Kumari Kandam

[grrrlennyl]

The hollow scent of a vast antediluvian civilization, now frozen and buried, smothered by a thick sheet of ice and trapped deep beneath the ocean. Thick incense, clay, stone, and hothouse blooms with a spike of frost, a hint of decay, and heavy, dolorous aquatic notes.

at first: a spicy, earthy, hot incense blend.
on: there's a definite stone-like feel to this one. i can smell some heavy florals and aquatic notes, but mostly it smells of incense.
2 hours later: a lovely aquatic with some nice floral notes underneath. i'm still getting a bit of that stone-like note, but the incense is pretty much gone.
5 hours later: a clean, cold, stony scent.
overall: this is interesting. like black opal, it has a rock-like scent to it, which is odd. i didn't really like how this smelled on me, but i don't tend to like incense blends much. Edited February 13, 2008 by Shollin

[Trish]

I find this very hard to describe, possibly because aquatics are something I've never ventured into before.

 

Warm yet with a cold edge, floral, incensy, a little musky, a little sharp. Quite complex and I think I might like it. It needs some further testing though.

[GoldenRubee]

This smells gorgeous in the imp. The first hour this was gorgeous on me, after that, it turned soapy. This is a very heavy, syrupy musky scent that I can smell the decayed florals in. I don't detect any aquatics at all. Unfortunately, this is not a scent that I will be ordering. I do believe that this would be a winter fragrance, however.

[Naamah_Darling]

Ozone/aquatic notes blend with a dash of mint and a faint wisp of flowers in this cold and remote scent.

 

On, this is intensely reminiscent of something I can't quite place; one of the Salon scents, I'm certain.

 

There is an earthy note here, but it's cold, slaty. The incense is faint.

 

Overall this is briny and cold, yet pleasant. A brooding, sort of depressing scent, sad, but very pretty.

[tinyvulture]

the frosty, slushy pine from talvikuu and snow bunny is dominant here. it contrasts with the lush florals. is this a winter or summer scent? i’m not sure. i can’t smell anything like clay or stone. mint and soft incense round out the scent. the slushy note has always irritated my nose when i try to wear it, but i do like this as a refreshing room scent.

[bheansidhe]

Kumari Kandam is a real sleeper hit on my skin. Blends like these ensure that I will give every BPAL that passes through my hands a test swipe, even if the description lists Every Note That Ever Hated Me Ever.

 

The dominant note in Kumari Kandam, for me, is the lab's "snow note." Paradoxically, to me the snow note always smells like warm, spicy pine resin (Black Forest, Snow Maiden, Knecht Ruprecht, Snow Moon, and Wolf Moon are "snow note" blends that come to mind, and they all smelled similar on me).

 

So there's a spicy warmth to the scent. Beyond that, it completely eludes description. Is it aquatic? Not really. Nor is it particularly dolorous or floral. There's an echo of jasmine sambac (not the sharp floral jasmine, but its mellow woodsy cousin), which may be the 'hothouse blooms' in the description, and there's a thin rime of salt on the edge, which may be the "oceanic" component. It lingers like a waft of hidden incense.

 

Warm, mysterious, and elusive. Really noticeable throw and a good four-five hours of wear. I might just have to get a bottle.

 

(Note: I did try an imp of indeterminate age from a swap. A fresher sample may be colder or more aquatic; I'll amend this review if that proves to be the case.)

[porcelina]

kumari kandam is an icy, aquatic floral. aquatics i can do, SOMETIMES- but the rest just doesn't work. it smells just like the description, although i expected something a little earthier and heavier. i like it, just not on me.

[funkmoppet]

A winner frimp from the Lab. Fortunate, as I would have completely overlooked this one!

 

Ahh cold ozone and...clay? There's incense as well lending its earthiness. It's sharp and strong and just plain good.

 

On the skin the pine kicks in and I'm in heaven. The incense take a backseat here, but I don't mind at all. It's all cold and evocative of somewhere ancient and silent.

 

As it dries down the incense and clay comes back and everything just mellows perfectly.

 

This is a fantastic blend. Love it - and may well get a bottle when the imp runs out.

[Miseraya]

In the imp: Hmm, something very clean, reminiscent of Neo-Tokyo. With, something else, floral? This one is very tough to pick notes from, so I will just stick with saying that the overall impression I get is "clean".

