Kiyohime Changes From a Serpent

[shelldoo]

 

Kiyohime Changes From a Serpent, Yoshitoshi.

Salty ocean spray, red kelp, black plum, lychee, sea moss, green musk, hachiya, plum blossom, and matcha.

 

in the bottle: very light ocean spray, slightly fruity.

 

wet: more aquatic, then in the bottle, but not a over bearing aquatic. i am not an aquatic lover but this is nice. still a hint of fruitiness, but it is very subtle behind the ocean smell. there is something faintly floral, but i can not decern which ote it is exactly.

 

this dries in to a soft ocean scent w/ a background of plum blossom

[Heavenlyrabbit]

Fabulous plum with the green musk which my skin chemistry loves. The aquatic is so very faint, it's just a hint. Like the strip of green on the woman's gown that suggests at the Serpent running up her spine.

 

Like Shelldoo, aquatics aren't my favorite. This is very different. A light, fruity aquatic if you will. With some notes I've no idea what they are.

 

The plum subsides during the drydown to reveal a curious perfume that is both there and not there. It has good sillage. Smells great but it's subtle.

 

This would be a great scent to wear at work if you're in an office with lots of people around.

 

Edit- the aquatics do creep up much more later on into the dry down.

 

So the scent starts out as Plum and ends up being Serpent!

Edited May 24, 2007 by Heavenlyrabbit

[vylit]

This is such a hard scent to review because I don't know a lot of the notes.

 

I definitely smell plum blossom, the salty ocean spray, and the green musk. Other than that, I don't know what the other notes smell like, but this is a sweet, aquatic floral that makes me think of days spent the ocean. It's a lovely scent for the spring and summer months.

[clover]

When this first goes on, it's almost all fruit - although I can sense a crispness to the scent as well. The fruit isn't particularly voluptuous - it's slightly astringent and feminine. I suspect it's the matcha that is clarifying the scent. After a while a very light floral starts to peak out. At this point, the scent reminds me of putting your nose into a bag of lovely floral tea - like jasmine tea or, I guess, plum blossom tea.

 

Eventually the salty aquatics come out on my skin as well. This is a little disappointing, because I'm not an aquatics girl at all...but I notice that the saltiness stays pretty close to my skin, and it's the lovely tea scent that is wafting all around me.

 

This is really pretty, and exactly the kind of scent I used to love to wear when I was younger, although it's not quite my style now.

[supremegoddessofall]

Moderately aquatic, but with a touch of florals - the plum blossom maybe? Kind of indistinct.

[copyshopclerk]

To preface, before C13 I owned no Salon bottles, but I really wanted one because the paintings are fascinating and I love the concept. This was the one I ended up selecting - it was one I knew I wanted to try because I like everything I can identify in it (not familiar with hachiya).

 

In the bottle: Salty aquatic, a bit like Lightning but a little bit sweeter

 

On: Still very watery and salty. None of the fruits or matcha coming forward yet - a hint of sweetness underneath the aquatic, but barely.

 

Dry: As it dries, the matcha is the first thing to surface from the watery impression on me, followed by the lychee and what I'm guessing is green musk. When dried, it is a lovely sweet, clean, soft scent with just the slightest trace of aquatic underneath.

 

*That's* what did it for me -- how this literally changed on my skin from salty aquatic to a light, sweet perfume, evoking Kiyohime's transformation from a serpent to a woman. To me, this is the most "accurate" of the Salons. Many others in the series are beautiful, but this one more than any of the others evoked the painting for me - it really does undergo a transformation from a salty ocean scent to a beautiful perfumed scent that only hints at the watery start it had, which is exactly the story that the painting tells. I've had a lot of other blends shift on my skin (some become better, some become worse), but I love how this blend literally undergoes Kiyohime's transformation!

[jolarocknrolla]

I really adore this scent. it's a "soft" scent on me due to the watery notes, and with a big splash of fruit and very very subtle floral. It's very fresh and beautiful and sparkling. I would have never gotten it scent unsniffed but i was lucky enough to try at at the BPAL boot during C13 and i had to get it since these types of scents generally turn soapy on me. no soap here, just very soft and beauitiful, not too sweet just very ... sparklingly feminine.

[euterpe414]

Annnd...another lovely Salon III scent! (why must I love them all??!)

 

Kiyohime is a really well blended ocean scent. I definitely can smell the sea spray and mossiness, but it is intertwined delicately with the fruit and flowers. I am not sure what green musk smells like but I assume it is contributing to some of the depth that this scent has. This never smells like dryer sheets (that's what a lot of aquatics end up on me, unfortunately) or soap. I am very very pleased. There is a vague similarity in this to Fire Pig, although this is considerably lighter an airier on me. I don't get a lot of morphing like others have, my chemistry apparently feels like being boring, lol.

 

My only complaint about this one is that it doesn't last over 2 hours on my skin, which is sad because it is expensive so I feel odd about slathering it (maybe I'll use it in the locket or make a spray out of it...)

 

For anyone who wants an aquatic scent but usually can't find one that doesn'to go soapy, I highly suggest this one.

