Chintamani-Dhupa

[LadyCrow]

Pound well together sandal-wood, Kunku, costus, Krishnaguru, Suvasika-puspha, white vala and the bark of the Deodaru pine; and, after reducing them to fine powder, mix it with honey and thoroughly dry. ... A fumigation for fascination! A strangely sensual blend, exotic, compelling, and commanding, adapted from an incense recipe found in the venerable sex manual, the Ananga Ranga.

Please note: The review below is an example of what can happen if you buy an imp of an oil to test without THOROUGHLY reading up on ALL the notes. Do not do what I did!

In imp: Herbal, clean. So why is my nose tickling?

Wet: Sweet, sweet sandalwood, full of that other woodsy, spicy something. If only my nose weren't running.

Drying down: Like rare Japanese incense -- Nippon Kodo blends. In fact, it reminds me of sitting in the meditation hall... ah, I remember that sangha... where the leader burned that special, special incense... that made me cough... Crap, now the back of my throat tickles. Post-nasal drip, but why? And why is the inside of my elbow irritated?

Finally getting a clue: OH SNAP. I didn't read the description on this one thoroughly enough. No wonder it smells like Nippon Kodo incense: it's full of pine -- one of my classic allergens. Crud! This otherwise lovely scent is going off my arm and onto the swaps pile.

[Naamah_Darling]

This is sandalwoody at heart, with a faint whiff of soft white pine, and a breath of florals taking a backseat.

 

The floral here is soft, rosy, sweet. On the skin, it acquires a touch of honey, pleasant and sugary but not overwhelming.

 

This is pleasant, a sensual blend that speaks more of slow pleasure than of lust. This would make a truly wonderful room scent, as well as a personal perfume. It's painfully polite, really, just a pleasant, woody aroma with an overtone of incense and roses. It's light but also sensual, an excellent combination.

[Trish]

In the bottle: Sandalwood incense with a touch of pine.

 

Wet: Sandalwood and pine. It's not sharp pine though, it's smoother and sweeter. Woody, incensey, dry with a touch of sweetness.

 

Drydown: This is very dry and woody, but soft sweet woods that aren't in the slightest sharp or harsh. There's maybe a hint of floral but it's only a fleeting wisp. As it gets dryer the pine becomes more pronounced but never takes over completely. I'm getting a bit of frankincense too, or something that smells a lot like it.

 

Dry: The honey has emerged, a soft gentle dry honey that just rounds out the scent while staying in the background. Otherwise it has changed very little on my skin. It reminds me of Cathedral and Penitance, but much softer. I had an idea that this would be a very light scent, but it's stronger than I thought it would be (that's a good thing by me!). It also has a decent amount of throw. I put it on one wrist and I'm getting wafts of wonderful sweet woody incense around my nose.

 

After a while the sandalwood really starts to shine, and as a lover of sandalwood this makes me so very happy.

 

I love this.

[CrazyPretzel]

I found it kind of hard to pin this one down and reading the description told me hardly any specific notes I recognise, so I can't cheat This isn't just sandalwood and honey (obviously), it's definitely warm and spicy without being too 'hot'. I can smell pine, sandalwood, and a blend of dry spices, with just a bit of honey sweetening things up - but only barely. Would be lovely on either a woman or a man. I just have one decant of this that I bought on the forum and have slathered for the past two days - I might grab a bottle if this ever comes back.

[gchris]

In Vial; antiseptic and woody

 

Wet: aged and woody

 

Dry: this is still a bit strong and still smells like aged wood

[jewelbug]

In Vial: Sandalwood incense, with an almost citrus-like quality. I admit that I was hoping for a fair bit of honey, which I can imagine around the edges, but its understated if there at all.

 

Wet: Strong woody incense--cedar?

Drying: Less sweet, more dry and powdery incense with a definite woodiness. In the later drydown its a very sophistocated dry incense/wood with just a bit of sweetness, but not that of the traditional bpal honey note to my nose.

 

Overall: This is a lovely incense blend, but not something that would make it into my rotation, since I don't often wear them. I'll find it a more loving home.

[zankoku_zen]

Woody incense with hints of cedar... and crayola?

 

Yeah, there's a certain sweetness to this blend that when I smell it with the incense makes me think of crayons. It's kinda nostalgic.

