Unsubtle Euphemism

[zankoku_zen]

Milk bread, amaretto, star anise, almond cream, and cardamom.

[JakkieTreehorn]

Eh, not crazy about being the first to review something, BUT I freaking love Japanese milk bread so I was pretty curious about this one.  Holy moly.  In the bottle I’d probably drink this if I didn’t know it was perfume lol.  It’s buttery and slightly sweet and definitely smells like a nice moist yeast roll with a hint of spice.  Super excited so far!

 

Wet I get the same initial blast of buttery yeast roll but the anise starts coming on making me super nervous.  At this stage hoping the anise calms down a bit and heads to the background, as now it’s an anise scent with a background of buttery yeast bread.  
 

On dry down the anise definitely plays nicer and calms down.  Up close I get a delicious buttery and slightly sweetened anise scented yeast bread.  From afar though I don’t get the anise, just frequent whiffs of pretty damn realistic milk bread slathered with butter.  I have a feeling this is going to do beautiful things as it ages and the notes hopefully become less distinct from one another.  I bought two bottles of this hoping it would be backup worthy and it definitely is...one of the more unique scents I’ve tried in a very long time!

 

ETA: Came back to add that this got sooo much better later on.  I could smell it though the sleeve of my hoodie!  Not in a strong perfume way as it doesn’t smell like perfume.  It’s just this amazingly comforting savory foodie scent.  This is like dopamine in a bottle 😍

Edited March 30, 2021 by JakkieTreehorn

[Arbitrary]

In the bottle: Dark amaretto yeasty baked good. (Not exactly bread... just 'something baked' to me.)

Wet: I did not expect quite this much butter from my milk bread!  This is super buttery when wet. (To me, it's like movie theater popcorn buttery.) I find the almond/star anise/cardamom combo to be well-balanced and present, especially on the tail end of a sniff. But that butter dominates, and I think it even dominates the yeasty bread aspect of the scent. This is more buttery/spicy/possibly savory than it is sweet.

Dry: The butter calms down. Hurray! But so too do the spices (*sad*), and the bread aspect comes to the forefront (*hurray!*). And it's sweet now, although it's a subtle milk bread sweet and not particularly sugary. This is definitely a sweet buttery milk bread roll with the very faintest remnants of spice. Get this if you want to smell bread all the time.

Honestly, I'd love to see what this smells like without the milk bread. The spice blend when it was wet was to die for, but it's mostly gone in the dry down.

Addition: Even though the butter is calmer on the dry down, it is still definitely present. I keep running into it when I don't expect it. But it's calm enough, and balances well enough with the other notes, that it's not quite movie theater popcorn butter anymore.

Edited March 31, 2021 by Arbitrary

[DiesMali]

In the bottle: Yeasty buttery rolls! Fresh from the oven!

 

Wet on my skin: Savoury, buttery, freshly-baked rolls with anise seed and cardamom sprinkled on top. 

 

Dry: This is bread. I smell like, well, freshly-baked, buttery Japanese milk bread with spices and just a hint of creamy almond. This is definitely more savoury than sweet, and very foodie/gourmand. I definitely have nothing like this already, but I'm glad I have this, because what foodie wouldn't like to occasionally smell like a bakery? Herby-seedy bakery bread. Yummmmmmm. 

[feyofthefellwood]

This is so good, unf. Starts off smelling like fresh, warm, yeasty bread with a light golden crust and fluffy insides. Over time, the amaretto and almond cream sweeten it a little, and the spices add a really cozy element. My favorite bread scent so far (and I adore quite a few). I love it and it's wonderfully soothing to go to sleep to. 

[lakeplacidskater]

This is probably one of my new favorites. As a cardamom aficionado, I am always looking for cardamom scents. So if you like "My Little Grotesque" or "Perfectly Normal Childhood" you should enjoy this one. It's somewhat gourmand but the perfect balance of a savory and sweet scent. 

 

In the bottle: Yeasty almondy bread with a hint of cardamom

 

Wet on skin: Sharp almond but I still smell the background of bread and cardamom, which I think keeps it from being too sharp.

 

Dry: Hello Cardamom! That outlasts all the other notes on me. 

 

Usually, cardamom doesn't last too long but somehow (maybe because of another note?) it lasted quite a while on me, several hours. 

 

This is such a cozy, comforting scent that I'm considering getting a backup! 

 

 

[Larinessa]

I was super excited to see amaretto return to a scent, as I have literally every amaretto blend BPAL has made, and they are all in my top favorites. Sadly, they are all discontinued, and I am hoping the amaretto in this heralds a return of some favorites.

 

Sadly, this won't be one. I can smell the sweet amaretto, and the almond, with a hint of anise which I also love. But over laying all of that wonderfulness is what can only be described as heavily buttered wonder bread, and it's almost making me gag. 

 

From previous reviews, this one has a place in the hearts of some, it's just not mine. Sorry.

[Teaotter]

Wet: crusty sweet bread, amaretto, and warm spices. I can't pick out the cardamom or anise distinctly. I get no butter at all, just a richness to the bread, if that makes sense.

