Khajuraho

[stellamaris]

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.

 

whoops! Wrong imp...OK got my bottle yesterday and now I know what all the fuss is about. 2013 version. This is a very lush and creamy incense blend. At the top I smell something that I assume is dates, and the dry down is spicy and very much like Al Azif to me, however I feel like this is more feminine and a little less In Your Face. Love this.

UM, Edit...did I say love this? I meant LOVE this. Really really love this. This is a beautiful classic incense, a true Nag Champa incense, gorgeous. I said no more back ups but this one is going to break the rules...

[Lycanthrope]

2013 version.

 

I had the original release and hold that to my standard of Khajuraho perfection...

 

I am disappointed by the balance of notes in this year's Khaj, whereas with my old bottles of Khajuraho and its occasional returns, the most I get wet and also silling from my skin is mostly tuberose, champaca, and the rose and davana - it is a sweet floral rose dominant with a little spice and 'crunch' beneath it. The other components, while present, did not elbow to the front. In this situation I smell mostly honeyed dates, amber and a very strong vanilla note. I'm not getting as much floral.

 

While this is not BAD, since this is a sexy vanilla honey amber, I am missing the higher pitched, elegant exotic floral from my other bottles. I will use this, but probably not in the same realm as my hoarded Khajuraho.

[becca_s]

2013 version

 

On me, this is dominated by the honey and date palm, as it dries I can smell the amber and maybe the champaca flower too. I don't get any tuberose or rose. The date palm and amber make it kind of exotic smelling. I will re-test this one, I am a fan of honey scents so I may upgrade my decant to a bottle and perhaps the vanilla and other notes will come out more when it has aged a little bit.

[AlectoFurious]

This was supposed to be great on me. Honey? Amber? Vanilla? All notes of win. Sadly, the champaca decided to bitch slap everyone else down and turn into a bad Nag champa incense on me.

[mymymai]

2013 Version:

 

ITI: Interesting I wasn't expecting to smell so exotic but so similar to tamarind sweets at the same time.

 

Wet: The champaca flower, sandalwood, and vanilla bean, and date palm are most prominent on my skin. It reminds me of Lush's Snowcake!

 

Dry: After 16 hours and an intense Zumba workout, I can faintly make out the champaca flower and the vanilla. It still smells wonderful still and I'd consider getting a bottle of this.

[milo]

This is the 2013 version. This is nothing how I remember. Khajuraho 13 ends up being a slightly spicy vanilla incense. This is warm and sensual, I think I found the previous incarnation too sweet and fruity. I may try to track down more of this...

Edited July 14, 2013 by milo

[MiasmaResonance]

Beautiful honeyed sandalwood and white flowers. So sad that I only have a small amount of oil left in this bottle I received, because this is gorgeous.

[MiasmaResonance]

Side by side comparison of Khajurajo 2008 vs Khajuraho 2013. I purchased a bottle of the latter as a partial through a swap and fell in love. I bought the former a few weeks ago thinking it would be a backup. Much to my dismay, these smell like two completely different perfumes. The formula has to be different between the years, because I can't imagine time changed it SO MUCH, but if it did, holy crap!

 

Khajurajo 2008 is straight old lady perfume on me as well as in the bottle. It's hard to distinguish any notes. It's just heady, floral perfume. It calms down a little after a while and has more vanilla, but it's nothing that special to me, specially compared to...

 

Khajuraho 2013 is so, so unique and amazing. I smell champaca flower, dry sandalwood, and something that smells like rice milk or something similar. Maybe davana blossom, whatever that smells like! It's a gorgeous milky floral, but high and light, not cloying at all. So pretty!

 

I'm very disappointed at the difference between the years. They are spelled differently, but it's supposed to be the same scent, so idk.

Edited February 18, 2014 by MiasmaResonance

[claudia6913]

2008 version

 

This is better than I thought it would be. It's soft and sweet and slightly floral. The sandalwood seems to help keep it grounded and gives it a woodsy feel without overpowering.

[JazzieCazzie]

Had this on my wishlist and was gifted with a partial imp in a purchase. ETA this is the 2013 version.

 

IN THE IMP: Ruh roh. Ubersweet and cloying.

 

Dabbed on wrist.

 

WET: WAYYYYY too sweet and creamy and sticky for me right off the bat. The vanilla doesn't even wait to dry down to become super-plasticky. I am getting ALL of the sweet and creamy notes with NONE of the woody or resiny ones to offset the cloy.

 

DRYDOWN: Tuberose keeps wafting up and assaulting my nose, surrounded in a haze of plastic vanilla. No amber, no champaca, no sandalwood. And of course it's got legs and it knows how to use them.

 

OVERALL: This is just all kinds of ick on me.

 

On a scale of 1-5 a 2.

Edited March 5, 2014 by JazzieCazzie

[aquazoo]

Honey! Wheee! It ties the different flowers together. I don’t get the soapiness like most florals. I get a number of sweet things, not sure if it’s the vanilla or the sandalwood.

[lexyOZ]

I was frimped a half-full imp of the 2013 version and I am DEVASTATED I can't get more.

 

In the imp it's all soft creamy date, vanilla and honey. Wet on my skin it deepens to a gorgeously smooth, almost chocolaty scent. The dry down is rounded out by soft amber and sandalwood, but it's never woody per se. More all the florals and woods mingle beautifully together to back up the creamy wet notes.

Not sure if mine is so lovely because it's a few years old, but I do so hope this will come back next year. I'd be happy to put it away for a couple of years to end up with such a lovely perfume.

[sunlitgarden]

2013 version:

Khajuraho for me is one of those scents that's very distinct, but hard to break up into components to describe.

In the bottle, it mostly smells like a sweet incense. It has a sort of deep, almost musty quality, but in a pleasant way (there are other scents I've smelled with this quality, but it's difficult to describe and I'm not sure what note or combination of notes causes it). On my skin, it smells like the bottle scent at first, but then the sandalwood starts becoming the most detectable note. This bottle is a couple of years aged now and I remember the florals being more apparent when I first got it... it's more of just a sweet incense/wood now. But still smells very good!

[LizziesLuck]

2007 version

 

Wet: Heady florals - the tuberose, I think. It's sweet. There's some green as well. Nice so far. Lighter than I expected, based on the notes. a very pretty, innocent, sweet floral.

 

 

Dry: Sweet and floral. I think I finally know what tuberose smells like! It's a very heady, sort of tropical smelling sweet floral. It's nice, but a bit too much for me.