Luminae

Brand: Alkemia

Scent Description: Softly alluring as candlelight. Luminae is designed to work in alchemy with feminine skin chemistry to create a luminescently sensual glow

10 thoughts on “Luminae”

  1. Milky. Not offensive. Just not quite me. I’m not a milky, sweet kind of person. Perhaps for layering. But it’s a very mild skin scent, so will be tricky to layer effectively. Very safe.

  2. Initially on my skin Luminae is a sweeter, more gourmand yet very similar version of Ghost Fire with more silage and longevity. Luminae is hard to explain and I have a feeling the smell of this oil is one that really depends on your skin chemistry. As I said before, this is a sweeter version of GF. The glowing sweetness in this is a bit vanillic, buttery, creamy and almost toffee like at the same time. It leans to the gourmand side, on me anyway. At times something in this gives an almost plastic smell (probably whatever is going creamy in this on my skin as many milk/cream notes go either sour or to plastic on me) before shifting out along with the sweetness calming down after about the first hour. At this point, Luminae veers to smelling like a stronger dry down of Ghost Fire. On me, they’re so similar that I don’t feel you need both in your collection. I think that Luminae works better on me than GF. I will age and test both scents a few more times to be sure. This definitely wears close to the skin on me but I can still smell it in the bends of my elbow, if I put my nose up to it, at the 7 hour mark. I think this is an office appropriate scent for work or anywhere where you’re in close quarters with others. This is a scent I would wear to the dentist or somewhere similar and not worry that it would come across to others near me as cloying or offensive. I think both Luminae and Ghost Fire are great examples of perfume oils that mesh really well with the individual to create a unique perfumed skin type of scent. Lol, I hope my explanation makes sense to someone else besides me!

    1. Now that Luminae has rested for a bit it kind of reminds me of a cross between Possets Madame X and their famous Silver base. It’s definitely got a “glowing” quality to it now. Luminae wears softer and a bit closer to the skin than Ghost Fire. It has something to it that smells both buttery and waxy. After aging, Ghost Fire wears sweeter than Luminae. After about the first hour of wear Luminae wants to meld with my chemistry into a close wearing skin scent. I can’t justify a FS bottle right now since I own Possets Madame X and a bunch of their Silver perfume oils, they’re just too similar. This is another year round, any occasion, work friendly scent that would be a good choice for someone just getting into indie perfumes. I feel like Luminae (along with Ghost Fire) are great choices to layer with other scents as well. It’s amazing how both resting and aging can change the notes of perfume oils. Initially this and GF smelled pretty much identical to me. So my final thoughts are Luminae reminds me of Possets Madame X and their Silver base. And the amber notes in Ghost Fire reminds me of the light amber notes that Caroline uses in Hexennacht’s Loup Garou, Pearanormal Activity, and Moonstone. So Luminae and Ghost Fire ended up smelling quite different indeed.

  3. I hate to be the downer, but I get strong wax and Skin So Soft (the kind your grandma would slather you in to keep mosquitoes away). I had to destash.

  4. This really reminds me of NAVA’s Sweet Santalum Milk – buttery, milky, smooth, and creamy sandalwood, milk, and vanillic/caramel combo. They are very close; Luminae is lighter, less overt sweetness, which allows the warmth of your skin to bring another element to this.

  5. Mostly warm, buttery vanilla and dryly resinous amber, trailing off into a soft haze of white musk. With Luminae, you pick out different notes in the medley with every sniff; the coconutty tones could be an artifact of sugar combined with the other elements, but I do pinpoint a waxy note, too fatty and mild to be amber. Faint woodsmoke lends a spiced depth to a scent that may have otherwise leaned gourmand. Dries down as a cooler, fuzzier vanilla musk.

  6. Initially, this smelled identical to Ghost Fire, and I was disappointed, but after a good rest, it really shines. I am actually considering a backup bottle, because I love how Luminae smells- unexpected for me! No notes are given but I can pick out sugar, vanilla, coconut, white musk, wax, smoke, and white amber. It does smell like a candle in image- not like an actual candle-scent. It has a fatty, waxy smell, almost like warm coconut milk, but lighter on the coconut. The smoke and white musk are crisp and meld together. If smoke concerns you- it is veeeery soft and in the far background, perceptible only at the end of a deep sniff. Together they almost smell like the feeling of a dryer sheet out of a hot dryer, but not exactly, because that makes them sound weird. The vanilla and white amber are the strongest notes, but they are quite warm, as opposed to the coolness of Ghost Fire’s white amber. The sugar is light and steady, but does not make Luminae smell gourmand. Actually, Luminae is almost more atmospheric. Overall a surprise hit and an amazing perfume. Warm, luminous, cozy, maybe a tad ethereal in nature. All the raves are true! It’s also surprisingly long lasting, especially in my hair, and layers fairly well too, though it’s complexity is intriguing and keeps me sniffing when worn solo.

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