The Festival of Anuket

[ami226]

Shimmering offerings of gold scattered through life-giving, fertile waters.

On the skin: Wow, nice, sweet cologne. Not bad at all! Definitely getting mostly perfumey aquatics. Don't smell any hint of metallic gold. On my skin, this scent does not morph one bit, but only fades away slowly.

This one is the perfect scent for a watery goddess. The only problem here is that I identify more with fiery/earthy scents. Ah, well. It shall find a good home!

[Inventrix]

This is the aquatic that I've been hoping for - no soap and it lasts! It's light, cool and sweet, without even the faintest hint of florals (aquatic white florals always go soapy on me). The gold, which I recognized from Phoenix Steamworks, is sharp, bright, crisp, with a faint metallic tang. The aquatics soften and mellow it beautifully, and they last surprisingly long on my skin for aquatics. This also doesn't morph at all between sniff, first application and long wear, which is also unusual for me.

 

I get a really strong mental image from this, even without reading the description. It's like a fast-flowing stream bed with amazingly clear, sweet water - if you've read the Voyage of the Dawn Treader, it's like the water as they're nearing the edge of the world. Incredibly, beautifully clear, and deliciously sweet and clean and utterly untainted. But instead of the ocean this is a deep stream, the smooth brown soil of the streambed acts merely as a counterpoint for the smooth, glistening solid-gold stones lining it. The water runs over it, rippling and sparkling in the clear sunlight.

 

I really love this one. I might have to buy a second bottle after all, it's such a perfect hot-weather scent.

[Little Bird]

In the bottle, this smells like dryer sheets - sharp, dry, and soapy.

 

On my skin, this has that familiar, soapy, doing-laundry scent that I get from most aquatic & ozone blends. Festival of Anuket is very sharp and soapy on my skin. It's sort of like smelling cleaning chemicals, in that it smells sharp in a way that makes me feel like it's something I shouldn't be smelling. Eye-watering, nose burning sharpness...

 

I had to wash this one off, because it started to make me feel sick while I was wearing it. This is probably my least favorite of bpal's aquatic blends (my favorites are Sea of Glass & Banded Sea Snake <3).

[Schmoozy]

 

Green, aquatic, almost airy. There is a sweetness to festival that isn't always present in aquatic blends. I find aquatics to be mostly unisex, which is why I love them, but this has perfume feel to it. Girly. I like it.

I don't know how Beth does it, but the feeling and sense of shimmering gold is running all throughout this oil, and it lightens it right up.

[thekittenkat]

In the bottle: Aquatics and herbs and some sort of sharp note that I can't ID (perhaps a metallic note, thus the gold?).

 

Wet: Very much the same as in the bottle, however a lovely sweet note is rising up.

 

The dry-down: Some herbals plants are coming out in the dry-down. Amongst others, could be a sweet sage note. But mostly, this scent is very much the same throughout, and doesn't morph a lot.

 

This is a lovely and quiet scent for summertime, and I love that Beth is going to continue with the Egyptian oils. This is a wonderful concept, well expressed, and I look forward to more in the series. And the bottle's artwork is elegant.

 

 

[Gin]

Festival of Anuket is water-cologney, but not in a bad way. It's cool and clean and fresh. I don't get much metal/gold from this. Just a clear blue aquatic.

[LauraB]

Sweet aquatic (like Selkie without the saltwater) - there is a tiny note of laundry detergent at the top and a slight hint of something juicy at the bottom (juniper??), but neither is strong enough to dominate. As it fades, it gets a slight metallic edge but again it's just a touch. Unfortunately, it does fade quite quickly, or I'd be looking for more!

[aquazoo]

Green and wet. But in a powerful, lively way, not slimey. It softens out — not a lot of throw, but it has staying power.

