Tanuki No Senkimochi

[wishingwell]

Afflicted with senki.

Anise seed, furry brown musk, cypress sap, myrrh, and smoky woods.

Ooh, this is nice. I was worried that it might be heavy, but it's actually quite airy.

In the bottle: Definitely anise, and something like a pine forest underneath.. but more forest and less pine needles. Guessing that's mostly the cypress sap.

Wet, on skin: Still anise, but it quickly releases the smoky woods. I can sense the furry brown musk now as well.. actually kind of smells like my cat, but in a good way. I can tell this is going to be a warm and comforting scent.

Dry: I know the myrrh is in there because there's a hint of sweetness, and myrrh tends to go a little sweet on me.. but as this dries, it just becomes this very well-blended, comforting fragrance. On the back of my hand the anise is most prominent, but in the crook of my elbow it's more musk and myrrh. However, in both spots, it's a little bit fresh and a little bit smoky and dark, and somehow that just works so very very well. About an hour in, the anise backs off and I'm left with this scent that just makes me want to go snuggle the crap out of everything.

Overall: I sort of feel like this is Oblivion's lighter, ethereal cousin. I would recommend this to anyone who likes the smoky, spicy sort of scents but wants something for spring and summer. It's so gentle and furry that I think I can even wear it to work (where heavier scents are not allowed) because the throw is very soft. It's airy, fuzzy, warm, and ever so slightly medicinal until the anise backs off. I think I might have actually liked it better without the anise, but regardless, this is a keeper for me. Really really happy with this one. It's pretty unisex, too, and I actually think this would be amazing on a guy.

[SadariEvenstar]

Oh how I wanted to love this one. I love it in the vial, I love it on my skin, I love it drying on my skin...

 

and then it vanishes. I have never had a scent so completely disappear on me before. Usually there is at least a wiff of something remaining even if most of the scent is gone. There is nothing left of this one. Within an hour you can't tell that I was ever wearing perfume. I've actually tried it about half a dozen times now just because the disappearing act is so uncanny.

 

While it lasts though it is a lovely, spicy, furry scent. The anise is warm and cuddly and I don't even like anise.

[rhubarb3point14]

Ooooooooh, yes. Very anise-y on the front end. And then furry-spicy-musky. Outdoorsy. Teeters on the edge of being too animalic, but isn't. There is almost a root beer note in there somewhere.

 

I really, really like this one! It matches very well with my natural scent. Think I'm gonna get a bottle.

[patina]

This is just the faintest bit like Black Annis, except there's no civet. Just pine forest, faint woodsmoke, and musky anise. "Pine forest" might be a little misleading since it's light and airy rather than overwhelming pine. This is very pleasant.

[Gwydion]

In bottle: I’m calling this smoky wood dominant. The anise and musk are second in strength, with sap and myrrh as a strong third rank. It’s well blended and unusual, feral and sly. Wet: A bit more myrrh and sap on the skin. I’d now call it smoky wood and sap dominant, with musk a strong third. The anise seed gives it edge, and the myrrh ties things together. All elements are strong and retain individual character within the whole. Dry: Anise, musk, and myrrh end up strongest as they fade the least. I can still pick up woods and a hint of sap. It works, but is less interesting.

[BoneBone24]

Wet: Bright, almost citrus-y anise and a light touch of sweet green cypress.

 

Drydown: This is a clean, mostly cool scent, but there's a touch of warmth to it too. Clean cypress softened by the furriness of the musk.

 

Dry: Still clean and woodsy, but with a bit more depth now. The musk is making it cozy, but the overall scent is light and lustrous. It's like a warm breeze of sweet forest air. After a couple of hours, chocolaty myrrh joins the party, bringing out the deeper notes a bit.

 

 

 

This was much brighter and cleaner than I was expecting, but quite nice nonetheless. It seems that the deeper, woodsier notes strengthen each time I wear it so I expect that this is one that will only get better with age.

 

7 out of 10 bones

Edited June 21, 2013 by BoneBone24

[angelamaria]

I didn't skin-test this one, but I figured it might be helpful anyway to folks who like the notes I'm staying away from (or, well, to those who also don't like them?). So it's not a full-blown review!

 

This was full-on strong anise seed, and makes me think of old Chinese/oriental medicine shophouses. It's rather musky for me, and almost sharp, too--that furry brown musk isn't cuddly! Someone called it "feral" and I agree. Definitely not for me.

[stellamaris]

Hmm, this is right in that twilight zone between WTF and Wow Seriously Good.

My first impression was caraway seed, like rye bread? Then I realized it was the anise. Musky and smokey yes, very nice.

The anise is not sweet, this is not Licorice Bats, this is Sambuca anise. I can see wanting to wear this, very interesting.

Edit * And I do wear this, but it is not an everyday kind of scent. I don't get much smoke, just a salty caraway seed thing, but very rich and musky too. It's not very girly, and it surely goes on my Top Five Most Bizarre BPALS That I Love list.

Edited May 22, 2012 by stellamaris

[brilliantcat]

First blast is the cypress and woods followed by a softer anise. Quite intriguing. It's battling a little on my skin as the notes settle, the anise vs. the musk and it's coming off a bit sharp. Feral is definitely a good descriptor. Now it's a musky, smoky anise. It's still got a bit of bite to it but I can feel the coziness. It's like smelling the back of one of my cat's necks. It smells furry, in a good way. Oh I very much like how it's warming up on me! It ends up quite fuzzy and soft.

