Sunbird

[gingiemay]

... In Neil's words, "'Sunbird' smells like resin and deserts and the phoenix."

Wet in bottle: Resins, deserts, a hint of earthy patchouli and something that reminds me of liniment.

Wet on skin - Dusty, dry, desert sand, resin and patchouli/liniment. Very evocative.

Dry on skin - Everything has melded together nicely to form a dry and dusty desert scent that has a richer, deeper tone with the patchouli/resin element. Lovely.

[Happicuppa]

In the bottle: 'Hippie Shop'. Very patchouli.

 

On skin: Like dry woods and patchouli and a hint of cinnamon and herbs. Very intense, very good throw and staying power.

 

Definitely a warm, 'rustic' scent that would be awesome for fall! Not my typical scent but a 3.5/5 no less.

[Monster]

Out of the vial: Sharp, bright, almost astringent smelling moss and...citrus??

 

Wet: Sandalwood with a hint of cinnamon, herbal notes and possibly cedar? (or maybe that's just the sandalwood playing tricks on my nose)

 

Dry: This gets better and better as it dries. Sunbird is drying into a warm, dusty sandalwood scent on my skin...with just a hint of spice. I love this.

 

Overall: Warm, glowing, earthy and bright...Sunbird is gender neutral to me. I was scared when I first sniffed this out of the vial but it's dried into something absolutely wonderful on my arm. I need to track down a bottle of this. Resin and wood scent lovers need to try this!

[penemuel]

Sweet, smoky, resinous, gloriously glowing Kyphi-esque scent! This is the perfect late summer scent -- warm, but with that burnished gold that signals the coming of autumn, when fields are starting to go golden with grain instead of green...

 

This is so well blended I can't really pick out any one scent -- it's just a beautiful combination of warmth and richness and yum!

[Little Bird]

My poor little Sunbirds got eaten up in the postal system, but they survived. I received the bpal box totally mangled, ripped apart, and crammed into a post office plastic bag with a "sorry we ruined your package" note. Miraculously, the perfume and books were only a bit dusty and no worse off for the wear. Very appropriate. *pets little Sunbird bottles*

 

To me, Sunbird smells similar to The High Priest Not to be Described, both in the bottle and on my skin, though it's less spicy and has less throw.

Sunbird is like a warm, glowing, spicy, exotic incense. If I had to guess at the notes, I'd say this has red sandalwood, some spice (cinnamon leaf? I don't get a heavy cinnamon feel from this at all though, maybe nutmeg), sweet, dark incense, a touch of herbs, and a curl of smoke. It's a warm, golden scent on me. It's smoky and a bit ashy without being overwhelming or smelling gross on my skin, and I tend to dislike smoky notes.

 

I think that I wanted this scent to be darker and heavier than it actually is. It's pale, soft, and golden on me. I don't get any patchouli or vetiver from this at all. I'm not wowed by the scent right now, but I love the artwork and the story, and I love anything bird-themed. Still, I'll wear this, and I'm hoping that it gets better for me with age.

[Geminirubyshoes]

This is my 4th attempt at writing a review for this, my computer kept crashing previously!

 

Thanks to the amazing GingieMay for letting my and my co-worker sniff and then test this!

 

In the bottle I found it to definately smell hot. Hot and spicy, like the spice in Velvet Bandito.

Then I put it on and all I could smell was...Snake Oil. However it does have a long lasting smell power and decent throw. Not sure why all I could smell was Snake Oil.

My co-worker loves this though and she is pretty particular. Now I am on the hunt for some for her...

 

Again thanks GingieMay!!! you are the greatest!

 

 

[iletaitunefois]

This is actually the scent that got me into BPAL. I am a long time follower of Neil Gaiman, and when he mentioned this scent I was intrigued. It took awhile, but I finally managed to get my hands on an imp and I was not disappointed in the least. This is an absolutely gorgeous scent. In the bottle it was all dry heat and resins, and when applied to my skin, it was firmly evocative of the desert. It reminded me a lot of Morocco, except it was a little softer, with more amber and resin and less spice.

 

In the end, I've gotta admit, I've been smelling my wrist all day. I love the way this smells. Definitely recommended.

[Schmoozy]

My Sunbird order arrived the other day, and I can't describe it, but holy shit is it ever good. The perfect scent to be wearing this time of year. While I was running around doing errands it mingled perfectly with the heat, and just morphed with my sweat. I know maybe gross, but it was stunning. I kept stopping and smelling myself. Kinda smoky and sweet. Amazing job Beth!

[zankoku_zen]

Oh Sunbird. You do not fare well on my skin. Yes, you do have that dusty, hot air and desert thing going on with the sandalwood and a hint of cinnamon. Your promise of resin never really is fulfilled, at least on my skin.

 

An hour later, you are gone. Like some sort of dream.

