Book of Shadows Alkemia 2017

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6.7 / 10 25 Ratings

A perfume by Alkemia for women and men, released in 2017. The scent is leathery-resinous. It is still in production.

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Main accords

Leathery

Resinous

Smoky

Sweet

Spicy

Fragrance Notes

Leather

Frankincense

Oak gall ink

Parchment

Ratings

Scent

6.725 Ratings

Longevity

7.621 Ratings

Sillage

7.022 Ratings

Bottle

4.317 Ratings

Submitted by Verbena, last update on 08/16/2025.

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Reviews

3 in-depth fragrance descriptions

08/16/2025

8
Pricing 7
Sillage 8
Longevity 9.5
Scent

itscoraline
114 Reviews

itscoraline

1

Deep in the Archives

This isn’t a new book.

It’s old, dusty, and probably being manhandled by a leather jacketed archaeologist deep in a catacomb.

There’s crumbling parchment, worn leather, and a distinct metallic bite (which is true to life for oak galls ink). The incense comes and goes like an apparition.

Projection and longevity are on the high end of moderate. Completely unisex.

As an aside, I never layer fragrances but decided to experiment and layer
Ghost Fire (sweetly sensual) with Book of Shadows (rugged academic) and omg I smell like a hot archeologist. I must buy them both immediately.

02/14/2023

Miss13Scent
104 Reviews

Miss13Scent

2

Pure Nostalgia

Reminds me very much of The Raven which I have been meaning to repurchase but now having a giant spray of this, I’m good! They are THAT similar. I think Book of Shadows is maybe not as “purple” but it’s by no means more wearable. The leather is very strong and synthetic and doesn’t really recall old book leather for me. The paper accord similarly smells like freshly made copies as someone else mentioned, not really old crumbling book paper. It reminds me of my college work study job in the library where one of my frequent duties was filling up the copy machines with paper when they ran out. Everything is a little too crisp and synthetic, almost a type of ozonic. It’s good, but doesn’t really match the scent description. My husband told me it was very strong and smells like cleaning products lol oh well it’s definitely not for everyone, but I really like it. Fantastic silage and longevity

10/31/2021

6
Bottle 8
Sillage 8
Longevity 8
Scent

Floyd
372 Reviews

Translated Show original

Floyd

Top Review 38

The Book of Shadows

Be without fear, it is your own shadows that dance in the light of small candles on the stone walls that sparkle and shine with clammy moisture like the walls in ancient baths. It is you who murmur in the darkness, muttering letters on parchment pages, on the scent of the skin of buck-legged animals with sulfurous gall ink, rubbing your black fingers on the scuffed leather binding, lost in thought, breathing bittersweet almond veils and cold incense in the ancient walls of the old scriptorium, formulas flowing like rivers from your mind until the dawn dismisses you.
**
Alkemia, based in Amherst, Massachusetts, despite their high output of creations, always have amazing scents far from the mainstream in their program. The house makes both oils and EdPs in atomizers for selection.
"Book of Shadows" thematizes manuscripts for recipes, rituals and formulas of white and black magic. The fragrance combines the aromas of cool, almond-like bittersweet and at the same time bright incense, dark tanned leather, sharp leathery, slightly goat-like parchment, as well as the iron gall ink, whose smell is reminiscent of bisulfate-containing, pungent cleaning agents due to its sulfur content, to create an unusual but extremely exciting fragrance experience somewhere between Amarettini in cool vaults of old library archives and freshly scrubbed ancient stone baths. The Book of Shadows inhabits your room all night.