Magus

[angelicruin]

An ancient blend, swollen with arcane power: galangal, high john essence, frankincense, cedar, and sandalwood.

Pretty much just cedar on my skin.

[Dharklady]

In Bottle: It reminds me of incense, powdery, sharp with just a hint of wood.

Wet: Smells like incense.

Dry: Still powdery incense.

Notes: I’m noticing a theme here…

 

[CitizenBree]

Got frimped this as it wouldn't normally appeal to me.

 

Upon reading the notes, I would expect something pretty strong smelling, maybe because frankincense and sandalwood always overpower me. But this isn't the case here.

 

It's pretty light and that lightness actually makes me feel like it's a feminine scent. It's very fresh, almost like a clean linen scent that's been hung dry. I think that's so weird considering the notes, but that's what I get. It's more like a fresh clothing scent than something to wear as a perfume.

[KakashiMorph]

Magus sounded like a nice woodsy scent, so I thought I should give it a try.

Opening the bottle: Cedar and forest. Nice!

On my skin: The first few minutes I can strongly smell the cedar, and a smell blend that reminds me of a friendly forest. I love this stage.

Cooldown: Unfortunately, after about 15 minutes or so the cedar dies down and the francincense becomes the dominant note, with the forest smell accompanying it in the background. It is a sweet, mellow, soft smell. The entire smell tones down significantly. Eventually, the forest melts away leaving me with francincense.

Not bad, but I would have preferred the cedar stage to have lasted a bit longer as I liked it more than the mellow cooldown.

Edited July 7, 2010 by Kashi

[mari4212]

In the imp, it smells somewhat sweet, and almost cool.

 

On wet: Mild citrus over light wood. It's interesting smelling, without being either an instant win or instant fail.

 

Drydown: The citrus is becoming less prominent, and something is lightly sweetening the woods. This turns into a very lightweight, almost dry woods smell, with just enough sweetness to keep it nice on me.

 

I'm not sure if I'll be keeping this one, because I'm not sure it fills any needed holes in my perfume sets, but it is lovely.

[Bamels]

Frimp.

 

I couldn't pick out any notes when sniffing the imp, just a slightly soft, fruity, perfumey smell. When on, from wet to drydown it didn't change very much. It's very soft and nondescript really. I'm not fussed at all. Looking at the notes I can now pick out the cedar when sniffing, but this isn't a scent that I'm bothered about.

[blu°]

Another old favourite of mine. Magus is one of those incense blends that I love so much. It's perfectly gender-neutral and great for job interviews or other formal occasions. It's also great for everyday wear, underneath a soft worn-out sweater maybe. I like how the frankincense is set off by the woods and herbs. It's a bit airier/lighter than Cathedral, although otherwise similar to that one. It also has a tad of a green tinge to it.

 

Honestly, the first thing Magus reminds me of is a carpenter's workshop. It's sooo woody. The cedar, which I love, is very strong. I think I must love galangal, too. I'm not 100% certain what it would smell like on its own, but it seems to add that magical touch to incense blends.

[Altaira]

Nice. Cedar is top note on me, with a sweetness I can't quite identify in the background

[Vega]

Magus is dry woods fleshed out by deep, dark incense and touched with the other herbal notes; a full-bodied scent that radiates a powerful presence. It's pleasant, but a bit too woody and masculine as a result.

[Monday]

Yay! This blend smells almost exactly like the proto of Thousand Pillar atmo spray. It's got tons of throw, I'm testing more blends on one arm and this cut through all of them.

On me it's mostly sandalwood and cedar but greener somehow. On drydown theres something almost like cinnamon coming through.

I need to retest this by itself but for now it's a real winner.

[Ella LaRose]

cedar and smoke, not sure where the smoke is coming from. smells like the title, but not me.

[Helas]

This one was on my wishlist, because it shares a name with my favourite Chrono Trigger character. I was delighted to see it included in my order as a gift imp!

 

In the vial and during the wet stage, the sandalwood is dominant and I have trouble distinguishing anything else. On the drydown, however, the galangal - an odd, bittersweet, almost fruity note, somewhere between pineapple and ginger to my nose - rise and beats the sandalwood into submission. The cedar and frankincense are definitely present but in the background, giving the blend a dry smoky quality. Magus reminds me a lot of Tzadikim Nistarim, but that blend was too sweet and oily to my nose; Magus is drier and has just the right amount of woods to offset the sweetness of the galangal.

 

This blend does have something magical to my nose, but lacks the vaguely medieval and European connotations of wizardry. I can't see Merlin or Gandalf in here. Instead, I think of the witch of Endor, who summoned the ghost of Samuel in the Bible; ancient Mesopotamian temples half-buried by the desert sand; fertility rites practiced in the name of Baal. This is a dry, sunburnt, prehistoric magic.

 

Rich and evocative. Four out of five stars.

[Urpflanze]

Magic shop ritual incense (I'm assuming thats the high john essence). Not sultry and sensual incenses, not austere churchy incenses but strange, almost indifferent magickal incenses. My skin eats this up pretty fast. Little wear length, little throw. If you've been looking for that magic store smell, give this a whirl.

