Old Buddhist Monk Penetrating a Rapturous Skeleton

[zankoku_zen]

Brown sandalwood, orris root, tolu balsam, champa, and hiba wood.

[Rane.]

It has almost a licorice smell to it. But after fade it smells like warm man skin & bones! Ooo la la! A slight sweetness to the warmth of it.

[Dark Alice]

 I was most excited by this one. I am sad unfortunately. There is something off that's in it. Not a huge fan, I honestly think it's the sandalwood. :{

[VetchVesper]

Like Dark Alice, I get something "off" smelling fron the bottle. Sharp and bitter. Frankly, "rancid" springs to mind. 😕

 

But I've learned it's worth a skin test before dismissing BPAL blends, and sure enough, this becomes far more pleasant after a moment on my skin. 

 

I get something I can only describe as smelling like mushrooms over soft, powdery incense.  The only note I recognize is the orris root.  This is a weird one, though strangely pleasant in the dry down.

 

Dry, soft, gently earthy. Gender neutral. Worth braving a skin test. 

Edited March 24, 2020 by VetchVesper

[torischroeder9]

In the decant: Soft powdery orris root, with a touch of grounding sandalwood behind it. 

 

On my skin:

 

Wet, the orris drifts back while a blend of florals that is definitely part champa and might be a bit of tolu balsam come forward. It's all over a bed that is soft and woodsy. Given some time to develop, some of the orris root comes back, though it remains more floral-forward than I was anticipating. The sandalwood exists as a bit of grounding, as may the hiba wood. They do work well to keep the floral from being overpowering, but they're not asserting much presence of their own. 

 

Eventually, the floral note dials way back again, and I'm left with another rendition of orris over sandalwood. This is some whisper soft and tender monk-on-skeleton lovemaking. It's actually quite a pretty and delicate fragrance on me, but not raunchy in the way I was hoping based on its inspiration. 

[zankoku_zen]

Soft, furry wood and sandalwood. There's something cuddly about this. If you enjoy "fur" type scents, I'd give this a whirl. Medium throw and wear length.

[Casablanca]

Like some others, I get something off in this. Funky. I catch a bit of it on the wand on the decant, but its funk amplifies into dominance on my skin.

 

When I try to parse around that...

I get fuzzy wood and great poofs of orris powder.

 

The funk settles down after a bit, but even without it, the fuzziness and powder here aren't an ideal match for me.

[starbrow]

Honestly? I was expecting something a lot more perverse and funkafied from the name. The blend is surprisingly approachable. The sandalwood and balsam is a leetle bit funky, but no more so than any other blend with these two notes. They curl around the powderiness of the orris and the grounding of the champa and hiba to create an exceptionally dry, rattly pseudo-incense. I'm a little bit disturbed that this does smell like bones, dust, and skin-sweat. I mean, as long as everybody's having a good time? Get you some. 

 

Ultimately, this wasn't something I would wear and so I passed along my decant, no bottle upgrade, but it's worth a shot if the notes themselves appeal to you. Don't be scared by the name! OR THE ART 😮 

[Lucchesa]

Old Buddhist Monk does start out funky, and I'd forgotten there was champa when I bought the decant secondhand.  Champa is never good on me, but it isn't actually a problem here.  The funk goes away in just a couple of minutes of settling on my skin, and I get a soft, powdery orris and sandalwood.  Maybe hiba wood too, not a note I'm super familiar with, but I don't think I smell any balsam.  It ends up a skin scent, kind of dry and crumbly, with powdery woods and a hint of champa.  I don't think I'll keep this one, but I'm happy to have tried it.  

[DiZZysTARdust]

the orris is very strong in this initially. when i first received it in the mail it was all i could smell in the bottle. after some resting i still get a strong bloom of fresh orris upon application, which fades to a powdery, soft, gentle orris base backed by the other woods. i agree with other reviews that the sandalwood is probs the most prominent. it's a very golden and powdery sandalwood, with no real piney or balsamy-ness from the balsam and no headshop champa for me in the freshly applied drydown stage. light throw, but it makes it a very snuggly up-close skin scent.