Patchouli

Nemat has a comprehensive take on the leaves of this plant. The oil perfectly captures all the facets of raw patchouli. It starts off pleasantly damp, with all the youthful touches; herbaceous, medicinal, mentholated... and it progresses to the deeper aspects of aged patchouli; the warm, sweet, dusty, woody, clay-like, soil touches. Every aspect of patchouli is captured, and it amounts to a beautifully rendered, balanced, yet unrefined patchouli oil. Rich, musty, earthy, potent, sweet, and enveloping. It feels complex and layered. I'm a patchouli lover. I've tried a lot of different patchouli-centered oils, perfumes, etc. I agree with Igwe, below; I sniffed five of my other patchouli oils as a standard for comparison. All of them were either less balanced or more refined than this oil from Nemat. ...Please use discretion while wearing, it's not a patchouli for the uninitiated.

I've been looking for the perfect patchouli for a while. Exploring lots of scents that take patchouli this way or that. Ligno, a few Dua tries, etc. This is the one. It has all the elements but doesn't stray to far in any direction. Earthy, strong and dynamic patchouli.

Intoxicating, rich and green, this is a perfect fragrance oil for layering, but as a pure unbridled patchouli fragrance, it may offend (close-minded)people who dislike patchouli on its own.

Well, they were not lying. Straight patchouli dark. Foggy, wet, earthy, green. Patchouli.

My Platonic ideal of patchouli. I used to wear this often in my 20s (I'm in my early 30s) but stopped because the scent has some negative connotations, particularly among some older folks for whom the smell has a connotation with hippies and headshops (a comment I often got from older acquaintances). This made it less than office-safe. For those under, let's say, 40, the reaction was totally different--I had many people comment on how intoxicating the smell was. I feel like the connotations are too strong for me to wear this now unless layered, but I've never found another patchouli frag that performs this well. Unreal, oozing layers of resinous warmth. Never creamy, never gourmand, just deep dark sweetness with incredible throw.