Kumiho

[pale]

Nine-tailed fox demon of Korean lore who transforms into the visage of an irresistible beauty in order to seduce men and lead them to their doom. A sharp, biting blend of crisp white tea and ginger.

In bottle: strong tea.

On me: strong tea, morphing to tea and strong ginger.

This is lovely. More like something i would want my shampoo to smell like, i would not wear it as a perfume, but really nice. Planning to buy a 10ml and use it to scent things.

[Scarlettfish]

This is a scent that is very true to its description. On me, it smells like tea and ginger - ginger always is very citrusy on me, so it smells like lemon tea more than anything else. It's very sharp and fresh and clean smelling. A really nice scent to wear in the day time, in the summer or spring.

[Nekomata]

Smells very gingery in the bottle, the tea scent is more apparent on the skin, but it's still pretty gingery. Very nice and sweet.

I agree with Pale, this would be lovely as a shampoo or bodywash.

[lizardling]

Wet: Whoa, lemon with just a trace of ginger.

 

Drydown: Mm, changing to more gingery. What the hell? Plastic! Burned plastic! Going a bit soapy.

 

5 minutes: Astringent lemon soap. Dr Bronner, is that you?

 

10 minutes: Crap. Soap, soap, soap.

 

20 minutes: Ginger soap. I'm going to write this one off and blame it on the lemon. Because White Rabbit doesn't turn to soap, thank the hundred little gods. Throw is rather penetrating, too. Must go wash before my sinuses stage The Revolution.

 

Score: 0 out of 5.

[draconix]

In the bottle: This isn't biting or gingery or tea-like at all. What it is, is very light and very faintly floral. A very calm scent.

 

On my skin: Oh my god! This smells exactly like a cup of white tea! It's slightly lemony as well... with just a hint of ginger. A very light scent. As it dries (which it does very quickly) it gets a bit more lemony and very faint. This fades way too fast though. The only way I can smell it (after 5 minutes on) is if I press my arm to my nose. The gingery side is coming out though, giving it a nice kick.

 

Final Thoughts: Putting this one, I immediately liked it. But it fades too fast! It'd be pointless to wear it... the smell would be basically gone before I even got out of the building. I do like it though... I'll keep it. Maybe putting it on more that just a 2in patch on my arm will make the scent a stick around longer.

 

<edit>

 

OK, so right after posting this I decided to try it again, but this time with more than just a small strip. It's a very light smell, but it it has a strange warmth to it. I have it on my arms and a little on my neck, and it's just wafting up to my nose in a very fantastic way. But when I go to actually smell it directly, it's very faint. Weird. Anyway, after re-evaluation, I think I'll be buying a larger bottle of this.

Edited April 7, 2006 by draconix

[themerrybaker]

I am a total Kumi Hoe. On me it is refreshing, astringent, and balanced between the citrus/ginger and the tea. This scent wakes me up and energizes me with the playful nips of soul-sucking foxes. A default scent for sleepy mornings when you need to get on with it already.

[snowfox090]

Oh my lovely Kumiho, perfume of discerning foxes everywhere. Why must you fade so quickly?

 

This was the very first BPAL oil I ever tried on, a birthday gift from my boy. In the bottle it's lovely, sweet, and pale yellow-green, but with the oddest, faint edge of bubble solution. It makes me think of scented bubbles floating around, rainbowed in the sun.

 

On my skin, it starts out much the same, that lovely burst of light green sweetness (thankfully this time without the bubbles!). As it dries down it fades into a nearly-white scent, perhaps the faintest tinge of green to it, with the tiniest tannic edge from the tea if I inhale -very- deeply. Heaven, sweet cool refreshing Heaven in a little blue bottle. And like all good things, it's gone far too quickly--within half an hour, all I can smell is a faint ghost of tea on my wrist.

