Arielle Shoshana x Michelle Visage Wednesday Arielle Shoshana 2025

Helena Blavatsky on a wilderness retreat, divining the eternal mysteries through campfire ash with a spindly stalk of celery. Occult celery, theosophical vegetable. Investigating unexplained laws of Nature, the truth within the bitter ribs. Humble soup stock vegetation as messenger between worlds. Smoky pinewood/cedary outdoor incense curling around paradoxical aqueous/empyreumatic heart, enrobed in sweet, camphorous honey, cinched with crisp herbaceous green strings. Smoked offerings minus the charred flesh, channeling divine wisdom through fibrous green wands. Finding eternal essence in a produce bin bonfire, whether we call it God or Nature or High Priestess of Camp Celery. An extremely peculiar and exceedingly perfect conduit of otherworldly revelations and one of the most unique things I have ever added to my perfume collection.

The first time I had Lapsang souchang was at an afternoon tea in Edinburgh, it was so smoky smelling that I thought a fire had been lit nearby. Somehow this perfume has boiled down that toasty, barbecued tea smell into a sultry and spicy aroma. I definitely get hints of cedar, church incense, leather and a subtle sweetness from the amber base.

It settles down after an hour and is incredibly wearable on a daily basis. Projection is excellent. It’s pretty close to perfect, I am having a hard time thinking of a flaw.

I spent some time comparing this to similar spicy ambers samples I have on hand: Chai Addiction by Rahasya, Vetiver & Golden Vanilla by Jo Malone, Blood Spider Orchids by Regime des Fleurs, Mistpouffer by Stora SKuggan. Wednesday absolutely comes out on top. It is best in class.

The immediate impression is incense-y, almost medicinal. Sort of witchy, quite herbal as well in a darkly-herbaceous, smoky (burning vegetation?) way. I can smell what I think is the tea; there's also a sort of more acidic/stinging note there that makes it feel almost animalic. The fragrance isn't sweet at all.

After thirty minutes and an hour, the impression is much the same, only the scent feels richer and more settled (base notes are more apparent).

After two hours, the smell is definitely more aged and woodier.

I would say the sillage is moderate, not very strong since I really need to get my nose next to my skin to spray it (though I only did one spray). The longevity is decent.

Overall, I like it; it gives me almost inky vibes as well. It's sort of similar to Encre Noire in that aspect. It reminds me a lot of that one, actually, only it is, perhaps, more herbaceous.

there's a steaming cup of black tea in a porcelain tea cup in front of you and the air feels cool and shallow; you're surrounded by conversational white noise and the soft presence of incense smoke

this grew on me a lot in the dry down and when i made the connection that it reminded me of kaul shae; i'm still not a big fan of incense notes in general but this fragrance definitely made me warm up to the idea of it

date tested; 260825; size: 0.5 ml

first spritz: immediately reminds me of burning incense; like entering a dimly lit tea house with incense burning at every other table; there's also a cool-ness to it, like tracing your finger over the edge of a porcelain teacup, or cool air similar to the type at high altitudes

two hrs later: light projection and a bit fainter on the incense note thankfully; it kind of reminds me of an upscale bar, dim lights and diluted conversational white noise

four hrs later: light projection; it's a clean, slightly foresty scent with the slightest bit of smokiness to it; it really reminds me of the character kaul shae from the greenbone saga, if she were real i'd imagine her to smell like this, aka clean, sharp, powerful, and intimidating

six hrs later: turned into more of a skin scent; more green and slightly woody; it reminds me of dense trees on a mountain probably because of the pine and cedarwood

eight hrs later: light skin scent; there's the slightest bit of incense left and a good amount of pine; it vaguely reminds me of a more subtle version of d'annam's through the forest

I should have let it settle, but I couldn't resist trying Wednesday hot and straight out of the mailbox. I thought trying it immediately was probably a mistake because all I can smell is pine wood and resin because I didn't get the tea and smoky notes others get that would make it my holy grail realistic Lapsang Souchang fragrance. But, no. Even weeks after getting over its travel shock, I never detected the tea and smoky notes I was hoping for to make it like the actual tea. Even though it's not the holy grail I hoped for, it's still a gorgeous pine fragrance that reminds me of a childhood living in a pine forest. It's largely full of pine resins and green pine boughs.