Aelian’s Phoenix

[roseus]

The Phoinix knows how to reckon five hundred years without the aid of arithmetic, for it is a pupil of all-wise nature, so that it has no need of fingers or anything else to aid it in the understanding of numbers. The purpose of this knowledge and the need for it are matters of common report. But hardly a soul among the Aigyptoi knows when the five-hundred-year period is completed; only a very few know, and they belong to the priestly order. But in fact the priests have difficulty in agreeing on these points, and banter one another and maintain that it is not now but at some date later than when it was due that the divine bird will arrive. Meantime while they are vainly squabbling, the bird miraculously guesses the period by signs and appears. And the priests are obliged to give way and confess that thy devote their time ‘to putting the sun to rest with their talk’; but they do not know as much as birds. But, in God’s name, is it not wise to know where Aigyptos is situated, where Heliopolis whither the bird is destined to come, and where it must bury its father and in what kind of coffin?

Golden amber and patchouli with fiery peppercorn, cocoa, white cedar, neroli, vanilla pod, and frankincense.

To me this seemed the perfect blend of sweet and fire, and I was very happy with the result.

In the bottle a lot of dry cocoa and sweet vanilla come wafting out with a little bit of frankincense and patchouli in the background.

On wet peppery cocoa at the front, with patchouli and cedar definitely making their presence known. A little frankincense and vanilla. Much woodier than it had been in the bottle, but not necessarily masculine. No neroli to be found yet.

As it dries the patchouli and cedar back off, and the resins come forward. The longer it's on the more amber and frankincense I smell. It's a nice smoky-sweet scent. Peppery cocoa, resin, and little bit of wood and vanilla. After six hours it's primarily amber and frankincense but it's lingering very well.

Overall, a very beautiful, smoldering scent. It doesn't smell like a phoenix fully aflame, or the dying ashes. It's the warmth of the very moment the fire begins.

[squidhearts]

I bought this the day it was posted because I love, love all the notes listed.

 

On my skin? It's pure IN YOUR FACE peppercorn. It makes me sneeze. I can smell nothing but pepper, but the kind of pepper that kicks you in the skull. I am so sad. Maybe I should appreciate this on a thematic level--like, the phoenix is SUCH a powerful and inspiring creature!--but I really want to wear this. Of course, because it was painful to smell, it had some of the best sillage and staying powder of any BPAL oils I've tried. C'est la vie.

 

Amber + cocoa is my favorite thing; I'm wearing Gelt right now. Vanilla, cedar, neroli, and frankincense are all also things I like, and usually play nice on my skin. Peppercorn is one of my favorite things in a blend, too, actually, when it's less present. Maybe this will mellow out. Maybe. Here's to hoping.

[DiesMali]

In the bottle: It smells exactly like fancy Ghirardelli hot cocoa. Mmmm.

 

Wet on my skin: Still fancy hot cocoa, with vanilla and a hint of spice.

 

Dry: Oh. Ohhhh. Oh yes. The dusty-musky sweetness of the cocoa and patchouli is still present, but now this gorgeous combination of frankincense, vanilla, and spicy pepper-cedar are joining it and wafting around me in a dark, smouldering, smoky golden cloud. It's a perfect balance of spicy and sweet, and oh man that combination of frankincense and cocoa is just beautiful. This is a somewhat foodie scent on me, though not so much that non-foodie people would be turned off by it. I didn't realise this would be as strong in throw as it was, and it was still strong hours later when I wore it to a dress rehearsal today. Normally I'd have gotten a talking-to from the section leader for that, since we have some chorus members who are allergic to strong scents, but this is so beautiful that nobody wanted me to wash it off. THAT'S how nice this Phoenix is.

Edited December 20, 2015 by DiesMali

[Little Bird]

I love Aelian's Phoenix. I've had trouble with most of bpal's chocolate scents going plasticy, waxy, or chemical scented markers smelling on me lately, but this is like milk chocolate truffles dusted in cocoa powder. Decadent, true cocoa sweetened with creamy vanilla. The resins and pepper add this lovely, exotic warmth to the sweetness, and it kind of reminds me of a cocoa-drenched Priala. Cocoa, frankincense, vanilla, amber and pepper are the most noticeable notes on my skin, and this smells so delicious, creamy and sexy.

