Paramatman

[angelicruin]

PARAMATMAN
Like two birds of golden plumage, inseparable companions, the individual self and the immortal Self are perched on the branches of the selfsame tree. The former tastes of the sweet and bitter fruits of the tree; the latter, tasting of neither, calmly observes.

Orange blossom, East Indian sandalwood, and champaca.

I get Orange Blossom right after application and then it turns into this spicy woodsy scent on my skin. The East Indian Sandalwood steals the show. Something in the spice actually makes my nasal membranes burn a little when I sniff this scent too much.

[loverstreet]

 

I can tell this is going right to my top ten list!

 

In the bottle: Orangey sandalwood

 

Wet: Lucious orange blossoms, mixed with dry sandalwood

 

Dry: OMG!! Gorgeous champaca-city! Really rich, beautiful champaca, with a touch of sandalwood. The orange is gone, but not even missed.

 

Can't get enough - nose stuck to hand - might as well just put some on my upper lip.

[Iceblink]

Oh, this is lovely. All three notes are so balanced and perfect together. The orange blossom dominates but there's dry sandalwood to keep it from being too sweet and flowery and the champaca gives this a beautiful incensey feeling. Gorgeous and very feminine--I love this!

[edenssixthday]

Paramatman - I really thought I would like this one, but on my skin, the orange blossom screws up the loveliness of the sandalwood and champaca. The overall effect of the scent is a bitter and cloyingly powdery-sweet wood blend. It's just really odd on me. Orange blossom is one of those "iffy" notes on me, and this is one of the cases where it doesn't turn out so well. Oh well, I'll just try something else.

[Kimbernunk]

This reminds me really strongly of Vixen, but with a more noticeable orange blossom note. The sandalwood/champaca blend is nice and calming and the orange blossom sort of floats over it. It's really pretty, but I'm not sure it's so different from Vixen that I'd need a bottle of Paramatman as well. I'll have to play around more with my imp.

[ladyjc]

 

I love this! In the bottle it smells like pure, simple Nag Champa single note (which I dig).

 

On the skin though, it smells like a really, really nice mix of Scherezade and Brown Jenkins. Two of my favorite BPALs in the whole of Bpal-dom. So.....win!

 

I'm really enjoying this and I'm going to cherish Paramatman. Thank you Beth for another stellar scent...and a possible signature scent for me!

 

ETA: 4 days later and I'm loving this even more. I think this may be a new #1 for me. I don't get much orange blossom at all, it's mostly nag champa with a smidge of sandalwood. I'm hoping with age the sandalwood comes out a bit more...but either way, I love it. I see many bottles in my future!

Edited May 22, 2010 by ladyjc

[tailoredshirt]

When I first applied it, I got soapy orange blossom. I don't think orange blossom likes my skin very much, so I was expecting this.

 

As it dries the champaca comes out a lot. I get the sandalwood, and it's kind of dry and slightly sweet. The champaca is still dominant though, with the sharp orange blossom underneath.

 

After about half an hour, it's very faint. It smells mostly of incense with some dry sandalwood. The orange blossom has completely faded.

[Eutectic]

OMG this is an amazing scent on me!! Orange blossom first in the wet stage then the sandalwood starts to peak out and just deepens into something wonderful and a wee bit spicy and sweet. This is definitely now one of my top 10 and will be ordering another bottle next update!

 

Go lab!!

[Venneh]

I'm getting orange incense from this pretty much straight off the bat. On my skin, it's sandalwood and champaca and a bit of orange in there somewhere. This will prolly not turn out well.

[hkhm]

imp: beautiful champaca and sandalwood. very incens-y.

 

wet: there is a hint of orange blossom but it's faint and quickly fades. this is straight-up champaca incense on me.

 

dry: this is a little more sandalwood as it dries but it still smells strongly of incense. i like this blend far more than i expected to.

[Blood onmy hands]

I get a hint of clean, sweet orange blossom at first, but after five minutes this is all sandalwood and hints of incense. The sandalwood here is darker and more woodsy than the white sandalwood, but still similarly powdery and clean.

