Quicksilver Phoenix

[greenranger]

QUICKSILVER PHOENIX
Mercury exists in three states of matter, just as Hermes, its patron, was the one deity that could move freely through the three classical worlds. In one of the alchemical processes, nitric acid, also called aqua fortis, is combined with Mercury, which then separates into a bed of red crystals and a cloud of red vapor. This experiment symbolizes the soul's transcendence over the polarities of mercy and severity, heaven and earth, light and darkness, life and death. Mercury is capable of forming complex compounds and amalgamating with elements that normally will not bind with others. Combined with phosphor and charged with electricity, it produces light.

Cinnabar and silvery liquid droplets of mastic, white sandalwood, elemi, and lavender.

In the bottle, I smell Lavender.

On, as my skin warms it it blends into a silvery, almost bubbly(?) scent. It seems high and shiny and bright. Like the other metal phoenixes that I have tried so far, I can no longer pick out individual notes. I can feel and smell this almost bubbling off my skin into an airy light scent.

After it's dry and has had a chance to settle a little, I can smell something a little more grounded on my skin if I get really close.

This is a shiny scent, an airy scent, and the far drydown has just a touch of earthyness...not dirt. I can't do dirt on my skin, but this? This is magical. Shiny silvery magic!

[thekittenkat]

Is this cinnabar the common ore of mercury, is it or dragon's blood resin? Let's find out, shall we?

 

 

In the bottle: Sandalwood and lavender.

 

 

Wet: The dry scent of cinnabar, which is a common ore of mercury, with the sandalwood and lavender now deep in the mix.

 

 

The dry-down: I'm getting little hints of the mastic and elemi. This is a morpher all the way through, but it should be no surprise, since it's suppose to be mercurial. I an glad that there's something like the metallic ore in here, and not dragon's blood. Dragon's blood is fine, but it's not my choice of scent on a regular day. I'm not liking this as much as I had hoped I would. Think this may become a scent locket oil.

[Invidiana]

This is a bit sharp in the beginning, but it dries down into a lovely and relaxing scent. Come to think about it, if you ever look at quicksilver it actually is kind of relaxing to watch it swirl around. The lavender provides a soft base for the slightly spicy cinnabar, and the mastic--that stuff is actually edible by the way, I'm Greek and it's a common thing in Greece to put a spoon with a glob of it in a glass of water and let it half-dissolve and half lick the spoon--provides a smooth sweetness that isn't exactly foody but adds to the comfort factor. This is actually a very good tranquility blend.

[musichappens]

This starts out as a very sharp lavender; however once it completely dries, both the white sandalwood and the cinnabar come out to play. This turns out to be a very soothing and calming scent. That being said I don't think I will be purchasing a full bottle only because I prefer TKO.

[hlinspjalda]

In the bottle: Warm metallic with lavender.

 

Wet: Very offbeat. It's skirting headache territory for me, but hopefully I'll get a grip on it. I get a lot of lavender, the slightly unsettling elemi note, and a strongly perfumy note I can't quite identify yet. Maybe something in the ozone-aquatic range? Yet the whole thing is perversely warm, somehow, even though it's full of white notes.

 

Half an hour: Very unusual, very mysterious. If I sniffed this without reading the label, I'd expect it to be something from the Steamworks line, with its hints of metal, machine oil, and airy herb.

 

One hour: This has become much more resinous over the last half hour. It's even a bit spicy. It still has that Steamworks impression, which is of course entirely fitting to this scent.

 

Two hours: This is just at the far edge of tolerable for me, still a Steamworks lab experiment with just enough resinous warmth to turn it from hypothetical to empirical. It has worked out much better than I feared it would based on the notes, many of which are unfriendly to me.

 

Three hours: More resinous now. It's as if the machinery is well-warmed now; I get a trace of spicy mechanical smoke and more of that unusual motor-oil kind of note. No recognizable notes, though, except it's starting to smell a bit like the Kinnabari prototype.

 

Four and a half hours: Yup, still steampunk/alchemical. There's no way around it: this one smells like a lab. I am captivated!

