The Story
Why it exists.
The beginning
The Love Song of Shu-Sin takes its name from an ancient Sumerian hymn, and it's one of the oldest love poems in recorded history. Sharra Lamoureaux, the perfumer behind Alkemia, translated that devotion into scent, working with labdanum, oud, cedar, rose petals, and dark honeycomb as described in the brand's own notes. The result is a fragrance that leans entirely into ancient raw materials, the kind of resinous, sweet, smoky blend that feels less like a modern release and more like something pulled from a much older tradition. There's a heaviness to it, a deliberate weight, and every note feels chosen for its historical resonance rather than for trend.
What makes this composition unusual is its devotion to the ancient raw materials of devotion itself. Five-year-aged labdanum amber anchors the blend, giving the whole fragrance a dense, resinous gravity that pulls everything else into orbit around it. Spikenard, listed as Himalayan nard in the notes, sits alongside agarwood (oud), one of perfumery's oldest luxury ingredients, and together they create a deep, almost ecclesiastical warmth. Honeycomb, mead, and rose petals layer in sweetness and floral lift, softening the resins just enough to keep the blend from feeling monastic.
The evolution
The first spray is all golden sweetness. Dark honeycomb and aged labdanum bloom immediately, heavy and resinous, with a faint wine-dark note of mead underneath. Within the first several minutes the bay leaf arrives, cutting through the sweetness with a green herbal edge that keeps things from veering into gourmand territory. The heart opens slowly. Cedar dries the honey out just enough, while rose petals emerge from beneath the amber. The oud stays quiet in this phase, present but not loud, more of a shadow than a statement. As the hours pass the drydown settles into something warmer and quieter: the labdanum dominates, a faint smoke curls through from the incense, and a ghost of rose lingers at the edges. The bay leaf disappears first, then the honey thins into a soft skin-like sweetness. What remains is amber, cedar, and the warm animal softness of skin.
Cultural impact
Alkemia Perfumes has built a following among fragrance enthusiasts who want more from a perfume than a pleasant skin scent. The Love Song of Shu-Sin sits within a growing catalog of literary and historical references that the house has become known for, joining other compositions that draw on ancient texts, classical poetry, and traditional ritual materials. The fragrance itself leans heavily into incense and resin traditions that run through centuries of devotional practice, and the oud and spikenard in particular carry weight as ingredients with long cultural histories.
