2007: Wood Phoenix

[VioletChaos]

In 2007, I married the great love of my life. Teddy and I had dated since 1998, and it seemed that, at last, it was time for me to make an honest man out of him. I had loved Ted since the first moment I smelled him (truth!), and the night that we married was one of the most wonderful nights of my life. At the Lunacy event before the wedding, I was able to celebrate with my .org and local BPAL family, and I cried like a loon. It is a privilege to be part of this family the one that BPAL has gifted to me.

It is one of the great joys and honors of my life to have the opportunity to interpret Neil Gaimans stories through scent, and on January 31st of 2007, our first Neil Gaiman scent series debuted: American Gods.

Neils body of work has been a tremendous influence in my life, and in a sea of authors whose stories have moved and shaped me, his words have been some of the most impactful. I admire his kindness and compassion, his wisdom and eloquence, and the tremendous amount of work he has done for the CBLDF and the UN Refugee Agency. His stories have helped shape my worldview and my dreams, and I will always be grateful.

In 2007, we created the first of many scents in collaboration with our family at Dark Delicacies: the eponymous Dark Delicacies scent. It was soon followed by a series of eerie Lace-inspired perfumes, a scent series dedicated to horror film genres, a celebration of B-movie horror, and a scent series celebrating great duets of horror.

In June of 2007, we ran the first of our clothing drives benefitting Los Angeles womens and childrens shelters.

This Phoenix is a combination of the Snake Oil and Dorian that Teddy and I wore at our wedding, the red wine we bled into and shared during the ceremony, a drop of lucky honey mead, and the heart of Snow Glass Apples lacquered over pale salt-splashed wood, with a hint of the green walnut I could never get quite right. (Im sorry, Neil! Im still trying!)

In The Bottle: A bit of crisp apple with a rind of sea salt.

Wet On Skin: Same, with a slight hint of wood in the background.

Dry Down: An apple peel on a piece of driftwood that's washed ashore, lightly sprayed with an afterthought of Dorian. Despite this description, I should note that this scent is surprisingly light and delicate, and has NO traces of water or ozone notes- this is strictly dried, salt-crusted drift wood I'm talking about here. The longer I wear it, the more the apple fades, leaving this incredibly delicate take on Dorian worn whilst walking on a sand bank. In other words: swoon-worthy.

[dlynngarrett]

I don't know why I smell cherries, but that is what I get. My second favorite of this series! Maybe it's the red wine.... I'll give it a chance to rest and see what happens. It's lighter than I expected, and I can't detect even a hint of wood. The other components really turn This SO/Dorian blend into something amazing

[Tramp]

On wet it is Snow Glass Apples and a splash of red wine. Dry the wine is gone and the SGA is much lighter. Now the honey comes out and it is like encountering a bee hive in the autumn woods. Despite all the familiar notes and blends listed in the description this is an original for sure. There is a tart whiff that I can detect if I'm huffing my wrist close otherwise it is sandalwood honey green tea. Really hard to pin down. A winner for sure.

[zankoku_zen]

This starts off with the same snowy apple bite that Snow Glass and Apples does, but dries down to a different beast. I get red wine, a touch of Dorian and walnut over a woody Snake Oil base. Which you guessed it, turns semi-play doh like on my skin. On wet, its one of my favorite Phoenixes, but the drydown with the Snake Oil making itself known isn't working for me. But if you like Snake Oil and SGA hooked up, due to a liberal dose of red wine, I'd give this a whirl. Good throw and wear length.

[LiberAmoris]

Wood Phoenix has a lot going on, and yet it manages to smell surprisingly harmonious. The apple and honey mead are the strongest notes on me when wet, but as it dries down, I get the Snake Oil and Dorian, and then finally the salty wood. Red wine isn't my favorite note, but it's fleeting here and very much held in check by the other elements. Late in the drydown, this a slightly powdery honey mead with apple. I like this more than I expected to!

[ramblingrambler]

Honestly, this is a cacophony of scents to me. I smell each mentioned blend (ish) at some point if I'm searching for them, but they all somehow manage to make sense together and blend very well if I'm in it for the harmony. On me, it smells more masculine. I would probably wear this to a soccer match or other sporting event, but for a daily scent, though nice, it wouldn't be a go-to just because I think I prefer wearing a less... woody (but not what you usually think of when you think woody"wood" phoenix is more about the solid center or heart of wood than it being a woodsy fragrance, to me!)... scent on the day to day. It is strong (as in persevering!), powerful (as in having power underwing!), and daring (as in it would chance to be brave!), and those aren't typically traits I would ascribe to myself except in specific instances that are not part of my daily persona. Best saved for moments when I want to evoke those feelings, and hopefully for the winning team .

