Upa Upa

[schackjj]

Spiced rum, coconut, pineapple, and vanilla.

In the Bottle: A little spice and some fruit, must be the pineapple.

Wet: Mildly spicy fruit, not detecting the alcohol.

Drydown: As it dries down, I'm not getting much fruit. There's a tetch of sourness from something, must be the pineapple? In the end, it's all spiced rum. No coconut, no vanilla. Not for me.

[maribouquet]

imp: butter rum candies

wet: mmm, I smell the pineapple and it is delish!

dry: hmm, spices

 

The spice in the spiced rum really starts to come out as this dries. And my skin just eats up that delicious pineapple smell.

[OdetteOdile]

This was basically indistinguishable from Elegba on my skin, and since Elegba is one of my favorites, I didn't mind that at all.

The eventual drydown was softer and maybe a bit less boozy than Elegba on me - which is a good thing if I want to wear it in the daytime.

 

So far this line is living up to my best expectations of it - my skin loves the fruitiness, and the alcohol isn't overwhelming (at least not once it has a chance to dry down).

[whimsitini]

Stream of Conscious: Oh yummy yummy yummy! Everything together. Want to eat my arm.

 

On skin: Sweet and spicy from fruit and rum. Vanilla acting as a bonding agent.

 

Drydown: Rum is now more prominent than the other notes. This is the best of all the Tikis that I've tried. I'm going to have a hard time telling myself not to buy a bottle of this.

[widdershins]

Hrmmm. Similar to Rangoon Riptide to my sniffer. At least in the bottle.

On my skin, it smells like a butterscotch lifesaver with *spark*. I'm glad I let it dry before passing final judgment, because it becomes warm and spicy and comforting. I like it, but not enough for an entire bottle. I guess I'm not a warm and spicy kind o' gal.

[girlygirl]

wet: pineapple

dry: mmmm pina coladas!

 

and now I am singing....

 

if you like pina coladas

and getting caught in the rain

[Iceblink]

Upa Upa smells more like a cake than a drink--the rum is there but in a very baked-good sort of way, and the pineapple! Oh, the pineapple is to DIE for! It ends up as a slightly spicy, slightly boozy, very fruity pineapple dessert and it's so good I want a slice of whatever it is right now. Long-lasting and strong.

[Ina Garten Davita]

Cocktail heaven!

 

Golden, spiced rum with vanilla pods infusing it. This is light rum, to be sure, there is nothing dark in this blend. This perfectly infused rum poured by a sexy bartender with pineapple juice and sweet, sweet coconut cream and shaken to perfection. Served up in a coconut shell, I can feel the tropical breeze in my hair as I take the first sip...

[Little Bird]

I was actually afraid of the pineapple listed in this. The pineapple really mucked up Drink Me & Rangood Riptide for me, and I was hoping that this wouldn't be overwhelmingly fruity & sickly sweet.

 

The pineapple is barely noticeable on my skin at first though. The rum does its usual thing and smells sort of like boozy, almost bitter butterscotch on my skin, but with an addition of something sharp and cinnamon-esque. I kept hoping that the coconut and vanilla would come in and mellow everything out, but all I get is loads of spicy, boozy, butterscotch-y something and the occasional waft of sickly-sweet pineapple.

 

Rum and pineapple just aren't favorites for me, and they seem to be the main players in this blend. I really wish the vanilla and coconut would come out on my skin and soften everything, but they're nowhere to be found on my skin.

[alicia_stardust]

This is light and tropical and very evocative of a pina colada. The rum is lightweight and the pineapple and coconut sort of share the center stage. The vanilla adds a touch of creaminess to it but stays in the background behind the pineapple and coconut scent.

[edenssixthday]

Upa Upa - I drank a lot of pina coladas on vacation last week, and that's almost exactly what this reminds me of. This was actually one of the last of the Tiki Bar scents I tried because when I sniffed it in the bottle, it smelled like spicy rum and caramel to me, and I hate caramel. However, when I finally worked up the courage to try it on, I was delighted that it smells very different on my skin than it does in the bottle. When I first apply it, it smells of pineapple, creamy coconut, and rum and is reminiscent of all those pina coladas I drank while lounging by the beach last week! As it dries down on my skin, the pineapple lightens up a lot, and the spiciness of the rum becomes the dominant note on my skin. The coconut is still there behind the rum, and very far behind that, I can smell the vanilla when I try really hard to pinpoint it. Overall, this is a yummy scent that is incredibly spicy, rummy, and tropical. It's perfect for a summer day or for a mid-winter pick-me-up. After a couple hours on my skin, most of the fragrance is gone, although I can still detect a slight spiciness on my skin.

