Copper Phoenix

[forspecial_plate]

Rose-infused dark amber, with sweet orange, honey, cardamom, patchouli, apricot, pink pepper, and red sandalwood.

When I first tried this, I thought it was rather boring. I smelled a lot of powdery amber and rose, a little citrus, not much else.

I've tried it again recently and I see now that it's actually quite remarkable. The amber is still somewhat on the powdery side but there is a strength behind this scent that comes across like smoldering resins. This is one of those unique rose scents where the rose is content to linger in the background instead of taking center stage. And honey? Well, it's pretty amazing I'm not only not washing this off, but actually enjoying it. Usually I just don't do honey except for a couple of rare exceptions. I can smell the honey but it's definitely tempered and balanced by the other notes (I love cardamom).

Overall, this is indeed copper, in olfactory form. There is a metallic strength to this scent, warm and....well....coppery, if it had a color. I like it a lot and it's strong enough that I don't need more than this decant. It will be great for days when I want to reach for something unique. Edited June 20, 2010 by Forspecial Plate

[Delirium1009]

In bottle/imp: Fruit, floral notes, and patchouli all mashed together.

 

Immediately on skin: This is like a fruity, floral deep sandalwood scent with a bit of gritty patchouli in the background. It smells very perfumey on me, which I think may be the dark amber. The apricot and pink pepper kind of flit around at the top of the scent.

 

After a little while: This becomes more of a sandalwood and patchouli heavy scent after a while, slightly gritty but warm, with hints of fruit and rose. The rose isn’t overpowering in this at all, and this has a drier feel to it.

 

Overall Impressions: This scent is mainly patchouli and sandalwood on me, with sweeter notes like apricot, pink pepper, and rose balancing it out. It’s a little gritty, but it doesn’t smell like dirt or anything. Honey is a big fail note on me, and I can’t smell it in this blend. Fruity, earthy, dry, and a touch floral, but this is a bit heavy on the patchouli for me.

[sunlitgarden]

Copper Phoenix

 

This is warm amber with patchouli and spice, but it's more than the sum of its parts. It reminds me a lot of the feel of Phoenix Steamworks, which I also enjoy -- possibly the gold/bronze notes in that blend. I am not good at picking out the individual notes in Copper Phoenix but I really like it. Every time I sniff I notice different aspects of the scent. It does indeed remind me of a coppery-colored metal. Really amazing!

[grrrlennyl]

Copper Phoenix

 

On: Warm and slightly metallic, with a bit of sweetness.

An hour later: WOOD!!!

Overall: Some scents with wood notes just go all crazy on me, and this is one of them, unfortunately. Plus, red sandalwood and I don't get along. It's pretty soapy on me.

[puellacaerulea]

I picked this up during its original run after seeing the apricot note in the description; being a Katharina lover, I am all for any scent involving apricot. Copper Phoenix is definitely *not* the same sort of apricot, though. No one note really stands out except for the citrus/fruitiness, at least at first. In the bottle, it is serious, in-your-face, Sunny Delight citrus. The fruity notes mellow out fast once it's on, with a smooth, definitely metallic undertone. Metallic notes and fruit shouldn't go together, but they very much do here. Overall, it's like a grown-up fruity perfume, and it's my new go-to scent for warm weather.

[filigree_shadow]

Mostly orange and apricot at first, with amber. Then the pepper comes out pretty strong. Not much cardamom in it. The fruit notes are pretty soft when it's dry, but they still keep the scent fairly bright.

 

I like this, but I'd like to try it more before I make a final decision.

[Vega]

Sniffed: Smooth, fruity, slightly syrupy-sweet with a glowing, full depth. A distinctly "orange-coloured" scent.

 

On skin: Copper Phoenix is the perfect mix of honey-sweet, fruity-juicy, liquid, warm, deep and glowing. Yes, all at once, and none out of balance. Even though it's well-blended and no one note is dominating, I can pick out almost all of them and how they contribute to the whole fragrance. While it's overall consistent on my skin, it morphs gently and shows off different notes over time. Today, it is becoming a bit more honeyed and syrupy, with a touch of pepper. Bright and pleasing in a reserved way. A scent that really is more than the sum of all its individual notes, and evokes the warmth and softness of its metallic namesake. Indeed, Copper Phoenix was the least metallic of the (five) Alchemical Phoenixes I'd tested, and the only one that I liked at all. It does put me in mind, not of solid cold metal, but molten copper, warm and flowing. Colour impression is indeed a shining orange-gold touched with a pink sheen.

 

Verdict: If you can't already tell, I adore Copper Phoenix. An Alchemical Phoenix that I like -- and a honey scent that behaves on my skin and doesn't turn into decay! It is also quite similar to Corazon, albeit a little lighter, brighter and more syrupy. If you miss Corazon, don't miss this Phoenix.

[yewberry]

Deliciously well-blended. My first whiff brought one word to mind: classy. This is an elegant evening fragrance with just a touch of the exotic. I don't see myself having occasion to wear it much (none of the above adjectives describe me), but I gotta give this one props for its genuine, lasting beauty.

[imaginepageant]

In the Vial: Have you ever smelled a bottle of vitamin C tablets? That's what this smells like. Sweet orange with something slightly medicinal underneath it. (But don't get me wrong, it's not eucalyptus-type medicinal. Just something that triggers "medicinal" in my brain.) I think I'm getting the apricot, patchouli, and pink pepper as well, but to be honest, it's really hard to pick the notes out of this blend. I can smell other things than orange, but they're hard to pinpoint.

