Virahotkantita

[kwelge]

The Wilted One. She who is separated from her lover, and because of the distance between them, she suffers from loneliness, longing, and sorrow: blue lilac, snowdrop, bergamot, night-blooming cereus, frankincense, Himalayan cedar, and stargazer lily.

Yikes, first to post on this one.

Imp: Cedar? There might be some bergamot and frankincense hiding in the distance. Getting a slight floral-soap smell. A quiet, calm smell.

Skin: This one goes very soapy on me. Too many florals or the wrong kind for my skin, I guess. It's a nice, clean, blue-smelling soap, but soap nonetheless.

Verdict: Probably swaps.

[hepkitten]

At first, this one is almost entirely cedar and undefinable herbs, on me; however, it opens up into lilac, cedar, and an undertone of herby bite. As it settles, the lilac comes out more and more.

 

I can smell the longing here, but there's a sharpmess too, as though she's on the verge of anger. Really interesting.

[Little Bird]

I like blue lilac, but Virahotkantita is just too much floral for my skin chemistry to handle. This goes intensely sharp and soapy on me rather quickly. Soaps scented with a sharp floral perfume.

[outofrhyme]

In the bottle:

The natural perfume of flowers, with a hint of coldness. I feel like I'm smelling pollen - I think it's the lily. There's definitely something that gives it a chill at the end - maybe the frankincense or one of the other florals?

 

Wet:

POLLEN. But not in a bad way. In a, "I just rubbed flowers all over myself" way. In the background, there's a more classic perfume smell. I think I mostly smell lily and lilac, and a little tiny bit of frankincense and cedar. The frankincense and the pollen aren't really getting along...

Dry down:

It's okay in moderation. I ended up with my left wrist slathered, and the frankincense is just too much. My right wrist is more subdued, though, and it's much more tolerable. Definitely frankincense and lily, with a hint of other florals. Feels a little bit mysterious. Reminds me of a cold mountaintop in spring It's very light.

 

Final thoughts:

I don't know. I may end up trying to swap it for something else. It's not bad - it's just not quite what I was hoping for. I'll see if it improves on the next trial. It doesn't react too badly with my chemistry, so there's hope

 

I just tried fanning air at my nose rather than sniffing my wrist directly, and it's better - turned into a mountain breeze. Still some prominent frankincense, though. I just wish the flowers and bergemot came out more and the frankincense less.

[maribouquet]

The first waft of scent brings to mind an immediate image of a wet, white flower. The lily and frankincense are the only two notes that are familiar to me, and the lily is very strong at first - they remind me of Kostnice a bit.

 

Waves of keening floral sweetness - pretty, sad, rather transfixing.

 

eta: aha! there is the cedar, coming out in the background after several minutes - nice!

 

ADDED Nov. 8:

 

First I smell lilac, and then the lily stomps all over everything. Lily!

Edited November 17, 2007 by Shollin

[LiberAmoris]

Virahotkantita is all about the blue lilac. That note is so gorgeous and it's here in large amounts. It's definitely the most prominent note in the blend for me, which is a good thing, because I love it.

 

The only other notes I pick up from the note list are the lily, the frankincense, and the cedar. Overall the blend's not stellar with my chemistry, but because of my great love for lilac, this is one I'll keep and enjoy.

[siddal]

I can smell cedar and lily in the imp, and a touch of bergamot. Wet and drydown, this is very blue lilac, with the other florals peaking through. I don't detect much frankincense, bergamot or cedar at this stage.

[nikkoblue]

The main notes I get from this once dry are lilac, bergamot and cereus. The cereus adds some sort of....I dunno, liquidity? to the scent. The bergamot tempers the distince floral of the lilac note. I barely sense the frankinsence and cedar hanging way in the background, but I get no lily at all (good thing, because lily is one scent that I don't like).

 

I wasn't expecting to like this as much as I do. It's a pretty, non-overwhelming floral that's not soapy on my skin, and holds a bit more complexity than most of the florals I've tried.

[dronzeka]

Oh dear, this doesn't work at all on me, and I'm so sad, because I love the concept! (I love the concept because my husband and I live/work in different cities, so I really liked the idea of having a perfume that embodied that misery.) I love lilac, bergamot, and lily, and frankincense usually works on me, too. Unfortunately, it turns out that I amp those bulb-type plants (hyacinth, narcissus), and all I get here is a very very sharp and pungent snowdrop. It's so sharp and pungent that I'm getting almost a gas/oil/petroleum smell. And then the cedar comes out, which doesn't help, because it turns to ick on me. The longer it's on, the more the pungency fades and I start to smell the lilac, and if I whiff hard, I think I get some bergamot. The drydown is much nicer than where it started, but it's still nothing of great interest to me - not worth waitin through the gas spill I get initially. So sad!

