Lucan’s Phoenix

[JazzieCazzie]

Then copious poisons from the moon distils
Mixed with all monstrous things which Nature’s pangs
Bring to untimely birth; the froth from dogs
Stricken with madness foaming at the stream;
A lynx’s entrails and the knot that grows
Upon the fell hyaena; flesh of stags
Fed upon serpents and the sucking fish
Which holds the vessel back though eastern winds
Make bend the canvas; dragon’s eyes; and stones
That sound beneath the brooding eagle’s wings.
Nor Araby’s viper, nor the ocean snake
Who in the Red Sea waters guards the shell,
Are wanting; nor the slough on Libyan sands
By horned reptile cast nor ashes fail
Snatched from an altar where the Phoenix died

Copious poisons from the moon distils: frankincense, mugwort, toxic moonseed, lemon balm, pale yellow musk seed, and elemi.

First ... oh, the pressure!

I honestly had no idea what to expect here ... Anything with frankincense gets a head start and ditto for musk, but the other notes were either unfamiliar or of possible concern.

IMP: Getting zero frankincense or musk here ... totally acidic, citrus, even a little bit sour (maybe tart would be a better word, because it's not BAD sour, just not sweet). Maybe the lemon? Maybe the mugwort?

WET: LIME LOLLIPOPS! Putting that in all caps because as soon as I applied this the image just jumped right into my mind ... the kind of my childhood that they'd scotch-tape onto birthday presents at our local toy store, with the clear ruffle cellophane wrappers.

DRY: The drydown on this is very quick and leaves barely a trace of the scent on me. At the end, it's only the faintest bit of citrus.

OVERALL: While it's not a keeper for me, it was actually a really fun "experience" to have such a blast from the past scent memory from childhood.

[kscha2017]

This smells just like my favorite conditioner which is very strong, sinus-clearing lemongrass. I often use it just for the vibrant, refreshing scent. This Phoenix is just as bright and energizing, uplifting, positive. I can imagine myself wearing this on an early morning hike thru the woods in summer, a big smile on my face. Not what I was expecting from "poison" and "entrails".

[zankoku_zen]

Lucan's starts as lemon candy, and dries down to a very lemony mugwort, elemi and a touch of frankincense. Actually, this reminds me in some ways to Lemon Scented Sticky Bat - but less furry. This would be awesome as a room scent actually. Good throw, good wear length.

 

Fun, lemony, cheery.

[Little Bird]

Sweet, herbal lemon. I don't smell any incense. It's a happy, energizing, light fragrance. Lucan's Phoenix is simple and pleasant enough. I don't need a bottle, but I'll probably hold on to my decant.

[whoahorsey]

Hmmm...interesting. I don't get any lemon or sweetness at all. It was all wood on me, which I assume is the elemi and frankincense.

[roseus]

In the imp: sharp and bright.

 

Wet: Lemony, but something sharp and herbal takes over. Reminds me of cleaner.

 

Dry: airy lemon and soft herbs. Just a touch sweet, not sharp anymore.

[clockworkcrypt]

In the imp.... Herbal Crayon? Something.... weird.

 

On fresh: Lemon! Like a sweet shining lemon smell, quite clean but really quite nice! Within the first half hour/hour it turns into this lemon frankincense lollipop smell, which is far better than it sounds!

Update: About an hour in it turns on me, going from a sweet lemon-frankincense to a sharp herbal smell. 

This fades from lemon lolly, to herbal blast to a nice frakensince dry-down. Frankincense works well on me, so I'm not mad at it, but I'm fine with the decant I have without needing more of it. If it stayed in the lemon frankincense lollipop smell.... well that would be another amazing story. 

Update: Some days this tends to amp the white musk.

Edited July 30, 2019 by clockworkcrypt