Kathmandu

[sarahj]

Old Kathmandu

The scent of sacred incense swirling up the steep slopes to Swayambhunath Stupa. Saffron, blessed sandalwood, Himalayan cedar and the miraculous lotus of the Buddha with chiuri bark and Nepalese spices.

 

received as a freebie with my first order

 

in vial: the sharp, strong smell of cedar...with something else in the background...I almost want to say I smell anise

 

wet: cedar, sandalwood, and, like diabolique, I also smell root beer

 

dry: the lotus comes to the forefront and mixes with the spices...this is a nice, spicy lotus scent

 

3.5 hours later: faded to nothing

 

verdict: I like this, but I wish it had a little more staying power. I'll definitely use up this imp!

[Belladonnastrap]

What is UP with all these scents not meshing with me?! Sigh.

 

First sniff

Spicy! And ...I'd imagine Kathmandu would smell like this. Did anyone else remember that movie "The Train to Kathmandu" when they first sniffed this?

 

When wet

Minty and spicy and very strong. It cleared my sinuses! Its very...I can't explain it but it smells mystical. And a bit like Vicks Vapor-Rub.

 

Drydown

Still getting the vicks vapor-rub feeling and its sort of making me ill *goes to wash off*

 

Aftermath

This scent most definitely is not for me. Its too spicy and the vicks feeling just doesn't go away. Up for swap it goes!

[Penance]

First Sniff:

 

Cedar! I love cedar…this is like digging around in my mom’s old cedar chest when I was little, playing pirate and pretending to dig for buried treasure. There’s something else underneath the cedar, though, something slightly sweet…incense of some sort, maybe?

 

Wet on Skin:

 

Still cedar and getting stronger. This is really comforting to me, although I can see it being a little too masculine for some women. The sweetness that I smelled before is gone, now all I can smell is pure cedar and I love it.

 

Dry Down:

 

It’s settled into a nice, vaguely incensey cedar scent that works wonderfully for me. I put this on before going to bed and I’m feeling very relaxed and content. This brings back a lot of happy memories for me and the cedar scent itself is very relaxing. Lovely, absolutely lovely.

 

The bottom line:

 

I love this, it’s going on my big bottle wishlist straight away. The scent lasted for well over 10 hours on my wrists and scented my bed beautifully. It’s pretty straightforward cedar on me, with a little bit of incense peeking through from time to time and I love it. It’s a combination I wouldn’t have thought would work terribly well, but it does, and the result is absolutely wonderful.

 

ETA: I don't normally do this, but I've decided I wasn't glowing enough in my praise of Kathmandu. Since I wrote this, I've gotten a 10mL and a 5mL and I'm head over heels in love! Now when I wear it it's more sandalwood with cedar in the background than pure cedar, but I put this on and feel so amazingly content and secure. This is now my "All is right with the world" scent. I can't live without this one.

Edited January 10, 2005 by Penance

[glampyre]

Old Kathmandu

 

Saffron, blessed sandalwood, Himalayan cedar and the miraculous lotus of the Buddha with chiuri bark and Nepalese spices

 

Wow. Sandalwood plus cedar...plus more woods, plus spice = totally great!

 

I love it. I'm so glad to find a scent that contains all of the above without being really heavy.

 

gorgeous!

[darkitysnark]

Old Kathmandu

 

I got this as a prize from clover's scavanger hunt contest.

 

In the bottle: lately I've been biking to work, which means that this phase is done after I've Supermanned myself into working clothes in the restroom and am rushing to get the last traces of street grime off of me before heading into the office. That's just a long way of saying I kind of speed through this part, and am affected by the smell of institutional bathroom cleaners so... maybe that's why I wasn't getting all the spicy strong goodness most of the other reviewers have. I could faintly detect cedar, and something ... fruity? This imp came in a package with other imps, including Tintagel, which I could smell when I opened the envelope, so I think that was probably what I was smelling...

 

Wet: whoa. I get Chinese medicine. The stuff my parents would keep in the medicine cabinet--tiny little vials (about imp sized, actually) of little black beads that I would take when I had a cold. So, not the vicks-vapo-rub other people seem to pick up, but definitely something medicinal.

