Ovid's Phoenix

[astarinel]

OVID’S PHOENIX
There is one bird which reproduces and renews itself: the Assyrians gave this bird his name—the Phoenix. He does not live either on grain or herbs, but only on small drops of frankincense and juices of amomum. When this bird completes a full five centuries of life straightway with talons and with shining beak he builds a nest among palm branches, where they join to form the palm tree's waving top. As soon as he has strewn in this new nest the cassia bark and ears of sweet spikenard, and some bruised cinnamon with yellow myrrh, he lies down on it and refuses life among those dreamful odors.—And they say that from the body of the dying bird is reproduced a little Phoenix which is destined to live just as many years. When time has given to him sufficient strength and he is able to sustain the weight, he lifts the nest up from the lofty tree and dutifully carries from that place his cradle and the parent's sepulchre. As soon as he has reached through yielding air the city of Hyperion, he will lay the burden just before the sacred doors within the temple of Hyperion.
- Ovid, Metamorphoses

Fitful dreams of the cradle and sepulchre: honey, cassia bark, sweet spikenard, cinnamon, and yellow myrrh.

Make sure you roll/mix this one. When I first tried it out of the decant, I was surprised to smell pretty much only floral/herbal honey, but when I mixed the decant around a bit more the spices made a bit of an appearance.

This is still primarily a green honey perfume with a myrrh base.

The spices sort of lurk in the background, which surprises me because I tend to amp cinnamon. Despite the note list, I would definitely not think of this as a spicy scent, and if I didn't know cinnamon was here, I probably wouldn't be able to detect it.

It's nice, but the way the honey dominates the blend on me just makes me think of other honey blends that I like better, given the myrrh going a little powdery.

[MuskWitch]

I'm the first? Uh oh. Well, I'm not really liking this one. The notes sound AMAZING. But in the imp, I just get (I'm sorry Beth, maybe it is my nose and lack of experience, this may be wonderful for those with different chemistry) kind of a very strong "old, sour perfume" scent. I put it on my skin, it wasn't quite as bad as I thought it would be, but I did have to wash it off after about 5 minutes. I just couldn't leave it on and wait to see if it would get better. Maybe it just needs to age a bit so all those good notes can meld a little better. I'll try it again after a week or so.

[MCS4096]

I cant do most honey perfumes from the lab-- they smell sour and a bit body odory to me

 

But this is really lovely. The sourness of the honey is nicely tempered by the floral spikenard, giving it, as the first reviewer said, a green quality. It's juicy and organic and slightly heady. I think the cassia bark is lending a hint of dustiness to the blend, and I cant really distinguish any myrrh. I would call it a floral blend, and it feels quite springy to me, as the spikenard reminds me of spring blooms like jonquils.

 

PS. Wikipedia says the scent of spikenard attracts cats..... Mine appear to be less than enthusiastic about smelling this blend though.

[Gwydion]

In bottle: Strongly honey dominant with Spikenard in second. The myrrh gently darkens it, while the cassia and cinnamon spice it up. The effect is similar to honey and carnation. It’s quite pretty. Wet: The spikenard strengthens on the skin, so that it’s more spiknard sweetened with honey. The spices are gorgeous here and the myrrh is understated and well blended with the other elements. Dry: Mostly honey kissed with nard and cassia.

[stellamaris]

omg what is this!!!!!!!!!????????

Sweet lovely almost flowery

I really want this one, going to try to squeeze in another pre Xmas order just for it. Still smells like flowers to me

Edited December 16, 2013 by stellamaris

[SophieCedar]

This is a LOVELY scent, but something in here is going a little flat on my skin. I think the cassia bark and myrrh are doing a confuse-a-nose on me. Overall pretty and warms nicely in a honey/resin way. Reminds of a few shunga base notes.

[patina]

I could swear this had jasmine, but it's only doing the floral thing that honey sometimes does. I could almost swear there was leather as well. The only problem is that there's a bit of a sour note to this, like very sour orange. This has a bit of a sunny/ glowing feel that would be wonderful on dark winter days, but I already have A Wonderful Light for that.

