LUSH has relaunched Karma in their Gorilla Perfume line. Oh, Karma, the spicy, orange patchouli scent. It’s hippie and it’s very LUSH. It’s the fragrance that I always think of when I think of LUSH.
Karma open ups strangely on me. It’s a turpentine mess. It’s both warm and cool, dirty and fresh. From one direction, I have warm natural orange oil and the woodsy warmth of patchouli. From the other direction, I have cooling pine oil, lavender, and that damp, earthy side of patchouli. Together, these combine and create a very patchouli heavy fragrance with an acrid incense like quality. The pine and lavender give a bitter feel, almost mimicking myrrh. The orange isn’t juicy. It’s golden and mature, like sweet orange essential oil. Eventually, the strange woodworker’s chemical aroma of Karma settles down. It wears as a warm scent on me. Like always, my skin clings to woods and “eats” citrus. I can barely pick up on any citrus. I just get soft patchouli and gummy elemi. Somehow this sounds like it would smell dirty, but it smells almost clean in the way that Tom Ford White Patchouli smells clean. I attribute this cleanliness to the pine still hanging around. After many, many hours of wear Karma wears very warm, resinous, and gummy on me. My skin likes notes like elemi. The dry-down smells cuddly.
The bottom line is that LUSH Karma is the epitome of the “hippie” or headshop fragrance. It’s heavy, natural blend that most people won’t like. I hate The Grateful Dead. I use evil “corporate” fluoridated toothpaste. And I don’t associate with hippies despite my love of picking berries and foraging mushrooms, but I do love heavy, natural fragrances. I love dirty notes like patchouli. Strangely, I like Karma, but I don’t see myself wearing it. I want it in incense. I wouldn’t mind smelling the fragrance in my house. Or on my husband. Karma is masculine because of the dirty, “raw” patchouli and paint thinner-like notes. My husband likes it but he also agrees that it smells like hippies. Spending his younger high school days working at a headshop, I trust his “hippie seal”. He likes to wear Karma but admits that it is a “guilty hippie pleasure” like listening to all 17 minutes of Iron Butterfly’s In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida. It smells amazing on him, but he says its an every now and then scent, something that he couldn’ t put up with daily. LUSH says that this a scent that you’ll love from the start (my husband’s experience) or a “slow-burner” (like on me); they say it smells differently on everyone. So, why did I write a review again? 🙂
Notes listed include patchouli, orange oil, lavender, pine, lemongrass, and elemi.
Give LUSH Karma a try if you want a fragrance that epitomizes “hippie” or if your nose to transport you to your favorite headshop. If you like popular mainstream scents from your favorite pop celeb or Victoria’s Secret body sprays then you will most likely be grossed out by Karma. But, if you like heavy, essential oils then you should like Karma. If you need something to cover up reefer, cheap whiskey seeping out of your pores, and camping aromas, then you should have Karma around. OK, that was mean, but I couldn’t resist. Karma smells alright but it’s one of those “cover up” scents to me.
The 1 oz. retails for $39.95. Other sizes are available, only at LUSH. There’s even a solid perfume!
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Fragrantica (member reviews)
My bf loves this stuff! I’ve never tried it before but I love to smell it on him!
It’s one that I’d rather smell on my husband than myself too!
Shhh….I’m a suit, but I like Karma!
I won’t tell 😉
🙁 the Gorilla scent is different on me than the older style fragrance. I find it more estery and fake. There seems to be an undertone of banana or something. I’ve stopped wearing it and now wear Tendre Poison.
🙁 I was wondering that about the relaunched LUSH scents. I thought that the relaunched ones didn’t seem like the “first round” but I thought I was making this up with a few.
One can’t go wrong with Tendre Poison 🙂