 

ETA:
I loved this when I first got it, but I got rid of all of my bottles recently, because they didn't age well at all for me. A year later, this smells like melting wax, baby oil and a faint smoke, like snuffing out a candle. Dries down like baby oil and melting plastic. This is why you shouldn't hoard the bpals.

Edited January 22, 2017 by Little Bird

[JazzieCazzie]

OMFG OMFG OMFG. Sorry, but I had to start with that.

 

This is like if Gelt and Velvet had a baby. This is a big bottle purchase for me. Maybe two big bottles. Maybe I can swap for more. Maybe I can invent some awesome thing that will make a lot of money and let me buy a vat of this and have it made in bath oil and body wash and scrub and all the Aelian everythings.

 

I won't go through all the levels of Imp, Wet, Dry, Overall. I'll just give it to you straight.

 

Cocoa-heavy in the imp, this has the rich and gorgeous deliciousness of Gelt's cocoa and amber combined with Velvet's vanilla and sandalwood-scented cocoa. A slightly sweeter gelt, or a slightly more ambery Velvet. Take your pick. Both are awesome.

 

For me, the final drydown in the crook of my arm (where nothing can hide) leans more to the sandalwood side.

 

This is damned near perfection.

[whoahorsey]

Amping the cedar like whoa. I got yummy chocolate in the initial application, but once it dried, it was alllll cedar on me. Sadness! I'm allergic to cedars in real life, so I have a negative association with the scent, so into the swap pile it goes.

[LizziesLuck]

Wet: The cocoa comes out the gate really strong in this! I love cocoa, so I'm ok with that, but it's quickly overtaken by the cedar, which makes me sad, it's drowning out EVERYTHING except some faint hints of patchouli.

 

 

Dry: Cedar single note. So many other notes of win in this blend, and all I get is cedar, which I don't hate, but don't want to wear as a single note. Sad.

[Mechanical Death]

This is amazing.

I was a little wary of it both before purchasing and smelling it in the bottle, because I always want to love chocolate or cocoa scents, but they rarely seem to love me.

This is however an exception. The cocoa is not the star here, despite how it smells strongly in the bottle, like sweet sugary milk chocolate and almost nothing else.

 

Still I skin tested it because the reviews were so wonderful as are the notes. Initially the cocoa does come on strong. Still like a creamy sugary milk chocolate. However almost immediately there are other noticeable elements but I can't really pick any of it out until it really begins to dry down and declare what kind of scent it will truly be. The cedar and patchouli mingle. The cedar is woody, rich, resinous and a little green, or perhaps that's the neroli. Neroli always registers as green on me, like the inside of a young tree stem. I don't get pencil shavings from it. The patchouli is well rounded and a little sugary from the vanilla. Frankincense is there lending an insence undernote.

The whole of this is sweet rich and dusty cocoa mingling with vanilla sugared incense, and slightly spiced woods. It's an incredible blend.

 

It reminds me of the same family of Morroco, banshee beat, and Tezcatlipoca

[zankoku_zen]

Fancy ghiradhelli chocolate indeed. Smooth tasty cocoa/chocolate, vanilla, amber, touch of frankincense and patchouli. This straddles the chocolate/resin line. But my god, this is fabulously well blended. Good throw, good wear length.

 

Chocolate, warm, smooth.

[brilliantcat]

In the bottle, it's very resin-forward. On me, the cocoa (definitely cocoa, not chocolate) blooms but is quickly overtaken by pepper and cedar. It's more than a little discordant but I have faith.

 

For most of the drydown, it's heavily cedar and resin. Finally, on the far drydown I get soft vanilla and resin with a hint of cedar. No cocoa at any point. I'm not super fond of the middle stage but I think I'll put this away for aging to see if the cedar calms down.

[Lucchesa]

In the imp, cocoa is the note I smell most prominently, with some vanilla and woods in the background. (I never get the Lab's pepper note! I seem to be scent-blind to it.) But on my skin, my experience was similar to that of LizziesLuck: the cedar and patch took over. It's still very pretty, but the lovely array of notes is drowned out by cedar in particular, with patchouli enabling the cedar. I may still wear the imp, but I definitely don't need a bottle of this.

[Teamama]

On my skin, Aelian's Phoenix is cocoa & resins & just a wee little bit of patchouli. I can smell the cedar in my scent locket, but not on my skin. 

At the end of the day, all that's left is a lingering hint of sweet amber.