Minamoto No Yorimitsu Cuts at the Earth Spider

[GeorgeJr]

 

MINAMOTO NO YORIMITSU CUTS AT THE EARTH SPIDER

Toasted sandalwood, tobacco flower, teakwood, castoreum accord, bourbon vanilla, and patchouli.

 

Holy cow , I'm writing the first review for something So , this is smoky . Not overly so , but it is pretty noticeable . I am next picking out the teak and the bourbon vanilla . The tobacco flower is there , but doing a fine job of hiding behind the more powerful notes . Now , as far as the " beaver butt " goes I do get another note here , but I can't really say it's leathery . Not to my nose at least . Maybe it is , but I'm getting so much more of the bourbon & teak / sandalwood that I'm just not getting that kind of vibe from it . It's a sharper scent then I would have expected . Not sure that I'd call it leaning toward either sex either .

[Gold Dust Kitten]

Imp: Heady perfume.

Wet: There's almost a floral aspect to this, but it's a dark floral surrounded by woods and patchouli. I'm so happy that the beaver butt extract is not leathery at all to me. It just makes it musky.

Dry: Wow, this is heavy like Christian Dior Opium. I really like it but it's one of those 'use sparingly' perfumes.

 

I would put this in the same category as Gun Moll and Black Lace in the fact that it's such a "sophisticated older woman perfume" on me (but more so than the former). This stuff has a lot of throw but what I really wanna know is, where's the bourbon vanilla?

Edited March 30, 2011 by mxtine

[ellebelle]

Mmmmmmm, tobacco flower, how I love you. I can always pick it out in any blend that has it, and here it is particularly present. It blends seamlessly with the vanilla. This is not particularly woody or heavy on the patchouli. On me, it is all vanilla and tobacco flower. :wub2: This is a heavy, sexy, very adult perfume and I love it.

Edited April 1, 2011 by Ellebelle

[Invidiana]

Wow, this is a lovely smoky blend. No doubt that delicious smokiness is brought on by the toated sandalwood and nicotiana. I love me some teak, and I get lots of that really deep and warm teak as well. In the background there is a bit of sweetness brought on by the vanilla and also a hint of patchouli that complements the rest of the notes. As Ellebelle said, very adult and sophisticated as well as highly alluring. There is also something very musky about this, and I found out why: I wiki'd castoreum which turns out to be a sort of musk that beavers excrete when marking territory. Of course since this is vegan we can all rest assured no beavers were harmed in the making of this perfume.

Edited April 2, 2011 by Invidiana

[HerbGirl]

I am also a teak lover, and this oil doesn't disappoint. This is The Decrepit House's younger tomboy sister - slightly feminine but in your face in the best way. The teakwood is marvelous with the tobacco flower and patchouli. I don't get any vanilla from this. I seriously think this is one of the 2 best BPAL oils I have ever smelled - and it will be a multiple bottle purchase. If you like teak and tobacco flower, this is a must try. I can only imagine how amazingly this will age...

[calivianya]

Wet on my skin, this was a very dry, woodsy blend. I had really high hopes - but then the castoreum came and stomped all over everything. I think I amp the very animalistic musks, so take my review with a grain of salt, but it smells like I'd imagine a bear sitting on some dry wood to smell. I don't picture bears as smelling particularly nice. It's musky in a oh hey - I'm a wild animal that doesn't bathe kind of way.

[marared]

In principle, I love almost all of the notes in this blend except tobacco flower, and the castoreum is an unknown factor. It's a lovely light wood scent in the imp and when it's freshly applied, but thirty seconds later and the tobacco flower dominates. It's still got a woodsy undertone, and it's *almost* even kinda unisex/masculine, but alas, that nasty tobacco flower does not play well with my chemistry. sigh.

[violetblue]

This to me, smells like a man. And I don't want to smell like a man. In my imp, it's super strong perfume, but on the skin, it becomes a musky woody man scent to me, like how a man might smell after a long day at work with just the remnants of his cologne lingering mixed with sweat/body chemistry.

