Cairo

[Suu4LC]

The essence of holy Kyphi, beloved incense of the Egyptian Gods.

I don't get the citrus in this that a lot of the other reviewers seem to get. In the imp this is like honey and incense to me. Honey I love, but incense and I don't always get along, so I am curious to see how this will be on my skin.

Ok, on my skin I start to get a bit of that citrus mixed with the honey and incense. Hmm...this reminds me of something, but I can't place what. It's almost like a strongly incensed honeyed Lemony Flutter (the Lush product). Weird...I hated the smell of Lemony Flutter, so the comparison is turning me off. I am going to wait to see how this fully dries. It gets more and more lemony as it dries...

Blech. Yeah, this morphs bigtime from the original imp scent and dries super-pledge lemony. No go for me. Edited May 19, 2008 by Shollin

[Browneyes]

Interesting. I had no idea what the notes were when I tried it, and now I see that it's Kyphi. I've only smelt Kyphi in a shower gel before, and this smells nothing alike, but I would blame that on the shower gel I think

 

Anyway, my first though was fruits and flowers. More specifically citrusy fruits and rosey flowers. Maybe my nose is broken, but that's still kind of what it smells like. Very light, sweet, bright and "yellow". Not smokey, incensy, or deep/dark to me at all.

 

It's pretty but it's not really me, and it's a bit on the soapy side...

[ElinaMakropulos]

I'm not usually one for sweet scents, and Cairo is certainly sweet, but I love this! It smells like Lemonheads candy with maybe a hint of some kind of blossom in the background. Lovely!

 

ETA: it dries down to an almost rosey-incensey scent with the spicey lemon lingering in the background. I seriously love this blend; it's what I wanted Morocco to be. It has just the right amount of sweet, citrus, and spice.

Edited May 6, 2008 by ElinaMakropulos

[Kitrona]

Adam: It's yellow! What did you put on me?!?! I can SEE it!!!

 

Wet: Yep, that's incense.

 

Dry: On me, lemony. Weird. Pledge much? On Adam: Still a bit lemony, but more incensey as well.

 

Verdict: Nah, swap.

[starwild]

Apparently the gods like sweetarts, because that's exactly what this smells like on me.

 

It really does! I keep huffing to see if I get anything else out of it, but no, sweetarts! Sweet, tart, yummy. Not what I expected from ancient Egypt, but lovely! Hmmm, think maybe I should wait and try this again in a few weeks? Must be my skin chemistry being weird!

[greenranger]

On me, sweet lemony incense. The lemony part is amping up to make it intensely lemon incense.

 

 

Drying, the lemon begins to back down slightly. Nothing else has really stepped forward, though. Now it is a softer, more resiny lemon incense.

[quigza]

In the bottle: Lemongrass hits like a punch to the head. very "sharp." Slightly reminiscent of urea (someone else mentioned "lemon zest"- it's probably the same thing). It's also strongly sweet.

 

Wet: Sweetness, lemongrass & frankincense. Still sharp.

 

Dry down: lemongrass, frankincense, & amber or some sort of musk. The lemongrass has other citrus notes as well- orange? tangerine? Definitely sweet.

 

After a few hours: The lemon grass is now a waving herb in the background, giving some substance to the frankincense, which is now mixed with sweet citrus smoke. But, there's still that urea scent clinging. It's kinda like male sweat at this point. Maybe this would work better for a man?

[clawsight]

Cairo... isn't bad. It works with my skin chemistry. However the scent is Just Not My Thing, but I thank the lab for giving me this as a frimp to try!

 

In the imp: Citrus -- the darker incense notes can't be smelled. To me it smells like oranges, a bit of lemon, and amber.

 

Wet: The moment it hits my skin the darker notes come out, the lemon fades a bit and I get... orange-resin/amber-incense. At first I thought I might be detecting a hint of patchouli before I read the ingredients. But. Nay. It's the incense I was smelling.

 

Dry: Citrus-y incense. It actually smells like incense rubbed against my skin. And while I don't mind incense as a room scent it is not a me scent.

 

Verdict: Going to let a friend try, and if she doesn't want then its going into that that swap post I will be making Some Day*. The scent gets bonus points for smelling exactly as it is supposed to on me, but, it's just not my taste. It's still going to get a high rating though for not smelling bad, and doing what it is supposed to.

