Priala, the Human Phoenix (2006)

[Heretic]

As you come to the final stage, you see a spotlight focused upon a large pile of pitch-black ashes on the center of the floor. A parchment scroll has been tacked to the foot of the stage. It reads:

Now I will believe
That there are unicorns; that in Arabia
There is one tree, the phoenix' throne; one phoenix
At this hour reigning there.

You catch a whiff of burnt cinnamon, and a whirlwind begins to form within the center of the cold pyre. The ashes rise, condense, and coalesce into the dusky form of a woman. She shakes her body gently, tossing her hair, and the ashes fall from her skin. She is perfect, radiant: not a single cinder mars the flawlessness of her countenance. Her body seems to cast a shadow shaped like a triumphant bird, wings outstretched, onto the blank taupe canvas behind her. Her eyes are closed, and her head is bowed; her expressionless face is enigmatic. Her dark eyes begin to glow, and her mouth turns up in a secretive, intimate smile. She throws back her head and extends her arms, and suddenly the scent of smoldering myrrh assails you. Within moments, the woman explodes into flame, and you see that her face is now a vision of passionate ecstasy. The turbulence of the conflagration whips around her violently, and gouts of flame burst from her body, igniting the canvas behind her. She raises her arms in exultation, and through the flames, you see both the outline of her scorched black skeleton and the shadow of the phoenix triumphant.

Three deep, dark myrrhs, smoke, and cinnamon bark.

In the bottle: Dark and cinnamon
On my wrist, wet: Cinnamon and a hint of sweet resin
After 20 minutes: This has, amazingly, faded to a barely recognizable trace of cinnamon and myrrh. Usually, even the slightest hint of cinnamon amps on me. This is very soft and warm-- Priala is not an inferno.
After 40 minutes: And Priala has returned to her pristine self. The cinnamon has mostly burned off and left the lovely myrrh in its place. Like I mentioned before, this is a warm scent, but not hot. Beth has done a wonderful job interpreting the cycle of fire and regeneration of the human phoenix.

[requieminblack]

Out of the bottle this is all sweet myrrh.

 

On my skin the smoke comes out and mingles with the myrrh and then 10 seconds later my skin chemistry takes over and turns it into pure baby powder. I didn't get any cinnamon out of it at all- just the sweet myrrh, (which is gorgeous) smoke and baby powder.

 

Boooo for my skin chemistry ruining it for me.

[alicia_stardust]

This was an impulse purchase when I suddenly convinced myself that it would be perfect for me and I didn't need to wait for decants to sniff it first.

 

In the bottle I smell a sweet myrrh, resins, and a hint of smoke and cinnamon.

 

On my skin, the cinnamon immediately comes out, but it is not the fiery hot cinnamon I'm used to. In fact, my skin hardly reacted at all (it just got a little pink), and that was probably only because I put a lot of it on to test it out. The cinnamon doesn't overpower the other notes in this blend, which is really nice. It has a perfectly dark, smoky, spicy balance to it. The myrrh is really nice in this.

 

After almost an hour the cinnamon has mostly faded and the smoke has lightened, leaving me with some softly fading myrrh.

 

This is lovely, and I know I'll keep this bottle. I might decant an imp or two to share, though. Out of 5 stars, I rate this a 4.

[Blood onmy hands]

I don't often like cinnamon or smoky notes, but this 'cinnamon bark' note is lovely on me. Priala smells like a peppered, dry woods with the sexiest cinnamon spice ever. In the drydown it has a soft nutmeg-like smell to it.

 

This is so unbelievably sultry and sexy. I hate that I'm never able to adequately describe the blends that I love the most. It's almost as though there was an explosion of a wooden barrel full of nutmeg and the sweetly scented powder is now falling softly all over everything. But then you have to throw in the slight, sensual warmth of the myrrh and a feeling of smoldering sexuality.

