Namaste

[azhure]

... This oil blend is a serene, soothing Indian blend, created to bring calm and joy to the heart and peace to the spirit. Sandalwood, jasmine, rose, patchouli, cedarwood and lemongrass.

In the vial: I get the sharpness of the lemongrass immediately, underlaid by the sandalwood.

Wet: The sharpness fades to the background, with the sandalwood coming out to play. It reminds me of being in a New Age store, very comforting for me.

Drydown: The sandalwood fades on drydown, and the jasmine comes out.

[supremegoddessofall]

Nothing but lemongrass. Dammit, I really, really wanted this one to smell good since it has an Indian name. All that lovely sandalwood, the florals, the patchouli? Nowhere to be found. A *smidge* of cedar underneath, but overall the effect is definitely Lemon Pledge. Bah.

[Taniwha]

I was really looking forward to Namaste, hoping to find a calming, meditative blend. Sandalwood, cedarwood and rose are three of my favorite notes; jasmine can work, and although I don't care for lemongrass much at all, it was listed last, so I thought I was safe. I get *nothing* but lemon, and fakey lemon to boot. Lemon Pledge, just like supremegoddessofall mentions. After about two hours I get the faintest whiff of sandalwood, but by then it's so light as to be almost undetectable.

 

I'm glad this smells like it's supposed to for many - I wish I were one too.

[Kitrona]

I wanted to like this, I really did. Unfortunately, in imp it smelled like a public bathroom air freshener. I tried it anyway, knowing how scents can morph and hoping that it would change.

 

It did. Unfortunately, it turned from "public bathroom air freshener" into "public bathroom /with/ air freshener" complete with pee undertone.

 

I plan to send it to a friend and enable her. I hope it likes her better than it liked me.

[Eunice]

In the bottle and the first few minutes on my skin Namaste is very strongly lemongrass and sandalwood. After some time the lemongrass fades and the cedarwood comes out. Cedarwood, sandalwood and patchouli are excellent together. I never get the rose or jasmine but the drydown to cedarwood, sandalwood and patchouli is divine. I am in love with Namaste and only wish the lemongrass had stuck around longer.

[phr34kish]

I'm that friend that Kitrona sent it to, and unfortuantly, Namaste doesn't want to love me either. ;_; Although i didn't get a bathroom smell...

 

From the bottle it smells like a generic perfume, but it turned into a horrid pine dishsoap. At least with veil it dried out nicely on me, Namaste just doesn't seem to want to work. ;-;

Edited October 20, 2006 by phr34kish

[Ilex]

There really is no reason I shouldn't have eaten this up, so to speak, all the notes in it are favorites of mine... however, it was not to be.

 

Initially, it was lemony. This quickly changed to soapy, and a cheap hotel soap at that. It fades pretty fast too.

 

It wasn't exactly bad, just boring. And certainly not what I was hoping for, I couldn't even smell the sandalwood. It needs a bottom note that wasn't there, it was a very flat scent.

 

My kitties had some fun sniffing around my wrist, and normally they don't like perfumes. They love lemon grass and will destroy it any time I try and grow it in the house, so I think that's the cause of their ardor.

[tmcm]

In the Bottle

Lemongrass!! I also smell a bit of the rose and jasmine, but none of the sandalwood or patchouli.

 

On Me - Wet

Super lemony. Sharp, more fruity than floral. A tiny bit of spiciness peaking through underneath.

 

On Me - Dry

This doesn't last long. The lemongrass fades almost immediately, and I'm left with an incense/sandalwood smell, a bit powdery. I like it (to me, it smells like the tail end of Delight when it's been on a while), and I'll use the imp. I don't think I'll be getting a bottle though.

[slave1]

NAMASTE

 

On Bottle: Lemony woods

 

On Skin: Lemongrass is the donimant note right away, very bright and yellow. It is quite sour and makes me eyes water a bit. The woods are second, especially the cedar which is sharp as well. Combining these with rose just really brings home the sour, sharp feel from this scent. Even the jasmine can’t sweeten this scent on me. I can’t smell the patchouli at all surprisingly. The blend is quite calming but not really pleasant on me, I’ve never really been crazy about lemon blends. It is a dry scent, slightly powdery. If you like lemon scents, try this one for a woody variation. Medium throw and average wearlength.

