Mama-Ji

[starrykitten]

Spices, cardamom, nutmeg, and flowers

I LOVE Mama-Ji!

At first, it's a whiff of overpowering hippie store scent. All the spices and things together, and some champa (I think), and you can feel the flowers underneath it trying to come through.

I love too how much it changes on my skin, going through all these lovely phases. It finally ends up softer and sweeter than it began, but not in a way that it becomes a sappy, simple floral.

I find I slather it on so I can get the full effect and so all the stages last longer. But this one is definitely in my heavy rotation!

[flyingpizza]

Mama-Ji starts out overwhelmingly floral on me, a bit too commercial perfume-y for my tastes. Then it starts to morph into more of a heady, deep scent. Though it's not listed as a note, I feel like I'm smelling opium. In fact, this reminds me of Chrysanthemum Moon, but without that horrifying old-lady-wetting-herself-note. It could be quite nice layered with a little vanilla or something sweet to anchor it down. I still don't know if this is quite me, but it's a lovely, womanly, sexy scent.

[noumenon]

Holy crap I smell fantastic! It's such a warm scent. I thought the flowers would be the dominant smell, or maybe the nutmeg would take over, but no! It's the "spices". And whatever they are, they're wonderful. Bright, exotic, cheerful and clean. Not soapy in the bad way...I smell freshly scrubbed and anointed with sacred oils, like a goddess.

 

This is Mama-Ji's scent (I've never read the Gaiman book, I just mean all loving Indian mothers everywhere). It makes me smell nurturing and trustworthy, which is such a hoot because in real life I'm neither.

Edited March 16, 2007 by Noumenon

[Keslynn]

In the imp: mmmm spices. Very incensy.

 

On my skin, spices are in the forefront during drydown. It's like taking a deep inhale in the spice cabinet. Yum! Then a higher note comes in. It's sweet but not really that floral to me. It's a lovely accent note to the deeper base of the spices. Later, the flowers gain more ground so they're going halfers with the spices. This stage smells a little like Kanishta to me, with spice instead of opium.

 

Verdict: I like. The spices are so rich and lovely, and the florals compliment them nicely. This one might be a full bottle purchase.

[Taniwha]

First applied, I get the faintest whisper of florals blending in with the spices, then it transforms into almost straight up nag champa. I have no problems with that - I think it's a wonderul, incensy thing of beauty.

[abejita]

This, to me, is a floral the same way that Antique Lace is a floral. In other words, not so much. I agree with one of the previous reviewer that the "floral" aspect makes the blend seem ethereal. I really enjoy the spice aspect of this scent, it's smooth and not at all bite-y like so many of BPAL's spicy oils. At first I thought it was non-descript, pleasant but I didn't understand how on earth it had made it to Beth's "favorites" list. After it was dry, I started to get it. It's hard to pick out any single note. It's just a rush of dark, warm spice with a delicate breath of flowers.

[valentina]

I'll admit, I bought a bottle of Mama-Ji from a forumite simply because I read that it was on Beth's favorites list, and normally that means I'll like it. The only thing that scared me away at first was the mention of florals, but then I decided to take the leap...

 

In the bottle, Mama-Ji is a beautiful, slightly floral Indian incense, with the floral owing mainly to Champaca flower. It hits my skin and becomes Champaca flower and spice, with a faintly rose-like undertone. I get a very strong hit of nutmeg and cardamom, but I love those spices. After a bit, the florals really mellow, the spices lose a bit of the edge, and it almost takes on a creamy, slightly vanilla-like undertone. I'd liken initial drydown to strong, freshly grated nutmeg and crushed cardamom pods, with the longer-term drydown more like warmed, baked nutmeg and cardamom. But this spice-baking is going on in a room where lovely champaca-rose incense is burning. This scent is really the prettiest when I don't stick my nose right up to my arm and act like I'm snorting a line of it up my nose, but rather when I wave my arm in front of my face and catch a waft of the scent. It's dark, exotic spices and florals at the same time, very complex, with considerable throw. Mysterious and beautiful. I'm going to love it.

