Paramatman

[cuervosueno]

Orange blossom, East Indian sandalwood, and champaca.

Maybe this will be good when it ages, but since I have aged orange blossom perfumes that I like a lot (I'm looking at you, Vixen, but also some other perfumes) why would I bother getting this?

Still a review above summed it up for me.... This SHOULD work. There is no reason for it not to--I like all three notes, and because I'm absolutely crazy about BPAL's earlier scents, which sometimes are slightly less complex than the later ones, I should like this.

But I don't. It's doing the wierd thing orange blossom/neroli can sometimes do, which is to turn to a slightly pickley smell. And the sandalwood isn't grounding this enough/reining it in.

So I end up with a harsh, pickle-like orange blossom and that's mostly it.

Not my thing. I'll stick to Vixen, which I love, and also some Madini and Arcana perfumes for my orange blossom fix.

[Schmoozy]

Dry, dusty sandalwood with spicy, orange blossom. The champaca is in the background and gives a slight floral vibe to the sandalwood. It's very woody and the orange blossom and champace help to sweeten the incensey feel of the East Indian sandalwood. I really love the way the orange blossom gives it a spicy feel.

[crebbsgirl]

Orange blossom blast at first. As this dries the champaca comes out in full force! The sandalwood is totally dwarfed by the champaca here. The orange blossom stays fairly prominent as well. I like this, but the throw is like WOAH on my skin.

[donnatron]

Imp: The orange blossom dominates with a little hint of slightly dirty sandalwood in the background.

 

Wet: Where is my champaca? This is strictly a sandalwood/orange blossom scent. It's a little gritty as orange blossom often is on my skin.

 

Dry: I do like sandalwood. I honestly do. I just don't like when subtle sandalwood-containing scents have the sandalwood amp out of control and I wind up smelling like single note sandalwood. If you don't amp sandalwood? This would be a pretty sexy scent. On me, I smell like furniture. Amazing furniture but furniture nonetheless.

 

Throw: Moderate. It lingers a long time.

 

Overall: As all scents are, it comes down to skin chemistry. This is a great scent but it just doesn't work on me. If the notes appeal give it a try. It's a simple blend but sultry in an incense-y sort of way.

[grrrlennyl]

Paramatman

 

On: Incense and sandalwood and a bit or orange blossom.

Half an hour in: This is going more woody on me, with orange blossom in front.

2.5 hours in: Wood.

Overall: My skin amped the sandalwood in a gross way on this one.

[Ella LaRose]

strong first kick of neroli in the bottle and when wet on my skin. as the neroli dries I start to smell a sweet background, almost incensy (spelling, the sandlewood starts to come out, but on me it it is a really strong neroli, with the champaca as the strongest background to the neroli.

[filigree_shadow]

Well, color me disappointed. With those notes, this really should have worked on me. It doesn't.

 

I thought it had something herby or rooty in it before I looked at the notes -- there's something in it that smells sour and bitter. And something else that smells like a hideously sweet powder.

 

I have no idea what's going on here. I don't have bad luck with orange blossom -- I usually like it. Sandalwood and champaca are always winners for me. Not problematic notes at all.

 

But this? Ew. It's very strange.

[ShannonElisabethJones]

I really really really wanted to like this one. I love all the scents listed in the description, but they must not love me or there's something else going on. It just kinda turns to overly-sweet headache inducing blah on me. Bye bye.

[milo]

I love orange blossom so I was quite excited when this came out. I do smell the orange blossom here, but it is kind of dusty with the sandalwood, or maybe it's the champaca. This is not sweet to me, and it's not at all like my beloved Vixen and Khrysee. I'm thinking there needs to be some sweetness here to make it wearable to me. I do get a sourness here as well, as a previous reviewer noted. This blend is not for me, it feels like there is something missing, and it seems quite bland and one dimensional on me. That being said, Khrysee is a very simple but beautiful blend, but this one just doesn't cut it for me.

Edited June 12, 2011 by milo

[JLH]

I received a free imp of this in my last order, and when I looked at the notes, I was very excited to try this. Sadly, on me, the combination of orange blossom and sandalwood (both notes I love) combine to create a very dry, bitter, industrial-soapy scent that is not only quite unpleasant but also very strong. Not for me.

[Gold Dust Kitten]

Orange blossom is always iffy on me. It can be amazing in creamy musk blends but soapy-perfumey with other florals or resins. This is the latter. It's very intense, like fresh orange oil mixed with dirty-smelling resins.

