Kyoto

[gypsyjolie]

A gentle, soothing blend of cherry blossom, white sandalwood and star anise.

sweet almond & anise, and something slightly soapy.

[hmelt004]

Sweet and candy-like! I only get cherry syrup and anise from this, no sandalwood. It has kind of a ozone vibe to it as well that makes my nose tingle a bit. It was in the "meh" imp pile, but now I'm not sure about it. I'll give it another wear.

[Dharklady]

In bottle: A soft, almost sweet herbal scent. The star anise behaves itself here.

Wet: The sandalwood and soft cherry shine with a slight hint of licorice from the star anise peeking through.

Dry: It morphs back and forth between a strong licorice and a well balanced blend of sandalwood, sherry and the spice of the star anise. Not a ton of staying power but a decent throw.

Notes: It’s an interesting scent and I definitely plan on holding onto the imp but that should be more then enough for me.

 

[Gwydion]

In bottle: he anise is lovely with the cherry blossom, though a little over powering. The cherry blossoms smell as if they’ve already fallen and have started to brown around the edges. The effect is almost boozy. Wet: The cherry blossoms wrestle the anise to a standstill, neither quite getting the upper hand. The sandalwood really comes out as it warms, grounding and balancing the blend. This is incredibly well blended. I normally can’t handle anything cherry but this is nice. Dry: The sandalwood eventually beats the blossoms and anise into submission, but they leave it with a richness and a spiciness sandalwood alone can’t carry.

[milo]

This ends up being a lovely fresh floral on me. Surprising, as I don't think I've ever liked a blend with Cherry blossom in it. This is a great spring/early summer scent, and I'll certainly keep my imp for those times.

[plainjean]

This scent is really beautiful. At first, it's really heavy on the anise (which I'm loving! I need to hunt down more anise blends), but once it dries down, the cherry blossom starts coming out. I don't get much sandalwood, except maybe a little bit when I put my wrist to my nose. This is a soft scent, both in throw and in its general feeling. It truly does bring to mind soft pink petals of cherry blossoms. I'll probably need to get a bottle of this next spring.

[ShannonElisabethJones]

I'd forgotten I'd wanted to try this one - my wishlist seems so huge! - so it was really great that I'd received this as a frimp in my last order. Thanks, Lab!

 

So, Kyoto. It started off as a gentle pink (yes, it smelled pink) floral. Sweet in a sweet-little-girl way. As it dried it became licorice-y - sweet in a candy-store way. It was nice.

 

There's just something innocently playful about this scent. It's pleasant and not too heavy. I can imagine wearing this around my sweet Southern grandmother and not feeling like I'm overwhelming her.

[SophieCedar]

Wet: when I tested blindly, I thought this had tea, rice milk, black pepper and some weird fruit note in the background. Hmm.. I wouldn't make a very good "Nose"..well that professional dream is out.. anyways, it's star anise with a touch of cherry blossom.

 

Drydown: still very peppery from the star anise. The cherry blossom is kinda obscured by it. I can only make out an edge of the sandalwood.

[strahlend]

In the imp I can barely smell anything. What I do get seems like a very pale floral.

On my skin - this is really light, I can't quite think of how to describe something I can hardly smell. It seems vaguely perfumy, there's something kind of giving me the feeling of perfume alcohol for some reason, I can hardly smell it but what I do get is kind of sharp. When it softens up a bit it seems like a barely there floral again. Probably the least present bpal I've ever sniffed.

[frecklestars]

In the bottle: strongly sandalwood with an anise after-scent. I'm grateful it's a dry sandalwood, instead of a wetter rotting one like some other sandalwood scents. I'm not smelling the cherry blossoms at all; the overall vibe is dry and woodsy, bordering on masculine.

 

On my skin: turns a bit soapy on my skin, which is less than desirable. I still smell the sandalwood and regrettably the anise doesn't stand out as much. still no cherry blossoms, so it's still not femme-y or floral. I think it's a little too strong frankly, which is a shame. the anise comes out more as it ages, but still not enough for my taste. it's largely sandalwood.

 

Last thoughts: I <3 anise and wish this blend were more anise, less sandalwood. alas, it's the other way around. I _know_ it can smell good on other people, but my skin just turns it into a soapy overly woodsy disappointing mess.