[puck_nc]

Origin: decant from eviltemptressdq's circle

 

Initial Thoughts: Blue lilac? Yes! Stargazer lily? Yes! Cedar? Yes! Frankincense? Cross my fingers and hope...

 

In the Bottle: Chilly and cedar-y.

 

Wet: Cedar and nothing but cedar to start. I would have expected this behavior from the incense...

 

Drydown: Definitely a chilly scent. But It's all frankincense and cedar; I get almost none of the floral notes that I so wanted.

 

Verdict: I think this one needs to find a better home.

Edited February 24, 2007 by puck_nc

[cranberry]

Aside from Svadlhinaopatika, I wanted to try this one most of the Faces of the Heroine series. At first sniff – ohhh – this is a lilac scent. I should have known as this was the first scent listed but I was concentrating more on stargazer lily and cedar. Regardless, in the imp, this is a lovely lilac scent. It reminds me of the lilac bush behind my parent’s house. Once applied, the lilac remains prominent. After it dries and as it wears, it remains strong lilac – no cedar, no lily, just lilac. This is a wonderful lilac blend and makes me think of my grandmother, who loved lilacs. I think I was imaging something light, ethereal, airy. This isn’t what I was imaging but I do like this imp.

[sophia_helix]

Very pretty, but the lilac is a little too overwhelmingly sweet for me. That combined with lily is almost all I smell, barring a hint of cedar around the edges. I think I'll give this to my mother, who adores lilac.

[savage_rose]

It smelled like Perfumed Garden to me outside the imp, but once on my skin, it smelled almost exactly like White Moon. And when I checked the notes, "lilac" and "calla lily" are listed, so it's no wonder that they're very similar (2 notes in this are "blue lilac" and "stargazer lily", very close). I think these are the two notes my skin is just really amping like crazy, although there's kind of a...dirty note in there, like I'm wearing perfume to cover up not bathing (I think that's the cedar). Which totally fits in with the concept I guess (maybe she is depressed and does not bathe regularly?), but it just doesn't smell all that fabulous on me. Maybe someone who doesn't amp these florals would love it, though...I think there might be a lovely subtlety there for the right person.

[jasmine]

First applied, this is a high, thin floral scent with a slender support of wood underneath, like an arching bridge by night. The flowers are pale blue and pale violet in scent, but more blue than violet, which is interesting. It’s the first floral that has struck me as being so blue.

 

Concentrating, I detect the frankincense as a grace note to the top, but it doesn’t stand out particularly, and I would not have noticed it without concentrating. Similarly, I spot the lily, but it is unobtrusive. Virahotkantita is lovely in its blend and balance; no single note stands out. The overall effect is one of restrained elegance. It does not invoke sorrow so much as self-containment and sophisticated grace.

 

Over a few hours, it faded from a firm, quiet presence into a ghostly memory born on scent, with just a hint of soft flower and wood remaining. Even then, it retained an ethereal beauty. Although there are other scents that are more noticeable and distinctive, the subtle qualities of Virahotkantita -- that pale, unusual blue-purple quality -- make it worth returning to over time.

[maijasu]

On me, this is a soft, soothing floral with a hint of woods and herbs. I like it but not enough to buy a bottle.

[supremegoddessofall]

In bottle: Mostly frankcincense with some florals.

 

On me: Mostly lily and lilac. Not getting the frankincense or cedar as much.

[SultryWolf]

in the decant: Stark, yet sweet with early spring flowers.

on: Lilac predominates, with just a hint of bergamot, over the warmth of cedar and frankincense.

[edenssixthday]

Virahotkantita - This is predominantly a lilac blend, although the dry, woody cedar is lightly evident, as is a touch of lily. The frankincense gives this blend just the tiniest hint of earthiness and keeps the floral notes from being overpoweringly sweet. I believe the frankincense is also what helps this blend last on my skin as long as it does. It’s a gorgeous scent that’s perfect for springtime. The throw is quite heavy, so a little goes a long way.

[slave1]

VIRAHOTKANTITA

 

In Bottle: Pungent floral

 

On Skin: The lilac and cedar scream at me in this scent. It’s a bit too heady for me and gives me a bit of a headache right away. It’s very heavy scented and thick. I get a blue violet tone from it. Very very floral with an incensey background. Almost sickly sweet on me… The frankincense starts to come out more as the scent develops and it gives an even stronger powdery incense feel to the scent. Strong throw and long wearlength.

