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The pyramid read like an attractive cocktail of fruit and flowers with a dry patchouli base, therefore I got a bottle of the reasonably priced perfume from a discounter.

The head actually brings along hesperidic notes (bergamot, orange peel?) and I even seem to sense a whiff of rhubarb. Successively a vanilla cookie smell leads over to the heart.

The next few hours were a bit of a disappointment to me - the promises of beautiful flowers are not fulfilled, instead I'm smothered in sticky malt with a bit of orangeade. I love the great cotton candy scents from Mugler and Prada, but this one is a bit onesided and blocks most refreshing notes to my nose. I believe I can smell a whiff of cocoa - if that's supposed to be a take on Angel it didn't quite work out but gets the scent an extra 10 % from me.

After two or three hours patchouli comes to the rescue, followed by a hint of sandalwood. The last of the base is the trace of washing powder some musks (like the one in White Linen) always remind me of - very pleasant, but also very weak and without any sillage to speak of.

The scent wants to be big, but isn't - it's too loud and vulgar in the middle and too weak in the base. However, sparingly dosed this scent will make for very nice daytime wear.

It's probably in bad taste (pun intended) to write a review before the perfume has had much chance to develop. But in this particular case it seems to match a certain kind of body chemistry - I particularly love the rice note that turns up early one.

I don't eat rice every day, sometimes not even once a week, but there were times and places when I lived essentially off rice, beans and corn day in and day out. What develops around it is subtropic as well - at some times it resembles (soy) milk rice, at others it brings the ever so pungent sweat note of those who have eaten lots of rice in their lives (or at least recent weeks). Coconut? Sure, for festivities. There is some lemon and lime in the head note, but it makes way for the austere if versatile heart soon, introducing dry grass and a whiff of beans. The demigod of rice doesn't rest on his roses before evening ... don't be mistaken though, it's going to be sweeter than the laborious day.

I got this scent together with a host of others from BPAL mostly by coincidence. The house was new to me, I don't go in for esotericism and no one converted me to RPGs yet, so the character classes (apparently besides Rogue there are Cleric, Fighter, Mage, Paladin, and Ranger) don't evoke much with me.

This one is certainly a wild girl/guy: I'm overwhelmed by nutmeg, enveloped in ... what? I always thought linen as a perfumery note was marketing hogwash but that's what it reminds me of, somewhat similar in character but not equal to the rice note from Fils de Dieu du Riz etc. I sampled shortly before. Let's say there is grass involved, and not from the green pastures (nor from the hemp fields though) ...

After the looming medieval Hildegard-von-Bingen nutmeg has faded to the back a sweet base of coumarin or benzoin remains.

For the sake of completeness I should mention that my co-tester associated this one with "an extremely chemical artificial smelling sweet lolly like the plastic dolls of yore". It would appear she got the brunt of the base that I had more time to get used to.

Most of the Madinis appear to be dark brown and linear, this one is no exception. The Patchouli Oil has a smell I primarily associate with old wardrobes, a somewhat mouldy-woody, dry mothball note that reminds me of heavy machinery and grease. It is a strong, woody-smoky scent and one that stays with you for many hours.

If you were looking for a strong Patchouli without too much distraction this one is definitely for you. Personally I prefer a more versatile patchouli like the sweet-powdery one from M. Micallef, Calamity J, Strip or even the less engine-more-storage-room one from Le Labo but of course none of those is as straightforward and persistent.

Thanks to Asya for the sample!

Purportedly the scent was discontinued due to a ban on natural musks and lack of availability of artificial ones at the time.

Patchouli is prominent from the beginning, alongside the perfume starts off with a slightly powdery citrus followed by a rose most closely reminiscent of Loukhum or rose water.

At this point the musk slowly appears, initially accompanied by a very interesting green tea note and of course still more patchouli, becomes ever more fatty and resiny only to fade out into a sweet benzoe note.

Considering the Loukhum I'd most likely expect the Mystic Love in Turkey. I'd call it a late, melancholic passion that might not find a happy end. As becomes a composition of the 80s this Nerval has an impressive radiance, not as sweet as some other musks thanks to the Patchouli heart but still opulent yet smart in all its flowery-oriental decadence.

A sweet whiff of musk with a hint of patchouli will remain with you for the next day.

Thanks to Asya for the sample!