[sookster]

straight sniff from imp is that fav coconut note in my beloved red lantern...yum!!

adding to that, it is swirled with captain morgan ...

 

once applied this is a delicious tropical cocktail... the buttery coconut

and spiciness it is a complete winner for me...the fact that it never turns

funky or playdough is a plus...i could just drink me up

[stardreamer]

This has the Dreaded Rum in it, and on first sniff I feared it was going to go the burnt-sugar route. Fortunately, that note is much stronger in the bottle than it actually proved to be once it hit my skin; I suspect that my usual vanilla amp-up may have had something to do with that. Once it got going, it turned into sort of a "dark tropical" blend -- either the depths of a moonless island night laced with sinister drumming sounds, or the kind of fruity drink that comes with a black umbrella in a snake-etched goblet, whichever image takes your fancy. Staying power is about average; after 12 hours it's very faint, with the spices and coconut being the last things to fade. Bottom line: Not going to be a top favorite, but it's definitely interesting and different enough to keep.

[VioletChaos]

in the bottle: oh. my. GODDESS. this is pina-colada fantasy come true! pineapple! coconut! creamy yumminess! YES!!!

 

wet on skin: the pineapple pulls back, but the coconut is front and center. the spice rum is coming out to play. this is SO totally delicious.

 

dry down: the pineapple is back, but more subtle than before. the notes are more mixed, giving it a uniform 'tropical' feel.

 

in all: perfect. totally in my top 10 starting right now!

 

 

 

 

:D

[Reenah]

Oof. This is my first unsniffed order to go wrong. I was so SURE too. The bottle was promising. Heady and fruity. Pineapple was quite evident. Vanilla was sharp like in Love's Philosophy. Coconut made itself known when wet, and the whole thing was shaping up to be that delicious Pina Colada scent that I wanted it to be. Then it all fell flat on the spice. The spice is a little plasticky and dull and everything disappeared but that. *pout*

[Jenesis]

Well, the pineapple and booze definitely make themselves known! This is a sweet, boozy scent, definitely for the evening. The coconut and vanilla mix well to create a smooth undertone and the rum gives it a heady tang.

 

As I said it's not a day scent, but for warm summer evenings (and cold winter ones where you wish it was warm!). Rum and boozy notes in a scent are an acquired taste, I think; at first they smell like, well, booze, then they usually mellow into a sweet rounded scent.

 

This is a very nice warm scent. It's comforting and at the same time tropical and exciting. A nice scent that I'm sure I'll be reaching for often - plus the bottle art is awesome.

[couscous]

This one wasn't too boozy on my skin, actually. It was rather syrupy, a little spicy- but not very rum-like.

 

Oh, well. I wasn't hoping for that, anyway. Truth be told, I was hoping for a more complicated Obatala, since Obatala is my Gold Standard for coconuts, and I'm always going to be on the lookout for something similar but more strongly concentrated. I thought for sure that UpaUpa would fill that niche.

 

It didn't, of course- but only upa Upa is too different to be compared. It's got a lot of elements from scents you may know and love, of course (I can totally see the Elegba comparison), but it's very clearly a "new" scent. It's got coconut, spices, and just a hint of pineapple on me, but the combined effect is very butterscotch, very...grog. yep. A spicier Grog.

 

As it dries (and it's got insanely long lasting power, by the way), the spices come out more and more, as is to be expected. Now it actually smells more colada-like, as the sweetness gets tamed and overtaken a bit. The coconut in this is not watery and refreshing like in Obatala, and it's not decadent and meaty like in Eden, but it's very candy-coated and happy and fun, and it makes my skin smell like a million different desserts- all of which I wanted to seek out and devour while wearing it.

 

Upa Upa may not be good for the diet, but it's so perfect for the beginning of summer, and I love it. If you've spent the last couple of weeks trying to figure out a way to stick a paper umbrella into your morning coffee without being made fun of by your coworkers, then ....you really need to run out and hunt some of this down NOW.

[crazyredhead17]

In the imp: gingery sweetness

 

Wet: Gingery bananas?

 

*checks notes*

 

*eyes skin*

 

The banana was shortlived. Thankfully. There was also a blast of pineapple, and now it's settling into a spicy, creamy, sexy scent. I think it'll be perfect for those long summer nights. *wink*

[therhoda]

in the imp- pineapple

 

first on a blast of rum

 

mellowed for a while cinnamon and vanilla rum.