 

[Gwydion]

In bottle: This is unusual. I like what the agave is doing here. It is rich, herbal, summery and oddly refreshing. Wet: Rather softer than I’d like, but well blended. It smells very pail green and wet and herbal. It’s likely to delicate for my skin. Dry: Faded to almost nothing in half an hour, alas, alas.

[rayvn1]

Oh my goodness! This is the surprise hit of the summer series for me I like a few aquatics like Calico Jack, but this is something else entirely! Sweet, fresh and not a hint of dryer sheet Light but with great throw. Perfect summer scent of clear, fresh water flowing like a melodic stream you stumble on while hiking. Awesome and bottle worthy!

[Lyrical]

In the vial: a light, neutral cologne.

 

Wet on skin: faint and watery, almost a little floral and musky. Fresh and golden, but it's almost vanished on my skin - like water! Definitely unisex.

 

Dry on skin: now it amps up a lot and it's rather sharp and cologne-y. Cool and masculine, with a slightly sour note in the throw, although it smells better close to the skin. It's well blended and as colognes go, it's a nice one, but I don't like it for myself.

[moon_lemming]

One day I will learn to just give up on aquatics. Festival of Anuket is a pretty blue-green, sweet aquatic, but it is an aquatic, and I just can't stand the cologne/soap feel those take on when they hit my skin.

 

It's still pretty enough on my skin, one of the better aquatics (in combo with my chemistry) that I've tried lately, but that soapy edge gives me a headache and I need to wash it off.

Edited August 11, 2009 by karen

[JenM]

The first note is, of course, aquatic. But it's a warm aquatic, with a touch of exoticism to it.

 

on the wrist: I can smell what must the the gold note, though as I'm not in the habit of sniffing my jewellery, I'll have to take it as granted. There's a spicy herb (not green) scent as well. I can see why other reviewrs complained about a "cologne-y" smell--it could go that way. But it's not on me, at least not yet.

 

a few minutes: Why? Why is everything turning to grass on me these days? I have to put something that has nothing plant-oriented to avoid a grass phase in almost anything!

 

45 minutes: morphtastic. Now it's a warm, warm floral, with a river running through it. Not in the same way as Pool of Tears--that's a hint of floral with, as it says, tears--a cool scent, rather than warm. This is like an embrace.

 

90 minutes: It went through a metallic phase and then faded. ONe to try again, I think, and see if it lasts better with slathering, or morphs less.

 

[skylarkza]

In bottle: This smells like idealized fresh water! Very wet and aquatic and yet shimmery and clear! The perfect "water" scent!

 

Wet: Whatever is adding the almost floral/citrussy tang is a bit stronger once it goes on. But still a very wet smell.

 

Dry: Its is lovely and wet, with a slight hint of perfumed fruity/floralness. Like swimming in a clear river with a wonderful breeze bringing a hint of plants.

 

A while later: A crystal scent, clear and sparkling. It is close to the skin, but not too faint. It evokes the feeling of being just under the surface of the water and looking up at the sun sparkling on the surface.

[Asafoetida]

I could 'smell' this from the moment that I read the description, and after scrambling around failing to get hold of it for a while, when I finally got to sniff it and try it on it was exactly like I'd imagined... possibly even better.

 

It doesn't change much at all, from container to wet to dry, on me. It's a beautiful marriage of aquatic and metallic and yet it worked on me even though I typically don't wear either. Cool, refreshing water, with sunlight catching on flecks of gold swept away by the flow. Beautiful, exotic and refreshing, like an oasis in the middle of a desert. I purchased a bottle as soon as I smelled the decant.

[voodoocatwoman]

Interesting scent. I definitely get the "metallic" tang that everyone mentions. It makes an otherwise benign aquatic floral fragrance a bit sharp. And this one is sticking to me. I still smell it as strongly on my wrist as I did when I first applied it.

 

Not bad but nothing I will cry over once my decant is empty.

