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Totem: Beaver w/Swimming with Sharks


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CRANBERRY ~ Protection, health, deflection of negativity.
OUD ~ Love, aphrodisia, spirituality, health.
CEDAR ~ Confidence inducing, balancing, grounding, energizing, money, healing, protection, purification.
OAK ~ A wood of masculine and projective energy. It symbolizes endurance, triumph, strength, power, prosperity, and heroism.
NUTMEG ~ Strengthens clairvoyance, luck, money, health, fidelity.
BEAVER CASTORIUM MUSK (simulated) ~ For channeling Beaver energy. Self confidence and strength, sexual attractant, heightens passions and arousal.
ALLSPICE ~ Luck, health, prosperity, money.

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Ordered a trial sample of this one. LOVE the formulation....I can just picture a Busy Bunch of Beavers all busily knawing away in the water and building dams with a non nonsense air, lol. They most generally mind their business, but can be very formidable creatures and can have HUGE tails that they can slap the water (you or other predators) with if ya piss em off. I grew up in Maine, so I've met a few, lol.

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:blink: Can't even guess what to think of this...woods, spice and...and...beaver musk?

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At first the cranberry was very prominent, but after it's dried down a bit, it really mellowed out. I'm getting mostly woods now, with a little spice. I could definitely see a guy wearing this too.

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Just from first sniff this reminded me a bit of Robert's Attacked in the Stacks/GOAL! so lovers of those will want to at least try a sample. Looking forward to actually testing this one!

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TEH BEAVER HAZ TEH WOOD! :666:

 

Mmm yes this is wonderful! I wouldn't have said I was a cranberry fan, really, but it's a great topnote just like in Naughty Naughty!, tangy and blending well with the other layers. Now that I have it on I'm really reminded more of that fragrance rather than the others I named previously, and if you're a fan you definitely have to get this one. The woods and spice are a winning combination for sure and totally unisex - I see men being more drawn to this one, actually.

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I would say you can best smell it in the first hour or so. The scent itself is fairly long-lasting, but as with most topnotes the cranberry eventually sort of merges into the blend and the other notes move to the fore.

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:lol:

No dear, if you really want to know...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Castoreum

 

Just remember it's not the real thing.

 

:Emoticons04282:

 

Kind of like how I felt when I found out what ambergris was - but I still like ambergris as a note...yeesh... :lol:

 

Edited by NuTrix
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Ok when I first put this on, I didn't even look at the notes. And my first impression was, Dr Pepper! Or those Coke flavored slurpees from the gas station! Serious! But then it dried down and my dr pepper scent disappeared. This could be a unisex or men's scent IMO. I'm getting lots of wood and spice. The cranberry is gone.

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This one is interesting -- I didn't review the notes before I put it on and I had the hardest time characterizing the scent but finally settled on spicy resins, kind of a holiday-esque thing where pumpkin pie was being served while someone was burning dragon's blood incense. In the drydown, it gets very woodsy. Definitely unisex, and in the drydown pretty masculine.

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I really want to try SWS but this one seemed too masculine for me just by the description. I'm pretty wary of "unisex" scents as they usually come off masculine on me. Being not entirely a girly-girl anyway, I like to at least smell like a girl! Still, some of these reviews are tempting me - cranberry and Dr. Pepper sound very nice!

Edited by Amalthea1978
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I need not have feared this one as much as I did. Straight on, I got cranberry, then the spices and nutmeg. I'm going to figure I must be smelling he musk b/c there's something there that's unfamiliar. I'm not getting Dr Pepper, but I was hoping to :D

 

After testing Bear, that one seemed more masculine than this is coming across on me. Chemistry. Ug! Curious what will be left when the cranberry finally wanders off? I'm thinking the oud, cedar and oak will step forward but I'm wondering if it will continue to stay soft and blend in with the spices...seems to be. I like this much better on than I did from in the vial! :)

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It's interesting because I've always thought that the use of bay rum (Pimenta racemosa) in a fragrance is what causes the Dr. Pepper impression to occur and it's not in this one I don't think but maybe the allspice (although I don't get that association but I have before with Bpal's Schwarzer Mond, for example). The recipe for Dr. Pepper actually contains various spices according to legend.

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  • 2 weeks later...

Well, I'm not getting Dr Pepper but I am getting a surprisingly lovely spiced woodsy scent that it very appealing. I'm with BC on this one -- there's a winter holiday vibe to it although there are no traditional "winter holiday" notes in it. I thought maybe pumpkin pie-ish at first, but I came back to a winter holiday fragrance. To me, it's a 60% feminine 40% masculine scent. If "metrosexual" is still a recognized word, I would label this metrosexual on a guy.

