Chokmah

[siriusstar]

CHOKMAH

 

The Primordial Point of Creation, Mazloth, Being Out of Nothingness, the Origin of Thought and the source of the 32 Ways of Wisdom.

 

The oil color is a very dark brown, I'd be careful with it around white clothes! In the bottle it smells very strongly of anise. On, the anise becomes intermingled with a bit of frankincense and what I think is musk. It has a powerfully masculine presence, as it should have. It becomes softer after awhile, but never loses it's inherent masculinity.

 

It's wonderful for use while studying and understanding the meaning of Chokmah, but I probably wouldn't wear it everyday.

[Penance]

First sniff:

 

Is that sassafrass? That's certainly what it smells like to me. The oil's dark brown, so I expected something earthy but it smells like root beer to me, which almost invariably means sassafrass. I think I smell vanilla, too...it's almost like Tombstone sans cedar.

 

Wet on skin:

 

Still smells like sassafrass, which I happen to love, by the way. It smells like a root beer float, to be precise...like root beer (sassafrass) and vanilla. It's actually isomewhat similar to super fresh Snake Oil, only with a root beer note. I like this!

 

Dry down:

 

I smell like a frickin' root beer float and I love it!

 

This is so weird and totally unexpected, but I like it!

 

The bottom line:

 

This one was a total surprise and I really like it. I think I like it even more than Chesed, which has been my favorite Sephiroth so far.

[darkling]

In the vial: Chokmah smelled exactly like the horrible cough syrup that my parents made me take as a child. It pretended to be cherry flavored but did not have a hint of anything remotely resembling a cherry in the taste. I debated even putting this on.

 

On my wrist: Ugh! Still cough syrup. A spicy scent starts to mingle with the cough syrup making it slightly more palatable.

 

Drydown: The spice remains but I can't identify a particular note. There is a second note that is pleasant and reminds me of Blood. Could it be myrrh mingled with cherry? Unfortunately, the cough syrup lurks underneath the other notes.

 

I think that Chokmah could be beautiful for anyone who doesn't have the cough syrup association because there are some lovely notes in it.

[feline.by.design]

I didn't get any cough syrup associations with Chokmah, which is good as I have already experienced such a state with another BPAL blend.

 

Instead, Chokmah was very, very resiny/incensy on me. It reminded me of Scherezade, but deeper and more complex. Brent said it smelled like nag champa. To me, with its inner meaning it seemed as if a snatch of air was captured from a Tibetan temple eons ago, along with the sounds of chanting and meditative silence.

 

Oooooh....

 

On me, Chokmah managed to be strong and noticable on me, but not overpowering in the least. This is great. I really love, love, love the scent, and so I've broken down and bought a bottle of Chokmah for my most recent order of today. This is a gorgeous scent for the skin, and it would be wonderful burned in an oil burner as well. It's mysterious and... well, knowing.

 

This is the first Sephiroth scent I've tried, and because of this good experience, I'm interested in trying a few more.

 

-doreen

[ipb]

it doesn't remind me of rootbeer, but it's definitely spicy and musky. i don't know the spice off the top of my head, but it's not fennel/anise, or at least the kind i cook with. it's a familiar smell, though. i may beg a decant off of someone, but i don't love it enough to buy a full bottle.

[slave1]

In Bottle: Musk.

 

On Skin: Yum! It’s turns to rootbeer! It has a sweet note and actually reminds me of Snake Oil a bit. I generally don’t like spicy scents, but this one I love. It gets attention that’s for sure. After 10 minutes, it smells even more like Snake Oil. So I love Snake Oil which means I love this.

[helarctos]

Ohh... Chokmah is a dead-on premium root beer. Maybe even a root beer float, with its sweetness (though I don't mean to imply by this the presence of vanilla, which I don't detect). If this were a catalog blend with no occult/contemplative significance, I'd buy a 10 ml and slather myself in it. Regardless, it is absolutely my favorite of all the Sephiroth.

[zankoku_zen]

In the Bottle: A bit incensey. A bit musky.

 

On Skin: Warm. Smells a bit like Pinesol. It's very resin like.

On Drydown: Still very resinous. Very masculine though.

 

Verdict: Not me at all. Off to the swap pile.

[grrrlennyl]

at first: this smells like root beer. woo hoo!

on: i love this. it's almost bubbly. i think it may be sassafras.

overall: this is really lovely. i might actually buy a bottle of this at some point.

[inkstone]

This smells like warm, resiny incense on me. I cannot pick out the notes for the life of me, although that seems to be indicative of the Sephiroth oils in general. This is also another one that ends up being masculine on me.

[scourgeotheseas]

Chokmah

 

In the bottle: Resin and Pinesol.

 

On me: Pine! No, sweeter! Root beer! No, woodier! Sassafras? Well, maybe, if it's root beer's woody cousin.

