Kabuki

[nannan45]

Compelling, complex, and utterly enigmatic: a luxuriant, exotic blend of cherry, red musk, and star anise.

Got this imp from my sister. Apparently she didn't like smelling like a giant red twizzler. I thought I'd like it since I really go for fruity, foody scents.

In the vial: Yep. Twizzlers - red.

On my wrist: My highschool's cherry scented bathrooms- plastic-y fake cherry bathroom cleaning liquid

I was hoping the scent would change after a while and kept sniffing my wrist all day long - but sadly, no. It brought back memories of my highschool days.

For those of you who really like sweet cherry and licorice - this one is for you. Good staying power though.

[Miss Lynx]

I am not sure what mad whim made me try this. I mean, Cherry and anise?! And it smells positively scary in the imp. A friend urged me to try it a while back, insisting it was much nicer than you would think, but one sniff of her bottle of it put me right off. And yet, at a Meet'n'Sniff, you find yourself trying strange things...

 

And sometimes being glad you did. This is astonishingly nice. The cherry comes on strong at first, but then mellows out and gives way to the anise, and then that settles down a bit too and they blend together with an indefinable something-else I couldn't identify at the time (but have since discovered is red musk) into a really lovely, warm spicy scent I found myself quite liking.

 

So, from "WTF? You want me to try what? Who would mix those notes in a scent?!", I've migrated to "Hey, I think I may need to get some of that..." Beth has such a talent for turning unlikely combinations of ingredients into really unique creations.

 

Grade: B/B+

[n0thing]

Thought i was going to really like this one..

 

Sadly all i get, from smelling the imp to hours old on skin, is really artificial root beer!

[themerrybaker]

I would have thought almond, straight out of the imp. Then a brief rush of intense cleaning fluid (note to self: need to clean microwave). Drydown: not very pleasant - still cleaning fluid and maybe a little rootbeer. Not a fave.

 

Caveat:

Some of the above posts mentioned "deep, dark, red" my imp is thick viscous yellow-brown and it came with a rolled label in a swap. Maybe Kabuki doesn't "age" well. I can empathize.

Edited May 20, 2006 by themerrybaker

[ladymissspyder]

In imp: cherry cough syrup. With real cherries marinated in it.

 

Wet: Nice high and bright cherry note, with a slightly darker undercurrent.

 

Drydown: You know those Strawberry Shortcake dolls? Remember her cherry-scented friend? Kabuki smells just like that.

 

5 minutes later: very light musk with anise and no cherry. Huh.

 

I love the cherry note! I even love the fakey-fakeness parts of it! I just wish this lasted longer on me.

[Elrianra]

In the bottle this is marachino cherries or liquid cherry liquorice, the anise and cherries are syrup-sweet. On me wet, the musk is a sweaty backdrop over which the candy-sweet notes tangle. The best description for this is candy and sex. As it dries, the musk tones out the anise a little, leaving a powdery candy scent behind like a fundip or something. Very sweet, very foody. Warm, it's all pale cherries with a faint musk. Very air-freshener-esque. This one just doesn't like me, the cherries are either overwhelming or a sweet underscoring note that leaves me confused and giddy.

Edited May 30, 2006 by Elri

[Galatea]

I just received this one today along with Kyoto, they are like a matching set!

 

I love the mixture of cherry, musk and anise. It's foody but not too foody, just what I like; sweetish but not overpoweringly sugary.

 

The cherry is in full force at first, but I also instantly smell the musk. The first scent rush smells a lot like a kind of incence I've smelled before. I love it.

 

Then it dies down really, really quick-like. The anise comes out a bit more prominently. More like a spicy musk at thise point, with just a sweet reminder of cherries.

 

Unfortunately this scent just doesn't last long at all on me. I sooo wish it did. So far I've put it on twice today (on clean skin, no interference from something else) and it's only lasted about two hours each time.

[columbus]

In the bottle: "Hey," I thought to myself, "this isn't complex, this is CHERRIES!" Strong sweet cherry smell, and little else. Rather delish, if I do say so.

 

Wet on the skin: Still very cherry (yum!) but now a spicy cherry, which is the anise coming through. I'm not the biggest fan of anise (I'm a red liquorice girl, the regular kind is yucky ), so I was glad that it was subtle and spicy, not like the candy at all.

 

Drying/dry: The musk comes out, and the anise does lose a bit of its spiciness. Towards the end of the drydown, the whole combination did smell more like candy, like black and red liquorice twisted together and melted down. It's not too sweet, though, so I can wear a lot and not worry.

