Kabuki

[Avery]

Compelling, complex, and utterly enigmatic: a luxuriant, exotic blend of cherry, red musk, and star anise.

Wow, I can´t believe I´ve gone so long without posting a review for Kabuki. It is interesting to read through the other reviews and see how many of you get very strong (even medicinal) cherry vibe from this.

First and foremost, I am a lover of anise and black licorice. Although I have tried several anise blends, this one comes to the forefront as a favorite, my ultimate scent for when I want to smell like a naughty, sexy black jellybean. Hey, the mood strikes! I´m also a scent/color coordinator kind of girl, and this is good for the very dark pallete. Anyway, on my skin Kabuki lasts well beyond 12 hours, and doesn´t change very much from beginning to end. There is an underlying cherry scent that gives the scent a "juicy" feeling, maybe it´s part of what adds to the naughty/nice appeal, but it´s definitely in the background and is in no way medicinal on me.

I originally was frimped this, bought a 2ml bottle, and when I got another frimp realized that I should never be without it. I immediately sought a bottle, and wear it a few times a week. Definitely in my top 10! Now I have to try Le Pere Fouettard, because... vanilla, licorice and leather? I´m going to have to try layering LP and Dead Man´s Hand with Kabuki now. Edited January 9, 2009 by Shollin

[obsidienne]

Kabuki is a gorgeous musky cherry on me, with only the barest hint of star anise (but which brightens up the sweetness, a bit).

The cherry is pretty sweet and can almost verge on maraschino, but I am liking it nonetheless. There is also something in here that makes me think of rich dark wood. I don't know where that is coming from, but it's a really nice touch.

 

Kabuki has average throw and wear length; I got a wee bit on my shirt, and that smelled strong for a lot longer, so I think I'd use this in a scent locket in the future. Very sensual and mysterious.

[Reaver]

Cherries. Beautifully astringent cherries. Cherries soaked in rich whiskey. The cherries back away quickly to reveal a sweet aniseed scent, akin to licourice, but more adult. This is deep and sexual, but still overwhelmingly fruity and sexual. This is one of my favourite blends, but I have to be careful of when I wear it. This one really gets affected by my hormones, it seems. Excellent throw and lingers for hours. And yes, it STINKS of cough syrup. Delicious.

 

Conclusion: I’m damn happy that this is GC, or I’d be spending far too much money on hoarding bottles and bottles of it.

 

10/10. Rich, and I want to lick myself. I tried it. Not good.

 

[Saya]

When first applied this is a sweet, rich cherry blend. After about 15 minutes the cherry starts to fade while the anise starts becoming more dominant. For whatever reason, when I sniff my wrist I get a definite wood/pine note. Strange, I know. But, when I catch whiffs of this as I move it's mostly a vibrant anise scent with the cherry adding a touch of syrupy sweetness.

 

This is an interesting blend, but since I don't care for anise, it's not one I'd ever reach for.

 

Score from 1-5 (5 being the best) - 1.9

[Yoginispirit]

You know- I never thought I'd like to smell of Twizzlers but indeed I do!

 

This is so yummy when first applied. It smells like cherry licorice and it is STRONG!

I slathered it on pretty good because things have been fading fast on me lately. About an hour later it's sweetened up alot but faded and it's hard for me to pick up. I think my skin eats this

But the scent stays pretty true without much morphing. I'll have to try this in my shiny new locket that I will be ordered as soon as the update comes up *rubs hands together gleefully*.

[milo]

Initial impressions, this is fruit and licorice. In the imp it was a bit too fruity, and I'm actually surprised that it is cherry, as we normally don't get along AT ALL. On, the licorice and red musk come out to play, so the cherry is not all that offensive to me. This is 'OK', but a little too sweet for me.

[Veronica]

This smells strikingly similar to cherry cough syrup wet, and retains that sticky, sweet cherry, although it fades behind the musk and anise more and more as it dries. A few hours later, it's all musk and no cherry. Not for me at all.

[ouch!]

I was so excited about this one, Red Musk = yum! and Cherries = Yum2.

 

This blend is a perfet mix of all 3. The cherry is the first whoosh of lovliness and it's dark. and sexy because of the red musk.

It fades out quite quickly, cherry always does. And the red musk and anise are side by side, equal parts. This is gorgeous in the dry down. I'm totally biased though because I adore red musk.

 

When I keep sniffing it's like the red musk and the anise are taking it in turns to show me who's boss! It's equal..but at different times.