[zankoku_zen]

I'm the first? Uh oh. Well, I'm not really liking this one. The notes sound AMAZING. But in the imp, I just get (I'm sorry Beth, maybe it is my nose and lack of experience, this may be wonderful for those with different chemistry) kind of a very strong "old, sour perfume" scent.

 

This was my experience as well. It smells like a yellow, sharp floral. I don't know if its the spikenard + floral honey, but it seems to veer straight into cat-pee jasmine territory.

 

Skin chemistry fail!

[Caper]

Lovely! I get the vaguely floral honey note too, but rather than powdery honey, or sharp greenery, it is a seamless gentle green sweetness.

 

I'm really not sure why this is working so well on me, it should be okay with a tendency towards powder (I only added the decant because it had no complete death notes and a full decant set was easier than typing all the names on my phone ) but it is so much better than okay!

 

Like several other oils in this update, this one is proving the exception to my usual notes of doom. I love the sharpness of the spikenard, and how it mellows with the honey and myrrh into something sweet and TOTALLY NOT POWDERY!

 

Yay! Bottle of this one too, please!

 

FTR- I loathe jasmine is all forms and this isn't hitting any of my jasmine buttons.

Edited December 18, 2013 by Caper

[Magycmyste]

In the imp: a very green honey, like it's mixed with herbs or lime (but not citrusy, almost bitter). This reminds me of one of the scents from Rappaccini's garden.

 

Wet on skin: Weird, this smells almost medicinal and rubbery on me. Yep, rubber - a very specific kind that my nose can't quite seem to place right now.

 

Dried down: er, yeah, this is just staying the same

 

Throw: fairly strong on me, actually. No wrist- sniffing needed. Wrist-sniffing just brings out that extra-rubbery quality.

 

Verdict: ** I don't hate this. So far, I've only had one scent that I REALLY couldn't stand. If this were medicine, I'd sniff it and think, "well, that's not horrible, and at least it's doing me some good." In this case, though, I think it's going to the swaps. I don't hate this - but I think I'm going to go wash it off now.

[milo]

Trying this earlier today, the notes don't really match what I smelled. Lot's of lush tropical flowers with greenery, I didn't detect any cinnamon or myrhh. I got mostly a lush tropical aquatic. Weird. My sniffer is broke, or my skin is totally off.

[JazzieCazzie]

Received imp through decant circle.

 

IN THE IMP: Fabulously lovely honey and resin

 

Dabbed on wrist and in crook of arm.

 

WET: As it often does, the honey amps like whoa. But it's a lovely light golden honey. This is going to be a scent where the notes that join it on the drydown will be the deciding factors. Let's go cinnamon and myrrh!

 

DRYDOWN: Boo. Cassia bark apparently was the winner. It's not bad, but it's not what I had hoped it might be ... instead, it's a nice pleasant woody honey, as opposed to a spicy, resiny honey.

 

OVERALL: I think it's probably a lot like many of the Rappacini Garden apiary scents, of which the only one that worked for me was Hemlock ... however, since many of those are being DC'd, imps of this might appeal to those fans!

 

On a scale of 1-5, a pleasant but non-keeper 3.

[Ajila]

In the bottle - A strong very indolic honey

 

Wet on me - There isn't any jasmine listed on this, but to me it smells like all jasmine, which with my skin chemistry/nose means cat pee

 

Dry on me - That jasminy note dominates throughout

 

Overall - Just not for me

[tinyvulture]

Honey, with very faint myrrh and spikenard. No cassia or cinnamon to be found! A clean, green, herbal honey with a touch of sweet, powdery myrrh. Bright and refreshing.

[LizziesLuck]

Wet: A lot more woods than I expected. The Myrrh quickly comes to the forefront though, and the cinnamon is evident, but not dominant like it often is. This is nice so far, but not wowing me.

 

 

Dry: Myrrh with a hint of cinnamon. It's nice, but nothing special on me. I don't feel the need to track down a bottle.

[Little Bird]

Soft, powdery woods, wildflower honey and a surprisingly well behaved cinnamon/cassia. I smell more of the woody, spicy cinnamon bark in the drydown, but it's a light, powdery, clean sort of scent on me overall. I'm not getting the jasmine feel that others have mentioned, but it does have a floral edge to the honey. Doesn't last long on me, in spite of its heavier notes.