Rakshasa

[shayelea]

This haunting, exotic scent is named in honor of the shapeshifting demons from Hindu mythology. Sandalwood with rose and patchouli.

In the bottle: Heavy and incensey, but I'm getting something sweet out of this, too.

Wet: Okay, this is weird. This almost smells citrusy on my skin, and as far as I can tell there isn't any citrus in this blend.

Drydown: Hm. The rose isn't taking over, but it's hovering in the background. Still citrusy, but I'm getting more "orange oil cleaning spray" than anything else. (So. Weird.) It would be nice, except that it makes me feel like I should be cleaning my kitchen instead of messing around online. Later, this dries down further to more of a patchouli/sandalwood scent, but there's still that orangish scent underneath. Unfortunately, this one left me with a red rash on my wrist, so it's bound for the swap pile

[tesao]

in vial: roses. big, full-blown, old-fashioned roses. kept wondering to myself WHY i had wanted to try this...

 

wet, on skin: roses. nice, though, which is odd because rose doesn't usually agree with me.

 

dry, on skin: i'd totally forgotten that i had it on. and then all of a sudden i felt as though i were inside some sort of wooden chest -- lined in sandalwood. the scent had morphed compleatly!

 

drydown: notes of patchouli pop up as spice, in the constantly swirling haze of finest sandalwood, as seen through a garden of roses.

 

i am so surprised by this. i may have to order a bottle of it!

[Abbie]

In the imp: Sandalwood, roses, and orange peel. A very antique smell... it smells like the world you see in a Vermeer painting.

 

First on: My skin is pushing the sandalwood back, and now it's getting a bit of that acrid scent that rose sometimes has. Maybe not as nice as I thought.

 

Dry: This has become salty and unappealing. I'm going to try the imp as a room fragrance, though, and see how it works.

[glampyre]

Soft pretty floral with a slightly citrus sweetness. There is a delicate sandalwood in the backgroud. Very very pretty!

[melange]

Imp: Sweet. Orange.

 

Wet: more of the same.

 

Drydown: Rakshasa slowly lets me detect the individual sandalwood/rose/patchouli notes, but keeps trying to convince me that it's orange. There's definite throw.

 

Worn: Rakshasa settles in nicely (as opposed to settling down). For a little while I smell roses that are sour when I put my nose right up to my wrists, yet are attractive when my nose is a little further away. As time passes, one note swims over the others, only to be overtaken in its turn, but they're all always present. This has the feel of an after-hours scent rather than one to wear to work.

 

Conclusion: I'd intended to pit this frimp against Anne Bonny, but on my skin, they're not enough alike to be real competition. It's more as though Rakshasa is Anne's little seductress of a cousin.

[SeaMonkey]

I had to hold my breath when I tried this. My body has the super power of amplifying anything rose.

 

Thankfully, this blend was primarily sandalwood. The rose is a light tea rose that sweetens the sandalwood without screaming its presence loudly. I didn't smell too much patchouli.

[herdivineshadow]

Mostly, I get a sandlewood incense kind of vibe from this scent, though after the oil has a chance to dry a bit more I get a gentle hint of roses. This is a really nice, soft warm scent, which is just right for a really cold day like today.

[blood*rose*flowers]

This scent is just beautiful!!

 

First on a beautiful Rose with a tinge of sweet. This is pure happiness

 

Overall a sweet rose but when I say sweet I don't mean like candy it is just something about the sandalwood mied with rose that adds that scent. I don't get a standard patchoulli at all but something lightener and more golden. A lovely scent for rose loves looking for something different.

 

Ha!! Finally I get what this smells like!! I use to get this scent that was mixed in a salve like cream from an all natural store and that is what this smells like!! This makes me so happy!

[ajcj213499]

All I could smell was the sandalwood on my skin. I was really hoping to smell the rose more... ah well....

 

It's not for me.

[AngellicMystique]

This is smoky and feral on me; I only get the barest hints of rose. This is a wonderfully haunting smell.

[sookster]

the rose, sandalwood and patchouli all come shining through brightly upon

application.....after a few minutes this warms up a bit too much for my liking though......

i think it might be the patchouli itself that is the culprit...i get a little bit of an orange

incense note after about 1/2 hour and then *poof*..... the scent disappears into

oblivion..........

