Manners Among Men and Women in the Red Light District

[caitilarkin]

Sake, apricot, and blonde wood.

In the imp: Apricot wine

Wet on skin: The apricot is, luckily, more fruity than blossomy on me. The wood note must be keeping the apricot grounded.

Dry on skin: This has the same glittering quality that Fae has, except with apricot instead of peach. Lovely! I am trying to talk myself out of getting a bottle.

[Little Bird]

I like this blend, but I think that my decant will be enough for me. It's kind of on the too dry and too clean side of things for me to wear all that often. This goes on smelling like dried apricots and dry, polished wood on me. The sake (at least, I think it's the sake) smells bright, almost-citrussy, and clean. As it dries down, it's more dry woods and fruity, clean apricot, and smells a bit more of a soft floral on my skin.

 

It's nice, but I have apricot & peach blends that I like more than this'n.

[nekogrrl]

Wet on skin: sake-soaked apricot wood.

 

Drydown: the apricot comes out more.

 

Dry: apricot, with a faint hint of the sake. No woods.

 

Verdict: This is a very clean and fruity scent. I think I'll keep the decant, but won't get a full bottle.

[aquazoo]

Dry, that may be the sake, and lightly woody. The sake comes up more as it wears. Interesting!

 

 

[Argentwolf]

It's like an apricot liqueur, only with a refined dry air to it instead of a cloying wet boozy one. Very elegant, subtle, and durable.

[Lamia]

I found this to be a charming orange-based cheerful scent.

 

After reviewing the ingredients, apparently Eau De Apricot smells rather like Eau d'Orange to my nose.

 

I quite like this, even though it is not my usual (ie musk, patchouli, red fruit) idiom. This lasts all day and was still detectable come bedtime

[voodoocatwoman]

sweet apricot- a bit powdery but lovely. Very clean scent.

[CreamyJade]

In the bottle: Apricot & sake, but not a juicy decadent apricot liqueur (like in March hare), more like a lightly boozy apricot.

Wet on skin: Sake, wood, apricot.

Dry on skin: Pretty much the same as wet: a light mix of apricot, sake & wood. Very elegant!

Final thoughts: I bought this one mainly for the apricot (I'm so fond of their scent, though usually hate the extra fruity perfumes) & because it's a great break from my heavy musk/incense/resins mix. I really like it! I think I'll wear it a lot during spring & summer, as it's a lighter blend, but still complex and elegant.

[edenssixthday]

Manners Among Men and Women in the Red Light District - When I first apply this, the only thing I smell is a very dry sawdusty scent. It smells like pencil shavings, or cedar wood. Soon, I can smell something slightly medicinal, which I'm guessing is the sake, and then not far behind it, is the scent of apricot (a note I wish BPAL would use more often). I think I would love this scent if it were more apricot and sake and less wood, but the wood note overpowers the others and there's something about it that makes it smell like really bad men's cologne (with a nice bit of sweet apricot in the background. Oh, I do love that apricot!) I'm afraid this one won't be worn again by me. Edited May 2, 2009 by edenssixthday

[milo]

I've been looking forward to trying this, as it smells pretty good in the imp, fresh apricot with something less sweet grounding it. On, it becomes a perfumey floral with a touch of apricot. Twenty minutes later, a fake, fruity apricot takes the foreground, and it's worse than the previous stage. It actually is a bit alcoholic, so if you like boozy apricot, I'm sure you'll love this. It reminds me of apricot brandy, actually. Off to swaps.

Edited May 18, 2009 by milo

[BuxomM]

Wet it smells like strong wood, cedar, then after a few minutes the barest hint of apricot comes through and something tangy which i'm guessing is the sake. It's mainly wood with some light scents in the background

[catattack]

Imp: Fruity, tart, floral

Wet: A light scent. It's fruity but refreshing. The apricot and sake combo is working well for me. Very fresh.

Drydown: It became deeper and sweeter. I like this.

Overall: This is a very understated scent. Not too sweet, not overpowering. It's perfect for spring.

[Aldercy]

Mm, I like this. Apricot seems like a pretty good fruit for my skin (and there aren't many) so I'll definitely have to hunt it down in more blends. It's golden, light... but slightly warm and almost raisin-y. Generic wood notes are usually bad for me, but this "blond wood" is a very smooth, silky wood with none of the acrid or masculine overtones I usually get. It's a very "clear" scent. Nothing really alcoholic or sake-ish to my nose.

