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Showing results for tags 'Yule 2018'.
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Black Phoenix’s 2018 blob of Christmas Pudding is loosely based on a medieval recipe, and is crafted, as tradition dictates, from thirteen ingredients (representing Christ and his apostles, natch). Thick with treacle, smoky with suet (suet accord, sillies – there’s no mutton fat in this perfume!), and sweet with stirred custard. Oh damn, did I not review this one? According to my notes this one was a cake-pudding (definitely get that custard thing going on!), with molasses (fine, it's treacle) and spice. It was what I would consider a Christmas Pudding/Cake smell. Good throw and wear length.
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Practical Occultism consists, first, of a perfect mastery of the individual’s own spirit. No advance whatever can be made in acquiring power over other spirits, such as controlling the lower or supplicating the higher, until the spirit within has acquired such perfect mastery of itself, that it can never be moved to anger or emotion—realizes no pleasure, cares for no pain; experiences no mortification at insult, loss, or disappointment—in a word, subdues every emotion that stirs common men’s minds. To arrive at this state, severe and painful as well as long continued discipline is necessary. Having acquired this perfect equilibrium, the next step is power. The individual must be able to wake when he pleases and sleep when he pleases; go in spirit during bodily sleep where he will, and visit—as well as remember when awake—distant scenes. He must be enabled by practice, to telegraph, mentally, with his fellow associates, and present himself, spiritually, in their midst. He must, by practice, acquire psychological control over the minds of any persons—not his associates—beneath his own calibre of mind. He must be able to still a crying infant, subdue fierce animals or angry men, and by will, transfer his thought without speech or outward sign to any person of a mental calibre below himself; he must be enabled to summon to his presence elementary spirits, and if he desires to do so (knowing the penalties attached), to make them serve him in the special departments of Nature to which they belong. He must, by virtue of complete subjugation of his earthly nature, be able to invoke Planetary and even Solar Spirits, and commune with them to a certain degree. To attain these degrees of power the processes are so difficult that a thorough practical occultist can scarcely become one and yet continue his relations with his fellow-men. He must continue, from the first to the last degree, a long series of exercises, each one of which must be perfected before another is undertaken. A practical occultist may be of either sex, but must observe as the first law inviolable chastity—and that with a view of conserving all the virile powers of the organism. No aged person, especially one who has not lived the life of strict chastity, can acquire the full sum of the powers above named. It is better to commence practice in early youth, for after the meridian of life, when the processes of waste prevail over repair, few of the powers above described can be attained; the full sum never. Strict abstinence from animal food and all stimulants is necessary. Frequent ablutions and long periods of silent contemplation are essential. Codes of exercises for the attainment of these powers can be prescribed, but few, if any, of the self-indulgent livers of modern times can perform their routine. The arts necessary for study to the practical occultist are, in addition to those prescribed in speculative occultism, a knowledge of the qualities of drugs, vapors, minerals, electricity, perfumes, fumigations, and all kinds of anæsthetics. And now, having given in brief as much as is consistent with my position—as the former associate of a secret society—I have simply to add, that, whilst there are, as in Masonry, certain preliminary degrees to pass through, there are numerous others to which a thoroughly well organized and faithful association might advance. In each degree there are some valuable elements of practical occultism demanded, whilst the teachings conveyed are essential preliminaries. In a word, speculative occultism must precede practical occultism; the former is love and wisdom, the latter, simply power. A Victorian occultist’s incense, invoking the Four Archangels: precious wildcrafted Indian frankincense with myrrh, cassia, sandarac, palmarosa, white sage, red sandalwood, elemi, and drops of star anise bound with grains of kyphi. In the bottle: kyphi! A fruity, wine-y kyphi scent with lots of cassia and a bit of anise. On skin: glorious spicy kyphi. This smells less like Cairo’s lemongrassy-rosy take on kyphi, not as wine-y or