Svadhinaopatika

[cuervosueno]

Proud, contented, and aglow with joy, she has conquered her lover with her charms, and she knows with all her soul that he is completely and utterly devoted to her. In bliss, she basks in the blessings of the God of Love: golden amber, oude, red sandalwood, massoia bark, honey, and currant.

I pretty much will buy any scent if the description includes honey. Svadhinaopatika was no exception.

In the bottle, this is the most divine scent imaginable--bursting with honey and blackcurrant. On me, it is more mellow, a honey rose with the sandalwood and blackcurrant peeping out whenever they feel like it.

Even though I would love it even more if it smelled exactly like it does in the bottle, this is absolutely a keeper.

I'm with you, Tarotgirl, I'll buy almost anything if it includes honey. And while this is close to some other beloved honey scents: honey moon, Litha, it is also different enough to interest me.

In the bottle, honey, but a particularly glorious honey. On, the honey blooms and I can smell the amber as well, which makes it a bit powdery, but in a good way. I believe massoia bark would give it a spicey, clove/cinnamon like scent, and I get that too. I don’t smell any currant, but I do get a nice white floral scent (though that is not in here!). It all blends together to be the most fragrant honey scent. I suppose the currant is adding sweetness, and perhaps that is what I am identifying as floral.

It doesn't have the sharp thyme edge of Honey Moon, and is more similiar to Litha, but still not so similiar I can't have both. I don't get much of the sandalwood at all.

[empi girl]

I think the scent matches the description for it very well. It is a beautiful, sensual, confident fragrance. On me, the amber and honey come out to play first, creating a softly powdery amber that is beautiful. Then the amber softens, and the currant emerges, sweet, fruity and blending with the honey. The Massoia bark (which I think is supposed to be faintly coconutty?) makes a brief appearance, then fades again, as the amber re-emerges. From this point on, the amber and the currant dominate the scent, creating a slightly fruity warm and spicy scent. It is light on my skin, but definitly a sensual scent, not an ethereal one. I really like the opening stages, especially when the currant dominates, but the currant/amber drydown has a sharpness to it (probably due to the amber, which does that to me sometimes) that I don't like, so I'll be swapping this one.

[wichapi]

Ohhhh myyyyyyyy! This is absolutely naughty! Okay, its lovely in the bottle, but put a DAB on and sit back as the ever-changing fun begins! At first, I get the heavy and spicy-wood qualities which I assume is the red sandalwood, supported by the gold of the amber… and it IS gold, btw. All lustful attraction and blatant seduction. Anything but shy; completely "experienced."

 

All this is amped up by the oude. The coconut-meat scent of the massoia bark is absent on me (thank goodness!) Then the spice and wood step politely back and provide support as honey seductively sways forward with a tiny bit of juicy currant rolling on its tongue. And here is where it seems to stay… prolonged bliss.

 

If you love honey with a dangerous curve, this is it!

 

I love it and am glad to have another bottle on its way! Even then, my two bottles are going to each need backups!

 

Brava Beth!

[dawndie]

In bottle: dusty flowers

 

On skin: nice champaca-like floral, then dusty wood amps up. Amber comes out dusty on me, and while I like amber it tends to disappear if it's not anchored to something strong (like with musk in Haunted)

 

Half-hour later: mm, the honey is coming out now, mixing nicely with the woody flowers

 

In conclusion: this is a nice sexy floral with the honey shimmying throughout. My only beef is that I wish it were stronger or lasted longer, as the amber disappeared and should have hung around for the pending menage

[CiCi]

In the bottle on first whiff, I smelled...cough syrup. A little disconcerting. Okay, I will still give it a try. It has got to be me and my sinuses. I love anything with honey so this has to work. After applying it on my wrist I can smell the amber and currant. After about 15 minutes it started to blend quite nicely! Then I started to drive my husband nuts with,"how does it smell now"?. After an hour I loved it! I just have to learn to be patient I guess. I know now that if I want to smell good at a specific time, I remember to apply this one an hour before.

