Alchemologie Juke is a natural perfume inspired by Mississippi Delta jooks/juke joints. With copy including “bayou” and “magnolia flowers” with a note list prominently featuring white florals, I couldn’t wait to open my sample of Juke.
Juke opens as a heady, humid white floral. It’s absolutely gorgeous. I wish it could last forever, but it can’t. It’s almost like linden and frangipani. It becomes more indolic. Juke starts to remind me of unlit sticks of Nag Champa incense. There’s a honeyed tobacco in the heart that keeps Juke from smelling like a bar of Indian soap. The tobacco isn’t smoky. It’s sweet and grassy. The dry-down of Juke is powdery and balsamic with orris, earth and beeswax.
Instead of reminding me of Delta region juke joints (or their folklore), Juke reminds me of a two shops in New Orleans. One is a Middle Eastern import shop that has been around for as long as I remember in the French Quarter. It smells like Indian incense (and my teenage years). The other is a cigar import shop in the Irish Channel/Garden District¹. Juke reminds me of my younger days.
Notes listed include lime, clementine, white champa leaf, pink champaca, orange flower, honey, tobacco, orris root, peru balsam and majmua attar. Launched 2016. PERFUMER – Julianne Zaleta
Give Juke a try if you like natural white florals. Or perfumes like Phoenix Botanicals Night Bloom, By Kilian Sweet Redemption, Tallulah Jane Hope, Aftelier Cuir Gardenia and/or Pirouette Souvenir. It’s a good choice for anyone that likes light but robust perfumes.
It’s a natural perfume so projection and longevity are below average. It wears very, very closely to the skin.
The 1/2 oz bottle retails for $90 at Alchemologie. Samples are also available for purchase.
Victoria’s Final EauPINION – Champa and tobacco. It’s really pretty. I wish it’d last longer on my skin, but that’s the trade-off with naturals. You put up with the fleeting nature because the florals can be so pretty and so realistic that’ll you’ll forgive them for having better things to do than to stick around on your skin.
¹I’m so happy that both of these survived post-Katrina.
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Ça Fleure Bon – More info on the brand and perfumer.
How prominent is the honey note? I love Night Bloom, and Juke sounds similarly awesome, but honey tends to turn funky on me.
I love Night Bloom. Since you have Night Bloom, I’ll use it as the reference. Juke is a lot like Night Bloom in the opening and how it wears (projection, longevity, etc.). The differences: Switch the vanilla in Night Bloom with a honeyed tobacco in Juke. It’s a *little* funky/animalic. Disclaimer – Natural honeys tend to work on me vs. synthetic honeys (which smell like ammonia on my skin!)
On me, the honey is noticeable (or at least I notice it). It didn’t go gross, but it’s so hard to say what it’ll do on someone else. The opening, though, ugh, I could just bathe in that.