The Sun

[edenssixthday]

The Sun - When I smell this, I instantly get an image in my head of my kitty-cat laying in a sunbeam, warm, squinty-eyed, purring, and as content as can be. Wet in the vial and when first applied, it smells citrusy, like a light orange-lemon scent, but once it begins to dry down, it takes on a somewhat resinous tone, as if there is a light amber note. I would also not be surprised to find out there is a touch of vanilla in this blend, because after dry-down, the scent has a creamy sweetness that I generally only find in vanilla blends – but it’s light and subtle. Virtually everything about this scent is “light,” yet it’s a powerful scent, full of joy and radiance. I love it. It doesn’t have as much throw as I prefer, but it’s so gorgeous that I’m going to wear it anyway.

[Mountaingrrl00]

Others have identified possible components, and I don't know that I can do a better job. Orange softened by heliotrope, certainly, maybe amber, vanilla, and some additional floral? What I do know is that this scent makes me feel good when I sniff it and when I wear it. It really does give an impression of light and warmth.

 

When The Sun dries, the florals in here turn a bit perfumey, in the most beautiful, "what is THAT?" kind of way. Amazingly, the citrus has a pretty good wear length, too.

 

Comforting, attractive, and well-blended. I can tell this is going to become a favorite.

[joojifish]

I didn't actually try this on my skin (just a sniffie!), but from the imp I got notes of orange, rose, and cinnamon. It reminds me a lot of BNever's Love perfume line.

[supremegoddessofall]

Amber, myrrh, and vetiver. Sweet but sharp...

[fiddledragon]

Orange! A happy bright morning glass of fresh-squeezed orange juice :-D It's a nice bright creamy orange, with a dash of a sweet floral that I'm guessing, based on the theme and other people's reviews, is heliotrope. Or maybe sunflower...it wouldn't surprise me at all if there were sunflower in this. As it dries, something comes out that might be a very, very soft light myrrh or maybe some kind of spice that I'm not identifying. It turns from a morning cup of orange juice to a melting creamsicle licked on a hot summer day. But not the hot summer day itself -- just the fun creamsicle. It's an incredibly happy, joyful, youthful scent, but not inappropriately childish for grownup wear. It's like Sol or Ahathoor but better!

 

The only think that's keeping me from running off to my Paypal account NOW and buying a whole bottle of the stuff is that it doesn't last very long. Maybe some aging or layering experimentation is in order.

[arxev]

I have to do at least a little review of this, because it's honestly one of my favorite scents of all time. I love, love, love my 10ml.

 

Anyway, I have never been able to figure out what the notes are in it, but every time I put it on I get an image of pure, warm, orange-y gold light and sunniness. It's an incredible pick-me-upper, for me. It always makes me feel so nice and warm, like sitting by the fire or in the window with the sun streaming in.

 

Love, love, love it. There may not be a single scent in the catalogue I love more than this one. MAYBE Shub.

[The_Merf]

In the vial: This comes off as mostly lemon to me.

 

Wet: While there's definitely some lemon here, as others have pointed out, there are many other notes as well. However, in the wet stage, it is difficult for me to pick them out.

 

Drydown and wear: OK, I agree with the people who pick some myrrh in this blend, as I am getting the powder that I associate w/myrrh, not necessarily amber (however, there may be amber in here as well). Perhaps some honeysuckle? I could also see the vanilla. This is a really interesting scent that grew on me during its drydown. It does goes faint pretty quickly, but it is a nice skin scent, near to you, like the sun when you are outside. It does seem like a glow that is coming from within...very interesting.

[lapillus]

Mixed citrus over herbal flowers nice but not quite me as a wearing scent, but can see how it works as a tarot reference. Would make a cheery, warming room scent, pleasant to meditate to.

[cranberry]

Oranges, sweet oranges. There’s a bitterness there too and it’s making me think of orange blossom. There’s other flowers there too but I’m having a hard time placing it. The reviews are saying heliotrope but I’m drawing a blank on that one right now so I couldn’t say for sure. Amber too.