[lyndsayj]

Ever since I put Svadhinaopatika on this morning, I've been racking my brain trying to figure out what it reminded me of. I decided that it's kind of like Red Phoenix.. but I might be wrong, because it's been so long since I wore that. But it definitely reminded me of a BPAL scent I've worn before, and Red Phoenix was what came to my mind the strongest.

 

It's a deep, deep red velvety, spicy scent. I'm glad I snagged two bottles

[alliekat13]

Mmm, this reminds me of an exotic Indian version of O. The amber and honey make it very sweet, the sandalwood adds an incensy touch, and the massioa bark makes it spicy. I'm not really sure what Massoia bark is, but it smells like cinnamon in this oil. Or maybe it's oude, because I'm not really sure what that is either. From time to time I get a whiff of fruit from the currant. This scent is sexy, delicious, and wearable. Long lasting too.

Edited February 21, 2007 by alliekat13

[Babylon]

When the update went live, I was torn between a bottle of Svadhinaopatika or Vasakasajja. Wound up getting the bottle of Vasa, and opted for a decant of Svad. Of course, in true Grass Is Always Greener form, I am completely in love with Svad, and don't care for Vasa.

 

In the vial: It smells like weed! Perfumey pot, and sandalwood. Apparently, the decant partied hard on its way to me.

 

Drying: Honey-drenched red sandalwood (the ahh! Anne Bonny! sandalwood to me), along with something that smells like cinnamon bark. Cinnamon always dominates, turns to red hots, burns, and leaves welts on me. This does not. It's a dry, earthy cinnamon smell, like crumbling cinnamon bark. It's also fainter than the honeyed sandalwood.

 

Dry: Salty fresh sea spray (wtf?!) with golden amber honey and calmed down sandalwood. The amber is making its first appearance now, and it's the rich, glorious, and a little bit sweet golden amber that is found in other BPAL blends. I don't have any clue what smells like fresh sea foam to me, but it's very nice and not murky or masculine.

 

An hour later: Soft amber and honey only. What a sweet ending!

 

 

I need a bottle of this!

[shadesong]

In bottle: Mmmm. Amber spilled with honey. Currant in the background.

 

On me: There's the wood, there's the bark. They give the honey something to rest on, seep into. They deepen it. This is sweet and natural and just a little heady and sexy.

[yeahbutnobut]

Svadhinaopatika

 

In the bottle: a very faint honey over strong sandalwood. Very, very woodsy.

Wet on skin: lots of wood! It smells more like cedar than sandalwood now, but I get a hint of something spicy to it, as well as honey.

Dry on skin: mmm, this is lovely. Honeyed woods, that's what this smells like. mainly sandalwood, though I think the oude or massoia may be the other woody note. over the top of these heavy woods is a gentle drizzling of sweet honey. I don't get any amber yet, but I get a slight tinge of fruity sharpness which could be from the currant…it's a dry currant smell.

After a while: the wood takes a back seat as the currant note comes out in force now, and it smells like raisins. I don't mean that in a bad way though, I don’t mind the smell of raisins…but it does remind me more of dried currants than fresh or sugary ones that I usually smell in BPAL. Sharp and dry and dark, and sometimes a little bit like wine. So now it smells like honey and raisins/wine over deep fragranced wood. Interesting combination, and quite nice.

And then, another morph. The raisin scent starts to mellow out with the honey now taking it's turn to become the central note. And what a lovely honey this is, very much like the Honey SN, a wildflower honey which has a tang to it, but has absorbed the scents of the woods and the fruit. Underneath is a slight whisper of amber. I also get a hint of champaca like floral to this, but it's not overwhelming. It's like a less sweet, less floral version of Khajuraho. Then the currant starts to sweeten and resemble the currant in All Souls, and the amber really is starting to surface now. Then the currant comes out again and sharpens to it's raisin state again, then the honey returns and turns O-like, and then the woods make a comeback, and then the amber shows up, and so on…this is quite a changeable scent! I also smell the hint of salt that Babylon mentions-this is quite a sexy scent. There are even moments where the amber really shows itself, and I love that.

After a few hours of complex morphing the scent eventually settles into the loveliest drydown-beautiful honeyed amber with a hint of sandalwood. Sort of like honeyed Jacob's Ladder. This gorgeous amber is very reminiscent of Egyptian amber, and it's layered with the sharp golden honey that came before.

