Tree of Life

[Invidiana]

TREE OF LIFE
Tree of Life, Gustav Klimt.
Ash bark, Kashmir wood, tonka bean, clary sage, Spanish moss, cocoa absolute, King mandarin, galangal root, and matcha tea.

In the bottle this is a little odd and sharp with an herbal and citrusy edge. However, like a tree in bloom, on my skin it morphs into something completely different--and amazing.

This scent has elevated the classic pairing of chocolate and orange to new heights. It isn't foody per se but more in that lovely sweet and earthy vein of Brood XIX and Atlas. True that it's a little sharp from the matcha tea at first but upon the drydown that disappears entirely and is replaced by cocoa and mandarin on a bed of lush woods and earthy moss with a vanillic undertone of tonka. What I'm guessing is the Kashmir wood really smell amazing on me, deep and warm and sensual very much like oude. The mandarin is there though not a prominent citrus scent per se, more of a contribution to the overall luxurious feel of the scent. There is a bit of smokiness which I'm guessing is from the galangal, and the sage behaves in the background, not amping to herbal death but entwining with the moss to fill out the overall idea of a great tree rising from the shadows of the forest floor.

I am so glad I took a chance on a bottle of this unsniffed. It's gorgeous.

[edenssixthday]

Tree of Life - There are not enough words to describe how beautiful this scent is. For those of you who recently tried Atlas from the Metamorphosis series, there is definitely a similarity in the woods and sweetness, and I thought I loved Atlas, but Tree of Life blows it out of the water. Tree of life is very woody, but has an almost vanillic-sweet scent about it. It's rich and deep and earthy and sweet. I was concerned about the cocoa absolute note, as chocolate never works out on me, but apparently cocoa absolute is much different from chocolate, and it does not turn on my skin, and simply adds to the rich, sweet, earthiness of the scent. The clary sage is an amazing addition to this scent and adds the faintest herbal quality, but is, I think, what makes this such a soothing, comfort-type scent for me. It's so hard to describe because it's such a rich and complex scent that is incredibly well-blended. The only negative is the price. I love it, but can't really afford splurge on a backup bottle, and I know this one's going to be in high demand after it goes down, so it'll be hard to find a bottle later when I have the dinero for it. I'll just be happy with what I have, I suppose.

[Little Bird]

In the bottle, this smells like a tart citrus tea with a bit of woods & vanilla that reminds me of The Antikythera Mechanism.

 

On my skin, Tree of Life starts off with tons of sharp mandarin orange and the barest hint of chocolate and tonka (smells a bit white chocolatey to me). It's reminding me a little of the original Thirteen blend and the GC blend The Great Sword of War, but much less sweet and foodie. I kept waiting around for the tart citrus note to fade, as I'm used to citrus being a top note that disappears pretty quickly, but that sharp, perfumey citrus quality hangs on strong for me here. The chocolate/sweetness disappears rather quickly, but the mandarin sticks around. As it dries down, this is sharp, perfumey sort of citrus tea with hints of earthy moss and smooth woods.

After an hour, this is a smooth, warm woods scent that's rather nice, but it has almost no throw and fades pretty quickly after the hour mark.

 

I love Atlas, it smells very foodie and sweet on me, and lasts all day when I wear it. I wouldn't call Tree of Life foodie or even particularly sweet... I can kinda see a similar woods feel between the two after Tree of Life has mostly faded away, but Atlas is a lot stronger and richer smelling to me.

Edited August 11, 2011 by Little Bird

[calivianya]

Wet, Tree of Life is all about the clary sage and mandarin. The matcha comes out fairly quickly, as does the tonka which lends a slight vanilla smell to the blend. The woods come out much later, and round it off. This dries down to a very evocative blend. It does smell a lot like a tree, but it encompasses the entire tree from the wood of the trunk to the green leaves to the sweet fruit growing off the branches. I like this blend a lot more than I thought I wood. I'm glad I received my decant in a bottle, so I can search out decants to fill mine up. It's lovely.

 

I would also like to add that this is nothing like Atlas on my skin. If Atlas didn't work for you like it didn't work for me, don't be afraid of the comparisons. This blend can still work on you, and work beautifully.

