Palmyra

[Joyleaf_]

Golden amber and galbanum with frankincense, myrrh, Balm of Gilead, vanilla-infused sandalwood, sand-smoothed leather, and Ceylon cinnamon.

 

I was super excited to try this after reading the reviews. Like what has already been said I get a lot of warmth from this blend, like resinous sunlight to me. However it also seems like theres an aquatic note to this, and combing through the list I cant quite tell where its coming from, feels like looking up at the sun through the waves. A very restful blend. Ill keep and use this bottle but wont be getting another I dont think.

[brilliantcat]

Another blind purchase, both because I love the combination of notes and to support a good cause. In the bottle, I get a soft blend of resins and just a titch of cinnamon.

 

On my skin, it starts fiery and bright and I get a bit of caramelly tobacco as some others have. It settles to a mix of soft resins and the tobacco note I thought I smelled is gone. No cinnamon or leather to be found on my skin. I feel like I should put this one away and see what some aging does to it.

[unxolve]

Wet: Super generic smoke smell. :/ Not even that nice of a smoke, just kind of a...patchouli/tobacco thing. Even though there's no patchouli? I don't smell any of the listed notes, what the hell.

 

Dry: COMPLETELY different? NOW I can smell a bit of the dry woodsy sandalwood (barely a dusty hint of it), and MOSTLY a lot of inexplicably sweetened/lightened slightly vanilla dust myrrh, which is kind of barely fruit. "Sweet dust" was an accurate description. I like this better than the wet smell, and it is definitely the lightest myrrh I've ever smelled, the sandalwood is keeping it pretty nice.

 

Not my super favorite, but nice enough to keep around.

Edited June 8, 2016 by unxolve

[lucycat]

Palmyra reminds me of a classic perfume. It is indeed “perfumey,” I think because the golden amber is one of the strongest, most identifiable notes, with the sandalwood. On sniffing more deeply, I do get a hint of what I can only describe as sweet but not foody spice. I had to look at the notes to realize that that’s probably the cinnamon. That often irritates my skin, but it’s present in such a small amount here that that’s not happening. The resins are soft and gentle here. The frankincense, for example, is not sharp as it usually is on me. Perhaps because of that classic perfume quality, Palmyra isn’t unisex at all on me. I don’t smell any leather, and it leans quite feminine. I also echo all those who say that this is so well blended, it’s difficult to pick out individual notes.

 

Awhile ago someone on the forum asked for blends that evoked golden age Hollywood and leading ladies. Palmyra does that for me, but this isn’t what a leading lady wore to a premiere. It’s what she’d wear at home, enjoying an evening with her beau.

[lizabelle]

This is a gorgeous sandalwood scent. A while back I had a wood fan scented with sandalwood and this is very close to what I remember.

 

In the bottle: Honestly kind of scary. Heavy, sticky resins with maybe a touch of cinnamon, almost no wood. The leather is present as a sharp, animalic scent.

 

On skin, wet: Much calmer already, with the wood taking center stage (cinnamon is the quiet support on the sidelines). The resins are still present but not overpowering. The leather is there when wet, like a well-worn pair of gloves, but sadly fades as it dries.

 

On skin, dry: Sandalwood! So much sandalwood. The other notes are much harder to pick out by now but they do add a richness and spice. This is a very warm, dry scent, like being in a room full of chopped wood. It sticks very close to the skin; on first application it lasted about an hour, but the second application lasted all day long. No idea why, but then I don't mind reapplying.

 

Apparently I've missed my chance to get a backup bottle, which is a shame. This is a beautiful everyday kind of scent for those who love woods, resins, or spices.

[Spaztic]

I keep trying this one because so many people love it, but on me it just smells like a Spirit of Christmas store

Not really bad, but not something I want to walk around smelling of. I wish there was a lot more amber in this scent

[mistressfizz]

Sniff: Oh, this is heavenly and so filled with my notes of love! I get warm spicy sandalwood and leather, beautiful wisps of incense, it's soft and warm and full of resiny goodness

 

Wet: Gorgeous. It's beautifully blended, with sandalwood being the most evocative, followed by a dreamy swirl of warmth and softness and golden hazy veil. This is a temple visited by desert riders in well worn leather saddles, covered in sand and dust and sacred incense, with the spice and amber of their offerings carefully laid out under the quiet gaze of ancient deities.

 

Dry: All the goodness lingers on my skin - sandalwood incense leather spice amber - all combine into an awesome warm and epic scent that is making me continually huff my wrist and arm. This is so wonderful and amazing on me, I'm so glad to have a bottle and will be treasuring this one for sure!

[Lucchesa]

I bought a partial of Palmyra in hopes that it would be a spicy leather incense scent and was disappointed. I couldn't make out any cinnamon at all, and the leather, frank and myrrh were all faint on me. I retested today before putting it on my swaplist and decided to think of it as an amber-sandalwood blend instead. I slathered, and I got good throw (for me at least) for a couple hours, and it lasted the rest of the day as a skin scent.

 

Palmyra is much closer to Jacob's Ladder on me than to any of my leather blends -- kind of a masculine counterpart to Jacob's Ladder, which is quite feminine on my skin. By focusing on what I was getting (amber and sandalwood against a quiet background of resins, vanilla and leather) instead of what I wasn't getting (cinnamon), I appreciated the scent a lot more. In fact, I enjoyed the heck out of it today. It's off the chopping block.

[starbrow]

Blindly sniffing, I will tell you what I get and have always gotten from Palmyra: a dark, dry, smooth tobacco like Bulgarian tobacco, and a well-aged, low-pitched orange blossom. A distant third being patchouli to ground and root the scent deeply.

 

That said, I don't really know what to make of the listed notes. It is resinous for sure, not very sweet, but very very smooth. I'm usually sensitive to leather, but I'm not picking it up here. The cinnamon is perhaps so dark that it is like the spiciness of tobacco. All the other resins are so blended by now to the point that I can't pick out one in particular, but they give off such a strong tobacco vibe that I am continue to be shocked there is none listed. However, overall the vibe is moody, dark, silky-smooth, and subtly spicy. There is something lightly herbal/floral like orange blossom but it is delicately and deftly woven in. The oil hugs the skin but gives enough throw when slathered that you can smell it on yourself.

 

I'm mightily confused by my nose's interpretation of what's actually in Palmyra, but I enjoy wearing it so much, I'm not going to question it. Keeper bottle!

 

I would wear this while: going camping! I don't know why but this just gives me wonderful outdoorsy vibes, and wouldn't compete with the smells of the woods around either.