Rakshasa

[NatCatz]

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

I really like this, it reminds me of an insence I had some time ago that I was just mad for.

Its sweet soft rose, sandalwood, Patchouli and cinnamon maybe?
Its deep and sexy and everything I was wishing for.

I think this is a 5ml.

[arsenicsauce]

Got this in a frimp.

 

In the vial: Dammit, this is driving me crazy because it smells exactly like something I should recognize but don't. Maybe it's a place I've been. Not a nice one, either. Nursing home?

 

Wet: sharper than I expected it to be, and there's something citrusy that I can't identify. Asked for a second opinion from my mom, since I'm at her place, and she says tangerine. Yeah, there's a lot of sandalwood.

 

Dry: Sandalwood fades under the rose. I'm not sure what the patchouli is doing here, but it's definitely doing something since this isn't straight sandalwood and rose. It's a little mustier. The rose isn't getting soapy, but unfortunately I don't really like rose anyways so I'm not going to hold on to the imp. Still, I can see how someone else might enjoy this.

 

edited to add: This took hours and hours to fade, but when it did it soured like old stale sweat and was generally very unpleasant.

Edited February 28, 2008 by arsenicsauce

[Sushi-n-Sake]

In imp: Sandalwood with floral background

Wet: Cedar?? with sharp rose. Don't know where the cedar is coming from but that's what I smell.

Later: I amp rose like crazy and this is no exception. Sharp, overwhelming rose and cedar.

A lot later: It's now a very nice sandalwood-rose scent. I don't know if I can get past the initial Rose Migraine, though. I never did get any patchouli from this.

[akuaa]

strong floral. i think it's lily and rose? i don't really care much for it. it has that "expensive hotel soap" smell. *reads description* oh -- it's sandalwood and rose. normally i really like sandalwood, but this isn't deep enough. the rose makes it too light. i guess i just don't like rose in perfumes because it makes me think of hotel soap. it's only been a couple hours, so maybe after the 4 hours mark, i'll like it more (if the sandalwood becomes more dominant), but right now, this is not for me.

[scotchgrrl]

Rakshasa = ROSE on me.

 

It's amazing to me how different things smell on each individual, even different from one body part to another.

 

I put this on my wrists and in my cleavage. After about an hour, my wrists had a very light sandlewood scent but my cleavage had gone all roses. They kept coming up out of my bra in a big bouquet and smacking me on the face. And it hit hard. I didn't smell anything else but roses, not those simpering hot house roses either, full bodied, 100 year old English Rose Garden roses!

 

My bf also smelled roses...from across the room. This is the first scent I've worn that had any real throw. Most stay in a cloud just barely around me. How much did I use, you ask. It was from a frimp from the lab. I dabbed one stick's worth on my wrists and in my cleavage. That's all. 3 little dunks into the bottle. WOW! This one is powerful on me.

[butcherbaby]

in the imp: a refreshing, lightly medicinal rose

 

on my skin: screeching sharp biting pungent ROSE ROSE ROSE!!!!!!

 

*sad*

 

i don't know why most of the labs rose scents amp so disturbingly on my skin. i LOVE rose! but the lab's roses don't love me. oh well.... the few that *do* work are really gorgeous, so i'll keep going til i've tried every one.

[evanescence]

this thankfully stays in the rose incense range on me... somewhat complex and mysterious and it really should be a big bottle. Drydown brings out the sandlewood but it's not overpowering.

[ClareN]

This is one of the more "natural" smelling BPALs, in that it smells like it could be recreated with essential oils from your local hippie store. I realize that all BPAL is all-natural, but this just has that...essential oil/aromatherapy smell. If that sounds dismissive, it's not supposed to be, because I actually love Rakshasa.

 

I agree with everyone else who said that there's orange in this. The scent is predominantly orange, patchouli and perhaps some other sort of dark wood or resin - I almost want to say myrrh? When I compare Rakshasa to the closest-to-hand myrrh scent, Masabakes, I do think there is a little myrrh in Rakshasa.

