An Interlude After Sake

[erinallana]

Fir needle and white tea with crushed fresh ginger, white amber, apricot, and oakmoss.

Interlude After Sake is a beautiful blend, mellow and light. The white tea and ginger dominate the opening; the fir needles I only smell the bottle and when it's very, very wet; sort of a whiff of balsam pillow over what is otherwise a sweet/clean leaning perfume. The apricot and amber lend the sweetness, the ginger and tea prevent it from hitting foodie territory.

There may even be oakmoss in there contributing something nice, but I have no idea what oakmoss smells like on its own.

This is a low-throw perfume oil on me. It reminds me a bit of Kumiho, which I had an imp of years ago and loved, but could not wear because it lasted 0.5 seconds on me before disappearing. Interlude has medium staying power; lasting about 6 hours before fading to a lovely apricot-amber glow.

Lovely.

[Casablanca]

On the wand, I smell fir and, surprisingly, a woody oakmoss. I don’t usually smell that until something has dried. There’s also a dimly glowing edge of apricot, scarcely there.

 

On my skin, this turns into an astringent, whiny-pitched trio of fir, ginger, and white tea. I have an initial mental impression of some sort of yokai shrieking, but this settles in drydown. After that, I get a little pale amber, but not much else. The other notes mostly fade. This one isn’t a match for my chemistry.

[SophieCedar]

Uhm. I'm kinda addicted to the wet>drydown processs of this scent. Its like a food, porn, person I was convinced I'd hate (bc I think I know myself soooo well...) but I discover I actually truly enjoy it. Mind fuckery, I tell you!

 

Wet: My big initial problems I had with Interlude were the fir and crushed ginger. Both go screaming sharp and acidic on me. What happened here, instead, was the sensation of s spring breeze flowing through fir trees. Totally refreshing.

 

Drydown: a bit of funkiness smelling of pee for a second then *poof* warm dry woods, sweet apricot and oakmoss. Warm, inviting, low throw. Calming.

 

Overall, an intense dramatic experience like a good thriller movie. I like it.

[Little Bird]

Sharp, citrusy/lemony white tea and sour evergreen. It's very fresh and bracing. I get nothing of the other notes, and it winds up being too sharp for me.

[zankoku_zen]

Fresh fir, apricot, white tea and a touch of oakmoss. This is fresh, bracing, and toggles between cool firs and apricot white tea. I actually sort of enjoy the movement. The apricot ends up a little too sweet for me, but its sure a pretty scent. Good throw and wear length.

[Lunasariel]

In the imp: A brisk, bracing scent, its edges softened by fresh spring fruit. The fir is actually rather gentle here, a breath of fresh air blowing through a stand of trees in the Sierra Nevadas rather than cleaning fluid. I initially mistook the apricot for peach (which would also be lovely) and now I almost want to say apricot blossom rather than apricot. It's a light, airy, almost floral sweetness rather than a heavy, sticky, fruity sweetness. I may also be getting a bit of ginger, but it's pretty subtle under the eye-catching (nose-catching?) fir and apricot.

 

Wet: Ah, there's the ginger. It becomes a strongly ginger-forward scent, a bit reminiscent of ginger beer. There's still a breath of fresh air flowing through the scent, though; I wanna say white tea, but I would also believe fir or oakmoss. Or, hey, maybe all of the above. No apricot or amber that I can detect.

 

Dry: It must have heard me, because it settles down into an apricot-amber scent, with the ginger dissipating almost entirely. In fact, I'm getting some echoes of Tamora here, albeit apricot-amber instead of peach-amber. After a while, some of the zingier elements re-emerge, but I'm getting mostly white tea, with only the barest breath of fir, still of the "breath of fresh air blowing through a stand of trees in the Sierra Nevadas" vein. It's a fruity, brisk scent, good for spring. ...That said, what I was really looking forward to here was the mingling of and/or contrast between the warm, sweet elements, and the brisk, zingy, cool ones. Sometimes they're in perfect harmony and it's an incredible sensory experience, but sometimes they're working at cross-purposes and getting in each other's way. (Of course, it *is* that time of the month for me, so I'll have to re-test this next week and see if it settles down any.)

