Valhalla

[Beccah]

 

BAY ~ Uplifting, protection, purification, healing, memory, aphrodisiac.
VIOLET ~ Love, faithfulness, modesty; calming, balancing, healing, protection, draws luck & fortune, lust.
BERGAMOT ~ Relaxant, confidence builder. Uplifts emotions, protection, attracts riches. Mental alertness, energizing.
BLACK, GREEN & PINK PEPPER EOs ~ Protection, fidelity, dispels envy and evil, exorcism, breaks hexes.
CUMIN ~ Good fortune, prosperity, lust, protection, fidelity, exorcism.
GINGER ~ Fiery and fortifying, induces passion. Intensifies love spells and success spells. Love, money, success, power. Ginger increases sensitivity in the erogenous zones.
CORIANDER ~ Love attracting, protection, peace, healing. Encourages people to fall in love.
TOBACCO LEAF ~ Healing, purification, spiritualism. An ode to the Gods.
VETIVER ~ Enhances perception of beauty. Love, sensuality, money, luck, hex-breaking.
OAKMOSS ~ Luck enhancing, financial success, protection, charity. Parental love.
PATCHOULI ~ Soothes and uplifts; sensual, sexually stimulating, lust, fertility, money. Meditative and transforming.
LEATHER ~ The musky scent of leather inspires feelings of lust, personal power, and provides a hint of danger.

Pheromone Enhanced with Open Windows

[quietguy]

I am definitely going to get a FB of this one. Might have to layer a spray of Wanted Man though haha!

[Beccah]

I am definitely going to get a FB of this one. Might have to layer a spray of Wanted Man though haha!

Dang, QG! I'll probably have to get SO a full bottle also. I really like how agreeable his selfies from OW make him. He likes the oils now & will be getting his bottle in a roll-on.

[Beccah]

This smells wonderful in the vial! I need to get a full bottle for SO.

[Eggers]

High praise from BF on this one! I won't tell you what he said when he smelled it, but to give you an idea, he closed his eyes, huffed a couple of times, then uttered a few superlatives dotted with expletives.

Needless to say, I'll be ordering a bottle for him.

[BlueBear]

Mmmmmmm! This is wonderful! The tobacco note and leather is sex in a bottle. The other note that makes this is the bay. So fresh!!! The spices aren't really apparent but they sort of give this a warm edge. Can't wait to see QG's review!

[quietguy]

Wow - this one comes across almost as a muted version of Pashazade on my skin. So that means I like it. A lot.

 

When I first put it on, I get a big dose of the leather while it is still wet with a little bit of tobacco behind it, and everything else in the background. Once it dries down though, it is all spice to my nose. Not quite as spicy and exotic as Pashazade, but pretty spicy none-the-less. I am not a big tobacco note fan. I do not smoke and if the tobacco notes in a cologne are too strong, they are over-powering for me. But this tobacco note is there but nicely in the background as an accent, not as an "in your face" primary note on me.

 

This is a great evening or cool weather scent. Like a lot of Mara (& John's) scents, this is a great scent if you want to stand out from the crowd. It is not quite the "bad boy" scent of Brother Brimstone but you could take it there if you want to. This comes with Open Windows but you could throw a little Wanted Man, SS4M or Throb pheromone mixes under there and change the direction of this easily.

 

I have not worn it a lot but I did get some pretty interesting but positive conversations at what could have been a tense meeting this morning. So I think the Open Windows was doing its thing and aiming those discussions in a more positive direction.

 

This scent is definitely worth a good look ... or actually smell haha.

[luna65]

For me, this is somewhere between Boddice Ripper and Pashazade. it starts out a lot like Pashazade but then the violet takes over for me in the drydown. But the violet is not flowery, it just has that quality of being violet, if that makes sense. I don't sense the leather as such, but the blending of those "masculine" elements is there as the framing. The spice is so nice (heh) but that's more in the beginning. In the drydown there's just a great mingling of all the notes: it's a well-dressed man who is charming and funny and it doesn't even matter if he's not attracted to you, you just want to be in his general vicinity because he's so interesting. The violet actually goes just a wee bit powdery towards the end but then again that happens to me. I'm thinking Quince will like this as a "proper gent" type of fragrance, not that he has much call for it, but occasionally it would be useful.

[seajammarket]

Is this a little strange?….. I ordered FB of this….I am widow of several years. Put just a touch of of this with River Song and made me very happy.

Edited December 20, 2015 by seajammarket

[luna65]

Nope, I get as many male fragrances as female, and not just for my Quince. I like to wear them too.

[NuTrix]

Heh - so I'm thinking if the man crinkles his nose to this one... I LURV Open Windows...and if I at least like the scent, then it won't go to waste because I'll be only TOO happy to wear it! And I'd be too curious to see what others think of the scent too.