 

What a perfect, evocative Mercurius scent this is!

 

[benthic]

The story: I made the mistake of asking for Lead Phoenix in a decant circle, not realizing that tobacco is a death note on me, and when I did I asked my decanter to swap me to Quicksilver Phoenix. I am in general not a fan of lavender, but I wasn't sure what else to ask for that was still available, so I figured I'd take a chance on it and see if I could make an exception. After getting the opportunity to test several lavender blends, though, and not liking any of them, I switched again, to Hod--but when my package came, QP was in it anyway along with Hod, presumably as a frimp (or a mistake ).

 

Very surprisingly for a lavender blend, I like it so far, although it's incredibly strong. I dabbed on just a tiny bit on my hand, and I can smell it from two feet away. But it's not offending my nose the way most lavender does (including stuff like TKO). The lavender is dampened by the other notes; I have to confess that I have no idea what cinnabar, mastic, or elemi smell like, but what I'm getting is "something spicy and white and floral that manages to temper the lavender." There's some resin coming out as well, something that manages to ground a mostly bright blend.

 

I like it, which is nothing short of shocking, seeing as I've disliked Paris, TKO, Lilith Victoria, Bat of Longevity, and two or three other lavender blends, and thus I'd entirely given up on lavender as a note. But the lavender here, while noticeable and definitely the star of the show, is effectively balanced by these mysterious other notes, and I end up with a resinous, spicy floral which I don't dislike. I won't be going for a bottle, because I still don't like lavender that much, but I'll hang on to this decant for sure, and when I need some lavender in my life this is where I'll reach.

[kawaiiferreto]

This is definitely not a "me" scent. It's sharp, herbal, sort of floral, sort of clean, and just generally meh on me.

[aedes]

Predominantly lavender at first. After a few minutes, a dusty, dry, papery yet acrid, almost musty smell on me. Unfortunately I think my chemistry's just not right for this one. It ends up smelling like moth balls on me.

[angelicruin]

Wet on my skin, this is mostly lavender. As it begins to dry, the sandalwood note emerges, but this remains most a lavender scent on my skin.

[tartchef]

Ahhhhhhhhhhh. This soothes my soul in the most base, elemental way. In the vial, it's a hair masculine, but that quickly evens out & I am bathed in a glorious haze of stemmy lavender & faintly sweet, white resins. There's a brush of something vaguely lemony, too. This is not a cuddly, cosy scent - it's a curative balm, the sort of scent you'd rub on when feeling stuck & sluggish. It brings to mind fluttering silver wings.

 

Delightful! Just the thing for this Gemini...

 

[ayelienne]

I was really struck by Quicksilver Phoenix, and it was quite unexpected. It made me think of my dad when I was little, circa 1970s. I remember him wearing Canoe for Men, so I went to look up the notes for that.

 

Launched By The Design House Of Dana In 1932, Canoe Is Classified As A Refined, Spicy, Lavender, Amber Fragrance.

 

Now, I really can't say with any authority that I've made the proper connection, as I know he wore other colognes, but there are definite similarities in the descriptions.

 

I guess my review is that it's striking me as one of the more masculine lavender blends. I don't know how often I'll wear it, but it's such a vivid scent memory for me that I want to keep it around.

[Gwydion]

In bottle: Lavender dominant, sharp and rather medicinal. Wet: Smells rather like solvents. The lavender and medicinal undertone are softer, yet present. The sandalwood is gentle, but more assertive than in the bottle. Dry: Sandalwood with something rank under it. Gah! The more I sniff, the more putrid it seems.

[astarinel]

Another one that struck me as a bit more masculine than feminine, so in the name of getting all the phoenixes tested at once, it went on my boyfriend rather than on me.

 

Lavender. That sure is lavender, up front, and a more herbal lavender, reminding me more of Bat of Longevity than TKO. It smells kind of warm under the lavender, and only a touch metallic. It definitely reminds me of the sort of thing that would be a soothing aromatherapy blend, with the lavender and soft resins and sandalwood, and while I would definitely use a product like room scent or massage oil scented like this, I'm less enamored with it as a perfume.