 

Try the Ifrit if you have a hankering for this.

[milo]

Like other reviewers, I find this to be a hot, dry scent. Everything is so well blended with the resins and spices, that no one note really dominates for me. If it smells like anything, it would be something like Scattered Gloom or Velvet Panther, but where these blends are dark, this one is bright and sunny, and softer, like you could imagine a birds feathers. No powder here, as sometimes these types of scents can go on me. Total win!!

[jizatt]

I didnt get heavy spice, or really quite what I expected at all. It was soft, hot, and dry, but after long dry -- I think its red musk that I smell. I get it from several other blends -- its ... clear, high pitched and a bit fruity? caveat : my hormones are wonky, so I wouldnt worry about it =)

[isentropic]

I'm really glad others liked this scent because it smells awful on me. I don't even know what it is, because I do so well with resins, normally -- just ugh. How depressing

[ClareDeLune]

Sunbird didn't work on me. =(

Instead of being warm, it actually had a pretty cold, chemical tinge to it.

[EmpressPixie]

I heart Neil Gaiman and I think his blog posts and Tweets about BPAL are what got me into it to begin with, so I had to have this.

 

In the bottle, it smells like a sweet spice caravan traveling through the desert.

 

On me, it's like a spice shop on a warm afternoon.

 

(The short story is fabulous and they complement each other perfectly.)

[forspecial_plate]

I only tried this once, but I want to post my impressions of it.

 

It was much drier than I expected, and strong! It was a little on the sharp side, almost searing, but pleasant too. The first thing I thought of was Sol, I think they smell alike. I found it hard to identify any notes in Sunbird, except I thought I smelled frankincense. There was some morphing going on, too. The scent seemed to change at least once while I was wearing it......but I couldn't really explain how it was different!

 

Overall this was definitely something I could wear again, but I love scents like Djinn that other people find too burny, so take that into consideration.

 

Edit.....I guess that wasn't very descriptive. It's a hot scent, almost fiery, but dry too, like a desert. Basically it illustrates the concept very well, and I couldn't describe it better than that!

Edited September 14, 2009 by Forspecial Plate

[lefthandmade]

Sharp at first and I'm thinking eucalyptus, but realize it's probably cedar. It goes through a couple of rapid changes, I get spices and woods. Sandalwood and cedar are at the foreground for a little while and cinnamon comes out to play. And then it settles in a warm, smooth, mouth-watering and spicy red musk. I love love love love.

 

 

[Andrea912]

I was lucky enough to receive a decant of Sunbird from my summer Switch Witch alterosen; here goes my review...

 

Wet: dark, resinous, slightly hippie headshop; reminds me of walking around Santa Fe...dry, desert, hot scent...maybe smoke?

 

Drydown: For me, this is a scent that works on nostalgia and not really an identification of a specific note. I feel like I'm thirteen again, visiting New Mexico for the first time, in the middle of July.

 

If you like Snake Charmer Resurrected, I think you'll like Sunbird

Edited September 27, 2009 by Andrea912

[Lamia]

Hot.

 

Sexy.

 

Exotic.

[crebbsgirl]

Well this is interesting. I was expecting to love this, but it seems my skin has other plans entirely. I'm getting a very VERY prominent red sandalwood note here, that seems to be amping to the exclusion of all other notes in this scent. I can detect a bit of a savoury undertone, and there isn't much sweetness. Incensy and hot. I think I may have to let this one age significantly before I can wear it with any success.

[anomie]

In the bottle: Warm and golden, dry and incensey. It almost reminds me of cedar shavings, but that might be my limited scent vocabulary.

 

Wet: It suddenly gets very floral, and unbelievably summery. Actually, it's triggering a very strong memory of being at the beach with my mother, who exclusively uses the Bain de Soleil "Orange Gelee" sunscreen. This smells exactly like that: the scent of the sunscreen heated up, with the sand behind it.

 

This has a hell of a throw on it, too.

 

Dry: And we're back to wood and incense. Which is good, because "mom's sunscreen" is not exactly what I'm looking for in a perfume. Smoky, too. Unlike anything else I have. Very interesting, and quite beautiful.

[Venneh]

In the bottle, this smells really, really warm; desert, incense, maybe a bit of patchouli? On my skin, it's this really deep, hot scent; it reminds me of a temple in the desert somewhere. Not really sure what I think of it just yet. It drops from a stronger scent down to a lighter version of the scent as it dries and stays really, really close to my skin. It's starting to edge towards really really dominating woods and doctor's office, which worries me...

 

Unfortunately, there's woods and incense in this that seems to dominate pretty strongly, and it's not quite what I'm looking for in a scent. There'll be someone who can better love this out there; to the swaps.

Edited November 6, 2009 by Venneh

[donnatron]

Bottle: Maybe amber and patchouli? Highly reminiscent of Mr. Jacquel but more complex and a little higher pitched.

