Tzadikim Nistarim

[Splendid Molerat]

TZADIKIM NISTARIM --

 

Also called the Lamed Vev, two letters in the Hebrew alphabet that translate to the number thirty-six. In this violent, ugly, strife-riddled world of ours there are thirty-six men, the Hidden Just Men or Hidden Saints, who bear on their shoulders the burden of all our pain, sorrows and sins. The Tzadikim Nistarim move in obscurity, and are usually found among the poor, the downtrodden and the meekest among us, and are chosen for this task because of their righteousness, stalwart sense of genuine justice, and the true goodness of their souls. When one of these men dies, God chooses another to take his place. It is for their sake and for love of them that God does not destroy His imperfect creation. As long as the Lamed Vav serves humanity, the world will continue to plod on, but once one of them dies and God cannot find another worthy to take his place, the world will be destroyed. In Qabala, the thirty-six men of the Tzadikim Nistarim together combine to symbolize the seventy-two bridges, corresponding to the seventy-two names of God, that connect the concealed and revealed worlds of our universe. 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.

 

I sampled this last night before looking up the description, thinking something was really familiar about the fragrance.

 

Here's the weird dream that followed:

I was in an old city, everything looked dusty, monochromatic, and the sky was overcast. Architecture was massive stone blocks, almost Central American but for the lack of foliage. In the city was a palace or temple, where an oppressor lived and was claiming to be a god over the people.

Also in the city was a regiment of small, talking cats, and the object of this dream seemed to be getting the cat commandoes into the palace, via a series of hidden little doorways. There were also prayers to the Holy Spirit along the way to secure windows and doors.

At the end the oppressor flaked apart and was blown away in the wind, and all the clouds left with him.

 

Weird dream. And why the little cats, I thought? A few hours awake and I remembered the brain's love of puns: the cat's were in homage to that old martial hymn, "Onward Kitten Soldiers".

 

In broad daylight, I can say the scent is solemn and beautiful, and the olive note grounds the blend in a way that's more golden than dark. However, I've made a note just go to sleep with lavender sachets from now on.

[minouska]

I actually ordered this more because of the inspiration than because I thought I'd like the scent. But it's beautiful. It reminded me a bit of pineapple, oddly enough, but cleaner and less sweet, with a bit of a creamy hint. If it was a color, it would be golden. But it made me think of Jerusalem and golden limestone and very old places.

 

In the bottle it smells like eculyptus or pine, something sharp and acidic, and again the pineapple note.

 

I just put on a bit to try it out, so I can't give a complete review, but this is a really neat one.

[Lorencita]

This was an extra from Beth in my order... Thank you! This smells like Christmas to me! I love it, it smells just like a x-mas tree when first applied, then it mellows down to a soft sweet scent. Just wonderful, I cant wait to wear it this winter... even though its not cold here (miami beach) but I can fake it with this scent!

[heartbeast]

Oh, what a beautiful, beautiful scent! How tragic that it has so little staying power on me!

 

When I first opened up the imp, I was astonished. I was expecting something solemn and resiny, having forgotten all about Minouska's reference to pineapple. It was very, very sweet, but I compared it to a melon scent...only somehow more herbal. Once on my skin, I could smell the pine-like element, but I couldn't tell whether that was part of the sweet note or a different note altogether. I checked the reviews--since I was going crazy wondering what that sweet note was--and saw the reference to pineapple. I agree, it's similar. What the heck is that? It's soooo lovely! Is that spikenard? If so, I can see why it was costly, and why it was what the Magdelene used to annoint Jesus.

 

Later, the scent softens down to almost nothing. At this stage, it reminds me a great deal of the Airs brand incense fragrance "Dragon Cloud", which has been one of my favorites for 20 years. I don't know what's in that either.

 

This gloriously soothing, sweet, serene and calming fragrance was sadly gone within about 4 hours. I will save it for special times when I need that feeling, like I'm getting a pat on the head from God saying "yes, I know you are doing your best, you try very hard to be a good person and you do good work in the world".

[Northernminx]

What a lovely exotic scent. It took all afternoon before I figured out the fruity smell reminded me of pineapple, but ripe and sweet and just picked pinapple. A assume that's the spikenard as I've no idea what else it could be. This is light and fresh and a little fruity but is grounded by some earthiness. There's a lot of different nuance and balance in this scent, golden and glowing.

 

Yummy and a keeper!

[JazzieCazzie]

When I first opened the imp, I thought "uh oh, bubble gum" but as soon as I put it on, whatever note that was mellowed into a much richer and fruitier scent.

 

I generally don't like fruity, but this one was different ... I never thought of pineapple, for some reason, but kept thinking peach or maybe even mango ... yet, not the synthetic fruit-flavory scent, rather the scent from an orchard of ripe fruit on a late summer afternoon. Just subtle and tangy enough to work ...

 

On later drydown, it got sweeter and a bit bubble-gummy again, but not unpleasantly so. Right now, maybe two hours later, it's still definitely noticeable and deeply fruity. This may be my first-ever fruity keeper!!! (Maybe it works on my because I'm Jewish, LOL???)

