Some time ago, I got a sample set of all of Alkemia's perfumes. Since some scents are getting discontinued, I thought I better try them out before they're gone in case I'm in love with any of them.
As usual, these are all done blind until right before I write my overview. Unless otherwise noted, sillage and longevity are still the same as my previous review. Oh, and I have to add...dang! I forgot how strong Alkemia's scents are. I put a different perfume on each wrist and had to restart since the scents are so strong, they mingle. I smell them even as I type and they're definitely strong enough for someone within casual conversation distance to catch a whiff.
This starts off smelling like a powdery yet clean florals leaning towards blue-scented soap bar. It's definitely a very clean smell. I smell something almost berry-ish in the background but it's very faint. As this wears on, the scent gets more musky and powdery, but it's still mostly a very clean, blue scent that teeters between floral and soapy. It's kinda how you imagine this room would smell like:
Overview: Not sure what all that would smell like, but if you're scared of incense, don't worry, you can't smell the incense. It may exist as a quiet note somewhere, but it mostly just smells clean and powdery blue.
"Fir & resinous woods, offertory fruits, spiced ale, beeswax candles, a whisper of ritual incense, and freshly baked cakes dripping with wild honey."
Thanksgiving desserts, just without the cinnamon. Gods, this smells so delicious. There's an actual baked smell to this, instead of the artificial "cake" scents that just smells nauseating to me. It makes me want to eat my arm.
There's a hint of a woody smell that makes me think a wooden table piled high with Thanksgiving desserts (minus cinnamon). There's also that slightly bready smell of beer, but there's no alcoholic smell. If you're a gourmand lover, you need to get this before it's gone. Unfortunately, on me, this dies down to a metallic smell after about an hour.
If you're familiar with BathSabbath's Once Sent From The Golden Hall, I think this is a better version of it. Once Sent From The Golden Hall is a balance of wood, honeyed mead and bread and kinda made my brain confused about whether it's a scent of something I can eat or use as a brawling weapon. Offering's gourmand bit is stronger so there's no confusion there.
Overview: really can't smell any incense here, so if you're worried about incense notes, this is fine. This is definitely a delicious gourmand smell. They're definitely right about the freshly baked cakes bit, though you'll struggle to identify the cakes are.
"An ethereally illuminating blend of white sandalwood, cool aquatics, crystalline blue musk, and ice flowers threaded with faint memories of white blossoms."
The only way I can describe this is crystal musk. There's a bit of a musky smell, but it's very light, airy and sharp. The smell practically sparkles. It makes me think of silver bells tinkling on an intricately crafted sleigh in winter, and snowflakes on thick, pure white flower petals. This is a gorgeous smell and smells like a high end perfume. It's very clean, pure and fresh. Gets a bit soapy as it dries down. It's a perfume you imagine on a woman who looks like this:
Overview: Oh wow. Holy crap, they really captured all that. If you read those notes, you'd probably go, "Um, that sounds more like an imagination than what it'll smell like."
They actually captured all that. I'm freaking impressed with this scent.
"An homage to the Gods of Thunder - the scent of crackling ozone and wildly lashing rain tearing across a summer night."
This scent dries down really fast on me and I'm a bit confused. Typically Alkemia's scents take 1-2h to dry down on me, but this dried down in about 40-50 min. This scent smells like a typical, cool & citrus men's cologne that's a bit more velvety, with some spiciness in the background. The spiciness starts of smelling like actual chilli, but finally settled to a bit of a masculine, resinous type of spiciness.
My boyfriend describes it as "classy wet wipes". He's not a fan of it since it's "classy, but still wet wipes". It gets heavier as time goes on, and after I heard my boyfriend's scent description, it starts smelling a lot like fancy wet wipes to me. Definitely the fancy ones though, the ones you get in the dimly lit restrooms of fancy restaurants. The kind with rich, dark wood panels and comes with a butler.
Overview: If you're looking for a safe, cool citrus cologne, this is it. Personally, I find it a bit boring compared to the other perfume oil scents I've tried.
Tried it again and nope. No idea where the ozone is. Maybe it's causing the spiciness I smell, but it's less of that electric/metallic sort of spiciness I've associated with ozone and more of a chilli then wood resin sort of spiciness. It's also a slightly heavy, musky type of cool citrus cologne instead the light and wild cologne I'd expect from the description.
"An utterly beguiling blend of Earl Grey Tea, lightly brewed Black Assam Tea, Scarlet Monarda (also known as Wild Bergamot), a fresh twist of Bergamot citrus peel, and golden skin musk teased with long, slow kisses of orange blossom honey."
It's a very smooth, creamy, musky citrus with a hint of coolness. I can only describe this scent as "citrus suede". It doesn't smell like suede but once you sniff this, you'll definitely think of suede. Smooth, rich, cool to touch but keeps you warm. After about 20 minutes, this turns into a rich, lemon vanilla candy, with the candy-ish scent dominating as this dries down.
Overview: Where the hell are the teas? I tried it on again and yes, I got a whiff of Earl Grey which quickly switched to Assam Tea on first application. But it literally only lasted moments. After that, the citrus dominates and I guess the teas are what creates that suede smell. Definitely still rich, lemon vanilla candy at the end, though now I can smell hints of earl grey tea in the background. I'm still not sure how wild bergamot is, but I'm still impressed that this scent takes me through those notes exactly in that order.
As usual, these are all done blind until right before I write my overview. Unless otherwise noted, sillage and longevity are still the same as my previous review. Oh, and I have to add...dang! I forgot how strong Alkemia's scents are. I put a different perfume on each wrist and had to restart since the scents are so strong, they mingle. I smell them even as I type and they're definitely strong enough for someone within casual conversation distance to catch a whiff.