 

I want a FB of this, even though it's way out of my usual genre. Mara strikes again!!!

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I wasn't going to do a review on this one because I didn't want you all to know just how good it is so I could stock up more than the two bottles I just ordered....but I was so moved by this one that I had to share:

 

To me, this fragrance blend reminds me of my late father and beloved brothers and all the other good, strong men along the way who with a steady hand and gentle reassurance, helped teach/mold me into what I am today. When I sniffed it in the vial it was so skillfully blended it was hard to pick just one note. However, upon application I could discern the cranberry/cedar which is so evocative of the cranberry bogs and cedar trees of my native northern woods. My mother may have had a backbone of steel, but these men were gentle giants, wise and kind and smelled like the woods and allspice/nutmeg that this blend drys down to. It was like having their presence with me when I wore this.

 

The phero blend Swimming with Sharks that this fragrance is blended with immediately lent a sense of strength, focus and uplifting reassurance and clear mindedness. I went thru my day with a true sense of purpose and was able to dig down not only to my roots but to that inner core of strength/steel from my ancestors which lasted throughout the day and into the next. Powerful stuff this SWS.

 

So, whether you are hitching up the horse trailer, hauling wood/hay or tossing a blueprint into the cab of your truck to go meet your contractor for a scope review, headed to a board meeting with the "good ol' boys" or hiking the back 40 with the dogs, this blend says it all. I LOVE LOVE LOVE this one. Thank you Mara for this blend.

 

And, I LOVE you Dad. Thank you. :chaplin:

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Thanks, Nutrix! It's very unisex fragrance. It really spoke to me and I discovered SWS works so well for me. Sure could have used some of this back in the day when I was having to deal with union dudes! A little SWS goes a long way, lasts a long time and fits me like a glove.

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  • 1 month later...

Sweet and nutty, and made me think of ron Swanson in his wood workshop. Faded quickly- I was wearing on a hot day. Pleasant enough but not an everyday scent for me.

 

HOWEVER, let's talk about the phero. I had an appointment with this expensive, very experienced, fancy, well-regarded accountant that I hadn't met before.

 

I needed help with a really complicated situation so I figured, older guy, doing complicated work, need him to respect me and not be like "who is this small child wasting my time with her tiny problems, and where are the titans of industry to whose company I am more accustomed," etc.

 

Sure enough, when I first walked into his office lobby and he saw me through his open personal office door, sitting behind a huge wooden desk, he raised his eyebrows and then frowned. (It probably didn't help that I hadn't had time to go home to change first and was wearing a tennis dress and flip flops)

 

Anyway I get into his office and he is cool and distant. Gradually but inexorably the SWS thawed him and made him friendlier, he gave me more thorough answers, and by the end he kept going off on non sequiturs, stories about his past homes and his ex-wife and a crazy woman he went on a blind date with.

 

But best part - the appointment took well over two hours and he only charged me for one - AND said he would write up an extensive report laying out all my options.

 

So, like LFM, I suggest trying this for sales-type situations - betcha it results in discounts! It makes sense -I find SWS makes people want to please you.

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  • 1 month later...

Second day of my period, very low energy and a tiny bit anxious. Something in the back of my brain told me to put this on. Within about 5 minutes I'm feeling CALM, super calm, like "everything is going to be ok". I have seen others talk about good phero blends for them to calm down with, never saw mention of this one. I get almost no selfies from Balm Bomb or even B2.2. But this...I lay down and went into a deep meditative state for about 15 minutes, then felt very energized and now ready to tackle my day. The scent is very subtle on me, I have to bring my wrist to my nose to be able to actually pick out any notes...mostly I'm getting cedar which reminds me of the woods and feeling expansive and calm.

Is this my "calm" blend ? It just may be. Time will tell. The only other mix that makes me anywhere near as calm as this is Sogni Incantati. If this is how it affects me, I can only guess how it could calm those 'sharks'. Amazing. Thank you Mara.

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First effect on others: DH comes home, totally stressed after a long day at work, but assures me he won't need to nap. We start to cuddle and he goes very relaxed and drifts off. I feel like we are in the woods, and I share that with him, he responds" funny, I was just thinking the same thing". I feel both of our third eyes opening and after a while, the other chakras follow. We are both open to each other and feel protected and in a sacred space. I've gone back to look at each of the EO ingredients and their effects and I'd say we are definitely getting the "protection" "sensual atmospheric' 'clairvoyance'. We completed each others thoughts a few more times. Reminded me very much of our courtship phase. Unbelievable for a blend designed as 'corporate'.

