Khajuraho

[bulletslc]

... This is a blissful, euphoric blend based on an ancient Indian love potion: honey, date palm, tuberose, davana blossom, amber, white sandalwood, vanilla bean, Damask rose, and champaca flower.

Mmmmmm, very incensy! The champaca flower is very strong on my skin, and sweetened by the honey. Sandalwood and vanilla bean warm and ground this a bit, which is good otherwise it would be too light on me. The other flowers are there, but very much in the background, though I do catch the rose swirling around in the mix.

This is VERY much an "India" scent to me. Probably because of the champaca. I keep thinking of all the incense stores I've been in.....but this smells like expensive incense, not cheap.

The throw isn't much. It stays pretty close to my skin.

Wish I had a bottle of this!!

[cinderfallen]

In sum: Champaca like whoa. This is a very pink scent, albeit with a sandalwood-incense tinge.

 

Overall, I get a creamy, almost fruity, candy-sweet scent from the champaca; it's softened by the vanilla, and lightly balanced by what seems like the vestiges of smoldering incense. Flirty, pink, a little heady but grounded, too. It smells like LUSH's sweeter scents, actually, and brings to mind Dragon's Milk. The throw is outrageous. Sometimes, it's way too sweet.

 

On my friend, who amps florals, this is shockingly green rose, almost sharp.

 

ETA: I layered this with some Scherezade, and it really helped to tone down the sweetness and add more depth. Also works fantastically with Smut for a rounded, infinitely sniffable scent.

Edited August 13, 2007 by cinderfallen

[LadyCrow]

In the imp: Flowers and amber.

 

Wet: Flowers, amber, and honey. Wow, champaca!

 

Drydown: The sandalwood and amber mix really, really nicely. I suddenly have the feeling that I should have a long floral-print skirt on and be talking earnestly to somebody in a little shop about the use of expensive crystals to balance one's chakras... but the date palm keeps the floral component sweet without being predictable.

 

The throw isn't gigantic, but it's more vigorous than I'd predicted from the listed notes -- possibly helped by the amber. There's almost an apple-y sweetness to what the date palm and rose do together. Very girly (and I don't often react to scents as gender-specific), very wear-your-hair-down, very young -- but not in the slightly icky Jailbait way, just happy.

[shellyshells]

(2007 version)

 

It took me awhile to pin this one down. At first I didn't really like it... the floral was too... much. I think it was the floral combo w/tuberose that was killing it for me.

 

BUT! I tried it again recently and again, the wet stage was just meh... but as it was drying down it sweetened up alot and the vanilla & honey bloomed.

 

I love love love the dry down stage. It reminds me of a certain Lush scent (can't place it at the moment) but more complex. I'm really happy that I hung onto this one & pleased that it has a decent amount of throw.

[cranberry]

2006 release

 

I love this scent and looking over the reviews I wish I had gotten a bottle of the 2007 version too.

 

This scent is sweet, sexy and exotic. The sandalwood and champaca are strongest on me. Luckily enough, the honey behaves and blends beautifully with the rest of the notes rather than trying to overpower everything in sight. There’s flowers here too – jasmine and tuberose, and incense. I can smell a similarity with other oils from the Lupercalia series – those sweet honeyed flowers with incense seems to be in quite a few of the other oils. I think this may be my favorite of the series. I think I can smell a bit of the date palm too.

 

This scent is quite strong and I don’t need much for serious throw. I love this on its own, but I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE this layered with Snake Oil.

[Jilara]

2007 version. I had some misgivings of some of the floral notes, but BPAL honey note is usually gorgeous on me, and I just had a feeling this would be. I was right.

 

Wet, it's all about HONEY. The honey is out there and in your face, ganged up with it's pal, AMBER. Whoah, aggressive, but in a nice way.

 

Drying down, I started getting a mysterious floral note. Mysterious, because I can't identify it at all, even knowing what's supposed to be here. The vanilla starts coming up and mellowing the florals in interesting ways. A waft of sandalwood comes out later in the drydown.

 

Dry, it's a balanced blend of sweet amber, vanilla, and sandalwood that's sexy but innocent. The honey has stopped being aggressive, and is just lending sweetness to a slight fruitiness in the background. The floral is still there, being mysterious and incognito, lurking in the shadows as a supporting handmaiden. Complex and nicely blended! Love this one!

[nightchild80]

In the Imp (wet): I smell yummy fermented date palm, dusky roses and just the tiniest hint of the vanilla.