 

Drydown: The bread smell blossoms while the other notes fade into it.

 

Dry: This smells like bread crust to me -- specifically the crust, and not the pale interior. It's a rich bread, a bit warm and only vaguely sweet, definitely not as sweet as brioche.

 

I'm having a hard time describing this, but I keep huffing it. It's delightfully well-blended, comforting, and warm. It hovers right on the edge between gourmand perfume and smelling like an actual baked good, and I love it!

[VetchVesper]

I'm not sure what to think about this one.    I'm not sure I like or would ever wear it, yet my nostrils are intrigued. In the bottle, it smells pretty much how I expected it to - like a slightly sweet, bready, cakey sort of scent with just a touch of anise.  On the skin though, it becomes something decidedly unique.  Yeasty!  Salty!  BREAD!!!  Warm rolls with a touch of anise floating over the top.  I get very little amaretto or almond.  I like anise quite a bit, but it doesn't quite jive for me here, and I'm not sure if I like smelling so much like a bakery item.

 

Luckily, the anise fades after about 15 mins, and I'm now getting a salty, buttery, rice note.  This is all sticky rice bun now, and that's pretty much where it stays for the rest of its wear length. 

 

Unsubtle Euphemism is fun, whimsical, and weird.  It's also kinda crazy realistic.  (I just realized how long it's been since i've had steamed pork buns!)  Some folks are probably gonna go gaga for this one, but I don't think it's "me."  If you're a foody though, or you like rice notes, definitely check it out, for the novelty, if nothing else.  

Edited April 28, 2021 by VetchVesper

[Casablanca]

This bread lands butter-side-up for me.

 

At first, it's a lovely creamy, yeasty almond bread, lightly toasted from an oven. No spices.

 

In drydown, I find cardamom briefly, then it flits away. Add butter. Add more butter. Slather it... or, eff, just put the whole stick on top of the bread. Why work at it?

 

That's what my skin does to this: creamy, yeasty almond bread dwarfed under a huge, whole block of yellow butter.

 

Eventually, it's just the butter. 

[doomsday_disco]

The milk bread in this scent is so realistic. It smells buttery and with a browned crust and is SO, SO GOOD. At first, it's accompanied by a bit of cardamom, but that is fleeting, and then there's a hint of anise with it, but it amazingly didn't take over like anise usually likes to do on me and was light enough to be inoffensive to my licorice and its relatives hating self. By the end of the day, it's mostly the bread accompanied by the buttery cream note, making it even more buttery than it was before.

 

I'm going to have to slather this and wear it on its own for a day to see if my experience is the same outside of just testing it out. If I end up with the same result, I may have to get a bottle.

[Laughing Seagull]

Based on Pomegranate Suf and Please Scream Inside Your Heart, dough scents seem to go directly to hell on my skin... But not this one.  Maybe it's only fried dough that causes problems.

 

Unsubtle Euphemism is exactly what I wanted it to be.  On initial application, it smells exactly like the fresh, soft milk bread rolls that my sister makes for special occasions (How do they turn that into an oil!?)

 

After it dries, it does exactly what I had hoped it would do: the anise very gently kicks in and reminds me of the pan de muerto that I used to have when I was a kid.  The cardamom is detectible but inoffensive.  I don't get a whole lot of almond.

 

For something called "Unsubtle Euphemism," this is strangely sentimental and nostalgic to me and I'm extremely impressed by its realism.  I have no idea if I actually want to smell like it, but it would 100% make a banger room or bedtime scent.

[Soupy Twist]

Warm, toasty, yeasty bread in the bottle and on application. This stage is awesome!

 

The cardamom starts to edge in as it dries, which is honestly not an improvement. It almost smells like the milk is starting to curdle. Eventually the sweet pleasant toasty note fades into a soggy bread, a lot like Bread Lumps. My skin amps cardamom so that’s still dusted on top. No anise, no almond.

[Diesis]

I will be adding to this review once I finish testing this scent, but I just wanted to put up the small review from someone who tested my decant the other day & wanted to send me their review which includes a small quote of what I said they smelled like (since I know I used to base my buying on reviews, the more the better for someone unsure):
 

Quote

"Mom says I smell like amaretto cream with spices. I've made the house smell cheerful. [Sibling] says I smell like toast with an almond spread that is more dessert than nutritious or a nut butter. [Their spouse] says I smell like taffy. I have no idea what taffy they mean. I liked yours, that I smelled like almond cream mixed with a decant [sic] amaretto infused with star anise! But it's been about 4 hours and you asked me to tell you want I thought and I think it smells like a homebaked bread warm and fresh with spices cooked in. Something nutty too. It stayed that way the whole time I was home but now it's really just a sort of licorice scent? I think it's the anise." 

 

I'll add my thoughts once I test it later. But she did smell really good when we went out for Mother's Day. The only time I tried it, I smelled like milk bread & anise, so maybe I'll do better now that it's more settled... once can hope.

[zankoku_zen]

Baked cream almond bread. This smells milky, yeasty, and almondy. Great throw and wear length.

