Harikata

[agnusdei]

Osmanthus, honey, golden musk, vanilla flower, and ginger.

In the imp Harikata smells beautiful to me, like sticky drops of honey over swirling musk and sweet flowers. There’s just a touch of ginger, but it’s a soft ginger that’s a far cry from the crisp spiciness that it can be. The notes come together to create a blend that’s deep and sweet but with a simplicity that’s utterly charming. But then, just when I’m lulled into a false sense of security, a mystery note surfaces that wants nothing more than to turn Harikata into an alcohol-laden body spray scented with Generic Sharp Floral. I can only assume the osmanthus is behind this, as this is my first encounter with it and all the rest of the notes I get along fabulously with. I usually have remarkably agreeable skin chemistry so I’m not sure what’s up, I guess I’ll have to revisit this and hope a little aging does the trick. Edited March 3, 2008 by agnusdei

[Dymphna]

In the imp: I totally get the "Japanese version of O" thing that people have been talking about. It's sexy-sweet honey like O, but with a crisp lightness, like a layer of pale green organza. At second sniff, I smell a light melon, nothing cantaloupe-y (I hate cantaloupe and it ruined Yemaya for me), but still a bit buttery. And still that gorgeous honey. Delicious!

 

Wet: This almost immediately becomes a honeyed floral with a hint of melon. It's very sweet, but light. Very much a traditionally feminine summer perfume.

 

Dry: The honey recedes a lot as it dries. I'm left with a sweet, delicate, summery floral. Very pretty, but not me at all. This is something my mom would love, though. It reminds me a bit of Anais Anais, a favorite of hers. Too bad she's so conservative that any BPAL blend would be out of the question for her, let alone one with this label, or I'd get her a bottle.

[Apple]

A very generous forumite gifted me with a frimp of Harikata in a swap. Yay!

 

Wet, this had a very pink, sweet candy frangrance on me. On the drydown it was really similar to Pink Phoenix, so I don't think I will buy this one. But if you like girly, pink scents, this one is lovely.

 

While wet, Harikata smelled strongly of pink bubblegum on me... and not in a good way. Fortunately it doesn't stay in that phase very long, and soon the honey and osmanthus are peeking through. It reminds me a little of Sed Non Satiata for awhile (which is nice), but then the vanilla and the musk start doing bad things to one another. I think that combination simply does not work with my skin chemistry (Dorian was a disaster); it ends up smelling like wintergreen.

 

 

Wet: This almost immediately becomes a honeyed floral with a hint of melon. It's very sweet, but light. Very much a traditionally feminine summer perfume.

 

Dry: The honey recedes a lot as it dries. I'm left with a sweet, delicate, summery floral. Very pretty, but not me at all. This is something my mom would love, though. It reminds me a bit of Anais Anais, a favorite of hers. Too bad she's so conservative that any BPAL blend would be out of the question for her, let alone one with this label, or I'd get her a bottle.

 

I get a hint of melon, too. And after the bubblegum note burned off, I also thought my mother might like this scent... perhaps for Mother's Day!

[zankoku_zen]

I do get the honey sweetbubblegum at the beginning - but it dries to a very mellow honey, and a small shrill top floral top note that makes me think of jasmine (but I'm beginning to think I don't get along with osmanthus!)

 

Other than that, this is soft, subtle and very sexy.

[ImperatrixMundi]

Buhu. I am really glad I got decants this time, otherwise I would have bought a bottle of this.

But it does not turn out well at all, while I was hoping for musk, honey and ginger with something a bit floral-fruity on top this goes all osmanthus and honey instead and reminds me, of all things, of melon.

 

It is not bad but not what I want and does not last at all. Sometimes the musk shows up later on but not here, it just gets even more fruity and sour in a bad way. So possibly osmanthus, honey and I dont get along. Maybe it should be revisited some day, I am really sad about this because all the notes for themselves are great.

[Summerpixy]

Sweet, melony, honey'd floral. This is soft and alluring and sweet, a lot like O but with the asian melon edge I've come to associate with Beth's asian blends.

 

A very pretty blend on its own, but not exciting enough for me to buy a bottle. I'll keep the imp though.

