Chanukkiyah

[CitizenBree]

Olive oil, beeswax, glowing amber, sweet sufganiyot, pomegranate, and fig.

This is definitely not foodie to me. It's kind of sexy, but not an overtly sexy scent like Snake Oil. More like that carefree exotic woman in the slightly too big sun dress with messy hair. She's not trying to be sexy, she just is. And I feel like this is her perfume. I got more olive oil and beeswax than anything else. I want to say spicy but again not overtly. I get nothing about baked goods in this, nothing fruity. maybe this is a case of me amping one of the notes.

[Incendiare]

2010: I really like this in the vial. It's warm, slightly sweet, and figgy. Wet, it smells exactly the same on me. The intensity is the same too. It's slightly foody, but I'd say it's more cakey than doughnuty. As Channukkiyah dries down, the fig fades away and the sweet cake-like note remains in the centre, accompanied by a pinch of spice. I never got any pomegranate throughout any of its stages. Overall, a very nice, safe blend.

[EdenIris]

Mmm, jelly donuts. The initial smell of sufganiyot was a little alarming at first, but it segued nicely into a sweet, slightly sugary, warm scent. A few hours later, there's just amber, beeswax, and olive oil. No fruit to speak of. It's a close to the skin scent, very mild mannered and comforting.

 

I will use up the decant of this, but I don't think I need a bottle.

 

ETA: This is the 2010 version.

Edited December 13, 2010 by EdenIrisMae

[tinylegacies]

In the bottle and wet on my skin, it reminded me a bit of Elegba with the rich brown sugar-y scent.

 

That faded a bit on dry down and some of the other notes came out to play.

 

Now, after about 15 minutes, it's more waxy than anything else. I'm not sure if it's a keeper.

[greenranger]

Warm, sweet, beeswax and olive oil. The fruit is adding the sweetness to it, but, I can't pick them out individually. As it is settling in on my skin the wax and olive oil can't be picked out anymore either.

 

Warm and sweet, and edging towards foody rather than candles.

 

This is the 2010 version.

[Iceblink]

WOW. How have I not tried this before? It's amazingly sexy. Smooth beeswax warmed by olive oil with tart fig and pomegranate--but this doesn't scream FOOD, although I do get a nice pastry-ness in there too. So balanced--those notes all blend together beautifully. I love this!

[crebbsgirl]

This starts incredibly foody on me. As it wears, it loses the foody tinge. There seems to be a pastry overtone in the wet stages that disappears as it dries. The end result on my skin is pomegranate and amber, with a hint of fig and beeswax in the background. It's not overly fruity or foody, and the amber adds a touch of depth.

[sihaya09]

I'm actually getting cream + fig out of this. It's probably my chemistry, but I'm only getting an insinuation of olive oil (a mix of creamy and sharp), and no beeswax. I like it, but it's not what I expected. It's another of those semi-foody scents that doesn't quite cross the line over to dessert, but would make a good comfort scent.

[milo]

This one ends up being a fresh slightly tart fruity blend, and I'm getting a dusty vibe, which fig sometimes does to me. No amber, beeswax, or olive oil or anything else but the pom and a bit of fig, with a bit of bread(?). My hormones are kind of out of wack right now, and I had quite different impressions of another blend I tested yesterday. Will retest in a couple of days, but for now, this blend does not wow me at all.

[sqwook]

When wet: Vanilla cake

On my skin: Getting less cakey & more lemony. It's really a nice scent, comforting and warm.

 

While it may be a bit too foody for non-foody me, it's definitely lovely!

[reynardine]

Very warm scent. Reminds me a lot of Santos as it is first applied, although they don’t seem to have notes in common. Maybe it is the “warm” scent? The amber throws it off for me a bit: amber seems to be a note that is difficult for me to carry. Starts off medium throw, fades fairly quickly. I like it, but not enough for a bottle.

[thekittenkat]

This review is for the 2010 version.

 

In the bottle: Certainly there's the olive oil & beeswax, and the two fruits, all very mild. These are all notes that I like.

 

Wet: Rather much the same as when first sniffed.

 

The dry-down: And now the pastry and filling of the sufganiyot is coming forward. This is much nice than the first time I tried it, as there seemed to be a slighty rancid butter note in it, though not as bad as the one in Jack (one of the few BPAL perfume oils that I had to wash off immediately!). That butter note is from the sufganiyot, I suspect. A comparison with the 07 version is on tap. If you want a sweet perfume that is not too sweet, not too fruity, not too cakey, or just not too rich, Chanukkiyah may fill the bill. In the end, all the notes come together to make a yummy scent.

 

ETA: May have spoke too soon about the butter note. My nose doesn't like this note on my skin, but I can't sniff it in the bottle, so I'll keep this partial for the scent locket.

Edited January 15, 2011 by thekittenkat

[thekittenkat]

This is for the 07 version.

 

In the bottle: Spicy and much richer in scent than the '10 version. Getting all the notes except the pastry.

 

Wet: Much as when sniffed.

 

The dry-down: Still somewhat spicy, but not as spicy. Very different to the '10 version. The fruit notes are submerged in the olive oil and beeswax, with only a hint of the sufganiyot. Can't figure out where the spice notes is coming from, but I do like it. I'm hoping that the '10 version develops the spicy note and loses the butter note. I like this older version better than the new one. The spice note reminds me of Falling Leaf Moon, a favourite of mine.

[subtlesiren]

2007 version

 

This is so yummy! I think this is the first scent to give me the "I want to gnaw on my wrist" feeling. It is battling with Cockaigne for my top foody scent. The olive oil tempers the sweetness from the other notes, making it warm and oh so tasty. I guess I need to make my next purchase now so I can get a bottle of the 2010 before it's gone.

