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Showing results for tags 'The Empress'.
Found 12 results
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The personification of nature itself: patchouli and clary sage with a host of dark mosses and lichens, wild grasses, warm acorns, dammar, burgundy pitch, pine needles, mandrake root, hay absolute, and sweet vetiver. From the bottle whiff, I get immediately a pine scent, with a swirl of very verdant, wet and sappy greenery. Not foreboding, but definitely a lot going on. The image I get is a glossy mix of obsidian and emerald. There's a bit of a 'Tramp' feel from this, for you LUSHies. Immediately on the skin it's patchouli and pine, both vying for attention. Around this vacillation between airy, clear and klaxon pine, patchouli grumbles and gives everything a loamy, soily feel. I'm now getting the hay, which is of a slightly damp persuasion. This is all forest, a coniferous one. Not too heavy on the soil and dirt notes, although there is the patchouli, but what makes it so foresty is the combination of all the subtle, woodsy/oak, gummy, rooty scents. The moss and lichen does add a bit of an ashy/rocky feel to it. As time passes, this actually gets a touch drier, more of a solid wood, with pine needles gracing it but not dominating. It settles on me into a very smooth, non-cacophonous 'forest.' Although this isn't a dead ringer for the sadly discontinued LUSH Tramp, it has the similar feel of moss, patchouli, and nymphlike greenery. I like it! I think one bottle is enough for me since this is very environmental. Lovers of Black Forest or similar aromas, please try this!
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The flow of inspiration and passion, intuition put into action. The stream flows from the heart of the Empress’ Forest into the verdant fields at her feet. Sakura blossoms, neroli, and peach blossom cascading into a pool of white frankincense and hiba cedarwood. This sounds like an amazing Shunga Salon-type blend. I had to try it for the sakura and hiba cedarwood alone! Sniff from bottle is ... confusing. It's very subtle, light, at first, but then I think it's trying to be topnote of neroli, a hint of frankincense resin, and then I get a background of warm peachy peach. A hint of honey sweet that then turns a little syrupy, I think of crystal clear simple syrup. No idea why. Wet, it's... cedar? But like hinoki type, clear, not too woodsy, oh, and there's the spicy cream of cherry blossom. There's a bit of a swell of orange-blossom candy neroli and peach roiling together in the first few minutes, and I'm reminded of fruit candies, like some kind of exotic floral candy (There's actually an old-school Japanese candy called 'Flower's Kiss,' which has inexplicably pictures of flowers all over the wrappers but is in actuality an apricot hard candy... I used to have these a lot as a kid, and couldn't place the flavor - what a naive non-BPAL person I was! Apricots!). This does remain fairly sweet, and light, on my hand. With a bit of time, I can start to get more of the slightly sharp cedarwood - japanese cedar? Or something... It's definitely taking this a bit away from pure candy and sweetness. It still remains pretty strong on the peach/peach blossom, with the sakura and cedarwood giving a distinctively Japanese-style Salon flair. I'm not getting frankincense as a dominant scent, but it must be doing something to unify everything and ground these lighter notes, like a background glow.
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The glory of Venus as the apex of luxury and sensuality: velvet red rose petal attar, sweet red oudh, Mysore sandalwood, red benzoin, elemi, silken musk, and jasmine sambac. For me this was all jasmine and Ivory soap. I didn't get any of the notes listed but jasmine. If you like jasmine or Ivory, you'll love this.
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The Queen who creates and cultivates all that sustains us on this plane: ripe red pomegranate and bakhoor oudh, honeyed incense, fig and ambrette seed, sandalwood and carnation. The Robes of Pomegranates-I bought this blind, and I’m glad I did. Oude is sometimes iffy on me and I have always wanted to get a Lab pomegranate that I truly love. All the only notes are notes of win. I received my bottle yesterday and let it rest until today. This is really great, and everything I was hoping it would be. The pomegranate is deep and rich and the sandalwood and honey pair very well together but is not too sweet. I do smell the carnation after thirty minutes or so with perhaps some stem too. All around a perfect scent for me!
