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gerwag – :
I almost blind-bought a full bottle of this because I love rose, I love lychee, I love simple scents, and I love Kurkdjian.
So glad I sampled first.
On me this is pure, over the top fruity sugar. Was hoping for some depth and greenness from the rose, some tang from the lychee, but didn’t get either of those. No development either. Far too sweet and too linear, a bit cloying and childlike.
drogradia – :
So disappointing .. it smells like scented color pens
erurlertyt – :
It just smells like sweet grape juice. Very sweet (almost too sweet) but not too strong. It’s not awful by any means, but I cannot believe it costs so much! Smells like something Comptoir Sud Pacifique would have made and sold at 1/4 of a price.
UPDATE: I gave it a few more tries and beginning to see the appeal. Still don’t love it and think it’s overpriced for what it is, but it has this bubblegum feel to it which is not overwhelming and kind of pleasant.
BAnatoliy – :
Manakara begins as a lightly boozy pink rose scent with retro bubble gum and lychee syrup. The lychee is present in the opening then mostly disappears.The booziness, which is like white wine or champagne, fades quickly as well. The remaining scent is sweet, innocent and girly – bubble gum and roses. Pretty. But so not me. I’m beginning to think that there’s some aromachemical that is used for floral accords that just turns to retro bubble gum and powdered sugar on my skin – it happens with mimosa and narcissus notes a lot, as well as pretty much all of Tauer’s rose scents. So take my review with a grain of salt – this may just be a skin chemistry thing. Overall, it’s a pleasant scent but not something I’d buy.
Gess – :
Wow, this is unique. It manages to be a fruity floral while smelling like nothing else I’ve experienced. Definitely tropical, but not like any typical tropical scent. It’s very adult, not a fruity floral for a teenager, but far from old fashioned. There is a musk at the base that really makes this combination intriguing.
I’m not sure that it’s my taste, but I’ll save my sample for a cool evening and try again. Just might be too much for a hot and humid day.
mormonn – :
Oh wow first fruity I’ve popped on my want list in ages! So tropical and unique, the lychee for sure. Love it! Super powerful. Very sweet but tangy and unique.
shel_1980 – :
Manakara by Indult- Thank you to Moonsparrow for this delightful sample. Lychee fruit taste like a cross between a pear and a kiwi or a grape with the sour sharpness of a grapefruit. This fragrance really captures the aroma and flavor of a real lychee fruit with the added note of Rose. The rose notes give the fruity, sweet lychee a floral air, lightening the heavy, sweetness of the fruit. At first it makes you think there is either rum or whisky in it, but there are no whisky or rum notes in it. This is quite a pleasant fragrance suitable for those who like sweet, fruity fragrances with a delicate, light, airy, flowery touch. The rose base is not able to carry lychee into any long winded performance, rendering this fragrance an all top note fragrance with no middle or base. This lovely perfume whisks away into the wind and is barely detectable at 3 hours. A travel vial is necessary if you want to keep this fruity floral going all day or night.
курчатова174 – :
Holy, I did not expect to love this right off the bat. What a mouth watering and juicy scent! It’s sweet like a fruit juice popsicle, not off putting or sharp in the least. It’s so very delicious, I’m really blown away! I don’t get much rose, the most dominant note for me is the litchi and it’s so yummy I need to eat some fruit right now.
After about an hour it dries down and gets less juicy and tart. The rose comes out more here and gives the scent a sort of powdered vibe, more settled and even slightly more sophisticated, compared to the opening anyway. The sweet juiciness turns to a soft powdered sugar. It’s lasted on my sleeve the entire day. What a beauty.
escobrier – :
This is the story of Manakara,the oldest of three pretty little sisters, Manakara,Miss Charming and Allegoria Bouquet Numero 2.
All three are beautiful and radiant,they share a lot of physical features,they share the mentality and a lot of genes!
Manakara,the big sister,is the most complex and sophisticated,yet playful and a happy heart! She has no age. Age never matters anyway…
Litchi and rose (yes,it’s been done before…),but deep,very well blended,with a boozy,warm,almost steamy quality,Manakara is so much more than meets the eye,so much more than one would expect from only two notes.Yes she is a fruity rose,but she has a slightly gourmand edge,almost like a rose/litchi jam,gently simmering on the stove.
