The Magician’s Belt

[JMorgynWhite]

The Ouroboros, the serpent as he consumes his own tail. Within this everlasting cycle, the spirit is reborn into eternity: frankincense, white rose, balsam, almond flower, and benzoin.

The Magician’s Belt is the 2^nd darkest. Belt is amazing, I may need a bottle. Sweet sugar with flowers and a spritz of citrus lime, really complex. This one is a hit. It has a cologne style to it - but light. Limes and white rose - which makes sense as it's very fresh rose. The benzoin must be the lime/citrus. The rose is like fresh rose petal kind, not the powdery old lady rose.

Drydown it morphs to white rose which lingers on and on.

[zankoku_zen]

On wet, this is a light sugary white rose with a resinous edge (hallo benzoin!). As it dries, I get more of the frankincense and balsam coming through. Honestly, it sort of going rosewoody on me. It's a nice, light scent on me. Good throw and wear length.

[samanare]

Frankincense with benzoin and rose. Throughout frankincense is the strongest scent. I can smell rose, which is on the sweeter side, and it fades faster than the other scents present. Benzoin is more constant and places second fiddle to the frankincense, rounding out the overall scent.

 

To me, this is pretty similar to other frankincense/rose combos (ex: Sept, but with benzoin instead of vanilla) and folks who already have something like that in their collection may want to pass. On the other hand, if this scent combo is your jam, it is different enough to make a nice addition to one's collection.

[Casablanca]

With Magician's Belt first applied, the almond flower is strongest on my skin. It's a gentle almond, though: not quite the bold amaretto-like almond I often get. Beneath that is a soft benzoin and a little thread of frankincense.

 

As the blend dries, I smell the rose, though it seems faint. It mostly blends into the other notes. So far, in the few white rose blends I've tried, the rose doesn't stand out for me the way that other rose colors do.

 

The frankincense grows after drydown, but for me it remains lighter and paler than the potency and rich, golden quality it has in Sept.

 

This is a soft, off-white, cushiony sort of blend, easy to wear anywhere.

[Ghost of a Rose]

Fresh bottle from a BPAL retailer.

 

In the bottle: Sweet. Some lovely rose, a little bit of incense in the cap. Then in the bottle, a strong wave of almond extract and extreme sweetness that probably includes the vanilla-like aspect of benzoin.

 

On me, wet: Much like in the bottle. All almond at first, then very quickly a bit of incense mingled with rose starts to swim up through the almond.

 

At 5 minutes: The almond has become less aggressive - less strong, less sweet, and less like extract, more like the nuts. This allows the incense to take on a bigger role. The rose is discernable, but keeps to the background.

 

At 10 minutes: On my wrist, it's virtually all incense now, but the throw is a beautiful rose. Very interesting! The sweetness is mostly gone, and the almond extract with it. Just a hint of nuttiness remains, and maybe a teeny drop of vanilla.

 

At 20 minutes: Incense with a bit of rose, and a papery note that I get from benzoin on the drydown. The rose is still prevalent in the throw.

 

At 30 minutes: Still mostly incense, but I can pick up a liitle rose and vanilla as well. And a little bit of a spicy bite. I wondered if that could be the balsam finally showing up, but there's none of the sharpness that I associate with balsam. More likely it's coming from the frankincense. The throw has lightened up quite a bit, and is showing some incense, but is still mostly rose.

 

At 45 minutes: It's already edging towards the baby powder scent I get from many BPAL oils at their last gasp. With some rose. It's a very pleasant scent - this is not a criticism, just an observation.

 

At 1 hour: It has faded noticeably in the past 15 minutes. But I can still smell a little benzoin, rose, and incense along with the baby powder.

 

As an aside, I had put a drop of benzoin oil on my other wrist, to help me recognize that note in this blend. At this stage particularly, I am really loving the combined scent of both my wrists held together!

 

Last night I put The Magician's Belt on right before bed, and could still smell it in the morning. It seems to be fading a lot more quickly today. How odd, and interesting! Maybe how active I am makes a difference?

 

At 1 1/2 hours: I notice just a hint of cinnamon in the throw. Probably from the benzoin. That must be the faint "spicy bite" I picked up earlier on my wrist. Everything else is the same.

 

At 3 hours: The scent is still hanging in there. It's baby powder, vanilla, and incense at this stage, and in that order of strength.

 

It was still discernible, but weak, several hours later.

 

Verdict: This is primarily a rose-and-incense scent, interesting and lovely. It would be excellent for someone who prefers rose blended with other notes rather than straight up. Or for someone who loves rose for when they don't want to come across as overly girly, such as at work. As for me, I adore any fragrance that has any detectable rose component, so of course it's a win for me!

 

5 out of 6 stars

Edited September 7, 2018 by Ghost of a Rose