[LittleGreyKitten]

This was a huge no-brainer for me. I lurve roses, sandalwood, and I have a closet fetish for patchouli too. I was happy that this one did live up to every expectation of mine. Strongly rosy, the sandalwood and patchouli add the most beautiful warm exotic element to it. It is absolutely lovely, well balanced as most all BPALs are, and one of my very favorites (so far!) While I suppose some might find it kind of headshoppy I like that aspect of it- I tended to wear the elements in this perfume in highschool a lot and it's kind of nostalgic for me.

 

It lasts pretty well but not extraordinarily long. It also seems to change a bit- the roses are stronger initially but the sandalwood and patchouli

Edited January 26, 2006 by Shollin

[Phaedra]

Wet this is woody, warm and sweet floral notes. When first on there's a sharp woody note and almost a faint lemony note. After a couple of minutes I can smell rose. This has a damp, mossy quality to it. I also get hints of the patchouli fading in and out. This is a nice blend but is similar to others that I have so I don't need to keep this.

[ScrimHazard]

Okay this one is a strange one on me. My skin usually HATES Sandalwood and Patchouli, but for some reason it LOVES Rakshasa.

 

I smell like a pampered baby with this one.

 

In the bottle: Rose and citrus with a hint of woodiness.

 

Wet on skin: Same but stronger.

 

Dry-down: perfumed baby's bottom.

 

After 2 hours: I lurve this! It is so original and clean smelling. On the way to work I kept wondering what on earth I was smelling that smelled so powdery and clean. I kept thinking there was a royal toddler in the car with me somewhere hiding. I smell like a 2 year old countess before getting into the cheerios and play-dough.

[Thaleia]

Rakshasa contains two opposing notes for me - rose and patchouli. My skin loves rose, and so do I. My skin also seems to like patchouli, but patchouli doesn't like me and gives me a headache. So, I'm guessing this one can go either way ...

 

Upon opening the vial, I smell patchouli right away. Bad sign. It's almost all patchouli and a vague hint of sandalwood, and no rose. No rose? And here I thought this blend might have been kind of okay, if those two notes were going to cancel each other out.

 

No, was I ever wrong. The patchouli hits my skin the second I put it on, drowning out everything else in the blend and surrounding blends I've just tried. It's also really strong. The sandalwood's present, giving even more depth to the patchouli, and still no rose. I hate doing this, but I am going to have to wipe this off before this headache decides it's going to want to stay with me for the rest of the day.

 

Ow, headache. It's only when I wipe it off that the rose comes out, but it's doing a really heated battle with the patchouli, and patchouli is winning. Owie. 2/10.

[bifemmefatale]

I had high hopes for this scent, because I have a rose and sandalwood bath gel from Bath & Body Works that I adore. Normally I don't care for rose perfumes on me, but occasionally I find one mixed with another scent that takes it in a new direction. I remember liking a rose/lavender oil very much once.

 

Upon opening, the rose leaps out. On my skin, it's even stronger. All I'm getting is roses. I can't detect the sandalwood or patchouli at all. After a few minutes, I start getting a tinge of the sandalwood, but all it's doing is adding a little cologne-y complexity to the rose. After a little more than an hour, I start being able to detect the patchouli, but one has to *really* look for it. Otherwise, on me this smells like something my mother would like a lot. Very floral, a little powdery, very traditional-smelling, feminine without being wispy. I can see why a lot of people like this one, but on me the roses predominate so much that it's really not to my taste. I prefer spicy, incensey scents or delicate white flowers, not heavy florals.

 

Seems this one is very dependent on personal chemistry--people get a lot of different results with this.

[jidabug]

This one almost overpowered me, right of the imp.

Wet: Dark and spicy.

Dry: Rosy, but dark, with powdery overtones. Not a bright and clean rose, but a mysterious one.

Final: Mostly head shop incense-y with a wallop of rose. Not me at all.

[Diva Urd]

This sounded like an absolute no-brainer - I read the description and, having just recently discovered the joys of patchouli/sandalwood combinations, I had to order it.

 

Sadly, things didn't turn out that well.

 

In the imp, it was all rose, and something astringent...

