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BPAL review: Neo-Tokyo
Thought I'd go ahead and review the one that most of the reviews I run across seem to hate. The consensus seems to be that it's too "perfumy."
Neo-Tokyo
BPAL description: From the Wanderlust section, which may be the section that gets most of my orders, because the descriptions evoke a sense of hiraeth* that I'm always reading books trying to find. This scent was created for a very dear friend in Kyoto, with love, admiration and continent-spanning affection. The name itself was inspired by Vladimir. A scent that captures a meeting of the serenity and elegance of ancient Japan, the vibrant, shining, neon-lit and ultra-modern splendor of today's Tokyo and the fantastic electric fantasyland of post-modern manga fantasy. Urban metallics and an ozone-tinged breath of electric light mingled with reedy bamboo, crisp mountain air, cherry blossoms, delicate orchid and a splash of playful, wet fruits.
Not sure why I ordered this, except maybe to try a scent that was supposed to be lighter than the heavier ones I'd ordered.
In vial: Very floral - not much else comes through, but it's not a rose floral which usually ends up cloying to me. Fairly light, with a slight harsh note of something-or-other.
Wet: More flowers. Reminds me of decorative soaps shaped like shells and flowers, but not in a bad way.
Dry: Getting sort of sophisticated - the florals are calming down, although they're still mostly all I can smell. I can't identify what the other thing is - a hint of a muskiness. Seems to be working on me better than it does on most people I've read.
Later: Blended florals with a hint of soap and that richness. Powdery, maybe?
Notes: Cat doesn't hate it - sniffed politely then got distracted by something outside the window. Sophisticated scent on me - makes me feel adult but not old, and isn't too perfumey for me. Totally not getting any fruit out of it - all floral on some sort of rich base, but not a bad floral - maybe it's rose I don't like and associate with floral. The soap may actually be from the soap I forgot I washed my hands with a bit ago - I'll have to give this another test later, when I don't have that on. Warm is, I think, the term that best describes this on me. Verdict: me like, moreso than I thought I would.
I don't get quite the associations of the description (well, who really does?), but it hints of civilization and formal gardens, rather than wildflowers. Don't get urban out of it - my primary association with "urban" is bus exhaust. Except for Paris, because the three days I visited Paris were spent walking down streets where every third shop had a rotisserie setup placed outside the door, so now my memories of Paris are inextricably associated with roast chicken. Bus exhaust made no impact whatsoever. No fruits or ozone or bamboo, and it reminds me of crisp mountain air not in the least. :)
ETA: You know what it reminds me of? A couple of days my family spent in Victoria, B.C. back in 1985, where our hotel room overlooked a bowling green (English bowling with green lawn and elderly people in hats, not American bowling), and there was some sort of garden/conservatory right next to it where we had high tea. That's what this smells like.
* Term picked up from my semester of undergrad in Wales: the professor defined it to me as "nostalgia for a time that never was." Interestingly, the only Welsh I remember now, over ten years on, is hiraeth, Cymry (Wales), and merched (women).** I'm sure you can figure out the context in which knowing 'merched' was vital. XD
** Not exactly "women" from what I understand, but definite connotations of femaleness. It's all in the context. XD
Neo-Tokyo
BPAL description: From the Wanderlust section, which may be the section that gets most of my orders, because the descriptions evoke a sense of hiraeth* that I'm always reading books trying to find. This scent was created for a very dear friend in Kyoto, with love, admiration and continent-spanning affection. The name itself was inspired by Vladimir. A scent that captures a meeting of the serenity and elegance of ancient Japan, the vibrant, shining, neon-lit and ultra-modern splendor of today's Tokyo and the fantastic electric fantasyland of post-modern manga fantasy. Urban metallics and an ozone-tinged breath of electric light mingled with reedy bamboo, crisp mountain air, cherry blossoms, delicate orchid and a splash of playful, wet fruits.
Not sure why I ordered this, except maybe to try a scent that was supposed to be lighter than the heavier ones I'd ordered.
In vial: Very floral - not much else comes through, but it's not a rose floral which usually ends up cloying to me. Fairly light, with a slight harsh note of something-or-other.
Wet: More flowers. Reminds me of decorative soaps shaped like shells and flowers, but not in a bad way.
Dry: Getting sort of sophisticated - the florals are calming down, although they're still mostly all I can smell. I can't identify what the other thing is - a hint of a muskiness. Seems to be working on me better than it does on most people I've read.
Later: Blended florals with a hint of soap and that richness. Powdery, maybe?
Notes: Cat doesn't hate it - sniffed politely then got distracted by something outside the window. Sophisticated scent on me - makes me feel adult but not old, and isn't too perfumey for me. Totally not getting any fruit out of it - all floral on some sort of rich base, but not a bad floral - maybe it's rose I don't like and associate with floral. The soap may actually be from the soap I forgot I washed my hands with a bit ago - I'll have to give this another test later, when I don't have that on. Warm is, I think, the term that best describes this on me. Verdict: me like, moreso than I thought I would.
I don't get quite the associations of the description (well, who really does?), but it hints of civilization and formal gardens, rather than wildflowers. Don't get urban out of it - my primary association with "urban" is bus exhaust. Except for Paris, because the three days I visited Paris were spent walking down streets where every third shop had a rotisserie setup placed outside the door, so now my memories of Paris are inextricably associated with roast chicken. Bus exhaust made no impact whatsoever. No fruits or ozone or bamboo, and it reminds me of crisp mountain air not in the least. :)
ETA: You know what it reminds me of? A couple of days my family spent in Victoria, B.C. back in 1985, where our hotel room overlooked a bowling green (English bowling with green lawn and elderly people in hats, not American bowling), and there was some sort of garden/conservatory right next to it where we had high tea. That's what this smells like.
* Term picked up from my semester of undergrad in Wales: the professor defined it to me as "nostalgia for a time that never was." Interestingly, the only Welsh I remember now, over ten years on, is hiraeth, Cymry (Wales), and merched (women).** I'm sure you can figure out the context in which knowing 'merched' was vital. XD
** Not exactly "women" from what I understand, but definite connotations of femaleness. It's all in the context. XD
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I'm just surprised because I had this thing in my head that I hated florals, but I'm thinking it may be because the top note in most of the florals I'm familiar with is rose.
I can still smell it, two hours on, but it doesn't seem to have the staying power of Jack.
Re: BPAL review: Neo-Tokyo
now i want to drive down to victoria and look/smell for that garden. cherry blossom, maybe?
Re: BPAL review: Neo-Tokyo
A wee bit of thinking and poking about Google brings up the Crystal Garden (http://collections.ic.gc.ca/crystalgarden/), and I think that's it. But it looks like the city's possibly closed it - websites are a bit confusing on that because nobody's dating anything so I can't tell when it happened. Hmph.
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My first thought was "...to buy prostitutes?" but I'm pretty sure now that my first thought was wrong. :D
I love that there's a format for reviews of perfume. That alone is almost enough to make me want to try it.
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Let's just say it's a word you'll run into several times a day. :)
As far as the perfume goes: :D It does change several times as it dries and mingles with your body chemistry, and the format gives some sort of basis for comparison for others. It's kinda fun. :)