Himalia

[Casablanca]

A scent of bright fortune through abundant resources: wheat accord, hay absolute, and petitgrain with roasted nuts, toasted vanilla, golden honey, and sweet vetiver.

 

The first impression of Himalia on my skin is of toasted nuts and grain floating in creamy vanilla, like some otherwordly oatmeal. Then I smell the honey and hay mixed in, the former blending into the vanilla, and the latter into the grain. The creamy grain reminds me of Dana O'Shee, but this is, on the whole, more rich. It's been a while since I sampled Dana, and I should do a side-by-side, but this seems a bit like Dana but more complex and rich, and with less overt almond.

 

There's an almost chalky texture in the sniff -- not in a bad way. It makes me think of oatmeal softening and breaking down into smaller and smaller parts, very slowly, in milk. And then, on the end of a sniff, I get an undercurrent of vetiver. There's a goodly amount of sweetness in the rest of the blend, and it's hard to tell where that ends and the sweet part of the vetiver begins, but after a minute or two, the specific tone of it reminds me an awful lot of Death Adder.

 

The Death Adder vetiver in this grows as Himalia dries on me. This is a harvest vetiver blend!

 

Completely dried, Himalia softens considerably, with even its vetiver snake resting its head on its coils and going to sleep. It doesn't vanish, but blends in. The fragrance goes Full Cozy.

 

I like it.

[LizziesLuck]

I think I was even more excited for this than I was for my Weenies! In the bottle, it's heavy on the sweet vetiver (which is noticeably sweeter than usual). My skin eats vetiver though, so I am excited to see what other notes come out.

 

 

Wet: Sweet, almost caramelized vetiver. Lovely. It's gone (on me) in seconds, but a faint hint of smokiness remains to accompany the other notes. Lots of toasty nuttiness, hints of honey and hay. Lovely. It smells golden. Makes me happy.

 

 

Dry: Warm, toasty, nutty. Lots of wheat/hay notes. I do quite like it, though I would love to get more vanilla/honey out of it, or just more sweetness in general. Interested to see how it ages.

[Balame]

I think this is the first blend I’ve ever been courageous enough to blind bottle twice over after years of being into BPAL. Happy to say I wasn’t disappointed!

 

I was hesitantly excited when I put this on and was reminded of my true love, Atlas. Same smoky-sweet vanilla loveliness, but lighter and less resinous. It quickly changed gears into a period of odd fruitiness, where an almost berry-like note slipped its way in. No idea what contributed to that, but then Himalia bloomed into its unique golden beauty.

 

I absolutely agree with Casablanca in that before I even got to this thread, my final impression was of oatmeal! But this is certainly not plain old breakfast oatmeal. This is the oatmeal of the gods, blessed by mystical fae and drizzled in ambrosia. The nuts really aren’t front and center, only deepening the “toasted” feel of the scent, though I do notice the vetiver, and it’s lovely.

 

I’m a fan of regular ol’ vetiver, but here it serves to give a little bit of that dry harvest smell in the background. It makes me think of a wheat field that’s been left baking in the sun juuust a bit too long and has a hint of crispiness to it. But that’s all washed over by the mélange of milky vanilla, honey and hay, so the layers of liquid sweetness mix with the “burnt” feel to create a beautiful, not overwhelming play of opposites. I would say the vetiver is swallowed up fairly quickly, since about half an hour in I couldn’t find it anymore and it was all smooth gleaming oatmeal.

 

A stunning gourmand blend that I think is only going to get better with age.

[heatherlyn]

Took a chance on this one, sounded really interesting - and just a lovely, smooth, well blended perfume. Doesn't go foodie at all on me, though there is a rich sweetness, but not cloying at all. Not too overpowering, but has staying power - have worn it already quite a bit as it's so easy to reach for.

[SophieCedar]

For me, the notes go exactly in order of how they are listed. Its a color impression of light golden brown and smells of warm toasty nut meat and hay with a sweet musky vetiver base, just amping it up and making all of it stick around. Fans of Molly Grue and Sympathetic Crone should give this a try.

[Elspethdixon]

Wet/in imp - smoky vetiver combined with something warm and slighty foodie

Freshly applied - nutty grain with a hint of citrus from the pettigrain. The vetiver has vanished (that, or it's what's making the grain smell warm/roasted)

Fifteen-twenty minutes in - The citrus note from the petigrain has burned off, and now it's all slightly-nutty roasted grain. Like a warm, wooden grain silo might smell. It's actually not very sweet despite the honey and vanilla - more of a savory scent. It reminds me slightly of the Chicken-Legged Hut, actually. I might have to test the against each other just to make sure I'm not imagining it.

Once it's dried, Himalia doesn't really morph on me - at the two hour mark, it was still the same dry, warm, nutty roasted grain smell.

[zankoku_zen]

Wheat, hay, nuts and smoky vetiver. It's dark, harvest, smoke and outside. It's gender-neutral to manly on me. Good throw and wear length.

[Blood onmy hands]

Baby oil, baby powder, a whiff of lemon pledge wood polish and a hint of warm, toasted nuttiness. Himalia is way too powdery for me, and the weird baby oil scent is off putting. Drydown smells like baby powder and maple syrup on me, which is really gross.
I was really hoping that this would smell like the unreleased Sheela Na Gig, but it doesn't at all

[Lucchesa]

Himalia is chock full of notes of win for me. It's like getting off the hay ride at the harvest festival and wandering over to the food booths where they're caramelizing nuts and honey in a huge iron pan over an open fire in the chunky autumn sunlight. If you're fearful of vetiver, this is a friendly one, adding depth, throw and wear length without dumping everything into a barbecue pit. I'm so glad I was able to swap for this one.