Ushi

[Mellifluous]

Red musk, crushed tomatoes, mango, and fig.

Yummm Ushi!

In the bottle you smell like peachy mango deliciousness! And for the first 35, thats primarily how you stay. Not too sweat, just strong fruit with a very fresh smell. I'm getting almost no red musk on me, until hours later when theres almost no scent at all left. This really is a delicious, not too sweet, scent. I'm getting a bottle for sure.

[hkhm]

bottle: mango! just juicy, sweet, sticky mango.

 

wet: mango with gorgeous red musk, a topnote of something that smells more like tomato leaf and the faint earthy sweetness of fig lingering beneath. this is incredible.

 

dry: i can't even express how much i love this scent. it's fresh and crisp while being sensual and sweet.

[lefthandmade]

Wow, this is fruity!

 

I get mango, but a perfectly acceptable mango, kept in check by some greenery I just assume is the tomato leaf. And it works very well. After it dries a little I get red musk when I put my nose close to my skin. I bought this unsniffed from the lab as my only luper and it was a good choice.

 

After a couple of hours it's so gorgeous it's almost a little painful. In the very best sense of the word of course.

 

 

 

 

[Dark Alice]

Why this is not getting alot of love is beyond my understanding? It's wonderful! Wet: Sweet sweet red musk, I think its the mango, with hints of luscious red ripe tomato! Drydown: The fig/mango/tomato combo is really interesting on me. It's definitely a right day kind of scent b/c too much can be nauseating but when I wear it...it is just damn gorgeous!

[ladyjc]

ah! Just put this on (for the first time) to wear to work this morning and something in the back of my mind kept saying, "this smells familiar!!" and "you already own this and wear it regularly!" I was wracking my brain as to what it was reminding me of and all of a sudden, it hit me....Tweedledum. Almost exactly!

 

I'll hold onto it for a while to see if it becomes less like Tweedledum with time. If not, I may have to let it go. It smells great though!

[megank4]

Ahh! Blood Garden and Crimson Christmas! Get it off get it off get it off.

[reynardine]

Oooh, mango and tomato with a touch of red musk. Musk is touch and go with me, but this one seems to be working beautifully. I am so buying a bottle of this!

[edenssixthday]

Ushi - This is a really unique scent -- tons of bitter tomato (smells more like a tomato plant than the actual tomato fruit) mixed with fig and a hint of mango. I can barely smell the red musk. I didn't think I'd like this scent, as fig is not my favorite and I find tomato more interesting than wearable, but this is a highly wearable scent. The fig is turning me off from it a bit, as I generally don't like fig, but if I liked fig a bit more, I think I'd be a huge fan of this scent. It's so incredibly unique and interesting and fresh and juicy and absolutely perfect for summertime wear.

[cfrancesca]

This is starts off as a very juicy, unique scent. I get sweet mango, which actually smells like mango candy to me, it's a little artificial, the tomato leaf is present (I'm really surprised I like this in a perfume) and keeps the blend from getting too sweet, the fig is soft and well-blended, the red musk is barely there but I occasionally get whiffs of it the background. After a little while it gets sweeter and slightly sharp on me (I think the mango is winning out). The blend ends up reminding me of mango Hi-Chew.

[suki]

In The Bottle: Red, ripe fruity smell. I think it's the mango note, but it smells juicier than I'm used to the mango note smelling- perhaps the red musk is adding something unusual to the mix, or maybe the fig is staying put for a change (Eden, I'm looking at YOU).

 

Wet On Skin: the juicy-fruitiness is still going strong. I tested this at the last Seattle Will Call and I actually don't recall the fruit being so strong in this. I like it, though. Many time the fruit notes don't work so well on me, and go a bit plastic, but this seems to be working in a really sweet (but not kid-like) way.

 

Dry Down: Juicy fruitiness wins!

