Isvaraya (2006)
by Indult

Wow, this is a beautiful fragrance! Very oriental to my nose. Started out sweet with the plum and jasmine, then the dry-down was heavy and thick with patchouli and musk. Excellent lasting power (going on ten hours!) Better-suited for evening in my opinion.

Mar
14
2009

28th March, 2011.

This quirky little sent grabbed my attention when I first started exploring perfumes and became the second bottle I ever bought myself.

In trying to describe this, a few images come to mind. One is the leather jacket I wore in college. I liked to keep it on while bar hopping because It was part of my ‘wardrobe’ and I didn’t want to risk having it stolen. The bars, of course, were always warm. My leather jacket was light weight and dusty from wear, and had a silk lining to protect the interior. Over time this lining developed a specific smell: muskiness from my warm body mixed with leather. While neither of these notes is listed in Isvaraya, I do detect them.

The second image is from a day spent in the Italian Riviera, when my SO and I found a winding, overgrown path that led from the summit of a medieval town. The uneven path clung to a rocky, windswept hillside that overlooked the sea ahead. Unexpectedly we found ourselves in a grove of gnarled olive and lemon trees, which were providing shade for colorful clusters of wild flowers. In any other setting the grove wouldn’t have caught our eye; but here, with the ancient town above us, the sea ahead of us and medieval homes all around us, it was just magical. I can still smell the fruity, floral tinged air intermixing with the warmth radiating from the rocky path.

This is the experience I get with Isvaraya.

7th February, 2010. (Last Edited: 2nd October, 2010.)

In accordance with Indult’s aspirations toward Asian exoticism, Isvaraya introduces itself with a sweet, moist, spiced fruit note of gargantuan proportions. The fruit is backed up by indolic white flowers and perhaps a touch of frankincense, followed by a wave of sweet, lush patchouli. The patchouli establishes itself at Isvaraya’s center, with the intense fruit as a gloss and the white flowers firmly in the background. Isvaraya grows more interesting over time, as the fruit and patchouli calm down and take on a drier, darker, smoky quality. It seems to me that the smoke is attached to a shadowy, non-foody vanilla that lies deep in Isvaraya’s base.

Isvaraya is not a shy scent. It’s potent – even loud – and leaves a generous cloud of sillage behind it. Ironically, it’s also very short-lived on my skin, and I cannot detected it after about two hours. So, while I’ve found Isvaraya the most intriguing of the Indult scents I’ve tried, I’d only recommend it if testing reveals that it endures longer on your skin.

15th December, 2009.