Gold Phoenix

[greenranger]

GOLD PHOENIX
La Lumiere sortant des Tenebres. The noblest of the alchemical metals, representing the splendor of the Sun. It is the essence of pure consciousness and represents the divine, creative force present in all spirit and all matter. It is the symbol of the goal of perfection, and is capable of radiating all the colors of dawn and dusk while still retaining its unblemished purity.

Three ambers representing common gold, astral gold, and elementary gold, with verbena, angelica, and heliotrope that has been purified by frankincense and Gum Arabic.

This is a bright and energetic scent. It's not strong, but, it seems fairly penetrating.

I suspect that is the verbena at the forefront that is providing that bright citrus note. I get no flowers, but, this isn't a straight resin scent on me either. It's golden, but, it isn't a mellow gold. There are no dark corners, and everything been swept clean with bright energy.

As it dries, it isn't changing much. The verbena might be stepping back a little to let the other notes shine.

This reminds me of Sol Invictus, and if you liked that you will probably like this as well. They are both very clean, bright, golden scents.

[Cheri]

Gold Phoenix is the perfect name for this scent. It smells gold of course, but other than that its lemon, orange, and I don't know where this is coming from, but ozone. Or maybe that's just the verbena. This isn't what I would call lemony. Its almost orangy; sort of a fresh golden scent. Fades fast, but pretty while it lasts.

[pinkstardust420]

WOW, this is so bright and fresh. The amber mixes so smoothly with the verbena...it's very hard to explain but it's a really beautiful scent.

[Redillon]

This is very bright!

 

In the bottle: Sweet oranges, citrus.

 

On the skin: The orange is usurped by the floral notes. Booooo......but it is pretty.

 

Dry down: Has a bit of throw to it. It is very floral on me. Reminds me of a perfume I've smelled years agao but I can't put my finger on it. A very summery smell in my opinion.

 

Don't know if I love it. I enjoy it, but it's not really ME. I'm gonna try it again and see where my chemistry takes it.

[saralaughs]

Verbena.

 

Yeah, I get lemon in this. When first applied, it's WHOA lemon. After a bit, it calms down to just regular lemon. The amber is getting in here and warming things up a bit. Those that have issues with amber going powdery on them will probably encounter that here. Slightly powdery yet resinous.

 

About 15-20 minutes later, I'm starting to get helitrope and frank, which means a bit of sweet powder (heli) mixed in with the amber and lemon. The lemon is still front and center in this.

 

NOT what I wanted. I may keep the bottle to see how it ages and because the label art is fantastic.

[Suusje]

I too get a lot of citrus. But it's not a sharp citrus. It's a warm sunny scent. After a little while the citrus takes a step back to make the scent a bit more round. It's quite lovely and I think this will be perfect for when it's warm outside. Which is actually quite perfect. It gives it time to become more well-rounded before I wear it.

[Invidiana]

This comes out on me as a honeyed lemon, kind of like honey-lemon cough drops (but I really like those so that's not an insult!) I think the frankincense and gum Arabic are to thank for that--they add a golden resinous quality and keep the verbena from getting too sharp.

[musichappens]

My first impression upon initial application is CITRUS~!! It actually reminds me a lot of freshly peeled oranges. As it dries, the three ambers and verbena seem to come out more. It's a very light scent without much throw on my skin, so I think my sniffie will suffice for now.

[obsidienne]

Very pretty! I love amber, so "three ambers" seemed worth the risk of ordering before the reviews came in. This turned out to be a bit different from my expectations. Instead of a warm & gloriously amberriffic oil, this seems like pale flashing lemony green amber - very bright & sunny, like pale golden sunlight flashing off dancing water (the citrusy verbena is almost a bit salty to my nose).

 

The amber deepens a bit on drydown, but this does strike me as more of a citrus scent than most. That said, I like it, and I am the last person to wear citrus blends! It's a lot like Aizen-Myoo, but purer.