 

I thought this would be similar to Sol, and it is, though not nearly as harsh. This is much softer and more gentle. It’s is a sunny type of scent and it completely suits its name. There’s something almost candy-ish about this scent and it does smell like orange sherbet or an orange creamsicle. It’s sweet, smooth, creamy. After it’s been on a while it becomes a bit powdery. It fades quickly and after about ½ hour it’s almost gone, but not quite. It’s still there. Close to the skin, comforting, sweet, slightly spicy. It’s a great scent and perfect for evoking sunny, cheerfulness, but it vanishes so quickly on me.

[Gemini noir]

It's sad the Tarot Oils are going; this beautiful scent alone is such a loss. Maybe if the oils are resurrected in 5 ml versions with info about the major notes, more people will buy them... They're a bit difficult to review...

 

The Sun is decidedly a warm scent. (See? Rather obvious, that.) It's also a happy, golden scent. It's sweet (more so than Leo) and has a lovely moderately-light feeling to it -- neither heavy nor lighter-than-air. It's not a hot sun, just a warm inviting one.

 

Heliotrope? Oh, yes, I'd say so. It's a heliotrope lover's dream. Oceandessa may well be on to something with honeysuckle. (I think she was the first to mention it.) I don't smell that distinctive BPAL honey scent, but it is sweet. She also mentioned jasmine, and that seems possible. I don't smell any cinnamon at all in The Sun, or detect any overtly spicy or incense-like notes. If there's cinnamon it's just a touch. Any spicy notes are either subtle or hidden when applied to my skin.

[Vampy]

A very pleasant scent, nothing really super-special to me, but it is distinctly mood lifting, and very appropriate to the card. Very bright and cheerful and purposeful.

 

The dominant note is, of course, orange, I think both of the bitter and sweet varieties - and I think it's rounded out by a few other citruses, lemon and bergamot maybe? There's also a distinct, smooth frankincense underlining the whole thing. Maybe a hint of amber, but I'm not sure on that. There's just a touch of something sweetly floral, maybe the heliotrope others are getting? It's not very strong on me, though (which is odd, considering florals usually amp on my skin.) And, this might be my imagination, but somehow I get a slight hint of smoky cedar.

 

This reminds me of Ahathoor, but it's both less powdery-sweet and less smoky, more pure bright citrus.

Edited July 21, 2007 by Vampy

[theseagrows]

this is pure lemon and resin/woods on me. i am getting lemon + pencil shavings, so it's either frankincense, cedar or some kind of sandalwood. i had high hopes for this one, but my skin just doesnt like it, unfortunately.

Edited August 14, 2007 by theseagrows

[storme]

In the imp: Hmm, a sweet jelly-candy note is prominent with a candied-orange note flavouring it.

 

On me, wet: immediate fading, but still smells like citrus-flavoured jellied candy.

 

On me, dry: faint sweet orange and bubbly golden heliotrope, but with a powdery tinge to it now.

 

Verdict: vanished from my skin very quickly, but I think it was too sweet for my taste anyway.

[dronzeka]

This starts out almost candy-sweet citrus, like lemondrops - lemongrass is actually what pops in my head, but I'm not sure if that's the case or not. Maybe some of the orange others mention. As it dries, the sweetness dies down and a slightly soapy note emerges, so the pure citrus gets blurred a little bit. I think it is a floral of some kind, perhaps jasmine, although maybe the heliotrope others mention - a white floral that goes a little green and soapy. While I like the candy-sweet initial burst best, the drydown on this is still nice - bright and warm and cheerful - a comforting warm sun, not something harsh and blinding.

[zankoku_zen]

This is a very sweet orange blend, not sickeningly sweet, but rather a bright citrus kinda orange. Very happy, very mellow.

 

My only problem is that it had little to no wear length. In an hour, it was gone.

[Ishtar]

The Sun was one of my favourite Tarot oils; I can't believe I never got around to reviewing it. I am going by memory here, as I parted with my bottle a long time ago - my boyfriend could not stand this scent on me, alas.

