Hesiod's Phoenix

[kajacana]

HESIOD’S PHOENIX
A chattering crow lives out nine generations of aged men, but a stag's life is four times a crow's, and a raven's life makes three stags old, while the phoenix outlives nine ravens, but we, the rich-haired Nymphs, daughters of Zeus the aegis-holder, outlive ten phoenixes.
- Hesoid, the Precepts of Chiron

Golden amber, bourbon vanilla, and sweet oudh.

In the bottle: Deep, smooth bourbon vanilla.

Wet on skin: This is so hard to describe! I know I'm smelling amber, but the vanilla is still there (a very "vanilla bean" type of vanilla), and all the notes blend so perfectly together. The overall impression I get is deep gold, smooth, very warm, and sweet - but sweet in an incense-y way, not a foody way.

Drydown: Stays mostly the same, but the incense quality intensifies. Absolutely beautiful.


This might be the first scent I ever buy backups for. I'm in love.

[Lycanthrope]

So simple... vanilla, amber, oudh. On my skin, a little bit of a sweet resinous amber with vanilla, and the oudh heats up a touch and adds a sparkling smokey note. It dries down simple and sweet on my skin, like a marshmallow or some kind of odd LUSH marshmallow woods concoction. Sweet, innocent, simple. Tasty.

[Dark Alice]

This is lovely. Simple. Golden amber, vanilla, and oudh. It's just that simple. And it doesn't amp. It stays close to the skin!!!!

[hexatomic]

Not getting a lot of vanilla, but that's okay, because …

 

This is Implacable Beautiful Tyrant: the perfume oil. The amber and oud are what's showing up most for me and reminding me so very, very much of my most favorite hair gloss. It's worse than I dared fear: I'm going to need about twenty-nine bottles.

[tinyvulture]

I'm not sure I can pinpoint oudh when I'm smelling it. I understand it's also known as agarwood, and there's nothing particularly "woodsy" about this blend, for me at least, so I'm not sure what I'm looking for there. What I do get is full-bodied, sweet vanilla, plus warm, resinous amber. There is a distinct marshmallowy quality, as Lycanthrope said.

 

Unlike the other Phoenixes I tested from this set (Tacitus and Herodotus), Hesiod has very little throw and fades rather quickly. Nice while it lasts though.

[MuskWitch]

I got mostly amber when this was first applied. On the drydown (about 15 minutes) the vanilla began to peek out with the amber. The vanilla sweetened the amber, the amber warmed the vanilla. And now, there's a very slight woodsy scent in the background. GORGEOUS! BOTTLE for sure!

[FragranceLush]

I concur with hexatomic's comparison to IBT hair gloss BUT I am amazed no one has compared this to Tricksy yet. The oude here smells to me identical to the aquilaria aguillocha in Tricksy. Though I am a total patchouli ho, I do not miss it here, either - this is lovely and lasted all day on my skin. It's a gentle, comforting scent. I already have a full bottle on its way to me.

[ReallyZeb]

This is so beautiful - soft, stays close to my skin and reminds me slightly burnt marshmallow - sweetness but with a tiny edge to it.

[flyby]

First off, if amber normally goes powdery or sour on you, this may be worth testing anyway.

 

I don't get much of the vanilla specifically, I think it's more just smoothing the blend out, but the amber and oud blend amazingly. I agree with posters who compared this to Implacable Beautiful Tyrant hair gloss, and I will add another comparison to House of Unquenchable Fire atmo, because on my (weird) skin it's almost a dead ringer.

[Gwydion]

In bottle: Sweet and smooth. Very sexy. The amber, oudh, and vanilla complement each other so beautifully that it’s hard to say where one ends and the other begins. It’s slightly amber dominant. Wet: The Oudh really sings on the skin, and I’d now call it oudh dominant, with amber second and vanilla accents. They still go beautifully together, but my skin chemistry switches up the balance. I liked it in the bottle, but love it on the skin. I admit, I’d like a bit more vanilla, but aging should solve that. I think this is going to be a classic. Dry: Mostly Amber kissed by oudh.

[HerbGirl]

This is utterly beautiful. I agree with the comparison to IBT hair gloss but this is smoother, more luscious...are we sure there's no patchouli here?! Beautiful.

