Neo-Tokyo

[Ciircee]

A scent that captures a meeting of the serenity and elegance of ancient Japan, the vibrant, shining, neon-lit and ultra-modern splendor of today's Tokyo and the fantastic electric fantasyland of post-modern manga fantasy. Urban metallics and an ozone-tinged breath of electric light mingled with reedy bamboo, crisp mountain air, cherry blossoms, delicate orchid and a splash of playful, wet fruits.

I tried this on one wrist with Kyoto on the other. It was 'smell like Japan' day.

In the imp: Cherry blossoms and rain and clean air and something that smells like the look of neon lights. Something green and something sweet. It smells like anime!!!

Wet: More of the rain/clean air scent, but that sparkling, upbeat energy smell is still there and the cherry blossoms, the green, and the sweet scents are there, too.

Dry 10 minutes: Mostly air and rain and green. The sweetness and the cherry blossoms are just hinted, like they're carried on the breeze.

Dry 30 minutes: Dryer sheets?

Dry 1 hour: Still an almost dryer-sheet smell, but like a really GREAT dryer sheet. It's very 'moist mountain air'...with a crisp green scent to ground it and the something sweet (which is probably both the orchids and the fruit) makes this a very pretty scent. And, remarkably, that metalic ozone is there adding a snap to it. It's dryer sheets only if you don't think about it, I guess.

Dry 3 hours: It goes a little soapy feeling--richer? Warmer? Something like that. Otherwise it's pretty much the same. The cherry blossoms are back! Light and sweet and floating on the breeze. This is seriously an anime smell. This is how Tokyo smells in anime.

Dry 6 hours: It fades, obviously, but it's still there. Pretty much the same though the sweetness is dropping out so that it's mostly mountain air without the background notes. Ozone/neon light is still there, tingling on the edges.

Next morning: Hey! It's still there! Very faint, but I know for a fact I don't generally smell like wet-green-mountain air.


I love this scent. Like so many others, I'm going to try this as a room scent. I'm also going to try this as a sachet because it's just light and energetic and lovely.

Further note: I tried the Kyoto again with a layer of this over it and it's lovely there, too.

ETA: My twin sister gets tons of cherry blossoms out of this. It does not go to ozone/dryer sheets on her at all. It lasts a good seven or eight hours on her. Also, as room scent this is glorious. Edited March 28, 2006 by Ciircee

[Prolixity]

In the bottle: Sweet, aquatic, ozoney, metallic. Complicated. This scent is very wet.

Wet on skin: Sugary, fruity, and clean wet bamboo. Huh.

Dry on skin: Ozone and rain and soft woody bamboo. The sweetness has gone off somewhere else entirely.

Over time: There's a very soft fruity-floral note underneath this, but it's mostly clean, fresh, wet bamboo and ozone.

Overall: Rain and wet wood and wet fruits and wet air. Neo-Tokyo is absolutely drenching wet, and I'm not entirely sure how that works, but it does. It's beautiful and complicated and not really my thing. But beautiful. This will be going to a friend who expressed interest in fruity/floral/aquatic blends, but if I get another imp I'll hang onto it for the occasional watery mood. 3/5

[GemmaCat]

In the bottle: bright, sharp citrus and something that is similar to wood or even tea (maybe the bamboo?).

 

On my skin: Not what I expected! I thought it would be very fresh and light but it's very sweet, even syrupy, with an odd note that almost smells like spearmint (which makes no sense when you look at the description).

 

As it dries down, I like this less, however. It loses some of the sweetness and throw, and just isn't as impressive.

 

Another "maybe" or possible swap.

[sookster]

initial application is very crisp like mountain air...has a gorgeous fruity

edge with some tea combined...........this is really beautiful....

while it is quite complex, i think this scent would be incredible for a warm,

steamy summer's eve

[Sycorax]

Neo-Tokyo is a well-kept, beloved cherry blossom grove, bordered by great glittering office towers. Styish people with stylish jobs congregate there on their lunch breaks, and their life is better than yours.

 

... yeah, okay, so this review sounds like something one of the reviewers on Iron Chef would come up with. I get a free pass. It's Neo-Tokyo! Neo-Tokyo smells like what we'd all like the great modern metropolis to be. There's no pollution. There's no dirt or grime. Just sparkling chrome and crisp fresh air with a hint of well-preserved nature. It's brash and energetic and I, for one, think that it's gorgeous.

[terrierhead]

I think Sycorax got this one just right. This is an idealized Tokyo and is just fantastic. My only issue with the scent is that it doesn't last long on me. I've used a third of an imp today because I keep re-applying to keep that delicious scent clouding around me.

[k8tey]

This smells elegant and modern and fresh and interesting. I can close my eyes and see city streets and flowers and expensive cashmere sweaters and well-designed buildings with glazed curtain walls. To me the rain/ozone notes smell more Pacific Northwest than Japan, but I haven't been to the latter and spent much of my life in the former.