[ofthegood]

Note to self: look up what a 'sufganiyot' is before you slather this on. I wasn't expecting the blast of warm, buttery, jelly donut sweetness that greeted me - from the rest of the description, I'd expected more like Liberty or Hanerot Halalu. And while I can detect the beeswax and olive oil and fruits... mostly, I get the donuts as the oil dries and develops. It's quite dead-on, just not my cup of tea, and each whiff overwhelms me.

 

The good news, for me at least, is that the donuts are eaten by my skin pretty quickly, and I'm left with a scent that's far closer to what I'd hoped for. The amber comes out to play and overwhelms the sweet foody smell. But it also drowns out the delicate beeswax and olive oil notes that I really like. It's pretty once it's dried, golden and warm, but I wouldn't make it through the foody period to wear this regularly.

 

(This review is for the 2010 edition.)

[WidgetAlley]

Mine is the '07.

 

Bottle: Tremendously sweet and glowing olive oil and beeswax, overlaid with a slightly smokey blown-out candles smell, a bit of an alcoholic pomegranate, earthy fig and sweet pastry. This smells good enough to eat!

 

Wet: A bit of a foody, buttery pastry smell at first, very closely backed by sticky fig and beeswax and olive oil. The pomegranate is fairly quiet, here, which is fine by me since we usually don't get along very well. If I sniff hard and think about it I can almost catch a hint of a wine smell that must be the pom, but it plays nicely for once. The combo of smoke + sweetness really reminds me of Hearth '05, but this is a bit lighter and fruitier.

 

Dry: This dries down to almost exactly the midway point between Hanerot Halalu and Hearth '05. It's a creamy, sweet smell full of glazed pastry crust, dried fig, beeswax, olive oil and smoke. I like it, but since I have bottles of both of the previous two I don't think I need to keep this one: I like the simplicity of HH and the more woodsy, smoked aspects of Hearth better.

[rhubarb3point14]

Everything about this should have been in my wheelhouse -- pastry, fig, pomegranate, amber. But unfortunately, the beeswax note behaves exactly like the lab's honey note on my skin, which is to say, it smells rancid on me. I could smell the other notes in the background, all gorgeous and yummy and fruity, but they were drowned out by the gamey honey smell. So jealous of people who can wear this!

[Incendiare]

2011: Sharper than last year's. In the vial, there's a nice warm glow of amber and fig. The pomegranate soon follows after the initial sniff. Wet, the pomegranate is more prominent, and so is the fig. This has a lighter throw and while it is a pleasant blend, it doesn't win my heart over enough to consider buying a bottle. I can see fig fans appreciating this one.

[thekittenkat]

This is for the 2011 version.

 

In the decant: Mostly the sufganiyot, warm from the oven.

 

Wet: The sufganiyot is being tempered by the olive oil. Hints of pom and fig appear.

 

The dry-down: The glowing amber brings out a resinous aspect. It's not as sweet as I had hoped it would stay. It's almost like a spicy-sweet doughnut, if such a thing can be imagined. The fruit notes wear off quickly. I like this, but not as much as the 2007 version, and much better than the 2010 version.

Edited February 8, 2012 by thekittenkat

[milo]

2011 version: This is a sweet, honey warmed amber scent. It just oozes and glows warmth. In spite of this, it is just a bit too foody for me, and the pom is doing strange things to my skin as it usually does, it's going dusty.

[Anne M.]

2007 version- This is really lovely, it actually reminds me strongly of Lush's Olive Branch on the top, with a deep golden note in the middle which I presume is the beeswax and amber, and deep dark seedy fruit (fig and pomegranate I'm guessing) way underneath.

[Mechanical Death]

This smells exactly like eat me on my skin. So dissapointed

[ladymeag]

Okay, I've tried previous years. They all failed - too waxy, too sweet, too powdery, too olive-oil-ish. 2013? This is my year.

 

In the bottle: Sweet pomegranate and fig

On my skin: I don't know what's going on here but this is pomegranate shisha. The fig is warming up to add that molasses scent that shisha has and something about everything else is playing together just right o make it smell exactly like the pomegranate shisha I occasionally buy. If I get my nose right up there and breathe in deeply, I can find the beeswax and olive oil but they're playing really nicely, which is a first for my skin. I think someone ate the sufganiyot, which is fine with me. You might want to give this one a test if you haven't had luck with previous years.

Edited December 30, 2013 by ladymeag

[OctoberGwen]

2013 version.

 

This is gorgeous, golden and rich. I'm getting mostly beeswax and amber and a touch of fig; no pom per se but perhaps it's balancing the fig. I do get an unfamiliar sweetness which must be the sufganiyot, but it's not nauseatingly sweet. A very nice, quite distinctive scent. I really like this a lot. I am happy to have a full decant.

[adr_enne]

2007

 

Wet: Sweet but not overwhelming, treacle-y sweet. The amber, olive oil and beeswax are anchoring a very figgy sweet. No pomegranate.

 

In an Hour? The amber comes out a bit more, to balance the chewy fruit. Fruit usually AMPS on me, but this isn't (yay), so I'm happy. Fruit usually scares me away.

 

Later: ZOMG! Beeswax and just a bit of amber under chewy, not too-sweet figs and yes, a bit of sufganiyot, just like the ones we ate as kids. (These days we just buy jam-filled donuts.)

 

It really does smell like warm, lit beeswax candles and Chanukkah dessert leftovers. But where I feared that would mean OHMYGOD sweet, I've found it's actually a very balanced, light-throw scent. I'm happy to have spent the money, and I may buy a 2013 before it's too late, so I can let it age.

Edited January 4, 2014 by adr_enne