Pumpkin Masala Rooibos

[bicyclette]

Rooibos tea with red ginger, green cardamom, fennel, peppercorns, almond, and licorice, sweetened with coconut sugar and jaggery.

This was the Yule scent I was most excited about- it seemed kind of random and different, and I was not disappointed.

In the bottle: Warm, rich spice. I do smell some pumpkin, and the red fruitiness that I associate with rooibos tea.

Wet on skin: Sparkly red ginger and cardamom (?), with a kick from the peppercorns and a subtle sweetness. I can still smell the rooibos in the background.

Drydown: Still getting a lot of the spice from the wet stage. As it dries down further there's more sugar, similar to Sugar Skull but with a tinge of creamy coconut (and jaggery is a kind of unrefined cane sugar, so I'm guessing it's just further sweetening the mix).

This is really nice- I like spice but I'm not really a fan of cinnamon or cassia in perfume, so this is perfect. It's vaguely foody without being bakeshop foody, in my opinion. I didn't get any of the fennel, licorice or almond, and the coconut was a supporting player at most, giving a little bit of a creamy background to the whole thing. Lots of throw (but I like to slather) and okay wear length- still getting whiffs 3-4 hours in.

All in all, a really interesting take on the spicy holiday gingerbready scent. I'll definitely keep my bottle around and may even snag a backup as I anticipate wearing this a lot.

[VioletChaos]

I, too, was very excited about trying this scent. I took a sniff of the tester at Will Call, but didn't try it then, though I'd ordered my bottle already by that point

 

In the Bottle: I get the spicy-fruity combo I associate with rooibos tea plus the ginger and cardamom in supporting roles.

 

Wet On Skin: The spices start to calm down, but the rooibos itself is going strong, while the coconut is now making an appearance. This coconut note is the one I recall from Eden, though that was quite a while back the last time I encountered that. It also reminds me of the coconut in Tarot: The Star.

 

Dry Down: The rooibos is the consistent thing throughout. The coconut has mellowed a bit and the spice notes have reemerged as a distant support. This is NOT the usual ginger-heavy Yule scent- the rooibos is definitely the star.

 

In All: Medium throw, a light winter spice mix reminiscent of 2007's Diwale but with rooibos as a main attraction. I anticipate wearing this warm daytime-friendly scent quite a bit and may also need to get a backup bottle by January

 

ETA: I get no pumpkin from this. Not at any point.

Edited December 6, 2011 by VioletChaos

[angelicruin]

I love this scent! It's a rich spicy pumpkin on my skin with licorice and almond giving it a christmas fruit candy quality.

Edited December 10, 2011 by angelicruin

[Invidiana]

This reminds me almost exactly of David's Pumpkin Pie Chai (though strangely that isn't a rooibos--guess that's where the "almost" comes from), which in my opinion is the best pumpkin tea out there and believe me I've been through boxes and boxes of pumpkin tea from every brand imaginable. Now for me to equate this with my favorite pumpkin tea, it's obviously good. This is not a heavily syrupy or buttery pumpkin blend, but warm and sweet with almond and just the right dusting of spice that doesn't raise its flag and take over in 2.5 seconds. There is a certain creaminess from the coconut that doesn't assert itself as coconut but smooths everything out, and the licorice/fennel also don't scream their names but contribute a unique depth. Love!

[boxinghelena]

Pumpkin Masala Rooibos is a really nice holiday tea on me. I'm not really getting any standout notes. It just screams tea on me. I really like it.

[tativa]

Mmmm the perfect holiday spice scent.

At first the licorice was a bit much, but tamed down nicely.

Mom thought it smelled a bit like flowers... I think she was registering the tea I never found.

It gets more pumpkin and spice as it dries... though much sassier tha pumpkin pie. The coconut makes it a touch creamy.

I love it!

[SweetBastet]

This is my first majorly foody scent, and I'm surprised at how much i like it!

I came to the Pumpkin Masala Rooibos party for the ginger and peppercorns, but i'm staying for the sweet almond tea Dry on my skin, its definately not as spicy as it is when wet. Responses included 'tiramisu', 'pancakes', and 'oatmeal cookies'.

 

Calm, inviting and delicious, much more fun to wear than i expected a foody scent to be!

[lohengrin]

In the bottle: Ginger, peppercorn, and a slight dustiness from the cardamom.

 

On skin, wet: Ginger, fennel/licorice and peppercorn. Fairly similar to other spicy scents I have, hopefully it will morph.

 

On skin, dry: Indeed, this one is a morpher. The peppercorn and ginger have faded down some, and the fennel/licorice and rooibos are peeking out now.

