Stamford Mythical Range Incense Fairy's Mist

 

Third review - scroll down for earlier

A complex aroma on the cone - musk, chocolate, parma violets. Very engaging and pleasant. The burn has the typical bargain basement aroma of smouldering sawdust that the cheaper perfume-dipped incense has, though there's some of the scent from the cone present, some floral notes, few sweet notes, some vague HEM-like damp rose, though muffled and subdued. Shame. Blurb is "Fill the air with a mystical sense of calm and let the captivating blend of white rose and soft lily of Fairy's Mist incense guide you along the tranquil paths of Nirvana."

Date: May 2024   Score: 19

Second review

Modestly sweet and pleasant, but a bit clunky and damp and old fashioned. OK for the toilet.


Date: Aug 2019   Score: 22

First review

There's a sherbet sweet, slightly medicinal, slightly acidic scent on the cone which is reasonably pleasant, but also slightly volatile and chemical like. On burning it smells like cheap old fashioned perfume, what my wife calls "Old ladies' knickers". It has a sort of sharp lingering damp rose smell which catches in the throat.

I don't particularly like this. There appears to be little difference between this and some cheap and nasty air freshener spray.


Date: Oct 2016    Score: 18

***

Stamford
Mythical Black Incense cones

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Stamford Mythical Range Incense Demon's Lust

  

Second review - scroll down for earlier

Scent on the cone is synthetic, chemical, pine disinfectant, musty leather, some familiar scents I can't pin down, coconut fibre, violets, kinda attractive in a modest way - nice balance between top and base notes.  The fragrance on the burn is mostly sawdust.

Date: May 2024  Score: 19

First review

From the sublime to the ridiculous. Unicorn's Grace was a lovely incense, full of sweetness and charm, while this Demon's Lust is just another bog-standard cheap cone which has no scent, only the smell of the base material. There is a pleasant violet aroma on the cone, and that may account for the lack of scent when burning, as the chemical component of violets that produces the scent is ionone, which then binds to the scent receptors in the nose and shuts them off to that scent temporarily. It may be that there is so much ionone in the cone, or a particular quirk of burning it, means that it immediately switches off the scent receptors, so all that can be smelt is the base material. Anyway, not much cop these cones. On a level with the bargain basement stuff you can buy off eBay in various gaudy colours.


Date: Oct 2016   Score: 19

***

Stamford
Mythical Black Incense cones

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Stamford Mythical Range Incense Unicorn's Grace

Perfumed volatility on the cone. Synthetic room-freshener scent - familiar, but I can't quite catch it. Green, fresh, citric, lime, lemon, slightly floral mid or heart tones, few base notes - perhaps some woody pine. It's attractive - it's got me sniffing away... 

The scent on the burn is again green, but with more base so it's like cooking cabbage and/or spinach, but more attractive than that sounds - some cheeky little citric top notes start playing around.  This is a nice incense. As I've been going through this new pack of Stamford Mythical cones, sold now by Stamford London rather than Aargee, I'm finding a fair divergence from either my experiences back in 2016 and 2017 when I initially reviewed them, or in the quality of the cones themselves. It's possible that Stamford are sourcing from a different incense maker, or it could be that my own appreciation of incense has altered. I am marking them down quite a bit from the original scores, and though I will also be marking this one down, I don't think I'll be going down too far.  

I've just looked at my review from 2016, and I see that packs back then did have blurbs on them. And the blurb then was the same as it is today: "Adore the mythical aroma of aloe vera in Unicorn's Grace, its magical presence is sure to transport you to a serene and tranquil land." Ah, yes, aloe vera, that is the elusive "green" scent I have.  I'm not sure, even now, knowing it is meant to be aloe vera, that I would pin it down to that.  Kiwi! that's what I'm smelling. It's kiwi.  Hmm, as it burns down to the thicker part of the cone, so I'm getting hints of scorched sawdust. Shame. That, for me, is one of the weak points of burning cones - the way the scent changes, and usually not for the better, as the heat gets down to the thicker end of the cone.  It's not much, but it is there. I'll be moving the score down a little more than I initially intended.  The brass incense holder in the pic was sent to me by Aida of IncenseBurnerHolder. It is also available from the Chinese website Shein. 

Date: May 2024   Score:  31

First review

Unicorn's Grace is part of  the Mythical series by Stamford that I dubbed "Black Magic" before I knew the official name. The full set of 12 scents is available from Bargain Shop on Amazon for £12.38 including postage. There are twelve cones in each box, along with one of those thin metal stands which are actually little use as the heat goes through them. Our family love the mythical theme of the series, and my daughter chose this one to burn first as she loves unicorns. It has a rose and grassy aroma touched with some sandalwood. The blurb on the box says: "Adore the mythical aroma of aloe vera in Unicorn's Grace, its magical presence is sure to transport you to a serene and tranquil land." It is relaxing, and very pleasant. The scent on the cones is sweet, jammy and sherbet like with some herby, medicine-like peaks.

Made in India by an unknown source, these are not charcoal perfumed-dipped cones, but cones made by hand from natural fragrant ingredients. These are lovely.

Date: Oct 2016   Score: 36

***

Other ratings of incense by Aargee

Stamford
Mythical Black Incense cones