 

On the wrist: Hmm, this definitely shares something with Neo-Tokyo, I can only assume it's the aquatic note. This gets very bath product on me for awhile, a nice freshly showered scent.

 

Drydown: Something thick and sweet has emerged (I was totally not expecting that). I'm surprised such a bold scent could hide behind that clean smell! This must be an incense note, because it's getting powdery...

 

Overall: This scent is very unique and nigh impossible to review! I'll leave it to those more talented. Alas, because of what I think must be an incense note this didn't play nice and I'm sending it to the swaps.

[neuilly]

Wow, I agree with others that this comes off as a very unique scent and so hard to describe. The description is intriguing but I never would have ordered it myself...thank you for the frimp labbies!

 

This is definitely an aquatic scent. It's cold and isolated - but not freezing cold. There is incense in the beginning but it fades pretty quickly. Some floral in the background, but more like a distant memory than a present force. A dash of clay. But still mostly aquatic.

 

It lives up to it's description.

[Myotis]

I just got a frimp of this from an ebay sale.

If I didn't know any better, I would have sworn this was Talvikuu!

I do believe this may be the GC counterpart to it.

I love it, cold, forest-like....pine!

Now I know what to do when my Talvikuu runs out!!! ORDER KUMARI KANDAM!!!!!!

 

I love this!

[Ajila]

In the bottle – Lavender? And soap? Odd

 

Wet on me – Warm spices and some sort of citrus

 

Dry on me – Clean, sharp florals

 

Overall – It was a bit of a nothing scent on me

[AliBabble]

wow! this one is quite interesting, unusual and enjoyable! the scent is rather bracing - and both hot and cold at the same time - like ice sparks! as the scent calms down a bit, i am able to detect a definite mint smell, and something almost lemon or lime - something is a little ozone-y or aquatic, which i usually don't like. but in this case, i do like it. the reason is: it's not too sweet or cologne-y. in fact, the more it calms down, it reminds me of the scent "snowflakes", which has a cool mint/melon vibe. yes, that's what i'm sensing, but with something metallic - steely. steely or stony. this was a frimp from the lab, and smells surprisingly good to me, definitely in the snowflakes, or snow moon family, but with sort of a dry, stony, edge. glad i got to try it.

[mmcfa2]

this one is a HUGE morpher. When I first put it on, I get cold liquid and stone. Then come the flowers, hot and lush. I don't really like these stages, although they ae not unpleasant. But then BOOM! the incense comes out and I am hooked. Great throw, great lasting power at the end stage, and well worth the wait. Complex and lovely!!

[ClareN]

In the imp: Aquatic as anything. Yep, definitely the BPAL-style "dark aquatic". This is not a scent family I'm fond of.

 

On my skin, wet: This does the weirdest morph ever, where the aquatic note sits back for a while, just to mess with me, and the predominant scent is the spicy, sunshiny floral note of Roadhouse with a hint of the vanilla creaminess of Dorian. I would LOVE a blend that smelled like this from start to finish, but I know Kumari Kandam has other plans.

 

Drydown: And it does. It goes back to the aquatic scent I smelled at the start, and like most aquatics, I can't escape the feeling that it smells like a cleaning product or a man's deodorant. I can still pick up a little of the magnificent floral note from Roadhouse, and a clay note, but the aquatic note spells doom for me. I ended up washing it off.

 

If, unlike me, you tend to enjoy BPAL's aquatics, this is definitely one to try.

[aquazoo]

Fruity, exotic. Going frutier. Is that a word? More fruity? Kind of a fruit perfume. Smells ok on me, but not a great scent for me. Gets less fruity as it wears on. Which raises the question - should a scent be wonderful in all phases? Or just the last one?

[cranberry]

In this imp this smells slushy and cool. On the skin, it stays that way, wet, slushy and aquatic. It reminds me of aquatic florals and monocots. This oil is a complete surprise and I’m enjoying it a lot. I wasn’t expecting the snow/slush note! I was expecting something much more incensy, floral and hot.

 

I haven’t smelled Ice Queen much, so it reminds me of Snow Moon, Snow Bunny, Snow Moon or Talvikuu. It’s gorgeous and I think I like it even more than any of these LEs. The stone note is there and is similar to that in Shanghai Tunnel or Black Opal.

 

I really like this scent and am tempted to get a bottle.

