Lead Phoenix

[greenranger]

LEAD PHOENIX
Solid, heavy, and resistant to corrosion, lead is the first and oldest of the Seven Metals. It is the metal of ammunition and tombs, radiation shields and solder. Though it represents limitations and boundaries, it also transcends them when combined with other elements to create Philosophical Mercury.

A dark and lusterless scent that contains the potential for limitless spiritual radiance: tobacco absolute, hemlock, plum, cypress, styrax, olibanum, and wild lettuce.

I can't stop smelling my arm.



Dark and smooth and not shiny at all.

This has a few of my very favorite plant notes, and I'll include the tobacco in that statement. I adore cypress, and olibanum. Hemlock is often present in the green scents that I love. Styrax I have found in favorite blends before. I can't really pick anything out at all, but, the amazing sweet darkness on my arm.... Mmmmmmm.

As it warms up it just keeps getting better.

I was looking forward to this one. I just knew it would be wonderful for me. *sigh* It just needs to stay just like this forever....

[Invidiana]

I get no wild lettuce at all, which is a relief. That kind of stuff doesn't amp on me anyhow. What I do get is a lovely cozy blend of Christmas tree and sugarplums, warmed up and deepened by the gorgeous resins. There might be just a slight haze of tobacco too, like smoke from a nearby fireplace. Lovely

[musichappens]

BLEH!! The tobacco absolute seems to scream at me the minute I put this one, so initially I wasn't too sure if I should let it sit or go and scrub it off. However, I decided to let it sit and see what it did and I'm so glad that I did!! Approximately 10 minutes after my initial application, the plum seems to emerge along with some beautiful resins. This is the surprise-sleeper-hit out of all the Anniversary scents for me and I'm definitely going to need a bottle. I'm, also, so glad that I was able to get sniffies of all the Phoenixes to test before I purchased any because I don't think I would have tried this otherwise. Oh, and I have a feeling this is going to age beautifully!

[patina]

The tobacco and hemlock came out first. It smelled a bit like Belladonna. Then the plums stepped out a little more. Finally it turned into a dull, slightly sweet metallic. (I've heard lead is sweet- that's why kids eat lead paint chips and get poisoned.)

The throw seems about average, and, yeah. This is hard to describe.

I don't think I'll get a bottle, though. Not with all the other anniversaries and Yules competing for my attention.

[cuervosueno]

This is my favorite of the phoenixes I tried. In the bottle it has a lovely incense scent, with something else familiar, probably the olibanum. A resin, definitely.

 

On me it, the notes become more distinct. The hemlock gives it a nice sharp evergreen note which doesn't overwhelm, but makes it very seasonally appropriate (and I love evergreen!). Behind that, the scent is dark, powdery, and yes, leaden, but like pencil--ie. soft lead. I can't smell the plum per se, but then again, plum is a note I rarely pick out, but I love the round dark richness it gives to some scents. This really reminds me of....soft lead. If I run my wrist past my hand fast I almost get that scent. But close up it is rich and incensey and delightful. It shares some notes with the other phoenixes I have--a slightly perfumy base, and I wonder if that is the tobacco? I'm not sure it is in all of them, though, but there is something that slightly reminds me of upscale men's cologne in all of them--just a hint, anyway. (And actually I only mean in lead, copper and gold as those are the ones I have)

 

A great scent for a resin/incense lover.

 

As an interesting note, though, on the boy it smells much more sharply metallic with less of the plum sweetness. Interesting!

 

eta: ack! Something has gone horribly wrong with this. Now it smells much more like lead....like pencil lead...but it also has an odd scent like someone who is wearing stale perfume after drinking too much the night before. Ok, I'm NOT keeping this one.

Edited January 28, 2010 by cuervosueno

[Leopard403]

By far, Lead Phoenix is the biggest surprise of the anniversary bunch for me. I was testing sniffies blindly, with no list as to what notes were in which scent, and I think I should do that more often: I think knowing ahead of time plants a seed, placebo effect-like, as to whether I'll like something or not.

 

This is lovely but hard to describe on my skin, I guess most notable as a clean floral, though not at all soapy or identifiable as a "flowery" scent. This is very sophisticated and gently perfume-y and quite excellent. Not at all "lead"-like on the skin!

 

Damn, I wish I could do better than than in describing it. I'll come back after I've thought on it some more...

[aedes]

Boom! Deep, dark, plum - smells like a timpani sounds. Base note junkies take note. Herbal elements emerge steadily - first tobacco, then cypress, then hemlock as the plum becomes more of a memory. Every sniff seems different from the last. In the end, I think I smell the lettuce as an almost menacing high note in a big, serious chord. This is a scent for war, sh*t-kicking, the final showdown, no more Mr. Nice Guy. If I had to kick down a door with a gun in my hands, this is what I would wear.