 

In All: I am actually kind of surprised. I don't know if the tester/prototype I tried at Will Call waS perhaps a bit of a different formula or if it had had a chance to age, but this is quite different from that testing. Where as that application produced a strong tomato plant component coupled with the Red Musk note one would expect from a good bottle of Smut, this time all I'm getting is the mango and fig combination. I'll hold onto this bottle to see if aging brings the other notes out more, since that was actually why I was interested in getting a bottle of this to begin with, but otherwise, I might have to trade or swap for a different bottle...

[Blood onmy hands]

I was hoping that Ushi would be mostly red musk with the spicy greenery of tomato leaf, but this is mostly mango and fig on my skin (which is nice, but a bit too fruity for me). I'm really surprised, because red musk is usually super-strong on me, and I can't even pick it out here. I get mostly juicy, sweet, bright mango with a sharp edge to it and hints of earthy, wooden fig. It has a green feel at first that might be the tomato, but that quickly fades on me. After two hours, I'm left with something like mango candy and warm, incensey musk, but the scent is mostly gone by that point.

[Gryphon]

Cheerful and fruity, but not a stand out for me.

[diBenjamin94108]

Ushi is juicy, big and fruitalicious. My 4 year old said, unprompted, "it smells like mango." But it's more than that. The tomato vine keeps it from being too sweet or childish, adds depth and interest. It's strong, and it lingers. I put it on and went to lunch with a friend, and sat there feeling like I was in a cloud of scent. This doesn't happen very often with BPAL scents. I've given up trying to associate the scent with the artwork in this series, though this is sexy -- mango is a sexy fruit, isn't it? Firm, but it gives, and then drips... so yes, it's a juicy, fruity, but not simplistic, sexy mango scent.

[Aldercy]

Mangoes, mangoes everywhere! It is grounded by the duller, heartier tomato note (it's a hint of tomato leaf, but also actual tomato, I think), but I don't really get any red musk (shocking! usually it's kind of a show-stealer) or fig. Very interesting.

 

As it dries, however, the fruitiness does start to go powdery and artificial on me, and ends up smelling a bit like perfumey tropical air freshener. I'm certain that's just my skin chemistry though-- I have a hard time with fruit notes-- because it's amazingly true and unique when wet.

 

Well. I'll hang on to my decant for awhile, but it's not looking promising.

[Invidiana]

Actually this didn't turn out as strange as I thought. I don't really get the tomato note; it probably just adds a tang to the blend but doesn't come out screaming tomato. It's mostly mango on me, with the tartness of the tomato and a bit of earthiness from the fig for balance, but apparently I'm amping the mango loud and clear. Surprisingly I get barely any red musk! This is a real shock because I would expect to amp that over everything, but there's only a trace of it on the drydown. Strange.

[MCS4096]

I knew the second I applied this it was going to be similar to Spawn of the She-Demon (one of my favorite red musk blends that elicits MANY compliments each time I wear it). But I was also hoping it would bring something new to the table--- I was very excited about that crushed tomato! And at first it did.. I got this awesome acidic tomato note (not green like the leaves at all) buuuuttt that died out pretty quickly and this becomes the poor man's She-Demon; artificial fruit with watered down red musk.

[Deek]

This is one that I ended up buying a bottle for at Will Call. Absolutely in love with it.

 

Bottle: Sweet, sweet mango and a little tomato.

Wet on Skin: I want to eat myself. The mango dies down a little, and the red deliciousness of the musk comes out. I haven't smelt any fig at all.

Dry: Juicy fruity fab! I love it. I wish it had a bit more throw, and lasted longer, but it's toooooo good and if I put in my hair it lasts all day and is awesome.

Overall: 5/5! Wins for being a very unusual, but about fruit scent. If you love juicy/red scents, I would highly consider this. I am probably going to buy a backup bottle.

[milo]

At first, this is juicy Ushi! Lush mango and red musk with a touch of tomato. I probably wouldn't have recognized it as tomato, as there is just a teen bit here, it is more tomato rather than tomato leaf. Dry, it is still fruity, but not as much. It's also gettting dusty, which is ruining this blend for me. Still very strong fruit and only a touch of red musk. I'm not sure why some blends do this on me, but it's like a dusty shelf that stores canneded goods. One of the mango jams leaked all over the place and it smells like sweet dirty, dusty mango. Not for me.