 

The Human Phoenix is the sort of blend that I'd wear and instantly feel exotic & enchanting, like I was the most interesting thing in the room and any man would fall at my feet in an instant. It's that sort of good. <3

 

ETA: My later bottles of Priala smell nothing like my original bottles (my review for the two early bottles that I purchased is above). My two more recently purchased bottles smell like a heavy, earthy vetiver and harsh smoke. Not the same at all

Edited November 23, 2011 by Little Bird

[edenssixthday]

Priala, The Human Phoenix - OMG! THIS IS GORGEOUS! I am absolutely head-over-heels crazy about this scent. I don't normally like cinnamon notes, but the fact that it's cinnamon bark and not straight cinnamon is what I'm guessing makes this something that's really stunning on me. The cinnamon and myrrh notes are perfectly blended and balanced. As the blend dries down, the smoke note really starts to come out more, and while I don't normally like smoke, I am nuts about it in this blend. This just gets better and better the longer it stays on my skin. I can't get enough of it's resinous, woody spiciness. I definitely want a bottle of this as my main myrrh scent. This is my favorite of the Freaks. My favorite from the CD line so far, in fact.

[maribouquet]

This is like the heat of a banked fire: darkening, ashen sweet, and absolutely hypnotic. My skin brings out the resin sweet, syrupy texture of the myrrh, and the cinnamon is hell-hot and subdued at the same time. I smell it and I just want to get closer and closer.

[kwsix]

in the imp: wood smoke and spice

 

wet on my skin: When Priala hits my skin, it's predominantly smoky. It's a gorgeous wood smoke smell, with dry non-foody spices lingering in the background.

 

drydown: This blend never sits still on me! As soon as it starts drying on my skin, the smoke fades and the cinnamon combusts. The cinnamon reaches a fever pitch, then settles at a throbbing warmth. The myrrh steps up to the forefront, and a lovely wisp of smoke returns to swirl around in the spices.

 

overall: So far, Priala is my favorite of all the Carnaval Diabolique scents! It's warm, sexy, and amazingly complex. The transformation of this blend is otherworldly, but what else can you expect from a phoenix?

[Athenae]

I'm sensitive to cinnamon, but I wanted to try a sniffie of her just to find out what she was like. Bitter cinnamon, like Red Hots, grounded by something smoother. I don't smell the smoke at all.

 

She'd burn me if I applied her too heavily, but Priala isn't for me, anyway. Off to the swap pile she goes.

[QueenFae]

Whoa, go go cinnamon bark!! Very hot spicy, and incredibly cinnamon on my skin. Very strong throw when only a little is applied. This reminds me a bit of Chimera, with a little bit more of a bite.

 

I can smell the loveliness of the myrrhs and smoke underneath; they are dark, looming and ominous. They just can't quite contend with the extremity of the cinnamon note.

 

On the dry down, the cinnamon does relax a little bit and lets the darker notes shine. Still, overall, it's certainly a cinnamon-licious blend. It is a sweet, sexy cinnamon, I'm just not a huge cinnamon lover.

 

This is a lovely and fun blend, it's just not jiving very well with my body chemistry.

[shelldoo]

in the bottle: cinnamony, sweet, smokey

 

wet: hello cinnamon. not candy cinnamon, but a real cinnamon stick. spicey, dry, smokey smelling

 

this settles in to a warm, myrrh smokey cinnamon blend. soft, skin hugging, dead on sexy!

[forspecial_plate]

Sweet, spicy myrrh....simple, uncomplicated, beautiful. Thankfully the myrrh doesn't turn to powder. I can never tell if it will or not. The cinnamon is great, it weaves in and out of the three myrrhs (I'd love to smell them separately, one at a time!). Not quite blending in, the cinnamon seems to remain separate on my skin, which suits it well. Just a nice, simple scent to me, warm, sweet and spicy.

[savage_rose]

My skin's amping the smoke a little too much...I was wondering why it smelled so much like car trips with my Mom, but I think that's because she's a smoker . It smells like smoke and Christmas...subdued spice and myrrhy goodness. Perfumey cinnamon, not the burning oil...sort of wassail-ish. Yup, smoke and Christmas.

[hepkitten]

Priala HATES me. All I get is flat cinnamon bark and something that smells like my nemesis, vetiver. (Perhaps one of the myrrhs goes that way on me too?)

 

I was so excited about this one, but...no.

[emzebel]

At first, I get a lot of smoke from this one - in fact, it is very very similar to one of my CT's from this last round, to the point that I almost wonder if it was a prototype of this scent. But after a couple of hours, the heavy smoke burns off and the cinnamon and a softer, lusher scent start to blossom. I'm on the fence about Priala, but I think I like her.

[angharad]

I'MINLOVEWITHPRIALA.

 

It's been a while since a scent hit me so hard as soon as I open the bottle that I have that "MUST REVIEW MUST REVIEW MUST REVIEW!!!" feeling. Priala hit me just like that today.

