The Phoenix At Midday

[CapricornSister]

Your hands lie open in the long fresh grass, –
The finger-points look through like rosy blooms:
Your eyes smile peace. The pasture gleams and glooms
‘Neath billowing skies that scatter and amass.
All round our nest, far as the eye can pass,
Are golden kingcup-fields with silver edge
Where the cow-parsley skirts the hawthorn-hedge.
‘Tis visible silence, still as the hour-glass.

Deep in the sun-searched growths the dragon-fly
Hangs like a blue thread loosened from the sky: –
So this wing’d hour is dropt to us from above.
Oh! clasp we to our hearts, for deathless dower,
This close-companioned inarticulate hour
When twofold silence was the song of love.

The blazing fires of nona hora: blood orange, mimosa, gingergrass, golden amber, saffron, tonka absolute, pomegranate, neroli, and bourbon geranium. This Phoenix embodies vitality, ferocity, determination, passion, and strength of will.

I received my most recent BPAL haul at work yesterday. Due to a work outing, I left the box here and came in unscented this morning. I figured I would try Phoenix at Midday, even though it was 10 am here. I am loving it so far! I definitely get the comfort of the amber/blood orange mix right away. Initially it was a bit candyish to me, with something sharp (saffron?). As it dried it mellowed out. Then I got hints of Tonka, pom and geranium blending with the amber and Orange. This is definitely a golden, springlike Midday! Fitting, considering it is a balmy 51 degrees here in NYC!

[Heavenlyrabbit]

I don't get blazing hot.

 

I get glowing hot. Vibrating warmth hot. Golden not Red hot.

 

I get a restrained warmth from the Gingergrass a juicy lushness from Blood Orange along with the Fruity/Candy vibe Capricorn Sister gets.

Edited December 21, 2011 by Heavenlyrabbit

[angelicruin]

A strong, slightly sweet scent. Blood orange, pomegranate, and amber notes are strongest on me. Very bright scent.

[Amalthea]

When I first apply this, I get a huge rush of warmth from the blood orange. It's bright and glowy and it reminds me of the red hot desert. But then I also really get the soothing notes of tonka and amber at the end, which is incredibly soothing. Almost reminds me of Dorian, almost. This one is a morpher but I kinda dig it!

[cinnamonster]

Crikey! In the bottle I get strong dill pickles. On skin, very very strong, hints of orange, still with this dill pickle kind of scent, twisting more into geranium. It's very hard to describe, it's more vegetal than I expected for sure.It fades fast on me.

 

I think this would actually be very nice on a man, or also a woman. It's in the same vein as Dior Homme Intense to me. Not the same, but in feeling. I may see if my brother would wear this.

[pHyper]

Straight out of the bottle I get strong blood orange. After about 10-20 minutes the orange calms down and I get something spicy. I think it's the amber. This translates as really warm and glowing. Not sure if it's me though.

[mistressfizz]

Sniff: Citrus! Sharp, almost like ginger, with amber lurking underneath.

 

Wet: The sharpness fades and amber grows stronger. I get hints of spice within a lush golden warmth. The florals start to peek out, mixing with the fruit notes and preventing them from becoming too sweet. There is a comforting heat and glow to this scent; the image I get is a cat resting on the sun-warmed tiles of a veranda overlooking a Mediterranean garden.

 

Dry: An amber that doesn't turn to powder! This remains warm and golden, with the florals becoming more prominent. Rather than blazing, this is more of a gentle persistent heat, very pleasant and invigorating.

[Monster]

This is bright, happy, citrus... definitely warm and sun-shining not hot or fiery.

 

Once applied to the skin this is a blast of blood oranges and gingergrass.

As it dries the geranium comes out more while the amber holds everything together.

The final dry down is a dusty orange with amber and geranium on my skin.

 

Very pretty

[Dark Alice]

This smells like afternoon sunshine. Citrusy, bright, but this truly reminds of the midday sun.

Edited December 31, 2011 by Dark Alice

[Blood onmy hands]

The Phoenix at Midday is my favorite of this year's Phoenix blends, though I don't like it enough to purchase a full bottle. I get mostly a watery, sweet blood orange, herby-spicy geranium, and warm amber from this one. The amber doesn't go to full-out baby powder on me, but is a soft, dusty, warmth to the scent. It's pleasant, but pretty light on my skin. I prefer The Haunted Palace for an amber & blood orange blend, as it is heavier and sweeter.

