Cold Moon: Jasmine Absolute and Champaca

[doomsday_disco]

Jasmine Absolute and Champaca Petals.

[Little Bird]

I sampled this, fell in love, and just ordered a full bottle.  It's funny to me that, as a teen and in my early 20s, I used to avoid jasmine scents and I considered jasmine to be my #1 death note.  At some point, I started drinking and obsessing over jasmine tea and growing different varieties of jasmine, and now I also tend to love jasmine perfumes.  The jasmine here is wonderful and sweet with nuances of vanilla and honey, with the champaca giving it a warm, incensey haze, so the whole fragrance feels like sunshine and a warm hug.  I love the sweetness and creaminess that it has, and I love fragrances that give off this vibe of being in a temple full of incense and offerings.  It has none of the soapiness, sharpness, or funk that jasmine can sometimes have.  

[trinitysite]

I like champacha, and I've liked some blends with jasmine, so I was excited to try this. I learned two things:

1. I do not like jasmine as much as I thought I liked jasmine

2. This one is all jasmine, all the time

Very strong, lots of throw, not keeping it around.

[roseus]

A gorgeous jasmine, slightly heady but no sharpness or funk. Creamy but with a faint greeness. Champaca has a tendency to be really sharp on me, but here it is just adding a incense-y quality to the jasmine.

[theseagrows]

for me this is a slightly dirty, spicy jasmine. at first it leans sliiiightly mothball, but then that goes away. i guess the spiciness is coming from champaca? i am unsure, but this is a pretty, heady jasmine. maybe it's incensey as the reviewer above said. it just adds a bit of depth to the jasmine.

[Assimbya]

I bought a decant of this off a fellow forumite to layer with my bottle of Cold Moon, and am so glad I did! This is a really lovely blend.

 

I recently had the chance to smell a freshly blooming champaca tree in a botanical garden, and I found the scent so striking and vivid - similar to regular magnolia, but earthier and less perfumey. It's definitely recognizable to me here, along with a gorgeous dripping jasmine. There's something which feels gauzy to me about this scent, like light passing through thin cotton. Layered with the main Cold Moon blend it adds that sensibility, jasmine vines and flowering trees growing on the side of a river, their white blossoms almost obscuring the water below, though you can still feel it. It definitely brings out the jasmine already present in Cold Moon, and its delicacy strikes an interesting contrast with the aquatic and earthy notes in that main perfume. The combination is really beautiful.

 

I find this wearable on its own and probably would do so if I had gotten a full bottle of it, but as it is I plan to use it mostly for the beautiful effect of the layering.