 

Hours later: The scent lasts! Woo! There's nothing like a good scent that keeps going and going. Kabuki mellows out, though, in its final hours. On me there's a touch of powder (although, I should note that an uncanny number of scents do go powdery on me after a long while), but it's still sweet and musky.

 

Over all: A great scent! I probably wouldn't have chosen it for myself ( 'cause of the star anise), but I'm quite glad that I got this guy as a random imp! This is definitely going on my "I'll probably get a big bottle of this once student loan checks come in, 'cause who needs text books when you have smellies" list.

 

9/10

[bellis]

HELLO CHERRY. Whoa. This is intensely, intensely cherry for the first half hour or so. Then the sweetness dries up a little and I can finally smell the anise. I’m not a fan of licorice, but I really like the way this smells. It reminds me of a kite and knick knack store I used to frequent when I was child. At the same time, it seems like a dress up scent to me. Glamorous and intriguing, but ultimately not me. I’m glad I got to sniff this, though.

[Laurel the Woodfairy]

I have had no luck with cherry thus far, but here goes!

 

Kabuki is dark red-black in the vial, like Vamp nail polish. On me, the topnote is the same cloying-sweet cherry from Red Queen et. al. The musk base makes it more wearable and darkens it a bit (I do love Beth's red musk), but it's still not really my thing.

[silver_dollar]

In the imp: Cherry, but not the cherry bathroom fragrance I got from Blood. More like spicy cherry.

 

On my skin: Spicy cherry. The anise come outs immediately and doesn't overpower the cherry. It doesn't smell at all like Twizzlers to me. I think I like this better than Blood.

 

My dog likes it too.

 

I know I keep comparing this to Blood, but it's like Blood's exotic cousin. I think I've got another one for the big bottle list.

[storme]

In the imp: whoa, so much cherry. it's a candied cherry, though, not a fresh one.

 

On me, wet: a Cherry Bakewell Tart. This smells exactly like those taste. It's really disconcerting.

 

On me, dry: the anise wakes up and takes over, and then slowly fades into the musk. The cherries have faded to barely a whisper. This reminds me a bit of Blood Moon - I guess that's the red musk, maybe - and is quite sexy once the anise calms down a little.

 

Verdict: Hmm, I might try this in a scent locket - I love that sugared-cherry smell, even if I have doubts about whether I want to smell like that. I'll keep the imp around, anyway.

[HennaFairy]

bottle:

spicy cherry

 

wet:

cherry - hint of musk/spice

 

dry:

cherry (dry, not sweet), hint of anise

 

overall:

cherry good. Anise bad. Oh well.

 

rating: 5/10

[Meg]

In the bottle: Ugh, ick ick ick. Cherry and red musk.

 

Wet: Mostly a strong, almondish cherry, with some spice thrown in.

 

Drydown: Ooh, anise, now it becomes more and more obvious, very green over the cherry. The red musk is rather quiet in the background, with its strange rubbery sweet scent, and mingles with the anise in a harmonious way. The cherry disappears mostly after a while, leaving a subtle trace behind it.

 

Overall: A rather discreet blend, I'd expected the red musk to get really loud, but it stays close to the skin, dry and a bit rubbery, and doesn't become too invasive. It smells a little spicy, a little green, and musky. Not my kind of blend, but it's quite pretty.

[kunoichi]

In the vial, this smells strongly of a powerful hit of sweet almond (which would actually be the cherry). On my skin this sweetens up, and the strong cherry scent fades back, revealing a sweet anise smell, almost like a black jellybean. After a few hours, this becomes a very gentle, sweet, pretty breath of anise on my skin becoming fainter and fainter until it fades...

Edited July 4, 2006 by kunoichi

[Eunice]

Yep, cherry, red musk and anise. They're all there. I wasn't sure I would like this but I am falling in love with this the longer Kabuki is on my skin. I can't tell ya why I love this, but I do.

[edenssixthday]

Kabuki - I was really surprised by how much I like Kabuki. I anticipated that it would turn into cough medicine on me the way some other cherry and plum BPAL scents do, but it's just gorgeous! The cherry doesn't smell artificial or medicinal at all, and the red musk works really well to reduce the amount of sweet bite the cherry would probably have otherwise -- it smooths out the cherry and makes it truly a lovely scent. Add a dash of anise, and it's got a nice, subtle twist to it. Lovely scent. I liked the imp so much that I bought a bottle, and have really enjoyed layering it with Dragon's Heart.

[PilotKitten]

OMG.. cherries!! Wonderful boozy cherries too! I know there’s probably no boozey notes in Kabuki, it’s just the anise/licorice making it smell that way. In fact… the anise is making itself more well known and really ruining the beautiful cherry scent I had going on when it was wet. >_< Blech… black licorice… ugh.

