zankoku_zen

Woodsy, spicy, smoke. I think vetiver and cinnamon. As it dries, it does get a bit of bbq sauce which may be a hint of cedar combined with maple syrup. Odd.

Sweet bubblegum and a touch of cinnamon on the drydown. If Lolita, is well, Lolita, the prototype is much more innocent, a girl that isn't aware of sexual manipulation. Yet.

Peach and gardenia. The gardenia is very dominant on the drydown, and again very much like wet wool.

This is if you mix Dorian and TKO - I get the same lavender note in TKO with Dorian's vanilla base with a hint of tea. Tasty, but I'm sure you wouldn't get the same result if you mixed Dorian and TKO, with a slightly heavier hand on the TKO.

I think this has honey, calla lily and gardenia. I get the same wet wool note as BPAL gardenia tends to become. Floral, feminine, heady.

Unreleased prototype, no scent description given. Hmmm... this one was definitely a fresh, airy grassy blend. I would say that the grass note is the same one found in the BPTP Dog Days of Summer, except slightly greener. Like an intersection of that grass note and the one in Host of Air, given the airy qualities. I detect a bit of lemon. Very fresh. That's the best way to describe it. It isn't the mowed lawn blend, but it's a nice grassy one. Airy, light, fresh.

Jasmine, honeysuckle and orange. I find the jasmine in this blend to be more like the whiff I get in Gun Moll as opposed to the cat-pee jasmine you find in some GC blends. The honeysuckle is pretty in this. It's actually a very light, very spring like floral blend. Sort of what you want your skin to smell like - after taking a bath with some really nice soap and slathering some pretty lotion. Sticks pretty close to the skin.

Violets, iris and gardenia. Gardenia is not a note that plays well with me, so it ends up as a sharp, headachingly floral FLORAL.

Hint of cocoa, but then it ends up smelling alot like Narkissos on my skin. Smoky, masculine narcissus, deep green stems, hint of nutty grain.

This definitely has strawberry in it, and I have to wonder if it doesn't have cherry in it because the similarities to Gothabilly are pretty strong. On wet, however, I had to wonder if there wasn't a hint of guava and/or another pink fruit, as it had a fresh fruit smell. As it dried, the strawberry has come out and what I think of as vanilla musk. Touch of booze, and I can see this veering into cake territory.

Vetiver, frankincense and woods. This is dark, smoky, gritty. Perhaps a touch of chili and/or patchouli. I also think the woods is definitely cedar. It's like a more feral version of Labores Solis or Raven Moon. Aggressive, masculine, smoldering.

This prototype is much more unisex. This wolf is made of sexy red musk, a touch of woody sandalwood and teensy bit of smoke - which is fresh which makes me think it has some eucalyptus along with the vetiver. Fun, sexy, predatory.

This really does smell like Fruitcake. Cake batter, rum, hint of spices and perhaps a hint of orange? As it dries, a slightly smoky note appears. But yes, this is a kissing cousin to Fruitcake.

Definitely started out as a foodie blend - I would peg it as more of a buttery scone as opposed to cake. As it dries, it becomes more floral and I do think it is sugared rose incense like. Tasty, but not for me.

Light carnation, creamy sandalwood, brush of sweet pea. I think the sweet pea is what gives the carnation the sort of 'pink velvet' associations others have noted, and makes it softer. I find this prototype to be less 'spicy' than the released versions.

I agree - this smells and feels very much like TKO. Instead of carnation, you have the same lavender note as in TKO, creamy vanilla and amber, and a hint of cardamom. It's like TKO went out on a night dancing, instead of sleeping in. AKA TKO goes WHAM! Wake me up before you go go...

I definitely got a giant slap of peach on wet. As it dries, a hint of melon, some mint. On drydown, it's a sort of fruity ozoney musk. There's something oddly familiar about it that I can't place my finger on...

Creamy vanilla, lots of dry sandalwood. This one has virtually no throw and sticks very close to the skin. Again, it's like skin musk but better. ETA: I've been testing Amaterasu v2 vs v3 and what I said stands. My biggest problem with v2 is that my skin chemistry eats this up. It simply does not stick around.

The fizziness of the gin in this one reminds me to Polynesian pop, except with a hint of more juniper. I get splashes of cranberry and raspberry. It's basically fruity gin, and part of me is really kinda digging it. The other part of me is worried that I'll get accused of drinking at work.

Banana and coconut rum. Not my favorite combination. If you like banana, and Malibu, this is the tropical treat for you.

Loads of sandalwood, hint of champaca and orange blossom. Smooth, woody and with just a hint of oranges. Too woody for me, but I do enjoy the orange blossom note in this blend.

Blackberry brandy and a splash of tea. The tea dilutes some of the booziness.

Mmm. Fruity booze. Hints of peaches and pineapples, and maraschino cherry. The cherry is definitely the most predominant note on my skin, and oddly enough smells something like a strawberry on me. Tropical fun!

So on wet, I got a super hit of pumpkin - and this one is the baked, cooked variety. BPAL's typical pumpkin note is super buttery on me. Not this guy. I got a splash of something that made me think blue curacao/blue raspberries and sugar. Still, pumpkin dominates the blend for me, and it dries to pumpkin + cinnamon. Interesting. I'd like to do a prototype vs. released version to see the differences.

Kaidan was one soapy white floral on wet (why hello plum blossom). As it dried, the floral toned down and I got a bit of the incense. So it ended up smelling more like a male version of the Dove soap bar. Creamy, floral, clean.