Arcana

[EauQue]

The essence of magickal enigmas and long-forgotten esoteric mysteries. Frankincense, rosemary, lavender, neroli, and lemon verbena.

In the imp:
I mostly the lavendar and neroli.

Wet:
Screaming neroli and I love it! Ooh, here comes the rosemary. Ooh, now the rosemary is gone....

Semi-wet: ah, here comes the verbena. I'm not sure that I enjoy smelling lemony, however I could enjoy this as a body-wash fragrance or perhaps used as room fragrance.

Dry down: Rosemary is coming back and the frankincense is saying hello. Lavender is also coming back. Elizabeth does have the talent for creating scents that ebb and flow. The verbena is no longer screaming.

Ok not a skin scent for me. But I might use it to fragrance a salt bath. Edited October 22, 2008 by Shollin

[Iceblink]

Very bright verbena and then some herbs--the rosemary. This is a bit on the Ricola-cough drop side but it's still pretty bright and cheery. The lavender comes out in the late drydown stage. Soothing and pretty.

[Schmoozy]

A comforting blend of lavender and rosemary, brightened softly with neroli and verbena.

Once in awhile I catch a quick whiff of frankincense, but the dominant notes are definitely lavender and verbena.

Rosemary gives it a quite the herbal touch and neroli softens and slightly sweetens.

 

I find it very uplifting and also seems to clear my head, when it is too muddled.

[hkhm]

imp: lavender with a bit of rosemary and verbena.

 

wet: this goes way more sweet floral when i apply it, the verbena and neroli are very sweet and light.

 

dry: this dries to verbena with a nice hint of rosemary and neroli.

[themerrybaker]

Maybe it's the power of suggestion, but Arcana reminds me of Arcana's Grasshopper soap. I get mostly lemon verbena, and although undoubtedly this Arcana is subtly different from other citrus BPAL oils, exactly how is an esoteric mystery and magickal enigma without a formal sniff-off.

 

I like citrus in general, and like Arcana, but have enough other similar scents.

[vegasblueblood]

Lemony neroli with the dry dustiness of frankincense underneath it. The frankincense took a good hour to really start to emerge but it adds a nice resiny depth and the citrusy note is gradually disappearing in place of the resins. It's quite a lot sweeter than I thought it would be and there is hardly any lavender which, for me, is a good thing since lavender is not one of my favorite scents. Definitely an interesting blend.

[CynicalPink]

In the Imp: Wow that's some citrus. Bit of powdery though. That the frankincense?

 

Wet: Gah! Lemon Pledge...and a powder that's giving me a bit of a headache, to be honest...

 

Dry: Yeah the frankincense is not showing up any time soon. I can't take the aggressive citrus without something to ground it.

 

Overall: Definitely not for me, but someone who amps resin-y scents (which I don't. Same with musks) might find this pleasant

[Sapphiremo0n]

So I went to open this imp this morning and managed to splash it all over my arm, hands and fingers. At first the Verbena was really strong, it and the Rosemary/ Frankincense were jumping up and down vying for attention like three messy hyper children. Then the lavender rolled in and knocked their legs out from under them while the neroli sweetens the mix.

 

After a few hours I left with a delightful blend that reminds me almost of a sandalwood with its slight spiceness.

 

I may have to get a bottle of this...

[mazikeen]

CITRUS! And nothing but! I seem to amp anything with citrus in it like mad, and this is no exception.

 

There's lemon, but not in a cleaning-fluid way, fortunately. It's crisp and bright. <b>Grapefruity!</b>

 

Not for me, but I'll pass this along to my springy-happy-outdoorsy sister.

 

ETA--

I received a second frimp of this. It's nice but I'll never wear it, so I started liberally dabbing my vaccuum cleaner paper filter with Arcana to make the house smell nice and fresh.

Edited January 26, 2011 by mazikeen

[voodoocatwoman]

Mmmmm... citrus and lavender. This is so pretty.

[Andrea912]

um; bright and dishwashing liquid like...

[Aldercy]

Lemon verbena, peppery dust, and the round cloudiness of lavender. Pretty straightforward-- it's all there on the surface and stays that way.

 

Maybe if I didn't amp the verbena, I could get more of the frankincense, which is a note I'm particularly into lately. Still, this is not quite citrus death and overall, it's fairly pleasant. This is a dozing in the sun kind of smell-- easy, warm, cheerful.

[rayvn1]

Lavendar and lemon verbena for me so far. A bit powdery and low level throw. I'm getting over a head cold though, so I'll have to re-test before deciding this little imp's fate.

[strahlend]

Super Lemon. Clean, crisp, sharp.

This is a spring or summer scent that I would wear when I want to clear out my energy. I will really have to be in the right frame of mind for this scent. Although it's not something I would use very often I'm glad I have an imp of it to have as an option.

[animalcule]

I like this! From the description I was not expecting to smell 'LEMON DROPS!' but that's what I get (I guess it's the neroli and verbena together). Lemon drops, and lavender. Very cheery. It would make a fantastic body lotion, will have to mix some up.

