Eight Views of Actors in Their Dressing Rooms

[hkhm]

Mandarin, black tea, yuzu, tuberose, labdanum, tonka, neroli, ambergris, and lime peel.

bottle: i get mostly tea and citrus. it's most likely the yuzu.

wet: this is heavy on the citrus and neroli, it's now more lime than yuzu and i'm getting a pleasant whiff of tonka.

dry: this dries to a mix of the different citrus scents and a light tea scent.

[jehrichardson]

This is sophisticated and really nicely blended. Gentle citrus (mandarin-yuzu-lime peel) and black tea seem to be the top notes, but the labdanum-tonka-ambergris give it this lovely depth and complexity. The neroli layers over all of this. It's strong, but well balanced with the other notes. This is another good floral for the floralphobes out there (like me).

 

This is NOT what I was expecting - I expected sharp citrus and treacly tonk-danum-ergris with a bit of tea's bite. This is better - lighter, cleaner, and completely lovely.

 

Likes it!

 

 

[naeelah]

This is a complex scent and I'm having a hard time describing it. Wet, it has loads of juicy mandarin. Dry, it's mostly tuberose and ambergris, on my skin, and it has a dry, soapy vibe. The tea and neroli are almost equally strong, and they have a light, cool quality. In the background, there's just a hint of mandarin and lime, and this helps balance some of the bitterness.

 

After about 20 minutes, the tonka emerges and really helps to balance the dry, soapy notes. Nothing else seems to morph much, to my nose. The addition of the tonka makes it a much nicer scent, to my nose. it adds only a hint of sweetness and helps to anchor the scent and smooth it out. (Not sure how it wears hours later, as I tried about 29348 things on at the same time and my nose broke.)

 

This seems to be a light, smooth unisex kind of scent. I'm not sure how I'd categorize it. It's not fruity, it's not overtly floral, and it's not resinous, either. Just an even mix of all these things, and the result has a classic perfume quality, to me.

Edited January 31, 2009 by naeelah

[greenranger]

I tried this at work, and didn't have a list of the notes with me.

 

It started off soft, but as it warmed on my skin I got this amazing spicy scent. Looking at the notes, it must have been a combination of things, or something on that list that is unfamiliar to me, as I don't think I have ever encountered that scent before. It was lovely and different. I may need to track down Yuzu to see if that was it.

 

Unfortunately it didn't stick around really long enough to please me and the whole scent faded down to a vanilla.

 

I am blaming the ambergris for the vanishing act. I wonder if there is something out there that has all those notes, but, maybe instead of ambergris, some other light musk? I think that might have better results on my skin.

Edited February 11, 2009 by Aerinha

[Delirium1009]

In bottle/imp: Citrus and a very strong perfumey note.

 

Immediately on skin: This is citrusy and perfumey, but it’s not a very sweet scent at all. The ambergris is very strong in this and adds a salty musk quality which the citrus and floral notes sort of waft around.

 

After a little while: This smells odd on me. It’s sort of bitter and smells like a pencil eraser with hints of citrus.

 

Overall Impressions: This smells bitter and musky on me which I think is the ambergris, with the other notes trying to make their scents known. It’s a mish-mash on my skin and doesn’t smell balanced or unified. But since I’m not a big fan of ambergris, I’m not surprised.

 

[Ahania]

I should probably start with the disclaimer that I wouldn't have gotten this if I weren't in a decant circle for a complete Shunga set. I have yet to find a tea scent that works on me, and lime isn't so good either.

 

Wet, this is seriously citrus, with the lime dominating the mandarin and yuzu (sniffle! I love yuzu).

As it dries, the tea and tuberose notes come out to play, and they don't play nicely.

Drydown smells like a bizarre, unpleasant soap. Off to swap.

[oneiromantics]

This was AWESOME... for like 5 seconds. Citrusy and juicy and a little bit sharp, like grapefruit. Then it dried and started smelling like soap--and a very manly soap at that. Like lathering-up-in-the-shower-and-admiring-the-feel-of-your-own-biceps soap. I tried it on my boyfriend, and he said that if he wanted to smell like that, he would just take a shower.