[SadariEvenstar]

I keep reading the notes in this over and over again because all I smell in this is oranges and... sandalwood? This is a really strange blend.

 

-edit: I put a little bit more of this on so I could decide if it was wearable or not and the smell made me immediately nauseous. More than a tiny dot of this and all I smell is rotten oranges.

Edited January 9, 2012 by SadariEvenstar

[zankoku_zen]

Afternoon sunshine. I get pomegranate with hints of citrus, saffron, and a bit of amber and tonka. It's like squeezed juice over amber.

 

Tasty, sunny, golden.

[windbourne]

I wish it maintained the initial HELLO I AM BLOOD ORANGE PLEASED TO MEET YOU blast, because that was amazing. Even the single note I have from another etailer isn't as fierce as that was, bright and juicy and intense and wow. Sadly, it goes quickly and the geranium becomes the strongest note on my skin. I'm okay with geranium, but I prefer it in more medicinal blends; it just feels more natural to me in those. In this, it feels kind of out of place.

 

As it dries, it becomes startlingly perfumey, which is not awesome, but is a frequent consequence of pomegranate on me. Ah, well. This batch of Phoenixes all had death notes blended with notes I really love, and it seems like the death note is winning every time.

 

My mouth is still watering from that first blood orange explosion, though. Dang. Time to go buy some tangerines. *_*

[biocarolyn]

Preconceived notions: citrus of all kinds is my friend and one of my favorite families of notes. I also love pomegranate, and neroli goes citrus rather than floral for me. Amber is good when it doesn't go powdery, and tonka and saffron are also nice. This sounds delicious...

 

In the bottle: Straight blood orange,like WHOA! Very intense and very recognizable as blood orange rather than another type of citrus.

 

On skin: still predominantly blood orange when first applied, but pomegranate appears soon too. Slowly amber rounds this stage out without powder of doom, and now something is sweetening it. Tonka I'd imagine, although I can't recognize it as such. Just something sweeter. As it continues to wear the bourbon geranium appears, which is amazing. Then blood orange loses some of its very obviously BLOOD ORANGE character to becomes a juicier citrus.

 

This is warm and bright, great for this time of year to make winter dullness go away. For citrus fans certainly...

[milo]

I get a blast of blood orange initially, then a touch of something musky comes out. Very pleasant at this stage, kind of a sweet, musky orange. This doesn't last, and this blend fades away within an hour. Not for me due to lasting power.

[angelamaria]

In decant: dusty orange, both in color feel and actual scent that comes up to me.

 

Wet on skin: orange, and the dustiness recedes a bit. There is an almost-minty feel to this, which is giving it a sort of brightness that seems quite in tune with the midday idea for this blend. Fruitier--meaning, not just citruses now--which probably means it's just the pomegranate showing off--but it's primarily an orange blend.

 

Dry: sadly (well, for me), it goes back to a dusty orange when dry, and it seems like a more prominent dusty note now than it was in the decant--maybe the amber has something to do with it, but golden amber has been all right on my skin in the past.

 

Verdict: nope, not feeling this one! It's a shame, I do like orange blends.

[lohengrin]

In the imp: Orange and geranium. Geranium always smells a little fusty to me, though.

 

On skin, wet: Orange and geranium.

 

On skin, dry: Orange, geranium, and the first hints of something else, but I can't pin down quite what it is yet.

 

After an hour: That other note turned out to be gingergrass, which has replaced the geranium entirely. This is an improvement, but I'm still not sure about this one.

[Invidiana]

When I first sniffed this I could have sworn there was red musk in it but now I'm surmising that the combination of blood orange and pomegrante imparted a similar feel at first. It started out juicy and citrusy and red-orange, and I almost thought it would be a win until it took a wrong turn. I think I would have loved this without the geranium and gingergrass. I simply could not ignore the sharp edge they gave the other elements on the drydown, which effectively ruined this scent for me. Eh, I'm not much of an afternoon person anyhow.