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  • 3 months later...

I usually wear the UN SWS and use a commercial scent as cover, or L'Eau D'Orchide (Thank you Adrostenol), but today I did not want to spray the UN since I will be flying out in a few hours and I would like to use Totem Panda for the check-in/security area.
So, right before my weekly one-on-one meeting with my manager I applied a couple of swipes on the back of my hands from my Totem: Beaver sample.
This smells like a walk in the woods on a humid fall day. I smell moss, wet fall leaves, damp earth and smoke.

As for the phero effects, my manager was supportive and even offered to meet with another team's manager to take something off my plate. The first half an hour was work related.. the next hour was him talking my ear off again, about non work related stuff... he even asked my opinion about what he and his fiance should do for New Year's!

Another huge hit for SWS, but I am a believer that the scent cover has a lot to do with it. I think Beaver works best for me so far.

My manager has been a lot more open and supportive ever since I started wearing SWS and Beaver for my meetings with him, and I feel a lot more confident and relaxed walking into these meetings.

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  • 4 months later...
  • 2 years later...

Honestly, I don't like this at all on me, from the vial or on my skin. It's probably the cranberry, I cannot handle apple or fig on me either. *(edit below) Almond also rubs me the wrong way, but not like I have to wash it off or anything, and I have had to wash off scents with heavy apple or fig notes. That's the best I can do as far as a review scent wise, sadly. If you love apple, fig, and almond, maybe you're the exact opposite as me, and maybe you'll love Totem. I dunno.

 

(* My two year later edit-

I now realize that I love fig and enjoy apple in scents and it was the almond that goes wonky on my skin. )

 

I do know that SWS is an amazing phero and I'm really glad that I bought my man an unscented phero. But I believe in this phero enough that I kept this sample in my car to refresh/put on top of the UN SWS I had on this afternoon/night because I had to go into the bank to deal with an "unfortunate and uncomfortable" situation, for lack of a better explanation. But there was enough potential for it to go wrong that I made my man wait in the car because if I needed to open a can of whoop ass, I didn't need to frighten him. As it turned out, I got multiple apologies and an extreme (and deserved) amount of ass kissing. Even a last little mumbled "I'm sorry X bank hasn't met your expectations lately," which was totally unnecessary because she's totally sweet and had nothing to do with her and they had gone above and beyond in making it right, including the required amount of graveling and then some.

 

I was still "under the influence" of the SWS when I went to see a band at what used to be my favorite bar and restaurants, until the service got crappier and crappier and my favorite waitress quit. So someone near the hostess station chided me for being late, so I decided to tell head hostess that I hadn't even been offered a soda the last 9 times I'd been there. She was appalled. I wouldn't have told her but she actually is an acquaintance and I like her so I told her how I actually have to eat before I go there because I can't even get a fucking soda there anymore. It's not a cheap place, so if I'm there alone I would always spend $30-45 just on food and soda for myself and would always tip Julie 30% for my meal because when she would see me she would just bring me a diet coke without me needing to chase anyone down. If I was there with my kids it would always be $50 - $90 plus my 30%. So 10 visits of me being thirsty and hungry costs them $500 or so, and I'm late to see band because I need to eat before I go. For the record, I'm not dirty or smelly or loud or gross or rude, I don't let my kids run wild, I'm an adult. Anyway, I told Nika (the head hostess) because I'm tired of missing half the show, I like the taste of diet coke, and I like several of their dishes and I'm awfully found of desserts, especially their bananas foster. She said to tell me which waitresses have been ignoring me, I told her that I wanted to try my luck in getting a soda without her help and i'd report back. I stressed to Nika that I did not want her to say anything to anyone because I wanted to see what would happen that night. I did ask a server as he ran by, but I was closer to the restaurant side (the band is in the middle), and he did say yes but never came back. For the record, a private dining area there could cost $3000- $12000, and I have no idea where he was actually going, so I didn't take that personally. But it didn't help my thirst situation.

 

So, I went back to the server station behind the front of the house soundboard and asked a male waiter that I never saw before if I could please get a soda. He said of course, "just meet me over by the place at the bar where the servers order drinks." Now, I've never gotten a free drink here before. Ever. It's not that kind of place. I waved my man down, told him I needed some $ (wasn't going to run a card for a soda) and he asked me and waiter for a ginger beer. He said, "Oh, I'd have to have you pay for that, they won't give me that for free," and then the bartender said "Oh no, it's cool," and waved us away.

 

Um....?