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O Venus, beauty of the skies, To whom a thousand temples rise, Gaily false in gentle smiles, Full of love-perplexing wiles; O goddess, from my heart remove The wasting cares and pains of love. Red rose petals, benzoin, honey myrtle and ambrette seed. The Queen of Love smells like a classic BPAL, like Persephone or Spellbound, something unified through the prism of red rose. Red rose is the dominant note on me, closely followed by benzoin. The honey myrtle adds both a honeyed and a honeyed floral note, and the ambrette throws a musky blur over everything. It's a resiny (incensey), red rose, musky, honeyed blend, managing to be sexy, comforting, and nostalgic in equal measures. So glad I picked this up, it definitely telegraphs Venus but also love in so many dimensions.
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Fancy with prophetic glance Sees the teeming months advance; The field, the forest, green and gay; The dappled slope, the tedded hay; Sees the reddening orchard blow, The Harvest wave, the vintage flow. Wheat stalks, hay absolute, and clove. Clovey...something. I dont know what wheat or hay smell like but I do know clove. Sweetens a tiny bit a few minutes after wearing. I cant explain it very well, but it's easy to wear and soft. A clean...earthiness I suppose.
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A whisper of names: Nandi, Dido, Clytemnestra, Hatshepsut, Merneith, Olga of Kiev, Boudicca, Urraca the Reckless, Makeda, Sasaban, Semiramis, Rabodoandrianampoinimerina, Theodora, Julia Agrippina, Wu Zeitan, Irene Sarantapechaina, Elizabeth. She is every queen that has ever walked on this Earth, and every queen that shall come. She rules the past, the present, and the future; she is the archetypical sovereign, the amalgamation of feminine power – dark and light – throughout all of mankind’s history. White gardenia and tuberose with ambergris accord, vegetal vanilla musk, bourbon vanilla, and amber incense. From the bottle whiff: High pitched, bright, clarion call creamy gardenia petals. A bit of sweetness, but without too much foodiness. Waxy, but waxy like buttercream frosting, not candles. Wet, the gardenia is joined by tuberose, and the two make for a distinctively LOUD opener. Heady, sensual, yes, but very tropical and extremely white floral! There's a more floral vanilla attempting to bring down the florals over the first 10-15 minutes, a little tickle of cream at the edges of the floral bouquet. I'm sniffing around, it's getting... somehow, smoother? The initial very potent tropical blast is starting to calm down into a very interesting combination of scents. I'm getting a little bit of a salty, smoky amber, but just a hint. Like an extinguished vanilla incense stick. I think I'm actually getting a kiss of white musk, but again not dominating. Over time, this has a bit of a 'gauzy' overtone with the florals amazingly draped over but not dominating the central notes of the blend, which strike me as being a very inoffensive, well-blended melange of subtle incense, a white or light amber, and a mysterious vanilla that grounds this, without making it dessert-y. Over time, the tuberose starts to be stronger than the gardenia, but that could just be my skin... as it does that to tuberose. Glittery diaphanous gauze over a polished ivory marble stone, strewn with ripped tuberose petals.
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A verdant grove of evergreens, the promise of peace, quiet, and refuge within the heart of Nature’s embrace: clusters of clubmoss huddle silently under a gently shadowed canopy of silver fir, blue spruce, red cedar, cypress, and live oak. Another earthy offering from the Empress! From the bottle, this is more fir-heavy, but is a swirl of mostly coniferous, sappy evergreens, but backed up with a touch of oaky woods. The cedar and cypress are trying to peek through. Dabbed on the skin, whoa, whoa nelly, oh, man, I am Become Conifer! STAND ASIDE, YOU ANGIOSPERMS FOR WE ARE THE STUBBIER, SCRAGGLIER PIONEERS TO CONSERVE WATER WE DEVELOPED THICK NEEDLES (WHICH REQUIRE SIGNIFICANT SUN EXPOSURE) IN MOST FOREST ECOSYSTEMS WE PROMULGATE FIRST THEN YOU FROO FROO BROAD LEAFED WHIPPERSNAPPERS COME IN AND OVERSHADOW US KILLING OUR TINY IMMOBILE SAPLINGS ...BUT WE LIKE CLEARINGS AND GROW IN COPSES WHEN ONE OF YOU FALLS SO WATCH YOUR BACK! GYMNOSPERM PRIDE FIE, FIE YOU OAK BEWARE NEEDLES IN YOUR BA®K! In more fragrance related news from that odd divergence: This is a HUGE blast of needly green things. It's on me almost a bit much and reads almost as Single Note: Holiday Christmas Tree to me. It's very natural, just strong, and even for its strong opener, it actually fades pretty fast on me. This is common when I'm wearing any 'evergreen' note. With about half an hour, it's a whisper of mostly a bit of dry fir, and some cedar warmth, but beyond that, not too much else comes roaring to the surface. If you're a big fan of evergreens, don't pass this one up, it's an experience, true, but at least on me died down pretty quick.
