Akuma

[locuraelegantia]

Devilish temptation, as sweet as sin: blood orange, neroli, and raspberry.

frimp from the lab:

In the bottle: Candy, oranges and something woody. almost paper-like in quality.

Wet on skin: oranges and rasperries with that paper scent.

Dry: Raspberry flavoured candies.


Overall, not bad, sweet, but also dry at the same time. Edited January 19, 2006 by Shollin

[roguechick]

I liked this one. It didn't smell so nice when I opened the sample. It seemed strong, not sweet, which is what I was expecting when opening the bottle. When I put it on, raspberry. Lucky for me that is one of my favorite scents. Will use up the sample and may buy a 5ml after that.

[terrierhead]

From the ingredients, I was expecting this to be terribly sweet. I was pleasantly surprised by a bracing hit of blood orange followed by sweet yet tart raspberry. This seems like a fruit blend for adults. It loses some of the bite with dry-down, but is still lovely and a little invigorating. I could see this going into heavy rotation.

[Voleuse]

On first application, this is a little sweet, a little bitter, and a lot waxy. Even after it dries, all I get is something smelling faintly like the fruits of the description. It's as if I'm sniffing paper that's been colored with scented markers. Huh.

[PeshaRocha]

Wet: fruity but with a strong earthy/musky odor (neroli)

 

Dry: Sweet and juicy, sparkly, but the faint scent of neroli keeps it from being sickly sweet and adds a touch of tartness. I love it! But I'm not sure how often I'll be wearing it. I'll definitely keep my imp, though, and see if it grows on me enough to buy a 5ml.

 

If you like fruit scents but want something a bit different and more complex than most fruit perfumes, you should definitely try Akuma.

[Julilla Regina]

I wish this had worked for me the way it did for others. Unfortunately, it made me a little queasy it was so thick smelling. I didn't get the blood orange or anything, just very sweet syrupy fruit. I'm wondering if the fruity scents just don't work for me.

[jazlyn]

Whew, Akuma is potent in the imp! On I get a bit of the "blood orange" (yes, it's dark), but not the raspberry really. This is dark and spicy, but not really powerful (not much of a throw (maybe because I didn't put much on though) and it's just... vanishing!). Akuma reminds me of Kuang Shi a bit.

[GemmaCat]

I have a cold, so I'm probably not picking up all the complexities of scents today. That said. . .

 

In the bottle this is tart and a little bitter. Maybe that's the neroli? It's definitely off-putting either way.

 

On the skin, however, it's beautiful. Soft, sweet, and feminine with just a little bite (I think that's the orange).

 

After quite some time, it gets a very delicate powdery undertone but the fruit stays strong, making it a really gorgeous scent. A definite favourite.

[kourika]

When I tried this last week, I wasn't sure what to expect from this scent. Yum! The fruity smell from the blood orange turns to a sort of citrus/peachy smell on my skin that keeps me awake and is just lovely.

 

Definitely on my list of large bottles!

[erin.kogan]

This is the first purchased scent I've tried for a whole day, and I am in luuuv.

The strongest impression overall is definitely blood orange, definitely a difference from regular orange, with a stronger tartness. The rasberry really sweetens things, and the neroli rounds it all out. I don't especially see the "devilishness" aside from coworkers threatening to lick my wrists.

It's a really warm, invigorating scent, and was the perfect counterpoint to the incredibly dreary day we had today.

[abbycomix]

Sweet, bright, and juicy. It is like fruity candy or smarties a bit. But then every once in a while a sharper, darker, more sophisticated scent emerges. I guess that's the neroli? I'm enjoying it!

[jidabug]

Wet - Tangy, almost cedary.

Dry - Sweet! Cherry blossoms and sort of a bathroom cleanser chemically tang. But mostly very candy-like--Pez!

Final - Probably a bit too sweet for everyday, since I don't want everyone thinking I'm gorging on Pez all the time. But it could be fun every once in a while.

[Thaleia]

Thanks to the Lab for including this one with my latest order - I've been dying to try this one for some time now!

 

In the bottle - yum! Raspberry lemonade or a berry-citrus smoothie. It also has an after-scent of children's chewable vitamins.

 

It starts out as chewable vitamins on the skin for a few seconds before it turns into raspberry sorbet and fruity candy. On the drydown, it turns sharper, from the neroli, but I can still detect the raspberry sweetness underneath. It's a fun, kid-like scent, for those days when you're feeling young at heart. I feel like I'm five and should be eating a bag lunch with apple juice. 7/10.

[rhubarbbear]

i liked akuma. it wasn't anything special on me, but it was very pleasant. i think it would be a great perfume for my neice, actually...!!

[siddal]

I can barely detect the fruit notes at all, even in the imp. And once applied, this is almost totally neroli on me. A bit too astringent for my taste.

[amrita]

My notes say, "Neccos, orange, neroli. Very strange." I'm not sure which note turns into Neccos on me, but I get this occasionally from BPAL blends. Strange indeed.

[telesilla]

Why I tried it: I love me some fruity blends.

 

In the bottle and wet: Wow! Neroli!

 

Drying down: The neroli isn't so bitter now and the raspberry is coming forward. I'm not really getting any blood orange yet.

 

Dry: People talk about a specific BPAL smell and for me it's that there's often a resinous or faintly incensey note to the perfume. I know people have called BPAL "head shoppy" and maybe that's it. Whatever the note is, it's here, although it's faint. And I can smell the blood orange as well.

