I always thought
Black Phoenix Alchemy Lab was the only authority when it came to indie fragrances.
Then, today, I met
Arcana face to face for the first time, and I'm crushing really hard.
It's hard for a fantasy fan or a student of history not to be turned on by the bottles, packaging, and themes. The labels all look the same worn shade of sepia, but all written with different fonts, all illustrated with the same creepy woodcut images and haunting artwork. They have names like "1816" and "Filthy Viking", whose descriptions let you know that someone studied history. But you can't judge a book by its cover, can you? And unless you have an unlimited budget - and who has one of those? - you can't just order these on a whim. When you're in a position to get yummy perfume, and that may not be very often - you have to choose wisely. Usually, I go with what I know...I don't like gambling on perfume that may or may not be good. I'd wanted to try Arcana for months, especially a scent of theirs called "Frilly Underpinnings", but I was never brave enough to ask Lindsay to get me a whole bottle. I'd be devastated with guilt if it wasn't absolutely excellent.
Then I stumbled on The Soap Box Company, probably one of Arcana's biggest vendors. And they, my friends...THEY sold SAMPLES. We had to try a couple.
Lindsay ordered "
The Huntress" - "Sweet clove, black pepper, aromatic mint, blood orange, and a whiff of [Artemis's] sacred oak groves." She was drawn in by the woodland theme, by the image of an independent feminist goddess of old.
I got a sample of "
Frilly Underpinnings", a fragrance I'd been dying to try for so long - "Pink, white, and black pepper lace delicately through sweet cream, bourbon vanilla, caramel amber, white musk, two sugars, spice, and everything nice." Lindsay had cautioned me many months ago that this scent sounded almost disgustingly gourmand and would turn sweet, cloying, and nauseating on my skin, especially since I amplify cream and vanilla notes so well. I'm ecstatic to tell you that our fears were totally ungrounded. It's sweet, bright, and cheerful, not nearly as cloying as I expected. White musk is an automatic win on my skin; it always turns sweet and lovely on me, and the white musk in Frilly Underpinnings lent the fragrance a quiet, pleasant gravity that kept it from getting out of control. Immediately on touching my skin, Frilly reminded me of a snowy winter day, cuddled up on a cozy window bench with a book and a thick, soft blanket. It took me home, back to chilly northern winters, which I miss terribly here in Florida with its year-round summers.
Sadly, Lindsay didn't like Huntress nearly as well. She was hoping for something more arboreal, I think. I told her that I'd happily take it off her hands. The orange and clove come out in this one and it reminds me of tart and tangy holiday punch, hot in a steaming mug after coming in out of a bitter northern winter. I love that one, too.
Since Lindsay rocks the pine and woodsy notes, I convinced her to get a bottle of "
Filthy Viking", which is a far more piney, frigid scent. She's skeptical, convinced that it will smell terrible. If she doesn't like it, I'll take it. We're two for two. If all of Arcana's smells are as good as the samples we got, even a smell like that will be delightful on me.
For BPAL fans, the main difference we noticed between BPAL and Arcana is that BPAL'S smells tend to be a lot darker, and I think this suits their gothic theme and the sensibilities of their creators. Arcana seems to be smell a little more bright and cheerful, and I think this suits me and certainly my partner a lot better. It's a good illustration as to how, even when a designer makes two completely different fragrances, they put enough of themselves into those fragrances to give them some sense of common mood to tie them together.
I like Arcana's mood a lot. Smelling their stuff makes me genuinely happy, and that's exactly what I like art to do for me.
I think this could be love. <3
The Soap Box Company sells most of Arcana's scents in 5 ml glass bottles for $13.95. Samples of their year-round smells are $3.00 (worth every penny, trust me). Some smells are sold in 3.7 ml glass bottles, and prices may vary.