 

This scent would be great for: waking up, staying alert, feeling fresh, longing for summer.

Edited December 20, 2009 by obsidienne

[hlinspjalda]

In the bottle: Warm citrusy metallic with verbena.

 

Wet: Gorgeous verbena, but more orange than verbena usually is. The heliotrope I feared is behaving well, for the moment at least.

 

Half an hour: Still citrusy metallic, but with resin. This scent is oddly familiar to me, as if it something from my distant past. Still not having any trouble with the heliotrope note, for which I'm grateful.

 

One hour: I don't get amber from this at all; I continue to get citrus with a metallic tinge. But it's working. There's an herbal note in there, not angelica though. Not recognizing heliotrope, either, thank goodness, and the verbena has of course burned off by now. I expect that if it's made it this far on my skin the scent will begin to trend toward frankincense next.

 

Two hours: Still citrusy metal. It is staying fairly true to itself, just lightening up as it goes. Not as much frankincense involvement as I expected, though.

 

Three hours: Much lighter now. It still doesn't smell ambery to me, much more in the metal and citrus zone. I do not think I'm going to be able to love this one, but it came off better on my skin than I anticipated.

 

Four and a half hours: The metallic note has gone away almost entirely, leaving behind the impression of yuzu, heliotrope, and maybe a bit of frankincense.

 

I liked this better than Sol Invictus as a solar scent, but it's not quite friendly enough on my skin to be really spectacular. Am surprised the amber wasn't more evident; usually my skin loves amber. But the bright gold metal note was surprisingly cooperative.

[Leopard403]

I can't really pick out any separate notes in this scent; the best I can do is say that this smells "bright" and is evocative of orange groves and Springtime. Amber is hit-or-miss on my skin, and in this blend it works as something soft and almost powdery.

[sqwook]

In the bottle: A cool slightly dusty metallic verbena.

 

On: A cool verbena, kept in line by the light resins. Stays pretty consistent throughout the day. Gender neutral. Might be fabulous in warmer/hotter weather. I think this would be at home in the Steamworks line - it reminds me somewhat of Robotic Scarab, Phoenix Steamworks, No. 93 Engine.

[cuervosueno]

I love amber and frakincense, and I love heliotrope too, so I had to get this. Plus, I just love the idea of it, alchemical gold.

 

I see why everyone is calling it citrus. It has a fresh lemon-like scent, bright and yellow, and behind it is the perfumy base I recognize from the other phoenixes.At this stage it smells kind of like a bright lemony cologne, which was totally unexpected. It softens quickly, and the lemony scent becomes more gold than yellow. I can smell the amber but am not sure about the frankincense--it is a resin that does often have a bright almost citrus note, but it usually isn't that close to citrus, so who knows. I don't get verbena (thankfully--its not a good note on me) I wish I got heliotrope because I love its soft vanilla floral, but I don't get it as an individual note (not like in Tarot: The Sun for example).

 

Overall, this is a very bright and golden scent which settles down into softer perfumy sort of gold. I like it, and find that while it doesn't last as long as I'd like, it is more long lived than copper phoenix. (A few hours). In its last fading stages, however, it is very similar to the other phoenixes....

Edited January 17, 2010 by Shollin
Removed Lab description --Shollin

[ellebelle]

I get verbena, and that is it - but I amp verbena like crazy. I do not get any amber at all. In the final stages of the drydown, I get verbena herbs, which gives the scent an almost metallic twang. Sadly, not for me.

[aedes]

I agree with previous assessments - reminds me a lot of Sol Invictus. A somewhat sharp, assertive, masculine gold scent. I think it's the verbena. The acidity slowly fades and the ambers take over in the end, but I think I'll stick this one on my guy.

[angelicruin]

This is a very sunshine, bright scent. I get lemon verbena the strongest on my skin, but I also get metallic, honey, and amber-like notes as well as a faint bit of citrus orange.

 

I really like this scent and wouldn't mind getting a full bottle of it.

