2012: Aluminum Phoenix

[VioletChaos]

This is the year that we first presented our Labyrinth and Fraggle Rock lines! Visiting Henson Studios was one of the greatest thrills of my life. How often do you get to meet a Skeksi in person?

In 2012, we made our first pilgrimage to DragonCon. While so many incredible memories stand out, the one that is most vivid is us watching in horror as a full-to-capacity elevator (including a Transformer in full-transform) at the Marriott took over two hours to descend 30 floors. Its a fantastic convention, and we are thrilled to make it our Labor Day weekend home every year.

A fraggle-shaggy bright scent with a sinister goblin shadow: red currant and King mandarin with a white musk fougere, sweet dried fruits, and smoky myrrh-infused oudh.

In the Bottle: Bright and fruity! But there's also an unsettling undercurrent that I can't quite name, like...ammonia?

Wet On Skin: Yay, the ammonia has left the building! At this stage, mostly I'm getting sweet, dried sugary fruits and the slightest age of the white musk fougere in the background, which prevents this from just being a silly-kids-games kind of scent.

Dry Down: It's funny, I like having fruit notes in things, but I don't like when it's the *only* thing. I need my scents to have some kind of depth, something to hang on to, and this scent DOES that, but not ion any way I've encountered before. If one were to layer Kingdom of Sweets with Red from the Fraggle Rock series, and then tossed in a little of Jareth, minus the leather...you would get Aluminum Phoenix. This isn't one I was sure about, but I'm really, really happy I got a bottle now.

[donkehpoo]

Wet: Fruity, sweet and... metallic? Very strong throw; I can smell this with my hand at my side!

Dry: Very similar to the wet stage, though the metallic scent has morphed into something slightly astringent now.

The dry down isn’t horrible, but it’s not something I’m too fond of smelling like. I hope this ages well, because there’s some fantastic notes in this!

 

edit: retested this, and it's much less astringent now.

Edited June 16, 2018 by donkehpoo

[zankoku_zen]

Red currant and mandarin oranges dries down to a smoky oudh with a white musk edge, which lends a certain powderiness to this. I liked it on wet, but then the fruits disappear and I'm left with an oudh-musk blend that doesn't quite work for my skin. Medium throw, good wear length.

[ramblingrambler]

Damnedest thing, y'all: Aluminum Phoenix smells like Trix sans milk (thank the lawd! Every "cereal scent" I was stoked about was ruined by the creamy notes). I am ALL about it. Buy this if you wanted to love Liliths with "junk food" but they didn't work out for you!

[LiberAmoris]

Aluminum Phoenix is really unique. The white musk fougere is (I think) helping to give this a metallic feel. It starts with white musk and a cascade of fruity notes—red currant, King mandarin, and those 'sweet dried fruits'. As it dries down, I get more and more of the incensey myrrh/oudh mix. The oudh is really light. It ends as a white musk-centric skin scent with lingering fruit notes.

[VetchVesper]

Bright, high pitched, and somehow shiny. I can get aluminum from this. It's far from what I was expecting with those listed notes of myrrh and oud though. this is not resinous at all. It smells dry and effervescent to me, like fruity Italian soda. Unfortunately, white musk tends to lean soapy on me, and Aluminum Phoenix is no exception. Italian soda in a washing machine. Siiiiigh.

 

I could see how this could really be fun summer scent for someone who does well with white musk though. It actually reminds me of Croquet, with it's bright citrus vibe swirling around chaotically with the cool musk.

[Lucchesa]

Aluminum Phoenix is not for me. The opening is juicy with berry and mandarin, but the white musk, which tends to be high pitched on me, quickly begins to go soapy, as it did on VetchVesper. I was really hoping the smoky myrrh infused oudh would deepen and darken the fruit, but no go. Good wear length, though.

 

How about a smoky myrrh-infused oudh scent, Lab?

Edited January 12, 2018 by Lucchesa

[LizziesLuck]

Wet: This smells exactly like the all-purpose spray cleaner I use. It's an all natural one, so it's not terrible or anything, it's just not anything I want to smell like.

 

 

Dry: Yeah, citrus scented cleaner. Not for me!

[tomservoandcroooooooow]

This one is really interesting because most of the time I don't notice much shifting from wet to dry down but this one has very decided stages.

 

1. King manderin shouts, "Behold I have come!"

 

2. A sort of soda pop/champagne fizziness settles in with the King manderin. I think it's the white musk since it's fizzy of like 51 is.

 

3.The King manderian softens and a dried fruit comes in.

 

4. The dried fruit and white musk continue but there's a strange hint of herbs. I'm not sure if that's oudh or if the white musk fougere has deepened. It might just be there's less competing notes at this point and I can finally notice the fougere part of the white musk.

[thecaitycat]

In the bottle

I don't even know what I can identify here other than something citrus (must be the mandarin) and something herbal and sharp. It's really strange.

 

Wet on skin

This is a lot sweeter once it's on my skin.

 

Dry on skin after 30 minutes

This is sweet for a few minutes, then goes through another sharp, soapy stage, then becomes less sharp and a little sweeter again.

 

Thoughts

I took a chance on this one. "Bright" is a good descriptor for it. I don't hate it. It's actually nice on certain days. But I'm going to let it age some more and see what happens, because letting it sit in my collection for a few months has helped so far.