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Friday, 4 October 2024

Anand Blue Moon Flora

 

I like the box design. And the inner waxed paper pouch. I like these retro stylings. I recently re-reviewed Sree Vani Little Ganesh which has a similar retro vibe, and is also a masala style incense directed at the Western market. And that is the case with another incense I've just re-reviewed, Hari Darshan Tribal Soul Myrrh. All these incenses - decently made, attractive scents, natural ambience, traditional aspects, quality packaging - are available for less than £2 for 15g. These are good times for incense. 

This is the fourth Anand incense I've tried, and I've liked them all. Decent quality at decent prices. Mine come from Exotic Incense.com in the USA, where they sell for $2.00 (approx £1.50) for 15g); and the company ship internationally.

These are neatly made sticks - they give the appearance of the charcoal paste being applied by machine, with the brown melnoorva powder (which I note is sometimes referred to as "masala powder" these days) rolled onto the paste by hand. The scent on the stick is attractive and commercial - like the other Anand incense there is an impression of a modern men's cologne - it has elements of both fougère and chypre  accords - sweet, lavender-like, and citric top notes, warm amber middle notes, and earthy, woody base notes. 

I burned the stick at an angle, and on the other side of a well ventilated room. It firmly informed the room with a warm, slightly prickly/spicy, woody, sweet  fragrance. There is distinct feel of "masala incense" about the scent - that earthy, woody, natural, dawn in the meadow scent that comes from a traditional masala. 

I like these Anand incenses - and I score them high on each burn. My quibble (and it may be more than a quibble) is that they are not terribly distinctive from each other, or particularly interesting in themselves. They are solidly good scents, and fulfil what we kind of want from a traditional Indian masala incense. But they don't actually do much. The scents remain within those pleasant though old fashioned and rather too commercial fougère and chypre accords. There is this feeling of perhaps too much familiarity with these scents, and a desire for them to do a bit more. On the whole I tend to get this feeling with a number of masala incenses - that the fragrances are a little too narrow and familiar. I kind of like the excitement that can come with a modern perfumed incense - particularly the ones where the fragrance is a unique blend. I suppose the incenses that interest and attract me most, are those which have the excitement of a new and bold fragrance with the quality standards that tend to come with a masala incense. 

Anyway, I like this Blue Moon Flora - good quality; though I just wish the fragrance was more interesting and/or developed a bit more as it burned. For those who like a traditional masala incense with the familiar woody/earthy notes of such an incense, and/or like fougère and chypre accords, this Blue Moon, and the Anand incenses in general would be a good fit. 


Date: Sept 2024    Score: 37
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