Jatamansi

Jatamansi is a reinterpretation of Riviera Palace and I like it a lot but still Riviera is so much better, because in this composition that incense is a bit pretentious, if the Riviera gets rid of any creative lack and goes worn anytime, this one not so much. It's a green perfume, an earthy chypre, again like in Riviera a cardamom and wood blanket over it, some rain flower sparkling from time to time but that incense here, which really feels, leads to a more formal area, to a suit, a blazer with double buttons, I personally use velvet with this, it's a little more precise...ask for something more, it is part of an ensemble, while its predecessor dominate any element you put next to it, so It does not matter anyway what ensemble you have. I personally don't feel the tea, but it had that wet green note anyway and probably there you find tea, but again that note it's identically in both fragrances. The good thing is that you still can find this one easily in Europe, while the predecessor occasionally jumps out of a hole somewhere but you need to be eyes on for that.

I have a decant of this from years ago. I remember reading that it is all natural. Be that is it may, every time I wear it I am seduced. It reads as a delicately spiced sandalwood. I spray it on, thinking, gah, I have to use up these decants! Then I spend hours daydreaming... This is really beautiful, quite delicate, yet a haunting perfume, oriental, and old fashioned in its persistence. Surely a perfumer for hire could recreate this beauty. It is a subtle musky skin scent, that makes you wonder if one of your first passionate lovers used it... But no, we were all povvo students who couldn't afford perfume...unless you were me, who would rather buy Mitsouko than food...

This perfume is one of the most memorable, amazing scents I've ever experienced. It is not for everyone though. I should say it would fit someone who is into meditation and yoga, as it is a calming and warm fragrance. Quite unique composition, yet vaguely reminds me of Kenzo Jungle Elephant...What a shame it's been discontinued. (Edit: Years on and I still love it, it’s probably the only perfume that I keep using and it never fails me. In sickness and in health!) (Another edit 2023: I find layering Jatamansi with Holy Stick so extremely comforting when I need relaxing me time, self-care and meditation time, on sad days etc...highly recommend this combo)

The opening is extremely green and oily yet somewhat camphore-like.Its citrussy-grassy,with relaxing balmy undertone. After 10-15 minutes its getting resinous and woody, very much in tune with beautiful Cacharel pour Homme, yet I am aware its warmth of guiac paired with brightness of citrus and clary sage that unites them. Jatamansi is also posesses that unique papyrus note that makes the Timbuktu so exotically woody-dry. It's definitely very natural fragrance,being Asian by nature and unfamiliar to European nose, its doesn't fail to soothe and relax my tired European soul.

I tried a sample of Jatamansi that was generously sent to me by another Fragrantican, and was quite disappointed in it. Jatamansi is supposed to be spikenard, and that's what I expected it to smell like. I love spikenard essential oil for its strong, earthy, slightly skanky herbal scent (even nicer than vetiver, in my opinion), but spikenard was not detectable in Jatamansi, even in minute amounts. All that I experienced was a light, slightly floral but mostly citrusy scent that quickly faded into nothing. It never ceases to puzzle me that perfume houses so often name their scents for a single note that is not even present in the perfume. It's like selling apple pie in a restaurant, but listing it as cheesecake on the menu. And in the case of Jatamansi, the size of the slice was very, very small, disappearing in one bite.