[juniperus]

Bottle: cherry cough syrup. the kind that burns on the way down.

Wet: oookay. cherry licorice. twizzlers. I'm really more of a black licorice kind of girl. did you know there is a website that just sells licorice from all over the world? it's like my holy grail..

Dry: ahh, there's the anise. I love star anise - makes beautiful, fragrant homemade tree ornaments, along with cinnamon sticks. that cloves in the orange thing smells divine, but looks really nasty when it starts to wither. I am on such a string of tangents today...

Later: oh hey, that red musk has kicked in and now it's a much more balanced blend. a little sweet, very round and deep. niiice.

[Babylon]

Wet: cherry cough syrup

Dry: Urinal cake!

 

I'm really disappointed with how my skin reacted to this one. Cherry and star anise aren't my favorite notes evah, but still. Urinal cake? Come on.

[fairy]

In the bottle I smell cherry almonds. Applied it stays the same only the cherries take a back seat to something else that smells almost like licorice. This one is amazing!

[Nycorson]

Kabuki - ordered this...

 

In bottle: sweet, flowery, carnation?

Wet on skin:some sort of sweet flower, read description, okay yeah cherry… odd cherry though

Dry on skin:hmmm.. Maybe that is the anise?

Throw: low

Lasting.. not even two hours, maybe didn't slather enough?

 

Score (1=ick, 10=BOTTLE!!!!) = 4..

Thoughts: Umm.. Red anise candy.. Going to try again in a month or so.

Edited August 8, 2006 by Nycorson

[PurringPulsar]

Kabuki

 

In the imp: sweet liquorice. I can make out a little musk but it's predominantly anise.

Wet on skin: sweet, musky liquorice. It's actually quite nice.

Dry on skin: now the juicy black cherry comes out. This smells like spicy-fresh anise, sugared cherry and a hint of lovely red musk underneath it all. It's much nicer than I expected though the anise does make this smell a bit medicinal (though it doesn't smell like Bonjela like some anise scents can do…)

After a while: the anise now fades away so it's not as obvious as before-it still hangs around but it now lets the musk and cherry do their thing. And what a scent. I love the combination of red musk and fruit, and I get that wonderful cherry-red musk scent that I also get in Hollywood Babylon, but not as complex as those two scents. It's still a delightful fruit-musk, with an anise edge to it.

Eventually the anise dies down completely and I'm left with that yummy cherry musk scent, it's sweet and I'm very sure that this is the base of Blood Lotus as well. This is like non-lotus Blood Lotus, not as complex, and slightly fainter.

Verdict: this is what happens when the innocent pink anise-sweetness of Kyoto grows up and gets sexy! It starts out incredibly liquorice-y that it's almost off putting. I don't mind eating it (sometimes) and drinking ouzo and the taste of Bonjela, but not smelling of it-smells like medicine to me. But this does fizzle out and the scent becomes so much nicer after about 15 minutes, turning into cherry and wonderful red musk. It's that creamy, rich, juicy cherry musk numbed by the cool touch of anise. It's very similar to Hollywood Babylon and Blood Lotus's base, but doesn't have the richness, complexity and depth of HB and BL though. I do like it, and I'm a huge fan of Beth's fruity red musks but this one, though it's lovely on drydown, is a little bit too much anise-y for me at the beginning…I have other musk scents I prefer. But this is nicer than Kyoto on me...

Emoticon rating:

If you like this, try: Hollywood Babylon, Kyoto

Edited September 28, 2006 by yeahbutnobut

[hologhost]

Big, fat, juicy cherries. It kind of reminds me of Hollywood Babylon, without the clove.

[WidgetAlley]

This isn't my Imp, so it'll be a quickie review.

 

In the Imp: Cherries, but drier and sweeter than usual, not quite as juicy as Kyoto (must be the difference between cherry and cherry blossom), and anise, and the faint background velvet of red musk. How could this possibly go wrong?

 

Wet: Cherries, anise, musk... similar to Kyoto but richer, rounder and more seductive. Fruity and exotic and compelling.... mmmm, I'm loving this! I miss the slightly incensey sandalwood of Kyoto, but the red musk in here is gorgeous.

 

Dry: Faint, sweet cherry, a twist of anise, and a smooth, sultry, almost spicy red musk. I'm really surprised by how voluptuous this is. It's the night-time version of Kyoto, definitely; it makes me want to put on something slinky and Asian-inspired and straighten my hair out and paint my eyes and be a mysterious beauty, lurking in the night.

 

Verdict: Wouldn't mind having an Imp of this of my own on hand-- no, not at all-- but I might wait until my Kyoto runs out first.