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| The Love Potion by Beatrice Offor |
Venus Oil is a wearable love potion sold by Enchantments. It's a whispering vixen of a scent that's been available at New York City's oldest occult store since 1982. The fragrance is sold in simple glass bottles sans fancy packaging and photoshopped hokum. It's nothing like the olfactory pap that passes for perfume at retail counters these days.
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| How to Make a Love Potion by Lucia Whittaker |
A Planetary and Goddess devotional formula. Attracts love and beauty to your life. Also good for prosperity and house blessing.
Utility and simplicity infuse the description of Venus Oil, but matters of the heart are complex. The first formula for Venus Oil was created before the Internet existed. That meant reliance on mentors, aromatic grimoire, research and a little bit of magic.
The original formula for Enchantments' Venus Oil was created by Lady Rhea (Aurelia Bila) who opened Enchantments with Lady Miw (Carole Bulzone) in 1982. Lady Rhea reveals the ingredients for two versions of Venus Oil on pages 132-134 in the book The Enchanted Formulary: Blending Magickal Oils for Love, Prosperity, and Healing, which she co-wrote with Eve LeFey. Venus Oil began as a combination of Rose, Gardenia, Frangipani, Wisteria and a touch of White Diamonds perfume by Elizabeth Taylor. A second version of the oil emerged thereafter and is known as Voluptuous Venus Oil.
Ingredients in Voluptuous Venus Oil are allied with intention: Rose for love, Musk for sensuality, Orris for love, Sandalwood for compassionate love, Lilac for hypnotic seduction, Cinnamon for passion and fire, Magnolia for grace, and Hibiscus for beauty. If you are hand blending Voluptuous Venus Oil and have difficulty obtaining some of the ingredients in the formula, Lady Rhea recommends using at least four of the formula's ingredients in equal amounts (dosing follows the style of the complete formula).
The current version of Venus Oil sold at Enchantments smells like something between the formula for the original Venus Oil and Voluptuous Venus (Cinnamon and Lilac aldehydes have been detectible since I began buying Venus Oil at the store's original location). I recently purchased a one-ounce bottle of Venus Oil online and was struck by the enduring legacy of continuity in the formula—which is a lot more than you can say about the state of classic French perfumes these days.
Concentration can vary at times (by 1-3% at most) but this is a hand-blended product so that's not unusual. The transparent pink flesh color of Venus Oil is newer (it was amber hued back in the day) but it continues to unfold on skin with a soft salty sultry floralcy one would expect to find in an embodied goddess of love. Venus Oil is a whispering vixen. Blessed be.
The original formula for Enchantments' Venus Oil was created by Lady Rhea (Aurelia Bila) who opened Enchantments with Lady Miw (Carole Bulzone) in 1982. Lady Rhea reveals the ingredients for two versions of Venus Oil on pages 132-134 in the book The Enchanted Formulary: Blending Magickal Oils for Love, Prosperity, and Healing, which she co-wrote with Eve LeFey. Venus Oil began as a combination of Rose, Gardenia, Frangipani, Wisteria and a touch of White Diamonds perfume by Elizabeth Taylor. A second version of the oil emerged thereafter and is known as Voluptuous Venus Oil.
Ingredients in Voluptuous Venus Oil are allied with intention: Rose for love, Musk for sensuality, Orris for love, Sandalwood for compassionate love, Lilac for hypnotic seduction, Cinnamon for passion and fire, Magnolia for grace, and Hibiscus for beauty. If you are hand blending Voluptuous Venus Oil and have difficulty obtaining some of the ingredients in the formula, Lady Rhea recommends using at least four of the formula's ingredients in equal amounts (dosing follows the style of the complete formula).
The current version of Venus Oil sold at Enchantments smells like something between the formula for the original Venus Oil and Voluptuous Venus (Cinnamon and Lilac aldehydes have been detectible since I began buying Venus Oil at the store's original location). I recently purchased a one-ounce bottle of Venus Oil online and was struck by the enduring legacy of continuity in the formula—which is a lot more than you can say about the state of classic French perfumes these days.
Concentration can vary at times (by 1-3% at most) but this is a hand-blended product so that's not unusual. The transparent pink flesh color of Venus Oil is newer (it was amber hued back in the day) but it continues to unfold on skin with a soft salty sultry floralcy one would expect to find in an embodied goddess of love. Venus Oil is a whispering vixen. Blessed be.
Notes:
Enchantments relies on proprietary texts for its formulas. Venus Oil is categorized as on-shelf. Others are made to order. If you purchase items online you will be taken to a secure page once you're ready to pay for the items in your cart. The cost of Venus Oil is $14 for half an ounce and $25.00 for a full ounce. The store is located in 424 East 9th Street (between First Avenue and Avenue A); 212-228-4394.
Enchantments makes a hand-blended incense version of Venus Oil that is truly divine. It burns well on incense charcoal that is not self-igniting (much healthier). Shoyeido makes a square-shaped incense charcoal that is highly recommended. It is categorized as "type B" (type A is smaller) and is available at Enfleurage NYC and Amazon.com.
White Diamonds (1991) by Elizabeth Taylor remains a bestseller. Notes include: Neroli, Amazon Lily, Aldehydes, Egyptian Tuberose, Turkish Rose, Italian Orris, Narcissus, Jasmine, Sandalwood, Patchouli, Amber and Oakmoss.
Lady Rhea owns and operates Magickal Realms in the Bronx with her partner Lady Zoradia. The store opened in Greenwich Village in 1992 and moved to the Bronx in 1995. Magickal Realms is currently located at 72 Westchester Square; 718-892-5350.
Enchantments relies on proprietary texts for its formulas. Venus Oil is categorized as on-shelf. Others are made to order. If you purchase items online you will be taken to a secure page once you're ready to pay for the items in your cart. The cost of Venus Oil is $14 for half an ounce and $25.00 for a full ounce. The store is located in 424 East 9th Street (between First Avenue and Avenue A); 212-228-4394.
Enchantments makes a hand-blended incense version of Venus Oil that is truly divine. It burns well on incense charcoal that is not self-igniting (much healthier). Shoyeido makes a square-shaped incense charcoal that is highly recommended. It is categorized as "type B" (type A is smaller) and is available at Enfleurage NYC and Amazon.com.
White Diamonds (1991) by Elizabeth Taylor remains a bestseller. Notes include: Neroli, Amazon Lily, Aldehydes, Egyptian Tuberose, Turkish Rose, Italian Orris, Narcissus, Jasmine, Sandalwood, Patchouli, Amber and Oakmoss.
Lady Rhea owns and operates Magickal Realms in the Bronx with her partner Lady Zoradia. The store opened in Greenwich Village in 1992 and moved to the Bronx in 1995. Magickal Realms is currently located at 72 Westchester Square; 718-892-5350.
The Enchanted Formulary: Blending Magickal Oils for Love, Prosperity, and Healing is available as an e-book. Formulas for additional elixir vitae amore can be found in the book. Used copies of the print version are priced between $38.00 and $1046.00 based on the condition of the book.
