ApothecaryScribe

I received this as a frimp. I didn't get tea, fig or ginger, nor citrus as separate presences (can *just* pick out tea among the herbal meld now that I know to look for it--it's nowhere near as dominant as in Nostrum Remedium). It's a sharp clean herbal that reminds me of "Thy Godfather's Present" from Maerchen Godfather Death series, except where Godfather's has a bit of rounded purpleness to it Apothecary's herbal seems sage-green and bluish-white. Apothecary is very austere and head-clearing, masculine enough that I'd not wear it on a random day as a personal scent but do wear it often for work, especially working at home when concentration needs a boost. The frimps and TAL St. Albert's Oil are on the side table next to my computer desk for ready availability on telecommute days. I *love* the association of both Apothecary and Godfather's Present to medical writing work...either serendipity has happened twice in frimp choices or a Labbie is paying *close* attention.

I'd suggest TAL Lionheart or Fortitude or St. Albert's (the latter especially if you're in the natural sciences). I've been out of school awhile but have had good results with St. Albert's both for preparatory work and when presenting science/strategy to clients--a bit on both third eye and throat chakras, and optionally on an artifact related to the project. St. Albert's seems to work by inviting me to get so interested in the subject matter that self-consciousness or nervousness is displaced. Of the "courage" TALs I mentioned, Fortitude in my experience is more bracing while Lionheart is more reassuring. I have also worn GC Fighter for workplace situations requiring prowess.

This is quite unlike, say, The Red Queen, in which the blackcurrant is strongly present from the first. The vetiver and myrrh dominate for the first hour--a thickly incensey, pronouncedly masculine, slightly smoky, and vaguely frightening/quasitoxic start. I think it may even share some notes with RPG Mage and the BPTP atmosphere spray Unspeakably Evil Temple. It has a minatory and funereal vibe befitting the Dickens reference. While I wear moderately masculine/epicene scents more often than conventionally feminine ones, this one is a bit much for a wearer with no Y chromosome (and fewer pheromones of any kind than average). The blackcurrant is a base note here and I couldn't even detect it until the more-volatile incenses had burned off somewhat. The longer I wore Last of the 3 Spirits the currantier it became; I liked the middle and drydown more than the first impression.

Oh, my. Fighter, purchased from ThinkGeek, was my second-ever exposure to BPAL and to "character/concept" as opposed to conventional perfumes, and the first time I had encountered a "steel" fragrance note. Initially it's all leather and clean armory oil. The steel springs forth a few minutes in, with vigorous throw. It shines bluely and vibrates, and makes me think of Luke Skywalker's lightsaber or that scene in The Return of the King when Aragorn in chain mail leaps off the corsairs' ship and Anduril is a whirling blur. The early leather/steel melding seems straightforward and pure. As the musk kicks in underneath the warrior image becomes less medieval and more martial-arts-ascetic (reminding me of the Bloodguard in the Thomas Covenant mythos). It stays well out of traditional aftershave territory--essence of gender-universal prowess and integrity. Several hours later the leather and steel have faded and clean musk and a salty undertone (the blood accord, subtler than it sounds in the official description) meld in the drydown. This remains detectable for 6-8 hours. The way the 4 major notes blend, meld, and shift into each other is just amazing. This is a beautifully integrated scent all the way through its evaporation curve. I wear Fighter to work frequently. It goes well with my office's commitment-oriented culture (we are an overachieving perpetually responsible bunch of Haruchai), harmonizes well with business casual attire without seeming like "she borrowed her husband's cologne again", and raises my gumption level when things get challenging.

