Kabuki

[lookingglass]

Compelling, complex, and utterly enigmatic: a luxuriant, exotic blend of cherry, red musk, and star anise.

I think it was Olympia that called this the Snake Oil of the East. I have to agree. It is unbelievably sexy, mysterious, deep, dark and delicious.

I never liked "fruity" scents until I discovered BPAL...but I don't think I had ever met EVIL fruit...

This is my new favorite cherry. It will be replacing the Red Queen in my Top 10. The anise gives this a bit of a boozy bite, and makes the cherry more "purple than red". The musk blends beautifully with my chemistry. Dry, it is as if I am emanating sweetness, not wearing perfume at all. I get the same "feeling" from Snake Oil when all that is left is the darkened vanilla. It is not "foody" to me at all...it is just sweet skin.

[stardreamer]

This was a freebie in my last order, and something I wouldn't have picked for myself. Red musk has been identified as one of the components that doesn't work well for me, and this blend is no exception. I could smell a bit of the cherry if I sniffed closely, but the overwhelming impression is the sharp, incense-y, NewAge-y scent of the red musk, and I just don't care for it. Another one for the swap pile.

[Monster]

Whew! Verrrrry cherrrrryyy! The anise gives it an almost medicinal quality to it. While I love both notes on thier own, I'm not sure they work too well together. My nose is confused I wanted to like this one so so much, but unfortunatly, this blend just doesn't work for me.

[tinyvulture]

Cherries and anise, an unusual combination and one that, unfortunately, doesn’t work for me. This scent is spicy, yet cool. I can’t detect any of the red musk. Strong and long-lasting – the anise’s licorice scent lingers for hours.

[sarahj]

Kabuki

 

received in a swap

 

in vial: cherry cough syrup

 

wet: the cherries are toning down a bit and the anise starts to appear

 

dry: cherries and anise have both disappeared and all I am left with is a powdery musk

 

verdict: I expected this to smell similar to Kyoto (which was mostly anise on me), but it is very different...and not for me...off to swaps

[em_h]

Tried this as part of my Red Musk Quest, because it's so often an excellent note for me.

 

In the vial: cherrry cough syrup, with a bit of cinnamon for some reason

 

Wet: much the same, but with the red musk and anise starting to creep out; interacting very strangely with the cherries, however. It begins to smell disturbingly like Dr Pepper.

 

Drydown: This does improve as the cherry moderates, but it never quite loses the Dr Pepper quality, and I don't think I can handle smelling like Dr Pepper on a regular basis. Too bad about this one.

[Fefferbella]

Cherry cough drops! The synthetic cherry is overpowering and it doesn't fade the way most fruit notes do on my skin.

 

There is a hint on anise, but nothing else. Sadly this one if off to the swap pile

[ABrokenAngel]

In Bottle: I can smell all of the ingredients. It’s very potent. Smells very similar to a strong or fresh twizzler. Oh please don’t turn rank on me. This would be a great first date scent. Especially if it was a fun date. I could see myself wearing this to something like…coffee with a blind date. Very light.

 

Wet: Cherry…..oh lord cherry with a hint of anise. This is so divine! Burned down with some alcohol this could possibly dominate my collection. It’s got a playfulness that I’m just eating up. Let’s hope the dry down isn’t heinous.

 

Drydown: Anise. All anise. I hate pure anise. *sighs* Oh well off to the swap pile for Kabuki. I had so hoped to adore this one.

[shayelea]

First of all, this is a GORGEOUS color. Deep, dark red.

 

In the bottle: Oh, I LOVED this in the bottle. Sweet, juicy black cherry. Bing cherry, my favorite. And the most delicate whiff of star anise. I'm not a huge licorice fan, but I decided to try this because I recently bought an herbal tea with anise as an ingredient and it smelled heavenly. That's exactly what the anise note in this smells like. I'm not getting a lot of the red musk in the bottle.

 

Wet: The sweet juicy cherry/anise scent, and then, WOW, it turns so sharp I actually recoiled, but only in a brief burst. Then the sweet cherry scent comes back, with the musk underneath.

 

Drydown: As this dries, the cherry goes away and it settles into anise and red musk - although I still get some cherry from the throw, just not when I sniff my wrists. Still nice, but I'm thinking this is one scent I'd use a scent locket on - I just LOVE the very first bottle/wet stage.

 

(ADDED LATER: The second time I wore this, the cherry stayed with me all day, and was only backed up by something a little powdery. Whee!)

 

I love that this smells like fruit but isn't childish at all. This is the kind of scent I need to wear when I've got on my black lace skirt, my fishnets, and some red lipstick!

