After reviewing the rather ordinary perfumed Fleur De Vie Dream Sage, I thought I would dig out the other Fleur De Vie incense that I bought from the German website Aqasha.com. First thing I noticed when I picked up the packet is that it's a different size, shape, and design. So not the same range as the Dream Sage. On opening the packet I'm pleasantly surprised to find that instead of machine made perfumed incense I have some hand rolled masala incense. Oooh. This is a little more promising.
The sticks look OK. A charcoal masala paste has been hand rolled onto plain machine cut bamboo splints. The paste is dry and crumbly. It has been covered in an attractive white powder - partly to stop the freshly made damp sticks from gluing together as they dry, but mostly, I suspect, for the appearance. The powder is richly applied and quite fluffy. It does look good. And it does signal masala. There is a lotus aroma on the stick, rich, fresh and volatile - evaporating the fragrance in the manner of a liquid scent. Lotus is the national flower of India due to its significant status among several cultures and spiritual beliefs in ancient Indian traditions - it is regarded as an auspicious flower, largely due to the beauty of the petals and the heady sweetness of the scent, and that it rises above the dirty water where it is found. Most lotus perfumes are not made from the lotus plant itself, but from other plants, such as hyacinth, which have similar scents, or simply from chemical formulations. The organic compound 1,4-Dimethoxybenzene (sweet floral scent) is the primary constituent in the lotus plant that produces the characteristic lotus scent, and that would be used in most lotus perfumes. Also present in the lotus scent are eucalyptol or eucalyptus oil (woody, camphor, minty, fresh scent), terpinen-4-ol or tea tree oil (camphor scent), and linalool (floral, spicy, woody scent). Anyway, it's a sickly sweet aroma which has the sense of decay about it. Some citrus. Yeah. I like it.
The stick burns in a steady fashion, releasing smoke and aroma in a consistent manner to gently but firmly influence the room with a lotus type scent. The aroma is more successful than I thought it would be, retaining sufficient top notes to keep the scent bright, sharp and interesting. As the Fleur De Vie brand is made for the Dutch distributor Eastern-Trading Ltd by the MDPH (Mysore Deep Perfumery House) company, who also make the Zed Black brand, I was wondering if Zed Black (which I am curious about after all the promotion) would turn out to be a flop. But this incense, while not lifting me up, is not quite the bargain basement indifferent nothing that the Dream Sage had been. It's OK. Not great, but perfectly acceptable.
Date: June 2023 Score: 33
***
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| MDPH |
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| Lotus |
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| Best floral incense |
Oh! I thought Fleur de Vie is just another brand by MDPH like ZedBlack but made for western market, I had no Idea they are private label.
ReplyDeleteYes. They say so on the box: "Made for & Marketed Exclusively by Eastern Trading Agencies".
DeleteI don't know if they are specially made or just specially boxed. I don't know much about either Eastern Trading Agencies or MDPH. Re-boxing is the most common activity. The wording is unclear as the "Exclusively" is placed next to "Marketed" rather than "Made for".
I find it a little odd the difference in quality between this White Lotus and the Dream Sage. And, given that the Dream Sage is clearly a rose incense, I'm wondering if the wrong sticks were put in the box.
The whole lineup is like this. It is absolutely odd.
DeleteFive Tibetan Rites is hand rolled masala with a pale coating, Holy Smoke also. Tree of Life is extruded and feels cheap (but I really like it). Those are in black boxes - Tree of live has a slightly different formate and the fleur de vie symbol is not actually gold. It's also in a plastic bag that has a ZedBlack print on.
Someone told me White Sage, Goji Berry, Palo Santo, Chakra Energy (all white boxes) and Zen Meditation (black box) are also like this.
I suspect that the Zed Black White Sage is the same as the Fleur De Vie Dream Sage. Ah. I've just looked closely at the inner sleeve of the Dream Sage. It was a sealed Zed Black sleeve (I had cut it to open it). So they are the same incenses put into different branded boxes. And I would put down £20 to say that they put the wrong packet in this box. My inner sleeve is in red ink - which is the colour they would use for a rose scent.
DeleteBut there's a Fleur de Vie White Sage too.
DeleteWith brands like that, where the incense anyway doesn't smell like the plant name on the packet, I'm not surprised a "Dream Sage" smells of roses.
I'm not optimistic that Zed Black is going to be a good incense. Anyway, I have enough here already with my "legendary" backlog, that I can't see myself trying any Zed Black anytime soon. Well, apart from the Zed Black I have already tried under the brand name of Fleur de Vie! ;-)
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