Wood Phoenix

[nekogrrl]

Flexibility, cooperation, expansiveness, and altruism: Chinese musk and five woods with newly budding bamboo shoots, hyssop, chamomile, pink clove, magnolia, walnut, and fig.

In imp: Bamboo and woods.

Wet on skin: Bamboo and woods. Undertone of florals.

Dry on skin: Oh wow that got nasty. The magnolia amped up something fierce, and it does not play nicely with me.

10 minutes later: Thank goodness the magnolia is gone. This has turned into a very sharp woodsy scent. It could go masculine, but I think the chamomile and fig are keeping it out of WHOA MANLY. As with the others so far, it doesn't have a lot of throw on me.

For a few moments, I didn't think this was going to work, but it turned out nicely. I think this deserves a bottle.

[mgrazulis]

In the vial: strongly herbal and green, hyssop, chamomile, bamboo shoots. At this stage, very medicinal. A bit of walnut in there and woods. A stinker!

 

Wet: Sugary fig, spicy warm clove and more woods begin to emerge. It is beginning to smell love-erly, just a smidge of magnolia--nothing cloying. The herbals and bamboo have gentled. A bit nutty, spicy and resinous.

Dry: The exotic spices, the pink clove are very warm. The hyssop and clove together a very natural blend with the fig and bamboo. After a while, a layer of fresh muskiness settles in with the woods. The magnolia has all but left the blend.

This one is quite a surprise for me...I love how it developed into an earthy natural blend that just smells good on the skin. Lots of greens and browns....a smattering of red warmth. A lot of promise for this blend. Could be bottle worthy!!!

Edited January 11, 2009 by mineralfairy

[nellieburger]

In the decant: It’s as if I stepped into a room with a fire burning – the fire puts off a sweet smoke.

 

Wet on skin: A tinge of fruit, but the scent vanishes almost instantly!

 

Dry on skin: Can hardly detect a scent at all... Hopefully this’ll make a nice room scent!

 

[Coldfire]

 

 

 

Decant: Wood and something…not sure if I’m picking up the clove or not

Wet on me: WOAH Clover over wood. Smells like Autumn Harvest from YC. Lots of wood, Walnut, Fig and clove..oof!

Drying Down: mostly clove and fig and walnut with faint traces of woods underneath it all if I sniff deeply.

Dry: the clove simmers down a tad…still getting fig, and some walnut but no more woods. Glad I got the decant, probably will not seek out a bottle.

 

[Reedsong]

My boyfriend's response to this scent: "If 'wood phoenix' is the question, the answer is 'no.'"

 

That pretty much sums up my feeling about this one. In the imp, it's this weird sour sort of woodiness, and on my skin, it's Psychotic Bamboo With a Side of Rot. It lingers, radiates, and clings to my skin like a rhesus monkey hanging from a tree. It's just horrid, and I was glad to send my imp on to someone else as quickly as possible; I was terrified that the imp would spill and make my apartment smell like Wood Phoenix forever. Yikes. :/

[lostluckkitten]

VERY pleasant. Woods are easily detectable without overtaking the blend, and the walnut is the next-easiest to find note. It's a soft, slightly sweet walnut. The clove peeks out, adding a very slight and very pleasant spiced quality. All of the green/herbal notes are soft and delicate, adding a freshness without screaming SMELL ME.

 

This one may be my favorite Phoenix that I've tried. Maybe you need the right body chemistry for it, but it's VERY nice on me.

[milo]

Wet, and on for about twenty minutes, this is a gorgeous spicy and creamy scent with lovely woods and a bit of a caramel-like foody note. It actually makes me think of really good caramel cookies baking on a wooden plank. A very warm, spicy, comforting scent. After it dries, it is just one horrible perfume note that I can't really identify. It's actually making me feel kind of ill. After an hour, it is quite nice, reminiscent of the first stage, only faded somewhat. I don't know if I can last through the second phase though for it to get there, and it is not an OMG scent after the hour. I probably won't be keeping this one.

[ravenfeathers]

goodness, with that note list, how does this smell this good??

 

in the bottle caramel! bzuh?

wet on skin fig and walnut and fig. and walnut. also fig. bamboo? mebbe. and fig.

dry on skin is that vague, bright spiciness the pink clove? what is pink clove? is it like carnation? whatever it is, it's frakking brilliant. it still has a vague, dark, sweet caramel-iness that reminds me a lot of khajuraho without being disgusting (sorry, khajuraho lovers out there). the magnolia, yes, a flower! it's in there! and you know, it smells pretty awesome with the dark, gritty fig and the bright clove.

 

the only question i have left is: why did i only get one bottle?

[FallDaze]

initial thoughts -> I'm figuring this for a light woodsy scent. I hope it's not too heavy or dark.

 

imp-> I'mnots ure what it is, but there is a tart, rather musky top note. I catch a whiff of something sweeter underneath though.

 

wet-> The tart top note is still in complete control. I'm not sure if it's just the musk or one of the other notes combining with the musk, but boo! Reminds me of something faintly medicinal.

 

after a while -> exactly the same so far. this one is not much of a morpher at all. pass on this one.

[GeorgeJr]

I'm very happy with Wood Phoenix . In the bottle the scent is quite powerful , dare I say overpowering ? But once on the skin , it levels out nicely . I think the walnut is what boosts it so in the bottle & when first applied it's right there doing it's thing . But that only lasts maybe a minute . About 5 minutes later , this is a lovely blend , woody but not overpoweringly so . The other notes ( the fig , florals & I'd say the bamboo mainly . Not so much the clove ) really go well together & no one note is powering out the others . It's quite unisex to the point of being almost too sweet for me . But I think I can still pull it off . Just have to watch the amount applied .

[Argentwolf]

Fig, walnut, and bamboo mingle together to evoke images of freshly-peeled bark, twigs, sticks, tendrils of curling greenery, and underneath it all, the moist, sheltering earth of a burrow. It's warm and sweet, like a little brown rabbit curling up somewhere safe. As if that lovely imagery wasn't enough, there is a teensy bit of caramel that gives it a chocolatey sort of feel...like a chocolate bunny, almost! (I was born in the year of the Wood Hare, so that must be where all the rabbity imagery is coming from). I really liked it, a lot! And I will probably rue the day that I decided to pass up on getting a full bottle of it.

 

I really loved all the Phoenixes. They are so very evocative in their own respective ways; I haven't had this much mental imagery from scents in quite a while. I really enjoyed my experiences with the Anniversary scents, and am grateful to have been able to sample them.

[MisterShrapnel]

Not familiar with all the notes, but excited about this.

Dark woods (hah) for me with something oozy/sweet.. fig? And then it becomes muskier and rounds out as the pleasantly herbal galangal and a bitter spice comes forward (clove?). Turns slightly smoky, maybe. The weird medicine/syrup phase that I got at the beginning passed quickly, and I love how deep and spicy it turned (while still maintaining a "dark" and non-foody sweetness). Warm and nice without being too in-your-face. I don't detect magnolia, which might be a lucky thing.

 

Sexy medicine cabinet.

I think I'd love wearing this!

[tajana]

I got an empty of this, but there was just enough to skin test it once. In the bottle it smelled quite strange, but not unpleasant, so I dabbed on the last drops. Well blended into one cohesive scent, and it takes quite a bit of sniffing to discern individual notes. The first impression is sweet, with lots and lots of walnut and fig, with just a trace of clove, which definitely give this an edible aspect at first. As it dries down on the skin, I the woods come out. They're noticeably woody, of course, but this scent is much moister smelling than what I expected. There's a sweet musky base to all this. I can definitely sense some chamomile and magnolia flower, not enough to make this scent overtly floral, but just enough to give the impression of flowers budding from heavily dew-laden, delicate branches. This is definitely a scent that reminds me of newness. Tiny flexible branches, not the powerful trunks of old trees. An interesting scent. I like it, perhaps not enough to have a whole bottle, but it'd be nice to have an imp's worth.

[Toby]

Very strong musk with a bit of woodiness and a very strong walnut note. I was hoping this would be more, ah, woody, but I'm not getting much in the way of woods at all. The walnut note gets softer, but I'm still not a fan.

[Lamia]

Wet, the combination of chamomile, clove and fig smelled like, um... salami.

 

I kid you not. Thank goodness the eau de salami went away, but the fig, combined with the bamboo shoots, made this a not-successful scent on me.

 

A quick fade, thankfully, Trade bag.

[zankoku_zen]

Oddly enough, this is a woodsy/watery blend on me. I get the fig, the bamboo and the chamomile. It's a gentle, soft blend and it makes me think of bamboo and ponds....

 

It's a very fresh scent.

[Bluestocking]

In the bottle: On my very first sniff after uncapping it, I get something sharp and medicinal—possibly the hyssop? Anyway, that stinging quality vanished after that initial sniff, and now it's really complex—still some sharp edges, but nothing too pungent. Fresh bamboo with wet, slightly green woods and some warm, slithery musk beneath. There's also a definite herbal quality from the hyssop and chamomile… and I think the sweetness is pink clove plus fig, but I could be wrong. Overall, it's a pale green-gold scent to me, and very unusual. I haven't smelled another blend even remotely like this.

On, wet: Much less sweetness, though there's still a bit of it. The instant it touched my skin, I got all kinds of layered, woody, herbal scents—wet bamboo, something like bark, a whiff of something like sandalwood, but not quite, and I swear I smelled a touch of something vetiver-esque that made me think of ancient, rotting trees. Walnut is coming through, and I think I get a little of the magnolia and fig, way far in the background. The musk is bringing it all together for me. Now I feel like I'm in a bamboo forest, maybe at sunset, with everything turning golden.

