Cannibal Soliloquy

[Seajewel]

“I know what I am, but I know I’m not what I am. Beauty lives inside me. But oh, when beauty is trapped, it gets ugly…”

 

A perfume worthy of a fading Tennessee Williams heroine wandering through a mirror-maze of memories, only slightly singed from too many Electro-Convulsive Therapy sessions: wafts of burning frankincense rising from a hot-seat occupied by duelling champaca orchids, white amber, Sicilian mandarin, and bergamot.

 

[LavenderCoffee]

Begins with a lovely frankincense base accented with subtle mandarin and soft orchid that sweetens with amber. Bergamot comes through more in the dry phase but doesn't take over. Mostly an orchid scent in the end, low throw and very wearable.

[Failmingo]

I dunno who needs to hear this, but the amber in this scent has aged REALLY nicely. This feels so warm on the skin that I've been tempted to guess cinnamon is involved somewhere. And in fact it reminds me a bit of Elizabeth's Imps from last Halloween, although this one is less sticky-syrupy dark amber, more glowy and transcendent. 

 

The mental mood board for this scent involved snapshots of Vivian Leigh in A Streetcar Named Desire or Elizabeth Taylor in Suddenly Last Summer. -- women shattered by tragic circumstance, clinging to mementos and recollections of more glamorous days, deserving of kindness but ultimately confined to institutions and subjected to primitive treatments.

 

There's a poof of smoky frankincense at the beginning which mostly subsides, giving way to a sheer white amber that's lent some sparkle by the mandarin and some gentility by the orchid. The amber/bergamot/orchid situation is impressively gauzy and serene, flirtatious even, but a faint edginess persists -- like finding cigarette burns on a lovely white summer dress.

 

 

[OxfordComma]

This was mostly bergamot and champaca on me, and was actually pretty enjoyable with the hints of white amber and frankincense wafting in and out but! The throw was nonexistent sadly, and the longevity was not hot either. 🥲