[evilbee]

In the bottle:

Cherry cough syrup!

 

Wet:

Dark cherries. It smells like it’s eating my wrist. Wet anise is not pleasant though.

 

Dry down:

This became entirely licorice. No cherries. No musk. I smell like black ju-jubes. This is not for me!

[ice queen]

oooooh I love this - it's just so "comforting" !!!!!!!

In the bottle - cherries, ooooooooooh lick my lips !

Dry - Warm and musky - still cherries - yay !

 

This is the kind of scent I need to wear when I've got on my black lace skirt, my fishnets, and some red lipstick!

I so agree shayelea - makes me feel a bit naughty !!!!!!!!!! - this is a keeper.

 

I really get the cherries - and yes it is a bit cough syrupy - but I don't mind that - it's warm and HAPPY!

And my husband loves it - makes him keep grabbing me - which is no bad thing, eh

[ebbtide]

Just applied Kabuki, and I'm liking it. In the bottle it was mostly cherry, a wet ripe cherry. But on it has more of an incense-y smell, cherry at first, then the anise and musk notes come through. 20 minutes later, it's mostly a warm anise, but it's nice. Reminds me a tiny bit of chinese five-spice seasoning.

[LushNatty]

In the bottle: very cherry, in a way that’s hard to describe. Even while in the bottle it seems to change a lot. At first, it smelled really light and yummy, and then as I continued to smell it, it turned to maraschino cherry, then to cough medicine, and then to a really, really strong artificial cherry that made my head hurt a little. This one is going to be interesting.

Applied: Cherry Tootsie pop, immediately turning into dirt, then licorice. This is so weird—it’s foody but there’s something else hovering in the background that I can’t quite identify--kind of like pus or Vaseline. Maybe it’s something I’m getting from the combination of the two foody notes (anise and cherry) hitting the musk or something. Unfortunately, this is one of the few that send me into the bathroom for the soap and water—REALLY doesn’t work on me.

On a scale of 1 to 5: 1.

[karikazo]

Cherry cough syrup all the way, on or off! The idea of this scent is great, but it doesn't work on me at all. It sure is strong, though.

[ktesedale]

In the bottle, cherry cough syrup.

 

Wet, this starts out with a bang of cough syrup, but dies down quickly to strong, strong anise warring with cherry.

 

Dry, both scents die down a bit, and the musk slowly comes out. This was my first experience with red musk, and it's a surprisingly great scent. (I never used to be a fan of musk).

 

After a while, all three scents blend together as long as I keep my nose away from my wrist. This is really a scent to enjoy from a bit farther away - up close, it's a pretty chaotic scent, and not in a good way. Allowing it to waft, though, blends them together into a gorgeous scent. And I don't even like anise!

 

I had low hopes for this scent, but it surpassed them by a lot. A very nice scent, though not one I'd buy a 10ml of. And like previous posters mentioned, this is a fruit scent that's not at all childish.

[LittleGreyKitten]

I tried this not knowing what the notes were- it was a frimp and I had to try it! It smelled to me of almost an almondy scent wet, and then the anise whupped me over the head upon drying. I definitely guessed licorice as a major note in this, but I would have thought there was some almond too. I didn't read cherry, just sweet licorice on my skin. I would definitely not have tried this on my own- absolutely detest cherry scents (though I like real cherries!) and fake cherry flavor in candy. And licorice. I'd give it a very biased 1 out of 5, but that's with a serious dislike of most of the scents comprising Kabuki.

[britton522]

Ordered this hoping the red musk wouldn't hate me. I have crazy skin chemistry that causes all florals to go to smoke, and musks to enhance to a scary degree.

 

In imp: Wow, this is the color of root beer! I was afraid it would stain my skin the way Hunger did, but it was kind. It had a definite note that reminded me of almond extract.

 

Wet: Cherry. Not any cherry. A shrieking cherry. Very nice though.

 

Drydown: As it dried, the star anise amped up on me. My licorice phobic roomie hid on the other side of the room because I smelled so flawlessly of black licorice. when it dried, it turned into the red musk tainted ever so slightly by the licorice.

 

Summary: My skin separated this into individual notes before it finally combined them at the end. It was a beautifully feminine musk that would be great for a date--it was very subtle by the end. It also lasted well. I can see why this is under Love Potions: this is a scent people notice as they interact with you, rather than right away. It's a tease.

