Rasa
by Ava Luxe

REVIEW FOR THE EXTREME VERSION:

Well, diversity of taste can only broaden the spectrum of art...!

This went from my most-hated fragrance to one I quite like. The top notes are loud, warm, searing and very dirty; perhaps the most vivid musk I've encountered in Western perfumery ( though still very much a meek lamb compared with Ajmal's Musk Gazelle ). The top notes can smell quite fecal initially.

Gradually the fragrance cools down and becomes a rough musk and civet blend, with a pleasant rose balancing it out. All in all fairly simple and linear, but quite pleasing and surprisingly transparent for a genre known for "thick" scents.

If what you want is a simple, loud, animalic musk, this is for you. After the first blast it's quite wearable, and recommended for anyone exploring the wild ones of the musk genre.

Rasa Extreme

If I was about to think that animal notes are the greatest test to separate great perfumers from not-so-great, then I could not possibly praise perfumer behind this creation.

If I would compare this to Muscs Koublai Khan for instance, there is a huuuuge difference in art of blending. While MKK is skunky yet extremely sensual and natural at the same time, Rasa X-Treme just stands there and stink. It’s a simple and very semi professional blend of ingredients that should make a wonderfully erotic perfume.

It doesn’t necessarily make a good perfume if you put civet, musks and roses together. You have to get the balance exactly right.

This smells like a droppings of a cute rabbit which has been on a rose petal diet for a past few days.

I tested the Luxe Edition of Rasa.

Rasa notes: Indian Musk, Kenya Musk, Skin Musk, Egyptian Musk
Peruvian Balsam, Ambergris, Civit , Orris Root - (IRIS PALLIDA)
Russian Rose - (ROSA DAMASCENA) (from the Ava Luxe web site)

I smell resins, light amber and light musk. A little "perfumy" on first application, but acquires a sort of nutty "like skin only better" quality. Mostly it smells like a blend of musks with some florals added--I do not detect much in the way of civet. As the fragrance develops, the rose becomes rather strong--unusual since usually the floral notes fade rather quickly. I can tell this is the same type of boozy rose I really like, but in this composition it isn't working well for me. After some time, powder is becoming more prominent, probably from the orris, but it smells rather synthetic, almost like baby-powder. This helps bolster the rose a bit, but something about this frag just isn't clicking for me.

The skankiest, roughest perfume I own...the X-treme version that is...and I love it! It comes on very strong in the musks, with a hint of dry rose, add some ambergris and civet, and you get a very earthy, in-your-face 'basic instinct' scent. Definitely animalic and skanky, but not putrid or nasty. An intersting artifact too, is that the rose seems to carry the musks, insead of the other way around. Drydown is fantastically mellow and sweetish, and it'll stay on your skin for days. I use only a drop on my skin...don't want anyone to keel over dead around me...but I love wearing it. I would never don this at work or a crowded public place...in fact, this is a very personal scent I keep to myself. Now, I spend a good part of every day with horses, so I may have a different view of 'animalic' than others, but I love the smell of barns and feed and horses. While Rasa doesn't smell exactly like any of those things, I believe appreciating them widens the basis for other, rawer scents. So if you're intrigued by a hot, arid, torrid, and musky scent, to try Ava's Rasa X-treme.

(This review is for Rasa Extreme.) Smells like s--- and honey. Smells like, “Who s--- in the rose garden? “ Smells like the sweet scent of one’s own s---. I don’t know why I would buy this when I can just... Never mind. It becomes a nice-smelling, warm, dirty rose after two hours. Before that, I’m not brave enough to wear this in public. After that, it is really good. I wonder if I would like plain Rasa better--or If I would complain that it isn't dirty enough?

This review is for the Extreme version:

No way I could carry this one - I like MKK and Musc Ravageur, but this one stinks like the bathrooms at my work after a potluck. This one also reminds me of an older gentleman friend who has a constipation and gas problem. Indeed, this one also reminds me of the Gastrointestinal Medicine Department at my work.
The fecal notes overwhelm any of the otherwise pleasant florals that accompany this scent.
Perhaps this may work for some who crave this smell, but the musks in this one is too rank for (polite) words.