VACATION FRAGRANCE EXPERIENCES

Hello, it's been a while. I'm glad to return with a fragrance-related post instead of another laser roast, even though it's been almost a month since I returned.

I was on vacation for almost two months. I visited San Francisco, Japan, Hong Kong, and mainland China. It was a long vacation that left me longing to return to the USA, which is crazy—most Americans want to be anywhere but the US. 

In SF, I didn't do much fragrance shopping. I went to Bloomingdale's to check out their fragrances before they permanently closed. The store was almost empty, so there wasn't much to browse. 

A location I wanted to go to but didn't is the brick-and-mortar store of the Ministry of Scent. I plan to purchase decants from them once I get through all my current samples, which won't happen any time soon everything makes me nauseous.  

Unfortunately, I didn't take pictures or write my thoughts on ANY of the fragrances I sampled. All these impressions are merely faint, inaccurate memories. 

Japan... oof

First noteworthy spot:

I visited Officine Universelle Buly in Shibuya Parco. This was one of the must-visit brands I put in the travel itinerary. The hair oil, scented matches, hair brush, and perfume are regularly featured in AME Life, a kitchy fashion/lifestyle channel. There are no stores in the USA (there used to be one in NYC). No decant-selling website (to my knowledge) carries this brand. 

Well, now I know why!

Of the over 10 water-based perfumes in their permanent collection and limited/special edition line, I only enjoyed one, which I might be misremembering, Eau Triple Forêt de Komi. All their fragrances have an unpleasant muskiness or have a profile that wasn't to my taste. The perfumes smelled incredibly aged. 

It was a novel experience: you squeeze an air pump to smell the vapors from a glass flask. 

Shibuya Parco also had Santa Maria Novella, which isn't my favorite brand. There's nothing wrong with them as a company. I haven't found anything noteworthy, and their packaging is identical/confusing.  

Of course, I had to stop by any Byredo or Le Labo store I passed. And of course, I had to try the Tokyo and Kyoto city exclusives at Le Labo! About two years ago, I purchased a sample of Gaiac 10 (the Tokyo exclusive) and wasn't the biggest fan. It was too intimate of a scent, and its smokiness/profile was too linear to be enticing. 

I was shocked by how different and better Gaiac 10 smells in Tokyo. It's less one-dimensional and not as smoky. 

I waited for almost an hour to enter the Kyoto Le Labo cafe. The exclusive is Osmanthus 19, and I couldn't smell anything floral off the paper tester. It has a menthol-y quality that reminds me of Baie 19. (It's not the petrichor.) It's also smoky and woody with a subtle musk. 

Frankly, the city exclusives aren't worth it. Jumping far ahead, to Hong Kong's Le Labo specifically, Bigarade 18 is similar to a fragrance that's part of the core collection. It's either fleur d'orange, neroli, or bergamot. If you like a city exclusive, you can find something similar in the permanent collection that you can get year-round. That way, if anything bad befalls your exclusive perfume, you can replace it easily.

City exclusives are a nostalgia-bait marketing ploy. I will get the exclusive to commemorate my trip to X-city. If you love the smell, knock yourself out. If you don't, you can purchase any fragrance from their permanent line, and the label will say "bottled in X-city."  

Back to Japan.

The only perfume I purchased was Koiame from J-Scent, another brand on the bucket list. Tsutaya Book in Ginza 6 carries this brand, but not every Tsutaya does. I went to the one in Daikanyama but didn't find it. The notes are:

Apple, Peach, Bergamot, Mandarin, Lemon, Cassis, Green Note
Rose, Jasmine, Magnolia, Violet, Water Lily
Musk, Cedarwood, Mossy Note

After smelling it, I was caught off guard by how evocative it was of ELDO's You or Someone Like You. It's a refreshing and clean fragrance, though it's not as minty or grassy as ELDO's. I tell my sister this and preach the gospel of ELDO. She walked around to compare the two fragrances she was stuck between. She ends up also wanting Koiame. *surprised Pikachu*

I shouldn't be surprised because she and I have similar fragrance preferences, but you have Thé Noir now. Allow me to have my own crumb at least!

The sillage and longevity are terrible. 

We also visited FUEGUIA 1833 in Ginza 6. The interior was dark red with a large square glass counter at the center. All their fragrances were lined up around the block. The interior was super sexy, a little creepy, and reminded me of an apothecary. Sadly, or fortunately, I didn't like any of the fragrances, but I would recommend going in just to experience the interiors. 

Someone passing by on the street was carrying a Nonfiction bag, and I was like a hound. As fate would have it, it was within a 20-minute walking distance from my hotel, and another Buly nearby! Forget Me Not and Gentle Night were the two standouts. There aren't many scents from this brand. Plus, these two smell similar, though Forget Me Not is slightly more green/herby because of the basil. 

These fragrance locations were cute, but I found a gorgeous one, and we all know gorgeous devours cute.

The NOSE SHOP Yurakucho counter located in Lumine had me going bonkers. That's saying something because across was Hankyu Men’s Tokyo, which had most fragrances under the sun. 

Let's talk about Hankyu first. Acqua di Parma, Frederic Malle, By Kilian, Maison Crivelli, Celine, Nobile 1942, MFK, just to name a few. The selection is limited to the "masculine" or unisex options from each brand, but honestly, anyone can find something regardless of gender. I crossed off many fragrances from my wishlist or to-try list. 

I praise NOSE SHOP because I discovered Adr_ette from Nomenclature. I am in my clean girl perfume era. As the weather gets warmer and my armpits become a biological weapon, I need my perfume to gaslight me into believing my odor is pleasant. Adr_ette is a soft musk that I need to resample, and I hope it doesn't disappoint me like Vetiver Extraordinaire.

I'm sure every NOSE SHOP location will have something for you, but if you go to Lumine, I also recommend Mucha, specifically the Carnation perfume. 

For a proper send-off, Narita Airport had a small Serge Lutens selection. 

Japan truly worked me out. Of course, I perused in China, but the brands don't excite me as much: Creed, Diptyque, L'Artisan, etc. 

Where is THE fragrance location? Which perfume reminds you of your favorite trip?