Leather Phoenix

[cometgirl21]

And here’s Leather Phoenix: matcha tea, wild frankincense, champaca, petitgrain, star anise, aged oudh, rose taifi, narcissus, Himalayan cedar, 11-year aged patchouli, and black leather accord.

So, this blend should not work on me. I bought it because I just wanted it to have and I have a feeling it will age well.

With this is mind, I decided to give it a test to see what happens.

In the bottle: Rose! Rose does not tend to work on me, the only exception being Pink Snowballs. I have no hope for this.

Wet: Rose, leather, patchouli. In that order. The rose is the first note and it hits me on the nose and says "fear me!". The leather and the patchouli are very nice though.

Dry: The rose has settled some, but not really enough for me to care for it. I wish the patchouli and the leather would come out more to play.

Dry for about 10 minutes: Ok, against all odds, this dries into something gorgeous on my skin. It took a while and I had to have some patience, but wow. The leather and patchouli come out and the rose goes into the background and what I'm assuming is the tea comes out a bit. It smells sexy and amazing. I'm SO glad I tried this. I have a feeling age will make this even better. This is one of those bottles that truly surprised me in a good way.

[fiddlehead]

This is a really interesting and unique oil. When I first apply it I can definitely pick out the rose and narcissus swirling around with the green tea, leather and soft patchouli. A scent memory has been nagging me and I finally figured out that it's the rose. I had a small vial of single note Damask Rose oil once and that is what I'm smelling here, I think. I love this type of rose because it's so different from other roses to me. More husky smelling, less floral. The way it blends with the other notes is just gorgeous. It eventually dries into a soft leather/tea/rose scent.

 

I've been wearing this for several days now. Love it

[violetblue]

Holy....I bought 2 bottles unsniffed, no idea why because leather never works but this one sounded different and wow is it....

I sniffed it from the bottle and said immediately, "not me, off to swaps."

I tested it later and whoa....it smells the like inside of the now closed BNEVER store I got to visit in London, a sister co. of Lush. This is insane!!! I had already listed it for sale, so 1 is gone but glad I have a back up bottle. I wish I could describe the scent but man did I love the smell of the inside that BNever store. Just a blending of awesome perfumes with awesome ingredients in them. I can't believe I am smelling this and remembering, it was so long ago!

[biocarolyn]

Leather and smooth smooth patchouli. Not any patchouli that smells like stinky hippie at ALL. Under that I get something which I think is the cedar mixed with an incense type smell, probably the combination of Frankensence and champaca. I don't get any of the lighter notes Like the matcha or rose, but it's only been on for about 3 hours. Maybe they will show up later? Don't know, but I love it so far... Really nice. Really really nice

 

*i do however, love leather unreasonably. The only leather blend I didn't like was Spanked, which smelled like red hots to me, no leather in sight. It is entirely possible I amp leather as I smell it as a dominant note in many blends, but it's hard for me to tell since I might just be smelling selectively since I like it so much...

[milo]

From the notes listed, I thought this would be a heavy, dark scent. Quite the opposite, this is fresh and green on me with the barest hint of leather. This kind of reminds me of Ded Moroz in a way, it's got that outdoorsy kind of vibe. I think this is one of those blends that will change remarkably as it ages, but even now, it is very lovely. I'd say it was more unisex blend. Nice job, Beth!

[lavender84]

This'll be a short review but I really need to pen something down cause this is so special, it morphs like no other oil I've tried.

 

First its a little dark and manly, then it turns a bit sour (hmmm...) and I was thinking this is not going to work... then it changes again, the dark leather and matcha pushing out the sour and "Poof!", it becomes something totally different from what it was, floral and tea-like with something else going on which I kind of like.

 

I let our house's Mrs smell it and she went from "euwww....." to "oh... this seems nice... umm..."

 

Thanks for such an interesting and fun scent.

[abejita]

Since I got this blend, I've been wearing it just about every day to try and get a handle on it. It's just that complex. I've been a BPAL fiend since 2006, and I've tried, well, a lot of scents. At this point, I can generally predict what I'll enjoy enough so that I can (mostly) buy a bottle, un-sniffed, with confidence.

 

Leather Phoenix is not a blend that I normally would purchase. Green tea? Ick. Narcissus? Ugh. Petitgrain? Eh. I don't do fresh, green, or clean, generally. Leather is so hit or miss, since it varies a lot within BPAL scents. Same with rose. Champaca is great when it works, but more often it's too-ripe fruit in character. Cedar? Often too raw. I don't mind oudh, but it's usually paired with things I don't like so much.

