Scholars' Tower

[zankoku_zen]

Gleaming amber spheres, polished cedar and mahogany, sweet parchment, inks of frankincense ash, and soft plumes of incense.

So I decanted a bit of this yesterday. The oil was reddish and very thick. I dabbed a tiny bit on yesterday and it smelled like smoky darkened amber, and perhaps what could be interpreted as a hint of book leather.

Today, after its rested for less than 24 hours (I will test it again tomorrow), I dabbed on my wrist and it's brighter than last night. I got more of a 'glistening' especially on wet, more wood, hint of smokiness, but still a pretty dark amber. It's actually pretty gender neutral, veering toward masculine on me, and sticks close to the skin. The vibe is very in line with the Phoenix Steamworks line.

Dark, woodsy, amber.

[Bluestblood]

This is ultimately a creamy, resinous golden amber with sharp cedar, some other wood note, incense ash, and hints of leather and paper. It has a rich, creamy, red quality that reminded me of red musk and cacao combined. I agree with my buddy above when she says it could easily fit in the Steamworks line. It is, however, unique compared to the line's other blends.

 

For me, the drydown was predominantly warm musk, creamy redness and incense ash. The incense ash was spot on.

[lanas]

This is amazing! Creamy resins and amber with a touch of sharp wood and incense in the background. Reminds me of Dee and Story time at Dark Delicacies.

[milo]

Resins and wood. Lovely combination, but these blends I find are more atmospheric rather than wearable. I do like to wear the occasional woody blend, though. Nice even balance between the cedar and mahogany, no amber, with the incense. Nice to try, but I probably won't reach for this one much.

[claudia6913]

I'm reviewing the recently re-released Scholar's Tower up on the lab's Collaboration page.

 

The oil is a very ambery-red color.

 

This is very soft with a nice undertone of woods. The incense wafts around without being offensive, and the gleaming tinkered items shine at just the right moments. This is a mostly close to the skin scent, but every once in a while I catch a faint whiff from my wrist of books and woods. It's sweet without actually being sweet. This is more what I'd wished Anthikythera Mechanism had smelled on me. Glad I got a bottle of this. It's a very cozy, snuggle up with a good book, type of scent.

[Lunasariel]

In the imp: Sweet, smooth woods, but somehow it feels light and airy rather than heavy. There's an interesting edge that I can't quite put my finger on - perhaps metal, or some sort of sharper wood, or frankincense? I really want to say I can pick out the parchment, or maybe it just gives the overall impression of parchment. Right now, I'm agreeing with Claudia - a snuggle up with a good book day, indeed!

 

Wet: From afar, this is DELICIOUS. Amber and parchment and just a touch of incense - smooth and sweet and warm and light and lovely. I probably look like an idiot bobbing my head back and forth, trying to get a whiff of myself, but it smells so good I don't even care. Up close, however, the woods grow much sharper, especially the cedar. Everything else is still there (I think), but the cedar (which, unfortunately, reminds me of pencil shavings and rodent cage litter) rides roughshod over it all.

 

Dry: Thankfully, the cedar settles down after not too long, and lets the more complex scent shine. And boy, does it shine! I'd even swear there's something in the vanilla/tonka/benzoin family there - it's wonderfully comforting, in a smooth, elegant sort of way. That lovely old book smell, rounded out with warm woods, and amber and that vanillin-y whatever to keep it from getting too dry, and the faintest drizzle of incense. I think I'm in love.

[jacarandaz]

In the vial it's a very wet woody scent with a hint of incense.

 

On my skin it's waterlogged wood and creamy amber and a touch of incense in the background. After a few hours, the amber comes to the forefront and it's a creamy incense-y amber with a lingering touch of wood. I agree with Claudia- it's sweet without actually being sweet.

 

I love it. I've got to get a bottle.

[samarablackcat]

Scholar's Tower, how I love thee.