[edenssixthday]

Quicksilver Phoenix - I have no idea what cinnabar and mastic smell like, but I do know that lavendar is a nemesis and white sandalwood and elemi are both "meh" notes on me, so I didn't have high hopes for this, which is good, because if my hopes had been high, I would have been terribly disappointed. On me, this is just really gross. BPAL's lavender note turns very "gamey" on me and this one is so gamey that it almost smells like there's civet in it. It has a strange poopy-diaper scent about it. I don't smell the sandalwood or elemi at all, just the lavender and poopy diaper.

[coldandsleepy]

In the vial: smells remarkably like an incense my mother used to make. I get a lot of mastic and a lot of lavender and not too much of anything else. This seems like it's going to be a huge hit with me...

 

On my skin: ... but disaster strikes. I couldn't tell you what I'm amping in this, but it is something HORRID. This goes from smelling like a great slightly sharp incense to stinking like one of those stinky perfume ads in a men's magazine. It's not the lavender-- I know and love lavender in its many forms. That's definitely present here, but it's overwhelmed by something that my brain can only recognize as magazine stink.

 

Why, Quicksilver, why? Why do you become cologne on me? Sigh. I'm really sorry this doesn't play nice on my skin, as I love it in the vial.

[Venneh]

Why hello there, lavender. Something tells me that you dominate this blend and will thus be taking all of it into nothingness. ...Well, not quite. Something in this turns this into nasty, nasty cologne, like coldandsleepy up there. Need to get this off, pretty much now. Swaps/sales.

[Schmoozy]

 

Stunning. Quicksilver is woodsy, herbal and extremely comforting. The lavender is neither sweet nor too medicinalis combines beautifully with white sandalwood and elemi. It feels velvety and silvery.

[Wildbriar]

On my skin Quicksilver Phoenix is a lovely blend of lavendar and sandalwood. It is dry, clean and astringent without being medicinal. It actually reminds me of some of my favorite incenses. As it dries I lose the lavendar and the sandalwood is primary, very warm and woodsy. I'm not sure I'll wear this much, but I do like it a lot.

[veronicafranco]

two-word review: opulent spa!

 

this was one i wasn't sure i'd like. lavender is usually one of those sad notes i like the idea of, but not the scent on me. as generally happens, when wet this goes on very sharply lavender-y. something great happens to the note when blended with everything else here, though. i can't describe it better than to say it's totally aveda-like, and i mean that in a particularly yummy way.

[Chas]

Wet on the skin this smells like warm lavender. As it dries I get sandalwood and something warm and spicy. It's very appealing, but also very masculine. I like it, but I'd rather smell it on my husband than myself. I'll keep my decant, but I don't think I'll spring for a bottle.

[milo]

This starts out as a very nice, crisp lavender. I love lavender, so this is a good thing! Then something goes horribly wrong, or I shouldn't say horribly, just 'wrong'. The lavender disappears, and a powdery jasmine comes out. Must be something else causing this, as I don't see jasmine, but that is how it smells on my skin. Boo.

[zankoku_zen]

This goes to manfume on me. Lavender manfume.

 

FIIIE.

[crebbsgirl]

I must say, I was really disappointed by this one. It quickly turned sharp and overly masculine on me. My skin makes this turn to general cologne, and very very strong cologne at that. Darn! I love me some lavender and sandalwood, but this seems like it just was not meant to be for me.

[ralenth]

Quicksilver Phoenix is like sexy TKO cologne on my skin. It's bright and lavendery with a tinge of masculinity. It's zen and lovely. Definite winner.

[surlygurl]

Now, ya see, I've never smelled TKO, so I can't compare, but I'll assume there's lots of lavender. I do like the soft bpal lavender smell, which this has. This scent would be a winner if it weren't for the cologne aspect, which is really all I get after it starts to dry down. While I do like masculine scents, this reminds me of the job I had at a bookstore where teenaged boys would slap on cheap cologne & stroll into the porn mag isle (because all grown up men smell like cheap cologne. Such a clever ruse.)

Edited January 8, 2010 by surlygurl