 

In my hair, it's an entirely different brand of beautiful. Although not a constant presence, every so often when I move I get this deep breath of sweet, sap-filled growing greenness. It makes me think of the first shoots of spring, snapped crisply in hand, their sap spilling over my fingers. It's a very -growing- scent, if that makes sense. Planty and full of life, enough that I wonder if it shouldn't be in Rappacini's Garden instead.

 

Just beautiful. I need a 10ml of this. Maybe more than one.

 

(Ack, my first review! Where did all that flowery stuff come from?! )

[Voleuse]

This is an ephemeral scent, light and sharp. It's tea with citrus overtones, and barely sweet. I like it, but it disappears quickly.

[joiedecombat]

Kumiho, to me, strongly resembles Embalming Fluid. Both have the clear, juicy freshness of white tea as their primary note, but where Embalming Fluid has the citrus of lemon and some white musk and aloe to help smooth it out, Kumiho has ginger. It's a sharper scent, lacking the sweetness and the smoothing undertone that Embalming Fluid has. I like it, but I like Embalming Fluid more.

[Ehann]

This scent came to me as a freebie in my last order, and I am delighted with it, especially as I would not have ordered it on my own. Thank you Lab!

 

Wet-- this smells strongly of lemons, but pleasantly so. It quickly settles into a crisp bright scent that made me feel energized and clearer thinking. (If that makes sense.)

I fell in love with this immediately and on my skin it has excellent staying power. Also, my six year old loves it, so what more could you ask?

 

Definitely a keeper and I'll be getting a 5ml bottle in the future.

[moon_lemming]

Kumiho is really not of the good in the imp, almost sour -- in a bad way, not a good sour. And wet, it's the same.

 

But after it dries, it's ginger and white tea and a light veil of lemon. Very light and "exotic." It'd be a great summer scent. I'll have to try out the imp some more before I decide on a bottle, though.

[Aredhel]

Rating (on skin): 2/5

Summarised in a word or two: Soap!

 

In the imp: Tea, ginger and... lemon?

 

On skin, wet: Tea, lemon and ginger. This reminds me of Embalming Fluid, though EF is much smoother, whereas Kumiho is a bit... sharp. Already, it's starting to turn soapy.

 

On skin, dry: Lemon soap! Others have mentioned a similarity between this and BBW's White Tea & Ginger soap, and I absolutely agree. Thing is, while it's a wonderful scent for soap, it's not doing much for me as a perfume. It's too... well, soapy. And lemony.

 

Conclusion/Notes: I never expected lemon from this, and as I'm not a huge lemon fan (Embalming Fluid and Dorian seem to be the only exceptions so far), this isn't for me. Lemon and tea notes tend to turn soapy on me, and Kumiho did just that.

[valentina]

In the imp, Kumiho is tart and gingery -- almost pungent to my nose. Once on the body, it's a brisk, cool, ginger and white tea scent to me. It's very, very clean, very fresh, just gorgeous. It does not morph one little bit, it keeps its balance between the ginger and the tea, and it holds on. For me, this is great summer scent -- a perfect antidote to steamy, humid days.

[gwyllgi]

In the imp and wet on my skin, I get white tea - nothing else. This impression lasts through the initial drydown, but, after fifteen minutes or so, the ginger starts coming through, spicy-sharp. At this point, it becomes the exotic cousin of Embalming Fluid, more worldly, perhaps a bit cynical, but still charming.

 

The ginger never seems to become more than a hint, which puts it a notch below Embalming Fluid on my list. If the ginger had a bit more play with the tea, it'd rocket right up to be one of my favorites.

[eviltemptressdq]

yummy! this smells like a nice cup of tea... Very similar to Embalming Fluid, but the ginger gives it a little something different. I still prefer EF, though...

 

very light, and very lovely!

Edited May 24, 2006 by eviltemptressdq

[abberlaine]

Yup. Kumiho pulled the "Wham, Bam, Thank You Ma'am" on me. In the span of a minute, two at most: a burst of sharp lemon, replaced by white tea and blooms (very, very nice), back to sharp lemon, expensive citrus and tea soap, and then fade.