[keltic]

::eyes notes cautiously:: oh, patchouli. we meet again. i shall best you at least once, i swear. and this inspiration, the other notes are too perfect. i will be able to wear this.

 

in the imp – fresh vanilla-brightness of the lemongrass, and the smoky notes of the sandalwood.

 

wet – pure sharp lemongrass and sweet incense. god, this is lovely!

 

dry-down – patchouli, you bastard! the scent begins to go cloying and then here it comes, the big brute patchouli with his big stick. serenity is destroyed.

[Iceblink]

I think I've figured it out. Lemon LOVES me and wants to be my friend. I on the other hand don't want to smell like furniture polish. This makes things difficult.

I get a tangy whiff of sandalwood on first application, and then LEMONLEMONLEMON...a little later, some cedar. These are nice smells but the lemon and cedar combined are just too cleaning-producty. I may use this as a room scent when I want people to think I've just dusted!

[AmyAngel]

Namaste: Very floral in the imp, and on, too. Very citrusy sweet flower smell. Definitely getting the jasmine and lemongrass! I only put on a tiny bit, and I can smell it wafting. 20 minutes later still mostly jasmine and lemongrass, but very good. After about an hour, I think the rose is be showing up a bit, with a bit more “floral perfume” smell – and it's still citrusy. I like the first 20 minute or so better than after that. For a while there it went VERY floral, and the citrus faded. An hour and a half later it's a fairly light floral perfume smell, with just a hint of woodiness if you get RIGHT on my wrist, but I think the woodiness may be coming out a bit more now. I'm going to give this a few more hours to develop, and I think I'll be testing this again. I don't dislike it yet, but it's not a must-buy either. I'd like a lot more of the sandalwood, patchouli and cedar with slightly less of the florals, I think, without the "oh wait, there's ROSE in this!!!!" period that happened for a while, threatening to give me a headache. I like the beginning 20 minutes, and I'm starting to like it more now almost 2 hours later, but the time in between was iffy!

 

I can still smell the tiny TINY bit I put on my wrist wafting even with my arm held away, so there's some throw there!

[girl_android]

I'm whittling away the imps to test, I can't put an order in til I've exhaused all my imps to test! (except for the ones that are making their way to me - they don't count ... spoken by a certified obsessive BPALer in the making)

 

In the imp it smells powdery citrus, patchouli and sandalwood. There's something woody and rose-like lurking about also, if I think hard enough about what I'm sniffing, there's lemongrass in there too, like what it smells like when you're chopping it up finely. Nothing particularly jasmine though.

 

Wet on skin, WHOA, lemongrass! It's pretty much knocked the socks off everything else in the blend. It's just a complete 360 from what it was like in the imp.

 

Once it's dry, the lemongrass calms down a bit, and a teeny tiny hint of jasmine peeks out. It's quite lovely actually, not overpoweringly patchouli (which is what I think put me off testing this for so long), but definitely one I think needs to be sparing in application.

[wanderingredhead]

When I first applied this, it was fairly purely lemongrass (I LOVE lemongrass) with a hint of earthiness in the background. It's clean and fresh, and clears the mind but isn't biting.

 

As it dried it turned a little soapy, which is probably the jasmine and rose, my skin doesn't really like rose.

It gets a lot stronger with drydown and becomes all soapy white florals and no yummy lemongrass.

After a few hours it faded into a pleasant light floral, but I really didn't like the strong intermediate phase, so this is going to be swapped, sadly.

[filigree_shadow]

Wet, all I smell is lemongrass, and tons of it. It smells very astringent to me.

 

When it's dry the lemongrass calms down and I can smell some of the other notes, patchouli seems to be fairly prominent. But due to the lemongrass I can't get into this scent. I just really dislike that note.

[Archaic Smile]

When I tried Namaste almost a month ago I wasn't an immediate fan, but I set it aside for a while in the hope that a little aging might mellow the lemon a bit. I tried it again yesterday and I was really pleased to find that the lemon grass had indeed mellowed.

 

Now I'm in love.