 

3.8 out of 5

 

 

---

*When I stop procrastinating, haha, there's a laugh...

[Raqassah]

Wet: Mmm… wine, honey and raisins. Roses. Musk? Notes of cinnamon and iris, cedar, juniper berry, frankincense, myrrh? Husband didn’t like “too edgy”

Dry down: Very strong. My skin amped the florals. Better on dry down.

 

Final impression: Quite strong musk with spices and wine! With aging became complex and sexy. A keeper.

[mgrazulis]

In the imp: figs, chocolate, honey, my beloved cardamom!!

 

Wet: spice (maybe laurel), smoky myrrh incense, grape, juniper

 

Drydown: Exotic and regal, very smooth, becomes lightly smoky. It is aromatic and the air I breathe is lighter. Very ritualistic scent. The cardamon is awesome. I just need some Turkish coffee before I check out some maps of this ancient city.

 

This is one of my alltime favorites from BPAL. It doesn't get much better than this for me when figs and cardamom are in the notes! I have yet to experience another scents that lifted the air as Cairo does...I'm guessing it's Kyphi incense! Probably a 5ml is in the near future!

 

[jehrichardson]

Bottle:

 

Like Aeronwen, I really don't like it in the bottle. Or rather, in the Imp. Dusty incense, a bit sour and bitter. Ew.

 

Freshly Applied:

 

There we go! Incense and lemon flavoring. Sweet and rich! Not a strong scent, but that's fine. Wood notes are in there... softened by a bit of vanilla/honey.

 

After a while:

 

Soft sweet woods. Incense. Smells like a lemon walked through a while back. Almost starts to have floral sweetness. Lots of complexity.

 

Verdict: Keeper. I really like it - might even love it. If I tear through the imp quickly, I'll buy a proper bottle of this.

[Dark Alice]

Citrusy. Sweet, like pink grapefruit, but with a little twang. Then the grapefruit fades....to dried down powdered candy? Huh? I have never had an incense blend do this before. It's a very citrusy, dry incensy feel. Strange and wonderful at the same time. I think I will keep this imp and see what happens to it with age!

[LauraB]

Oh good, it isn't just me getting candy!

 

I was sitting here thinking "WTF - Holy Kyphi smells of REFRESHERS?!!!" And apparently, in some cases yes! Actually, if I really sniff this smells of the yellow sweets in a packet of refreshers (UK sherbert sweets) with a slight undertone of something going a bit rotten, because my skin does not make wine or grapes smell nice. Unlike some people here, however, the predominant smell remains yellow refreshers.

[zankoku_zen]

Ugh. This didn't work out. The combination honey and incense, I think, drowned out the lemonyness of this blend for me.

[gingiemay]

Wet in imp - This smells like a lemon-y citronella thing happening. It’s not as incense-y as I thought it would be.

 

Wet on skin - Still lemon/citronella.

 

Dry on skin - Still lemon and citronella, but it's less harsh. I don't know if it smells like Egypt per se, but it does smell sort of mysterious.

[crebbsgirl]

This was not at all what I was expecting from an incense blend. Immediately when I put this on it was all citrus. It calmed down a bit and I could distinguish lemongrass, but that seemed to be the only note in here. I didn't get any smoky, or resiny sort of scent here. It's very bright. Not for me.

[galahad]

In The Bottle

Lemony incense

 

On Application

Lemon verbena with a soft incense background. Not terrible but not spinning my wheels

 

Dry Down

Very soft, very lemon verbena, very much going somewhere else

 

Rating (0-5)

1.5

[VioletChaos]

in the imp: thick orange marmalade and myrrh resin.

 

wet on skin: same, but the orange is a bit more candy like now.

 

dry down: the orange settles down a LOT. the myrrh becomes a bit more subtle and something that smells *vaguely* of frankincense comes out. this isn't strong, though, it's just adding some depth to the scent.

 

in all: very 'incense-y' for sure, but not like many other BPAL incense combinations that seem to have more sweet resins in them, like copal and myrrh. this is lighter for a resin, if that makes sense. which means that if you fancy the incense notes but find them more for evening use, this might be a great "daytime" version for you.

 

 

 

 

[mochi227]

Pretty, but not particularly distinctive on me.