 

... and then I saw the bit about the 11-year-old patchouli. And the star anise. And the incredible age of the oudh. That's what sold me on this blend, coupled with what Beth had to say about it.

 

Damn, this is good. After several days of wear, I regret not having a backup bottle. My very first impression was, "I smell expensive." Every note is in exquisite balance. I can pick out some individual notes, but a few years ago, I wouldn't have been able to, except for the leather. I would characterize this scent as the kind of sexy that comes with a well-earned sense of confidence. It makes me think of someone with a direct gaze and a triumphant smile.

 

I love this blend so much. Bravo, Beth.

[strahlend]

Sniff – I don't know. At first it smelled just like musky grain to me, now it smells like rosey leather... neither impression is favorable. Right now it smells like horse stalls at the county fair; hay, leather, horses, wood.

 

 

Skin testing – this smells like jasmine and ammonia and lemons... ok, I guess the sourness of the rose first came across as lemon, but it's the rose.

 

After a while it softens up a bit but the intense rose overwhelms all the other listed notes. To my nose there's also something like civit or jasmine or similar hanging around in the background.

 

I know for a fact that I will never need to test this again. It's not for me.

[Little Bird]

Leather Phoenix isn't as bad as I was expecting it to be from the reviews. Thankfully, I don't get an overpowering or noticeable rose note.

My bottle is mostly a dry, dusty leather smell with the matcha reminding me of the lab's bamboo note (pulpy, green, and lightly citrussy). Like cowboy leather with green citrus.

 

I like this well enough to keep my bottle and see how it ages. It's really light on me now and fades within about 2 hours, but it's not unpleasant. I can't pick out any of the listed notes other than the faint, dry leather and greenish matcha.

[mistressfizz]

Sniff: Woods and smoke, hints of sweet, like pipe tobacco

 

Wet: Dark but not heavy, with mossy undertones and a furry pelt-like note, which I think is the leather. It's not overtly leathery and has none of the chemical sharpness found in some leather blends. There's a subtle sweetness from the florals. Over time, a bit of ozone and spice emerge, soft and elegant and just short of becoming cologne.

 

This is such a complex and well blended scent. I picture a hunting lodge in winter, surrounded by stuffed animal heads, the gleaming polished wood of guns, a faint trace of aftershave and sweat, dirt and straw caked boots and a cold draft pressing against the window. Very rich yet also comforting and content.

 

Dry: After a few hours, this settles to a beautiful musky patchouli, woodsy and warm. It smells like a well worn fur coat, very old world and sophisticated. I'm quite impressed, this is interesting and unique. I'm so glad I have a bottle to slather!

[atarikhan]

Curious how I always seem to end up with the broken bottles. You know? Like that Infernal Lover who had no red musk: I got it, to my neverending sadness. This time, I am pretty sure the Leather Phoenix I got as very little to do with the ingredient list. Patchouli, Oudh and leather are nowhere to be found. I get this very sharp, citrussy scent, covering bright floral notes. Lemon-rose to be simplistic.

As a oud lover, a serious patchouli fan and a leather enthusiast, I am trying as hard as I can to get a hint of these in this mix but to no avail. Even cedar and frankincense are absent. in the bottle, wet or dry, it always stay stable to the lemony-flowers air freshner fragrance. Major bummer.

[angelicruin]

The patchouli, leather, and cedar notes are strong upon initial application. I get a wafting of the star anise after a minute or two. It's a dry scent that stays close to my skin. Fades pretty quickly on me.

[Suu4LC]

Full disclosure-I am not really a leather fan or patchouli. This just sounded so unique and sexy, I had to give it a shot!

 

In the bottle this is rich leather and woods. Definitely a more masculine/unisex kind of scent. Very rich and earthy.

 

Hmm...this is very hard to describe. A bit sharper on my skin than I'd expect, and I get the florals on my skin that I did not notice in the bottle. Sort of an earthy leather floral blend. Very interesting and unique. There's almost something...citrussy underneath?

 

Unfortunately, this faded pretty fast on me and turned totally powdery :[ My skin sometimes does that with woods. Definitely didn't work on me but I can see this being a totally sexy earthy leather scent for both men and women.

[SophieCedar]

Ok, so this actually worked out in the best possible way, considering the range to results I'm seeing here.

 

Wet: Very distinct notes, dancing together. Strange company that somehow manages to balance each other.

Matcha tea: sweet, powdered, sweet-grass like. I wasn't sure if this would translate as real matcha, but it does.. Supple black leather: strong and very seductive! Sweet! I'm psyched. Smokey deep oudh, tying together with frankincense.. these 2 are an amazing match. A waft of deep, earthy pink rose. Nice touch. The patchouli is mellow and syrupy. Petitgrain is something I'm not really crazy about, but it works here. It's driving it up from a basic carnal incense-y leather blend to something more balanced. Great gender neutral top note... Even though I usually cringe in it's presence. The himalayan cedar is just melding and muddling with the oudh and frankincense, giving them depth. That's great because I've had some nasty run-ins with it.