Edited March 20, 2007 by valentina

[akw]

The first thing I got, in the bottle and wet on my skin was champa flowers. For the first few minutes it reminded me of Midnight on the Midway, but not as sweet. Soon that settled down, and I could begin to smell the spices coming through.

 

After an hour or so, the floral and spice blend together in a really nice way. The longer it's on, the more I smell the spices.

 

This is exotic and different and morphs really nicely. I took a chance with it because florals usually turn to sharp laundry soap on me, but this one isn't doing that. On me, it's just a little bit girlie, but I do like it and am seeing myself wearing it a lot on warm, summer nights.

 

Definitely a keeper.

[savage_rose]

Something's powdering out on me, but thankfully it just softens within the blend and does not ruin it. The floral scent standing out to me is carnation. Spicy carnations. Loving it.

[theseagrows]

this is spicy cinnamon with a sour floral note in the background. possibly white florals as those are the ones that tend to go awry. the sourness of the floral seems to come and go, when it's not there i just get a nutty cinnamon. not necessarily bad, just not my style.

[lightgatherer]

This is a lovely blend. Wet, this is all floral. Unlike most florals, though, it doesn't smell chemical to me - it's almost like smelling real flowers. Unfortunately, my nose isn't good enough to say what flowers these are, but they're flowers. The spices start to come out on drydown, and they're incredibly yummy. During the latter hours of wear, the throw is just the spices. The spices are so good that I keep leaning into my wrist to get a deeper sniff and end up unhappily surprised when I smell floral. Yes, it's a really nice floral, but I'm realizing more and more that I'm just not a floral person. If this were just the spices or if the floral were more subtle, I'd be buying vats of this. Unfortunately for me and fortunately for my wallet, the florals are enough to keep me from wanting any more of this.

[SeaLady]

I really like this! I thought it would be a whole lot of floral (which wouldn't work on me at all), but I get indian incense, red musk, and champaca flower with spices. It's very sassy.

[diachrony]

Mama-Ji is an absolute delight. Warm, beautiful and comforting with deliciously smooth spice. The spices here don't kick, bite or tickle; instead, the mellowest, non-smoky incense waft blends in perfect harmony with unobtrusive, delicately sweet florals.

 

Early on, the dry, sweet spice notes somehow made me think of biscotti, minus any bakery or foody feel ~ this is not a foody fragrance. Later, I detect a hint of rose ... a lovely creamy soft hushed whisper of rose under the nutmeg. Everything blends so well and smells perfectly beautiful from initial application till hours later, and it just fades gradually, lasting quite awhile without ever being obtrusive.

 

A definite top ten for me. Top five, more likely.

[yeahbutnobut]

Mama Ji

 

In the imp: mmm, gorgeous spicy rose and sandalwood. This reminds me of good quality Indian incense.

Wet on skin: sweet flowers and spices and dry incense notes.

Dry: mmm, this is gorgeous! Sweet heady blooms-not sure what but I’m sure there’s rose and maybe some of the flowers from the GC Kali in here…definitely rose, as I get a slight sharp tea rose/dry rose scent to this. All of these flowers are cloaked in a dry, warm, mysterious layer of spices and something sweet that reminds me of amber. I think there’s sandalwood in here. This smells like the lingering smoke of floral incense, the spices are warm and dry, but aren’t as spicy as I expected-I can’t actually pick out the cardamom or nutmeg here-but they smell like they are being burnt in a joss stick as an offering at a shrine decked with fragrant blooms. It also reminds me of cloth-specifically, saris in colours of red, pink, muted dusky magenta and crimson-which have absorbed the scents of flowers and spicy incense. This is so beautiful and complex! I definitely see the Mum Moon comparisons but this is so much nicer than Mum Moon, because it doesn’t have the sour, ‘grannyish’ note I got there. And the rose is wonderful!