ashen as Philosopher in Meditation, it’s more like the kyphi note from the Oak and Kyphi atmosphere spray, or the Chthonic Kyphi incense from TAL. It’s spicy, resinous and complex. Cinnamon/cassia is the most obvious note, but it’s also full of myrrh, frankincense, red wine and honeyed raisins, there’s also a hint of fuzzy sage to it as well. The anise isn’t there any more. I absolutely love the resinous spicy scent this has. It reminds me a bit of Haloa but without the foody notes. It also reminds me of Egg Moon’s cinnamon frankincense. After a while: it doesn’t change too much but I think the honey and wine aspects of the kyphi become more obvious. The resins deepen further, the cassia becomes warmer. The myrrh is wonderful in here, it reminds me of the myrrh in Priala, especially with the cinnamon, but not as smoky. Something about it reminds me of a couple of last year’s phoenix scents. Verdict: probably the best kyphi scent by BPAL so far. If you are a kyphi lover, you must get this. It’s brimming with spice and resin and honeyed wine, all in balance. Yule is a perfect time for this scent to be on sale, there’s something almost festive to it because of the combination of red wine and cinnamon, frankincense and myrrh, at times it reminds me of mulled wine in a church during a Christmas service, but it’s got that undertone of mystery and darkness hinting at more ancient, occult origins for this particular incense blend. The great thing is that it’s cinnamony but doesn’t burn my skin. I’m glad I took a chance on this as it’s perfect, I think it will age amazingly. Is it a keeper? for sure. Maybe a backup? If you like this, try: Egg Moon, Pliny’s Phoenix, Tacitus’s Phoenix, Priala the Human Phoenix, Oak Leaves and Kyphi atmosphere spray, Saturnian Phoenix, Philosopher in Meditation, Haloa, Cairo, Saint Foutin de Varailles, Valentine of Rome
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Hanerot halalu anachnu madlikin Al hanissim ve'al haniflaot Al hatshu-ot ve'al hamilchamot She-asita la'avoteynu Bayamim hahem, bazman hazeh Al yedey kohanecha hakdoshim. Vechol shmonat yemey Chanukah Hanerot halalu kodesh hem, Ve-ein lanu reshut lehishtamesh bahem Ela lirotam bilvad Kedai lehodot leshimcha Al nissecha veal nifleotecha ve-al yeshuotecha. We light these lights For the miracles and the wonders, For the redemption and the battles That you made for our forefathers In those days at this season, Through your holy priests. During all eight days of Chanukah These lights are sacred And we are not permitted to make Ordinary use of them, But only to look at them; In order to express thanks And praise to your great Name For your miracles, your wonders And your salvations. Olive oil, beeswax, and smoke. First review? Really?? Ack, the pressure! Primarily this smells like beeswax, honey, and the smoke of blown-out candles, with a little sweet orange. I'm not getting much olive oil at all. There's something almost creamy in this (to my nose, cream always smells like coconut, which is a little disconcerting), but it's not really foody. Between the beeswax and that phantom citrus note, this reminds me a lot of a smokier and less resinous No. 93 Engine. I like it and will keep the partial, but since Engine is GC, I won't need a bottle of this. Verdict: Get this if you want to smell like freshly blown-out candles. ETA: After several hours (and does this ever last! I'm still smelling it 8 hours later!) this becomes a lot more creamy/beeswaxy and less smoky. It's really quite cozy and nice. This would be a good one to try if you wanted to like Ichabod Crane, but he was just too weird. Or if you did like Ichabod.
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The Brutal Ones: dark chocolate, black pepper, and green cardamom. I purchased a bottle of this on the whim that I had all three ingredients in my pantry and loved the smell of them together, haha! I tried it on both myself and my partner. Bottle: Pepper, cardamon, hint of dark chocolate Wet: Very black pepper and cardamom, but not really any dark chocolate that I can tell. I think this would make a good gender neutral scent. Dry: The spices are no longer over-powering and it mellows out quite nicely. It also smells sweet, but I don't really get any chocolate on me. Overall: Really quite like it once the spices mellow, but it's very strong initially. It seems to have a short life on me even after slathering it on, but spices tend to do this to me. A nice spice scent. Update: I tried it again just after posting this and lo and behold I got chocolate! It must have been the splash I put on initially because it's quite balanced and lovely now. On my partner: He got dark chocolate and cardamom, less pepper. It dries down to a nutty, almond dark chocolate and fades into a lightly sweet, very faintly cardamom scent. He also really likes it!