[evanescence]

This oil is forcing me to face my honey prejudices... I generally put honey on my list of most unliked notes and have been wondering why I even ordered this bottle! I expected to be smacked in the face with HONEY, but instead it kinda wooed me gently from the start... there's a light fruity undertone out of the bottle and a warmer sweetness that must be the vanilla flower. It's beautiful wet and dry - none of this waiting for it to drydown and morph into what I love. Dry, it's soft and warm and only very lightly fruity. It brought back childhood memories of plucking sun-warmed honeysuckle flowers, and sniffing and tasting the nectar. Very very pretty.

[Lyrical]

In the vial: I think osmanthus is a lot like jasmine. A light, warm floral with honey and ginger.

 

Wet on skin: osmanthus/jasmine, honey, ginger and musk. It's light and pretty.

 

Dry on skin: very soft and pleasant, although a little too jasminey for me. It's a smell that reminds me of sex. Not much throw and fairly short wear length. The honey note is reminiscent of Hony Mone.

[the_cat_goddess]

Reviewing with out looking at notes or prior reviews.

 

In vial: I get a honey note with some soft, sweet florals. Smells pretty.

 

Wet: Honey is on the front. As it drying, I guess a citrus scent mixed with soft florals. Overall very sweet. I had an imp of Honey SN and this honey smells like that.

 

Dry: The sweet citrus floral blend is coming more to the front with honey delicately behind it now. I'm getting something green poking through every once in a while, too.

 

20 mins later: I really like this. It's fresh and sweet. I just checked out the notes. I'm surprised to see ginger, because I'm not getting any spiciness. And no citrus notes... huh? Honey was dead on. Must be the vanilla flower sweetening it. I just looked up osmanthus, and I'm reading that it is related to the olive, and I know olive blossoms sometimes have been described as citrusy.

[Jilara]

One of the better shunga scents on me.

 

Wet, the ginger note is up front, but drying down it back off and becomes more musk and cream, with a slight powdery background---but I mean that in a good way. The powder makes me think of some oriental rice-based face powder I used to get. Dry, it's that oriental powder, with a creamy musk base, and just a vague sweetness, which must be the osmanthus and honey.

[Teggy]

I discovered Harikata at will call and sadly loved the lab's bottle more than my own.

 

Wet, they both smelled the same, kinda like...bananas.

 

Dry, the lab version was what I had always dreamed O would be. Warm, delicious honey and musk. O smells like yuck on me. Go figure. My bottle isn't quite what the lab had (that's Teggy's law), and tends to be more on a floral side, just ever so slightly. I agree that it's a slightly more elegant, grown up, classier version of O though. In the end, it seems to come down to skin chemisty.

 

I completely forgot there was ginger in this.

[steelxrose]

Harikata...is all honey. Sadly. I don't do honey well. It's sweet, is all. I was hoping there'd be a bit more ginger or muskiness to it. The sweetness lasts for quite a while, but eventually fades to the gross thing that my skin does to honey. (There's no description for it.)

[rachel2205]

I seem to have a very different experience to everyone else! I got a generous sniffie of this today, and on me this is much more grassy than floral - but a dry grass rather than a wet grass, if you see what I mean. The honey note is quite subdued and golden, and doesn't have the slight 'dirtiness' that the honey in O does on me. Really quite pretty and fresh, though I don't think I'd spring for a bottle.

[Blood onmy hands]

I seem to really amp up the honey in this, and it seems to be the bad sort of honey. It goes off and smells slightly metallic on my skin. Over time, a soapy something starts to poke around behind the honey, and it doesn't improve the blend any. I was hoping for more vanilla or ginger, but neither of those notes are anywhere to be found on my skin.

 

Harikata is off to the swap pile.

[Brianne]

I swear this smells just like honeydew melon when it first goes on me! JUST like. Then it starts to dry down and it smells like musk and osmanthus but the osmanthus is going a bit off on me I think. Something isn't quite "right in this blend on my skin so in the end it becomes a sort of bitter floral with a faint vanilla backdrop.

[suileach]

Sweet, sweet, glorious honey. *swoon* There's a blackberry or raspberryish edge to it; it reminds me of a flavored honey stick.

.

..NO. Cat pee! Why? Cursed skin chemistry!

 

Well, that was a short-lived love.

 

This scent is confounding me. The 'cat pee' smell went away, and there's this lovely, if very light, vanilla honey left behind.

 

The strange middle stage that occured with this scent unfortunately keeps this from being a winner for me.

[arabella]

First Impression: A very light, soft floral.

 

Dries down to: Stays much the same.