 

This should be bolder, stronger, louder, in part due to the oil's color (dark reddish brown), but you are just perfection. Starts off sweet, the parchment and amber blending together, then mellows with just a touch of ash and incense. It lays softly on my skin, the incense, woods and amber combining to make a golden-colored ray of sunshine billowing in my atmosphere. This doesn't last as long as I would like, but while it is here, it takes me to a place of peaceful learning with many manuscripts begging to be read. I really don't mind reapplying; in fact, sometimes I just open the bottle to sniff, the cilia absorbing the aroma, creating that phantom smell that confuses me sometimes. I also use this for sleep; it takes me to a place not dissimilar to the image on the bottle, with no stress where mentors are there to help guide you on your path of learning.

[oakandloam]

Got a tester of this from azurephoenix along with my carbuncle imps and I'm super excited. I didn't think I'd ever get to even try it!!

 

First thing I noticed was the amazing red color. It looks like fresh blood in the imp. In the imp, it's smells heady and resinous and I can really smell the wood. Wet I really get the amber and cedar along with the smoke of incense. It's very sweet and surprisingly flat in terms of the different notes. It's quite nice, but not exciting, and honestly like a lot of other things I've already smelled while exploring. I was really hoping for the parchment and ink to play a stronger role.

 

The dry down is all honeyed resins. Not at all objectionable, but from the notes and reviews, I was expecting a much more complex scent. I'm glad to have a little of it, but I doubt I'll be tracking any more down, considering thee is surely something in the catalog that will fill this profile just fine for me.

[yakiguri]

On me, Scholar's Tower is a syrupy sweet blend of amber and woods, and STRONG. Strong to the point of almost being screechy. Mahogany, cedar, and amber are three of my favorite notes, but I guess having all three together in one blend means they're competing viciously for my attention. Once the blend dries down more, the incense and ash add a smokiness to the blend that dials back the strident sweetness considerably.

 

I can safely assume more aging will mellow out the bite Scholar's Tower currently has. I'm glad to have a bottle, but honestly in a stash full of similar blends I don't find it particularly unique.

[LizziesLuck]

This was a lovely frimp from a decant circle

 

Wet: Rich amber and woods. Sweet. Really nice.

 

Dry: Beautiful warm amber. Sadly, I am learning that I amp amber like crazy, and everything containing it as a dominant note, ends up amber single note on me. Which isn't a bad thing at all, really, but I do already have quite a bit of amber in my collection. I am really glad to have gotten to try this though! I'll pass it on to the next person.

[sarandipitee]

Sweet resins. A stunning, golden amber with a hint of woods. I quite like it in the beginning, but even with the gorgeous amber overpowering most of the notes, my dreaded nemesis cedar peeks through.

 

Dry down is a powdery wood. I'll pass it on.

[tinyvulture]

A thick, red oil.

 

So lovely -- warm, woodsy -- cedar and mahogany! I do love mahogany. It's warmed by amber. There's also a bitter, dark, inky note.

 

If you love woodsy incense blends, this is a must! It's been compared to Antikythera, but that just smells like flat root beer on me. This, on the other hand, I adore.

[Little Bird]

On me, this is baby powdery amber and pencil shavings wood notes with a hint of sweet incense. Not my favorite woody resin (I like the GC blend Cathedral a lot more, even).

[gillytin]

While wet, the scent is strikingly harsh. Later, it is old wood cloudy with incense, mellowing out with the warmth of amber. I found myself drawn to it more.

 

I normally don't choose deep smoky scents but when I'm brave enough, I could see myself reaching for this for evening events. I have to agree that there is an atmospheric aspect to it and I like where it takes me.

[FeralFae]

Trying this a few hours after receiving the bottle in the mail. I know, I know.

 

While sniffing the bottle I can't really detect a lot of notes, it just smells incensey and mildly dusty.

As soon as I dab ST on my arm I immediately get a blast of the most amazing incense smoke. It smells exactly like an occult store, and it's so lovely.

As it begins to dry down, the amber comes out more and pretty soon for about an hour it's amber + a tiiiiiny amount of incense. Now, as it stands after 2 hours, it's an amazing mix of warm amber, woods, incense and the tiniest bit of leather, enough to keep the amber from being overly sweet. I am so glad I got a full bottle of this one, I can see it becoming my cold months staple!