[innerflect]

This is a really wonderful scent on me. At first I smell the wonderful tobacco flower, and as it dries that fades and I get mostly a deep sweetened toasted sandalwood. Sandalwood often goes powdery on me but this toasted sandalwood seems to work really well. This is woody, fuzzy and sweet. i tend to enjoy heavy rich scents like WILF. I think this will make a nice lighter spring/summer scent for me. It is a touch, masculine but I seem to amp the vanilla because I am also getting a nice sweetness. i like it on me and i think i would pounce on any guy who wore this!

Edited April 8, 2011 by innerflect

[strahlend]

This smells amazingly similar to Black Lace both in the decant and on my skin. I'm sure there's some subtle difference, but to my nose they're just about the same. It's a lovely scent, musky with a sweet element and a pronounced "cologne" sort of feel.

Edited April 10, 2011 by strahlend

[Dark Alice]

Wet: Floral Tobacco Flower, no sandalwood..barely there vanilla.

 

Drydown: Floral tobacco flower/cologne/with barely there vanilla. Alas this is too flowery. I will have to let this one pass me by!

[edenssixthday]

Minamoto No Yorimitsu Cuts at the Earth Spider - This goes on really, really soapy, which is likely the result of the castoreum, as the other notes are all wonderful on me all the time. Fortunately, once it dries down, the soapiness fades, and this turns into the most beautiful scent that is predominantly sandalwood with a hint of both teak and vanilla. It's really, really lovely. It's also extremely subtle -- I can't smell it at all unless I sniff my wrists up close, and even a light breeze outside doesn't pick it up and swirl it around me. I do prefer scents that are a little stronger, so as lovely as this is, I doubt I'd ever reach for it.

[Suusje]

I'm definitely picking up the Black Lace-vibe. It's in the same family as BL, Romanti.Goth and Gun Moll and it smells amazing!

[Gin]

The idea of castoreum really, really scared me. Like my fear of ambergris, I think it was unfounded. No scary beaver butts here, just tobacco flower and vanilla over sandalwood and teak.

Edited April 13, 2011 by Gin

[JLH]

Wet, this was lovely tobacco flower on me, somewhat white and paper-y, if that makes any sense. I could already smell the woods in the background as well. As this dried, the sandalwood and teakwood REALLY take the lead, and it's fantastic! A wood-lover's heaven. If I really search, I can find a bit of vanilla muskiness in the far background, but this is all about the lovely wood scents and tobacco flower. Wonderful.

[Icekitten]

Just came in the mail!!!!

 

From the bottle: Fresh, earthy and floral.

 

Wet: Light musky (sandalwood) earthy and floral, something in this scent it familiar, it's a bit like Black Lace's cousin, i am really really really! loving it at this point.

 

Dry: Yes this is a lovely cousin of Black Lace, (wich is my all time fave) will be getting a back up just because!

[Little Bird]

Toasted sandalwood, vanilla, and patchouli sounded good to me, but I can't pick out any of the woods or vanilla that are supposed to be in this blend. This is pretty much all tobacco flower all the time on my skin, and I hate the lab's tobacco flower note. It smells like sharp chemicals, white smoke, and laundry powder soap to my nose.

 

This is too perfumey, too sharp, and too soapy for me. The drydown after about a half hour is a little softer and more baby powdery, but not really an improvement. Not a good blend for me.

[filigree_shadow]

This smells like a nice-smelling man. It's smoky, woody, and dry. Mostly sandalwood and teakwood. I like it, so I passed it along to my husband.

[milo]

This is one of the Japanese relief blends I was most looking forward to trying, but it doesn't smell quite like I expected it to. I thought the sandalwood would dominate, (which I love) and I love vanilla and patchouli together, so I thought this would be a win. However, the tobacco flower seems to make everything a bit high pitched with an unpleasant ashtry vibe. A few posts up, someone mentioned the comparison to Black Lace, and indeed there are some, though I find this one with less vanilla and more sharp. Nice to try, though!