Edited August 12, 2011 by calivianya

[lilyliza]

I'm thrilled that this smells exactly like I pictured it would- slightly foodie woods. For those not that into foodie scents in general, don't let that deter you; it's very subtle in the mix of things. It's mostly woods with cocoa in the background from beginning to end, sweetened very lightly by tonka, deepened by sage and matcha, and brightened just a little with mandarin. The mix of cocoa and matcha might sound a little weird, but it is heaven, especially with the sage holding it all together. It's a very comforting, slightly sweet and bright, but mostly earthy scent. I can't stop smelling my wrists- I think I may need a bottle of this.

[Dark Alice]

Wet: Chocolate Orange woods.

 

Dry: Orange wood. The ash is the most dominant note. It blends well with the citrus...and now comes the sage and citrus with hints of wood. There is also something in here that is nutty. This is a definite no go. *sigh*

[HerbGirl]

When I applied the oil, I got a blast of Matcha, which was very nice. Then the moss took over...and it was mostly moss after that. I had to try this because of the name, but I knew the moss would be a fail on me. I love the smell of moss, but it does crazy things on my skin.

 

Dry - the mandarin peeks out a bit and sweetens the moss.

 

I had to edit this...I spoke too soon. After 2.5 hours this dries down to one of the loveliest light woodsy scents ever...it is very very faint by this point, but lovely all the same. I bet age will smooth this tree out, and it should be glorious!

Edited August 17, 2011 by Herb Girl

[porcelina]

at first sniff, this vaguely reminds me of a chaos theory i once had, that always confounded me. (i think the note i'm picking up on in both is galangal root! i finally have an answer!) unfortunately, the galangal and mandarin in tree of life overpower the other lovely notes (ash bark, kashmir wood, tonka, sage and cocoa) that should have made this an instant winner for me and instead leave it smelling vaguely of rich, gleaming woods… polished with a citrus and pine-scented cleaning product.

 

as it dries down, i'm left with something that strongly resembles my beloved antikythera mechanism, with top notes of citrus and herbs. if you have a higher tolerance for citrus than i do, you might like this one more. as it is, i enjoy it, but i don't know what would make me reach for this versus antikythera… we'll see. it does seem to have excellent staying power, which is always a good thing.

[Chanter]

In the bottle: This one's rather similar to Atlas at first sniff; I expect the woody notes are doing that. I like Atlas, so that's not a bad thing.

 

On skin: The similarity to Atlas is still there, only without the mallow note, which was a little strong for me anyway. The woods are definitely there, plus something sharp that's probably the macha tea and mandarin mingling. The cocoa appears and the sage peeps out juuuust a wee bit as this dries, and there's something smoky in the background that from other peoples' descriptions I'm going to guess is galangal. Liking this one so far.

 

On drydown: The cocoa gets stronger, but that's not at all a bad thing. Beyond that, this one doesn't morph much on me, so I end up with a lovely, cocoa-y, woody, slightly sharp tea-hinted scent. Mmmm. I am most certainly keeping this decant, and if I'm not careful, there may well be a bottle of this in my future.

Edited August 17, 2011 by Chanter

[Kamanjah]

Wow, I don't feel like I'm even reviewing the same scent here!

 

In the decant, it just smells clean.

 

Wet on my skin: lemon mint!??! Ah ha, it's the galangal, which I know well from Thai food - my favorite.

 

10 minutes in: all I smell is galangal. Then the tonka starts to show.

 

35 minutes in: Tonka is now the main note, the galangal has faded. I'm trying to smell woods here, the only thing that's remotely close would be sandalwood. However, I must admit I've never smelled ash bark or Kashmir wood. I don't get any sage or moss at all.

 

1.5 hours in: Alas, it's all gone to powder.

[angelamaria]

In decant: ohhh. This is amazing. Woody green bark and tonka. I think I get a bit of the cocoa, and when I retested with my usual amount for wearing, I do get the cocoa a bit more, with mandarin. Masculine, sexy and refined. Mmmm.

 

Wet on skin: mandarin! And light woods and some cocoa. Oh, this is so nice--as it dries, the tonka comes out even more, and it's an OH HELLO TONKA YOU ARE SEXY sort of tonka. Love, love, love. Clean, elegant, refined, but sexy--this is totally a smoldering man in a coat and tie. But I want to wear it too! Oh oh oh.