[tyvey]

I wore this today. It was extremely not unisex on me, lol. Remained sharply brightly woody on me for almost ten hours. Smelled good, just very much not my thing.

[quietguy]

For me, this is somewhere between Boddice Ripper and Pashazade. it starts out a lot like Pashazade but then the violet takes over for me in the drydown.

 

I did not get the violet on my first few wears but I certainly did get the Pashazade. But who knows - Maras creations can sometimes morph as they sit.

 

It was extremely not unisex on me, lol. ...Smelled good, just very much not my thing.

 

Haha - I can certainly see that too.

[luna65]

 

But who knows - Maras creations can sometimes morph as they sit.

I would say they always do that, that is the aging process.

[Rosebud]

I really like this one. On myself and on mr Scrumptious

I can see the resemblance to Boddice Ripper...and to Cocked n Loaded. This one is somewhere In between the two. It's not as dark & musky as BR, it's a lot brighter & fresher, but it's less sweet & floral than CnL

 

On me CnL is for sure unisex, easily worn by women, but I reckon Valhalla will work as uni sexy for many women too

[donsie]

I really like this but I'd be hard-pressed to identify which notes I can actually smell. It's certainly a cologne (as in more butch) and not a perfume (as in more femme) to my nose but I like that -- have done ever since I started nicking my dad's colognes as a child! Some of the sense of not being able to put my finger on what I'm smelling is probably oakmoss; I've never smelled it in isolation except when I've actually walked through a forest. I think I'm getting violet, bergamot and vetiver (yum), plus some pepper, patchouli, and possibly some bay and coriander. I'm not really noticing the cumin, ginger, or leather. I suppose this means that overall it's very well-balanced since there's not a single stand-out note. I'm enjoying it so far and it has softened on dry-down from something that smelled more like obviously like I'd applied a gent's scent to something that has softened into a more unisex scent.

[HappyGoSkillfully]

Got the trial yesterday and tried it yesterday afternoon. Very good manly scent. I wish I could pick out more notes like most of you in this forum. I certainly can tell if I like it or not. I definitely like it. I just noticed the open Windows is in there too. I wore it around the house on my own, so can't really report on pheros. I am usually in a good mood anyway, so if it is a moodlifter I was already there.

 

Smellies goodies

[donsie]

I already liked this one for the scent but now I adore it because I had my first-ever OW selfies while wearing this with a spritz of Topper. I don't really get selfies and I didn't really get why so many people on here loved OW. Well, I'm not even sure if it even worked on anyone around me or if it was just that they were responding to how much fun and chattiness I was putting out there. In any case it was awesome!

 

Oh, and I can smell the ginger now for sure. It's mostly woody ginger now it has aged. Fab!

[mcreepers]

Ack, I shouldn't like this but I do a lot, at least today. Violet, patchouli, and leather are sometimes surprisingly good but mostly evil with my chemistry. It must be the mostly harmonious ginger, vetiver, and oakmoss in combination with the other elements I am not particularly well versed in that is making this so appealing. Of course, today is almost ridiculously humid in comparison to the miserable winter we've just had, so maybe that is swaying my decision. Seriously, this is not usually my type of scent at all but I've recently discovered a crazy need for Open Windows and this was easily found on the trading boards, but the crispness and bracing notes are rocking on me today. Guess my boyfriend who I planned on sharing this with is SOL, because if this continues to rock my world with it's non headache inducing freshness he isn't even going to have a chance to try it

 

ETA- I forgot to mention I do sometimes enjoy unisex blends, and this is definitely unisex if not more masculine leaning. If you are familiar with Darling Clandestine's Vadogr or BPAL's Kumari Kandam this is along the same lines, at least to me.

Edited April 18, 2015 by mcreepers

[androstenol]

Thanks for the review, mcreepers !

 

I'm right there with you, I love a LOT of the unisex scents. And I'm secretly using "Black Candy" that has violet in it also which I bought for hubby. It feels like sneaking into the kitchen at night and having a scoop of ice cream. It's THAT sensual on my skin. I'm startling to really like Mara's treatment of violet. I'm one of apparently many converts who said she doesn't 'do flowers' - but daaaaaaamn.

Edited April 20, 2015 by androstenol

[phergineer]

This one is a bit more minty at first than flowery, and I can't remember trying it on my skin, but Mr. Phergineer asked for a bottle when his sample ran out, so i snagged the last one I found on Etsy. He enjoys wearing open windows and he particularly likes it in this scent. it stays quite fresh and minty on him even after dry down.

[donsie]

Minty and flowery? Wow, that's so different form ym experience. I get lots of oakmoss, bay, and perhaps a touch of leather with just a bit of a herbal background. No flowers at all!