Kathmandu

[SPOOKEYKATT]

The scent of sacred incense swirling up the steep slopes to Swayambhunath Stupa. Saffron, blessed sandalwood, Himalayan cedar and the miraculous lotus of the Buddha with chiuri bark and Nepalese spices.

 

Definitely incense & wood, though more "living pine" than cedar to me. The Vicks Vaporub is strongly there for a few seconds but thankfully recedes to the background. Fades quickly but what's left is a really pleasant spicy woody scent. As it dries there's a very slight sweet/creamy note (lotus maybe?). Very comforting, would be a great bedtime scent for me.

[Missy_killer]

To my nose: Instantly I smell cedar and a sweet floral - that must be the lotus I think?

 

On: When I apply it to the back of my hand I get a swift whiff of sandalwood before the cedar takes over. And just like in other blends, cedar smells like pencil shavings on my skin - which I don't care for at all. After it has calmed itself down a notch I'm not really sure what I'm smelling. It almost seems sweet and minty. i don't get any saffron or sandalwood at all which is sad because I really like both of those notes.

 

i was hoping Kathmandu would be all warm spice and kinda snuggly-ish but it's actually sweet on me. I detect a tiny little stick of incense in the back, but it isn't strong enough to break through all the sweetness. Sadly.

[waxingpoetic]

Oh, Kathmandu... You're perfect.

I was convinced to buy an imp of this when I read all the reviews about it here on the forums, and I was totally taken in by the images of Sacred Temples and incense and Magic. I was not disappointed!

 

Imp: A rush of too many scents. Initially, very scared to wear this. But I bought it, so I might as well keep to my "try a new scent every day" plan.

 

Wet: Romance! Adventure! Riding Horses through the tundra to an ancient Buddhist temple, wrapped in scarves and silks! This is exactly what I wanted in a perfume.

 

Dry down: The cedar has a lot of throw, but maybe thats because I put it in the ends of my hair, and it's next to my nose (where it should be) so I can smell it. I don't get Masculine vs. Feminine in this. It smells old, and daring, and magical. Which I approve of. The sweetness of the Lotus rides along side the Cedar, giving me images of walking through a huge temple, cold sweet air blowing through the windows.

 

Can you tell how much I love this? 14 year old me is so happy that I finally found something to bring the witchy part of me out to play. Since the weather is starting to get cold, I'm probably going to wear this one often. A 5ml bottle is directly in my future.

[Zii]

There's a strange sweetness about this that I'm not really digging. I was hoping for more incense, but it's just a powdery sweet head shop scent on me. Unremarkable and not my speed.

[welcometothefamily]

In the Imp: Fresh cut cedar. Wood, and sweet tree sap.

 

Wet: Still fresh cut wood, the sweetness had died down and been replaced by a kind of menthol. It actually smells a lot like tiger balm....

 

Drydown: Yup, a mixture of Cathedral and tiger balm.

 

Verdict: Not for me.

 

2/5

[batsy]

In the vial: Spicy, with a hint of lotus and (what I'm assuming is) chiuri bark.

 

On the skin: Whoa, cedar. Like sticking my head in a cedar chest. Very brown, very spicy and warm. On the dry down my skin amp'd the lotus. The more I sniffed, the more the back of my throat burned. I don't think this is going to work out for me.

[DiesMali]

In the imp: Strong, almost unpleasant woods.

 

Wet on my skin: Cedar and sandalwood, just a bare hint of lotus.

 

Dry: This is a pleasant cedar/sandalwood incense on me, with hints of sweet lotus. It's pretty and calming, but not particularly remarkable. I'll still keep it!

[Veronica]

Wood. Not the good kind--like opening a new box from IKEA, raw and unfinished.

[Lunasariel]

In the imp: Strong, sharp woods, almost turpentine-smelling, with a spicy, peppery note also very distinguishable. All this sounds pretty un-promising, and yet there's something oddly sweet and mellow lurking in there, drawing me in. Could be the lotus, could be the sandalwood, idk.

 

Wet: The sweetness is much more prominent (almost cloying or bubblegum-like, as lotus tends to turn on me, but not quite), but the base is still strongly spicy-woody, like a cedar cabinet that's been used to store cooking spices for decades. At this point, I can't decide whether I like this scent or not - it's definitely very different from my usual warm, slinky ambers or bright, brisk citruses, but that's the beauty of frimps.

 

Dry: The bubblegum-sweet lotus does a surprisingly quick fade, leaving me with 95% pure cedar (albeit a soft, wearable cedar - the turpentine from ITI is gone entirely). There's still a hint of spice, but it's no longer distinguishable as pepper.

[roseus]

It starts off cedar and a strong spice (clove? cinnamon?). Dry it stays very similar. A sort of astringent and very raw scent.

Edited September 22, 2016 by roseus

[Casablanca]

A spicy (especially saffron), orange-lotus incense. I don't know where the impression of orange is coming from. I think maybe it's this lotus, which to me smells partway between bubble gum and orange -- whereas when I've smelled it before, it was more of a pink bubble gum. Besides that, I get a dry and woody background of sandalwood and cedar. This sandalwood is pure loveliness.

After drying, the wood is most prominent, followed by spices. I smell mostly cedar, with sandalwood, saffron, clove, cinnamon, and lotus in support.

I like it.

[LizziesLuck]

Wet: Mostly getting the wood notes from this. They're quite nice, but I was hoping for some incense, too! Maybe as it dries...

This imp is also quite aged, and I do wonder if the woods have amped and concentrated with age, and left the other notes behind.

 

Dry: Still smells like a forest. A somewhat magical forest though, and I don't hate it, but I needed more of the other notes to really love it.

[lizabelle]

I could have sworn there were pine needles in here. There's a lot of cedar, potentially with some needles too, and sandalwood and spices. Lotus always goes weird on me but I get none of it this time--instead this is a pleasant, grounding woody unisex scent. I almost smell orange, for some reason, but that might be one of the spices tricking my nose. Sadly it has very little throw or wear time on me, but it would be amazing as an atmosphere spray or bath oil. Very calming.

[Lucchesa]

This was weird and bad on me, and not in the direction that cedar and saffron can sometimes send a scent, so I'm blaming chiuri bark and Nepalese spices and avoiding them like the plague in the future (shouldn't be hard). Of course since I disliked it, it lasted forever. I didn't get a forest smell but a sort of astringent herby incense, which made me think of my friend who spent a year in a Nepalese monastery eating water buffalo.

[dementia_divine]

In the imp: Cedar, sandalwood, menthol, lotus, and spices.

 

Wet: Bubblegum-y lotus, menthol, and some spices are what I get at first. Then, the wood notes emerge, and I get more cedar than sandalwood, but the menthol and spices are the dominant notes.

 

Dry: The lotus has reasserted itself, and the menthol has calmed down significantly. Eventually, I get mostly lotus, cedar, sandalwood, saffron, and spices.

 

Verdict: Well, the menthol was unexpected! I am not a fan of the lotus and cedar combo on me, so this is not an imp I plan on keeping, but I am glad that I was able to try it.