 

Dry: tonka, mandarin, and warm, light resins in the background. I AM IN LOVE. This is quite unexpected; I expected that this would be dark and heavy and just plain too much for me. I don't care that it feels mostly masculine, it is divine, and I want to wear it. However, the throw after a while--say, a bit under an hour? It's just positively gone. Or my skin has eaten it all up. I can't get much of anything.

 

Verdict: I fell in love with this blend, obviously. I love it. However, my skin does not. I can get a little if I sniff hard enough, but it's fleeting--I'm still waffling on whether or not I should get some. Well, maybe I will! And hope that it deepens a bit more with age. Yes *nods* I think I will do that. One thing to note is that I was suddenly hit by the sense that I've smelled this before, or something like it--and after a while of puzzling it out, I've hit it: Black Opal! So if you like the vanilla-ey tonka-ness (lol) of Black Opal, you just might love this too. Man, I certainly do.

[invisible iris]

In the bottle: Cocoa and strong, harsh wood with a hint of bitter mandarin and galangal, and I detect the salty masculinity of sage. Straight away this reminds me of Atlas, and also Wulric, both of which were ruined for me by an implacable vetiver. I have high hopes that this will work much better.

 

On skin: On skin this is immediately gentler than in the bottle. I get softer woods with dry cocoa, faint tonka, and a mysterious matcha note. With a deepening, folding-inward influence from sage and galangal. It is already an interesting and well-blended whole, and everything just converges to become smoother and softer as it dries.

 

Dry: Softly, gently harsh woods, smooth bitter warm galangal/mandarin, a hint of salt-watery sage, and a dry sweetness from cocoa/tonka/matcha. Complex and blended so that each time your nose recognizes one note, it’s carried along smoothly to another counter-note, and this happens again and again, so that you want to keep inhaling the scent because it’s almost like your nose is being led along by a melody. The components here are diverse, and most aren’t what I’d call pretty. But the whole here is greater than the sum, and the way the notes play off of each other in their differences is… apt. When I think of the inspiration for the blend, and that it is for RAINN, it makes sense. Out of bitter and dry parts, to grow something that is full of life and beautiful.

 

Verdict: Holy moly, this is a crazy success. I love it. How does Beth do this? Tree of Life is amazing, heart-breaking lovely. I think it goes on my short list of ‘anytime’ scents, elegant and mysterious but also powerful & comforting.

[sunshinedaisybliss]

This painting has long been a favourite of mine, so I was really excited to see how Beth translated it into a perfume! And.. I am not disappointed

 

This one took a little while to settle in to my skin - at first it was a strange mix of woody, herbal-y, citrusy smells that was a little sharp.. but 10 minutes later, oh.. it was much better! I think it hit its best point for me at about 30 minutes in.

 

So you really can't go wrong with chocolate and orange, but this is so much more than just your regular choc-orange thing.. the richness of the king mandarin paired with the lovely dark cocoa absolute is sublime here.. it's everything it should be - rich and deep but not at all foody nor overly sweet. And the combination of the woody and green tones with the tonka and galangal produce a gorgeous earthy smokiness that sits just under the sweetness of the mandarin/cocoa duo.

 

Much like The Tree of Life itself, this perfume unfolds more layers of interest as it goes - it changes tones but overall stays pretty consistent. Over time, the mandarin does fade a fair bit which leaves the beautiful ash bark and the wood and moss to play more of a lead role, but the mandarin is still there.. just a lot more subdued. It definitely has an 'alive' feel to it - I'm reminded of how a forest smells.. just kind of alive.

 

Tree of Life doesn't have a lot of throw, it's one of those 'lean in to enjoy' kinds of BPALs, and I found it faded fairly quickly on my skin, but it was completely enjoyable the whole time it was there.

[milo]

At first, this is sweet woods. It kind of reminds me a bit of Atlas, Haloes, and the like. A few moments in, it has a definite freshness added. I'm assuming it's the mandarin, though it doesn't scream 'orange' to me at all, it's just so well blended with the warm woods. Now the woods are definitely fading, and it's more mandarin than anything, and then it switches back to warm woods. What a morpher! This is kind of reminding me of Knick Knack, at this point, something I love but only have two imps worth. Depending on the rest of the wear, I may try to track down a bottle of this gem.

