Kathmandu

[couscous]

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.

YUMMY. The Wanderlust blends may quickly eclipse Ars Draconis as my favorite BPAL theme. I haven't tried one yet which wasn't excellent, even if it never worked on my skin.

Kathmandu DOES work on my skin, though. As a lover of both lotus and sandalwood, it didn't take a great leap of faith to try this little guy out. I was shocked to find, however, that I couldn't pick out the lotus in this blend. Lotus haters who want to give the note another shot would do well to start here, as the bubblegum sweetness is felt rather than explicitly smelled. I suspect it's what gives the barks and twigs (yes, Kathmandu is "twiggy"), a sweet, almost root beer type of quality. There is also a bit of a very, VERY light spearmint quality to this. Do not let this throw you! Nothing clashes here- no matter what it may sound like when you hear it.

As it dried, it went from sweet, spicy root beer woods to skin-soft sandalwood and back again. Not a huge morpher, but dynamic nonetheless. There is a bit of a medicinal quality to it, as well- as if you are smelling something not meant for perfume but wish someone had the guts to make one.

Kathmandu is both exotic and comforting, and would be a good match for those who have already tried and loved blends such as Cathedral, Anne Bonny (no patchouli in kathmandu that I can smell, but they share the same bitter-sweetened resin quality), and, to a lesser extent, Midnight Mass. Edited January 10, 2006 by Shollin

[LiberAmoris]

Kathmandu is the 'driest' and 'smokiest' of the incense blends on me, and it's also the least sweet. The cedar is the strongest note on my skin, and the lotus is so soft that I can barely detect it. I'm also picking up on that cola note that others have mentioned. It smells exotic and is deeply calming.

 

I think this would be a divine room scent. For people that love the scent of incense but don't like the smoke, this would be a great way to have it both ways.

[walkingundine]

Kathmandu starts out intensely cedar, with the stifling bubblebum kick I've come to expect from lotus. It's a bit overwhelming.

 

Drydown is where its true character shines through. The lotus fades and becomes spicy rather than bubblegummy, the cedar stops being such a boot to the lungs and calms down a bit, and an incense note- I love the incense note!- creeps up.

 

Overall, it starts out way too strong, but becomes a lovely complex scent that has only mild throw and lasts for most of a work day.

 

In sum: I think it's worth keeping an imp around, but I'm not running around in circles shouting 'ZOMG BOTTLE NEED BOTTLE'.

 

I recently found that if I stick this on one wrist and City In The Sea on the other, what results is less dry than Kathmandu and less overwhelmingly fragrancy than City In The Sea.

[kettu]

Wet On: BUBBLEGUM!! wtf?? guess it's the lotus? it smells like pepto bismol with a hint of cedar off in the distance.

 

Dry On: Saffron, sandalwood, muted cedar, which is to say, a pale sweet woodiness. So very soft. I wish it started out like this on me.

 

(later)

 

Wow. This is really beautiful. The chiuri has appeared, adding a warm butteriness to the soft sweet wood. Just fricken beautiful. I am totally in love with this scent, minus, of course, the lotus at the beginning. I can suffer through that to get to the beauty.

 

So. Very. Lovely.

Edited February 1, 2006 by kettu keiju

[sookster]

straight up from the imp...wintergreen..in a big way......there used to be

berries in the woods where i come from in barkhamsted, connecticut ... close

to the ground.....we could eat them.....they were bright red and pasty inside....

but they smelled exactly like this........after awhile the blend gets much more

floral....it is way different and complex for certain.....not sure if i would want

a big bottle but i think i will love my imp for quite awhile....

[Mountaingrrl00]

The wintergreen/birch/cola/root beer topnote that has put me off a couple of "dry wood" oils is present here, but there's enough softer wood peeking through right away that I'm able to get past the initial turn-off. The sharpness doesn't last long, and it's worth waiting a little while for the much longer phase of true wood and incense. The blend becomes lightly sweet, in a woodsy kind of way, with a spicy incense that's unusual and very beautiful.

 

This really works well as a Wanderlust blend. It takes me to a totally new place.

[Rhowan]

In the bottle and wet on my skin Kathmandu is very woodsy! OMGosh, I love the sandalwood and cedar together! I am also getting a warm spice almost incense smell too that is lovely but there is an undertone of something sour that I can't quite place my finger on....

 

Dried down the woods have faded to the background - almost completely gone and an almost sharp, sour juniper type scent is taking it's place and not in a good way. There is also a hint of a mint in there someplace.

