The Starry Crown

[RedPersimmon]

Twelve petals in the heart chakra, twelve cranial nerves in the human body. Twelve lunar months, twelve lunations in a solar year, twelve signs of the Zodiac, twelve Earthly Branches. Twelve Tribes of Israel, twelve Apostles, Jacob and Ishmael each had twelve sons. Twelve days of Christmas, the sacred time between Christmas and Epiphany. Odin had twelve sons. There are twelve jurors in Athenas celestial court. The stars in her crown are hexagrams, proclaiming her dominion over the material world.

A great sign appeared in heaven: a woman clothed with the sun, with the moon under her feet and a crown of twelve stars on her head: red musk and tolu, centifolia rose and black tobacco, French lavender and star anise, Roman chamomile and leather.

In the bottle, it's all centifolia rose and chamomile. On skin, I get soft tobacco, star anise, centifolia rose (not too strong for all you rose-haters), a worn-in leather couch, and a pinch of something that smells like juniper. This is not a perfume that you wear to make you feel pretty. This is a mystical blend--an anointing oil that you wear with intention.

I get average throw and average longevity with The Starry Crown.

[zankoku_zen]

Chamomile, rose, red musk and a whiff of other things. I get mainly chamomile, red musk, and a touch of lavender on wet. This one is an interesting mix, as it changes a bit and the rose blooms as it dries. Good throw and wear length.

[torikitty]

I think the rose and the chamomile go heady and floral on me, and drown out everything else.

[Ghost of a Rose]

So, this has been QUITE the learning experience for me.

 

After more than 10 years of wearing BPAL oils, I learned that my skin chemistry does HORRIBLE things to red musk. I absolutely cannot wear it on my skin or hair, or even touch it. I'm going to experiment with wearing it in a scent locket, handling it with kid gloves. Literally. Well, disposable surgical gloves anyway.

 

So what happens that's so horrible?

- It kills all the other notes in a scent. Totally wipes them out. Nuclear holocaust-type destruction.

- It amps to 11.

- It turns into Syrup of Ipecac, without the orange flavoring. Sickeningly, cloyingly sweet. I mean, literally nauseating. As in, I have to wash it off before I barf.

 

It was a very familiar smell, one I've noticed in several BPAL oils. I thought it was just a note I disliked. It took this one to show me that it isn't supposed to smell like that.

 

It turns out that has been the problem with Snake Oil all along. I knew I hated it, but thought it was the vanilla. But this has no vanilla, and smells EXACTLY the same on me as Snake Oil. (And I've recently discovered a couple of vanilla blends that I actually love.) Except for tolu, I knew all of the other notes in The Starry Crown smell beautiful on me, so it wasn't them. And the info on the internet about tolu says it is spicy, which I never got from this. Also, tolu is pretty rare in BPAL oil, and this was something I'd smelled many times before. Then it hit me: Snake Oil. This smells like Snake Oil.

 

So I checked the reviews for Snake Oil to see what was in it. By now I was pretty sure it was the red musk that was the problem. (Actually, not red musk itself but what my skin does to it.) Bingo. Musk isn't listed in the description, but numerous reviewers mentioned it. And several said red musk specifically.

 

I've never smelled or tested red musk, or any kind of musk, by itself. That's why it took me so long to figure it out. Especially when white musk is one of my favorite notes. For some reason, my skin doesn't seem to interfere with white musk.

 

So obviously I need to avoid any blends that contain red musk. Or wear them only in the scent locket, handling them very carefully to prevent contaminating them with my skin chemicals.

 

It's not this perfume, it's my skin that is the problem. I got some glimpses into what this SHOULD smell like. In the bottle, if I am very careful to touch only the outside of the bottle and cap and not get any oil on my skin, I get some lovely lavender, rose, and chamomile.

 

And on my clothes, I got the most gorgeous draft of rose. Only once, and very briefly, but it showed me what this perfume is supposed to smell like. And undoubtedly does, on other people. Apparently my wrist touched my clothes and transferred some of the oil to them before it got changed by my skin chemicals.

 

So I am interested in trying this out very carefully in the locket.

 

And you know what? It might work for Snake Oil too. But I'll need a new imp of that one that isn't already contaminated with my skin chemicals. My bottle of Starry Crown might still be salvageable since I only touched it to my skin once.

 

An interesting thing: My daughter also hates Snake Oil. Which was very surprising to both of us, since woods, resins, and incense scents - basically anything warm, nonfloral and non-foody - are her favorites. I'll bet she got my skin chemistry genes. I'd love to try Snake Oil in a scent locket on her too. (This one would be too floral for her.)

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Take 2 (in a scent locket):

 

In the bottle: This time I notice the cloying sweetness of red musk first, then lavender. There may be some chamomile, and there's a faint peppery note that must be the anise, although it doesn't smell like licorice. I'm not noticing any rose. I'm not sure I will like this even in the locket - that red musk note. The oil might be contaminated from the earlier contact with my skin.

 

In the locket, wet: I'm liking it better, because the lavender is masking the musk to a significant extent. I'm not really getting anything else at this point.

 

At 10 minutes: I've been enjoying the almost single note lavender, but now the musk has become distinct, equal to the lavender. It doesn't have that cloying, nauseating sweetness that musk gets on my skin. But I've smelled it that way so many times that the note has very unpleasant associations for me. So I'm not liking it so much now. The throw is still lovely, though, lavender with hints of complexity from other, more hidden, things.

 

At 30 minutes: The red musk is sneaking into the throw as well now. I can kind of see how it could smell good to someone who doesn't have have the negative associations with it that I do. And that it pairs well with lavender. But I'm afraid it's too late for me. I'll probably never like even the unadulterated (by my skin) note. But fortunately the lavender is still dominant in the throw.

 

At 1 hour: Half lavender and half red musk, both up close and in the throw. In the throw, especially, it smells like a lovely soap.

 

At 2 hours: Pretty much all musk. There may be hints of leather and a touch of floral, but those are subtle and blended in.

 

At 7 1/2 hours: Almost all musk, perhaps with an undertone of leather that blends in so smoothly it's hard to detect. The scent is much lighter, and appears to be fading out. I'm glad it is light, as the musk is now just too much like the nauseating note it acquires on my skin.

I never did get any rose, which is the note I had hoped for. Maybe it needs the greater warmth of skin to bring it out. Or maybe it is just overwhelmed by all the strong musk.

 

At 8 hours, I've had enough. I take the locket off, although the scent isn't gone yet. The red musk note has definitely turned, and is making me feel sick. I need to put on something light and floral to get that odor out of my nose and brain.

 

Verdict: This is somewhat better in the scent locket. It's wearable in the early stages, but even then I don't especially like it. The musk is too strong and too reminiscent of the mess my skin turns it into. I wonder if the oil has already undergone chemical reactions from when I touched it to my skin before. But, when I sniff it in the bottle again, it smells nice. I don't get the unpleasantness.

 

And there is something else weird going on. The longer I wear the locket, the more the scent morphs towards that nastiness that it turns into on my skin. Could it be that pheromones floating around in the air from my skin affect the oil in the scent locket even when it doesn't actually touch my skin? It would make sense - those molecules must float around in the air in order for other people to be affected by them as studies have shown they are.

 

I think I just need to totally avoid anything with red musk in it.

 

I do really like the lavender stage that this went through early on before the musk came out in full force. But I have some nice lavender oils for that scent, without the musk.

 

Now I'm thinking that I would like to smell The Starry Crown on someone else. The descriptions in the other reviews sound so lovely and interesting . . .

Edited September 30, 2018 by Ghost of a Rose