Hearthflame and Incense

[ltrittipoe]

Crackling almond wood and the deep sweet smoke of burgundy pitch, Austrian amber resin, black copal, and frankincense.

 

This is just beautiful. 

 

It starts off very green and pine-y (burgundy pitch = spruce) and then as it starts to dry down and melt into my skin, hints of smokiness come out and I start to get whiffs of woodsmoke and incense. Not sweet incense, pure and resin-y, with just a hint of smoke.  

You know how when you burn pure resin incense you smell the resin more than the smoke?  This is absolutely that, and the little bit of smoke I get fades throughout the dry down.  

It’s a very clean, cool, resinous incense, and it makes me think of a tiny church in the middle of a pine forest in the dead of winter.  

 

 

[zankoku_zen]

Sweet smoky incense, touches of pine, wood and almond. It's mainly a woods + incense blend. Medium throw and wear length.

[starbrow]

To me, this was the same acrid beginning as Midnight Bonfire. Unfortunately, it gives me a headache and doesn't make it worth the drydown to the nice resiny wood at the end. I really wanted to love this one but it didn't love me back. 

[Casablanca]

I expected to love this one, given my penchant for smoky woods, but it doesn't quite work for me.

 

I get lots of a smoky, conifer tar-like note that reminds me of birch tar in its weight and smokiness, but is otherwise different. I loved the smoke of Midnight Bonfire and First Lash, but this smells different to me, more tar-like, and it's not connecting with me.

 

Woodsy, tarry smoke. Possibly it will settle down with more time but, right now, I'm relieved to not crave yet another bottle of tree smoke. 😂

 

[annemathematics]

burgundy pitch!  I love the resins in this, but it was the listing of the pitch that had me go for a decant.  this is a nice, deeeeep woodsmokey scent. a touch of sweetness that just stops short of being cloying. the resins don't stand out so much. there's something dark and sinister about this. very atmospheric in an RPG/fantasy adventure sort of way. compared to 1st lash, this is heavier, darker and smokier.  

[Lucchesa]

I tested Hearthflame and Incense and First Lash at the same time since they share similar notes and I wanted to deathmatch them.  First Lash started out green and a little harsh on me, while H&I was richer and deeper right off the bat, with a bit of sweetness -- dark burgundy rather than green in color.  It developed into lovely resiny woodsmoke with an afterglow of frankincense.  It wore close to the skin on me, which is normal for me, and lasted a few hours, though not as long as First Lash did.  I think I like this one a tiny bit more than first lash, but they are both very nice on me. 

[VetchVesper]

So, I wasn't really a fan of Hearth, even though I thought I would be, but all the incensey goodness this one had to offer was too hard to resist, so I ended up with a decant.  

 

It's definitely got the "Hearth" base going on, which is acrid and sort of cloying on me, but I do like the way the incense tempers the smell.  Hearthflame is better with the incense, a bit more mellow and a touch sweeter, but this is still very much a hearth, campfire, burning wood sort of smell.  I aaaalmost really like it, but it's still a little rough around the edges for me.  I think it would make a very nice candle, but it's just kind of loud on me as a perfume.

[Juushika]

In vial: Dry wood, a hint of pine; a clean, outdoorsy scent.

 

On me: This starts out so beautiful--like the vial, but darker, smokier, more resinous. It reminds me of the woods in Samhain (damp woods, fir needle, and black patchouli with the gentlest touches of warm pumpkin, clove, nutmeg, allspice, sweet red apple and mullein) and, like Samhain, has a hint of pitchy/sappy sweetness. A sweet, woody campfire set deep in pine woods, outdoorsy, autumnal/wintery, rich and smokey and gorgeous. It's the bolder, darker cousin of the woodsmoke of First Last (Austrian black amber, woodsmoke, frankincense, and terebinth). But consistently at the 4 or 5 hour mark this goes sickly-sweet, that resinous sweetness amping to something single-note and cloying; it reminds me of a less fruity, more resinous take on the sweetness of The Gorobble (a scent redolent of the crusty exterior of burnt marshmallows).

 

On clothes: Lighter, less resinous, and sweeter than the skin scent, but doesn't do that 4-hour sweet morph--this amalgamates the total experience of the scent worn on skin. It's more stable, but weaker and less distinctive.

 

Verdict: If not for that sweet morph...! This is gorgeous; not at all Heartflame, very much Campfire; a cousin to Samhain in setting and vibe. But that strong sweet morph kills things for me.

[tinyvulture]

Oh gorgeous! Wood, smoke, sweet copal and frankincense. Some of my favorite notes here! The pitch is strongly pine-y, the almond wood is grounding in its nuttiness. Warm, inviting, like walking into a fire-warmed cabin out of hte cold. So sweet and smoky! Gets a little acrid upon drydown, think Agnes Nutter.

[Mad Maudlin]

For me this is THE cozy winter scent and I absolutely love it. I got a sample of this and knew immediately I had to go in search of a full bottle. On me this is a beautiful woody resin blend, the perfect balance of sweet and dry with just a hint of almond (I don't like things that are sweet or foody in any way, and this stays well away from that). It's smoky, but doesn't smell like smoke, if that makes sense. I'm not getting any of the acridness some other people have mentioned, but It had already had time to settle before it came to me.

This one is simply stunning. I am enthralled, I can't stop sniffing my arm. 15/10 cozy.