Akuma

[labeth]

Devilish temptation, as sweet as sin: blood orange, neroli, and raspberry.

My experience with this wasn't much different than others': it started off sour and acrid and then, after a couple minutes, became a candy-sweet raspberry orange smell. It's pleasant enough, but a bit too sweet and childish for me.

[themerrybaker]

Akuma has a nice contrast between the bitter orange and the "fruity". I wouldn't want to smell like this every day, but when the weather is hot and sticky I could see wearing this to pretend it's fruit juice, not sweat, on my skin.

[Tal Shachar]

At first, this did smell yummy, but with the sharper neroli and the tang of the blood orange to keep things interesting. Very dominant, scenting the whole box of imps and remaining on me for almost 24 hrs. After awhile, though, I did get that "new Barbie doll" smell that someone else mentioned (I'd never have been able to pin down what it was on my own).

 

I had to look up who/what Akuma is, and Google was only telling me about Street Fighter, and finally I found out it was a Japanese being of temptation like the Buddhist Mara. I think. It is definitely a rich, materialist smell, and it wrangles the mighty raspberry well.

Edited May 18, 2007 by bennu

[sookster]

straight sniff from imp is holy neroli

 

once applied this gets very sweet and smells exactly like a charms cherry lollipop...

then the raspberry note comes forefront...quite pretty, indeed!

[Naamah_Darling]

Sweet and saucy in the bottle, citrus with a breath of floral and a hint of berry.

 

On, it's sweet and fresh, a tart candy smell with enough floral to keep it just out of "foody."

 

That said, on me the notes combine to make an abhorrent cacaphony of smells, at the forefront of which is the fruit-scented bathroom spray found in convenience stores and truck stops all along Route 66. It's not a bad smell, but it smells like I've been washing up at rest stops where they sell stuff like rattlesnake head paperweights and bottle openers shaped like naked women.

 

Citrus and floral don't play well together with the raspberry; not on my skin.

[brit_brat100]

This scent is pretty net. Right away it strikes me as citrus and brooding. As it was drying I got a very orange peel scent, but not in a bad way. The really neat surprise about this scent is the raspberry after it dries - sweetens the whole deal, but not overly so. I did get a mild candy feel, but really this strikes me as a young girlish scent. Fun!

[PersephonesChild]

I like citrus, so I'm really surprised I never noticed this blend before. I never even glanced at the description-- no matter, I got it from a random imp pack.

 

I like the fruitiness of it, but I also like the sharp edge the neroli gives it. It's very different from my other citrus blends, and I'm really happy with it. It also appears to be lasting a lot longer than my other citruses, which is much appreciated.

[mrsveteran]

In the imp: Good LORD, it's Picante sauce! Or salsa! It reminds me of pimento loaf lunchmeat with a very, very strong sharp smell to it.

 

Wet on skin: This is a very strong scent -- like weeding the garden without the smell of earth. It's the smell of those horrible weeds that are the very devil to pull out and always break off and ooze all over your gardening gloves some kind of milky white goo which, no matter how you try to avoid it, always ends up getting on your fingers such that even after washing your hands, if you eat something like a sandwich you end up tasting it. Ack. Uck. Pfft!

 

Drydown: It seems to be getting a bit mellower, and not quite as sharp, but it's still quite unpleasant to my nose. There's a very pleasant sweetish, almost fruity smell underneath and that horrid sharp "weedy" note is going away.

 

One hour later: Oooh, it's a lovely, tasty, grape candy sort of smell, like Jolly Rancher. Too bad it didn't smell like this from the beginning.

 

Throw: I'm starting to wonder if my skin just sucks up most scents. I can only smell this if I get my nose about an inch away.

 

Verdict: I don't know what that sharp/pimento/weed milk note is, but I dislike it intensely. While the scent after about 15 minutes isn't horrible, it's not great either. The final scent simply isn't worth the wet and drydown phases to me, so this one is going to the swap pile.

[CrazyPretzel]

This starts off smelling like absolutely scrummy sweets, with a sexy depth from the neroli, and then...my skin gets carried away and *eats* it. Seriously. It's gone in, like, 5 minutes, even if I reapply. Come back! Maybe if I slather it on....

[Wildchild453]

Akuma has a very sharp smell, it cuts through everything. I'm not too good w/ picking out the notes since I just started but I can definately find the sweetness of the raspberry under the sharpness. I'm trying to figure out the incensey smell that seems to be melding along with the rest.

 

The drydown is nice, its like a fizzy raspberry. Don't know how I feel about it on a whole just yet, a few more tries r in store

[Mixxi]

In the imp: Neroli! & lots of it. That's pretty much all I can smell from the imp with a little sweet background note.

 

Wet on skin: Neroli is still really strong.. not sure I'm liking it at this stage.

 

Dry on skin: This eventually drys down to a very orange & raspberry sherbert sweets smell on my skin with just a tiny, tiny hint of neroli in the background! For some reason these sweet fruits come storming into the foreground but that's all good with me. Nice scent with average throw. Will definately use my imp & consider buying a bottle.

[Dahlia]

Orange and raspberry lovin on the neroli. Great scent. A lot of people say their skin eats it but mine doesn't and it's really nice to keep smellin the wrist! This would be a great scent when it's cold outside and you the fireplace is burning and it's all toasty with a glass of sherry.

[Medici]

In the imp: Neroli and a hint of raspberry.

 

Wet: Raspberry jam.

 

Drydown: Rapsberry jam, a hint of orange lollipop.

