Incense In The Wind

Radiating Incense In The Wind - a painting by Hai Linh Le

Sunday 29 May 2022

Koya's Nexa Premium Incense

 
Second review - scroll down for earlier


A heady and pleasant everyday perfumed incense. Decently made - machine-extruded onto 9 inch machine-cut plain bamboo splints. The sticks burn at a steady pace - lasting around 50 minutes, and firmly though not aggressively inform the room with the warm floral tones. The fragrance is clean and perfumed and quite heady in the Indian style, but far from being over-bearing. It is a modern, everyday, day time scent- touches of musk, slightly or modestly sensual. This is like a body spray - something to wear casually during the day, but not for a special occasion in the evening. There's elements of rose and jasmine, touches of coconut and vanilla. It's not an exciting scent, but it is likeable. 


Date: Oct 2023   Score: 28 




First review

Perfumed wood-paste machine-extruded onto plain machine-cut bamboo splint. As is standard in perfumed incense, the paste is quite dry. It is highly perfumed both on the stick and when burned. Quite floral, soapy, sweet. A little sharp with citric notes. It's an acceptable everyday perfumed incense. It doesn't do much for me, and I feel the perfume is a little too heavy - but that may be because it doesn't really speak to me. It lacks adventure and distinction, but makes a perfectly acceptable room freshener for those who favour artificial floral scents.   

 

Date: May 2022   Score: 21 
***


2 comments:

  1. I did chuckle initially at the description on the box, but then I realised that its been cleverly written - using the opening word 'Natural' rather than 'This' , Thank you for your reviews, I really enjoy reading them!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks for your comment!

      The distinction between perfumed and natural is sometimes blurred, and I am noticing a number of modern incense sticks are a combination of the two. And when a stick is machine extruded it can be entirely natural, but give the impression of being perfumed because of the smooth, polished finish. This incense may well include natural ingredients, such as resins, gums, and flower petals - indeed, the dry paste, which is wood based, is flecked, indicating the likely presence of fragrant dried ingredients. But it mainly presents as a perfumed incense - the scent is more reminiscent of a perfume than an essential oil. However, there is also agarbathi oil - which is an essential oil diluted with diethyl phthalate to make it more economical. A number of natural or masala incenses these days appear to derive the bulk of their scent not from pure essential oils, but from agarbathi oil, which gives a more natural, less perfumed or alcoholic or volatile scent. However, I found the scent on this stick to be highly perfumed with volatile notes. I could, of course, be wrong - I'm not an expert, this is just a hobby for me, and I am still learning, and Koya put that Natural Incense message on packs which are masala, but also on packs which are perfumed, so it's difficult to tell. But this strikes me as a perfumed incense.

      Delete

Please leave a comment: