Fleur de Vie: Holy Smoke, Five Tibetan Rites, Holy Temple
These packs are from my first order from Ephra World Shop 2021.
They currently cost €1.95 (I feel like they were a little cheaper back then, unfortunately my notes from that time are a bit incomplete). It’s 15g – about 10 sticks, so about 20ct each.
The burning time is given as 35–40 minutes. Both leave a surprisingly bright, almost white ash.
Holy Smoke have a somewhat smoky aroma, which I find quite appropriate here. It’s a woody-powdery smell, with some sweetness and a good amount of resin. If I had to guess, I would say (white) dammar. It’s slightly citrusy, fresh and, especially if burned, has something tart about it. In these incense sticks, I would describe it as citrusy-tart. This particular smell has something “masculine” to me, it reminds me of testosterone sweat.
Sometimes I find the smell to be slightly sour, then it smells more like sal resin to me. In terms of character, I find the scent to be dark and deep.
It’s not an everyday smell, nothing for the background, although it’s not particularly strong.
I don’t know if I would buy it again, but I generally like the smell. I think Purification from Goloka‘s Reiki line goes roughly in a similar direction, but is a little more complex.
Rating: 2.9
Five Tibetan Rites have a bright, “white”, powdery-floral character. To me, they smell like lily of the valley. I have a lily of the valley scented soap that I like a lot, and it smells the same, but with these incense sticks I quickly get tired of the smell. After a short while, it starts to become obtrusive.
Today, with the window open and the outside temperature around 11°C, I find it relatively dry and not too sweet; in the summer I found it cloying inside the house. But I generally find them very pleasant outside.
Rating: 2.5
I got 2 sticks of Holy Temple in an incense exchange. They smell predominantly woody and dry, although my nose can’t decide whether it should be sandalwood or cedarwood. There is also a tart note again. Now and then I notice something floral, but I can’t quite place it.
In a way, they are similar to both Holy Smoke, and Five Tibetan Rites, except they are rather nondescript and downright boring. They can burn on the side without drawing any attention.
Rating: 2.3
The package has the same design as the other two, except that the background is white instead of black. The sticks are identical.
Note: Tree of Life are from the same line, but look very different. They’re extruded and not dusted, while these three look hand-rolled and have a thick, creamy white coating. There is also a difference in the packaging. Here the FLEUR DE VIE logo is printed in gold and lightly embossed, they are 15g packs with a glassine bag inside – with Tree of Life it is a yellow gradient that only imitates the shimmer of gold, and there are 16g of sticks which are packed in plastic bags, which bear the ZedBlack logo. (This brand, like FLEUR DE VIE, belongs to the Mysore Deep Perfumery House, MDPH for short.) The price is the same (at Ephra).