[swilde]

I agree, this smells like evergreen in Talvikuu when freshly applied.

 

Then... in 10 minutes it smells like "an Irish Spring." You know, I was the Irishman on the mountain top that slices into the green bar and feels refreshed at the aroma.

 

Nothing dark, frosty or decaying about it, no incense or stones or florals. And it fades incredibly fast. But still, it is refreshing and I will keep my imp for aromatherapy.

 

EDIT: A few days of experimenting later, I found that if you apply this heavily it lasts much longer and morphs more completely into a clean, slightly powdery, floral aquatic.

Edited October 7, 2007 by swilde

[hkhm]

imp: my very first sniff made me think of the overly-perfumed bath products isle at a supermarket: cheap and cloying.

 

wet: this starts to remind me of the sea a few moments after i put it on. the differeing scents start to blend rather than compete with each other. i am put in mind of mediterranean towns touched by a seabreeze.

 

dry: the same as when wet, just lighter and lighter and lighter until it's gone.

[zankoku_zen]

This is a hot, spicy sort of ozoney blend with a whaft of flowers.

 

Unfortunately, for a long time it also sort of smells like a musky version of Irish Spring on me. Definitely masculine.

 

I would recommend this as a male ozone sort of blend. Very intriguing.

[inurbanus]

A thick, tangy aquatic overlaid with sweet incense and flowers. The word "decay" in the description spooked me, but it turned out to be quite interesting -- the image I got from this was of a humid island, where things are constantly growing over each other. The smell was very deep with lots of layers blending together all at once. Be forewarned, this has a lot of throw! I don't know if I would wear this one again, but it wasn't unpleasant. I would recommend it to anyone who likes Bayou, which has the same aquatic note.

 

3/5

[Thursdae]

Most of the time, the slush/ice/snow notes don't smell good to me. Kumari Kandam started out with the slush in the background but within about five minutes it was much too much slush for me.

[neddykapoozle]

in the imp: really strong slushy, incensy, fruity cleaning fluid. but i mean this in the absolute best way. it reminds me of this purple cleaner and it's what my house smells like when we've cleaned it top to bottom. It is really comforting to me, and i can't wait to put it on!

 

wet on skin: i'm getting a slushy aquatic note. this is my first experience with the lab's snow note so i wasn't quite sure what to expect. but it's nice. when i sniff my wrist, i get a whiff of the incency snow and as i pull my nose away a trail of fruits and flowers. i'm still getting a touch of the cleaner, but i love that scent so it's all good. what is it...... fabuloso lavender scent! that's it! but i don't smell lavender in either the cleaner or this.

 

dry: as it drys, i'm getting some of that stone scent, vary vaguely like black opal. the incense is coming out more and the snow is melting....... the scent description describes this perfectly. this would make a lovely winter scent, it's nice to have snow that's paired with flowery fruits rather than the forests they always seem to be. yay! a snowy fruity scent!

 

i really like this one. i may have to get a bottle both to wear and use as a linen spray.

[Iceblink]

Frozen waters and clay. I really wish I could "do" aquatics; they just give me a headache and really don't work on me. But this one is so evocative of cold and ice! It's a gorgeous concept, very fresh and chilled, and it does paint a lovely mental image. But I just can't wear it.

[naeelah]

Wet, I get a strong wave of salty aquatics. As this begins to dry, I smell something a little bit smooth, maybe the clay, and it gradually gets colder and colder. The frost has a minty edge. There seem to be tropical blooms buried beneath it all. At this stage, it kind of reminds me of The Phoenix, with mint.

 

As it continues to dry, the mint pulls back a little and the tropical blooms get a little stronger. Now it's a little bit richer, less slushy. There's a light incense smoke hovering above it all. It gets warmer and warmer, the mint gets softer and softer, and the blooms feel very lush.

 

I'm not really an aquatic fan, but I have to say, of all the aquatics I've smelled, this is one of the best. This is a little bit richer and more interesting. It's such a nice combination -- tropical blooms and salty winter slush. Definitely recommended for aquatic and tropical flower fans.

 

ETA: After another hour or so, some of the lushness seems to go away, and I get a bit of a soapy, "Irish Springs" quality, like other reviewers mentioned. I think that's maybe some of the notes of frost and decay morphing.

 

Throw is quite good at first, more average after a couple of hours. Wear life seems decent.

Edited January 9, 2008 by naeelah