Wednesday, June 6, 2018

Nocturne Alchemy: The Bazaar


Nocturne Alchemy has a trio of exotic scents based off of Emerson Hart's olfactive interpretations of his experiences at the souks and bazaars in Egypt. There is a Spice Bazaar, an Alchemist Bazaar and an Evening Bazaar. I picked up the first two but I have a very strong hunch I will be adding the third before they leave on June 22nd. These run $24 each.

Spice Bazaar- Notes: Spices of nutmeg and coumarin, cinnamon and clove, patchouli and vetiver, vanilla and musk.

I knew this one would weave a spell around my heart. Spiced patchouli and vetiver. Mmmm yes. And Coumarin is a very cool ingredient. It is a component that can be found in a variety of plants from tonka beans to cassis. It can have a sweet hay or almond tone, a vanilla or even an anise leaning aroma. Sniffing directly from the bottle reveals a heavy dark spice on a bed of sweet grassy vetiver and coumarin. The patchouli lends a touch of steely earth as well. It makes me eager to drizzle it all over. Wet on the skin, Spice Bazaar is incredibly haunting and lovely. Burlap sacks stuffed to overflowing with the vivid spectrum of spices: curls of sienna cinnamon bark, large dusky spheres of nutmeg and the deep blackish brown splay of wooden clove flowers. The spices are not fiery but rich in their darkness. They are more redolent of the earth and the shadowy corners of the market than heat. Sweetgrass baskets and ebony curls of vanilla pods edge their way into the scent as it settles and the stroll about the market winds its way down. I have a feeling this one will only get more sultry and dark with age, but it is gorgeous even now.


Alchemist Bazaar- Notes: Labdanum and benzoin tears, sandalwood and incense, Opahiba balsam and vanilla fleck, black pepper and musk.

Peppery resins greet the sense when the fragrance rises from the bottle. A touch of dry wood and a smoky musk tickle the edges. Dabbled onto the skin, the black viscid resin of labdanum rises like a dark moon, veiled in dusky bruised clouds of vanilla musk and incense, wispy and sheer. Don't let the sharp notes in the bottle keep you from putting this on your skin. It feathers out into the most plush and soft sweet darkness. A blanket of black velvet that drifts down from the sky to cover the flesh in warmth. A blanket of smoke and sweetness, musk and fur. Alchemy and magic, indeed. The alchemy of the midnight sky turned into a shawl for wrapping oneself in and gazing up at the secretive new moon.

I don't do back ups, but I am going to have to consider this one. 


I may as well add it to the Evening Bazaar. 

Have you ever been a market or bazaar? I dream of going to Morocco one day and experiencing a market there. Savanna dreams of visiting Egypt. I hope she realizes that dream one day.

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