Phoenix Botanicals Twilight Green (Irina Adam) Review + Lifting the Veil Draw

Photo  of Lynne Rey by Irina Adam©

“Green, how I want you green.

Green wind. Green branches.

The ship out on the sea

and the horse on the mountain.

With the shade around her waist

she dreams on her balcony,

green flesh, her hair green,

with eyes of cold silver.

Photo by Irina Adam©

Green, how I want you green.

Under the gypsy moon,

all things are watching her

and she cannot see them.” ~ Romance Somnambulo, Federico Garcia Lorca (and Irina’s inspiration for)

Irina Adam of Phoenix Botanicals © Aemen Bell

Botanical perfumer Irina Adam is a bona fide original, a puckish wildflower brimming with wit and whimsy. I deeply appreciate her ability to compose perfumes which smell uniquely hers – visions, imaginings which are rendered aromatic and palpable in their own fey, ephemeral fashion. Irina’s most recent offering is one evocative of changing season, lifting the veil between summer’s end and autumn in earnest. 

Photo of Lynne Rey by Irina©

Spanish poet Lorca’s allusive lines suggest an encroaching nightscape populated by wild verdancy, an untameable moon and the sleepwalker’s conundrum. Irina’s body of work speaks of natural landscapes inherent within urban confines, the majesty of riotously overgrown uncultivated spaces, stolen beauty disclosed by chance. Phoenix Botanicals Twilight Green ushers in atmospheric dusk, richly-hued and weedy – somewhere between army green and the more sage-tinted Russian green, synaesthetically…

Photo by Irina Adam©

Phoenix Botanicals Twilight Green is quirkily pensive, tinged with moody contemplation; its harmoniously unorthodox mingling of earthy elements (wormwood, marigold, mugwort), fragrant breaths of divinity (spice, tuberose, myrrh) and the haylike, coumarinic tones of flouve and sweetgrass are not what the nose has come to expect.

photo by Irina Adam©

Certainly, commercial perfumes come nowhere close – this may present one with the sensation of entering an olfactory terra incognita. I find it a fragrance of dichotomy, restful AND restless as a lucid dream state due to its beautiful botanical discordancy. Nothing fits traditionally into a circumscribed category, which may be unsettling for some – but from this locus of uncertainty arises a peculiar loveliness suggestive of respite profferred by nature’s unexpected gifts.

Photo by Irina©

They may range from something as simple as that common plantain stubbornly cropping up between the cracks of the sidewalk to an unforeseen trail which leads to a lushly verdant vista you’ve never seen. Wafts of hidden blossoms, fading grasses and herbs in the presence of trees who regale us with legend and song, experienced in the ways of the world and valiant in their advanced age. Notes: bergamot, wormwood, spices, marigold, infused wild mugwort, tuberose, sweetgrass, flouve, myrrh, aged wild oudh

Sample provided by Irina Adam – many thanks! My nose is my own…

~ Ida Meister, Senior Editor and Natural Perfumery Editor

~ Art Direction: Michelyn Camen, Editor-in-Chief: All photos by Irina were taken in the  mugwort fields which inspired the perfume

Phoenix Botanicals Twilight Green  photo by Irina©

Thanks to the generosity of Irina Adam, we have 5ml bottle of Phoenix Botanicals Twilight Green for one registered reader in the USA; (you must register or your entry won't count). To be eligible, please leave a comment with what you enjoyed about Ida’s review, what signifies the ‘lifting of the veil’ to you at this time of the year. If you have a favorite Phoenix Botanical perfume we would love to know. Draw ends November 3, 2018

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17 comments

  • NiceVULady says:

    Ida’s reviews are almost like reading poetry. I love them. Believe it or not, lifting the veil in my part of the country means being able to shut off the a.c. and open up the windows. Glorious. I don’t have a favorite Phoenix Botanical, and this one sounds really interesting. Really liked the beautiful photos by Irina. Imagine Garcia Lorca for inspiration! Thanks for the draw. I’m in the USA

  • Monica Beaton says:

    Yet another amazing review from Ida – I can almost smell the fragrance just from your words. And beautfiul photos from Ida and art direction from Michelyn. You two make an amazing team – love your posts! Lifting the veil for me means tucking away my comforting orientals – deep dark fragrances that bring me warmth – and bringing out my florals, citruses, lighter, brighter refreshing scents to cool through our summer months in Aus.

  • ElizabethC says:

    I would love to try this. Right now, lifting the veil in Seattle means greeting the non stop rain! I love, love, love Phoenix Botanicals Saffron Veil – even though I have many perfumes, this one would be the one I wear the most. It would be great to try another one of their perfumes 🙂 Thank you! I am in the US

  • giantree says:

    Mmm, the spice and myrrh combined with earthy elements sounds like a good pairing. I enjoyed Ida’s description of the fragrance as being both restful and restless, like a lucid dream. The emphasis on the greenness of the fragrance also appeals to me as I love earthy scents, and I enjoyed reading the poem in the beginning. As Halloween approaches, I think of “lifting the veil” in reference to Samhain and the veil between the worlds of the living and the dead being lifted, so that spirits of the dead can walk among us… spooky!
    I am in the US, thanks for the draw 🙂

  • Onyinye says:

    I loved the description as “harmoniously unorthodox mingling of earthy elements (wormwood, marigold, mugwort), fragrant breaths of divinity (spice, tuberose, myrrh) and the haylike, coumarinic tones of flouve”.

