BPAL: Summer's Last Will and Testament (a perfume review)

Golden Field Farmall - Cheri Simmons

SUMMER'S LAST WILL AND TESTAMENT

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What pleasure always lasts? No joy endures:
Summer I was, I am not as I was;
Harvest and age have whitened my green head;
On Autumn now and Winter must I lean.
Needs must he fall, whom none but foes uphold.
Thus must the happiest man have his black day:
Omnibus una manet nox, & calcanda semel via lethi.
This month have I lain languishing abed, ...
Looking each hour to yield my life and throne;
And died I had indeed unto the earth,
But that Eliza, England's beauteous Queen,
On whom all seasons prosperously attend,
Forbad the execution of my fate,
Until her joyful progress was expired.
For her doth Summer live, and linger here,
And wisheth long to live to her content;
But wishes are not had when they wish well.
I must depart, my death-day is set down; ...
To these two must I leave my wheaten crown.
So unto unthrifts rich men leave their lands,
Who in an hour consume long labor's gains.

Doomed summer, supported on the shoulders of winter and autumn: citrus-infused Baltic amber, red valerian, marigold, blood orange, and sunflower subdued by somber myrrh and dry geranium alongside the leaves of autumn and a breath of winter wind.




Summer has ended. (In fact, at this point, the harvest season is pretty much over.) But we can still celebrate this transition of "doomed Summer". Or, we can at least celebrate this perfume!

Summer's Last Will and Testament, by Black Phoenix Alchemy Lab, was an "Summer's End" offering in 2009.

It starts with a lot of citrus, but it's not too much. It's not synthetic or shrill. It's not eye-watering, either. There are moments where it's tottering on the edge of "furniture polish", though.

After a bit, a floral aspect comes into play - but I'd describe it as a dried flower type of smell. This makes sense for the story. I can't discern any specific flowers - I know marigold and I'm just not picking it up here. I do pick up a tinge of geranium.

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For much of the time this is on my skin, it evokes an herbal soap - or maybe one of those shops that sells pretty, handmade goat's milk soaps and dried flower arrangements? Summer's Last Will and Testament is not "soapy", though, rather it's the blend of florals and citrus that make me envision this shop.

The dry down is still, somehow, citrus-heavy. That's bizarre to me, since I'm used to the citrus notes burning up quickly, like a flame on a match. It does take on an ambery lean, though, but this is not a true amber scent in my opinion.

The whole experience of Summer's Last Will and Testament does create an impression of gold and amber.

I enjoy this scent, probably more than one could tell by the still-full bottle. I just don't seem to pick it up often. Maybe the next time I go shopping for goat's milk soap?