[calivianya]

Magus is a solid dry resin blend on my skin. The dryness is very pronounced, likely due to the sandalwood. It is reminiscent of An Altar to Cold, Rigid, Dreadful Death on my skin, though I like Altar better. It is nice, but I am not blown away.

[impolight]

:::MAGUS:::

 

At this year’s Bat’s Day Black Market, some kind-hearted Labbie tossed a ticklish handful of Frimps into the bag along with the order. Magus winked up at his new admirer from the fragrant deeps and insinuated that a long and meaningful relationship lay ahead. Upon the return home there was researching to be done. Scansion ground to an abrupt halt at mention of the High John Essence because it wasn’t something overtly familiar. Freshly illuminated from the divulgences proffered by folklore and Hoodoo sources, intrigue waxes afresh…

From the Imp: Whoah. Wholly unprepared for that. On one hand, sure Magus is swollen with power… However on the other, this is something that teases from the periphery of a (much abused) memory from somewhere around elementary school; this is magically spicy chicle mingling with 5th grade Bridgette’s wearing one of her mom’s expensive skin creams to school and resting her bare forearm against yours in the darkened school auditorium while they showed “The Dark Crystal”… We were not allowed to play outside in so much rain, you see… There are other mischievous childhood hints here too; uncooked and multi-hued macaroni noodles, arts n’ crafts paste, sweet breakfast cereals, Tootsie rolls??? Ok, this reached the bonafide, creeped-the-eff-out phase.

A note most ready for cognition seems to be the Cedar, but this is a nice, glass-eyed, plushy Cedar. There is also a gentle spiciness that could be either the Frankincense or the Galangal. Who bloody knows, this could be the High John Essence readying me for the nut-house for daring ignorance. The good thing about sitting alone in a room to write these is that there’s nobody around to look at you uneasily when you cackle.

Illinition: This one has zero morph on the skin. Mere amplification of all notes in this blend. Again with the crazy. There is a strong urge to go a-leaping into the shower and scrub this one off. Not at all because it is in any way unpleasant, on the contrary this is very nostalgic. In this case it is simply too much like being trapped in a bad dream in a haunted house as a 5th grader.

Magus has new found respect from this reviewer. Lots of big, bad juju in this one. Not for me, but a 4 out of 5 would be modest. Thank you, BPAL.

[Scorianelle]

Well I wasn't really sure what to expect from this so I can't say I was disappointed. In the imp Magus was like a sweet mild ginger (that would be the galangal). I'm not really a ginger fan but most scents morph on me and this was no exception. It morphed into... crayons? It has that waxy kind of smell of crayons, specifically a blue one, and I have no idea what is causing it. I know some people find that cedar smells like pencil shaving on them so it could be that but this is still a bit different...

 

I don't know. Either way it's going to the swap pile.

 

Colour association: Blue Crayon.

Edited August 25, 2012 by Scorianelle

[brilliantcat]

Imp: Woodsy herbal.

 

Wet: Much more herbal-smelling than woodsy now, though I can make out the cedar. Something is giving it a hint of sweetness too.

 

Dry: Herbal incensey woods. It's really quite lovely. I think I'll try it out on the husbeast too, I think it'd smell awesome on him. Bottle for us to share?

[fufu_berry]

I'm wondering if my imp of this is mis-labeled, because this is 100% peppermint on me. It smells just like the peppermint essential oil I have. o.O

[tdgnika]

In the imp - smells like incense with a bit of sweetness.

 

Wet on the skin - it smells like...I can't identify it. The scent is very familiar, and I'm guessing it's the galangal, based on other descriptions. Some smell from childhood that I can't identify.

 

Fades to gone within an hour, sadly.

[Coldfire]

Imp: herby. Can smell the galangal and high john

Wet On Me: more herby and slight wisps of wood notes

Drying Down: more herbal-y and woody goodness

Dry: faded to ghost faint traces of wood.

[SophieCedar]

Wonderfully contemplative, ethereal sweet frankincense blend. I would actually compare it to Hope & Fear Set Free to a certain level. H&F is sweeter, of course, but this is just as calming and well-rounded.

 

This goes in my incense category, not the green category.

[mermaidsdream]

In the imp: Soft, woodsy.

 

Applied: creamy, soft and still woodsy.

 

Drydown: woodsy, with a hint of rose (which is no where in this scent, apparently). Slightly soapy. It's okay, but not one that demands I keep it.

[applecider10]

PURE cedar. I actually really love the smell of cedar, but I'm a little surprised that that's all that's happening, perfume-wise. Delicious, but super simple. Cedar, cedar, cedar.

[Magycmyste]

In the imp: Sweet and dusty?

 

Wet on skin: Paper and dust. Reminds me of being in the library.

 

Dried down: The frankincense is coming out stronger now, turning this into a magic library. I'm really liking this now.

 

Throw: Not much.

 

Verdict: **** Ok, I could get a bottle of this at some point. I like the paper, but it's the frankincense that does it for me here.

[quickdrawkiddo]

Very light frankincense... and not much else. My skin kind of eats this one, to be honest. I'm tempted to slather it on the next time I wear it (though I wasn't particularly sparing this time) to see if the woodsy notes come out more. I adore cedar and sandalwood but I'm not really getting them from this. It's very pleasant but rather faint, and I wish I could distinguish it better from the other incense blends I've tried.