 

After an hour: This is almost entirely fennel/licorice and rooibos now, with a bit of sweetness. Never got any almond or coconut, but it's definitely a lovely scent. Will age it a couple more weeks and test it once more just to be sure, but this is almost certainly a keeper.

[surlygurl]

I purchased a decant of this because I really like both chai tea and licorice. When I smelled this I got a rush of spices with a dark, sinister licorice background. Not what I expected. I get the almond - the powdery foody quality. The mish mash of spices is just that - no one thing stands out, not even the licorice. All in all, this scent is just weird. Not for me.

[patina]

I get pumpkin spice with creamy coconut and some fennel. I've made some fennel seed/ spice oatmeal cookies that smelled a lot like this. It smells good, except I've never liked pumpkin spice very much and this has a weird toasted note that I really don't care for.

 

This has an amazing throw.

Edited January 2, 2012 by patina

[astarinel]

First, I definitely don't get much pumpkin.

 

The pumpkin note tends to be hot rancid buttered fail on my skin, so this is a good thing from my perspective (very few pumpkin blends are exceptions to this rule). The spice mix is a little odd, but not unpleasant. It's chai-like with a bit of licorice.

 

It's rather sweet with an almost baked good sort of quality to it, and it's rather nice but not outstanding. If you like warm spicy foody blends, this might be up your alley.

[het4377]

In The Bottle/Imp: getting a very foody and fairly sweet vibe off this one. A touch of citrus too.

 

Wet: I'm not sure the ginger is working out for me, nor the sugar. Not much coconut in there either (which I admit, I was looking forward). The rest of the blend of spices ends up being mostly a mush to my nose - I can't pull anything out of it.

 

Drydown: still very foody, and it keeps making me think I smell baklava - weird, right?

 

Changes as Time Elapses: tea, mellow ginger/pumpkin, faint and perfume-y. This just isn't working out for me.

 

Rating: 2/5

 

Similar to: Unveiled, Velvet Tiger, Bogle

[romarin]

Goes on sugar, soap and hot spices. Settles down into a (strangely nice) caramelizing sugar and toasted hazelnut effect. I'm not sure what happened to the pumpkin and rooibos, but it's not worrying me!

[milo]

Spicy Christmas cookie at first, with a touch of something minty herbal. Dry, much the same, but the herbal vibe is gone. This reminds me of the cinnamon sugar that is dusted on cookies that are made with nuts and a touch of coconut. This blend is a bit too foody for me, but would probably be great as a room scent. Not getting any pumpkin.

[Juushika]

In the vial: Surprisingly sweet, almost Jack-waxy pumpkin.

On me: Goes on strong pumpkin, midway between earthy and waxy, with something chemically sweet in the throw. The waxiness of the pumpkin dies off during drydown, leaving behind an understand and earthy pumpkin rind. There's a chemical/medicinal/herbal note at the heart of this blendfennel and spices and licoriceand I just ... don't like it. Most rooibos I've encountered is an herbal equivalent to red musk, but I get nothing of that warmth and color hereit's just a spiced, curried pumpkin.

 

Verdict: Pumpkin Masala Roobios is effective as a non-sweet, non-traditional spicy pumpkinherbs and unusual spices over a savory pumpkin base. But the spices always seem a little off and unpleasant to my nose, and I just find nothing to like here, none of the warmth I was expecting, nothing palatable in the blend. I'll trade away my decant.

[Missy_killer]

In the bottle: I smell cookies at first. I want to say oatmeal cookies actually. And there is something sweet lying underneath, like marzipan-y.

The longer I inhale, the deeper, darker and more liquroice-y it gets! At some point I think it smells a bit like nailpolish remover.. Hopefully I won't notice that on my skin!

 

On me: I just couldn't figure out what it smells like! I knoooow this smell, and had it on the tip of my tongue for a while. Then it came to me: Yankee Candle's Cinnamon & Sugar! ..I think..

Google says that's what it's called , but I want to say Brown Sugar.. I don't get the marzipan or nailpolish remover that I hinted in the bottle, thank goodness.

 

Two hours later: I'm getting more rooibos and liquorice now and less cookies! Yum!

 

Three hours later: Coconut and liquorice with brown sugar with a dusting of rooibos! I really like this scent!

[Little Bird]

In the bottle, this smells like red cherry with a hint of buttery pumpkin and gingerbread spice.

On my skin, it's gingerbread cookies and a sharp cherry note from the almond. And then it's like my skin just completely eats this scent. It goes through a phase where it's like a much lighter version of Pfancy Pfefferneusse, with the addition of cherry. So it's like warm shortbread cookies + tons of sour cherry. And within fifteen minutes I'm just left with this blah, extremely light, sour cherry smell.