 

Wet: I think there's some patchouli here. Also a touch of sandalwood I think. Maybe a small amount of cedar. This seems to be an amber/patchouli combo with some resin (not dragon's blood. Maybe myrrh?). The spices probably include cinammon or cassia but also maybe pepper?

 

Dry: This is dark, dry and a little dusty. Very fire like and a little smoldering. Not quite as sensuous as Mr. Jacquel but an interesting and lovely blend. It smells dark and mysterious and more than a little dangerous.

 

Throw: Moderate.

 

Overall: I really like this. It's exotic and mysterious and a little unnerving. Maybe not a work appropriate scent but good for casual parties and weekends. Glad to have the bottle.

[PurringPulsar]

Sunbird

 

In the imp: spicy frankincense, myrrh and smoke-this smells incredible!

Wet on skin: oh my goodness…now I smell musk and herbs and vanilla and saffron!

Dry on skin: wow, this is stunning! Spices, resins, heat, fire, smoke, sweetness, herbs, musk and the evocation of the ancient past and faraway places. Interestingly it’s also quite familiar. I smell something fruity that reminds me of apple! Like sweet apple tea, with exotic ‘bazaar’ spices and herbs. But then I smell it again and I smell rich red musk spiced with saffron and deep sweet myrrh and frankincense with cinnamon and sandalwood, and a waft of sacred kyphi from the ancient temples of Heliopolis, and a hot breath of desert wind across sun scorched stone. And then it smells like warm pine forests and scrubby and pungent herbs, Mediterranean landscapes in the August heat, hints of dry grasses and hay and sap and smoke. This scent takes me to so many places at once. I have no idea why I get apple from here but it’s an apple note that actually works on me!

After a while: the scent then loses that intensely spicy scent and the apple note, and seems to mellow. The whirling and heated complexity calms down and the scent becomes more languid and mellow, like the golden light of evening. The musks and resins become stronger but I also start to smell what could be camomile now, as well as a sweeter scent which I’m guessing is a blend of vanilla, saffron, amber and heliotrope. I say heliotrope because it reminds me of the likes of Sportive Sun, Labores Solis, Red Moon etc. but this has more spice, musk and incense to it. I also think there may be carnation here, but I am pretty sure that the dominant note I get is camomile…now it reminds me of another kind of tea, camomile tea, but with sun-warmed skin and passionate red musk and wafts of spicy smoke and ancient ceremonial incense. This then settles into a gorgeous mix of red musk, saffron and camomile! (btw I never got any vetiver whatsoever from this.)

Verdict: this is a scent that truly blew my mind-a wonderful, masterful blend evoking the sun in all it’s glory and aspects-as supreme deity, as giver of warmth, light, happiness and also bringer of torrid heat and fire. This evokes holy resins and deserts, like a pyre of smouldering spices and resins, hot dry sunlight, Egyptian incense, Middle Eastern bazaars, cosy cooking herbs, summer holidays, and sexy exotic musk all at once. It also brings to mind the heat and the hustle and bustle of spice markets and shops selling curiosities and exotic knick-knacks as well as herbal remedies. It makes me think of places I have been and places I have dreamed about. This heated firestorm of scent is fevered and exciting and takes my mind on multiple journeys and brings to mind many moods and images. This is my favourite of the phoenix-themed scents that Beth has ever made. I bet aging is going to make this even more incredible. I am glad I have three bottles!

Emoticon rating: :love!:

Is it a keeper? yes. This scent is spectacular.

If you like this, try: Priala, Ra, Ahathoor, Great Cry in Egypt, Scherezade, Labores Solis, Fire Phoenix

[alioth]

I really wish I could describe Sunbird half as well as Yeahbutnobut did above me, but all I can really say is that on my skin it was the perfect accompaniment to the chapbook, bright and hot with sun and desert and the perfect blend of spices for cooking something so divine as the Phoenix. It was also very strong, with a powerful throw--the only perfume I've worn that my mother commented was 'overpowering'. It really grabs my body-heat and runs with it, to the point where I could just faintly smell it lingering in my car the next morning. Not at all a bad thing in my book, but something to be careful of. Mind the Sunbird, or be enveloped!

[Gwydion]

In bottle: It smells a little like sacharine metabolizing. It’s also musky. I’m suspecting a Dragon’s blood base. Wet: now I’m getting sandalwood and musk, mostly. The saccharine scent is almost gone. It is very dry smelling and certainly conveys the idea of desert and resin. There is something underneath that does smell like feathers. I wasn’t expecting much having smelled it in the bottle, but it’s much better on the skin. It may be too much musk for me, but that’s not the blend’s fault, but my skin chemistry. Dry: A pleasantly rich sandalwood dominant resin and musk blend. It still doesn’t quite work with my skin chemistry, but close, so close.