Ambre III: Naiad
"An exquisitely alluring blend of dew soaked orris roots and pale irises bathed in cool rivulets of aquatic amber with a whisper of Japanese incense."This starts off smelling like a powdery yet clean florals leaning towards blue-scented soap bar. It's definitely a very clean smell. I smell something almost berry-ish in the background but it's very faint. As this wears on, the scent gets more musky and powdery, but it's still mostly a very clean, blue scent that teeters between floral and soapy. It's kinda how you imagine this room would smell like:
 |
| Gorgeous, elegant and clean. Obviously, a baby doesn't live in here. Image courtesy of projectnursery.com |
Overview: Not sure what all that would smell like, but if you're scared of incense, don't worry, you can't smell the incense. It may exist as a quiet note somewhere, but it mostly just smells clean and powdery blue.
Offering
"Fir & resinous woods, offertory fruits, spiced ale, beeswax candles, a whisper of ritual incense, and freshly baked cakes dripping with wild honey."
Thanksgiving desserts, just without the cinnamon. Gods, this smells so delicious. There's an actual baked smell to this, instead of the artificial "cake" scents that just smells nauseating to me. It makes me want to eat my arm.
 |
| How I see my arm now... Image courtesy of thekitchn.com |
There's a hint of a woody smell that makes me think a wooden table piled high with Thanksgiving desserts (minus cinnamon). There's also that slightly bready smell of beer, but there's no alcoholic smell. If you're a gourmand lover, you need to get this before it's gone. Unfortunately, on me, this dies down to a metallic smell after about an hour.
If you're familiar with BathSabbath's Once Sent From The Golden Hall, I think this is a better version of it. Once Sent From The Golden Hall is a balance of wood, honeyed mead and bread and kinda made my brain confused about whether it's a scent of something I can eat or use as a brawling weapon. Offering's gourmand bit is stronger so there's no confusion there.
Overview: really can't smell any incense here, so if you're worried about incense notes, this is fine. This is definitely a delicious gourmand smell. They're definitely right about the freshly baked cakes bit, though you'll struggle to identify the cakes are.
Silvern
"An ethereally illuminating blend of white sandalwood, cool aquatics, crystalline blue musk, and ice flowers threaded with faint memories of white blossoms."
The only way I can describe this is crystal musk. There's a bit of a musky smell, but it's very light, airy and sharp. The smell practically sparkles. It makes me think of silver bells tinkling on an intricately crafted sleigh in winter, and snowflakes on thick, pure white flower petals. This is a gorgeous smell and smells like a high end perfume. It's very clean, pure and fresh. Gets a bit soapy as it dries down. It's a perfume you imagine on a woman who looks like this:
 |
| "Snow Queen" by Jessica Drossin |
Overview: Oh wow. Holy crap, they really captured all that. If you read those notes, you'd probably go, "Um, that sounds more like an imagination than what it'll smell like."
They actually captured all that. I'm freaking impressed with this scent.
Tronada
"An homage to the Gods of Thunder - the scent of crackling ozone and wildly lashing rain tearing across a summer night."
This scent dries down really fast on me and I'm a bit confused. Typically Alkemia's scents take 1-2h to dry down on me, but this dried down in about 40-50 min. This scent smells like a typical, cool & citrus men's cologne that's a bit more velvety, with some spiciness in the background. The spiciness starts of smelling like actual chilli, but finally settled to a bit of a masculine, resinous type of spiciness.
My boyfriend describes it as "classy wet wipes". He's not a fan of it since it's "classy, but still wet wipes". It gets heavier as time goes on, and after I heard my boyfriend's scent description, it starts smelling a lot like fancy wet wipes to me. Definitely the fancy ones though, the ones you get in the dimly lit restrooms of fancy restaurants. The kind with rich, dark wood panels and comes with a butler.
 |
| Like this, just more dimly lit. So dimly lit that you'll need night-vision goggles if it goes any darker. Image courtesy of lonny.com |
Overview: If you're looking for a safe, cool citrus cologne, this is it. Personally, I find it a bit boring compared to the other perfume oil scents I've tried.
Tried it again and nope. No idea where the ozone is. Maybe it's causing the spiciness I smell, but it's less of that electric/metallic sort of spiciness I've associated with ozone and more of a chilli then wood resin sort of spiciness. It's also a slightly heavy, musky type of cool citrus cologne instead the light and wild cologne I'd expect from the description.
Tryst of Grey
"An utterly beguiling blend of Earl Grey Tea, lightly brewed Black Assam Tea, Scarlet Monarda (also known as Wild Bergamot), a fresh twist of Bergamot citrus peel, and golden skin musk teased with long, slow kisses of orange blossom honey."
It's a very smooth, creamy, musky citrus with a hint of coolness. I can only describe this scent as "citrus suede". It doesn't smell like suede but once you sniff this, you'll definitely think of suede. Smooth, rich, cool to touch but keeps you warm. After about 20 minutes, this turns into a rich, lemon vanilla candy, with the candy-ish scent dominating as this dries down.
 |
| I've been trying to find an excuse to use this pic... "Hunger Games" by Giorgo Paulon |
Overview: Where the hell are the teas? I tried it on again and yes, I got a whiff of Earl Grey which quickly switched to Assam Tea on first application. But it literally only lasted moments. After that, the citrus dominates and I guess the teas are what creates that suede smell. Definitely still rich, lemon vanilla candy at the end, though now I can smell hints of earl grey tea in the background. I'm still not sure how wild bergamot is, but I'm still impressed that this scent takes me through those notes exactly in that order.
No comments:
Post a Comment