Perfume Review: Possets Mistress of Power

By Unknown

Press Sample

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 fourth of the samples I've tried: Mistress of Power. The last of the Egyptian-themed perfumes sent for review by Possets. I keep thinking of She-Ra, Princess of Power, Mistress of the Universe, when I see the name of this perfume, but I guess it's supposed to be an allusion to the goddess Hathor...

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: "An almost indescribable fragrance of great potency. An incense and musk scent, a great oriental. Black, grey, and golden musks at the base, a good part of aged patchouli (which has gone from a thin light yellow to a thick dark brown over the years in the curing cabinet) there is absolutely nothing coy about this blend. Backdrop of a non foody and more brandy-like chocolate liquor, a small amount of clove, all finished off with an ambergris-like musk for a shadow-like staying power."

My thoughts:
This perfume is very chocolatey at first sniff, with increasing amounts of something faintly medicinal and strongly alcoholic-smelling... a bit like dark chocolate, a bit like rum, a bit like those evil-tasting bitter herbal teas meant to cure sore throats, weak gallbladders, and the like.  The faintly repellent medicinal undertone turns me off while the chocolatey notes draw me in; I find myself confused, turned off but attracted to the scent at the same time.

If you've smelled Black Phoenix Alchemy Lab's legendary Snake Oil perfume, I find this a similar experience, a mixture of medicine and smooth sweetness, though this lacks the powerful vanilla I find so attractive in Snake Oil.

As Mistress of Power dries down and warms on my skin, the chocolate fades, and I smell increasing amounts of the patchouli, which is mellow and rich--the type of patchouli you'd find in a department store perfume like Thierry Mugler's Angel, not the raunchy, fearsomely dirty and strong hippie-jam band-new age shop-type patchouli favored by many indie perfumers.

Notes of incense and musk start to emerge as well, and the scent fills out, becoming balanced and lovely and losing its prior cocoa-laden foodiness. The clove note is very restrained--not sure I can pick it out aside from a vague impression of spiciness, which is good since clove can easily overpower a scent, an issue I've had with a couple of Arcana perfumes--and the rummy alcohol note dies down, melting away into the background.

This is one of my favorite scents from Possets so far, despite its shaky opening--it smooths out and mellows down into a really beautiful and complex perfume that I think could be enjoyed by indie or mainstream perfume fans alike--it smells good without being boring, sophisticated without being high-pitched or overbearing. I find it wears fairly close to the skin and has good longevity, and smells better the longer it wears on. Very nice, and smells much more expensive than its $12.50 price tag.

Note: this scent is vegan.