She Whose Handmaiden Was Love

[kashmira]

A kiss of fire and frankincense: exquisite Hojari frankincense painted with red benzoin, Ceylon cinnamon, blood rose, pimento, and jasmine hedoine.

Frankincense and rose are 2 of my favourite notes, so when I read the description for this one, I definitely needed a bottle.

In the bottle, a strong resin-y scent is most prominent. Wet on my skin, the frankincense dominates and for a brief time, it seems as though it is the only note present. After about 20 minutes, the rose takes over and beats the frankincense until it abdicates its resinous throne. There is a secondary note that peeks up in the drydown that I believe is jasmine hedione -- it doesn't scream true jasmine to my nose, but does seem to be in the same family. I can't detect any cinnamon or pimento, but perhaps with some aging, they might make their presence known as well.

Overall this is more a pretty floral on my skin rather than a resin-heavy blend. It is very nice and light and seems perfect for those wanting a fresh spring scent.

[JazzieCazzie]

Decanted an imp from a bottle bought from the Lab on release of the Lupers.

 

IN THE IMP: Spicy frankincense.

 

Dabbed in the crook of one arm.

 

WET: Unlike the first reviewer, the first note to amp upon application is absolutely the jasmine, but it's slightly more subtle and not in-your-face headache jasmine. There is something odd about it that I can't put my finger on which I wonder if it might not be the pimiento (I only associate pimiento with Italian deli sandwiches). I DO get the cinnamon kick but though I could smell the frankincense and benzoin in the imp, I am not getting them on the wet notes.

 

DRYDOWN: Rose rose rose rose rose and then, finally, frankincense and benzoin as it dries. The jasmine remains, giving it a wonderfully funky (good funky, not sweat funky) blend of the hothouse lush floral of jasmine, the spice of cinnamon and the awesome sauce of frankincense, with rose sitting in the background which is just where I like it.

 

OVERALL: I would not recommend this for jasmine haters, and I know some of you are out there, but if you can live with jasmine, this is a really awesome keeper and a great surprise.

 

On a scale of 1-5, a 4.4

[Magycmyste]

In the imp: frankincense, frankincense, frankincense.... and something that smells like pee. I'm a little nervous to try this on. I think I'll be using a light touch.

 

Wet on skin: Ok, almost pure frankincense on my skin. Maybe some benzoin mixed in there, making it shinier. I'm good with this right now.

 

Dried down: Still almost pure frankincense, and when I sniff my arm, I think I'm getting some of that jasmine hedoine. Very light and fresh.

 

Throw: I'm not getting much throw, but I've not got... six scents being teested right now? Still frankincense tends to overpower everything else in throws on me, so I'm a little surprised. Oh wait, there it is. I guess I didn't wait long enough. Frankincense and...I think it's the jasmine hedoine. Or maybe it's the pimento - I'm not sure. I think it's also what smelled a little like pee in the imp. I'm going back and forth between wanting to sniff and wrinkling my nose. My nose is very confused.

 

Verdict: ** This isn't nearly as bad as I was afraid it was going to be, but I don't think I'm going to be hanging on to this one.

[zankoku_zen]

Frankincense, red rose and a swirl of jasmine.

 

The frankincense, benzoin and cinnamon I think combine together for a root beerlike quality (definitely with cinnamon), and the jasmine gilds the red rose.

 

This is a resin/rose blend, and its voluptuous without being heavy, it has a fresh edge to it, and definitely very spring like.

 

Again, no jasmine for me, but this is a very pretty blend.

[Astarial]

This.. really confuses me. In the imp, I get the lovely frankincense... but on my skin, it's Gingerbread Snake with an after-scent of... ginger ale? And that's how it stays, for hours and hours and hours until finally disappearing.

 

Don't get me wrong, it's a fine scent... but not at all what I was expecting from the notes.

[bellumed]

Woof. This is steeeeee-RONG. Rose and hedoine and bitey cinnamon, and I’m sort of wondering what I was thinking when I added this to my list? I’m not very sensitive but my skin heated and tingled a bit immediately, so be forewarned. Thankfully it’s not as powerful on my skin. Rose comes through a lot in the early stages, but I amp it, so no surprise there. Loads of jasmine on drydown, first soapy, then smooth. Not for me, but I'd say a must-try for jasmine fans.

[cinnamonster]

This was so powerful in the vial, I recoiled and couldn't try it on skin, it has a powerful jasmine note and is peppery and pungent. I didn't like it at all.

