These perfumes were sent gratis from Julia at Arcana Wildcraft. All opinions are my own.
Julia at
Arcana Wildcraft used cannabis as her muse to cultivate an innovative and dreamy spring collection unlike any other I have had the joy to experience. Please don't think these are head shop aromas or all smell like that one time behind the bowling alley in high school. These don't smell like skeezy bars or Grateful Dead concerts but instead utilize the full array of notes and nuances that fresh varieties of the cannabis plant can possess. No actual cannabis was used in the compositions of these perfumes.
Beta- Endorphins- Notes: When these are released into your brain, food begins to smell and taste irresistible, causing the side effect known as the munchies. Chocolate milk, salty popcorn, cold vanilla ice cream, peanut brittle and a drizzle of caramel sauce. $28
From the bottle comes a holograph of buckeyes, those candy balls of homemade peanut butter yumminess coated in milk chocolate. Dipped onto the skin the chocolate briefly takes on a boozy aspect before turning into salted peanuts and Cracker Jack. The dry down melts into creamy peanut butter with just a hint of that saltiness lingering on the palate.
Rose Petal Blunt- Notes: Delicately beautiful and delicious, this is probably how fairies partake. Dewy red rose petals and fresh green stems evolve into a heart of soft tuberose and Silver Haze accord. $28
In the bottle the tuberose has a jammy almost fruity tone to its heady richness and the green Silver Haze accord twines like wild ivy around it. On the skin the tuberose looses that fruitiness and the jammy aspects morph into turpentine laced petals. I love how wild and raucous this one is. In the heart the roses and tuberose merge into a halo of honeyed lemon softness. Now I see where the fairies come in. The wanton beginning spirals down into a vulnerable core then drifts down like dandelion seeds to a bed of sweet green hay, almost with a creamy edge like coumarin or tonka. A magical fragrance.
Chillum- Notes: High in the Himalayas, herb is often smoked in a cylindrical pipe called a chillum, as it has been for thousands of years. Opening with a whoosh of cool blue pine, then expanding into a heart of sensual Yeti fur, animalic mountain musk, Himalayan cedarwood and Himalayan Gold accord. $28
Based on notes alone this was the one I was about to pop into my cart immediately. It was also the one I wore first, right off the bat. I will warn you, in my desire to douse I did go a little overboard and smelled myself all day long. To the point that even cuddling the cat later that night, Savanna mentioned that Toddles smelled amazing. A little bit goes a long way on this one.
From the bottle an angora blanket pours forth in a rippling soft body of tactile bliss that carries the perfume of dried sage and conifer laden air within its warp and weft. Draped onto the skin that sage green hue pushes and pulls with pillowy amber resins and a growl of something a tad naughty. The growl possesses tones of leather and warm pelts, skin musk and smudge. It is beautiful and smooth, velvety and rich.
It exceeds all my expectations and they were high. It is dead sexy.
Coconut Chalice- Notes: Created from a coconut shell, this traditional Jamaican water pipe represents the elements of earth, air, fire and water. Green coconut, coconut husk, rich Cuban vanilla, dark Muscovado sugar and Lamb's Breath accord. $28
The aroma lifting from the vials speaks of coconut cream and custard eaten from a fresh coconut hull by the shore. Cracked onto the wrists the perfume drizzles out with a sap filled greenness the likes of broad banana leaves. The tropical foliage fans out to reveal the coconut within, allowing the sharp green tones to mellow and pool into cool creamy coconut sweetness. As the coconuts settle they oxidize with sepia and caramel tones that hint at vanilla and tawny richness. This perfume feels like it moves from a cool dew filled island dawn to a warm glowing tropical sunset as it develops. Sharp green and vibrant to dark sweet and placid.
Shiva's Trident- Notes: Indian sandalwood, Nag Champa incense and Hindu Kush accord. $28
A hand rolled incense cone forged with sandalwood chips, beeswax, resins and plumeria warms and sends its tendrils of incense smoke up into the air when the cap is removed and a whiff is taken. Wrapped around the wrists the incense slinks like velvet cords but then the kush comes in and gives it a slightly sour and skanky edge that brings interest to the scent. It reminds me of green quinine in a tonic water. A sour bitterness that pushes the palate into tasting more and experiencing more when paired with the plush softness of the Nag Champa and incense accords. It dries into a grassy vetiver hued sandalwood that embodies serenity.
Waterfall- Notes: The green dankness of resin, wet leaves, lichen, water-drenched tree moss, fucus, French seaweed absolute and Northern Lights accord. $28
This is one of those scents that I fall for immediately. It reminds me of the hiking I did a week or so ago. Those streams I forged and the wet muck underfoot and the soil teeming with earthworms, ferns and cypress knees jutting out of swampy wetlands like the fringe and fingers of Titans reemerging from the earth. Water, soil, flora and mycelium. Splashed onto the flesh oakmoss glows brilliantly with its flush green aroma, almost dewy and water beaded in its turgidity. The heart sinks down into the loamy leaf litter and begins to sketch out soil and its inhabitants. Before it gets too earthy the mineral aspects of sea plants wash in with a lap or two of clarity. It almost reads like lavender and parsley growing by the ocean in a cottage garden, with clumps of salted water weed resting on the edges of the driftwood barrier that serves as a garden gate. It is beautiful and watery and green while maintaining a grounding of musk and ambrette that keeps it from being sharp or overtly aquatic. The drydown veers back to that stunning oakmoss beginning. I find it a joy to wear.
I am loving this collection from Julia. It makes for an innovative spring release with its green tones that are complemented by various themes.
I am giving away Beta-Endorphines and Shiva's Trident as well as an autographed book called Ash by C.G. Blade. The gifts will come with chocolate for mandatory reading snacks and some tea for warmth and joy since the book may be a bit scary. This book was a gift from a dear friend who also happens to promote for authors. This is being given with her knowledge and gratitude.
To enter please comment with your favorite scent notes at the moment or your favorite book from either this year or last year. I am currently loving juniper, pine, mint and bookish smelling perfume notes. I loved reading two books in particular so far this year: Burial Rites by Hannah Kent and Cat's Eye by Margaret Atwood. Leave your comment below by May 5th and I will draw that evening.