[maribouquet]

This has a very strong lemongrass note, which overwhelms everything else for the first half hour or so. Eventually I can smell some of the sandalwood and a bit of a nice, mellow patchouli.

 

I fell asleep with this on, and the next morning it smelled much more balanced and soothing, like a quiet, empty meditation room.

 

It's too lemon-heavy for me to wear, but it's lovely once it's calmed down -- too bad that takes so long on my skin.

Edited February 18, 2007 by maribouquet

[The_Merf]

Man, my skin really does amp up the citrus notes. I couldn't believe what a sharp, soapy lemongrass this was on my skin. Sandalwood does not slouch on my skin, and neither do jasmine or cedarwood (in fact, those three notes often ruin other blends by taking them over). However, all I could smell, through all the stages of the scent, was a lemony note that tended toward soapy (which I'm sure was because of the rose).

[Extispex]

This is gorgeous in the bottle, very soothing and and warm. I get woods and florals, balanced by the lemongrass. It almost glows.

 

Wet on my skin, lemongrass. My skin always amps up citrussy scents, often with beautiful effect, but in this case, no. Just lemon pledge all the way.

 

Upon drying, my skin just drank it up, and within an hour there was nothing left but the faintest whiff of lemon-grass. Oh well.

[space girl lost]

a frimp from an off forum purchase i made.

 

exactly as I expected it to smell after reading the notes. four of my enemies - jasmine, cedarwood, sandalwood & lemongrass. EW EW EW. needless to say my skin is having a field day with both the sandalwood and cedarwood and amping them to painful proportions. i smell like peed on woodchips. MUST WASH OFF!

[isabella]

very lemon....then dries down to florals. its rather strong and the jasmine hates me

[Pika]

In the vial: Holy lemongrass, Batman! Not one of my favorite scents, but I think there's enough complexity, it might have potential.

 

Wet on skin: Um, still lemongrassy. Doesn't really smell like a perfume on me so far, but like a meditative oil I acidentally got on myself.

 

A while later... I guess it is kind of uplifting, and somehow calming at the same time. I love sandalwood-and-rose scents, but the lemongrass won't quit, and is distracting.

 

Much later... So the lemongrass finally faded, and now I could see wearing this, but all that's left is a kind of a generic, leftover, light incense smell. Not very interesting.

 

Eh. I'll probably keep my imp, but I might try it for ritual or meditative use rather than perfume. Maybe that lemongrass can keep me from dozing off as I'm counting my breaths...

[mspixieears]

When first applied, I get the lemongrass note but it smells like straight lemon to me – not unpleasant though as it mingles with the sandalwood. This reminds me a bit of Forbidden Fruit, and something else I’ve tried from BPAL that I can’t quite recall. I’m hoping the lemon note will die down. It also reminds me of what #20 Love Oil is like on me at the beginning (it changes into something completely, wonderfully different). Much later the jasmine and rose comes out and it is nice but more like a room fragrance – reminds me of Spellbound that way. At first I thought this wasn’t really my type of fragrance but I think it deserves another chance.

[captainecchi]

This one was a real heartbreaker.

 

When I first put it on, it smelled DELICIOUS--like a curry, or the inside of an Indian restaurant. I swear I caught hints of ajowan and cardamom, but that may just have been the cedarwood peeking through.

 

Almost immediately the lemongrass note rose to the top and overpowered everything else, becoming soapy, as lemongrass often does on me. I now smell like lemon-scented dish soap.

 

This one almost makes me consider a scent locket, but I'm likely not that ambitious. Off to the swaps.

[astarinel]

Oh, Namaste, I so wanted to like you, but my body chemistry has decreed that it isn't to be.

 

At first, when I put it on, it was a morpher. I was getting a little sandalwood, a little jasmine, and a little lemongrass, and I was looking forward to seeing where it went after it dried.

 

Unfortunately, my skin decided that what it really loved was lemongrass. Lots and lots of lemongrass. After about half an hour of Namaste on my skin, it basically smelled like I'd dripped on some single note lemongrass oil.

 

I like lemongrass, don't get me wrong, but I'm not sure I like it THAT much. Off to the swaps pile, alas!