I grabbed my book and opened it up. I wanted to smell it. Heck, I wanted to kiss it. Yes, kiss it. That’s right, I am a book kisser. Maybe that’s kind of perverted or maybe it’s just romantic and highly intelligent.

Sherman Alexie
The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian

Confession — I was a teacher’s pet in grade school. It wasn’t because I was particularly charming or well-behaved, it was mainly because the teachers didn’t know what to do with me.

I arrived on the first day of kindergarten knowing how to read, write and do arithmetic. Not just reading from picture books, I could read fluently from the newspaper, the Reader’s Digest, and even the Bible (adults loved this, it was like a parlor trick). In fact, I don’t remember ever not knowing how to read.

So, from kindergarten to fifth grade or so, there wasn’t much for me to do in the classroom. There weren’t “gifted programs” back then, and the internet didn’t exist yet. Mostly I was told to bring books from the library to read on my own. They put my desk in the corner. I interacted with books, not really with the other children. I spent a lot of time daydreaming. But I also got to do all of the teachers’ errands.

My favorite thing was going to the office to pick up the copies and worksheets. This is going to really show my age, but I’m Gen X and our old, poor, small-town elementary school still used a Ditto machine to make copies. Sometimes the copies weren’t ready, and I was happy to wait, because the more recently they had been made, the better they would smell.

Dittos – a Nostalgic Smell

If you’re not familiar with Dittos, they were copies made from a particular type of copy machine called the Spirit Duplicator. The Spirit Duplicator did not use any ink. Instead, the copy “master” page was waxy, and impregnated with dye. The “ditto fluid” from the machine would dissolve some of the dye from the master and allow it to transfer onto the copy paper.

Ditto copies were hazy purple with fat lines, and when they were “fresh” the paper was actually damp. They also had this amazing smell, which faded over time. If you’ve ever smelled dittos, you know what I mean. The smell is so universally loved that there’s a scene in Fast Times at Ridgemont High where the whole class is sniffing their tests — for all you youngsters out there, this is what that’s all about.

Book of Shadows Fragrance Review

All this brings me to my review of the delightful scent, Book of Shadows, by perfumer Sharra Lamoureaux. I own the perfume spray version, and the first few wet whiffs smell thrillingly like ditto copies to me. Sometimes I sniff the nozzle just to take me back to grade school days — clutching a stack of damp papers between my mittens, taking the long way back from the office back to the second-grade building, pretending to use the papers to shield my face so I can greedily huff in their aroma.

Book of Shadows is a very inky scent, but it doesn’t smell like your typical “ink” perfume. It’s not the sludgy, sooty scent of India ink, and it’s not just some murky, mothbally cypriol to suggest inkiness. It’s the crisp, flowy, and purple-black scent of iron gall ink. Bitter and fruity-nutty wood-ish, like gum arabic, with a metallic sheen (that just flirts with being reminiscent of heme), I can imagine thick, dense downstrokes, hairlike upstrokes, and dainty flourishes. The “throw,” when I get a random sniff from arm’s length, sometimes reminds me of the sweet, rubbery-tinged smell of a good print shop ink.

There are some other book-like facets to Book of Shadows as well, and they become more prominent after the first two hours, but the ink is always present. I do get a sense of paper, slightly vanillic, and a very delicate, aged, worn leather. There are faint swirls of ashy, bone-dry incense and just the barest suggestion of mustiness, which adds to the idea that this is an old and mysterious book full of magic spells and incantations.

Book of Shadows is a very linear scent, and in this case that is a compliment and a big achievement. I personally don’t like it when I choose a fantasy scent (like a lovely ancient book) and after the first hour it falls apart into some sort of “vanillamusk” or “cashmere woods.” Either this will be your thing or it won’t, but Book of Shadows delivers wet ink on old leatherbound book from start to finish.

Book of Shadows is available in several different formulations, and as I mentioned before, I have the perfume spray. The projection is moderate (arm’s length), and the longevity is incredible. I often can smell it the next day. Sometimes it will even peek through a teensy bit after a shower. I don’t mind.

Book of Shadows Details

Book of Shadows is available an extrait, ultime (more sillage than extrait), alcohol-based perfume spray, and alcohol-free spray.

Notes according to the brand are: eldritch books – heavy parchment paper, ancient iron gall ink, crumbling leather bindings, and wafts of rare incenses.

Alkemia perfumes can be purchased at the brand’s website, alkemiaperfumes.com.

Handmade leather Book of Shadows pictured was purchased from Velimira Books on Etsy.

This review is unsolicited and unsponsored. The perfume reviewed was purchased by me and is part of my personal collection. This website is not monetized and does not contain ads or affiliate links.