5 mL from Etsy. First impression: COFFEE! and cinnamon! Maybe a tinge of hazelnut but not in the foreground. A few minutes into wearing the coffee smells deeper and darker and another spice note--a trace of cardamom?--joins in. It comes across like a black-coffee version of chai tea (so to speak). I don't get much of a creamy/dairy note if any. It's very tenacious. I can still smell the drydown (NOW comes the hazelnut after the coffee and spices have mostly evaporated) at 1:28 pm after applying it at ~6:30 this morning. This has modest throw (possibly because I applied it sparingly to check my skin's responses; though others have mentioned redness so far I haven't experienced that). Though I haven't smelled the released version I don't detect any oak or library scent in this version, which rather seems to represent a splendid independent coffee shop where Misk. U. scholars write in their personal grimoires journals. I am immensely enjoying this, especially for workdays. [Edited to delete an erroneous adjective...I had read too fast up-thread.]

[comment post deleted; will be replaced with my review when Smokestack arrives!]

A working oil for scientists. Aids analytical thinking and helps facilitate the acquisition of useful information. This oil can be utilized in rituals that foster learning and in rituals of discovery, invention, and innovation. I bought this to help in my medical writing job, in tandem with Temple of the Resurrected God (I am a Christian). I was touched to see the needs of left-brain workers represented in the Etsy array. Propitiously it arrived last week during work on a new project pitch, after a day of "How will I figure out all THAT by Friday?!" funk. I anointed my third eye, throat chakra, and backs of hands (my keyboard and pens are not oil-safe) and a prayer card to keep near my desk. Fragrance-wise, the frankincense and benzoin dominate. In the bottle it's somewhat sweet as well as spicy. On my hands ethereal sharp frankincense notes as at Easter Vigil came forth. The frankincense and benzoin went to my head, could be felt in the periorbital sinus. The sensation woke me up, straightened my posture, and indeed made me want to do science. In terms of purpose: I had a somewhat restless night after anointing my prayers and myself. I got up in the small hours to take Tylenol for a mild headache (related to the preceding day's work, not the TAL) and had an idea. I kept repeating a key word related to that idea whenever I was awake throughout the night. In the morning I felt much more physically and mentally energetic than is usual after a night of not enough sleep, and in my mind's ear remembered the high-voltage electric guitar solo from Relativity's Rosc Catha na Mumhan (for those who haven't heard it, "feral militant processional" is an understatement). I reapplied St. Albert's on the same points before leaving for work. At the office I put the prayer card on my over-desk bulletin board, pulled up the data I had thought of in the night, and plunged back into the project. A colleague that afternoon remarked on the radical change in my attitude from fear to enthusiasm. By about 6:30 pm we had a slide deck we believed in for our presentation. When we met with clients Friday morning (one colleague on site and the other writer and myself teleconferencing) they asked insightful questions (rather than deflating ones) and not only said "yes, please start next week!" to our proposed project but also asked us to take on two larger projects in 2014. Thank you, Holy Wisdom. Thank you, Beth.

This came as a frimp with a recent purchase. Initial: Blackberries on the VINE. The astringency of the foliage is very green and the berries are dark with a tannic undertone. Blooms into a strong dark lush fruit scent. The green notes evaporate early. 4 hours later: Sweet slightly powdery honey, reminds me of the aroma of honey-flavored tea bags; the fruit has gone. My skin evaporates most oils within a couple of hours; but this one has impressive wear length. Traces are detectable at hour 8. De-lish! This is going into rotation for daily wear alternating with Alice’s Evidence and The Red Queen.

I bought a goblin squirt of this for use in my home writing areas (a medicine show scent for a medical writer's scriptorium seemed too perfect to pass up). It is a bit different than I expected, more sweet and less medicinal, as though the "19th century aftershave" subset of ingredients is stronger than the "patent medicine". I had been hoping for a bit more astringency and pharmaceuticality (is that a word)? Maybe this is concentration-dependent and using less at a time will bring out different notes... Edit: Starting over with just 1-2 spritzes at a time, the top notes remind me of Hawaiian white ginger, then there is something herbal.