 

I love it.

Edited December 28, 2009 by aedes

[angelicruin]

Whoa, heavy tobacco & plum with this one. But I do really like it. Cypress comes out shortly after initial application. I'm not really detecting the lettuce note...and this does get sharper on the dry down. I get that strong metallic note as well. Still, plum and tobacco remain the strongest notes on my skin.

[Dark Alice]

wet: Metal..Lead in particular with hints of blood, cypress, and styrax.

 

Dry: Metal with a cypress tree. For pete's sake I smell like Cypress trees.

 

Of all the phoenixes I had such high hopes for this one. *sigh*

[forspecial_plate]

I've tried this a couple times, and it doesn't quite work for me, I'm sad to say. It smells interesting, and I kind of like how it smells, but in the end one or two notes just go wrong for me. I'm blaming the lettuce but it could also be the tobacco. I want to like tobacco in perfume but it hardly ever works. As for the lettuce, it just give me an association with kitchens and compost, and unfortunately ends up reminding me of garbage. I hate to say that, but.....well, I wasn't sure how else to put it.

 

That is not to say that I wear this and think, "Ew, garbage!". In fact, I smell a lot of potential, kind of sexy and dark, very much illustrative of the concept.......with sneaky little hints of wilted lettuce. It smells good for a while but after a couple hours, I just grow weary of it, and it has really good staying power. I might hang onto the decant just to try it again in a few months, because of the potential great smell that I do get when I wear it.

 

So, bottom line, I want to love this, and I almost do, and maybe with time I'll be able to accept it. This happens a lot with me....I have certain expectations for a scent, and get disappointed, only to come back to it later and end up loving it. I hope that happens!

[astarinel]

This one is interesting, and it's another one I put on my boyfriend rather than slathering it on myself after getting a masculine vibe in the imp.

 

On him, the cypress largely takes over (no bad thing really, he and I like cypress on him), and it's very dark and resinous behind the cypress. This one was less straightforwardly metallic than most of the other phoenixes, to my nose, and it definitely strikes me as a masculine, powerful scent. The tobacco gives it that sharp tinge that tobacco sometimes has in blends, the sharpness rather than the smokiness.

 

Overall, this one was better on him than Iron Phoenix (which was, oddly, HEAVIER than Lead Phoenix to me), and it was very interesting but had a little too much going on to be a standout.

[edenssixthday]

Lead Phoenix - When I smelled this in the bottle, I didn't think I'd like it, but once it dries down on my skin, it's really beautiful. It's not the type of scent I think I'd reach for to wear myself, but I think it would smell amazing on a guy. The hemlock is the dominant note, and it's a note I don't usually like, but the tobacco and cypress work together to temper the astringent qualities of the hemlock and make it smell really lovely. The plum is subtle and adds a tiny hint of dark sweetness to the mix. Sadly, I don't smell the lettuce at all. I really love this blend and the more I think about it, maybe I will wear it myself!

[Iceblink]

WHOA cypress. Almost all I can smell here is cypress and lettuce and herbs. Where's the tobacco and plum??

[veronicafranco]

two-word review: sylvan snakecharmer!

 

ok, i know snake charmer is 2 words.

wet, this is dark dark dark, cypress, and a bright spot of yummy plum. it's that plum plus the dark resinousness (resinosity?!) that makes me think of snake charmer. the cypress/hemlock and plum combination is very unusual, and great. also, this is the second tobacco blend that has not made me throw up in my mouth even a little tiny bit (the awesome melainis was the first one). this one is much prettier than i expected! makes me want to wear a dark velvet dress and lots of smoky eye makeup. i'm a fan.

 

eta: i don't get (or miss) the lettuce.

 

days later: excited for the plum, i slathered this one on this morning and.... got almost all dark evergreens and tobacco. not what i had in mind!! maybe this is just one of those blends that only work on me when i wear them in very small amounts. (would still smell good on a guy though.) on the plus side, it turns out garnier makeup removing towelettes are dandy for bpal removal as well.

Edited January 12, 2010 by veronicafranco

[rayvn1]

Dear, sweet gods this is good!!

 

My beloved plum (I NEVER would have expected that to become one of my favorite bpal notes) and thick, rich, black tobacco So sexy and dark! I can't wait to smell this on DH - it just screams jump on me and have your way with me...in leather pirate boots. No leather in the scent, that's just the sexiest clothes I can imagine right now. Land-locked Captain Jack sparrow

[zankoku_zen]

Heady plum, with a base of wood (its the cypress!) and dark greenery (hemlock, is that you).

 

This one is a very 'heavy' blend, which makes it a very good incarnation of lead. The wood and dark greenery again give it a 'darker' edge.

