Mikado Saloon Hair Gloss

[Lycanthrope]

The Mikado Saloon and Bordello, run by Pearl “21” Thompson, was a small, intimate establishment: well-worn leather with bourbon vanilla, dark musk, and ambergris accord.

Sweet, sweet on the skin off the bat. Vanilla leather. This is a deeper more fleshy leather. Then, very rich black musk. I amp black musk on my skin. I can tell this would be a very potent, musky leather cloud around my hair. I am terrible at identifying ambergris in any scent (even the ones with it like listed as the third ingredient of three items), but I guess that would add a waxy richness and slight saltiness (I do get that but it's not bad). In the end, a rich, black musk vanilla with maybe a twist of spanked leather and sweat-salt. I could probably as a guy get away with this but I would feel like this would go on a more ravishing gentleman than mild-mannered me.

[Haltija]

Thank you to my wonderful Fairy for picking this up for me because it is absolutely beautiful!

 

I have kept spraying this on my hair all day. I cannot get enough of it. It is indeed sweeter than most leather blends I have smelled. Truthfully, I can't really handle the leather in Eldritch Dark in my hair because mixed with the red musk it's very headache inducing during this warmer weather....... But this is magnificent! It's probably the softest leather I have come across. When I first spray it I get a blast of bourbon vanilla and ambergris and that does give it a saltiness like Lycanthrope mentions. The longer it sits the more the leather comes out but like I said earlier it's a sweeter leather, but nowhere near the lines of overbearingly sweet. Now that I think of it.... it gives off Jareth/Dorian vibes when the wind catches my hair and I can smell it. I think it would layer well with those blends and tons more. It's definitely a refined scent and not super abrasive.

 

I am inlove with it! It is a masterpiece

Edited June 3, 2015 by Haltija

[Numanoid]

OK!!! This is good!

 

In the bottle, I get the scent of vanilla and very soft leather.

 

In damp hair: Not sure what I am smelling, but I get a little vanilla, a hint of leather and mostly ambergris.... I think. Not sure what that exactly smells like on it's own, but I don't get bourbon out of this. The musk is very pale, which is good because musk isn't my friend!

 

I have to say this is a great HG! I think this would smell amazing on guys too! I wish it smelled more like it does in the bottle as in my hair, but this is still a keeper! More for maybe Fall or Winter wear, but surprisingly a medium throw! If I had to rate it, I would give it 4 out of 5 stars!

[Anita]

In the bottle, it is yummy, and reminds me a lot of antique lace, which is weird since they have NONE of the same ingredients... I get zero leather which makes me a little sad since that is what I wanted to smell the most.

 

In my hair, it is a beautiful scent, I can catch the vanilla and the ambergris, but the leather and the musk are nowhere to be found. I figured dark musk would be a heavy hitter, being dark and all, but no.

 

I desperately wish I could smell the leather more, but it is not to be. I tried putting more in my hair to see if it would amp it up a bit and it didn't work. When the man smelled me, I asked what he could smell, and he said it was a really clean smell, when I was hoping to lean toward "sexy".. oh well. I will keep it and use it, and hope for better next time around!

 

Edited to add: I finally tried it in my hair while my hair was wet- I do finally smell the leather but very faintly, and as my hair dries, the scent goes away as well. Not the entire scent, just the leather portion of it.

Edited June 11, 2015 by Anita

[SimplySyra]

This is very different from anything I have so I'm really excited.

 

Tested in mostly dry,slightly damp hair this is a soft pale leather with the Lab's ambergris making itself known as a kiss of salt. I agree with Anita's man tester; I think this does have a clean vibe which is unexpected! It's a very light airy scent There is a sense of very, very subtle sweetness but I don't get a vanilla vibe from it at all.

 

For me, it's basically a clean, wispy leather with a touch of ambergris and perhaps a latent sweetness. There's not a lot of throw that I can tell. It seems very unobtrusive and unisex. It's not my favorite HG but I quite like it and have no qualms adding it to my rotation!

 

-----Editing because this scent changed for me after it had time to settle!

 

Now I'm getting a lot more caramel-ish bourbon vanilla which I didn't detect at all when I first tried this. Instead of being just clean leather and salt, it's now soft brown leather and salt with a rich, sweet vanilla. The more I wear it, the more I love it! So glad I sprang for a bottle.

Edited June 18, 2015 by SimplySyra

[LiberAmoris]

Mikado Saloon is so good. I'm a BPAL ambergris accord fan...on me it smells a little like salted caramel with a tinge of something oceanic—salty amber with a touch of ozone. I love it because it's like a perfume note playing Twister: aquatic, mineral, resin, gourmand. It's very satisfying to have all those grace notes! And in Mikado Saloon, the ambergris accord takes the lead. After ambergris, I pick up the leather and bourbon vanilla in equal measure, and the dark musk is at the bottom, like something syrupy and dark making everything smooth as silk. I always worry that a leather note will amp on me, but here it's beautifully restrained, truly well-worn. In my hair this smells like a slightly less aquatic, darker Lyonesse with a kiss of leather. I absolutely adore this hair gloss and am so happy to have it in my collection.

[zankoku_zen]

I get brown leather and salty caramel. It's dark, dangerous and if you love leather and/or heavy caramel notes, go for it.

 

This is just too much for me.

 

ETA: Tried this again this morning, and I got more musk, but its essentially brown leather + salty caramel + musk. It's very sultry, just not for me.

Edited June 19, 2015 by zankoku_zen

[purplegirl]

Oh.

My.

God.

 

I've been getting packages of BPAL, other etailers and then in the last few years, BPTP goodies and this was the first time in 10 years that my eyes involuntarily rolled back in my head when I sniffed a scent. I've swooned, I've sighed - but this was a full-on nosegasm.

 

I die. Fresh out of the box, Mikado Saloon is a leather-y vanilla, musky gem. First spritz and in my hair, she smells like a hot and heavy cross between Haloes and Lyonesse. I love both of those scents, so Mikadi is right up my alley. I am so, so glad I snagged a bottle on Etsy. I will be praying that this bad girl appears again on Etsy, or comes back as a resurrected scent somewhere down the line OR - the ultimate dream - it becomes a GC. It's instant love. And lust. Rawrrr!!!

[vanilla323]

Got a decant of this from a lovely forumite.

 

To me it is all a sweetened leather. I don't get much else but it is lovely and sophisticated. Different then any other HG I tried. It has light throw though...wish it was stronger.

 

But overall it's a sexy sweet leather.

[Diva Urd]

Oh my god, this is delicious

 

I get all listed notes. At first, the vanilla is very strong and sweet, but once it calms down, this is all leather and musk, with a hint of salty freshness from the ambergris, and the remnants of vanilla lifting the scent out of the darkest depths. purplegirl above mentions that it reminds her of Lyonesse, and I have to agree. It gives off the same overall feel, only it's more musky and leathery on me. Absolutely amazing, I already wish I had more than just a decant!

[ShowOrchid]

I'm really bummed I'm going to eventually run out of this, but it's been my go to hair gloss since getting decants. The vanilla/leather is what I smell in the bottle and at first spray, then it turns to musky/leather sexiness. It lasts until my next wash!

[LizziesLuck]

Mmmm. I think this is my favourite leather scent that I have ever smelled. That vanilla is amazing, and makes me really enjoy the leather, which is sometimes iffy for me, but smells great in this. I get a bit of black musk too, which I love, but I don't really smell any ambergris. Love this. Dark sexy vanilla goodness!