I don't get the Tricksy comp though, Tricksy was bitter and icky honey to me :-(

Edited December 11, 2013 by Herb Girl

[sunshinedaisybliss]

This is one of those smooth, creamy blends that I love so much... whenever I see 'golden amber', I know I'm in for a treat. I still have fond memories of my first dab of Feed Me & Fill Me With Pleasure, when I first experienced that beautiful luxurious vanilla amber... and this beautiful amber in Hesiod's reminds me very much of that - not in smell, but in feel. I really appreciate the BPALs that have only a small number of notes - I seem to have a lot of wins with three-note blends, and this is a definite winner.

 

If I had a criticism of this lovely blend, it would be that I find it a little too sweet. I do love oudh, but this isn't your regular kick-ass dark/smoky variety... it definitely has a sweet top note about it, which in combination with the robust bourbon vanilla is giving me an almost licorice-like smell. I mean... almost licorice, just on the verge - like hmm... is that licorice? Nah, it's not kinda thing. And that does mellow out after it's been on my skin for 10 minutes or so, and then a lovely woodsy tone comes out. This amber+vanilla+oudh combination is just divine.

 

I can see myself reaching for this on those days where I don't feel like drowning myself in my usual gnarly patchouli or dark voluptuous incense-y or resin-y BPALs - it still feels like all of those things, but a more snuggly and softer version of them. On me, Hesiod's Phoenix stays close to the skin, and doesn't have a lot of throw, but I can catch little whiffs of it around me. I think this one is going to be one of those BPALs that people go nuts trying to find a few years from now - it should age beautifully.

[zankoku_zen]

Foodie vanilla and amber. Honestly, there is something that reminds me to Serotine Bat, with the vanilla + amber combination but it's much more straightforward.

 

If you like foodie vanilla blends, or sweet amber blends, give this a whirl.

[LadyMedb]

Easily my favorite of the Phoenixes, which is odd, because I love resins so much. This is a lovely light vanilla-amber that isn't too foody, and has a lovely close-to-the skin sophistication lent to it by the oudh.

 

I'd probably have jumped on a full bottle if I hadn't just bought La Lugubre Gondola, which is also lovely and ambery, but darker and more to my usual taste. As things are, I'm hanging on to the imp and seeing if it turns out I can't live without it.

[RiverPoet]

Exactly as it says: warmth from the amber, the classic vanilla-with-a-kick, and sweetness from the oudh. This is the one that intrigued me most, and might be bottle-worthy.

[Honey Girl]

My first review I think..i'm not so good at picking up notes yet but I really like this scent. It smells very soft to me and a bit sweet. I don't really pick up a foodie vanilla at all which is a shame because I love vanilla..but i'm more of a fan of musky vanillas anyways. Maybe the sweetness I detect is from the oudh? The only way I can really describe it is soft, light and sweet. I don't think it has much throwing power though because I put a little on the inside of each wrist and can't really smell it unless I bring my wrist up near my face.

 

I will say it has long lasting power though. I put this on last night to test it out and when I put my hand up near my face today and had forgotten about it i got that whiff of soft sweetness and was reminded i had applied the night before.

[GoddesShel]

I'm going to assume that since this thread says "Hesiod's" and the Lab website says "Hesiod's", that the label on my bottle is misspelled. It says, "Hesoid's".

 

Cold sniff from bottle - sweet vanilla/amber.

 

Wet, on me. Wait, what?? VERY sweet, but neither vanilla nor amber. And sort of ..fizzy??

 

The fizz goes away, but the sweet doesn't - but it is still neither vanilla nor amber. Not being sure what oudh smells like, possibly I'm amping that? It's not awful, but it is VERY, VERY sweet.

 

I agree with the above poster about the strong - it lasted through a handwashing with Dawn dishwashing soap, seemingly unchanged.

[stellamaris]

I love this, it is really simple and good, and thankfully not like Tricksy at all to me.

[SultryWolf]

Occasionally, a BPAL brings me to tears because it touches me that deeply; this is one such.

It's warm but not foody, resiny but not heady ... just, just so lovely.

I apologise if this review is not helpful, but I cannot form the words to express.

[SophieCedar]

Swwwwweeet mother of jeebus I need 100 bottles.

 

Heady rich deep vanilla with a syrupy dessert wine/cordial top note from the bourbon vanilla and oudh melding. Warmth not to be paralleled from the type of amber chosen. It comes across like skin musk but sweeter and deeper. Made of pure win.

[doomsday_disco]

In the bottle: The amber and the oudh in the bottle remind me of Implacable Beautiful Tyrant hair gloss. I am happy about this, because I love that hair gloss, and I was hoping that this blend would complement it.

