By Thomas
Sometimes, a whisper will suffice. Marlon Brando made a career out of mumbling, and numerous Jazz singers and classical pianists made names for themselves by making people pay attention to the delicate shadings in their delivery. On the other hand, BULLHORNS TEND TO DROWN OUT THE NUANCES AND JUST BLARE THE MAIN THEMES. Are you taking notes, good people at Lush?
I had high hopes for Karma, I really did. I fell hard for an Orange-Patchouli shaving soap, but the maker of said soap didn’t offer a matching EdT (and didn’t return my emails) so I left it to public opinion to find a good match. Where my shaving soap had a fairly well-balanced blend of orange and patch, Karma comes roaring up the nostrils with SWEET ORANGE!!! and FIR!!!. Not that I mind orange or fir, but…it’s a trifle loud.
The FIR!!! and ORANGE!!! start to settle a bit and are joined by lavender but…there’s nothing underneath it all. It’s a bit stark and jumpy, like bold red, green, and blue strokes on dazzling white paper. This goes on for a while, but after a few hours things settle down a bit.
The patchouli comes around and lends a bit of background color, the bullhorn disappears, and Karma is pleasant, sort of. What finally occurred to me is that this scent is unbalanced, almost cartoonish in a Scooby-Doo way with a few notes pushed to the front, and whatever else they put in the bottle dialed way, way back.
This is a scent I would expect Shaggy to wear, now that I think of it. Is it good? I like sniffing it from time to time, once it settles down. The concept is good, and I think someone, somewhere can really make this sing like a good Chypre (dial back the sweetness and add clove/nutmeg/allspice, perhaps? Hmmm…). That said, Karma wears me out. Not for daily wear, and certainly not recommended if you want people to pay attention to you and not your scent.
Notes: Patchouli, Orange, Lavender, Pine, Lemongrass, Elemi, Cassie Absolute,
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I had the most unpleasant experience trying this one. The store assaults you with a wall of foul odour, and the staff are extremely aggressive. The SA actually opened with "Is Karma your favourite perfume?" Um...no. "Oh, well it will be". Um...again, no. Loud, stale, and nothing more than the stench of a health food store.
ReplyDeleteKarma is loud in liquid form, but I've found the solid perfume wearable. It seems sweeter and better balanced. Of course, sillage is much reduced with a solid!
ReplyDeleteHave you tried the solid Thomas? I'm going to have to test that one out...there has to be something behind the popularity of this scent. Thanks for the tip Tania...now if only I could figure out how to bypass the staff...
ReplyDeleteI have only tried the liquid, so if they're toned it down it's probably better.
ReplyDeleteTania: now that you mention it, I recall reading the solid perfume review and thinking it sounded splendid, and that probably had a hand in my disappointment with my bottle. It seemed to be caricatur-ized (is that a word?). May have to review the solid separately if it's that different.
Dane,
ReplyDeleteI've only been in Lush shops in the UK, and the staff have been nice. Your experience does sound bad - who on earth says that to a customer? ;-(
Yes, the combined scents can be a bit strong. You always know when there's a Lush store around!
Thomas,
I don't know if the solid Karma has a different formula. I'm no expert on notes and such. Perhaps it's just quieter by virtue of being a solid. It seems less throat-catching to me, though, and sweeter.
The FIR!!! and ORANGE!!!
ReplyDeleteYou crack me up. I mean, YOU CRACK ME UP!!!