Gethsemane Adi ale Van 2023

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Adi Ale Van

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8.3 / 10 14 Ratings

A popular limited perfume by Adi ale Van for women and men, released in 2023. The scent is smoky-leathery. Projection and longevity are above-average. The production was apparently discontinued.
Limited

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Main accords

Smoky

Leathery

Resinous

Spicy

Animal

Fragrance Notes

Frankincense

Castoreum

Clove

Metallic notes

Nagarmotha Vetiver

Vetiver

Leather

Spikenard

Ambrette

Basil

Cedar

Cypress

Elemi resin

Gurjum balsam Laurel

Laurel

Olive

Oud

Pine

Salt

Perfumer & Creative Guidance

David-Lev Jipa Slivinschi a.k.a. Toskovat' Perfume maker

Ratings

Scent

8.314 Ratings

Longevity

9.111 Ratings

Sillage

8.111 Ratings

Bottle

8.925 Ratings

Submitted by Dan93, last update on 10/04/2024.

Interesting Facts

55 bottles were made. Elixir of Faith (Serafimi and Gethsemane) are based on nard oil and frankincense and are inspired by Via Dolorosa in Jerusalem.

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What the fragrance is similar to

Reviews

3 in-depth fragrance descriptions

07/03/2024

10
Bottle 7
Sillage 10
Longevity 9
Scent

BeJot
23 Reviews

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BeJot

Very helpful Review 16

Approaching Gethsemane

I love the bottles from Adi ale Van! And the Gethsemane even more so.
That's why I was so happy when a parcel from ElAtterine arrived with the bottle in spring, asking me to photograph and test it.

Flacon associations:
With my heart pounding with excitement, I open the leather belt that closes the wooden box. Wrapped in a leather cloth, there it lies, the extraordinary bottle.
The associations in my head are unstoppable:
Coffin...linen cloth...precious treasure...treasure chest ...
Can a coffin be a treasure chest?
Yes, there is a human treasure in it.
Who was Jesus a treasure for?
Miriam.
There were no coffins back then.
The deceased was wrapped in linen cloths.
Leather cloth...linen cloth...wrap...linen bandages...mummies...
The bottle gives the impression of being ancient. A relic.
It was dark in the tomb... a cave...A huge stone lay in front of it....
This was not the Garden of Gethsemane...
For me, the bottle belongs in this Easter garden, in this scene ...
I take out the bottle.
Resurrection...Easter...A new reality is ushered in...
Easter bells...
I go into the garden and pick a few daffodils.
Fortunately, they have small flowers. That fits.
I add them. They look into the box, lean over.

A first photo. (https://www.parfumo.de/Benutzer/BeJot/Bild/319528)

Touching...Touching...Being touched...I let myself be touched...
I take out the bottle. And put it up.
Yes, it's a crown, but no longer a crown of thorns.
A corroded 2000-year-old crown...patina...
Even after 2000 years, Christ is still the crowned one.
Love personified.
The bottle - a symbol of love? I don't know...
I place the daffodils next to it...put them in front of it.

A second photo. (https://www.parfumo.de/Benutzer/BeJot/Bild/319531)

Lying down and getting up...death and resurrection...
For me, the lower part of the bottle is the resurrection.
Broken earth... olive, earth-colored with green interspersed with yellow..
The daffodils correspond with the yellow in the bottle.
A translucent cloth wraps around the bottle.
Transparency...Transcendence... Shining through different realities... Unclear... Not tangible...

Third photo. (https://www.parfumo.de/Benutzer/BeJot/Bild/319534)

"You can't hold me" Jesus told Miriam.
That's the way it is.
What can we hold on to?
At least not the most important thing in life: love.

