Top Notes 
Bamboo leaf
Mint
Mugwort
Satsuma
Shiso leaf
Heart Notes 
Bulgarian rose otto
Champaca absolute
Jasmine sambac
Marjoram
Tunisian neroli
White tea
Base Notes 
Hinoki cypress
Indian patchouli
Sandalwood
Violet leaf absolute06/03/2025
ClaireV
731 Reviews
ClaireV
1
Silvery, delicate mint-citrus-wood scent
Tsukiyo-en fuses mikan, a Japanese orange close in taste and aroma to mandarin with peppery shiso leaf and mint to form a balmy mint-citrus accord that smells very Japanese. By this, I mean that the citrus smells like citrus but with an aromatic, herbal depth missing from the European cultivars, and the mint smells like mint, but with a spicy, tannic edge that (for once) doesn’t make you think of toothpaste.
These kinds of notes – and their sparkling transparency – remind me very much of the austere, woody-transparent style of Di Ser, a Japanese brand that makes perfumes exclusively from Japanese ingredients. The strange bitterness of these notes, and their unwillingness to bend to the Western taste for sweetness, is, for me, what sets the Japanese style of perfumery apart from the Western style. Remarkably, Dawn Spencer Hurwitz has managed to capture the spirit of Japanese perfumery, without it ever coming across as a clumsy pastiche or a misfire.
Green and aromatic the opening certainly is, but its bitterness is carefully modulated by a gentle milkiness that reminds me of those bamboo and green tea lotions they use in upscale spas. I smell this accord and instantly my muscles relax. The bamboo milk note is extremely subtle, though; it never intrudes, takes over, or detracts from the juicy green fizz of the mint-citrus combo. The crisp, antioxidant tannins of white tea are present, though in holistic dosage and not enough to make you feel like you’re reversing years of sun damage. But it does establish that holistic, Japanese-spa feeling of taking care of oneself, of cleansing the bloodstream of impurities.
There is even the slightly mineral scent of water bubbling over the stones in one of those small water features they have in (again) upscale spas. (I realize that I’m making it sound like I’m the kind of gal who visits upscale spas a lot, but I’m not. In reality, it’s more a case of taking turns with the kids in the pool while the other parent sneaks off to the steam room for a – very tightly timed – 10 minutes). But I hope I’m getting the central idea across – Tsukiyo-en smells like the steamy aura of a very posh Japanese bathhouse, complete with slightly foreign-smelling herbs, citruses, therapeutic lotions, and starchy minerals bubbling up from beneath.
Linking all the elements here is that common denominator of minty shiso leaf. Tsukiyo-en strikes me a far more successful rendition of the idea behind You Or Someone Else Like You by Etat Libre d’Orange. Whereas the ELDO loses it aromatic, zesty mint topnotes very quickly and devolves into rank vase water that makes you feel like you’ve nervous-sweated your way through a mohair sweater, Tsukiyo-en settles in a softer, gentler citrusy-mint vein, which is thus sustained most pleasurably by the bamboo milk and white tea throughout.
These kinds of notes – and their sparkling transparency – remind me very much of the austere, woody-transparent style of Di Ser, a Japanese brand that makes perfumes exclusively from Japanese ingredients. The strange bitterness of these notes, and their unwillingness to bend to the Western taste for sweetness, is, for me, what sets the Japanese style of perfumery apart from the Western style. Remarkably, Dawn Spencer Hurwitz has managed to capture the spirit of Japanese perfumery, without it ever coming across as a clumsy pastiche or a misfire.
Green and aromatic the opening certainly is, but its bitterness is carefully modulated by a gentle milkiness that reminds me of those bamboo and green tea lotions they use in upscale spas. I smell this accord and instantly my muscles relax. The bamboo milk note is extremely subtle, though; it never intrudes, takes over, or detracts from the juicy green fizz of the mint-citrus combo. The crisp, antioxidant tannins of white tea are present, though in holistic dosage and not enough to make you feel like you’re reversing years of sun damage. But it does establish that holistic, Japanese-spa feeling of taking care of oneself, of cleansing the bloodstream of impurities.
There is even the slightly mineral scent of water bubbling over the stones in one of those small water features they have in (again) upscale spas. (I realize that I’m making it sound like I’m the kind of gal who visits upscale spas a lot, but I’m not. In reality, it’s more a case of taking turns with the kids in the pool while the other parent sneaks off to the steam room for a – very tightly timed – 10 minutes). But I hope I’m getting the central idea across – Tsukiyo-en smells like the steamy aura of a very posh Japanese bathhouse, complete with slightly foreign-smelling herbs, citruses, therapeutic lotions, and starchy minerals bubbling up from beneath.
Linking all the elements here is that common denominator of minty shiso leaf. Tsukiyo-en strikes me a far more successful rendition of the idea behind You Or Someone Else Like You by Etat Libre d’Orange. Whereas the ELDO loses it aromatic, zesty mint topnotes very quickly and devolves into rank vase water that makes you feel like you’ve nervous-sweated your way through a mohair sweater, Tsukiyo-en settles in a softer, gentler citrusy-mint vein, which is thus sustained most pleasurably by the bamboo milk and white tea throughout.