Edited January 24, 2012 by Invidiana

[lilyliza]

It's nice otherwise, but the saffron ruins it for me. I am amping it in this scent, so what is supposed to be sweet and orangey is overpowered by what smells very much like tomato juice for some reason, and I'm not very keen on smelling like tomato juice. The saffron (and the tomato juice effect) lessens as the other notes become more prominent on drydown, but it's still there enough to bother me. This is not for me- but on the bright side, I have discovered gingergrass through this scent and it is fabulous.

[Ghost of a Rose]

My imp is a decant from the generous Fright.

 

In the imp: The oil is darker than most BPAL's, a dark orangey-brown. It looks a lot like some types of patchouli oil. The scent is very sweet and complex, with the orange dominating and the florals also in evidence.

 

On me, wet: Very mysterious and oriental in mood. Much like in the imp, but I can also detect some pomegranate, the slight spiciness of saffron, and a very subtle vanilla-like note of tonka. In spite of the orange leading note, this isn't foody in the least. It's really more like an incense type of fragrance. Perhaps that's the influence of the amber, although I don't specifically notice amber.

 

After 10 minutes: Much the same, except that the florals and spices are stronger now, equally balanced with the orange. It's lovely. I see this as more of an evening scent than a noon one due to its formality, sophistication, and heaviness. I definitely get the fiery mood - something about this seems very red and orange. It makes sense, since many of the ingredients are those colors.

 

After 20 minutes: Same as above.

After 30 minutes: Same as above.

 

After 1 hour: Much of the orange has faded away, allowing the spices to take over as the primary note. This is now a spice fragrance rather than an incense one, but it is a subtle change rather than a transformation.

 

After 5 hours: The fragrance is still the same, but is barely discernible.

 

Verdict: Although this isn't at all the type of fragrance I usually wear, I really like it a lot. I imagine wearing it to a formal evening event and see in my mind's eye a woman wearing an ankle-length Cheongsam of red silk brocade, embroidered with orange and yellow accents.

 

My rating: 4 stars

Edited February 4, 2012 by Ghost of a Rose

[thekittenkat]

In the decant: Light citrus and saffron.

 

Wet: And, as expected, the citrus notes are going sharp.

 

The dry-down: Mostly icky citrus, although I knew that when I came aboard. I just had to test a scent with pom and mimosa, two of my fav scent notes. Oh well.

[karykeion]

PHOENIX REVIEW x2 COMBO!! Midday style. Thank you so much, azurephoenix!

 

In the imp: My first response was honestly the same as the response of a dear friend when I described the notes and concept to her. To quote her: "so, HWAAAAARGH perfume". Yeah. I smell ORANGE!, and wood? and geraniums? and...a lot of things, my nose isn't very well trained yet, but yes, it gives off the same "hwargh" vibe that Wrath did for me. Hopefully, though, this will work better!

 

On me, wet: I cannot tell whether I like this or not. It is quite "hwargh" on me, but I don't like uber feminine perfumes most of the time, so that could be a plus. And it's very warm and nice, but I feel like there's something really sharp in here that reminds me of An Omen of Good Fortune, which I am trying very hard to make myself like and not really succeeding.

 

On me, dry: Well the sharp note is gone, and now it's a nice glowing orange scent, but I'm really not a huge fan of citrus to begin with. I might use the imp up, but it's not really me. Oh well!

[Gin]

This is amazing. I can smell a spicy floral (geranium), and the overall feeling is the color orange. As it dries, I think I can smell some of the blood orange and pomegranate, but it still smells mostly spicy-floral to me.

[ouch!]

I really really like the opening of this perfume but they dry down is not as nice.

 

It starts with a strong orange herbal smell, I fins it slightly masculine and quite clean smelling too. It's lovely. I wish it held on to this for longer, it's very golden smelling. I LIKE!!! The geranium is also another strong note. Man I love geranium.

 

The dry down loses all the vibrant notes and this becomes quite bland to me, the neroli is there and I've smelled this many times before...

 

Sorry not a very inspiring review...

 

Edited July 26, 2012 by ouch!

[kashmira]

I really love how this smells on me and it is one of my favourites. The blood orange makes its presence when i first apply it, but soon it becomes tempered by geranium. After about 30 minutes, it simply turns into golden orange incense. When I wear this, people tend to listen to me and take notice. This blend represents a scent of power, strength and wisdom.