[surlygurl]

Fresh on the skin I get astringent cypress and herbs. Then little bits of plum come out and are joined by tobacco. The other notes are just names to me so I can't identify them. But through all the variations of the dancing herbs, I get that sharp cypress smell that's threatening to give me a headache .

[hlinspjalda]

In the bottle: Mostly resinous, with touches of evergreen and the bitterness of lettuce.

 

Wet: Evergreen, but with a sweet tinge. It smells like shopping for a Christmas tree.

 

Half an hour: It still smells like shopping for a Christmas tree, but with plum added. I love the plum note, and it's a fabulous addition to this very dark green scent.

 

One hour: This is nice, much less green than I expected. It's warmly resinous and plummy, with a nice hemlocky green note and a slight bitterness. I don't know if that's the lettuce or the tobacco, but I like it.

 

Two hours: I'm beginning to get a darker note now, I'm not sure what. It's resinous and aromatic rather than smoky or sharp, almost anise-like. But the base is still resinous evergreen plum.

 

Three hours: Thicker and flatter now, still with that darker note. It is heavy, still greenish, but also still with the plum.

 

Four hours: Dark, flat, greenish resin; most of the plum is gone now.

 

I found this one very evocative and look forward to wearing it again. It is definitely a dead of winter kind of scent, though.

 

[Blood onmy hands]

This smells like tons of cypress and a bit of warm, powdery, golden amber on me (which I guess is the styrax). I don't smell anything fruity or plum-like or anything like lettuce. The cypress note smells dark green and sort of murky and bitter on me, though it softens in the drydown. It's a little bit like pine, but I get more of a dark, dry wood note from it and the greenery smells darker to me too.

I thought that this would be too dark and too much on the bitter side of things, but the powdery, warm, resinous drydown is nice. It still smells dark, woodsy, and green, but the golden, powdery quality makes it warmer and more wearable.

 

I don't think that I can wear this well, but my husband loves evergreen type notes, and I think that this would smell wonderful on a guy. It's like a darker, murkier version of Golden Priapus.

[milo]

Wet, this is rather medicinal on me. Kind of like a mentholated Dettol. As it dries, it becomes quite resiny and evergreen-y, and like others have noted, a rather 'heavy' scent, and maaaybe a touch of fruit. Very fitting for the name, but the cypress smells too manly on me, and I won't be needing a bottle.

[dawndie]

In bottle: green menthol

 

On skin: tangy green things

 

Half-hour later: the plum has appeared, purple and sweet. Plum is never a bad thing

 

In conclusion: I was afraid this would be too aftershavey green or Christmas Tree on me, but this is more like the Natural Outdoors. Definitely green, but a little bit sweet and a little bit dusty.

[Coldfire]

 

 

 

Decant: an astringent-y cypress note

Wet on Me: more astringent cypress with hints of the tobacco.

Drying Down: mostly the cypress and tobacco dancing under my nose.

Dry: once dry a light floral scent mellows and dances with the cypress and tobacco and makes this something wonderful.

[septima_pica]

This is my favourite of the Phoenixes this year. It's got a faint phantom soapiness that comes and goes, but under that is a warm, herbal green resinous scent -- like rolling in a nicely-scented forest undergrowth. Not as dark or sweet as other people seem to be getting. Plum, though? Really? I don't get any of that at all. All the sweetness here comes from tobacco and styrax. And the wild lettuce -- that's bitter lettuce, Lactuca virosa, with the opium-like sap, right? -- is a surprisingly strong scent. Smells much nicer on the pulse points.

 

I'll keep the decant, but ultimately decided against a bottle. It was a tough decision though, and I'll definitely be using up the imp.

[MamaMoth]

My favorite of the 09 Phoenixes!

 

Bottle: Astringently green. Something herbal, poisonous, and sticky green.

 

Wet on skin: More of the same, but sweeter. A little bit of resin is creeping out from behind.

 

Drying: Mmmm, sweet plum and poisonous greens. This is such a fascinating blend. The tobacco gives it a little bit of woody sweetness, and it's grounded by a resinous base.

 

Fully dry: It's tangy and green and bitter on top, and sweet and resiny on the bottom. There's a slight pleasant mustiness to it, kind of like some fresh greens from the gardens have. Every so often I think I get a whiff of the tobacco.

 

Love it. One of the most unusual BPALs I've smelled.

[heathercaley]

Once applied, I get a nice whiff of cypress, and something herbal yet tobacco-y. If I huff it, I can sort of smell a sweet plum blossom note underneath the cypress, but I wouldn't know it unless I was told. I was purposefully seeking it out since it's one of my favorite notes. I do amp cypress like crazy though, but I don't mind because I happen to like cypress.

 

As it dries down, the resins pop out just a little bit. Not too much, but enough to make it smokey and nice. I have a feeling that this will age into something beautiful.

 

Overall, it's a lightly plummed cypress blend with just a touch of smokey resins. I like it a lot.