Arcana

[PixieSkull]

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

Imp: "Lemony citrus woods" is what I scribbled in the car. The neroli and verbena come out, slightly bitter with some sort of woody scent, I'm assuming the frankincense and rosemary fooled my nose.
Wet: On the skin it morphed to a nice, powdery, lemony wooded scent.
Dry: Now it's sweet, powdery, and lovely sandalwood. A lot like lemon Pledge-wiped wood.

Category: Citrus/Lemon/Masculine
Rating: 2.5/5; I like the scent, but it doesn't make me want to wear it.
Overall: I love that I get sandalwood from it when I don't even think that's an ingredient in the mix. I did get a bit of the magical feeling from it. I put this on the boyfriend and I think it's quite okay on him. He may get this one to play with a little bit. He can decide if this is right for himself.

[juniperus]

Bottle: The Lavender hits straight away, a not unpleasant lavender (I hate when it gets too sharp), but strong.

Wet: The verbena coming out, still lots of the lavender..

Dry: Holy lemon, Batman! I love rosemary, but no hint of it yet, nor the frankincense. I smell like a lemon curd tart.

Later: Finally some of the frankincense and rosemary, but man, too little too late, as far as I'm concerned - it's really nice once the heavy verbena steps back, but I just can't deal with the very fruity period leading up to this (very, very pleasant though this is). I'm not so very much a fruit kind of girl, so although the lemon is nice and rich and lemony, it just doesn't work for moi.

Edited April 24, 2006 by Juniperus Intrepidus

[Medici]

In the imp: Mostly lavender and rosemary... and I have issues with both. One will put me to sleep on my keyboard, the other makes me sneeze. Oh dear.

 

Wet: Rosemary and frankincense, and lavender coming up strong. I expect the lavender will dominate this blend, but the verbena makes a quick appearance before drydown.

 

Drydown: It's pretty herbal - like kitchen spice rack herbal, with a sweet twinge of resin and just an itty bitty bit of woodsyness to it. Again, spice rack.

 

Verdict: Not my cup of tea. One for the lavender, and one for spice rack. I do like the woodsy quality to it, though. It's a bit dry and understated, but it's still there.

[AliBabble]

out of the imp, this reminds me of orange flower water. nice. on my skin, more of a "tang" comes out: the lavendar, the verbena, the rosemary, but not much frankincense. it is pleasant, fresh and clean - probably too clean and lemony for my taste, though - i like my scents a bit dreamier...this one isn't really inspiring me, although it is certainly pleasant.

[HennaFairy]

bottle:

lemony and herbal, yum

 

wet:

more musky now, I like it but it has the premonition of soapiness

 

dry:

the muskiness is gone, this reminds me of shadow a lot. Still cautious about the hint of soap… over an hour later, it is SLIGHTLY soapy, but a good soap… must try this at different times of the month (since shadow changed dramatically that way!)

 

overall:

I like it but remain cautious about soap potential!

 

rating: 7/10

Edited May 8, 2006 by HennaFairy

[gwyllgi]

This starts out all lemon all the time, almost overpowering. Even then, it's not a cleanser-lemon or even a fruit-lemon scent, but like lemon curd, heavier and more sweet than tart. It fades fairly quickly, and while the lemon scent remains, it becomes spiked with neroli and drawn a bit farther from sweet by the frankincense. The rosemary makes me terribly happy, as it adds a hint of earthy sharpness without actually making the scent foody.

 

I can't quite seem to settle on a way to describe this. It's lemon, but it's not. It's sweet, but it's not. It's tart, but it's not. It's sharp, but it's not. It's foody, but it's not. It's dry, but it's not. It's a swirling mass of contradictions and complements, and I absolutely love that I never know what I'm going to get out of it.

[ladymissspyder]

In bottle: lavender with a little rosemary and lemon

 

Wet: Rosemary with a bit of lavender.

 

Top notes: lavender.

 

Middle/Base notes: a balanced herbal floral scent with a lemony finish.

 

Overall scent: I find that I don't wear this very often, but it is a nice and refreshing floral.

[Elrianra]

This one, on first sniff, was very hard to pin down and I had to go back and double check previous notations on neroli before I figured out just what I was smelling in this bottle: the neroli is a citrus smell, like that first whiff of freshly peeled orange, and it mixes with the verbena's more lemonish scent in a confusing medley of sweet and bitter while the lavender lends a vague floral and the rosemary has an herbish quality to it. Not fresh rosemary at all but dried and then crushed between your hands. The Frankincense is mild if detectable at all. Once on, the rosemary and lavender really jump out as the verbena and neroli settle to make a bold base; the Frankincense has yet to really make an appearance as it dries. Warming up, this finally tones down a notch from the original astonishing blast of perfume to a milder citrus and florals, the Frankincense has finally made a gentle appearance, floating over the other scents and creating a hazy blanket around me. It's pleasant if a little disconcerting. On the final die-down, it's sweetly floral with a tad of smoke left to it - like the lingering after-precense of incense smoke. Everything is faintly flavored like it but it's nice and soothing.