 

Overall, Manners Among Men and Women has that flowy, traditional Oriental perfume mood to it-- which is a quality I always enjoy. It has a short lifespan though.

[tajana]

In the bottle: Mostly fresh, clean sake, which I recognize from Hungry Ghost Moon and Lantern Ghost of Oiwa, finished with a fresh cut, pale wood... almost sawdusty.

 

Wet: The apricot peeks out upon application: I was expecting fruity, sweet, bright apricot like in Katharina (fruity scents often end up smelling like body wash or candy on me), but here it's very much reined in and outshined by the cool, almost minty-greenish, alcoholic cologney note of rice wine and the austerity of the dry wood.

 

Dry: It develops slowly. After a few hours, it's evolved into soft apricot sake (evenly balanced) and the woods have softened into a smoother, gentler form. Subtle throw, but stunning longevity. I could distinctly smell this on me the next day.

 

Overall:This turned out to be a surprisingly nuanced unisex fragrance. I really like it, it's very clean, but not in the usual, hum-drum sort of way! It's the kind of thing I see myself wearing a whole lot because it feels so strangely comfortable yet appropriate and versatile. I wouldn't normally think of apricots as very masculine, but I'll have to test this out on my boyfriend, I think this would be absolutely delectable on him.

Edited August 12, 2010 by findaghost

[filigree_shadow]

The apricot isn't very strong in this, it's mostly wood and what I guess is sake. It smells great -- soft, sweet, woody, and not too strong. Spring-like, even. The sake gets stronger as it dries, but that's not a bad thing. It's not overly alcoholic.

 

Very pretty.

[neuilly]

This scent is AMAZING. I don't even know how to describe it because to me it's neither apricot nor boozy. There is a bit of wood in the back but the front is mostly a creamy floraly note? I wonder if it's the sake but I thought it was rice not in a different blend from this line. I honestly don't know. But I'm sad I don't have a bottle of this. It's beautiful.

[Alaeidrel]

I'm so glad I picked up a bottle of this on the mere recommendation from Vaudevillian that it was 'gorgeous'. Holy god but it is.

 

On me, it's a sweet, soft creamy note (kind of like rice candy) with an added depth that makes me think it's the sake, and mellow delicious apricot. I can find the depth of the wood but it's subtle and indistinct. About 30 minutes in, it had a gigantically APRICOT ERRYWHERE phase that eventually settled down. This one stays close to my skin and fades relatively quickly (3-4 hours) but it's totally worth slathering on because it's to die for.

[Aveya]

Bottle : Woody apricot?

Wet on Skin : Wood.

Drying on Skin: Wood. Then perfumey blend of wood sake? Then it sweetens up into a lovely fruity floral. The overall vibe is floral-esq, with spikes of fruit and an underlaying light-handed musky wood.

 

I love smelling the scent and looking at the image, then rolling around laughing because it's so accurate. Musky lingering-sex but yet light and weirdly pure considering. Outdoorsesq and beautifully soft and summery.

 

Personally I was looking for a more prominent fruit note, with hopefully boozy undertones. The Shunga scents all seem to have this sex-musk to them that sort of clouds up the scents for me. It's pretty in a perfume-esq way, but I prefer either crisper or darker scents. Probably gonna be a swap for me, so sad! But I'm really glad I got to smell this one.

 

It would be beautiful on the right person for sure.

[bambi]

This is quite pretty. Initially, the sake stood out, with a airy, boozy note. The wood and apricot join in quickly, giving this a fruity and airy, yet strangely grounded, smell. It smells strongly of spring.

[doomsday_disco]

The apricot is the dominant note for most of this scent's wear on me, backed by the woods, which I believe may contain cedar and sandalwood. It gave me the 'oh no, this oil might be going off and smelling like a pencil eraser' undertone that I sometimes get from old decants, but I think that was due to the cedar, and it was fleeting. After a few hours, the sake becomes a main player. I love the Lab's sake note. It's very bright and refreshing. Of course, it didn't remain sake-dominant: the apricot returned to reclaim its throne. But by then, it is mostly apricot and sake, with very little of the woods!

 

I wasn't sure about this one initially, but the sake in this one is really nice and makes me think it deserves a full day of wear without several other scents being tested on my arms.