[kakiphony]

In the decant: Light and dry, but with a definite cocoa note at the bottom. Some citrus. I'm intrigued to see how rich vs. light this will be on me.

 

Wet on skin (initial application): Citrus is dominant on me, a light citrus that seems more like lemon than mandarin to me. I get very little of that cocoa note that I smelled in the imp. Along with the citrus this has an herbal over-lay. It's not unpleasant, staying just this side of cleaning fluid, but I'm hoping the base notes develop to take a little of the citrus edge off.

 

Early dry down (about 15 minutes): Hmm...this is, sadly, veering into cleaning fluid territory on me. The citrus is very, very dominant, followed by a high, sort of sweet herbal smell. It makes the back of throat itch a bit. My left wrist is especially problematic -- it smells a bit like bug spray.

 

Late dry down (after an hour): Luckily, time and dry down make all the difference in this blend. After the citrus and herbs fades, I am left with a light, subtle wood blend with just the slightest hint of something green and fresh in the top layer. This reminds me quite a lot of Aelopile.

[Gateau]

I wasn't going to try this because woods are hard for me to wear without amping and throwing off the whole balance of a scent, but I received a tester from a kind forumite, so checked it out and I'm glad I did.

 

Imp--tonka! And sage.

 

Wet--the tonka and sage meet with a sharp, citrusy, strong cologne scent. I might have stopped here, but held on for the drydown.

 

Dry--the woods come out, the tonka warms up, the mandarin smooths out, and the moss, sage, and galangal meld together to add a rich smokiness. Like the other klimts, this is a complex and sophisticated fragrance.

 

I find this appealingly masculine, so I swabbed it on my husband and he's just delicious. Going to grab him a bottle and set it aside for Christmas, but I'll probably borrow it from time to time when I'm feeling woodsy.

[Ghost of a Rose]

In the vial: The first thing I notice is wood, then suddenly . . . chocolate, loud and clear. But there are too many other notes in this for it to be at all foody. Everything is underscored by a hint of bitterness that must be the matcha.

 

On me, wet: Chocolate at first, quickly handing over the starring role to a note I don't recognize and find impossible to describe - probably the unique combination of several different oils. If I "look" for them, I can detect a little mandarin, clary sage, and a pine-like note from the galangal. Overall this is a mildly sharp, balsamic, non-sweet, unisex kind of scent. This does indeed smell like trees, pine trees especially.

 

After 20 minutes: Ah, now a nice cinnamon-and-vanilla note comes out, courtesy of the tonka. It's mild and subtle, not strong like the oils of those actual things are. And it blends beautifully with the notes already there, still without any hint of foodiness.

 

After 45 minutes: The fragrance has become soft and gentle, quite lovely. Cinnamon, vanilla, and wood.

 

After 1 1/2 hours: Mostly vanilla, with a little wood. I don't usually like vanilla perfumes, but this is very gentle and not at all foody. The earlier, more complex, scent is still present, hovering in the background.

 

From there, the fragrance remains consistent as it slowly fades away, in about 3 hours.

 

A lovely unisex kind of scent that I think would appeal to just about anyone. It isn't foody, yet has notes that are almost universally popular; and none of those notes that some people love and others hate. For me it's not a 5-star scent, just because it is florals that I really adore. (So naturally Hygeia and Donna con Ventaglio are my favorites of the four scents in this series.) But I do like this one very much. Wearing it in a scent locket as well as on the skin would help to preserve those delicious and complex top notes (especially the chocolate!)

 

My rating: 4 stars

Edited October 11, 2011 by Ghost of a Rose

[Viridian]

I love the painting, but I was unsure of the scent because woody, mossy scents don't always work for me, and chocolate + orange has historically also not been great on me. I tried this purely because it was mentioned that the tonka in it was reminiscent of Black Opal, which I missed out on a bottle of.

 

In the bottle, chocolate is most prominent, with orange and some green-ness in the background.