[virusq]

The anise smell is delicious and I love it! It fades very quickly into the cherry, but then disappears. Would love this one to last longer!

[whataboutprom]

Wet Kyoto starts out as a bright, candy like cherry scent with a strong star anise note. I can't pick out the sandalwood at all.

 

As it dries, my skin amps the star anise something fierce, which I don't enjoy. Many hours later it is the one note left, and it almost starts to smell like an overpowering myrrh.

 

This scent really doesn't work well with my skin, but I made it into a room spray, which is quite cheerful and fun.

[KatharinaNordh]

Liquorice Mint.

 

Would be Delicious as candy - and I can see this working wonders on the right person - it doesn't work on me though; I smell like I spent the morning having a candy-binge (though the Anise is slightly more woodsy than normal candy liquorice, I guess on account of it being seeds, but still, the idea is the same)

 

Yummy, and I'd be happy to smell it on someone else, just not on me

[ami226]

On the skin: Hello, anise! And almond. Two of my worst enemies. Kinda herby licorice/almond. I knew this one wouldn't turn out well on me, but I had to try it anyways...

[puellacaerulea]

In the bottle, Kyoto is all anise. Sharp, intense, almost medicinal anise. Cue dread on my part. Once it's on, though, the cherry blossom really amps up, resulting in a soft floral with just a little semi-sweet, almost herbal depth from the anise and sandalwood. White sandalwood in BPAL blends tend to turn to baby powder fast on me, but I surprisingly don't really catch any powdery notes, even after several hours on. This scent also has fairly good throw and good staying power (about 8 hours later, I can still catch whiffs of it on my wrists). Overall, it's a very well-blended floral that seems to get along exceptionally well with my skin.

[Morsigne925]

This one was a frimp in my last order!

 

In the imp: This is one where I actually feel I can smell all the notes described pretty distinctly - I definitely smell the star anise, and I get the cherry blossom and the sandalwood as this fresh, light, clean scent with it.

 

Wet: Sandalwood is very prominent as soon as it hits my skin, along with the licorice-smelling star anise. I can smell the cerry blossom a little bit at this point but the sandalwood and star anise are dominating atm. I'm surprisingly ok with how it smells right now given that I generally really dislike the smell of star anise, or anything that smells like licorice, and also really strong sandalwood smells; maybe the two are balancing each other for me? I do hope the cherry blossom comes out more though, because I'm still not the hugest fan of the licorice/sandalwood smell it has right now.

 

Drying (~1 hour): As I was hoping, the cherry blossom comes out to play more as time goes on, but unless I put my wrist to my face still the most prominent scent wafting up to me is the star anise. I'm torn on this one - it intrigues me every time I sniff my wrist, yet when I pull it away and smell the anise wafting up, I'm not a big fan.

 

End of the day: I think I'll have to give this one 2 stars - I don't dislike it, and it's a very interesting scent, and I'm sure one could quite like it if they weren't put off by strong star anise smells like I am. For me though, I just don't think I'd probably ever wear it.

[MadameFaye84]

All I get out of this is a black licorice smell and I'm soooooo not a fan of it. Rather disappointed since there is cherry blossom (major love!) in this, but I got none of it . To the swap it goes!

Edited February 7, 2012 by MadameFaye84

[lohengrin]

In the imp: Anise & a hint of cherry blossom.

 

On skin, wet: Slightly sandalwoody anise.

 

On skin, dry: Sandalwoody anise.

 

After an hour: Stays true to the initial drydown. While the white sandalwood is less incensey on me than others it's still not a note I really care for, and it's just too dominant in this blend.

[karykeion]

I have 2 frimps of this, one from the lab and one from tkannon. Whoever sent it, thank you! ♥

This is the second of the "oh lord, what am I doing" tests tonight. I already have Dorian and its three musks on one hand, so I might as well try Kyoto and its star anise on the other. I'll admit straight out, I'm pretty much only testing this because I'm a Japanese minor and I kind of feel an obligation to try it out even if it's not really my thing.

 

 

In the imp: Oh my god that's so beautiful. I'm getting a noseful of licorice, which I assume is the anise, but it just adds to the sort of delicate "old"ness I'm getting from the blend overall. If only the star anise wouldn't take over, I could actually see this being a definite 5ml contender.

