Kashâya
Kenzo (1994)

A complex and many-sided sweet fruity Amber, Kashâya was one of Sophia Grojsman's thick and powdery Hug Me 'fumes, but lighter than some, it had a tart fruitiness that made it more like the Nuit Trésor flanker than Grojsman's original.
Which is not an insult, just a way to show how modern Kashâya was; anticipating – as it did – the spikiness that hit perfumery in the Twenty-teens, and still hasn’t quite gone away.
So – even if it's dated – it's still relevant ... specially if you want to step to the edge of the crowd and smell a wee bit different.

Genre: Floral Oriental

It takes work for me to get past Kashâya's bubblegum and tropical “froot” top notes. They may have smelled exotic in 1994, but today they veer dangerously close to the adolescent mass market fruity floral cliché. With 100% Love, Yvresse, Jaïpur, and Calyx, perfumer Sophia Grojsman has made brash, plainly artificial, fruity top notes something of a calling card. In some cases – notably Yvresse and Calyx – they support an uplifting sweet accord that feels like a bath of olfactory sunshine. In others, say 100% Love, they take on an jarring chemical quality that fights with everything around them. While it holds together better than some of Grojsman's more cacophonous arrangements, Kashâya comes across as a little bit bland.

With its lactonic fruity floral heart accord, its powdery vanillic amber, and its overall marshmallow olfactory texture, Kashâya is a close variation on the Yvresse formula, and a partial precursor to the lactonic fruity chypre idea that Aurélien Guichard has explored so successfully in Chinatown, Azzaro Couture, and Baghari. But where Yvresse reveals a mossy, chypre-like sweet base note accord, Kashâya aims east to arrive at a more resinous, balsamic oriental drydown. The result is a somewhat smoother, darker, and more rounded composition than Yvresse, but without the earlier scent's distinctive effervescence. I can understand the affection some have for this scent, but with plenty of near analogues on the market I can also see how it drifted into obscurity.

I did like this very much at the time, when I had it in the mid 90s.

Don't know if I'd buy it again though.

Kashaya suspiciously smells like a twin sister of Lagerfeld's Sun Moon Stars. Did a little search and found out they were both created by perfumer Sophia Grosjman. Guess what else, they were each created in 1994 - or at least launched in '94. Another coincidence is the list of fragrance notes for each:Kashaya- Bergamot, Clementine, Apricot, Hyacinth, Wild Rose Jasmine, YlangYlang, Muguet, Cattleya, Coriander, Plum Incense, Vanilla, Sandalwood, Amber, Musk Sun Moon Stars-Peach, Mandarin, Freesia, Waterlily, White Cloud RoseHeliotrope, Jasmine, Orange Blossom, NarcisseSandalwood, Amber, MuskHmmmmm, Fruity/Green floral/Rose variation/Indolic whites/Sandalwood-Amber-Musk. Sort of leaves me scratching my head. From reading these fragrance notes my mind would probably never have put them together (as being essentially the same)...but my nose does not lie! They are twins ~ even if fraternal, this discovery is actually disappointing. I do like this fragrance, as well as the Lagerfeld, but will give it a neutral to reflect my attitude about fragrance cloning. I just feel duped.

Seems like it been discotinued or difficult to find.I could say was the first oiental perfume from the company:Bergamot, Clementine, apricot, hyachinth, wild rose, jasmine, ylang- ylang, muguet, cattleya, coriander seeds, plum, musk, incense, vanilla, sandalwood, amber.