Perfume Review - Smoke and Mirrors

Smoke and Mirrors by Alkemia.

This will be a short review, because I do not need too many words to describe this scent... Three would be enough really...

In the bottle Smoke and Mirrors is a mild smoky vanilla. It actually doesn´t smell very exciting in the vial.. But when I put it on my skin the smoky note morphs and becomes much stronger  at the same time as the vanilla becomes deeper and sweeter. There really are not any clear stages in this perfume but it seems to constantly change, with the vanilla and the smoke playing a game of dominance. As it dries the tonka becomes more noticeable, giving even more body to the vanilla.

This was love at first sniff, I have never ever fallen so head over heels for a scent! It is deceptively simple and   is very useful for layering, it was actually made for this purpose and is said to be good for "toning down any perfumes that are too sweet, deepening and gloriously complicating resin and incense based scents, and softening chypres and any 'sharp' woody scents"... But I prefer it as is! It is just so overwhelmingly gorgeous!! (Though I do think I´ll use it with Wing of Bat and see if anything exciting happens, Smoke and Mirrors can probably tun anything gorgeous, I am a believer!)

I am getting a full size bottle of this, or maybe two, just to be safe... It even lasts long on me! Not as long as MdSeT, but still a full 12 hours on my skin.And the sillage is just perfect for leaving an intoxicating trail behind you, not monstruous like MdSeT, but still more than average!

This scent in three words: Smoke! Vanilla! Glorious!!

P.S. Beware leakage with this one, store upright... Also recommended with Soma, Moon Goddess and colorless oils in general... These sample vials tend to get less tight the more times you open them and colorless oils with no heavy and thick resins and therefore less viscous tend to leak out...