 

On facial cotton (dry):The white sandalwood and florals are a lot stronger, but where's the vanilla and rose gone? It makes its appearance as the scent dries down.

 

On me: There's a richness about this one. The rose and vanilla make up the sweetness, but the sandalwood and amber lend their warmth, making this scent quite a lovely concoction. This one is ALL woman.

[CrazyPretzel]

I bought a bottle of this one on the forums but I don't know if it's the 06 or 07 version.

 

In the bottle it's hard to get my nose round; it smells a little bit sour to me. Once on my wrist though it changes fast. Without looking at the components I was thinking big, creamy white floral. Now that I've checked the listed notes I'm a little surprised, to be honest - I'm not getting anything like incense from Khajuraho. The honey, amber, and rose, usually pretty easy to pick out, are not obvious to me at all. There's a slight fruitiness that could be date or champaca. On the whole it's very well-balanced with no particular note dominating, and the result is flowery, creamy, sweet, very feminine, and a little mysterious.

 

Very classy! I waited a long time to try this bottle out and it's definitely a keeper

[tartchef]

Bleh. Too many flowers for this to work for me, alas. Khajuraho hit my skin & exploded in a cloud of rose-scented powder. I scrubbed it off with a babywipe almost immediately.

 

Mind you. About half an hour later, what trace of oil that survived the scrubbing is gorgeous - almost opium-like, sticky & smoky with a bit of tartness in the back. No earthly idea what notes might be contributing (maybe the sandalwood & date palm, perhaps the champaca?), but it's really yummy. Shame about the opening amber & rose fiasco...

[evanescence]

Khajuraho is my "nekked wrapped in warm cashmere" scent... I love it, it turns me into a contentedly purring kitten stretched out in the sunshine just waiting for someone to scratch my belly! I don't like most honey scents but there is something in the warm vanilla floral balance of Khajuraho that makes me appreciate the honey note... but the champaca flower is my love by far!

 

Just the most lovely blend. I'm esctatic that 2008 is coming out!

[MeiLin]

In the imp: Honeyed fruit and flowers, very sweet and vanilla, with a spicy undertone.

 

Wet: Sweet with the spices coming up and the rose in the background.

 

Dry: The amber, sandalwood and champaca come forward making it more Indian, but on me the honey and vanilla are ever-present. The florals are there but they're drowsily hanging out in the background perusing the bongs.

 

The honey and vanilla notes on me are just wonderful, I'm guaranteed to love almost anything with either. I hope the 2008 is as good!

Edited January 27, 2008 by MeiLin

[mspixieears]

Initially a gentle toilet water sort of fragrance which turns slightly powdery and bubblegummy. I’m having trouble picking out the individual notes and it seems to smell very different from afar than it does up close. Could be worn on a man though the honey does make it quite sweet.

[MaeKitty]

Khajuraho 2007

In the Bottle: Sandlewood, vanilla and florals

On Me: Oh, this is yummy! I love this one! It's a really neat blend of tropical smelling flowers, a really sweet but not heavy honey, some amber in the background. Love it.

Edited March 8, 2008 by MaevanKayt

[Eutectic]

Wet--Subtly floral but there seems to be a pine note in the backgound. date palm maybe??

 

Just on--Erm....something under the notes is a bit funky. It's great on the top notes, floral and woody, but under that there is something a bit sour. Seems to be fading as it dries down more.

 

Dry---okay, the sour note faded quite a bit. I was worried for a bit. Not too floral but herbal. This one I'm not overwhelmed by but I think the Red Lantern is distracting me. I will have to give it a full test before I can tell if it's love or just meh.

[Jenesis]

2008 version - I'm not entirely sure why I bought this. I may have bought it accidentally, because it stinks of talcum powder and soap, and looking through the notes I can see why (rose and champaca).

 

Oh well. Off to the swaps with thee!

[angelicdemise]

I just got an imp of the 2008 version. I will be buying a 5ml of this! It's a sweet musk witha warm, "golden" fruity smell, and just a little bit of a powdery note to it, but I really like powdery notes.

 

I've had it on for about two hours and it hasn't really faded. Not too much throw, but I like how it kinds hovers around my skin. It reminds me of a quieter, more sultry Hony Mone.

[vegasblueblood]

2008 version:

 

In the bottle, I get an exotic almost woody feel. It's not very sweet and after applying it, I am getting lots of floral. It's not overly strong and I'm hoping that the sweet honey emerges more. This is almost green at the moment and I'm getting some of the powdery amber. I'm not a huge amber fan so I'm hoping that the other notes bury the amber deep in there. This is quite soft and very pretty. I'm not sure about previous years versions but this year's is definitely all about the florals to me. As it dries, the honey and vanilla are starting to emerge. Yay!