 

On me, the rose is present but fairly subtle and blends well into the other ingredients. If you're looking for a rose scent where the rose doesn't overtake the whole blend, this might be a good choice. I see that many people's experience has been quite the opposite, so maybe it's a batch difference thing? I tried it out on my boyfriend and it smells roughly the same on him as it does on me, and neither of us smell a lot of rose.

[savage_rose]

It smells very sweet and soft...nothing stands out too strongly, it's just a woody, sweetly incensed rose. Nicely done.

[martiangurll]

Preconceptions: I love sandalwood, rose and patchouli, so this should be a slam dunk.

 

In the imp: Lemony. But there's no lemon in this...I wonder if the rose is misbehaving.

 

Wet on skin: Sandalwood overpowered by soapy roses.

 

Drydown: The rose overpowers even the patchouli, which is sometimes a dealbreaker when it smells to "headshoppy". I think the roses smell lemony too, but I sometimes get that with other rose blends. The sandalwood is hardly apparent nor is the patchouli. This may as well be single note rose for me and it just gets soapier. I washed it off!

 

Overall Impressions: The rose ruins Rakshasa for me, which is a shame, because I thought the notes would work. Rose is always hit or miss with me. I guess you just cannot predict how a blend is going to smell from reading the notes, although I do try to imagine it in my head. Luckily, there are imps to try before committing to a big bottle. This will go to my swap pile--not for me or my skin chemistry.

[SarahScent44]

In the imp, this is a good blend of patchouli and sandalwood.

 

On my skin, the patchouli and the sandalwood stay on pretty equal footing.

 

When it dries, it's more patchouli than sandalwood - I never got any rose. This one's not for me.

[faerywolfe]

In the Bottle: Bitter lemon rind and musk.

 

Wet: The lemon has become a deep, almost sour rose. I have no idea why I'm getting lemon here. The lemon finally goes away after a few moments only to return again, slightly less bitter this time. I'm not smelling any patchouli at all, which I was hoping for. It smells like a bundle of roses laid on a wooden bench that has been freshly treated with lemon oil. This has an amazing throw - the aura smells purely of roses however, with no woods or even the lemon.

 

Drydown: Pure, sweet, powerful, powder roses. With an edge of lemon.

 

Overall: I desperately wanted to like this one. The notes sounded rich and delicious, but the rose has stolen the show entirely. I never once smelled the patchouli that I love, and I only caught the most fleeting ephemeral sandalwood once or twice. If you enjoy roses, then this is exquisite, but not, unfortunately, for me.

 

---

 

ETA: Hours later, this has turned into the purest and most perfect sandalwood on me. It's absolutely intoxicating and still just as strong as the moment I put it on. I adore this stage, but I'm still not sure if it's worth almost three hours of unrelenting roses.

Edited July 6, 2008 by faerywolfe

[Coldfire]

Imp from a friend

 

 

 

Imp: Smells like my local witch shop! YUM!

Wet On Me: Not so much like my fave

witch shop any more. Rose now, Nice sharp rose, not

overly sweet rose. Almost an aquatic rose scent over incense.

Drying Down: It's turned to harsh air freshener rose

now to my nose.

Dry: Powder Room Rose. Boo! Even the incense

is gone now.

 

In the initial sniff I had really high hopesm but now after it's dry

not so much for me. This goes in the re-home pile for sure.

[moon_lemming]

Mmmm, dirty hippie. Definitely sandalwood in there, it's pretty much amped to the 8000th degree when wet. As it dries, I can smell a sort of rose/lemon combo trying to squeeze past it.

 

Dry, the sandalwood in Rakshasa sort of settles down (which is surprising on my skin, which normally amps it) and the blend is evenly balanced between sandalwood, rose, and lemon. Maybe patchouli, but I have a hard time picking that out. I can definitely smell each of the other three notes, though.

 

Would smell deelishus as an incense but it is not really something I'd wear.

[kawaiiferreto]

Wet: Dirt and lemon?

 

Dry: Dirty rose. Emphasis on the dirt. It must be the patchouli that's turning to dirt on me. This is more like what I expected Zombi to smell like. The sandalwood is MIA for me - eaten by the dirt I suspect.