 

Lots of spicy cinnamon in this, and it seems to come out more the longer the scent's on my skin. It's not Red Hots or burning "my skin's on fire!" hot -- it's just pleasantly spicy. There's a bit of sweetness to it, a lot of smokiness, and a helluva lot of sexiness. This is a dark, sultry, sexy, evocative, KMD&FM-kinda scent. I'm in love.

[The_Merf]

I'm nearly in tears with disappointment. :D

 

In the bottle: On my first whiff, this was great--cinnamon, smoky, barely any myrrh (not that I dislike myrrh, but...). However, on the second sniff, it was all myrrh, and there was just a little bit of smoke.

 

Wet: The cinnamon is there for a second, along with a deep smoke, but then the myrrh emerges and does this bizarre thing that I've never had myrrh do...it combines with the smoke note and goes soapy-wonky.

 

Drydown and wear: As I still smell this, and as I force myself to check Saw-Scaled Viper on the other wrist, I realize that cinnamon might be contributing to both the problems, and indeed, with Priala I am getting a variation on the Red Hots theme, with a heavy dose of myrrh. What a tragedy; I haven't anticipated a BPAL this much in ages.

[maijasu]

I'm a cinnamon lover, so I thought Priala would be a new favorite. Unfortunately, it ends up smelling almost bitter on my skin. I do smell the cinnamon, but it's not foody or sweet, just very dark and smoky. I could see this being great on the right person, and it actually would work equally well on men or women because it's not too sweet. However, it just doesn't work on my skin, so I will be swapping it away to a better home.

[for_the_nonce]

Dark, smokey, but almost foody. The cinnamon is barely there. Hm... I like this one, but it's a very autumnal scent to me, so I don't think I'll be wearing it in the next few months. It reminds me a little of the Winter of our Discontent, but I like it much better. This is one that's good enough to keep and imp around, but probably not good enough to buy a bottle.

[heartbreakangel]

I absolutely love this scent.

 

In the imp: Myrrh. Absolutely nothing but myrrh. It's very strong, and almost enough to make me flinch back from it upon a first sniff.

 

On skin, wet: Now I can smell the cinnamon and a bit of the smoke. Still very strong, but this is most certainly not a bad thing.

 

On skin, dry: The myrrh and smoke have settled down to something of a blend between light powder and ashes, depending on what kind of waft I'm getting from my hand. The cinnamon is there, smelling rather spicy and sweet at the same time.

 

This is a definite keeper. Once I have the funds to do more than get a decant, I'll be going for a bottle or two.

[yeahbutnobut]

Priala

 

In the bottle: oh wow! This smells like the most wonderful cinnamon and a little hint of soft myrrh.

Wet on skin: mmm, now the myrrh really starts to show itself, a wonderful deep resin topped with fiery cinnamon. this reminds me of a spicy myrrh based incense I bought some time ago.

Dry on skin: whoa, this is beautiful! really, really good. It's mainly myrrh, and this is one of the best and truest myrrh notes I've smelt in BPAL, it smells just like the resin, gently smouldering but not charred or burnt in the slightest-this isn't the one problematic myrrh that smells really burnt on me. At times this resin smells quite boozy, intoxicating is the word that comes to mind. Warming it up is a sparkling, dry, heated layer of cinnamon-this isn't a foody cinnamon though, but a darker, less sweet, incense like one.

After a while: the myrrh develops fantastic dark golden and aged tones and it smells so much like a sticky fragment of the actual resin. It even smells a little like amber in some ways. It does smell almost church like, or Christmas-like, at times, but this is much darker, more like a ritual incense scent. I could definitely imagine a beautiful phoenix combusting into a scent like this. The cinnamon is still fantastic but doesn't take over, it doesn't smell like 'red hots' or cakes at all, but like the little bits of cinnamon bark I have in one of my loose incense blends. This is a hypnotic scent.

Over time the myrrh note becomes more golden and drier, which is what many natural myrrh scents do on me, they take on an almost hay-like tone, golden and pale and dry and warm. It almost seems like there may be some opoponax in here as well because at this point, it is also deeply sweet, and resembles a spicier Schwarzer Mond. Indeed this does take on the almost Coke-like resinous dark sweetness of opoponax after a few hours, and I love that. The cinnamon just adds the perfect level of spice to this.

