Magus

[melrose]

An ancient blend, swollen with arcane power: galangal, high john essence, frankincense, cedar, and sandalwood.

I thought this would be bad news at first, because I smelled peanut butter. Huh? Where did that come from?

Near drydown: Fresh, clean breeze in a forest, plus spices. Very nice.

Far drydown: Dirt and spices - fantastic!

[waternight]

In the imp: Something sweet and fruity, which is NOT what I expected, considering the notes. Could it be the high john essence? I don’t think it’s galangal, which is gingery/citrusy. On second sniff, it could be the frankincense.

Wet/Drydown: Dry, dusty, a teensy bit spicy. A very gentle woodsy note, not hyper-strong like cedar – maybe it’s the sandalwood. Now a bit more of the frankincense is coming out. This is dry and very smoothly blended, there isn’t a single note that is really jumping out at me. Now it’s warming up – still quite dry – I think that’s the galangal I’m smelling. There’s still a hint of something sweet. The sandalwood and frankincense blend really well together to give the oil a warm and dry feel. I don’t smell cedar at all. Not a lot of throw – the scent stays very close to the skin. A little drier – it’s a dry wood smell, very gentle and natural, not a sharp woody smell at all.

Dry: Frankincense and sandalwood, but rather sweet and nondescript. It’s pleasant, but nothing special. I might keep the imp, but I'll probably end up swapping it. For woody scents, I much prefer Aureus.

[evcelt]

Very... arcane smelling in the imp.

 

A certain sharpness wet... definitely the cedar, possibly the galangal, too (although I'm not really familiar with that outside of Thai food )

 

Settles down nicely to frankincense and sandalwood, with something sweet underneath? Maybe the High John?

 

It has a very good sustain on me, and makes me feel all Golden-Dawn-y.

[Trish]

In the imp: Cedar and something else, quite sharp.

 

Wet: Cedar and lots of it.

 

Drydown: Oooh this is my kind of cedar! It's not as strong and sharp as Cathedral, nor is it as soft as in Kathmandu. It's my perfect cedar.

 

Dry: This is still predomnantly cedar on my skin, but there's quite a bit of frankincense too along with an almost spicy note that I don't recognise. I guess that's the galangal or high john. It's very dry and there's also a bit of incense smoke. I'm not getting the citrus note others have mentioned at all, nor any sandalwood. The latter would normally disappoint me but in this case it doesn't. I really like this a lot!

 

After a while the frankincense starts to take over from the cedar and it reminds me very strongly of Penitence. I need to test them at the same time I think, to see how alike they actually are on me.

Edited March 2, 2007 by Trishek

[forspecial_plate]

Pretty strong cedar here, and some incense-y woods behind it adding some sweetness. In theory I should really like this, but somehow it's not exciting me much. It is like a slightly dustier and sweeter counterpart to Cathedral. This could be worth putting away for a while and trying again at a later date. The cedar just wants to take over.

[cranberry]

Wow – I don’t know why I haven’t tried this one before. I love these woody scents and this one is no exception. It starts out as a wonderful cedar scent. It smells like there could be a touch of incense in the background. Its like Aureus and Midnight Mass mated and this is their child.

 

This is a lovely scent and I like it quite a bit. The only problem is that it doesn’t last at all on my skin. I applied a good swipe about an hr ago and it’s totally gone. It reminds me of Aureus, Cathedral, Jupiter and Midnight Mass.

[500ml]

This smelled so strong in the vial and wet on my skin (almost nasty), but I've got to say that the scent quickly morphs into something which I personally find is really lovely. It's warm and woody, with a touch of frankincense once it all dries. I was trying not to like it, but I just can't - I certainly like this.

[DifferentDances]

Wet in imp: Something really, really sharp.

Wet on skin: wet wall paint.

Drydown: Wet paint on cedarwood.

Dry: Paint has dried on the cedar mulch. All that remains is muted cedar.

 

My rating: 1/5. Not really my thing.

[Bangles]

Not something I would've ordered from the notes listed or the name, but I am loving this frimp, I might just get a bottle.

 

This isn't at all green or woodsy on me. It's predominantly sweet, in a powdery sort of way - but it's a good powdery sweetness, not baby powder or artificial sugar or the like. I'm loving it. I can tell there's something else in the background - mostly incense - that grounds the sweetness and keeps it from being boring, but it's stays very much in the background. This scent doesn't change much from start to finish; it's neither overly strong nor too close to the skin, and it has staying power.

[taramarie]

On my skin, Magus smells like cedar, sandalwood, and a little bit of frankincense. It's nice but fades fast on my skin. I'll give this another try sometime but right now, it's not me.

[daiconharuko]

I don't know if it's just me, but this scent isn't very strong. It's a very light woody scent. It's pretty sexy if you ask me. I think it would smell just wonderful on my fiance. All of the scents blend wonderful into something that doesn't stand out too much, but still makes you want to sniff more and more.

