Reviews of 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.

Pluran's review piqued my curiosity, and I remembered that I had a sample of Rasa EdP (not the extreme version) lying around untried. Well, all I can say is that Rasa Extreme must be a whole different animal (so to speak,) because this one bears no resemblance whatsoever to Muscs Koublai Khan.

Rasa starts out as a sweet, potent rose fragrance, with soft musk notes emerging below. The heart remains very simple: rose and powdery musk with a slight touch of sweet vanilla.

The musk becomes a bit sharper and more tangy as the scent dries down, but never to the point where I'd really call it "animalic." In fact, Rasa stays very "pretty" all the way through. If there's any civet in this mix it gets lost in the blend. It's certainly not asserting itself as an individual note.

Rasa has very little projection or sillage on me after the first fifteen or twenty minutes. After an hour the accords have homogenized into a sweet, powdery, and "perfumey" floral on a musk base. The impression I get is of a very old-fashioned scent; something that wouldn't seem out of place on my grandmother. It's a pleasant enough fragrance if you want a musky rose scent that's not too threatening, but it certainly doesn't strike me as anything revolutionary.

Not, I repeat, the animal adventure pluran's had with the extreme version, but his review sure makes me want to try that one next!

The review is for Rasa Extreme.

Notes:
Indian Musk
Kenya Musk
Skin Musk
Egyptian Musk
Peru Balsam
Ambergris
Civet
Orris Root
Russian Rose

It's a sublime fragrance. The general scent is similar to Muscs Koublai Khan, though Rasa Extreme is less oriental, even more animalic, with better sillage and longevity. It’s clearly superior to MKK in all respects really. Perceptions led me to believe that Ava Luxe fragrances wouldn't be that good. I was wrong. Rasa Extreme is complex with tremendous presence, and evolves for the duration of the scent, which is a strong twelve hours or more. Although it's heavily animalic, the creamy, luscious core (with a good dose of Peru Balsam) allows it to be worn in any situation without wondering whether or not someone will think you smell like a goat. It’s the best animalic/musk fragrance I’ve ever worn and I’m blown away by how accurate it is.

This is a great one. I love to smell it on my girlfriend (makes me want to rip her pants off and get all in it), but I also like wearing it myself.

If you like em animalic with loads of prime musk, this is the paragon of that category. The only way you’ll know is to get on it. All you need is a small sample.

This review is for the EDP. I’m goin nuts thinkin about the Parfum.

Have fun.

Rasa starts off all roses on me. There is an undercurrent of musk, but nothing that I, a professed musk hater before I joined these boards, couldn't handle. The roses are sweet, fruity and opulent, but fade after a while, leaving behind a warm, "skin but better" scent.

This is nice, and undoubtedly sexy. My initial impression was that I liked Rasa very much, but wished it was a little stronger. However, I actually think I may be anosomic to certain musks as, five hours after application, I got only a faint whiff of musk, whereas my colleague practically recoiled when I asked her to sniff my wrist and said it was really strong!
I will have to try the X-treme version!

This is a review for the "new" Rasa (but I do compare it to the old one, now known as "x-treme"):

This is a lovely powdery floral musk. When I heard the description of musks and spiced roses, I was immediately drawn to the idea b/c I'm a big fan of Lorenzo Villoresi's rosy Musk (but find it a bit too soft for my liking). Alas, this one is soft as well. I'd wear it to bed, as it feels nice, light, comforting, and sensual, but it's a bit too feminine for my tastes. I get the roses, but felt shortchanged on the spice...

I also tried "Rasa X-treme" in hopes of finding a nicer, spicier rose, but boy...you talk about "fecal notes" and then there's the smell of the substance itself...it's an interesting concept, but all that nastiness mixed with powdery roses/musk makes it smell kind of like dirty diapers in the end (sorry for any fans). MKK is dirty, but smells of sweat not...you know what.

Still, the smell of Rasa is nice so it gets a thumbs up

This is for Rasa X-treme, which is pretty much identical to Kama X-treme: superskanky supermusky animalic notes. Perhaps Rasa is slightly more sweet and floral.

Beautifully blended musky musks without any sweetness, an undercurrent of ...iris?...and some rose. Dries down into voluptuous warmth. Sexy!!