The Wet Nurse and the Old Monk

[stellamaris]

THE WET NURSE AND THE OLD MONK

Red sandalwood, peach, white tea, and champaca.

Ok this gets my vote for Name Which Inspires Most Horrifying Images...
But I had to buy it because it sounded so delicious, and yes, it is.
Very fruity and lush at the top, peachy but grounded, I guess that is the red sandalwood, champaca is present in the background but not aggressive. I can't smell the White Tea yet, but I didn't wear it that long.
Fresh, lush, not cloying.

[zankoku_zen]

I'm almost afraid to write this review, but because I'm honest and nice I'll do so.

 

This is the Luper that has displaced Creeper Dragon as my favorite Luper of 2015. No joke.

 

I get red sandalwood, champaca and just a swirl of peach. And somehow, this ends up smelling like a Lush store - with a heavy fruity floral component, smoky and just... awesome. Ever wanted to smell like a Lush store but didn't want to buy a gazillion products? Here's your chance. You only need to buy one. YES. One.

 

So good. I need more. Everyone needs this. BIG STAMP OF APPROVAL. Consider this my Luper PSA.

[Myrrha]

When first applied this was pretty awful on me. The sandalwood was harsh and sour and the tea smelled sharp like lemon.

 

After 20 minutes the sandalwood, peach and champaca had blended into something very nice. A rich smooth scent with the tea brightening it. At this phase I would have said it is a sandalwood scent with peach and champaca enriching it but the champaca takes over and after 45 minutes it is a champaca scent with sandalwood and peach supporting. Champaca is an incense-y, soft floral that seems to drape itself over everything like a rich hippie doing languid yoga poses in velvet bell bottoms. Sometime later the champaca-sandalwood goes a bit thin and sour.

 

I'm glad I got to try this one and it may be that it would work better on someone else due to skin chemistry.

Edited March 7, 2015 by Myrrha

[mermaidsdream]

 

In the imp: fruity but fresh, with a hint of spice. Wet, applied: Very fruity, but not over-powering. Still fresh, happy scent. Dried: soft powder, with a hint of fruit. I like this one, too.

In the imp: fruity but fresh, with a hint of spice.

 

Wet, applied: Very fruity, but not over-powering. Still fresh, happy scent.

 

Dried: soft powder, with a hint of fruit. I like this one, too.

 

Side note: Some of it soaked into my sweat shirt, and it's still overpoweringly fruity. I like it, but I don't see myself reaching for it much.

[AmyAngel]

Pretty! Light peachy tea, with sweet champaca being floral behind it. I think the sandalwood is underneath just deepening things a little. The more it dries, it's sweeter but not too sweet, the tea scent is still there. There's even a hint of spiciness to it now. Very pretty.

[izile]

In the decant: I've barely opened it and it's such strong sweet peach tea

 

wet: champaca and sandalwood take over immediately, tea falls way to the back and peach is buried, but trying to peek out

 

dry: weird - still more champaca and sandalwood than anything, peach tea is just about gone. Sad.

[TallGrrl78]

I'll preface this by saying that "It's official! Champaca just is not for me!".

 

Very strong champaca scent. It's probably like 80% of what I'm smelling with a little bit of peach in the background. But oh man, this champaca. Get out of my nose!

 

Not sure if I just amp this note or what. Even though the champaca is listed last, it's the strongest note that I'm getting - bulldozing over everything else.

[Lethran]

In bottle: Peach and champaca dominant. The sandalwood is strong and gives them a dusty feel. The white tea is a fundamental underpinning. I am not sure this is for me, but I am fascinated. Wet: I can think of nothing like this. The Champaca and white tea do this fascinating thing with each other, while the peach grounds their dance. The sandalwood plays much better with the other elements on the skin, lending the peach body, even as the peach softens the sandalwood and hydrates it. This would be lovely on a young woman. It is a bit weird on me, but that isn’t the blend’s fault. Dry: Sandalwood and shreds of peach accord.

[dangerbunnygirl]

In the bottle: Fruity tea, very yummy and fresh.

On my skin: starts off smelling nice but ends up smelling like dryer sheets on me, and lasts for ages! I have made a solemn vow to my loved ones to never wear it again.

[portalkat]

ZZ's review at the top of this page is what made me order a bottle of this. Now, I don't really recall what a Lush store smells like, but I wanted to smell like one.

 

The first sniff from the bottle has me worried because "red" anything always smells harsh to me and red sandalwood is no exception. When I put some of, the change is drastic and the harshness is gone. I'm finding the peach note to be stronger than the champaca and I think that I would have liked it better the other way around, but I'm hoping that with some age behind it, that might change. The drydown is soft, fruity from the peach with just a hint of floral behind it. The red sandalwood keeps this from being too cloying and changes it from being just another peach blend. I love it and I'm actually considering a backup.

 

I think that I'll hit the Lush store tomorrow and see if it smells like me.

[LiberAmoris]

Peachy champaca! The Wet Nurse and the Old Monk is very fruity-floral on me, with peach as the strongest note. The sweetness of that combo is cut by the white tea, and the red sandalwood grounds everything. Even so, somehow this is just a little sweeter on me that I'd like, and at times it smells a bit bubblegummy. It might just need a little aging to bring down those top notes a bit. The peach and red sandalwood together are really wonderful!

[milo]

Fruity floral indeed! At first, this really smells like Juicy Fruit gum, but like the gum it loses it's flavor (scent) quickly. It's still quite fruity, but the sandalwood and champaca pokes out. I wish it poked out more, as well as the tea, which I don't smell at all. This blend is much too fruity on me. I'm trying to get the Lush comparison, and was quite excited when I heard that a few posts up, but I don't get that at all, at least the Lush store that is in my city. Disappointed.

 

eta: Another 10 minutes, aaaand, OK, the peach has calmed down, and it's a powdery sandalwood/champaca. More like Lush now. Hmm, I quite like this.

Edited April 1, 2015 by milo

[Magycmyste]

In the imp: Peach, darkened by.... the sandalwood?

 

Wet on skin: Same on my skin. The peach is juicy, but something is taking it into melon territory.

 

Dried down: Still a bit melony for me. I'm kind of wishing I was getting more of the tea and sandalwood and champaca right now, and less melon.

 

Throw: There is a little bit of champaca coming out in here. It's gorgeous, but I'm just not getting enough.

 

Verdict: *** Nice, but I don't think this one's for me.

[VetchVesper]

This is so lovely, but I think it's changed a lot since I first bought it in 2015. It began as a sticky peach preserves smell, with equal parts white tea and champaca. The incensey notes added a subtle depth, but it was mostly about that delicious candied peach tea smell. Now that I'm revisiting the perfume, I find the sandalwood has really come into it's own. There's a rich, incensed spiciness to this that has really made it's presence known. The champaca seems a mite stronger as well, and the overall feel is now an incensed, spicy peach with hints of the tea. I love incense, so I love the change. As the fragrance fades, hours and hours and hours later, the peach reasserts itself as the dominant note, and I get the familiar fragrance I did in 2015 when this was new. The mingling of the two aromas - the peachy tea and the spicy incense really does work well with the fragrances theme. I shall continue to cherish my bottle.