 

Edited April 17, 2009 by ouch!

[tapestry]

I bought this during my first BPAL-apalooza experience back in '04, because I like anise/licorice and enjoy cherries (though am on the fence about smelling like them) -- I didn't know much about musk at the time. Blasphemy, I know! I was a heathen back then who literally shoved her imp back into the closet and forgot about it, so the damn thing aged four years before I found it again.

 

Aged Kabuki is much like fresh Kabuki. It smells gorgeous, dark and just a bit hedonistic. Unfortunately, Kabuki is not for me. There is some component in this blend which gives me the same reaction as the Lab's cinnamon and cassia notes -- when I put this stuff on, it burned. Within minutes I was covered in welts and had to wash it off, only for them to last a good long while. If you have sensitivies, I'd stress caution with Kabuki. It's a beautiful, rich and heady perfume, but for skin contact us wussy folk (who knew I was one!) ought to be careful.

 

Aged Kabuki: Not for the faint-hearted. The red musk deepens, darkens, the cherries become richer and less medicinal and the anise turns into something you desperately want to either eat or make love to. It's really hard to tell.

[anna1850]

Very strong dark cherry. It reminds me partly of cherry pie but also of cherry cough sweets (e.g. Tunes). There's a hint of anise and the musk gives it a lot of depth. However, although it's quite nice, it's not really my kind of thing.

 

3.5/5 Like Hollywood Babylon with more cherry.

[Aldercy]

Kabuki is completely luscious. It's unreal, explosively red cherries at first, but that quickly quiets to a slow, delicious dribble of ripe cherry that isn't quite so saccharine or girly (though that first stage is actually pretty good). A glaze of licorice sneaks over everything and really polishes things up-- it's smooth... almost glassy or metallic. There's a slight, purple smokiness in the background and even a hint of rustling rice paper/parchment. It's very languid, deep and a little dizzying if used to excess.

 

This reminds me not exactly of Japan, but of the idea of Japan. The Victorian fad of japonisme with ladies admiring imported painted tables and exotic woodblock prints. That's not a bad thing.

 

Overall, I'm charmed.

Edited May 4, 2009 by Aldercy

[Footnotegirl]

Kabuki, a story in two parts:

 

Part one, being the short story -

Bottle opened - Hrm, very sweet.

Drop applied to wrist - CHERRY

Drydown - ANISE OF DOOOOOM I'm not liking so much.

5 minutes - CHERRY NYQUIL DISASTER

30 minutes - Hmm, it's like some sort of interesting, european candy, for sophisticated palates.. very nice, very subtle.. hmm.

1 hr and thereaftter - PLEASE STOP ME FROM TRYING TO LICK AND MAKE LOVE TO MY OWN WRIST IT IS OBSCENE. om nom nom.

 

Part two, being the longer tale -

So, I got Kabuki as a frimp over a year ago. I opened the imp, sniffed it, and didn't think too much about it afterwards for a while. Then in July, I had a little meet 'n' sniff with some friends at a convention, and I offered to trade a bottle of Litha and the imp of Kabuki to one of them for a bottle of tasty, tasty intoxicating homemade Limoncello (the drink, not a scent). Before I completed the trade, I put a dab of Kabuki on my arm and sniffed it, winced, and was happy to be rid of it.

I should have known better.

An hour later I was whining to any who would listen about my rampant stupidity, but a good bit of the limoncello was gone and the trader had already returned home. Sadness was me. Because my wrist smelled sweet but not too sweet, and ever so slightly earthy and herby, and the anise added a tinge of unexpected without being overboard and all licoricy. And all of it terribly, terribly sexy. So for several months I have been searching for a bottle on eBay, but never found it. Recently I gave in and ordered an imp pack, and Kabuki was one of the imps and I now hug it and love it and call it george and wear it incessantly. Which means that soon, I will have to buy a bottle.

[ami226]

In the imp: Whoa, cherry!!

 

On the skin: the cherry takes over immediately. Sadly, it is the icky cough syrup cherry..... On the drydown, the anise takes over and creates a licorice smell.

 

Overall: definitely not my thing.

[BuxomM]

It's cherry for a few seconds wet then a light anise, no cherry. it's a very light pleasant anise, barely there and nice and nothing else.

