Phoenix Flame

This is yet another beautiful release from Mabelle. After wearing it all day, this is how I'm feeling about it... if youre looking for a new take on a spicy woodsy profile or for a unique oud to add to your collection- let it be this. Sumac is the star of the show and the initial note that greets you. Its citric yet bitter profile plays well with the cardamom & cinnamon. The drydown, a few hours later, you're left with a calm yet bold aromatic laced oud. This is stunning and perfectly unisex. The sumac truly sets this apart from anything else in this genre. Love!!

Beautiful work. For me, it's similar to Bois D'Ascèse but slightly more ambery. There's no cade oil listed, but it still smells like it to me. It's slightly more honeyed than the Goodsir; if you could see the smoke it would be whiter as it's less gritty and camphorous than the Goodsir or A City on Fire and has none of the smoked salmon caramelisation of Bois Sikar. It doesn't dethrone Bois D'Ascèse for me as I like the brutality and evocative nature of the Goodsir, but it's close and it's more easily wearable.

Notes per their website: Sumac, Cinnamon, Cardamon, Immortelle, Frankincense, Myrrh and Oud Amber is also listed on the packaging sleeve. I need to find more fragrances using Sumac. ❤️🤎❤️

Okay so these days I'm predictably a little snobby and down on indy perfumery which is an entirely silly thing to be because many indy perfumers have actually pushed the boundaries at the frontier of perfumery, expanding and innovating the artform. I really enjoyed Pheonix Flames, it's a heavy amber, resinous perfume with persistent spicy notes. I was actually thinking to myself the otherday how little I use Sumac in cookery and how it's not as readily used or recreated in perfume either. Sumac is awesome! It's kinda hot, oddly leathery like saffron or something but with a sharpness like ginger and citrus fruits it's really cool stuff. Can't say I instantly recognised it in here but if that's adding to this perfume's appeal then I certainly wouldn't be surprised and praise the perfumer for using it. What I appreciate about this is the deft touch of smokiness, which can be so easily overbearing in indy stuff and isn't here. My mum smelled me and said I smelled a bit like sausages, which I perceived as perhaps being something like guaiac wood, a fantastic material with a savoury bbq smoke to it. Defintiely has a sweet, pricke of heat from cinnamon which again is very well balanced, then a resin accord of oibanum, labdanum, a sort of sticky amber. Is it a bit heavy, dense, etc... yes but I really, really enjoyed wearing more than many other niche incense perfumes and the name is perfect, very pheonix, very flames.

Phoenix Flame is an outstandingly unique and commanding scent, one which simply cannot go unnoticed or unappreciated. A warm-spicy oud like little else on the market, I think it’s really impressive. Sumac is the main note listed, and whilst I’ve cooked with the stuff a few times, I can’t say I hugely remember what it smells like. It’s got a very warming, almost sweet saffron-effect, complemented nicely by cardamom and cinnamon. The oud is present, amongst other resins, presenting rather smoky, oily and balsamic. It’s nice, but not a love for me, I find it very well balanced and well thought out, but there’s just something missing. Overall I think it’s a great scent, maybe it simply isn’t my style.