Defututa

[tziporra]

Olive blossom, honey, smoky vanilla, cinnamon, jasmine, sandalwood, and champaca flower.

I know that I amp jasmine.

I know that I amp jasmine in a sharp nasty way that is no good.

So why was I attracted to this scent? It's the fault of you reviewers here who made it sound so delicious. And since I amp vanilla too, I was hoping they'd cancel each other out. Or something.

But no.

This is all sharp jasmine on me for the first twenty minutes. Then it turns into sharp jasmine with a spicy background and a hint of smoke. It's a edge and no roundness, if that makes any sense. Very jasmine-incense-y. No honey (I love honey) or vanilla to sweeten it.

Wah.

Tzi

[Lyrical]

In vial: smoke, honey and spice, but also green and herbal. Yum!

 

Wet on skin: very leafy. The honey is distinct, the jasmine is behaving itself, and the vanilla, cinnamon and sandalwood are warm and spicy.

 

Dry on skin: cinnamon dominates, keeping the jasmine firmly in its place, sweetened by honey and sandalwood. It's refreshing, yet spicy, with a decent throw. The leafiness has subsided and the colour is honey beige. Very pleasant and quite unlike any scent I've ever smelled before! But I think perhaps it's a bit too weird for me to wear much.

 

ETA: nope, this one is definitely not for me! It makes me feel nauseous!

[zankoku_zen]

I definitely get a strong impression of olives and something else --- I have to say that the entire combination smells extremely familiar, which means I've had another bath product smell like this. I can't place it and it's driving me kinda nuts thinking about it.

 

In any case, this is a honey with a floral and sexy spiciness. I'm surprised that the sandalwood isn't coming more to the forefront.

 

In any case, I agree with the commentator that said "All sexed out". This is what it smells like. Guh.

[angharad]

Mmmmm. Absolutely in love here. This is floral, but an unusual floral (for my nose, anyway -- the olive blossom?), with that smoky vanilla making it just not-floral enough to make me happy. I sadly don't get any cinnamon out of this now that the bottle has settled after shipping, but I hope it reappears as it ages. The honey lingers in the background as something to help sweeten, but it's not enough to turn sour on me like it usually does. I'm so very glad I wound up with a bottle of this one.

[Bagfish]

Good grief this is utterly HORRIBLE on my skin. There's a sort of aquatic herbalness to Defututa that drowns out everything else, even the champaca which is normally a dead cert winner on my skin. With the descriptions and the notes it contains, this oil should have been another Khajuraho on me, but it is utterly awful. I have a feeling that the dreadfulness comes from the Olive Blossom as I know what everything else smells like. I can't even identify the vanilla, sandalwood, champaca or cinnamon in this.

 

How something with so many resinous and spicy notes can smell so wet and herbal and stinky is beyond me. This is not a winner and needs a new home.

[veronicafranco]

Oh, no. this is so awful on me. All I get is vanilla and jasmine and a sickly pineapple Dum-Dum fruitiness… it smells just like an overpowering candle the really nice sales agent had at the first place where we bought a house. I was leery of the vanilla, which I usually don’t like, but had high hopes for the rest… oh well!! I couldn’t even hang in there and see if I liked the dry-down on this. After maybe 15 minutes, it had to go… guess I’m just not meant to get all f’ed out.

[theseagrows]

this starts off smeliing like...pineapple (?!) and not much else. once it settles into my skin, it's pineapple-vanilla or musk. ?? i thought i'd definitely love this, but apparently my skin chemistry doesn't agree, and is doing something bizarre. if i liked to smell like pineapple, this'd be fab, unfortunately i don't, so it's off to swaps!

[savage_rose]

I love the smell in the bottle/imp, but once it hits my skin it's all dryer sheets and sickeningly sweet faux florals. Sigh.

[sweetjane]

Defututa gives me a floral vanilla with something deeper [smoky vanilla?]. I can't separate out the flowers. This is longer lasting on me than Regan [orchid vanille & stephanotis] but in the same family of scent. As this aged on me, I did get a banana scent for awhile but not long. Another member wrote that she smelled pineapple and I can see that.