 

Later: the morning fog started to lift, sunlight amping up the fall colors... then suddenly it clouded over, and the fog resumed wrapping around the buildings and houses and cars. Right now Old Kathmandu is mirroring this sort of quietly spooky insular feeling. I'm getting the incense notes now, and some wood that is somewhere between sandalwood and cedar. There's a little of the incense stick smell I got with Eidolon, though this does not have the citrus edge.

 

I'll write more when I've determined lasting power. So far it's the perfect scent for contemplative, foggy mornings!

 

 

ETA: At the end of the day I was going to add that it had faded completely; however, right before bed (and after going to the gym and biking home, no less!) a little bit more wafted up from my wrists. A pleasant, peaceful surprise ending to a pleasant, peaceful day.

Edited October 27, 2004 by darkitysnark

[JazzieCazzie]

i swore i could smell something very citrusy lingering in the background, but my brain is making things up.

 

Then my brain was making it up too ... I LOVE LOVE LOVE this scent, but when I put it on this morning (I think it's my third time wearing it), I got hit with a note that I recognized in a flash as lemon drops or lemon gumdrops. It was only for a few moments ... but it added an interesting layer to the cedary scent ...

 

These "pencil shavings" scents have emerged among my favorite BPAL perfumes. Maybe they just work well on me or bring back happy memories of a day when I actually liked school. I don't know, but I can't stop sniffing myself.

 

REVISITED AND RE-REVIEWED MARCH 2013:

 

After some time off, and a long span where I was more occasionally buying/swapping for BPAL but not reviewing, I've re-organized my collection and have been working my way through all of it, old and new, imps and bottles, A-Z.

 

IN THE IMP: Delicious and grounding, a perfect "incense" scent which reminds me a huge amount of Scherezade (no surprise, given the notes).

 

Didn't have much left in the imp, but applied pretty lavishly to wrist, crook of arm and cleavage.

 

WET: Though I couldn't put my "nose finger" on the cedar when sniffing the imp, I can recognize what it DOES immediately upon application. It might be what I called "pencil shavings" in 2004, but it gives a woody (as opposed to woodsy) SWEETNESS to the other spices for me, whereas the sandalwood gives a more rounded woodiness and the saffron is, simply, divine.

 

DRYDOWN: Just a sweet, lovely woody incense. Thankfully, the lotus does not appear at all for me, and that is a good thing because lotus can sometimes go so wonky on me that it ruins an otherwise good scent. No lotus-wonk, no powder, just "band-aids and headshop" which weird as it may sound, is one of my favorite combinations.

 

OVERALL: I'd been doing quite a bit of swapping of late, and occasional smaller purchases from some lovely forumites, mostly imps with a big bottle here or there. But I'd realized that I was getting way too close to the deadline for a big bottle on the recent Lupers and there was one I had to have, so I grit my teeth and placed and order for four "big bottles" and a six-pack of imps. And this was one of the four big bottles I bought, which says a lot. Though I do have several scents that are similar, a factor that has kept me from getting BBs of some of my other favorites, there is something about this that is just unique in and of itself and I don't know what or why.

 

On a scale of 1-5, a definite 5.

 

ETA: I didn't get anything lemony or lemon-gumdroppy this time around, by the way.

Edited March 21, 2013 by JazzieCazzie

[TheDarkMother]

In the Bottle: A cacophony of warm spices and woods that just makes my eyes roll into the back of my head in ecstacy. This reminds me of Pier One in a way, the different smells of the Wickers and the incense coming together in one delicious blend. This is what I imagine that a old world marketplace would smell like.

 

On Me: At first it was a cedar bite along with cinnamon, but it quickly morphed to add a sweeter note along with it that I just can't describe...a sweeter wood perhaps? I'm not certain. The cedar is still the note at the forefront when my nose is to my wrist, which it is quite often, but in the air I smell the cinnamon spicyness. The sweeter note is coming back, and its so familiar, yet I can't place the name. Argh!