 

This fragrance makes me smell like how I want to be perceived, if that makes any sense. A bottle is on the way!

[bellis]

Interesting. This is very green on me, mostly bamboo with just a touch of tart fruit in the background. It's very refreshing and smells wet like a warm spring rain. I like this a lot, and it will make a good substitute when I run out of Holiday Moon.

[strawberry_star]

This is absolutely stunning. The mix of the fruits with the GOOD florals is beautiful. It smells like a very high end perfume, but without the icky alcohol of course. It's stylish and yet modern and fun (also very expensive smelling), just like Tokyo is. I think this perfume captures that perfectly.

[tereshkova2001]

Light, fresh fruits, with the sharpness of metal occasionally making itself known. Reminds me of William Gibson: "The sky was the color of television, tuned to a dead channel." It doesn't quite smell like that Tokyo, but that's part of it, along with Meiji-jinja (a Shinto shrine dating to the 1800's) and Asakusa (a shopping district featuring traditional Japanese foods and clothing). Very lovely; light and youthful.

[Athena's Owl]

In the Imp: green, like rain-soaked bamboo. it's got something else too, something beautiful and soft. it smells like a cool day in spring.

 

Wet: it morphs as soon as it hits my skin, but into something I can't quite recognize. it smells like the texture of sugar floss, the way it melts the second it hits your tongue, but it doesn't smell like sugar floss. it's more like a floral scent before it distintigrates because it's being pelted by rain. very definitely a stormy scent, like the hint of a lightning storm about to hit.

 

after 20 Minutes: that ephemeral melting scent comes forward more, leaving the bamboo behind. it's definitely flowers, but damned if I could tell you what - white, waxy-petaled flowers. it has that drowsy scent. but it's not flowers alone, by any means. it's flowers on top of eveything else - whiffs of white tea and a bit of rain - the first rain scent that has worked on me, since my experience with tempest was an utter disaster. I really love this. it's not like the warm and sensual perfumes I usually like, being greener and crisper, but it's really lovely. it feels very city - does that make any sense?

 

Later: gorgeous. after a while the floral scent retreats and smooths out. the rain scent dries back to slightly damp city streets. and the bamboo comes back a litte more, but not so overwhelmingly green as it is in the imp or freshly wet on the skin. and now that floral smells more like cherry trees in bloom. it's very pretty, and I think it's doing exactly what it's supposed to do - combine the fresh green and florals with a more city feel.

 

keeper, heck yes, bigger bottle time.

[Meg]

In the bottle: ozone, plasticky bamboo and almond.

 

Wet: ozone and green, slightly weedy bamboo.

 

Drydown: Citrusy ozone, a slightly soapy scent, very clean. There's a slightly metallic tang to it, and an airy feel, too. There's bamboo in there, too. Also a slightly sweet, possibly floral scent that I can't really pinpoint - possibly the cherry blossom.

 

Overall: A very atmospheric blend, smells of metal and air and rain, with a hint of bamboo. The flowers are extremely discreet, I don't smell any fruit, and the general result is slightly soapy. I'm not sure what I make of it, it's pleasant, and develops that nice ozony "dryer sheet" scent after a while. It has a mysterious, rainy/metallic atmosphere that really fits its name.

[Celestyna]

Smells greenish in the vial, but all that's left on my skin is a very clean almost masculine soapy type scecnt. very strong, too.

[Alchemy21599]

In the vial: crisp green tea.

 

Wet: green tea, soft cherry blossoms, and a slightly boozy note.

 

Dry: green tea, bamboo, exotic blossoms, and I am still getting the faint boozy note. A gorgeous, complex scent!

[salamandrina]

In the imp, I got a lot of cherry blossom and wetness.

 

On my skin, it started with beautiful wet cherry blossom, like walking after a rainstorm in the spring, and then it morphed into wet metal. There was still the hint of flowers, but for a while, all I smelled was something wet, and oddly metallic - almost electronic.

 

It was a neon cherry blossom decorating some urban window...very cool, but not really me, at least for perfume. I may give it another try, though.

[BrightRedScream]

I purchased this as an imp off someone on LJ

 

In the bottle I wasn't quite sure what this smelled like, but it was a very "wet" smell.

I'm guessing that this is ozone? There was a slight cherry blossom smell behind this dampness - kind of smells like being out in the rain, in the city with trees blooming around you...At least I'm guessing this is what it would smell like.

 

There's a slight OTHER floral smell that lingered in my nostrils after I had my first sniff...I felt like I was in a garden...nevermind the city..

It was beautiful.

So so pretty.

 

Wet on my skin a bamboo scent came out, very wet and soft...then a citrusy type of smell, not quite sure what this is, but it's nice...

 

As it started to dry down the ozone smell started to intensify on my skin....not for the better, I started to get a soapy type of smell. Oh no Not pleasant at all!