 

Wet: The honey comes out pretty quickly. But it's a powdery honey. And... wow, my skin is just eating this up! I can hardly smell anything.

 

Dry: Oh good, my skin has apparently spit it back up - I can smell it again now. Powdery honey and amber with a hint of orange. Strikes me more as orange blossom than orange fruit,

 

An Hour Later: The same. Maybe a bit more powdery. And there's something there, lurking in the background, that I just don't like... but I have no idea what it is. Oh, I just remembered there's rose in this! I don't dislike rose, but I amp it like no tomorrow - but I don't smell it here! Maybe a teensy bit, in the powdery feel of it, but that's it! It didn't turn to single note rose like every other blend with a rose note does! Color me shocked!

 

Overall: I can't believe how different this is on me than it was on my boyfriend. He got woodsy honey; I get powdery orange. Not fair! I would've loved woodsy honey, but powdery orange is so not for me - even without that mystery something that was turning me off.

[aleciarivas]

Today just seems to be a no-go for me (then again I AM trying notes that don't often work for me!). Rose and amber are sometimes misses for me, and this scent turns into a complete Rose-fest with a hint of something powdery beneath. I'm not crazy about strong rose scents and I absolutely dislike the scent of baby powder so this is a no WAY for me. I've tried this one a few times now and always got the same results.

[countessmouse]

Damn, I wish I had more of this than 3/4 of an imp! Kind of fruity and sweet at first, it has warmed into this golden spicy orange and wood scent that is absolutely fabulous.

 

Off to stalk down a bottle...

[sunstone]

This scent is incredibly well-balanced. In the imp and on drydown, I couldn't distinguish between the notes -- it was one solid chord. A little later, the orange and apricot reached the fore. Another poster (Marared, early in the thread) likened it to Sunny D, and it was like that for me too, briefly...but the other things were still there, so it didn't remind me too much of gradeschool.

 

My verdict: A warm, well-rounded scent, that I swear is taking on a metallic tang as I type this. I will definitely hang on to this imp.

[Gwydion]

In bottle: Rose dominant, with orange and apricot a strong second. The pepper gives the rose more edge than usual. The amber, honey, and sandalwood sweeten and smooth. The patchouli is understated and gives it a touch of grounding. No skin test due to rose.

[Magycmyste]

In bottle: I'm not sure what it is I'm smelling, but I don't really like it at all. It's a little orangey but with something added to it - it almost smells acrid.

 

On my skin, immediately after putting it on: Oh, that is so much better. When I put it on my skin, the acrid scent goes away completely and I'm left mostly with sandalwood, I think, with a little powdery sweetness - the honey, maybe? (I'll probably have to edit this review the next time I wear this - I'm wearing mehndi at the moment, and my hands still smell strongly of henna. I can pick out the non-henna notes, but that's a little overpowering.)

[Sidhechaos]

Copper phoenix

 

Pick this up and a purchase from the forum and am just trying it for the first time. Oh my, I think that I will find myself wishing I had several bottles of this. Starts out with a delicious spicy citrus apricot scent with a sweet subtle floral note. Right off the bat I can literally picked up almost every note listed in this. Not too sure about identifying pink pepper as I've not ever smelled that is a single note before, in fact I don't think I've ever picked up a fragrance with that included in the scent. This is really wonderful I hope it holds true through dry down and will have good staying power.

 

About 4 hours later, the scent has dried down to a soft powdery incense note with a faint floral fruit scent. Basically a very soft powdered version of what it was like wet. I wish it had to longer lasting power but I had not applied much as I didn't know how strong it was. Really will really would love to be able to get another bottle of this, hoping the lab may bring it back at some point in time. Does anyone know if there are regular edition fragrance is similar to this, or a couple of them combine that might produce a similar fragrance?

[BlueberryPie]

I'm honestly not sure how I feel about this blend. My first impression was that it was very generically perfume-y. Not unpleasant, but I had such high hopes for it that it couldn't help but feel a little disappointing to me. But reflecting back, like the OP said, the scent is very, very smooth, and all the (very different) notes blended together so well that I can't honestly call it "generic". It takes a tremendous amount of skill to make a perfume this complex, and yet this well-blended that I can't begin to guess at notes (apart from the obvious orange).

 

So I guess my final opinion is that it is a brilliant perfume. Somehow metallic, just like its name suggests, without being unpleasant or tangy at all. I have no idea how else to describe it. It's really a scent that you have to sniff for yourselves. But it's not for me. And with it being limited edition, I don't think I'm gonna go to the effort of tracking down a bottle. But that's a matter of personal preference. The perfume is absolutely fine, it's just not for me.

 

I can't begin to guess at the staying power or throw, because I got this as a testable sniffy and there was so little left that I could only dab, instead of slather like I normally do.

 

Score: 5/10

[LizziesLuck]

Wet: Soap. Soap, soap, soap, and then patchouli. Orange is iffy on me (the rest of these notes I love) so I am guessing it is somehow creating the soap vibe.

 

 

Dry: Ugh, why do you have to ruin everything, skin? The orange is terrible on me, and of course I have amped it to high heaven. I don't get any of the other notes (which are all great on me) just overly sweet, powdery orange.

Wet: Soap. Soap, soap, soap, and then patchouli. Orange is iffy on me (the rest of these notes I love) so I am guessing it is somehow creating the soap vibe.

 

 

Dry: Ugh, why do you have to ruin everything, skin? The orange is terrible on me, and of course I have amped it to high heaven. I don't get any of the other notes (which are all great on me) just overly sweet, powdery orange.