[vikitty]

A nice balance between sandalwood and rose when wet on my skin, but as it dries the rose fades and I just get sandalwood and what I'm guessing is patchouli. Boo-urns!

[hlinspjalda]

In the vial: Sandalwood and something sharp and a little soapy; there's also something almost fruity about it, maybe citrusy.

 

Wet: An unusual light rose scent and something citrusy. I like this, it's not heavy.

 

Twenty minutes: Really high-quality Indian soap, sandalwood and rose together. Don't get any patchouli off this one, at least, not the hippie sort. This is light and very refined, more like a sandalwood fan wafting through the air.

 

Hour and a half: Still high-quality soap. Too much sandalwood for my taste, I guess. It's lovely, but it evokes a specific culture too strongly for me to be comfortable wearing it.

 

Three hours: Softer now, very gentle. Didn't last long (climate conditions?), but it doesn't smell quite so much like soap either.

[Lunaheretic]

Ooh I love this one! It's on the top of my next bottle buy list. Beautifully balanced blend of sandalwood, rose and patchouli. I'm not a big fan of strong patchouli blends unless they are seriously sweetened. This is just perfect, light, incensey, feminine and spicy. It's a great everyday blend for me. I love the Indian culture and mythology and so does my boyfriend and I picked this one up because he thinks Rakshasas are sexy, heh. I'm not a big rose fan but this is just gorgeous.

[ravenrigan]

In the bottle

Rose ROSE ROSE

 

Wet on skin

Johnson's Baby Powder. With ROSE

 

Drydown

Johnson's baby powder with a hint of Sandalwood, and did I mention the ROSE!

 

Finish

Stays true. Wish it didn't Rose and baby powder. And it wears like a bastard! I can still smell it in the morning, having tested it at bedtime.

 

Wearlength

Long........

 

Throw

Unfortunately good and strong

 

Mood

I don't mind baby powder as it happens, it has good sexy associations for me, but the Rose mugs everything else in this scent. It smells like the cheap rose cologne one of my less intuitive Aunties gave me for Xmas when I was fourteen

 

Verdict

I had high hopes for this one, but the rose went and stomped over all the other lovely notes. Now I get the baby powder reference that everybody talks about. First time its happened to me. Swaps!

[crebbsgirl]

All I get is ROSE here. I think I just need to face the fact that I simply can't wear predominantly rose blends. I asked my SO what he thought. "Pickles..." was the response I got. So, off to swaps.

[angelicruin]

Imp: rose and patchouli (not one of my favorite combos)

 

Wet: predominantly rose

 

Dry Down: Patchouli comes back out. I have no idea what sandalwood smells like, but this combination with rose is just not working for me.

[hellomoonglow]

I really wanted to try this and was SO excited to find it in an eBay auction I won! It somehow slithered in there unbeknownst to me. I mainly wanted to try it based on reviews, and I'm glad I did. I had some misgivings. In the imp, it smells very head shoppy - which I usually love, but this was kind of like cheap incense head shop type. But I perservered! On it went, along with Hod and Lyonesse, which I just finished reviewing. I remembered I had some Rakshasa on the left wrist, and smelled it, fully expecting to find cheap head shop. Whoa! I get sandalwood, rose and lemon! It's lovely! My most favorite thing is when I get an imp of something, try it, love it, review it and find that it's still in the GC. YAY!!!

[tuesdaynexxt]

Okay, the imp definitely says Rakshasa, and I was SO looking forward to sandalwood and patchouli.

So why do I get straight Lemon Pledge??? No - not kidding. Lemon Pledge. A weensy bit of patchouli lurking behind. Must find another imp...

[obsidienne]

I thought Rakshasa would smell great on me, because I have never had a problem with any of the notes that make it.

 

Instead it smells just like woody rose soap in the imp and on me. Soap soap soap. My chemistry is so evil.

 

This was a forum frimp, and I'm grateful to have tried the blend! Crossing another "to try" off my wishlist today.

Edited November 3, 2008 by obsidienne

[tinyvulture]

On me this smells like gentle pink rose, a strong dose of sandalwood, and lemony ginger. I’m not getting the patchouli at all. It’s a pretty, simple, cheerful scent which reminds me of Indian incense.