 

Drydown: this is where I can clearly smell the champaca and narcissus. Leather Phoenix is funny. It operates kinda like that old saying "hind-sight is 20-20". I can see exactly where these 2 fell into place during the wet phase and how it constructed the overall effect, even though I can't pick out the 2 at that time... the epiphany causes a forehead smacking "of course!" This turns greener as the the leather looses it's hold and the frankincense smooths. It's got this soporific, drugged daze feel, but in the clean nothing can harm me kind way. I'm creeped out and captivated. Wonderful.

[sunshinedaisybliss]

Oh.. oh my

 

That ^^ was my first impression. I did one of those 1870's type swoon thingy when I opened the bottle and was greeted by a sensuous, heady blast of leathery patchouli and oudh.

 

On my skin though, I got something completely different - lime! Err.. what? Wait a minute - maybe it's not lime, it could be orange. No.. it's neither - it's like a mix of citrus-y something-or-other that smells like orange+lime. So this is the matcha tea, I'm guessing - I'm not a tea connoisseur at all, so I confess to complete ignorance about what matcha tea smells like, but I see previous reviewers have said it's got citrus tones. And at this stage I can also smell the rose - it's dancing around there in between the sharpness of the citrus - and the narcissus is also noticeable, along with the frankincense which almost always goes citronella/lemon-y on my skin and is totally doing that here. OK.. this isn't what I was hoping for, so I leave it alone for five minutes to see how it develops.

 

Five minutes later - WTF? All I smell is lemon. This is not looking good. Let's give it another few minutes.

 

At the 10-minute point, I start to worry that this just is not going to work for me.. it's still all lemon but the rose has perked up and amped quite a bit. And it's faded a lot already - it's now very powdery and faint. Where is the oudh, the patchouli, the star anise, the leather? WHERE?!?!?

 

But I will not give up.. so it's now 20 minutes since I first applied the oil.. and finally, Leather Phoenix is rising. There's the oudh - smoky and slightly sweet, and there's the patchouli - dark and rich but also slightly sweet. And the leather - well, it's more of a top note here than how leather usually is on me, but it's definitely come through. The star anise isn't really featuring, but I can tell it's there. The lemon/rose thing is still a bit too dominant for my liking, but it's not bothering quite as much now that it's mellowed into more of a sweetgrass sort of tone.. and what's really strange is that the whole scent has come back in full force when ten minutes ago I thought it had almost faded away - it came back with a pretty decent throw. But that only lasted for a short while before it disappeared again.

 

It takes about 30 minutes on my skin before I really start digging this, and that's probably what will see Leather Phoenix ultimately ending up in my swaps box - I didn't enjoy the early stages of it at all, and even when the leather/oudh/patchouli finally does come out it's still not really winning me over, and that lemony/rose thing never really goes away. If I had my Note Removal Machine^TM and could take out the frankincense, rose and matcha tea.. oh, that would be perfect! But alas I have not, so I can not. I know I'm being selfish here, but I kinda wish Leather Phoenix had stuck to being one thing or the other.. I just don't think that citrus tones partner well with woodsy/earthy/leather tones in general, and they certainly don't on my skin at all. Overall, I'm bummed

[porcelina]

just a bit less awesome than i thought it would be. i am not sure where the blend goes wrong, but it's dustier and more powdery than i expected. i expected resins, wood and leather, and i got it, but the floral is a bit much for my tastes and the champaca makes it go all head shop on me. it's also more feminine than i expected it to be. i like it, but i don't love it.

[a_llb]

In bottle: Dark, almost liquor-like aroma. Slightly tangy, grassy matcha, and duskily spiced woods.

 

Wet: An old-world forest meadow, enveloped in patchouli, dirty & lush. Tangles of filmy champaca & tart petitgrain, with just a trace of smoldering rose & narcissus. Leather appears, black as pitch among the other notes.

 

Dry: Robust leather, backed by the duskily spiced woods I could smell in the bottle. A whisper of smoky anise, oudh & cedar envelope the background, supporting the all-too-enticing gloom this blend seems to evoke.

 

Verdict: It reminds me just a bit of Liz - perhaps a darker, moodier 1880's version. Or, you know Kate Beckinsale's character in Van Helsing? This, all over this.