 

In the imp I get cherry pixiedust (the sugary candy that comes in straws...you know, pixie sticks) or cherry pop rocks...something very artificial and cherry. Wet, it's pretty much the same. As it dries down, there's something resin-y going on, but I still get an awful lot of sweet cherry flavor. There's a sweet resin here: maybe it's copal or frankincense?

 

Doesn't morph much, wear is average, throw is minimal. This will go to the swaps pile.

 

2 out of 5.

[goblinshark]

it's weird, in the imp this smelled so herbal, but on me it smells like straight orange Pez. Not my thing.

[Seismogenic]

This was a generous frimp from septima_pica, and I was pretty excited to try it, since I'm a fan of the Wanderlust category in general, and since it's such a historic blend.

 

In the imp: Largely sweet, but with a tangy, maybe alcoholic, bite to it that sort of manifests at the back of my nose. If that makes any sense.

 

Wet on skin: Pretty much the same as in the imp, though it becomes clearer that the sweetness is honey specifically, and that the tartness could be lemongrass. Not getting anything that reminds me of incense yet, though.

 

Drydown: Freshly dry, this is already developing quite a throw! I think I am getting some wine in there now, though it's subtle, rather than drowning in booze. I'm also still getting a lot of the probably-lemongrass, and still some honey. An hour later, it's essentially the same - sweet and tart at once, with something deeper under there.

 

Five hours later[/b]: Pretty much the same state of blendedness as at one hour, just with slightly less intensity. The citrusy aspect that's making this tart is still there, which is impressive, since I usually make citrus die.

 

End of the day: That same bright sharpness is still there, though somewhat fainter. It may be a little less sweet now, but on the whole, it's far from faded away.

 

Overall: I really really like this. It's a sharp and unique scent, and while I'm not getting any of the typical incense that the description seems to imply, I still like what's in there very much. I'm also amazed that something even vaguely citrusy managed to stay that way on me for so long. This seems like the kind of scent that would go well with hot weather, which means it should get plenty of use from me!

[cymbeline]

Swap test!

 

Smell alike: Turpentine oil

 

Color impression: sticky bright green

 

On me: Irk! It’s a fresh incense scent, not powdery as it usually goes on me… But I would have preferred powder: this scent is awfully chemical after a few minutes

 

Wearing: god NO!

[Saya]

Having lived in Cairo for a bit I just had to try this blend.

 

In the Imp

Bright sweet lemon grass with something sweet.

 

On My Skin

This smells like Lush’s Avowash bathbomb. It’s still a sweet lemon/lime scent.

 

After a Bit

Now there’s a bit of honey coming out now, but it’s really stayed pretty much the same. It’s a very light and bright smelling.

 

Rating 1-5 (5 being best)

Scent - 2.5 Throw - 3 Longevity - 3

Overall (not an average) - 2.8

 

Final Thoughts

I like this scent, I think it would work great in the summer time. I’m not sure it’s bottle worthy though.

 

[LizzyLies]

In the imp:

You know, I feel extremely strange for saying this but, it smells like lemony tequila in the imp to me.

 

On the skin:

When wet, it totally does pull a lemon pledge sort of scent. Er, dry? I think I smell faint honey underneath it, I think I'm smelling faint roses too. Ahah! There we go, everyone's making nice and muffling lemon a bit. Much better, still very yellow though.

 

Overall:

It screams 'Lemon!' to me unfortunately, and I'll probably stick to Embalming Fluid for my lemon fix. However! The after it dries down it's really not that bad though I still cannot picture myself using this day to day. As I get scent cravings though, this imp is a keeper.

[Indigo78]

This seemed far sweeter than I expected when I cracked the imp. On the skin it is festive and sunny at first, amping what smells like a combo of lotus and sugared citrus fruits. The citrus is tempered and eventually tamed by a thick sweetness, which I think is the wine and raisins in Kyphi insense. Never burned Kyphi, but it's scent is familiar to me from the Lab's Philosopher in Meditation (Salon) - I can definitely smell similarities. But while Philosopher is hazy and smoldering, Cairo begins and remains comparatively bright and alive. A bit of myrrh creeps in during drydown., & that's when this starts evoking timeless ritual and rite. Beautiful.