 

ETA (almost six months later): this has become an interesting scent I still cant place fully. I still dont see me wearing this every day, but I have worn it on several instancesmostly during soccer games, as I had thought, hah. Today it is rainy and gloomy, and I feel like it will fit in perfectly with the weather... not because it is gloomy, but because there is almost an aquatic undercurrent to this on me. Must be thesalt-slicked wood mentioned.

Edited May 21, 2018 by ramblingrambler

[torikitty]

I admit that I got this completely for the Snow Glass Apples part. It doesn't feel too busy to me. I think the wine gets amped over everything else, so it's like this really nice apple red wine. Unfortunately, it doesn't stick around very long, I think my skin slowly ate it, and I got maybe 4 or 5 hours out of it.

[VetchVesper]

Delicious fruit snacks! Sweet, bright, sugary fruit. A sort of zesty honey lemon scent, which I'm now realizing (cause I looked at the notes) is the apple. Very pretty and light and sweet. This makes me think of a little girl with rosy cheeks. Happy and uplifting.

 

ETA: This has gotten even better with age, probably from the deepening Snake Oil.  It's similar, but just a little richer smelling.  It reminds me a bit of Cairo, but I much prefer it.  Still, a happy scent, but now with a smidge of sexy.    I'm really not much of an apple fan, but this is nice.

Edited November 4, 2020 by VetchVesper

[LizziesLuck]

Wet: Oh this is so interesting! Lots of Dorian at first, then the wine comes through, then the apple really amps up. I have never tried Snow Glass Apples, because I don't love apple, but this is like an apple incense, and it's lovely. It's sexy, actually. I get the whole sexy vampire apples thing now. Opium, maybe? I dunno, something is dirtying (in a good way!) this up.

 

 

Dry: This turns into a very clean, fruity scent, only remotely related to what it was like when wet. I don't know what to think. I may age it and try it again, see if that brings the Snake Oil and Dorian combo out more. Currently it's mostly apple.

[roseus]

At first I was only mildly interested in this scent, I love apple but I had other priorities among the Phoenixes. But my mind finally made the connection between apple and wine to Solstice Lace and I had to try it. While it is definitely not the same, this is much less autumn harvest-y, I love the apple and sweet wine combination. On my skin this has a fresh, almost clean (but not soapy) aspect. Maybe that is the SGA aspect (I have never smelled it though), but I am also thinking it is the muskiness of Dorian and the lemony note combining with the others. I get the rich sweetness of Snake Oil underneath all of this. The salted wood grounds everything and gives it a nice body, and the salt keeps the sweetness in check. But it all melds together quite beautifully. This will be a beloved autumn scent for me.

[zazkea]

Bottle

Fresh!

 

Wet

What I get is a bit sour wine, bitter mead, a very green something, plus apple.

 

Dry

The notes blend now, so I cannot identify them individually anymore. What I get is fantastic On my skin, this is rather fresh, mild-sour. Fresh linen, tendency to (not bad) powdery, but without becoming powder. Reading the description now, I can say that I do not get much snake oil (and not knowing Dorian, i cant identify him). Not "woody" at all on my skin, but a bit salt may be there (but only from the description this is what I get, so the salt may be imagined/primed). Also, getting warmer on the skin, it gets more depth and warmth, less freshness and not sour anymore - now balanced and remains like this. Though I am afraid this may not linger for a long time.

 

Conclusions
Not a typical snake oil variant, in fact I do not get much snake oil. I like it because it is fresh, a bit like autumn.

Compared to Fruit and Cotton Phoenix, this is a tad to clean on my skin, but that makes it a scent that can be worn in the office.

 

Edit after 2.5 years:
I adore this! Its more wood now and I could wear this every day if the oil weren't decreasing in the bottle.

Edited December 30, 2020 by zazkea
ageing update

[Deceitfuldescender]

Curse my skin chem, this is awful on me. So nice in the bottle, on me? Powder. Fresh? Powder. Late dry down? Powder. No other notes. No fruit or wine or honey or wood. Powder. If I could pinpoint what was doing it... Dorian maybe, it does not seem to like me in Paper Phoenix.

Powder.