 

AND ... this prompted my first ever unsolicited compliment! From a woman next to me at the postal shop, where I was coincidentally sending off a dozen imps in a swap!!!

[Vicious Mistress]

In the imp: Melon

 

Wet on my skin: sweet melon with something sharp, like grapefruit, that almost made it smell bitter

 

Drydown a few hours later: light, sweet melon still. The bitterness is gone and it's very pretty and very light.

 

 

I think this would be great for a warm sunny day.

[isyche]

Tzadikim Nistarim is a light golden, creamy, fruity smell. It does make me think of mango, pineapple, or some other tropical fruit. It's not what I thought this would smell like, for sure (I was expecting a more resiny, ecclesiastical smell) but it's a happy, uplifting/cheering scent.

Edited September 12, 2004 by isyche

[Lady_Ell]

This smells like those little yellow-green low-lying weedy things that look like fuzzy tiny strawberries, and grow in the dry grass/fields in New England. I don't know what the name is, but when you rub the flowers that look like little fuzzy strawberries or acorns, an herby pineapple/mango smell comes out.

 

Tzadikim Nistarim smells just like that. It's really good - a bit too fresh/green herby for my usual tastes, but still really good.

 

And then... I forgot I had it on and layered some O over it.

Hooooooooly shit. It smelled amazing. Completely amazing. Made the fruit part settle down into a mellow fruity smell, and O became less sex-fluids, and the green part disappeared. It smelled like the best dessert ever, but not foody. Hard to describe and completely heavenly.

[ChupaChup]

Tzadikim Nistarim has be quite an experience for me. I received it with several other oils from swaps and just put a little bit on one arm during the day yesterday. At first, I detected a rather bitter fruit scent, not so much pineapple, more like the Japanese citruses that are in Azen-Miyou, very biting. But there was enough creaminess underneath that to keep me interested. Then about an hour later, the different notes had blended into something very comforting, there was still a touch of the bitterness but it was no longer biting. Then I forgot about it until about 3 hours into the drydown when I noticed this glorious, uplifting scent coming from that arm. I really couldn't believe how beautiful it was, I started to cry. It's not any kind of floral beautiful, more of a lingering incense kind of feel to it but with absolutely no bitterness, like nothing I have ever smelled before. If you have tried Hymn and gotten that wonderful sense of purity from it, it's kind of like that (although it smells nothing like Hymn), like being cleansed spiritually. Being a kind of concrete person, rooted to the physical world, I can be rather numb spiritually and often miss what Beth is going after in a blend, but I think I got it this time. From the initial bitterness I get a sense of the Tzadikim Nistarim taking on the suffering of the world, and then absorbing it until nothing is left but purity.

 

I wanted to have the experience again so I put it on before I went to bed. I tried to stay awake until the bitterness disappeared but fell asleep. I had a really terrible nightmare, the kind where you finally realize you are dreaming but have a hard time waking yourself up. The bitter scent was still there, it had been incorporated into the dream and just smelling it kept taking me back to that place of fear so I had to get up and wash it off. I won't be using this one for sleeping ever again!

[aessedai]

When I was young, my grandparents' pantry always smelled of slightly overripe oranges, a sweet smell. This is what Tzadikim Nestarim smells like, to me.

 

ADDED Sept. 27, 2005:

 

This one is another trip down memory lane for me. I don't get melon.

I get slightly overripe oranges. Reminds me of my grandparents pantry, and also a small convenience store near my meme's old house which sold penny candy and was run by the original owner, who was around my meme's age. We used to go there as kids, and the scent of slightly overripe fruit was always on the air.

[Larila]

In the bottle I didn't like that smell at all, the smell was like an old green herbal musty sweet aroma with a incense base and loud.

 

Going on was much of the same, I"m not familar with those notes, now frankicense maybe perhaps smells like incense, now the olive. spikenard,hyssop and galangal, I'm clueless and I got a high pitch feel

from the wet version.

 

This was extra from the lab, and I think that's a good thing, because how would I have known what this smells like, I wouldn't have ordered because, i"m not familar with the notes, I apolozies for not knowing much about these notes, for my review.

 

After about 30 minutes this oil took on a entirely different aroma, it still had the same feel, besides the musty odor, It

had become a light herbal sweet, not that loud sweetness and creamy with a bit of incense. Now that's what I'm talking about, fantastic! I want a bigger bottle.

The lasting power over twelve hours.

 

Edited October 1, 2005 by Shollin

[shadow]

From the initial bitterness I get a sense of the Tzadikim Nistarim taking on the suffering of the world, and then absorbing it until nothing is left but purity.

 

Right on the head. I don't read reviews before I try the scent anymore (except limited editions) because I don't want to mess it up, but I had almost the same reaction to this. This morning I put it on reight before dashing out of the house for work, and I got the sweet smooth fruity smell everyone else mentions - almost like pineapple, but not quite, there's no tartness in it for me. But it isn't sugary either, just a round clear golden sweetness. This lasted all day long. About an hour into work I smelled a bit of spice in this one, not like seasoning spices, but a bit like the spiciness of the carnatioon single note. And not like that. By the end of the day the spice and fruitiness were gone, but wafting up was this clean, pristine smell. And I thought (not nearly as poetic as ChupaChup) that it was as if the scent started out as a bridge between the world of the flesh and of the spirit, and eventually lost all sense of the corporeal and was distilled to the essence of the idea behind the scent.