[Lucchesa]

I don’t know what milk bread is, but there’s a NYTimes recipe with almost 1500 five star ratings, so I’m going to have to try it. But I enjoyed the Lilith Bread, and this is very much in that vein on me. It is more savory than sweet — neither the star anise nor the amaretto lasted long on me. But I got a lovely buttery yeast bread with a hint of almond and cardamom that lasted for hours. I think if I wore it in a public setting I would make people hungry. 

[fairybites]

Loaf?

 

Seriously, I thought I almost had a mislabeled bottle. It is pretty similar to Loaf from the 2020 Liliths. The main difference is that this is softer, sweeter, and creamier due to the milk and almond cream. There's some soft spices, but the bread is the main note for sure. 

 

Since I've got a bottle of Loaf, I likely won't need to bottle this. However if you missed out on Loaf or it didn't work out for you, give this a shot!

[Viiinylflowers]

This smells like a sweetened “loaf” on me, but with more salty butter, and a little creamier. 
On my skin the butter doesn’t seem to be sitting right and goes very movie theater popcorn and swallows everything else up. 
it’s mostly lots of butter and anise leaning rye and a sweet musky husky bread.  I am a fan of loaf and how it wears but somehow in this case despite the similarities in notes, it’s not really working on me unfortunately. 

Edited April 12, 2022 by Viiinylflowers

[astarinel]

Wow this is so strange and realistic!

 

On, wet, it's warm buttered bread with a touch of cream and spice and almond. The spice stays pretty soft and in the background, and the scent has a saltiness to it that I wasn't expecting. If you are looking for a more savory bakery gourmand, this is it.

 

This stayed pretty much the same as it dried, and had enough throw to make me hungry.

[roseus]

In the imp and on wet this was rather dessert-y, sweet almond cream and spices. Dry the sweetness dies down a bit and becomes more bready. Fluffy, wheaty, and a bit buttery, with some lightly spiced almond notes hovering around. Really delicious.

 

[Honey]

What a very unique blend! I remember smelling another bread scent that turned into rancid oil on me, so I was really curious what would happen to this one on my skin.

This is a pleasant savory bread scent: bready, yeasty, a bit milky perhaps. It's not sugary sweet at all. It's like a soft slice of toast. I never would have guessed it's possible to recreate this in a perfume oil!

On top of the bread, I get creamy anise with a hint of almond. There is also a spiciness to the blend that must come from the cardamom.

 

I have no idea what to think of it. It's unique and offers an interesting take on a spicy blend.

The amaretto and almond become stronger during drydown, and the blend turns into a panettone bread experience (minus the raisins) that reminds me of Christmas time.

I actually think you could layer this with a figgy and/or vanilla-cinnamon blend and recreate a wonderful holiday experience.

For spring or summer though? Pass! I think I will keep this for winter and see if I want to keep it or not.

 

 

[elnajay]

Such a yeasty crispy bread right out of the oven, with just a bit of spice and probably some butter melting from the warmth of the bread. I can't really pull out the almond/anise/cardamon as more than a hint of flavor in the rolls (I'm picturing rolls)...it's not a plain white bread, it's a tasty savory roll from a nice bakery, with a hard crisp crust on it. The BREAD note is dominant and very realistic, almost with a bit of rye. 

 

...maybe I need to do some baking tomorrow. And see if I can find a recipe with some similar spices. 😂

[rivetted]

WOW this smells awesome!  i want to eat it???

but smelling foody really throws me off, so i think it's not for me.

really glad i got to smell this though! it's like bakery in a bottle ❤️ 

 

edited to add: honestly, even though i have a hard time imagining myself wearing this, i think that EVERYONE should try smelling this, an imp even - the scent experience alone is SO worth it. what a crazy, unique, and lovely little scent. 

i really hate foodie scents, and i can't get this one out of my head. it's worth it. oh it's so worth it. just try it, folks!

Edited August 14, 2021 by rivetted

[Little Bird]

In the bottle and on my skin at first, this has a scent that reminds me of brown bread crusts where the bread smells more dry and toasted.  As it settles, it reminds me of the Italian anise cake that I make that's creamy cake with a delicate anise flavor (black licorice, in a way, but more of a soft, creamy, herbal, natural black licorce and not like getting smacked in the face with Twizzlers).  When I first got this, the amaretto and spices were too much for me, sharp and reminiscent of mulling spices, but those aspects have toned way down now and it's brown bread crusts, creamy Italian anise cake, and a teeny hint of sharp amaretto.  It's funny how spicy this was when I first got it and how soft it is now with almost no discernible spice.

[splendidissima]

Oh, this is so interesting! I kept going back and forth about getting it, but I thought I might regret it if I didn't, so...

 

It's very much like Loaf from the Liliths, but I think I like Unsubtle Euphemism better! It's the same savory toasty bread note, but sweeter and with a milky creamy layer. I don't really get spices, unless it's a bready sort of spice, like a rye or caraway. It's still very savory - but I think if I'd bought this first, I wouldn't've bought Loaf. I do absolutely want to eat my arm; it's savory-foodie, like I've been baking all day!

Edited August 5, 2021 by splendidissima