Mama-Ji

[The_Merf]

Spices, cardamom, nutmeg, and flowers.

I tested this blend at ECWC, and on me it was almost all cardamon. Now, unless there's something to balance the cardamon out, I tend to be reminded of a spice cabinet or of a particular tea I happen to dislike when I smell the note. Alas, I kept on thinking it was time to bake something when I had this blend on; it really did come off as nearly a single note cardamon. There was a slight touch of floral right when I put the oil on, but that was eventually overwhelmed by the spice.

[komalow]

I bought this on a whim, uncharacteristically. I'm so glad I did.

 

I was suckered in by the cardamom and nutmeg, notes that always work for me. They're beautiful in this blend, exacerbated by other spices and yet tempered by the flowers. The flowers aren't overpowering, which I feared as a rather un-floral person. Everything just sort of blends together in an extremely warm, inviting, comforting scent. Mama-Ji is awesome.

[ceiswyn]

In the bottle: Ooooh. Spices, spices, spices. Not sharp or hot, just aromatic. Mmm. There's a strong scent of cardamom, and I think I can smell nutmeg as well.

 

On the wrist: Mmm. Spicy. This reminds me of my final year at university, for some reason, though I can't pin down why. The nutmeg is strong in this one; the cardamom has faded quite a lot. The spice is gentle, not overwhelming, and sharper than it was in the bottle. I am liking this so far, oh yes I am.

 

One and a half hours later: Why does the throw smell soapy? Why? I think I blame my left wrist. My right wrist is all warm and cardamom and nutmeg, with something slightly flowery-soapy in the background. But my left wrist is just spicy soap. Grargh!

[CrazyPretzel]

In the imp: cardamom, some dusky flowers.

 

Wet on me: Phoo! Where did all those flowers come from?! This suddenly becomes REALLY flowery when it hits my skin -- smells like ylang-ylang, maybe. Kind of acetone. Ylang-ylang + nutmeg = weird. Sort of turning sickly on me in the same way that Seduction did.

 

After five minutes: Still a bit scary, but the spices are starting to pick up and temper the flowers a little. Now the flowers are heady and creamy rather than chemical and threatening. Strong spices but not foody and not too hot -- no cinnamon in here.

 

Drydown: Still really strong flowers and now they're turning soapy. This might not be for me -- I'm going to try it again in about a week, when I don't have reason to suspect that my hormones are amping floral notes!

 

ETA: After about 20 minutes this chills out and turns totally beautiful and addictive. I have to say it again, it's very creamy.

Edited August 27, 2007 by Baitu

[slave1]

MAMA-JI

 

In Bottle: Soft, spicy and delicate

 

On Skin: This scent starts out very powdery. It’s gentle and comforting like a hug from your grandmother. Such a scary description, for such an innocent scent. There is the spice which helps add a bit of fire to the mood, but still, it remains quite delicate to me. The primary notes are incense and the florals are so soft I barely smell them. The cardamom is the most dominant and it is usually a note I don’t like, but here it is so warm and cozy. It’s a rainy day today and this instantly made me feel like I have a warm blanket around me. It also has a sexy resinous side which I love. For fans of spicy and incensey scents, this is a must have. It has a light throw and moderate staying power.

[slittlecrowrussell]

My Gods! The spicy, incense notes in this one make it a dead ringer for my beloved and increasingly more rare Gypsy Queen, the only difference is that Mama Ji has vanilla instead of rose. I can't believe I'm actually about to write this, but I think I even like Mama Ji better!

[Galen]

Smells sweet, deep and slightly 'fizzy'/effervescent (a similar quality to Schwarzer Mond)

 

The smell also really reminds me of my collection of sweet and resiny Incense Guru sticks.

[Avery]

It´s interesting to read other interpretations of this scent, and know how vastly different a scent can be skin to skin. My skin has the unfortunate habit of amping flowers, so that is how the Mama reads on me: spicy flowers. It´s unfortunate because, aside from the rare exception for the rare mood, I hate smelling like flowers. I´m not a girly girl and despise smelling like one. I wish I got more of the nutmeg and carnation (okay, I know it´s a flower, but it not... flowery, you know?) and more of a chai in a spring field full of flowers kind of way, but this is heavy. In my mind´s eye it´s a very pretty color, though, a dusky burgundy tinted purple. But the perfume chokes me and makes me feel a little nauseous. Oh well, I´ll keep my spices separate, thank you.

Edited October 3, 2007 by Avery

[KaliVerra]

Oh, baby... this is a lover

 

Cardamom does rillah, rillah purty things w/my skin - so I was more than happy to take this one for a test drive! Nutmeg, throw that in and you can't really go wrong unless you add cat pee to the mix.