Verdict: this is a sexy shapeshifter of a scent! Starting off strongly woodsy (when I feared it would be too masculine), this then moves into stages where honey and currant dance seductively through the scent. At times both notes have their sharp moments, and their sweet moments. And at times it reminds me of Honey SN, at other times it's like honey soaked raisins, with stages of wood and honey and fruit changing all the time. But the best bit happens at the end, when the amber comes out and mixes beautifully with the amber. this is a gorgeous, rich golden amber, and I just love the golden, luscious, rich golden fragrance that comes out of the union of honey and amber at drydown. This is what I wanted O to be like! This is a wonderful exotic honey scent and I'm glad I went for a bottle of it! now I need to learn to spell and pronounce it…

Emoticon rating:

Is it a keeper? Yes! Not sure if I need another bottle but this is a lovely honey scent with a fantastic drydown.

If you like this, try: O, Khajuraho, Queen of Sheba, Osun, Jacob's Ladder, Cupid Complaining to Venus

[mooncityminx]

In the Imp: Woodsy and spicy. Hmmm.

 

Wet: Spicy and green herbal, now woodsy and dusty spice. Oooo. Interesting!

 

Dry: This is starting to remind me of Devils Night but more powdery (I suspect that's the amber) and the spices seem to be different. The amber is amping. I don't think I can really pull off anything with a lot of amber in it. I'll keep this one for use in a scent locket. It's really a great wood and spice scent. Stupid skin chemistry.

[outofrhyme]

In the bottle:

What's oude? I don't know, so I don't know whether I'm smelling it... I do get sandalwood, bark, maybe some amber and honey.

 

Wet:

Warm - honey and currant over sandalwood. Very Indian, at least to my ignorance. I think I get the amber and the bark, too.

Dry down:

Just a little sweet. The honey and currant are there, but both are very subtle. The bark and sandalwood are there too, and a hint of amber. Is oude a flower? Because I think there's a gentle floral note in here. Still strikes me as very, very Indian. It's quite pleasant.

 

Final thoughts:

This is very nice, and I really like it. Having said this, though, I also know that it isn't really "me." I'll hang onto the imp for awhile, though.

[fiddledragon]

Mmmm....

 

In the bottle, this is tart and fruity and a bit overly "perfumy". But once it's on my skin for a few minutes it morphs into this lovely powdery honey melded with woody sandalwood. I get whiffs of the resins and what I'm guessing is the massoia bark, as it's another woody note. It is a very contented, self-satisfied sort of scent. It's not strong, but clings to the skin like a silky drape. I'm guessing this will be absolutely *divine* when it ages.

 

Edit: And just as I thought it was maybe crossing the line into too-woody sandalwood, the honey just waved its sexy little hand and took over completely. This is almost indistinguishable from Honey Moon after it's dried for 10 minutes, and the remnants of sandalwood, amber, and current make wonderfully complex. I thought of Honey Moon as a distincly summery honey -- this is the winter or early spring varient. Warm and sexy and enveloping without going sour or overly sweet. Bottle. The only reason I don't say two bottles is that it takes that 10 minutes to work up to full glory and I go through things so slowly as it is.

Edited February 27, 2007 by fiddledragon

[cranberry]

This was one of the scents that I was most looking forward to from the Faces of Heroine series. Sniffing the imp, I’m a bit disappointed, as it smells too sweet for me, and strongly of honey, which can kill a scent for me. Once applied, it’s better. The honey remains but other scents come out. Flowers (honeysuckle of all things), amber, sandalwood and other woods. This is really beautiful. There’s a strong, sweet note that smells like sweet incense smoke.

 

This reminds me of the 2006 Lupercalia series – Khajuraho in particular, but there was a common accord that tied all the scents together. I know this one didn’t come out with the Lupercalia 2007 series but it should have.

 

This is a honey scent that works for someone who generally hates honey scents and I couldn’t be happier. Bottle worthy for sure.

[maijasu]

This reminds me a lot of O, but it's deeper and woodsier, and smells a little more perfumey. It also smells slightly floral. It's bold, sophisticated, and feminine. Lovely!

