CHRISTMAS EVE IN THE COUNTING HOUSE
It was cold, bleak, biting weather: foggy withal: and he could hear the people in the court outside, go wheezing up and down, beating their hands upon their breasts, and stamping their feet upon the pavement stones to warm them. The city clocks had only just gone three, but it was quite dark already—it had not been light all day—and candles were flaring in the windows of the neighbouring offices, like ruddy smears upon the palpable brown air. The fog came pouring in at every chink and keyhole, and was so dense without, that although the court was of the narrowest, the houses opposite were mere phantoms. To see the dingy cloud come drooping down, obscuring everything, one might have thought that Nature lived hard by, and was brewing on a large scale.
Creaky wood, thick fog, and dying embers.
I'm not sure what fog smells like.
That's the first thing l thought when I read inspiration and the notes for BPAL's Christmas Eve in the Counting House. The second thing I thought was "What a bleak Christmas Eve. Who would want to wear a bleak and depressing scent for Christmas?" Of course, every scent has it's meaning and an occasion, and I know the holidays can be quite depressing for many a soul. I just fall in the camp of wanting to wear a cheery scent during tough times, to fight against the tide.
Regardless, this scent is far from depressing or dreary. It's basically bright, clear woods. Cheerful? Maybe not, but not sad or solemn, either. It's neutral, perhaps. Wood being wood, it's not really an upper or a downer; it just is.
I'm not familiar enough with woods notes to say which woods these are, though perhaps there's a sandlewood present (there's a note I recognize from my favorite Chanel, Bois des Iles).
As for the embers, it's possible a tiny molecule of incense showed up, but that could be wishful thinking.
This is going to be a great oil to layer under other scents that are missing that certain something.
I still don't know what fog smells like.