 

This was the Yule blend that I was most looking forward to, so it's a major disappointment for me. The only note that didn't sound good to me was the almond (as bpal's almond always does this wonky cherry smell on my skin), and it's the strongest note on me. I'm not getting any licorice or coconut at all.

 

Light, sour cherry. I don't know if I got a messed up bottle of this or what (as that seems to be happening to me a lot lately), but I hope that this gets better and less sour cherry with age...

Edited January 12, 2012 by Little Bird

[theseagrows]

whoa, this is foody and sweet! i tend to steer clear of pumpkin, because it is both of those things, but i thought maybe the coconut, rooibos and ginger would even it out. at first it's straight up foody pumpkin, then i smell the fennel and peppercorns-it smells like spicy indian food at this point, and all sweetness is lost. it continues on as spicy indian food, which is one of my favorite scents but i don't really want to personally smell like it. i wonder if it's the fennel that's doing it? i have no idea.

 

ETA: about 20 minutes later, it sweetens up a bit more and smells like a spicy pastry of some sort.

Edited January 10, 2012 by theseagrows

[porcelina]

where is the pumpkin? is there pumpkin??

 

i sort of get a note that my brain interprets as pumpkin but i'm not sure if it's really there or if the name and general spiciness created it for me.

 

in all honesty, i was SUPER excited when i saw pumpkin masala rooibos in the yule update but then when i smelled it at wcwc i kind of wasn't crazy about it. but i ordered it anyway and i'm glad i did because now that i have had a chance to properly evaluate it, i like it!

 

sticky-sweetness, earthy rooibos tea and lots of delicious spice. the spice and sugarr is almost overwhelming! it's quite a strong scent, but a really good one. it's appropriate for the holidays, but not to the point that it couldn't be worn all year.

[coldandsleepy]

A couple years back, I had this rooibos tea blend with sliced almonds and little candy hearts in it. That is precisely what this smells like to me, with the gentlest touch of licorice on top. I don't really get much in the way of individual spices, just that strong herbal scent rooibos has and some bonus sweetness.

 

Nice but not a home run on me-- it just doesn't smell super distinctive on my skin. I was hoping for something a little spicier.

[a_llb]

In bottle: A spiced aura, red and black are the color impressions I get.

Wet: The almond is strongest on me, unfortunately. There is a grounded kick of rooibos, some pepper and slightly astringent ginger.

Dry: It becomes much sweeter as I detect the fennel and licorice. The coconut sugar and jaggery (also a type of sugar) slide in to bring a syrupy quality. This will benefit much from aging.

 

Verdict: Almond doesn't work on me very often but I had to give PMR a try since it was a spicy blend without cinnamon (which gives me a rash sometimes). It just didn't pan out on my skin, but I can see it being really wonderful on the right person!

[Gwydion]

In bottle: Almond dominant with coconut sugar next. The other elements are distinct and lovely. It’s beautifully blended. Wet: It is lovely, and still almond and coconut sugar dominant. As the skin warms, each spice steps forward in turn, with the fennel and peppercorn particularly noticeable. With time, the sweeter elements like the sugar and almond softer and it becomes fennel and pepper dominent. The effect is fascinating and not expected. Dry: Fennel, fennel, fennel.

[Floria]

I didn't get any rooibos in this, which was no surprise, since it's not a very strong smell in the nature of things and my skin eats tea. What I get is a slightly creamy, nutty, oddly familiar scent with a bit of exotic spice to it. I was a bit worried about the fennel and licorice, since I get a lot of anise in Absinthe, but they behaved themselves. The drydown reminds me a little of the amber and pink pepper base of Hermia, but foodier - maybe with some Indian rice pudding? I wouldn't mind a bit more spice, but as it is this is an interesting blend that doesn't turn my wrists bright pink.

[Caper]

i thought i was going to love love love this one.

 

it reminds me of the fennel that you eat after eating indian food. it's really yummy, and there's no indian food for miles around here so it's nice to have for a scent association, but it's not necessarily something i want to smell like all the time.

 

verdict: keep the imp, but no bottle needed.

 

eta- I wasn't sure about this one but I kept reaching for it and loving it, so I got a bottle in forum and it is one note fennel. I an positive there are different versions of this because my first had the sweet baked goods with coconut scent and this one is just not that nuanced.

Edited February 22, 2012 by Caper

[zankoku_zen]

Warm, rich spice. This reminds me more to Gingerbread Poppet, with a touch of pumpkin.

 

Foodie, spicy, rich.