Brand: Alkemia
Scent Description: An elusive, smokey blend of burning wood, Madagascar Vanilla, and Tonka.
A collection of indie perfume reviews
Brand: Alkemia
Scent Description: An elusive, smokey blend of burning wood, Madagascar Vanilla, and Tonka.
If you like Firebird Woodsmoke & Vanilla you will like this too. Very nice
Smoke and Mirrors is right up my alley as far as a scent I’d gravitate towards. On my skin it starts out as 80% clean burning wood and 20% vanilla/tonka. After about 60 to 90 minutes it begins to sweeten up and rounds out to a 50/50 mix of smoky sweetness. At this point the notes seem to dance around each other for prominence. Just when I think it’ll lean sweet, the smoke comes back around to the forefront only to shift yet again. This is in the same realm as Solstice Scents Manor or Hexennacht’s All Souls Night. It reminds me of sweet bonfire smoke. Some smoke scents come on so strong yet after the first hour or so they fizzle out. The clean sweet smokiness in S&M seems to have some decent longevity on me. After about 2-3 hours the burning wood notes are softened by the vanilla and tonka. This disappears on me at the 5 hour mark. I have a feeling this oil will just keep getting better with age.
This is THE perfect mix of sweet and smoky although it definitely leans toward the sweeter side. If this scent included a licorice/anise note it would probably become my holy grail scent. There is something so sexy and trance-inducing about smelling smoke on skin, and when that smoke is edibly sweet, it’s 10x as intoxicating. Love this one!
A perfect smokey vanilla scent, like a campfire and vanilla (but not marshmallows?).
Simple but oh so magical. It’s the plushest realistic bonfire smoke combined with richly textured sweetness. I get plenty of tonka, and it is seamlessly bonded with the vanilla. They undulate, so you catch wafts of warm smoke, then nutty-woody sweetness, then smoked vanilla… so good. Again, a common combo that Alkemia just knocks out of the park. It’s not even my usual, but Alkemia is quite talented in making scents that are greater than the sum of their parts. Her Madagascar vanilla note is also pretty good- it’s just the right balance of sweet and warm without being cloying.
This isn’t as strong on me as I would have wanted, but at least I won’t bother other people who might be sensitive to smells 🙂 it’s a very clean, realistic, almost sweet wood smoke. Very nice.
This smells like sitting next to a barbecue grill or a bonfire – very atmospheric and smoky. Just like being next to a real fire, this gave me a headache. I wasn’t a fan.
Yes! This is the closest perfume I have found to an actual wood fire smell. It smells like fire, and a bit of vanilla. No bullshit. This is amazing chemistry magic!
Sweetened smoke, smoke, and more smoke. As the notes imply, it’s not a very complex perfume, but the mix of the smoke and vanilla do lend it a lot of atmospheric zing. I personally find the smokiness of it to be completely overpowering, though I will say that the sweet vanilla mellows it out the longer it’s on. Still, it’s too atmospheric for me – every time I put it on I feel as if I’m standing right next to a bonfire or in the midst of some historical reenactment site. Wouldn’t mind it on a man, but for me, it’s a no-go. Definitely wouldn’t recommend it to anyone unless they’ve got a thing for smoke.