    Lifting of the veil means transitioning into cooler weather at this time of the year to me. And I don’t have any Phoenix Botanica favorites.

    I live in California

  • spritzi says:

    Ida, what a beautiful review of Irina’s new release. And I love the description of her as puckish wildflower! I’m not entering the draw but wanted to thank Ida for her writing and Irina for her perfume magic.

  • Harbinger says:

    This sounds so beautiful and I loved Ida’s review. I am especially intrigued by perfumes that are green and the marigold note as well. Lifting of the veil as we segue from summer into autumn would be the smell in the air…crushed leaves, fireplaces burning, cool cut grass…..I have never tried any perfumes from this house. USA

  • INYA says:

    Since I’m often gardening til dusk, ‘lifting the veil’ could mean that the days light has faded, and I can’t see my fingers anymore. The green earthiness of this creation is singing to me. USA

  • audesko1 says:

    Green and green! What a beautiful article! Lifting a veil, changing seasons, great words. Thank you for the article. I loved reading it and would love to try Twilight Green. Thank you for the chance. I live in California.

  • doveskylark says:

    This review was very poetic, much like the Lorca poem that opened the review. The wormwood and mugwort notes appeal to me. Lifting the veil just means noticing everything that each season brings, the different light, smells, feelings.
    I like Lilac Rain from this house.
    I live in the USA.

  • Zibbyz says:

    This sounds so unusual, I would love to try it… Lifting the veil at this time of year means putting away the light clothes and scents and pulling out the heavier, warmer ones. It sounds like this could straddle the two seasons. I don’t have a fav scent from this house, but I look forward to trying something on the future. Thank you for the draw!

  • jeremyn87 says:

    Sounds really interesting. Very green, dark, and austere. I wonder how the tuberose plays in this, since everything else just sounds dry and herbaceous. I guess my lifting of the veil is just wearing the lighter citrus fragrances at home. They don’t perform well in colder weather, though I’ll still wear them every now and then.
    I havent tried any from the house.
    Im in the US. thanks for the draw

  • Harlod1557 says:

    Great review Ida! I like how you took inspiration from the poem and kind of made a poem of the whole review. As for lifting the veil, I would say around this time of year I would lift the veil on my perfume choices. I like summer and spring perfumes a lot, but when fall rolls around I’m all about those deep rich fragrances. I wish I could wear them year round. I haven’t smelled and Phoenix Botanical fragrances, but this must be the first shop I’ve seen run from an Etsy shop.
    Arizona.

  • Elizabeth T. says:

    Ooh, another fantastic sounding perfume from Phoenix Botanicals! I’ve been eyeing the Apple Iris Root… it also sounds WONDERFUL. Mmmm, legend and song – what a great phrase to associate with perfume. Thank you Irina and thank you Ida! I’m in the USA.

  • LauraC says:

    I loved reading this review and learning about Irina’s perfumery. To me lifting the veil signifies light, clarity and lucidity. And I don’t mind the twilight and indefiniteness either. 🙂 Thank you.

  • shivanij says:

    I am always looking out for new green and woody scents and was immediately struck by the earthy elements of wormwood and mugwort in Twilight Green, as well as the use of flouve which brings to find sweet clover and hay. Its description of ephemeral and pensive capture the ideal autumnal juice for me, one that fits with a season of transition and growth. Although I haven’t yet had the pleasure of trying Phoenix Botanical, I am very interested because of the focus on natural landscapes intertwining with urban spaces. I especially liked the description of ‘riotously overgrown uncultivated spaces, stolen beauty disclosed by chance.’ In a way, lifting the veil captures for me the notion of waking up to the truth and trying to get to the deeper meaning embedded in our reality. It also brought to mind John Rawls’ concept of the veil of ignorance, which gets me thinking about fairness and returning to a tabula rasa. Especially during the autumn, I start to think about what I need to address in my life, what’s been ignored throughout the carefree mindset of summer. As the Indian festival of lights, Diwali, akin to new year, approaches, this is helpful for me. Thank you for sharing these enchanting, powerful photos and poetic descriptions.

  • minteacup says:

    The dreamy prose and dusky pictures in this review make me wish I had spent this day roaming meadows and woods and cozying up for a nap in a secluded cabin. Twilight Green has a beautiful name and inspiration, and I am particularly drawn in by the wildcrafted mugwort. As autumn finally sets in I have been craving green all the more. “Lifting the veil” calls to mind all the liminal spaces, physical and mental or even spiritual this time of year. The weeks around the end of October and beginning of November naturally inspire introspection and reflection. I haven’t tried any Phoenix Botanical perfumes, unfortunately. Besides Twilight Green, I am intrigued by Meadow & Fir, Lilac Rain, and Ka Pueo! Thanks for introducing this brand and for hosting this draw. I’m in the USA.