Philosopher in Meditation

[tinyvulture]

Smoldering woodfire embers, Galen's Kyphi, and Abramelin incense.

yet another dark, rich, woodsy, smoky, PERFECT incense blend. there are hints of the sacred church incense of Midnight Mass in this, combined with the deep, black woods of Sri Lanka, the honeyed resins of Athens, and the luscious fruity wine notes of Urd or Haloa. i’m naming some of my all-time favorite BPALs here, so suffice to say that a combination of these notes is absolute heaven for me. if you like incense and spices, honey and wine, this blend is for you. it’s quiet and dignified, but also quietly celebratory and joyful.

[LadyCrow]

In the decant: Medium-brown resiny incense.

 

Wet: WHOA, smoky incense. I really get the "embers" here, and something nutty -- I mean nut-like, not insane. The "nutty" is me buying all these Salon decants.

 

Drydown: The throw is pretty low on this after the initial stage, but what's close to my skin is quite interesting. What I think really distinguishes the incense used here is the grassy tone -- like a tall, dry grass, a different continent's version of the grass in Coyote. The dryness of the incense helps keep the grape and honey from becoming overly sweet. Pretty quickly, I get amber or its kissin' cousin too, which also counterbalances the sweetness but here gets that powdery tendency it sometimes does elsewhere.

 

Verdict: I have to meditate (har!) on this before I decide whether it merits a bottle purchase, but it's definitely enjoyable and evocative. I like the dustiness that suggests the philosopher's study.

[hkhm]

imp: grapes and old woods.

 

wet: this is smoky without the vetiver scent of smoke. and the woods are wonderfully old and rich. there is just a tiny hint of something resinous and sharp.

 

dry: whatever that bit of sharpness was, it's long since faded leaveing only a sweet, deep wood scent.

[porcelina]

wine, incense and woodsmoke. oh this is nice. too bad it fades in approximately 5 minutes.

[LunaClaire]

I loved this at the will call last night, but now I can see it was because of the initial aroma that lasted for about 5 minutes - then I was about trying other scents & didn't smell the drydown. Not bad, mind you - just not what I'm looking for.

 

Bottle - Grape, sweet grape wine with hints of incense.

 

Wet - This is gorgeous on me: Grape, raisin, resins and wood. Smokey, but not overly so. This lasts about 5 minutes.

 

Dry - Dry red wine - not exactly sour; not exactly not sour. But an empty red wine glass that's been sitting a out a bit. The incense recedes as does the lovely fruits from the grapes and raisin. Still there, but overpowered by red wine. I notice that BPAL's wine tends to amp on my skin. Bummer.

[naeelah]

I didn't know what Kyphi was, so I expected this to be a lot smokier than it is. I half wondered if I'd gotten a mis-labeled decant, because when I put it on, it smelled like jasmine or sweet resin or something.

 

Turns out Kyphi is an incense that includes honey and raisins, so, now I know what the sweet smell is. Grape!

 

For the first 5-10 minutes, this is a very glowing, sweet scent. At first it reminds me a lot of the initial phase of Cathedral and it also makes me think of amber blends. Gradually, the grape becomes apparent, and so does a hint of incense smoke.

 

I keep waiting for the incense smoke to take over, but it never really does. For the first hour, this smells as Diwali should have. (I amped the sandalwood in Diwali out of control, so it lost all of its sweetness.) It's honey, raisins, and creamy resins with a hint of incense smoke. After an hour or so, the sweetness finally recedes slightly, and now it captures more of the wood embers and incense end of the notes. It's very close to the skin, but I think this is appropriate.

 

I've tried a lot of wood smoke blends, and they almost always end up smelling like barbecue on me. This one is completely different, I'm happy to say. There is absolutely no vetiver. It's more like smoky amber. Soft, warm, a little woodsy, and a little smoky. A slightly sharper incense smoke is also present, bringing more of an ashy quality to mind.

 

I'm really pleasantly surprised by this, but I'm afraid I haven't found my perfect smoky fire scent yet. The sweetness of the grape kind of gets to me. It's a beautiful blend, though, and I recommend it to anyone who wants a soft wood smoke scent but hasn't had success with other wood smoke notes.

[akiko]

I'm always hesitant to order a bottle unsniffed, but I think the reviews here gave me a good idea of what to expect. And Cairo also has Kyphi in it, so that was something I could compare to.

 

Bottle: Smoke, with something oddly sickly sweet. Was a bit nervous at this point.