 

Which is a long, confusing, involved way of saying it was very, very pretty, and if I ever get around to ordering 5 ml's of the year round scents, this will be one of them.

[pekeana]

In the vial Tzadikim Nistarim smells like pineapple and olive oil, with just a twist of frankincense. Mmm, yummy, I love myself some good frankincense!

 

On me, the frankincense sweetens and the olive ripens. The pineappley scent, which I assume is a combination of spikenard and the other components, mellows out and takes on an additional scent almost like coconut.

 

This is a very gentle, soothing blend -- fruity without being foody, and incensey without being overwhelming.

[Koumori]

Beautiful scent - so far I haven't had a single miss in my last order. I love this one. I was struck when I initially put it on with the bitter undercurrent some other posters have mentioned, but it was very short-lived. I'm not sure if I ever did catch the fruitiness some have. Over the course of an hour or so this matured into a warm, golden, gentle, rather creamy fragrance. Very soothing and even a bit elegant. To the Big Bottle List it goes.

[leslie260]

In the bottle: A sweet melon scent.

 

Initial thought when placed on skin: Melon with a slight curry smell? It smells good...we'll see what happens.

 

An hour later: Wow! This has really developed into something fabulous! I can get a hint of fruit every now and then...but I can also smell the deep rich scent of incense. It smells warm and safe.

[Electra]

Wet: whoa, pina colada!

 

30 seconds later: Uh oh, that’s a plastic-artificial note. Please go away.

 

5 minutes later: Damnit. Pineapple bubble gum.

 

Nope, I can’t do it. Too much plastic-bubble gum-fake powderiness. This one’s strong, and I bet it would be gorgeous on someone with more cooperative body chemistry.

[jessamynit]

yeah, kinda smells like bubble gum. mostly I'm like "this is alright."

[sheelanagig]

This is an absolutely gorgeous oil. I was a bit wary of it in the vial, I thought that it would be too strong for me.

On wearing, it really mellows out, and is creamy and tropical and light.

 

It gives me a heavy feeling of peace, if that makes any sense.

 

I love, love, love this oil.

[Scylla]

This smells like those little yellow-green low-lying weedy things that look like fuzzy tiny strawberries, and grow in the dry grass/fields in New England.  I don't know what the name is, but when you rub the flowers that look like little fuzzy strawberries or acorns, an herby pineapple/mango smell comes out.

 

Tzadikim Nistarim smells just like that.  It's really good - a bit too fresh/green herby for my usual tastes, but still really good.

YESSSSSSSSSS! I agree with ladylatemar completely! Those little weedy things are indeed exactly what Tzadikim Nistarim smells like! I remember loving to rub them between my fingers when I was a kid and sniff them.

[Shollin]

First sniff: What is that fruit? It’s so familiar. The ingredients are no help, but I know I’ve smelled this before. It’s light, and slightly sharp, and very green, with lots of seeds. Kiwi?! A mystery.

 

Wearing: Sweet soft fruit, golden and creamy. I think papaya is the fruit I was trying to find earlier… it’s not quite mango, but close, and not sharp enough to be pineapple. I’m very glad I got this as a freebie – I’d never have ordered it because of the frankincense, but it's lovely.

[goddessrobyn]

I chose this one today without really knowing what was in it or the story behind the inspiration for it...

 

I really love this scent... on me... wet, its intensely orange/pineapple with smokey undertones... but when it dries its a soft velvet-y vanilla-spice scent (even though it doesn't have any vanilla in it!) its very light and feminine exactly what I WANT Snake oil to be but is not...

 

I may have to order a large bottle of this... especially since it doesn't seem to have much staying power...

 

ADDED Dec. 1:

 

I love the way this smells when I first put it on... its the juice from a fruit salad running down your mouth...

 

As it dries, the frankense comes out more and it gets very incence-y... not in a bad way... just a dry and smoky version of that fruity smell from before...

 

Overtime... the smoke over takes the fruit and it wafts away to where ever scents go when they leave us...

 

The transformation doesn't take long... I love wearing this perfume but I always forget that by the time I'm into my first class at work (about 8:30... I'm up and dressed by 5:30) its already faded so much I can barely detect it...

Edited December 2, 2004 by Shollin

[Lucretia]

hmmmn... I'm not getting really getting fruit here. I'm getting xmas tree that smells ever so slightly like cat pee. Maybe this is just cause my cat has a habit of peeing on xmas trees, so it's a familiar scent for me

but hmm.. maybe I can detect a little pineapple.. a very curious scent, I can certainly see how it would remind someone of xmas. This is nice, once that cat pee has dried down, but not very me alas.

[evil_laugher]

I didn't smell anything fruity, at least not what I would've noticed without reading these reviews. This was very warm and Christmas-y, and I LOVE IT. Warms you up on a cold day, and it's very yummy.

[starrykitten]

Somehow, this reminds me of a used bookstore. Old paper, plus olivey fruit. I was happy all day.