 

Very much like a Pier One store, and I am very in love with this scent! I am slathering now and heading to bed to dream of shopping.

[FireInCairo]

What an interesting fragrance this is...very hard to put into words.. There is a definately scent of strong woods in this fragrance. It's mainly cedar I believe. It is very earrthy. I can smell a bit of Sandalwood too I think. This is a complex woody scent. Very nice for fall..oil lamp ring burners...

[Ishtar]

I got Old Kathmandu as a freebie and I am glad I tried it, even if it didn't quite work on my skin. I probably wouldn't have ordered it myself, since lotus and to a lesser degree saffron usually do not agree with my chemistry. On the other hand, sandalwood and cedarwood I love.

 

In the vial, the incense and cedar notes were overpowering and I was afraid I was going to hate this. But it only took a few minutes after applying for Old Kathmandu to mellow down and become rather enjoyable. BPAL taught me not to be afraid of incense (a note I used to strongly dislike in my pre-BPAL days) and I found myself quite enjoying the spicy incense stage of this blend.

Unfortunately, after 30 mn or so, the lotus and saffron came through with a vengeance and turn the blend into a mix of dusty wood and sickly sweet candy.

 

I will have to pass on this one, but I think that its exotic spiciness would be quite alluring on someone with more adequate skin chemistry than I have.

[pekeana]

Wet, (Old) Kathmandu smells like bacon. Bacon, for the love of pity! *gags*

 

After it dries down a while, it's all wood -- no spice, no incense, just heavy cedar and something else that makes it smell like it has a menthol edge to it.

 

I can see where this would be great for someone who like woody scents, but it's just turning me off totally.

[Ina Garten Davita]

First Impression: Warm and cool at the same time.

 

Second Impression: I can smell the cedar and lots of minty vapors. It's like being warmed in the sun on a very bright, cold day. Such a light wisp of a scent, one swipe was gone in minutes.

 

Final Analysis: Ethereal, lovely and fleeting. I'll enjoy my imp.

[ismene]

Kathmandu's almost exclusively saffron on me. Faintly bitter and smelling so brightly yellow I can almost see the strands in front of me eyes. After a couple of hours it mellows out a bit, becoming slightly sweeter and the other notes come into play somewhat, but by that point it's faded so much I have to press my nose against my arm to smell it at all.

 

Sniffing it really makes me want Indian food, though. Mm, curry.

[Shollin]

First sniff: Eucalyptus incense? Old Kathmandu is dark and resinous, but there’s something cough-drop-y around the edges.

 

Wearing: The initial impression of eucalyptus incense is persisting, and the wrist-scent is pure cedar. And cedar just isn’t me.

[eleventhousand]

This one is not so nice on me.

 

I smell cedar, pink bubble gum, and anisette candy. Reeeeealy sweet.

[octopusgrrl]

In the bottle: bitter almond

 

Wet: cedar and sandalwood with a hint of pine

 

Dry: dries to a creamy spicy vanilla

 

Verdict: this starts off smelling like Queen of Sheba on me, but it's not as "dry" a scent, and turns out quite delicious as it dries.

[Splendid Molerat]

Kathmandu has a soothing, medicinal quality on me.

 

I get very cool beech-nut and wintergreen initially, followed by the woods. I would feel this way in a mountain retreat with tall cedars, and a steady drizzle keeping the woodsmoke close to the ground.

[xoe]

Old Kathmandu is for me, mainly sandalwood, incense and some spices. Like Faerykin, I too got a whiff of coca-cola. Strange. But definitely not bad. But after that little interlude, Kathmandu goes back to being spicy, incensey sandalwood. I don't get cedar or lotus and I have no idea what chiuri bark smells like. Though I suppose the cedar and chiuri bark could just be interpreted as wood by my nose.

 

Quite a nice blend.