 

Yay! No peepee! This is just soooooo nice and warm... smooth, dusky incense w/a smidge of smokey florals playing in the mix... Oh Mama-Ji, will you rock me to sleep? Tell me a story...

[tartchef]

Hey, cardamon, could you turn it down a little? Yipes... It breaks my heart that that's my first reaction to Mama Ji - I looooove cardamon in baking, but on my skin it amps like myrrh on steroids. Eventually, it calms down & lets the more subtle spices & quiet flowers peek through - Baitu's right, it's really creamy... nice, but the first hour or so of wear is a real turn-off. I'll try this again in a week or two, but I suspect Mama will be finding another home.

[maribouquet]

imp: soft spices

wet: SOFT SPICES!!!1! Sort of a buttery texture, slight powdery note that I think must be the unnamed florals

dry: unpleasantly powdery waxy floral.

 

I can't pick out the notes, but this smells dusty/pollen-like the way lily sometimes (ok, usually!) does on me. I like spices, so I'm bummed this one didn't work out for me.

[stardreamer]

Mmmm spices yum! There's a bit of floral straight out of the bottle, but that drops back pretty fast, and then it's nothing but sweet, lovely spicefest for the next 12 hours or so. It's got amazing throw; caution in application is advised if you don't want to become Stinky Perfume Woman. But it's a terrific cool-weather scent. Bottom line: keeper and probable favorite.

[tinyvulture]

i fell in love with this immediately. spicy florals – i’m not sure what the flowers are, exactly, but it reminds me a lot of the florals in dia de los muertos -- sweet and smoky. the nutmeg is really noticeable and it’s a perfect complement to the beautiful florals. after awhile it turns all powdery and warm, and the sweetness intensifies. gorgeous.

[akiko]

I fear flowers, but I tried this at ECWC and recall it not being too bad, though I was having olfactory overload at the time.

 

Imp: spices & some flowers.

 

Wet: Gah! Flowers! Get it off! Ugh, rose! (about 20 minutes later: hmm, not so bad now. Some spices, yes, but still flowers.)

 

Dry: This is still definitely floral, but it's not the overwhelming horrible floral it was when wet. I also get unidentified spices, reminiscent of the Silk Road/Morocco end of things, but not really any cardamom. (Sad... I like cardamom.)

 

Surprisingly, it works on me. Florals are generally not my friend, but they're nicely balanced in this.

[Pika]

In imp: Whoa! Dark and lovely, very incensy and spicy, with a hint of flowers.

Wet on skin: Darkly spicy - love that nutmeg! - florals are very subtle but there, tempering the incense. Very "exotic" smell to me.

Drying: Stays subtle and mysterious. Smelling the rose poking out now, but that's all right in this case. Very feminine and seductive feeling, with an edge thanks to the cardamom, I think.

 

Definitely not an everyday type perfume for me, but I could see it for a late night date or something similar. Makes me feel sexy in a powerful way. Keeps an incensy feel throughout, which is something I'm not always in the mood for, but when I am, this will be a great scent!

 

 

ETA: Drat! Hours later, I'm looking around for a powdery smell... yup, it's my wrist. Were the first hours worth it? Hmm...

Edited January 23, 2008 by Pika

[MaeKitty]

In the Bottle: a mix bag of spices, like walking through the spice aisle in the market

On Me: Spice! Familiar...At first, it reminded me of Bug spray O_o I think it's the clove and cardamom. I'm gonna let this sit a bit and see if it calms down at all.

Later: The bug spray smell does die down, but I'm still not completely sold on this one. I do like it, but I'm not sure if I want to keep the 5ml. I''ll give it another try, maybe when I'm not so fresh out of the shower

[windbourne]

Wet, this punches me in the nose with spices -- cardamom, nutmeg, cinnamon, clove. As it dries, those dissipate behind a WALL of heavy incense. As it fades, I get some mysterious flutters of dusty rose. After several hours, all that remains is a soft cardamom blur.

 

Overall, it reminds me of an old Gypsy woman sitting in a warm enclosed tent waiting for her next victim client -- incense burning, crystal ball on a velvet cushion, rotting roses, and a pot of spicy tea.

 

This has some serious (and heady!) throw on me, which is fairly unusual. Sadly, it also makes me a little dizzy, which means I will not wear it often, and will definitely not wear it to work. I'll keep it around, though. It's a nice one to put on just before going to bed, because the hours-later scent is really lovely, so I can wake up to that and not have to worry about working through the incense to get there.

[seamor]

And now for another adventure in odd skin chemistry ...