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Lick It is back, as minty and sweet as ever, and now you can lick it for a good cause: proceeds from every sale of Lick It With Consent will be donated to RAINN. Candy cane! This candy cane to me smells shiny and lacquered, unlike the Candy Canes HG, which reminds me of those tasty little soft peppermint candies. Lick It is a sweet vanilla peppermint delight.
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And yet, not /too/ sweet! Really enjoying this one! Will be wearing it to my Christmas eve festivities. The mint is subdued like it is in cabbage white hg. It's more apparent when first sprayed, then becomes a pillow soft mint in the background of an almost Angel food cake vibe from the powdered sugar and vanilla cream. When first sprayed the cinnamon is more apparent from the snickerdoodle but quickly recedes to simply become a barely there tie in component. Will definitely be getting some wear time over here!
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Labdanum and birch tar with leather, orris root, copal, and bergamot. Coca cola resins (hi labdanum), birch, leather and a whiff of bergamot. This one is a resinous-birch/leather blend. Medium throw and wear length. Perfect for those Yule lads.
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On my arrival (June 5) all appeared fair enough. I found the mediums established on the second floor of a small house in Ninth Street near Arch. There were but two rooms on the floor, a front parlor and a bedroom; the lower floor under both rooms being occupied as a shop for the sale of musical instruments. In a back corner of the parlor was a walnut cabinet, seven feet wide and eight feet high, with a door that opened into the parlor, and two apertures, five and six feet high respectively, both curtained with black cloth. We had lamp-light, shaded but sufficient to enable us to recognize faces and to see everything that passed in the room. After we had examined the cabinet, the medium entered it, closing the door. Soon at one of the apertures appeared a fair, thoughtful young face, a girl of eighteen apparently, by whom I was cordially welcomed in a low, pleasant voice. She returned and spoke to us several times. At the close of the sitting she twice appeared, robed in white, just within the cabinet door; not coming out, however, into the room: the first time (so I was told) that she had ever shown herself in full form. It was evidently a living, moving, thinking being. Yet I suspended judgment. One of the mediums was out of our sight. Then there was a door locked, padlocked, and otherwise effectually secured, it seemed, but yet a door from the cabinet into the bedroom adjoining. The possibility of a confederate suggested itself. Forty memorable sittings followed. Gradually test conditions were perfected, and every imaginable ground for suspecting deception was removed; and then, instead of failure, all the phenomena came out in greater perfection than before. I select the more remarkable; to copy my notes in full would involve tedious repetition. June 7. Katie allowed Dr. Child to feel her pulse; its beats were distinct, about seventy-two a minute. A lady offered her a gold ring, and asked me to put it on her finger. I did so. The hand, beautifully formed, was like that of a mortal woman, nearly of the same temperature as my own, and slightly moist. At the close of the sitting she advanced into the room, dropped a finger on my head, and touched several other persons. June 9. I gave her a long chain, composed of Violets hair, a present to myself more than forty-five years ago: hoping, as I told Katie, thereby to attract Violet herself in accordance with her promise. I observed that Katie wore the gold ring. But when, at the close of the sitting, examined with a light every nook and corner in the cabinet, neither ring nor chain was to be found. June 10. Katie called me up to the aperture, handed me back the hair chain, and said: Violet wishes you to keep this, in memory of her, until you are called to meet her in her spirit-home. Touching Visitants From a Higher Life, Robert Dale Owen In memory of her: green cognac, rose water, and Italian bergamot. In the bottle, its a beautiful, sweet green scent. The first few hours, it is a well-balanced blend of the bergamot and the cognac, with just the faintest bit of rose to keep it from being foody or boozy. It has a slightly sparkling feel to it, and it is really wonderful... I feel like is almost more like something you could get at a store, except that it isnt artificial-smelling or overpowering. I cant think of how to describe it exactly? Its just gentle and sweet but still unique. As time passed, the rose came out more... and the balance shifted to be more rose-bergamot with the cognac sweetness but no distinct cognac-ness. At the end it was just rose, which turned a little powdery. Overall I really like this one a lot and really recommend it. Its also the type of scent that I think would make a nice gift because I feel like a lot of people would enjoy it.