 

It's like dry wood, baby powder, and a hint of sweet incense smoke. Very heavy on the sandalwood. This one does have decent throw and staying power (lasts about 5 hours on me), but I don't love how dry it is or the powdery edge from the sandalwood. I wish that the orange blossom were stronger.

Edited October 26, 2010 by Little Bird

[windbourne]

This is one of those 'does exactly what it says on the tin' scents for me, which is nice, as I was hoping for exactly that. It's a beautiful blend, a bit import-store-ish from the sandalwood and champaca, but the orange blossom brings it up to the level of a wearable perfume (for me).

 

Not something I'd wear everyday, but on a hot summer night, when I want to be put in mind of a grove of orange blossoms in India? Perfect. I may take it on a cruise sometime; seems like it'd be appropriate for that.

 

Wears gently, throws moderately, lasts for a few hours and vanishes gracefully.

[Yoginispirit]

Hmm. When I first tried this I got much more orange blossom but now its almost purely sandalwood and champaca. Its very soothing but it is very similar to other blends- I agree with those that said it smells of Sherezade. Its probably Sherezade light. I enjoy it but probably not enough to warrant a bottle.

 

Orange blossom usually loves me but not here. Sigh.

 

Will update if chemistry decides to stop eating that note

 

[rinster]

When I started reading the reviews for this, it sounded very similar how Kuang Shi smelled to me, which I love (gorgeous orange blossom and sandlewood).

 

For the folks who didn't care for Kuang Shi, this may be a great alternative.

[portalkat]

I love all three notes, so I knew that I had to order a bottle of this. I was hoping that the champaca would be light because I have Panther Moon and Cracked Bell, both of which have a pronounced champaca note and I wanted something a little different. On me, this is perfect and exactly what I wanted. It's strongest on the orange blossom and sandalwood with a hint of champaca in the background. I'm finding it to be a little dry and I might try layering it with a sweet sugar note that I have........Okay, I just did that and it brought out the orange blossom a bit more and the sandalwood is no longer so dry. My chemistry does not tend to sweeten things up, so I often do this to nudge the scent along. Perfect!

[meaganola]

I picked up this imp because I love orange blossom, and, based on a coworker's repeated comments, champaca is a good note on me (and/or I turn other things to it, since she's commented on the champaca in the Harp of Cnoc I'Chosgair and Dragon's Milk. If you're thinking, "Wait a second, neither of those things have champaca," *exactly*). I'm trying this one today because I will be able to wash it off and change my clothes immediately if it turns out to go horribly, horribly wrong.

 

In the imp: Orange blossom and pretty much nothing but.

Wet: The orange blossom is still there, but as it's warming up on my skin, the spicy sandalwood is starting to come out. I'm hoping that it doesn't get too out of control because sandalwood is one of my problem notes.

Drying down: A little bit of sweetness is coming up. This is a good thing.

Dry: Not much more sweetness. Pretty much just dry spicy sandalwood.

 

Verdict: Nice enough to keep the imp, but not enough to put in a rollerball and collect more imps of. I'm headed to my brother's this evening, and I think it will be okay to not wash this off or reapply it and instead layer Panther Moon over it. *Love* Panther Moon. Except as a side note, pretty much as soon as this settled in for the day, I started craving something sweet, like Dorian or Dragon's Milk. Aaaand four hours into this, the sandalwood is driving itty bitty spikes into my brain. Washing off now, *and* moving it from the keeper stash to the swap stash. I knew this one was dicey. Here's hoping the sandalwood in Fledgling Raptor Moon behaves more like the stuff in the Harp if Cnoc I'Chosgair and Perfumed Garden!

 

[starfish327]

this really should have worked. there's no reason for this blend NOT to have worked...

 

in the imp: a sharp woody greenness with something under that i recognize but can't name either.

wet: wow. something is amping up to a screaming greenness. i know that i i know what it is but i'm not sure i can name it either.

dry: well...first it's all citronella. it smells like bug spray. then i think that it morphs into something like gardenia, and then hyacinth. in long dry down it's quite pretty. it finally settles into orange blossom (which almost always works on me, it has in every other blend i've tried that it's been in) with a woody undertone.

