Hello Niche Nerds

Are you ever captivated by a fragrances name? So much so that you jump online and order a sample or decant without even reading about it? That is what happened with today’s fragrance,

Sushi Imperiale by Bois 1920 2005

Photo Stolen Fragrantica

Fragrantica gives these featured accords:
Top: Bergamot, mandarin orange and lemon
Heart: Pepper, nutmeg, jasmine, rose, star anise and cinnamon
Base: Sandalwood, vetiver, patchouli, tonka bean and Madagascar vanilla.

Now that I have my sample I’ve been doing some reading up as I’m wearing it and Sushi Imperiale is quite a divisive fragrance. There are lovers and haters but there is also a section of the fragrance community that calls it an Opium Pour Homme rehash. I have worn it a couple of times now with great enjoyment but I think I’d like to go and educate myself about how Opium Pour Homme smells before I go any further, I only have a flanker here so I will go to the mall and spritz both frags together.

Photo Stolen WikiCommons

(I started writing this post months ago but when I put my decant away it got lost and even now I can’t find it so I waited for a split to come up and it just arrived, so resuming transmission)

It must smell like vintage Opium Pour Homme because this is 100% fuller, richer and sweeter than it’s YSL would be doppelgänger. The pepper/anise/nutmeg/cinnamon are all present right from the sizzling citrus intro on my skin and they are fiery sweet like first sizzle of Cajun French toast in the pan, yes there is even a doughy hint (even a little bit of that gorgeous puppy feet accord). I also detect a greenness that may be the patchouli coming through early or some unnamed interloper, maybe a mint: and a boozy note. There is a lot of “this is so boring” reviews but I find Sushi Imperiale to be warm, fun and interesting. Different enough from its contemporaries and cuddly enough to snuggle into and lose yourself, I haven’t tried it on Jin but something tells me he will smell beyond incredible in it.

Photo Stolen WikiMedia

You’d think there’d be a vinegar/sugar/clean-raw-fish/rice cooking smell here but no, another misnomer victim. I love it when TSO Jin is preparing the rice for sushi or nori rolls because the smell pervades the house from living to sleeping and sometimes even into the garden. It’s a sweet, milky, grainy smell that I have never smelled replicated, even in the fragrances that purport to be like it.

The dry down is such a soft human smell, I think the vanilla, tonka and patchouli are what I’m getting? At about 6 hours the fragrance is really a very dilute wash barely more than making my skin ever so slightly nicer than normal but not really a scent, the thought of a scent, the memory of fragrance.

Photo Stolen Bill Selak Flickr

Further reading EauMG and ChickenfreaksObsessions
Parfums Raffy $180/100ml and they send worldwide for $17
SurrenderToChance starts $3/ml

Did you try it? Love it? Hate it? Did you feel it less than its niche flag would suggest?

Till tomorrow lovelies,
Portia xx