zankoku_zen

No description provided.

Seaweed, cedar planks, touch of metal and a whiff of jasmine. It's a much more salt-encrusted wood. Good throw and wear length.

Rum, spices, amber and a whiff of salty leather. But mainly rum and spices. Whiff of smokiness and salt. Appropriately masculine pirate. Good throw and wear length.

Leather, amber, touches of white florals and coconut? I swear there's some coconut in this. So yeah, amber, coconut and a touch of leather. Feminine, yet strong. Tropical and yet not. Good throw and wear length.

Peony, red rose, touches of vanilla musk. On wet, it was mainly roses, and then the peony comes out and smothers the roses. But then the vanilla and musk come out. It ends up actually more innocent than expected. Good throw and wear length.

UGH, glorious blackberry wine, cashmere woods and a whiff of musk. Great throw and wear length.

Oudh, metal, and sea water. This is like a masculine watery oudh. Great throw and wear length. Because of course. Think of this of a more water logged Exorcist blend. It's got that masculine edge to it, but dunked in the sea.

Every leaf tells a story. Cognac, iris, hint of leather and dead leaves. For me, iris always ends up powdery, so I get cognac powder and dead leaves with a hint of leather. Medium throw and wear length.

Strawberry and pink roses. If you have ever tried the Renpure Plant Based Rose Water shampoo, it smells like a stronger version of that. The shampoo also lists citrus, wild strawberry and turkish rose in its formulation. So yeah, more strawberry and more rose, but like that shampoo. Good throw and wear length.

On wet, its mainly a red juicy sweet pom, and then it dries and the vetiver comes to lash it out like its doing its best De Sade impersonation. So yeah, now its a red sweet pom with a leather background? Vetiver, what are you doing? Medium throw and wear length.

Pungent orange blossom and whiffs of nag champa. This one is a hell of a thrower. There's almost a mentholic quality to the combination. Strange.

Sweet herbal lavender, but you get the patch on the drydown. Starts off lavender and ends up patch. It's if you laid down in a lavender field, so you get both the lavender and the dirt smell. Medium throw and wear length.

Yup, smells like lemongrass. Strong throw. All the lemongrass.

Deep furry musk, warm air, forest herbs. This one is a feral, wild, sort of musk. Very gender neutral. It smells like outside, and being doused in whiskey. Medium throw and wear length.

Labdanum with whiffs of cacao and vanilla. This is a resinous blend with enough cacao and vanilla for me to keep it from just being a resin. Good throw and wear length.

Sugary white blossom, touch of cinnamon and tobacco. This reminds me to white florals with enough spice to keep it interesting. Sugary, cinnamony, delicate. Good throw and wear length.

There's a hint of coffee on wet that dissipates and I'm left with salty agarwood, cedar and a whiff of nutmeg. It does sort of veer into gender neutral category for me as well. Actually, it sort of reminds me to Pirates of Penzanze and Frederic? Clearly some well-brought up idealistic young man has just gathered himself into much rougher territory for adventures. For those of you that like to show that being refined doesn't mean you can't throw down with the best of them. Medium throw and wear length.

White magnolia, oudh, and smoky champaca. Honestly, this should be some sort of godless abomination on me. Magnolia never smells like magnolia on me, more like wet wool. Oudh ends up being a cloying mess that just smells unpleasant like a body function. Color me surprised. This is gloriously lushly white magnolia petals, with the oudh coming in and the champaca almost acting like a mystical incense. Frankly, I keep getting a big picture of Mary, mother of Jesus. But as a genteel Southern lady, with the steel backbone. The one that with her pearls and her gloves marches up to the big bullies and puts them into their place. Just because you're nice means you don't have a backbone. For those that appreciate that vituperative language isn't just about four letter words. Go bless some hearts with this.

So the basmati rice and vanilla husk end up smelling like popcorn to me, with whiffs of both citrus and green tea. So japanese style popcorn? Yup. The basmati rice is a nice toasted rice note, which is what is smelling like popcorn to me. Fun, yellow, and foodier than I expected. Medium throw and wear length. ETA: Mouse Circus goes to Japan, drinks alot of green tea, writes bad carny haikus.

Honey cakes and oat stout! This smells like dessert in an English pub. Gloriously honey and oat cakes, and stout. So British. Perfect for those of you that are both foodies and anglophiles. Good throw and wear length.

Powdery pink rose, vanilla chypre. Honestly, this is a vanilla-rose powder. Sweetly feminine. Like just came out of a bath. Floral, feminine, flirty. Great throw and wear length.

Orange blossom woven with patchouli and sandalwood. It's earthier, grittier, than say some of the Shunga scents. Not as delicate. But its that same sort of yuxtaposition. Full of contraditions. Medium throw and wear length.

On wet, its mainly this soft lemon peel and strawberry, and then you get the marshmallow coming through, sweetening it considerably. This is like going from a five, and slowly turning it up to 10, and actually pushing the dial over 10, and you realized you may have broken the knob, and now you're sort of stuck inside this frenetic sugary strawberry marshmallow. If that's where you want to end up, give High-Pitched Shriek a whirl. I'm gonna go try and get myself unstuck now.

On wet, this is a high strung scream of neroli and orange blossom, and it dries down to a sugary almond blossom. But on wet, this was electric and expectant. It was the pent up moment of energy from a teenage girl before they see the star of dreams start walking, then the neroli wails for a while, before it spends itself into a sugary almond blossom. Perfect for a teenage girl, or anyone wanting to capture that frenetic energy. Good throw, and wear length.

On wet, this was mainly a very sophisticated bergamot aftershave-based perfume and a touch of suede. The aftershave dissipates as it dries, and you get more musk coming out. This is a very clean, classy men's cologne with both tinges of suede and sandalwood. Honestly, it does smell like something a Beatle would smell like. Medium throw, good wear length.