 

Wet: Growing sweetness with an incense kick

 

Dry: Very pleasant. Incense & something fruity. There's a slight powdery note, probably part of the incense.

 

This is about what I expected, and it's definitely a keeper.

Edited April 25, 2008 by Winterwind

[GeorgeJr]

When I first opened this up , I got a bit giddy because it smelled so complex . Upon arrival upon my skin , my first though was of burning candles . Specifically beeswax candles . Now that I look at the description again , I think it's the combo of the honey scent & the smokiness I'm getting that makes me think that . About 5 minutes into it , I get a massive geek flashback . I'm sitting around a table in my friend Brian's gaming room , rolling dice , slaying monsters , pouring over the tomes of Gygax . You have to realize , there was a time in my gaming life where we would light several candles on the table & turn out all other lights . We also had a fire place burning during the cooler months of the year , so it tended to be smoky in there .

So , back to The Philosopher . Upon drying I'm amping the honey above most everything else . No more embers , sadly . I'm also getting a bit of the wine scent others have mentioned . I'm not acquainted with these incense types , but I think I may have to look into them in the future . As the original scent I had from the bottle & on wet was delicious .

[Gwydion]

In bottle: Grapes and incense. Rich and vaguely smokey, almost musky. Wet: dry, ashy note, with sweet incense overlay. The grape is gone and whatever it is making the musk smell is softer. The effect is exotic, evoking an image of a desert cave. Dry: It morphs into a soft, well blended incense smell with that ashy note underneath. I’m not sure it works on me. It’s perhaps to light and feminine, but it is quite pleasing.

[Indigo78]

At once sweet and somber, this one. In the bottle and for the first fleeting moments on the skin, the spices leap to the forefront and illicit my usual "uh oh" response with their warmth and borderline foodiness. Thankfully, the other notes catch up quickly. This melts into a smoky mixture of honey and sweet wine, with hints of fig that ebb and wane.

 

Researching Kyphi, I noticed benzoin as a note. It has played a role in several of my favorites so far. Another favorite, Juniper, is involved as well... The latter, along with the exquisitely blended wine & honey make this an instant winner. Philosopher is definitely a backup-bottle-worthy (BBW?) blend from the Lab.

 

The throw is fantastic, but the wearlength is on the short side. Muy slatherable, though, so I don't mind

[greenranger]

Wine, and incense.

 

Smokey incense...and yes, the smoldering remains of a fireplace fire where the person actually chose the wood, rather than the ashes of a bonfire where people burned anything to hand.

 

Yum.

[zankoku_zen]

This was incensey, smoky and the dying embers of this. Somewhat ashy and fire.

 

Uh... yeah. Not my kind of thing.

[rayvn1]

I really wish I'd gotten the embers and incense Not to be - I amp honey like mad and all I smell is sour, sickly-sweet honey for quite some time.

 

Turns out Kyphi is an incense that includes honey and raisins

Well that explains it...

 

Gets better the longer it sits on me, several hours later it's reminiscent of my beloved Midnight Mass. Not sure about this one, but I'll have to give it another try.

[ouch!]

Hmm. This one to me is nothing special unfortunately. It smells slightly woodsy and resinous. Alot like other resinous blends.

It fades very quickly and the best part of it is is the fact that it becomes sweeter when it's dry...but other than that? Sorry..I'm not feeling this one.

[voodoocatwoman]

Philosopher is gorgeous- it is a sweet smoky incense with an added splash of honeyed wine.

 

I like muchly.

[crebbsgirl]

There is a very fruity element to this when freshly applied, but as it dries it settles into a smoky incense blend. Very resinous and dry, with something a little bitter lurking underneath.

[Vega]

(First review in more than a year! This blend needs more love.)

 

 

Rembrandt is my favourite Renaissance Classical Master. Of course I had to try this blend.

 

Sniffed: Light, sweet incense reminiscent of Penitence.

 

On skin: Philosopher in Meditation is full-bodied incense, clear yet deeply fragrant. It's virtually "Penitence Lite", albeit with an additional touch of sweetness from the kyphi (whereas Penitence is pure incense). Something slightly spicy emerges over time, a flash of brightness amidst the deep resins. Overall, a contemplative, cerebral blend, quite befitting the ambience (if not quite the appearance, IMHO) of the Salon image.

 

Verdict: If you like gentle incense blends like Penitence and Midnight Mass, Philosopher in Meditation would fit the bill -- it is a pleasant, distinct variation on a familiar light pure incense base. I really love this, it's a keeper!