[Brianne]

The yuzu is quite strong at first, it's very bright and crisp but the labdanum creeps in after that and pretty much dominates this blend. With the citrus notes and the tuberose and neroli, this blend ends up unfortunately very "perfumey" and indistinct on me.

[Little Bird]

Tuberose + ambergris turn this into a sharp, musky, perfumey hell on my skin. I can smell citrus in the drydown, but the bitter citrus notes do nothing to smooth out the sharp floral and musk for me. Something in this starts to smell like soapy dryer sheets after a while. This fades fast on me, but I don’t like it at all while it sticks around.

[Schmoozy]

 

Hmmm. This was actually not what I was thinking it would be, and I am pretty happy that I didn't order a bottle staright away.

This scent is all over the map. It starts off with a citrus explosion with hints of black tea in the background. Mandarin, lime and yuzu go really well with tea, and so far this blend is quite yummy.

During drydown, the tuberose, labdanum, tonka and ambergris mingle with the citrus tea, and I can't quite put my finger on it, but they just don't really jive together on my skin.

It's almost like two completely different scent families hooked up, who had no business hooking up!!

 

I really thought this was going to be the shunga for me.

Edited February 20, 2009 by Schmoozy

[savage_rose]

At first this is dark and resinous-smelling, a bit incensey. And then it deepens a bit, and some of the more astringent notes pop up...the sweet but sour yuzu, the neroli. I can also catch a hint of the lime...and mostly the sourness is balanced nicely with the tea, but it's just a little too intense for me. It goes between smelling dark and mysteriously lovely to...somewhat medicinal. I'm completely ambivalent about this! I possibly really like this. Definitely maybe.

[fairnymph]

In the bottle: Light yellow-coloured oil. Citrus, clean white flowers, butter tonka, and slick black tea. Zesty, fresh, cologney but unisex.

 

Wet: Very strong on the citrus, both zest and juice - very nice. Kept sweet by the mandarin and tonka. Touch of soapiness. A bit acquatic. Despite it all, very smooth and melded.

 

Dry: Tonka, tea, ambergris, labdanum have amped up majorly, and lot of the citrus has faded, though the lime is still going strong. This is heavier and richer now, as well as slightly incensey.

 

Later: Tea and labdanum REALLY amping, and the flowers have come out a bit more. It's very complex and multi-layered at this point. There's also a dry, woody note, a bit like oak?

 

Summary: Smooth, sweet, and rich, yet light and airy as well. Unisex. Piney tea and labdanum dominate, with lime peel and tonka sweetening things, ambergris provides depth, and neroli and tuberose keep this clean and freshly floral. Great throw, good longevity.

 

A bit too rich for me, and the tonka's too prominent, but impressive.

 

[femmefatale]

This started out sooo promising. Lots of wonderful citrus with just the barest hint of tea and sweetness from the tonka.

 

As it dries the citrus begins to fade, the tonka comes out more, and then the soapiness (from the ambergris I assume) makes an appearance.

 

So now it smells like a really nice sweet, rich, somewhat fruity soap. Strangely though, as it dries further the soapiness comes and goes and I can pick up the other notes. This is a very strange one. I do agree with the other posters who said it is a bit perfumey.

 

I can't stop smelling my arm. Sometimes I think I like it, sometimes no. I have no idea what to think.

[bellis]

This smells a lot like Manhattan on me. I get a lot of citrus peel with the musky ambergris and fruit hovering in the background. It dries to a light lime peel with a soft fruity background, I'm sure this would be lovely in the summer.

[whateverish]

this is lovely, but a little too sweet for my liking. i keep waiting for it to get less sweet, but instead it just gets sweeter and sweeter. i kind of feel like i'm in a perfume factory. o.O

 

okay, now it's turning vaguely to powder. aieee.

[zankoku_zen]

This did kinda make me think of Manhattan, minus the leather. At the beginning, it had a sharp floral which was the tuberose, I suspect, and now that it's dried it's less prominent and I get yuzu and tea.

 

It's a little 'house cleaner'ish for me. So I'll pass this along to a more loving home.

 

ETA: Tested the prototype out. I definitely get more of the tangerine, and I think there might be oakmoss in it, because it ends up smelling a hell of a lot like Ebisu on me after it dries down. I kinda enjoy the fact that there isn't s sharp floral in there, and it's more of a fruit + slight musk going on. But yeah, the best comparison is to the previous Lupercalia, Ebisu. It smells really similar to that on me.