 

Again, this is a neroli blend that gives me a headache... I have to bid farewell to this one as well... *sigh*

[urbanruralferal]

I just smelled "perfume" in the bottle, but once I put it on, the aromatic herbs were strong, sort of a trumpet blast, really!

Almost immediately, I smell something...powdery. I don't know what that is yet (frankincense?) but I do tend to get powdery smells a lot. The herbs are lost in a veritable fog, which is not unpleasant, but I was wanting to relish the lavendar and rosemary a bit more.

As this dries, it descends quickly through a series of phases that I am beginning to recognize: powdery, then sweeter like powdered candy, and then on to a dry powder which I liken to elder flowers. I love elder flowers, but I'm not looking for them in a bottle. This is the second blend to finish with what I shall call The Elderflower Wine Effect. (Belle Epoque did the exact same thing.)

Must be my body chemistry. Meh.

Off it goes.

Edited May 25, 2006 by urbanruralferal

[Eunice]

Arcana smells like something I used to wear as a teen, something with verbena. The rosemary is a ot greener in this than I had imagined. The lavander matches well with the rosemary and verbena. This is so soothing! I feel like I'm in an herb and flower garden. This goes on my large bottle list!!

[edenssixthday]

Arcana - This scent rocks! On my skin, it is predominantly lemon verbena with a touch of herbs and the smoky-incense quality of frankincense – a scent I don’t normally like, but which blends gorgeously with the other notes. It’s simultaneously bright and dark, and I love that about it. Arcana has just a lovely level of throw, where I don’t smell it all the time, but I get wafts of it that perk me up and make me wonder where that pretty scent is coming from, and of course, I smile and sniff my arm as soon as I realize it’s me! It has good staying power, and when it fades, all of the notes seem to go out together and none fade before any of the others. This is a gorgeous and perfectly-blended scent that will stay in my collection and be worn again soon.

[jenleigh]

I'm almost ashamed to admit I haven't actually tried Arcana on my skin. I get such a strong medicinal scent to it in the imp that I can't get around it. One whiff from the imp and I kind of went, "Blech!" It's a shame, too, as I normally love lavender and verbena on their own. I'm not sure what's putting me off the imp. This one's off to my swap pile.

[karengypsy]

In the vial: Herbs, spices, something citrusy.

 

On me: Herby. Also, way too lemony for my preference. Ugh.

 

Verdict: It'd be a nice scent without the lemon. Not for me.

 

Rating: 2/5

[rainbow]

In bottle- strong lavender.

 

On me- still a very strong lavender. I can smell just a hint of verbena, but it's really just a hint. Overall this is a very nice herbal lavender that's well-complimented by the verbena. Good for when you want a fairly straight-up lavender scent.

[Mollywogger]

I was sent about 30 imps from a friend (I know -- what a friend!) and I've been trying to wear them, one by one, to get an idea of them. Arcana is the first one that I actually felt like reviewing because I love it.

 

The first 10 minutes of arcana are lemon lemon lemon -- this is fine with me, because I adore lemon. It's great to put on in the morning for a jump start. After about 10 minutes, the frankincense started creeping in. I remember thinking, are lemon and frankincense going to work together? For a while I was unsure, but then other herbs started coming forward to round the scent out. I never really got the lavendar that other people are getting.

 

Two hours later, the lemon has faded and I have a sweet, smoky herbal scent. It's lovely.

Edited July 25, 2006 by SpicyM

[cindyrella]

Lavender and citrus. Smells a bit like grapefruit, I like it. Turns into something sweeter, with something herbal?

Later on it becomes a bit sour, maybe that’s the herbs and citrusfruit coming out? Lavender is almost gone, that’s a shame. I love lavender.

It’s still fresh, and would be great on a man, maybe even better.

In the end I think it’s too sharp for me.

[yeahbutnobut]

Arcana

 

In the imp: lavender and rosemary, a very herbal scent.

Wet on skin: now the neroli rises up from the lavender-rosemary scent.

Dry on skin: mmm, not bad! This is a very agreeable scent-soft lavender with a tangy-sweet layer of neroli and verbena, a hint of greener rosemary. The frankincense isn't obvious but it lurks behind the scents, adding a soft resinous warmth to it all.

After a while: the rosemary gets stronger after a while, mingling with verbena to form a very herbal-lemon scent which is almost savoury, very warm and grounded by frankincense. I don't get as much sweet, pale, fruity neroli now though. It's now herbs, herbs, and more herbs.