[theredkilt]

This smells like sake!!! It has got a perfumey quality about it. In the beginning it smelled like fir needle and high pitched alchool, but shortly it turned into a woody sake. Does that make sense??? 😆

[torikitty]

Wet: fir needle

Drydown: fir is tempered with the tea and oakmoss

Dry: reminds me of a drying out Christmas tree. I think this would make a great atmo spray for the holidays. It's not too overpowering, and very homey smelling.

[LizziesLuck]

Wet: The ginger is really strong at first, and I love it! Then the tree creeps in. Ginger trees! With tea. Not my thing so far.

 

 

 

Dry: The fir gets a bit lighter, as does the ginger, and something soapy emerges. Sadly this is not for me.

[achildoftime]

This really is well-blended. I feel like I notice a different facet every time I sniff. I get a lot of white tea and ginger, but the fir is pretty forward, too. It helps keep it distinctly different from scents like Kumiho which is all white tea and ginger. The apricot is adding a nice hit of sweetness and helps flesh it out and take away a little bit of the sharpness that tea can bring. I don't mind the sharpness, but it's nice to have variety. All in all, a very wearable spring scent.

[zazkea]

When I first opened this last year, it was too strong on me due to ginger and fir. Having had this bottle rested almost a year, its just excellent!

 

In bottle

ginger, fir needle. A "strict" image. When I had this at first, I rated as unisex. I used it when I had important meetings, presentations and the like, so: to appear strong, smart and a bit strict;) This strictness is a bit better after a year ageing.

 

On skin

Wow! This is a perfectly blended scent, really.

White tea is very much in the back - actually I would rather call this "green" or green tea... because I mainly get the fir needle, ginger, oakmoss.

Apricot is also the last scent coming up on my skin and rounds this - and actually I may rather get peach blossom. But knowing that I am supposed to smell apricot, this is indeed apricot on close sight.

Very "fresh" and green, juicy image - not "lush" but a nice summer breeze.

It is not foody or too fruity. No soap tendencies on my skin. Its not very sweet. Yet, it does have a fresh kind of sweetness.

 

Conclusions

fruity, juicy, spring... different than you may imagine when you read the description. And on first smell, it wasnt easy for me to get used to, but after a year aging, this is really good. Also very suitable for office hours; it smells "interesting", "fresh" and "different".

 

Edit 3 years later
It's still one of my favourites (next to Kitten with a Shamisen daydream).
This scent is mostly sweet now: there is no sharpness at all, and the fir is a bit on the background, which is sad because I like fir. No strictness as initially rated, but more like a comforting embrace / hug that can carry you through a pandemic home office work day. Its okay that the surprise in this scent is a bit gone, because we all need a hug now and then. Too bad I have only 1.3 ml left by now (this is a hint to how much I liked this scent).

Edited March 9, 2021 by zazkea
3 years later....

[Aveya]

In Bottle: Fir ginger powder

Wet on Skin: Very green. Fir dominant, with interesting backing support.

Drydown: Surprisingly "perfumey" to me. Like there's a floral tone in here. I'm thinking it's the white amber - it's acting like amber does on me (that is, blooming at the same times and in the same ways) but instead of that warm yellow embrace, it's light and ... floral-perfume. Kind of nice in a weird way. As it sits it gets these lovely fruity notes popping through. Ginger is NOT the star in this for me; it just adds a nice brightness to the blend.

 

Time must be nice to this bottle - I'm not getting anything screechy or acidic or too in my face like the earlier reviews. This is actually really beautiful and lovely. For me personally I don't like that white amber thing happening - but I know some out there will love this.

 

Verdict; Ends up overall smelling very clean and soapy, in a really good way. Fruity herbal, hinting at floral. Interesting scent.

[Gwydion]

In bottle:  intricate and delicate.  Fir needle dominant, with the tea gently pervasive, like a wash in the background of a watercolor painting.  The oakmoss supports the fir; the amber blends beautifully with the tea. The ginger lends a hint of zing; the apricot a splash of colour.  Wet:  It remains fir dominant, but it all blends together even better as it warms.  The reslt is very clean and smooth. Dry: Oakmoss, tea, and a kiss of ginger.