Inkfeather

[Seajewel]

An homage to the corvid. Speaker of arcane secrets, crafter of tools, revealer of mysteries, devourer of corpses, and hallowed psychopomp at death’s gate.

 

Licorice root, black amber, 10-year aged black patchouli, and dark, resinous incense.

 

[elissamay]

Licorice but drier, maybe more akin to fennel in that it's licorice without being cloying, sugary sweet or candy-like. Root, not confection. A realistic sweetness from the earth.

 

Wet it's a blast of this beautiful anise-y sweetness with dark amber unfurling from the middle. I don't find the patch or the incense while it's wet. It's intoxicating. I keep coming back to this shiny, shiny spot on my wrist, coveting it.

 

Drying down, the resinous incense comes through. It's deeper down, below the amber. The patch begins to appear, a whisper on wings in the background. It's a sweet patch, perfectly paired with the licorice root.

 

This is like nothing I've ever smelled. Enigmatic and endlessly fascinating, like the familiar that inspired it. I can't stop going back for another inhalation.

 

I couldn't wear this regularly, but when I do wear it it, I will embody it.

 

Late stages, the licorice root soars away into a sweet cloud of incense. Almost vanillic.

 

Note: I'm testing this literally fresh from the mail since these are only available for a limited time, so ymmv!

Edited May 6, 2023 by elissamay

[LavenderCoffee]

If you love these notes, you will probably love this scent, but like its inky feather namesake, it is wonderfully multi-faceted.

 

Freshly applied, the licorice root flies to the foreground, but just as quickly the composition shifts to feature the stunning black amber. I don't anticipate getting "who smells like a root beer" when wearing this. Patchouli and licorice root beome as inseperable as the colors reflected in the metallic sheen of a dark, sleek wing. And then when you think you have the size of it, there is absolutely a rich, non-foodie vanillic moment against the murky backdrop - perhaps the resinous incense is benzoin, sweetened by amber. I find this phase comes more quickly on skin exposed to air, and it put me in mind of the striking white and black coloration of Jessamy the raven, as depicted on the Sandman tv series.

 

A subtle stunner of a scent to help build your resolve, whether you need to draw on cunning, courage, or mercy. I am trying to talk myself out of a second bottle, but Ink Feather might approve of collecting the shiny.

[starbrow]

Ink Feather is an unabashed morpher. Full disclaimer, I am usually not a huge lover of strong licorice or anise scents - a drop of it suits me better than a blast - but once I realized this one stars licorice ROOT, that was a game changer. I've used Throat Coat tea for many years, and Ink Feather is basically that tea in perfume form. The bottle whiff is that distinctive poofy-herbal root that is somehow sweet in a "it's GOOD for you" way; earthy, rooty, witchy. On skin, it does much the same thing for the first few minutes. 

 

Swiftly as a raven deciding to take flight, the licorice root spreads out - I don't know a better way to put it - into a dispersed, oily-black sheen that floats on the surface like the waterproof coating on a feather. That's such a cool effect! Things continue to get poofier. Thanks, black amber. I described it in first impressions as "dark and girly; girly and dark." Not that I think only girls/fems can wear it, it just brings a feminine energy to darkness, whereas a lot of dark scents have masculine energy to me. This is yin darkness. Mysterious, sleek, sinuous. 

 

It stays in the herbal-tea realm for me, wildly similar to Throat Coat, for a very long time. This feels like a young blend right now. I think next year at this time, the patch and incense will be much more intense. It takes several hours for things to simmer down into an inky resin, but I can absolutely see glimmers of the ink that inspired the name.

 

Late drydown has a smooth, silken dark brown quality to it like Snake's Tongue. This is a quietly gorgeous stage. You have to get close up to it to smell it, but it's well worth a wrist nuzzle.

 

I am thinking of holding onto this for a year, even though I'm not 100% devoted to it yet. I think it will evolve into something I will love.

[feyofthefellwood]

If you think you'd love this, you probably will. As starbrow noted, this is definitely a morpher, but each stage is lovely. Wet, the scent opens with the licorice root, which is more herbal than gourmand, but that fades into the gorgeous black amber (one of my favorite notes). The black amber is sweet and melds with the patchouli and incense in a way that makes me think of crushed black velvet. The incense takes the stage next; I can't tell if it's a soft frankincense or myrrh or a blend of both, but it's smooth and elegant. On me, the patchouli emerges last (though I'm sure it's actually there the whole time, just blending with the other notes!). It gives the overall scent depth and a pleasant earthiness. I put this one last night, and this morning I still smell hints of amber-sweetened incense and patchouli. The overall scent doesn't have a ton of throw on me (at least at this point), but its staying power is impressive. This is a perfect olfactory equivalent of a corvid feather, all liquid darkness and iridescent sheen.

[doomsday_disco]

This is definitely one for licorice fans. It is strong on the licorice root, which has an effervescent quality to it. So slightly fizzy licorice. It's so strong on me that the resins can't even compete with it and are confined to a background role throughout wear. I think it being the root is what is lending the sparkling quality to this scent.

 

I am not a licorice fan, so this is not for me, but if that is your jam, you should give this a whirl.

[Lucchesa]

Ink Feather might have been crafted just for me.  I love the licorice note in all its incarnations, from root to whip, and it starts out strong on beautiful dark sweet earthy licorice.  For a while it's a licorice root amber perfume, then a licorice root patchouli one, and it ends for me as a soft licorice incense which is a big warm blanket for my soul, but also sexy, probably because it makes me feel good.  I suspect we licorice lovers are few but fervid, and we need this.