Rakshasa

[miss apple]

Rakshasa

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

 

This scent is so subtle to my nose. The only thing I think of when I sniff this is stone roses. Not the band but freshly cut roses scattered on damp stone. No sandalwood (sadly) or citrus and I really don't smell any patchouli in the usual sense but I think that's what is giving it that rocky earthiness. It fades even more after a few hours but I still get whiffs of it now and then. This is very quiet and comtemplative.

[Nekomata]

Green and fresh wet. Dries and finishes with more of a woody, deep scent.

[Naamah_Darling]

When I open this, I smell . . . citrus?! The sandalwood is so sweet and light, not heavy at all. This is a bright smell. I smell the roses underneath: crisp, fruity little roses. The patchouli is a rough note underneath, but not so pronounced. I still can't decide why I'm smelling the white part of orange peel.

 

On, I'll be damned if there is not orange in it. Neroli, maybe?

 

It's delicious, though. Wonderfully cool and deep. The throw is intriguing . . . clean resinous incense, without the smoky rasp. And a hint of rose. Oh, yes, yes, this is wonderful at a distance. Very much. And it's very clean which I would not have expected from a patchouli scent, which are usually very dirty and rough on me. I don't know if this is a new green patchouli or what, but it's wonderful and just a little herbal. And a little soapy, but in a handmade soap sort of way that's nice.

 

As it dries, it gets less orangey and becomes a powdery rose/patchouli/spice, like a very clean cat that's just rolled in fragrant temple dust. Speaking of which, my primary cat seems to like this one a lot – she keeps licking it, then making faces, then licking it, then making faces. I had to stop her because, seriously, that freaking tickles.

 

Shapeshifting? You bet. Just try to pin this one down. Now you smell one thing, now you smell another. An incredible feat of the perfumer's art, because it not only smells different moment to moment, but depending on how far it is from your face.

[melrose]

First on: Oranges and lemon! Very bright, with cold dirt in the background. No roses, no sandalwood.

 

Drydown: Ah, here are the roses - soft, pale lavender. The patchouli is the dirt smell, I suppose. It's still here, but warmed up a bit by a hint of sandalwood.

 

Yummy. I think it will continue to shape-shift when I start blending it with other BPALs.

[edenssixthday]

Rakshasa smells entirely of sandalwood to me. It's a dry sandalwood that has no unique qualities to it whatsoever. There's nothing wrong with it -- it certainly doesn't smell bad, but it's boring. There's nothing special about it. It smells like just about any sandalwood I could pick up anywhere. One thing about it is that it does last a long time on my skin -- a good 8 hours or more, although it doesn't have much throw, and gets particularly subtle on my skin around the three hour point. If you're looking for a plain sandalwood with nothing particularly interesting about it, this may be a nice sandalwood for you. As far as sandalwood scents go, I definitely prefer Tamora, and really have no reason to wear Rakshasa again if I could be wearing Tamora instead.

[misfitroxy]

I really can't say what this reminds me of in the imp. Something bright and warm and heady. With just a touch of musk from the patchouli. Golden is a word that comes to mind.

 

On my skin, something goes terribly wrong. I think it's the patchouli, quite honestly, as I'm getting this overwhelming, almost urine-like pungent smell that I've never encountered from BPAL before. And it's making the rose smell horribly synthetic. There's an old designer perfume that this reminds me of, but I can't place it off-hand.

 

I had high hopes for Rakshasa, but it's not to be. It sounds like it's working beautifully for many others, though, so hopefully I can pass it along to be worn and loved.

[HennaFairy]

bottle:

patchouli, slightly musky

 

wet:

rose and patchouli

 

dry:

still don't smell much sandalwood. Really nice scent that combines roses/incense

overall:

really nice blend but not my style

 

rating: 6/10

[maproot]

was this from the lab-a forum sale-my collection is growing

in the bottle it smelled light,wasn't sure what it was,bit decided would be ok for a summer day,not too overpowering.Then it morphed into a strong memory of high school in 1971 and Golden Gate Park(the sandalwood).And several hours later sniffed wrist while at a stoplight,and it was still there.

 

Dont know whether I would order a 5ml,and it doesnt scream favorite at me, but it's a nice,earthy, scent memory.

[Eunice]

I have had this on my wish list for ages and if I'd known how perfect this would smell, I'd have snatched up a lrage bottle immediately. Rose and sandalwood and just a bit of patchouli. This couldn't be more perfect. This is so perfect for me I just want to cry.

[Taniwha]

Wet, this is all patchouli and something spicy - carnation, perhaps. In a few minutes, though, the patchouli falls away and the gorgeous rose blooms, floating on the faintest hint of the sandalwood. This is a glorious rose, just what I want from a rose scent, and what I hoped Black Rose would be, but wasn't. This is so ladylike, yet a wee bit menacing underneath. LOVE IT!

[TrailerTrashPrincess]

i tried this on right before my phone rang, and didn't sniff at it for about half an hour...

 

and then it smelled like Tom's of Maine deo in the Honeysuckle Rose scent.

[provocateur]

In bottle: Lemon Zest. It's the very sweet side of sandalwood.

 

On skin, wet: Lemon pledge. Very cleansery.

 

On skin, dry: Very wood, as if the sandalwood decided to change it's mind and become not as light, unless that's what the patchouli is doing to it.

 

Conclusion: Interesting. The shapeshifting part is definitely seen here.

 

Rating: 2/5

[thecaitycat]

In bottle: I smell rose more than anything, but I can detect some patchouli. Pleasant, but not amazing.

 

Wet, on skin: Rose is less prominent, sandalwood is more obvious.

 

Dry, on skin: WOW! The sandalwood and patchouli dominate. If I sniff my wrist up close, I get a lot more sandalwood. Still a hint of rose.