 

Later: It's very nice now, all fruity without too much of one given fruit. It's very summery and light. I may need to have a BPAL deathmatch between this and Swank.

Edited February 10, 2006 by telesilla

[WidgetAlley]

Frimp in a swap. I need more fruity blends.

 

In the Imp: A sharp blend of fruit and... neroli. (I have to keep reminding myself it's neroli, not carrots! For some reason my nose likes to register neroli as "carrot!" Perhaps I was a rabbit in a past life.) I definitely get raspberries and that same delicious, creamy blood orange I remember from The Haunted Palace. Hmm, the smell from a few inches away is quite nice, but up close this is a bit overwhelming. The neroli has a slightly bitter floral edge I'm not terribly keen on. Sinister fruit!

 

Wet: Powdery and bitter-sharp, now, like the smell of bent orange peels up close. A deconstruction of the notes would go something like this:

 

Blood Orange: "Lalala! I am here to make you smell good!"

Neroli: *stomp*

Raspberry: "Heeyyy, man, that was my friend! You can't just go stomping on people's citrus pals, that's not coo--"

Neroli: "I am l337 h4xx0r. STFU, n00b!"

Raspberry: "......"

Neroli: "MWUAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA. Pwned."

 

Dry: After a while, this settles down into a well-blending mix of all three notes (perhaps the raspberry slipped Neroli some sedatives.) It's powdery and sweet and really, really reminds me of Sweet Tarts, which I love. I can see how this would be lovely, fruity and stinging, on the right person, but on me, the neroli just makes this too offputting. By the time the neroli is finished establishing dominance and settles down for a nap, the scent has already faded.

Edited February 21, 2006 by WidgetAlley

[smallvoice]

I love Widget Alley's summary of this one. I hate to follow it, but life is like that sometimes. Heh.

 

I'm getting that papery smell the longer this sits on my skin. Originally it smelled like one of the old packets of orange kool-aid; the kind you had to put sugar in yourself. It's sweet, but you know it's lacking. I wonder if the neroli is doing the bitter paper routine? My poor raspberry isn't making much of an appearance, which is very sad to me. This almost works on me, and I wish I could make it work, but I don't think I even like it to use in my soap-making experiements someday... off to swaps for this lovely lady, to somebody who will love her more.

[batsy]

A very "bright" scent. You can seriously smell the raspberry and the blood orange, which give it a very citrus-y tone. Honestly, I'm entirely reminded of a freshly opened bag of Gummi Bears, the lemon ones especially. It's kind of a sweet/sour blend to me. Almost too much so to wear. I left it on for an hour and had to wash it off.

 

I like it, but I'd have to blend it with something to wear it all it all day.

[kitsukinatsuko]

In the vial, this smelled of sharp and bright orange with a spicy whisper I could not place. My initial thought was that it would work as a wake-me-up scent.

 

On my skin, I got the orange still but it was joined by what I presume was a hint of the raspberry. It smelled yummy! But not very much like perfume.

 

However, on drydown I must agree with everyone who has identified this as Pez. Might be a good scent for my step-daughter. Hm.

[storme]

In the imp: orange zest (is that the neroli, or the blood orange?) which leaves an, uh, afterscent of raspberry when I take it away from under my nose.

 

On me, wet: powdery sweet orange zest. Somewhat like orange-scented kitchen surface cleaner mixed with raspberry sorbet. Once again, the raspberry is more of an afterscent - it seems to have a bigger throw than the orangey notes.

 

On me, dry: okay, the orange zest calmed down a bit, and now it's a rather nice raspberry/orange blend - the citrus stops it from becoming too cloying.

 

Verdict: well, the notes all work okay - but I dunno. I still feel a bit too much like a sorbet wearing this.

[fiddledragon]

Scent in bottle: If you could make bitter orange flavored Smarties, this is what they would smell like. *is dubious*

 

Scent on me:

Wet -- It's mainly blood orange peel and neroli. No raspberry, no sweetness. I'm undecided as to whether I like this.

Dry -- It's now melding a bit better, and I think I like it. The raspberry is maybe showing up in the very back. It's bitter close to my wrists, but emits this faint haze of citrus sugar.

 

Conclusion: This one is from a swap, and is certainly better on me than what I swapped for it. I'll keep the imp to give it another chance, then if I don't find a use for it, it will get swapped again. Someday it will find a home.

[moon_lemming]

Sweet sweet sweet! The scent -- while it's in the imp and wet -- makes me think of LUSH (the neroli, maybe).

 

I am so excited about Akuma: normally fruity scents and I do not get along, but I'm loving this one so far!

 

First on, it's a wicked dark citrus. The raspberry races to the front, though, and soon it's a tart bright raspberry with a Creamsicle-ish background. It definitely has a Pez feel to it. I like it a lot, and will at least keep the imp; I may nab a 5ml for spring/summer fun.

[jakey]

This one I wanted to like. I ordered it blind from the lab, assuming I would like it from the notes listed.

 

Stupid body chemistry! I don't know which one is the culprit, but one of the notes sucks on me, big time. I'll have to refrain from bottle-buying until I figure out which it is, so I'll be testing my imps based on the notes in Akuma.

 

Boohoo, everyone loves Akuma but me. Into the swap pile.