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Sharp, deep green, and resinous. Deep fir, smoky vetiver, and musky. The smokiness disappears after a bit, and you're left with a musky fir. Sort of mancave manly?
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A delightful, invigorating winter breeze. This really does smell breezy! I was expecting a eucalyptus blast, but the eucalyptus note here is pretty gentle, lending a chill to the balsam fir instead of clearing my sinuses. It’s cheerful and refreshing! It’s mostly fir with a touch of frosty eucalyptus.
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No additional description provided.] It's Christmas Day at the North Pole. All of the deliveries are done. Santa, Mrs. Claus, and the elves are chilling with some gingerbread, and Santa is filling his pipe with the good tobacco, the kind that he always saves for this day. I'm a big fan of ginger and gingerbread, whether it's for consuming or smelling. The smell of tobacco has always been pleasant to me. This combination was irresistible. Out of the handful of BPALs I've tried with a tobacco note, this is most similar to Autumn Moon of the Mirror Stand. At every stage, gingerbread is in the background, adding a bit of spice to the tobacco. Gingerbread Tobacco is warm and inviting. I could see myself wearing it anytime I want to feel like wearing an olfactory Snuggie.
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[No additional description provided.] Snow White and Blood Kiss had a baby and this is what it smells like. Snow White snow, cherries, and throaty vanilla musk. Good throw and wear length. UGH this is so good.
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[No additional description provided.] I get a fair bit of smokiness from the vetiver, whiffs of black currant and spices. Exactly as advertised. Good throw and wear length.
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In dramatic contrast to the soft innocence of Snow White and the dew-kissed freshness of her sister, Rose Red, this is a blood red, voluptuous rose, velvet-petaled, at the height of bloom. Haughty and imperious, vain, yet incomparably lovely to the eye, but thick with thorns of jealousy, pride and hatred. This is the Peacock Queen we all know and love, in hair gloss form! It’s a dark, lush, and velvety red rose. Simple, classy, and elegant. I was in need of a rose-y gloss, and this fits the bill perfectly.
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The smoke from compounded frankincense, myrrh, pine resin, juniper berry, bayberry, and cinnamon swirling around a pile of sweet black figs. This one is interesting! It smells like the most Christmas-like of incenses indeed! I get the pine resin and bayberry, and I think the black fig is fooling my brain into smelling holly berry, if that’s even a real thing. It’s lightly smoky, and very festive, but not basic.
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As red as blood, as sweet as death, and as green as rebirth. The red currant starts out pretty strong. We're talking about 80% red currant, and 20% juniper berry. When it dries in the hair, it's more of a 50/50 split for me. This is like red currants that were hanging out in the woods with some pine trees. There's almost some kind of lemon scent present as well... or perhaps that's just my nose being crazy. It smells more festive than I thought! I also like it much more than I originally anticipated as well; I love red currant, but I wasn't sure about the juniper berry. Lovely!
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This time, with sprinkles! SUGAR!!! This is wonderful, sweet, pure sugar! I get no caramel, no burnt notes, no smoke, nada! Just the simplest, most delicious sugar blast ever. Like sticking your face in a sugar bowl full of white granulated sugar. It’s awesome. To me, this would go with just about any perfume in my collection because it’s simple, yet amazing. I adore it. Will definitely need at least one backup, maybe twenty. ❤️
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Shaggy fur, snow-flecked and rose-touched. The snow in here definitely smells minty. Like a snow-covered rose, with just a hint of mint. The shaggy fur isn't really coming through, but there is a slight warmth to the blend when it dries it my hair. Lasts for a few hours before fading away.