[Caltha]

Kabuki

Wet, it smells of mahogany, anise and cherries. It's warm, dry and oriental and the mahogany/cherry combo reminds me of the Red Queen. Unfortionately, the cherries are a little plastic. Dry, it has a warm, dry aura of red musk and on the skin it smells like cherry candy and anise. It's sweet but I think I prefer Kyoto, it's more sophisticated and enigmatic.

[angharad]

Honestly, I can't decide if I like this or not. I mainly get dark cherries -- not quite black, but still dark -- and the red musk from Kabuki. I'm not familiar with star anise, but I'm sure it's in here somewhere. At first the scent is a very strong cherry cough syrup but it tones down as the oil dries, bringing out the musk. After 4 hours I can still smell the dark, sweet cherry on my wrist, but it's gone a bit powdery.

[UploadedLobster]

This was an easy call--on me, Kabuki sucks. Unambiguously. It sucks very, very badly, for a long time, and is in general a plague and a blight on the land of Lobster.

 

The cherry-anise combination is intriguing and actually pretty nice in the bottle, but on my skin the cherry lasts long enough for me to count to ten and then Kabuki turns into a faintly musky anise bomb. FOOM. It remains an anise bomb for the rest of its stay, which in the absence of soap and water turns out to be a pretty long time.

 

...this perfume also scared my cat.

 

 

 

Lobster Rating

Better than: being chased off a cliff

Edited February 21, 2006 by Uploaded Lobster

[dnipbhsw]

I got this as a frimp in my first order, and when I read the description, I was really hoping to love this. I love the smell of cherries and star anise, though I had never smelled the two together. And I'm a fan of Japanese culture, so the concept was intriguing to me as well.

 

Alas, this one isn't for me. It reminds me too much of red Twizzlers, and though I love red Twizzlers, I'd rather not smell like one. This has a warm, round sweet sweet smell, with just a hint of bitterness. I will probably use this as a room frangrance.

 

My husband says this reminds him of a candy store, and he could picture a young teenage girl wearing this, but not me.

[Brianne]

In the bottle:

Fresh, bright cherries!

 

On me:

Wow, right away this is the interesting blend I had in mind. Cherries and licorice with a sweet musky down. It's so EXOTIC!

I didn't get Kabuki because I thought I'd love it to be perfectly honest. I got it because it sounded interesting and I have a fascination with Kabuki, so I figured I'd give it a shot. In fact, I was kind of expecting to think just that - it was interesting - but not much else. WIth cherries (which I don't particularly like the smell OR taste of) and anise (which is cool and funky but I haven't ever imagined I'd want to smell like licorice all day) I had not even a tiny little feeling I would love this.

 

But I DO. I DO LOVE THIS. It's so odd to say that it's not different than what I expected, and yet it surprised me in that I love it so much. The cherries go on strong, but after only 2 minutes they are nothing but a subtly sweet background for the anise. The anise is most prominent in this blend - but it's usual sharpness is subdued by the musk, and I find that it comes off more like an exotic spice than the straight up LICORICE! I usually get (though it still smells like licorice at the same time). It's spicey, sweet, and again - exotic. When I'm wearing this, I feel bold. I feel like I'm going to be noticed.

 

Final note:

Oh, this is a must buy bottle for me. It's simply intoxicating and so unusual.

[gwyllgi]

Every day, I tote a can of Snapple Wild Cherry juice to work with me, a hold-over from an unsuccessful quest to wean myself off of caffeine.

 

Kabuki smells exactly like that.

 

It's pure cherries on me - dark cherries, huge and ripe on the stems. It never went medicinal on me, never gave me an impression of cough syrup or cough drops, although I'd half-expected that before I opened the imp. Despite its close association to the aforementioned juice, it doesn't smell particularly foody on me, either; there's a trace of the musk under the cherries, giving it a hint of powdery fragility. The anise never came out as a distinctive note on me, although I'm certain that it helped to veer the cherry scent away from maraschino.

 

Within ten seconds of application, this went on my list of bottles to buy.

 

This is something I had no hesitance in slathering on. It's light enough not to be overpowering, and not too sweet for multiple applications. It'll be particularly good as a summer scent.

[salamandrina]

2 word review - root beer!

 

I dig it, and I'll have to revise this for additional subtleties, but the only impression I got yesterday was of root beer, and my beloved felt the same, and he can't smell a dead skunk on the highway...perufmes always smell "mmm...yummy", or "eww...don't like this" to him.

[SpinnyRoses]

WHOA.

 

This is a very cherry scent. It's very, very sweet. I don't like many sweet or foody scents (O, for instance, while it dries fairly smoothly, it's way too sweet for me), and unfortunately this isn't an exception. If you like cherry and sweet scents, this is for you. This, however, was definitely not me.