Kabuki

[Lucchesa]

I tried Kabuki early on in my BPAL days and my notes say it barely showed up, which is odd for red musk.  Now that I know how much I love anise, I wanted to retest it, and this time it showed up in spades.  The star anise note is really clear on me wet, with a wonderfully fruity red cherry musk.  As it dries down, the anise gradually recedes, and the cherry/red musk, which melds into a single thing on me skin, takes over (as red musk is wont to do), but the cherry seems to keep it from doing the I AM RED MUSK HEAR ME ROAR thing, and the anise still plays around the edges.  This lasted well on me, and it's sexy in a kind of sweet impish way -- I may have found a new GC love!

[biggnerd]

Starts off strong cherries, like bright red maraschino CHERRY.  Quickly anise comes in and it's sweet licorice cherries, then sweet, fruity licorice as the red musk asserts itself, then eventually it dries to soft anise and red musk.  

[ajansuz]

In the vial this is all cherry all the live long day. Bright and happy. Very sweet.

 

Wet it's cherry, a suggestion of almond, and strong red musk. I love red musk, but holy wow is this, "I HERD U LIEK MUSK. HAVE SUM MUSK!"

 

In the crook of my arm on the dry down the anise comes out strong and licorice-y. My wrist is metaphysical shop incense. I actually like this a lot. Decent throw, long lasting. Just be prepared for the musk!

[Larinessa]

I've had this for forever, but as I'm rooting for it in the tournament, I'll review. 

 

This is bright in your face cherry to start off with, then deepens with the anise on my arm. Deep, dark, and delicious. Long wear time and great throw.

[niffler]

Received this as a frimp a while ago, smelled it immediately, and noped right out. In the imp it's thick, viscous maraschino cherries with a dose of anise. But I promised myself I would test EVERYTHING I have now before anything else arrives, so... 

The cherry calms down fairly quickly on my skin. Definitely still present, but it's using its inside voice instead of yelling. Something is coming across as almond-adjacent to me... possibly the anise combining with the cherry? I really appreciate the clarity of red musk in this scent and how well it plays with the fruit. Sweet and sophisticated, I'd like to try layering it with a darker scent.   

[Laughing Seagull]

I bought a fresh imp from the lab.  In the vial, it smells like cherry syrup and anise.

 

As soon as I put it on my skin, I got punched in the face with musk.  The cherry has fled.  Anise is here.  The combination of red musk and anise reminds me of shoe leather.

 

My skin completely ate this.  It disappeared in about 30 minutes.

[alyelle]

In the imp: Cherries, cream, and star anise. Very sweet and just a wee bit sickly.

 

Wet: Spiced cherry, thankfully more blossom than candy.

 

Dry: A gorgeous floral cherry, remarkably light and never too sweet. Medium lifespan (6-8 hours) with a mild throw.

 

Stars: ★★★★

[bkwy.aesthetics]

In Bottle: This smells like cherry chapstick! 😍 Not as sophisticated as I expected, but a lovely nostalgic scent. Not really picking out any star anise, but the cherry and red musk are fully amped up.

 

On Skin: Star Anise begins to present itself and rounds out the fruitiness of the cherry. Feels less artificial. Very playful scent.

 

Dry Down: For some reason as this dries down, there is a strange coppery note on me. It is very pungent and makes me sad because I enjoy the scent very much until this happens. Might try mixing this with some other things to see what happens. 

 

Wear Time: 4-5hrs

 

Throw: Far (12+in)

[LadyLuckless]

Oooh! I wasn’t expecting to like this much but wow it’s good! Sexy red musk, bright juicy cherry, and the star anise that I expected to hate actually makes it deeper, richer and more complex, with a spicy edge. Considering a bottle!

 

ETA- My BPAL aficionado dog’s nose actually started wiggling when I put it on he was huffing so hard. It has the Bowie snarf of approval! 😁

Edited July 20, 2021 by LadyLuckless

[Lit Chick]

In the bottle this smelled so amazing, but on it’s ALL ANISE ALL THE TIME.

It’s not a quite a death note because I find it somewhat interesting, but it’s not all that compatible with my chemistry and preferences.

As it dries down even more the cherry mellows the anise, but it stays far too gourmand for me.  

[Tungerine]

To begin with the red musk and cherry are super sweet, kind of powdery and artificial, but improves as it dries. It's hard to say if it's the combination of musk and cherry together or one more than the other. The anise REALLY helps though, it's enough to stop me washing it off immediately. It doesn't quite save it though. Kabuki is not for me.

Edited October 27 by Tungerine

[skyturtles]

Lab frimp~ Wet on my skin, I get the syrupy cherry right away, which is halted by a dry, coconut husk-like finish. The anise comes out to play soon, turning it all into a candy from ye olde candy shoppe. Though I do like anise, and I don't mind gourmand scents, there is something too Red 40 or artificial here for me on the dry-down. It's fun, though!

[gentle-twig]

It’s really making me laugh that this is getting 2 reviews 10 minutes apart on this day. My imp is ancient so it’s not even because the lab is frimping this like crazy. There’s something in the air. Anyway:

 

Kabuki opens with (in quick succession) joyous cherries and blossoms, something waxy — sandalwood? — and what must be anise but to me is taking the blend in a more solemn herbal/woody direction than to the candy store.  A gentle, airy musk soon becomes the star, opening the scent up without losing the bittersweet aspects of anise and cherry. At this point the scent is no longer woody at all, but there is still a kind of herbal brightness hiding deep in this scent. I like it but something about it just screams head shop to me in a way that would really limit its wearability for me. 

 

This reminds me a lot of Kyoto, which I also recently sampled. I was initially going to say that Kabuki was a kind of grown up Kyoto, but because of the head shop quality here they both end up feel a little bit teenage to me, just different kinds of teenagers.

 

I’m glad to be wearing this because I’ve never smelled the lab’s red musk note. I think it is contributing to the head shop (and even, dare I say, urinal cake) vibes, but I also enjoy it. It’s a light musk without being dryer sheets or straight galaxolide. I think I could really love it in a different blend, it’s really the combination of musk and bittersweet gourmand notes that is making this a slight miss for me.