 

Additional Comments: This one is a surprise because honey usually amps greatly on me and I can barely detect it here. The blend has an oriental feel, probably due to the osmanthus and ginger, but it's very light and subtle. It's pretty but I don't like it enough to get a bottle; especially, since it doesn't last long.

 

Lasted: An hour or so.

 

Rating: 3.5 out of 5.

[vampkat]

This is such a beautiful flowery soft scent on me. I didn't think i was going to love this as much as I do, but I see I am definitely going to need a second bottle of this before it goes off. I couldn't stop sniffing my wrist when I had this on yesterday.l

[Bagfish]

The osmanthus is by far the strongest note in this on me. It is a spring flower-like floral and quite sharp and slightly green without any tempering of honey and musk. As it dries, it becomes more rounded and sweeter, but there is still a semi-fruity sharpness to it that doesn't really suit me. Only after a number of hours does it become a warm and musky gentle perfume.

[Czarina]

In the imp: honey.

Wet: honey vanilla.

Drydown: ginger honey vanilla.

 

Wonderful scent, but not much throw or wearlength.

 

I'm really having a hard time picking amongst the Lupercalias/Novel Amusements this spring.

[savage_rose]

Floral and sweet, but kind of sickly so. It reminds me of the organ grinder from CD, there's just this...pendulous, overripe fruit note that is going crazy on my skin. If it weren't for that, it might actually be enjoyable.

[Rovylern]

In the imp: I have no idea what I'm smelling, but it 'feels' golden. It doesn't smell particularly musky or floral or spicy or sweet.

 

Wet: Now there's floral notes. Something is making my nose twitch if I sniff too closely, maybe the ginger?

 

Drydown: I have such hit-or-miss luck with honey notes. Sometimes it's gorgeous, sometimes it turns into cat pee. Sadly, this is the latter kind. I really enjoyed this scent until about 45-60 minutes into the weartime, and then it turned bad. I probably won't be ordering a bottle of this before it comes down, but I'll hang onto my imp for use in my scent locket.

[blu°]

I'm among those who usually shy away from honey notes, but I got a decant of Harikata nevertheless because some of the reviews suggested it might be *the different honey blend*.

 

It is. Actually, I don't really smell the honey up front in this. It's there, but way in the background. It's not thick and molassy, but lightly golden, like a very liquid, transparent flowery honey. No darker notes in here.

 

I think what I mainly smell must be the osmanthus, and it's a very nice soft soft floral, that smells almost aquatic, i.e. sweet water aquatic. It reminds me of some sweet water scent, but I'm not sure which one. Maybe I'm confusing things, Midnight, Prague, Danube and possibly Amsterdam come to mind. Not that any of these smell like Harikata, but there seems to be some common element maybe? Whatever, my nose seems to be finding a lot of similarities lately, so don't take me too serious, please.

 

In the end, Harikata, as beautiful as it is, is probably not a scent for me, not because of the honey, but because of it being so slightly aquatic. I had some of these scents before and traded them all away because they are not really me, and I tire soon of them.

 

However, I must add, that it left the most beautiful scent in my room, after I wore it yesterday. I left the house and when I came back, I could definitely make out a sweet sweet honey floral scent in the air. Just beautiful. If I had a bit more money, I'd probably get a bottle of Harikata to use as a room scent.

[willowtreeling]

Harikata smells very similar to O on me....O that is a little less heady and a little more zingy and fresh--it has a melon-y tang to it that is quite refreshing and pretty.

Actually, it smells a bit like O and Selkie had a baby. A gentle, sweet baby.

It makes my mom's eyes water, but I sort of want it....I have a few hours, decisions, decisions....

[Miss Lynx]

I wanted to love this one (and Sapphics) just for the inspiration - I mean, how often does BPAL make overtly lesbian-themed scents?

 

But while not bad, it's not really my type of scent. It's very light and perfumey, super-feminine... A bit like Tamamo-no-Mae, but more floral and less musky, which means not so good for me. There's also something in it that seems very aquatic, but from the listed notes I'm not sure what that would be.

 

It does definitely have that certain feel to it that a lot of BPAL's Asian-themed scents have, in particular Hungry Ghost Moon. It's less complex than that scent, but fans of HGM and similar scents will definitely want to try this.

 

It's not really for me, but I could definitely see it attracting a lot of fans.

 

Grade: B-

Edited March 24, 2008 by Miss Lynx