Vampire Tarot: The Priestess

[Nadirah]

II. THE PRIESTESS
Her skin was pale, and her eyes were dark, and her hair was dyed black. She went on a daytime talk show and proclaimed herself a vampire queen. She showed the cameras her dentally crafted fangs, and brought on ex-lovers who, in various stages of embarrassment, admitted that she had drawn their blood, and that she drank it.

“You can be seen in a mirror, though?” asked the talk show hostess.

She was the richest woman in America, and had got that way by bringing the freaks and the hurt and the lost out in front of her cameras and showing their pain to the world.

The studio audience laughed.

The woman seemed slightly affronted. “Yes. Contrary to what people may think, vampires can be seen in mirrors and on television cameras.”

“Well, that’s one thing you finally got right, honey,” said the hostess of the daytime talk show. But she put her hand over her microphone as she said it, and it was never broadcast.

White sandalwood, life everlasting, nicotiana, iris pallida, and juniper berry.

My bottle says the High Priestess but it is the Vampire tarot one. I won it in the Twitter contest! Yay me! So onto the review.
Out of the bottle I smell a light musk, there is something sweet and fruity in there. There might even be a small amount of tea tree, or some other herb that smells like that. It is not as sharp as tea tree though.
When the Priestess is applied to my skin the musk is the first thing I notice there is also a floral that could be peony or chamomile or something along those lines. I want to say this reminds me of Ice Queen but The Priestess is much more subtle, like the rest of the tarot blends seem to be. Plus the Priestess has something that smells like woods. This blend is a mystery to me, the staying power seems really good, but it is more subtle. I really enjoy this!

What the priestess looks like: She looks like a statue with slit wrists both arms raised one slightly higher than the other. She is wearing what looks like a simple mardi gra mask or glasses.The crescent moon is in the sky on the right and he backround is similar to the fool, with gravestones. The priestess is wearing a robe (also looks like fabric draped around her head and body) Edited February 28, 2010 by Shollin

[fairnymph]

Light and fresh, herbal-green and a little juicy-fruity but with a deep sharpness, maybe some leather, or a certain herb or resin? This is a bit of a contradictory and jumbled scent.

 

Warmer, drier - dusty, in fact - with almost no trace of that fruity sweetness from the bottle. Very much dry, dark herbs and incense. Definitely some myrrh, and maybe a little frankincense - and I get whatever that incense note is from Black Lace, that goes soapy on my skin when unaged. Actually, this scent's base on the whole reminds me remarkably of BL - some of the vanilla and tobacco notes, but faint here.

 

Going sweeter, that Black Lace base is amping, but there's still quite a bit of other incense as noted earlier. I no longer get any greeness or fruity notes at all. Now leather - it's possible. A light be of slick, powdery-sharp De Sade style? But I usually amp leather and if there's leather here, it's not amping. It could be a dry wood instead...there's definite woodiness here, but it blends with the incensey base.

 

This is a scent that's clearly BPAL - it has that general BPAL vibe & smell - but is not quite like anything else I've tested. The drydown is dark herbs & dry wood over dark incense; myrrh, smoky-sweet frankincense and loads of that Black Lace incense, with some of its vanilla and tobacco - these latter two do amp and sweetened considerably over time on my skin. I think there is some benzoin here as well. This is a serious, complex, and sophisticated scent - very theme appropriate, but not personally appropriate at all. Low throw but great longevity.

 

Black Lace romps in a dark and dangerous forest.

 

ETA: I tested this blind, without knowledge of the notes. With this knowledge, I can definitely pick out the sandalwood (a dry sort), iris (faintly powdery), and nicotiana (a big part of the Black Lace vibe). I don't know what life everlasting smells like, and other than a general 'dark green' feel, I cannot pick out the juniper - it's not GIN HELLO I'M GINNY GINNY JUNIPER as it so often is.

 

ETA2: After several hours and a failed attempt to wash this off (great longevity!), an intense sandalwood-musky vanilla with fainter soft feminine white florals remains on my skin - in fact, it reminds of Jingo-Kogo. I may need to buy a bottle for myself to slather, then shower lightly so I can smell like this amazing late drydown! Definitely the same fantastic sandalwood note from J-K.

Edited March 19, 2010 by fairnymph

[angelicruin]

Sandalwood, slightly sweet & a little fruity, but I also pick up the nicotiana note. So far my favorite of the Vampire Tarot scents, but I think I will just hang onto a decant rather than get an entire bottle.

[crebbsgirl]

Oooooooh this is sooooo gooood!!! It's sandalwood and nicotiana and a vibe that's slightly reminiscent of Black Lace, like fairnymph said above. It's a little reminiscent of Smoky Moon as well, but I find this to be softer. I'm also having trouble picking out the juniper. But overall, YUM!!

[Little Bird]

On me, The Priestess is mostly a creamy, slightly powdery, dry wood smell from the sandalwood. As it dries down, I get a lot of sharp, musky, perfumey floral that's probably the iris, and a hint of something sweet and fruity that must be the juniper berry. There's a bit of an herbal edge to the scent as well, which strikes me as being slightly bitter or sharp at first. Over time the perfumey qualities die down and this is mostly soft sandalwood, a hint of sweet fruitiness, and something dark and herbal smelling...

This blend doesn't have much throw on me. The scent clings close to my skin, though it does last all day.

 

This is okay, but probably not something that I'll want to wear again. It has an edge to it that I don't care for here (that herbal-something).

