Kabuki No. 9 Tokyomilk

TokyoMilk Kabuki is the essence of pinkness, but for adult women. It's not the pink of little girls' bedrooms or ballet outfits. It's bubblegum pink like a group of playful adult women splashing each other in a pool or sipping fruity drinks on a beach while telling silly jokes and giggling. It's a mylar balloon held by a joyful older woman with a streak of purple in her silver hair.

It's all about the lychee, with the other notes simply grounding it. (I think other lychee-centered scents use rose to ground it, which gives a more somber effect.) I've tried a half-dozen TokyoMilks, and this is far and away my favorite. I smile more when wearing it.

First scent in my perfume journey that made me stop in my tracks. First one to add it to my wishlist. I have no idea why because the notes alone arent something gravitate towards or specifically grew up smelling. It somewhat makes me think of playdough or an art room- but not plasticy & dusty, very sweet and gentle, a little powdery, maybe like makeup? Its something I cant put my finger on but everytime I smell it I feel comforted even though its a bit weird.

The oil is very nice on my skin and is definitely an intimate scent. Love it after a shower. Bottle is very cool with the see through to the painting. Lasts a few hours, doesn't project much. I dont mind those parts though because love this.

I don't know why I love this. I don't love it when I smell it initially, but I come back to it over and over again. I sampled it in a boutique on vacation, thought "hmm." and moved on...and didn't stop thinking about it until I had purchased it and it arrived on my doorstep. Often after the thrill of the hunt has worn off so does my infatuation with the scent. Not so in this case. When I'm wearing it I can't help smelling myself over and over. This is my first tokyomilk and it may have given me unrealistic expectations, but maybe not since this one isn't rated very highly either? I don't know how to describe the scent other than maybe thick, sticky, granular almond paste. Not quite marzipan. The lychee is definitely there, but I can't pick out the grapefruit or jasmine exactly.

Kabuki is a sweet gourmand fragrance, very warm and full-bodied and rich.
It smells of caramelized oranges with a splash of zesty lemon.
The combination of citrus notes with sugary sweet notes I find very fascinating. At first, I thought it wouldn't work well and would be quite unharmonious. But here it is a coherent combination, no piercing notes, everything is very balanced. Delicious!!
At the beginning, it is very lemony, then the citrus notes blend with a portion of sweet sugar. Lemonade comes to my mind, but the scent is not cold but cozy warm. It reminds me of freshly baked orange cake.
I don't recognize jasmine. I saw that orange is not actually included but grapefruit, yet I find it smells more like orange than grapefruit. ;)
Perhaps more of a winter/autumn scent than a spring/summer scent.
I find it very feminine.

It's a struggle with the scents from Tokyo Milk. The design is simply the best thing about them. It's so simple. You just have to figure it out. I confess, I have fallen in love with the bottles.
Basically, they are nail polish bottles. Just with a clear liquid and a picture on the back inside.
Margot Elena is an incredibly good designer. What she does is storytelling. But not with an advertising novel about the scent, but with the product itself. A picture behind glass. You see through the glass through the liquid. An image like underwater. That's adventurous. A little bit spooky, which she emphasizes even more in her Dark series. What is it? A secret. A ghost in the bottle. So we open the bottle because we are curious. And: Captivated.
Or unfortunately, also not.
I am a bit disappointed with the scents. It's like a great shoe that looks fantastic but doesn't fit.
After this amazing start, the design, the website, the other products, the reviews, I expected more. I don't know what. Probably something more elegant, something more mysterious.
The scent has something. It's sugary and sweet, yet warm. At first, unfortunately, also a bit piercing. I instinctively recoil with my nose. Yet I keep smelling it because it reminds me of something, but I can't quite place it. I think of roasted almonds, alternative Asian shops, and cafés with batik cloths on the walls in Camden Town. A perfume by Lolita Lempicka smells similar. I would like to like it, the scent, find something about it, but we don't quite connect. Something annoys me about it. It doesn't resonate with me. It feels forced. And it's too one-dimensional for me as well. Unfortunately.

In theater and opera, the ending has to blow you away, otherwise the audience goes home disappointed.
But the design and the mystery, they really do well. Although I haven't liked any of their scents so far, I'm looking for a reason to buy one of their perfumes. It's no coincidence that she calls her products Objects to desire.