 

ETA: It fades remarkably fast, I am hoping that a bit of age will increase its staying power! Leather Phoenix is highly favored by the aging process, even just the few months I've had it. The leather note in particular has deepened and really started to mature into an intensely captivating essence.

Edited April 30, 2012 by braybrigade

[Helas]

Leather Phoenix is what happens when two different perfumes are forced to share lodgings. There's a light, urban, sophisticated citrus cologne on the one hand, and a skanky, eccentric, sexually charged patchouli and leather blend on the other, and they are not on speaking terms with each other. They are both lovely and would probably be quite charming if taken on their own, but they simply don't gel with each other - at least, not for me.

 

I was hoping for a blend similar to Tombeur, in which the dark sexual base notes are made more sophisticated by the sharp top note. Unfortunately, Leather Phoenix is just a disjointed mess on me.

[Voleuse]

Oooooooh. This leather is smoky and soft--not suede, but worn butter-soft through age. Over time, the incense and woods of the blend start to emerge, lending a grounding sweetness to the smokiness of the blend, but it stays mostly leather on me. This is gorgeous--super-sensual and sexy, and I suspect it will age really well.

[cinnamonster]

Soft suede, patchouli that is nothing like Occupy Wall St, beyond that I'm afraid this is a hopeless review. Rose amper that I am, I get nothing of rose.Zero.

 

My main impression is of...horses? If horses made perfume, it'd smell like this.

 

I hate leather btw in scents, it give me teh headachez extreemz, but apprently not here. What a strange phoenix you are...

[LadyMedb]

Brilliant scent - huge amounts of oude and leather on initial application, then a big rosy initial drydown anchored by the cedar. Normally cedar is not a good scent at all on me, but here it keeps the rose from becoming too sharp. The post-drydown is the best - close to the skin and sweetly patchouli-incensy, with a hint of leather...most or all of the notes in perfect harmony. Yum. I wish it lasted a little bit longer!

 

Overall, this is a unisex-leaning-towards-feminine scent, very sophisticated (in the sense that it reminds me of a lot of high-end niche perfumes I like) and well-blended.

 

I think this will be even better after it's had time to sit a bit, though I slather it on every other day as things are now! Excellent work!

Edited December 13, 2013 by LadyMedb

[loladae]

Wow! This is SO much better than I expected it to be. I bought it because I love leather, but most of those notes are fails on me. It reminds me a bit of Le Pere Fouttard, one of my other favorite leather scents. I think it's the anise and cedar.

[angelamaria]

In decant: leather, musk, and a hint of the narcissus.

 

Wet on skin: at first dab and sniff, the first thing that comes to mind is it's a cleam fresh-from-shower scent, of herbal soap and water. Very quickly the leather kicks in and the result is sweetly-smelling herbal leather. Like someone newly-showered throwing on leather clothes.

 

Dry: I love this leather blend, it's beautiful, and I'm not getting much of the patchouli at all from him, which for people who don't like patchouli so much, is good. It's a softly herbal, softly spicy leather, and I think this is one of the nicer leather blends.

 

Verdict: I like the scent a lot, but this isn't something that I would wear.

[sarielswish]

this bottle was FULL OF WIN for me. i was a bit wary of only one note - the rose. roses and i don't get along. but when i put this on... holy nostalgia, Batman! on me, it turns into a boyfriend's well worn leather jacket, complete with hints of cedar and patchouli in his cologne. no rose. no citrus. no matcha. i am in *love* and i've already started working on acquiring several additional bottles because this is one of the regulars, now.

[Gwydion]

In bottle: Much softer than I expected. It’s patchouli and leather dominant. The patchouli is the smoother, aged sort, but still at the edge of what I can handle. It’s edges blend into the black leather note. The cedar is a pleasant second, well blended with the dominant notes. The florals are a soft third, with the rose elements mostly subsumed for once. The matcha blends well with the florals, smoothing and supporting. The frankincense gives a spiky edge, but is pleasantly understated. On paper, this shouldn’t work at all to my way of thinking, but it does. Wet: A little weird on my skin. The matcha is stronger, and my skin chemistry tends to turn green tea lemony. The result is a peculiar lemon and leather dominant blend with a strong patchouli element. I’d put the cedar a weak third and the rest just barely sniffable. It’s weirdly clean and dirty at the same time. I can’t tell whether I love it or hate it. I’m convinced this is not what it’s meant to smell like at all. Skin chemistry is a mystery sometimes. Dry: Innteresting and very diferent. Cedar dominent with leather a close second. The incense and florals mostly fade out, though the insence stay a touch more noticable than the florals. I think I kind of like it, but there are other leathers I love better. I expect this would be better for someone with drastically different skin chemistry.