Cairo

[Dahlia]

The essence of holy Kyphi, beloved incense of the Egyptian Gods.

Very citrus like. In Hawaii we don't get many Egyptian type scents but this and nocturne alchemy have some great Egyptian Scents. Cairo is my first of both shops and I am loving them. The scent of Egypt captured in a little vial. Great Goddess I am in love with BPAL and NA!

[Trish]

In the imp: Lemongrass and something that makes my nose twitch.

 

Wet: Lemongrass.

 

Drydown: I walked outside and suddenly got a whiff of the most wonderful soft incense. But up close... lemongrass! Now I like lemongrass but not as a perfume. However there is a soft kind of herbal incense underneath it.

 

Dry: This is quite complex. There's a very light and soft incense, a tiny hint of smoke and dried herbs. Plus lemongrass. It's dry and exotic, with a little lingering sweetness. I'm not getting any wine or berries unfortunately. Also unfortunately as the lemongrass fades everything else does and within an hour there's only a faint powdery scent left. Mind you, it's quite a lovely powder!

 

If the rest of the notes were as strong as the lemongrass was and if it lasted longer on me this would probably be a bottle.

[lightgatherer]

Incense. I believe floral incense. I like incense blends, but the more I try, the pickier I get about them. This one doesn't have anything special about it, so I'm swapping it away.

[Iceblink]

If there were such a thing as lemongrass incense, this would be it. It's not what I expected at all, and it's nice, but a little heavy on the citrus.

I do love the saffron color of this oil.

[gaai]

I was really curious about how this scent smells and now I know: it's lemon incense.

When it's on my skin for a while it warms up a little, losing some of the lemony freshness, but it's still lemon incense.

 

It's nice enough, but I don't think I'll wear it very frequently, which will give it the opportunity to get some age to it......I think it'll get better when it ages a bit.

[rockchickie]

This is incense-like but sweet. Not cheap dollar store incense. A hint of amber in there? Not overpowering so I'm not detecting any specific notes. Very smooth blend. Warm. Fiance went 'mmm!', which is good because I dig it

[hipslike___cinderella]

Sweet, golden incense. A twist of citrus. Juicy and spicy, this is mouth-watering. After compulsively sniffing my wrist and wondering, I realized what this reminds me of: there is an Indian market across from my apartment, and they sell spicy candied mandarin peels. This is EXACTALLY what it smells like. After some wear, the spiciness fades to mostly orange and lemon. This is interesting, but not my thing really.

[firelion]

(More geekery - I bought this because I like the X-Men character Storm...she grew up an orphaned thief in Cairo.)

 

In the vial:

Sweeter than I had imagined. Almost poisonously so.

 

On my skin:

Strong, still quite sweet, but with a sort of lemony smell. Unfortunate associations to cleaning agents, although it didn’t smell utilitarian, there was no chemical undertone. As it dried, the lemony scent began to take a back seat to something a little more spicy. It was not heavy, but it was more the sort of scent I associate with incense. Hot, dry air carrying perfumed smoke. Lovely.

[RemAkimichi]

In the bottle: Cleaning fluid, like a sweeter lemon pledge.

 

On me (Wet): A punch of lemon and herb, with a wisp of sweet, almost fruity dried roses -not like a big gorgeous red but like a small and sweet yellow rose. The wisp was so over powered by the lemon and herb at first that I thought I was catching scent of whatever my sister was wearing, but it turned out she only had on sunscreen and the ghosty scent of dried roses was coming from me. Gorgeous!

 

On me (Dry): The lemon and roses mix and become more harmonized, and much, much lighter. By the end of the school night I was only catching light wiffs of it from my neck, and it had completely worn off my wrists.

 

Overall: An absolutely lovely scent that immediately clawed its way into my favorites list. The only drawback is that at first it's throw is too strong, but after two hours it spends itself and airs away completely. Needs an emulsifier or cream or something to help keep it strong and last longer.

[jasmine]

Freshly applied, this is surprisingly sweet (honeyed, perhaps, but not overwhelmingly so), with a pronounced lemony note that rapidly takes over most of the scent.

 

Given a few minutes to settle, the lemon is still most pronounced, but there’s a dimension under it that prevents it from being Pledge-like; this is lemon with an echo, and the echo is softly golden brown. I think white musk might be involved.

 

Because this doesn’t smell at all like typical “Lab incense” to me, I became curious enough to look up “Kyphi” in Wikipedia. From this, I learn that people are not totally certain what kyphi included, aside from honey, wine, and raisins, but some ingredients often mentioned are cinnamon, cassia bark, cyperus, sweet flag, cedar, juniper berry, frankincense, myrrh, benzoin, and mastic.

 

Perhaps the lemoniness I detect is actually benzoin? I can’t be certain. I’m proud of having spotted the honey, though. I think there probably is myrrh in this, though I still suspect white musk. I would be willing to believe that there’s cedar or juniper, though I can’t outright detect it. I don’t think cinnamon or frankincense is in here.

 

This lasts for a really long time without metamorphosing much, and it’s rather distinctive. It doesn’t speak to me on an emotional level, but it’s a nice lemon.

[Nia]

I assumed I would not like this. The citrussiness surprises me, and like others, I feel something close to lemongrass. This is mysterious as it is hard to pick up individual notes and it doesn't smell at all the way I expect incense to.

 

I only swap scents that absolutely don't work, and, although I would never wear this as a perfume, I think it would work well as a room scent. It's woodsy and dry, a little bit bitter, with a sweet undertone.

[lapillus]

Wet: sweet and juicy with something a bit sharper in back (looking at notes it must be the cypress)

Dry: Oh and there’s the lemongrass and myrrh.

Later: goes through a sour phase before heading back to generic sweetness.