[robozwil]

Very, very woodsy and sandlewood incense at first. I find it hard to pick out any one note at first because its such an overwhelming scent in the bottle

 

Once on it starts to settle in about 10-15 minutes. I can start to pick up honey, florals and spice.

 

Dry - the scent remains quite sweet with a floral/spicy backdrop. Overall this one is a bit too "girly" for me - meh

[maribouquet]

Wet this smells like...a band-aid? Shades of Opium Poppy, I guess! And dry on me it's still band-aid, with overtones of...something. Huh. What's going on here, I wonder? Can I blame the champaca flower and the davana blossom?

[hellomoonglow]

Khajuraho. Or as I like to think of it, Kajagoogoo. I'm a child of the '80s, afterall!

 

In the bottle the sandalwood take the top note to my nose. I get a small waft of the rose. Normally I don't like BPAL rose. It smells too damp to me. But I believe damask rose has a more subtle scent. Tuberose, not sure what that smells like. Tea rose is also good, but I digress.

 

On the skin it has a deep, rich perfumey scent. It's an excellent combination, although, like tuberose, I don't know what davana blossom, champaca flower or date palm smell like, either. But whatever they are, the mix beautifully.

 

I also smell leather. I don't know where that's coming from.

 

On dry down, it really fades. I find that happens sometimes, but that's ok. I'll just carry the bottle with me!

[Iceblink]

I'm getting incense-y sandalwood from this too, and not much else. A bit of honey, perhaps, and something fruity that made me think of mandarin oranges for a few minutes at about the 30-minute mark. Hmm. This is a very close scent; I have to bury my nose in my arm to get a good sniff of it.

[naeelah]

This is quite a morpher!

 

Wet, it's strongly floral. Almost sharply so. Right away, a candy-like sweetness emerges. I think some of it must be from the honey, but mostly, it must be the davana. At this point, it smells like a floral potpourri next to a hard candy dish. After 5-10 minutes, the champaca flower becomes the strongest note.

 

At this stage, it reminds me quite strongly of Dia de los Muertos, only with many flowers in place of the foody, sweet notes.

 

After a while, the sandalwood gets a bit stronger and helps to even things out. It has a slightly smoky, burnt quality. At this point, the sandalwood combined with the champa and honey reminds me quite strongly of John Seward. It's a sweet, lightly smoky floral with a soft wood base.

 

I was afraid of this blend because I tend to amp sandalwood. White sandalwood tends to be especially vile on my skin. It just takes over. It is behaving slightly better than usual, but little by little, it's amping up. This is a lovely blend if a sweet, rich floral sounds appealing to you -- but I'll stick with my other champaca blends.

 

Try this: if you wanted to like Dia de los Muertos but it was too foody for you; if you missed John Seward and want a similar blend that comes back every year; if you liked Diwali, Kubla Khan, Defututa.

Edited March 6, 2008 by naeelah

[ravenfeathers]

in the bottle soft, dark, sinuous and very sweet. the honey, amber, and vanilla are the strongest notes. almost edible.

wet on skin i'm getting a little bit of sandalwood which is giving it an incense feel, but so sweet. hm. it's reminding me of something, but i'm not sure what.

dry on skin HA! ha ha! i know what it reminds me of! it's suntan oil! not the nice lotion that keeps you from frying, but the old oils that we got in the 80s that were bottles o' melanoma. now i'm almost embarrassed to admit that i really like this.

[Wildchild453]

Bottle: Roses and lots of roses and sandalwood

 

Wet: There is something dark almost musky in this, a darker floral. A bit of sweetness too

 

Dry: Its a mix of a lot of things, still very musky and sweet. The rose don't really show up nor the vanilla. I wish I had a better nose so I could pick out more notes

 

Overall: I give it about a 3/5. Its not bad, it dries down to something very nice. I'm gonna have to try it out a few more times before I decide whether to get a bottle or not. Its different from my usual

[SarahScent44]

In the imp, all I get are florals - rose, davana, champaca.

 

It gets a little warmer and richer on my skin - there's just a touch of the vanilla and the amber behind all the flowers.

 

When it dries, it's even warmer - the sweetness of the honey, the vanilla, and the amber are prominent - there's almost no floral here at all!