 

Verdict: Very sweet, extremely fruity, but in the fruit preserve family and not fresh fruit. It's a little too candy-like for me, and rapidly turns to powdery Flintstone chewables.

[Iceblink]

I had an imp of this for a while and although I liked it ok on my skin (tart fruits! I love neroli!), after an hour or so there was a sharp, green note to it that took over everything and wasn't nearly as nice. I have discovered that it makes a fantastic room scent in hot weather, though...that neroli and the berry note really come out and it's quite strong, too.

[spidersinmyhair]

Akuma is very sweet,but when first applied there is a sharpness,I assume it's the neroli.This dries down very quickly leaving very sweet raspberry and I just get the orange.I kept thinking it reminded me of soap somehow.After reading a few other reviews that mention a bathroom cleaner smell I have to say I agree.I think I'll spray the rest of this imp in the bathroom!

I must say that after awhile the bathroom cleaner smell goes away and Akuma is very nice and raspberry sweet.It is also very faint and disappears rather quickly.

Edited August 7, 2007 by spidersinmyhair

[jaeyne]

Got this imp off Ebay with a bunch of others and I'm trying them alphabetically.

In the vial I got citrus peel and a bergamot smell loudly ( I think it's the neroli) and something like cherry (which is the raspberry) behind it. Loving it. Did a little swipe with the wand. Could hardly smell it. Dotted the vial on my wrists and rubbed my wrists together and the neroli rose up and swirled around, then the orange came to fore and then the raspberry. And in 5 minutes I had to get my nose right down on my wrist to smell the Smartees and a half an hour later there is only a soft hint left. I wanted this to last sooo much . I hope there's something sort of like this that will last on me.

[lilirose]

I'm starting to think that Neroli just doesn't like me. I love citrusy scents, so this makes me sad.

 

Wet on skin, Akuma is ultra bitter to my nose, like pure orange pith...the part I refused to eat as a kid because the bitterness was overwhelming to my taste buds.

 

On drydown the bitterness calms, but enough of a hint remains to bother me. Other than that, it goes both soapy and fruity. I keep bars of soap with orange oil in my kitchen since it cleans so well, so I might be starting to form an unfair association between "orange" and "soap". Even so, it's a pithy orange. I like fruit scents that smell edible, and this isn't one of them.

 

It occurs to me that layering this with something that is vanilla-heavy might work. I'll try it, but if that doesn't do it, it'll go into my swap pile.

[ravenfeathers]

akuma

 

in the bottle it's bubble gum with a bite. sweet, strong, but not overpowering.

wet on skin pink candy. sweet, luscious pink candy. *drools a little*

dry on skin it's mostly raspberry now, with just a touch of citrus. i actually want to take a bath in akuma.

[waternight]

In the imp: Raspberry is the dominant note, with a backup of earthy neroli and a hint of juicy orange.

Wet: Not gonna lie - Akuma smells like a Flinstone's vitamin on me. It takes on a dusty, musty scent that overlays the fruit, and it's not pleasant.

Dry: Yup. Dusty Flinstone's vitamin. Not for me.

[ouch!]

OMG LOVE LOVE LOVE!

 

This is the first BPAL that I've tried that morphs and I've absolutely adored both the wet and dry stages. I want a 5ml of this immediately if not sooner!!!

 

At first it's the Neroli and blood orange that stick out, it's gorgeous and I love neroli. It reminds me of this spicy orange oil burner oil I used to use when I was 16. It's ver nice, almost like burnt oranges (in a good way) or like a cosmopolitan!

 

But then as it dries, it turns to a lovely berry smell (the raspberry) and then on me...changes again to a very sweet, almost vanillary berry. My skin seems to turn everything so sweet, and it's like a lovely soft raspberry smell!

 

I ADORE this oil and can't wait to order a bottle!

 

[Gwydion]

Disturbingly young and candylike. It reminds me of one I actually owned when I was 13.

[Honeygirl]

I'm already wearing Joy Mojo, so I put this on my son.

 

Bottle: Raspberry and orange, overwhelmingly so.

 

Wet: Still raspberry and orange, it's a very good bright fruity scent.

 

Drydown: It's cheered me up, so I like it. Very fruity.

3.5 outta 5

[hkhm]

imp: a scent both sweet and bitter at once. i can't pick out any specific notes.

 

wet: zingy sweet at a small distance (almost bubblegum-sweet), but far more bitter upon closer sniff. it's almost a layered effect but all in one bottle. i think i would be in love if it were a bit more sweet, the bitterness is putting me off.

 

dry: the bitterness has gone, leaving only a tangy, sweet scent on my skin. almost like pez. interesting.

[Reenah]

In the imp, there's an orange but it's completely over powered by a sour-ish thing, maybe herbal. Reminds me of that nauseating thing De Sade did. Wet there was a really fake orange lollipop with a little fake raspberry lollipop. The sour thing is fading. Was that the neroli? It only fades comepletely when the whole thing has faded to a ghost of scent. Then I have a suprisingly sophisticated orange with a tiny bit of a berry to add depth. Too bad I'm the only one who can smell it!

[SarahScent44]

In the imp, it's pure blood orange, with just a hint of neroli - I actually said MMMM out loud. (I truly love citrus/foody scents, so far - so good.)

 

On my skin, the raspberry is more present, but it's a very nice blend with the neroli and orange - sweet and fruity.

 

When it's dry, it's very rich - the raspberry is still the most present, but it's well-blended with the orange and neroli. This is definitely a keeper!