 

After about 30 minutes, this has almost faded completely. Even if it hadn't, Kathmandu would not be a keeper in my book at all. If it stayed true to it's just wet smell - gorgeous! But completely dried down and before it faded that sour juniper/mint smell over powered it completely.

[PirateMaggie]

Wet: Clean cold air at high elevation, with a hint of snow. There isn't ozone listed, but I keep getting whiffs of it. Cedar and sandalwood, and is that...wintergreen?

 

Dry: This really warms up. It's like coming out of the cold into a warm haven. The woods and minty-evergreeny smells are noticeable, but the saffron and spices come out and glow softly. The lotus hides in the backround, occasionally showing up then disappearing just as fast. This is soft, light, comforting, and uplifting, like a Himalayan version of Sudha Segara. I'm not sure this rates a big bottle, but I'm going to enjoy my imp.

[gingersnapp]

Mmmm, rich, spicy, dry woods.

 

And then 10 minutes later, nothing but a slightly resinous residue. Fast fader, light scent.

 

Sadness.

[sissa125]

Imp: Old and young woods, sap-laden; ceremonial spices

Wet: Dry woods, less sour, clove and cedar. Amping up as it dries...love!

Drying: Less cedar and clove, a bit more sandlewood.

 

This is like climbing up to an wooden shrine in the lower Himalayas. Gray snow-capped mountains tower above, and the sunlight is either super-bright in the thin air or hiding behind clouds. Very respectful and subtle - might just be my ideal "dry woods" scent.

I could wear this *and* use it as a car fragrance.

[Miss Lynx]

In the imp the lotus seemed strong enough that I wasn't sure me trying this one was a good idea (lotus tends to be cloyingly sweet and a bit bubble-gummy on me), but Kettu said the lotus faded away really quickly on her, so I decided to give it a try. It was pretty lotussy to start with, but sure enough, that phase didn't last long.

 

What it fades down to is an soft incensey scent that's a little bit reminiscent of Namaste or maybe to a lesser extent Tushnamatay, though I like Tushnamatay much more. It's not that Kathmandu is unpleasant, at least once the initial lotus blast dies down, but what's left is very soft and faint and sort of... I don't know, unremarkable. It has that same sort of "I've been hanging out in an Indian incense store" feel as Namaste, but it's a lot milder. It also seems to be doing a quick disappearing act. Oh well.

 

Grade: C+/B-

[fiddledragon]

Scent in bottle: Saffron, sandalwood, ceder, and spices. Mmmmm....please don't turn to pencils on me, little imp!

 

Scent on me:

Wet -- Anise? Why does it suddenly smell like anise and cedar? Not that I'm opposed to smelling like anise, but that wasn't exactly the plan. I now smell like licorice Altoids kept in a cedar box.

Dry -- I have no clue what this smells like. Some sort of marvelous incense, but it still intermittently smells like licorice.

 

Conclusion: This scent confuses me. It fluctuates between that wonderful Buddhist-temple incense smell, and licorice Altoids, without any sort of apparant rhyme or reason. I'll give it another try when I haven't been trying zillions of other things.

[lunareclipse]

In the bottle, it's all spices with a faint dry floral undertone. What I get most is saffron and something sharp, almost but not quite minty.

 

On my skin, it transforms completely: the floral/spicy notes fade to a supporting role behind dry, powdery woods - cedar and sandalwood - and smoke. Evocative, structured and lean: this really smells the way I imagine an isolated Buddhist monastery high on the Himalayan plateau should. It's inspiring me to go meditate, or perhaps try some really challenging yoga asanas.

 

A perfect capture of the balance between asceticism and luxury which I associate with its eponymous part of the world.

[brownbear]

mmmm I like this. It starts out a bit sharp. I agree with lunareclipse about the almost but not quite minty stage. Then it warms up and the minty bit goes away. It turns into warm, soft woods. Not especially floral on me. And bonus, the cedar isn't especially strong.

[HennaFairy]

bottle:

some menthol here - no wait it smells like - root beer??? Really it does. Good homemade root/birch beer (or birch bark from the tree)

 

first impressions on:

birch beer still (I'm talking the homemade pennsylvania dutch kind!), with some deeper spices underneath. Rounds out more as it dries, smelling more sandalwood and other things.

 

wearing it:

an invigorating medtitation/spiritual scent. Comforting and exotic at the same time…. Woody and spicy but fresh.

 

overall:

if it's this good each time I use it, definitely bottle time!!! (reservations about how long it lasts based on other reviews, I'll see. i may be reviewing prematurely hehe)

 

rating: 10/10

 

(Edited for new rating system (1-10 rather than 1-5) - this is still a favorite!!!)