 

ETA: Upon retesting, this is nothing but anise on me. It's drowning out everything else :x No bueno.

Edited December 17, 2013 by brilliantcat

[KakashiMorph]

In the bottle: Anise and cypress sap.

On my skin: I immediately get very sharp anise seed and smoky woods underneath. The anise mellows out quite soon however and becomes more pleasant. Now I can distinguish the woods and the sap more clearly. It settles down soon enough to sweet, mellow anise seed (reminds me of ouzo, heh) and smoky woods under it (all I can tell is the smoke though, the woods are gone). After a while I am left with a smoky, comfy smell. The hint of coziness is the myrrh and it saddens me that I didn't get to see more of it or the brown furry musk (which I didn't recognize at all; if it was there I didn't smell it).

Drydown: The smokiness is gone and all I get now is a cozy, myrrh smell.

[zankoku_zen]

Anise, woods and a hint of smoke. Oddly, very comforting, slightly masculine and kinda cuddly.

 

Very cozy.

[milo]

I'm wondering what being afflicted with Senki is. It doesn't sound good. I'm getting a lot of peppery anise at first, quite off-putting as I'm not a fan of pepper or strong anise. Dry, less pepper and anise, and somewhat medicinal. This is plain old weird on me, not something I'd wear. It seems slightly boozy to me as well, so medicinal boozy anise. Not for me.

 

eta: OK, well it took about an hour, but once everything calms down and blends together, this is beautiful dark, smoky clovelike blend. It reminds me of a more masculine Velvet Bandito, but with less clove, and a bit Schwarzer Mond-like. I don't need more, as it is a bit too masculine for me, but I'd love to try it on a guy.

Edited May 20, 2012 by milo

[Monday]

On first sniff: Blech! Something in this turns my stomach. It smells of very sweet sugary furniture polish. I don't like this blend at all when it's wet, it goes on all sweet pungent anise.

It dries down to something a bit more tolerable. There's still the slightly pungent wet-wood smell but it's accompanied by a sweet powdery anise.

Dry it's a cuddly anise with a hint of brown musk. The smoky woods come peeking through after a while (about 10 min later.).

This is (thankfully) a morpher it starts out rather jumbled and feral but ends up a nice sophisticated unisex blend. It reminds me a little of The Night Hag. My advice would be to give this a bit of time to settle on your skin even if it doesn't smell all that good at first.

[Little Bird]

I think that this is my favorite of the set of Tanuki scents (probably the only decant I'll keep from the bunch, though I'm going to set it aside for my husband and not myself). It pretty much smells exactly as described. The cypress sap has a pine/evergreen smell to me, with a bit of woodsmoke and hints of sweet anise and myrrh. There's a bit of clean, slightly sharp muskiness on me as it dries down as well. I don't find that this one has a lot of throw, but it's a light, cozy, foresty scent that I do like quite a bit on my hubby.

[rhubarb3point14]

This fragrance is my preciousssssss. Everything about it is right. The combination of the anise and the brown musk and the myrrh... SWOON.

 

I wish it was general catalogue. I should have gotten a backup for my backup.

[mymymai]

ITI: I get a lemon note, which isn't listed in the description. After that, anise seed and cypress come out to play. At 6:30 in the morning, this is a welcome scent.

 

Wet: It smells refreshing, like a cilantro mojito. While I can detect the myrrh briefly, I'm getting heavy berry, like juniper berry, rather than cypress.

 

Dry: It gets a bit dry and powdery, but a sake-like tone to the powderiness. The musk is still clear, and so are bits of myrrh and a little something citrusy.

[vanilla323]

This one was mostly anise and musk on me and maybe some myrrh. Myrrh is powdery on me so that happened here. The anise was pretty but mixed with the musk it was just ok. Not too dynamic and I wanted more from it. It was mostly all anise and musk. It had low throw but stayed close to the skin for a while. I never really got smoky woods at all. Strange.

[aquazoo]

I get anise at first. Herbal. There is more behind it, fleshing it out.

[Lucchesa]

I let this decant rest only a couple of hours from the mail, so perhaps I should retest, but either it hasn't aged well or my skin is damping down some of the notes that are prominent on other reviewers.  On me, Tanuki No Senkimochi is a musky myrrh.  Maybe the faintest whiff of anise.  Maybe the faintest whiff of cypress.  No smoky woods.  I would worry that it was my nose except that the Totentanz on my other wrist is so distinct.  It does last a long time as a skin scent, but I was hoping for a lot more anise and woods.  

[VetchVesper]

This is all about the brown musk on me.  Musky, slightly salty, and sweet.  It um... certainly does the image justice.  I suspect there might be some ambrette in here.  I don't get any anise, and I wouldn't call this a woody fragrance, though in the dry down, I might catch a vague whiff of what could be construed as smoky wood.  This is all about those musky, fuzzy, tanuki balls.

 

It's a cozy scent, but not really to my liking, and in the dry down, it gets too powdery for my tastes.  I enjoyed trying it out though.   If you are all about cozy, musky scents though (sort of in the family of Coyote, though quite different) this might be for you. 

 

ETA after reading other reviews - Yeah, I can definitely smell myrrh.  i think it's lending much of the sweetness and probably a lot of the powderiness in the dry down. 

Edited October 20, 2020 by VetchVesper

[Cali]

A soft (as in, fur) vaguely reminiscent of the bear prince, a sweet soft myrrh and sugary anise, and a far away smoke note.

Edited May 9, 2022 by Cali