Kurukulla

[aedes]

The Tibetan goddess of love and wealth. Her scent is a harmonious, sweet, enchanting blend of three lotus blooms and three roses.

 

Ah ha! Lotus! You're the thing that keeps smelling like smarties on me! Caught you red-handed this time.

 

Well, the sugary, tooth-aching sweetness wore off in minutes, leaving a very heady, aquatic floral. I can't sniff this too close as it really burns my nose. But I can't smell it more than a few inches away, oddly enough. I don't even really know I'm smelling it save for the aldehyde, burning-nostril sensation.

 

So, a great concept, and I really wanted to like it. What's more beautiful than lotus and rose? But sadly my nose just doesn't come equipped for it.

Edited December 20, 2005 by aedes

[AngellicMystique]

I've discovered that lotus doesn't work well on my skin, so this isn't the best blend for me. I got a mild aquatic note, some very sweet rose scents, and an awful decaying scent that appeared just enough for me to not like this blend.

[merebrillante]

In the vial: I smelled fruit, like cherries and plums.

 

On the wrist: Ah, now I smell the lotus, and then the rose a few minutes later. This is a very feminine scent, with a hint of something just a little spicy underneath the flowers, giving it a bit more heft and maturity than the innocent floral blends.

 

Later: It's probably too early to make a final verdict -- I've only had it on about four hours now -- but this is a very pretty scent. Usually roses don't work on me, but the mix with the lotus blossoms gives it just the right note on my skin. Lovely and feminine.

[ayelienne]

I'm not really a fan of roses. Now that that's out of the way, here we go:

 

In the bottle: there's something familiar here, but i can't place it. it's a very sharp, sweet smell.

 

When I first put this on, I get a blast of sharp rose, then a wave of sweet lotus. Then everyone starts to settle down a bit, and a creamy sweet rose-tinted scent begins to emanate. The lotus really holds its own here as it sweetly and gently forces the rose to be a supporting player and not the star.

 

Even with the roses, I wouldn't mind wearing this again at all.

[SeaMonkey]

It starts out all bubblegumy lotus, but as tends to happen with my chemistry, the lotus fades within 5 minutes and the roses start screaming.

 

*sighs*

[emzebel]

Testing this before I knew the notes, my first impression was mmm, a soft fruity floral. The fruit must have been the sweetness of the lotus.

 

Very quickly, this becomes a powdery flowery perfumy scent on me though - very pretty to be sure, but not something I can see myself choosing over the other oils in my collection.

[terrierhead]

In the imp, this is pure bubblegum. I gave it a shot anyway, and, after dry-down, was rewarded with a sweet floral. Still, it's reminiscent of gum - rose bubblegum. It's pleasant, but not something of which I see myself ever needing more than an imp. I'll be more wary of lotus blends in the future. The search for a bolder counterpart to Ophelia continues.

[weaver]

Very lovely. Lotus makes roses smooth and fluid. I expected lotus to add sweetness, but - no, it didn't. I love BPAL roses, and they love me back. It looks like I love lotus too, and it reciprocates. This combination is beautiful. Unfortunately, my skin just eats this up, it has no staying power on me - gone in about an hour.

[lookingglass]

Very sweet and fruity floral. Definitely Persephone's sister.

[Celogrl]

So...is the lotus the cherrylike sweetness I keep smelling?! If Kurukulla is lotus and roses, why the heck do I notice sweet berries and sugary goodness? That's the miracle of BPAL, I guess. Now that's out of the way, I must say I love Kurukulla! This has become one of my favorite scents. Lotus must be a sweet, sticky scent. I could never pick it out before, but in this imp I believe I can. The end result is one happy Celogrl. This is a happy, festive smell- one I will reach for again and again. (I just re slathered myself as I was writing this review )

[AlaskaSnows]

Wet: Strawberry candy????

 

Dry: Light, fresh roses in a mountain of powdered sugar. I love it. Already ordered a 5ml.

[desu]

In the bottle: Extremely sweet lotus. This is making my teeth hurt, it smells so sugary sweet.

 

On my skin: As usual, the roses immediately turn to soap. Now I smell like extremely sweet lotus soap. :|

[Thaleia]

Frimp from the Lab. Thanks, Lab!

 

I'm a bit wary of this, because of the lotus - the only other lotus blend I've tried, Black Lotus, was very strongly sweet despite the amber and sandalwood and myrrh. Anyway, this has a spot somewhere on my wish list, and I know better than to let frimps go without trying them, so here goes.

 

Ah, the trademark lotus sweetness in the bottle. It's kept in check by the roses, which my skin tends to love, so I'm hoping for the best here. I can barely smell rose under the lotus; it actually smells like some kind of candy.

 

Once on, the candy-lotus smell comes forward for a couple of seconds, and then yay! Roses come in and save the day. With each sniff, I get a sweeter version of Marie at first, and then it turns into lotus with a rose background. I think I'll have to give this a second try after a couple of weeks and see if it changes.

 

I'll have to go ahead and give this a 2.75 for now. Definitely better than Black Lotus. Roses are great, but sweet roses? I'm not quite sure yet how I feel about those.

Edited January 27, 2006 by rabid hauteur

[LittleGreyKitten]

Wow, this one has some power. I can smell the tiny dab on my forearm from here as I type. The lotuses and roses are amazingly good together. I've struck out on several other BPAL rose blends, but Kurukulla is actually not turning weird. It's piercingly sweet, though, for sure. I may not wear it a ton but I like it. I'd give it a 3.5 out of 5.