Edited July 1, 2009 by BuxomM

[Argentwolf]

Initially, I got lots of syrupy cherry with a hint of cinnamon; subsequent uses brought out the licorice. Now, it's blended (in that very mysterious way that a lot of scents seem to have gotten their shit together a month after I originally tested them) into a nice mix of cherry and anise, with the licorice smell diabolically present and tempting. I was on the fence about getting rid of it, but now that I've read the reviews again, I think I'll hang onto it. It stays and throws decently.

[bubblefish]

This smells like sweet, sexy maraschino cherry and then once it's got you in its seductive grip it pulls out a delicate dash of star anise. I could eat my wrist, it smells so damn awesome.

[HKB]

Immediately this makes me want to eat a whole jar of those maraschino cherries. Then a little bit of the licorice-y smell of anise... Then anise gets stronger and stronger until the cherry and anise are about equal, and they complement eachother very well. After a while there's something that smells a little burned. No idea. It must be the red musk, which I have no prior experience with.

This does not smell like medicine to me at all, and I absolutely hate the smell/taste of artificial cherry (and grape) due to the association with medicine. This just smells really delicious to me and the musk is growing on me. I also hate the taste and sometimes the smell of licorice, but according to this I do not hate anise. Fruity smells usually suck on me so it's strange that I like this so much.

[mgrazulis]

Smoky cherry syrup, very vibrant when wet...the red musk is just barely present. The anise kicks in to spice it up. It dries very quickly and burns off. Delicious while it lasted...

[rayvn1]

This smelled truly gawd awful when I first applied it. Strong, sweet cherries in the imp and then Blam! disaster on my skin. Utter, complete disaster of plasticky , rancid proportions About five minutes later the cherry cough syrup died away and I'm left with a strong anise note that has more licorice in it than L'heure verte or La Pere Fouetard. Might be the lingering dash of cherry making it smell like red vines. I must confess that I hate the smell of red vines It was a long shot, but 'twas not to be, Kabuki.

[sirensea]

I'm not sure what happened. It started off as a nice, cloyingly sweet cherry, which I like! But then it fades to something a little more... musky. Very similar to those cherry licorice candies, the ones that come in squares. Not a bad scent by any means, but my chemistry makes it smell... too dry and flat.

[quigza]

The oil in the imp is very dark. I think it is also aged at least a year

 

 

imp: Cherry cough syrup. It's spot on for Robitussin DM.

 

wet: Dear god, the throw on this is far. People in other cubicles are asking who spilled cough syrup. The astringent note is burning my nose.

 

dry: the cherries smell more candied now & black jelly beans are in there

 

aftermath: It's faded to faint, non sweet licorice & something a little spicy.

[tajana]

Wet: The cherry is the most prominent note right off the bat, red, syrupy sweet, and voluptuous. It's juiciness melds perfectly with the red musk, whose slightly incensey, drier qualities still shine through thanks to the addition of a light breath of anise. I usually dislike/hate anise, but it's perfect here: it's spicy but fresh and coy and ever-so-slightly dangerous, and adds the perfect high note... it really makes this work.

 

Dry: The cherry really calms down after a bit. Ultimately, all three of the listed notes balance each other out, and smell a bit more complex than such a short list would imply.

 

Overall: There really is something alluring and charming about Kabuki. It's hard to pin down. I like it more each time I wear it... it keeps reeling me in. I thought I was set for fruit red musks (Mme. Moriarty) but I like this better, it just smells younger and more interesting. If you're a fan of red musk, I would definitely urge you to check this one out.

Edited December 8, 2009 by tajana

[kohimame]

Kabuki is a very interesting scent. It's what I always thought Blood Kiss should smell like, sweet cherries covering something dark and sinister. Not very me, but still a nice scent

[angelicruin]

On my skin, this is initially cherry, but the licorice emerges very soon after application. In fact, the licorice keeps the cherry note in check. (Cherry normally amps like crazy on me.)

 

I love this scent. Licorice is one of my favs. Must get a bottle of this with my next BPAL order.

 

[starfish327]

To use a cliche, this is exactly what it says on the tin. And it got swapped almost immediately.

 

In the bottle, all I smell is candy. Sweet, overpowering, red cherry candy, like twizzlers. It stopped just sort of cough syrup but it was definitely in that line.

 

Wet, there was a slight mellow richness that started to come through, it wanted to come through (I'm assuming the red musk), but then the cherry kicked in again. Once it dried down completely all I got from it was old licorice (the star anise).

 

It worked wonderfully for a friend of mine, so it's hers now. I think with a heavier musk it would have worked better for me because musk plus me just works, but this just reminded me of aging candy.