[PurringPulsar]

Virahotkantita

 

In the imp: a very sharp lily and something like harsh jasmine. Very sour floral scent.

Wet on skin: now the lilac comes out, but it's not a nice soft fresh lilac like in Melancholia or Whitechapel, this is harsher and more biting, and smells wilted.

Dry on skin: sharp green flowers and wilted lilacs. Where's the bergamot, frankincense and cedar? All I can smell are nasty green flowers that are either wilted or sharply green...in fact it reminds me of that horrible smell of rotten vase water where dead flower stems have been soaking in for too long. It's not on the same level as Evil Gardenia, but these flowers have a greenness which is almost acidic to them. I am not too familiar with snowdrop and cereus so I wonder if that's what I smell? Some stargazer lily notes (not all-the ones in Peitho and Lyonesse are beautiful) can be very sharply green too. This now reminds me of White Moon, but even sharper and dissonant.

After a while: this doesn't change much, it still stays as a sharp, shrill, vicious greenish floral. The lilac is a little stronger and I think I get a bare hint of wood, but other than that, it's still not a very nice scent, it's like pickled flowers.

The end drydown after many hours is less sour-it has become bitter. But it doesn't improve much. Sour dying flowers. Not me at all.

Verdict: this is, I'm afraid, my least favourite of the Heroines. I thought it would be at least wearable, thanks to nice notes like frankincense, but it just went very wrong on me. Shrill, shrieking acrid flowers, wilted and pickled. Some lilacs can be gorgeous on me, but other lilac scents smell sharp and shrivelled. This is the latter, I'm afraid. Ditto with stargazer lily notes, which in here also smells razor-sharp. I don't know much about what snowdrop or cereus (I think that usually sweetens on me-not here though) smell like. but this is a piercing, dissonant, vicious scent on me. I get none of the sweetness mentioned in reviews, or any incense...it doesn't even improve over time-maybe loses it's acidic edge, but it smells bitter and like rotten flowers after a while. It reminds me of White Moon a little-but whilst WM was a little gentler, especially at the beginning stages, this is just a disaster on me. My decant will have to go.

Emoticon rating:

Is it a keeper? No.

If you like this, try: Melancholia, Whitechapel, White Moon, Purple Phoenix, Les Fleurs Du Mal, Asphodel, Villain

[pkthunder]

This starts out all lily and cedar on me. As it dries the lilacs and bergamot come through, but unfortunately I won't wear something if I don't like it wet, and lily drives me nuts. It's a nice floral, but not sweet enough for my tastes (I like my flowers dripping with honey and sugar and fruit juice).

[filigree_shadow]

I'm really mad at this scent, and I'll tell you why:

 

I'm very picky about florals, but I like every single one of those floral notes. This scent should have been a shoe-in for me. I could wear lilac scents all day long like a carefree happy-go-lucky lilac-loving fool, and I'm always on the lookout for a great new lilac perfume. This one is not that perfume.

 

If I had to guess what's causing the problem, I'd say it's the frankincense. It's giving the whole thing a sweet haze that I really don't care for at all. I was looking for the nostalgia associated with growing up with a lilac bush right outside my bedroom window, and what I'm getting is a distorted lilac scent that gives me the overall feeling that something's just not right.

 

So, no. This isn't what I'm looking for.

[zankoku_zen]

In the imp: Sharp and sour like floral, and something that I think smells like crocuses

 

On Skin: Still a sharp floral, I can definitely smell the iris note but can't distinguish anything else

 

On Drydown: Iris, frankincense and cedar. And by cedar, really cedar.

 

Verdict: This doesn't work for me. At all. SAAD. Since this Heroine I was looking forward to.

[wikkidraven]

i knew this wouldn't work on me, but i had to try it. it's VERY floral, and very bright. lots of bergamot, and lily which i'm not a big fan of.

 

swaps.

[bookofblues]

I got this as a freebie in a swap, and am hesitant to give it a good sniff. Florals are *not* my friends.

In the imp:

Soapy lilac, with a sweet undertone. That might be the cedar. Very perfumey. I think I'm picking up a bit of lily.

On me: Holy strong perfume! This stuff is potent. It might just be that I'm sensitive to florals, but this is way too much lilac for me to handle. Sharp and perfumey. I'm hoping the other notes will start coming out.

After a bit: Not as strong,but still a soapy floral. No cedar or frankincense notes. Mainly lilac and lily. Bummer. Nicely done, but not for me.