Please don't do this to me Neo-Tokyo! I like you!!

 

Sadly after an hour, the smell didn't get any better...it was SO soapy it was awful..

After I washed it off, it reminded both me and my fiance of Dove Soap.

Darn

[RavenVelith]

Bottle: Very nice floral with a sweet note. Perhaps the fruit?

 

Wet:Oh dear...floral that has a bit of a laundry detergent smell on my skin. It does not like me right now. The sweet note is pretty much non-existant. Please fix up when you dry. You smell so nice in the bottle. X_X

 

Dry: Waaaaaaaaahhh....sooooaaaapp. ; It smells like soap. Horrible horrible floraly soap that my mom likes. This makes me sad.

 

After 20 minutes: It's giving me a headache.

 

30 minutes: ....EUUUUUGH X_X Oh gods it smells so bad on my skin. Something a little metallic has come through but it still smells like horrible soap.

 

Overall: I'm sad. It smelled so good in the bottle. And it hated my skin. Oh well.

[joiedecombat]

Neo-Tokyo is a wonderfully complex scent, so much so that it's hard for me to pick out any one thing that it smells like. It's a sharp scent to start with - fresh-clean-sharp, with a tang like sea air and a sweetness of fresh water and a hint of green that might be bamboo.

 

As it starts to dry, I begin to catch whiffs of something sweeter which must be the florals... teasing little breaths of them adding a little bit more sweetness to the sharp cleanliness of the initial fragrance.

 

It has good staying power on my skin, and the longer it lingers on me, the sweeter and richer the scent becomes, until finally the air and water and bamboo of the initial stage are gone, and it smells like some kind of rich, luscious fruit.

[juniperus]

Bottle: green, crisp with a sweetness to it

Wet: very green, with the floral of the orchid and a hint of fruit. I am assuming the green is the bamboo, I can't for the life of me recall that smell (have been in a bamboo stand, in a lovely botanical garden in Nashville, but it was some years ago..).

Dry: It's all high notes, but doesn't get to my sinuses (as high notes oft do). Very pleasant floral between the orchid (a higher-note floral I find I rather like) and the cherry blossom is coming out at this point..they work well together. The reedy greenness has stepped back a lit, but it's still a very fresh, crisp scent. The sweet fruity hints I noticed have gone (good. I don't do well with fruit) or mimic the floral so well they aren't distinguishable.

Later: That fruit has teased forward some, as the green continues to recede. Hm. It's a young scent, I guess - fresh, springy, crisp, floral...natural and urban and innocent and sassy all at once.

[miss_rynn]

Imp Sniff: An ozoney, plastically smell tempered at the edges with a freshness and a slight sweetness. The bamboo notes and cherry blossom notes are very well blended, thus hard to distinguish, but work really well together.

 

Skin Test: Plasticy, almost latext like, with an astringent scent to it… probably the ozone. Very green and fresh smelling, but very artificial at the same time. Actually, it reminds me of condoms and dishwashing liquid. Not exactly what I was expecting (and not exactly bringing good images to mind, either!). It seems to have notes reminiscent of 'Dirty', which is not a scent I enjoyed.

[kourika]

Something in Neo-Tokyo reminds me of a Japanese toothpaste or bath product I came across while I lived there during my study abroad. It's a sweet fake peachy type scent that mixes a soft baby powdery scent in with the fruit, which softens the sharper tang. After a few hours the baby powder peach scent faded away to more of an airy scent that was less to my liking. Overall, I will enjoy the two imps I have, but I don't think that Neo-Tokyo is a scent that I will rush out to buy a large bottle of.

[Isuke]

Neo-Tokyo is a very clean, tangy sort of scent in the bottle. I can smell juicy fruits and a breath of crisp air, as well as a touch of flowers. It has a very 'perfume' quality to it, smells soft and light and wonderful on my skin.

[QueenFae]

This one actually comes out smelling a bit like tea on me, but I'm thinking it's the bamboo note that's on top. It's a very clean, crisp, energizing scent. I can smell a hint of the orchid and cherry blossoms underneath, but they are very discreet. This is more of a citrusey herbal on me than an ozone scent. It's very nice, uplifting and gender neutral.

[Galatea]

I thought with the listed ingredients this would be a sure thing on me, but alas, it is not. I can't even put my finger on any one problem with it, other than it smelling a bit too much like some kind of cleaning product. Which is quite the subjective thing, and as far as i can tell not a fault in the perfume at all. It didn't last long on me either, which in this case was ok. I might try it again, just to see if it still strikes me the same way.

In the end though, with so many other wonderful smellies, i doubt it will be one that sticks around my collection long.

[eviltemptressdq]

i smell a citrus-y smell, with a bit of spice? i assume this is the orange blossom, but not positive... I like it, though!

 

After it was on a bit, it smelled a bit like leaves... and a bit of spice. Lasted a while on me, too! yay!