[Helas]

Paramatman is pretty much single-note sandalwood on me, but it's the prettiest sandalwood I have ever smelled. It's delicate and slightly smoky, and lacks the harshness and dryness that it sometimes has. There is just a tiny waft of tart orange blossom. This blend reminds me a lot of Love's Torments, one of my favourites - whereas Love's Torments is the Perfect Vetiver, this is the Perfect Sandalwood. I feel like I'm walking in some solemn, prehistoric forest somewhere in Tibet. Simple, elegant, almost dreamlike.

[Maleficium]

imp: very very orange blossom!

 

wet: blossom and a light sandalwood appears. After about a minute it starts to remind me of a clean but musky incense.

 

dry: light and pretty but still has enough musk/incense smell for me to love it.

 

 

this is lovely for warm summer days!

[Honey]

Imp: Very soapy-spicy. Orange blossom is dominant at my first sniff.

 

Wet: Rather tart, mainly orange.

 

Dry: Very dark, dry sandalwood and tart orange. Rather masculine I'd say, and a bit soapy too. The champaca reminds me very much of incense - and of an oriental men's cologne. Not for me really.

[PixieSkull]

Oh, you! I've been waiting for this blend for a looong time, and it's finally here! I love orange blossom to the extreme and the east indian sandalwood is dreamy and creamy. Add in some darker champaca? I'm way too interested.

 

Bottle: Heavenly dry sandalwood with fizzy citrus floral. Just dry and creamy floral

Wet: sandalwood amps, wet orange blossoms, smoky blooms

Drydown: All that heavenly dry sandalwood mellowed nicely for the florals to mingle and create the resinous awesomeness I'm smelling.

 

Overall: Of course I love it. Deliciousness.

[strahlend]

When this is fresh on my skin there's a lot of orange blossom. It smells very orangy and quite flowery.

It doesn't take long though for the woodier, muskier notes to show up.

I'm getting a mental image of an orange & orange blossoms sitting in a wood box.

After about 15 or 20 minutes the intensity of the orange and blossoms have mellowed out a lot and it starts to smell more like incense.

 

This is one of the few sandalwood blends that hasn't gone powdery on me. Here it maintains a dry, woody, freshness and with the incense and now relatively faint orange it creates a very beautiful scent.

[mymymai]

In the Imp (ITI): Strong and smoky floral and great wafts of heady sandalwood turns this scent into an intoxicating little number. I nearly swoon when I sniff it.

 

Wet: Very pungent champaca flower with bits of orange rind (it’s more of a bitter orange), some greenness, and of course the sultry sandalwood form a very enticing blend. It evokes images of tropical forests, tigers, a lotus blossoms.

 

Dry: Faint champaca and a hint of orange, but it’s really close to the skin after 10 hours. I would have imagined that this scent had longer staying power based on its potency when I applied it.

[jkfagtongpun]

Frimp I received ... gosh, I can't even remember when, probably mid or early 2011. I never tried it because I over did it with champaca when I was 18/19 so was hesitant.

 

Finally got the nerve to test it.

 

ITI(thanks mymymai!) it was mainly sandalwood with the light sweetness of orange blossom.

 

On wet, the orange blossom really comes out and the champaca and sandalwood linger behind it.

 

Dry, all notes are so well blended. The sandalwood goes slightly powdery but not at all in a bad way. The phrase that came to mind when I sniffed my arm after a few hours was delicate but strong. It smelled to me what I imagine a very beautiful but very fragile piece of crystal feels like in one's hand (I touch nothing fragile because I'm cack-handed). Each note was there in equal measure and all so beautiful together.

 

Moderate throw and it lasted a while for me, I can still smell it on the jumper I wore that day.

 

Overall, it's a really beautiful scent and... I'm excited to say... may well open up avenues for scents I'd written off due to champaca!

Edited May 9, 2012 by trumpette

[Gwydion]

In bottle: The champaca is strongest, though it blends beautifully with the sandalwood to the point the edges blur, with a hint of orange blossom. They blend well together and the result is androgynous. Wet: The orange blossom is a lot stronger on my skin, as I am citrus. It’s still champaca dominant with sandalwood in support, but now the orange blossom is a strong second. It now vaguely feminine, but it likely won’t be if you don’t amp orange. It’s pretty, but not really me. Dry: Mostly orange blossom and sandalwood.

[RiverPoet]

Wow - in the imp, I got the immediate sensation of standing in the middle of an orange grove in bloom on a warm day. No citrus, but pure floral.

 

Once on, it stayed fairly true to the orange blossom floral. I've tried many, many orange blossom scents over the years, but this is the first that reminded me of the true flower essence rather than the fruit or a commercial manufactured fake scent. The throw for the floral is fairly good; I can get some sandalwood when I get my nose closer to my skin. No champaca for me, but that's perfectly fine... this is the scent of childhood memories that I've been searching for. Onward to a full bottle (or two).

[JazzieCazzie]

OH.