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[No additional description provided.] Champaca, gingerbread and a whiff of cacao. This one is a champaca blend with a touch of gingerbread. If you love champaca, give this a whirl. Good throw and wear length.
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YULE The Holly King and Oak King each hold sway for half of the year, and engage in an epic, eternal battle at Litha and Yule. In truth, they are each a half of the whole -- known by many names: Pashupati, Caerwiden, Herne, Pan, Puck, Cernunnos, the Green Man, the Horned God -- and as the Holly and Oak Kings represent the light and dark halves of the year, thus do they also represent the light and dark halves of the deity, and thereby, of ourselves. During the darkness of the year, though it seems cold, barren, and bleak, the earth holds the warmth of life deep within itself, and in the depth of its shadows is the eternal promise of renewal and rebirth. It is Yule, and the Holly King has slain the Oak: blood red holly berry, mistletoe, wild thyme, verbena, cinquefoil, hemp, winter rose, evergreen, frankincense, juniper, and myrrh. In the bottle: sweet pine resin. Like when you go out into the woods and pick a bit of newgrowth of spruce off the tree and press it between your fingers? Your fingers get all sticky and for hours after you can smell that evergreen scent? Like that. On: Brighter and brighter, the scent grows. I don't know how to describe it. It's just *brighter* and more intense, and transforming from a simple evergreen resin to something else but I can't somehow say what. It's so... GREEN. Not the green of the swamp, or green grass, or green tea... It's the heart of the yule log. Sticky. Living. Green even in the darkest part of the year, on the longest night, that strong heart of living energy reaching upwards through the cold to dance in starlight. "EVER GREEN", Yule says, and I respond, "YES" because there is no other answer to that. Spot on. Yule, the ancient pagan holiday, in a bottle. Wow. I am blown away by the craftmanship of this scent. I'll be using it in the oil burner this Yule and I hope it comes back every year to keep me and mine company through the dark of the year. N.
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[No additional description provided.] I am going to apologize in advance for this review, because I don't think it will be that helpful re: the snow note. In the bottle and on my skin, Frostbitten Cheshire Cat is strong on the Cheshire Cat component. So much so, that while I can tell it is indeed Cheshire Cat plus something, it is hard for me to identify what that something is, because the Cheshire Cat has decided to curl up on top of it! This is a grapefruit PARTY on my skin, so if you are a grapefruit lover, and you like Cheshire Cat, you should check this one out. It takes about an hour and a half for it to calm down, and when it does, I still get a lot of Cheshire Cat, but the Frostbitten component is becoming more noticeable. I am still having trouble pinpointing what it is underneath all of this Cheshire Cat, so I will just give a list of things that it is not: it is not the sweet snow note from Snow White; it is not the slushy snow note of Skadi; it is not the intensely minty snow note; it's not the sweet, powdery, pine-y snow of NYC Snowball Fight; it's not the powdery, wintergreen or spearmint-y snow of Winter-Time, and it definitely does NOT have the same snowy component as Frostbitten Zombi, so trying one Frostbitten this year won't really give you an idea of the rest. If anything, it might be a white musk snow, or maybe that's just Cheshire Cat's dark musk mingling with whatever comprises the snow note. If I sniff really close, I get a bit of coolness from the frostbitten note, but it's light, and I never had a cooling sensation on my skin with this like I did with Frostbitten Zombi. I was hoping for Cheshire Cat plus Snow White's snow note. That is not what I ended up getting, but I am still happy that I grabbed a bottle, because Cheshire Cat is one of my favorite GCs, and I love grapefruit.
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Sautéed with brown sugar and lemon juice. So... I am a sucker for apple scents, so I had to get this one! Sniffing in the bottle, I get the bourbon and, luckily, the apples. Scents with whiskey, rum, bourbon, etc etc can either be good or way too much, so far, sniffing, this is right in the middle. In my hair, (applied to dry hair) it stays the same... it mellows a bit, which is good. I get the sweet apples and the bourbon is there, but not too much. Not detecting brown sugar or lemon, but that could be part of the sweet apple scent I get. This seems to have a medium throw and it is very lovely!! It is a very nice balance between sweet of the apples and the sharpness of the bourbon!