After a while: a softer, whiter floral note starts to peek out of the thick layers of spicy incense and rose petals. It could be tuberose, or maybe a jasmine or frangipani note, or possibly event lotus…yes, I think it could either be frangipani and/or lotus. There’s a slight resemblance to the flowers in Kali, those rich and heady floral notes, but this smells more passionate and sultry. I also smell the nutmeg at this point, a strong, fiery spice which is almost savoury, but in a good way. A little bit of cardamom also peeks out and the rose, although fainter, is still there, but evenly spread out amongst the rest of the spicy creamy floral notes. With the sandalwood incense, it seems to me like a feminine version of Chintamani Dhupa.

It becomes even nicer with time-it was already beautiful before but the scent is becoming a lot more balanced, a lovely rounded mix of dry spice, incense, flowers and sandalwood, with a little sweetness. There are even times when it smells like an unburnt loose incense mix of dry flower petals, spices and fragrant woods.

At the end it develops a slightly musky, almost dirty-earthy feel and reminds me somewhat of Voodoo Queen with creamy white lotus-like flowers. It actually reminds me slightly of the drydown of Chintamani, and also of Bastet without the amber. There may be vetiver or saffron here. and then it ends as a soft white flower fringed with earthy incense…at this point it reminds me of Faiza.

Verdict: this is a wonderful, stunning, complex and fascinating scent-no wonder Beth has it as a favourite, this is destined to be a classic. It is floral, spicy, incense like, dry, sweet, smooth and earthy all at once. It starts off by smelling strongly of rose, but this is a rose sprinkled with spices on an altar where sandalwood-scented Indian incense wafts, draped with coloured silks, surrounded by other fragrant blooms. This is a rich and womanly scent which is extremely exotic, a warm and empowering fragrance. it has a similar ‘cloth which has absorbed incense smoke’ scent to it as Mum Moon, but with roses and heady white flowers replacing the chrysanthemum note. the scent becomes even smoother and creamier over time, and changes from smelling spicy to smelling of flowers and incense and even has slight earthy and maybe musky tones to it. Very multifaceted but very balanced too. I think this may be my new favourite Indian-themed scent. I want more of this magnificent mama!

Emoticon rating:

Is it a keeper? Yes! I want a bottle now!!

If you like this, try: Kali, Chrysanthemum Moon, Chintamani Dhupa, Khajuraho, Kanishta, Delight, Faiza, Silk Road

[phedre]

In vial: Cardamom and nutmeg. Reminds me of chai.

 

On skin: There's something creamy and silky to this, like chai with milk. Sweet.

 

Drydown: creamy chai with nutmeg. Like? Not sure. Definitely interesting, though.

[Miss Lynx]

Hmmm... I both love and do not love this scent. There are elements to it that are awesome, and other elements that don't work so well on me.

 

When first on, it's very floral, which is very much not me. But even at that stage, it's got a really strong spice kick as well. The floral component is almost headache-inducing, but thankfully it fades down quickly to a fairly non-evil level.

 

At that point, I start to really like it. It's got elements that are reminiscent of The Masque (though without the resinous depth), and Khandita, both of which are favourites of mine. But it's a bit lighter than either -- i definitely don't get much of the incensey darkness a few other people have spoken of. It's a spicy floral through and through, with only slight incensey touches. But for that genre, it's a real standout -- I'm tempted to say that this not a spicy floral, this is the spicy floral, beside which all other spicy florals pale.

 

Now if only I liked florals more...

 

But still, I certainly don't dislike it, and it's entirely possible it may grow on me. Right now I'm thinking keep the imp, but not a bottle candidate. But who knows? Scents have snuck up on me before, and this is a really interesting and unique one.

 

And I also find it a bit more evocative of Kali than the Excolo oil which bears her name -- while neither of them are particularly dark at all, this one at least has enough spice in it to give it some edge.

 

Grade: B (maybe B+, we'll see)

Edited April 2, 2007 by Miss Lynx

[purplemoonshoes]

I finally got my bottle that kinky eris was holding for me. Yay!

This is a STRONG scent. In the bottle, and at every stage on my skin. I think it's almost too strong to wear on me.

In the bottle: Cinnamon and flowers. Mostly cinnamon.