Edited May 8, 2006 by HennaFairy

[trins-ravengirl]

After the girl told me about this one I was pretty excited to try it.

 

It started off quite nice on me, but as it dried it became....pepto bismol. It's a shame, as I was really looking forward to this one.

*shrug* good ol' skin chemistry.

[kourika]

Kathmandu's description sounded wonderful, but I am apparently allergic to something it because I sneezed the entire day I wore it. I may simply not be able to handle the combination of spices with cedar wood.

 

Fortunately, one of my friend's skin chemistry adores anything with cedar in it, so I passed the imp off to her!

[bifemmefatale]

This one morphs very quickly.

 

In the imp: all antiseptic mouthwash and toothpaste. On: minty toothpaste for a minute or two, then it goes cedary, then sandalwood, then soft, soft lotus. All within about 5 minutes. Very strange. Don't love this one enough to keep it, but I can say it fits the cold Himalayas and Buddhist monasteries in feel. Very calming and cerebral.

[joiedecombat]

Oh, I had hopes of Kathmandu, especially after how nice Magus turned out to be. But unfortunately, pretty much all I get is cedar, with maybe a bit of sandalwood - dry, powdery cedar, like sawdust or the wood shavings I've used for horse and dog bedding. I like cedar, but I don't want to smell like I've been sleeping in the doghouse no matter how many positive associations the scent has for me. Ah, well.

[littlefarmgirl]

Wet:

It smells like.... ROOT BEER! With a little patchouli* thrown in for good measure. Odd.

 

On the drydown:

I can pick out patchouli*, there are some other scents underneath, I think. All in all this is a pretty nondescript scent on me. Nice, but not really nice.

It fades quickly, too.

 

 

 

*I'm not very experienced with Scent, so what I call patchouli might very well be something entirely different. It smells like Masquerade, if that helps any.

[juniperus]

Bottle: wood wood wood wood wood. and some more wood.

Wet: saffron, I can identify the sandalwood clearly, and, uh, candy?

Dry: back to the woods, but more multi-layered and even, interestingly enough, multi-textured. a bit of the spice and saffron at the tail end.

Later: well, I love woody and I love spicy, so this is definitely going into the collection of wood nImps.

[Eunice]

The spices in here are too much for me. I can't make out any of the other ingredients over something that smells like wintergreen. *sigh*

[indicolite]

A frimp from the lab.

 

When I first smelled it and when it was first on my skin, it reminded me strongly of some Asian dish; I cannot name the dish, but it must have had those spices in it for me to get such a strong image of those transparent noodles... As it dries, quite quickly, I get incense coming out stronger and stronger, although there is indeed a hint of wintergreen. After about five minutes, it is just incense.

 

I do not care much for incense; iit is not something I want to go around smelling like. But I will give the imp another chance in a couple of days before relegating it to the "dispose of profitably" section.

[dtp]

This morphed very quickly--in a matter of minutes. It's the blend that's changed on my skin the most so far.

 

In the bottle: Wintergreen, and not a lot else. Not at all what I expected from the description (I don't like to read reviews before trying a blend myself, because I'm scared I'll be influenced by what other people smell--I don't trust my nose enough). It's vaguely spicy, but it's pretty much all wintergreen. Not a bad smell, per se, but one I associate with antisceptics.

 

Wet: I smell like I've been smearing my wrists in Pepto-bismol.

 

Dry: Thankfully, the wintergreen has faded and I can now smell the incense, which is sweet and pretty. It's very soft and gentle now, and not minty at all. It's a little too soft, maybe; I prefer my incense richer.

 

Later: Not bad, but nothing special. Cedar and light incense.

 

Don't think I'll be wearing this one, which is a shame, because I thought I'd love it from the description.

[Galatea]

In the Imp: Mostly cedar with a bit of waterly lotus.

 

Wet: The cedar really POPS! It usually does this on me. Cedar really likes to take over a blend on my skin.

 

Dry: Whe dry the cedar calms down a bit and the sandlewood really comes to the fore. It doesn't seem so spicy or really very lotus-like at all.

As it warms up a bit more I seem to detect a bit of the bark and possibly the saffron...It's very nice at this stage, all warm woods and calming saffron.

The longer I wear this more more of the spices come out. They really hide til the very last.

 

Throw: Really great at first (but that could just be how the cedar acts on me), but takes a dramatic drop when the oil heats up the least bit.

 

Overall: This is a really great blend once I get past the screaming cedar part. I need to test this one more to arrive at a final verdict.