After a couple of hours, the frankincense is much stronger, and it's really lovely. It adds a gorgeous resinous golden scent to the whole scent which is still predominantly herbal, and it smells very much like the remnants of incense smoke lingering in a herb cupboard (that's the best analogy I can think of!)

Verdict: this is a very nice, uncomplicated herbal blend enhanced by frankincense. it starts off strongly lavender-neroli but this burns off quickly and the scent becomes heavy on the rosemary for a while, with hints of verbena, and the frankincense then comes in and makes itself known upon drydown, which is my favourite part of the scent. It's very pleasant but I'm not sure I like it enough to keep it-it does remind me somewhat of the Scales of Deprivation at times-that same Mediterranean evening with incense feel-but without as much complexity. I may or may not keep this.

Emoticon rating:

If you like this, try: Scales of Deprivation, Nero, Magus

Edited September 28, 2006 by yeahbutnobut

[couscous]

Neroli must really, really amp itself on my skin, because the first time I appiled Arcana, I got all neroli and nothing else, until the scent dried down and faded to something sweet but so faint as to be unidentifiable.

 

I like neroli well enough, but I was a bit disappointed. This isn't the first time a neroli scent went the way of a near-single note (Neptune). Moreover, I was hoping for the verbena, rosemary, and lavender to really pop, since these are some of my favorite notes of all time. Combined with gorgeous frankincense, Arcana should have been a no-brainer slam dunk for me.

 

With that context in mind, and in the interest of giving him another shot, I reapplied the scent around 3 hours later.

 

Perhaps my nose needed to have some coffee before it could wake up and smell correctly, because I could finally smell verbena and lavender the second time around. I recognize this particular combination from Nanshe. Lovely. No discernible rosemary yet, but we're getting close. This is like a sun-filled Mediterranean kitchen !

 

Finally, at the almost-end of the day, I smell frankincense. Unmistakably, clearly, and beautifully.

 

This is a stellar blend for those of us who would be perfectly happy to live our lives stuck in the foliage of an herb garden. Arcana is a very cleansing, very aromatherapy-esque herbal. It's a spa scent, for sure-but an absolutely lovely one.

Edited September 14, 2006 by couscous

[eggplant]

First applied this is thick sharp lemon cleaning product-I didn't smell anything else. After a few minutes the lemon fades significantly and I get mostly neroli and frankincense with a hint of lemony citrus and a bit of dust. As others said, it's a fairly calming scent and I can see myself wearing it alone, but it's not something I'd want to smell all day. I do like it though.

[savage_rose]

In the bottle: Smells like Mercury!

 

Wet: Mercury, but with a harsher, domineering note I can't place. It's like Mercury Retrograde, LOL. Which would make sense...Arcana=hidden lore, directly opposes Mercury's communication focus.

 

Dry: Sweet, green dry herbs. It smells like an herb smudging bundle a bit. Very nice and direct, understated. The lemon peeks out a bit, but is perfectly balanced with the green.

[fiddledragon]

This is a really lovely herbal blend, but not the sort of thing I'm likely to wear, just as a personal taste. On me, the verbina is dominant and ends up being a bit too citrus-herbal-fresh for me. The rosemary and lavender take second place, and it ends up smelling like one of those little scented beanie-critters for putting in the microwave for sore muscles.

[Faeried]

Another frimp from the lap with my last order, and another scent that totally didn't work on me.

 

It smells like lemon pledge. Very acrid to my nose. :-(

[supremegoddessofall]

Mostly rosemary with a touch of frankincense. No lemon hell, which is good. Kind of bland, and very subtle.

[indicolite]

I am coming to the conclusion that my skin amps neroli like there is no tomorrow, because that is what I smelled and went "Oh, this smells like Calliope!" It does offer tantalising hints of rosemary and lavender.

 

I like this scent, but seduction blend it is not.

[columbus]

In the bottle: Woah, there’s a lot going on in there. Straight of the bat there’s neroli, but I definitely get frankincense and lavender too. Woody and green.

 

On the skin: At first I overlooked the fact that there was lemon verbana and got very confused, because I can definitely smell the lemon as soon as it hits my skin! For a while, this is all I get. But it’s a very nice lemon, a perfect mean between tart and sweet, not artificial at all.

 

Drying: Yep, still lemon.

 

Dry: Ah, finally, something else! This seems to be a pretty straightforward combination of rosemary and lemon on me. Actually, I kind of want to marinate some chicken in this. I bet it would be delish.

 

(I kid!)

 

After a good long while, there’s a bit of a soapiness about this (I’m thinking it’s the verbana, which is known to do this with my chemistry), but it’s still generally citrus/herbal.

 

And then, at the end, Frankincense completely takes over. All incense, all the time.

 

I really like all of the stages of this blend! The only problem is they’re all so distinct from each other that I don’t know if I’ll ever be in the mood for all of them on the same day!