The Curtain of the Temple was Torn in Two

[zankoku_zen]

By now it was about midday and a darkness fell over the whole land, which lasted until three in the afternoon; the suns light failed. And the curtain of the temple was torn in two. Then Jesus gave a loud cry and said, Father, into thy hands I commit my spirit; and with these words he died.

Radiant golden amber suffused with holy incense smoke compounded from acacia, myrrh, cassia, balsam, frankincense, cinnamon, onycha accord, and galbanum.

Cassia, cinnamon, galbanum, and amber and smoke. This one is a very spice-cassia heavy blend with amber and smoke. It's golden, and burning, and both a blinding shining sort of blend, and a dark smothering sort. I think its the heaviness of the spices that leads to an almost occlusive quality. Great throw and wear length.

[strick9]

In the bottle- the cassia, cinnamon, amber, and frankincense are strong in this one. To me it smells warm and welcoming, yet mysterious. it has a hazy quality to it that i really like.

 

Wet: The cassia/cinnamon, frankincense/myrrh mix is super strong and i want to roll around in this. The haziness isnt quite here but i hope it comes back!

 

Dry-down: this just gets better and better! The cinnamon and cassia are still sharp, but the smoke is definitely back. the balsam lents a slight helping of green in the background to help this out, and it smells like it would be the incense used during a super sensual or fall ritual gathering. I love this.

 

I wore this yesterday as well, and it stuck around for a long time and has great throw. I think this will age beautifully as well!

[white_jenna63]

I got the cassia and cinnamon on first whiff out of the imp.

This actually made the crooks of my elbows break out. I had to scrub it off within five minutes of application.

[JazzieCazzie]

IN THE IMP: Sharp and pungent and slightly metallic.

 

Applied to wrist and in crook of arm.

 

WET: More incense and amber and frankincense than anything else (this is a good thing for me). Definitely much nicer on during wet application than I would have expected in imp sniff. While this may not be a "clear" description, for me it smelled "sweeter" on my fingertip (where a little came off) whereas on wrist and in crook it was "rounder" and more full-bodied.

 

INITIAL DRYDOWN: Lovely drydown! It goes totally amber/incense on me with no nasty side effects other than the very remote possibility of "sweaty myrrh" in the background (while I love frankincense, most of the time myrrh turns into sweaty socks with my body chemistry).

 

FINAL DRYDOWN AND VERDICT: A nice, lovely amber incense on the "dry" spots of my body (wrist, for example). However, I like to wear my sniffies in my "sweaty spots" (e.g., crook of my arm, cleavage) and in the long run, the "sweaty myrrh" would preclude me from reaching for this so ...

 

... It goes into the Boobiepalooza Package of Awesome (a yooge package of awesome sniffies et al I'll be raffling off For The Boobies. Stay tuned).

[roseus]

This is very cinnamon heavy on me, a nice cinnamon though. And it doesn't burn on me at all which is nice. As it dries a get a hearty warmth and depth from the resins. It's basically cinnamon incense on me, which is not bad at all!

[norsowideasachurchdoor]

Credentials: First-ever order from BPAL (placed Aug 29 of this year, shipped Sep 6), first-ever perfume order from anywhere. Neophyte. Chose this complicated-sounding incense for the name and its reference, knowing my nose wouldn’t be able to distinguish most individual elements, but still intrigued to smell the olfactory scriptural interpretation.

At first: Cinnamon rips warm through the dark fabric of the nose.
But then: The cinnamon smolders among its brethren but does not slumber within their penumbra.
After time: The inner chamber empties of cassia and cinnamon shadows and their mealtime aroma, leaving behind the murky-sweet footfall of intimate, wood-walled resins.

Thematic analysis: I expected a mournful or ominous lead of this Good Friday scent, but instead its warmth explodes forth like the hidden presence of God released unto the world. This biblical catastrophe triumphantly tears down its old confinements. With the human body as its new chosen temple, the divine spirit reaches boldly forward from the hearth–then sustains its host’s soul with a subtler and steadier insistence.

Overall: Even where the sun goes unseen, The Curtain of the Temple was Torn in Two's transformation from a hearty scent to a grounded incense on the skin foretells the bodily resurrection and the human spirit made new.

Rating: 10/10 horrified and overthrown Pharisees

[myth]

Spicy and dry at first. A waft of Big Red gum over the top. Wooden spice cabinet with chewing gum. I don't smell the amber, just the spices and resins. Lots of cinnamon. Too much cinnamon and not enough anything else. Once the cinnamon calms down a bit it is incensy and nice, but it seems similar to one of the past phoenixes I already have, I just can't quite recall which. I like it, because I like resiny spicy blends, but I don't love it because the cinnamon is too forward for my taste and the scent overall is drier than I prefer.

[Lucchesa]

The Curtain of the Temple on me is warm and spicy, dry and evocative -- this could be the desert of the Holy Land. I get no skin reaction from the cinnamon or cassia though I did not try it anywhere too soft and sensitive. The first time I tested this I was absolutely blown away by it, but today it's still really good but not one I need to chase down a bottle of. Like myth, I find its lovely, cinnamony incense is drier overall than I prefer. I death-matched it with Chimera, a GC favorite with cinnamon and myrrh, and the sweeter strains of Chimera hit closer to my heart.

[Juliamon]

For as many things are in this, I have a frustratingly simple review that echoes previous ones: cinnamon incense.

 

The incense is stronger in the imp, but on my skin the cinnamon and cassia quickly come to the forefront and overpower it. It's nice, but I wish the resins came out more on me. I'll be keeping this decant for now, but if it shows up on a swap partner's wishlist they can look forward to it getting thrown in.