And only then did I spray a little spritz on my wrist...
Fragrance associations:

A slight hint of incense... very light... and dry earth.
The incense becomes clearer... spicy nard bitter... almost pungent.
It becomes darker... herbaceous.
Even more earth... down into the earth.
It smells like under the earth between the roots. I feel comfortable here.
It's cool... slightly animalistic now... coolly distant... not a cuddly animal.
Leather... coarse... dark... old.
Underground...
There is always a hint of incense...
The leather smells of sweat.
It smells like hard work. I don't know what kind of work.
Easter?... Jesus?... far away...

Now I wear it for 4 hours and the impression of sweaty leather / animalic remains.
After 15 hours, the scent is still clearly there.

Thank you very much, dear ElAttarine, for this fragrance experience!

06/30/2024

10
Bottle 9
Sillage 10
Longevity 10
Scent

BunteHexe27
33 Reviews

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BunteHexe27

Very helpful Review 13

Stay here and watch with me

It is quiet. Quiet and dull. The silence hums metallically. You hear nothing but the metallic sound in your ear. The silence has covered you like a cap. You see nothing, you feel nothing. You are completely alone. Then you notice a subtle smell. While the silence swallows all sounds, you smell the smoke from the wood fire. It alone reaches you. In it, a silver thread of comfort that lies on your sore soul. Three times you have begged your friends to watch with you. Three times the heaviness of the night has crushed them. It is your last, it is your last under the open sky, Yeshua. You are all alone. God saves, is your name, only God does not save you. You are afraid. They will come for you. They will hurt you. Your days are numbered. You hang your dull pain, too big to feel, on this silver thread.
Early on, when you were a little boy, incense touched you. Incense and the other resins gave you peace and strength. Wrapped in their fine threads and familiar prayers, you came close to the eternal. Cedar and cypress warmed and enlightened you. In your father's workshop, the smell of leather and wood, the olive and the pine tree, tantalized you. By your mother's fire, you loved her herbs and spices. The clove, the laurel. You also loved the scents of your animals in your little house. When your parents were away, they or the animals themselves kept you company or you tended them while they grazed. The scent of their salt stone. The salt now burns into your open wounds, which will soon be inflicted on you. No amount of nard oil will heal them, these wounds will never close. Some of the expensive balm with which the woman anointed you earlier is still seeping into your nose, onto your forehead, your temples, the top of your head.
The metallic tone is gone. The cap of loneliness has come off. You are close to the eternal again. The warmth of the still smouldering fire reaches you. You hear the sounds of your sleeping friends. You are alive. Light comes barely perceptible in a blue-grey morning. This night is over. You are ready.
What a scent. Your descriptions and photos, @BeJot and @ElAttarine really touched me around Easter time. Thanks to @Floyd for the sample. Now in summer it hits me with full force and takes me first into a deep experience of isolation, gives me comfort and opens me up to life again.

It begins with a metallic sharpness that makes me think not only of the nails of the cross, but also of other harshness; the second time I spray it on, there is also an alcoholic impression. The first time, incense is soon present, balsamic and silvery light, and then woody, spicy and herbaceous impressions unfold as if from the bustling life of an oriental city, including leather and animal notes. I can hardly smell any individual notes, apart from the nard, but hardly any bitterness. Warm, translucent images emerge, as if in a kaleidoscope of memories, until everything melts into a strong, smoky balm that fades ever more gently, lasts a long time and then becomes more bitter again.

In Jesus' time, Gethsemane was a garden in Jerusalem where he wanted to spend his last hours in prayer with his closest friends before the soldiers came for him and handed him over to torture and judgment. In traditional theology, Jesus takes on people's guilt like a scapegoat in order to reconcile them with God. Modern approaches speak of Jesus taking this suffering and cruel death upon himself as God's human side, so that whoever is imprisoned, tortured, mocked and executed can be sure of God's closeness. In Gethsemane, it is loneliness. Three times Jesus asks his friends to stand by him in prayer, three times they fall asleep. Jesus asks God to perhaps spare him what is to come, but his request is not granted. Jesus has spent his last supper with his friends, but none of them know what this means. He is alone. Only an unknown woman anointed him with expensive oils, to everyone's astonishment. In the deepest loneliness, God is near in fragrances and the smell of fire.