 

This is bottleworthy for me as I used up the imp quickly! This could replace O as my vanilla scent.

[oakmoss]

I'm so glad I don't go back and read notes or reviews when I try a new blend, because I am so influenced by what my brain THINKS it should be smelling. Jasmine is usually horrible on me, but Defututa is a rare exception. The vanilla and incense notes mellow the sharpness of jasmine, and there is a subtle lemony undernote lifting the whole thing into lightness, and then the honey note smooths and warms it. I wasn't sure I liked Defututa all that much at first, but after about twenty minutes I was in love, so stick through the first stage and let it all come together. And yes, now that I've read everyone else's reviews, all I can think of is pineapple, but it's a GOOD pineapple.

[tinyvulture]

I took my first big sniff and sighed contentedly, “Honey!” This is a gorgeous exotic floral bouquet of champaca and jasmine, liberally laced with honey. The vanilla adds even more sweetness and there’s just a sprinkle of cinnamon to add complexity without the fire that cinnamon sometimes brings. And the olive blossom, often bitter on my skin, seems to have gone missing completely, so I’m very happy. I love the combination of the two strongest notes, honey and champaca. Champaca sometimes turns “banana” on me but it’s showcased beautifully here, and smells heavenly. Light, summery, and sexy.

[Ajila]

In the bottle – At first sniff jasmine followed by a sort of sweet waxiness that I can only assume is the olive

 

Wet on me –Bright, citusy and somewhat smokey

 

Dry on me – A warm inviting waxiness from the olive blossom

 

Overall – On one hand, what I wanted from this blend was the honey and the vanilla and the cinnamon, on the other hand what I got is certainly very moreish in an intimate sort of way.

[Evilynn]

In the bottle - sweet olive blossom

 

On me - Very, very sweet, in fact it smells almost exactly like a scented eraser I had as a kid, which is quite nice in a nostalgic sort of way, but I don't know if I'd like to smell of it. I gather it's the olive blossom and champaca, although I can smell a bit of vanilla underneath it all. It's quite odd, because I normally amp honey, but I get no honey from this and the only trace of cinnamon is the slight burning sensation on my skin. After a while the vanilla gets a bit more prominent, but it's still got that floral sweetness to it. I think I might be swapping this one.

[soonyi]

wet, the cinnamon is there-- which is usually a compact, sharp and unpowerful scent, is almost new: it's at the edges and gives a slight kick to the end of the scent. the sandalwood is morphing into that LUSH cupcake smell that i dont much like.

 

dry, the heart of this one is honey, the blood coursing thru is sandalwood. and sandalwood and i arent getting along these days. i think if this was aged it might do some interesting things.

[Maidenhell]

I was wary about this one because of the Jasmine (the DOOM flower). I love the lab's honey note so I ordered an imp because I was so curious. Defututa is all golden honey and olive blossom with very little jasmine, cinnamon or smoke. The throw is strong, and after several hours I detect honey, vanilla and an earthy floral. Really nice! The Mr. likes it too so I may get a bottle

[MeiLin]

The "let's discuss the GC" threads have me going through and trying things that have been sitting in the Squee Box unloved. This was one. I amp honey and vanilla, and those are the two strongest notes followed by the champaca. It's a warm, lulling scent. The hubby came into the room a while ago and gave a big thumbs up.

[jizatt]

Apparently I do not have a problem with jasmine amping.

 

In the imp I thought I could pick out the olive blossom. I have an olive tree, and when it blooms I'm generally underneath it, sniffing the little yellow flowers. What's funny is they almost smell like cototn candy. So, I could smell that in here.

 

On, though I smelled multiple floral, with a slight spicy kick and some definite vanilla. I like this vanilla too. No plastic, no fake, but also not the dark Lyonesse vanilla.