 

On me, the rose screamed like mad, and I have to second everyone who said that there was something citrussy in there (I think it's lemon, that's what it smells like on me). Neither sandalwood nor patchouli made an appearance on me - it was lemony rose to the nth degree until it faded...

 

A friend of mine tried it on, and on her, it smells much more balanced, so I guess my skin funked it up majorly in this case... pity, I was all ready to worship this.

Edited February 14, 2006 by Diva Urd

[AlaskaSnows]

Hmm, very mild and little throw. I get pretty much only sandalwood with this, with a very mild breath of rose mingled with patchouli so well as to not be very recognizable. It's pretty, but secretive. Doesn't wanna come out and play.

[sarada]

This is my second time round with an imp of Rakshasa but this time I will review it!

 

Sandalwood and patchouli are perennial favorites with me. Before BPAL, I at least knew that I liked those in incense and anything else I could find them in. Rose, I like in smoky, woody or incensy blends. So yes, this sounds quite promising.

 

Strangely, it's a little too heady and sweet in the imp though which is why I didn't keep it before. Just unbelievably sweet dark rose. I don't quite smell the patchouli or sandalwood at first.

 

But on my skin, which loves woods and incense, it all works out. It's still kind of on the sweet side but it's like a thick dark pink spiral of rosy smoke. The sandalwood comes out last, slightly powdery, but deep, that lovely "little wooden box" smell that I love so much. Carved wood stained with smoke. I love that scent so much.

 

I don't need a bottle of this because I have so many other smoky roses to play with now but it's definitely worth having and might be a good catalog scent for someone who likes Love in the Asylum. It's a good classic hippie shop smell.

[arabella]

First Impression: Patchouli, wood and something tangy.

 

Dries down to: Smoky resin.

 

Additional Comments: This is a nice patchouli blend. The rose keeps it from getting too headshop-y and there's just a hint of sandalwood. It's not one I'd wear but, at least, none of the notes plays 'diva' and it's nice, for a change of pace.

 

Lasted: Several hours.

 

Rating: 2.5 out of 5

[slave1]

In Bottle: Sandalwood

 

On Skin: This is an extremely woody scent. It seems very incensey as well. I like sandalwood, but am not fond of either rose and patchouli. I think I got this imp mainly to just try more BPAL blends, not because it really interested me as a scent. The patchouli is light which is nice, so it’s not rally a dirty scent. The rose is tart and a bit powdery. I would say it’s gender neutral since it doesn’t really scream woman or man at me. It’s pretty, but not really me. It’s super light with not much throw or staying power. I would like it as a room incense or in an oil burner, but not to wear since it doesn’t do much for me.

[PixieSkull]

In the imp: I can smell lemons or sweet orange or maybe bergamot. Don't know how or where, but it's there. I can smell something like dusty, dry grass, I'm assuming sandalwood is what gives me that feel.

Wet: The citrus is mellowing a bit, dry grasses still there.

Dry: The dry sandalwood smell persists through everything. The citrus mellows out a bit by this time.

 

Category: Citrus/Dry/Sandalwood

Rating: 3/5

Overall: Beautiful and dry blend. I admit, I thought first of the DnD Rakshasa race, the foxman in his little fez and carrying his walking stick, but that didn't change much. I did like that this blend was more dry. I didn't get ANY rose from it, but that's alright. I don't know what to do with this scent yet, but I don't think I'll be wearing it much.

[nancybridget]

Ummm...well, the notes say patchouli, sandalwood, and rose, but....well....on my it smells like sugary good 'n plenties. Annis, fennel, dark syrup. My teeth are hurting just wearing this...

[tarotbydiana]

Rakshasa begins like a nearly piercing note in Bengali as Bollywood starlets belly dance atop an effervescent cloudscape. Their mustached suitors aim swords at the faces of stylized demons who bellow from leonine mouths. The pitch of rose blended with patchouli is a fuchsia sari festooned with metallic sequins and orange embroidery thread. The sandalwood returns the couples to the red clay earth where they dance and whirl into an impossibly yellow sunset and their voices quiet into a hum.

 

Rakshasa is blaringly elegant. I feel comfortable with just an imp for now though I can tell the scent will sing to me from my imp box.