Svadhinaopatika

[rayvn1]

Proud, contented, and aglow with joy, she has conquered her lover with her charms, and she knows with all her soul that he is completely and utterly devoted to her. In bliss, she basks in the blessings of the God of Love: golden amber, oude, red sandalwood, massoia bark, honey, and currant.

This was one of the wildest morphers I've ever tried! When I applied it I seriously thought the oil smelled just like cooking oil - pretty much odorless. After about two hours though, I sniffed my arm and this rich cloud of golden amber swirled up my twitching nose Light, subtle, warm and fantastic!

[Dymphna]

In the bottle: This smells...strange. It smells a lot like O because of the honey and amber, but O only goes powdery on me sometimes (and is glorious at other times), whereas this smells strongly of baby powder at first sniff. There's more going on than just that, though; I also smell something sort of green and fresh (I have no idea what it is) and I think I also smell the currant.

 

Wet: Oh, ew. This smells like foody soap or soapy food. Whatever the note is that's turning to soap, it's very strong. It's stinging my nose. And yet, there's that foody undertone, but not foody in a good way. It's like a too-rich dessert where the cream is almost curdled. It's sour-foody rather than sweet-foody. This is very unpleasant.

 

Dry: Well, this smells gross on me. It smells like sour baby powder. Cloying, but still sour. If I sniff closely, I can smell the sandalwood, but it smells more like pencil shavings than the spicy/woodsy sandalwood that I love. Altogether, these notes combine to make something that is really icky on me.

[Shollin]

First sniff: Honey-dipped incense and warm wood. It’s skin-warm and almost spicy in its resinousness (is that a word?).

 

Wearing: The waft is all golden glorious honeyed amber. It’s very reminiscent of a resiny O. Sadly, the resins get louder and louder over time, and turn into the sweet-sharp edge I’m unfortunately very familiar with. I had such high hopes.

[lookingglass]

I LOOOOOOOOVE Svadhinaopatika! I was kind of afraid of the woods. I didn't want them to be to splintery or "shavings"-like. I was looking forward to the oud, though but don't really get a lot(the note is usually a dark, heavy, creamy, musky wood). I don't get a lot of wood at all, really; they're lighter than even Inez (BLESSING!), and it's not as sweet, either, which is surprising-it's more ambery. The currant is so soft I hardly noticed it, but adds just a bit of "red" juice to this very, very golden, creamy scent. The honey starts out green when wet, with the woods, but this dries down to what smells like a combination of O/Inez/Heiterae with MORE smokey !HONEY! and incense. I was told by a first grader. "I like you! You smell good! Did you bring a candel?" LOL! DH breathed me in when he came home from work and said, after several long sniffs, "Mmmmmm...this is YOU...". It has light sillage but a long wearlength, as most honey scents do on me. Just divine!!!

Edited January 23, 2009 by lookingglass

[MCS4096]

In the Bottle: Mostly warm amber, honey and current with the woody notes adding some dryness.

 

Wet: Amazing, sweet, glorious amber and honeyed currants. The woods add grounding, but this scent is all about the amber and honey!

 

Dry: This dries down to a lovely, semi-spicy honey on me, that pretty much smells like a true beeswax. It's not super strong, but does last very long on me, and I get delicious wiffs of it through the day. I really love this one, and it is a beautiful skin scent on me.. very comforting but slightly sexy. Seriously awesome

[hlinspjalda]

In the vial: Woody, honey, then amber.

 

Wet: Wood first, but amber is right behind. It has a rich depth to it and doesn't smell a lot like sandalwood, so I think I'm getting other woods. The honey has a great throw but is almost unnoticeable when I get my nose up to my skin. Interesting!

 

Half an hour: Still predominantly woody, but with a delicious honey spiciness. I can even almost make out something fruit, which is very surprising because currant hardly ever registers on me.

 

One hour: I like this a lot. It reminds me of some of the qualities of Hetairae (spicy honey sweetness), but the wood keeps it a little less aggressive. As long as the red sandalwood doesn't sour, this could be a solid win on me.

 

Three hours; Less long-lasting than I usually get from honey and amber, maybe because of all the wood. The red sandalwood has soured a bit, but not enough to make the scent fail on me. It's pleasant, but definitely past its peak.

 

Four and a half hours: Very faded. I should probably trade this; as nice as it was, it just doesn't rock my socks.

 

[TheOneTheyCallLuna]

Straight off I get a lot of honey and a lil' amber, but...what the hell do oude and massoia bark smell like? I'm not getting any currant, and less than zero red sandalwood, which makes me want to cry because I lurves it so! In any case, this is quite lovely. A very feminine, warm, sexy, flushed second-skin fragrance that is reminiscent of O, but richer, deeper, and more complex.

 

ETA: The full drydown is GORGEOUS and resplendent with Red Sandalwood goodness. Nothing like the earlier stages at all, and that's ok...A touch powdery, but mostly a flushed honey skin musk scent with a splash of red sandalwood. A definite keeper!

Edited February 14, 2009 by TheOneTheyCallLuna

[zankoku_zen]

This one is a sweet honey and amber blend. It's like a slightly more complex O. The honey is less aggressive than in O, but I'm not a huge honey fan, so this one is a pass for me.

