Shoyeido – Magnifiscents – Ruby

In October 2022, I bought a few boxes of the Magnifiscents and one of the now discontinued Angelic line second hand. A box of this Gemstone series costs around €7. It contains 30 sticks of 14cm length which have a burn time of approx. 30 minutes.

Ingredients according to the package: Cinnamon (Cinnamonomi cortex), sandalwood (Santali lignum), Saussurea (Saussurea radix), patchouli (Pogostemi herba) and spices

As mentioned in the Amethyst review, Saussurea is costus, which is a plant source of musk scent. The root has an animalic smell that reminds me of sheep or goats, but is very soft, warm and slightly sweet at the same time. It seems to me that costus is a bit more prominent in Ruby than in Amethyst. The animalistic character comes through, and that’s sometimes a little too much for me.

Overall, the smell of Ruby is soft, somewhere between creamy and powdery, and it has a fresh component that I notice every time, immediately after lighting it. It makes it appear green to me. The patchouli may play a role here, but as with other Japanese incense sticks before, I have trouble picking it out as a note. I wouldn’t automatically associate the scent of Ruby with the colour red, even though the cinnamon is clearly recognizable with its warm, sweet spice.

Ruby seems a bit too much like it’s yet another variation on a fragrance theme that already appears several times in the Daily Incense line as Autumn Leaves, Moss Garden and Golden Pavilion. The scent of Ruby seems a bit more modern perhaps, and less complex than these traditional compositions. It’s a bit too boring for my taste.