The Tarot Nose

The Builder by Esscentual Alchemy

The Builder. The Emperor. He who is in charge of a lot of stuff. This is the fourth Major Arcana (or third if you follow the idea that the Fool is neither first nor last.)

First note is masculine. I mean I smelled M-A-N when I popped the cap on this sample. Not stinky, just-did-150-reps-smell-me man, but earthy, working, honest man. Sexy man. Man you want to get to know if you are a person who is attracted to men. Hot butch woman if you aren’t. 🙂

And isn’t honest a weird thing to get from a scent? But this is like a country song about trains and rain and men who just love their women. I guess that’s appropriate since Esscentual Alchemy does say that they make music for your nose.

Then I capped it and waited about twenty minutes. Then I sniffed again. Still earthy. Almost a pumpkin-spice soothing smell to it. I like it a lot in the bottle. The overwhelming feeling is dirt. No not dirty or icky smelling dirt but sun-warmed dirt just waiting for bare toes to bury themselves. Freshly-turned land needing seeds to nurture. It’s a friendly, enveloping dirt smell. There’s a subtle sweetness to this like the last roses of fall–rich, dark and deep in their aroma. It’s not a girly scent so don’t think it is. It’s more like a hippy man might wear–gentle but strong.

Not sure it’s a scent for a woman to wear but this is a review about the scent so I put it on my skin.

Purrrrrrr. Oh My Goddess. I think I want to ask myself to make out. Seriously. This stuff is a nose-gasm on me. It must have patchouli in it somewhere because that is the one scent that does this to me. The first hit on my wrists was heaven. Then I rubbed my skin against my skin to heat it up.

I wanted to go write erotica. Seriously. I’m laughing at myself but this stuff is sexy to my nose. Now I’m going to let it sit for about thirty minutes. I do this to see what the after-burn is like. I know there’s probably a professional term but I don’t know it. I’m not a professional parfum sniffer.

This scent is designed with the Gaian Tarot’s Builder in mind. The Builder is the Emperor in this deck. He is, to me, a quintessential father figure and a primal male. Not usually a sexy one to me because the Emperor can be about boundaries and structure–two things not high on this Pisces’ list of fun things.

From Joanna Powell Colbert you learn that her Emperor is different.

Inspired by the Green Man, that spirit of the wildwood whose face he has carved into the post, he works in harmony with nature and does not lord over the earth or its animals. Read the rest and see the full card here.

Okay, time has passed. Did you miss me? I missed you! The scent is still there but not as strongly arousing as it was. Whew. It almost smells like I’m wearing a men’s cologne. I actually love the scent of men’s cologne on me. I like the way my body chemistry changes those types of scents. This one faded out to a rich earthy note. One drawback for me is that the overall scent faded fast. But that is a personal chemistry issue most likely. I’d love to hear from others who try this amazing scent. Does it linger or is it a fast fader?

Overall, I found this scent to be incredibly arousing which really puzzles and amuses me. I never thought I’d find the Emperor to be sexy. But, Joanna’s Builder is very sexy so I think this oil extrapolates that card’s energy beautifully for me.

Bottom Line: I’d wear this on a date…with myself. And with a special someone. It makes me feel very physically aware of myself. And the Builder is a very physical Major Arcana. I will meditate with this scent on the Builder as well.

Check it out and other scents at Amanda Feeley’s Esscentual Alchemy. Let me know what you try out!

Don’t forget that you can pre-order the mass-market version of the Gaian Tarot. It’s one of my two preferred reading decks.