Tzadikim Nistarim

[Spork]

... The scent is one of unadulterated spiritual purity, with a taste of the world's eternal pathos, and the joy of suffering with grace: frankincense, olive, spikenard, hyssop and galangal.

Clean, floral, slightly spicy and fruity? Maybe just sweet, hard to say. Doesn't smell like any fruit I could name, but I smell it and think fruit. I keep smelling my wrist, it's really nice, even if I don't know exactly how to describe it .

ETA: scent description Edited June 1, 2009 by Maroon

[tragedy]

This is so faint on me I cant get a really good grasp of it.

Its like an “incensey” smell, something that smells “root-like” dirty…

just cant get a good sense of it before it fades to nothing

[cleske]

Oh my god. I hate to say this. I really, really do, since there are hundreds of other blends out there I have yet to try... but I think this is the most beautiful thing I have ever smelled in my life. Oh frankincense. Oh galangal. Oh whatever it is that is making me crazy for this perfume! I ordered an imp of this purely because the description moved me in a very strange way, and I wasn't sure about the notes. I am so glad I was wrong! Not much of a morpher, but by god if it did morph then I would beat something with a stick.

[Gaidig]

In the bottle: Sweet, wet, and green, with a spicy finish. I am not really familiar with any of the actual notes, except olive, so I am not surprised that I cannot pick them out. It does not strike me as olive

 

On me: Barely sweet at all, more spicy, but sunny high notes rather than sultry low notes. I like this stage on me, and I think it would also be good on a man.

 

1 hour+ later: Stays fairly true to original drydown. Good throw. Sun shining down on softly glittering ancient sandstone buildings.

[rayvn1]

I got this mostly for the frankincense and hyssop notes and I guess with the olive I expected something like Hanerot Halalu. Instead my skin came up with a rich olive-based scent with a floral tinge and a bit of spice. Thick and rich scent with good throw. Not something I'd reach for often, but very nice!

[HKB]

I have no idea what the listed notes in this should smell like. It starts something sweet and fruity, almost pineapple or mango like others have suggested, then a little bit of pine comes in and something medicinal but the fruit is still very strong. After about ten minutes I can just smell the olive. It doesn't change much from there, I expected the fruit to fade but it didn't. I like this but not sure how much I like it, keeping the imp for further testing.

 

[angelicruin]

Inside the imp, vaguely fruity.

 

Wet on the skin, I almost pick up an orris root note on my skin. It's slightly sweet, but not much throw. Very faint on my skin.

 

Dries down to sweetened incense on my skin.

[MamaMoth]

Wow, this one is very hard to describe. I can smell the olive a bit, but not the frankincense. I'm not familiar with the other listed notes. It is sweet, but not in any standard way to me (not fruity, not flowery, not sugary.) I'd almost say it has a sweet vegetable/grasses tinge.

 

As it dries, I think I can smell the slightest bit of frankincense poking out. It smells like sweet incense burning in a fruit and vegetable market. Very exotic to my nose, without any of the spices that usually make me think "exotic market."

 

Overall, I think I like it. I need to give it a full-day's wear to say for sure.

 

I'd classify this as a feminine scent.

 

ETA: After wearing it for a full workday, I'll have to pass on it. It keeps getting sweeter, and the vegetably/grassy tinge kind of fades out. I will be passing it to my stepmother who is looking for a sweet scent without flowers or food. I'm trying to get her hooked on BPAL, and this might be the perfect one.

Edited August 27, 2009 by MamaMoth

[AlarmAgent]

In Bottle - Juicy Fruit, distilled.

 

Wet on Skin, First Applied - Banana bubble gum, and pretty strong on the banana bit.

 

Dry, on Skin - As time goes on, a little teeny tiny bit of earthiness swirls around, I wish I could describe it specifically...but it's a woody, forest scent, but without any hint of 'dankness'. That could be the olive, but I wouldn't have guessed had I not seen the notes for this one. The banana and the bubble gum definitely become a lot less apparent, but are still present, giving the woods and earth some sweetness. I like this, it's a pretty different oil. It starts off pure candy, but becomes something sort of strange, but still very wearable. This is one of those oils I can't stop sniffing and trying to figure out exactly what's going on.

