Monsoon Madness

Anjali's own description from her website is very accurate: "Monsoon rains make a grand appearance with thunder and lightning. Mad winds rush from the sea. Arms outstretched, you get drenched. It is the season of amorous blooms—the heady roses, divine jasmines, and oh, the opulent, mesmeric tuberoses! If this were a gala, you'd wear blooms and outshine the red carpet. This season is an aphrodisiac. Monsoon Madness is heady, smooth, and very floral. It feels soft and velvety but at the same time is strong and deep. It feels like a celebration. It leaves a wake behind you. It evokes a sense of amorous, passionate love. Although it feels like a night-time scent, it can lift and waft in a mild summer afternoon, or shimmer like tender morning sunlight. INSPIRATION BEHIND MONSOON MADNESS When the first monsoon rains arrived with thunder and lightning, Dad would take us out in the yard. We would stand with arms outstretched, face turned up to the sky, our mouths open. Dad would wink and say that the lightning causes some reaction in the clouds. The rain becomes just a little acidic, which helps clear the skin. So, I got drenched in the first rain, very gladly. I continued this ritual of getting drenched in the first rain wherever I went—to college, or to other cities for work. Many Indian films have a romantic scene where the hero woos his beloved, with a song and dance in the rain of course. Rains are special. This is a season of joy. This season is for being one with the earth, the sky, the wind, and the sea all at once. But mostly, this season is a season of love. Passionate love and romance." My very own experience: I won a Cafleurbon contest with samples of each of Anjali's three perfumes. They are all beautiful, high quality fragrances that show the depth and complexity of the inspirations they draw upon. Monsoon Madness begins creamy, heady, then turns green, with more of an edge, but not sharp. It's intoxicating, relaxing, tuberose, rose, sweetness then salty, with a vetiver base. It is very reflective of the monsoon story, this perfume takes one on a transition that the landscape goes upon in a storm, and includes the all-encompassing romantic aspect that a summer storm can yield.

With one of the most measured and compelling themes of rain and petrichor, Anjali read the assignment when it comes to handling these high-impact materials, and the result is an exquisite monsoon-soaked and verdant floral. I detect what seems to be rose oxide to outline the flesh of these blooms: my nose reads it as almost luminous. I am reminded of dampt, dewy lilacs, spicy-green hyacinths and suggestions of indolic stephanotis. A restrained tuberose is detected, never seeming as though its meddling as is sometimes so with this bold flower. It behaves and supports its flower cohort. This is all accented with the feeling of wet earth. A dream-like effect from lactones and powdery, plush musks, moving Monsoon Madness into a boudoir in the dry down, feeling reminiscent of Balenciage Le Dix and Carven Une Robe d'Un Soir, a sensuous base to follow such an evocative cascade. I am really impressed with how cohesive it is, not to mention that is such a pleasure to wear. It's marvelous.

milky tuberose with heady jasmine, richly carnal florals, paired with rose jams and musky rainfall. The musk is almost humid here, fitting for the monsoon name, and the florals feel slightly indolic in the best way possible. As a rose hater the jammyness of it here is intoxicating, it’s rich, deep, sweet, silky, and it’s not the front runner so it’s the perfect addition. Dry down is much more subtle and soft, with remnants of those florals from before

i got this in a discovery set. the jasmine with a litttle tuberose punches you in the face when you first spray, and thats all i get till its suddenly gone. good projection but id say that initial hit of clean, strong, floral only lasts abt 4hrs. after that, its definitely dry and musky for a sec then gone. out of the fragrances i got i think it is my favorite, just because this is one of the more pleasant and jasmine heavy florals ive tried. theres something about it that captures the narcotic heaviness of actual jasmine flowers in spring, especially because when i accidentally sprayed too close to my face it was a little overpowering for a bit.

This is gorgeous. The notes are well blended and entwine to become a fragrant scene. This is being caught in a rainstorm while touring a floral garden. Wet flowers, wet earth and warm sun poking through it all. The perfumer captured the sensation of a rainstorm so beautifully and perfectly.

Beautiful floral fragrance. Get the top notes clearly but I do have to smell it on skin, as in I might be getting nose blind to the notes fairly quickly.

Sitting by an open window on a rainy morning, curtains fluttering in the damp breeze, a single rose in a vase before you. Its crimson blooms, a vivid velvet contrast to the early glooms, offer their dawn song to the ghostly morning light. Beneath it, a misty musk mingles with barely-there spices, like steam rising from wet earth. The fragrance undulates like those curtains – whispering past, then drawn back, never still, never quite solid.

this reminds of exactly the name of the perfume. it’s a wet earthy flowery fragrance with a little bit of an underlying comfort scent

Really pretty white florals, though I was hoping for more watery notes.