[crebbsgirl]

I got the play doh note when I applied this. I think there was honey in here too, but it couldn't save the blend for me. I waited and waited but the play doh smell just stuck around!

[aquazoo]

Starts out with hairspray. Thankfully that dies down and I'm getting the incense. Yay! This is soft and pretty.

 

 

[Ceri]

In the vial: Sandalwood & pine

 

Wet: Sweet floral, sandalwood & pine

 

Dry: Sweet sandalwood & pine

 

Overall: Not for me.

[TheOneTheyCallLuna]

Ooooh, I like this one a lot. I get a heavy incense blend with strong top notes of sandalwood and cedar, but it's quite sweet as well...sort of like the feminine counterpart to Arcana's Shambhala oil. This smells like a bit of a "kitchen sink" blend with one part incense, one part foody, one part woods, and one part florals. It's mostly incense in the end, though, and I love incensey Indian blends, so this will be a cherished addition to my collection.

[surlygurl]

When I first put this on today, I was worried - it seemed to have aged strangely. There was a plasticy bit to it, but I knew what was underneath, so I waited.

 

Underneath the fading plastic was a cool, dry sandalwood. I don't smell pine or any other scent; they just exist to modify the original sandalwood. As it dries, the honey comes out. It's like no other bpal honey note. I don't know if it's truly a one of a kind honey or if it's the blending with everything else, but it doesn't turn to funk on my skin.

 

Dry, this ends up just as I remember it - sweet, cooling sandalwood. A summer scent for incense lovers. Verrrryyyy pretty.

[TrailerTrashPrincess]

i've had this for, what, over two years now and i don't think i've ever even opened it. so today it is going off to a new home!

 

quick skin test: sandalwood, honey and cedar.

 

overall, really just not for me.

[Coldfire]

 

 

 

 

Decant: light ghost-y whisp-y sandalwood.

Wet on Me: very light but yet..compelling. Cannot stop wanting to inhale. Not much from the honey

Drying Down: this does not go completely powder on me…there is something…something floating in the background that keeps it from going overly sweet or powder on me

Dry: stays very light and ghostish…but just beautiful.

 

[Ondine]

This is my go-to incense blend. I love sandalwood and I love cedar, so Chintamani-Dhupa and I get along quite well. It's not fantastic in terms of throw but it's okay because it seems befitting an incense blend--softly wafting about instead of being cloying and heavy.

[ouch!]

This stuff is gorgeous. I've never smelled an incense blend like it.

 

It's got a strong element of Sandalwood that's very sweet. I am getting the powderyness that some people have mentioned but it's not the powder of doom that you can get with BPAL oils sometimes. The incense part of this oil is keeping the powder at bay with the sandalwood. This blend smells SO much more gorgeous when I really smell it up close. The incense is absolutely stunning. It's not like Nag Champa or...anything like that it's different. The sweetness of the sandalwood and other notes are just enhancing it I feel.

 

The sweetness of this blend fades slighty after about 20 mins and the Incense and other elements take hold a bit more, the powder is also fading slightly and it's becoming sharper and it's now reminding me of a blend I've smelled before. Possibly Cathedral? With the Sandalwood of....Kathmandu?? The resins are coming forward which is what's reminding me of the mor resinous blends in the BPAL catalougue.

 

This is definiately an interesting blend. I'm glad I got to try it.

 

[Invidiana]

You really need to give this a chance to dry down to experience the total beauty of it, because it's a gorgeous incense, and I love my incense. It's one of those that doesn't smell of much in the bottle and wet but when it's dried down...amazing. It turns out to be a beautiful honeyed sandalwood incense with golden resins and skin musk warming it up further. The sandalwood emerges first, followed by the resins, and the honey just gives it that crowning touch that takes it to another level. Even though it's not listed in the original recipe, I'm stubbornly insisting there must be skin musk in it because it just has that warm-skin feel. It's not smutty but still an extremely sensual skin scent. Total love.

[cfrancesca]

At first, I get soft rose, a little incense, and sandalwood, the honey is almost non-existent, but does add a slight sweetness. My skin starts to really amp the sandalwood, and I'm hardly getting any rose now or incense now, it's mostly, dry, slightly sweet sandalwood.

