Year of the Ox

[zankoku_zen]

Soft brown musk, black peppercorn, tobacco absolute, hiba wood, and cognac.

 

Furry tobacco and cognac musk. I get hints of the peppercorn and wood. Honestly, this reminds me to Tanuki no Kanban, in the sense that its "furry tobacco nuts". You know, if nuts smoked classy tobacco and drank cognac.

 

I think I just described the yuppie Wall Street Financiers. Great throw and wear length. Because, you know, nuts are loud.

[torikitty]

Wow, I really amped the tobacco on this, and I wasn't expecting to. It starts out warm, sweet tobacco with peppercorn around the edges. It's not harsh, it's sweeter than I would guess from these notes. I initially was going to skip it because cognac usually smells gross on me, but this seems to work. I don't know if it's the musk or the wood that's helping the cognac to work on me. This actually reminds me a lot of Fortuna Annonaria. I think the musk is making this a bit cosier than Annonaria, but it's still that sweet, chewy tobacco that I super enjoy. If you missed Annonaria, give this a try.

[doomsday_disco]

Year of the Ox starts off with a blast of the black peppercorn and tobacco on me, with some cognac and hiba wood lurking behind those notes. After a bit, pepper calms down a little, and the brown musk adds a bit of a clean feel to the scent in the background. The tobacco and cognac grow stronger on me over time, however, and end up becoming the dominant notes. It actually makes me think of the Lace scent family, only without the lovely Lace vanilla. 

 

If you are looking for a Lace-like scent without any vanilla, Year of the Ox might be a good option for you. I'm glad I got to try it, but sniffing it just made me want to wear Summer Lace --- which has the tobacco and cognac, but they're accompanied by floral notes and vanilla.

[puellacaerulea]

In the decant: warm, dark, sweet, and chewy tobacco, with a backbone of polished wood. Tobacco stays the dominant note throughout, but the black peppercorn and musk notes add extra warmth to the scent. The cognac and wood notes aren't especially strong, but they're there in the background. It's a warm, brown, tobacco-forward scent, but also a surprisingly cozy one? Think an extra-cozy wood-paneled study where someone's smoking expensive pipe tobacco.