[theseagrows]

i got this in a decant circle, and didnt look at the description again. i was sure this was roses and amber, but there are no roses! i think perhaps it's the combination of amber and honey and currant. sometimes honey doesn't work on me, abd sandalwood is hit or miss, but this one works beautifully! this is warm and sexy but also a bit comforting. may have to get a bottle of this one.

Edited March 2, 2007 by theseagrows

[savage_rose]

Honeyed flowers with a touch of currant. No sandalwood, although something's powdering out on me. But I love it anyway...although there's no almond here, it's got that "woody nut" sensibility to it to me. I think it would rock in a scent locket...honey almond-ish scents just make me giddy with earthly delight. Even if I do want to keep calling it "Spanakopita". Hey, it could be worse, it could be one of the several I keep wanting to call "Kajagoogoo" .

[devilbunnyart]

just got a 1/2 imp of this to try.

 

at first, in the bottle and on my skin, this smelled very floral and perfumey. which is not at all my style. i am a foody-lover and was hoping for spicy/woody honey yumminess.

 

well, once it had a chance to dry down, that's EXACTLY what i got! it's so very lovely. the honey amps up on my skin. so, on me, it smells very much like Honey SN. But with a more complex spicy woodiness in the background. and after a little while, the berry smell starts to come out a little.

 

this scent is like a more exotic O. very similar, but it's different enough to warrant having both. very sexy. for me, it's definitely bottle-worthy.

[Phaedra]

I got an imp of this in a decant circle. I was really interested in trying it because I love oude as a single note. Wet this is soft amber, woody and a sharp hit of oude. When first on it's amber with a hint of sweetness; soft and feminine. This becomes a heady mix of sandalwood, warm amber, and sweet honey. It's softened quite a bit from the sharpness of the initial phase. It reminds me of Honey Moon but not as sweet. This is a lovely soft, romantic, feminine blend. I like this one a lot but don't need to buy a whole bottle, an imp will do for me.

[juniperus]

Bottle: sweet and slightly sharp (the oude, mebbe?), no one note standing out

Wet: I can identify the currant, and amber, and then there is a jumbled note of several things I can't pick apart.

Dry: complex, and very interesting. sweetening ever so slightly, the sandalwood coming out more.

Later: gorgeous and miraculous - the honey has neither amped nor morphed. the currant is a sly hint at the rear, this hasn't gotten the lest bit foody on me. The sandalwood and amber are amazing, and I couldn't be more pleased.

[Emma2403]

What a name! I hope I don’t fall in love, I’ll never be able to remember it. Reading the ingredients, I don’t think I will like it anyway.

 

In the bottle: smokey incense and sandalwood. It smells like inside a catholic church.

 

On my skin: More sandalwood, amber and incense.

 

After a couple of hours: honey is amping up (Bpal honey develops like crazy on my skin), but it cannot totally kill the sandalwood.

 

Verdict: quite pretty, but not the kind of things I’m wearing. This is one of the first times when honey is civilized and would be wearable though.

[supremegoddessofall]

In bottle: Mostly honey and amber.

 

On me: Fairly indistinct. Mostly oude, I think. I'll need a retest.

[little_galaxie]

My skin amps up sandalwood like whoa, so I mostly get that from Svad, although the honey in here is super-rich and gorgeous. The jasmine, though, shows up to ruin things as usual and gives this otherwise lovely blend a rather bitter and acrid smell. Weird. I can only imagine that on someone with the right skin chemistry this would be heartbreakingly gorgeous.

[this machine]

I can't describe this scent in detail. All i know is i have no other scent like it, and something about it makes me giddy and sigh with pleasure. It's like it's wired into some deep brain receptor. Strange and lovely.

[lightgatherer]

I was really expecting to love this, and I'm so disappointed it didn't work on me. This was just nauseatingly sweet, and I normally like sweet, sugary scents. I kept flinching any time I got too close to my wrist. As it wore on, the sickly sweet note gained a sour addition; I know there isn't any rose in here, but it's like rose gone terribly wrong. Unfortunately, throw was decent and wear length very long - I had to scrub my wrist the next morning to get the last of the smell off.