Perfumes Of The Bible

by Ein Gedi Cosmetics, Ltd.
Thought I’d post something somewhat seasonal, and break my posting fast while a had a smidge of holiday downtime. Apologies for my absence.
Friends having a brief stop in Israel during a Mediterranean cruise picked these up for me. Since they’re about 3 oz. total of liquid, and no more, I suppose they had no trouble getting it into the ol’ U S of A.. Consisting of vials of scented oils, it features Frankincense, Myrrh, and, reaching for a somewhat related Biblical reference, Spikenard (Gold I suppose is unsmellable, nevermind what CdG says).
Aimed at the tourist looking for souvenirs, they are “soliflores”, and only have an extract of each substance in a neutral carrier oil (I think almond or sunflower oil) –no mixing, rounding, blending, no added top notes, base fixatives, etc. They are rather lightweight in scent, so I suspect they are aimed at religious anointment (the Catholic sacrament of Extreme Unction for example).
The Frankincense is just that and nothing more. I used to go to a local New Age shop in college and collect odd trinkets: Every variety of saint medallion for my mega-saint necklace, air fresheners guaranteed to bring luck or money or love, and pure incense and compressed charcoals to burn them on. The frankincense in particular filled my tiny apartment with billowy clouds of astringent smoke. If you’ve been so lucky to find pure frankincense like this, you’ll easily recognize its plastic banana undertone to the mild piney-resin overtone. It’s much fruitier than myrrh, but that’s only in comparison, there is nothing in frankincense that is truly fruity. The plastic banana is more plastic than banana. This oil version is quite mild, and might make a nice base to some experimental layering with another scent. I wouldn’t try burning the oil on a charcoal unless you like the scent of fryer oil.
The Myrrh is also just that, nothing more. The resinous, bitter edge is there, along with the the slight ozonic… no, more iodine-ish astringent wisp. Its plasticky edge is more towards the vinyl range, but is much much less than frankincense’s. There is no hint of a fruity note. Being sharper-smelling overall than frankincense, it adds the medicinal edge to church incense, and is in fact a mild antiseptic, and can be found as an ingredient in natural toothpastes. Of the three scents here, this one’s my fave, even tho it’s not as complex as the spikenard.
The Spikenard was a revelation. I had never knowingly smelled it, and only it before. Now that I know what it is I realize I have smelled it before, usually in unfashionable, but not quite drugstore perfumes. Things you might’ve gotten your mom from Sears for her birthday when you were 11, or what that lady at church would wear, or the samples floating around an Avon party. All this is a shame. Spikenard (or just Nard) starts with a strong lavender note, and just when you think that’s it, just a lavender variant, it goes spicy, some cinnamon but mostly allspice. Soon it rounds out to a powdery sweetness, vaguely like orris root but no buttery bottom to it, instead it’s much more white-flowers, but then there’s a vinyl note again, very slight (if I didn’t already know frankincense & myrrh have plastic notes, I’d be suspicious of the carrier oil now). Not bad for something that’s more closely related to valerian! The overall effect of the powdery sweet lavenderishness gives me strong mental pictures of a baby’s nursery. The baby products, the rubber pants, the plastic teething rings & pacifier: all adds up to “innocent soft sweetness” to me. The complexity is fascinating, but the powderiness I find off-putting. I’m not sure what the concentration of scent is in this one, but this is the only one of the 3 that lasted all day.