[Balame]

In the Imp: The second Salon decant I've bought of late. If it's even half as good as Macbeth and the Witches, I'll be overjoyed. Smells like soft incense and raisins/a heavy (realistic) grape in the imp... guessing that's the kyphi.

 

Wet: Very well-rounded and smooth. The incense is gentle and not smoky at all, instead making me think that this would be what patchouli smelled like if it wasn't so intense and had a pleasantly sweet grape undertone. I almost feel like patchouli IS in this, but just barely peaking out (maybe it's the abramelin). Definitely nice, whatever it is. This is not your cooped up, musty philosopher. More like the one that goes out and parties at the local festival in ancient Greece to "better experience life" so they can draw "more accurate conclusions about human nature". Doesn't mean they're not intelligent though, far from it, just more willing to live life to the fullest rather than stay cooped up with books 24/7.

 

Dry: Deep, juicy, rich grape surrounded by a thin waft of incense. A delicate sweetness made more mature. Crazy good.

 

Overall: What a quandry, I love this. If I buy too many Salon bottles I may go broke, but I'll smell darn good doing it!

[ami226]

On the skin: Gummy bears?! This really smells like gummy bears to me! Huh, must be a grape note in there. After a bit, it does smell like a grape candy incense.

 

Yup. Grape candy incense.

 

Not for me, but it is definitely an interesting one!

[Ghost of a Rose]

Galen's Kyphi is: Raisins, wine, honey, asphaltum, bdellium, camel grass, sweet flag, cyperus tuber, saffron, spikenard, aspalathos, cardamom, and cassia.

Abramelin: an Egyptian mage. There are many different recipes for the incense. Dominated by a balsamic, vanilla-like fragrance. Usually contains one or more highly scented woods, such as balsam, cedar, or aloeswood. Often also contains galangal, cinnamon, and myrrh, and sometimes frankincense, storax.

 

In the imp: Oil is clear and a dark bright yellow in color. I smell grapes and incense, with a little cardamom and cinnamon (cassia.)

 

On me, wet: The first thing I pick up is the spices, especially the saffron this time. Then the grape/wine/raisins come through. It's surprisingly unsweet - I think due to the predominance of the saffron. It reminds me of saffron rice pilaf with raisins. After it has warmed and dried for a couple of minutes, it starts to develop a floral sweetness. So far I quite like this. It is highly unusual, and in spite of my thoughts of pilaf, it isn't really at all foody. At around 5 minutes, the woods and incenses come in, making it even less foody. They blend nicely with the saffron and florals - very complex and sophisticated.

 

After 10 minutes: Now the honey has come to the foreground, together with the florals and saffron. The raisins are still there, but the overall impression isn't fruity. The woods and incenses provide a solid foundation and add extra warmth to that of the saffron. This is so lovely, exotic, and intriguing. The floral notes remind me of White Shoulders perfume, but the saffron added to them turns this into something entirely different. At this point it may be a little too feminine and flowery for the office. Which is just the type of perfume I like best!

 

After 20 minutes: The incense, cardamom, and cinnamon are gaining ground, which makes it less feminine. Otherwise it's pretty much the same.

 

After 30 minutes: Big change! Suddenly cinnamon and cardamom are the star players, with saffron and the florals tied for second place. The wood and incense have actually receded further into the background as the spices have strengthened. The sweetness now comes from the flowers and honey - like the best baclava. The grapiness is still there in strength, but it blends into the florals so smoothly that I don't notice it unless I really think about it.

It seems like a small change, but it makes a big difference in the fragrance. And I love it this way just as much! It is still spicy and decidedly floral, rather than foody. I don't know why I keep getting these food images. I'm not even hungry. That just seems like the best way to describe these notes and how they come together.

 

After 1 hour: Now the spices have taken a back seat to the incense notes. There's also just a hint of fruitiness, honey, and an even smaller trace of florals. It's primarily an incense-type perfume at this stage, more unisex.

 

After 2 hours: Mostly incense now, with some honey and spices.

 

After 3 hours: Now soft warm incenses and spices.

 

 

Verdict: Very lovely and highly complex scent that morphs frequently and dramatically. It's not quite flowery enough to rate 5 stars for me, but I do really like it. It would be fine for the office after all, the florals don't stick around long enough with enough strength to make it ultra-feminine.

 

My rating: 4 stars