Review: Alchemy Works incenses

I just got a shipment of incense from Alchemy Works, and now I'm stuck in front of my computer waiting to hear from someone, so I figured I might as well tell you guys all about it.  The first thing I have to mention; it took a long time to ship my order.  When it hadn't shipped after two weeks, I had to email them to ask about it.  I was informed that they'd run out of a certain supply, and ordered more.  All in all, it took about a month to get my order.  They were very nice about it, and offered me a refund if I didn't want to wait, so no harm done.  Once the package arrived, I was very pleased to discover how lovely the packaging is.  The loose incenses came packed in very nice stacking metal tins that I will definitely be saving to reuse.  The ambergris wax comes in a small glass jar.  The amber resin is in wax paper envelopes, which is fine, but I would have preferred something resealable.  They also sent me three free sample vials of oils with my order.

The site has very good descriptions; check out the links.

I ordered:
2 oz of amber resin
1 oz Edfu Kyphi
1 oz faux Ambergris
1 oz vegetal Musk incense
1 oz solid waxy ambergris

I also got free samples of three oils
Hecate the Saffron Cloaked (I wish this had come Friday!)
Flame: the Elemental Fire
Sacred Madjet


Of everything I got, the kyphi is the winner.  It's lovely and rich, sticky and stanky and delicious.  It's a very electric, airy, sort of a scent; powerfully mercurial without being spicy.  It's the sweetest smelling kyphi I've ever had.  I think the best word for its smell is languid.  I am looking forward to scrying with it.  It pops and hisses a lot as it burns, which I like, and makes big clouds of smoke (because it's so sticky and wet)  I will certainly be ordering more of this.  I want to roll around in it.  I'm seriously considering trying to compound a perfume oil out of it so I can just smell like this all the time.

The waxy ambergris is also very nice.  It's slightly more feminine and a little sweeter than I was expecting, but it's very, very pleasant smelling.  In fact, it rated a: "Miss Mastros, I know this is kind of a weird thing to say, but you smell really nice today" from a student.  It's much harder than I was expecting also; it's not a pomade, it's the texture of straight beeswax.  I'm going to warm it and blend it with some oil later to make it more of a cream.  (but, this is a good thing; because it's so much more concentrated than I was expecting, it's really quite cheap for the amount/quality)

The ambergris incense smells very similar to the waxy solid, but slightly less floral.  I haven't burned it yet, so I don't know how it smells smoking.  I got it for Babalon working, and I think it's going to be great for that.

The vegetarian musk is lovely, deep and smooth and sexy.  I bought it to use in Baphomet work, and it's perfect; earthy and cthonic with a touch of intense sex-anger-fear.  I might add some mugwort to it for Baphomet, to give it a touch of a moldering forest vibe.

The amber resin is not of especially good quality (although neither is it particularly bad), but it was very cheap for the quantity.  It will be good for incense, but I don't think I will use it for compounding oils or potions.  However, at $4.50 an ounce, it's very good.

Sacred Madjet is not a thing I've ever worked with (or heard of) before.  I don't especially care for the scent; it's very piney-smelling.  Based solely on the scent, I think it would be good for healing or clarifying magic.  The website compares its scent to Abramelin, but I don't really get that at all.  It's a much younger/fresher/greener scent.  I imagine a spirit who likes this smell is a very competent healer, but perhaps not the best bedside manner.

The Flame: Elemental Fire oil is very pleasant smelling, like mulling spices and orange liquor.  If this were a cocktail, I would definitely drink it.  It smells like a very high quality, all natural version of the "Christmas Home" potpourri Michael's Craft Stores reek of.  It's quite nice, but the fire it evokes is more "cozy crackling fireplace" and less "raging bonfire of passion" than I would expect from the name.

The Hecate oil is weird; not at all what I imagined it would smell like.  I'm honestly conflicted about whether I like it or not.  Certainly, I wouldn't wear it as a perfume, but it's not at all unpleasant smelling.  Hekate seems to like it quite a lot, and I suppose that's what matters.  I've put it on her altar.

The oils seems very high quality and well-made; I will probably be ordering oils from them in the future.