TokyoMilk #09
Cake and lemon sorbet syrup–and waxy sweet flowers that are probably poisonous to cats–hover a foot off the skin for an hour, then settle to sour fruity sugar.
I like it, but aside from the jasmine-scented pancake make-up note, I get no sense of Japanese theater.
A Swedish jazz group mash up with traditional Hogaku instruments.
TokyoMilk #11
I get dolls heads, when they break down and become sticky, flowery vanilla and non-dairy creamer.
There’s a naughty age-inappropriate edge to it–the nursery nanny in the push-up bra–but it doesn’t do more than flirt for a while.
Fun.
TokyoMilk #19 – Magnolia, Jasmine, Sheer Citrus, White Musk
Too skinny for the ingredients.
A musky white flower concoction with peacock branding should be big and voluptuous, and Paradiso is at most a juniors size 6.
*
Thin Lizzy’s guitarist does some sweet solo stuff–
TokyoMilk #06
The blackest richest dirt, and polished exotic coffin woods, vanilla sweet flowers to cover the scent of death—-but then it lingers for a while at a distance, ethereal with a breath of incense ash and mystery.
My not-so-inner goth-girl finds this utterly lovely.
How sweet is this song?!
A great one for sweet tooth cravings.
TokyoMilk #10 is a spilled pot of syrupy tea with cream, smoky jasmine and sugared violets.
Sandalwood at the bottom gives the honey a nice bit of bee-sting.
Pretty and warm, with good sillage and amazing longevity.
Edit– 2/27/21
This one has grown on me lately. The quarantine mixed with winter doldrums has made me miss my childhood home and the scents of my step-father’s apiaries.
Honey & the Moon is simpler, and less animalic Bee, but has more woods at the base. Beehive boxes are usually made of pine or cedar, for their non-bee insect repellent properties–Absolue Pour le Soir nails this note perfectly–so I like that bit of structure.
The candle is quite nice, too. Margot Elena’s hand creams are also popular. I’ve tried a few and they feel lovely, but I’m always testing something on my wrists, and I avoid scented lotions. She makes a Honey & the Moon “crema” creme eau de parfum as well, that I’m curious about–always nice to have something travel friendly.
Santana and Michelle Branch came out with this sweet song in 2003, too.
TokyoMilk #12
If you could garnish a drink with a twist of rose peel, it would smell like this.
Nice on the skin, but fades too quickly; I prefer a stronger cocktail.
The bottled perfume smells like high end floral shampoo and wet garden–a bit meh, and doesn’t last long.
However, the candle has more of the spicy rosewood notes, and the wax brings out the creamy sweetness of the gardenia, so there’s a lovely hot cocoa accord, perfect for snowed in afternoons.
I bought three.
*
Another Sparrow.
TokyoMilk No. 7 touts: Crushed Herbs, Exotic Teak, Crisp Citrus, Cedarwood.
One bite of lemon ice–eaten with a wooden spoon–then it’s gone. I wanted more.
Some herbal hardwoods lay a few inches above the skin for an hour.
Might be nice as a boy’s first cologne.
Edit – 9/17/21
The dry-down is pleasant enough, but the performance is not worth the collector’s prices–unopened one ounce bottles are scarce and run as much as $150 now.
*
Marie wants to be “Candied Lemon, Honeydew, Cassis, Sugared Violet, Ylang-ylang, Creamy Musk & White Woods,” but winds up being pale lilac clementines, in a surreal watercolor wash of cake icing.
At the very bottom is a wisp of incense smoke that makes it decadent and sexy, fruity sweet dessert dressed in Rococo ruffle lingerie of sheer organdy, while getting stoned on joints rolled in gardenia scented paper.
My favorite of all the TokyoMilk’s I’ve sniffed. I wish it were offered as an eau–I’d bathe in the stuff.
*
I sometimes wonder about how perfumes get named–is it made with the intent to smell like a specific thing, or is the name a retro-fit, an oh-we-meant-to-do-that?
I Made You A Mix Tape absolutely has a cellophane vibe, that sweetly nostalgic chemical plastic note of audio tape, which works rather well with the white rose musk.
But would it be special to anyone under thirty?
This has really good performance for a solid–a foot of the skin for two hours, over half the day on skin–but it makes my head throb after a while (which is what my parents said about my music, so fair enough.)
*
“I made you a playlist” doesn’t have the same ring to it…
kira a. gold 