HEY POSSE PEEPS! Portia in the Posse from AustralianPerfumeJunkies and super thrilled to be bringing you something so far out of my normal range of fragrance sniffing that I just had to bring it to your attention. Now I first heard about this Devilscent Project from my mate Sheila Eggenberger, who is the blogtress of TheAlembicatedGenie, because she has written a book called Quantum Demonology which has become a cult hit amongst the fragrance fraternity. This has inspired a slew of perfumers and today I get to write about one of my favourite niche perfumers, Ellen Covey from Olympic Orchids Artisan Perfumes because she has produced some incredibly confronting, intriguing, freaky, devilish fragrances that I have no frame of reference for comparison for this project. They are so far removed from what I expect from Olympic Orchids and I think you will be blown away by them too.

Olympic Orchids Devilscent Project Lil#1 Dev#2 by Ellen Covey

Photo Stolen marketplace.secondlife

Olympic Orchids Lil#1

From Olympic Orchids: This is the fragrance of Lilith, the original Eve and former wife of the Devil in Sheila Eggenberger’s novel Quantum Demonology.… It is the enthralling scent of a woman with perfect confidence in her powers, a swirling, almost chameleon-like veil of fragrance that is ethereal and nearly transparent, but still vividly and unquestionably present and compelling…. This is the fragrance of a female warrior who not only fights and wins, but seduces everyone in her path.

Top: Davana (sweet fruit), kewda (balsamic floral), kaffir lime leaf
Heart: Passion-fruit, angel’s trumpet, lily-of-the-valley, geranium, cyclamen, rose
Base: Woody notes, cashmeran, musk, and patchouli

The featured accords look innocuous enough like any other fragrance and lead you to believe that this will be like many others. WOW! I have worn Lil 4 times now and find it mind blowingly unfamiliar, more unsettling that ELdO’s SM and also more compelling. It opens sweet and fruity, like a strong celebuscent, but there is an undertow of weird, and dissonant that gives me heart thuddingly, edge of your seat, repeated swallowing horror film chills. I know the flowers are beautiful and fragrant and the more I try to focus on them the less I can smell them and the more I get this freaky something that lasts the whole life of the fragrance. GHASTLY but also a wonderful fun look at perfume and what I consider beautiful and how just because I don’t love it doesn’t mean it’s not a masterpiece. It is art, in the sense that it has moved me through a set of emotions and changed my perspective, and it makes me think, every time. Applause to you Ellen Covey. At the same time gorgeous and disgusting on my skin.

Photo Stolen Olympic Orchids

Olympic Orchids Dev#2

From Olympic Orchids: Based on the novel Quantum Demonology, by Sheila Eggenberger, this smoky, dense, and rich composition is a big, insistent fragrance that represents the romantic phase when the tempestuous love affair between the protagonist and Dev is proceeding in all of its ups and downs. It’s the fundamental seductive scent of Dev, without the darkest and most sinister of the base notes, a spicy, woody, animalic scent that stuns the senses and renders the lover oblivious to any of the horrors and dangers that might lie in wait…. It combines the spiritual with the carnal in a rising plume of incense accompanied by the riff of a heavy metal bass played by an entity in a black leather jacket.

In one line: Three different kinds of labdanum, tolu balsam, black agar, woody base notes, musks, castoreum, civet, cistus oil, incense, immortelle absolute, cade, davana, leather, rose, clove, cardamom, cinnamon, cinnamon leaf

I have been too scared to try this on my skin before so you are getting a day of first impressions: NOTHING like I expected, in no way is this confrontational, it is inviting, deep, humus rich soil, dark places but not dank, there is almost a cannabus/bong water smell hiding in the background. Not feral at all, it reads all masculine and manly stereotypes, leathery, barn but not barnyard. This is so wearable and quite beautiful. I would love to smell this on a man and would probably follow this scent around a club till I found it.  If Ellen Covey was after a scent to seduce then she has hit the nail on the head. Olympic Orchids Dev#2 has all the depths of bitter dark chocolate and all the warm welcome of a mocha coffee with slightly burnt beans. I am ordering a bottle of this. AH MAY ZING!! It lasts for hours and hours going through to an acrid tannery smell that is surprisingly good over a sweetish resinous something.

Olympic Orchids Devilscent Project fragrances are running a terrific sample program 5 x 3ml Devilscents for $30 delivered to the world. 30ml EdP is only $45!!
Read Sheila Eggenberger at TheAlembicatedGenie

OMG!! I got in touch with Ellen Covey to tell her I was reviewing the 2 fragrances and she shot me back an email in a twinkle and this is an edited version of what she said:

Hello lovely Portia,
I think this is just perfect for a late Halloween giveaway and special deal. I can do a drawing/giveaway of one 15 ml bottle of any Devil Scent, reader’s choice, so they’ll have to go to my website and read about them all to make a decision and leave a comment saying which one they’d prefer under your post.
I’ll also offer $5 off the Devil Scent spray sample packs (code word is DEVIL) and a free mini-pack of LIL and one DEV variation (3 ml spray samples) with purchase of any full bottle (15 ml or larger) from anywhere on the website (Code word is HALLOWEEN).
Hugs, Ellen

GO TO IT ALL. Leave a message in the comments about which of the Olympic Orchids Devilscent Project you would most like to own a 15ml bottle of and you will be in the draw. I’ll leave the draw open till Sunday 11pm Sydney, Australia time and I will put all names on pieces of paper and TSO Jin will draw a winner that will be announced on the Perfume Posse. The winner will have till Wednesday 11pm Sydney, Australia time to get in touch or I’ll give the prize to someone else. GET GOING!!

Sometimes fragrances come along that blow my how things should smell button right off the page. I think if you are interested in fragrance as art then these are 2 of the most interesting, boundary pushing ones I’ve come across. Over at AustralianPerfumeJunkies we are doing an Interview with Sheila Eggenberger if you’d like to learn more about the catalyst for these fragrances, so come on over and say HI.

Until next week I hope you have deliciously fragrant lives and HOPE YOU HAD A HAPPY HALLOWEEN,
Love, Love, Love,
Portia xx