 

Dried down and smelled frequently, what I smell is mostly creamy spicy vanilla, a little smoky maybe, with just a touch of floral behind it. I'd almost liken it to Bengal on my own wrist. What I wrote down was floral chai =)

 

 

edited over a year later:

I still love this one =) Im not sure I would still say floral chai though hehe:

a thick golden floral without being floral really because of the smoky vanilla and slight spicyness. I love this better now than I did in summer, where it was almost too heavy.

Edited September 16, 2010 by CaudaPavonis

[jwhxtna]

IN THE IMP: A sweet, fresh, lush floral, with jasmine in particular, and a hint of smoky vanilla and honey, and just a little kick from the cinnamon.

 

WET: A lot of jasmine, with smoky vanilla and honey in the background.

 

DRY: Mainly jasmine sweetened by the vanilla and honey, and the cinnamon adding a bit of spiciness. It's all sweet honey vanilla with a bit of cinnamon on complete drydown. Quite nice!

[suileach]

In a word: creamy.

 

In more: The creamy undertone of this greatly gentles the florals - jasmine is a Big Big No for me in everything else I've tried, but this *might* be workable, if it continues to behave. In the vial, I got only a faint whiff of the Celery Peanut Butter smell that my nose typically gets from jasmine. The olive blossom rounds this out - overall, an almost green, Spring-like floral. Thick, waxy, heavily-scented hyacinth petals and a woodsy, somewhat gourmand cream. A lovely surprise!

 

..Later: Still gorgeous. Mmm. The cinnamon really helps this scent form a coherent whole and perhaps, as I amp it, assists in the drowning of the jasmine.

 

Overall:

Edited June 22, 2008 by suileach

[Andrea912]

Bottle: Mmmm...olive oil/blossom, honey, vanilla is good. Sandalwood and jasmine...not so much.

 

Wet: Oh, the blend is divine.

 

Dry: the olive, honey, and vanilla overpower the floral and incense smell, which is great.

 

Verdict: I find this terribly rich and exotic, not like me at all...yet I am drawn to it, all the same

[midnight_aeval]

This scent smells like an olive tree intertwined with jasmine, on fire. The smoke note from the vanilla is unmistakable. Definitely a unique scent, just not one for me!

[Coldfire]

Imp from a fellow witch friend:

 

 

 

Imp: Jasmine & flowers

Wet on Me: Sharp flowers now.

Drying down: barest hint of vanilla and

perhaps a trace of the sandalwood

Dry: Just sharp flowers over sandalwood

now. Almost an aquatic feel to it.

 

This is lovely and very nice. To keep as an imp.

[carolinachiquita]

This is gorgeous, I can't believe I have never tried an imp of this before!

 

On me I can smell predominantly the Olive and honey and as it settles into my skin it turns into that but with a spicy vanilla kick behind it, this is such a smoky sultry scent and it's going on my big bottle list for my next order too! It's divine!

[kawaiiferreto]

Wet: I can smell the champaca and other florals. The jasmine actually isn't going evil on me which is nice.

 

Dry: I still don't get the sandalwood, cinnamon, or honey (though the light sweetness of the blend could be attributed to the honey.) More and more as this dries I get overwhelming champaca . . . I had the same problem with Khajuraho and Temple Viper, so I'm really not surprised. However, with those I did get the other notes at least a bit, so I may need to let this age for a month or two and retry it.

 

In the far dry down the vanilla finally shows up and the champaca calms down. It really is quite a lovely scent - lovely light blossoms. The sandalwood doesn't stand out too much but it lends it's characteristic smooth warm woody smell to the background, which is nice and adds some sophistication to the blend. this is definitely going into my stash to age a bit!

[vegasblueblood]

Yum! The gentle jasmine is quite prominent but not in an overpowering way. It is surrounded and cushioned by the sweetness of the honey and smoky vanilla and there is a touch of the spicy cinnamon underneath everything. This is really beautiful. Sometimes when I wear it, the cinnamon is more dominant while at other times I get lots of vanilla and jasmine. This is a very sexy blend, very creamy and warm.