 

Kumiho's, like, a femine version of those lemon-based guy soaps. She's light, fresh, delicate, and good quality. If I turned her into a body spray, I bet you she'd have men fantasizing about watching me shower.

 

I wish she had a little less lemon and a little more sweet white tea, though.

[nerdcraft]

in the vial:

Crisp, sharp-smelling - I smell the ginger and tea in equal parts, and I also smell some citrus in there too.

wet:

This is so clean and beautiful. It smells a lot like Embalming Fluid with a shot of ginger, which spices things up a bit.

 

dry:

Dries down a bit softer, but still really clean and fresh smelling. The white tea stays around longer than the ginger does.

 

season: Perfect for hot summer days.

office-friendly? Yep.

overall:

Nice! I like this one a lot. It'll be a nice scent to change up with Embalming Fluid on sticky hot days. It also gets a thumbs-up from the boy.

[opaleyes]

In the vial and on me initially this was lemony, which I really didn't care for. It quickly morphed to just a lovely tea scent though, so it's a keeper! Mmm teeeaaaaaa.

[provocateur]

In bottle: Ginger, a watery ginger

 

on skin, wet: I wouldn't call this sharp or biting, it's a delicate ginger.

on skin, dry: white tea is definitely an interesting note, doubly so combined with ginger.

conclusion: this didn't do a lot for me, it's a pretty, delicate blend, but definitely not my style. 2/5

[catslash]

Oh, yes. This is exactly what I was hoping for: BBW White Tea and Ginger PLUS AWESOME. I don't know why I messed around ordering an imp, I should have just gone with a bottle right off the bat. It is every bit as delicious as I expected. I wish it lasted longer, but that's all right. I'll try layering it with the BBW cream as suggested earlier in the thread, and the spray as well.

 

I love this scent. I definitely need a bottle of this. It's bright and sharp and delicious.

[dragonryder]

A light spicy floral scent, can't figure out where the floral comes in, must be the white tea. Excellent blending, not too much of either.

[lookingglass]

At first this is lemony, like tea scents usually are for me. It is sharp and white and clean smelling, soapy like a big hunk of ginger cut open. It dries down to something remarkably close to White Linen.

[kwelge]

A pick from my first order. I was looking for a nice, light, non-floral-y scent for the office/everyday wear.

 

Bottle: Nice, fresh, restrained citrus with a hint of ginger.

 

Wet: Mmmmm, light lemon and tea. Gingery note comes out on dry down. I looove this.

 

Dry: Gingery tea, YUM! The scent doesn't last too long -- only a few hours at most. But it's so wonderful! Sophisticated and incisive. The imagery of the perfectly coiffed professional is right on the money.

 

 

Verdict: Love this, strongly considering a bottle. If only it lasted longer!! I've tried Shanghai and love that too, and I think I'll be trying Embalming Fluid in the future.

[aestien]

Bottle: ginger in it's citrus form

Wet: ginger

Dry: crisp, biting, clean ginger with a hint of tea

 

This is the scent of fresh ginger root when you cut into it. It's straighforward and perfect for hot summer days. It doesn't last incredibly long, as I expected from a predominantly citrus blend, but I like it a lot.

[storme]

In the imp: sweet, sharp white tea and ginger. man, a scent I've been anticipating trying for so long, and it smells much like I hoped.

 

On me, wet: mm, crisp biting sweet-sharp tea and ginger - this smells to me somewhat like the greener stages of a carnation note, that contrast of sharp and sweet together.

 

On me, dry: mm, still that carnation-ish sweet-creamy-sharpness with a bitter tinge of crisp citric sharpness and an undercurrent of heat.

 

Verdict: Hooray for scents living up to my expectations. This is what I wanted a gingery scent to be like - sharp, raw, biting, hot, crisp. Muahaha. Doesn't last long, but hey, I can always reapply.