perfume Archives < Arwen, Professional Joy Seeker

The Tarot Nose: The Star

On my skin it’s very light and breezy. Not what I normally choose to wear but I really liked it. Still have a peppery/spicy tone to it…I guess this is what makes it sharp in the tonal quality. I keep sniffing myself trying to remember where I smelled this before, then it hit me.

Above her the Pleaides rise, those dancing Seven Sisters who symbolize our heart’s home. Behind her is the celestial stream between Heaven and Earth, known as the Milky Way, where pilgrims travel from one realm to the next. Beside her the Kingfisher reminds us of the halcyon days of peace and plenty. With our inner ear, we hear a voice proclaim: “I am the Soul of Nature, which gives Life to the Universe. From me all things proceed, and to me all things shall return.” More than anything, the Star Goddess represents grace, a divine connection that is unearned and freely granted.

Excerpted from Joanna Powell Colbert’s Gaian Tarot page on the Star. You can read more here.

So I’m blessed to know the parfumer from Esscentual Alchemy. She and I are members of the Gaian Circle. I’ve reviewed all of her Gaian Tarot perfumes so far. This is another of those reviews. I was so excited Continue reading “The Tarot Nose: The Star”

The Tarot Nose: The Moon

La Luna Bella! A woman invokes the energies of the full moon, while all around her spiral the eight lunar phases. Each month the moon embodies the cycle of descent and return, as it waxes to full- ness, wanes to darkness, and begins to wax again. The Moon is constantly changing, and She is utterly faithful in Her changes. — Joanna Powell Colbert

Amanda, the fabulous parfumer extraordinaire, has done it again. This time she tackled the Moon. When I first got this one, my nose was put off a bit by the sharpness of the scent. But I came back to it time and time again. I had to know what this was. Continue reading “The Tarot Nose: The Moon”

The Tarot Nose: Hermit

The Hermit from Esscentual Alchemy. This is my third review of scents from this marvelous company.

First scent to me is a sharply sweet one. I want to say anise or hazelnut. Something a bit sweet with a bite. I have to say that I’m not fond of this one. It makes me want to go away.

Of course, that makes me laugh since this is the Hermit. One of the attributes of this card is chosen solitude.

On the skin it is muskier, heavier than it was in the bottle. And, strangely, it feels very tingly on my skin. Almost a light burn. I feel like my wrists are being opened up and energy is flowing fast and hot.

After it’s been on my wrists a while, I still feel the slight burn, but the lingering scent is a medium one. Some floral but more wood to me really. If I had to color this, I’d pick chestnut or sienna–just brown. But not a dull brown. No, a deep ruddy brown like a roan horse.

Wow. This one is so hard to peg. It is fading on me really really fast. But, oddly enough, the tingling isn’t. I swear it feels like someone has opened holes in me for air to rush through.

I want to experiment with this on my other chakras (Wrists have chakras in case you didn’t know) to see if I get this same feeling. But I will wait on that.

As much as I loved the other two, this one is not as high on my list. I wouldn’t wear it as a personal scent but I do think I would work with it as a companion to the Hermit card. Maybe on a weekend when I chose to go into seclusion and just work.

It definitely captures the Hermit’s solitude and seemingly prickly exterior for me.

The Tarot Nose

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.

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 Continue reading “The Tarot Nose”

The Tarot Nose

The World by Esscentual Alchemy

A Review

I have a nose for Tarot. And so does Amanda Feeley over at Esscentual Alchemy. We met through our mutual love for Joanna Powell Colbert and the Gaian Tarot. Amanda mentioned that she was blending some scents for the Gaian. I raised my hand (or did I poke my nose in?) to offer to sniff and blab.

So I got six little bottles today. I’m going to do each one individually. I started with the World. I chose this very scientifically. I Continue reading “The Tarot Nose”