 

Verdict: Not bad at all. It's not something I'd get a whole bottle of, though. It might smell really good on a guy.

Edited October 25, 2006 by The Caity Cat

[ouch!]

RAKSHASA

 

Well I kinda have a few different things to say about this scent, but before I say about the smell, I just wanna say that after wearing this for a week, I now truly believe that a perfume/oil can actually morph to your body chemistry, It's kinda like it get's to know you! I thought this happened with Cassanova, but wasn't sure if I was going mad or not!

 

Ok so anyway,

 

When I first applied (before the strange morphing) I get an orangy rose scent, The orange is more like orange blossom than orange the fruit, I think it smells like "Jaffa Cakes" (not sure if you guys get them in the US but hey! This stage is beautiful but unfortunately it only lasts for literally 10 or 20 seconds then poof, it's gone, my body must just eat it!

 

After that the sandalwood starts to come out almost immediatley, with only the tinyest hint of Patchouli, and it kind of stays like that until the end.

 

HOWEVER.............

 

After about 4 days of wearing it, it changed. I still get the beautiful orange blossom for 20 seconds, but after dry down... occasionally, and only very occasionally (almost rarely lol) I get this lovely incensey note that comes out of nowhere. I wish it stayed more like this for longer but nevermind. This is when I actually understood the whole, Indian Demon relevance, because it did occasionally waft this indian incense smell! YAY!

 

The one thing that is bad about Rakshasa is it has absolutely no throw on me whatsoever, had to re apply about every 45 minutes! Bum!

 

 

[juniperus]

Bottle: interesting combination of rose and patchouli, almost..sweet & sour at first sniff

Wet: grounded, now, this has lost that strange quality and the rose is definitely floral (as opposed to oddly food-y)

Dry: no sandalwood yet, the patchouli bringing up the bottom and rose the top, tho. this seems to be taking a while to blossom, as it were.

Later: the sandalwood finally appears, filling the center and allowing this to have some richness. there is a sharpness here, the thorns of the rose, no doubt.

[fiddledragon]

On me, this is at first PATCHOULI, which I like, but not to this extreme. Eventually it dries to a really lovely sandalwood-rose blend. Interestingly, I like this because it doesn't smell perfectly blended together...the sandalwood is there with the patchouli as a woody grounded spicy base, and the roses are soaring up over them, clear and fresh. Alas, given the nose-whomping beginning and the tendancy of rose to go off on me some weeks, this isn't destined to become a favorite.

[PilotKitten]

Interesting rose blend. It's a very light rose and something else on me. It's not patchouli or sandalwood so I can't imagine what else it is in there.... Strange. It fades very quickly on me though... probably why I can't pick anything out.

[mtlaise]

well, none of the individual ingredients in this are ones I tend to go for, but I have been pleasantly surprised by other BPAL scents before, so I gave this one a try... on me this seems like a very even blend of the patchouli, rose and sandalwood. Unfortunately, none of these smells is really good for me, but if you like any of these notes, it may be for youo. This one goes up for trade...

[astridclaire]

Ok, so I have a dream rose blend that contains rose, amber, and sandalwood. Rakshasa is the closest Lab blend that I could find to this dream...

 

In the Imp: Pretty much all patchouli.

 

Wet: The rose is starting to fight with the patchouli but doesn't look like it's going to win

 

Dry (20 minutes later): Wow, what a morph! Now the patchouli is almost non-existent and the sandalwood is at the forefront with the perfect amount of rose layered over it.

 

This is a beautiful blend featuring a dominant sandalwood note. I love it!

[supremegoddessofall]

Patchouli and chemical rose. But it's not as bad as most of the roses on me. Not getting much sandalwood. Still not good enough to keep.

[storme]

In the imp: very soft and.. actually, this smells like the rose tea I drink, brewed very weakly.

 

On me, wet: very much like rose tea in a sandalwood mug might smell. Very delicious.

 

On me, dry: lots of sandalwood, lots of rose, not much patchouli. What patchouli there is is grounding the scent, while the sandalwood warms and the rose sweetens - but it doesn't last long on me.

 

Verdict: Well, when my imp of <b>The Empress</b> runs out, this may be the cheapest way to replace it. But it fades much faster on my skin.

[jenleigh]

I'm going to have to give this a second shot, I think. My first try led to the "Weird-ass-skin" thing I so often get, where there was a sour note in there that I just couldn't place. There's no reason this shouldn't work on me, though, as it's 3 notes that normally do work. I'm going to have to return it from my swap pile and give it another go, I think.

[lady_pandora]

This turns to 90% patchouli and 10% sandalwood within minutes on my skin, with the rose vanishing as rose tends to do on me.

 

This is a very earthy, almost musty patchouli. It doesn't smell bad per se. (I'm not at that time of the month when patchouli turns to rancid garbage smell on me.) But I rarely feel the urge to smell that strongly and that exclusively of patchouli.

 

And for those days when I want a patch/sandalwood blend, I have Anne Bonny, which balances better on my skin and smells more like a 50/50 mix of the two notes.

 

Sadly, I don't think this one is "me."

[forspecial_plate]

Rakshasa is a nice rose scent that plays nice with my skin for the most part. The throw is really pretty, rose with something tart...just the combination of notes I guess. Up close it's much more woody, but I can't smell the patchouli. It's exotic. I think I'm more partial to Thanatos for rose scents.

[theseagrows]

i thought this was frankincense, rose and amber, because that's what it smells like on me. at first, s the combination of rose/sandalwood turns to frankincense (pencil shavings) on my skin, after it dries a bit it calms down and is not so strong. i think i might like this one better if the sandalwood was subtler, as i think my skin tends to amp it a bit.