[milo]

Whoops! Even though jasmine is listed as the last note here, it STOMPS all over everything asserting itself as usual. No resins or spices to speak of. I don't mind jasmine in small doses, but this is just an obnoxious jasmine saying "I'm here don't ignore me!!!" Just a bit too much for me..

[blu°]

From the imp I get a very condensed, cool olibanum/frankincense. It almost smells chemical in this condensed form. Like some kind of paint in a woodworker's workshop. Or hairspray. I know it is a concentrated frankincense, though. I get something similar from Magus, and also Scarecrow.

 

Anyway, freshly applied, and not sniffing close, I get a sweet floral for a moment floating up from the spot on my arm. Sniffing close I get the frankincense which is already unfolding and thus getting a rougher, less dense texture. The air now passes through those scent molecules. It takes me a while to register the additional note - cool, slightly sweet, mysterious-incensey leaning on soapy - as jasmine, but it actually is pretty strong hovering above and weaving into the powdery-smokey frankincense body of the blend.

 

After 15 minutes or so, the blend has morphed/unfolded a little more and reveals a rather fiery quality, where intially it seemed to lean towards a cooler representation of the resin and floral. The cinnamon-pimento becomes more and more apparent, although it stays embedded in the jas-frankincense cloud. I *think* the benzoin smoothes out the edges and helps to unite the notes through a common structure, or structure in movement, like a fast wind.

 

This is a powerful floral that is neither sweet and lush nor warm and sultry, but truly fiery. It's a quick movement. It's a female fighter of small stature moving quick like flames with a knife blade flickering here and there faster than the eye can catch.

 

I really like the jas in here. It just touches the idea of soapy but stays on the other side of that line. It has that weird jasmine notquitesweetbutsweet with bitter and mysterious/incensey quality. It works very well here. It is not a lush and lazy floral, nor a haughty and elegant/stately one, but one that fits the quick movement idea I get from the overall blend.

 

This is a bit similar to Wolf's Heart but less sweet and more pungent. I feel comfortable with this scent on me, and am wondering if I should have ordered a bottle. Limited funds made me forgo this after a quick test in which it just didn't stick out so much, but maybe I'll be able to swap for it later on.

 

At least a 4/5, maybe a 5, in my book.

 

ETA: Just had to add that the name of the scent sounds like a much more laid back scent to me. Maybe that's what threw me off appreciating the scent for what it is.

Edited April 18, 2014 by blu°

[lady_pandora]

So, hedione/hedoine is apparently a synthetic compound that is derived from, and resembles, jasmine. I apparently don't amp it to the exclusion of all else, the way i do regular jasmine, so hallelujah for hedione!

 

She Whose Handmaiden Was Love is an unusual blend, and its start wasn't promising. Smelling it in the vial, I almost didn't want to try it on, and the pepper note gave me a burning sensation in my nose when it was wet. Along with this burny note, the early stage smells like a combo of citrus and jasmine.

 

The hedione starts to come to the fore and is a little powdery, actually reminding me a bit of the Follow Me Boy I tested yesterday, and the peppery kick stays around. I can't so much smell this pepper; it's only present in my nose's physical reaction to it, if that makes any sense at all. When I sniff too close to the skin, I feel a sneeze coming on.

 

It continues to develop, and the scent close to the skin remains jasmine/pepper while the throw is more frankincense/rose. I do love the combination of frankincense and rose, and this is really nice, even if I do have other oils that do this. But at first, these two combinations don't seem to mesh. It's like I'm wearing one perfume on my arm and the other hovering around me in the air.

 

And then--this takes a little over an hour--suddenly it works. It all comes together. It's frankincense, a misty floral blend that doesn't really smell like any particular flower, a sort of bubbliness, and a little bit of pepper that is finally working as a perfume note rather than as an irritant. And that's where it stays. It's really pretty and sexy. Unfortunately, it's not very strong on me.

 

I'm not quite sure what to make of this one. I really love the dry stage! But it takes a while to get there, and it's kind of nose-irritating along the way.

[savage_rose]

At first it smells overwhelming, the jasmine sours, and it's (literally, with the cinnamon) a hot mess. But dry it's a spicy, sweet floral. Really nice!

[ralenth]

Wet: Frankincense and rose.

 

Drydown: As she dries, the jasmine swirls into the mix. It gets spicier as time passes, which must be the cinnamon coming into play. The frankincense mellows, and the rose all but disappears as it develops.

 

Dry: Muted frankincense with soft blooms of jasmine. There are still tinges of spiciness. The throw is minimal.