Gothique

I like this one too. This perfume house is all about using beautiful art as a backdrop for each of its fragrances, and it certainly works on me. Gothique reminds me a lot of really good hippie fragrances in the 1975-1985 era. And not in a negative way either, but for those of you who didn't get to experience them personally, Gothique leads you down the path. I love all the incense notes but it doesn't seem like church incense to me. Or Hari-Krishna incense either (and don't anyone ever think that dreck should be brought back). Gothique just has an ethereal quality that isn't duplicated a lot of places. But it most definitely isn't high fashion. And doesn't need to be either.

By turns creamy, resinous, and even sweet, this fragrance is like wandering into a church and lighting candles. There is a soft yet definite smell of smoke with notes of cedar and amber mixing into what amounts to the bottling of gothic romanticism. It’s all here: beauty, softness, darkness and depth. It’s unisex and unique (say that three times fast) with any sweetness tempered by the olibanum and cedar. It lasts 4 hours on my skin while scenting my hair and pillow for much longer. If I was a beautiful ghost haunting a church, I would want to smell like this. Scent: 9/10 Longevity: Moderate

The most bewitching scent - evil incarnate and Holy Mother in one. I bought a sample months ago and let it sit. I came back to it on a cold winter's day and then immediately purchased a larger bottle. Lasts on the skin for a decent amount of time and I don't really sense a huge shift in notes as the hours pass. Some of the oils are pretty potent, so if you have sensitive skin, I recommend moisturizing your skin with a carrier oil like jojoba before applying. It stays spicy and rich throughout the day, like the stale air of an abandoned cathedral. It really is the ultimate gothic perfume.

It smells (almost overwhelmingly) of myrrh and frankincense. It smells like catholic mass, almost exactly, and evokes strong memories of going as a child. It's a little bit sexy and warm with hints of cinnamon-esque spice and a resinous undertone. It's very cosy and layers well with sweeter scents. Very smoky, blends nicely with my personal skin chemistry, will forever be a favorite of mine. Lasts very long, around 2 hours at full strength, then fades into a nicer less auratic scent after 4 hours. Lasts longer over an oil.

I received this yesterday and I have to say that while it wasn't what I was expecting, it's also not totally unserviceable. My main gripe is that Gothique is a myrrh-heavy fragrance. I understand that myrrh is sort of powdery, fuzzy, medicinal, and cinnamon-adjacent. I don't really have a problem with myrrh. I like incense and I like catholic incense. Myrrh is a component there. The problem I have is that it smells like linear cinnamon and myrrh. That's it. There are some vague ambery undertones but no distinguishable vetiver, cedar, or labdanum. I generally like to stick to ambers that include patchouli because that gets me over to the resinous alpha-pinene-smoky-aggressively-astringent-terpene-conifer side of amber that I like, but this one is like a soft vanillic-myrrh-cinnamon thing that isn't really my cup of tea. I detect no olibanum, which I have and use in my home often. I was looking for cathedral incense and I can say for certain that this isn't it. This is nice, it's cozy, and it's good for bedtime. I can go to bed alone or with someone and they'll smell it for a little bit without getting a blast of perfume in their face. I like that for me personally but I don't think other people totally love it, especially when actual sleep is involved. The cinnamon-myrrh aspect isn't totally awful (like I just painted it to be, see above) because those aren't notes that I hate. Again, I was expecting dark, gothic, bloodborne/dark souls, super heavy super serious cathedral incense, and what I got was kind of an amber-gourmand. I don't hate amber gourmands, I just wasn't expecting one. If anyone knows any perfumes that genuinely smell like catholic mass that aren't outrageously expensive, please DM me. Observations 🠟🠟🠟🠟🠟🠟🠟 Gender (?): unisex leaning fem Longevity: 4/10 2-3 hours (its an oil rollerball, what did you expect) Projection: (4/10) hardly noticeable but depends on placement (see above) Value: Good, but again not what I was expecting Overall: 6.5/10 not great but far from terrible Also, review aside, the notes on this fragrantica entry are actually just fucking wrong. Canele is not a note here. Canella is the real note and it's a type of cinnamon. Also, blackcurrant leaves are not a note here, Cassia is, which is again, a type of cinnamon. If you want the full notes, visit the Alkemia page. Fragrantica seems to be pretty good most of the time with note accuracy but in this case, it stuck out as inaccurate. novel over.