 

i'm not sure that the long dry down is worth the citronella blast that it gives me for the first half an hour or so.

[surlygurl]

Fresh on, this is super-duper orange blossom. All I can smell is orange blossom - very sharp floral. As it was drying, the waft was gorgeous, swirling around me, drifting past in sweet blossomy clouds. (I was riding a bicycle during drydown, so the scent was thinned out considerably. It probably would've been cloying had I been indoors.)

 

Back indoors and out of the wind, the orange blossom was back and quite loud. When sniffed up close I could smell powdery sandalwood, but the throw was all blossom. The champaca was nowhere in sight. It's a shame; I love all the notes, but my skin amps orange blossom like there's no tomorrow. Not for me.

[oakmoss]

This blend is a morphing maniac for the first half hour or so. In the bottle, I thought it was going to be the orange blossom scent of my dreams -- almost a single note scent. The orange blossoms of the groves of my teenage years, ahhhhhh! And then it hit my skin. And turned into gloopy soapy something or other than I could not really identify. Another fifteen minutes or so, and the gloop went away, leaving a soft powdery scent that was like burning a stick of incense next to an open window with the warm orange blossom wind blowing in at night. I'm thinking this might age very well, that slightly sharp orange blossom note blurring even more into the resins and smoke.

[Tramp]

To me it smells exactly like corn chips. Or those hard corn taco shells you get in the grocery store. which are basically corn chips. LOL. I really don't know what in here makes it smell like that to my nose. It is kinda funny that my nose is this weird sometimes.

 

Corn chips

[Reedsong]

This scent makes me giggle. I thought it was impossible for the Lab's orange blossom note to get any sweeter than it already was...but of course: just add champaca, and it's instant Syrup of India! This stuff is strong, radiant, straight-up heady flower nectar. My fellow fans of L'École des Filles should definitely give this one a whirl. It's so very joyful.

[Vega]

In imp: Smoky, dry, and sweet orange with an edge.

 

On skin: When wet, it's mostly woody-dry with a touch of incense smoke and oranges. The drydown progressively gets more smoky and more dry, almost dusty in feel. Now it's smoky champaca, slightly sweetened by the orange blossom, made dry by sandalwood. It's actually a gentle scent, mild and cool, and pretty in its simplicity. A scent I would associate with a phoenix! Unfortunately this is smoke with orange and woods, and I would've liked it the other way round, with less champaca and more of the other notes.

 

Verdict: I'm a bird-lover on a mission to try every bird-themed BPAL blend, so it saddens me that Paramatman just falls short of being perfect. I may age my imp for a while -- hopefully the champaca will tone down and it'll become what I want it to be!

[obsidienne]

Unsniffed bottle purchase, eek! &... success! Although it didn't seem to be when I first opened the bottle and tried it, as it was a slightly soapy incense with orange blossom. So I put it aside to let it settle a bit.

 

It's a week later, and I tested this before bed last night (and again today). There is still a slightly soapy element which seems to be coming from the champaca. However, the soap has already faded and I suspect it will be gone eventually.

 

This smells similar to what I would imagine an orange blossomy Scherezade would be; Scherezade's younger and even more innocent sister. It's not red musky, it just has that nag champa feeling somehow. The orange blossom is very pure and very beautiful, and the sandalwood is not dry, nor does it have any sharp corners or edges, which is a huge relief. Paramatman is smooth and lovely, and I can tell it will age fantastically.

 

And I've already found that it layers divinely with O. Divinely. Exclamation point exclamation point.

 

[zankoku_zen]

Loads of sandalwood, hint of champaca and orange blossom. Smooth, woody and with just a hint of oranges.

 

Too woody for me, but I do enjoy the orange blossom note in this blend.

[voodoobaby]

When I first applied this it was very soapy and strong on the orange blossom scent -- pungent and clean at the same time. I wasn't crazy about the orange blossom side of it. The drydown is a nice champaca/sandalwood combination. It smells like good-quality incense right out of the box. This would be really good for someone looking for a nice Indian-type scent, but I'm still deciding if this is "special" enough to keep.