[VorpalBunny]

Kathmandu reminds me of Lapsang Souchong tea… it has the same smokiness. It is a heavy sandalwood scent with a hint of cedar that has a very Eastern flair. It doesn't have a masculine scent at all on me, but I could see it working on a man very well too. It is the kind of sandalwood scent that I like, woody and complex. A lot of other sandalwood blends lose their sandalwoodiness (I know that's not a word). Something about it reminds me of old leather-bound books. It's definitely not an everyday scent, but it's an enjoyable scent.

[Fyre_in_Winter]

I've had other BPAL scents disagree with my chemistry or become odd combinations.. but this is the first one to actually cause my stomach to flip-flop.

 

In the bottle it smelled vaguely like anise with a hint of something medicinal beneath it. I don't like anise, but I gave it a shot and dabbed a very small amount on. Pfhew, whatever that medicinal smell is, it multiplied by a thousand, crawled up my nostrils and hung on for dear life. Ugh. Luckily a woodsmoke note came out and masked that pretty quickly. Luckily for my stomach that is, and it's left me with a faint headache.

 

I can see where this would work wonderfully on someone with the right chemistry. After several washings the bit lingering on my wrist smells quite nice. I also think this is definitely a more masculine scent. Off to the swap pile.

[voodoobaby]

In the bottle: Hmm. Kind of smells like furniture polish and sassafras. That's not a bad thing, though.

 

Wearing: Woodiness galore! Oh how I love wood smells. The cedar is most apparent, but it's not a screaming cedar. Sandalwood lurks in the background...and I smell a very dry kind of wood that is neither of the above, which must be chiuri. There are definite spices here, though I can't pick out what they are.

 

Fifteen minutes later: The only way this has changed is that it's grown very, very faint. No matter, I love it anyway. It's woody, exotic, and kind of serene. Definitely a keeper!

[paperdoll]

Initial Sniff: I can smell mostly the woodsiness (yes that's a word ) and the spices, although there is an underlying sweetness to this blend. The cedar is almost sharp in its intensity.

Wearing: For the first hour I smell like CEDAR. Ugh. One this dries however, the cedar loses its edge and the sandalwood/lotus blend come to the forefront. The spices are still there in the background, but it is mainly sweet sandalwood.

Final Impressions: The drydown stage of this scent is very nice indeed. It is peaceful and grounding. I do not like the CEDAR stage, but the drydown may be worth it. I'm keeping my imp, but not ordering a big bottle yet - I'll see how it grows on me!

[rhubarbbear]

in the bottle: cedar! oh yes, and lots of it. maybe a bit of incense or spice.

on this rounds out a bit, but smells very woodsy on me- like i'm in a pine forest, or out hiking, or probably both. normally i wouldn't find this appealing in a scent, but i like kathmandu! it's comforting and grounded.

 

since dh is an outdoorsy nut, i put some on him, too (working to find a bpal scent or two that he loves!). he didn't like it in the bottle, but deemed it "ok" after a few minutes on his skin. i see potential here

[requieminblack]

First sniff from the bottle- Musty flowers?

 

After 10 minutes- Oh wow, this is morphing like crazy! I smell cedar, but there is something else in there making it really musty. It must be the Nepalese spices I am getting. It smells a bit like Indian food to me. And smoke.

 

After 30 minutes- I am starting to detect a hint of eucalyptus. It is starting to smell really medicinal.

 

Summery-I can't get past the Indian food phase with this one. I am sure many people will like it, it is very exotic...but it is not my cup of tea.

[aurianrose]

I definitely smelled the cedar when I first put it on this morning. I was a little concerned that it would be a little funky as a perfume and might be better used as a room scent. I was wrong. After a bit, it calmed down and was a very nice woodsy scent -- verging on sweet. I'm bummed, though, because after about an hour, it was all gone. It was replaced by a tiny hint of sweetness left over. Overall, nice, but I'm not freaking out as I have done over other scents.

 

Edited for spelling errors!

Edited February 17, 2005 by aurianrose

[shelldoo]

i was not expecting to like this....

 

but it is nice, i don't think i will buy a big bottle but i will use the imp it is a strong woodys scent very resinous, cedar, possibly had vetiver, rosewood, reminds me somewhat of cathedral