Nag Champa Organic Perfume Girl

A garden in Karnataka. Magnolia trees blossom champaka. Silky succulent leaves that shimmer pollen in the haze after rain and thunder. In soap traces of a wax skin cover. Herbaceous-spicy pearls as protection against spirits. Offerings to the Hindu gods. Resins glisten on every sandalwood splinter. A smoke-free temple of beautiful nature. A moment of light. Contemplation. I'm aware.
***
Dawn Stewart from Huntington Beach, California, creates the fragrances for her label ‘Organic Perfume Girl’ from handmade tinctures of plants, flowers, and herbs, which she combines with high-quality essential oils, resins, and/or concretes, all wild-harvested or organically grown. All the packaging in which she ships her fragrances is hand-glued recycled materials, such as old matchboxes for the testers.
Nag Champa originates from the centuries-old Hindu tradition of offering sandalwood, resins, oils, and herbs to the gods. Originally based on the sweet, woody scent of Halmaddi resin from Karnataka, Nag Champa became increasingly popular in incense stick blends made from flowers such as champaka and magnolia combined with sandalwood. The scent is said to have cleansing and concentration-enhancing effects.
Dawn Stewart's “Nag Champa” approaches the subject in a way that was unexpected for me, as there are no incense stick vibes to be found here. Instead, the fragrance opens with lush, silky succulent magnolias and beguilingly balsamic champaka. The pollen of the flowers is almost visible in the mind's eye before subtle soapy accents mingle underneath, presumably attributable to the spicy-sweet dragon's blood resin. The sandalwood envelops everything in a delicate creaminess with light resinous, slightly glue-like overtones. In the base, the elements seem to gather dust as if they were blowing away over dry earth.