[Magda]

In the vial and on my skin it smells like sweet, fresh-cut wood, switching to strong sandalwood and cedar after just a minute. It's a very cool scent, much more wet than what I'd been expecting. Even after the incense comes out (the frankincense I'm assuming), it's still not a dry scent. It's kind of like a damp version of Cathedral.

 

I don't really do the whole masculine/feminine categorization of scents, but I think this is probably unisex. It's soft and sweet, but not "girly" at all. I'd like to smell this on just about anyone.

[Gwydion]

Surprisingly light, alcoholic, and chalky when first applied. It settles into something faint with a chalky incense sort of scent to it. Very disappointing, as I like incense in my perfumes. Simply, this scent is too light and insubstantial.

[yewberry]

In the imp, it's mostly cedarwood. On my skin it's an almost 50/50 mix of sandalwood and cedarwood. Hints of frankincense peep out after a few minutes, but overall it's just cedar and sandal.

 

I like to layer Velvet with Mandrake, and this blend reminds me of that, without the cocoa.

[alliekat13]

Very very cedar, both in the imp and on my skin. I smell a tiny bit of frankincense, and incensy sandalwood. I don't like to wear scents like this, but it is amazingly evocative and woodsy. This would be nice on a man.

[YoakeNoKami]

Imp: Damp woods and cedar/sandalwood. Could be a good thing!

 

On: Whoooo. Um, can I get some soap, please? It's gone very musky and oddly sour on me, and there's some sort of icky dead floral thing going on! Got to wash this one off!

[Brianne]

Cedar and frankincense! This scent has a very old and "magic" vibe to it - I don't see the average guy wearing this one, it seems more ... mysterious and even odd. It is very strong on the cedar I will say. This scent isn't for me OR for my husband, but it's unique enough to have made an impression on me

[aleciarivas]

Very wood-y. Cedar amps like crazy on me, in spite of the fact that I LOVE the smell. Just not on me. Somewhere in the midst of all that cedar are some dead-ish flowers. Ew.

[aestien]

Bottle: lots of wood

Wet: there is a slight sweetness and earthiness over the definite cedar and sandalwood

Dry: crap, this goes powdery sweet on me

 

The cedar and frankincense are always nice, sadly, the rest of the blend doesn’t like me. Meh.

[gchris]

Magus

In Vial: Definitely smell the frankincense

 

On Skin: This is strong, incense-y. Reminds me of something old, aged.

 

Later: Not as strong now, less overpowering, but very much a frankincense scent. That is pretty much all I smell.

[SarahScent44]

In the imp: ech, this is kind of herbaceous and over-strong.

 

On my skin - still sharp and medicinal. It must be the galangal, along with the frankincense.

 

When dry, it's all medicinal and herby - yeah, this is not for me.

[Magpie]

I got this for my boyfriend but since he likes it so much and is getting a 5ml next order, I figured I could try it and review myself - just a leetle try

 

So, in the imp it is very much sandalwood, cedar and a bitter, bitter incense. It made my nose curl a little. On wet, the slight flatness of the ceder is very much in evidence, and it spreads and becomes less bitter, but it almost feels like fresh-chopped wood.

 

It fades out a little as it dries on me, and the incense notes have almost disappeared, but it is a lot less sharp than in the imp. Very...hermetic...which is precisely what I was hoping for. Very nice on, warm and woodsy with incensy overtones. I still prefer Yew Trees as my wood scent, but this is a lovely ceder/sandalwood scent.

 

Disclaimer: as I said, I bought this for my boyfriend, who absolutely adores it. It smells much richer and warmer on him, a lovely masculine scent. It really does smell like some oldschool kind of magician, with ancient tomes and robes that have picked up the scent of the incense burned in rituals. The incense sticks around a bit more too. So, on him, 100% success rate and he is getting a 5ml next order.

[Lamia]

This is a very woody masculine scent, snappish and biting. There is nothing soft of this scent, it's dirty and rough. Yum

[hkhm]

imp: this has the unusually alluring scent of the ash left by incense. woodsy and dusty.

 

wet: this is the most dirty woodsy scent i've yet smelled. this would smell so sexy on the right guy...

 

dry: this has gone from dusty/dirty to strong, dusty cedar. this is so incredibly masculine (to me anyway).

[mybrainhurts]

first sniff: This reminds me of a sweaty child eating sweet tarts as he holds a tiny posy of flowers to give to his mother. I can smell a dusty wood in this which I believe is sandalwood. Looking at the description now, I see that it is.

 

Giving it a moment to dry and to absorb into my skin, I can now smell the cedar and the sandalwood as well as something floral or is that the incense? Most of all... it is silky and polished wood. There is still a sweet note to this hidden in the background but the woods are the most noticeable scent. This scent, however, is subtle. There isn't much of a throw and I have to put wrist to nose to really get a good whiff of it.

 

Three hours into the wearing, I am getting an incense vibe now. That's replaced the wood. The scent is faint but I do get an occasional hint of scent as my arms move around.