Kumari Kandam

[Anita]

The hollow scent of a vast antediluvian civilization, now frozen and buried, smothered by a thick sheet of ice and trapped deep beneath the ocean. Thick incense, clay, stone, and hothouse blooms with a spike of frost, a hint of decay, and heavy, dolorous aquatic notes.

 

Very floral, but with sweetness. not sugar, but not honey either. I really can't tell what it is. No incense yet, and I have been waiting a while. It is what I wanted to smell most in this, but alas, no. It's very strange and I can't tell yet if I like it.

 

I waited a while and now it's gone a bit.. bug spray-ish, maybe?

 

I wanted to like it but it doesn't like me. Off to the swap/frimp pile.

[LizziesLuck]

Wet: much more aquatic than I had hoped, but it's a really cold aquatic - almost like the Lab's snow note. Or maybe that's the "frost" rather than the aquatic coming through. I actually really like it so far.

 

 

Dry: This is the same snow or frost note that's in Mat Night, a favourite of mine. I'm not really getting any of the other notes, but I'm kind of ok with that, this is so beautiful as it is. I'm glad that there's something in the GC with that beloved bright slushy icy snow note in it! I was not expecting it at all. I may need a bottle of this at some point, it's fantastic.

[Casablanca]

Bottle: Snow. Floral incense and heavy currents of water. A perfume tradeship at sea has hit a storm.

Wet: Incense and a ponderous floral aquatic. These waters have a salty ocean tang. There's a sense of gray clay also, a little like play-doh. The florals are familiar but blendy, and my brain isn't putting names to any.

Dry: The florals fade and mainly there's a salty aquatic incense. Lasted about a half-day.

Interesting but not the magic for me. It's a relief not to want a full bottle of everything!

[sarandipitee]

ok, so here's that snow note from Yellow Snowballs and Mat night (2 blends I desperately wanted to love, but aquatics). The clay and stone is tempering the crazy ice/aquatics on my skin (which is great because my head doesn't like them) but in the end it's not enough. Off to the frimp pile.

Edited May 11, 2016 by sarandipitee

[freyasfae]

I immediately wrote down "BPAL SNOW NOTE" when I first got a whiff of this on my skin. It took awhile, but eventually it settled and it became more incensy and sweet, which I do not enjoy so much. And it has a lot of throw!

[roseus]

It's starts off with a cold note (apparently snow but I have limited experience with these notes) but it is not minty or mentholated. There is clay, and humid florals. I also get a hint of sweet incense and ocean water. It's not super ozone-y or salty. The aquatic aspect is very subtle and beautiful.

[TheresaRedSkull]

According to my sense of smell and body chemistry, this starts off as soapy incense (which I like, in this case) and ends on a base note very similar to Xiuhtecuhtl. No one else had gotten the latter? Everyone else says snow and aquatic, but theoretically Xiuhtecuhtl is tropical.

[freyasfae]

Double post. Please remove. My apologies!

Edited July 11, 2019 by freyasfae
double post

[doomsday_disco]

Kumari Kandam features the Lab's slushy snow note, and it is the main player on me. The incense and clay emerge are the first notes to join it, and the incense gets stronger with wear. After several hours, I can smell some stone, and there's a bit of dry, red patchouli in the incense note. There's really just a touch of florals, nothing heady. At the end of the day, it mostly smells like cool water and incense (not champaca!) with a hint of dirt.

 

I think this is nice (it was neat to smell that clay note!), but there are other blends featuring this snow note that I am more likely to wear. I'll probably retest this just to be sure, but I may end up gifting the bottle to a friend of mine that has been curious about this scent and loves all of the Lab's snow blends.

Edited July 30, 2020 by doomsday_disco

[pommelo]

Fresh out of the bottle I get the snow note the others mentioned, it smells a little like a very cold and clean car. Or like a cold gloomy misty morning. But the moment it touches my skin, the snow disappears and it instantly turns sweet on me, and I get a torrent of exotic flowers. I can't exactly pinpoint what they are, but there's a sense of night-blooming flowers.. maybe jasmine? champaca? ylang-ylang? 

 

There's also that incense note, which turns the whole bouquet into something deeper, somewhat exotic and regal and antique. It smells like something I could rummage out of my Thai grandmother's cabinet of decades old perfumes.

 

I have two imps I bought from some very lovely people off this forum, one new and one old, no idea about the date. The snow/mist/clay note is definitely more present in the newer one, and in the older one the flowers have reeeeally bloomed, rather like someone slapped me with a slightly overripe bouquet. There's a bit of a sour note, but it's not really noticeable for it to matter. 

 

*20mins later* this incense is really amping on the drydown. I feel quite sacrilegious now  

Edited August 31, 2020 by pommelo

[spaghettysburg]

This started off as hospital soap on me and I was going to scrub it off but decided to let it sit for a little bit to see if it morphed. Sure enough, after a few minutes, it became soft, slushy mint. It retains a bit of the soapy feel, but it feels more like picking mint with freshly washed hands rather than lathering the mint with soap. I'm not picking up an incense or clay. As it dries more, the mint burns off and I'm left with citrus candy. This one took me on a wild ride from awful to pretty to mildly pleasant. It's nice in it's dry stage, but not special enough for me to hang onto.