A high keyed and thrilling blend which takes all the spine-tingling background of spikenard, and puts in a clip of camphor, loads it over with black amber and then frosts it with just enough sweet copal to make it very nice indeed, despite it's obvious powers tending to frenzy. At once a deeply stirring and oddly calming perfume. Beautiful.Resinous.
When I first put this on, I could understand why it's named Panic--it seemed quite disjointed and going hither, thither, and yon.
But not long after that it settled down to a lovely sweet resinous aroma that has left me with my nose glued to my wrist. I don't really notice any particular element that I can identify, just an overall feeling of delight that's sort of Christmasy.
drying: I can smell the amber coming into the scent. I guess the sweetness is the copal (sort of candied orange rind-ish) and the warm amber. This is a warm, pretty scent. It seems like a glowing orange, like sunlight through your closed eyelids on a summer day. I don't get the camphor - I was afraid of a menthol-esque blast but I didn't get that, thank goodness!!
full drydown: Much the same. Sweet (lightly candied), warm, amber-y, soft, feminine. The amber stays bright (it sort of reminds me of Huile of Fortune's amber mix, but this is more rounded and full-bodied) and never goes powdery. This is very pretty and optimistic. It has the optimism and lightness and throw of a floral, but without being a floral. It's very light/airy for a resin scent, and something is vanilla-ish in here too. Great throw, and the scent hangs around for hours in my hair.
If you had an amber creamscicle, this is what it would smell like. Creamy orange (copal)/vanilla/amber.
This is a beautiful winner of a scent. I think lots of women would wear this.
It takes courage to grow up and turn out to be who you really are. ~ e e cummings
What gypsyjolie said! I tried this first right after it arrived and it was nice, but I was expecting more than "nice". After letting it sit (while I was trying everything else I could get my hands on) I tried it again today and it is like it matured, developed, came into its own... pick a description. Copal might be my new favorite note. If you liked Feral I think you would like this.
Edited to add:
"Amber creamscicle"?
BINGO!
I wasn't expecting to enjoy this one... maybe because of the name, Panic. I mean, panic is an unpleasant feeling... but there is nothing unpleasant about this perfume oil. It's so warm and comforting and yummy, that i think it would actually help me feel better if i was starting to panic and then sniffed this. So yes, i would say this is more of a panic remedy, than panic inducing. Which i'm glad, because i don't want perfume making me scared. Life has enough scary stuff. I wouldn't call this a sleepy calm... but more of an alert, confident calm scent.
*edit* Is there saffron in this? Something in the drydown reminds me a bit of Ponder.
Last edited by AthenaRose on Mon Jan 14, 2013 3:18 am, edited 1 time in total.
In the bottle: something a bit bracing like menthol (the camphor?), although I'm also getting what comes across as *almost* frankincense (the spikenard?), and amber.
Wet on my skin: Ooooooooh. I get a round of notes that blur together into the amber in such a smooth and delicious way. I was a little leery of the camphor and spikenard notes, but this is beautiful.
As it dries: This is softly sweet, the amber is lush and lovely, and the other notes have faded down in such a way that I can't pick them out but they provide a beautiful base.
As it dries further: Oddly, I'm getting a faint whiff of banana peel lol, but it's like banana peel that has been turned into elegant perfume. How is that possible? The herbal notes provide a beautiful--truly beautiful--base to this. It feels rich, sumptuous, and regal.
Dry: The sweetness has risen some to balance out the herbal notes. The amber rides beautifully on my skin. I'm still getting a banana peel turned into amazing perfume--but that's exactly it: amazing perfume. This is so femme and lovely. It has such a delicate edge, and yet there's something about it that has a backbone. This is no simpering miss. This is strength and beauty with an edge of clear-sighted reason. I wish this one had become permanent.
If you can't be a success, be a spectacular failure!
Panic is quite lovely. In the bottle and wet on my skin I get a lot of camphor, which isn't a favorite note of mine, and the orangey copal is almost over-sweet. But once it starts drying down, the camphor pretty much vanishes and the sweetness backs off a bit, and the overall effect is a really delightful mix of the comforting and the elegant. "Amber creamsicle" is very apt. This will be a great all-occasion fragrance to brighten the cold, dark winter months.
I've been waffling on this for a few days and that's it... I have to get it. 
