silkworm

I can't wear sugar most of the time and fruit almost always is terrible after a minute on my skin. A glorious minute which makes what they do all the more disappointing. But this called to me so I grabbed a decant and on first sniff this was red Kool-Aid when you would rip open the little paper packet complete with a little bit of sour dust right up the nostril. Which is utterly delightful. After a couple minutes this is lovely sweet raspberry but very faint. I get a hint of that slightly plasticky note that others mention but it disappears after just a couple of minutes. It never does that awful rotting fruit to generic perfume or the weird screaming sugar tends to do but it just doesn't last for me which is a bit sad since otherwise it's lovely.

Labdanum and I have a tumultuous relationship so this was a risk, but the myrrh and bourbon vanilla just drew me in. First on this is soapy and awful. Then it's powdery and awful. This is the second time I'm testing this, and I'm reminded why I didn't like it the first go round. It was sharp and unpleasant both times. I left it go though and went about my day, and after a couple hours I start getting this lovely waft. The labdanum has apparently burned off. There is something extremely familiar about the scent-it drove me crazy trying to figure it out, and suddenly I realized it is so similar to Spanked I had to double check the notes to see if they shared the patchouli note. They, obviously, do not, and don't share any other notes so I'm guessing it's a brain glitch. But as I absolutely love Spanked (I have Resurrected Spanked) I can say now that this is lovely. It's kind of dry, dusty, warm, slightly sweet and a touch spicy. What a difference. I don't think I will get a bottle of it since the opening is so horrid and I have Spanked, but I'll hang on to the decant just to be able to compare it to itself as it ages.

I don't even know-in the imp and initially on the skin this is...Irish Spring soap. I had my step-daughter smell it and she said...Irish Spring soap. I think it might be the red musk doing something weird with the leather? I don't know. It's awful for about five-ten minutes and then the waft starts to sweeten, and I was delighted with it, but sniffing my wrist directly it was soapy, then powdery, then it settles down completely into a lovely sweet scent. And for some reason this is making me think it's a dead ringer for, and this makes no sense whatsoever, Moonshine and Mist. It's definitely smooth and sweet, I'm not getting the chocolatey vibe others are getting, but I do see that it's related to Snake Oil, I think it might be the vanilla. But really, this is throwing me since I read the reviews before testing it and it's nothing like what I'm reading. And I think that the Moonshine and Mist association is stuck in my brain now. This isn't necessarily bad but not what I wanted or expected out of this. I'll keep the decant but I'm not sad I missed a bottle.

Kabuki is exactly as it says on the tin-cherry, red musk and star anise. In the imp and wet this is all cherry and red musk, which I find lovely. As it dries the cherry fades to a fruity (but still cherry) sweetness and the anise emerges to mingle with the red musk in an absolutely delightful way. The musk is the ground that the other two notes play off of on my skin. And this red musk is very very pretty-even though I love red musk, sometimes it can be a bit heavy and overwhelming. That is not the case here. All of the notes are identifiable but they harmonize just perfectly. While I was testing this, my brain kept insisting that this must be a Luper and I kept thinking of spring and Lupers and it finally hit me-the cherry/red musk combo is a dead ringer for my beloved Smut 2012. The anise provides a substitute for the booze and sugar and makes this a lighter, softer Smut. As much as I love Smut, in the warmer months it can be a bit much so this is perfect for when I need that Smutty hit in the sultry summer!