Saturday, December 8, 2018

Arcana Wildcraft: Layering Notes, a Soap and a Halloweenie


I picked up a handful of Arcana Wildcraft scents a little while ago during Julia's Halloween release. I believe the layering notes are still available, but Sabbath Eve is not as it was a Halloweenie.

Golden Musk- Notes: A clean, strong, voluptuous musk. $23
The name fits perfectly. In the amber vial the musk floats up in gentle waves of clean skin, a soft neck drenched in candlelight. This is the tender flesh in the valley of the bosom that feels of warmth and solace. Fine spun wool, thin strips of pliant suede and a breath of iris. These nuances glimmer underneath the ambery musk.

I have Serge Lutens Muscs Koublai Khan. Though this is by no means as pungent as MKK, I do get the finer, softer, more wearable side of that icon form this scent. It is truly lovely and if you are a musk lover I think you would enjoy this. I will be wearing this both on its own and layered.


Marshmallow- Notes: The scent of a soft, fluffy, vanilla-infused marshmallow. $23

It is utterly incredible how this smells like a fresh jar of Marshmallow Fluff. I make the Magic Fudge recipe on the back for Christmas every year and scooping out the sticky pillowy melted marshmallow cream always makes me smile with its perfume. On the skin this chewy squishy marshmallow aroma brims with a buttery vanilla base. It smells exactly like making Rice Krispy Treats with giggling squealing tots and mile-long strands of melted marshmallow pulling from the bowl to the spoon to fingers in white webs of warm sugar. As the scent settles into the nooks and crannies of the flesh the marshmallows cool into the solid yet spongy forms of homemade square treats that have a fine dusting of powdery goodness on top. The vanilla moves from warm, chewy, gooey to cool and spongy with a dusting of powdered sugar. This will be brilliant to wear alone or layered to amp up the sweet vanilla factor. This really is unique to my vanilla perfume collection and perfectly honors the robust marshmallow. 


Sabbath Eve- Notes: Crisp dead leaves, evening woodsmoke, dark amber and smoking church incense. $26

With these notes I know I wanted to lay my nose against this one. The amber phial releases puffs of charred embers and smoke along with a dank and almost acetic incense that gives interest, perhaps even a little foreboding. Poured onto the tender area inside the elbow Sabbath Eve kindles smoking embers to life. Piles of desiccated and withered leaves ignite into ashen flurries and molten sparks that gambol upwards into the Plutonian sky. The mounds of burning brush and foliage dot the landscape to welcome the holy event that began at sunset and continues into the darkness. Tallow candles illuminate the homes and temples and incense and offerings lace the night air with their pungent breath. 

I love this aroma. It is not sweet at all but very austere and atmospheric. The leaves, woodsmoke and earthen incense all meld so beautifully.


Haint soap by B. Perry Studios ($18) possesses notes of white musk, vanilla musk, Madagascar vanilla, sugarcane and a faint trail of white pepper. Each bar contains a full 5 ml of Julia's Haint perfume (which I finally bought recently). I sliced a fat sliver of this soap off to use in the bath tub. She is a beaut. The soap lathers up with heaps of silken bubbles and it has a nice exfoliation to it. This is a palm-free formula and contains rice bran oil, coconut oil, olive oil and cocoa butter. Haint in soap form is a rich, dusky, almost earthen vanilla that is musky with white pepper. Have you ever smelled white pepper when cooking? It has an almost fecal or damp fold-of-the-skin scent that is a little jarring when sniffing in a spice jar. But in a perfume it adds a human element that is very real indeed. I love it.

Julia released her Yule collections recently. I did pick up three perfumes on my own and I have the full Yule Deer line to feature. 

How is your holiday going? Any fun plans? Do you have any traditions?

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