 

My man does work sound there occasionally but they pay like crap and only give them a discount on food and not even free drinks while working. Nothing comes for free there. I did run by Nika to show her my lovely beverage as I was very pleased. The waiter's name was Jay and I now have a new waiter and I'm so happy because that's the thing about being in a bar/restaurant, it reminds me of eating and drinking.

 
In case I now sound like a person who's always complaining or running to go tell mom or demanding special treatment, I'm not. I once actually had a waitress whom i was only friendly with because she was a waitress there pick up my soda and put her drugs in her mouth and take them WITH MY SODA, USING MY STRAW, and I didn't even complain about that. (Nor did I touch the soda again.)
 
Anywho, SWS works. If you need proper service, elaborate apologies from an entire bank branch, or just a fucking soda. I'm still looking for the proper SWS pheroma for me. But some SWS, any SWS, will always be in my arsenal! I want my man to keep his whole UN SWS for himself so I'm going to keep trying them all.
Edited by Eastwood22
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  • 1 year later...

Travel shock is no joke!  When I first smelled this right out of the mail, I thought, “I guess maybe it does literally smell like a beaver…”  On my skin, It smelled like a beaver after a hard day’s work that had  accidentally chomped on a bottle of cologne. 

 

A while later and I pick this up again after reading the reviews.  This was NIGHT and DAY from when I first smelled it. This time, I get the cranberry note right away, when I couldn’t smell ANY cranberry the first time around.  It’s incredible how different it was!

 

Immediately: Wow. This is great!  It’s a really fresh smelling cranberry, with some depth…

An hour later: Ohh, now it’s smelling like cranberries in the forest, when the leaves are falling….

I tested this for 8 hours on Saturday, because I would be mortified if the “literally a beaver” smell started coming out halfway through the workday!  But it was very well behaved and really quite delightful.

8 hours later: Bouquet of woods and cranberry, the cranberry still going strong, but less bright (from blending with the rest of the notes). 

 

If this perfume were a person, it would be one of those really driven CEO types who run  marathons on the weekends. It’s October, she just changed out of her work clothes, and now she’s trail running through the forest.  There’s definitely something autumnal about it on my skin, and there’s this underlying “drive” as well - probably from the SWS. And the cranberry gives this lightness and brightness that makes me think of her running with a spring in her step, feeling confident and free in the chill air. 

 

Verdict: Definitely like this! I still need to test out the effects of SWS, though.

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  • 2 months later...

I tried Totem:Beaver with LP Pink today. I had a technical meetup and wanted to be professional but still relaxed and girly, since it's the weekend.  On my skin, the cranberry goes with the pinky sugars and verbena in the LP pink beautifully! And the Totem:Beaver adds extra depth to the Pink. I love it and it's exactly the vibe I was going for - Pink always seems to cheer people up and this adds some brightness in addition to the SWS effects. This would be perfect for Fridays at work, when everyone's a little more relaxed and happy about the weekend. 

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4 hours ago, hedgehog said:

 

I tried Totem:Beaver with LP Pink today.

 

What a great combo idea! I wish I still had a bit of Totem Beaver left, for some reason the empty trial vial has been in a little basket where I ditch my phone and keep emergency hair ties and charging cords in the front of my studio.

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On 10/5/2019 at 6:36 PM, Eastwood22 said:

What a great combo idea! I wish I still had a bit of Totem Beaver left, for some reason the empty trial vial has been in a little basket where I ditch my phone and keep emergency hair ties and charging cords in the front of my studio.

I have one of those too in my apartment! Great for sunglasses and keys...and emergency LPs you don't want to leave the house without, haha.

I only have a TV of the Totem Beaver so I am carefully rationing it out!  I'm eyeing Oleander the Great as a possible replacement as my SWS scent.

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@hedgehog Oleander the Great is a good workplace scent as it couldn't possibly offend anyone, it's clean and fresh. If you don't commit to that one, you could also get a spray of UN SWS. The only problem with the UN's, for me, is that I tend to overdo them without the scent "marker." 

I never ever want to be without SWS! Never. I'm not even sure what specific hits I get, but I get selfies from it and act more business like. Phero

Charged Money Potion is the one I wear SWS in the most, my man wears Sharp Dressed Human for work fairly often. But I find myself reaching for my spray of UN SWS way more. I also have an FB oil backup, which is a bit redundant as my man has a FB SWS that I got him to layer with other scents and he never, ever, ever wears UN pheros.  

1 hour ago, hedgehog said:

Great for sunglasses and keys...and emergency LPs you don't want to leave the house without, haha.

I'm afraid my entire bedroom is dedicated to sunglasses and LP's and the remnants of the destruction from me looking for my keys....

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