Is He, You Know

[zankoku_zen]

Sweet 13-year aged patchouli, peru balsam, white oakmoss, French lavender, spikenard, bourbon vanilla, and sugar cane

[DisguisedSuperhero]

This is quite strong and sharp. It’s slightly less punchy with dry down, but it’s primarily patch and lavender. Stays fairly sharp, and I’m not getting much sweetness from the vanilla or sugar cane. Softens a bit after a couple hours of wear, but still not sweet. Some of the sharpness fades after about 5+ hours and the sweetness is a bit more present, but still not what I expected. Lasted my full 8 hour shift. (5/10, on the fence with this one. I wanted more balance between the notes)

[lithie]

This is much more of a lavender - oakmoss - spikenard forward blend than a patch - vanilla - sugar blend. On the dry down it softens with the balsam showing up to the party. 

 

Edit almost 1 month later: I have to agree with Elissa below. The wet phase of this, like You Get What Anyone Gets, is kind of off-putting and pungent. But the other notes start to swoop in and warm up as it dries down. It's never sweet, but it's fancy and full of intrigue. It leans masculine, but it's not what I think of when I think cologne. It gets nicer and nicer as the hours pass. 

 

It's not one that I would reach for on a daily basis, but it's definitely a mood I want to hang on to and to revisit here and there.

Edited November 11, 2023 by lithie

[elissamay]

This was wildly weird OOB when it first arrived - sharp, off-putting, reminiscent of something kind of "assy" as Tom Bloom's Instagram review had already noted.

 

However! With a couple of weeks rest, on the skin this is a very different experience!

 

I picked this up mainly because I loved the creative concept of it, since oakmoss is often a non-starter for me. But, on the skin, this is what an impeccably dressed person smells like as they glide past you without making eye contact on a New York City street. It smells like the lobby of a chic hotel with an interior so flawlessly decorated as to make you question whether you have any business even wrinkling its sheets with your presence. It's bracing, herbal, fresh, and sophisticated -- with a little "je ne sais quois" coming through instead of what started out in the bottle sniff as more of a "what the actual fuck?!" It no longer smells off-putting, but instead complex, complicated, a little secretive, but yet absolutely self-assured.

 

After being on the skin for a few hours, the sweet patch, vanilla, and sugar cane reveal themselves as the sharper armor of the lavender, spikenard, and oakmass fall to the wayside.

 

I think this would be an interesting scent on anyone, but particularly on someone who can embody it on the given day. Is he, you know? This perfume implores you to fuck around and find out.

Edited November 9, 2023 by elissamay

[dancingchair]

There is definitely something a little poopy lurking in this one. That note doesn't ruin it for me, because I went into this thinking about zombies and it's more of a sinister undertone than a primary note. It otherwise smells like a classic mossy cologne. It's a little bit sweet from the vanilla and sugar. The lavender is pretty strong at first, but after the drydown the lavender becomes a pleasant purple accent to the patchouli and moss. My skin loves to project moss, and that's what happens here. This zombie smells pretty nice, overall.

[Poenari]

Very lavender forward, but there is a poopiness right there lurking. Fortunately that part fades quickly upon drydown. It remains a woodsy lavender on me. I wish the patchouli was stronger. This one is not really my cup of tea.

[Ennikar]

In the bottle and fresh on skin, this is a big hit of lavender. Fresh on skin, it's lavender with sugared patchouli, and that patch is going somewhere a little eyebrow-raising - as other reviews have noticed, the opening is a bit "assy". YMMV, though, neither of my other sniffers have noticed that. The stank sticks for a bit, but fades over time; unfortunately the lavender does as well though it lasts a little longer. The late drydown still has some earthy patchouli, and by then the vanilla has come out more, so it's a nice sweetened patchouli. The spikenard could be there in any phase, tangled with the patch; I'm not knowledgeable to pick it up on its own. Oakmoss and balsam have been questionable for me in the past, giving things an awkward soapy feel, but that's definitely not happening here (I can't say for sure I smell either).

 

Other impressions: one person smelled it a few minutes application and said it was "Pretty neutral. Nice, but not like "wow", you know?", and another smelled it in the drydown and gave me "Vanilla." ("So... good?" "Yeah."). These aren't super in-depth, but it does make me think that the questionable tones I'm picking up aren't offensive to most people.

 

Will I keep it? For now. I reapplied several times over the course of the day, which is not true for everything I test, so I think I'll age it a bit and see how it feels. I'd really like the lavender to stick around longer.

 

I kind of hesitate to compare to other blends, since I know that's not very useful to most people, but there are a few BPALs this reminds me of. The sweet-patchouli drydown smells like Nasty Woman to me, though that blend has rose (via the loukhum) instead of lavender, and the opening reminds me of Of The Unicorn for that stanky vibe that takes it to a place where I'm not sure how I feel about it.

 

Edit: As of November 2024, the stank has not faded, and I have accepted that this blend is unlikely to evolve as I'd hoped.

Edited November 21 by Ennikar

[doomsday_disco]

When I first tried my decant of this back in December, I really disliked it. The funk was super strong, and I was like, ah, this must be spikenard.

 

I tried it twice this month, and didn't get a ton of funk from it now that it's had more time to settle -- it's mostly about the lavender and patch in the beginning, with some oakmoss and balsam in the background, before it mostly becomes all patch and oakmoss. Sadly, the sweet notes never manifest on me, and I was so hoping this would be a cousin to A Moment in Time... but it's not.

 

Although the funk faded away after this had over a month to settle, it's not a scent I could see myself wearing. I am glad that the Lab released the Lavender Kitchen in the Yules, because I didn't have great luck with the two Weenie lavender blends.