 

Drydown: Well, it's sassafras one moment and then a light, sweet pin the next. It can't make up its mind, and neither can I. Do I like it? I'm not sure...

[quimerula]

Very medicinal.

I can smell eucalipthus and mentol, kind of Vicks Vaporub smelling.

It's like a "cleaning" feeling.

[k00kaburra]

In bottle: Rather bubbly, it is quite medicinal. It reminds me heavily of root beer mixed with cough syrup - which is not a pleasant combination to my nose or to my imagininative tastebuds.

 

On me: Another vote of 'rootbeer' for this scent! It's warm and inviting, and a bit fizzy. Completely unexpected, but I like it!

[sarada]

Wow, sinus-clearing!

 

This is...definitely medicinal. Cough syrup, Vabo-rub, you name it. Actually what it most reminds me of is this Chinese white flower oil my mom gave me so I could have it rubbed into my shoulders to help with my horrible upper back tension and resulting headaches. This is definitely not something you'd just splash on casually as a perfume. This is a dead serious oil!

 

I'm going to have to agree with the sassafras and eucalyptus description. Actually, birch beer and things like that all smell medicinal to me and I sense something like eucalyptus or menthol in them. This smells like all of that. It would be great to rub into your temples if you had a headache, I think. Or onto sore muscles. I can't imagine wearing it because I wanted to smell like it, since this makes me think of muscle pain. But wow, that's some strooooooong stuff.

[roesmoker]

My verdict on Chokmah? Yummy. It reminds me of my beloved Urd crossed with Binah, but sweeter than either. Makes sense that it would smell like Urd, given the Nag Champa referenced above. I don't get any cherry out of this at all, thank God (fruit and I have a mutual hate-on).

Edited October 3, 2005 by roesmoker

[Little Bird]

I'm another person who got a rootbeer float sort of smell from this. Sweet vanilla and root beer. In the drydown it does get a bit reminiscent of Snake Oil (not in a bad way, I actually don't care for Snake Oil... but it has a sort of similar powdery/resinous quality).

 

Like a root beer float that I dumped an imp of Snake Oil into. Interesting, I'll be keeping my decant... probably won't be a full bottle purchase though.

[lohengrin]

Uhm. Goodness, this one is odd. I'm going to have to go with rootbeer that has been sitting in a pagan shop for a couple hours and has absorbed the smell of the incense. It's interesting, but it kind of gives me a headache.

[Lycanthrope]

Impressions: Mint, Eucalyptus, Sandalwood.

 

Oh my. Goes on and turns right into my usual daily toothpaste, minty and sweet with a brush of green plant. This reminds me a lot of Kathmandu. However, the bright, peppermint-y aroma segues into a much less evocative spearmint blended with a beautiful sandalwood, similar to the one found in Fenris Wolf (the same red sandalwood whiff here!) All in all, a very unique combination of notes, at once revitalizing and cold and also warm and a touch feral. A good balance.

[coulrophobe]

From the color of the oil, I expected patchouli... but I got rootbeer, like several of the reviews above. Must be sassafras! On my skin, I'm also getting black musk, and maybe some herbs, and a bit of vanilla. It's an unusual scent, but oddly compelling. Clean, fizzy, and definitely quirky. I like it, but it's not something I'd wear too often. Another one that is a bit masculine, and therefore would probably smell fabulous on someone of the masculine persuasion, though I do like it on me as well.

[aidenraine]

Wow, this is very spicy and musky, but I'm not sure in a good way. It's the smell of many incenses at once, plus something slightly musty and sweet at once. It's driving me nuts that I can't place this, but I am really averse to it, whatever it is!

 

I guess I am getting a bit of root beer or cream soda. It's kind of an after effect, really.

 

Maybe some mint?

I'm so confused.

 

 

There's just something stinky behind this. I'll just conclude that I'm mystified by Chokmah.

[cupide430]

My first impression, is that rootbeer and bandaids? Mostly rootbeer with a slight plasticky note in the background. Very different on the skin than in the imp. It was much stronger and almost antiseptic smelling. On the skin it smells a lot less medicinal. This is going from rootbeer and bandaids to rootbeer and powder.

[joseybird]

SASSAFRASS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

:D

 

An' a lil woodsy stuff there too...?

[voodoobaby]

On first sniff, it smells like root beer, pepper, musk, and...oh dear, is that civet? I know this shares a certain note with Czernobog, but I can't put my finger on exactly what it is. Later on, I realize that if there is civet here (which I keep almost smelling), it's very faint and doesn't take an awful turn like most blends do that contain the note. Nonetheless, there's something a big "off" about this one. It's not incredibly unpleasant, but I'm really not sure about it.

[SeaMonkey]

Smells like the Pappy's Sassafrass tea that my brother drinks all the time!

[minouska]

In the imp: minty and spicy at the same time.

 

On my knee: sweeter, still minty, but with an overwhelming root beer overtone--that must be sassafrass.