Addendum: Pyramid of Khafre

So I wrote the Pyramid of Khafre review around 1:30 or so this morning. At about 4am, just about the time we were getting ready for bed, I sniffed my wrist and it smelled fantastic. It was spicy lavender with an almost effervescent undernote, perfumey in very good way. Which, on the one hand, is great. It's another thing that smells good on me and it's a real departure from the sort of thing I normally wear. On the other hand...I really don't want to have to wait that long to like what I'm wearing. Yes this has some amazing staying power--twelve hours after applying it lightly, it's still present on my wrist--and a halfway decent throw, but who wants to wait two to three hours for their perfume to actually smell good?

I have recently learned that the technical term for "throw", or "how far away from you, the wearer, can your perfume be smelled" is "sillage". It's French and it also means the wake of a ship, which makes sense. But, while I'm all about using the proper terminology, I don't know that I like the way the word sounds. Which, yeah, is totally not the reason not to use it. The reason I might stick with "throw" or use both, is that most of the forums I've been on use it and bringing in a new term might confuse readers.

Speaking of terminology, shoot me if I ever call any of this "juice." Just...no.

Nocturne Alchemy: Pyramid of Khafre

Nocturne Alchemy is in interesting concept e-tailer; all of their blends are tied, some more loosly than others, to Egypt. This isn't the blend I'd have chosen for my first review--I've just gotten involved in a decant circle for some of their newest LEs--but it happened to be tossed in as a freebie along with some other stuff I picked up from somone on LJ.

Pyramid of Khafre -- Lavender, limestone, chai spices and amber. (This was dug out of the perfume copy, which is a couple of paragraphs, including one on just who Khafre was--builder of the second of the Great Pyramids of Giza.)

This starts out as lavender and a soapy lavender at that, although there is in fact, a weird dusty undernote that I assume is the limestone. As it progresses, the spices come out and that soapy note goes away, although the lavender is still a little sharp. It's a strange scent, which is kind of what I'd expect given the notes involved. Eventually it settles into a faintly powdery but spicy lavender that still has that faint note of limestone.

It's not an easy scent and while it doesn't morph once it settles down, I can't quite decide if I like it or not. I'll sniff it and think "nah, not really working" and then a few minutes later, I'll sniff again and think "actually, I kind of like this." What I don't get is any sense of Egypt at all; the spices just aren't enough to take me there. In the end, it's that limestone note that defeats this; combined with the lavender, and even in spite of a very powdery amber, it's just a little too sharp.

PS Dear Nocturne Alchemy, 1998 called and they want their web design back. Love, Me.

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Also, Loreto of Funkier Than Thou, has renamed her shop. It's now Loreto Aromatica. I'm in the process of dropping her a line to see if she can do something for Darkrose and I for our upcoming wedding.