after my very positive experience with the scents from The Secret of Time and Heaven collection by Stereoplasm (full review here), i loved them so much that i repurchased larger sizes of all of them, including a 7.5ml of The Great Owl.
inspired by the wise and mystical creature in The Secret of NIMH, The Great Owl offers an intense and mature scent experience, with notes of ancient amber, frankincense, benzoin and champaka in a hollow draped in thick cobwebs, glowing citronella and vetiver root.
on the first sniffs, one could be forgiven for thinking that he or she had accidentally picked up the mosquito repellent instead of this unique scent - The Great Owl opens with what initially appears to be a no-nonsense citronella that envelops the wearer in a dense cloud of mozzie-be-gone.
but almost immediately, the scent reveals surprisingly intricate layers of resins beneath, which create a sort of deeper mysticism about the whole experience. compared to ordinary repellent (which presumably had been manufactured in a factory overseas), the citronella here feels almost supernatural, like it had been harvested by the light of the full moon at the witching hour, by an old lady garbed in dark robes as she worked together with her black cat familiar.
threads of herbal spice work their way through over the course of the wear, and just as suddenly as it had begun, the spooky citronella-frankincense combination withdraws to make way for an almost-calming smoothness with the benzoin and champaca.
where the initial minute of wear would have passed for a close cousin of a mosquito repellent, the remaining five hours or so could not have been any more opposite, with the scent taking on a sweet and almost-seductive layer that could have put the pied piper of mosquitoes to shame.
just like in The Secret of NIMH, The Great Owl was intimidating from a distance and with its first impressions, but with time, it really showed itself to be an invaluable companion and friend.
8.5/10 this is such a great scent that i have absolutely no regrets about my decision to full-size; a strong contender in my collection for those days when i feel like wearing something that's spooky-mystical and more unique compared to mainstream ideas of what a 'perfume' should smell like.
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this review is of a perfume that i had purchased at regular price with my own money. i wasn’t asked to review this scent as a condition of receipt and didn’t receive any incentives for writing this. i’m not affiliated with Stereoplasm and as always, all opinions remain my own.
Stereoplasm's website is available here.
all information correct at time of publishing.
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