Mercurian Phoenix

[Gwydion]

HERMES, draw near, and to my pray'r incline,
Angel of Jove, and Maia's son divine;
Studious of contests, ruler of mankind,
With heart almighty, and a prudent mind.
Celestial messenger, of various skill,
Whose pow'rful arts could watchful Argus kill:
With winged feet, 'tis thine thro' air to course,
O friend of man, and prophet of discourse:
Great life-supporter, to rejoice is thine,
In arts gymnastic, and in fraud divine:
With pow'r endu'd all language to explain,
Of care the loos'ner, and the source of gain.
Whose hand contains of blameless peace the rod,
Corucian, blessed, profitable God;
Of various speech, whose aid in works we find,
And in necessities to mortals kind:
Dire weapon of the tongue, which men revere,
Be present, Hermes, and thy suppliant hear;
Assist my works, conclude my life with peace,
Give graceful speech, and me memory's increase.

A blessing of wit, opportunity, and skill: yellow sandalwood, bergamot, gum mastic, gum Arabic, lavender, lemongrass, angelica root, and anise.

In bottle: Lemon grass dominant, like whoa, with a strong presence from the gums and the bergamot. The lavender supports the lemon grass; the angelica supports the gum. The bergamot winds through everything, dancing with all the notes. Sandalwood is a soft canvas to paint the other scents on. The anise is very understated. Wet: Lemon grass! Lots and lots of it. The gums, bergamot, lavender, and angelica are still discernible, but this is mostly about the lemon grass. It's really disappointing. Dry: Lemon grass and a bit of sandalwood mostly.

[Cactus]

I'm getting over a cold, and my nose isn't at 100% so I'll post another review when I'm all clear headed.

 

Anyway, Onward!...

 

In bottle: Lemongrass! Green, freshly-cut lemongrass. Very fresh and almost sparkly. Lavender is a secondary note. The resins are acting as backup.

 

Wet: Very much the same as in the bottle, but dries down relatively quickly.

 

Dry-down: Lemongrass is still there, but very much mellower and "blended into the rest of the scent". This lets the lavender and resins/sandalwood shine. I am definitely getting the sandalwood and the gum arabic. (The gum arabic is not at all sweet - but it's the sort of earthy or grainy/floury flavor in the back of a lot of confectionery)

 

All the woods and resins are the softest, gentlest, earthiest kind. They're not distinct and brassy like pine or juniper. It's just sort of a soft cloud of wood and sap. Almost smells like a light skin musk is in there.

 

This whole scent reminds me somewhat of Michael Casts Out All the Fallen Angels in that it is a sharp green-ness mixed with soft wood/resin. The individual details are different, though. This is very full of Lemongrass.

 

Edit: Having worn this again while clear-headed it's pretty much as I described above, except there is some anise that peeks out on the drydown.

Edited December 24, 2012 by Cactus

[hlinspjalda]

I bought this bottle unsniffed; I am wary of the anise but the other notes usually do well on me.

 

In the bottle: Wonderful lemongrass-citrus vibe, with a metallic note shimmering in the background.

 

Wet: Very citrusy, but with a gummy-resinous background. The lemon verbena is the one that sometimes gives me an off, white-musky impression, although it's very slight. Still, this might be good depending on how the anise goes.

 

Two hours: The intense citrus has calmed down so much I can barely make it out; it smells softly of lemongrass, stemmy, a little woody, with some gummy-resinous overtones that smell to me like gum Arabic. The slight bitterness of gum Arabic make the scent read as slightly alchemical. I could huff this one all day.

 

Four and a half hours: Still some lemongrass, but mostly it is a soft woody base with a touch of resin. The anise never manifested, which from my perspective was a good thing.

 

I have liked this one a lot.

[Lycanthrope]

Pleasant, brightly herbal and citrus as overtones, for me, sadly I get mostly lemongrass. I tend to grab onto citrus notes, in particular things like lemongrass/palmarosa/etc. and amp them to high heaven. The blend does smell like a very fancy aromatherapist's blend, like the inside of a herbal apothecary or something. I'm mostly getting the lemongrass but around the edges there's a bit of medium grounding from the sandalwood and the angelica/gums.

 

Not for me, but probably for someone else!

[fairestrocza]

Wet: sweet lemon candy. Dry: lemongrass and sandalwood. Beautiful, but a bit bland and uninspiring. I'll keep my decant, but won't need a bottle.