She is uplifting,approachable,but her class and quality shine! Warm,sensual and hypnotic,yet so young at heart,smiling and winking from time to time.This lady hates it if she is taken too seriously…
Excellent longevity,very good sillage and projection.
Last but not least… She will reward you with one of the most beautiful dry downs you’ve ever smelled in a perfume. Pure bliss!
Igor555555 – :
I received a sample of this and I am utterly obsessed. I can’t stop sniffing my wrist. It is so addicting, I’ve never enjoyed rose in this way. The lychee makes it so luscious and edible, I can’t get enough. It’s a very juicy, sweet and rich scent. Perfect for an unapologetically playful girl in the summertime. I will be purchasing this scent. FYI-smells like Valentino “Valentina Pink”, but a tad sweeter & slightly less rose, which makes it less generic-smelling than Valentina Pink.
ane4ka2387 – :
I try really hard not to write a negative sounding review as one person’s poison is another’s joy. I can’t believe I don’t like Manakara. I love Tihota and Isvaraya and was fully expecting to love this too. Unfortunately I don’t. Instead of lychee and roses I get overripe melon both sweet and cloying.I also get the smell of something that’s been burnt in the background. The syrupy sweetness of the melon is joined by resins in the drydown and overall this scent smells of way more than 2 notes (except I don’t actually smell the 2 notes listed LOL). Manakara stays strong throughout its impressive lifetime. For those on who this is magic, good for you 🙂
sedov23 – :
I truly wanted this to smell like the litchi and rose I was promised but I detect none of either on my skin. And I don’t mind a bit of sweet in my fragrances…but this is an incredibly sweet, cloying scent to me, very gourmand. If I had known it was gourmand before I ordered the sample, I never would have even considered it. Somehow I missed that in the description.
On me it is pure rich caramel and I really can’t smell anything else but that. I am not a fan of the flavor of caramel (unless it is a caramel apple), much less the scent of it. If you are a fan of rich sugary gourmands, you will love this. I did not loathe it in the way that I loathe Vanillary by LUSH, but it is still too sweet for me and after 30 minutes I was compelled to wash it off.
I bought the $4 sample of it through Luckyscent so no great loss!
pupo7 – :
If Indult (with the aid of the nose of Kurkdjian) does one thing well, it’s delightful gourmands with depth. While Manakara pales in comparison to the masterpiece that is Tihota, it’s done with “quality over quantity” in mind – and has a beautiful simplicity goin’ on!
Manakara opens up with an edible, syrupy, litchi/rose combination – STRONG, and sweet, and the sugar only intensifies as it dries down. In the heart of this fragrance is another dewy & fragile fruit, not dissimilar from honeydew. This is a fruity-floral that puts all other fruity-florals to shame! Simultaneously dense & deep, but with the texture of cotton candy.
On my skin, this scent turns rubbery after some time, almost burnt, in a way. It’s beautiful before this phase of the perfume, but not full-bottle worthy for me. Guerlain’s French Kiss is still the winner for best rose/litchi combo in my book!
Babuha.67 – :
I’m back.
After wearing my sample again for the first time in a while (I’ve been saving it, as you can imagine), I just want to add that the longevity is impressive. We’re at about the 12 hour mark and it’s still going strong – I mean actually projecting. It wasn’t loud when I put it on but it was noticeable and present and the volume has stayed consistent all day. I’m especially in awe considering I was sweating out in the sun today in 73% humidity/90+ degree weather. Not to mention the dishwashing and housework. I seriously wonder what percentage of perfume oil Indult uses.
Yeah. This is moving up a few points on the want list.
salabunny – :
Not what I expected but very likable indeed. The first sniff seems to be cotton candy–the burnt sugar caramel note. A sour anchoring note joins next; this is the litchi and is what makes this a grown-up scent rather than a kid scent. The rose seems more edible–rosewater rather than petals. All in all the effect is like the best possible raspberries–sweet, sour, rich, a bit of a bite to the juiciness. As I’ve worn this I’ve noticed something a bit unusual–it smells noticeably different depending on how close you are. As I type it smells sweet and caramel; if I bring my wrist about a foot from my nose the litchi and the bite shows up. Very nice trick.