[Lunaratu]

This was a scent I wasn’t sure about since I'm not usually an aquatics lover yet in sniffing the imps I found a certain appealing quality to the saltiness of this scent.

 

However, it starts off with that tinge of salt water and immediately begins to sweeten up on the skin—I almost do not recognize it as the same scent! And then a bit of the salt comes back making that sweet scent more interesting—I really like this point of when the salty ocean smell and the sweet feminine scent combine with a clarity that comes, I’m gathering, from the matcha.

 

Very nice and certainly evocative of the painting even in its stages!

 

Rating: 4/5

Edited October 9, 2007 by Lunaratu

[dawndie]

Wet: plummy fruit

 

On skin: fruity detergent, almost making me sneeze

 

Half-hour later: hasn't morphed much at all, clean & sneezy laundry detergent with some sweet dark fruit

 

In conclusion: I predicted how "salty ocean spray" would turn out from experience with a bottle of Storm Moon, like laundry detergent. But this is nicer than I thought with the plum and plum blossom, like sweetened laundry detergent. This reminds me of an amped-up Swank, like if the alcohol note was turned up to 11. This was a surprise!

[sarada]

I'm having an oddly aquatic week -- after getting bottles of all the new Thunder Moon scents as well as rounding up some older watery things in this week of nonstop June rain, I feel like I might drown!

 

It's hard to place what this smells like in the imp, but when I apply it, it reminds me of honeysuckle, actually. Although it does not smell like Selkie, I again get a sort of "water and honeysuckle" feeling. Green stems, rain-drenched honeysuckle. I think that must be the lychee providing that sweet nectar scent. Then it takes a turn away from sweetness, while black plum (my beloved black plum, one of my favorite notes) adds a touch of fruity sourness. Above it all is the aroma of freshly brewed jasmine tea.

 

I imagine being in a teahouse in the rain, while outside bamboo bends in the wind and the sea churns, throwing moss and foam on the shore. Inside the teahouse we are warm, sipping our jasmine tea and eating tiny tart-sweet fruits that drip with nectar.

 

Gorgeous in really unexpected ways. I was not expected to be so transported by this scent, but I'm thousands of miles away. The sudden transformation from that sweet rain-soaked nectar to a warm, comforting jasmine tea might be a trick of my skin, but it's one I'm very happy with. The fact that a musk is present in this blend (green musk) is probably the reason why it has such a strong presence and throw, and comes to life, revealing new layers, once I apply it.

[herbhealer]

At first dab out of the imp, this scent teased me with a delicious and surprising blend of moss and plum. This fleeting moment is quickly replaced with sweet soap, and then thirty minutes later all traces of any scent are gone. I wish the plum and seaweed notes would dominate on my skin. I guess I'll have to stick to Madame Moriarty for Plum and Caliban for ocean saltiness.

[edenssixthday]

Kiyohime Changes From A Serpent - This is a truly fantastic aquatic. It's definitely aquatic and full of salty ocean mist, but it's also sweet, slightly fruity, slightlyfloral, and just wonderful. It's hard to describe, but I'd put it in a similar category as the original Blue Moon and Selkie. This is definitely a great scent. While the throw is amazing, it doesn't last long on my skin.

[Blood onmy hands]

Banded Sea Snake is one of the only BPAL aquatic blends that has really worked on me, so Kiyohime didn't have much of a chance on my skin.

 

Kiyohime immediately turns to a sort of wet laundry & dryer sheets smell on me, with a sweet floral background (oddly, I don't get a fruity impression from this). It's like laundry washed in some sort of spring garden detergent, with a splash of something like sharp citrus. I don't like soapy or floral scents, so I'll be finding a new home for my decant of this one.

Edited June 30, 2007 by Blood onmy hands

[Miseraya]

In the imp: Fruity, aquatic and green. Beautiful.

 

On the wrist: This is a very fruity and clean scent, so far the aquatic note is doing ok this time. The musk comes through pretty strong as it starts to dry though.

 

Drydown: Lots of musk. That clean fruity smell is being overwhelmed by musk, which seems like just the sort of thing my chemistry would do to me. The fruit is putting up a good fight though, trying to defeat my body's natural urge to amp musk. Alas, musk wins it would seem.

[alicia_stardust]

This is a light, fresh ocean scent at first. It's salty.

 

On my skin it changes and I get a slight fruit/plum scent, and later still, a soft floral that mixes with the plum scent. The green musk is detectable, but the other notes are unfamiliar to me so I believe my nose is blending them into an overall scent rather than picking out the individual notes.

 

Overall, a lovely and beautiful interpretation of the artwork. I will keep this one!

[yeahbutnobut]

Kiyohime Changes From a Serpent

 

In the imp: an odd mix of soapy sea spray with juicy sweet plum and lychee.

Wet on skin: fresh cool seawater washing up over lychee syrup and sugary plums.