Wet: Wow, the cinnamon just disappers. It's deeper, musker spices now. Almost no florals at all. Very incense-y- I'd prefer burning this to wearing it.

Dry down: Weaker, but pretty much the same.

This scent lasts a looooooong time- when I first tried it I could smell it seven hours later on the back of my hand! After washing!

[rivki8699]

Mama-ji was a bit of a dissapoinment to me. I was expecting a more powerful scent. What I got was a dusty, spicy scent that was almost indistinguishable from Morocco to my nose. I think my skin is eating a few of the notes. Mama-ji smells lovely in the bottle, but like nothing special on my skin.

[indicolite]

I never thought that I would love incense. But Mama-ji is dark and heady floral spicy incense, almost too much, beautiful on the edge of danger. A very sexy scent to risk wearing while doing a talk on mathematical logic . I may not wear her often: I will save her for special occasions, perhaps, like when I find a guy I really want to seduce - but I am kneeling to Beth's artistry for this blend.

 

(I do not smell nutmeg, though. I think it adds background colour.)

[blu°]

This seems to not work on my skin.

Somebody mentioned Champaca flower and I think that should be the culprit for that metallic and stingingly bitter scent I smell close to my skin.

 

Mama-Ji on me stays light and close to the skin, probably because the Champa never blooms on me but collapses into a kind of flat scent, and doubles over into the strong concentrated essence of that dreaded metallic bitterness.

 

I've also been wary of nutmeg, ever since test-wearing Laudanum, so there might actually be two players in here ruining Mama-Ji for me.

 

After a while the sharp bitterness, which is actually more of a bittersweet-ness, recedes a little. What is left is a light and kind of murky skin scent with a soft but kind of high-pitched floral incense and a dry dusty spice coating. At this point it's not all that bad, but I still don't think it'll find its way onto my bottle-wishlist.

 

I wasn't fond of other spicy florals (Harlot, Lucy's Kiss) neither, nor of Kali, so I'm not all that surprised to not fall head over heels for Mama-Ji.

[jade_starlight]

Mama-Ji is wonderful, spicy love. The florals are just kind of hanging around in the background and only occasionally popping up just to make sure you remember that they're there. The cardamom, nutmeg and other spices completely steal the show, melding into something warm, spicy and sexy that is absolutely perfect on my skin. Which means that this may be the first thing that I'll need multiple bottles of.

[lady_pandora]

Mmmm, this is lovely. I get the flowers first (I can't put my finger on exactly what they are), and it feels like it's going to be a pretty and simple floral blend. Then the spices show up, and they reminded me of incense. The blend feels *sacred* to me, like it's something I'd wear for ritual.

 

It doesn't have a lot of throw or staying power on me, but I love it while it lasts.

[Aredhel]

Rating (on skin): 1/5

Summarised in a few words/smilie: Sour rose.

 

In the imp: Spicy flowers!

 

On skin, wet: Rose? This definitely smells of rose to me, and that's not a good thing.

 

On skin, dry: Spicy roses dusted with nutmeg and cardamom. Very bitter, sour roses picked much too soon.

 

Conclusion: A sad thing indeed, that rose notes almost always become bitter and sour on my skin. It smelled fantastic in the imp, and fairly pleasant while wet, but rose went the way of rose on the drydown.

[moon_lemming]

Hmmm. I love Mama-Ji, but I would not wear Mama-Ji. She starts off a little floral, a little spicy, and ends up all spice. Maybe a tiny flirt of floral, but not enough to notice. Lovely, sexy and comforting at the same time, but I can't pull off spicy scents often enough to commit to a bottle.

 

Ooh, wait, a little while later (about fifteen minutes, maybe) the floral kicks up a little bit more and turns to baby powder. Nooooo. Although that makes me feel a little better about not being able to wear it.

[hepkitten]

Sniff-gasm.

 

Although I agree with some of the up-thread "hippie store" comments, it's only in the best possible way. There's swirling incense, dark floral, spice...it's the scent I was looking for in the Heroines and never found.

 

YUM.