Little Pythia

[allinmyhead]

LITTLE PYTHIA
Ever since toddler’dom, Lilith has had a thing for tarot cards. What kid wouldn’t? They’re big, they’re colorful, and each of them has a story to tell. She has her own decks now (Rider Waite and Thoth), but she still steals mine all the time.

This pic was accidental, and, to me, hilarious. She was playing with her Thoth deck when out of nowhere, she grabbed these cards and smooshed them on her cheeks. I’m not sure why she did it, but I’m hella glad I had a camera handy! Channeling Uncle Al, perhaps?

An incense for a budding baby magus: vanilla frankincense and rose champaca with a little bit of red licorice.

First? I'm first?

In the bottle:
Oh this is a happy smell. It's soft and sweet and comforting with a little bit of dryness. I'm not really picking out anything specific, but I like. Definitely not getting the licorice. Which is OKAY!

Wet:
Hm. I think that's the licorice. But it's not sickly sweet like I thought it was going to be. A little floral ... some of the dryness is coming through too. I'm guessing that dryness is the frankincense.

Drydown:
Well here's another change. Hellooo rose champaca! I didn't expect you to come out quite that strong. You can go away now.

Dry:
This is very interesting! I sniff my wrist and feel like I just walked into a little used bookstore! That scent of the books, the pages ... that soft, sweet, dry smell that only book paper has. But these books have been touched and loved and have all of the skin smells and the soft lotions and perfumes of a hundred hands have fragranced the pages beyond the simple lush book smell. I love it! I'm craving a bit more of the vanilla sweetness, but I hope that comes out with a bit of age.

[angelicruin]

I'm getting a floral incense with a hint of licorice. Very lovely scent and quite wearable.

[Xue_Bai]

ITI: Medicinal something or another.

 

Wet: OMG! Yummy cherry and vanilla, not foodie or sweet, but !

 

Dry: Warm light rose and cherry in vanilla light. Again, not foodie or sweet, but lightly incense.

 

Verdict: Yeah, I'm probably going to need a bottle. It's so warm and happy and light without being childish. Plus, the cherry from the licorice is just perfect.

[suki]

In The Bottle: I get a gentle vanilla, definitely some sweet red licorice and a hint of the rose champaca. As with most Lilith-inspired scents I've tried, this one also has a sweet, tender, childlike aspect to it.

 

Wet On Skin: The rose champaca is coming a bit more to the fore. It's reading like a soft rose incense without being heavy-handed as both those notes can sometime be on me.

 

Dry Down: The rose champaca is all and everything now.

 

In All: Low to medium throw, this scent reminds me of going to witchie shops with my mom when I was really little. I was intrigued by all the mackical ephemera and always wanted something magickal of my own- but being a wee lass I always wanted something familiar, that I could recognize from my living world. A mystical rose incense would've been probably right at the top of my list. If this scent shifts as it ages, that will be fine, but if it stays a soft powdery rose, then that will be totally okay, too.

[misamisa01]

Of the decants I got, this is the one I was worried about. And I was right - this one does not work for me.

 

On me, this is a spicy, soapy scent. It also doesn't really morph all that much from wet to dry. The soap does tone down a little and the frankincense becomes more pronounced, but I get nothing from the licorice.

[puck_nc]

Origin: Decant circle

 

Initial Thoughts: Normally the word "frankincense" is an instant rejection for me as I tend to amp notes in the incense/dark musk/myrrh/amber family. "Rose" is also usually a note of doom. But it's vanilla frankincense and rose champaca...I will dare it.

 

In the Vial: Strongly incense with a hint of green and a dash of licorice.

 

Wet: Hello, incense! If I breathe in very deeply I can catch just a whiff of the vanilla.

 

Drydown: Darn it, rose champaca isn't far enough away from rose. It's underneath the frankincense, but that tell-tale stinky cooked greens I get from rose is definitely there.

