Mandodari

Mandodari’s royal and mythic backstory is decidedly more plot-driven than the evocations that Prin’s odorous adaptation gives off at first spray, filling the nostrils not so much with any sense of context or rising action but with an immediate rush that comes with being in medias res. High, expansive aldehydes and gorgeous white flowers coolly place in relief all the pungency of cumin and coffee that’s mixed with a civet that’s used more judiciously than the perfumer’s newest civet-bomb, Nilubol. Still, the whirlwind of these initial moments are powerful. And while Mandodari surely does “meld the divine with the earthly,” as its ad copy promises, rather than redemption arcs and tragedy, I’m taken to Coleridge’s ending lines of his poem, Kubla Khan: And close your eyes with holy dread, For he on honey-dew hath fed, And drunk the milk of Paradise. My own memories of smoking opium are reignited with this fragrance, and what “the milk of Paradise” might promise to any aficionado of Prin’s work is yet again another opportunity to roll along the waves of pleasure, blissfully huffing a uniquely narcotic offering in Mandodari, which manages to smell both fresh and pungent at the same time—and so utterly sexy. For a fetishist of bandaid ouds, manure-like animalics, and Turkish roses, Mandodari is a delightful departure from the norm, creating a blend of contraries: masculine and feminine, woody and floral, cold and warm, smokey and crisp, stinky and fresh, eastern and western, ad infinitum. That I get to live these dualisms is yet another reason to cherish how this fragrance smells, although I’m increasingly aware that I’m starting to smell more and more like Prin.

Mandorari is a very interesting fragrance. It has for me overall an animalic character but with very pronounced aldehydes which makes It brighter, fresher and gives to It a very soapy vibe. Over this aldehidic-animalic background comes a White flowers bouquet which shine beautiful during most of the time that the perfume lasts. For me It has a very similar vibe to diaghilev by roja dove and It remember me also a bit to kouros by ysl for the way that the animalic notes are treated here. I must say that i havent Heard before about some of the notes It has and this makes the perfume something unexpected and misterious. The performance is good. It has a very good longevity with moderate sillage. Fue yo his deepness and intensity i think is a good option for cold/moderate temperatures and even better for night. In adition It has a very sexy character which make It a bomb for nightout. It is also weareable during the day but probably only in winter/fall. Scent: 8.5 Longevity: 8.5 Sillage: 7 Quality/price: 5 Versatility: 6 Originality: 9 Global: 8.5

Tropical flowers, but ashy, smoky, and musky in a dirty way. By dirty I mean dirty in every possible way! So wrong yet so right. Among ash, tuberose, frangipani (aka tropical flowers), aldehydes, and smoke I can sense coffee too! Honestly, nothing entertained my olfactory cortex(c) and evoked all sorts of emotions quite like this in a while. This scent is one of those that may not be classed as "work-safe", but you will rush home as soon as you can after a day in the office just to sniff a cap.

Wow! What a beauty! Beautiful white florals with a fizzy amberiness! Definitely reminds me of India! It started off more jasminey and later the champaca comes out more. This one, compared to most of Prin’s stuff I’ve tried thus far at least, is not so animalic on me, but still very exotic due to the flowers. I like this one better than Mandarava, which also had white flowers with fizzy amber, but it was too laundry detergentish for me...whereas this one is not as much.

SO good, truly. Like an old comforting piece of wood that you can spray it’s truly fantastic. Pretty wearable without being too obnoxious. The main notes I get are tobacco, ash, pepper, civet, some sort of lingering sweetness in the back (likely the frangipani or tuberose). Occasion wise - perhaps formal events, cold winter days, pretty versatile (probably not for summer though). I love this so much and will be buying a bottle for sure.