Day 94 ~ One Year, One Nose > Seaweed Absolute, Biolandes, 50%

Another yum-yum from the box of aromatic treasures, comes Seaweed Absolute from Biolandes, France (2/2013) diluted to 50% in alcohol.

First I'd like to say that I find it somewhat odd and synchronistic that this item was randomly chosen from the box, as in eyes closed, hand flopping about, fingers grasping, as I've been spending time near the sea quite a lot this summer, and I've been dealing with some hormonal issues which I've been treating in part with Skye Botanicals 'Serious Seaweed Potion' ~ La Sirena calls, I listen with every fiber of my body apparently.

So here we are with this seaweed absolute, the bottle unopened, my first foray and you as witness ~

The color is dark and murky, mossy brown-green, and even at 50% dilution, it's still quite 'sticky', coating the inside of the bottle with the darkest shade of green before it goes brown. From the bottle it smells of angelica root and alcohol, sweet and narcotic, like a wicked drug. I've applied a dab on the back of my hand and smeared it across, it leaves a resinous lacquer of  sea scent which dries to a shine. Now those sea notes begin to push out, the saltiest of seaweeds torn from their underwater forests and flung with the high tide across the beach to slowly rot in the sun. One can almost imagine the sand fleas and weed flies hovering in hives above the melting beached seaweed. This is pure seaweed, a bit musty, a bit of what we imagine salt to smell of, a bit of the animalic, furry and slightly fishy, warm -- like I imagine a whale's burp to smell.