[thekittenkat]

In the decant: Seems like the sandalwood, castor, and bourbon vanilla are combining into something that smells rather masculine. There's no bay rum here, but I'm getting a similar vibe.

 

Wet: Seems to be much like I sniffed in the decant. I'm really not liking this at all, and was really looking forward to it because of the teak, the vanilla, the sandalwood, and the patch.

 

The dry-down: A little hint of tobacco flower comes out after a while, and also a touch of my beloved patch. This is a rather dry scent, to be expected from the woods and the castor. This could be great on a guy, but it's not really a perfume oil that I like. I'm glad that I was able to test first, instead of ordering it, as my first impulse.

[surlygurl]

This is a strange one. Fresh on my skin, it's very soft with a slight almost-soapiness. There is something there (which I now know is tobacco flower - same smell as Smoky Moon) that's hard to place. The almost-soapiness flows in and out, unable to decide where to go. As it dries, a little bit of vanilla comes out. There's never any sandalwood. No teak, no patch. In fact, it faded down to almost nothing. BUT..... every now and then I move my arms in a certain way and something... alluring.... wafts by. Is it me? I don't think so. Is it the beav? Maybe.

 

I wanted to love this. And I just might. But it's very different that what I'd anticipated. Soft & ladylike with a gently insistent throbbing far down below. It may be worth getting a bottle to age.

[zankoku_zen]

Minamoto is definitely in the same vein as Gun Moll and Black Lace. Sophisticated, smoky perfume. On me, it flip flops between masculine and feminine. On wet, it's feminine. Drydown more masculine, and then after about an hour, it switches back to female.

 

I definitely get sandalwood, tobacco flower, some musk and patchouli. It's very interesting, very wearable in my opinion.

 

I might have to find a partial...

[VioletChaos]

In The Bottle: I'm getting mostly the bright, sharp smell of tobacco flower. Also a tiny hint of the patchouli, but really, the tobacco is the star of the show, at least at this early juncture.

 

Wet On Skin: I get what folks are saying about it being "heady". That comes through right away. At this point it's coming across as very masculine to me, like a gentlemen's cologne. It's also got a sweetness that is starting to come through that might be the vanilla absolute. I hope so! *fingers crossed*

 

Dry Down: Wow. Just...wow. It morphed, and now it's all vanilla, teak and patchouli on me. I get the Opium comparison, though on me the sandalwood and other rich notes are combining in a way that makes it more sexy (if you can believe it) and less perfume-y.

 

In All: Low to medium throw, a deep rich scent that will find itself at home both in the boudoir and also, for the right person, in the boardroom. Basically anyplace you wanna close a deal

 

Glad I got this before it disappeared!

[Helas]

This one is worth getting, just for the bottle. The image on the label is adorable!

 

The scent itself is dark and strange and completely unlike anything that I expected. The sandalwood is the strongest note at first, but the tobacco flower comes out on drydown and takes over the scent. I've never smelled it before, but I can recognize it - it recalls, distantly, cigarette ash, although it is much fresher and sweeter. I barely get any vanilla, and I'm not sure how I feel about that; I love vanilla, but this blend does not really need to be any sweeter. There is also a strong musky presence, I would assume from the castoreum. I can see where people might think this is too cologne-like, although I personally find it much too odd to associate it to department-store aftershave.

 

Minamoto no Yorimitsu has, to me, a haunted house atmosphere - smoky, murky and dark. It makes me think of wooden shutters rattling in the night and strange shadows flickering in dark corners. Because of the sandalwood - which always makes me think "Buddhist temple" - I also get a vaguely East Asian vibe, which means that it is a perfect complement to the illustration.

 

Great for wearing to bed and spooking oneself out. Four out of five stars.

[Roogna]

I was looking forward to this scent from the set more than any other. It finally arrives, I put it on my skin, and

 

soap.

 

all I get is soap.

 

whenever a bpal scent goes soapy on me I attribute it to my skin chemistry, but that also means it's not a keeper.