Ved'ma

Baba Yaga

Sixteen92 2015 Perfume Oil

Like warm wax, indistinct images of a hut on stick legs of dried herbs flow through the fog of told Slavic forests. It seems to be smoking spices inside over mild wood smoke and threads of pepper, but you can only sense it in the haze through windows made of brownish honeycombs. In the reddish sparkle of resinous eyes of softly leaning dragon's blood trees, the house creeps over earthy floors that gather dust in the dull light with the swirls. The diffuse glow of changing enchantment draws them like a resin-spicy veil through the past forests.
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Sixteen92, based in Fort Worth, Texas, has been producing fragrances in small batches since 2014. Claire Baxter draws inspiration from history, literature, tradition, and magic. Her creations are available as oils, perfumes, and/or extraits.
"Ved'ma/Baba Yaga" thematizes the eponymous figure from Slavic folklore and fairy tales, who can be both a young forest woman and an old woman stylized as a witch in the tales, unable to leave her house because her magical power is tied to the place. The hut is often depicted with chicken legs. The various portrayals of the figure range from the ruler of death and rebirth to the evil, man-eating old witch to the wise healer.
The scent begins spicy-waxy, with the red-resinous dragon's blood initially appearing slightly balsamic, reminiscent of beeswax in combination with candle wax, and quickly mingles with spicy herbs that carry slightly wood-smoky as well as peppery warm and sharp notes. Soon, the smoke becomes more balsamic, likely again due to the resins, before sour earthy aromas join in, which become duller and dustier after a few hours, yet retain their bright resinous-green-spicy character in the base. The encounter with Baba Yaga is rather modest in projection and lasts only a good six to seven hours.

(With thanks to Skylla)