Sillage–personal, 1-2 ft
Longevity–2 hours and testing
Fabulosity–raspberries in champagne
Price to value ratio–reasonable
7/10
melvigen – :
Like all these blended together…Pink cotton candy, hints of Raspberry, sweet pink Roses and juicy Litchi!! Yummmmm. Sweet and syrupy yet floral. I don’t really get aquatic notes, however it is fresh and natural. This is another gourmand lovers sweetie, if you cannot handle sweet perfumes, stay away.
entendCleadox – :
I really, really, really LIKE this. I want to love it, but I’m just not there. It’s like a relationship with a guy you know is awesome, the best you are ever going to find, you are lucky to be with him, but you can’t bring yourself to love him. That is what this is.
This reminds me of Lancome Hypnose without the harshness. It smells almost drinkable. There is a shop in my town that sells macrons and they have a delicious rose macron… this smells like that tastes. The more I talk about it the closer I get to loving it. Wish I was there.
karibo – :
Love at first sniff.
Yes, it’s very, very sweet. So if sweet perfumes turn you off, back away now.
But the sweetness of it smells very natural to my nose, like real lychee fruit. And because it smells like real fruit there’s a tang to the sweetness that gives it dimension, keeping it from being just another sugar bomb. I can’t stop sniffing myself with this on.
Sigh. My poor pocketbook.
tyc693Diobtetty – :
Manakara smells, to your nose, like rose and lychee jam tastes to your mouth.
Overly sweet? Well, are lychees too sweet for you? If that’s the case, then perhaps. If not, this may be a dream come true.
Manakara is as smooth and delicious as they come. Nothing cheap or chemical here. It’s like sneaking spoonfuls of rose and lychee jam straight from the jar throughout the day with no consequences.
Manakara makes me happy …
powerfulfil – :
Manakara is hard for me to describe. It smells more complex than its simple notes and curse (not really) the fragrantica member that long ago sent me this sample, because I blew through it and had to order a bottle.
It is almost tooth acheingly sweet, but I love it. There is no noticeable “rose” in it for me, not the way you typically find rose in a perfume, this is sugary sweet “just a touch of” rose candy and sugary sweet lychee. And it’s just slightly addicting.
The secret to making Manakara hold on to its opening beauty, and to making it last, is to spray it on your clothes. Worth every penny, and it would be like pulling teeth for me to say any perfume at this price was worth it.
dimonnnni – :
I love this fragrance… for the first 2 hours. It has a great mix of smells… It is floral and it is sweet. It isn’t spicy but it does stay grounded… a little woodsy. It finishes sweat like sugar. I would like it better if it kept its dark, floral ways, but it looses that and just turns sweet. For the price I feel the great sent should linger instead of tuning to a soft sugar no one but me can smell, and even then its only when I put my nose to my wrist.
vitaswer – :
I think this smells of caramel cotton candy drizzled over vanilla ice cream..terrifically sweet but i don’t mind it at all because Manakara does all this while remaining respectful of its surroundings which is quite a feat! Fairly gentle sillage but you’d have to be in the mood for sweets to enjoy it.
jfromcandp – :
This starts out as a intense burst of sweet fresh flowers, and just gets even sweeter as it settles, like lychees draped in sugar syrup, way way too sickly sweet. PS this is not foody or gourmand cos I love those types of scents, so dont go thinking this is some delicious sweet perfume with some floral. No it’s almost headache inducing sickly sugar sweet. No one who smelt this on me liked it.
dirtydogg – :
Starts out fruity, dries down to green..like down to “foresty-green”. Not for me.
qbb507speagoessenda – :
Beautiful and elusive fragrance! I usually don’t like florals, but I love this. The rose note is only dominant for the first few minutes, and then a green fruity note intertwines with it…must be the litchi? Sweet enough to be almost edible, but still very elegant. Not too strong and I can wear this to work…beautifully done!