Verdict: when I heard about the ancient legend of the phoenix, in which it was reborn from a pyre of cinnamon and myrrh, I though 'Beth needs to do a phoenix scent like this!' And now she has, and I think it is the best of all the phoenix blends! It is the most wonderful mix of deep rich myrrh resins, over which dance sparks of hot cinnamon. I am strongly reminded of an incense or oil I bought once, it was Egyptian-inspired, and it smelt strongly of cinnamon and myrrh, and this smells very similar to that (maybe it was a kyphi blend?). I adore the myrrh note in here-in fact, I love the myrrh Beth has been using for the recent CT scents, like Eshe, Asp Viper and in here as well-it is rich and sweet and smells just like myrrh should. Wonderful and deep and with a slight dry reedy golden drydown. The cinnamon in here is beautiful-not 'red hot' smelling, but it doesn't smell like baking either-this smells like the finest quality cinnamon sticks. At the end, a delightful sweet brown resin sweetness highly reminiscent of opoponax comes out. This is one of my favourite myrrh scents from Beth, beautiful from start to finish. I'll need more than one bottle, I think this will be worn a lot in winter.

Emoticon rating:

Is it a keeper? Yes! I want more of this fiery lady, she's going to be stockpiled! And I bet she'll age wonderfully.

If you like this, try: Chimera, Red Phoenix, Eclipse, Al Shairan, Three Witches, Sin, Schwarzer Mond, Black Phoenix

[fiddledragon]

I *adore* the artwork for this one, so I was partly hoping this would be a winner just so I could justify ordering a bottle and getting the trading card But as usually happens, it goes to nothing but cinnamon. It's definitely cinnamon *bark*, though, not cinnamon red-hots -- harsh, fiery, unyeilding. It goes through a lovely phoenix-like cycle, starting myrrh, then blazing into cinnamon, and drying down again to myrrh after quite a while. As also expected, luckily, once it's dried down for a few minutes it's just lovely on my boyfriend. Interestingly, on him the myrrrh and cinnamon combine to produce an almost clove note. It's not going to replace the poor lost cinnamon-cardomom Cairo, but it's close.

[pekeana]

I love the way Priala works with my skin -- the myrrh isn't at all powdery, just very dark, strong, sweetly resinous, and I get a lot of the smoke, and down below it all, there's a gentle bite of warmth from the cinnamon. I never expected it to work at all for me, but I bought it anyway -- and I'm ever so glad I did because she's beautiful in the most introspectively transformative way.

[Brianne]

In the vial:

candied incense

 

On me:

My initial impression continues as this is wet on my skin. Candy sweet incense!

 

That only lasts until it dries though, then it becomes more incensey and less sweet. Myrrh is always *slightly* sweet on me, and it is here too but not in that candy way that it was when it was wet.

 

The cinnamon is VERY subdued on me. My initial interest in this blend was due mostly to the cinnamon and "smoke". I kind of thought I might love it because of those two things, but I was afraid that the myrrhs would eat them both up, and I was right. Cinnamon is barely there and the smoke never comes through. It's pretty much just myrrh with a touch of cinnamon.

 

Final note:

People who love myrrh will love this one, but it's not for me. I had hoped for more cinnamon, but this blend just isnt' spicy enough for me!

[jessiesquash]

I have to confess that, in general, the CD scents don't like me. I've found a few but I envy those that are really finding a lot that work. My budget is thrilled of course. Luckily, there is a lot still to try.....

 

In the bottle, Priala is warm and spicy. I can definitely smell the myrrhs and the cinnamon.

 

I was a bit worried about being burned by the cinnamon but it smells so yummy, I can't resist. The cinnamon doesn't burn oddly enough! I'm sure it will another time but this scent is so incredible, I really don't care! Myrrh is generally a good note for me but this is absolutely gorgeous....even more so maybe than Mme Moriarty! It's not too sweet or too spicy; it just sits nicely in between. What fantastic imagery too! This is the stage just before the Phoenix bursts into flames; she smolders as a cloud of ash blows gently around her.

 

I need a bottle......or two...or ten! I can definitely see this in my top ten!

[wikkidraven]

loveLOVEloveLOVE LOVE!

 

originally was simply red hots, but dried down into a subtle, musky blend. the myrrh really comes out and makes this a beautiful blend with the cinnamon. mmm!

 

i think priala will end up being my favourite carny.