 

Best comment from the DH, "Can we drink your arm?"

[UploadedLobster]

I put it on and was set to come on here and be all "AGH WHAR THE RUM BE AT" because Upa^2 was nothing but butterscotch doom, and everyone knows that rum is RUM, not butterscotch, because if butterscotch were rum it would be called RUM. And it ain't.

 

Well, the rum showed up in the time it took me to boot the comp. Buttery, really spicy spiced rum. The pineapple blew off quickly but I think there's still some coconut meat in there giving it a little oily silkiness. I wanted pineapple rum but homg this is LOVE. Wow.

 

Best part is that it smells like it'll be sexy for a hot summer day and cozy under a sweater in November. The best spice blends like Bengal make that transition really well, and Upa^2 looks like it's another year-round winner in the same way.

 

 

Lobster Rating

better than: a maraschino cherry on a little plastic sword

[Neely]

In the bottle this is all pineapple and coconut. Like a pineapple pina colada. On my skin the pineapple domainates with the coconut. But as it warms it turns into pina colada only and then something amazing happens. It turns into spice rum. Cinnamon and booze. OMG! I am so glad I took a chance on a bottle of this! Thanks Beth!

 

Please bring these back next Summer, no changes, just as they are, you really really did some great work here. I love the Tiki fad of the fifties, so thanks!

[zankoku_zen]

In the world of BPAL, there is a game. It's called Coconut Smash.

 

I don't play this game very well. Or rather, Coconut beats me all the time. Here I am, jumping and climbing, trying to reach the vanilla and rum.

 

And I get Malibu thrown at me. By the buckets. And it's a heavy coconut Malibu.

 

Not for me.

[moonstonemama]

I wore this to work today. I think I smell fantastic! I love this scent, I must get more!

 

Coworker 1 said I smelled like cloves.

Coworker 2 said I smelled like vanilla.

 

an hour later:

 

Coworker 3 said I smelled like breakfast. Like french toast and maple syrup.

[terrenity]

In the bottle: Uh oh. There's the super-sweet rum note that ruined Rangoon Riptide for me.

 

On: This starts to go the way of Rangoon (sickly sweet, on me) at first, then the booze of the rum comes out to play for a moment and has me worried about that too. After flailing around for a few minutes, the rum calms down and I can smell the pineapple and coconut. They're definitely dark and heavily sugared, though.

 

Dry: To my great dismay, pineapple disappears almost entirely. BUT! What's left is a very sweet, very spicy scent, with just a touch of coconut. There's a bit of pineapple too, but it's not fresh pineapple; it's more like baked, pineapple-upside-down cake pineapple. Did I mention that it's spicy? I can't sniff it up close because it burns my nose a little. This is like some delicious cross between coffee cake and pineapple upsidedown cake and a cinnamon roll to my nose. Foody, spicy, sweet, and dark.

 

Hour later: My skin does it's usual thing and eats most of the notes, leaving cinnamon and a few other spices, and a hint of coconut. Much drier and less syrupy than earlier. I'll just pretend this stage doesn't exist, and slather again when I smell it coming.

 

Overall: I was hoping for a pina colada, but I don't get that AT ALL from this scent. It's more like some sort of sexy cinnamon dessert with a thick pineapple glaze and a little bit of coconut. Might layer well with Snow White for a more colada type scent; I'll have to test it.

 

Throw: Strong! Don't slather this one.

 

Color association: Syrupy brown

 

 

ETA: Whew! I don't usually do well with cinnamon, and while I thought I could handle it here, sugared-down, it's starting to make my eyes water. I may have to wash this off, and try it later with a much smaller dab.

Edited May 6, 2008 by terrenity

[Suu4LC]

Yummmy in the bottle. Not quite like a pina colada though. This is way more spicy and rummy than any pina colada I've ever had! I'm hoping I get more pineapple and vanilla once this is on my skin.

 

Hmm. This is a bit odd on my skin. There's a little bit of a plastic-y undertone that's throwing me off...mostly though, this is just spiced rum. I'm really not picking up much of the other notes except for a leetle bit of coconut and maybe a hint of pineapple.

 

Really, this is a rum dominant scent. Even on drydown, it's like 85% spiced rum, and little whiffs of the other notes. This was kind of my problem with most of the tiki scents I sniffed-the booze was just too strong on me.

 

I'm not 100% sold on this scent, I was really hoping for a lighter coconutty pineapple scent, but I will hold onto this bottle for a bit and maybe see how it ages before it goes to swaps.