[sookster]

hrmmmmhh

straight from the imp...soury roses?!?!? weird....after a little bit that sourness fades

and it is all roses...light, clean, beach roses...lovely...........

big bottle purchase is still up for debate

[Wench457]

Kurukulla ITB: very sweet, with a powdered drink mix (to keep trademarks out of it) smell.

 

On: Sweetened baby oil.

 

Dry: Sour, sour, sour! Looking at the notes, I think it must be the roses, which more often than not go rancid on me. Sour roses totally drowned out the poor lotus, which never even had a chance to go bubblegummy on me.

[Shollin]

First sniff: If I didn’t have a policy of wanting to try everything, I never would have gone near Kurukulla. Rose is about the most hit-or-miss note on me there ever was, and lotus usually just smells like bubblegum. But in the vial, this is pretty nice. It’s sweet but not piercingly so, and nicely aquatic.

 

Wearing: It’s a little bit powdery, but for the most part, a soft sweet aquatic floral. Better on me than I expected.

[Cicely]

To me, Kurukulla is Ophelia without the greenness of the lily and ivy: a gorgeous bouquet of sweet, lush roses. I love how Beth's descriptions are so accurate; it makes choosing scents to go along with different moods and ideas so easy. Kurukulla is absolutely "harmonious, sweet, and enchanting."

 

Kurukulla doesn't morph on me very much, but as with most blends, gains more throw and becomes deeper and more lush once she warms on my skin. She's almost too sweet and intense sometimes, so I like to save her for cooler days when I need something cheerful and sunny.

Edited March 12, 2006 by Cicely

[Koumori]

Kurukulla isn't doing anything for me, I'm afraid. It has what I think of as a sort of 'generic' BPAL floral scent, rose/lily/daffodil, and doesn't really stand out from any of the similar scents I've tried. Straight-up springy floral, fairly strong and with good staying power on me, but nothing special.

[Chrysantza]

This is very sweet and pretty. Fortunately, the roses balanced out the lotus which is often horrid and bubblegummy on me. It does start out a bit lotus-intensive but then calms down. I like this one.

[elphaba]

Something about the way the rose and lotus combine in this makes it smell like apples when wet! It's bright, crisp scent, sweet and sharp at the same time. On drydown, a bit sweeter, with the rose making more of an appearance. I love how every BPAL rose is so different. Also, it's worth noting that many lotus blends go sickly sweet on me and this one does not. It's more like fruit than bubblegum. For some reason, rose scents really have been appealing to me for sleep recently, so I think I'll keep this imp around to put in that rotation.

[jarvenpa]

What on earth is the matter with my nose and skin? I will have to live with this (and have, for many, many years).

 

So, Kurukulla was a freebie from the nice lab persons.

 

This morning, sniffed imp: okay, apples? booze?

 

Swiped some over wrists. It felt sticky, and smelled like apple cider. Okay, I like apples, this is nice. Kind of bubbly apple cider.

 

Five minutes later (yes, five minutes), sniff still sticky wrists, smell nothing. Nothing.

Put nose up against wrist now (it has been around 2 hours) and get a very very faint sweetness.

 

So, before writing this I looked, curiously, to see what the notes in the mix really were. I am floored. I have no idea what lotus smells like (apples???). I know what roses smell like, I really do. Smelt not one rose. Or am I just so used to roses I can't smell them?

 

I will let my daughter try this one & see what happens there.

[Brianne]

In the vial:

A bitter rose note

 

On me:

I thought I would HATE this. I mean really hate. Because (as I'm sure I've made it abundantly clear over and over again) I just really dislike roses and lotus. Neither of them smell good on me. Roses give me a headache and lotus makes me dizzy. So you know, three lotus and three roses?

 

But, as it turns out, I DON'T hate this. I can't say I love it, but I actually think it's quite pretty. Somehow, these two meld together to make a scent that is neither rose nor lotus. It's like a whole new flower that smells completely fresh with a slight tinge of green, and has just a soft powdery edge of sweetness. It's very girly and if it had a color I would say it was pink. It took the good things about a rose (the crisp and rich freshness of a rose) and the good things about a lotus (the soft sweetness and girly flavor) and put them together.

 

Final note:

Lovely and soft and feminine, I would recommend this to fans of florals or anyone who likes soft girly scents.

[Nekomata]

Wet this is very sour, but as it dries the sourness is replaced with very sweet floral scent.

[Meg]

In the bottle: Lovely pink rose and horrible lotus. This will be... er... interesting.

 

Wet: Tea rose and the aquatics of lotus. As it dries down, the lotus comes out more.

 

Drydown: A very soft scent of white rose and fruity, juicy lotus. It's actually not half as bad as I thought it was, because I hate lotus with a passion. Still, the aquatics in the lotus make me dizzy and headachy. The rose seems to come and go, but it does mix well with the lotus, and as the scent develops, the rose becomes stronger.

 

Overall: It's quite a pleasant blend, and it's true that it's harmonious. The roses and lotus form a crisp, slightly greet but sweet ensemble. It reminds me a bit of Parlement of Foules, with the white rose and a slightly resinous scent. Still, the lotus note bothers me, so I wouldn't keep it.