Summary: This is at it’s most interesting when wet. I’ll try it again and maybe try it as a room scent but may end up trading. It’s nice enough but dry it’s not that distinctive.

[500ml]

Sweet floral incense would be the best way to describe how Cairo smells to me. I don't get a single hint of lemon or lemongrass, just a beautiful complex floral/spicy/incense scent. The spicyness has faded and after two hours of wearing Cairo seems to be mellowing a bit, but this works so well for me. It brings back a lot of memories.

I also find that wet it's not that nice, far too sweet with a nasty sharp edge, but once it dries it's truly wonderful. I think this would be excellent as a room scent as well.

[Tal Shachar]

First thought, on smelling it in the imp: I want to eat this.

After some deliberation I determined that yes, I was smelling lemon like the others, but there's more fruit than that in there, at first. To me it smelled like cherries, the maraschino cherries in a pitcher of sangria. But also lemon and orange and the incense note lingering in the background.

 

After awhile that settled down and it's now a more myrrhy smell, like those import stores that sell bellydancing supplies and brass statues of Buddha. The lemon is still there, the cherries are gone, and I no longer am tempted to empty the imp into my mouth. There's a bright, slightly bitter note, like the pith under the lemon zest. Something for particular moods, I think; I like but I'm not in love.

[Diana]

it's funny how almost every review smells something different.

 

wet: soft spices, a little sweet

 

dry: turned mostly floral with a touch of a resin. almost like a rose incense, but a little too heavy on the rose. oddly, i don't get any citrus from this at all. i wonder if my nose is broken. at any rate, judging from this particular imp, it's nice, but not something i'd want in a large quantity.

[CrazyPretzel]

Wet: hm -- not an immediate dislike, but it has that sharp grape-y plummy note that I hate (got it in Horreur Sympathique, Skuld). I think it's probably wine. Fortunately there's honey in there as well, which tends to help blends that I'd otherwise have trouble with. We'll see how it goes...

 

As it dries, I'm getting a whiff of, like, raisin scones, or cakes, or something. The sour grape-y note is fading, so I think it's safe to put it on both wrists now.

 

On the drydown, I get a very light incense smell that fades very quickly -- in about ten minutes or so. That's a shame, as the raisin cake phase was interesting. Some scents just seem to vanish very quickly on me.

[LadyCrow]

In the imp: Food spices and... lemon?

 

Wet, dry, and very consistently throughout its wear: Incense, but also strongly, strongly citrus, like bitter orange peel. It reminds me of the sun, which I guess would be part of the point. It's not a "me" scent, but it's fascinating and consistent -- not a morpher; once the wet phase burns off, so does any trace of foody spice, and the blend's true nature as incense comes on strong and stays strong for the all-too-short wear time.

[porcelina]

the first thing i noticed about cairo was its lovely saffron yellow color. the second thing i noticed, after application, was that it smelled like lemon fresh pine-sol and smoke. it does not morph and i cannot pick out individual notes... this is like super-blended. notttt for me.

[maribouquet]

Citrus-y, and dries down into a dry frankincense. Very nice, but not amazing on me. Would love this as a room scent for a small study with fireplace or a bookstore.

[taramarie]

On my skin, Cairo started out as sweet, sugary, pink bubblegum and now smells like that and lemon Pledge. I'll give it one more try because I really love the city.

[Nimthiriel]

In the vial (initial impression):

I can't tell what it is, but it's strong, vibrant and mysterious. Mmm!

 

Initially on (wet):

Citrus of some kind, mixed with - frankincense, myrrh? Perhaps the citrus is lemongrass... It's spicy but not in a super strong sense. It reminds me a bit of soap - I hope that impression goes away. It's pleasant, but thus far not quite what I pictured. Perhaps it's just my chemistry bringing out the possible lemongrass.

 

Wearing it (dry):

10-20 mins after application, it's all lemon on me. I'm a bit saddened at that, because I'm not really that in to lemon (though the boyfriend is), mainly because I'm allergic to the fruit itself, though I don't mind the smell or taste. Hmm!

 

20-30 mins after application, the lemongrass is getting mixed with something else, a bit more like incense. Not much, but enough to please me.

 

An hour later, it's a much more pleasant smell - soft myrrhs and the smoke of incense, with a lemongrass background that's really not too overbearing. I like it.

 

6 hours later, it's a soft and pleasant smell, with a mysterious touch to it. Much better!

 

Finally:

10 hours and still hanging around, in much more pleasant ways. Faded now, though, more than the Bastet one did. I *think* I'll keep this one. (I ended up swapping it.)

[camaro199183]

Wonderful incense smell. Cairo is one of my favorites. Magical.

[LyndaM]

Strooong artificial lemon when first applied and right through drydown. I was dying to get some of the resins, incense and wonderful scents others are reporting here, but my skin ran with the lemon.

 

Hours and hours later, the faintest breath of scent left on my skin is really lovely. The lemon finally gave up, and left a dry incence. Unfortunately, it is now almost too faint to smell. Cairo is just not for me.

[ouch!]

I would put this scent into the same category as say...Madrid, Athens and Sed Non Satiata. It has that same kind of feel. There's definately a boozy element to this when wet. And also an underlying sexiness.

Iy does morph somewhat and the booziness goes away (thank goodness). It's quite floral too...but O can't put my finger on anything specific. And I do not smell Lemon's for sure!

[Northernskygal]

It smells like... a sweet version of pledge to me.. sugared pledge.. if that makes sense.. like.. eating fruit salad in a room that recently had the wooden floors cleaned and polished

 

I don't really get any resin or incensey smell.. I don't know.. it's not a bad smell.. it's just a really.. clean.. floor smell...