 

 

 

 

[Dark Alice]

This smells like bright oranges, perfume, and Gold metal. It's also making me itch. I am hoping that it's just interacting with the lotion I just put on b/c I do like this. I just don't know if it's bottle worthy.

[astarinel]

I amp verbena like nobody's business, so getting it pretty strongly here was not a surprise to me.

 

I was hoping to get more amber, since I love amber, but it's pretty absent on my skin except as sort of a "perfumey" waft behind the citrus. Basically, on me, Gold Phoenix smells like citrus + perfume + metal. It is very bright, but I was hoping for a more deeper, richer gold rather than a sharp sunny one.

 

Although this sounds sort of negative, it's actually reasonably pleasant, just not what I prefer and was hoping this scent would be.

Edited December 31, 2009 by astarinel

[Venneh]

Can finally review this, as I'm back at school and with my decants. In the decant, I think I'm getting the verbena first and foremost; very lemony, which makes me edgy. On my skin, this is very, very much verbena; wood polish all the way. We'll see if any of the rest of this comes out, but I'm not having much hope. Yeah, wood polish verbena all the way, and doesn't work very well with my skin chemistry. Swaps/sales.

Edited January 4, 2010 by Venneh

[CreamyJade]

In the bottle: Verbana!

Wet on skin: Bright verbana & citrus. Think citrus Pledge.

Dry on skin: The blend has mellowed, as I now get a more somber verbana and citrus scent and possibly some flowers (??).

Final thoughts: This is not the sexy amber and frankincense blend I was hoping for. Gold Phoenix is a very bright, sunshine blend with depth, but it's definately too bright & too sharp for me.

[Schmoozy]

Gold Phoenix is a bright, oddly sweet, creamy and extremely beautiful. The first few minutes is literally a transformation as the all the notes struggle to coem to the top. Once it has the chance to settle, it blooms with my skin chemistry. This is sweet citrus woods, with resiny amber and frankincense. Perhaps my favorite Phoenix.

[Wwindy]

Yep, almost all lemony verbena here. I'm surprised -- the amber and frankincense don't seem to be showing up at all. I'm curious to see whether the deeper notes will come out more with aging.

[blu°]

From the imp and freshly applied this smells like the washing detergent from Aldi (supercheap discounter supermarket chain) - sharp, bright, somewhat soapy.

 

It soon mellows out, however - verbena is still strong, but backed up by the frankincense and I guess, the ambers, which remain undistinguishable.

 

Overall, Gold Phoenix is a smooth woodsy/herbal scent with quite a lot of throw and some sweetness in the background.

 

The frankincense behaves much in the same way as it does in King Cobra, which makes me a bit wary to jump to a bottle. I stopped liking King Cobra just after I got a bottle of it back then.

 

I'm still tempted, though.

[zankoku_zen]

I might have to retest this one again, because I applied it at about 8 AM, and by now it has all but faded. From what I can recall during the wet stage, it was a nice amber blend with a hint of lemon. I was pleasantly surprised. I don't believe it ever went powdery on me, which amber has a tendency to do, but it has all but faded by now.

 

ETA: My skin eats this up. Literally. Two hours later and no trace of it. An hour later and it was incredibly faint. Boooo.

Edited January 10, 2010 by zankoku_zen

[surlygurl]

This was a bottle purchase from the get-go because I Love Gold Scents. Truly I do. When I think of gold scents, I think of Mr. Jaquel & Faustus - scents that are resin heavy & deep. So I applied from my Gold Phoenix bottle:

 

When I first read the description, I thought "hey! This sounds like Sol Invictus!" and it kinda is. If you take sol invictus, remove the saffron & any other 'exotic' bits, and then add in lemonade, you get this scent. As it dries it softens. Less overt lemon, more lemon-tinged amber. It's very light and clean. A 'fresh out of the shower after using lemon scented soap' clean. But it's not gold. It's a powdery yellow.

 

I like it & will definitely use this in the warmer months.