I received a complimentary sample vial of this oil as part of a larger order back in February. Oh Myrrh goodness (see what I did there?). The Myrrh is so extremely prominent, that I instantly recall my sampling of (but not yet giving a proper wearing to) Valentina’s Myrrh Assoluto. Playing second fiddle to the myrrh is some olibanum/frankincense, along with some amber--or is that the labdanum? Is it both? As it dries down, the sweetness (almost certain that its benzoin, but it could be the canele) becomes more prominent. Around the six hour mark, the resins calm down, and the cedar shows up fashionably late. No vetiver to my nose, or perhaps it got lost in the blend. Longevity is very good-- it was still going strong and projecting at the 2 hour mark (applied at 6:30 AM, still projecting at arm’s reach at 8:30 AM). It was still easily detectable on my chest 10 hours later. Disclaimer: I wear most of Alkemia’s perfume oils with their Perfume Fixative applied beforehand, so that probably helps. This was my second wearing of Gothique, and when I first wore it several days beforehand, it was significantly colder (20 degrees, give or take) outside than it was on my second wearing. The sweetness (benzoin? canele?) becomes a bit much, almost cloying, on a warmer spring day. This definitely is better suited for a cooler fall day, if not a truly cold winter day. It is nice enough that I would consider ordering a 5 mL rollerball in the future. With a smaller budget available for perfumes right now, I will wait until the temperature drops significantly (probably around November) before ordering.

"A Byzantine monastic incense recipe of Somalian frankincense, styrax benzoin, Arabian myrrh, cassia, spikenard, canella, Liquidambar orientalis, labdanum, Atlas cedar, and vetiver." I think this is a pretty good orthodox incense frag, it's dark and moody with a little coolness from the frankincense. I think it's beautiful but I absolutely feel heartbroken by it's week projection and longevity. It started to vanish from my skin in about 30 minutes after application. Really love the concept, I think it's a great blend, I really recommend it for lovers of incense. 7/10

I was expecting (and hoping for) a mustier, more decrepit old cathedral sort of smell, which this is not. That being said I’m pleasantly surprised by the warm sweetness. In the vial and wet on the skin it’s predominantly incense, but as it dries down the canelé comes out beautifully. It’s almost a gourmand on me - I thought someone was warming up some kind of caramel-y, cinnamon-y treat near me until I realized it was my perfume - but it’s not cloying and is grounded by rich incense. Absolutely lovely!

This perfume does not smells like a church. At least that scent does not reminds me of any kind of church, but definitely goth type of scent. There is something dark and something ancient in this smell. When I smell it, I'm always thinking of a place. A staircase in a larger building. Old metal stair railing and stone stairs, and a sinister door at the lower level of the staircase. But you are not afraid, because curiosity generally overcome the fear, so you do planning to open it.

Bible incense with sweet cinnamon. I was expecting some type of gothic, dark, mysterious fragrance (hence the name Gothique) but honestly it’s more closer to a type of gourmand than anything. The silage is pretty nice but it doesn’t last, after a couple of hours it becomes strictly a skin scent. Which seems to be a running theme for the Alkemia fragrances I’ve tried. If I buy from them again I’ll be sure to try their ‘Ultime’ formula since it’s supposed to last longer.

Plain white bar soap speckled with scrubby resin and spice bits. Clean smoky incense with a buttload of sweet cinnamon on top and warm amberwoody undertones. Moderate projection with a strong scent bubble for 3-4hr, longevity 12hr+. Up close I get more of the soap, but the farther away the more it smells kinda like a cinnamon disc.

i expected this to be a beast in a way i hated but this is the loveliest cozy amber. wrong season for it but it smells like christmas at church (despite the fact i was protestant we all love frankincense and myrrh). i have an equivalent emotional response to o holy night. cant wait to run out of my sample this fall/winter!

Captures the essence of an old church with cheap frankincense quite well. I do wish it smelled more like expensive, high quality incense a bit more. It is a bit soapy, soft undertone of fried chicken, but otherwise pure “benediction ended an hour ago in this old wooden church with poor ventilation.”

This is my kind of fragrance. Smoky church resins, dry woods, and a little boozy custard. Warm, spicy, and balsamic. I bet this smells fabulous in cool weather. I can't wait to wear it this fall!

smells like a botanica, or like a too small roman catholic high school chapel full of cheap incense smoke. almost soapy!!

When first applied it smells exactly like toothpaste, but (like all of Alkemia's scents) after sitting for a little while it becomes a nice frankincense.

Boozy cinnamon custard, indeed. There is an atmosphere of incense to it, but it is DECIDEDLY a gourmand. (Personally, I find food scents are for eating, not wearing, your mileage may vary- but you Must like gourmands to enjoy this.) Only gothic if you’re a pastelgoth. Too foofy and fluffygirl on my skin.

i have smelled my fair share of church incense and this is not it. on my skin, it smells like a garage. longevity is unreal--i tried to scrub it off several times throughout the day after putting it on one morning and it would not release me until the next day

Is this available in the UK? If yes, then where can I buy It from?