[zankoku_zen]

Creamy sandalwood, smoky nicotiana, slightly fruity. I agree with the Black Lace vibe, but this one is less foody/sweet and just much more incensey.

[PurringPulsar]

Vampire Tarot: the Priestess

 

In the imp: sandalwood, a bit of smoke, a bit of something medicinal, like ho wood?

Wet on skin: this is nice, reminds me of a less sweet Silver Phoenix, or Smoky Moon with less smoke.

Dry on skin: ooh, this is full of iris. I do love iris, and this type is more like orris to me, a bit pale and powdery in a very agreeable way-but it’s not as dry as orris. The dryness here is thanks to the sandalwood, which is really lovely, and has an unusual ho-wood/rosewood type scent to it. The juniper is discreet, like the juniper in Silver Phoenix and even the troublesome nicotiana is behaving-I smell it, adding a hint of smoke, but for now it isn’t turning to Ashtray Flower.

After a while: this smells smokier but it’s not turning to ashtray at all, like I feared it would! It’s more like a haze of subtle tobacco over an ethereal silvery iris and a velvety sandalwood base. I really like it! This is what I wanted from Smoky Moon, which sadly turned too tobacco-y for me, and the delphinium in that scent turned weird. This one is a lot more straightforward: smoky woody iris, shimmering, sultry and mysterious. It’s also quite warm, like a moonlit summer’s night-this does have a lunar feel to it.

Verdict: this one is surprising, as I like it a lot more than expected. This is very different to the original High Priestess scent, which smells like almond, pennyroyal/mint, lotus and something like mushy dead leaves to me. This one is so much nicer. I just hope the nicotiana doesn’t get too strong/smoky with age because it’s perfect as it is. It smells like a beautiful iris and silvery sandalwood mix, with a sultry haze of subtle smoke to it, a tiny bit of juniper that doesn’t smell like gin on me. It’s like Silver Phoenix meets Smoky Moon, somewhere in between the two. With the cool shimmering iris of SP, but with the sandalwood of SM, and a hint of the warm tobacco flower that in here is more restrained than in SM. I’m currently on a bit of an iris kick so this satisfies it.

Emoticon rating:

Is it a keeper? yes-I’m going to finish the decant and then get a bottle (if the nicotiana stays subtle).

If you like this, try: Silver Phoenix, Smoky Moon, Lulu, Black Pearl, Bony Moon

[iletaitunefois]

I'm having a really hard time putting my finger on what is in this scent. I've tried it on about three times now, and I always sit down to write a review...but then I'm not sure what to say. On me, this is a very dark scent. I smell wood and herbs and maybe smoke and...I'm not sure what else! It makes me sneeze when I sniff it for too long.

 

Altogether, this scent just strikes me as jumbled and not really in a pleasant way.

[milo]

At first, this is quite resiny and masculine. As it dries, the orris amps on me, as it sometimes does, and it remains pretty soft and powdery now. Every so often, the sandalwood makes an appearance, and is absolutely gorgeous on my skin, a musky wood that mostly comes out when I heat up. Unfortuneately, the orris does dominate, (wish it was the sandalwood, dammit!) I do have other sandalwood blends that work much better on me that smell pretty similar (Trinket). Funny how this one morphed so drastically from masculine to feminine. I'm certainly glad to have the imp, which I'm sure I'll use up, but don't need a bottle.

[animalcule]

in the decant: juniper, sandalwood, and florals with some fruitiness (?). Very nice, although not at all my usual thing.

 

wet: more of the same without the fruitiness.

 

dry: Consistant. Sandalwood without the incense vibe, gorgeous fresh juniper, backed by soft florals that don't come accross as soapy or too powdery. A surprise hit for me. Will probably get more use as a room scent than perfume, simply because I'm usually in the mood for super-girly scents.

[ravenscanary]

Source: fresh decant

 

In the decant: Herbal, bitter, tobacco and dry, dry, dry sandalwood. Sharp.

 

Wet: Still mostly sandalwood and herbal/green tobacco, but now the florals come out as it gets on my skin. I smell juniper, a note that I particularly enjoy, and within a minute or so this balances much nicer on my skin. It is still intense and herbal, but much less sharp.

 

Dry: Wow. I thought I was going to loathe this when I sniffed it in the imp, but on the drydown the sandalwood and nicotiana play very nicely with the floral notes, and it's pleasant. I get an impression of an imperious, queen-like woman who would wear something like this.

[rayvn1]

This was an interesting one. Floral, definitely, but spicy sandalwood came through quite strongly. After a few hours it turned quite masculine and nice with a deep, dark spiciness. Not a keeper for me but very cool.

[velvet]

Warm, dry, white wood. There is a sweetness but it is very faint. As it dries the juniper berry comes out and rounds out the dryness of the initial stage and makes everything greener. I am liking this quite a lot so far.

[joopjoop]

Very sophisticated, very mysterious. Smells expensive.

 

I can smell my beloved white sandalwood, the smokey floral of the nicotiana and the elegant iris. I'm not sure what life everlasting smells like. The juniper is more subtle than in some blends and gives just the barest hint of sharpness - which I like. Also glad that the juniper doesn't overwhelm on my skin like it does in some other blends. Once it dries down it doesn't morph much.

 

So glad I got to try this one. I want to test it a few more times before committing to a bottle, but I can see reaching for it often when I want to feel and appear confident.

 

A cool, aloof scent to entice - alluring but ever so subtly intimidating at the same time. Quite fitting for an immortal priestess.

Edited August 30, 2017 by joopjoop