 

Further Drydown: This is new. The stinky-collards actually fades away, which usually doesn't happen with rose on me. It leaves a sweet frankincense in its wake that is gentle, rather than head-shop. The one thing hiding from me is the licorice, which is not a huge loss for me.

 

Verdict: I'm not sure I'll get a bottle, but I'll hang onto the imp.

[Beckiemort]

In the bottle: This is sweet, much sweeter than I expected initially from the note list. The red licorice is at the forefront with some rose in the background and just a little bit of incense (mostly frankincense to my nose, the champaca is nowhere to be found in the bottle).

 

Wet: The rose blooms almost instantly and takes over everything. It smells like a dirty rose, which I'm guessing is the frankincense. It's different, but I like it.

 

Dry down: The rose stays strong and almost overpowering for a while but eventually is rustled into submission by the frankincense and champaca aspects of the scent. The vanilla and licorice soften things a bit and I think help to tame the rose. Somehow the rose starts to change and smell off in some way with my chemistry, almost rotting for lack of a better term. Thankfully this stage doesn't last very long or else it would have been instantly shipped off to the swap box. I'm really intrigued by the dry down once the rose settles. There's a stronger presence of the incense and the vanilla is more present with a nice rose in the background. I'm not sure it feels 'me' but I can't deny that it's a beautiful scent.

 

ETA: Nevermind That weird rose scent reappeared about 30mins later that combined with a frankincense note that went overly powdery and dirty I don't think this is a scent for me. I'll re-test it once it's had a chance to settle and update if anything changes, but if not it's off to the swap box.

 

This is sad because it's a beautiful scent, with beautiful notes, it's just my skin chemistry that doesn't really play well with frankincense and combined with the rose it just turns 'off' on my skin.

 

ETA2: I just retested this today and it's much better. It's still a fairly powdery scent, but I think that is just the nature of frankincense and rose with me. It's quite a beautiful scent and now smells good on me. However, I'm still not sure it fits 'me' - it feels a little too refined and proper to be me. Almost as though it is a little too chilly and impersonal for it to fit with my personality. Perhaps layered with a spicy warm scent I might change my mind.

Edited October 7, 2013 by Beckie

[stellamaris]

This is awesome incense.

It's funny, in the bottle it smelled like nothing, but I am used to that.

On my skin it was lovely flowery incense, sigh. Something creamy underneath.

[Zii]

I am very much getting the vanilla frankincense, and there is a little floral and a little sweet that must be the champaca and red licorice, but it's mostly incense. It is very head shoppy on me, which I love and I am very happy my decanter was able to give me two decants in the original bottle because this is just the right mix of sweet and incense for me.

[Gateau]

I get very dry and distinctive frankincense and champaca from this. As I wear it longer, the dry edge softens a little, I think from the vanilla and red licorice, but they're not detectable to my nose as individual notes. I never get anything I think of as "rose" with the champaca. It's not for me as I'd prefer it with the opposite balance (more rose, vanilla, and red licorice, with a hint of frankincense and champaca).

[thekittenkat]

In the decant: powdery rose, a bit old-fashioned, like the rose potpourri my grandmother had all over the house.

 

Wet: mostly the rose champaca aka rose potpourri, but a hint of the vanilla frank

 

The dry-down: There's a bit more of the vanilla frank, but it's still mostly the rose "potpourri". No sign of the red licorice, thank goodness! My grandmother would have loved this, I suspect, but it's not really my bag. Those who like The Peacock Queen or Black Rose might give this a try.

[dementia_divine]

In the decant: The rose champaca note is very strong, and so is the red licorice! The frankincense is there, but the rose champaca and the red licorice are stronger than the frankincense (to my nose).

 

Wet: The rose champaca is the dominant note, and it is blended well with the red licorice. The frankincense note is in the background for the first few minutes, but it is starting to make its presence known.

 

Dry: The blend is becoming slightly sweeter, which is always a good thing in my book! Alas, it is still a rose champaca and frankincense blend. It kind of reminds me of the White Peach and Incense Hair Gloss with rose instead of peach.

