better balanced with a darker note, and I agree. But that's just my opinion. This is a lovely, floating, ethereal scent of the best and coolest time of night, when you are (ideally) walking alone with your thoughts and the moon is a creamy silver disk above you. In the end, I don't believe it's for me, because the amber (or something) eventually turns into something like play-dough on my skin. But that's just me. Had it never changed, I'd have loved this.

 

Gossamer is a good word. Try this oil, and think of midnight. It might work better for you. All the proper ingredients are there.

[gloame]

Starlight and calm dreams. It's very elegant and understated, but not at all boring. There's definitely something to it that will pique the interest of anyone who catches a whiff. On me, it's very close to the skin, but I've read others who are finding it more apparent.

Where I'd wear it: To sleep under the stars in pastoral Wales.

[Elspethdixon]

In the imp/wet - light, perfume-y vanilla, reminiscent of a softer Pediophobia

Freshly applied - cool, hazy, slightly floral vanilla. There's a hint of something faintly soapy, probably the ambergris.

Five-ten minutes in - light, airy vanilla and white musk, like the cool, pale sister of Pediophobia. It makes me think of fluffy white clouds and clean white sheets. Has a good two inches of throw (okay, well, two inches is good on my dry, oil-eating skin).

Fifteen-twenty minute mark - same as 5-10.

Two hour mark - by two hours, it's faded to an airy vanilla skin scent. The perfume-y white musk gauze-iness has changed to a clean, slightly creamy sort of skin musk, like being freshly scrubbed and going to bed in a clean, white nightgown. It reminds me of hugging my mother for some reason.

[lexyOZ]

This is probably one of my favourite vanilla perfumes, probably because the vanilla isn't the star of the show.

Wet, it's a lovely creamy vanilla with that gorgeous ambergris tang that gives a fragrance depth. As it dries the tobacco flower emerge and I amp them to high heaven. I love tobacco so not a problem for me. Sounds kind of obvious but the tobacco flower does have that rich, dry tobacco scent, but with a more gentle, sweet floral vibe.

I got a few hours wear time out of this and while it lasted it did this thing where I would suddenly get blasted with vanilla or tobacco flower and then it would vanish. Every single appearance it made was divine though. I actually find it quite sophisticated without being mature. It's like a business executives who occasionally still sings into her hairbrush. Beautiful and grown up, but who still knows how to have fun.

[lookingglass]

This.

 

This smells like if Antique Lace had fresh moonflowers instead of dried purple ones! LOVELOVELOVE! If someone said it was vanilla musk and moonflower, I would also believe that. Moonflowers are big and white and lemony. I used to grow them in my night garden.

 

Dried out, it's kind of powedery, kind of old fashioned makeup-ey...sweet and white and creamy...a moonflower marshmallow blanket. It makes me smile and want to snuggle.

Edited July 7, 2017 by lookingglass

[Shadowdawn]

Oh goodness... beautiful!! Filled with silvery, warming, intoxicating light. Perfumey and youthful in a good way. It is.. Organza, full moon peaking into sunrise edition. It is a translucent masquerade bride with honey-pink cheeks. Elegance and femininity personified. I could bathe in this-- it is my favorite in a long time. I am adoring the upfront crystalline amber in this one, softened and sweetened with an herbal, grain-like vanilla (that gives it a sense of timelessness and maturity), and rounded out with a fully unfurled moonflower--just tinged with nectar soaked blush at the tips.

It is fleeting, like catching a snowy nymph darting across a sugar-web-spun grotto. The scent doesn't morph much on me, but dries down to focus a bit more on the floral as the amber calms into a golden shimmer in the background. There is also barely a hint of powdery lemon-creme somewhere there? It is somehow so mysterious I feel like people would try and inconspicuously inch closer to try and get a second whiff, unsure of what they has scented in the first place, but drawn nonetheless.

 

You know... it actually smells a little bit like a more heady, exotic, and complex version of an Escada fragrance from many years ago... Magnetism I think. And without the headache. lol

Edited July 9, 2017 by Phox

[Nikki Scarlet]

This is one of the scenes that really stuck out in my memory from reading the book years ago. It was just a really nice, peaceful scene. It sounded like it would be a win for me as a scent, too, so I decided to snap one up as a blind bottle purchase while it's still available, since it seems like a pretty popular one.

In the bottle:
This is lovely. Something about it is triggering a scent memory for me that feels like it dates back to my early childhood, but I don't know exactly what that memory is; just that it's peaceful and comforting. Someone above mentioned vanilla dryer sheets and yeah, I can see that (and maybe that's partly what I'm remembering? Clean blankets?). But I feel there's a bit more complexity to it than that alone.

On me, wet:
Mostly the same, but sweeter and warmer. The vanilla becomes a little more dominant. I think it's possibly lost a little of its strength as a whole, though. It's pretty strong in the bottle, but fainter on my skin so far. Not as faint as some other scents I've tried, however. I don't have to press my nose right up to my skin to smell it, which is good!

On me, dry:
This scent doesn't morph too much. It just stays a sweet and lovely floral vanilla, or a very, very delicate vanilla cookie. I wish it was stronger but the faintness does add to its ethereal effect, and it's still strong enough that I can wave my wrist in front of my nose at random points and get a good "Mmmm!" out of it.

Verdict:
Oh, I hope this never goes out of stock. I'll have to use this one very sparingly because I never want to run out of it. <3

Edited July 9, 2017 by Nikki Scarlet