[tajana]

I would have guessed that there was some golden lotus in this, a la Bastet, from the slightly bubblegum-like note that sweetens this up. As it dries down it retains that golden, bubblegum like sweetness and glows with high, almost citrus like notes, enriched with a bit of zesty spice (galangal) and golden-green herbs. Wisps of light incense smoke hold it all together. Frankincense can smell a bit oppressive and churchy on me sometimes, but this is a perfect example of what happens when frankincense does work. It's gorgeous and uplifting. It's subtle (read: not very potent) and wears close to the skin, but I am going to keep this imp because it's so very pleasant. It smells intriguing, but also totally wearable... I'd have no qualms at all about slathering this on any day. If I was wealthier I'd just go get a bottle of this so I really could slather it on with impunity. My imp is lab fresh, so maybe this'll intensify as it ages... I can only hope!

[jamethiel]

In the bottle: Wet and green

Wet: MELON. Midori. A lot of melon!

After five minutes: The melon has faded slightly. The floral, whatever it is, is very, VERY heady. As in tuberose/gardenia heady. Wonder if that's the spikenard? or maybe hyssop

 

Where's the galangal and myrrh? I'm not smelling it.

 

The melon continues to fade, but the heady floral remains.

 

It's got some impressive throw and seems to last. I may have to try layering it with something.

I don't mind it, but it doesn't grab me. I think this is one for the swap pile. Or maybe it will work better on my housemate

[skylarkza]

In the imp: Vanilla, spice and smoke.

 

Wet: Something fruity is breaking through. It is sharper and the vanilla aspect is gone. Like naartjie almost, but less orange like. Grapefruit?

 

Dry: Incense and vanilla float above melon sprinkled with spices. This is beautiful.

 

A while later: A slight breath of melon. And incense. A almost smoky background hinting at spices.

[Venneh]

In the frimp, this is a sharp, incensey smell with either the olive or vanilla sweetening it a bit. Testing it on the back of my hand, cause 'm not sure I want it on my wrists. ...This smells like a combination of pine trees and incense. No. Swaps/sales.

[loubric]

On opening the Imp I get a whiff of it’s sweetness. Sugar and spice.

Oh oh!

 

On me it reminds me of something … it smells like an old country house in summertime. No no wait it smells like the gorgeous fruit and gift stores they have on the side of the road in South Africa, on the way to Stellenbosch or the ones in Hermanus. Don’t ask me why it just does!

 

Very fruity and sweet with hints of incense. It does have a Christmasy feel to it.

 

Lovely.

 

[milo]

Wow, I've sure got these notes wrong. This smells like a fruity floral to me, of the tropical fruit kind. There's a bit of a dusty vibe as it dries. This kind of reminds me of a very fruity tropical drink, with the scent of flowers wafting by. I'll probably enjoy this more in the summer months.

[FathomBelow]

In imp: sweet unidentifiable scent.

Wet on skin: Woody and dry, but again, sweet. Actually smells a lot like the cedarwood in Ochosi, with a light fruit layered on top. At this point the fruit smells more like jackfruit than pineapple to me.

Dry on skin: The fruit and wood scent become much more cohesive. Right after dry down, this goes through a slightly sharp fruity stage and I can see here where the pineapple references are coming from. After a few minutes, though, it becomes a faint woody-sweet scent (but not like sandalwood at all, in case you're wondering). If you smeared a hunk of pineapple across a new cedar plank, left lying in very hot sun for a couple days, and sniffed it, this is what you'd smell.

 

Overall impression: Considering this is a freebie, I enjoyed this a lot more than I expected. It's very pleasant but not fantastic; I think it would be better as a room scent than a perfume, especially come summer.