[surlygurl]

Finally! A red musk blend that I can wear. My search finally paid off. This is straight up juicy red fruit. Not 'red fruits weaving through some dark ingredient', but red fruit. Mostly mango, a little fig. Tomato must be hiding, because it's undetectable. Luckily, the red musk does NOT have the starring role. She's a bit player who's working her butt off to keep the unruly fruits in line. This scent doesn't morph or throw out any surprises. A juicy fruity summer scent that will age beautifully and make an interesting layering scent.

[zankoku_zen]

Ushi to me is a fruitier than ever red musk. Mostly mango and fig, and perhaps a touch of green from the tomato and definitely the red musk rounding it out.

 

I am pleasantly surprised. Typically, I amp up Beth's red musk so that most of the red musk blends end up like red musk SN on me. I am surprised at how well all of the notes play together.

[thekittenkat]

In the decant: All the notes.

 

Wet: Suddenly there's a bitter sharpness, so I'm thinking the tomatoes.

 

The dry-down: The other notes make a re-appearance, but I had been worried about the red musk, and I see I was wrong; I should have been concerned about the tomatoes instead. Would have been a lovely blend without the crushing of them. What little I have in the decant can go in the scent locket. Color me blue.

[heleng]

Fruity !

Wet this is mango with a tantalising note of tomato leaf in the background.

Dry it loses the delicious tomato greenness to become all mango, it's a little powdery and sweet now. I don't get musk or fig, I like this but probably not enough to search out a bottle.

[ljaylh]

Yep, here I am again.. another one I had to try, because of the mango. Have I mentioned how much I love mango? Yes, yes I have.. several times already

 

The uh-oh note in here was the crushed tomatoes.. because seriously, what are those doing in there??!!?? But my concerns have been squished, because Ushi is just gorgeous - simple yet complex, bright yet deep.. really it's very impressive.

 

When I first apply the oil, it's all mango - sweet, fruity, lush. Then the fig comes out and cuts through the fruitiness quite a lot, which is good here because the mango was pretty full-on at first so the earthy sweetness of the fig is perfect. The red musk in Ushi is fairly subdued on me - it's there, but it's not stomping around like it sometimes can on my skin. And the crushed tomatoes.. well, it's strange, but I can actually smell them in here! If I sniff really close-up to my skin, and take it all in, then the last thing passing through my nose is the tomatoes (but I think they're tomatoes with a touch of vine/leaf rather than just the tomato fruit). Eventually once everything has dried down and been on for about an hour, I'm left with a gorgeous red musk base with the mango and fig floating softly above it - a slightly creamy feel has emerged, and the whole thing has become very soft and snuggly.

 

My only complaint about this Shunga is that it reminds me a lot of Shango, which I already have. The fig is probably the point of difference for me between the two, and I think Ushi is overall a more complex blend with more layers than Shango, but I'm not sure the variance is enough to warrant a bottle purchase of Ushi.. as lovely as it is.

[Polly]

In the bottle: A sweet, fruity musk.

 

On Wet: Mmmmm.... I really like the way this smells on! The mango's sweetness is still there

but it's brought down just a bit by the musk. The tomato is there, a slight bitterness, and yes

it is more like sniffing a tomato leaf than cutting a tomato open.

 

On Drydown: Even nicer! The notes all blended beautifully on me, and... wow this is delicious!

I'm having a hard time dragging my nose away from my wrist!

[dawndie]

In bottle: light mango

 

On skin: yummy blast of mango, then a bit earthier from the tomato

 

Half-hour later: mellowed out mango with fig

 

In conclusion: I love red musk and was very interested in the mango/tomato combination, but was slightly disappointed that the fig turned out to be the strongest note. It's the dusty fig, like in Miller v. California. It's pleasant enough, but I wanted something bawdy and assertive from the other luscious ingredients.