(eta: ... except that there is a subtle complexity here that is pretty enthralling. I might actually need a bottle. I'll see how quickly the decant disappears).

Edited December 26, 2012 by Rocza

[surlygurl]

I do agree with the lemon candy comment. Starts out bright lemon, moves to lemon candy with a dry woody background. Reminds me of a less ethereal Scales of Deprivation. I like it, but I own too many lemon scents already.

[Little Bird]

Mercurian Phoenix is pretty much lemongrass singlenote to my nose. It's sweet, bright, slightly herbal lemon. It doesn't have a lot of throw and only lasts about an hour on me.

This one is pleasant enough, but not something that I'll need more of.

[Monday]

On my skin wet: Lemongrass! It stays all lemongrass for a while then the sandalwood and angelica come through.

On my skin dry: Sandalwood has taken over and the lemongrass has faded. I like it but it fades too quickly.

[KissleMeNow]

In the imp and on me wet, Mercurian Phoenix is astringent, sharp, and reminds me of the lemon soap I used to use to mop the floor without being actually-soapy. Still, this isn't my idea of a wearing scent, and it made my eyes sting and water. As it dried, it became very resinous and spicy, although not a foody kind of spice. I guess this is the gums, sandalwood, and anise going on, because at no time did I get an herby scent. The final scent is nice, but I don't think I can deal with the first stage again.

[mymymai]

ITI: Lavender, lemongrass, and bergamot. It's a light and citrus-like combination.

 

Wet: It's very similar to the bottle, but I get something slightly earthy as well, which might be the angelica root.

 

Dry: This doesn't last as long as its previous counterpart, Martian Phoenix, so I have to reapply once I get home. Lemongrass is wholly dominant, followed by very faint lavender and angelica root. I think I would like this better if the lemongrass let a little more of the scent's complexity shine through.

Edited January 10, 2013 by mymymai

[zankoku_zen]

Lemongrass, bergamot, hints of lavender and sandalwood.

 

This is a very lemon/Thai seasonings blend. It smells exotic, spicy, and citrusy.

 

Exotic, lemon, fun.

[milo]

Bright, candy-like lemon at first, some sunny herbs. Dries to almost nothing in half an hour, my skin just eats this one up.

[midnight_aeval]

Very lemongrass dominant. I like how the sandalwood creates a dry quality to the lemon-candy-esque vibe of the lemongrass. No anise detected to my nose which is usually a dominating note with my skin chemistry. Nicely blended, reminds me of a brighter version of Haunted.

[brilliantcat]

Imp: Lemongrass, absolutely. It smells like lemon candy.

 

Wet: I figured out what candy it reminds me of: lemon Pez! It's pretty and refreshing, though I'm not entirely sold on smelling like lemon Pez. It's fairly one-dimensional at this point.

 

Dry: The sandalwood slowly takes over and the hints of lemongrass left give it an odd sour smell. Overall, it's nice but not bottle-worthy.

[mistressfizz]

Sharp sour lemon and lavender are the strongest notes. Something a bit like wet stone underneath, tingly and sharp. It smells the way expensive dish soap would, bright and citrusy and scrubby.

[Bookgroper]

This was on my wishlist due to the scent notes, which sounded amazing! I was lucky enough to receive a bottle from a forumite, so it makes me sad that I don't really like it.

 

Wet, it's all lemon, lemon CANDY, like lemon Jolly Ranchers. I don't mind lemon, but I don't like it when it dominates.

 

Once it's fully dry, the lemon is all gone and it becomes something entirely different -- very earthy and musty, no throw -- I get the anise there but don't know what else. It's... interesting... but not something I want to smell like.

 

Alas.

[Coldfire]

Decant: "yellow" "warm and sunny"
Wet on me: pale pal sandalwood and lemongrass. so very faint
Drying Down: this is starting to smell like Dumbledore's Sherbet Lemon candies to my delight!
Dry: the sandalwood came out once dry. What started as faint, bloomed on my skin to a bright sunny 'yellow' scent that is sweetened by the sandalwood. so pleasant!

[Lucchesa]

Mercurian Phoenix is really lovely on me. It's definitely a lemongrass scent, but there's a good amount of lavender and bergamot at first as well, and the sandalwood emerges in the drydown. I'm not as familiar with the gum notes, and I never get anise. After two or three hours it's a skin scent, warm and sunny and kind of snuggly, but also rich and herbal. I'm not describing this very well, but I like it.