Tomoe Gozen

[Balame]

Red currant, golden amber, blackberry, honey, and pink pepper.

 

My first reaction when I apply this is "tingly"! Definitely thanks in part to the pepper. There's a lot of sharp berries, as in a very strong blackberry. It's sweet yet bitter, more like what you'd expect from cranberry, and though I usually enjoy berry notes, I find myself starting to dislike blackberry for this very reason (too sharp and overpowering).

I can slowly start to pick out the dreamier honey, yet it almost comes across as soapy/shampoo in this combination.

I totally agree with kerikeri: This is tart and candy-ish, similar to citrus. I really do think it's the blackberry's fault, as I've experienced the same thing in other BPAL oils with it listed as one of the main players (Bewitched, Lady Macbeth). At least I've discovered another note to put on my "do not fancy" list now...

It's weird because I love the smell of blackberry jam. It's sweet, but much richer and full bodied. This reminds me of a cheap Bath and Bodyworks spritzer.

[Ajila]

In the bottle - Citrus and soap and wood shavings

 

Wet on me - Kind of warm fuzzy/fizzy lemons, odd

 

Dry on me - Nothing much at all

 

Overall - Faded far too quickly on my skin

[distracts]

Huh, how have I not reviewed this? This is one of the few things I have a backup bottle of. Because I really love it. I have to stop myself from buying ALL the Tomoe Gozens I see because that would be really unnecessary. Yet it kind of feels necessary.

 

Anyway. Tomoe Gozen is all juicy red currant (fruity!) with honey. The pink pepper adds a little spice (a lot when it was fresh, but now that it has aged, the pink pepper has been tamed a bit) and the amber keeps it from being too heady. I'm not sure where the blackberries come in - they could be adding to the fruitiness but most other BPAL perfumes with blackberry come across as cat pee to me and I don't smell that in this one. New, this had quite a bit more tartness and spiciness, but aged it is a lot of warm fruity honey.

 

I get the comparisons to Hermia - that's another favorite of mine - but not to Lady Una, which was so cat pee it made me gag and imo is the second-worst BPAL I have ever tried.

[Aveya]

This is an odd one to me. It's surprisingly CLEAN smelling on me at first. I don't know if that's the pepper? Or if the basenotes take too long to show up so it feels empty? At this point it's slightly fruity but in a tart way. Currant seems to go that route for me.

 

Given a little time the blackberry pops up a little bit more. It's reminiscent to me of Crawdad's berry, but not the same. It's juicier/clearer, and a bit more tart. This maintains an odd level of floral for me? It's not floral proper, but it's a clean/floral/powder hit, I'm assuming the amber + pink pepper is making my brain go odd. To me this is in the realm of early-stage Lady Una (I just tested, fresh on my brain). Reminds me of elements of Red as well.

 

Verdict; Feminine, bright, juicy without going dark, gently sweet. Low throw. Swapper for me, but nice for others I'm sure.

[donkehpoo]

Wet: This is going to be a weird description, but... warm, clean, and sweet. No individual notes are really standing out except for the amber.

 

Dry: Red currants with amber and honey. It's actually not very sweet, it's more "warm" than anything. I think this would be rather nice for bed time! I look forward to how this one will age.

Edited June 16, 2018 by donkehpoo

[Lucchesa]

Tomoe Gozen is mainly a honey and amber skin scent on me, with a little red currant appearing as it dries down. I never smell pink pepper, so I wasn't expecting to here, but I was hoping for some blackberry. So, a lovely slightly fruity honeyed amber, but nothing out of the ordinary on my skin.

[Juliamon]

I managed to spill my decant all over myself.

 

Honey and red currant are the prominent notes for me. Sweet, fruity, heady. The blackberry stays in the background. I couldn't detect the amber or the pink pepper, but BPAL's amber usually acts more as an anchor on me than as its own thing and I'm not very familiar with pink pepper.

 

12 hours later, my arm still smells faintly of honey.

 

It's quite nice, but I'm in no hurry to replace the decant. I have other fruity berry scents I like and I'm not frequently in the mood for a honey scent.