MIKMOI quick takes
These are my impressions from sniffing on cards in the perfume store: I didn’t try these on my skin, so mostly these will only tell you about the opening.
Knight of Flowers
Notes: stargazer lily, bay rhum, civet.
To me, unfortunately, smelled like rotten fruit.
Amari
Notes: bitters, tobacco leaf, clove.
To me, though, it smells like Manischewitz wine. Yikes!
Lingua Franca
Notes: lemongrass, allspice, palo santo, oud
There’s a lot of lemongrass and it reminds me too much of Thai food.
Itoh
White cedar, peony, pink lotus.
I’m getting a lot of cedar, like a Japanese teahouse in the woods.
Ao
Notes: tuberose, thai ginger, young coconut
My handwritten note is just “dammit coconut.” Coconut fragrances just read as trashy to me -- they scream “I am at the BEACH in a BIKINI.” I don’t know that this is an especially bad coconut fragrance but it is definitely an instance of that class.
Vesper
Notes: Lillet, suede, rose, frankincense, myrrh
It really does smell like a Vesper cocktail, thanks to the Lillet. I enjoy it, but it really signals “femme fatale.” Usually suede has that effect; it’s very much like the Tori Amos song Suede. I’d wear this out on a date if I wanted to try on a mysterious persona, but definitely not in the daytime.
Nuovo
Notes: neroli and fig
I almost bought this, and I’m in real danger of blowing $78 on it one of these days. It’s a beautiful shady green scent. There’s no fig fruit, just the green-sap leaf. It reminds me of dappled shady streets in summertime. It brings back memories of my childhood best friend’s house, which was on a deeply shaded street, and was full of old books and ornaments from India and Iran.
Sencha
Notes: green tea, cedar, mint
Green tea and cedar sounds nice in theory, but the actual smell is really calm and cool, to the point of being a bit bland and austere.