Alkemia Apothecary Perfume Oils Review part I

(Smoke & Mirrors, Ambre I: Ardere, and Mist Becoming Rain)

For my first real post, I'll be talking about Alkemia Apothecary's Perfume Oils (after the tangent).

I've never really been much into perfume. We never had any in the house when I was growing up because most perfumes give my dad a headache, and so much of the perfume that's around smells so very artificial and nasty that it took me a while to realize that perfume could be nice. It doesn't help that a lot of the perfumes out there are very floral and girly, which isn't really my thing.

I love the way my hair and clothes smell after sitting by the campfire all night, so I would love to have perfume that makes me smell that way anytime I want. Vanilla smells really good on people, too (not the overly saccharine vanilla people often use, but the darker, unsweetened scent from real vanilla beans), and I think the two smells go very well together and the vanilla would help the woodsmoke smell intentional, perfume-y and good, instead of like I was smoked meat. I've been idly wanting a woodsmoke and vanilla perfume for ages, but I only recently decided to actually try to find one.

When I did, one of the first places I found was Alkemia Apothecary. Alkemia is an indie perfumier that sells through Etsy. They sell perfume oil rather than spray perfume. Perfume oil, I learned, tends to stick closer to the wearer (apparently in perfume, the term for this is "sillage." Perfume oils have low sillage), but they are concentrated and long lasting. They are also usually cheaper.

(I found Alkemia through a mention to their perfume "Smoke & Mirrors" in a review for Firebird's "Woodsmoke and Vanilla" perfume, which I also ordered, but  my Firebird perfumes haven't arrived yet.)

Anyway, Alkemia's Smoke & Mirrors is described as "An elusive, smokey blend of burning wood, Madagascar Vanilla, and Tonka." Which sounded pretty close to what I'm looking for (although I didn't, and still don't, really know what a tonka bean smells like) so I decided to order a sample, and it turns out they sell them in sets of five, so I picked out several samples.

I found six I wanted to try, so I asked in the comment if they'd consider letting me try six instead of five for a few dollars extra. The seller didn't message back, and I got a shipping notice, so I assumed they just didn't want to be bothered. I thought was a little rude that they hadn't told me they weren't willing to, but, to my surprise, when I got the package, it contained all six, and they hadn't charged me more. So I have to take back all my thoughts that they were rude, as this was really very nice of them.

The samples I picked out were:
Smoke & Mirrors
Ambre I: Ardere
Ex Libris Anima
Vixen
Mist Becoming Rain
Au Lait

The first two mentioned both smokiness and vanilla in the description, so I hoped might be what I was specifically looking for. The others just sounded nice.

Total price: $10 Shipping is free for samples (inside the USA).

A full sized bottle costs $12 (5mL), or they'll do three for $30. Plus shipping.

I tried one a day so that I could really get to know them. Day one was Smoke & Mirrors.

Day 1: Smoke & Mirrors

(See official description above.) I was really hoping this one would have a stronger smoky scent than it does. And maybe a stronger scent over all. I felt like I had to intentionally sniff my wrists to really smell it. I wouldn't want to overpower people with my perfume, but I'd like people close to me to be able to tell I'm wearing it. I did like the smell a lot, but to me it smells only very slightly smoky--like smoked vanilla, rather than smoke and vanilla. It also gets a little too sweet for my taste at the end (what perfume people call the "drydown"?). It lasted well too, the smoke faded, but I could still smell the sweet, vanilla-y smell when I went to bed (I put it on around 1pm when I got the package).

Another good note about this one, my dad, who is sensitive to perfume wasn't bothered at all by this one.

I will probably be buying a full sized bottle of this at some point.

Day 2: Ambre I: Ardere

"A smoulderingly sultry blend of smoked red amber, tonka bean, aged Bourbon vanilla, charred oak wood, and a piquant blend of Silk Road spices."

This one had better sillage, people right next to me noticed it, but I don't think it was strong enough to be intrusive.

Ardere is smokier than Smoke & Mirrors, but, sadly, it is in an incense-y way, not really a woodsmoke-y way. What this one really smells like to me is the inside of one of the shops in Berkeley that sell Tibetan or Indian things and are totally run by hippies. Incense-y and sweet--it smells good, but I'm not sure if I want to feel like I smell like a store. Maybe when I'm not in Berkeley anymore and start to miss the Berkeley hippie-ism.

This one also faded to a sweeter at the end of the day, with the incense notes much weaker.

My dad said this one didn't bother him either, but he thought it might give him a headache eventually. Which is very good for a perfume--he's very sensitive.
(Correction: at first it didn't bother him, but he noticed he hadn't been feeling as good after he'd been around it a while)

Day 3: Mist Becoming Rain

"Rainwater, mist drenched hazel wood, meadow grasses, sage blooms, orris root, ozone, grey amber. Deep, dark, cool and mysterious."

I don't think it smells like rain, which is sad, because rain is wonderful.This, to me, has a pretty generic "smell me, I'm clean!" smell. Every now and then I'll catch a earthier note (especially when I first put it on) that I like, but overall I'm not that impressed. It's not bad, I'm just not impressed. But I tend to prefer warmer smells, this is more of a fresh scent.

It's sillage seems to be about like Smoke & Mirrors, but maybe a little stronger. And it seems to last the least well of the three I've tried so far.

Again, my dad said this one didn't bother him either, but he thought it might give him a headache eventually.

He didn't have very flattering things to say about it though. He said it smelled like "the perfume you wear when you go on a date with a guy, but you really just want to dance with him." So I dub this the "cock-blocking perfume." But, in all fairness, that's very harsh. It has a nice clean smell, I just don't personally find it exciting or interesting. And it's not at all sensual, so I do sort of see what he meant.

I'll post the other three in a separate post when I've tried them.