Edited September 21, 2009 by zankoku_zen

[gchris]

in Vial: yummy sweet, fresh, slightly fruity

 

wet: There are so many notes in this blend that I love, but without reading the notes I could not tell one from the other. They are blended so well and none overpower the other. This is wonderful! Super yummy, a bit tart, kind of strong but not unpleasant.

 

dry: This has gotten even stronger. It is harsh close to the nose, but farther away smells nice.

later...this has grown faint which is a relief and now smells very beautiful. I love this blend.

[Ceri]

In the vial: Soapy, citrus tea.

 

Wet: Citrus soap.

 

Dry: Sweet, floral, fruity soap.

 

Overall: Most of the shungas smell 'clean' on me, this is another 'clean' scent to add to the list.

 

[gingiemay]

I get a lot of mandarin and yuzu from this, but not a lot of black tea or ambergris. There is an odd sort of dirt smell coming through, which I suspect is the tuberose. In the bottle this smelled lovely and sweet, but I don't get that sweetness on my skin. I will have to put this in the swap pile.

[angelicruin]

This is mostly mandarin, lime, and tonka on my skin. Very sweet and sugary on my skin. It becomes a little more floral as it dries which balances out the sweetness.

[jencallisto]

In the imp: Citrus with a sort of perfumey base.

Fresh on the skin: So. Perfumey. Uck. But with citrus sillage, which I like. Kind of bitter, overall.

10 minutes later: Love the citrus, hate the... other stuff? Labdanum and ambergris, I suspect. Not that I'm sure what those smell like by themselves. But overall, this is highly problematic.

30 minutes later: I kind of hate this. Hate. And it's quite strong for being so light.

45 minutes later: Ah, tonka. That helps. This has calmed down quite a bit, thank goodness. It's still kind of not okay, but much less so.

1 hour later: This is not actually offensive, but I do definitely dislike it. At least it's quite light now.

2 hours later: I do like some of the citrus at the edges of this. But the center of it is just not for me, and I can't even explain why properly.

6 hours later: Huh. The end of this is actually quite pretty, though still quite perfumey.

7 hours later: Yup, kinda pretty.

9 hours later: Fading slowly, light and quite nice, in a perfumey sort of way.

12 hours later: Basically gone.

 

Verdict: Love the citrus, hate the rest. Unfortunately, this = noooooooooo.

 

One phrase: citrusy perfume.

[marared]

Mild citrus. I don't think I could pick out the mandarin and the lime not knowing they were there, but definitely citrus. There's no bitter undertone that I expected from the neroli, and I really can't detect the tea either. It's just a gentle fruity floral that's heavier on the fruit than the floral. It's nice, but it doesn't really excite me that much.

[caitilarkin]

The Lab's citrus notes are some of my favorites in the entire world of scent, and I adore their tea notes as well. The only thing that kept me from buying a bottle unsniffed was the tonka, which sometimes goes to medicinal baby powder on me.

 

In the imp: Heady, tartly sweet, well-blended citrus

 

Wet on skin: A gorgeous, musky tea appears to deepen the citrus, and now I can detect the seperate notes of mandarin, neroli (very green) and lime. The tonka just adds sweetness.

 

Dry on skin: Yup, I should have ordered an unsniffed bottle. This is citrus/tea love, just as I had hoped.

[shinjinarenai]

Fairnymph! You look familiar!

*huggles*

 

Anyway- I'm not a very good nose, but I absolutely love Aizen-Myoo and was hoping for something similar. I definitely got my wish. This is like Aizen-Myoo with the yuzu cranked up to 11, and with a subtle depth that grounded the whole scent. I love it and I'm going to wear it all the time during the summer.

Edited March 10, 2009 by shinjinarenai

[nekogrrl]

Wet on skin: Hello tuberose! It's pretty strong..

 

Drydown: Tuberose mixing with the tea and probably the yuzu.

 

Dry on skin: Tuberose and tea with a hint of citrus.

 

Verdict: This is a very fresh and clean scent. Very nice for spring.