 

This smells kind of musky in a not-real-good way for the first minute or two on, but then it blossoms into a full-blown, perfectly awesome rosa foetida!

 

 

Now, not everyone likes rosa foetida, but it's always been one of my favorite scents - kind of a musky sour orange with clove, spices, and rose. It always smells to me like bright, almost painful, golden light and clean, clean air.

 

And for those of you who are wondering whether anyone would in fact be willing to walk around smelling like a flower called "the stinky rose", the answer is yes, yes, YES!!! In fact, it's been a dream of mine.

 

But, of course, after about 1/2 hour my skin munches the floral components and I am left with nutmeg / cardamom / musk and occasional diaphanous hints of the previous fabulously perfect scent. It has a little nutmeg throw which is pretty, and there's certainly nothing wrong with nutmeg / cardamom / musk with a trace of rose - in fact, I would probably have loved it if I hadn't smelled the other first.

 

And 1/2 hour after that, things have evened out a bit. The nutmeg and cardamom are still primary, but that spicy orangey musky rose is definitely hanging in there. It's much quieter now, and probably would no longer offend even the person who originally named rosa foetida, but still very satisfying.

 

And 1/2 hour after THAT, everything has blended into a perfectly gorgeous combination of spice, incense, musk, and rose, with an occasional breath of sharp orange.

 

Awesome. If this lasts at all well, it's going right to the top of my list (with Chrysanthemum Moon).

 

Edited February 25, 2008 by celtimor

[Eemia]

This is crazy-strong spices on me. Cardamom is the only note I can smell for a very long time. Surprisingly I'm not having a reaction to it. I think this might be one of the only fragrances with cardamom that I can wear without sensitivity.

 

I can soon smell the florals coming out, but they are still heavily coated by the spices. I think I can smell jasmine and something slightly soapy...maybe lily. I can't find the rose that other people have mentioned. The florals are really lovely and very robust. I do want them to amp more than the spices but for now they're staying in the background.

 

When this calms down some I like it much more. The cardamom and nutmeg aren't taking over everything else. The florals are more musky and even a bit powdery. It's very pretty at this point. And the throw is very strong--I only needed a dab on each wrist and I could smell it everywhere.

[grashopper8]

Warm, sexy, spicy, musky, incensy, floral.... I agree with the comparisons to Gypsy Queen, and therefore have a strong desire to buy and age a bottle of Mama-Ji for my very own. I will review further after a day of slathery goodness.

 

Edit: I slathered Mama-Ji on yesterday, plus I put it in my scent locket. Although it was an intriguing scent in its quality, it was waaaay too intense for my liking. Even at the end of the day, I was still not feelin' it. It is mainly spices with a creamy musk, but I really do hate carnation, and I suspect that there's a great deal of carnation going on here.

 

Not for me, spice and carnation seekers should sample her, though.

 

3 out of 5

Edited April 10, 2008 by AEris

[PersephonesChild]

A resin and spice blend. It comes across a little like chai-- that's the cardamom, I'm sure. However, something about the spices ends up smelling powdery on me-- like a dusty old lady's potpourri. I was hoping for something less dry, but this really conjures up images of old women. I don't think I can wear it.

[theal8r]

I LOVE this scent.

 

In the bottle: spicy, warm florals (the florals scared me).

 

Wet: Warm, sexy... I couldn't stop sniffing my wrist, and even put a dab in my hair so I could smell it blowing around in the wind. No single note stands out for me -- it just smells like warm, clean, sexy woman. A dusky skin scent.

 

Dry down: This lasts a dececnt amount of time and never really changed much, except to go a tad powdery just as it fades away completely.

 

I must have a bottle of this. This is one of my favorites and, bonus, my husband digs it, too.

[scarletgenesis]

I love love love chai with fresh cardamom. I am not a huge fan of lots of floral smells.

 

Thankfully, Mama-ji is behaving herself on my skin. It's exactly like really wonderfully fresh chai, with extra spices added to make it more rich and robust. Not a flower in sight (or in smell).

 

So it's wonderful and sexy and comforting all at once. And I am going to make a cup of chai now because I am craving it after sniffing myself so much!

[alicia_stardust]

Mama-Ji is warm and round. It has a very comforting quality to it with a mixed bag of spices. To me they are not hot, strong spices; instead they are just varied and warm. The cardamom is the only one that has almost a heat to it. It's really interesting the way that this is both comforting and yet, sort of exotic and almost resinous. It really is a beautiful one.

[NatCatz]

I was worried about mama-ji since Florals and I do not get on well.. However I should have tried this earlier. Mama- ji is arm and spicy smelling. She's comforting, like a big warm hug or a mug of milky chai tea. I really like it.