 

[gingiemay]

A tiny bit of spice with a light, bitter floral. That's the olive and spikenard. Very little galangal or hyssop. Very, very faint.

[SophieCedar]

Weird.. the hyssop and olive jumps out on this one. This is a crisp, sharp, but also creamy floral on my skin. However further on the drydown, this gets sharper and sharper.... then poof, soft floral. The olive is predominant with a heady flower? Hmm. strange!

 

Edit: this is beautiful after it settles in. Clean sweet, smooth floral!

Edited April 1, 2010 by SophieCedar

[sparkleyturtle]

I am picking up a creamy fruit smell with a touch of spice. It isn't overly strong, so I could wear it more, but I just don't see myself reaching for this scent. Not quite my style.

[raisin]

Oh, this is so so close to being something I'd desperately want. Between the frankincense and something vaguely fruity (it's like artificial tropical fruit) it loses me. But there's something green and beautiful underneath, so I guess I just need to learn from these notes and move on.

[Vega]

Sniffed: I've never smelled anything like this, so I can't quite compare to anything else! A clean, green, "alive" scent; feels like incense/resin, and slightly sweet. --Wait, oh no, the dratted olive blossom is rearing its head now. I hope it doesn't dominate the blend on my skin!

 

On skin: I'm not familiar with spikenard/galangal/hyssop, so they must form the basis of this scent. It's clean, sap-like, milky in texture (but not in scent), a bit resin- or herbal-sweet, with a bit of a spicy or incense note lurking underneath. Thankfully, olive blossom (which I don't like) maintains a low profile, occasionally morphing in. Over time the scent deepens and becomes a bit sweeter. Tzadikim Nistarim has a cleansing, purifying feel to it. It's in the same family as Tabella and Blue Moon 2009: Brian's Interpretation, being green herbal/resinous blends (and they all have frankincense/galangal/olive in common).

 

Verdict: Quite fascinating, I've never smelled anything quite like Tzadikim Nistarim. It's pure, solemn, and deep, very much like its namesake. Compelling, but I don't think I'll wear this often.

[Ryokumuji]

Frimp from the lab. I'll admit, I'm not familiar with any of the notes on their own so... This one is starts off very sweet, like super sweet bubblegum, in the bottle and on my skin. As it "dries down", it gets less sweet, calms down a bit, and it smells like a pleasantly sweet incense. It's much less "bubblegum" and more fruity now. It's pretty, but not my style.

[Aevie]

In the Bottle: Woah, I was NOT expecting that. I thought it would smell incensey, but instead it smells like Bubble Gum!

 

Wet on Skin: Stronger bubble gum

 

Dry on Skin: I never could smell much more than bubble gum on me. I don't do well with sweet scents or tropicals, and I detest bubble gum flavor/smell, so sadly I don't think this one's quite for me.

[lookingglass]

This was NOTHING like I expected! Earthy, delicious, creamy, juicy, woody, mango incense?! OMG! I love this so much. It is my new "happy" BPAL! I wore it hooping and I smiled the whole time. I don't like traditionally bright scents, as I've said before when I have to make an exception, but this is GORGEOUS! I it feels like when I went to a Hindu temple, surrounded by a haze of sacred smoke, with offering of fresh fruits all around. I am so, so GIDDY about this scent!!! It smells like how happy it makes me to see kids on their birthday. CRAAAAAZY! Craaaazy good!

 

Ya know what it's like...it's a lot like Winter Solstice Luna Eclipse!

Edited March 5, 2011 by lookingglass

[Helas]

I ordered this one based on concept alone, because Martin Buber is one of my favourite philosophers and I am fascinated by his works on Hasidic mysticism. I expected a solemn resin blend with a spark of playfulness that would embody the mix of sorrow and humour that any self-respecting Hasidic saint ought to possess. Unfortunately, this is all one-dimensional gloopy caramelized sweetness with a faint touch of grease from the olive. Gourmand fans ought to love this one, but I expected a bit less sugar and a bit more depth.

 

Two out of five stars.