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Saturday 19 October 2024

Ullas Patil's Traditions of India Premium Flora Bathi

 


This is made by Patil Parimala Works of Bangalore who trade as Ullas. SamsaSpoon/Irene who runs the PlumeOfSmoke blog, got in touch recently to say that Sri Durga Perfumery Works (two of whose scents I had reviewed: Spiritual 7 Chakras and Spiritual Yoga) had closed, and their Spiritual range been taken over by Patil Parimala, so would be known in future as Ullas. 

This is labelled as a "Flora Bathi". "Flora" is a vague term. The earliest use I have found is for Sai Flora, and much incense that is called flora appears to have something in common with that legendary incense - particularly the heavy use of oils. The intention appears to be as rich as possible. Crude almost. Vulgar almost. Floras tend not to be delicate or subtle incenses. And oddly, despite the richness, a good number of floras are reasonably priced. It seems to be part of the tradition that a flora should be bright, bold, and yet not expensive. They are very Indian, and are mainly aimed at the domestic market, where they may be sold in a luxury box at a premium price. This is sold in a Goloka style box - larger than a Satya box, but smaller than a luxury box. And it is priced at 30 Rupees (approx 27p) for 15 sticks, so a fairly standard price - not a bargain price, but not a premium price. At this price and strength the oils used are more likely to be fragrance oils than essential oils. Fragrance oils are not pure oils - they will have a proportion of synthetic fragrance added to them - perhaps as much as 100% synthetic. But synthetic fragrances are not bad - most luxury perfumes, such as Chanel No5, have a proportion of synthetic fragrance to increase strength and depth and also accuracy of the scent. This box, though, says 100% Nature. The box also mentions halmaddi - a fixative that holds and boosts the strength and durability of fragrances. 

The appearance is of a standard masala incense:  an eight inch stick with 6 inches of charcoal paste hand-rolled onto a plain bamboo splint, and then coated with a brown melnoorva powder (increasingly these days, the melnoorva - which is usually unscented powdered tree bark placed on the paste to stop the sticks from gluing together as they dry - is termed "masala powder" because it is so associated with masala style incense). The scent on the stick is warm, sweet, floral - reminiscent of talcum/baby powder. The floral notes are rose and iris. There's some mild woody notes underneath. Some citric hints. A touch of men's cologne. Some bubblegum (fruit and phenolic wheat beer). It's an attractive scent - warm, sweet and familiar. Somewhat synthetic and lacking in depth, but pleasing. 

The scent on the burn is similar to that on the stick - sweet, pleasant, everyday cologne and baby powder. It reminds me of the modern perfume based sticks made by Balarama.  It's not as rich and traditional smelling as other floras I've had. It burns well and diffuses attractively around the room - it makes itself known without being assertive. I like it, but it doesn't transcend the ordinary. I kinda prefer the richer scent on the stick. A lot of the top notes are lost on the burn. But it is still nice. 


Date: Oct 2024   Score: 31 

4 comments:

  1. Ohh, so it looks like the mystery of spiritual range has been solved.

    I had tried this and I found this incenses to be unusual scent. From the name, I thought it was going to be floral, spicy and woods like traditional floral incenses, but it smelled like Garnier’s Ultra Doux (Ultimate Blends) Lime Blossom shampoo to me, it was citrusy and when burnt, I like it but not something I would vouch for. Me and Silver(She reviewed this in her blog) had the same experience with this incense and we both found it to be citrusy, spicy and sweetness.

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    1. I quite like it, but it's certainly not the usual flora is it? It does kind of fit into the modern perfumed masala sticks that Wonder/New Moon are marketing to the Western audience. It's a bit more engaging and fun than the standard room/car freshener, but not by much. It's kind of a body mist perfume.

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    2. Yup. Btw I don’t think the contemporary, lemony scent matches with the name or has anything to do with traditional fragrance of India lol. Btw Ulhas has a nice range of incense, with their agarveda being my favorite. Ullas also has incense sticks for Kids, which describes to me as milky and greeny fragrance.

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    3. Agree.

      I'm curious about the incense for kids.

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