 

On me, wet: I'm not getting a lot of cherry blossom, just sandalwood and star anise. ...Wow, I like this a LOT more than I did the first time I tested it. The star anise isn't bothering me nearly as much as it did the first time, and I'm kind of adoring this blend now! It's really stately and refined and delicate and kind of, I don't know, noble? The star anise is calming down and the sandalwood and cherry blossom are tempering it and being all soft and quiet and regal, and I really, really like it.

 

On me, dry: This has done a complete 180 from my original impression of it. The anise and what I'm guessing is the sandalwood are blending perfectly and the resulting scent is light but important, delicate and old. It's a beautiful, refined scent that at least for me is really evocative of Japan, and it's going on the "need a bottle" list despite my general dislike of the girlier perfumes.

Edited February 10, 2012 by karykeion

[mymymai]

In the Imp (ITI): I’m getting an odd reading. It smells like paper, a little cologne, and anise. Hmm, I’m not sure about this.

 

Wet: Ok, good. The oddness is diminished some when it’s applied to my skin. I now can clearly get the anise and sandalwood (although it is an aged sandalwood), but the cherry blossom scent is still reading as “off.”

 

Dry: After about 10 hours, all the oddness, like the paper note, has vanished. I just get sandalwood and a little cherry blossom. I like this much better dried and faded.

[ClareN]

Cherry blossom and anise, mainly. I recognise the cherry blossom note from Lush's Sakura bath ballistic. It's a soapy smell, but very pleasantly so.

 

Along with Whitechapel and Embalming Fluid, this may be one of my favorite "clean" scents from BPAL as it doesn't seem to be going stale or turning towards air freshener the way many florals and "fresh" scents do; it's just pure spicy cherry blossom soap. Very nice.

[whitsunweddings]

In the imp: Sweet licorice and cherry blossom.

Wet: Sandalwood and cherry blossom, but still dominated by liorice.

Dry: Yeah. I'd read that the star anise in this is a bit like clove (which I adore) for some, but on me it's just LICORICE LICORICE LICORICE. Oh well.

[puck_nc]

Origin: Frimp in my most recent Lab order

 

Initial Thoughts: I'm fairly certain I tried this before, but I didn't leave a review at the time. The anise may have been too much for me. Since then I've found a few Oriental-themed scents that I love, so let's try again.

 

In the Vial: Sandalwood and liquorice. I don't get the cherry blossom at this point. The sandalwood is almost enough to keep it from going medicinal.

 

Wet: Hm. For once my sandalwood-amping handicap is working for me, because the anise is weak and the cherry blossom is starting to come out.

 

Drydown: Well, I think I can definitely pick out all three elements in the scent. But they're not quite meshing on me. It's a light, airy wood, but nothing here is really grabbing my attention. Plus my skin is not completely happy with the situation - there's a slight burning sensation going on.

 

Verdict: This one needs a better home than I can offer.

Edited September 22, 2012 by puck_nc

[bergamot_bliss]

In the imp: At first, I get the cherry blossom, and then the anise. I don’t like the smell of anise in situations unrelated to BPAL, so…hmm…

Wet on skin: Mostly anise, a little bit of cherry blossom, and yeah, there’s the sandalwood. It’s not really soothing, though. It’s frustratingly disjointed.

Drydown: The notes are starting to blend together better. I can tell it would be a nice, warm, comforting scent, but though my skin likes anise, my nose doesn’t.

Dry on skin: Cherry blossom and sandalwood are quite nice together, and the anise is hovering in the background. But I still don’t like anise. If someone had similar skin chemistry to me but liked that anise/licorice/absinthe smell, I would recommend this scent, but it’s not to my taste.

[Jazzi]

Why did it not occur to me that star anise and anise would smell similar? Licorice has hugely negative connotations for me, so after I got past the "mmm, cherry blossom phase," and into the "ohmygodthatsmellslikelicorice" phase, it went straight to the swap pile.

 

That's just personal bias, of course. The scent itself is very light, clean, and sweet without being cloying. I think it would be great for spring or for a sunny day in the middle of winter. For someone else, of course.