Amber Incense & Honey Cakes

[zankoku_zen]

An offering made in the depths of the year’s darkness to honor the Solstice sun.

[starbrow]

This is Winter Solstice, bottled. I can't think of anything I'd rather wear on the longest night of the year than this quiet, wondrous beauty. In the bottle and newly applied, the honey cakes are primarily what comes through. I am well acquainted with these softly yummy treats from their appearance in this year's Pumpkin Mead and Honey Cakes, where they threw homey baked goods into a dark, cozy autumn night. Here, they lead off as if that is all we can expect from this offering: delicious but rather simple honey cakes. And if you only gave the bottle a quick sniff and moved on, that's all you might think was in there.

 

But you'd be missing the best part.

 

When the last crumbs of honey cake have been nibbled up and darkness has descended, the glow of amber incense begins to flicker like candles lit one by one, until their warmth and light cradles you gently and lovingly. Candlelight always has that gentler throw, and so it is here; but the aura of the amber, though subtle, is wide. Most scents I can't smell on myself unless I put my nose right up against my skin. This softly gilded resin wafts and wafts for hours. The night may be dark and cold and long, but inside, all is calm, all is bright.

 

This is what I want to wear while sitting in front of the fire in the bleak midwinter. When Yule is over, and the bitterest part of January has set in, I'll be making my Solstice offering many nights, warmed from within.

[clementlau]

I definitely cannot top how spot-on and beautifully-written this first review is, but I'll second everything she said! When freshly applied, this is all  scrummy honey cake goodness -- you can smell each warm crumb, in fact. When this quickly mellows out, the gentle amber just glows and glows.

[Casablanca]

This is a quiet, understated blend on my skin, but a beauty. 

 

It smells like candlelight over honey-baked offerings at night. Soft amber light (with drips of raw golden beeswax) and warm incense alongside sweet honey cakes.

 

The incense is subtle, but I think of golden frankincense. Something also reads as soft yellow beeswax. Amber enfolds these and makes them its own. This is an elegant side of the blend.

 

The other side -- the comfy cozy -- is the honey cakes, which smell about equal parts honey and cake on me. Sweet, warm, moist, honey-colored.

 

The honey cakes are strongest on me at first; in drydown, the amber becomes more prominent.

[zankoku_zen]

Honey cakes and amber beeswax. This is soft, cozy, and slightly foodie. Deliciously honeyed amber. Good throw and wear length.

[lady_pandora]

This is a scent where I like the throw way better than the skin scent. Close to the skin, it's a little play-dohy on me. But the throw is absolutely scrumptious, all juicy dripping honey like a baklava. I can't really make out the amber, but that note gets along so well with my skin that it sometimes doesn't stick out.

[mizliz2176]

This is beautiful. Foodie but not overly so to me. The Amber makes it glow enough that I don't feel like I simply rolled in a dessert. Warm, comforting, unobtrusive. Will get lots of wear this away.

[Teamama]

Gorgeous! This blend is the perfect balance between incense & honey. It's my new favorite BPAL amber. I do not get cake from this blend. Like @zankoku_zen, on me the honey evokes the Lab's beeswax note. A golden treasure.

[torischroeder9]

In the decant: Honey and incense. 

 

On my skin:

 

Wet, it's honey and soft baked good, with amber asserting itself a few seconds later. As it settles, I get incense over a bed of honey with an undercurrent of amber. I do get a more honey note than beeswax, but it's not quite as "in your face" as some BPAL honey can be. 

 

Half an hour or so after application, the amber has started to go ever so slightly powdery, though the honey and incense are still divine. Fortunately, the powder phase is fleeting on me, and I'm back to honeyed incense over amber in no time. 

 

This is amazing, and I need a bottle to wear all cooler weather long. 

[artisjok]

If a golden cake was turned into a drop of amber and dipped in beeswax, this is how it smells. It’s the best version of the Lab’s cake on my skin, because it’s only barely a cake. I get very little incense vibe, yet there is the warmth of amber. The honey is more of a beeswax to me. The whole experience is very warm and cozy, as a hug is comforting.
The scent stays close to my skin. I see myself wearing it as I read a book at night- the rest of the family sleeps peacefully and I sip some tea and contentedly sniff my wrist between pages. 

[Little Bird]

This reminds me quite a bit of O, but I think I prefer O, because Honey Cakes turns rather powdery on me in the drydown.  Like a brighter, more light gold toned amber and thick, sweet honey (reminds me of those bear shaped bottles of honey) that's been dusted with baby powder and some dusty, warm incense.  I don't get much of a cake or baked goods impression from it, other than it being a warm scent.  The incense comes out more over the hours and I do enjoy that part, where it's almost earthy and like dusty temple incense.

I made a friend smell Honey Cakes on me and they told me, "You smell like fancy hand soaps in a fancy restroom."  I have no idea where that's coming from.