Adi ale Van, the creator, likes to give himself spiritual themes such as "Searching for Faith" or "The Book of Wisdom". The flacons are works of sculptural art, but many are no longer available. He comes from Romania and has been inspired not only by landscapes and folklore, but also by partisan battles, the Orthodox faith and the Holy Land. He talks about his olfactory impressions as he walks through the Old City of Jerusalem. This reminds me of my own paths there a few years ago with their wood and leather aromas and their diverse incense, dust, sweat and the peculiar tension in this place between tourist hotspot, religious diversity as well as antiquity, political struggles. My hostel in the middle of thick walls without windows, encounters of an almost biblical quality.

This fragrance has a quasi-biblical quality for me and reminds me that the first scents of mankind were prayers.
I wanted to make it lighter, but the only thing that remains light is this slightly smoky, bitter and comforting balm on my skin.

12/07/2023

10
Bottle 9
Sillage 10
Longevity 9
Scent

ElAttarine
71 Reviews

Translated Show original

ElAttarine

Very helpful Review 12

everyone falls asleep, you're awake...

It's evening. You are terrified of what tomorrow will bring. You suspect what they want to do to you. Because you stand up for your deepest convictions, going into hiding has never been a solution for you, as many well-meaning people have suggested. You're anxious with fear. After dinner with your friends, you want to try meditating and praying so you don't feel completely out of it. You have asked your friends to accompany you to this beautiful olive garden to give you support and to stay awake with you. Now it is dark. Here at the edge of the garden and up in the houses of the city, the fires have burned down and the evening air is filled with wood smoke. From the hem of your robe there is still a slight smell of nard oil, but it doesn't soothe you and it doesn't smell nice today, it almost bites your nose. Your friends are exhausted and now you see how they are all gradually falling asleep. You can't sleep even though you are very tired, the fear and excitement are too great and the tormenting thoughts are too loud. In the darkness, you start to pray...

Gethsemane can be ordered via Adi ale Van's homepage. The bottles are handmade works of art, elaborately and wonderfully packaged in a piece of olive-colored leather, tied with a ribbon with a wooden coin and in a specially designed wooden box with reminiscences of old Christian symbolism, plus a personal thank you from Adi ale Van on artistically designed paper. Even unpacking the box is a joy and a feast for the eyes.
According to the information on Adi's homepage, the cap of the bottle is reminiscent of the crown of thorns, while the bottle itself is designed in a stylized way to represent one of the ancient olive trees from the Garden of Gethsemane. The wooden box is reminiscent of old dowry chests that young women received on the eve of their wedding - probably also often with trepidation rather than anticipation of the day to come. The colors are reminiscent of soot-blackened old icons.

With excitement and mixed expectations, I give a careful spray on the back of my hand in the early evening, and with a heavy hit, the scent is there: incense, yes, but mainly wood smoke. The incense prevents any smoked ham association from taking hold, but the wood smoke is really strong. There are also almost biting metallic notes and leather. The whole thing is incredibly strong and present and changes very little at first. I keep sniffing the back of my hand in fascination, the fragrance is so strong and present that I find it almost torturous. Because I want to go to sleep at some point and sleep is out of the question with this scent, I wash it off with soap - or try to, because even after three washes it is still there. Only faintly, but the fragrance quality remains the same. Only the next morning (after 12 hours including washing off!) am I able to perceive warmer incense, the olive accord, woods, clove and nard.

Uiuiui, it's really sophisticated. Absolutely nothing to "smell good", but a successful concept fragrance with a tendency to tantalize. But really interesting. I will have to test it many more times and am extremely curious to see how my perception will develop. And also whether and how the fragrance will develop now that there is some air in the bottle. But I don't know if I want it to become a little milder. I will report back.

Longevity incredible (see above), sillage strong.

Well, it's very special. Dear people, this fragrance is not for the faint-hearted!

Gethsemane Adi ale Van 2023

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