Chymara (2004)
by Body Shop

Save for the somewhat tart opening, Chymara could be a unisex fragrance. The amber, woods, and praline all come up from the base and basically dominate the fragrance for most if its life on my skin. These notes, when combined, make Chymara smell like a somewhat oriental / gourmand, like there's a chocolate note in there as well. But this is just as masculine as Angel Men or Rochas Man, and therefore I see it as a suitable unisex. Decent longevity and sillage.

13rd January, 2011.

Pineapple, mandarin with a pinch of rose. when it heats up i got woods more than amber or musk. And a side product note, may be pralin makes this effect but i got barely smell of wet cake there. You mix the cake and if you smell it before putting into oven you got that wet sugary starchy aroma. Nice and young.

11th August, 2008.

Chymara is such a transformer of a fragrance, so I wanted to wait before writing a definite review. Well it's been a year and I still love wearing it. This is probably my only "light" fragrance (in the jungle of EL Knowing, Youth Dew, Aromatics Elixir and other heavy/spicy ones I adore. So it's only "light" comparing to these.).

This is the most beautiful musk with an opening burst of fresh mandarin peel. The scent develops into a juicy cocktail of purple berries and muted silky rose. This is such an unusual celebration of wet garden. That’s what Chymara reminds me of: a dewy morning in an overgrown garden of some dream retreat, where wild flowers, blackberry and raspberry bushes, rare roses and lilies grow side by side.

There's no sugar here, no overbearing vanilla sweetness. The scent is ripe and luscious with slightly green undertones. In the base notes hides dark praline with stimulating cedarwood. This gives nice depth and complexity to the scent. Again, it's all well settled under a veil of dewy musk. This fragrance evokes summer haze, soft rainy mornings and dreamy ambience.

Luckily Chymara can be worn every day without worries. It's sensual, but not the least overbearing. It's inoffensive, pleasant and I get many compliments when I wear it. The price is ridiculously right and the bottle is pretty in pink glass, with a dash of purple.

All in all, this is an impressive creation worth looking into.

17th June, 2008.

Top: Mandarin, Pineapple, Berries
Heart: Muguet, Rose, White Lilies
Bottom: Woody, Cedarwood, Praline, Musky, Ambery
This is a great scent for summer / all year round. Sadly on me it is rather forgettable. But I love heavy florals like Mahora, Fleurs D'Oranger, Carolina Herrera and heavy orientals like Tabu, Opium, and Lagerfeld KL, so if you prefer lighter florientals this may work for you. It's a pretty, feminine floriental but as I said, for me, quite forgettable.

6th December, 2006.

Within the "Invent your Scent" range, Chymara is considered the floriental fragrance, a designation I would probably take issue with if I were a big fan of "real" florientals. Like the range's Altaro, a take on oriental, Chymara is floriental light, if even that. The proper elements are mostly there, but this lacks a truly resonant base that gives a floriental its body. Of course, I understand that the Body Shop isn't looking to produce the fragrance world's next Coco or Narcisse Noir, as it's just not that type of brand! It's just that this fragrance, to me, has a neither-here-nor-there feeling to it; it starts out very strong and every bit as heady as a true floriental with a heavy presence of spiced fruit, but very rapidly fades on me to a light-ish fruity-floral with quite a bit of clean musk. Generally, this is a nice scent that bears some passing resemblance to some of the lighter fruity-florals from the big houses, Lancome Attraction and Escada Magnetism being among them. The notes are top - mandarin, pineapple, berries/heart - muguet, rose, lilies/base - wood, cedar, praline, musk and amber.

29th September, 2005.