 

This a nice feminine sandalwood blend, but I find it too similar to other blends I own.

[Ordo_ad_Chao]

I was thrilled to get a decant of this to try, because SANDALWOOD!!!

 

Wet, it comes on as a strong powedery floral with a bit of astringent element to it

 

On drydown it is still largely floral, although it's one of the less overwhelming florals I've encountered. Perhaps a tiny bit of incense? But incenses generally don't get along with me, so...

 

Definitely not working magic on me, and I was so hopeful after the number of reviews saying sandalwood!!! It seems to me that all the sandalwood does for me is blunt the potency of the incensy floral a bit.

 

Well, I knew it was a gamble with incense and floral in there. So I gambled and lost on this one.

[stellamaris]

Ah ha! So this is sandalwood...

starts off sort of sour apple, almost like Glittering Apple of the Stars, then turns incensey, sandalwoody, very nice creamy...

[Lethran]

In bottles: A was not expecting apple. Like, a lot of apple. I am not familiar with most of these elements, so I’m going to have trouble tracking impressions to sources. Kunku should be turmeric or saffron and maybe alum. Costus is related to ginger. Krishnaguru appears to be related to basil. Suvasika-puspha and white vala are mysterious. One of these things could be apple adjacent, or it might be an accidental accord. This is lovely, juicy and pale. It makes me think of crisp apples and sandalwood dominant incense with soft spiciness appropriate to Kunku and costus. Wet: Ah, there is the pine. It is an unusual pine and I think it mike form part of the accidental accord with the honey and one or more mystery elements, that reads as floral. The accord separates and reforms on my skin, over nd over. The pale floral element is lovely here. I am generally getting more of what I suspect is the kunku here. The thing I think is costus is definitely more distinct. Just generally, the elements are easier to separate out as individuals on my skin. It is still lovely, but not as pretty as in the bottle. It has a more distinctly subcontinental and incense feel out in the wild. Dry: Mostly sandalwood with some pine and what smells like balsam to me and is likely one of the mystery notes.

[Cinder and Smoke]

Okay, I'm glad I'm not the only one getting apples from this. I get the feeling this might be several notes combining to make accidental applesmell, but this definitely starts off kind of juicy, like peeled apple slices with some light woods and faint incense in the background.

 

As it dries down, the apples kind of fade into the back and I just get a kind of vague fruity sweetness along with what smells sort of like sandalwood incense. The pine finally comes through halfway, and the scent ends up a rather pleasant sweet, woodsy incense.

[skyelyric]

Definitely not what I was expecting (the aura of import store incense) but quite lovely. Wet I definitely get the aforementioned apple comparison, plus a hint of fresh green (maybe the pine?), but that seems to burn off pretty quickly on me, and the drydown is a sweet/fruity/slightly powdery/slightly warm wood scent, with just a little astringent bite if I hold my nose right on my arm and sniff. This is so blended it's really hard for me to pick out specific notes once it's dried down on my skin and there doesn't seem to be much throw; overall it's just a soft, slightly exotic scent, something I can easily wear around people who aren't fond of some of my more unusual scents. I don't know that I'd need a whole bottle, but it'll be worth tracking down another decant or partial.

 

eta: at least for me, the honey was a non-issue--my mom hates honey notes, but I wore this around her and it didn't even phase her.

Edited March 1, 2013 by skyelyric

[brilliantcat]

2013 version

 

Imp: This is very green to me. Pine, green fresh apple, herbs.

 

Wet: Definitely an apple-y vibe, which I like. I get a whiff of spices and honey too. It's not a strong pine like some of the winter blends, it's faint and blends well with the other notes into a cohesive whole. This is a lovely, springy scent.

 

Dry: Oh, bummer. It's turned to Pine-Sol.

[OctoberGwen]

2013

This is a fascinating scent!

 

Initially it's very astringent, and that quality does soften after a few minutes but continues to sit on top. Right underneath that is something that smells like apples. If I stop actively sniffing my wrist and just sort of ignore it, I get a lovely, soft-feeling but powerful waft of incensey sweetness mixed with a woody smell.

 

I can't decide if this is something I'd wear or not, and I don't even know if I like it, but I can't stop waving my arms around in an effort to catch that intriguing waft.