Materia Animae
Archetypal Solid Perfumes
Fresh Woods & Green
- Thulean GroveCedarwood & Sweet OrangeAtlas cedarwood and sweet orange over conifer and resin. The brightest of the seven and the easiest place to begin.Ring colour: Green
- Verdant HollowCypress & Balsam FirCypress and juniper over balsam fir, with an apothecary edge of sage and eucalyptus. The green one.Ring colour: Grey
Florals
- Ardent GarlandLavender & PalmarosaA lavender heart extended by ho wood and given a rose edge by palmarosa. The softest floral in the line.Ring colour: Red
- Opaline DuskHo Wood & Ylang YlangCreamy ho wood and ylang ylang over a sweet benzoin base. The softest and most tropical of the seven.Ring colour: Blue
Ambers & Smoke
- Cistus VigilLabdanum & BergamotBright bergamot over labdanum and benzoin. The classic amber shape, built from resins rather than around them.Ring colour: Brown
- Errant VesperClove & GeraniumRosy geranium spiced with clove and nutmeg over warm resin. The most openly feminine of the seven.Ring colour: Purple
- Umbral CinderPatchouli & Black PepperDry smoke and leather. Patchouli, palo santo and labdanum, with no floral or sweet material anywhere in it. The darkest of the seven.Ring colour: Black
Seven perfumes, seven archetypes
Materia Animae is a line of seven solid perfumes, each one built around a planetary archetype and named for it. Thulean Grove is Jupiter, reach and expansion. Ardent Garland is Mars. Verdant Hollow is Neptune, Cistus Vigil is Venus, Errant Vesper is Mercury, Umbral Cinder is Pluto, and Opaline Dusk is Uranus. Every name is four syllables, which is a rule of the line rather than an accident, and every label carries a single coloured ring that tells you which one you are holding without a word being read.
Four ingredients
Beeswax, tallow, jojoba and essential oils. Rosemary CO2 extract goes into every blend as the antioxidant, and four of the seven carry a small amount of castor oil, which arrives with the resins that will not dissolve in jojoba alone. There is no water in any of them, which means there is nothing to preserve and no preservative in the jar. The full list is printed on every label in plain English rather than Latin, in the order the materials actually appear by weight.
Three-phase slow release
Beeswax, tallow and jojoba melt at different temperatures. Warmed between the fingertips and pressed to the pulse points, they release at different rates rather than all at once, which is why a solid perfume stays close and lasts through a day instead of projecting hard and vanishing by lunchtime. This is also why you wear it differently: a small amount, pressed rather than rubbed, at the wrists and the base of the throat.
Why solid perfume
An alcohol perfume throws its top notes outward and burns through them fast. A balm does not. It sits on the skin and gives the base materials time to arrive, which suits a line built on resins, woods and conifers. It also travels without spilling, needs no refrigeration, and will not set off a smoke alarm of a scent in a small room or an open-plan office.
The Pentad
Materia Animae is one of five lines. Materia Vivae is the moisturizers, the flagship. Animae is the solid perfumes. Lunae is lip balms, Solae is balms, and Caelae is salves. Only Vivae and Animae are on sale.
Proof of Alchemy
Every batch is anchored on chain and every formula is published. Scan the code on the jar in your hand and you can verify the exact batch at the Sanctum. Hand filled, hand labelled, hand dated: the made-on date is written on each jar base.