[crebbsgirl]

This was a weird one for me, but pleasantly so. It started off a honey floral on my skin. Not cloying, but more like a floral sweetness with depth. Then, I swear I smelled like a Lush store. But more interesting. The honey and currant add a fruity sweetness while the amber and sandalwood anchor it. Unfortunately this disappeared pretty quickly on my skin. But while it lasted, it was quite nice!!

[Venneh]

This smells vaguely like O in the decant; honey, amber, a really faint golden scent. Once on my skin, it's really reminiscent of O, only with a woodier aspect, which I think is the sandalwood and the oude. Don't get the currant so much. The wood is combining with the honey and amber on me in a really weird way so that I'm getting a sort of cologne. I think I'm going to be passing this on to others.

Edited November 21, 2009 by Venneh

[donnatron]

Imp: Sandalwood, touch of currant and honey... the bad honey.

 

Wet: Yep... it's that same honey from Jezebel and Hetaire. The one that just does not like my skin at all. The sandalwood is pretty in this but it is conquered by the sour, cloying honey combined with a Play Dough-esque amber. Not cool.

 

Dry: I am getting a hint of the oude, which is one of those scents I couldn't place if I smelled it on its own but I know what it smells like when it's in a blend with other notes. The sandalwood is still pretty. The amber and honey are still rank. Currant, which is normally pretty good on me, has full on Stockholm Syndrome and is conspiring with the amber and honey to make me smell sour and body odour-ish and just plain nasty. The whole thing is not so much a perfume or scent so much as an experiment in which ingredients work and which don't.

 

Throw: Mild.

 

Overall: My heart said yes, my chemistry said no. It's probably for the best since the Faces of the Heroine bottles are so hard to come by nowadays.

[DangerInRed]

This has been on my "to try" list for a while...possibly since it came out years ago!

 

This is a very subtle on me, close to the skin, I can see how this would be sensual. It isn't quite patchouli but has that kind of vibe, it's slightly woody-resiny. I am not getting anything very sweet at the moment, though I think it is starting to go that way the longer it stays on my skin.

 

I think I could do with just a decant of this, but I have a bottle, will have to test more to see if it's worthy of staying.

[joyfulgirl]

in the bottle: cooking oil? some kinda incense-y smelling background. hrm...

 

on my skin: for me, this started out smelling like sandalwood-infused cooking oil. not sexy...i will admit that i was VERY worried.

 

dry on my skin: WOW...as other people mentioned, this is quite the morpher. that cooking oil smell burns right off after about 15 minutes. the sandalwood and oudh provide a nice base for the amber and honey notes. the honey note, by the way, is not the usual super-sweet, super-bright one that i'm accustomed to. it's a very dark, smoky, rich honey...it does not even remotely threaten to go sharp or powdery on me, and i am LOVING it. unfortunately i'm not getting much in the way of the currant (boo, i love berries), but this is lovely enough all on its own. not a super strong throw, but i can certainly still catch wafts of it 5 hours later.

 

i'm really glad i was able to snag a bottle so long after it was first released. i don't think it's for everyday wear, but i could CERTAINLY see rocking this at a show or festival where i'll be dancing a lot...or maybe even a yoga workshop...anywhere i might want to channel my inner warrior-goddess.

[subtlesiren]

Sniffing from the bottle, the amber and honey jump out at me most. I can smell the wood notes and a trace of currant, but I do not know what oude is nor what it smells like. When I apply Svadhinaopatika to my wrist, the honey retreats and what little there was of the currant is squashed by the amber and wood. That said, it is an interesting scent, I think due to the massoia bark, which the scent without it would have drowned in a sea of amber/sandalwood blends. And the currant may be making a comeback, a weak one, but that little bit of fruitiness lightens the scent.

[MiasmaResonance]

Perhaps it's because my bottle in particular didn't age well, but in the bottle it smells sharply powdery, and dry on my skin it's much of the same, overbearingly so. When it morphs a little it becomes softly spicy and a sort of fruity that is close to the skin. Interesting, but I'm not sure how I feel about this one.

[mishi-bear]

After applying Svadhinaopatika, it didn't smell like anything at all for a good 10 minutes. Then suddenly, it appeared. Very strange!

 

When it does finally show up, it's actually quite nice. Something about it smells almost christmas like though. I think it's just the sandalwood and massoia bark. This is definitely a mostly woodsy scent. But the wood smells almost spicy. It reminds me of opening a box of christmas decorations, the smell of old wood ornaments.

 

Amber tends to work well on my skin, and here it's no exception. The amber definitely keeps this from being boring. I can also kind of smell the honey, but barely, and I really don't get any currant.

 

Overall, I like it, and I'll be keeping the bottle I got. This might just be a winter-only scent for me.

[Juushika]

In vial: Warm woods.

 

On me: The forefront of this scent is a dry, vivid sandalwood, but it's backed by a solid blend of fleshy amber and rich massoia, with just a touch of honey. Not particularly sweet despite the massoia and honey; if I get any oude, it's just to round out the woods. It has a skin-scent-but-stronger feel to it, distinctly sensual, even sexual, hyperfeminine without being floral or girly; very Lupercalia. I sometimes get a little coconut/almost-fruitiness (no currant, though, which usually amps on me), probably from the massoia, and sometimes it leans towards pure sandalwood.

 

Verdict: I'll need to be in the mood for strong sandalwood, but when I am this'll be gorgeous. I'm glad I don't get any currant tartness, which would probably ruin this for me.