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!!!

This is extremely similar to vintage Dior Addict, they both contain cactus flower, bourbon vanilla and sandalwood. Bonus- this also have pheromones in it.

On my very dry skin I don’t really get the booziness others are talking about, nor the woodiness. Most prominently I get unidentifiable greenness (the violet leaf?), and the bitter orange, and a mass of indistinct florality. And a waxy sweetness that I notice in a lot of Alkemia florals. In the drydown the florals really shine for me, the magnolia in particular. Overall I think it’s a really lovely, rather girlish scent, perfect for spring. Out of the Sensual Seductions sample set this was one of my favorites, after Silken Tent. Just to note, I have let my sample rest for almost a year, so that could be a factor here.

Salome is among the scents from this line that I have enjoyed the most and seems to suit my chemistry. A like. I read a comment once about this having a dark Victoria's Secret vibe and yes, that is exactly it, so I would not approach expecting anything too exotic. It starts off more floral for me before veering plummy and wine-ish, with green notes popping in secondarily. The base feels mainly vanillic, though ground by a slightly masculine woodiness. Average strength, could aggravate an existing headache but shouldn't induce one. I think it's kind of sexy.

So sexy. Alkemia is my favorite indie house. I find their approach to fragrances is more in alignment with mine: it’s not about the notes on paper, but the story they create. A grownup take on a fruity floral with lots of depth and warmth from the cognac and woody notes. Recommended for: Temptresses. Melisandre of Asshai. Brides of Dracula. (Patiently counting down the days until fragrantica adds my most favorite scent by Alkemia, Carmilla, so I can rave about how much I adore it!)

I don't dislike this fragrance at all and will use my sample; I just won't buy a full bottle. Right out the gate the conjac is intense; it's very spicy and almost reminisant of pine. While I don't think it suits me, it could be wonderful on another woman/person...just not my taste. The initial dry down (5-10 minutes) I was soooo happy with this fragrance. To my happiness the initial alcoholic nature calmed and sweetened. As it settles, the sharp edges mellow out into something much more inviting. The plum comes forward; its ripe, juicy, and lush. Its paired with a sweet, dry grape note that reminds me of a fine wine. There’s also a touch of magnolia in there too, adding a waxy, lemony brightness that cuts through the spice. The dry down (tbh there was no heart on my skin) is where my feelings get a bit mixed. My skin tends to pull vanilla, and here, the bourbon vanilla becomes very dominant; this is after an hour of wearing the oil. It’s rich, sultry, and yummy; Yet also leaves me wanting more. On me, it has a high and intimate silliage.... but I'm a little bored and wanting more. 😕 wish the top notes stayed more than an hour..... but it smells great, just very vanilla when I wanted more green and amber notes

This feels like a sandalwood/violet scent to me foremost, with some more or less indiscernible fruity notes. Could be plum, not quite grape. Almost a little mulled wine with fresh fruit and spices sort of vibe. I get more of the cactus flower as it dries down. Conceptually, I think it's great. In practice, it's somewhat of a let down. I have said in other reviews that I don't love whatever perfume base Alkemia uses, and it's a present note here as well. Thankfully, some of the other notes hide it better here than in other fragrances, but it's still disappointingly present. Here it gives a faint fabric softener undercurrent up close. It dissipates a bit as time goes on. I've said before that I respect Alkemia as a company but I don't love their fragrances, and this is no exception. It's better than most, though, so if you generally like Alkemia and think the notes here sound good, give it a try. 5/10.

Not my fav, I think the violet leaf is pushing past everything, giving it this cucumbery-bitter-vegetal note, (maybe like a pickle cucumber?), combined with the cactus, all I'm getting is greens. it is weirdly sensual, when I was a kid I watched this dreamworks movie "Epic", to me, this scent reminds me of the scene between Ronin and Tara where they are talking about Tara choosing an heir and he's worried about her safety. Green, bitter, sharp, weirdly sensual, over time it becomes slightly sweet/warm. Overall, an interesting fragrance, I wouldn't wear it out, though I appreciate it.

There's something off about this scent to my nose; the note list looks wonderful but somehow it doesn't quite come together in practice. What is smells like most to me is "perfume oil": a little mineral, just slightly stale, and...oily. Maybe my sample has gone off? Apart from the general perfume oil vibe I mostly get a vague, warm kind of sweetness: not exactly gourmand, not exactly spicy, not exactly woody, not exactly floral, not exactly green,... but not exactly NOT all of these things either. I can't distinguish a single note specifically, which is a disappointment because I was excited about that plum/grape/sandalwood combination. All in all it's not really a bad scent, it's kind of interesting and original, but it's definitely not my thing. My least favourite from my Alkemia sample order, but then again one of them had to be!

There’s a lot going on here, and really not in a good way. The strongest, most prominent note is the grapiest most synthetic grape in the world- like kid’s medicine grape at full strength. Underneath that is a pretty realistic vanilla, oud, and an alcoholic smell that I believe is the cognac. It all comes together into a loud, rather sickening cloud that smells like the combination of cold medicine and alcohol that teenagers used to get trashed on when I was growing up. wear this and drive at your own risk. If you get pulled over you’re definitely getting breathalyzer tested.

So this is a fruity-floral set against an acrid haze, a bit on the sharp side. It starts out very juicy, then turns into warm flowers. I get sweet juicy, cactussy magnolia contrasted with bitterish notes like vetiver and oud. The grape note has something of both categories and gives the whole thing depth. I like that it actually smells like something that could have come from biblical times, like the lavish flowers and fruit that thrive in the heat one the one side and cool, dark palace passages with barrels of wine in the basement and the musky, herbal scent of decaying leaves and dirt from the outside on the other side. On me, this scent is pretty linear, it doesn't change much over time. The longevity is really good, lasts about 6-8 hours on me.

In love with the opening and when it's still mostly wet on the skin-it's a beautiful, darkly feminine scent that's distinctly floral but off beat enough to be mysterious, and is able to come across as sexy without crossing into something gauche or raunchy (which isn't a dig, as I'm a big fan of carnal scents). Much quieter on the dry down but hints of the opening still come and go. I'm interested in the ultime or EDP version as I find rollerballs annoying to work with. Overall I'm very impressed with its complexity, especially for an indie offering.

This is interesting. I had hoped I'd like it more. It just seems a bit disjointed. The overall idea is nice, but there's something there that's somewhere between "thin" and "sharp." I guess I just don't get what this scent is supposed to be. And it doesn't last very well on me either. But there are enough Alkemia scents I love, one or two duds aren't going to upset me!

Disappointed. So many have recommended this brand. This is the first sample of the pack so maybe the others will be better. This one has no longevity. Also, there's a slight odor of solvent; very slight, but I can pick it up in some lower priced scents, including this one. This has potential but needs to be reformulated for longevity and clarity.

I love several of Alkemia's scents, but this isnt' one of them. Something in here really bothers me. It strikes me as a plushy dusty woody note that reminds me of the sandalwood I like the least. And I can’t get it off. I ended up hating it. It lasts forever but it’s so damn strong and relentless. Great for those who love it.

This fragrance evokes a bittersweet feeling for me - the reality that the things you love, and find the height of art and good taste, just become outdated and tacky after a few decades. Exactly like the blue eyeshadow red lipstick combo of the 1980’s, loud and wrong. This fragrance is very much that for me.

dsty's description is the perfect review for Salome IMO, as I had the exact same experience! This one just seems ODD...it's definitely in between a lot of different scents, failing to really develop into its own dynamic scent...It definitely wasn't a like for me either.

can someone explain why this smells exactly like pico de gallo to me