Reviews of Padparadscha (2006)
by Satellite

A little disappointing to me, this one. The first thing you notice is the color: a rich pinkish orange, modeled indeed on the rare and exquisite padparadscha sapphire of Sri Lanka and Madagascar. On application I get a fierce blast of hot, dry cedar and black pepper, unadulterated by any hint of sweetness. The take-no-prisoners opening had me anticipating an intriguing development, but guess what? It stopped, plonk, and didn't go anywhere. Not for hours. Then it just bowed out and disappeared.

On my skin Padparadscha remains a one-dimensional, linear cedar scent with limited sillage and projection. Pencil shavings, and that's it! If there's any sandalwood, amber, or musk in there, it's entombed in a plain cedar box.

If you like sharp, unsweetened wood, I'd go for Tam Dao. It plays on the same theme as Padparadscha, but it's more limber, complex, and sophisticated. Otherwise you can save money by buying one of those moth-repelling cedar closet blocks and rubbing yourself down vigorously with it.

Did I say disappointing? A regretful thumbs down.

At the opening, freshly cracked peppercorns and strong green juniper wood. After a few minutes, the pepper blows off, the juniper bows out, and fresh cedar wood steps in seamlessly joined to the most flawless, unforgiving sandalwood I’ve ever smelled. There is fillip of amber at the tail, to sweeten it one tiny little bit and to give it finish. Deep under the fresh woods is a sturdy base of campfire coals. It is stiff, bracing, and uncompromising. The only sweetness is the amber—just enough to make it wearable.

I’ve read “Padparadscha” described as arid, and I think that’s correct. It’s as rough as a cat’s tongue, and to breathe it in deeply dries out the back of my sinuses. Named after a pink sapphire, there is nothing crystalline, cold, or static in this fragrance. When I smelled it, the hot pepper slap, the fresh cedar sap and sandalwood fireworks going off, I said to myself, Oh, Sweet Shakti.

Notes: pepper, cedar, sandalwood, juniper, amber, musk

A startling opening of cedar and pepper—very aromatic, very dramatic, and quite dry… The aromatic accords of the opening are unique; they are exotic and warm and yet, very quickly they all come well within the parameters of wearablity. They are coniferous-woody and pepper-spicy and they are presented with flair and passion. The fragrance, though, doesn’t have very much sillage—it stays close to the skin providing an exotic cedary / juniper ambiance but for too short of time. Even though the fragrance appears to be constantly morphing into woody variations, it never seems to reach much of a sandalwood presence, and its amber also holds back, leaving it quite dry even in the dry down. Its main characteristic is that of a beautiful, resinous cedar that reminds me a bit of Sequoia by CdG, but Padparadscha is more challenging and, after the initial burst, less aggressive. Padparadscha is a unique unisex woody / spicy fragrance that is refreshingly exotic, surprisingly wearable, but could use much more longevity. (Rewrite of 24 April 2007 review.)

Whimpy me, little tolerance for hot or spicy. The pepper and cedar form a strong clove-like top note, and I must retreat or give in to feeling a mite ill. This phase is somewhat reminiscent of Jo Malone's Pomegranate Noir, but PN is much sweeter and easier to digest. The heart is too austere to entertain me, but I can understand others enjoying this composition.

I have to agree with most of Foetidus' points here. What I fell in love with in this fragrance is it's exotic, naturalistic peppery cedary coniferous top and mid notes. These are obviously high quality ingredients and well blended, however I do find as well that the wonderful opening is too short-lived and after a few hours the fragrance gradually dies down to a light skin musk with a hint of amber and cedar. Not an unpleasant drydown, just not enough there to hold ones attention.

That being said, I love this fragrance and it haunted me until I finally broke down and bought a bottle. I'm waiting for colder weather to really bring this one up to the top shelf. Seems much better suited for a heavy sweater and, who knows, maybe even a crackling fireplace.

On paper:
Nice peppery wood right up front with something warm and resinous in the background, not bone dry but not sweet, intriguing..and then... that's it.
Very disappointing, since the bottle, the name(from a variety of Sri Lankan sapphires the colour of lotus flowers and sunsets) and ingredients all made me want to like it.

On my skin:
something a bit sweet almost like black tea is making the pepper read as almost clove-like. The lightly honeyed tea note comes up a bit on my skin in a way it didn't on paper.Very little silage and its only the pepper that carries.
I feel like, on someone else maybe the sweet sandalwood and amber and musk notes that are supposed to be there might come forward and it could be wonderful.
On me, no lotus-hued sunsets, no such luck. Can't afford one of those sapphires either. My inner princess is going to go sulk now :(