 

On, wet, I get a lot more orange, but still chocolate, with the woods and moss and sage kind of soft and faintly grounding the scent. Not a lot of tonka until it's dry, and I wouldn't know there was matcha tea in here unless I read it, but I kind of think that's what's giving me the hint of cool green-ness.

 

Later, this fades down to a very soft scent - it's nice but barely detectable, which is I think when the tonka is left. This is the point where I can smell the faint resemblance to Black Opal. It's not really a replacement, but it's similarly soft and has a hint of coolness about it in the same way, but it's a more complex and not-that-similar scent until the late drydown. It is, however, lovely and soft in the same way throughout - this is not a strong sharp woodsy scent at all!

 

Overall it's really beautiful and I'm glad I took a chance on it.

[crebbsgirl]

I'm going to start right off and say I absolutely LOVE this scent. It's very fuzzy and soft and comforting on my skin. It reminds me a little bit of Mole from the Wind in the Willows series. The moss is definitely at the forefront on my skin, followed by cocoa, sage and tonka. I'm not getting much citrus here. I can see how this might skew masculine on some people, but I think that just adds to the appeal for me.

[Monday]

Wow this is a great scent! It does remind me a bit of The Antikythera Mechanism when it's wet, the wood note in it especially. But this ends up way smoother.

It starts out with sharp ash bark, galangal root and kashmir wood softened by the tonka with a hint of chocolate. The chocolate evaporates quickly on my skin and the mandarin appears. When it dries it morphs from harsh woodsy galangal to creamy sweet woods.

Tree of Life is very well blended, the woods are at the front followed by a creamy tonka the other notes meld smoothly with the rest. This is like the woodsy sister of The Anti-Saloon League. They both have the same kind of sweet creamy base with shaper top-notes.

On me this has a huge throw plus it lasts nearly a whole day.

[grrrlennyl]

Tree of Life

 

On: Smooth. I'm getting a nice hint of cocoa with a bit of clary sage (love) and some words and moss. Very, very pretty.

1 hour in: Mostly woods with a hint of tonka. Still very pretty.

4.5 hours in: Smooth and a bit sweet.

Overall: I am shocked at how nice this smells on me. It was a rather lovely surprise.

[curlsandpearls]

Bottle: A heady, woodsy base with a distinct cocoa/tonka sweet note insisting on being center stage.

 

Wet: The woodsy base is still there, but the green, earthy-citrus notes start peeking out: the sage and moss are prominent and the mandarin is distinguishable, twisting it in an interesting way—if you’re someone who likes mandarin-cocoa over woods. I’m not really feeling it, but let’s see how it dries.

 

Dry: The green, citrus notes (and tea, which is discernable at this point) take a backseat to the heady, cocoa-tonka, woodsy scent that first emerged in the bottle. I’m usually not one for cocoa, but it’s interesting in this blend. Really subtle and lovely. Not much throw to this one; I put a good deal on my wrist but still have to get close to smell.

 

Later: The woods base thins out over time, leaving the cocoa/tonka blend in the foreground, which is kind of unfortunate—I need the heady woods base to keep the foodiness in check. Alas, it doesn’t look like that’s gonna happen.

Edited April 22, 2012 by curlsandpearls

[brilliantcat]

Just applied: Woodsy with a hint of the citrus from the mandarin. At this point it smells a bit like freshly polished wood and Orange-Glo. I can't get the Orange-Glo'd wood feel out of my head. Eventually though it does gain some musky/smoky undertones as it warms, taking away that wood polish feel. It actually smells rather lovely , just not bottle-lovely.

 

ETA: And now it's morphed to bug spray. Ew. Ew.

Edited October 4, 2012 by brilliantcat

[zankoku_zen]

And another review I missed back in the day. Reconstructing this from my notes, I get mandarin, wood and sage. Based on the very thin sketch that I have, it probably started off as orange woods and then devolved into a sage, woody with hints of tonka.

[tinyvulture]

First impression, sharp, dry, dark, woodsy incense. It's all ash bark and kashmir wood.

 

1 minute later, here's the mandarin! Bright and cheery as always. And there's something earthy, like vetiver but not quite. The galangal? I'm not getting any cocoa, matcha, or tonka.

 

5 minutes later, super sweet citrus WOW! And vanilla? And woods and moss. I like it for the most part, except I'm not big on moss.