This arrived as a frimp with an Etsy purchase of Trading Post atmosphere sprays. After the Lab's description (base and earthy yet golden and glittering) I wondered if it'd be too heavy or trampy on me. I got a delicious surprise. The patchouli and copal make it splendidly incensey at first in and out of the imp (how I had wanted Cleric and Mage to be), then the oakmoss and heliotrope come forth and smooth it into something chypre-ish, slightly on the masculine side of epicene, but still plays well with my female chemistry. I'm a patchouli fan and am enjoying how this is soft around the edges and not brashly 1968 (I like 1968-style single-note patch too, but I love how it plays with other incenses as a grounding note).

Tried this yesterday (from a 6-discontinued-imp Etsy purchase). First impression: Deeply caramelized--Gjetost or butterscotch and coconut, like licking the bowl after making brown-sugar coconut shortbread dough. As it settled on my skin it kept getting deeper and richer and went straight to my oxytocin receptors. There was an odd perfumy or chemical penumbra that may have come from the alcoholic beverage notes. I'm keeping this major aphrodisiac, oh yeah...and wearing it myself, though we'll see what my man's chemistry does to it. _______ Edited to add note on third wearing: Don't know whether it's because I applied more generously this time or what...this struck me differently today, sweetish tobacco smoke with wine, with the butterscotchy notes fading towards the background.

I bought 5 mL of this (along with Lawful, Cleric, and Fighter) from ThinkGeek during their RPG oils special. It's growing on me; I wore it yesterday accompanying a multimedia online voyage with my Learned Spouse through the versions of the Child ballad "Lord Randall". Initially: sweet, thick, somewhat murky multi-incenses. I had hoped for the sharp/ethereal notes of actual burning frankincense but it's the sweeter smokier midrange. Mage's incense seems quite different either from Cleric's or from a liturgical incense aroma. As it incubates on my wrist the sweetness disperses a bit and it's a spicy, smoky incense. Eventually, maybe an hour or 2 in, a pungent note comes out that reminds me of the sharp sulfurous vapors after a fireworks display or sparklers have burnt out. After several wearings I eventually placed this as galangal. It's the most original and interesting bit in this blend and also an effect I would not have predicted from how galangal smells and tastes in culinary use. Finally the drydown becomes spicy, resiny, almost powdery, and very reminiscent of that darkened circle on the ceramic incense burner after the cone has burned out. This residuum was very tenacious, detectable ca. 9 hours after application. It's my second favorite aspect of Mage after the feral galangal. I want to experiment with layering to add a higher register and counterbalance the early sweetness (eg, Lawful) or to resemble burning incense more (eg, Smokestack to add a background of combustion products?)

This bottle arrived tonight from Etsy (amazingly fast delivery from West to East Coast, jai!) This is my first impression from trying a small dab on wrists: Immediate high register of caraway (almost eucalyptic edge) segueing into rock- and plaster-dust notes, the pleasanter end of the smell of a construction site. As the sharper and more volatile caraway/mineral scents fade a bit, passing through the aroma of a wet slate mountain path, a strong warm note somewhere between cumin and mellow masculine pheromones comes forth, its richness tempered by a lingering clay/rock-dust descant. At this point I thought "I really like this, but it smells a bit too dirty (organically and minerally) to wear to work." I continued thinking that as the cumin/perspiration gave way to something spicy, but still tawny, something I almost recognized. Several minutes later, it dawned on me: That final note is sandalwood! Reminiscent of the slightly funky hippie sandalwood single-note oil I wore as a student, moreso than the ethereal notes of therapy-grade sandalwood oil. It gradually got less tawny and more spicy. The whole process took maybe half an hour: my skin has always done more rapid differential evaporation than average. It may be that a larger starting dab and/or longer time will bring out different parts of the spectrum; still I'd guess that that sandalwoodish note is the core drydown. If a longer test falsifies this hypothesis I'll post again. I'll ask my Gallant Husband to try this too--I bet it syncs beautifully with actual masculine pheromones. Edit: On my Gallant Husband this was splendiferous. It started the same way with sharp almost jarring caraway, then settled into warm red earth-tones of the sandalwood/pheromones/cumin, which melded, sweetened up and had throw like a catapult, scenting the whole room...definitely made for his chemistry.