Heavenly Spark

[suki]

This spirit shall return to Him
Who gave its heavenly spark;
Yet think not, Sun, it shall be dim
When thou thyself art dark!
No! it shall live again, and shine
In bliss unknown to beams of thine,
By Him recall’d to breath,
Who captive led Captivity,
Who robb’d the grave of Victory,—
And took the sting from Death!

Lilith at Poet’s Corner, Westminster Abbey – one of my favorite places in the entirety of this earth. Piety and intrigue, succor and terror… stone walls and painted glass panels bearing witness to generations of poetry, pride, conquest, and despair: the echoes of the incense smoke of hundreds upon hundreds of years curling around roses and oak branches.

In The Bottle: This is...wow. It's got a rose in there, but it's honestly not like any I think I've smelled before. It's dark and dusky and the oak is certainly grounding it, even in the bottle. It's beautiful and somber and makes me want to walk in cemeteries on cloudy days- AND THIS IS ALL IN THE BOTTLE.

Wet On Skin: The oak makes its presence more known and the rose takes a little more of a back seat. I'm less familiar with oak notes in the Lab's cannon, but this one reminds me of autumnal days and, yes, crunching through leaves. Unusual for me, but no complaints

Dry Down: The rose is in the distant background, and this has become an oak incense - it's crunchy leaves mixed with an incense base. It waxes and wanes, strangely- one moment it's quite strong and the next it fades back. And it's got something I can't quite place...something that reminds me of childhood, though the scent isn't 'childish' in the least. It's dusty and powdery and incense-y and fallen-leafy and slightly musty.

I honestly can't decide how I feel about it just now, but it's intriguing enough that I'm going to let it age and check back in later to see what's happening.

[Casablanca]

In the bottle, I smell incense, a little wood, and a little something girlish and red -- rosy and a bit fruity.

Freshly applied, well, this is nostalgic. Incense drifts like fog through the woods. After a few seconds, a fruity-toned rose blooms on my skin, but stays among the trees and in balance. A minute passes, and I start to think of Temple Viper -- the champaca. Champaca incense, oak, oak leaves, and rose.

For my tastes, this is intoxicating. It does, though, stay close to the skin. After drydown, I don't know it's there unless I put nose almost to skin.

 

I have a feeling this won't live very long on my skin, but it's lovely.

[Aviatrix]

This is mostly oak on me! Very heavy wood notes with a teensy hint of rose. The incense is an overlay on top of everything.

I love all the notes in this, but unfortunately it has a tendency to go a little bitter on me, for some reason. Maybe it needs some aging.

 

If you love wood and incense, you will likely love this too!

 

The throw is good, as wood scents often are on me, and the wear length is normal.

[AnArtfuldodger]

Wet in the decant: woody incense

 

Wet on skin: Oh, this is lovely -- it's a very serious scent. It's not playful or fun, it's quiet and hushed, very...respectful, if that makes sense.

 

Drydown: Stays several hours on me, medium throw, but it's a more subtle oil overall. I really, really like this, and incense usually isn't my jam, so I'm surprised and delighted.

[rosedamask]

My bottle of Heavenly Spark has a lot of sediment at the bottom, and needs to be rolled/held upside down a few times before everything gels together, otherwise I just get a weird kind of smoky, burnt hot dog smell. But the rolling is so worth it! Once everything's melded together, it's beautiful. I mostly get a dark polished oak (like the panels in an old library), with pillowy red roses and an overlay of esoteric incense that gets more pronounced after a couple of hours. I'm really excited to see how this one ages.

[Haltija]

On me it's all oak and incense without a single trace of rose and you know what, I am in love with it. Sadly, it fades within 30 minutes to a hour. I am hoping a few weeks of aging will help it last longer because I really want a bottle of it.

[Blood onmy hands]

Dry wood, incense smoke and a touch of very sour, red rose. Dusty and light on me, and I don't like the rose in this blend.

[d0gbones]

In the bottle: oak and roses.

 

Applied: the same.

 

Worn: Incense! Spicy and warm. Definitely getting the roses still, but the oak has disappeared.

 

The throw isn't amazing, but it really lasts. This is by far the best incense blend I've tried 💖 Just given it another sniff and realised that something about it reminds me of churches, so I guess the oak is still there giving it a warm, worn wood feel.

Edited October 19, 2016 by d0gbones

[zankoku_zen]

Oak and roses, hints of incense. This one is dark, dusty white rose blend with a heavy oak base. Medium throw and wear length.

 

Somber, serious, roses.

[Minh Scent]

Oh, this is right up my alley...incense, rose and wood! It is more rose incense than oak on my skin.

[lucycat]

In the decant, this smells exactly like walking into an old English church, with the incense and a very light touch of smoke, and the roses.

 

The rose becomes more prominent as the oil warms on my skin, but it never becomes overpowering, I think because the oak is keeping it in check: my skin amps wood notes even more than it does rose notes.

 

Though I’m not usually a fan of rose blends because they become overwhelming on me, Heavenly Spark is a gentle rose incense. I had to try it just because of the description: like Beth, I love Westminster Abbey and Poet’s Corner in particular. I also appreciate the use of the symbolically English rose and oak notes.

[SophieCedar]

The 1st note I get is dried sage..guess that's part of the incense pack. Drydown offers a bit more dried rose. I didn't get much oak wet or dry. Overall, this is a solemn lovely sage and dried rose scent. The incense is dry, not gummy or musky. Very calming and airy. I really like it!

[joopjoop]

Wow. That's a lot of oak and a whole lot of incense! I don't get much rose at all even when I look for it. It is a very evocative scent - really like being in an old church building. I like it but it is not something I would wear and something in it - I think it is this particular incense blend - takes it right up to the edge of headache territory for me.

 

Not for me, but pretty cool in concept and execution.

[spikyfairy]

For the first few weeks I had this, it was a bit wonky and weird, but now that it's had time to age into itself it's lovely.
I thought there was sage in here too at first, but I realise now that it's part of the oak - I've never smelled oak in perfume form before, and I think it took a while both to settle and for me to recognise it. But now it's just as described: oak (leaves and wood), roses, and incense that really is like an "echo" - more like a room where incense has been burning recently.

Apart from a tangy green-ness when first applied (which quickly fades), it doesn't morph much from wet to dry for me. The oak & rose are a beautiful balance of sweet & dry, and this is just my sort of rose: dark & rich, and not sugary or girly at all. The incense comes out a little more when dry, adding a tad of smokiness but staying in the background.
I spent most of my childhood up an enormous oak tree, so this gives me lovely nostalgia, while still being a very grown-up & quite serious scent. Low-ish throw & average wear length on me.

Rose / wood / incense blends are my very favourite, and while this is quite different from any I've smelled before, I love it.

[tinyvulture]

An inspired, complex rose scent worthy of the English poets buried in Poets Corner of Westminster Abbey. Think of a single rose laid in an underground crypt. Stone walls and faded incense with soft rose petals. From this entire batch of Liliths, this was the one I needed a bottle of!

[Lucchesa]

Super lovely! In the imp almost all I got was incense, and wet you could kind of make out the rose and oak hiding in the background, but I was afraid it was going to be hijacked by myrrh, which happens to me sometimes. And there was definitely a myrrh phase, but it settled into a lovely incense, and over the next couple of hours, the rose bloomed and the oak emerged. Ultimately, about 3 hours in, the rose was dominating, with woods and incense in the wings. A beautiful scent evolution.