Salome

This has a beautiful dry down. Very complex, warm, resinous, boozy, musky, a bit sweet, really an enjoyably well blended oil. It's very appealing on my skin and I'll have to get a full bottle. Like all oils, I wish it projected more, but it's so lovely I don't mind. 8.5/10 - From the site: "In 1891, after a wintery Paris evening discussing the legend of Salome, Oscar Wilde locked himself in his room with a blank notebook and began writing his legendary play Salomé. A few hours later, with much of the text already written, he went out to a nearby café and, needing inspiration, asked the leader of the orchestra to play some music which might evoke "a woman dancing in her bare feet in the blood of a man she has craved for and slain." If the notes of this lost melody were perfume... A seductively inspiring arrangement to pique the lustful imagination. An overture of not so innocent magnolia underscored with a sly caress of Queen of the Night, a fulsomeness of nubile black grapes and plums, skin musk bathed in spilled cognac, and ruthless twist of bitter orange, blended with an ancient Arabian love philtre of crushed vanilla and tonka bean, mysore sandalwood, vetiver, cedar, and red oud. Contains a proprietary elixir of botanical pheromones designed to enhance female sex appeal."

alkemia salome: in love with the ultime; one of the first alkemia scents i fell for. it's beautifully green and dark with the perfect amount of sweetness. on me, it starts off with the sharply green violet leaf, then made complex and warmed by the bitter orange/orange blossom, magnolia, sharp floral notes. as the green notes mellow out, the scent becomes boozy with the base vanilla/tonka/cognac notes blending in. the perfume finally wears down to a soft woody vanilla drydown. i don't really get any prominent fruit notes, but i might just not be able to detect it because of the myriad of notes in this perfume. i can see it being a bit too much for some w/ the lack of distinct notes, but i personally enjoy the blend. however, i wish the longevity and sillage was better, though it's not terribly weak. i feel that salome is kind of similar to dior addict, with dior addict being a sweeter, warmer and almost gourmand-y version of it. they both share the 'green notes balanced by warm vanillas' vibe.

This is one of my favorite Alkemias. I'll review the ultime here first: It makes excellent use of contrasting elements that are perfectly balanced. This gives it a feeling of tension, but along the lines of watching a tightrope walker, rather than in any unpleasant way. The magnolia is dominant. It's very natural smelling- slightly musky, waxy, green, and sweet. It is pitted against a bitter green oud effect that brings some much needed sharpness and dimension to the perfume. These dance in and out of focus for a few hours. Then, a distinct wine shows up. It is quite boozy! It makes its presence very known until the late drydown, where it fades away to reveal dense, rich wafts of warm vanilla, cedar, and sandalwood. The magnolia here is very, very faint, but the oud and vetiver manage to cling on til the end. Salome absolutely smells like a niche offering and unlike many indies, it has a note progression/evolution that is usually only found in more traditional perfume formulations.

I ordered a sample of Salome after seeing that it was compared to the vintage Dior Addict, and while its not a dupe, they are quite similar - even in the same immediate family. But make no mistake, Salome is a sister with own charms!

LOVE. THIS. It’s the perfect warm, dark floral!!! Extremely well-blended. Very enveloping. A truly sensual scent. Quality of the perfume oil is amazing. I am forever a lifelong fan of Alkemia!!!