 

Verdict: I wish the vanilla part of the frankincense would have emerged, and that the red licorice note had stayed around. The rose champaca note is slightly soapy on my skin, and I have a few frankincense blends that I prefer to this one, so I won't be getting a bottle. I'm glad that I was able to try it, though!

[EnchantedMoon]

I really love this blend. It is a soft scent on me, with all of the notes detectable.

 

In the bottle it is ultra soft. I can barely smell anything. I know that bpal perfumes definitely smell different on then in the bottle so time to dive in

 

Wet, a sweet and soft floral incense! It smells wonderful!

 

Dry, I definitely can smell the vanilla frankincense with a hint of a rose incense, and a sweetness in the background which I assume is the red licorice!!

 

Divine, I love this!!!

[MCS4096]

Rose, rose, and more rose.

 

I love vanilla, frankincense, red licorice.. I love champaca.. but I dont know what "rose champaca" really is. Within minutes of hitting my skin all subtleties of this blend disappear and it is (rather old ladyish) rose.

 

I'll keep her a bit and see if that frankincense can get an upper hand, but I think this might be a skin issue. I was most excited about this blend of all the Liliths this time around too.

[zankoku_zen]

Rosey, vanilla incense. This one is a soft, heady, cuddly blend. On very close whiffs, you can smell the red licorice.

 

This is actually the smell of recalling a pleasant childhood dream as an adult.

 

Totally adorable.

[Magycmyste]

In the imp: something sharp, something sweet, and something floral. Which I think covers all the notes.

 

Wet on skin: Honestly, I think I'm getting the licorice more than anything else. Which, while I'm not that fond of licorice, I do like the smell. Especially of red, strawberry licorice (I really don't like the black)

 

Dried down: The incense and the rose is a lot stronger now. But it softens down into this beautiful scent where I get everything - the vanilla frankincense, the rose champaca, and even the red licorice. It's beautifully blended, and actually, reminds me of my beloved Touched Twice.

 

Throw: Soft and powdery and sweet. This is divine.

 

Verdict: ***** Yeah. I need a bottle of this. Like, yesterday.

[milo]

Wet, I'm getting the champaca incense and a touch of rose. After a bit, the rose goes sour as it often does on me. So it's basically a sour incense. Too bad, as it was quite nice when in the wet stage.

[Ajila]

In the bottle - An aggressively strong rose incensy note that I presume is rose champaca

 

Wet on me - Sweet sawdust and a touch of liquorice

 

Dry on me - A smoky, waxy, resin with just a touch of sweetness

 

Overall - I feel like I'm the only one who wanted more liquorice from this, but it just didn't grab me

[Monster]

Everything that zankoku_zen said! Little Pythia starts out as licorice on me and dries to a sweet, rosy incense. This is perfect.

[cherrycherry]

It's taken me a while to get my paws on this and I am so, so glad I managed to bring it home.

 

In the bottle, it is a soft vanilla-rose to me. Very cosy and feminine and sweet. Wet on my wrist, I get a little bit of frankincense and then the red licorice comes out to say hello. One of the main reasons why I wanted this was the red licorice.

 

Combined with the rose and the vanilla, it really is so very beautiful and unlike any other BPAL blend I've tried. Gorgeous.

[Blood onmy hands]

Dry, crumbly, dark red, slightly sour rose with a dusty incense and old, dry wood. It smells ancient. I can't pick out the red licorice exactly, but the drydown does have this high-pitched, sugary, cotton candy type sweetness that smells really good mixed with the rose and incense. It gets sweeter over time and starts to smell very foodie on me, the way that blends like All Souls manage to smell like edible incense.
I love that this is gourmand, but also ancient and dusty smelling.

[tinyvulture]

GORGEOUS rose incense. Not totally rose...the frankincense is there, too. So pretty. No red licorice at all for me! Smells ancient and mysterious. I don't know my rose from rose champaca, but whatever it is, I love it.