[laslibres]

Ultra-blue water. And...that’s it! It takes on a little bit of that BPAL-aquatic flowery quality, which Tempest had also...kind of like a hint of white flowers floating on the river's surface. But this is just fresh, blue, happy water. A tiny bit of metallic too, but barely perceptible.

 

Basically, if you like aquatics (and I do!) this scent is your thing. If not, uh...seek elsewhere.

[tawaen]

This started off on me as a very sweet, aquatic floral scent. I'm not sure that I noticed any metallic to it at all when wet... But as it dried down, I got a nice amber-y and sharp smell underneath. It can only be described as golden, I suppose. :-)

 

Without that metalic note, at first, I thought it would be too sweet and almost "sticky" with the aquatic notes. But once it dries, it gets so much better. It's still sweet, but it's blanaced by the brightness of the metal. The scent stays fairly well, too, though I slathered a bit because it was so soft smelling going on. Six hours later it's still hanging in there, and it's lovely.

 

Nice, but not a favorite for me. It's a great scent for spring, though, so I'll use up the imp.

[edenssixthday]

The Festival of Anuket - This is a crisp, clean-smelling, metallic aquatic scent. It's really cologney, but it's not unpleasant. I wouldn't mind smelling it on my husband, but it's not my type of fragrance. It also fast ultra-fast on me.

[kunoichi]

In the bottle, it is a very sweetly floral, yet still a deep and mysterious scent. In my skin it changes dramatically as the floral seems to turn a touch soapy and citrusy, which makes for an interesting effect... this does not stay for long, and an aquatic watery scent emerges along with a slight tang of golden metal. After a few hours it becomes a delicate, soft, fragrant and feminine aquatic scent, with just a hint of the metallic gold scent...

[Vega]

Sniffed: A sweet, pure blue aquatic. Light and clear, a bit perfumy. Reminiscent of Selkie and Ogygia.

 

On skin: The Festival of Anuket is in the same family of blue-green aquatics as Selkie, Ogygia and Kiyohime Changes From a Serpent. When wet it is a pure blue aquatic, light and sweet (possibly from light florals). The water recedes upon drydown, and the scent deepens slightly -- I'm guessing this is a touch of incense. A relatively simple blend, gentle, uplifting, if a bit perfumy. Colour impression is turquoise flecked with white sparkles.

 

Verdict: A pretty blue aquatic, but not exceptional. I still prefer the melancholy depth and emotion of Selkie, so this is unlikely to stay.

[aleciarivas]

Blech. Stereotypical men's cologne! Not my style at all, and I couldn't wait to run and wash it off! Even my DH wasn't interested!

[claudia6913]

Warm and sweet waters. It's just ... divine. Soo much better than I thought it would be. It's not a metallic gold, but a feeling of gold. The water isn't overpowering (though it is a little when wet) and the "gold" warms it up a lot.

[boomtownrat]

I bought this off eBay based on an inaccurate description - the seller probably copied and pasted the wrong thing by accident. By the time I noticed that, I had already paid, but I decided not to bother contacting the seller because it was going to be my first BPAL and I was interested in trying various things. Also, Egyptian imagery appeals to me.

 

In the bottle and wet on my skin, this smells like an aquatic men's cologne that I don't know by name. Some of the individual notes are familiar, but I can't identify them. It does sort of smell the way I remember gold tastes, because when I used to wear a gold ring, I tasted it while licking my hand after eating sticky food. By the time the oil dries, it smells like I'm on a beach wearing men's cologne. It slightly resembles a brand of liquid soap that I used to like, maybe Softsoap - which is not to say that it smells "soapy," just that it reminds me of that particular brand. There is a clean, summery feel to this scent.

 

As for throw, after I put it on my wrist I could barely smell it while I was typing. After about four hours the smell is fading.

 

The Festival of Anuket doesn't offend my nostrils or give me a headache, but it isn't really for me. Even though it does remind me of men's cologne, I'd consider it unisex. It's a sporty, clean scent that would probably work best in warm weather.

 

3/5