Chastising Your Dragon

[dementia_divine]

BAD DRAGON! BAD! Cherry blossom, bourbon vanilla, rice milk, and white sandalwood.

Random note: This scent shares artwork with a past BPAL event exclusive: BPTP's Housebreaking Your Dragon atmosphere spray.

In the bottle: Lots of cherry blossom, white sandalwood, and rice milk. I am not detecting the bourbon vanilla note in the bottle, but I hope it makes an appearance on my skin!

Wet: Cherry blossom takes the center stage. Then, it calms down a bit, and the rice milk ends up sidling up next to it, and threatens to overtake it, but doesn't quite succeed. They both end up being main players, until the white sandalwood begins to emerge after a few minutes and decides to sidle up to them. It's increasing in strength over time, but not the most prominent note.

Dry: This ends up being a soft, somewhat clean scent. The rice milk and white sandalwood are the dominant notes during this phase of the scent on me, and although white sandalwood can sometimes be really dry on me, this one hasn't been problematic. The cherry blossom is still present, but it's been confined to a background role. I'm not getting any of the bourbon vanilla from this, but perhaps it will come out with age?

Verdict: I thought this would be like a Shunga in Dragon form, and it is! It's not the cherry blossom + vanilla that I was hoping for, but it's still a nice scent. I'm going to hold onto my bottle and hope the vanilla comes out after some aging!

[zankoku_zen]

Cherry blossom, rice milk, and a bed of sandalwood. This one is much much lighter than I expected. It codes as vaguely Shunga-esque actually to me. This one is a light, delicate, smell.

Actually, I would love some of my skincare products to smell like this. Delicate florals, luxurious, comforting. Low throw and wear length.

[Jenjin]

This must be the dragon's blushing cheeks - beautiful, moderately sweet cherry blossom, divinely fresh and floral. "Transparent" and easy going - almost rosy. The blossoms are almost fruity here. I'm getting a top-note of the delicate florals blending with something that almost smells like rain. It's very lovely, feminine and so pretty. This is perfect for those bright, sunny days when the sky is full of huge, fluffy clouds and you want something creamy, bright and romantic.

[Otterling]

I am so glad I bought a bottle of this. OMG. The smell....so...pretty. Ahem, anyway, formal review.

 

In the bottle: This is a truly lovely light floral scent. Not the cloying kind of floral that I often avoid as they tend to smell like a whole bouquet or a giant air freshner. This is the light floral of standing outside on a bright spring day and catching the first breath of cherry blossoms wafting across the breeze. There's a lovely sandalwood note that isn't too strong and the vanilla adds just a hint of sweetness that brings the blend together.

 

Wet: Once on the skin the cherry blossom note really sparks up. It's bright and vibrant without being overpowering. Almost immediately though, that sandalwood starts coming back to the surface. It takes this from a strictly floral blend to an almost zen one that is one of those "can't quite put my finger on what that scent is" kind of blends. The sandalwood hugs close to the skin and stays tinged with the cherry blossom quite a while.

 

Dry: The woody notes have blended nicely in with the cherry blossoms by this point. It almost smells, dare I say it, the way drift wood does when fresh off the beach. There's that clean air and wood smell that I love. It's got very subtle undercurrents of vanilla but that has taken a backstage on my skin. The sandalwood plays most powerfully here.

 

All in all a really clean, gorgeous scent. It's subtle, pretty, and lingers a good long while. Definitely worth snagging if someone has a spare bottle out there. I'll be keeping mine and waiting to see what aging does to this!

[Dharklady]

I had high hopes for this blend, but sadly the cherry blossom appears to REALLY like my chemistry...

In bottle: soft bright floral, a bit of sharp greenery, and the slightest trace of a milky basenote.

 

On skin: Exuberant floral, which is at least clean and not overly sharp smelling but unfortunately it exists in that state on me throughout it's drydown. And continues. And continues. Sadly I can't find any of the other notes in this, the cherry blossom is simply too overpowering. Probably not a problem others will have, the rest of the notes sounded really nice.

[Deceitfuldescender]

I amp Cherry blossom I guess. Drydown is mostly cherry blossom softened with a touch if creamy milkyness.

[LizziesLuck]

I feel like I sometimes get tunnel vision around certain notes, ignoring the ones that I am not fond of (like cherry blossom) and convincing myself a scent will smell like those other notes in the description, the ones I love. We'll see how that turns out for me...

 

Wet: Allll kinds of cherry blossom. Like, so very much of it. HOWEVER - that being said, it's pretty so far. Light, soft, feminine. A little powdery, but in that "fresh, clean" sort of way that I really like. It's actually kind of beautiful, in a clean, fresh way. I am wondering if it might be a scent I could get away with wearing to work, in small amounts. I am always on the look out for clean scents that are light enough for work.

 

Dry: Soft, light and cleanly floral. Very beautiful and feminine. Little throw on me. This will actually be perfect for work for me, I think. It's different from the other clean scents I have. Gosh it's so pretty! I can't stop sniffing my arm. I have a strong desire to wear it with Kamisuki HG.

[SurrealReality]

I was really hoping for rice milk and bourbon vanilla with a prominent, sweet, and almost fruity cherry blossom note (like the note in Spirit of The Komachi Cherry Tree for instance) against a backdrop of subdued white sandalwood.

 

In the bottle: This was not at all what I was expecting. Very sharp, green, and almost sour. To be honest, I'm not even sure what note or combination of notes could be giving me this impression. There's a little bit of creaminess underneath it, but not much.

 

Wet on skin: Still very sharp/sour, but a bit more creaminess is slowly working its way in and the cherry blossoms are making themselves known.

 

About a half hour in: It took quite a while, but the sharp/sour green note has faded away thank goodness. It is now cherry blossoms (but it's a much less sweet/fruity note than what I was hoping for), rice milk, sandalwood, and a hint of vanilla. It's very floral, a little creamy, a little sweet, and a little powdery. I'm enjoying it at this stage, although it's not what I was hoping for.

 

About an hour in: Nooooo..... ALL of the creaminess and sweetness disappeared so quickly! It is now cherry blossoms (again, not the sweet note I was hoping for) against a clean, aquatic background.

 

Verdict: Aside from a fleeting period between the wet stage and the dry down, this is not my thing.

 

I would suggest trying if you enjoy aquatic fragrances.

 

 

 

[milo]

Sandalwood and cherry blossom. This is like nothing I own in the bpal world, a dry floral, but it smells 'clean', which a lot of cherry blossom scents do to me, as they seem like in a lot of shower gels and soaps. I don't mind this, it will be a lovely scent for spring.