 

The Sun was all soft orange on my skin. A very uplifting and youthful blend, beautifully rounded by mellow amber and bright heliotrope. Definitely a happy, contented scent reminiscent of extremely good quality orange-flavoured hard candy.

Like most Tarot oils, the Sun was quite complex and layered; yet it stayed true to its scent in the bottle and did not seem to morph much on my skin. For all the rich notes in this blend, it was soft and light with average throw and faded faster than most BPAL on me.

[hellomoonglow]

This smelled like orangey-citrus when I initally put it on, but that kind of morphed into lemon. I get the picture of a warm, sunny day when I wear this. The thing I like best is that it seems to radiate that perfect summer day. The thing I like least is that my skin slurps it up and in about an hour there is nothing left.

[suki]

i must start by saying that the Sun is one of my absolute favorite Tarot cards. so much so that i have elements of that card tattooed on my body. so my hopes are high for this oil. let's see if it meets them:

 

in the bottle: a beautiful orange citrus. yes, i'm getting a bit of that "herby" thing in the background others mentioned, but it's very subtle. the main thing is the bright, sweet orange, much like biting into the fruit on a warm summer day.

 

wet on skin: much the same, i'm pleased to say. i also want to note at this point, that the orange here is very natural. this is not candy orange or the orange in natural cleaning products. this is just light sweet fruit.

 

dry down: in the dry down, the oil has become more like orange zest, less like the fruit inside. i'm assuming it's the herby aspect coming a little more to the forefront. i personally get no heliotrope, amber or wood notes from this, but i really don't mind.

 

in all: a light, natural citrus- this may well be the orange oil i've been waiting for! i find it to be warm, "sunny" and very cheerful. yes, Tarot:The Sun lives up to it's name sake, and i couldn't be happier.

 

 

 

[hlinspjalda]

In the vial: Bitter and citrus, like the rind of a bitter orange or maybe kumquat.

 

Wet: Still bitter citrus. It smells almost like the local pastry shop, though, with citron and glazed fruit tarts. Yet it's not at all foody.

 

Twenty minutes: Still smells like a pastry shop. I don't know if that's fruits, or maybe almonds, but a bitter citrus predominates, and there's something tannic as well.

 

Three hours: There's an almost baked-goods base on this one, but the bitter citrus has dialed way back. It's fairly flat now.

 

This one was stimulating, but it didn't sing to me so I sent it to a better home.

[iiinterstate]

Its rare that a scent will smell exactly like I imagined, but in the bottle, The Sun does! Very bright orange and heliotrope with a little spice.

 

On my skin, it smells much the same. Lots and lots of orange, which I love. There is some kind of foody background here, but heliotrope goes that way on me sometimes (and I'm not complaining).

 

Overall, The Sun is exactly how I imagined it. I am most pleased. There is not a huge amount of throw, but I bet this will be awesome in a scent locket and that will help make it last.

[Venneh]

In the imp, I'm getting orange and amber, similar to Sol Invictus. We'll see where this goes. On my skin, this is orange and frankincense, two of the notes that statistically work the worst on me. We'll see where this beam of sunlight goes. It's pretty much Sol Invictus on me, sadly, all orange and frankincense and soap.

Edited July 12, 2010 by Venneh

[ramblingrambler]

This is considerably aged, so my guess at the notes will be entirely based off what is present in my vial. This is absolutely, without doubt the scent I would pair with its namesake card in the imp and wet on skin (I'm using my imp to channel the sun from here on out ).

Wet, it is slightly citrusy, with [myrrh, amber, frankincense, and/or sandalwood] in the background. Citrus is in the forefront, and rightly so, but it is glowing and warm due to its support. I smell this and think marigold.

As it dries, the dominant citrus fades—and it's gone, melded into the background notes, mingled and indistinguishable as a line note, within twenty minutes. The result is a beautiful, slightly woody, slightly powdery (the "good" kind!) scent left over. It's lovely, calming, and grounding, inspiring peace and confidence.

I hope this is not the last of it.