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[No additional description provided.] I was really excited for this, as I just loved last Yule's Frostbitten Snake Oil. However, this one was a surprise. I get a faint whiff of Zombi's soil note, but normally wouldn't identify the root as Zombi. Instead this comes off as a beautiful winter forest scent of gentle snow and pine trees and clear air. Imagine walking through a snowy forest on a calm afternoon and you've got this. Throw is average. On the whole, this isn't what I expected but I absolutely love it.
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For the sake of continuity the subsequent history of the Fox sisters will now be given after the events at Hydesville. It is a remarkable, and to Spiritualists a painful, story, but it bears its own lesson and should be faithfully recorded. When men have an honest and whole-hearted aspiration for truth there is no development which can ever leave them abashed or find no place in their scheme. For some years the two younger sisters, Kate and Margaret, gave séances at New York and other places, successfully meeting every test which was applied to them. Horace Greeley, afterwards a candidate for the United States presidency, was, as already shown, deeply interested in them and convinced of their entire honesty. He is said to have furnished the funds by which the younger girl completed her very imperfect education. During these years of public mediumship, when the girls were all the rage among those who had no conception of the religious significance of this new revelation, and who concerned themselves with it purely in the hope of worldly advantage, the sisters exposed themselves to the enervating influences of promiscuous séances in a way which no earnest Spiritualist could justify. The dangers of such practices were not then so clearly realized as now, nor had it occurred to people that it is unlikely that high spirits would descend to earth in order to advise as to the state of railway stocks or the issue of love affairs. The ignorance was universal, and there was no wise mentor at the elbow of these poor pioneers to point the higher and the safer path. Worst of all, their jaded energies were renewed by the offer of wine at a time when one at least of them was hardly more than a child. It is said that there was some family predisposition towards alcoholism, but even without such a taint their whole procedure and mode of life were rash to the last degree. Against their moral character there has never been a breath of suspicion, but they had taken a road which leads to degeneration of mind and character, though it was many years before the more serious effects were manifest. Some idea of the pressure upon the Fox girls at this time may be gathered from Mrs. Hardinge Britten's* description from her own observation. She talks of “pausing on the first floor to hear poor patient Kate Fox, in the midst of a captious, grumbling crowd of investigators, repeating hour after hour the letters of the alphabet, while the no less poor, patient spirits rapped out names, ages and dates to suit all comers.” Can one wonder that the girls, with vitality sapped, the beautiful, watchful influence of the mother removed, and harassed by enemies, succumbed to a gradually increasing temptation in the direction of stimulants? —Arthur Conan Doyle Deception and despair: rose geranium and tea roses with mahogany wood, bourbon vanilla, and apple peel. I can definitely smell the apple peel, but it's not that meekly-fruity apple note that I disliked in many BPALs - this is red, blood-red, juicy-blood-red apple that's almost aggressive in its boldness. Man, finally an apple scent I like! It settles back after a while, letting the geranium and mahogany have a chance, and what a perfect combination of notes this is! I smell almost no rose and vanilla is hiding back there somewhere, apparent but subtle. The main notes remain red apple, mahogany and geranium, and it's a brilliant blend. Polished, red and mouth-wateringly juicy. Very glad I got a bottle!
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[No additional description provided.] In the bottle: Smells like exactly what it says on the tin, Jack with a snow note. Hooray! On my skin (wet and dry): Hmm...where did Jack go? It's all snow snow and more snow. Not a hint of Jack to be found. It reminds me of Snow White, almost exactly, but it fades much more quickly. Two or three hours later and I can no longer smell much, even with my nose to my wrist. Overall, not a bad purchase since I love Snow White but not what I had been expecting. I've taken to layering it with Jack to try to capture more of what I was going for.