 

MY.

 

GOD.

 

Bought an imp from the Lab as part of an impapalooza binge in February which combined a reload of favorite old imps to restock or retry and a few new GCs based on notes. This was one of the latter. I knew I was taking a chance since sometimes OB is fabulous on me and other times it turns to soap or bubble gum. But I love sandalwood and champaca so was willing to take the chance.

 

IN THE IMP: Pure sandalwood. Almost like a single note. I actually checked to make sure I hadn't accidentally picked up one of the two imps of Penitence which are on deck for my test-driving (I have an older one and a newer one and plan to compare aged versus recent but that's for another post in another thread).

 

Dabbed on one wrist and in the crook of that arm.

 

WET: OMGOMGOMGOMG. This is so divine. Before I can concentrate enough to place each note (I'm suffering from a head injury which has me slightly dazed and confused, or at least MORE dazed and confused than usual) I get the words flashing in my head: SUNSHINE! VACATION! FLORIDA! SUNTAN LOTION! ORANGE TREES! MUST HAVE MORE MORE MORE MORE MORE. The orange blossom amps in the best possible way, as someone else mentioned, as true blossoms rather than soap or citrus.

 

I immediately dabbed more on the other arm and crook and right into la cleavage ...

 

DRYDOWN: The sandalwood and champaca amp up a bit more to add that sweet resiny-woody note and combine PERFECTLY with the OB. The OB, meanwhile, continues to pop and bloom with just a bit more orange side, like sherbet. The combination is damned near perfect.

 

OVERALL: Once upon a time, many many years ago, my parents brought me an orange-blossom scented candle from a trip to Florida. This was right when "scented candles that looked like things" were just becoming popular (my guess is early 70s, maybe, or maybe earlier). It was an orange float drink in a glass. It was the most divine scent ever ... I wouldn't burn it, just had it on a shelf and sniffed it a lot. That is what this orange blossom -- and to a large degree this perfume -- reminds me of.

 

I have been suffering from horrible stress and anxiety, much of it, as my husband and I just discussed over breakfast, stemming from serious SAD. This scent should be prescribed aromatherapy for SAD. It's like a liquid vacation.

 

ETA: The final seal of approval ... hubby LOVES it on me. And trust me, he doesn't love many scents on me at all. Thinking of sending him the Lab link for this since our anniversary happens to be coming up ... or better yet, does the Lab do gift certificates?

 

ON a scale of 1-5, this is a MUST HAVE MORE MUST HAVE BIG BOTTLE MUST HAVE VAT. I think that's a 5.

Edited April 4, 2013 by JazzieCazzie

[Magpie]

In imp:

 

Like pine or eucalyptus, quite sharp and herbal and fresh.

 

Wet on:

 

Soft almond emerges as it warms and the sharpness takes a back seat. It does get a bit soapy but still sweet. Smells like a less harsh coal tar soap. It gets a lot softer and warmer as it dries. Very comforting and calming, like a warm breeze that smells of sun-baked wheatfields and home.

 

Dry:

 

Gets sweeter and dies down a lot, where I would have expected it from the imp to be very overpowering. Actually, it fades to a sweet background scent, all soft and comforting. Very pleasant indeed. Fairly good last, as well.

[theseagrows]

this starts out as all beautiful, bold orange blossom, which is one of my favorite notes.after awhile the sandalwood comes through, and as it happens often, this one turns to pencil shavings on my skin. the champaca is very subtle, i just get a slight sweetness in the background, which i am attributing to that. it's mostly just orange blossom and pencil shavings. too bad that sandalwood is so hit-and-miss for my skin chemistry!

[tinyvulture]

At first there's a sharp, bitter bite, which surprises me, since orange blossom is such a cheerful note...bright and sweet. Once the oil has a minute to calm down on my skin, it's much better. The orange blossom mixes intriguingly with the champaca and sandalwood. Reminds me of Indian incense. Relaxing, could wear to meditate or do yoga.

[radioaction]

I just received an imp of this from a Forumite.

 

In the bottle: pure, juicy orange blossom.

 

Wet: The first few minutes on my skin is weird. It's really harsh and bitter. It kind of reminds me of the shed full of cedar shingles at my aunt's cabin - powerful, astringent wood. Then what I recognize as sandalwood comes out. There is orange blossom on the throw, but not close up.

 

Dry: After about half an hour it's much mellower, with the orange blossom coming out up close over a gentle incense in the background. There's still a hint of that astringent cedar smell, but way, way in the background.

 

Verdict: I like it, but not enough to invest in more. It's like a less refined/complex Goatweed Leafwig, which I have a whole bottle of. I may try combining the two to see if Paramatman will bring more orange blossom (which is a note I adore) to the GL party.