Magus

I'm trying to become accustomed to oils, they feel more intimate in a way that I find hard to describe. This creates a lovely bubble of scent on your person, without leaping off too much or becoming intrusive to others (which...to be honest, can be positive or negative. Sometimes you want to smell you, but sometimes you don't). It's a snuggler, not a sillage queen. As Dark Things Are Meant To Be Loved has the same spicy Dr. Pepper underpinnings as this, but it smells a little more noticeable here. I could absolutely swear this has ginger in it, I can't believe it's not in the note list. This is predominantly incense, but it's a friendly, feminine incense, I don't find this to be too heavy or overly woodsy (but by all means, don't limit yourself to gender lines, I say this loosely and enjoy a good deal of masculine things, they're merely descriptive terms). This never gets choking or headshop-y. Yes, it has vetiver, but it isn't a bomb of earthiness...but there is that slight dash or campfire embers that I adore about vetiver's aroma...lovely! It developed on me as I moved around tonight, and the longevity is quite decent. It's not a temple incense. It's not churchy. Not headshop-y or too candle-ish (maybe just a bit). It's ambery, warm, spiced, earthy incense with a fair amount of body, but sweet too, never harsh. A warmth for the end autumn/beginning of winter.

Mmm...let me just throw some adjectives out there: spicy, earthy, smoky. While I could describe this resiny-smokey scent as a new-age shop or ancient temple....I think it's better described as stumbling upon some friendly druid ritual in an autumnal forrest: more herbaceous and wild than many resin-heavy scents. A scent for my old earth-child heart.

I received a sample of this in a larger order from Alkemia. The first impression is STRONGLY of the classic orange Dial soap. Like, exactly. Not a bad thing (especially because I have fond childhood memories of going to my grandparents' house, which also smelled strongly of Dial.) This doesn't really go away as time goes by, but other layers of the scent start to emerge. Warm spice, dead leaves, then the most powdery, feminine version of incense smoke imaginable. All layered over a heavy foundation of clean, medicinal Dial soap. Low sillage, medium longevity. Not a bad office fragrance. I don't hate this, but it isn't really what I want to smell like, either. Won't be buying a full size.

A tarry black attar, with machine oil and green dirt notes. It's okay, but not great. Very dark and machine oil-like. It dries nicer, with a WD-40+attar feeling, with more resin, incense, a soft round mood. Full dry down is quite pleasant, but you have to wait it out.