After our Company Overview post about Possets, the owner got in touch with us and kindly offered to send some free samples of her favorites our way. This is the second of the samples I've tried: Hatshepsut. I like the idea behind it--a scent dedicated to Egypt's first female pharaoh--although I always hope for Egyptian musk as a note when I see an Egyptian-themed perfume. (I suppose maybe that would have grown a bit old over the entire set of 23 scents in the Egyptian Evenings limited edition collection...) I believe this was released as a limited edition and made permanent after it was voted a favorite by Possets fans.
Price: $12.50 for a 5 mL amber glass bottle of perfume oil with polyseal cap.
Samples: Available as part of a 6-pack for $12.50.
(More details about price and shipping can be found in our Company Overview post about Possets.)
Description from the website: "The first woman to rule Egypt as pharaoh, Hatshepsut ruled in peace and established a great increase in trade and prosperity for the Egyptian people. She was followed by an envious ruler who tried to blot out her name and accomplishments from the memory of the people. Her fame was restored with the renewed interest in archeology in the late 19th and 20th centuries.
Bitter beautiful galbanum pairs with the smoothness of labdanum, a bit of oude gum, and a very small amount of the best skin amber. This is how Hatshepsut would have presented herself: the Queen of all, The Pharaoh of All and the Conqueror of All. Breathtakingly strong and yet lovely, very simple, very elegant. The marriage of opposites where the pieces naturally work. Spicy and resinous. "
My thoughts:
Opens with the bitter green scent of crushed foliage--this is the galbanum, I think--with some very sweet amber underpinnings that reminded me of bubble gum (or lotus blossom, which I think smells quite a bit like bubble gum when I've encountered it in perfumes in the past). I find it very interesting, although not quite to my personal tastes. There is something in the bitter green top notes I find very appealing, the bubblegum-like base notes less so.
The greenness fades a bit as the scent dries down, making the galbanum smell more like green bell peppers than like crushed leaves, and the resinous notes of amber and oudh become more prominent, but they are quite sweet variations on these scents. I can see that they were probably deliberately chosen to balance out the bitterness of galbanum, but it gives the perfume a strangely doughy-sweet quality.
The greenness and sweetness of the scent combine to remind me of pale spring flowers, muguet or narcissus, but my nose is frustrated by the absence of white floral here--it feels like a word that's on the tip of your tongue!
Although this isn't a perfume I enjoy wearing myself, I haven't smelled any scents quite like this before, so I think it's worth checking out if the description piques your interest.
Note: this scent is vegan.
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