u/Bitter_Resist_8187

Alkemia Perfumes: Incantation Cacao
A sensual ceremony of raw cacao, sacred Atlas cedar, vetiver root, quebracho tanned suede, green cardamon, orris root, red Rooibos chai, bitter orange, Palo Santo, and acacia flowers.

Projection & Longevity: This is one of the lower-performing scents I have tried from Alkemia, detectable to myself in the air for about two hours and detectable wrist-to-nose thereafter. At six hours the scent was nearly gone altogether.

My Scent Description: I do, again, get a faint powdery incense base. I just realized this is likely the infamous Alkemia "fancy soap" DNA that polarizes fans, and I wanted to explore this, so here's my quick analysis under the spoiler just to keep things tidy:
>!💜I recently learned that the powdery note I love is likely from orris. Orris root is a classic perfume ingredient, and lends to a "vintage" vibe in my opinion. It's that lipstick scent which can range from delicate and feminine to granny/mature.!<
>!🖤"Incense" could be coming from their Palo Santo note here, but there are a range of incensey notes. Palo Santo is a resinous wood in the "incense tree family" with frankincense. If I were to describe incense to someone who has never burned it, I would describe it as a more masculine, woodsy cousin to the high end ambery ("Oriental") women's perfumes.!<
>!--->For what it's worth, I love this as a base, especially for the hippie/witchy vibe Alkemia seems to go for.... but I can see why people say Alkemia scents "all smell like fancy soap" because a lot of them do have a hippie store soap vibe from this powdery incense base.!<

So back to Incantation Cacao. What an interesting ride! This is undeniably powdery. It's got those incensey resinous woods. An almost medicinal syrup/herbal note, like licoricey aniseed tea. The most dominantly recognizable note here is of course the cacao, buttery and rich and a little chocolatey. There's a mysterious, almost metallic inky thing going on as well, (and even after cheating at the notes I can't figure out what that could possibly be! Maybe this is the "tanned suede"? Maybe just skin chemistry?)
Tough hands softened by rich cocoa butter. Someone boils inky black dye on the stovetop. Herbs dry in the sunlight of an open window. You sip a mug of sweet, steaming aniseed tea. Incense burns in the other room.
Reviewing the notes, I sadly don't get orange. And the tea note is simply not spiced. It's also definitely not gourmand despite the vaguely choclately cacao. There's nothing fruity or zesty here. Still, it's a lovely unisex scent!

My Rating: My girlfriend leaned in close and said, "Ooh, what are you wearing? Hmm, that's a comforting scent. 8/10." She hit the nail on the head, because when I first put it on, I too thought it was a great "sexy boyfriend hug" type of scent. I just fear it isn't really me. I'm stumped on this one. I have to give it an 8.5/10, probably won't FS but I may revisit it later.

Alkemia Perfumes: Aelfscyne
Aelfscyne ('beautiful as a fairy') is an otherworldly enchantment of luminescent white amber, meadowsweet, wood hyacinth, Lonicera, woodbine, sweetfern, Cashmeran wood and delicate green tea.

Projection & Longevity: Inoffensive even when over-sprayed. Doesn't project super far, but stays strong for hours, evolving slightly around the 4 hour mark but maintaining the green floral notes from the opening.

My Fragrance Description (I always describe my scents blind without reading the notes, so pardon my limited vocabulary!): First whiff- strangely near-spittle like note which I think may be honey or rotten wood. Thank God that doesn't last. Then the opening is green and floral. I smell fresh airy floral, maybe a lilac/honeysuckle? and wet crushed leafy greens and damp woods, (thankfully not mildewy like wet leaves can be-just fresh and faintly sweet.) There is also lovely almost tobacco-like vanilla leaf in there, rounding out the scent. Around the 3 hr mark I start to get more of that tobacco/vanilla-y scent and the hyacinth blast takes a step back. (To clarify, I have fresh dried tobacco on hand and that's my tobacco association, NOT cigarettes!) After reviewing the description, I forgot that I had ordered this specifically because I was exploring teas. I wonder if the dried herbal note is actually meant to be tea leaves rather than tobacco.
Fresh honey and damp fallen trees; dewy wildflowers and crushed wet grass; sweet green herbal leaves and warm tobacco vanilla-like sweetness.

My Rating: This is a little too floral for my taste, but the florals are super lovely and realistic. I really enjoy that slightly herbal sweetness in the drydown. I won't FS this but I definitely recommend it! 7/10