[bellevivre]

Arcana-

 

there's something about this one- I LOVED it in the imp... and then... it was just SO sweet... the smell really reminds me of something, but I cant quite place it.

 

The neroli/verbena citrus screams at me, and it just continues when I wear it- not a wearable scent all day, no matter how much i LIKE the scent- there's something about it that grates on me after a while.

 

I used it to scent one of my feather fans that I use for Renaissance faires... may try it as a room scent...

[Venneh]

Got this as a frimp, and this has so many of my death notes that I'm kinda morbidly curious to see what happens. In the frimp, I'm getting lemon and lavender. On my skin, it's this naaasty combination of lemon and lavender. Need to get this off, NOW.

[mari4212]

In the imp, I get lavender and herbs, and I'm reminded of Scales of Deprivation.

 

On me wet, it's instant lemon. But a creamy and soft lemon, not too sharp or astringent in the way that straight lemon juice can be.

 

As time goes on, a bit of the lavender reappears, but it stays very quiet while the lemon remains strongly present. I love this scent for when I need to concentrate, or when I need my brain to stop racing.

 

I've currently got this layered over the very end of Miskatonic University, a scent that ends as lightly creamy on me. I think that's softening Arcana here, encouraging it to mellow into something more quiet and even more calming.

[angelicruin]

Wet on the skin, it's initially lavender and neroli, but it soon turns to lavender and lemon. I actually really like this scent. I love lemon and lavender notes so this is a win scent for me.

[Invidiana]

Errr, this comes out as really strong lemon verbena on me, much like lemon cleaner. It's made even more pungent by the rosemary. Proof that not everyone's skin works with every blend, even yours truly who has success with things like cream and chocolate. Ah well, it's always good to try.

[starfish327]

in the imp: well my hunt for what my nose registers as tea tree oil is narrowing down. this has my normal tea tree oil reaction to a lot of the herbal based blends. now i'm getting impressions of fir,cedar and something else though after the initial blast of tea tree oil.

 

wet: apparently this is blast everything even remotely lemon related into the stratasphere weekend. the lemon note in crib girls again same as when i tested doc constantine yesterday. but if doc was eating lemonheads this is more cuisine based, like a lemon rub you'd use of fish or something. there's something sour in a completely unrelated way sitting just underneath it.

 

dry: lemon with something underneath it that i'm really not a fan of. or maybe not. it's calming down the longer it's on. there's a sharp herbal component to this- i'm thinking that rosemary and me may not be destined for an OTP relationship anytime soon. i'm only getting really faint and random whiffs of neroli and the blend may rank higher in my bpal love list if i got more of it. the lavender is calming down- i'm really beginning to think that as much as i like lavender that i may not be able to wear most of the lab's lavender blends. i'm afraid that's what's going sour here because i got that out of king of hearts and farewell to false love too.

 

honestly after about five or ten minutes it's not bad, i just don't see this being one of those blends that i'm going to miss.

[DeltaCat]

Lemony herbs. The lavender pokes in and out on drydown. Strangely it is very calming, but still not enough to make it into my like box.

[raisin]

I wanted to like this one more than I do. I like most of those notes on their own, but the blend never seems to work out for me.

 

When I first put it on, I get strong, straight-up lavender then strong, straight-up verbena. There is no blending going on between the scents, no very clear transition, and it's very strange. After it tones down a little, I get kind of a mix of things, which is pleasant enough. As long as the verbena lasts, it's very nice and fresh and I enjoy wearing it. Once the verbena is gone, though, I'm less interested.

I wish I got more of the rosemary (I'd completely forgotten that was one of the notes I'd purchased it for) and I wish this worked better as a blend for me, and I wish the end result reminded me a bit less of old lady perfume. I think I'm too stubborn to give up on the imp, because I still want to like this, but I doubt I'll ever get a bottle.

[aquazoo]

Eucalyptus comes up first - that must actually be the rosemary. Medicinal. Definitely herbal, and the verbena note is nice.

[Kayah]

In the bottle: I smell a weird combination of dusy lemon.. It's a lemon scent, but as if it was covered up to the point where it was barely there...

 

Wet: ... cloves??? ... I swear I could smell cloves for the first second it went on. Then lemon comes screaming in and doesn't go away very fast, lasts at least half an hour this way. The lemon smell is reminiscent of the way melissa smells. Kind of cologney.

 

Drydown: I can smell whiffs of rosemary in this now. It is still very lemony, but now its not as sharp and crisp, it is coming down more sweet, more smoky. Must be the frankinsence coming out but I can't smell it distinctly yet.

 

Dry: warm, dusty frankincense.. the rosemary and lemon notes disappear completely.

 

Aside from the first lemon scream this scent does not have a lot of throw. I can smell the frankincense 8 hours later still but only if I bring my wrist right up to my nose.

 

I do like the scent and am considering putting it on my big bottle list, although I am pretty sure I wouldn't wear it as an every day perfume but just as a mood scent.