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In some interpretations, her shield bears the eagle of dominion, in others, it is emblazoned with the symbol of the planet Venus. The sovereignty of love, the protection and succor of a benevolent mother-queen: white patchouli and helichrysum with blackcurrant, white sage, praline, vetiver, and orris root. This is straight out of the mail so I may add more once it has settles. In the bottle: its praline with a back kick of vetiver and nothing else Wet: The first thing I get is the sage, and a dryness that I presume is the orris root. Dry: As it dries, the sage stays in the forefront, very herbal. There's a depth of patchouli/vetiver but it's not overpowering. I'm not getting any currant and the praline has vanished.
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Twelve petals in the heart chakra, twelve cranial nerves in the human body. Twelve lunar months, twelve lunations in a solar year, twelve signs of the Zodiac, twelve Earthly Branches. Twelve Tribes of Israel, twelve Apostles, Jacob and Ishmael each had twelve sons. Twelve days of Christmas, the sacred time between Christmas and Epiphany. Odin had twelve sons. There are twelve jurors in Athenas celestial court. The stars in her crown are hexagrams, proclaiming her dominion over the material world. A great sign appeared in heaven: a woman clothed with the sun, with the moon under her feet and a crown of twelve stars on her head: red musk and tolu, centifolia rose and black tobacco, French lavender and star anise, Roman chamomile and leather. In the bottle, it's all centifolia rose and chamomile. On skin, I get soft tobacco, star anise, centifolia rose (not too strong for all you rose-haters), a worn-in leather couch, and a pinch of something that smells like juniper. This is not a perfume that you wear to make you feel pretty. This is a mystical blend--an anointing oil that you wear with intention. I get average throw and average longevity with The Starry Crown.
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One half of the Tarots binary expression of archetypical sovereignty, governing comfort and succor, the healing power of the natural world, the fecundity of the countryside, the stability of earth supported by the passionate tides of water, and all that gently nurtures humankind. This is the safety of home and kingdom alike, the promise of enough resources to sustain you and your community, the assurance the fruitfulness of the harvest, benevolent protection, and the wellbeing of generations to come. Amber oudh, mandarin rind, and Florentine bergamot. Warm flashes of citrus peeking through an ambery cloud. Warmth in a bottle.
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The Fruitful Mother of Thousands that rules over the House of Man: golden bulbs bursting through the ground at the first light of Spring: sun-bright golden petals of daffodil, gladiolus, tulips, crocus, aconite and jonquil gilded with amber. I'm almost through my bottle of Qui Aime Bien Châtie Bien (daffodil petals and lavender tulips, blonde woods, freesia, a touch of pale honey). That could have been a sad occasion, because it's a go-to quirky spring floral for me, but then The Queen came out. I'm thrilled, because this does remind me a lot of Qui Aime, but with a bit of a golden tone in lieu of Qui Aime's sweet and watery one. (Qui Aime had smelled floral-aquatic to me in the way that Blue Bonnet SN smells blue floral-aquatic when I wear it. There's none of that here, but there's lots of unconventional spring floral goodness.) I catch daffodils and tulips most, but I'm not sure what the other listed flowers smell like. I don't smell amber as such, but a vague golden light seems to warm the blooms. From bottle to dry, this blend's balance is pretty consistent for me. This Queen is a warm and wildflower-ish spring bouquet. It's a cheer-bringer, as if these faces were flowers:
