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Wednesday, September 19, 2012

Review: Tokyo Milk Kabuki No. 9 Parfum

Recently I've been receiving requests for more fragrance reviews, and I'm delighted to oblige since bath and body products are my first passion (even before makeup and nail polish, if you can believe that). 

I've been wanting to try a fragrance from Toyko Milk since I first heard about this brand maybe a year or two ago. I realize that the price point of their fragrances isn't in line with most products I feature on Nouveau Cheap, but $30 for a one-ounce bottle of fragrance is actually inexpensive for a boutique fragrance (many boutique fragrances can run upwards of $100 or more). Plus, this one's easily accessible on beauty.com, which is where I purchased this bottle of Kabuki No. 9. That said, let's take a look...

 Tokyo Milk Kabuki No. 9 Parfum
(retail: around $30, 1.0 oz)

It was torture trying to decide which Tokyo Milk fragrance to buy. I almost bought Let Them Eat Cake, but then when I saw a reference online comparing Kabuki to Fresh's Sugar Lychee (one of my top 10 fragrances of all time), I knew it had to be mine.
Back of bottle:


Just a little aside: Kabuki is a form of classical Japanese theater, and its most distinguishing characteristic is that the actors wear white face paint. (the brush used to apply this face paint is where we get the term "kabuki brush" today). I think it would have been more striking to have used an image of a Kabuki actor in traditional white face makeup here, but I digress...


A decidedly different collection of brilliantly paired fragrance notes housed in an alluring glass bottle decorated with an iconic image of Japanese theater.

Time honored tradition: Sugared Grapefruit, Lychee & Sweet Jasmine

Kabuki is a soft, feminine, "dainty" type of fragrance that opens with sweet lychee fruit and tart grapefruit and then dries down to a mostly powdery, almost heliotrope type of candied vanilla fragrance. I can only detect the jasmine after this has been on my skin for about 30 minutes, and even then it's quite subtle. As a super-fan of Fresh Sugar Lychee, I don't quite see the similarities here, as I find Sugar Lychee to have a dominant lychee note that lingers throughout the life of the fragrance. The lychee note in Kabuki is far more fleeting to my nose.

The best way I can describe this fragrance is by telling you what it's not. This is definitely not a sparkling citrus type of fragrance, and I wouldn't put it in the "clean" category either. It's not dark, heavy or sensuous. At the same time, it's not as sweet as say, Pink Sugar, but if forced to put it in a category, I guess Pink Sugar would be the closest mainstream reference, although it would be at the FAR end of the Pink Sugar spectrum. Think Pink Sugar without the cloying syrupy notes and with added fruits and powder. Gah! That's not really helping, is it? How about this: if Pink Sugar were to whisper softly at you through a gauze of powder, it might resemble Kabuki No. 9.

This fragrance wears very close to the skin and doesn't enter the room before you do. I can get about four  hours of wear before it fades completely, but of course everyone's body chemistry is different so your mileage might vary.

Do you own anything from Toyko Milk? I'd love to hear your thoughts!

PS: Tokyo Milk also makes lipsticks, lip balms (I'm dying to try their Iced Green Tea Bon Bon Lip Balm), candles, bath and body products and more. You can view/purchase their entire line of products here.
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13 comments

  1. One of my favorite fragrances is Tokyomilk's Song in D Minor. It's a very sweet floral, but it seems to remind me of something from my childhood...

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    1. I have song in D minor and it also reminds me of something from my childhood, not sure what though...

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    2. Me too! I also have Song in D Minor and it definitely reminds me of childhood. Not sure what though...

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  2. I don't have any of these. But, I do like to smell Dainty!!!

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  3. i LOVE tokyo milk!! one of my favorite smells is I Want Candy. I also love the other brand by the same woman love&toast. both great :) Luckily there are a few places in town that sells this so I can go smell them. Anthropologie used to sell them

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    1. Ooooh, I just discovered Love&Toast last week at WholeFoods. Mandarin Tea and Honey Coconut smelled sooo good, only downside is that when I used the testers (one on each wrist) by the time I got home the scent had vanished. Btw- the only product I own from those brands is a TokyoMilk lip bon bon balm in Let Them Eat Cake and that smells to me like Play-Dóh mixed in w/ a cocoa-coconut cake, love it! :)

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    2. Love&Toast was sold at Urban Outfitters years ago, but they don't sell the same brand of fragrances for long so I was excited to see it in a bakery/boutique where I live; other than that it's not sold anywhere in town :( I don't have a Whole Foods. Tokyo milk is sold at Hallmark weirdly and I think most of the scents are yumm.

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  4. I haven't tried Fresh's Sugar Lycee, but the Body Shop released a summer exclusive lycee scent that you might want to check out. The lycee scent is fairly dominant to me.

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  5. Let Them Eat Cake is also very close to the skin. To me, it is subtly sweet, milky, and very light. There is a touch of coconut, but a soft touch. The fragrance reminds me of a favorite blanket from childhood, worn thin, but still comforting. It's probably the most work-safe perfume out there, because it's so delicate that I can't imagine anyone being offended by it. It's one of the handful of fragrances I sometimes dab on my wrists before bedtime to send me off to a happy dreamtime.

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  6. I love Tokyo Milk! I have Dead Sexy, and it's a fabulous perfume. I have used their bubble baths as well and I really like those too. Choosing which perfume to get is so hard! They are such a lovely brand.

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  7. The way you describe it compared to Pink Sugar makes me think of their "Sensual" fragrance, which I completely love even though fragrances give me headaches. I wear it for special occasions, sprayed on the back of my evening outfit hours ahead of time, so it fades enough not to bother me for the few hours I wear it. :)

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  8. Can you find this brand at any (not online) stores? When it comes to fragrance, I really just have to go and smell something myself before buying.

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  9. You should try 02 Le Petit or 12 Gin & Rosewater, both have a lovely scent. Le Petit has a bit of a more floral tone than Kabuki. Gin&Rosewater is a bit harder to explain...it has a sweet, floral and citrus scent. I find that Gin&Rosewater is the parfum that one would use to transition from using sweet scents as a teen to a more adult kind of perfume without smelling too old. My mom calls it the "Young Lady" scent haha

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