On, dry: Hello, magnolia! The flowers have bloomed now, and they're giving this a lightly sweet, creamy quality, with the musk and toasty walnut/woods supporting it. This has decent throw for such a light scent, and the wafts I keep getting are beautiful—not quite floral, but not purely fresh or woody, either. When I sniff my wrist, I still get the herbs and green bamboo, too. All the jagged edges from the earlier stages have smoothed out, and now the elements play together very nicely. I'm not really getting anything that screams fig or clove; I think they're just adding some supplementary sweetness.

Later: The fig woke up and blended together with the magnolia, so now there's fruit and more rich, creamy sweetness—not sweet like candy, but more like deep brown sugar. The walnut and woods have also blended together, dark and toasty and more of a dry wood (almost sandalwood) than this was early on. If the wet stage was like a bamboo forest at sunset, then the sun is just about to disappear—this is a darker, drier, burnished perfume now, grounded by the warm musk.

Overall: I was nervous about this one—I love woody scents, but this had plenty of unknown elements and the medicinal smell in the bottle didn't ease my nerves. But. But! This is really quite beautiful—not exactly what I expected, but it's fresh and delicate and very original. Like Earth Phoenix, it's complex and morphs through a number of distinct stages (now fresh and wetly woody, now blooming and light, now dark and sweetly spicy). I think it does embody the element very well, and not just because of all the woods—it's a very adaptable and multilayered scent, with a lot of elements coming together to form something very unique. How's that for flexibility and cooperation? I'd urge you to look past the medicinal smell in the bottle, because this scent can be gorgeous.

 

 

[crebbsgirl]

This was very woodsy when wet. I would say almost masculine in it's woodsyness. I think that's because during the very early stages of this scent, it reminds me a little of how my Poppi used to smell. As it dries, the pink clove comes out, and adds a hint of spice. I can also smell the chamomile and hyssop. The walnut and fig remain hidden (which isn't a bad thing for me, as fig HATES me). The musk here is really lovely. Further into the drydown the magnolia comes out, adding a floral hint - but without overtaking the blend. I like this blend a lot. Much further into the drydown it starts bordering on powdery... I'm not entirely sure where that is coming from. I will have to retest this I think, but overall this is a wonderfully cozy woodsy scent.

Edited February 3, 2009 by crebbsgirl

[FandF]

Starts out super nice, very mellow...like wood or oily wood. A little like faint men's cologne but better. It's masculine but not in a bad way or in an unwearable way...it's strangely soft but distinct.

 

I thought this would have great staying power but surprisingly it fades really really fast. Overall a "no" for me.

[aedes]

This was a leap of faith for me, I have to say, but I was sold on the description. Who doesn't want to think of themselves as cooperative and altruistic? About the only note that I knew would work on me is fig. It generally sounded too flowery and girly to work on me, but I thought 'what the hell?'

 

You're all going to think I'm crazy, but when I opened the bottle, it smelled like nasty cherry cough syrup. I was very frightened.

 

But I daubed it on, and... whoa... it morphed in all the strangest ways. Scary clown cherry smell bows out fast, replaced by a gentle, slightly spicy, slightly smokey (smokey? out of musk, flowers, and wood? my nose is whack), yet still feminine, vaguely holiday-ish smell. It smells naggingly familiar, but I can't put my finger on it. If it were a candle, created by a less creative company, it would have a very broad "Home for the Holidays" type name. And then, in less than 20 minutes, it's almost all gone. Which is fine, since my nose has been easily overwhelmed lately by my regulars.

 

It's not going to give me any clues as to how I know it. It's totally weird, but comforting. And it feels right, like a big, squishy hug from Mom. I love it! Heavy rotation, til it's all used up. May even hunt around for more bottles of it! Wow! Can't stop wrist-huffing.

[Ajila]

In the bottle – Oooh fig and cough syrup, which oddly is a good thing

 

Wet on me – A little cough syrup remains, but the underlying scent is dirty and sweaty

 

Dry on me – The woods come through; a little powdery and dry

 

Overall – This blend starts off dirty and ends bland, so not really for me

 

[pinkstardust420]

To me, I definitely get the walnut.....but I'm getting this amazing note of something that is smoky, sweet and nutty. Very interesting..

 

 

[Ginspu]

This is really nice! It smells warmly woody, though my nose isn't really developed enough to pick them all out. It makes a nice base for a definite clove note that wafts in and out. Have an imp, and I might have to see how it goes to see if I'll want a bottle.

[sadtomato]

this is all fig and wood on me.

yummy.

sweet wood.

love it.

[Lyrical]

This is really nice! It's warm and comforting and feels good on my skin. I mostly get wood, fig and magnolia, I think. It's not my typical scent, but I might very well need more than a decant of this one!