Jatamansi L Artisan Parfumeur for women and men

I don't get any of the middle and base notes in this as after the intial opening of strong lemon with a hefty dose of chamomile, it all too soon disappears completely (less than an hour). If this had some staying power it would be a refreshingly different summer splash, due to the chamomile presence, but as it is it smells just like a cup of herbal tea and lasts about as long. Thanks to Yamba1 for the sample.

Before writing up my review I realized this is my fourth of four scents made by perfumer Karine Vinchon. I reviewed my comments on her other scents and picked up on a common theme... she tends to throw notes together to see what will happen

Anyhow, the opening is strongly citrus, mainly lemon. This lasts for about 5 minutes before giving way to a more interesting middle phase. Here I got flashbacks of oak moss, back when oak moss was legal, and a pleasant, more oily floral. This phase is the most complex, waxing and waning in response to my body heat, showing itself to be a higher end perfume.

Dry down is faint, green and softly floral. I like this phase too. It's only the opening that screeches on me, but other than that this is a fine fragrance. Worth trying for old school chypre fans.

To my nose, L'Artisan Parfumeur EAU DE JATAMANSI is really an oriental fragrance. Definitely more oriental than woody, and not very floral at all. I would place this in the general category (apparently used only by me) of Indian Grocery Store Perfumes.

I'm not saying that I detect sharp asafoetida or cumin or curry or fenugreek. But I get the overall impression of a mixture of many different somewhat exotic spices that have been exposed to air so as to render them less potent than they would be fresh from the mortar and pestle.

I must confess ignorance as to the smell of jatamansi and papyrus (doesn't it just smell like paper? (-:), but the general gist of this composition is nonetheless familiar enough. To be sure, a fine scent to experience, but not something that I have any real interest in smelling like. Désolée!

Citrus and wood incense dry to a mild smooth soft wood scent with that powdered incense edge. It's lovely and soft without being harsh or sharp or smokey. Very pretty, very relaxing somehow. Still it has the L'Artisan problem with faint sillage.

This lastest for about three hours on me, but never had a ton of sillage. Not a problem: After an initial citrus start, it's a warm, woody incense scent on me, with very little floral to gum it up. It isn't smoky or murky, but clear and soft, with hints of faint spice. Very nice. I like this alot.

I tried a sample of Jatamansi that was generously sent to me by another Fragrantican, and was quite disappointed in it. Jatamansi is supposed to be spikenard, and that's what I expected it to smell like. I love spikenard essential oil for its strong, earthy, slightly skanky herbal scent (even nicer than vetiver, in my opinion), but spikenard was not detectable in Jatamansi, even in minute amounts. All that I experienced was a light, slightly floral but mostly citrusy scent that quickly faded into nothing. It never ceases to puzzle me that perfume houses so often name their scents for a single note that is not even present in the perfume. It's like selling apple pie in a restaurant, but listing it as cheesecake on the menu. And in the case of Jatamansi, the size of the slice was very, very small, disappearing in one bite.

too light and airy.... just 1 hour and then it it gone.....

Great scent. But too light again... l'Artisan is light! Great ingredients!
Light and sunny scent. Yes it is more a bath stuff than a night out one...



7/10

Hey, how can anybody think THIS is strong? It smells wonderful, a light floral/citrus introduction that tapers off into a nice balsamic/oriental ending not half unlike Hinoki/Monocle by CdG...but what'cha got here is basically a wonderful cologne, which is why it comes in a HUGE bottle...so you can soak it up. I like it a lot...but I would say more as something to spray on after a Sunday bath than for a night out...basically a bath and body type thing rather than a full fledged perfume...but it is good. Not a classic.

this stuff is strong to the point that i worried that it may be burning my skin off. it goes on with industrial strength cleaner smell. i decided to wait that out instead of washing it off because there has to be something nice about it if people buy it. after half an hour, it chilled into an herb garden type smell. a little nice and as essja said calming. the sharpness is still there though, and i am not sure the later portion of the perfume is worth the wait.

Fresh, smells like Lemons. I think I could focus on this. Light and airy. Refreshing for sure. I don't know how long it will last probably not very but this is very nice and calming, soothing. Drydown is getting a little masculine on me For the price this is not one of my favorites by L'Artisan.. Reminds me of Bath and body works Kitchen Lemon Scent