 

Wet: This starts off smelling like it had in the bottle, with the golden amber and the oudh being the most prominent. It becomes slightly sweeter the longer it is on my skin. This is similar to Implacable Beautiful Tyrant (more so than La Lugubre Gondola), although it is slightly sweeter (and lacks the frankincense and ginger notes of the hair gloss). I'm not really getting much of the bourbon vanilla at this time, but I am sure it is softening up the blend. (This is a lot softer than La Lugubre Gondola.)

Dry: The bourbon vanilla has finally emerged, and seems to emerge more over time. It goes really well with the golden amber and the sweet oudh. I don't really think there is a dominant note at this time. They all blend together nicely.

Verdict: I am glad that I bought a bottle. I can't wait to wear this with my Implacable Beautiful Tyrant hair gloss! I am sure it will age wonderfully.

 

*edit* This is even more beautiful after a few weeks of aging. The bourbon vanilla seems to have come out more on my skin, and it is amazing! I think I am going to have to order another bottle of this before it is taken down from the website.

Edited January 12, 2014 by dementia_divine

[Caper]

Um, yeah. This is the amber blend I have been waiting for since I found BPAL. The Lion was close, and my decant is well used, but it never quite made the list for a bottle order. I tried and talked myself out of Brisingamen and Le Lethe. La Lugubre Gondola was too woodsy and dry.

 

This is the warm, sweet, decadent amber blend that I wanted all the others to be. I'm getting two bottles, because I'm sure it is only going to get better with age. Beautiful.

 

Really masterfully beautiful. I completely agree with the poster above that was brought to tears. I feel like I dreamed this as my perfect amber blend, and somehow, it has been brought to life.

 

Eta- I'm going to second joyful girl on the second page of reviews because I feel like there is definitely a batch difference here. I ordered one decant, it was AMAZING!, so I snatched a second one from my favorite decantress, also AMAZING. I ordered two bottles and sniffed one upon arrival and thought, hmmmm, why did I get two of these again? Waited a day and applied straight from the bottle. It is good, don't get me wrong, but it is less *something* than my decants. I'm not getting chemicals and powder, but definitely a more bland blend. I'll do a side by side test and update the results.

 

Update: four test patches. Two decants are very similar, but one has a slight ring of darker oil at the bottom and smells richer. The scent is nearly idwntical. Bottle #1 is really darn close, but less sweet and slightly more powdery, which is odd considering the original decant hasn't gone even a bit powdery. Bottle #2 lacks nuance and is just more ambery than the others. Boo. I'm never going to be able to buy a bottle of the first run I'm sure. I guess I'll just content myself with what I have and probably sell one of my bottles since I doubt I'm going to need both decants and two bottles.

Edited February 13, 2014 by Caper

[lucycat]

I am so happy I bought a bottle of this unsniffed. Amber blends usually work well on my skin, and I always love vanilla, but this surpasses my expectations.

 

In the bottle: All I can think is "classic perfume." It must be the amber; I can't say which classic perfume this reminds me of, but it definitely has that vibe.

 

Wet: Resinous. As it dries, sweetness emerges.

 

This is a lovely blend. All day, I could not stop sniffing my arm, and I felt as if I were walking around in a warm little golden cloud. Hesiod's Phoenix is very well-blended; the notes balance each other perfectly. The amber and oudh keep the vanilla from getting too foody. The oudh emerges more and more after hours of wear, and lends a slight almost-smokiness to the blend. My skin amps wood notes, but this never becomes overpowering, and wears close to the skin.

 

I think Hesiod's Phoenix is going to do what Tamora did for me: reveal its full gorgeousness only after two or three months of aging.

 

I also think that it will be another blend, like Dorian and Morocco, that I can wear virtually anywhere, or when I can't decide what else to wear. Which means I'm going to need more bottles.

[Magycmyste]

In the imp: mmmm sweet and...,, perfumey. All the notes are mixing together nicely.

 

Wet on skin: ooh..... Pretty

 

Dried down: this is gorgeous! Not that this is a surprise but apparently, I LOVE vanilla! And amber. And oudh.

 

Throw: this doesn't have a huge throw on me, but enough for me to catch whiffs of it here and there.

 

Verdict: ***** definitely bottle-worthy.

[Ella LaRose]

This smells like the really aged Indian amber I used to get!!! I am an amber junkie and this is what I have been looking for!

Sticky rich amber, sweet undertone of a dark vanilla and a feeling of incense:))))

I need a back up bottle!!