Almond milk
Amber
Birch
Butterscotch
Cherry wood
Chocolate stout
Cinnamon
Oat
Orange zest
Patchouli
Vanilla cream
Aura
89 Reviews
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Aura
Very helpful Review
8
No Spirit Left Cold
Actually, I have nothing to do with history, but when a fragrance is called “Ghost of Henry Hudson,” it naturally piques my curiosity. So here we go, you’ll have to bear with me ;o):
Henry Hudson was an English explorer. In 1610, he set out on behalf of the Dutch to find a Northwest Passage to Asia. Why? There was a thriving trade with Asia, and the Dutch hoped that the Northwest Passage through the polar sea would give them an advantage over the Spaniards, Portuguese, and English, all of whom sailed through the Atlantic Ocean and defended that route.
As one might imagine, and as the long-suffering Hudson had to realize during previous expeditions, there is ice in the polar sea. Too much ice to simply sail through. So he tries the northwest, bravely sailing across the hostile Atlantic and attempting to get through between Greenland and Northern Canada. Unfortunately, he gets a bit lost there and ends up in the inland sea we now know as Hudson Bay - does it ring a bell? Hudson rejoices, thinking he has found the entrance to the passage over to the Pacific, and eagerly searches the entire coast for it. What a surprise, he found no passage. After almost 3 months of searching, winter and ice arrive, and Hudson must spend eight months wintering with his crew. Unfortunately, besides the weather, the natives are not particularly friendly, making a landing to procure food and water potentially deadly.
In spring, it thaws, but the crew has had enough; the men are tired and hungry and just want to go home instead of continuing the search as their overly eager captain intends. So they mutiny and set Henry Hudson, his 16-year-old son, and a few sick crew members adrift in a small boat. Hudson remains lost.
As you might guess from the pyramid of “Ghost of Henry Hudson,” we are dealing neither with a polar-cold fresh-kick ice scent nor with the spice treasures of Asia that Hudson hoped to find.
No, it gets really Christmasy. Since Lori Cochran's fragrances are almost exclusively perfume oils, there’s a lot going on here: gingerbread magic (cinnamon), caramel-soaked angels (the butterscotch), dried orange peels, patchouli transforms into a warming wool blanket by the fireplace, the full program. Very delicious if you like it. And very gourmand. On the skin, a tiny drop of the oil initially radiates like the entire almond milk galaxy, but after about five minutes, it becomes more subdued, the patchouli increases, and almost graciously covers the olfactory Christmas celebration. Unfortunately, it also becomes a bit musty.
Perhaps it’s also due to the apothecary bottle and the design of the label (image submitted) that I can't quite shake the association with a scented candle oil from the Christmas market. Despite all my tolerance and partial ignorance of any potential unbearable nature of gourmands of this caliber, I will probably actually burn this oil, which I received as a gift with an order from Lori Cochran, over a candle next Christmas.
But what was she thinking, interpreting the spirit of Henry Hudson this way? Considering the sad circumstances under which Hudson spent his last Christmas, I suspect she simply wants to send his spirit a final warm greeting from the homeland he never saw again.
Henry Hudson was an English explorer. In 1610, he set out on behalf of the Dutch to find a Northwest Passage to Asia. Why? There was a thriving trade with Asia, and the Dutch hoped that the Northwest Passage through the polar sea would give them an advantage over the Spaniards, Portuguese, and English, all of whom sailed through the Atlantic Ocean and defended that route.
As one might imagine, and as the long-suffering Hudson had to realize during previous expeditions, there is ice in the polar sea. Too much ice to simply sail through. So he tries the northwest, bravely sailing across the hostile Atlantic and attempting to get through between Greenland and Northern Canada. Unfortunately, he gets a bit lost there and ends up in the inland sea we now know as Hudson Bay - does it ring a bell? Hudson rejoices, thinking he has found the entrance to the passage over to the Pacific, and eagerly searches the entire coast for it. What a surprise, he found no passage. After almost 3 months of searching, winter and ice arrive, and Hudson must spend eight months wintering with his crew. Unfortunately, besides the weather, the natives are not particularly friendly, making a landing to procure food and water potentially deadly.
In spring, it thaws, but the crew has had enough; the men are tired and hungry and just want to go home instead of continuing the search as their overly eager captain intends. So they mutiny and set Henry Hudson, his 16-year-old son, and a few sick crew members adrift in a small boat. Hudson remains lost.
As you might guess from the pyramid of “Ghost of Henry Hudson,” we are dealing neither with a polar-cold fresh-kick ice scent nor with the spice treasures of Asia that Hudson hoped to find.
No, it gets really Christmasy. Since Lori Cochran's fragrances are almost exclusively perfume oils, there’s a lot going on here: gingerbread magic (cinnamon), caramel-soaked angels (the butterscotch), dried orange peels, patchouli transforms into a warming wool blanket by the fireplace, the full program. Very delicious if you like it. And very gourmand. On the skin, a tiny drop of the oil initially radiates like the entire almond milk galaxy, but after about five minutes, it becomes more subdued, the patchouli increases, and almost graciously covers the olfactory Christmas celebration. Unfortunately, it also becomes a bit musty.
Perhaps it’s also due to the apothecary bottle and the design of the label (image submitted) that I can't quite shake the association with a scented candle oil from the Christmas market. Despite all my tolerance and partial ignorance of any potential unbearable nature of gourmands of this caliber, I will probably actually burn this oil, which I received as a gift with an order from Lori Cochran, over a candle next Christmas.
But what was she thinking, interpreting the spirit of Henry Hudson this way? Considering the sad circumstances under which Hudson spent his last Christmas, I suspect she simply wants to send his spirit a final warm greeting from the homeland he never saw again.
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