[lookingglass]

Scholars' Tower is my new favorite and latest full bottle purchase. It is a deliciously bookish scent, shelves, paper, and all, with wafts of incense and a creamy, sweet, honeyed, glowing, amber. It is so evocative of the illustration. I don't find it to have harsh edges at all. It is both atmospheric and one with my skin. It is intellectual, and easy to wear, like someone who really knows themselves. I highly recommend this sleeper and am shocked that it's not more talked about.

Edited November 5, 2017 by lookingglass

[trinitysite]

I loved the way this smelled wet -- amber/incense, mainly -- but about an hour later it's faded so much that I can barely tell it's there!

[Lucchesa]

Scholars' Tower is gorgeous in the imp, a sort of masculine-leaning smoky, woody, incense-y amber, with a lovely balance between sweetness and smokiness. But as with so many of the library scents (Buggre All, FPS The Book), my skin just eats it up in no time. Sigh.

[roseus]

Man this is gorgeous. This is what I wanted Miskatonic University (Irish Coffee pushed too sweet) to smell like. Soft cedar wood with a beautiful dusty incense. Softly smoky, just a tiny bit of sweetness from the amber. Dry, and  bit rough/masculine but not intensely so. 

[doomsday_disco]

Scholar's Tower is primarily a resinous scent on me, not a book scent. It starts off with some sharp mahogany and frankincense trying to clamor over the warm cedar. It definitely does have a gleaming quality to it, and it settles down into a really lovely, powdery, golden amber scent. I never did get the beeswax, parchment, or ink, sadly.

 

I think this is a nice amber scent, but I don't think I would reach for it over other amber scents I have, like Hesiod's Phoenix. I really wish my skin chemistry had brought out some of that parchment and beeswax.

[Dancing Raven]

I applied this a fews hours after getting it in the mail on a hot summer day. I just couldn't resist - I had to try it ASAP.

Wet: It starts out camphorous, herbal, and woody. Cade and sage? It's pleasant and warm. As it starts to develop I get frankincense along with a slightly gritty herbal note. I smell cypress rather than cedar. Then the sharp woods wane.

Drydown: For a time, I only get sweet and slightly woody frankincense. I adore frank, so it is fine by me.

About an hour later, a beautiful powdery amber joins the frankincense. I think I detect a small amount of cedar in the background. About 20 minutes after the amber comes out, mahogany shows up. It's sweet & slightly powdery, and frankincense and mahogany add a dark woody/resinous base. Throw is good. It's gender neutral on my skin. Anyone who likes amber, Midnight Mass, or The Bloody Banister (this is way less masculine) should check this out. I like this one a lot. I think once it's had a chance to settle, this will be something special.

5 out of 5 stars.

[VetchVesper]

Soooo much amber.  Not a bad thing, especially if you like amber.    Also, I'm getting black musk?  Maybe it's just the dark, powdery feel.  It reminds me a bit of a manly Haunted.

 

Once Scholar's Tower hits my skin, I'm getting something that does distinctly remind me of gear lubricant and polish.  This still smells high class though, and old world - like walking into a clockmaker's shop vs. a mechanic's shop.  The woods (mostly mahogany) support the other notes and stay behind the amber on me, but the frankincense starts to come forward after a bit, so there's a very nice, fuzzy sort of resin thing going on.  The sort of place this perfume makes me think of would probably have lots of books, but I don't smell books per se.  This feels very steam punk.  

 

Scholar's Tower would be very nice on a gentleman, but I'm happy to dab some on too.  Cozy and refined, a bit subdued, with a bit of an intriguing oddity from the whiffs of metal and machinery.  If you love amber, and the other notes sound appealing, this is one to check out.  

ETA:  Agreeing with Dancing Raven.  I wouldn't be surprised if there's a bit of sage in this, giving it that hint of bitter metal smell.

Edited November 2, 2020 by VetchVesper