BPAL sniffing notes 39 - Anathema, Osun, and Medea

Anathema - A scent as heavy as thunder from the Vatican, with notes that inspire every sin and excess. Black opium, with vetivert and honeysuckle.

In the vial, it's extremely bitter. Colorwise, copper.

Wet on my skin, very dark and rich. Not nearly as bitter. Would probably smell better on Josh, though.

10-15 minute drydown - Ok. Black opium is on my list of headache triggers. GAH! On me, at least.


*****


Osun - The Goddess of the Hand Mirror, Maiden of Love. Osun is the Goddess of beauty, love, enchantment, elegance, and pleasure. Her charm and incomparable lovliness is such that it can be felt, sensed, and not merely seen. Osun holds the secrets of our deepest and most complex feelings. She is intuition, pure and idealized love, the tingling sensation of pleasurable anticipation, the sensual movement of seduction and sexuality, and quick breath before climax. Osun is the pleasure of the senses, refinement, and the patroness of artistic endeavors that bring delight to the world. She compels us to express our deepest, truest feelings, and is the mother of our tears of happiness, tears of bitter grief, and the swelling of our hearts with love, hate, lust and fierce joy. She is the harlot and the virgin, who bestows unbridled carnal pleasure and also shows the path to purity of the spirit and virtuous intentions. She represents tenacity, the will to live and the drive to acquire, and the desire for achievement and fine possessions. She is the sublimely sweet and the revolting sour that we taste in life. She is charm used to every conceivable end, and is credited with bringing currency and the concept of money into the world, and is therefore the Patroness of Prostitutes and Courtesans. She is a great Witch, and has a multitude of brews, charms, and potions and always has a trick up her billowing, beautiful yellow sleeves. She is the youngest of the Orishas, and is a symbol of the most recent of nature's evolutions: civilization. She teaches us to take care of ourselves, to pamper ourselves, and to find and express the beauty in ourselves, in others, and in our world. She is the sweet water of the stream, sustaining life. She is the Goddess of fine art, debate, sanitation, grooming, oratory arts, and temples and theatres. She is the act of landing the settlement that becomes a nation. She shows us that time must be made for leisure, amusement and contemplation, for a life of unending toil is an affront to her gifts, and diminishes the quality of life itself, and cripples our ability to conceive new, innovative ideas and create compelling works of art. All work and no play is not an option. It is Osun that provides us with the security, safety, comfort and prosperity that we require in order to make time for leisurely pursuits. Osun is the mirror that mankind holds up to itself, and she is the principle upon which all art is born. Osun's symbols are hand mirrors, brass fans, brass needles, brass bells, sunflowers, and her creatures are the cricket and the peacock. Her ofrenda is thick with honey and herbs of love, passion and desire.

In the vial, I smell honey and a strange sweet/sour herbal mixture. Colorwise, this one is really hard to place. I'm probably going to go with a yellowish pink.

Wet on my skin, that sourness is all but gone. Now it smells almost bubblegummy. Definitely some lotus in this, maybe some almond.

10-15 minute drydown - Hmmm... This one is a morpher. Starts off sweet and foody, turns rich and sweet. A little TOO rich, maybe.

1 hour drydown - Oh... Saffron. There you are. I wondered what it was that was smelling like plastic and giving me a headache.


*****


Medea - Granddaughter of Helios, Hecate's chosen: Medea was one of the greatest sorceresses of the ancient world. She is the embodiment of ruthless power, indomitable will and furious vengeance. Night-blooming cereus, black orchid, black currant and myrtle leaf enshrouded in the incense of Hecate's cypress and myrrh, and the dark rage of magickal labdanum and intoxicating poppy.

In the vial, it smells slightly bitter and herbal. Colorwise, dark brown.

Wet on my skin, it's darkly floral. Not flowery, but floral. A little stronger than I think I'd like.

10-15 minute drydown - There's something in this that smells unpleasantly like dust. Not the good 'dust' note. Just *dust*.

1 hour drydown - Not caring for this. Smells like fake flower scented dusty plastic flowers, to me.