Dry on skin: hmm, this isn't bad. The sea water is threatening to do the 'washing powder of doom' thing but for now this smells nice. It reminds me of something from Lush, but I can't remember what. Maybe Plum Duff (the plum) meets Big Blue (the seaweed)? It has a powdery fizzy scent reminiscent of a crumbly bath ballistic. The lychee, which I love so much, is very prominent in here, it almost reminds me of Tweedledee and Fire Pig with the citrus replaced by marine notes. I smell something almost like tea in here as well. Despite the pleasant 'Lushness', the salty ocean spray is slowly doing it's 'laundry' thing to the scent.

After a while: yes, this does smell Lush, it still reminds me of Plum Duff/It's a Date more than Lurid did. I also smell a little Sea Vegetable here…it's like walking into a Lush store. I really like that, it's made even nicer when coupled with lychee. The plum blossom, however, is planning to take over the scent and turn it cloying and over-fruity. The plum fruit on the other hand is very nice, juicy and tart. The musk rounds everything up, it's almost like a white musk, but not quite.

Eventually that lovely Lushness does fade and leaves behind a plum blossom scented laundry scent. The sea moss, a note I usually really like, smells weird in here, almost reminding me of rancid vegetable oil and talc. The PB doesn't smell too cloying but the aquatic note has gone totally washing powder now. It reminds me of Budding Moon now, but soapier and more powdery.

Verdict: this one does that now familiar and expected soapy reaction that I usually always get with anything with 'sea spray' as a note. But it's actually quite pleasant, especially at the beginning. I love the lychee and black plum notes in here, they are sweet, juicy and fruity, succulent and delicious. and I really like the Lush vibe I get in the scent during the first hour or two of wear, it smells like I've been bathing in a Plum Duff ballistic, washing with Sea Vegetable, and then applying some Fire Pig when dry. This is when the clean, watery scent plays well on my skin. But then the bad soapy scent which I usually get with the marine aquatics then starts to creep into the scent, and the plum blossom starts to turn cloying. there's a weird smell to this at the end, like a strange powder rancid scent, that I'm not sure about. So despite the lovely first hour of this scent, I think I'll swap/sell it.

Emoticon rating:

Is it a keeper? not really.

If you like this, try: Fire Pig, Budding Moon, Tweedledee, Fox Fires on New Year's Eve, Midwinter's Eve, Sunrise with Sea Monsters

[Ajila]

In the bottle – Sharp florals backed by sea salt

 

Wet on me – Washing powder and something herbal

 

Dry on me – Clean clothes and washing powder

 

Overall – This has gone the way of many of the Asian blends on my skin chemistry

[modernsaints]

Something about this is pale green and fresh and sort of sweet-fruity, and just entirely undescribable. And there's a tiny hint of the seaspray in the back (mmmmm seaspray.) And a hint of tea! Very clean and sweet. I'm not sure I'd need an entire bottle; I'll test-run the imp a little and see how things go. Very pleasant, though, and distinctly Asian-inspired.

[moon_lemming]

I thought there was anise in this blend at first! Who knows what that was about? Jeez.

 

But yeah, this has the dreaded aquatic effect. HAY GUYS I JUST TOOK A SHOWER WITH MY BOYFRIEND'S SOAP.

 

Not gonna work.

[Jilara]

In the imp, a salty waft of sea breeze.

 

Wet: salt spray, with something that makes me think of white flowers. Something green but with a substance I can't quite identify. Could it be green musk? Slight hints of tea.

 

Drydown: not as salty, now. An aquatic fruit note, more than anything. Tea and that green smell.

Dry: very clean and green and fresh, tea and delicate floral, but with a heavy jolt of aquatic fruit for body. Not getting any kelp, unless it's in with the overall aquatic notes. A lovely scent, but not very strong on me, after the drydown period.

[Delirium1009]

I really love this scent. When I apply it, I can immediately smell fruit, green moss, and a very crisp clean scent. The green tea is also there, barely peeking through. There’s even a little bit of citrus, and a light floral note. It’s hard to describe because I can smell a bit of everything in it!

 

It fades to this complex salty, fruity, and crisp clean scent. It really makes me think of the ocean and the beach.

[zankoku_zen]

In the imp: Sea, kelp and aquatic

 

On Skin: Some plum and a soapy aquatic

 

On Drydown: Plum soap

 

Verdict: This suffered the same 'soapy' tendency as Thalassa. BPAL's aquatics are a hit/miss thing apparently on my skin. Ah well.

[bombus]

My first impression was all fruit, but as it dries I am getting the aquatic and musk too. It has very little throw, I have to put my nose right up to my wrist to smell it, but that makes it perfect for wearing to the office. I am Liking it quite a lot, going on the wish list.

[filigree_shadow]

It seems like mostly a salty ocean scent, but much sweeter than those kinds of scents usually are. It has a nice green-ness that isn't overwhelming at all. A little bit mossy/kelpy but not too much at all. It adds to the scent nicely. There's a pretty dryness in the scent, and I'm not sure where that's coming from. It doesn't smell like ocean water, it smells like standing on the shore in a garden. Not sure exactly what flower I'm smelling here (doesn't smell like plum blossom to me), but it's lovely.

 

This isn't the sort of scent I usually wear, but I do like it better than most oceanic scents.